"We’re about a half an hour or so outside of Austin, Texas," Dennis McNett tells us when we reached out for our Art In Uncertain Times series. "It’s far enough out from the city that most our neighbors are on farms, ranches or at least an acre or two away. It’s pretty isolated out here normally, so that part isn’t much different. I’ve had several projects and a couple of shows cancel, but outside that, the studio practice goes on. I lived in NYC for a long time before moving here and I think about my friends there and in other cities where things are drastically affected."


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"I lost my mother in January before all this started. She was a consistent loving presence. Like anyone who goes through heavy loss, heavy thoughts come too, like how precious our time here is, how important family and friends are, what’s really important, what is truly valuable and how we spend our time here. These existential questions have rolled into what’s going on globally and any desire or worry outside the bigger considerations, seem so small.

Here are some observations and thoughts I’ve had during all this: Is anyone else feeling like the universe went through everything in the world with a highlighter marker to point out the simple and obvious?

The air pollution over big cities have cleared dramatically and some water ways are running clean again in the little amount of time we’ve been on restriction... It’s easier to see all the things that we take for granted by being on restriction... friends, family, nature, being outside, our health, etc... It’s easier to see how fragile it all is by seeing it fall apart so quickly... It’s easier to see that we need one another and need to learn to work w each other on a deep level... It’s easier to see we can chose to spread fear, point the figure in blame and hate which just perpetuates all these things OR we can be brave, be positive, spread humor, joy and love and perpetuate those things... It’s easier to see that currency has become more valuable than life in the eyes of those people leading the country.

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We’re all here temporarily, the only thing we truly have control of is our own reaction to whatever comes along, then we’re gone

Reminder: chin up, breathe deep and don’t buy into fear. Don’t give up despite how things look, don’t accept defeat ever, observe and be aware, support love, integrity, family, friends and all those things of true value. 

It’d be easy to post a bleak news article or rant about injustices happening or just whine about it all. (I’m not talking being informative here) Its like spreading poison with words to keep feeding what we are all seeing over and over and over to each other... my ego is scared you’ll judge what I’m saying as naive or too “hippy.” That’s ok. Shut the F up ego. I love all y’all mf’s." 

Follow Dennis McNett at @wolfbat