From "Gratitude - The Unrecognized Essential Workers Series. Earlier this year, Robert Masla was hard at work on his upcoming exhibit at the R. Michelson Galleries, Catching the Light: Then and There- Here and Now, scheduled for October 2020. Then came COVID-19 and his attention shifted. Along with his landscapes, this new collection of paintings depict the various unheralded but much needed essential workers that have come into the spotlight during the COVID era.