Local artists share COVID-19 experiences
Spoken word artist Ursula Rucker, visual artist Anthony Carlos Molden, and iMPeRFeCT Gallery owners Renny Molenaar and Rocio Cabello were featured guests during the Germantown Info Hub’s fifth radio call-in show with G-town Radio, 92.9 FM.
The episode aired Thursday, April 24, at 5 p.m. The show discussed how the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has affected the art community, who may now find their careers on hold.
Maleka Fruean, Community Organizer for the Info Hub, hosted last week’s episode. Fruean spoke with Molenaar and Cabello, about obstacles they’ve faced running a business that is dependent upon the art community and person to person contact.
Cabello said the artist community tends to be strong minded in difficult situations. “We are survivors,” Cabello said, “and artists have a tendency to be resilient and figure out ways of surviving.”
The iMPeRFeCT Gallery is a neighborhood staple that showcases local art and holds events and readings for the community. The owners hope to begin running shows in September but have struggled with getting resources.
Artists themselves have also been affected by the pandemic. Rucker and Molden said they understand the grief in the artist community but personally still have a desire to create art.
Molden said he’s always continued to paint through difficult times, and the current crisis is influencing his art. “It’s not stopping me,” Molden said. “I’m still getting a lot of work done, and I think what’s around me is going into the work.”
Both artists have turned to virtual ways to earn money for their art. Although they appreciate the opportunity to share and be compensated for their creativity, Rucker insists she misses the physical interactions.
“I feel like whatever little bit of money we may get from these little online gigs, feels like Monopoly money because we’re living in this virtual weird world right now,” Rucker said. “And all of our stuff is on hold and hanging in the balance and we don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s wild.”
Listen to the complete one-hour episode here.
