Cabin Fever with Bob Clyatt

During the pandemic, many artists have been cut off from their studios due to shelter-in-place orders and social distancing guidelines. Some (including the author) have put together makeshift home setups wherever Zoom’s watchful eye cannot see. It can be difficult to concentrate on making art while surrounded by home’s many distractions, such as Netflix, social media, baking sourdough bread, mortal terror, and the possible collapse of civilization. For sculptor Bob Clyatt, though, the quarantine has offered a chance to work in his studio without interruption from the outside world — or whatever’s left of it. The clay heads in Clyatt’s Art in the Pandemic series are, like everyone else these days, wearing surgical masks to varying degrees of effectiveness. Whether they’re properly practicing social distancing depends on how they’re installed, though. Hopefully they can maintain a safe distance of six feet from each other in the exhibition space.

Bob Clyatt’s work can also be found on Facebook, and on Intagram and Twitter @bobclyatt.

Bob Clyatt, from the Art in the Pandemic series, 2020, stoneware for firing, 7 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.

Bob Clyatt, from the Art in the Pandemic series, 2020, stoneware for firing, 7 inches. Image courtesy of the artist.

Studio shot of a piece from Bob Clyatt’s Conversations series of life-size stoneware heads. Image courtesy of the artist.