Sorry, We’re Closed: Local photographer documents closed signs in Rhode Island Student Perspective: One high school student’s view of the coronavirus Right now the only thing on anyone’s mind is the newest strain of coronavirus. How it’s affecting our community, economy and other nations around the world has taken over every news station and permeated every home. While schools have been canceled, some businesses close, films and television have been put on hiatus and quarantines are being instated; it’s a lot to take in. Maybe the way the media and internet has framed the pandemic is also part of the problem, undermining the mostly high survival rate, favoring to talk about how contagious the virus is. Being a senior in high school puts my peers and me in between two groups: the adults, and the young kids. While we aren’t fully fledged members of the community, still finishing up our secondary education, we are being affected on a different level than younger students. They are also out on a vacation of sorts and will eventually have to take online courses like us, but taking into context all the things the Class of 2020 could be missing that most senior classes have brings it into a different perspective. Not only are our regular studies being affected, but things from senior projects (or senior experience depending on what you do and where you go to school), proms, athletics, clubs and maybe even walking the stage at graduation are being straight up canceled or put into question. Many have made the parallel that the 2020 class was the first group of kids born in the wake of September 11th, and are now exiting our childhoods in the midst of a pandemic. The senior class that was affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 had a similar experience, having much of their school year and the experience of being in the 12th grade taken away. While being home is admittedly fun — getting to relax, catch up on movies or shows, and sleep in is refreshing — most of us feel like we are going to be robbed of our proper send off from high school. Not to mention the quarantine has put a damper on social gatherings and outside interactions, but there are still some people who could care less about that and are still going out in large groups and treating this as a normal vacation (which is obviously a problem). The one hope we have to maybe get back some of the things that have already been canceled, is to just sit by, take the quarantine as a chance to cool down, look out for other members of our community, and to take our hygiene seriously. While things will eventually go back to normal and this all will calm down, there are still a lot of challenges to face. Besides staying inside and keeping clean, schools are working out the kinks of an online curriculum and parents are scrambling to keep their young children calm while also making sure there are enough supplies available and precautions taken. The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t the end of the world, but it obviously is not something to be taken lightly either. We just have to stick it out and keep our hands clean. Jacob Iacobucci is a student at Bishop Hendricken High School, Class of 2020 Pet portraitist Scott Groome on weathering the coronavirus Scott Groome is a local Rhode Island artist. Originally from Woonsocket, Groome got his start at The Stadium Theatre as a set painter and scenic artist. After two years of gaining experience there, Groome applied for a position as a scenic artist in television and film. After working on a 20th Century Fox movie and a TV show for AMC TV, Groome decided that his passion lay with experimenting with color inside his studio and connecting through art with the people around him. He currently owns his own business and makes his living by painting pet portraits. Unfortunately, the recent coronavirus scare has impacted Groome, like many artists, in a very negative way. Groome, who depends on income from his business to support his family, is suffering the repercussions of the current social and economic climate. He has graciously agreed to speak with Motif about his art and how it has been recently impacted. Amanda Grafe (Motif): Before I address how the coronavirus has affected you and your family, I would like to get to know a little bit more about you as an artist. When did you first discover you had a passion for art? Scott Groome: Art has always been my way of expressing myself since I was young. I started with drawing characters at my grandparent’s to drawing graffiti in my sketchbook in my room. I was also raised in a musically talented family, which led to me playing music and studying what made the legends so great. I was inspired by landscape design and architecture as a teenager and had a knack for design from my parents, as they are very creative. I was accepted to some very good art colleges in California but wasn’t able to get the financial aid to go to school, so instead I left home at 18 and moved to Florida. I started bartending, which led to my passion for food and serving people. I lived there for three years, then moved back to RI. I decided what I wanted to do in life was to be with people and share my skills. I bought an RV and sat in there drawing portraits for people. It wasn’t until my boss at The Burrito Company restaurant in Woonsocket, RI, commissioned me to paint a fine art nude for the restaurant, that I was challenged for the first time to pick up a paint brush. The rest is history. That painting revealed to me my purpose, and I knew that I could make a living if I treated it like a business and “went to work painting.” AG: Do you have any formal training in art or is it just something that comes naturally? SG: While I did take a very short class in LA for oil painting techniques, I am 100% self-taught in what I do. I learned by doing and experimenting with the mediums. AG: You mentioned you spent time in Los Angeles. What was that like and how did it help define what you do now? SG: I decided to move to LA when I was 26 to chase my west coast dreams. At the time, I was focused on studying wine and viniculture because I’ve always wanted to open a restaurant or wine bar. I managed a wine bar for the majority of my time there and rented a studio in Inglewood for some time, offering commissions over Facebook. My involvement with art was modeling for a portrait class and learning oil techniques. I tried to stay involved with art as much as possible. Of course, the real involvement was just living there and meeting all the unique people. You learn so much about yourself when you experience all walks of life. The last few months I was there, I was homeless, living out of my car. It was a very introspective and cathartic experience for me, and led to deepening my understanding of how I wanted to not limit myself to one area of art. Even though I ended up working on sets for the next three years, which was a great experience, it reminded me about what I had learned while homeless: there’s nothing better than to be in a studio, creating works of art that stem from developing deep connections with other people one on one. AG: Why pets? Are there other subjects you paint or like to paint: people, landscapes? SG: The joy that comes from experiencing people’s connection with their pets, and welcoming me to pay tribute to both their living and passed on animals, is what motivates me to do this. The relationship we have with our pets is unlike any other. I’ve had many dogs and cats — even birds, fish and guinea pigs growing up. It’s true that they are your best friends. To be honest, it wasn’t hard to see how fast the industry for dog lovers has grown in the past decade. More and more products for dogs are popping up, and social media has made the relationships with our animals even more fun. I had to find a niche for what was going to keep me painting in my studio. I knew people would never stop loving their pets and this would be an immortal venture. It started with one gift, and word of mouth took over. But I don’t limit myself to only painting people’s pets. In fact, before I started with the pet portraits, I was mainly painting figures and portraits of people. I had done a few landscapes but I found that I best express myself through the energy of people. With nature being my number one inspiration, I do have a long overdue desire to paint landscapes and nature-focused paintings very soon. So we will see if I can work that in there. AG: What’s your favorite medium or one that you use most often? SG: My favorite medium to see in other works of art may be oil paint and chalk pastel. The medium that I have been working with for 8 years is acrylic paint, though.