COVER STORY .

The Secret Lives of Artists

Eight local artists tell us how they pay the bills.


	print	email	reply	rss feed

Published: Aug 19, 2009

Neal Santos

The concept of the starving artist — those gaunt geniuses who forgo the 9-to-5 and spend all of their time, energy and meager funds on their work — is a cliché. It's also bullshit.

You may be fully aware of artists public personae you may have even read about them in these very pages but the fact of the matter is, these folks have their own daily grinds to contend with to keep the fridge stocked, the electric bills paid and roofs over their heads (that goes double for sculptor Rika Hawes, who lives in the Strawberry Mansion).

The following profiles peek behind the curtain, revealing how artists' day jobs affect their work and vice versa. More specifically, they reveal how eight local artists make enough dough to get up in the morning and create paint, make music or simply entertain us.

Check out our artists and their secret lives here:

Anna Frangiosa
Burlesque dancer / Stripper

Kevin Glaccum
Producing artistic director / Bartender / Standardized patient

Bobby Zankel
Jazz musician / Music teacher at the State Correctional Institution at Chester

Dave Smolen
Experimental musician / Projectionist at Ritz at the Bourse

Carolynne McNeel
Musician, jewelry designer, Mew Gallery co-owner / Art teacher, bartender

Bruce Walsh
Playwright / Freelance journalist

Kamilu Alebiosu
Painter / Parking lot attendant

Rika Hawes
Sculptor / Community college professor, house-sitter at Strawberry Mansion

(molly.eichel@citypaper.net)