Persistence and Gratitude in Sustaining a Creative Life
2024 Women in the Arts Expo, Curator Katherine Page (R) and Artist-Astronomer Natalia Guerrero (L).
April 3, 2024
How can an artist survive and sustain their art making? Such a pragmatic question seems fitting to have been brought up at the Women in the Arts Expo. The question concerns not only women artists but all those who seek to live a creative life regardless of personal identification and persuasion, making it inclusive.
Held at the Melrose Center in Downtown Orlando’s Public Library, the expo was attended by arts industry representatives from institutions and groups such as the Crealdé School of Art, the Art & History Museums of Maitland, the Orlando Museum of Art, the Mennello Museum of American Art, Swamp Sistas, and the Orange County Regional History Center, to name a few. The floor was buzzing with positive energy. From this group of driven women, I have been fortunate enough to meet Women in the Arts’s Founder and CEO Maria Guerrero, Hannibal Heritage Square Center’s vivacious manager Barbara Chandler, artist Linda Metzger, and automotive engineer turned city and landscapes painter Yuan Li. Yuan Li’s artworks were a revelation. Hailing from Shanghai, she and her husband moved to Michigan for post-graduate studies. They decided to stay in the States and began working for automotive companies around Detroit. She had only started painting recently and proved to be a highly skilled oil painter. Yuan Li showed me a dossier of her works and my favorite was the neon lights of a busy commercial street in Shanghai.
After a productive hour of networking, everyone gathered to listen to a conversation between Natalia Guerrero, an artist and astronomer, and Katherine Page, curator of the Mennello Museum of American Art. Page, on curatorship, speaks on the importance of dialogue, listening, and perception. How seeing an artwork in person, in a space where it was meant to be shown, is important. According to her, planning an exhibit takes into account the relationship between the gallery space, the artwork, and the artist’s connection with their art should be taken into consideration. She shared an interesting tidbit about the Mennello Museum being a former home. Hence, there are challenges with place, heritage, and programming that Page and her fellow staff at the Mennello have to contend with to create relevant and impactful exhibitions. Page also highlights the importance of diversity in making curatorial decisions and bringing the best out of what one has, both in resources and artworks in a museum’s permanent collection. The curatorial team at Mennello supports this mission, having exhibited Pakistani artist Anila Quayyum Agha’s monumental Flourishing Patterns in 2023, and the current Self-Taught Black Artists of the American South, on show until May 19. Currently, the Mennello Museum is also working towards expanding their exhibition space to accommodate a wider array of exhibitions, events, and educational programming. Given their track record of interesting and well curated exhibitions that also enrich our knowledge of American art in its variety of philosophies and worldviews, the expansion is one that is highly anticipated and worth supporting
Guerrero, who boasts an impressive skill set and is something of a wunderkind, followed this thread by sharing her artistic vision. She highlights the importance of social practice and engagement. The way she seeks to do this is by bringing knowledge of astronomy to people outside of the scientific community through art. While words like community and support are mentioned way too many times in relation to museums, galleries, and art practices, they did hold gravity during the expo. During the Q&A, a student from Crealdé brought up the question with which I started my article. How can an artist survive and sustain their art making? This was also asked about young and upcoming artists who seem lost and don’t know how to begin their careers. Page noted that some artists do take on full-time jobs as designers, teachers, freelancers, or creative directors on top of maintaining studios. Guerrero, for the time being, can make art within the confines of a university as a PhD candidate in Astronomy. Answers from art teachers and professionals highlighted the importance of getting out and about in networking events or to exhibition openings where collectors and fellow artists are present. There is enough space and resources for everybody. One has to know where to look, to determine what kind of space, fellowship, or grant fits, and trust your capabilities and talent.
Here are a few things that I think would help a young artist or writer, sustain their creativity while still making sure they survive and thrive:
Make connections and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Sometimes the best advice still comes from somebody around you, at school or work (if you are working). Not necessarily from an internet article or YouTube (sometimes it’s helpful but most of the time the information provided is confusing or inaccurate).
Getting out and about, as some of the wonderful artists at the expo mentioned, cultivates the skill of being able to communicate and relate to people who may not share the same lived experiences as you do.
Be persistent. There will be obstacles. The good thing is, the more you take on challenges, the better you will be at overcoming them.
Be grateful. Ask yourself, what advantages or privileges have I been given that allow me to enjoy a creative life? At the same time, take stock of the instances when you were presented with a crisis and overcame it.
Though my time with fellow artists was brief, it was a positive and energizing event. Many of us met each other and learned about each other's work for the first time. Some artists in the event have been lifelong makers, others are young artists about to embark on their journey, and some started creating after retirement. The diversity of voices was inspiring. There is a quality of communication that is present with in-person events that online meetings don’t quite capture. It’s the same with the importance of seeing artworks and performances in person. Being able to physically interact with an artwork or play—to experience an image or scene with one’s five senses is priceless. It gives our lives meaning and depth. Being in close proximity to others, mingling with them and engaging on a personal level lets us know others in a more profound way. Women in the Arts Expo 2024 gave me the verve and excitement to persist in my career, there is a value in constantly showing up and expressing gratitude to those who believe in me. Once the announcements for the next expo in 2025 rolls in, I’m sure to be there. I hope I will see you there, too.
Zeny Recidoro-Fesh
Zeny May Recidoro is a Filipina writer and artist. She is a recipient of the Asian Cultural Council fellowship grant from 2018 to 2020. She has a degree in Art Studies from the University of the Philippines, and an MFA in Art Writing and Criticism from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. She writes short stories, essays about art, and making art. She lives in Orlando with her husband and their cat, Beau.