Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Galina Marcus. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Galina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Being an aspiring artist in the pandemic time was challenging because I felt very isolated. I was desperate to communicate with like-minded people but the galleries were closed, shows and art fairs were canceled, and online workshops seemed too impersonal. I needed an excuse to reach out to artists I admired without sounding lame or desperate. So I thought, hm, what if I create a blog and interview them? This sounds like a win-win situation.

This is how the “In The Art Scene” project was born.

First I started with written interviews. I would send a list of questions to an artist and then publish their responses as an article on my website. Very quickly I realized that these articles were too dry and too generic. I wanted to get to know the artists, and hear juicy details of their journeys – mostly because I wanted to feel that I could relate to them. I knew it had to be a one-on-one interview which sounded time-consuming.

I came up with a “brilliant” idea of recording my conversations and then running them through an AI transcription program. But after two or three of those I realized that it was even more time-consuming because transcription included all the imperfections of natural speech and sometimes mixed up words if it couldn’t “hear” clearly or it spliced the whole sentences together if it couldn’t distinguish my voice from my guest’s voice. An hour-long conversation would produce about 25 pages of such a transcript! That was way too much than I could handle on a regular basis.

The podcast was born, frankly speaking, out of despair. I had a recording of a wonderful conversation that I just couldn’t bring myself to transcribe and edit. I sat on it for a couple of months until I decided to ask the artist I interviewed if it would be okay to post an audio, and she said yes. It became the very first podcast interview.

Eight seasons later, I can call myself a seasoned interviewer, haha :) This show has become a huge source of inspiration and professional networking for me. I keep producing it at my own expense in hopes that my guests and listeners get as much out of it as I do. I always welcome artists to promote their projects, I like to highlight art non-profits, and I actually made some introductions that led to interesting creative collaborations! It makes me happy because this is the kind of influence I’d like to have on people.

Galina, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

For most of my work life, I was climbing a corporate ladder as a marketing executive. And I still do marketing consulting for a select number of clients but if you encounter me at a networking event I will introduce myself as an artist and a podcast producer. Being creative since early childhood, I have gone through hundreds of artistic hobbies and would always come back to drawing and painting. In 2018, I finally gave in to my calling, joined the San Dieguito Art Guild, and started showing my art regularly in group shows.

Before the pandemic, I managed to earn quite a few ribbons, made a number of friends in the local art scene, and even began teaching art to kids and adults. And then the world shut down. As I mentioned earlier, the In The Art Scene podcast became my pandemic project (seriously, I’m terrible with sourdough, haha!) I kept painting through the pandemic but was still struggling to find my own voice. I used to joke that my biggest body of work is 3 1/2 paintings because I would start with a great idea but after the third painting in the series I would become bored and switch to something else.

In 2022, I had my first and long-awaited baby. I was proud of myself for creating a system that allowed me not to skip a bit with the podcast during the first weeks of motherhood. But my art practice took a serious hit! My brain and body were a mess! Although I had plenty of creative ideas I was so exhausted and so confused that I couldn’t bring myself to painting. I made a few futile attempts and then had to give up for a while. I was grateful for still having my podcast and a group of artists to talk to on a regular basis to keep me sain and connected to the art world.

Later in the year, I joined a wonderful class by a local artist Marina Anta that gave me that much-needed creative boost. Now I’m working on the series I call ‘Creating Memories’ which includes portraits of my son and commissions for other people’s babies/family portraits. I love the process of cherishing special moments through the act of painting and I also love working in the new loose style that I experimented with in Marina’s class.

The number of works from this series will be on Display at the North Coastal Art Gallery in Carlsbad Village in October-November this year.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

This is the ultimate ‘working mom’ story. When you are on a roll with reinventing yourself or starting a new business, or when you are knee-deep in a project that’s getting more traction every day, it’s hard to wrap your head around the fact that your life is going to change in just a few weeks with a new baby.

I was on Season 3 of In The Art Scene podcast when my son was born. I knew that I had to do a lot of work in advance to make sure that the show didn’t skip a bit while I was healing and getting used to a new reality. I produced the entire Season 4 and scheduled it ahead of time, so I could spend those 10 weeks with my family without worrying about the podcast.

The funny things were happening during the recording of that season though. Pregnancy brain is a real thing! I would forget my questions and even the names of my guests in the middle of the conversation! I’m so grateful for all my guests who were super supportive and understanding! There was a lot of ‘dead air’ and double takes that needed to be cut out. Luckily, I have a wonderful editor who was very patient with me during that time.

In the end, it all worked out pretty well, and the following season was back on a normal schedule.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

I love seeing how many people are engaging in creative activities these days! It warms my heart when people take printmaking classes, go to sip-n-paint events, or get involved in a community art project. All those things are made possible by creative professionals who ideate, organize, and run those classes and projects to make them accessible to as many people as possible. I think it’s in the heart of every artist to share their art with others.

I also think that for the rest of us, art and art activities have become sort of a commodity. We demand original artwork to be inexpensive and we want artists to volunteer at workshops and community projects. In my opinion, this in part perpetuates the ‘starving artist’ situation. It pushes artists to make a living elsewhere, so they can continue sharing their art at a level that is economically desirable for people.

We have to allow artists to think of their practice as a job or a business and support them the same as we support local mom-and-pop shops in order to create a thriving culture. We need to create more economic opportunities for artists, so they don’t have to get a second job to support themselves. Creatives drive the culture in every society, and I think this work is important enough to be compensated at above minimum wage and supported by resources and conditions every working person deserves.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://intheartscene.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/in_the_art_scene/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/in.the.art.scene
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/69166901
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@intheartscene
• Other: https://www.patreon.com/intheartscene

Image Credits
Gala Semenova, Ingrid Hoffmeister, Cybele Rowe, Sarah Stieber, Ann Golumbuk