Area artist channels coronavirus fears … and encourages individuality - Herald-Banner

Area artist channels coronavirus fears … and encourages individuality - Herald-Banner

Area artist channels coronavirus fears … and encourages individuality - Herald-Banner

Posted: 05 Apr 2020 12:00 AM PDT

With coronavirus constantly filling the headlines, many people across the world are experiencing higher levels of anxiety with every cough or instance of typical springtime allergy congestion.

Lone Oak-based artist Laura Irrgang has started turning that anxiety into an entertaining-yet-relatable comic featuring a pickle/potato-like "coronavirus anxiety monster," named Gregg. In each one or two panel comic, Gregg expresses worry over coughing, how to ration toilet paper, or guilt over buying the last jug of milk in the grocery store.

"I've found this whole thing very stress-inducing," Irrgang told the Herald-Banner.

"I do a lot of journaling and keep a sketch book, and one day I drew a bunch of anxiety monsters," she explained. "When I looked at what I drew a day or two later, I decided that this weird, pickle/potato-looking creature was my favorite, and became Gregg.

"I've been posting comics with Gregg on social media, because I think a lot of us are Gregg these days, unfortunately."

Irrgang used to be a director at F8 Art Gallery in Austin, where she met her husband who eventually accepted a job at L3Harris, which is what brought them to Lone Oak.

In addition to creating her own art, which includes the Glitterville comic series, Irrgang has taught art and has served as director of the Northeast Texas Children's Museum in Commerce's summer art program.

Recently, she also completed a mural behind the Uptown Forum, titled "You Be You," which depicts an aquarium-like display populated by fish sporting a variety of human accessories, with the words "In the sea of humanity, be completely yourself."

"As a person that's always been in the arts, I appreciate individuality and wanted to encourage people to be themselves, even though there's always a lot of pressure to conform," Irrgang said.

"I enjoy making public art, because it's out in the open instead of in my studio," she added. "I spoke with area fishermen so I could depict fish that are in our area.

"The mural also has 'selfie areas,' like in the middle of 'You Be You" and in the mouth of the large-mouthed bass, because people like to make it look like they're sticking their heads in it."

Irrgang's mural was financed by the Hunt County Public Art project.

"It's been a joy to find another artist in Hunt County that we previously didn't know existed," Byron Taylor, co-founder of Hunt County Art, said of Irrgang. "She's a unique individual and her mural is our 13th piece of public art, so this completes our original plan to create 12-16 works of public art in the county, and we've done made 13 pieces of public art over the last seven years."

Those who would like to see Irrgang's Gregg comics and other work can visit her website at www.laurairrgang.com.

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