38 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • MAY 13, 2021 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
buzz
Queens’ pandemic journey, through the
eyes of a Jackson Heights artist and parent
BY TAMMY SCILEPPI
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Filmed on location in New York City,
each docu-style crime-drama episode of
the once-popular, noir TV series “Naked
City” (1958–1963), ended with a narrator
uttering that iconic line: “Th ere are 8
million stories in the naked city. Th is has
been one of them.”
Fast forward to the present and one can
now say that there are 8.3 million or so New
York City stories, each with a pandemic
experience behind it. And Jackson Heights
artist/educator Deborah Wasserman’s journey
happens to be one of them.
Th e mother of two teenage girls who
is known for her vibrant artwork — her
favorite mediums are ink, acrylic and oil
on paper and canvas — as well as her off -
beat, avant-garde performance art across
Queens has remained extremely involved
and active in her own beloved community
and beyond, even helping folks during
the height of the pandemic.
“In March 2020 — around the time of
the fi rst lockdown — I realized, like many
of my fellow New Yorkers, that my life
was going to be completely transformed
for quite a while,” Wasserman told QNS.
“Before the pandemic, I was a very busy
bee, running my local arts program ART
FOR A START, teaching at a senior center
in Forest Hills through a Su-Casa grant
from Queens Council on the Arts (QCA),
painting at my studio in Woodside, and
even fi nding time to attend fi tness and
Zumba classes at the local Urzua Studios.”
Initially, the artist thought 2020 would
be a good year. She received a New Work
Grant from QCA and was excited to create
an exciting body of work, which she
shared with her local community. But
looking back, she wondered, “Who knew
then, that so many of my plans would shut
down, change and alter direction?”
The family moved here from
Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in 2009, when
Queens’ art scene was coming into its
own.
“We could no longer aff ord Brooklyn
and were drawn to Queens’ diversity, the
Latin music scene and the beautiful architecture
in historical Jackson Heights,”
Wasserman said. “Upon moving here, I
saw the need for aff ordable art studios, an
art program for youth, and even fi tness
classes. So, I utilized my entrepreneurial
skills to create and bring these services to
a community which I cherish and adore.”
Wasserman’s husband Phil Ballman,
who is director of cultural aff airs and
tourism at the Queens borough president’s
offi ce, has been involved with music
and cultural programming such as summer
concerts and the Queens Drive-In
series, which takes place on the grounds of
the New York Hall of Science in Flushing
Meadows Corona Park.
The journey
“Living just a few blocks away from
Elmhurst Hospital, our pandemic experience
as a family was colored by the fact
that we live in the ‘epicenter of the epicenter.’
But the atmosphere inside our
home was that of safety and relative
calm,” Wasserman said.
As soon as the schools were shut down,
her girls (now ages 15 and 14) who
were attending BSGE Th e Baccalaureate
School for Global Education in Astoria,
moved to online schooling and her husband
started working from home. She
remembered that many of her neighbors
were getting sick and the community
“was very challenged.” Th e family heard
ambulances, sirens and even helicopters,
and there was a great sense of panic in the
air, according to Wasserman. Th ey would
see hospital staff in uniforms walking
down the streets, and refrigerated trucks
lined up next to the hospital.
During that time, Wasserman volunteered
for an organization called COVID
Care Neighbor Network, a program of
the nonprofi t Together We Can. During
her time volunteering, she’d make phone
calls to local families and organized help
with food donations.
“Speaking to these families during
the lockdown — most of them without
resources, health insurance or income —
put my personal pandemic experience in
proportion,” she said. “I was, and still am,
very fortunate.”
Working as an arts educator for NYC’s
prominent museums, a few years ago, she
said she was sad to see that throughout the
pandemic, museums were furloughing or
letting go of so many staff members.
“So, I also felt fortunate to have
been running my own arts program,”
Wasserman told QNS. “I instructed students
via Zoom and enrolled fi nancially
challenged families for free.”
Indeed, there are millions of stories out
there! And so many diff erent perspectives
on the crisis, as each New Yorker
learned how to cope with their new
reality.
“Th is past year, I rode my bike to my
studio every day, even in the harshest
of the lockdowns when the streets
were practically empty, or the snow was
piled up high. I needed to be out, get
out of the house and feel somehow free,”
Wasserman remembered. “My studio felt
like an oasis of safety, somehow secluded
from this turbulent world. As an artist,
I already have a hermit personality, and
since childhood, I’m used to spending
hours by myself, creatively inspired. Th is
solitary time was blissful for me because
I was able to channel much of my anxiety,
worry and fear into new bodies of
work, and the whole process kept me
sane. I also returned to my meditation
practice, which became absolutely essential;
during intense moments of panic, I
was calming myself down with breathing
and positive affi rmations.”
“Many people wonder what an artist
does at the studio or how their days
look like? For me, creating a painting
is a multi-step process,” she added.
“I work intuitively and spontaneously,
applying many techniques of spilling
paint, various expressive brushstrokes,
using imagery, painting on the fl oor
and the walls. I also used bunched and
stained cloth as an element in my work
to invoke the human body, women’s
labor, and create an additional textural
quality. About a decade ago, I started
exploring certain themes in my work,
and many of them stem from contemplations
about the relationship between
humanity and nature, the destruction of
natural resources, and the need to reconnect
with Mother Earth.”
In honor of Women’s History month,
Wasserman’s work was included in a
group show on the prestigious art site,
Artsy. During this past year, she was also
featured in other virtual group shows:
Artist/Mother Podcast (working artists/
moms share experiences), and Visionary
Arts Collective. In addition, she became
a New York Film Academy (NYFA) fi nalist
in the category of printmaking/drawing/
book art.
With a New Work grant from QCA,
Wasserman recently gave a presentation
for the Jackson Heights Art Talk,
hosted by Queens-based visual artist
Linda Ganjian, who creates sculpture
and drawings, and has completed public
art projects for the MTA.
In June, Wasserman will be taking part
in Aunt Karen’s Farm residency in central
New York, about three-and-a-half
hours from New York City. Aunt Karen’s
Farm is a multi-disciplinary, multi-generational
organization that provides a
quiet space for the development of new
creative work, and an environmentally
sustainable agricultural program,
according to Wasserman. Participants
include solo artists, families, small companies
and educators.
“I know that many parents with small
kids had a tough year, juggling jobs with
home care. Since my children are old
enough to care for themselves, this experience
was a lot smoother for us. In fact,
in a strange way, this pandemic year simplifi
ed life almost at any level: less things
to do, slowing down, less activities – and
for me, basically, only juggling home,
teaching and studio work,” she shared.
“People are stunned when I tell them
that I had a good year. Th ey also tell me
that it makes them hopeful. I think my
year was good because I am naturally
accustomed to isolation and quietude,
and because I am very contemplative,”
Wasserman said. “Th is year has been a
year of soul-searching and refl ection,
an inner transformation that cannot be
described. I feel quite more detached
and resilient, in a sense. I confronted the
concept of death within myself and it
changed my outlook on life. And, I have
immense gratitude that I was spared the
experience of a death of loved ones. I
want to apply myself full-heartedly, not
only to my art but also to the uplift ment
of others.”
For more information, visit
deborahwasserman.com or fi nd the artist
on Instagram at @deborahwassermanart.
Courtesy of Wasserman
“The Water Carrier” by Jackson Heights-based artist Deborah Wasserman.
/WWW.QNS.COM
/deborahwasserman.com
link
