Surviving 2020, Pandemic Series in concrete at the Ravalli County Museum

Hamilton Artist Barbara Liss stands by her concrete sculpture piece “Surviving 2020, Pandemic Series” that on display outside the Ravalli County Museum.

JEAN DRIESCHER for the Ravalli Republic. First published July 2, 2021.

Ravalli County Museum is an important hub for Hamilton not only historically but also as a venue for current events. Recently the museum has embraced the visual arts world by designating a space outside their entrance as a place to install artwork that is relevant and expressive of Montana experiences.

Local sculptor Barbara Liss has completed her concrete sculpture piece entitled “Surviving 2020, Pandemic Series” that is now on display at the museum.

Montanans are reflecting on the past year and how COVID affected them. This is also true of artists who often interpret their life experiences through their creative artwork.

Liss saw the year of COVID as a series of personifications, each expressing an aspect of the COVID experience. She created four three-feet-tall concrete pieces that each express topics and emotions of the COVID year, 2020.

The first is entitled “Corona” which shows the virus as it appeared microscopically. Its appearance became a familiar symbol for the disease. The second piece entitled “COVID” is expressive of the virility of the virus and the tyrannical path it took as a pandemic. The third piece is entitled “Isolation” which shows how society had to adjust emotionally to the threat of the contagion. The fourth piece is entitled “Protection.” Survival from this threat is expressed in this piece and how society stayed safe, mask-wearing and hand washing. The pattern in the mask represents the homemade masks being made to support the shortage of masks needed. Overall the four pieces give a comprehensive view of how society managed COVID emotionally and physically.

A special thanks go to the Ravalli Museum Board for their support of this new public art project.

Decades from now the community will look back on this pandemic experience. Memories will fade but the visual arts will play an important and unique role in preserving not only the historical information but the emotional experience of Americans and Montanans.

Liss has captured this experience in concrete art that will survive and remind future generations how vulnerable humanity can be but also how tenacious they are as well.