36 minute read
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Cancel Culture San Antonio’s shutdown is already taking a heavy toll on the city’s creators, service workers and small businesses
BY SANFORD NOWLIN AND LEA THOMPSON B usiness should be in full swing for Angela Martinez.
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After a dormant winter, her small business Slab Cinema had lined up a slate of outdoor movie screenings for the spring. The venture accounts for more than half of her family’s annual income and also supports a handful of part-time employees.
But instead of projecting films at the San Antonio Museum of Art and local parks, she and her husband Rick are hunkered down at home with their two kids, waiting out the COVID-19 outbreak.
Beyond the cabin fever and lost revenue, Martinez worries about the effect the shutdown is having on San Antonio’s culture and emotional wellbeing. To be sure, we’re a city that thrives on shared experiences. Human interaction sustains our culture and provides our livelihoods.
“I’m really worried about our community losing those things that perpetuate our happiness,” Martinez said.
The numbers bear that out. Roughly 13% of San Antonio’s labor force, or 144,000 people, is reliant on the hospitality industry for a paycheck, according to U.S. Census data.
While employees in some industries can work at home, that’s not the case for the countless microbusinesses, from tire shops and taquerias, that make up a hefty swath of our local economy. Numerous workers rely on tips or face-to-face gig work to put food on the table.
“In San Antonio, our industries tend to be the type that when people stop spending, it has a deep impact,” said Trinity University economics professor John Huston. “When they cancel that convention downtown, when they cancel that trip to SeaWorld, we feel it. I suspect [the pandemic] will hit us harder than other parts of the country.”
Canceled Plans Even before city council issued its 30-day closure order for bars and restaurants, business was nearly dead at Tabitha Garcia-Rogers’ jewelry and vintage clothing shop Thrash Weave. She’d open the doors in hopes a few customers would drop by, but news of the growing pandemic was already keeping people at
Courtesy Photo / Slab Cinema M The pandemic forced Angela Martinez (second from right) to cancel Slab Cinema showings and stay home with her family.
home.
She’s since stopped going to the shop and reached an agreement with her landlord, who owns the hair salon next door, to delay her May rent payment. Even though that helped, she knows that she can’t put off paying indefinitely.
If the shutdown continues much longer, Garcia-Rogers said she faces little choice but closing the shop. That will be a painful decision. She opened Thrash Weave with money she made selling a house in Austin before she relocated to San Antonio.
“Yes, it will hurt to lose the money, but at least it’s my own money,” she said. “There are countless people out there stuck with loans they can’t pay back.” That sentiment is echoed by economists, who points out that many businesses look to banks for startup money. Many also took out loans after surviving the Great Recession so they could jumpstart their growth.
Even those whose life savings aren’t tied up in the businesses they work for say they’re facing hard times.
For many service-industry workers, there’s simply not an easy Plan B while they wait for normal busi
ness to return. For many, it’s the only industry they’ve known. In some cases, both of a household’s earners take home paychecks from restaurants or bars.
Jonny Yumol, bar manager for Alamo Heights cocktail outpost Bar du Mon Ami, could see where things were headed before Nirenberg ordered the shutdown. With customers traffic dwindling, he began looking for short-term jobs at H-E-B and Amazon.
But it’s not just restaurateurs and retailers facing economic calamity. The cancellation of live events, from rock tours to touring Broadway shows, has ripped the livelihood from thousands of local workers who often live paycheck to paycheck.
Club soundman Brant Sankey hasn’t worked in nearly two weeks.
While Sankey is thankful his wife still has her nineto-five and can work remotely, the family is reining in its budget and burning through any cash they had set aside.
The shutdown also comes as Sankey is paying rent on a recording studio he opened in late 2018. He spent nine months outfitting the building before he could begin accepting sessions. Not long after the texts cancelling his club gigs, he got a flood of calls and emails from musicians cancelling their sessions. “If this goes longer than three months, the studio is probably done,” he said. “That will break it.”
Waiting It Out
Part of the anxiety from local workers and business owners stems from having no idea how long the lean times will last. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s pandemic pointman, recently warned it will take “a few months” before life gets back to normal.
Roland Fuentes, a stagehand who works at a variety of San Antonio venues, watched as one concert after another rescheduled or cancelled. Now, the earliest he expects to draw a paycheck again is in two months — assuming tours aren’t postponed a second time.
Fuentes, who’s worked in the industry since the ’90s, warned that even if things return to relative normalcy by the end of the summer, the comeback won’t be immediate. It took nearly two years for work to build back up after 9/11.
“The people who are lucky enough to have a job after this is over are still going to be hurting,” he added. Competition for short-term jobs is likely to be fierce. Even business owners are scrambling to find interim work so they can keep their doors open.
“I’ve already applied for a part-time job with H-E-B, because I might have to cash float myself for rent,” said Tyler Ybarra, owner of downtown coffee house Café Azteca. “At the end of the day, landlords can be as lenient or as strict as they want, but my responsibility is to pay the rent, and everything else is secondary.”
As they go into survival mode and stretch resources, small businesses may find themselves cooperating instead of competing if they want to stay open.
“What I’m thinking about doing is putting together a weekly get-together for small businesses to see how we can help each other out and see if there’s any ideas that we can facilitate, Ybarra added. “Whether that means saying, ‘Hey, I have more work here, you can send your baristas here,’ or ‘If you need coffee, here’s enough money for milk.’”
Service industry-reliant communities reliant have rebounded after major disasters. New Orleans’ renaissance after Hurricane Katrina readily leaps to mind. In that case, champions from around the country, from famous musicians to celebrity chefs, urged people to travel to the Big Easy and take in its vibrant culture. Even then, it didn’t happen overnight — and many residents who fled never returned.
It’s unclear how such a rebuilding would work for San Antonio since every big metro in the United States is undergoing a similar economic catastrophe right now. Some, such as New York and Seattle, are already pandemic hot zones.
Local creators and small businesses say the community will need to help itself. Those who continue drawing a paycheck through the shutdown can help by buying local — both during and after the catastrophe. And, if they truly value the art and creativity that makes our community unique, they must be willing to spend to sustain it.
Artist and educator Michele Monseau worries the quarantine already may have done irreparable damage to some nonprofits that support local arts and culture. Sure, those with deep funding will be fine, but smaller ones are already teetering on the brink. “When we come out of this, it can’t just be the artists supporting the artists, which is usually the way things work in San Antonio,” she said. “Everybody’s going to be underwater.”
Making Other Plans
In the meantime, local artists and small entrepreneurs say they can’t afford to wait for federal bailouts, loans or whatever form of aid may be coming. Instead, they’re proactively trying to figure out how to sustain themselves while people self-isolate.
Thrash Weave’s Garcia-Rogers, for example, set up an Etsy storefront to help sell jewelry and other items online. Even so, she understands those sales probably won’t be able to replace the walk-in traffic she’s lost. Martinez of Slab Cinema has been in talks with the San Antonio Museum of Art and the City of Devine to hold drive-in movie screenings. If she can figure out the logistics of broadcasting the sound, families can gather in the safety of their cars and take in an evening’s entertainment. Although a shelter-in-place order, in talks at press time, would nix that idea.
The urgency Martinez feels to show movies again runs deeper than getting money flowing back into the family business. The profits, she added, were always secondary to building community and sharing something she loves.
news The Outbreak Is Financially Devastating Your Neighbors
Here’s How to Help
BY SANFORD NOWLIN S an Antonians are staying home.
As well they should. That’s key to preventing the coronavirus pandemic from overwhelming our medical system. But that strategy, however necessary, will have economic consequences for our most vulnerable citizens.
People who live paycheck to paycheck, those reliant on tips, those who create art for a living and those in the gig economy are already taking a punishing financial hit from the changes. It’s inevitable that many small businesses — once someone’s entrepreneurial dream — will be forced to close.
To lessen the strain, we need to look out for each other, said Christine Drennon, an urban studies professor at Trinity University. We can’t just stock up on groceries and ignore our neighbors’ plight.
Sure, we’re keeping our distance, but that shouldn’t stop us for offering a virtual helping hand to those suffering financial hardship. Here’s how:
1. Go online and buy from local artists Many musicians, craftspeople and artists are equipped to sell online, even if they’re certainly not able to gig, show or attend craft fairs to bring in income. If you’re fortunate enough to have dependable income right now, spread it around. Don’t forget to find them on Patreon and offer contributions there as well.
2. Buy gift cards for locally owned businesses The instant you spend money on a gift card or certificate, the business has your money in hand. Be patient, and you can redeem that purchase for a celebratory meal or shopping spree once we’re able to move about safely again.
3. Support charities that keep people fed Organizations such as the San Antonio Food Bank understand crises like these put big strain on folks unable to earn right now. Those nonprofits need volunteers and donations to keep food on local. They’re also assembling coronavirus preparedness kits for low-income households.
4. Donate to arts organizations Museums, galleries and festivals are shuttered all over the community. They’re suffering while they can’t collect entry fees, and so are the artists who rely on them. A nonprofit donation can help these important artistic outlets emerge on the other side of the crisis.
5. Buy season tickets to local venues Eventually, those postponed plays, musical tours and events will swing back through town. Your contributions now will help theaters and performance spaces keep their doors open through the downturn
MTabitha Garcia-Rogers waits for customers at her clothing store, Thrash Weave. Last week, she temporarily closed its doors.
so they can enliven us all with much-needed arts, culture and entertainment.
6. Order delivery or takeout from locally owned restaurants Your orders keep their doors open and workers on the payroll. Your generous tips also go a long way to providing for local families. Don’t forget locally owned breweries and distilleries, which are providing takeout orders through the crisis.
7. Regularly check in on friends, family and neighbors Not everyone’s strain — financial or emotional — is readily visible. Just because folks in your circle aren’t sharing their concerns on social media doesn’t mean they’re not struggling. The more we stay in touch and help each other out, the better we’ll be.
Lockdown Leisure
How to stay safe — and entertained — during the COVID-19 pandemic A Calendar section? In the middle of this catastrophe? Yes, tons of places are closed, we’re stuck at home and not allowed to gather in groups, but that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty to do — if we’re willing to do it virtually. To that end, we rounded up a bunch of ways for San Antonians to while away the hours and support our city’s artists, performers and makers while we’re at it.
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‘Play it again, Sam’ Classical music reruns
BY KELLY MERKA NELSON W e all need a little soothing right now, and what better than the dulcet tones of a piano or a violin? Lucky for us, two San Antonio classical music organizations are streaming past performances online so that we can enjoy them from the safety of our homes.
Agarita Chamber Players Collaboration-focused chamber ensemble Agarita started to upload selections from its past performances on its website in mid-March. Though relatively new on the scene, the quartet has given 10 concerts in its two seasons, all of which were filmed. Each concert video is uploaded with its accompanying program notes on Friday and remains available to watch at any time for the full week. At that point, it’s replaced with the next concert on the docket. Viewers can look forward to collaborative performances including team-ups with photographer Natalia Sun, poet Laura Van Prooyen and sculptor Danville Chadbourne. Concerts can be streamed at agarita.org/media — new performances will be uploaded March 27 and April 3.
Gurwitz International Piano Competition
Earlier this year, Chinese pianist Jiale Li was crowned Gold Medalist and awarded $25,000 at the newly renamed Gurwitz International Piano Competition. At the time, the first three rounds — two of solo repertoire and a special third in which the three finalists were joined by members of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble for a chamber music performance — were livestreamed for people to enjoy. As it turns out, competition organizers Musical Bridges Around the World saved those recordings and will rebroadcast them from March 30 through April 3 on the Musical Bridges and Gurwitz websites and on Facebook. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4-7 p.m. Monday, March 30-Wednesday, April 1, 7-9 p.m. Friday, April 3, thegurwitz.org.
How to get your eyes on new art online
First Friday and Second Saturday won’t be happening for the foreseeable future, but thankfully, we can still inundate ourselves with new art. We’ve rounded up a few ways to celebrate contemporary art in San Antonio from the comfort of our couches. San Antonio-based art publication Unfiltered SA has launched an online gallery to showcase local exhibitions. Offerings include Rachel Comminos’ “Connection/True Affection,” Fernando Andrade’s “Transition: Line and Color” and Mira Hnatyshyn’s “Every Girl Wants to be Queen.” unfilteredsa.com. Ruiz-Healy Art is hosting an online-only exhibition opening for “More Than Words: Text Based Artworks II” that will go live on its website, Artsy, Instagram and Facebook on Wednesday, March 25. The exhibition features work by San Antonio luminaries including Ethel Shipton, Nate Cassie and the late Katie Pell. ruizhealyart.com. Blue Star Contemporary’s Open Studios video series lets us hear directly from the artists themselves. The nine entries in the series feature local artists featured in exhibitions at Blue Star Contemporary, including Joey Fauerso, Chris Sauter, Jenelle Esparza and Leigh Anne Lester. bluestarcontemporary.org. Texas-centric art publication Glasstire has launched a “Five-Minute Tours” video series in which galleries across the state provide virtual walk-throughs of the exhibitions on display. glasstire.com. — KMN
BY TREVOR FLYNN T here’s never been a better time to plug into free content. If cabin fever has you doing some impromptu remodeling or long-put-off yard work, podcasts make perfect companions. These local RSS feeds let us listen in on diverse San Antonians who at least sound like they’re all in the same room.
All My Hexes
All My Hexes is an actual-play tabletop gaming podcast that makes out-of-this-world horror feel very close to home — even eerily quaint at times. Listeners can join four quirky investigators as they role-play their way through weird happenings in the fictional oil-boom town of Hext, Texas — “the kind of town where you can blink and miss it if you’re driving down the highway.” Game master and writer Bernetta McFergus has been professionally running RPGs in San Antonio for years, but the idea for Hext came from her experience ghost hunting throughout South Texas. By using the Monster of the Week ruleset — which involves much fewer dice rolls than Dungeons & Dragons — the show feels less like a game and more like an improvised radio play. Right now, the Hext gang is releasing bonus weekly episodes of a previously Patreon-exclusive storyline while they get a virtual table set-up for their next adventure. New episodes drop Wednesdays and are available at Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher and other podcatchers. allmyhexes.simplecast. com.
Comedia A Go-Go Presents Public Axis
You know those twisted conversations you have with only your closest friends that end up being really funny in a way that can never see the light of day? Comedia A Go-Go members Larry Garza, Jess Castro and Regan Arevalos have done something like that every third Friday of the month in front of a live audience at Blind Tiger Comedy Club and recorded it. The result is Public Axis, a roundtable discussion podcast featuring guest comedians, filmmakers and various artists spinning out unfiltered thoughts on nerdtastic subjects in pop culture, video games, science news and nostalgia. Naturally, new recordings aren’t happening right now, but CAGG has yet to release a handful of their latest shows. The casts are available at Apple Podcasts, Stitcher and other major podcatchers, with new episodes exclusively at oneofus.net. The Problem Attic
It stands to reason that interesting people have interesting problems. That’s the premise of comedian Zach Dickson’s recently launched The Problem Attic, which he calls “the worst advice podcast ever.” At some point in each episode, Dickson asks his guests — mostly Texan comedians and other entertainment personalities — what’s wrong with them, which inevitably leads to copious tangents and first-hand accounts of bad decisions. Are lessons learned? Maybe. But as Dickson says: “It’s the problem attic, not an answer cellar.” Dickson has been releasing two episodes a week since February 5 and shows no signs of slowing, so this pod should make for perfect binging. No set release schedule. Available at Apple Podcasts, YouTube,
All My Hexes
Spotify, Stitcher and other major podcatchers.
Willful Ignorance Podcast
If you’ve ever wanted insight into the world of stand-up, the Willful Ignorance Podcast lets you sink into a virtual couch and chill with some of the funniest people in Texas. Joshua Cabaza and George Anthony’s wide range of guest comic offer insights into the funny biz, and the two have worked together to bring even more laughs to the Lone Star State. Their video sketch collabs led them to found a recurring film competition Battle of the Sketches, in which they pit entries against each other in a live “Battle Royale” tour of U.S. cities, including a final round sponsored by Alamo Drafthouse in Austin. Their YouTube channel FMCW Studios also showcases a plethora of sketch comedy, including animated web series Blair and the Bear. New episodes on Thursdays. Available at Apple Podcasts, YouTube, SoundCloud and other major podcatchers.
calendar
Talk It Out Local lecture series to binge on the web
BY BRIANNA ESPINOZA
Stuck inside with nothing to do, but have the attention span of a dog chasing squirrels? You can conquer cabin fever by watching previously recorded lectures and storytelling series that shine the light on San Antonio speakers. Usually ongoing throughout the year, these lecture and storytelling series promote creativity, positivity and perseverance in oral form. With vivid imagery, funny anecdotes and occasionally explicit language, these speakers crush the mold of boring school-like lectures — all under the span of 30 minutes. For each iteration of Texas Public Radio’s Worth Repeating, seven storytellers share a true story from their lives on a central theme — but the kicker is, they have to tell it in seven minutes. From James Baker’s slithery snake tale to Crystal Henry’s cozy childhood memories of the calm following all those Texas thunderstorms, Worth Repeating’s speakers offer unique and interesting perspectives that will make the minutes fly by. tpr.org/programs/ worth-repeating. Another speaking staple in Countdown City is PechaKucha San Antonio, which twists the storytelling method into a sort of “show and tell” experience through a show of 20 slides — each of which the speaker can comment on for only 20 seconds. Previous San Antonio installments of this series have included Texas Poet Laureate Carmen Tafolla, planetary astrophysicist Natalie Hinkel and, most recently, artist Nicholas Frank. pechakucha.com/cities/ san-antonio.
Falling down the life lesson rabbit hole wouldn’t be complete without the big kahuna of lecture series: TED Talks. Luckily, we have a TEDx offshoot right here in the Alamo City. At TEDxSanAntonio events, local figures discuss ideas and issues and create a space for dialogue within the community. TEDxSA’s past roster highlights thought-provoking presentations from a diverse array of people, from researchers and CEOs to artists and dancers. tedxsanantonio.com.
GAME ON!
Board and video games from San Antonio makers
Public health experts and city officials are warning everyone to limit person-to-person contact as much as possible to slow the rate of COVID-19’s relentless spread. But all that time alone doesn’t need to be so lonely.
Online services such as Discord and Google Hangouts offer free and easy ways to make voice calls and enjoy some face-to-face screentime with friends and family without leaving the house, so quarantine is the perfect time to stay in and enjoy some homegrown San Antone games.
Yanaguana Games is an independent developer based in San Antonio whose games are available for PC and Mac alike. Players need only purchase Tabletop Simulator — a $20 videogame that serves as a platform for virtual boardgame experiences — from the Steam app, then take their pick of Yanaguana’s two free offerings. store.steampowered.com. Stir-Fry 18 is a simple but endlessly replayable card game in which players compete to cook the most delicious stir-fry bowls from a slim deck of — you guessed it — 18 cards. With elements of deception, risk-taking and BS-calling, games of Stir-Fry 18 are fast and fun. This game is also free to play on the website Boardgame Arena — located at en.boardgamearena.com — but beware: servers are frequently overloaded, perhaps due to other quarantined gamers. yanaguanagames. com/stir-fry-18-gallery. Folks looking for a little more depth and strategy in their games might enjoy Re-Chord, Yanaguana’s Euro-style game that pits players
Daniel Horne - The Tomb of Black Sand
against one another in a race to earn fame and become a star. Genre cards are dealt to each player, who take turns laying picks on the fret of a guitar to play chords and write songs to earn that sweet, sweet clout. yanaguanagames. com/rechord.
Physical copies of Yanaguana’s games are available for purchase on its online store, though we can’t in good conscience recommend that you convene friends or family for an in-person game in the near future. Still, if you have the dosh, consider buying them now so you can play them once social distancing becomes a thing of the past.
If you’re more of a role-player, consider starting a campaign written by San Antonio tabletop developer Swordfish Islands. Their adventure scenarios, most notably The Tomb of Black Sand and The Dark of Hot Springs Island, feature beautiful art and prose fit for any dungeon-crawler.
Digital copies of their books are available for $15 or less online and are perfectly playable for groups with a screen-sharing gamemaster. The campaigns are system-neutral, so folks accustomed to any Dungeons & Dragons rulebook or other systems such as Basic Role-Playing or Pathfinder. shop.swordfishislands.com/ digital.
For single-player videogaming, don’t forget about San Antonio’s indie developers. A hefty fee of exactly zero dollars will net you the freely downloadable Heroes Must Die, Heroic Games’ campy homage to both the 16-bit era of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis and the grid-based battle systems reminiscent of Final Fantasy Tactics and Fire Emblem. steam. store.steampowered.com. For something more action-oriented, try Hebi Studios’ RageBall, a fast and frenetic Pong-like game available for PC gamers on Steam for $10. store.steampowered.com. — Daniel Conrad
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Creepily Beautiful Artist Audrya Flores spins rasquache magic from serpents, skulls and ghosts of bedsheets past
BY BRYAN RINDFUSS L ike many San Antonio creatives, self-taught artist Audrya Flores believes strongly in rasquache — a DIY practice rooted in repurposing whatever materials might be at hand. “I believe in using what you have right at your fingertips to make what you want to see,” Flores explained. A self-described “nature nerd” raised in a family of storytellers, Flores often turns to organic materials — cactus pads, lava rocks, marble chips and coffee beans among them — when creating artwork that puts an almost mythological spin on her own life experiences.
Born in Brownsville, Flores moved to San Antonio as a child when her father was hired to help build SeaWorld.
“We fell in love with it instantly and stayed,” she remembers. After graduating from Holmes High School and earning an education degree from UTSA, Flores spent more than a decade teaching elementary school at a small charter school. Although she’d always drawn casually, Flores didn’t begin to take art seriously until her son was born eight years ago. During an admittedly hard time, she began to use art as a form of therapy to address personal struggles. Her early work resonated with the since-disbanded Chicana art collective Más Rudas, which curated her into the inaugural exhibition at Sarah Castillo’s Lady Base Gallery in 2013.
Since that pivotal moment — with materialized in a self-portrait painted on collaged brown paper bags — Flores has exhibited her work at galleries throughout San Antonio, Austin’s Mexic-Arte Museum and the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. Standing out among the highlights are a snaking installation created for the group show “XicanX: New Visions” at Centro de Artes, a well-received solo show at Central Library last summer and “Angel Baby,” a haunting collaboration with fellow Rio Grande Valley transplant Lisette Chavez that put a feminist spin on the local urban legend of the Dancing Devil. In the midst of self-isolation, Flores chatted with us via phone about her bordertown roots, her fascination with serpents and projects she has on the horizon.
What was it like growing up in Brownsville? I was only there until I was five, but I have really fond memories of it. I think being really close to the ocean shaped a lot of who I am. A lot of our family stories are linked to the power of the ocean — I come from a family of fishermen. We understood that where we were living wasn’t just a border between two countries, but we also met with the ocean. So, we understood that it was this powerful, maybe magical place, but a little scary too. I think we were in awe of where we lived. We were raised to have respect for the magic that was there. We knew that it was a sacred place.
When did know you wanted to pursue art? I’ve always done drawings, little comics. I’ve always told stories. That’s a big thing in my family … but it didn’t become something serious for me until after I had my son. I had a really hard time — which I think is pretty normal for a lot of women. I felt like I had lost my identity … I couldn’t recognize myself anymore in a lot of ways. Not my body, my brain. You know, you totally reorganize your life to support this child, to keep this baby alive. It’s a huge responsibility and I felt lost in that process. [That’s] not to say I wasn’t super happy and super in love with my child. All of that was amazing. But I felt really lost, so art became this very serious tool for me to look back in and pull out who I was.
What can you share about your first exhibitions in San Antonio? My first exhibition was in 2013, not long after I had my son. That was through Lady Base Gallery and it was curated by Más Rudas. … They were huge supporters of my work, and they kind of forced me into that [laughs]. I was super uncomfortable, but that was a catalyst for me. I felt like making the work and showing it and talking about it was really grueling. It was like torture [laughs] but then afterwards, when I was able to speak with people, [they] responded to the work. The work I made for the show was about being a mom who had a rough time having her baby and recovering. It was amazing connecting with people that [the work] resonated with. I was able to heal a little bit through that and [I realized] this is important: I need to keep pursuing this. [After that] Más Rudas curated me into Mexic-Arte Museum’s Young Latinx Artists (YLA) show in 2014. It was the 19th [edition], and it was all Latina artists. It was my first real museum setting, and there was a catalog and all of that. So that
What did you contribute to the YLA show? Two self-portraits. They were paintings, but they were on a collage of these upcycled pieces of cardboard. The paintings had fabric coming out of them that went down onto the floor. I had family stories written on [the fabric] reflecting my ties to my family and where I’m from — crazy, weird anecdotes from my childhood, scary stories, funny stories, problematic stories that my family told that helped shape my identity growing up.
How do you source the materials for your assemblages? Are they recycled or do you hunt them down? Both. I believe in using what you have right at your fingertips to make what you want to see. I believe in not spending money, or a lot of money, if you can make it work in some other way. That’s huge for me — very rasquache. But I’m also a huge nature nerd, so a lot of the organic materials that I use, I don’t just pick them because they look beautiful. Well, I think they’re beautiful — they can stand on their own. A cactus pad, for example, is gorgeous on its own, but I try to really think about that plant’s role in nature and its characteristics and what it symbolizes if I’m using it in my work. … A lot of my paintings I do on sheets, like vintage bed linens, because I think there’s power in something that’s had a life before. They’re like ghosts in a way. They have their own residual energy that is very powerful. I like to weave that into telling my own stories.
Are those from thrift stores or from your family? Both. I’m from a long line of hoarders [laughs]. It’s horrible. And there are a lot of fiber artists in my family, like quilt-makers. So, we don’t part with fabric. But I do go hunting — I’m an avid, avid thrifter.
In your artist’s statement, you men- tion trauma, anxiety and healing as key concepts. How have those themes influenced your work? I see my work as documentation of the work I’ve done emotionally. … Since becoming a mom, I’ve really wanted to get my shit together and be a person who was trying to continually grow, and that’s hard to do when you have a lot of unresolved trauma, when you have a lot of things that you refuse to look at. So, I’ve been on this crazy, healing, inward journey. I’ve done a lot of therapy and a lot of work on myself. A lot of work in the dreamworld, a lot of work with healers, a lot of work through meditation, and guided imagery and hypnotherapy … to resolve those issues and help me grow, so I can be the best mom that I can be — but also for myself. So, [in] my artwork, I try to document that. I try to tell those stories of those journeys and those wounds being healed with symbols — animals and plants. It’s my way to share what I’ve been through.
What do serpents mean to you? And is there a message behind the human skulls you place on them? The serpent is such a complicated symbol. … It can have a lot of negative connotations, and I think it strikes fear in all of us, even if we’re fond of serpents. To me, it’s a very feminine symbol. It’s something that is constantly shedding and changing as it grows. … When I think about a snake shedding, I think about it rubbing itself against rocks and trying to rid itself of [its skin]. It’s a very traumatic thing that they go through, but that’s the only way to get into this new, beautiful, shiny form — the only way to move forward. And [with] the women in my life, myself, I’ve seen that. To survive that trauma and shed that skin and … get through these obstacles in order to move forward. I also think the serpent symbolizes life and death. … I think that’s really beautiful. … The life and the death, the light and the dark: that’s all part of this perfection that’s nature. For this particular body of work, I placed the skull on the serpent because I wanted people to really see themselves in it. [It’s] to remind us of our own mortality, but I also wanted it to look fearsome. The serpent in all the self-portraits I did [for the Central Library show] answered my cry and it came to me to devour my trauma, to devour my pain, and to devour me. And then I go on to become a newer, shinier, smoother form of myself. I just thought, if I was to call on something, and beg of something to help me devour my trauma — which is this huge monster — I needed something fierce and fearsome, something scary and slightly disturbing and creepily beautiful [laughs].
And you’re also fascinated by the occult. Have you always been? Oh, yes. Growing up in the Valley, it’s nonstop scary stories [laughs] — spooky this, and devil this and witch this. And I’ve always been terrified. I’m a huge chicken. I’m afraid of everything, but I’m also extremely drawn to it. I find it exhilarating. So, anything dark, anything that goes against my Catholic upbringing [laughs], anything that’s creepy, spooky, scary, yes.
Do you and Lisette Chavez watch scary movies together? [Laughs] We connect in so many ways. I cannot wait to see her solo show. It’s gonna be so good. She’s such a creepy girl, and I love her so much. Yeah, we’ve seen scary movies together, definitely.
What’s next for you and your work? In the next month or so, I’m finishing up a painting for a show [organized by] the city. It’s scheduled for June 18 at Culture Commons Gallery at Plaza de Armas, and it’s called “The Status of Women in San Antonio.” There was a report commissioned by the City of San Antonio in 2019 on the status of women in San Antonio, and there were all these dimensions that were analyzed. They asked us to pick one of the dimensions, [and] my painting will be focused on domestic violence. Later in the year, for Second Saturday in October, I’m doing a strange dollhouse installation at Studio Fantomas, which I’m super excited about.
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Reading in the Time of COVID-19 Eight books to kick the coronavirus in its stupid dick
BY MAX BOOTH A ssuming you aren’t an absolute idiot, you’re staying home right now as much as possible.
Many of us are now unemployed and completely quarantined, while others still have jobs but are going home right after clocking out. If you’re still partying in large gatherings somehow, frankly I’m surprised you figured out how to open this newspaper.
But in all seriousness, stay the fuck home, folks. And while you’re looking to stay entertained there, open a book. Remember books? Books make our lives better, keep us entertained and you should read them.
To help you while away the time, here’s a list of fun things to read during these most disastrous of times. We could have compiled a list of depressing pandemic books, but what’s the point of reading something we’re already living? No thank you. Let’s do something a little bit different.
A People’s Future of the United States Edited by John Joseph Adams and Victor LaValle This anthology brings together 25 stories from some of the best writers working in science fiction — Tananarive Due, Hugh Howey, N. K. Jemisin and others. When compiling the book, editors asked contributors for “narratives that would challenge oppressive American myths, release us from the chokehold of our history, and give us new futures to believe in.” They also asked that the stories be badass. Do they deliver? Hell, yeah, they do. This entire anthology is a book full of hope and perfect for our current struggles.
Her Body and Other Parties By Carmen Maria Machado Look, the more time you spend at home, the quicker you’re going to get bored. Unless you start shaking things up and experimenting around the house. Make forts. Do a scavenger hunt. Glue your furniture to the ceiling. What does that have to do with Carmen Maria Machado’s short-story collection? Because almost every one is told in a highly enjoyable experimental narrative. Her book will teach you there’s no one simple rule for writing a story, just like there’s no one simple rule for passing time.
Invasion of the Weirdos By Andrew Hilbert Surely, you’re going to miss embracing the Texas “scene” being stuck in your home so long. Why not give Hilbert’s novel a shot? It’s pretty much the perfect novel to introduce outsiders to our wild and wondrous state. It’s hilarious, strange and oddly optimistic. Plus, Hilbert works as a Texas bartender, and we should already know at this point how those in the bar and restaurant industries are getting screwed over right now. A little transparency here: I actually published this book through my small press, Perpetual Motion Machine Publishing. That said, by picking this novel up you’re not only supporting a Texas author but also a Texas small publishing company. Imagine how much bragging you could do on Facebook after buying Invasion of the Weirdos.
Savage Season By Joe R. Lansdale This may qualify as cheating, because if you read Savage Season, you’ll be left with no choice but to pick up every other title in Lansdale’s Hap & Leonard East Texas-set crime series. But listen, it’s hard to imagine having any more fun with a page-turning read than these books. Plus, like Andrew Hilbert, Joe Lansdale is a Texan. Support your local authors, folks, they’re gonna need it.
The Brief History of the Dead By Kevin Brockmeier For those who love fantasy novels, look no further than The Brief History of the Dead. This one is, well, a bit more depressing than some of the other recommendations on this list, but in some ways, it’s equally optimistic. It deals with the afterlife and the concept of memories, and you know what? These are subjects we’re all thinking heavily about as we ride out this pandemic.
Against the Fascist Creep By Alexander Reid Ross Given our current political situation, why would we be recommending this book right now? Any idea? Any at all?
MHer Body And Other Parties & Uptight Women Wanted are recommended reads.
Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey Just because San Antonio libraries were closed at press time doesn’t mean you can’t read about badass librarians. Particularly, badass queer librarians trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic Wild West. This is escapist fiction at its finest. And it’s pure, wonderful entertainment we cannot recommend strongly enough.
Texas Gardening Almanac By Doug Welsh We’re likely heading into dark times, friendos. A recession seems inevitable, as does a prolonged recovery from this crisis. Things are going to get much worse before they better. It’s time to take an interest in growing your own produce. Not only will it help you save a buck in the long run, but it will benefit your community should things take an even more de pressing route. Also recommended: The New Victory Garden by James Underwood-Crockett.
