Inside the gallery is a salon of over 100 local artists creating conversations exploring the intersection of water and land. Currently in our window installation space is a poignant chronicle of the pandemic. Leigh Barbier brings us her world of P.W.D.s (pandemic worry dolls) at the gallery through April 4th, 2021.

The P.W.D.s window installation is accessible 24 hours a day and can also be viewed on our Instagram. The inside of the gallery is open by appointment and can also be viewed by visiting our website and clicking on our remote controlled Gallery Cam.

“I began making Pandemic Worry Dolls in April of this year. By sending them to my close friends, family members and front line workers, it was my way to reach out and offer support and connection in the absence of face to face contact. They are constructed out of cardboard and hot glue, painted with acrylic, further adorned with fabric and found objects. Each one is unique and each one carries a specific worry. The worry is like a prayer, silent and heart felt. I continue to make them in batches of a dozen. And I will keep making them until we can live without fear of the virus. These are a few samples.

I was born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, California, and grew up on a gravel road, running barefoot and free between neighbor’s homes. I attended a Christian Science church every Sunday and Disneyland once a year. I remember thinking as a small child that Sees candy was a religious destination and God looked like a tube of toothpaste. Later museums replaced Sees candy and I found order in the universe through art. I am drawn to religious art, admire Thomas Hart Benton’s line and color, adore the muralist of the Mexican Revolution and can’t get the images of Disney from my 1960s childhood out of my visual vocabulary.”

— Leigh Barbier