Clean Lines

Donna Marie Fischer, of Beacon, started out during the shutdown doing a drawing a day in colored pencil but “it turned into a pictorial journal of my life and events. I keep the drawings small in order to do this. They are kept simple to avoid getting caught up in the major details. I just have fun with them.” Here, four selections of products on everyone’s minds.

Online Art Show

Beacon of Love, a coalition of city residents led by Theresa Gooby, Margot Kingon, James Case-Leal and Julie Shiroishi, will host an online art show and fundraiser for Fareground, a nonprofit that provides food to those in need.

Previews of works by 30 artists will be available starting May 26 at beacon-of-love.myshopify.com, priced at $100, $150 or $250. The sale will run from May 30 to June 2 and proceeds will be split at least 50/50 with the artists.

Deb Davidovits
“Bluebird,” by Deb Davidovits

The show, curated by Gooby, Kingon and Case-Leal, will include works by them, as well as Richard Bruce, Lesly Deschler Canossi, Marieken Cochius, Deb Davidovits, Meredith Heuer, Kirsten Kucer, George Mansfield, Samantha Palmieri, Jackie Skrzynski, Jean-Marc Superville-Sovak, Kazumi Tanaka and Susan Walsh, among others.

Since Dutchess County closed schools in mid-March to slow the spread of COVID-19, Fareground has been working with the Beacon City School District and nonprofits such as Common Ground Farm, the Food Bank of the Hudson Valley, Green Teen and Land to Learn to provide food services.

Each week, Fareground provides bags of groceries to about 800 families at school pickup sites and public housing developments, as well as homebound residents in partnership with Beacon Mutual Aid. Fareground also stocks three “tiny food pantries.”

Wild Masks

Ron English, a pop artist in Beacon, has designed a series of masks to raise money for first responders. “Like everyone in the world, my family has been affected by this pandemic,” he wrote on Facebook. “I came down with symptoms in early March, and while I didn’t require drastic measures, I have had to reevaluate my activities and expectations to adjust for damaged lung capacity. That means no more spray paint for now, and it’s possible that I may never paint another public mural. While that’s sad and disappointing to me personally, it doesn’t compare with the staggering loss of life and livelihood that humanity is experiencing right now.

Ron English
Ron English

“During the early days of quarantine, my wife started a mask-making campaign for first responders, family and friends, using a stash of cotton fabric that she, like many sewers, had around the house. After her stash ran out, she started cutting up some of my custom-designed PopLife Popaganda cotton shirts, and made and mailed out over 300 cotton COVID-19 masks to nursing homes, our local post office, grocery clerks and anyone who asked. She has no more fabric left. That’s why I’m proud to team up with Threadless to scale up our mask campaign, with dozens of designs and a purchase price that goes directly to MedShare, a charity that sources proper equipment to first responders. Face masks are here to stay. This is the new normal. If we have to hide our faces, we might as well display our intentions.” To order, see threadless.com/shop/@ronenglish.

Behind The Story

Type: News

News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.

A former longtime national magazine editor, Rowe has worked at newspapers in Michigan, Idaho and South Dakota and has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University. Location: Philipstown. Languages: English. Area of Expertise: General. He can be reached at [email protected].