Additional Commentary on “Rise Up, Humanity!”

So much of what I paint is born of conversations I have with people. I like to think of the ultimate truth as the collective thoughts of all of us. I aspire for an ideology that is both constant and yet fluid, somehow always enriched by another perspective. So many of the characters in “Rise Up, Humanity” evolved out of my association with real people. I have been especially attuned during this pandemic to relatives and friends who have dedicated their lives to nursing, especially geriatric nursing – thus the nurse front and center pushing the wheelchair as well as the elderly man walking on the left side. All of us, of course, now have greater appreciation for grocery store workers. The business people reflect the many I have known associated with finance, accounting, lawyering, etc. They are my relatives, my husband’s business associates, neighbors, and old college friends. They are a fortuitous yet hardworking group who have done very well and I wish for them every opportunity to enrich their humanity. Our large extended family has many tradesmen as well who are equally the backbone of our economy. I admire their skillsets which my college book learning did not address, and I hope they always see their indispensable value. I have friends who are policemen who are tender and kind. I have friends of color. I have gay friends. They too have become part of this composition. I have relatives and friends in engineering and science. I have deeply religious family. To these people I am grateful overall for the awareness to paint a picture that both respects religious tradition and yet aspires to paint a perspective out of the box. It is my deepest hope that this painting brings us to a deeper appreciation of all perspectives, especially of those who cannot easily speak for themselves. Collectively, we are all the truth together.