More Than Material Art Show Virtual Tour

"March 15, 2020" by Isabelle Sutton
Audio/Videography

Artist Statement

Hello, my name is Izzy Sutton. I am a senior at Apollo High School in St. Cloud, and my mentor was rather amorphous because I floated between the worlds of Audio and Video, but some crucial mentors to my process were Aaron Sutton, my dad, and Angela Chilson, who helped me eke out some of the details of my project and the possible structure that my ideas could fit into. I created March 15, 2020, which combines a spoken-word piece, an instrumental track that I created, and a compilation of photos that I took.

This piece is truly a picture of my experience last year, with the title being the day that quarantine began in St. Cloud. I remember thinking that it would only last a few weeks, or maybe a couple of months at the longest. As the weeks stretched into months, and the months stretched into a year, I realized that my life would be changed forever. I know that many people lost loved ones, or lost themselves one way or another to COVID-19, but that’s not really what my piece is about, because for me, it came as a blessing. I had prayed only two weeks prior to the shutdown that God would give me rest, and opportunities to trust him. I found out later that my Dad had written down those same two things in his prayer list for me, without the knowledge that I was asking God about it. During quarantine, my siblings and I went hiking for hours on end nearly every day, and had the extraordinary experience of watching the park where we went hiking, transitioning from winter into spring, and we noticed every little detail that changed. Another blessing was the growth that our family went through this time. I have three siblings and my parents that live at home with me, and two others that are married and have homes of their own, and throughout COVID, these people became my best friends. The Lord used this time to shape our family into a model of his love for us, and we learned to be more patient with one another, and grew to be long-suffering regarding each other’s flaws.

I have a lot more that I could talk about, but what I want to leave with, is this: no matter the circumstances, God is good, he is faithful, and his plan is perfect. I want to thank my family for loving me in spite of my egregious flaws, my mentors, Angela and Aaron, for putting up with my indecisiveness, and God, for answering that prayer, even in the way that I didn’t expect.

Oral Statement