Little City residents just needed a little creativity to break the isolation during a long summer where community trips were no longer a possibility. Little City’s Center for the Arts (CFA) found a solution as it started the “Lockdown My Art” program in response to the shelter-in-place mandate in order to engage residents with unique art projects they can do from home. The response was overwhelming as more than 100 pieces of unique art  have been completed.

Each week, the CFA sent each home two different packets that serve as inspiration for a background. Artists were given theme-based resources such as videos to watch and images to look at to help inspire their art. For example, two recent packets sent to homes were “Bird’s Eye View,” encouraging artists to create pieces of birds in flight, and Archibald Motley’s “Nightlife,” inspiring artists to create something in the vein of the famous Art Institute piece.

The program has allowed artists to create pieces without any direct help from facilitators at the Center, allowing for a more creative process and a chance to discover their own style. The end result of the program was an on-line vote for some of the standout art that was submitted during the summer. The winners included: “Color Garden” by Bobbie W.; “Untitled” by Tonia D.; and “Impressions” by Mike M. The special People’s Choice winners were “Butterflies” (above) by Mike P.; and runner-up “People Wearing Face Masks” (right) by John K.

Those winning pieces and more are available for viewing at the “Lockdown My Art” website at www.littlecity.org/lockdownmyart. And each winning piece has been made into t-shirts and can be purchased at www.threadless.com/shop/@littlecity/collection/lockdown-my-art.

While many artists took part in “Lockdown My Art,” a select few were chosen to participate in a national art show. Just recently, artists Ingrid, John, Harold and Bobby were selected to be featured at the Outside Forces 2020 art exhibition. While it was supposed to be a physical gallery in Washington D.C., the artwork was instead displayed for viewing at www.artenables.org from Sept. 14 to Oct. 31. Those pieces are also available for viewing on the Little City Shop at www.littlecity.org/shop.