Meet NYC-based Artist Anna Wulfekuhle
ANNA WULFEKUHLE is an actor, writer, and collaborator living in Brooklyn, NY. Visit her website and Instagram @wulfycool, or email her at: annawulfekuhle [at] gmail [dot] com.
CATHOLIC ARTIST CONNECTION: Where are you from originally, and what brought you to NYC?
ANNA WULFEKUHLE: I am originally from Puyallup, Washington and followed a gravitational pull to New York in 2017, after graduating from college with a theatre degree and spending a year as a bartender/karaoke host/nanny/traveling tech contractor in the Seattle area. My husband, Dylan, joined me on this side of the country after we got married in 2019.
What do you see as your personal mission as a Catholic working in the arts? Do you call yourself a Catholic artist?
Funny enough, I wrote and performed an entire play about this when I was in college. Jesus is Just Alright with Me was a (if-theologically deficient) one-woman show about my relationship with Scripture and faith at large, including sock puppets of “Old Testament God” and “New Testament God” (which I recently learned is actually a heresy called Marcionism!), culminating in an open, honest discussion about the intersection of faith and art in my life and in my identity.
In the end, I called myself a Catholic theatre artist. At the time, I had no framework and no example to consider that it was even possible. I thought I was making it up. I am Catholic; I am an artist. If these two things coincide and live vibrantly in me, they must be reconcilable. So, yes, I guess I do call myself a Catholic artist.
WHO GETS TO BE EGYPTIAN?, NEW OHIO
Photo: Michael Gene Jacobs
Where have you found support among your fellow artists for your Catholic faith?
I find that I am drawn in a way to other artists of faith; some of my most treasured collaborators belong to vastly different faith traditions, or are seekers and non-believers with great respect for ritual. We are bound by the transcendentals: truth, beauty, and goodness. In our common pursuit of these trinitarian ends, there is space for expansive artistry and room to be people of faith without compromise.
What is your daily spiritual practice?
In preparation to make the Spiritual Exercises, I spend time in the morning praying with Scripture and other passages of the guidebook my director and I are using to complete the 19th Annotation. It feels a lot like learning to pray all over again, and learning to be attentive to movements of my heart. I’m a head-led person 100% and Ignatian spiritual practice has been inviting me to greater openness to my experience of God and to listen more deeply. Throughout the day, I send up little prayers like flares when I need help (which is often) and when I remember that God is always present to me.
LOVE OF THE NIGHTINGALE, IDIOM THEATRE
Photo: Jolene Hanson
What is your daily artistic practice?
Honestly, I don’t have a precise daily artistic practice in the direct or regimented sense that I did, say, in school or while doing The Artist’s Way. I am constantly exercising my communication, collaboration, presence, and problem-solving muscles, which I consider tools of my trade, invisible work, work that is quiet and done outside of the studio but which ultimately shows up in my art, onstage or in the rehearsal room. One of my favorite other disciplines to practice is collage, which I am not particularly “good” at but enjoy as a spiritual practice.
How do you financially support yourself as an artist?
I have a full-time Archdiocesan job, so I do most of my artmaking on nights and weekends. While this has largely taken me out of the traditional audition cycle, it is a creative container that has moved me to make my own work, and to partner with other artists looking to practice our craft and create work in humane and holistic ways. I feel nourished by my daily work and have a sense of security from which I can make more venturesome choices in my art.
A couple financial resources for artists: What other practical resources would you recommend to a Catholic artist living in NYC?
I worked with a theatre group once in which we used the Balcony and Basement method of identifying strengths and weaknesses. It was tremendously helpful in learning how my values/personality/habits can be helpful (balcony) or hurtful (basement), depending on how my needs are being met. These kinds of tools-- like the MBTI, temperaments, etc.-- can be helpful in collaborative work, so long as they aren’t allowed to become labels or weapons.
That being said, one of my “themes” is Input, which means that I love to collect information (but can be a packrat).
So here are some of my favorite things/resources!
BATTLE OF ANGELS, BLESSED UNREST
Photo: Maria Baranova
Prospect Park
The Islamic Art wing of the Met
This painting (also at the Met)
The amount of free/reduced museum entrance available in NYC!
Amazing/quirky rehearsal spaces
Living rooms with all your furniture squished into the next room
The sheer force of artistic will and grace present in New York.
How beautiful the Catholic churches are in the city. Even if it’s not your style, Jesus is there!