Shelter in Place artist spotlight @ Tenderloin Museum
Tenderloin Museum offers outlet to quarantined artists with virtual group show
By Carrie Sisto
Closed to the public by the shelter-in-place order, the Tenderloin Museum has had to forestall art shows and art-centric fundraisers for the foreseeable future.
But while artists and their supporters may not be able to hobnob at an opening, the museum is using the COVID-19 crisis to open some new doors for spotlighting artwork online.
“I was hearing from many artists how important it was for them to both make and share new work right now," said museum director Katie Conry.
In response, the museum has launched "Shelter in Place," an Instagram gallery that spotlights a new artist every weekday.
The gallery features a variety of disciplines, including video art, dance, music, poetry, photography, illustration, and linocuts. Each post includes links to support the artists individually, as well as to purchase a Tenderloin Museum membership that will offer 18 months of access to the museum's events and shows after the shelter-in-place is lifted.
The Tenderloin Museum's Eddy Street location is closed, but new content is posted on its social media sites daily | Photo: Carrie Sisto/Hoodline
Many of the artists have exhibited work at the Tenderloin Museum in the past, and are part of its “creative community,” Conry said. "The idea for the show really came from the artists themselves."
Singer/songwriter Sarah Wilson, one of the featured artists, was already working on a project with the Tenderloin Museum to collect and present written work from Larkin Street Youth Services' clients.
The digital exhibition was “a natural segue to work with Katie to submit some informal music videos I’ve been posting… to cope with the pandemic,” said Wilson, who's lost much of her income from music-making and museum exhibition development.
Posted on April 7, Wilson's featured video is a cover of Stephen Foster’s song "Hard Times Come Again No More," which centers on considering the needs of the less fortunate.
“As soon as I started singing it during [shelter-in-place], I started crying at the lyrics," Wilson said. "I felt so strongly that I wanted to be singing this song."
