Alys Caviness-Gober

Alys Caviness-Gober is an artist who works in Poetry, Prose, Photography; Painting (semi-abstract, abstract) and acrylic. She is currently working on several paintings and her 4^th volume of poetry & artwork compilation of works,  created during the COVID-19 pandemic.

My dream art project(s) include: large-scale paintings with Series themes, which are on hold until she can figure out more “studio” space than a corner of our laundry room.

She doesn’t think anyone at Nickel Plate can help her build an art studio in her backyard that has central heat/air conditioning but she is open to being surprised! Alys has been involved with Nickel Plate Arts since 2011 and she’d like people to know that she writes every day, is a self -taught visual artist, and is usually “inventing” new techniques for herself to use when she paints. In no particular order, she is inspired by music, color, nature, dreams & nightmares, old movies, classic literature, and family.

Alys has always had to be careful “out in public” because of health issues, so staying home and/or being alone has been a big part of her life before the global pandemic. In the past, she often felt like she was watching life pass by outside her window, so to speak. COVID-19 has her self-quarantined, under doctors’ orders, due to pre-existing health conditions, until there is a safe and highly effective vaccine available. It’s truly hard to accept that it could be years before she can be safely be physically close with her grown children and her little grandson. She misses hugging all of them, holding her grandson’s little hand, and playing with him. Alys also misses being around her friends, too. COVID-19 isolation for her is like living in an enhanced version of “life passing by outside her window.” Every feeling is heightened. It’s like an extreme rollercoaster ride. Focusing on creating art, poetry, prose, paintings, and photographs as she experiences those heightened feelings, those ups and downs, is both therapeutic and challenging. Art as therapy has always been important to her, and is even more so now. The challenge is coming up with the words or the colors or the designs/scenes that will adequately express her feelings about life in the time of COVID-19. Trying out new techniques and styles as a painter, for example, is one way she trying to embrace that challenge.

Her work can be see on her website: CreativeExpressionsArts.com

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