Art community copes with virus challenges
Hot Springs’ famed art community has felt the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, both in terms of sales and foot traffic.
Over the last month, the galleries that line the streets of downtown Central Avenue have been closed to the public and the economic downturn forced by the coronavirus has made it difficult for many of the local artists to sell their work.
One of the artists who has felt the impact is freelance watercolorist Richard Stephens, whose works are featured in collections across the country. Stephens is usually busy this time of year teaching workshops across the United States.
“I teach and have been for the last 20 years, teaching watercolor workshops all over the country,” Stephens said, but all of his scheduled workshops through July have been canceled.
Stephens also had several commissions lined up, but the customers ended up not purchasing the artwork. Even so, Stephens said the customers did not “totally renege on me.”
“They said ‘It’s not a good time,’” Stephens said. “I understand that.”
To make up for the loss of income, Stephens said he is creating new art pieces he hopes will be more likely to sell.
“I’m producing work I think the general public will be interested in. I’ve had some sales. Whether that continues
for months is the question,” he said.
Painting, he said, is also still fun for him. “When I’m in there, painting, I don’t think about anything else. It really is a relaxation and escape for a while.” He noted the nastiness of the pandemic isn’t affecting his work and he has avoided painting morbid “to this point.”
To market his artwork, Stephens said has been posting on Facebook, which is something he has always done. The posts show the works at various stages; lately, Stephens has posted an exercise he calls “Intuitive Painting.” He said he also hopes seeing art on social media helps others.
“I hope it does cheer people up,” he said. One local artist who says that he isn’t being affected as badly as others during the pandemic is Gary Simmons.
“I’m in a fortunate position,” Simmons said, noting he retired in 2013, so he doesn’t have to rely on selling artwork. He said he has so many friends who are in worse shape than he is, including Stephens.
“He’s definitely impacted,” Simmons said about Stephens, who collaborated with him on a well-received show at the Hot Springs Convention Center last fall, “PEN AND PAINT: The Art of Gary Simmons and Richard Stephens.” Just as Stephens is known for his distinctive watercolor style, Simmons is known for working in pen and ink.
Simmons has continued to create art, though. “Selling some, but mostly not,” he said. “It’s pretty slow.”
Artist Longhua Xu, whose works include the “Mother Nature” sculpture in the center of downtown Hot Springs, says he has also continued to create artwork.
“For artists, we always stay busy,” Xu said. Xu is both a painter and a sculptor. He said that right now he is unable to get the material needed to sculpt, noting, “I do more painting instead of sculpting” in the last month.
His recent art isn’t selling, though. “People right now — they have no money,” he said, noting what money people have right now needs to be spent on food.
Xu said he wishes more people were taking the pandemic more seriously. “I don’t get it. We don’t need another round” of COVID-19, he said.
One artist who has not kept busy creating artwork is Dolores Justus, owner of Justus Fine Art Gallery, who said keeping the gallery going has taken a lot of her time. For example, she “applied for some grants,” and “quarterly reports still have to be done.”
“I’d love to say I’ve been painting the whole time, but that hasn’t happened,” Justus said, adding that she hopes to be able to find time to paint again soon.
While her gallery has been closed, Justus said she has had a few people come in by appointment. “It has definitely been slower,” she said. “But gallery owning has not been a steady business anyway. Normally spring is a good time” but the galleries “missed that window, but that can’t be helped. We just have to do the best we can.”
Another gallery owner affected by the coronavirus is Laura Scott, owner of Gallery Central.
Scott had owned Gallery Central for four years, and had worked at the gallery for about six years before that. When the building the gallery was located in went up for sale last year, “I thought I’d just close” on Dec. 31, she said.
When she closed the original location, Scott said she was contacted about a location at The Waters hotel that was “just a perfect opportunity.”
For the next two weeks after closing the old location, Scott said she worked on getting the new store ready. After the new location opened, the COVID-19 pandemic crisis occurred.
“I had been open for three weeks, everything was just great,” she said, noting she “loves the new location.”
“You just had to close doors and do what the smart thing is. It’s a huge impact on everybody,” she said.
Scott closed the doors to her new business, but she reopened on March 15. Like Justus, she has continued to find ways to sell to customers. She said she has had “probably six to eight” customers that have scheduled times to meet at the store. “Not a lot,” she said.
While Scott said trying to open a business during a pandemic is “not good timing,” she noted moving locations has helped. The new location is smaller, meaning it is cheaper to run. She said she now only has around seven artists in her shop instead of the 40 artists at the old location. “It was very expensive,” Scott said of the old location.
Scott has decided to reopen her doors. After a test this week of opening on Friday and Saturday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., she said that she plans to go back to her normal hours in the near future.
“See how that goes,” Scott said.