Austin Art Talk

Episode 109: San Marcos Studio Tour by MotherShip Studios

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Fri, 24 Mar 2023 12:00:00 -0500

A quick interview with Jacqueline Overby & Courtney Peterson of MotherShip Studios, who are spearheading the inaugural San Marcos Studio Tour! We talk about the inspiration for the tour, the many mentors and examples that made it possible, the importance of group artist studio settings, what to expect, all the details, and more.

Text courtesy of SMST website.

MotherShip Studios presents the inaugural San Marcos Studio Tour- anticipated to be the first of many years to come! This free, self-guided tour will feature over fifty artists all across San Marcos, Martindale, and surrounding areas. Artists will be showcasing their studio spaces and artwork during this weekend-long occasion, launching with a kick-off event held at MotherShip Studios, Friday, March 31st. As well, a group exhibition of all participants will be hosted at the MotherShip warehouse gallery featuring one artwork from each artist.

The San Marcos Studio Tour will highlight San Marcos area artists and their studios, while fostering connection and engagement in the arts and local communities. Allowing the public an insider’s look into the artistic process creates an exchange between fellow artists, community members, and art collectors. We will showcase the messy workspaces, the paint-splattered floors, the at-home and garage studios, the cluttered art supplies, the inspirational walls of reference photos, and the clay-ridden wheels. We will provide an opportunity for artists to show the raw spaces from which they create. These environments, though sometimes unpolished, are where the magic happens and creativity flourishes.

Mothership Studios will provide a tour map with numbers for each artist and signs to display during the tour weekend. A catalog of the tour participants will be available for purchase at MotherShip Studios. In addition to the map of all tour stops, this catalog will provide details on each artist, including images of work, and short statements about the artists. The kick-off event will feature our group exhibition, a live printing demo, music by local musicians, a raffle give away, and complimentary drinks sponsored by local breweries such as Middleton Brewing, Still Austin Whiskey, Austin Beer Works, and Thirsty Planet.

Please join us for an inspiring and interactive weekend of San Marcos arts and events!

When:

Friday, March 31st at 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Kick-off Event at MotherShip Studios/20027 San Marcos Hwy 80, San Marcos, TX, 78666

Saturday, April 1st 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Tour Open/Town of San Marcos and Martindale

Sunday, April 2nd at 12:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Tour Open/Towns of San Marcos and Martindale

Courtney and Jacqueline hard at work!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Links:

Episode 108: B Shawn Cox

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Thu, 02 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0600

“The more I know about me and the more I explore who I am and why I am, trying to be objective about that, I think that transfers into the work”

B Shawn Cox is a Texas artist who is best known for his iconographic figurative western cowboy paintings on fabric, realized in vivid colors and patterned layers. He also uses similar images in his digital lenticular work where your shifting perspective creates movement in each piece, with the use of juxtaposing portraits. Then there are also his meticulously constructed dimensional collages which transform 2D into 3D.

Shawn has figured out how to combine these disparate bodies of work into cohesive looking and feeling exhibitions. This approach keeps things exciting for the viewer as you never know what you might see. The work is playful, adventurous, and exciting at first glance but can be delved into deeper for a full gamut and range of thoughts and ideas. Currently Shawn is exploring western societal and standardized mythologies, reflected and processed from a personal standpoint. He is looking at where he came from and where he is now, and the influences of the kinds of iconography that society celebrates in conscious and unconscious ways.

Growing up in West Texas with a desire to be creative, but with limited means, taught him to see more possibilities of use in everything around him and a somewhat contrarian approach to the rules of around what is possible. Even though his family was in ranching, he chose to leave and focus on academia, studying and practicing both architecture and law. And consistently through the decades in his spare time he took art classes and the commitment and momentum grew until he got the attention of galleries and collectors alike.

Shawn is really fun to talk with and is one of the nicest people I know. An inspiring thing about his art practice is what seems like an unwavering dedication to evolving the work and fearlessly trying new things. That keeps things fresh and fun.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The podcast is sponsored by Ivester Contemporary and East Side Picture Framing

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Links:

Episode 107: Anne Mourier - Mother-Nature

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 06 Oct 2021 05:00:00 -0500

"We are fed with this idea that we have to be so much. And of course it’s not true because each of us has a specific talent or specific things we are good at. I finally feel at this place of my life that I’m enough. I’m tying to do my best with the little corner of what I know how to do. So my goal is to keep passing this message and hoping that it’s going to effect the life or the way of thinking of certain people."

Anne Mourier is a conceptual artist who was born in France and is now splitting her time between the east coast and Italy. We met many years ago in NYC and during my travels I made a point to visit her and sit down for an interview. Some of the themes she explores in her artworks are the feminine archetype, motherhood, quiet simplicity and beauty, home and the chores of domestic life, and maybe most importantly the environment and respect for life and nature. I’m so impressed with her wisdom, groundedness, her dedication to research and a commitment and openness to using any medium which might best communicate what she is trying to say with her work.

She also has a series of separate performances called Taking Care were she prepared meals for people, washed and item of clothing, and washed their feet. Of the work she states “I strongly believe that “Taking Care” is important and may possibly be the only way to mend our broken society: Taking Care of our planet, Taking Care of things instead of replacing them, Taking Care of each other…”

As she says so well on her website her goal is “A harmonious future, free of its dualistic and antagonistic visions; a holistic future that would acknowledge the fluidity of the masculine and the feminine principle living in harmony within each of us, in nature, in art, in everything we touch, smell, and see.”

Taking Care: The Feet - Photo by Maria Baranova

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The podcast is sponsored by Ivester Contemporary and East Side Picture Framing

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 106: Adrian Armstrong - Stronger Together

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Thu, 17 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0500

"I think it’s so important that we accept each other for our differences, and just come together like brothers and sisters. We’re stronger as a unit. We’re stronger together. Again, community is so important."

Adrian Armstrong is a multitalented and multidisciplinary artist who creates powerful figurative portraits primarily by combining painting, collage, and circular strokes of a ballpoint pen, as well as working with printmaking and creating music. One of his goals to combine all of the mediums he works with into one cohesive experience.

And as he states on his website “He aims to portray what it means to be an African American living in modern America” We had a wide-ranging conversation about his life, starting with growing up in Nebraska and the importance of his family, to moving to Austin and creating a new community here to participate in and help to support and grow.

I’m inspired by Adrian’s work ethic and dedication to creating great work, pushing himself to be better, while also helping to support others as much as he can.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 105: Sara Jane Parsons - Truly Beautiful

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 05:00:00 -0500

“I feel like by becoming an artist it’s helped me to become who I am. And it’s helped me to accept my body. Not that I didn’t love my body, but going to figure drawing and drawing every type of persons body was such a powerful thing for me. To realize that every body really truly is beautiful.”

Painter Sara Jane Parsons specialty is realistic portraits of people, landscapes, still lifes, and figure studies, all rendered beautifully in graphite or watercolor, although she did recently start learning how to work with oil paints. The incredible thing is that she creates all of her work while holding the paintbrushes and pencils in her mouth.

At the age of twenty, a spinal cord injury left her paralyzed from the neck down, but that did not stop her from getting a law degree, working jobs combining legal and social work to help hundreds of people, traveling broadly, and pursuing anything that interests her and cultivating a life that is joyful and creative.

She is a proud member of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists, a great organization that helps artists with disabilities support themselves through creating artworks that are placed on products sold far and wide. Sara Jane is such a sweet, driven, and passionate artist, and it was a joy to talk and spend some time with her and be inspired by her story, her resilience, and her dedication to being an artist.

"Helen", Watercolor, 13.5" x 18" By the courtesy of the
Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists Worldwide

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

The podcast is sponsored by Ivester Contemporary and East Side Picture Framing

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 104: The Life and Legacy of Sam Coronado

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 24 May 2021 14:00:00 -0500

As an artist, educator, cultural activist, mentor, and all-around great human being, Sam Coronado, created opportunities for and changed the lives of many people before passing unexpectedly in 2013. One of his bigger accomplishments was The Serie Project, a non-profit serigraph printmaking residency that lasted for over 20 years and worked with hundreds of artists from around the US and the world, at all stages of their careers.

I worked with Sam for many years, have always thought very highly of him, and decided I should do a special episode celebrating and talking about his life and work. I'm grateful to his wife Jill Ramirez and the master printers Pepe Coronado and Jonathan Rebolloso for speaking with me about Sam, sharing their stories about him, how he changed their lives, and the legacy he has left behind.

Sam at his retrospective at Mexic-Arte Museum in 2011.

Sam doing a demonstration for students at Coronado Studio.

Sam working with artist Lacey Richter on her Serie Project print.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

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Episode 103: Amy Scofield - Exploring Impermanence

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 17 May 2021 18:45:00 -0500

As artist Amy Scofield states on her website she is investigating the relationship between things. And the things she is working with very often are discarded objects or what would typically be recycled. The interaction between nature and the human-made world and our effects on the planet also figure into her intentions and concerns as she captures and manipulates what catches her eye into something more curious and brave.

Like many artists, she has a compulsion to create and she uses her intuition and powers of observation to find the next opportunity or subject for the curation of her unique, refined, and thoughtful images and sculptures. Moving forward her focus is shifting more to impermanence as she considers what is real and what is not and the ephemeral nature of everything.

amy scofield
Un/Common Thread

May 14th - June 24, 2021

Lydia Street Gallery
1200 E. 11th St #109
Austin, TX 78702

Saturdays & Sundays 12-5 during exhibitions, no appointment needed.

Weekdays by appointment: email or DM in Instagram

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

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Episode 102: Gladys Poorte - Nuevo Mundo

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 08 May 2021 05:00:00 -0500

"Oh, I can still learn something from scratch, totally different from what I do in my world. I find that is so rejuvenating. It makes you feel good!"

This week's podcast guest is Gladys Poorte. Her work for many people appears to be very otherworldly and fantastical, maybe even sci-fi inspired, but in fact, it is all based on real-life objects and 3D models that she creates in her studio to draw and paint from while controlling the light and mood to ultimately create space and depth. The inspiration often comes from observing, processing, and reacting to real-life events that have happened in the world, and concerns about the future.

I’m very impressed with Gladys' willingness to keep pushing herself to learn new skills and gain knowledge to enhance and evolve her artwork over time. We talk about her life growing up in Argentina, working as an educator, transitioning to living in the US, and her many years of diverse art classes and schooling to evolve her style and craft to where it is today.

Nuevo Mundo
Gladys Poorte At The Davis Gallery
May 1st - June 12th
Davis Gallery & Framing
837 West 12th Street
Austin, TX 78701
512-477-4929

Gladys Poorte's "Nuevo Mundo" debuts at the Davis Gallery. Exploring the new settings wherein which we find ourselves during an unprecedented time, Poorte helps us transition into seemingly foreign yet familiar landscapes within her interpretation and style.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

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Episode 101: Tom Jean Webb - Being Here

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0500

“As much as art is about creating an object, it’s also about learning about yourself. My art has always been this tool for which I decipher the world, and my place in it, or who I am and how I learn and what I see. It’s the medium through which I decipher everything.”

Artist Tom Jean Webb grew up in England but knew from an early age he wanted to live in America. His mother and grandfather helped to inspire his creativity and if not for a chance visit to a contemporary art gallery as an adult, he would not have realized that what he wanted to say with his own art was valid and possible. After many trips and back and forth from the United States to England he finally committed to fulfill his dream and made the US his home.

The work he creates is heavily inspired by the colorful and rocky desert landscapes of the southwest and are explorations of space and his own personal reality. As he consistently strives to create his distinctive artwork he prioritizes being open and present, staying playful, having fun, and letting go of control and preconceived ideas.

Together From Afar I & II, 2020 Acrylic on Canvas 75 x 53 in

See Tom Jean's work in person at
Ivester Contemporary
916 Springdale Rd
Bldg 2, Suite 107
Austin, TX 78702
(737) 209-0379

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 100: Chris Rogers - Unconditional

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Thu, 15 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0500

“That’s my ultimate goal. When I’m done here I want to have temples built in a lot of people's hearts. Not, oh Chris was so awesome. But because I gave them something. Because I meant something to them. Because I gave them a piece of my heart”

Wow! Can’t believe we’ve made it to 100 episodes. I could not imagine a better guest to celebrate this milestone. Chris Rogers is an artist who specializes in portraits that capture a person's true essence, live painting sessions at events, and large and colorful murals that adorn many walls around Austin with their inviting and galvanizing truths. All of this work hopefully leads to conversations, connections, and a realization as Chris says in the interview, the cure is us.

How can we heal our fractured system and relationships, let go of control and give over to the moment, and find our way to truth, honesty with ourselves, and learn to speak from the heart?

Chris really brought the vulnerability and bares all as we talk about his lifelong artistic practice, alcoholism and recovery, and the huge impact his late mother continues to have on his life. This conversation was so moving and inspiring to me as I hope it will be to you.

We speak about the two murals pictured below in the interview.

If He Can't Breate, We Can't Breathe - George Floyd mural at Native Hostel

Mural at 12th & Chicon

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

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Episode 99: Manik Raj Nakra - An Ancient Art

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Thu, 08 Apr 2021 05:00:00 -0500

"Out of the million brush strokes on this painting, I like his brushstroke. So it was worth the 20 hours I spent on it to learn this one stroke. Then I would take that stroke into the next piece. Then that piece didn’t feel right but there was a second brush stroke also that I liked. And then eventually I got to the point where I liked all the brush strokes on the canvas. That’s when I’m like OK, now I can start making art."

Manik Raj Nakra is an Austin Based Artist who creates colorful and mythic-looking artworks influenced by his extensive research of cultures, ancient art, and architecture from all over the world. All that he absorbs through books, travel, and online research gets melded and transformed into his own unique but somehow universal visual language.

I’m impressed with Manik’s boldness and commitment to his art practice and willingness to spend years out of view to refine his subject matter, experiment, and learn and improve his creative techniques, taking the quality of what he is producing to the next level, and then back into the world. Please enjoy this interesting and often humorous conversation with Manik and be sure to check out his Big Medium exhibition this month.

MOTH, 2020, Oil paint, acrylic paint, spray paint, ceremonial bindis on canvas and wood, 96 x 67 in.

Manik Raj Nakra
WILDLIFE
March 13 – May 1, 2021

Big Medium
916 Springdale Rd, Bldg 2, #101
Austin, Texas 78702

512.939.6665
info@bigmedium.org

Appointment hours: Thursday – Saturday, 12 – 6pm

To allow for social distancing, appointments will be scheduled every 30 minutes, with a maximum of 10 guests at a time. Scroll down to schedule an appointment with at least 24 hours advance notice. Masks are required at all times.

Text courtesy of the BIg Medium Website

"Inspired by stories of nature regenerating and reclaiming space during the Covid19 pandemic, W I L D L I F E examines what happens when humanity removes itself from the natural world. The exhibition also introduces a new material for the artist—the ceremonial bindi, worn for centuries on the forehead in Indian culture for spiritual, traditional, and fashion reasons. It can be seen as a third eye creating an opening to infinity or as a symbol of femininity. For the natural world depicted in the paintings, the renewed and rejuvenated flora and fauna are anthropomorphized with hundreds of bindis as wildlife reincarnated with third eyes. The twinkling of the jeweled bindis carry remnants of memory. The severed animal heads from which the new nature grows are depicted upside down to represent self-sabotage and the mistakes of the past.

Influenced by the architecture of ancient forts and palaces of Indian Mughals, Iran, Oman, and Pakistan, the paintings are installed in window frames handmade by the artist. The pieces look out onto a world from isolation with new wonder, new honesty, and new beauty. At first, the viewer encounters these windows from the “inside looking out” but with bindis all over functioning as eyes, they equally become the “outside looking in” giving the paintings an existential feel to reflect on these uncertain times and space.

Manik Raj Nakra’s work has been included in numerous solo and group exhibitions throughout Texas and San Francisco, a member of the 2019 Crit Group program with The Contemporary in Austin, TX, The LINE Residency with Big Medium in 2020, and a client list that includes Converse, The Oxford American, The LINE Hotel, Facebook, Urban Outfitters, amongst others."

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

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Episode 98: Brian Daly - Part 2 - Recovery

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 31 Mar 2021 05:00:00 -0500

"I used to think I had all the answers. I believed it. I don’t believe that at all anymore. I have all the questions. I’ve got all of them. And I don’t really need answers anymore. I’m in it for the questions. And that pretty much rules my day, every day. Just endless questions."

This is part two of my interview with artist Brian Daly. If you haven’t heard Part One I would recommend going back and starting with Episode 97 where we cover his epic life story before he got sober nineteen months ago. Part Two goes more in depth into his current life and practice as an artist.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Brian Daly (@sparkitect9) • Instagram photos and videos

Episode 97: Brian Daly - Part 1 - Rendered

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 24 Mar 2021 05:00:00 -0500

Sometimes it can take a lot to ask for help. Artist Brian Daly realized nineteen months ago that even though he had already survived hitting bottom a few times before, this time might be his last. Through years of ups and downs, Brian acquired the skills to create almost anything as a fabricator while also from a young age continuing to further his drafting and artistic talents.

In this first part of two episodes, he shares in vivid detail, reminiscent of his drawings, the epic and tumultuous journey he has been on, up until getting clean and sober and focusing his energy and recovery into his art. The paper and ink drawings he creates as a literal meditation, are beautiful and precise in their rendering, allowing him to share a glimpse of his inner world, imagination, and lifelong fascination with tools and the mechanics of objects. The second part of our conversation, Episode 98, goes into more detail about his current life and artistic practice.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Brian Daly (@sparkitect9) • Instagram photos and videos

Episode 96: Nick Schnitzer - Creating Our Future

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 05:00:00 -0500

"Let’s continue to make beautiful things. Let’s respect ourselves and think about the future. Let’s make some money. Let’s be generous with our money. Let’s protect ourselves and the planet. Let’s be more responsible. Let’s be more grateful."

Nick Schnitzer is very passionate about art and helping artists thrive. That's in addition to his love of architecture, woodworking, teaching and mentoring young people, travel, his family, and most of all living an aware, considerate, humble, and generative life. He's a talented and capable craftsperson who can design and create almost anything he puts his mind and body into. His public art and exhibitions often highlight environmental and political challenges and strive to build community and connect people and ideas towards a goal of improving their lives and raising awareness of important issues in our culture and society. I love Nick's energy, focus, integrity, and the way he strives to improve himself and those around him. He has a big heart and it's very obvious in the interview. Please enjoy!

Nick with his daughter Edie Rose.

Nick's website about text

"As modern technology leads to increased connection to the world, we’ve never been more disconnected from each other. I create sculpture and site-specific architectural works that seek to create new modes of empathic communication – to use technology to augment the way we interact; to break down the barriers that exist between people; and to provide an emotional overlay so we can more deeply understand each other as people. By subjecting objects and people to various scientific and relational processes, I construct a dialogue that questions our relationship to the material world, our internal psychological landscapes, and our very dynamic planet. I’m most interested in the things we hide, repress, and deny, as I believe these to be our greatest gifts. Swiss psychologist Carl Jung theorizes that in order to become fully engaged with ourselves, each other, and the world we live in, we must learn to incorporate things that can be difficult to grasp. I appeal to our vanity and curiosity, often through the use of reflective surfaces, interactive technology, and traditional construction techniques. In an increasingly complex world, the minimal nature of the work is tailored to create a focused experience for the viewer, resulting in a contemplative moment of careful consideration amongst the surrounding chaos."

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

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Episode 95: Joyce Howell - Expressing The Abstract

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 10 Mar 2021 05:45:00 -0600

As an adult, after working many jobs in the business world and raising her daughters' artist Joyce Howell decided to go back to school to study art and eventually achieved her master's degree. She started out painting in a very representational style but in graduate school found the encouragement and a strong desire to create abstract works that expressed more of her internal reality and how she processed everything in her world. For the last almost 25 years Joyce has been committed to her studio practice and has participated in many solo and group exhibitions. She creates colorful and often atmospheric abstract paintings that without a doubt contribute to the joy and beauty experienced through art that we all need in our lives and our homes. She has been represented in Austin by Wally Workman Gallery for over 10 years and has a solo exhibition there from March 6th -27th, 2021.

Mujer Pintada, 2021, oil on canvas, 42x42 inches

Joyce Howell: Solo Show
March 6-27, 2021

Wally Workman Gallery

"Howell’s palette is informed by nature and its flux between calm and chaos. She describes it as an ongoing conversation. Each color and the mark by which it is applied to the canvas informs the next. Colors give the impression of physical weight. Colors become instruments, much as in a musical composition. As the work progresses, the painting becomes a collaborative, a dialogue between Howell and the canvas. This is her 8th solo show with the gallery."

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 94: Valerie Chaussonnet - The Joy Of Life & Art

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Thu, 25 Feb 2021 05:00:00 -0600

"For us, as artists, the pandemic certainly economically was hard for many people but I think we are probably better equipped because can we invent something that has not been done before. If somebody is used to having a routine and a certain structure and not used to inventing their life it’s harder when something like this hits. For us it’s like OK, it’s this, let's see what we can do with it. Let’s learn something new and create something different."

The podcast guest this week has had such an interesting and diverse life. Artist Valerie Chaussonnet now works full time as an artist and teacher but previously spent a big part of her life as an anthropologist, studying Russian, and raising her two sons. Now her two primary mediums are watercolor and sculptures made from raw pieces of welded steel. A lifetime of influences in the realm of art and many diverse cultures all culminates now in the stories she tells with her colorful paintings and spirited sculptures. I love the joy Valerie brings to life and I’m inspired by her adventurous, playful, and rich way of life. Please enjoy this very fun interview!

Photo by Scott David Gordon

Current & Upcoming

Found

February 26 - March 27, 2021

Georgetown Art Center

"Found presents recent artworks by three area artists. Each artist relies on random discovery and found materials as a starting point. Chaussonnet recuts recovered industrial scrap steel, then forges and welds stylized busts, landscapes, and abstract sculptures. Rolfe is an assemblage artist whose narrative relief sculptures and shadow boxes are composed primarily of reclaimed vintage household furnishings. Webb faithfully uses acrylics to portray abandoned trash piles left at the curb for bulk collection."

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

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Episode 93: Lauren Hunt - Glass Work

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 10 Feb 2021 05:00:00 -0600

Lauren Hunt is one of the rare artists who works with glass, and she has been at it for over 10 years. After college she worked for 7 of those years at the Corning Museum of Glass in New York with the Hot Glass Show, on land and traveling all over the world on cruise ships doing live and educational demonstrations. Eventually she made it to Austin where she has continued her practice making functional, whimsical, and sometimes purely artistic works of beauty out of molten glass.

Lauren is a hoot and we had such a fun conversation. I’ve always wanted to learn more about glass blowing and what it’s all about and Lauren did not disappoint. Check out the shop on her website laurenhuntglass.com and see if there isn’t something there that strikes your fancy. Support local artists and fill your house with beautiful handmade objects by people you know.

Photos by Scott David Gordon

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 92: Kevin Ivester - The Art Of The Gallery

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 03 Feb 2021 05:00:00 -0600

"I think that we are all striving towards the same goals. People are making artwork, galleries are showing artwork, and we all want to be seen. We all want to be making a positive impact somewhere. How do we move forward? I think collaboration is key ”

What does it take to open an art gallery and frame shop in Austin during a pandemic? A lot. For Kevin Ivester, owner of Ivester Contemporary and Eastside Picture Framing, these businesses are the culmination of a long-term dream and years of working in all aspects of the art world including, galleries, auction houses, restoration, conservation, handling, framing, and appraisal. Now with the potential of both endeavors and his well-rounded years of experience, Kevin wants to help artists further their careers, sell their work, and raise the profile of Austin as a town where you can buy great art and from any of the numerous talented people that call it home.

We talk about what it took for him to get to this point and his intentions going forward. He’s genuinely interested in adding value and helping to further the awareness and understanding of visual art and the artists he represents. What a great mission and now he has the means to see it through.

Ivester Contemporary
916 Springdale Rd
Bldg 2, Suite 107
Austin, TX 78702
(737) 209-0379

Make An Appointment!

About The Gallery

Ivester Contemporary is an Austin-based contemporary fine art gallery committed to connecting people with leading
local and regional artists and ideas. Rotating exhibitions are focused on creating a context for contemplation, deepening appreciation
for the visual arts, and facilitating a dialog between the artist and their viewers. Ivester Contemporary is located within the
Canopy Creative Complex in East Austin, a central hub for artists, gallerists, and other creative types.

East Side Picture Framing
916 Springdale Rd,
Bldg 4, Suite 105
Austin Texas 78702
(512) 520 8031
Open Monday - Friday 11am-4pm and by appointment

Photo by Scott David Gordon

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 91: Elizabeth Hendley - Expressive Therapies & Essential Workers

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 27 May 2020 20:00:00 -0500

Elizabeth Hendley is an art therapist at Dell Children’s Medical Center and a part of what is called the Expressive Therapies team. We spoke back in March of 2018 and went in depth to explore her origin story, how she became a therapist, and some of her experiences working with children that illustrate how powerful art therapy can be. If you have not heard that episode I highly recommend checking it out. It is my second most listened to interview at just over 1300 downloads. In this update we talk about how the pandemic has affected her job at the hospital and she shares some new stories of the types of work she is doing now. Again I am so impressed with her and what she does and I’m so glad to know someone like her is doing what she does.

Elizabeth facilitating a game together with the music therapist.

This collaborative self-care staff project is mentioned in the interview.

Elizabeth mentions donations of art supplies in the interview. Here is the list and contact info if you want to donate anything.

Josie Day
Jday@ascension.org
512-324-0146

Small/medium canvases (or canvas boards)
Watercolor paper
Watercolor brushes
Acrylic brushes (stiffer)
Tube watercolors
Paper plates
Small plastic cups
Stamp pads
Model magic (small pkgs., white or color)
Scrapbook embellishments (flowers, stickers, gems, washi tape, etc.)

The banner image consists of on the left a 6”x6” square for a large Covid-19 collaboration facilitated by ArtAustin. Kevin Ivester at Davis Gallery asked Elizabeht and many others to contribute. It’s supposed to be a light blue color palette, to honor healthcare workers. The image on the right is a Covid stamp-carving.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 90: Elizabeth McQueen - The Importance of Music & Art, Aggressive Positivity, & Transformational Songs

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Tue, 19 May 2020 06:00:00 -0500

"What’s the thing that people turn to when you are in the middle of this confusing and terrifying time, and whats the thing that brings relief? It’s Art. It’s music, it’s seeing films, it’s watching TV shows, it’s looking at visual art. These are the things that can bring us out of all of these feelings that can be really overwhelming, and can bring us into the current moment. Which is really where a lot of peace lies. I think the arts are essential, especially during this time.”

Elizabeth McQueen is a singer-songwriter and the host of NPR’s This Song podcast. Growing up in a family of visual artists, she eventually found her own creative practice and voice in the pursuit of performing and creating music. For over eight years she was the lead singer for Asleep At The Wheel until she retired in 2014 to focus more on her kids and eventually start her radio career. For the last six years she has had the chance to interview some of the best musicians in the world and hear their stories.

A few of the subjects we cover in our conversation are the importance of art right now, her aggressive positivity, her sisters artwork, the origins of This Song, and some great lessons she has gleaned from various artists about their own creative practices. We finish with the question she puts to every guest on her show. Can you share a story of a song that has transformed your life? What a powerful and moving answer she gives! I was so happy to finally interview Elizabeth after knowing her for so many years. She is a super talented musician, interviewer, and very positive force in the world.

Elizabeth playing at a JBG potluck in 2014

This Song
From KUT 90.5

Musician, composer and radio host Elizabeth McQueen wants to hear about transformational songs. In conversations and interviews with fellow musicians and artists, McQueen talks with them about life-changing songs, inspiration, creativity and so much more.

This is the transformational song Elizabeth shares her story about at the end of the interview, the version sung by Nina Simone. See link below.

I Got It Bad (And That Ain't Good)

My baby never treats me sweet and gentle the way he should;
I got it bad and that ain't good!

My poor heart is sentimental not made of wood
I got it bad and that ain't good!
But when the weekend's over and monday rolls aroun'
I end up like i start out just cryin' my heart out
He don't love me like i love him nobody could
I got it bad and that ain't good!

Like alonely weeping willow lost in the wood
I got it bad and that ain't good!
And the things i tell my pillow no woman should
I got it bad and that ain't good!
Tho folks with good intentions tell me to save my tears
I'm glad i'm mad about him i can't live without him
Lord above me make him love me the way he should
I got it bad and that ain't good!

The banner image behind the title was taken as a part of Scott's Panorama 365 series, of Elizabeth and her family next to the Four Seasons around 2011.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 89: Suzanne Koett - What is important to us now?

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Tue, 28 Apr 2020 06:00:00 -0500

"Anytime I am stuck in life, I will usually do a project on it. Trying to understand, and just to try and move through it. It really helps me move through something. All of my work is basically things I am trying to figure out and move through in my own life"

This interview is with Suzanne Koett, who’s ongoing photo project captured on film, PANDEMIC, is a series of portraits of quarantined families and individuals in the places they reside. I could relate to so many of the ways that Suzanne thinks about and lives her life and what impressed me most is her very intentional dedication to self growth through her art creation. Be sure to visit her website, to see all of her various series, and the obvious, and not so obvious path she has been on for the last decade. Please enjoy this conversation with the very talented and thoughtful Suzanne Koett.

About text courtesy of Suzanne's website

Suzanne Koett is an artist, contemporary photographer, and art educator from Austin, TX. Her work centers around the human condition and the shared collective experience. Through her art she aims to demystify life experiences and shows what it means to be alive and to bravely exist. Suzanne holds a BFA in Studio Art (concentration photography) from San Francisco State University.

Metaphysical Libertarianism - from the The Study of Aloneness series.

LInks to some of the specific subjects we discussed:

PANDEMIC series on Instagram

Suzanne's blog post from Jan 2020

Suzanne's series The Study of Aloneness

Suzanne's series dedicated to her father after his passing

What is Reparenting and How to Begin

Suzanne's series To Record Only Water for Ten Days

Suzanne's morning affirmations:

"What great thing is going to happen today?"

"I am here for you when things go really well. I am here to help celebrate you. And I am here for you if things don't go well"

Track 6: Remain, Digital collage & Vandyke brown print on archival watercolor paper, 8"x"8, 2019 from the series To Record Only Water for Ten Days

Image from PANDEMIC series.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Ways to support this podcast.

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Episode 88: Living an Artful and Authentic Life - John P Weiss

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 22 Apr 2020 16:30:00 -0500

“Don’t lose your authenticity. Keep honing your skills to become a better artist. Don’t just copy what someone else is doing, go beyond it. Find what really speaks to you in your soul as an artist and start doing that.”

After I started reading An Artful Life by John P Weiss, I just knew that I had to try to interview him. The stories are inspirational and have been helpful to me during this time of stress and the unknown. Our conversation was everything I hoped it would be. John's thoughtfulness and life experiences put him in a position to be able to share the kind of perspectives and wisdom that are sorely needed in the world today. Hope you enjoy the interview and be sure to check out his artwork, cartoons, book, and other writings online. All of the artists and books that are mentioned are listed at the end of the show notes along with links to John's work. Enjoy!

About text courtesty of John's website

John P. Weiss is a former police chief and editorial cartoonist who retired early to become a full-time artist and writer. John studied landscape painting extensively with American painter Scott L. Christensen.

Using a limited palette and strong abstract designs in his representational work, John captures quiet scenes of land and nature.

Wisdom from a 26-year law enforcement career and lifetime of reading informs John's poignant short stories and insightful articles. John writes about life lessons, personal growth, and the creative arts.

John's written work appears in:

The Guardian, NBC News, Becoming Minimalist, Thrive Global, Goins Writer, Elephant Journal, and more.

Read John's full biography here.

Over 38K followers enjoy John's weekly articles, which he illustrates with his whimsical, fine-lined cartoons.

Click here and subscribe to get on John's email list. You'll receive the latest creative work. No spam, always free, privacy respected.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Click on this affiliate link or the ones below before making purchases on Amazon. An easy way to support!

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Episode 87: Fusebox Festival 2020 - Virtual Edition - An Interview with Ron Berry & Anna Gallagher-Ross

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 15 Apr 2020 06:30:00 -0500

For over 15 years the Fusebox Festival has been delivering an amazing array of curated performances and artists from all over the world and bringing them right here to Austin. Since the festival will not be able to go on as planned as a live event, the organizers had to pivot the whole event online into what they are calling the virtual edition. Join me for a conversation with Executive & Artistic Director Ron Berry and Associate Artistic Director & Curator Anna Gallagher-Ross to talk about how that played out and what we can look forward to experiencing this year.

www.fuseboxfestival.com

Instagram @fuseboxfestival

Youtube

Below text courtesy of the Fusebox website

The Festival

In light of the COVID-19 crisis, it is not possible to hold Fusebox Festival as we originally planned.

Our Festival isn't canceled, it's re-imagined as a virtual space where our community, both local and global, can come together to experience the work of Fusebox artists and participate in an exciting array of virtual events and activities.

Fusebox Festival 2020: Virtual Edition is a weekend-long broadcast taking place April 24-26.

Think public access TV meets international block party meets live performance! We see this as a platform to explore what it means to gather together and celebrate adventurous art, online.

This Virtual Edition will feature:

Live-streamed performances

Conversations

Artist Studio Visits

Interactive Activities

Happy Hours

Cooking Shows

Exhibitions
   and much more!

Please mark your calendars for April 24 – 26, follow us on social media, and we will be in touch soon with our artist lineup and schedule. Thanks to you, our Fusebox Family, we are able to bring our artists and community together in a much needed time for celebration. We appreciate your support!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 86: Becca Borrelli - Sensitive As F**K

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 17:45:00 -0500

Becca Borrelli is an illustrator, teacher, story teller, and part of The Lemon House where she has her art studio, which will also be hosting an upcoming Process Over Product Art Series. Becca also just launched her own podcast Secret Sauce, and I highly recommend you check it out. We talk about her journey as an artist, teacher, and small business owner, and talk a lot about how sensitivity can be reframed into a strength instead of a weakness.

The following text is courtesy of Becca's websites

Becca Borrelli is an admirer of doodling, and art teaching. Since graduating with a MA in Art Education from The University of Texas, she has been working as an art teacher at The Contemporary Art School in Austin, and establishing an illustration business.

She is inspired by the invisible connections between all things, and her work aims to be a playful, bright, and hopeful interpretation of the world's whimsical and magical sides. She has fallen in love with her hometown in Austin, TX where she spends free time exploring the town with her husband and their super-pups Layla and Rose.

Becca's new podcast "Secret Sauce"

Welcome to Secret Sauce, a podcast about the secret ingredients in life and work, hosted by Becca Borrelli. Secret Sauce explores artistry as a helpful framework for inspiring meaning and understanding in our everyday lives.

The Lemon House

The Lemon House is a working studio for three Austin based artists: Katherine of Bliss Kid Yoga, Allie of Stampworthy Goods, and Rebecca of Rebecca Borrelli Illustrations.

We are of the mind that just because you are a solo entrepreneur does not mean that you can’t have the same community of co-workers you would in an office. We work along side each other in our studio, but also open our studio for open house shopping events, potlucks for makers, and other community events.

1713 E 12th Street
Austin, TX 78702

Instagram: @lemonhouseatx

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 84: Adrian Whipp - Lumiere Tintype

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 08:00:00 -0600

"I think art for me has always been about giving someone an image that they can get absorbed into, and that takes them to a place that is sort of hyper-real. You know it’s not reality but you also can’t quite pin down what it is or where it came from. I see that in the tintype process as well. It’s quite arresting as a modern person to be photographed in a tintype because it puts you in this other world where you know it’s you and you know it’s modern photograph. But you’ve never seen anything like it and it breaks you out of that pattern of being so well versed at looking at imagery."

Adrian Whipp is a passionate and driven photographer who has chosen to pursue more rare, challenging, and unconventional ways of making images. He is probably best known for his family heirloom level of portrait making in the form of tintypes that he captures in his custom mobile photo studio at the back of the French restaurant Justine's Brasserie here in Austin. When not doing that he is full on pursuing the creation of his own version of stereo photography, manifest soon in something called The Daydream Society. What I see is an inherent fascination and generosity in what he creates and shares that is really intriguing and inspiring. I encourage you to tune in and keep and eye on what he is up to. If you make it over to have your tintype made, which I highly recommend, make sure to let Adrain know you heard the podcast. And definitely check out the beautiful work on his website, adrianwhipp.com, and be sure to specifically check out the daydream society and sign up to get email updates. Please enjoy this wonderful conversation with Mr. Adrian Whipp.

Lumiere Tintype portrait

Lumiere Tintype Photography

Studio located behind Justine's Brasserie
4710 East 5th St,
Austin, TX, 78702

Hours - Thursday - Sunday, 6pm until 11pm

Lumiere Tintype portrait

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Photography
Cathedral of light
Fixing images
Preserving time
Slowing down
Finding photography
Discovering tintype
Portrait studios
Ease of digital
Losing analog
Quick turnaround
Lumiere tintype
Family tradition
Justine’s clients
15,000 so far
Out in the world
It’s not about me
Portrait photogs
My domain
It’s an experience
Stereo photography
Mostly forgotten
The Aleph
3D images
Making glass slides
Looking at things
Breaking the pattern
Cave paintings
Translating experience
The art world
Banksy shred
Miami banana
Co-creation
Generosity
The cookie
Look at this
John Coffer
Mexico trip/travel
Daydream society
Making slides
Where to find him

Stereos - The Daydream Society

Adrian's bio couitesy of his website.

Adrian is a photographic artist based in Austin, Texas. Born in the UK, Adrian received his Bachelor of Arts in Visual Communication before moving to the US in 2007 to pursue photography.

In 2013 Adrian founded Lumiere Tintype, the world's only traveling tintype portrait studio. Lumiere serves as an attempt to make honest, timeless portraiture that helps people to reconnect with the lost alchemy of a handmade photograph. In the past six years Adrian has shot over eleven thousand tintype portraits, images that he hopes will be cherished for generations to come.

Outside of Lumiere, Adrian’s photographic work plays with the idea that our notions of photography are beginning to detach from the rules of perspective. As digital technologies continue to reshape our understanding of what a photograph can be, we are discovering immersive new ways to become transfixed by the power of an image.

For example, in Adrian’s cathedral of light, we see that a photograph can be elusive and ephemeral - impossible to capture or ‘fix’. It can exist only as a luminous play of light and color across ground glass - we meditate upon the image in the same way that we watch time pass.

A photograph can also exist without a single, fixed viewpoint. Inspired by Chinese scroll paintings, Adrian built the Aleph - a projected photographic landscape that can never be viewed in it’s entirety, only in sections. Each viewer charts a different course as they explore the image plane, leading to very different interpretations and memories of the same work.

Adrian’s latest endeavor - the daydream society, explores the aperspectival realm of stereo photography - a technique that uses the viewer’s own visual cortex to blend two fixed perspectives into one fully dimensional image. These fascinating, three dimensional (four if you include the duration of exposure!) images can only exist in the imagination of the person viewing them - in the material world they are merely two flat photographs, sitting alongside each other on a two dimensional plane.

Photo of Adrian by Jonathan Canlas

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 83: Roi James - The Next Level

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Thu, 20 Feb 2020 13:00:00 -0600

"I think it’s ok to be in a space of feeling lost at points in your life. That’s actually a great place to be."

Two years on from our first interview, Episode 18, which I highly recommend listening to before you proceed with this one, I recently had the privilege of a tour of the new home and art studio of Roi James. It was great to have the chance to further the dialogue and talk more about Roi’s successful career, where he finds himself now, and where he might be headed. And just like in our first conversation there is no lack of vulnerably on Roi’s part, as he shares his thoughts about being in an in-between place, recuperating and settling into the rhythms of his new space, finding inspiration, and contemplating the necessity to take his whole life and artwork to the next level. We also notably discuss the likely reasons for his success, pricing artwork, portraiture, art market challenges, and we go a little more in depth about loving more deeply and how that manifests in his life.

Portrait of Roi on the roof of is new home. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Bio courtesy of Roi's website

The Story Of My Work

I was 28 when I realized I wanted to become a painter. Until then and to this day, I had never studied art nor had any formal training. I’d always had the “gift” and recall my kindergarten teacher showing my mother my drawings and expressing how advanced they were for my age. But art was not a realistic occupation as I’d been indoctrinated into the “tragic artist” mythology, that to become one was to lead a sad and ultimately unfortunate life. So quite by accident, at 28, I attended a life drawing class and within the first 30 seconds of the first drawing, in the most supernatural way, I was was transformed. It would be another seven years before I had my first gallery show. Between then I poured over books of the techniques of the old masters and immersed myself in tens of thousands of images, slowly developing a rich visual vocabulary. I became enamored with the painters Titian, Vermeer, Caravaggio, Rembrandt, among others and with the romantic landscapes of Claude Lorrain, J.M.W. Turner, and Caspar David Friedrich. It was the majestic beauty and drama in these artist’s paintings and the long tradition of disciplined study and technique that attracted and inspired me. It would become the holy grail of what I would hope to find in my own work. And so my early paintings were infused with the dramatic play of light on human bodies and landscapes.

I achieved a degree of success with this early work which in 1998, allowed me to quit my full-time job as a graphic designer at Dell Computer and focus entirely on painting. Though I continued to work in the traditional style of layered glazing in oils, I was already feeling a pull away from convention and a desire to explore painting’s greater possibilities. Where it had been a hunger for tradition and discipline that established my foundation, I was now compelled by a meditative thoughtfulness in being present and a desire to release myself into the uncertain world of abstract and conceptual painting. This began a ten year transition away from one style and method and into the new. However, my interest in form and beauty never wavered. Even the method of applying layered glazes continued to instruct my new work, though from a very unique and self invented process. My new paintings are spontaneous and abandoned Meditations, appearing as quiet spaces or joyful dances on the canvas. My Constructs are architectural explorations of color and surface, simultaneously both painting and sculptural relief. Fundamentally, despite their dissimilar surfaces and the contrast to my earlier romantic period, this new work remains true to my commitment to beauty and form.

Architectura 01.14.20, 2020 Oil on Panel 30 x 30 in

Current/Recent Exhibitions

Spectrum

New Work by Roi James

JANUARY 18th - FEBRUARY 22nd, 2020

Davis Gallery
837 West 12th Street
Austin, TX 78701
512-477-4929

Davis Gallery is proud to announce Spectrum, Roi James' first solo exhibit in Austin in nearly a decade. In this new collection, James presents works ranging from brilliant, undulating polychrome constructs, to delicate oil paintings contemplating the expanses of the open sea. Over the course of his career, James has boldly shifted his artistic vision, reinventing himself many times over and enjoying consistent success along the way. His mastery of several mediums and styles has attracted national attention and local fame. Spectrum, represents his latest triumphs, and delivers a complete series of diverse, significant work. This exhibit will be on view from January 18th through February 22nd, 2020.

I Am Forever -framed, oil on canvas 35.25 x 27.25 in. Not for Sale

Some of the subjects we discuss:

The last two years
Getting used to new space
Arriving and landing
Confronting voices
Parasite movie
Not one or the other
Talent from the start
Marketable work
Driven to learn and grow
Getting help
Selling work
Leaving a gallery
Changing landscape
Connecting in new ways
Democratizing art
New collectors
How to price work
Current prices
Spectrum at Davis
Portraiture
Self portraits
Fonda San Miguel
Working in new space
Feeling lost
Feeling empowered
Unsure about interview
Thinking about cancer
Loving more deeply
Creating moments
To the next level
Getting rid of things
Different choices
The gift of song
Violon D"ingres

Roi looking at the view from his new studio. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Roi looking at the view from his new studio. Photo by Scott David Gordon

Contact Roi

https://roijames.com/

rjstudio@roijames.com

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 82: Naomi Schlinke - Being Mobile

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Fri, 07 Feb 2020 05:00:00 -0600

“You don’t just believe in yourself, You behave in a way that you can believe in yourself, trust yourself. You have to show up. You have to show up everyday in the studio. You have to put in your time to make this unreal thing real.”

Naomi Schlinke is an visual artist who after many years as a professional dancer, decided to shift her energy primarily to painting. But dance and movement still inform the spirit of her work and the way it is created. As Naomi says in the interview, she provokes the conditions where her work comes to life through many specific choices, but also leaves much up to chance and strives to push the elements of each piece until the whole is activated by the limitations of the extent of the chosen frame. Her most recent body of work, Being Mobile, expresses the movement and iconic form of entities and symbols that seem familiar but also mysterious, elusive, and timeless. Naomi was just a joy to speak with and we laughed quite a bit. I love talking with artists who are so thoughtful about their work and who have such an interesting life journey and experiences to share.

Big Blue 2019 60” x 48” ink on mulberry paper collage mounted to panel

Bio courtesy of Naomi's website

In the 1970’s and early 80’s, Schlinke danced with the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company and the Joe Goode Performance Group, both based in San Francisco. At that time, the San Francisco art and dance scene were strongly influenced by new concepts flowing from artists such as Merce Cunningham, John Cage, and Robert Rauschenberg, many of whom emerged from the hot house for avant-garde work at Black Mountain College, North Carolina. Much of Schlinke's approach to painting is founded on the experiences that she absorbed as a dancer in those decades. Before moving to San Francisco, she received a B.A. and M.A. in dance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Currently a resident of Austin, she grew up in Dallas, Texas.

Since relocating to Austin, Texas from San Francisco in 1994, Schlinke has exhibited her work at numerous venues including the Robert McClain Gallery in Houston, The Dallas Contemporary and the MAC, Women & Their Work, Texas State University in San Marcos, D Berman Gallery in Austin, D. M. Allison Gallery in Houston, the Dougherty Art Center in Austin, and Northern-Southern Gallery also in Austin. Before returning to Texas, she exhibited with the Braunstein-Quay Gallery in San Francisco.

Coil Up 2019 48” x 36” ink on mulberry paper collage mounted to panel

NAOMI SCHLINKE and JAMES TURNER
Steps on Steppes
now showing at
NORTHERN-SOUTHERN GALLERY
1900-b East 12th Street near Chicon / Austin, TX 78702
Phillip Niemeyer, curator

Show Run: January 11 - February 15, 2020

Gallery hours Saturdays Only:
Jan 18, Jan 25, Feb 1, Feb 8, Feb 15
3:00pm - 6:30 pm

or for appointment, contact:
the gallery: hello@northern-southern.com
or the artist: naomi@naomischlinke.com

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Resonating work
Creating an environment
REM-Gensler
Daydreaming
Immersion
Studio visits
Describing new work
Religious art
Abstraction/movement
Beginnings of dance
Studying dance
Touring and performing
Writing and painting
European art tour
San Fran in the 70’s
Dance experiences
Mind of another time
Foundational influences
Slowing down
Engaging with materials
Print with Coronado
Starting to use ink
Quoting myself
Ink and mulberry paper
Creating a life
Loft in SF/showing work
Move to Austin
Adventurous spaces
Collectors/prices
Chance/choice
Making paintings
Aesthetically rewarding
Arranging the pieces
Name and titles
Northern-Southern
Thanks

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 81: MAKE YOUR SH*T - Rohitash Rao

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 17:00:00 -0600

"You know what, all that matters is that you find a way, however you have to do it, to just keep making your shit. Whatever that is. Just don’t stop. Any creative person. It’s so easy not to. Just find a way. Just don’t stop. You have to give yourself that opportunity. It’s a lot easier now than ever. So by whatever means you have please take advantage of it and go make your stuff, because you’re not getting younger."

Rohitash Rao makes cool stuff. Funny stuff. And a lot of it. Lucky for us he recently moved to Austin to take a teaching job as an assistant professor at the Stan Richards School of Advertising. Since childhood Ro has been a prolific creator, drawing and painting on anything he can get his hands on. Studying at Art Center in LA gave him a chance to try all different types of art creation and also learn how to pitch ideas and tell stories. Over the years he has worked as an award winning art director, illustrator, animator, has made a documentary, short films, music videos, stop motion, has co-written seven children's books, has exhibited his art numerous times, and is about to release an album of songs that he will be performing live with his band. Through his art creation he explores his personal experiences and also shares his often humorous commentary on the state of the world, with the belief that comedy and art are therapeutic and can lessen the weight of life. Keep smiling and make your shit.

OF COURSE I'M HAPPY Spray paint and acrylic on found wood 38 x 48 inches

Bio courtesy of Rohitash

Rohitash Rao’s art is a reflection of our culture. His work reflects our over-consuming society, often made on the very things that we throw away. His work is a conceptual (and often funny) take on the way we live.
As a friend put it, “Ro's art puts our society up against a funhouse mirror into which the dog of irony continually dives at its own reflection.”

Rohitash Rao is an award-winning art director, animator and director. He has co-created and illustrated 7 children’s books published by Harper Collins, made an animated TV pilot for 20th Century Fox and has had 12 solo shows as a fine-artist. He currently works as an assistant professor at the Stan Richards School of Advertising at the University of Texas in Austin.

YOUR PROBLEMS ARE NOT CONVENIENT Spray paint and acrylic with cut out eyes from magazines on found fast food cup Roughly 4 x 6 inches

Upcoming group exhibition

I Picked You A Flower
Opening Reception Feb 7th, 7-10pm
February 8th - March 14th

Vault Stone Shop
4361 S. Congress Ave, Suite 103
Austin, TX 78745

FLOWERS WILTING IN GLASS BOWL Acrylic on wood 24 x 24 inches

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Confidence
The 100th painting
Very specific/organized
Calculated spontaneity
Just steeping stones
Found objects
Being intentional
Marlboro box story
Art for beer
Canopy studio
Rancho Cucamonga
Interesting upbringing
Being American
Hobby and Jobby
Art as career?
Chemistry class
Art Center everything
Building a portfolio
Art director job
Move to NYC/filmmaking
Directing/storytelling
Documentary/spec reel
Switch to animation
Battle of the Album Covers
Poison music video
Curious Pictures
Move to L.A.
Book deals/Studio
Commitments
Starting to teach
Advertising at UT
American culture & creativity
Working with students
6th & Lamar assignment
Talking trash on trash
Humor and laughing
Early influences
More serious work
Ro Hit Records
I drive and I eat
Videos for songs
Why stop motion
The books
Social media
Make your shit

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 80: Annalise Gratovich

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 18 Jan 2020 15:30:00 -0600

"I have a huge interest in empathy and compassion and humanizing people. That’s been a big part of my work and my life."

Annalise Gratovich is a Texas printmaker who uses a lot of different tools and a supportive community to create small to sometimes very large prints. She can often be found carving carefully and meditatively out of wood, scribing into metal, or hand dying paper, the goal being to breathe life into the various beings, objects, and plants that inhabit the totemic and endearing world she has created. A world inspired by her family heritage and a desire to engender empathy and wonder. Everything is revealed when the paper is pulled from the intricately crafted and inked matrix. All of the hard work culminates in a print that will live on the walls of art lovers and collectors who appreciate the care and compassion that comes through in her work. She also travels to many other print shops as a guest artist and lecturer, is on the board of directors for Print Austin, and works the Blanton Museum of Art.

Annalise Gratovich – Through the Dusk, a Light

Recspec Gallery
4825 Weidemar Lane #700, Austin, Texas 78745 (map)
(Facebook Event)

Opening Reception Saturday, January 25th – 5-9pm
On view through March 7th and for PrintAustin

Works on paper about the places for which the heart yearns by printmaker and artist Annalise Gratovich.

About text courtesy of Annalise's website

Annalise creates her finely crafted prints by hand from start to finish, carving wood, etching metal, dyeing paper, and using manual printing presses to create multiple originals. Each piece is printed on the finest archival papers using oil based inks and hand dyed papers she produces in her studio. Annalise operates as a self publisher out of Austin, Texas and travels frequently across the country as a visiting artist and speaker and to publish prints with highly esteemed print shops.

Annalise begins each of her pieces with a drawing and a love for technical and artistic experimentation. She meticulously carves wood blocks with hand tools or carefully scribes into wax on the surface of a copper plate that is then dipped into an acid bath. Once these matrices are complete, sometimes after months of carving or a dozen dips in the acid bath, she begins her color development. Starting from color swatches she dips and tests in her studio, she dyes in bulk sheets of thin yet strong mulberry paper in a wide variety of colors and patterns. These sheets of dyed paper are then carefully cut out and applied to the wet ink on each woodcut or etching during the printing process, at which time the ink, papers, and pressure all combine to create the prints you see here.

Annalise Gratovich was awarded the title of Creative Ambassador of Visual Arts in 2019 by the City of Austin and exhibits extensively nationally and internationally, most recently in Buggenhagen, Germany, New York, NY, Dawson City, Youkon, San Antonio, TX and Austin, TX. She was most recently a guest artist and lecturer at Egress Press, Edinboro University, Pennsylvania, and a guest artist and juror at New Leaf Editions in Vancouver, B.C. Her most recent publications were produced by Mixed Grit in Denver, Colorado, at Egress Press in Pennsylvania, Evil Prints in St. Louis, Missouri, and Cannonball Press, Brooklyn, New York. She has work in numerous private and public collections, the most recent acquisition going to the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

She is a member of the Board of Directors of PrintAustin, a month-long, city-wide printmaking event for which she has helped organize exhibitions and special events, curate the PrintAustin Invitational, and has participated in artist and curator talks, and panel discussions.

Annalise’s ongoing and largest series to date, Carrying Things From Home, is comprised of eight 3x5.5 foot hand-dyed chine collé woodcuts.

Annalise at the 2018 PrintAustin Expo

PRINTAUSTIN

January 15th - February 15th, 2020

PrintAustin’s mission to the Austin art community and galleries is to share our enthusiasm for printmaking by helping galleries curate, exhibit, and promote works on paper and to engage a wider audience through in-house artist talks, signings, panels, printmaking demonstrations, and print-focused art happenings.

With several professional print shops, nationally recognized university printmaking programs, internationally acclaimed print collections, and a thriving printmaking community, Austin is a hub for printmaking in Texas. The PrintAustin team is working with organizations and individuals throughout the Austin visual arts community to showcase fine art prints during this annual event, January 15-February 15.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 79: Oen Hammonds - Design Thinking

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Tue, 31 Dec 2019 20:00:00 -0600

"There is nothing wrong with failing. Failing is a learning moment. If you failed and you took the time to reflect and learn why you failed, and what you can do to change that course, and who can help you with that, most importantly, then you haven’t failed. You’ve just learned something."

Oen Hammonds is a Design Principal at IBM here in Austin where his job focuses on employee experience design. As early as High School he found himself designing for others, and after an eight year stint in the U.S. Army, he picked up where he left off and studied design in college. The jobs he has had since have all challenged him and have added to his skill set in different ways. He talks a lot about his path to the success he has found today and how important it is for a designers to have humility in their work. We delve into the subject of Design Thinking and all the ways that framework can be adapted to peoples careers and everyday life. Oen has also been sharing his knowledge as a teacher for the last fifteen years and is married to accomplished artist and teacher Hollis Hammonds.

About text courtesy of Oen's website

Designer | Advocate | Educator

Knowledgeable Design Principal with solid grasp of development, implementation and optimization of communication and leadership skills. Goal-driven Graphic Designer successful at applying technical skills to create work that informs and engages customers. Clear communicator and collaborative team player with an eye for detail and skill in customer relations. Ready to bring 20+ years' experience to dynamic position in fast-paced environment.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Designer
Advocate
Teacher
Student diversity
Art vs Design
Humility/Ego
Mad Men
Meeting needs
Telling a story
Buyer loyalty
High school
Mac Classic
Getting paid?
Joined the Army
College/NKU
Design style
Early influences
Benchmark
From large to small
Move to Austin
Y&R experience
Agency vs In-house
Move to IBM
4 different roles
Design Thinking
Team activities
Empathy map
Useful in life
Being reactive
Constructive meetings
EDT development
Open source/badges
It’s a Framework
The Loop
Observe
Reflect, Create
Solving a problem
Loosely held
Courage/slow down
Oen’s career course
Failure/goals
Mentorship
Using EDT in life
Year end review
More time for fun
Personal work

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 78: Art From The Streets

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Thu, 05 Dec 2019 16:30:00 -0600

“My passion is around art because I know how wonderful it is to create. There are lots of fabulous programs for people to have food and shelter. Very Important. Very Important. But we as human beings need to have our souls fed. That’s what I see happening with Art From The Streets.”

Heloise Gold - Founder and Board Member At Large

"We have about 35-40 artists that are actually there at a booth, that you can communicate and talk with and get to know and hear stories. I think when you take things back home that’s the best part of the art, the story that you have about the person or what it was about or what it meant to them.”

Kelly Worden talking about the 27th Annual Show and Sale

For the last 27 years Art From The Streets has helped artists who are currently or have previously been homeless to have the supplies and a safe space and window of time to just create. The work is then sold and the artists receive 95% of the proceeds. This interview consists of the voices of four different people involved with the organization. First Executive Director Kelly Worden speaks to the overall scope and mission, responds to quotes from four artists, talks about how this work has changed her life, and hopes for the future. Next, one of the original founders Heloise Gold talks about how it all started and it’s impact on her and others. Having been a weekly volunteer for the last 8 years, Katrina shares details about the open studio sessions, things that she has learned working with a homeless population, and about creating hope and success. Lastly we hear from Hugh, a formerly homeless artist who shares his story and how AFTS has helped him. Please visit their website to see how you can help this very important organization!

Art From The Streets
27th Annual Show and Sale
December 7th & 8th 11am-5pm

Austin Convention Center
500 E Cesar Chavez St, Austin, Texas 78701 Ballroom A

Text courtesy of the AFTS Facebook event page

The mission of Art From The Streets is to provide a safe and encouraging environment where the positive spirit of homeless and at-risk people is nurtured through artistic expression, offering them a pathway to self-determination as a source of pride, achievement, social connection, and income through the creation and sale of their work.

AFTS is celebrating its 27th year! YEAHH!!

We provide a 4 times a week Open Studio for the artists to come and create throughout the year which culminates in this AMAZING show! There will be thousands of pieces of artwork for sale for you to choose from for all budgets! Many of the artists themselves will be attending to chat with you about their artwork and inspiration.

Come and invite your friends, colleagues and family to support this program but most importantly the artists!!

Suggested $5 Donation at the Door to support AFTS!
Austin Convention Center Ballroom A
Entrance on Cesar Chavez/Red River - Fairmont Hotel Entrance

Be reminded 95% of artwork sales goes DIRECTLY to the artists.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Kelly Worden-Executive Director

Description of AFTS
Annual art sale
How to help
Artists quotes
Life changing

Heloise Gold-Founder/Board Member At Large

The beginnings
Making art with us
First show
Open studio classes
Getting organized
Divisiveness
Feeding your soul
Success story
Preconceptions
Finding a space
The work is good
Meeting the artists

Katrina Meredith-Volunteer

Volunteering
Trinity center open studio
Artists have jobs
Assumptions
Interacting
Veterans
Transformation
Blanton visit
More interaction
Finding joy
Support themselves
Creating hope/success

Hugh Miles-Artist

Coming to Texas
Art talent as a boy
Sharing knowledge
Positive state of mind
Looking forward
We are not labels
Love/action/truth
They can relate
Resentments
Always had art
Enough is enough
All I have is today
Not looking down
Don’t fit in/judgement
How AFTS helps

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 77: Rehab El Sadek - Transient

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 23 Nov 2019 12:00:00 -0600

“As any conceptual artist you feel like you are a reflection of the people around you. It’s not like you do what people want. It’s more like you try to just feel, what is the concerns or what is the highlights of your society. And how to connect people. And how to connect with people. And that’s what I love making through art.”

Rehab El Sadek is a conceptual artist who’s work often has the aesthetic of objects discovered in the course of an archeological dig. And even though the work may have been just created, the mystery of it’s provenance and age allow the viewers imagination to expand and explore all of the rich and intriguing possibilities. Rehab’s work gets inspiration from all of the different places that she travels and from the people that she meets and what she can discover and learn from them. Her work evolves through time as she converses with those who view her exhibitions. There in those dialogues she finds the next steps of growth and reaction. Her newest exhibition, Transient, explores how we can better learn to understand each other and what it is to belong and where you call home. What a delightfully sincere and thoughtful conversation this is. Please enjoy and be sure to check out Rehab’s work online and in person if possible.

The Memory Palace exhibtion at Big Medium, June 2019

The Memory Palace exhibtion at Big Medium, June 2019

The Memory Palace exhibtion at Big Medium, June 2019

Statement & Bio courtesy of Rehab's website

Statement

I value the opportunities art provides me to connect with people on an emotional and intellectual level. Meditation on interior space, immersion into unique overlooked outdoor places, and examination of alarming social and political trends taking place in the world inform the artistic inquiries of my practice.

Bio

Austin-based/Egyptian-born Rehab El Sadek is a conceptual artist whose career has spanned over 25 years. Meditation on space and immersion into overlooked places inform the artistic inquiries of her practice. She has initiated workshops and creative social practice interventions on issues ranging from women’s rights in Sinai to the challenges facing disadvantaged children in Nairobi.

El Sadek has participated in group and solo shows at Lumen Travo Gallery (Amsterdam), Borusan Art Gallery (Istanbul), Ashkal Alwan (Beirut), the L.A. Freewaves Festival at MOCA Geffen Contemporary (Los Angeles), La Photographie Africaine (Bamako), and The Women's Museum (Dallas). In 1999, she was chosen by Jannis Kounellis for his Pavilion at Biennale Dei Giovanni Artisti (Rome). In 2009, she was part of “Rebelle: Art and Feminism 1969 - 2009” at Museum voor Moderne Kunst (Arnhem). Her awards and residences include the UNESCO-supported Artists’ Bursaries at Gasworks Artists Studios (London) and the Thami Mnyele Residency Award (Amsterdam). She is also the recipient of an Installation Prize at the Sharjah Biennale (Emirates).

In 2017, El Sadek was named the City of Austin’s first Artist-in-Residence, exploring environmental and social issues embedded in the city’s Watershed Protection Department. Her current, deeply personal work draws inspiration from ancient and classical architecture, modern architectural theory and explores broad themes of immigration, belonging, communication, and language. El Sadek holds a degree in art from the University of Alexandria (Egypt).

Current and upcomming

Thin City, 2019, Mixed media on paper, 28 x 37in

Rehab El Sadek: Transient

Prizer Arts & Letters
2023 E Cesar Chavez St
(512) 575-3559

Through January 4th, 2020

With Transient, artist Rehab El Sadek continues her exploration into issues related to immigration, belonging, communication and language. Utilizing sound installation, photography and the written word, El Sadek meditates on residential spaces and our relationship to them and to each other.

Transient at Prizer Arts & Letters

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Artist statement
Inspiration
Positive change
Support for the arts
Fathers influence
Archeology
Human culture
Aged objects
Feedback from viewer
Life as a child
Always by the window
Art school/painting
Beautiful time of life
Working in fashion
1st Cairo exhibition
Book sculptures
Traveling from Egypt
London-Empty Shapes
Moving to the US
Self preservation
Being an immigrant
Moving to Austin
Artist in residence
Watershed protection
The Memory Palace
Architectural projections
Building the pyramid
Transient exhibition
Different voices
Community involvement
Making connections
Prizer/EAST

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 76: Keith Kreeger - Objects Matter

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 16 Nov 2019 06:00:00 -0600

"It’s always scary to stop doing something. But if you don’t stop doing something, you can't do something new. Every time I’ve stopped doing something other opportunities came, or I had time to try something new."

Keith Kreeger loves clay. For the past 25 years he has dedicated himself to forming and shaping various types and colors of that material, into beautiful bowls, vases, plates, and many other objects that are intended to be used and enjoyed. After college he set up his first potters studio in Cape Cod, where he grew and honed his artistic and business skills. Then a move to Austin shifted the aesthetic of his work to more simple forms with subtle lines. The look and profile of his business has also evolved over the years as he has strived to stay in tune with his core values and maintain a balance between work, family, what feels right, and what makes sense. His customers are people who care about where the things in their life come from and how they are made. Objects matter. Keith and I talk a lot about his business but also delve into his history in ceramics and his philosophies about his art, his customers, and how he figured out where he is headed.

Photo by Chad Wadsworth

Text courtesy of Keith's website.

Meet Keith

Besides being the proud owner of 32” paella pan, Keith is an artist, designer and maker. Hailing from the East Coast, Keith got to Austin as quickly as possibly with this wife and three children. Previously he had a studio and contemporary craft gallery on Cape Cod for 12 years.

Keith’s aesthetic comes from the singular idea that “objects matter,” and his work reflects that simple phrase, exemplifying clean, polished and modern design.

A past-president of the board of Big Medium, the arts nonprofit that produces the East Austin Studio Tour, West Austin Studio Tour and the Texas Biennial, Keith currently sits on the board of the Austin Food and Wine Alliance, the advisory board of Austin Bat Cave and is an active supporter and advocate for the Andy Roddick Foundation.

When he’s not behind the wheel, he can be found making strong espresso, epic playlists, hosting as many rad events in town as possible and driving his kids to their soccer games.

Keith's Austin showroom
Normal hours - Wednesday-Friday, 11:00 am - 5:00 pm
916 Springdale Rd Bldg 3-104, Austin, TX 78702

EAST AUSTIN STUDIO TOUR
November 16–17 & 23–24, 2019
12pm-6pm

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Canopy
Labels
Making the shift
Instagram
Standing out
What drives him
Being a potter
Traditional path
True fans/new people
Working with chefs
Selling wholesale
Something new
Art of the pot
Convention life
Supportive partners
Anniversary
Sharing the work
Social media
Fun opportunities
Connections
Hand of the maker
1000 years old
In the moment
Capacity
Something lasting
What we are making
Defining for yourself
Largest order
Re-evaluating
College in NY
In love with ceramics
Success/failure
Toshiko Takaezu
Working with a legend
Do it now
Cape Cod Studio
Collectors/tradition
Reduction firing
Change of aesthetic
What is porcelain
Move to Austin
Getting established
Cobra stuidos/EAST
Functional objects
Dinnerware
Made to order
Using molds
Expectations
Size of studio
Making decisions
Starting/finishing

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 75: Karen Offutt

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sun, 10 Nov 2019 06:00:00 -0600

“My goal has always been to make a painting breathe with realism, but when you get up to it you can really see the brush quality. That is what I’ve always been drawn to when I look at work. That has been my obsession since I was very young.”

Karen Offutt is a figurative realist painter and one of the founders of Austin’s own Atelier Dojo, a professional arts academy offering classes, workshops with visiting artists, open studio sessions, and a new intensive study program starting next year. After growing up with a love of drawing and art, it took Karen quite a lot of searching to find the instruction and community she desired. After many years of serious study which eventually led to teaching others painting, she has made a respected name for herself in the realism community and also through the growth and reputation of the school she started with fellow painters, Jennifer Balkan and Denise Fulton. We talk about her practice, about the school, and what she has learned in all of her different roles including motherhood, and how her work continues to evolve.

Wallflower ‐ Oil ‐ Panel ‐ 24 x 20

Bio courtesy of Karen's website.

Karen Offutt was born and raised in Dallas, Texas by a creative family who encouraged her to explore her artistic talent from an early age. Her father was an artist and her mother is a designer and owner of a needlepoint company. Throughout her formative years, Karen excelled in art classes and participated in several art exhibits. As a young adult she sought a more serious outlet for her talent. Not finding the ultimate education for the type of realism she sought, Karen found art related jobs to keep her motivated. Learning to paint with oils was her goal and found that opportunity Austin Fine Arts Classes where she learned a more classical approach. From there, she attended workshops from nationally re-nowned artists and from there began to find her own path in her creative journey.

From her studio in Austin, Karen approaches her paintings with an atmospheric sensitivity combining shape, tone line, and color. The inspiration of her preferred subject matter comes ultimately from the figure. "I have always loved painting people whether in natural surroundings or in a more staged setting." “As and artist, I am very aware of my environment which invites me to be a constant observer. I see potential in everything and my emotional reaction guides me to the specific inspiration. There are different aspects to my painting, for example technical skill, creative freedom and emotional truth. My goal is to create work that guides all these elements in a direction that moves me."

Offspring ‐ Oil ‐ Panel ‐ 30 x 20

Atelier Dojo
916 Springdale Road
Building 2, Suite 106B
Austin, TX 78702
(512) 220-1058
info@atelierdojo.com

Some of the subjects we discuss:

When we met
Type of painting
Less is more
Abstraction
How you feel
Many layers
This moved me
That’s really me
Model Meeghan
Wallflower painting
It doesn’t end
Capturing a moment
Liking your old work
Striving to improve
Evolving the work
Drawing growing up
The right brain
Modern art influence
Austin Fine Art Classes
Jennifer Balkan
Painting community
Idea for Atelier Dojo
Motherhood
Taking a break
Personal aspects/People
Painting sons
Working with models
Building a composition
It’s all a blur at first
Teaching painting
Encouraging students
You have to want it
Guiding students
Fear and pressure
Piecing together skills
Realism vs. Modern
Connecting to now
Having the skill
Recognition
Favorite things
Selling work
The business side
Austin/Atelier Dojo
Foundational skills
Dojo Academy
Classic structure
How to get started
Expanded world
EAST events

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 74: Susannah Morgan - For The Love Of Art

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 30 Oct 2019 05:00:00 -0500

"The nature of the business is relationship building. With clients, with artists, with framers and installers. The people that make up this whole ecosystem we call the art world. Even people who come and pack the work and ship it, even they need to understand. Building up trust with all of these people I think is important. So in building relationships you have to be true to who you are as a person. I think it is something we re-learn even on a personal level, is just being true to who you are and knowing who you are. And I think you will be more successful if you have a good handle on what that is."

Susannah Morgan’s passion for art began with inspiration from her grandparents, and has followed her through college, working at a gallery in NYC, running a gallery in Austin, and art consulting for corporate clients on sometimes very large projects. A year ago with all of that experience and knowledge under her belt, she ventured out on her own to work directly with collectors and artists in a broader and more personal way. I think most any artist who listens to this conversation with get something out it. Susannah really knows her stuff and is not afraid to share. We go into great detail about what she offers as an adviser and some of the tips you can take and run with. I really enjoyed speaking with her and hope that some of you will be inspired by this conversation to seek out her help or someone like her. To get organized, to get a proffesional perspective on your work and the industry, and to hopefully find the success and freedom that most of us desire in our careers as artists.

Headshot photography by Jonathan Morgan Photography

Text courtesy of Susannah's website

SKM Art Advising is a vital resource and partner for collectors, designers, and artists. Relationships are central to our mission, and our clients’ vision is our primary focus. We work closely with collectors across the United States to build meaningful art collections, interior designers to put the finishing touch on their gorgeous projects, and artists to understand the business of art. By working with SKMAA, our clients gain access to our positive industry relationships, and benefit from our extensive industry experience.

Founder Susannah Morgan has built a career in New York and Austin both in the residential and commercial sectors as an art consultant and gallery director. Susannah founded SKM Art Advising with the goal of connecting collectors and designers with meaningful artwork. She is active in the community, building strong relationships throughout Austin, Texas, and the United States with artists, gallery owners, and collectors.

In her free time, Susannah enjoys gardening, hiking, traveling, and spending time with her dog Maddy. She also volunteers her time with the Girls Advocacy League, a division of the Girls Empowerment Network in Austin.

SKM Art Advising

susannah@skmartadvising.com

512-299-3062

Austin, Texas

Current and upcomming

2019 Exhibition Series

The Spaces Between

New works by Larry Goode

Opening Reception - Tuesday November 5 from 5:30- 8:00
Exhibition - October 30- January 6

Paris in a Bite
3801 N Capital of TX Hwy, Suite D-180
Austin, TX 78746

SKM Art Advising is proud to be mounting a series of curated exhibitions at The Gallery at Paris in a Bite in the Westlake neighborhood of Austin, Texas. Our intention with this series is to create a space of dialogue and to showcase work that we believe in.

Larry Goode - Aiiric 48” x 48” Oil stick, oil on wood panel

Coffee Chat: Susannah Morgan

Thursday, November 7, 2019
9:00 AM 10:00 AM

Big Medium 916 Springdale Rd, Bldg 2 #101
Austin, TX 78702

Join us for our November Coffee Chat with Susannah Morgan, an art consultant and artist advisor. Susannah will share insights into collector behavior and best practices for artists learned through her experience in the field.

Rebecca Jewell - Multicolored Songbirds, Hand-printed and coloured goose, turkey, dove, and pheasant feathers with hand-printed tissue on archival mountboard, 33x35”

SKM Art Advising is the exclusive broker for Rebecca Jewell’s work in Texas. We talk about this piece in the interview.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

SKM art advising
Collectors
Artist advising
The conduit
Love of art
Biographies
Grandparents
Publishing Co.
College at UT
Move to NYC
Volunteering at Met
Insurance job
Rebecca Hossack
Intentional practice
Working at the gallery
Move back to TX
Starting over
Davis Gallery
Skills learned
Relationships
Art + Artisans
Corporate clients
Learning the business
Artists approach
Out on her own
Business coach
Working w/collectors
Questions/Research
Presenting options
Within reach
Rebecca Jewel
Collection management
Getting organized
Pricing work
Gallery prices
Knowing value
Artist statements
Customization
Contacts/Goals
Accountability
Like a therapist
I need help
What is your job
Referrals/Resources
Girls Advocacy League
The Austin market
Artists she likes
Paris in a Bite
Work at a restaurant
CS Coffee chat

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 73: Dave McClinton

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Tue, 22 Oct 2019 16:30:00 -0500

“The things that I think people don’t understand or misunderstand about me is that sometimes when I’m hanging out with friends or hanging out with piers, I can't help but make a joke or a comment about race. Because it is literally always there. It’s just always there. It’s an odd thing to constantly have that in your face all of the time. It’s heavy. I think it’s why black men die sooner than everyone else. That psychological weight is always there. And sometimes I wish I could explain to my friends what that's like. I wish there was a way to convey to people, and maybe that’s what I am trying to do with the art, what that constant pressure feels like, because it is literally constant”

Dave McClinton is an artist and graphic designer who after doing design work for decades decided to funnel his life experiences, ideas, and emotions into often provocative, graphically intricate, and colorfully rendered, digitally collaged portraits and landscapes. The artworks aim to tell stories, start hard conversations, and to help visually define current and historical black identity and inner life.

Lo and Behold IV

Statement's courtesty of Dave's website.

ARTIST STATEMENT | as it pertains to the culturally based imagery.

In the African American community, we are slowly rediscovering our history that has not been fully illustrated. It’s my job as visual communicator to review historical information and inform the community by bringing these concepts to life and help visually define our identity. And to distribute these stories about the strengths and trials of the African American community.

I want to illustrate the life-cycle of the inner life of a black person. From innocent to informed. From recklessly defiant to determined. How the weight of American history can either crush you or harden you. And, how either result often has to be hidden from view just to get through the day. The anger of the African-American community is often portrayed as a threat. The anger of “traditional’ communities is depicted as righteous. This paradigm feeds stress and despair back into black lives and thus stokes the fires we try to simultaneously hide and harness.

Currently, there is a newly intensified wave of empathetic consciousness in all forms of artistic output. I want the community to seize this moment in history to create work that tells a story and compels them to seek out empathy and activism for the sake of others. My hope is the work I’m creating can help do that. I want to spark conversations that have, historically, been hard to start.

ARTIST STATEMENT | Concerning the landscapes.

I create free standing crumpled paper still lifes, then photograph them and manipulate the images until I’ve created something that straddles reality and fantasy. I want to show you something familiar and then alter your perspective. These shapes and “views” are familiar but I want to you conjure up places you have been and seen. Not simply reproduce a vista for it’s own sake.

I combine my love of photography, art and graphic design to create works that speak to the viewer by communicating something specific and obvious but also harboring subtexts that require repeated viewing or discussion. My work as a graphic designer has been to communicate quickly and efficiently through logo and branding work. That economy of message can be applied to art.

Resurgence

Current and upcomming

Laura Caffrey and Dave McClinton:
CARRY THE REMAINDER
October 11 - November 17, 2019

Atleier 1205
1205 E Cesar Chavez St.,
Austin, TX 78702

Gallery hours: 11am-6pm, Thursdays and Fridays, by appointment on other days and evenings

Meet the artists during the first weekend of East Austin Studio Tour: 11am-6pm, Saturday and Sunday, November 16-17

2019 Texas Book Festival Weekend
Saturday, October 26th 10:00AM – 5:00PM
Sunday, October 27th 11:00AM – 5:00PM

Saturday - 2:30 PM - 3:15 PM
Meet 2019 Texas Book Festival Poster Artist Dave McClinton
The Contemporary Austin-Jones Center (700 Congress Avenue)

Meet the official 2019 Texas Book Festival Poster artist, Dave McClinton, as he shares his work, including the dramatic image for this year’s poster, Burgeoning, a mixed-media digital collage made from crumpled paper, photographed and rendered as a mountain landscape. The idea for McClinton’s crumpled paper series was sparked when he noticed the discarded gift wrapping on his kitchen table looked like a miniature mountain sculpture.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Questions/reactions
Experiences/stereotypes
New conversations
The mission
Cultural work
Code switching
Textures/bodies
Facial elements/features
Eye contact/defiant
Generational trauma
Conflicting messages
Addiction/genetics
Using historical texts
Replacing the nouns
The word “likely”
Graphic design
Rewriting texts
The Landscapes
Crumpled paper
Scars on the land
Vietnam Memorial
People as resources
Other Art Fair
Crowd reactions
Tough conversations
Bulletproof explanations
Defending the work
Who gets the work
Woman at WEST
Suit and noose
Talking point piece
Studying art in school
Influential teachers
Printing fascination
All the names
Starting to make art
Using the skill set
Story importance
Evolution of work
Showing emotions
Sense of injustice
Dealing with life
Using humor
Pride/embarrassment
Me too/All men
Righteousness
Thomas Jefferson
3/5ths of a person
The 1619 Project
Texas Book Festival
DJ Stout/Pentagram
Atelier 1205 Landscapes
Get out there/friends
Davis Gallery show
New plexi work
Branding/logo work
Creative freedom

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Artwork of Dave McClinton // Austin, Texas
Dave McClinton, a graphic designer based in Austin, Texas
Dave McClinton (@mcclinton) • Instagram
Get to know our 2019 Festival Poster Artist: Dave McClinton – Texas Book Festival
Pecha Kucha Austin #32 - YouTube
Atelier 1205 Exhibitions — Carry the Remainder features the mixed-media work of Laura Caffrey and the digital collage work of Dave McClinton.
Trayvon Martin - Wikipedia
Shooting of Michael Brown - Wikipedia
Shooting of Philando Castile - Wikipedia
Emmett Till - Wikipedia
George Stinney - Wikipedia
Medgar Evers - Wikipedia
The 1619 Project - The New York Times
Austin Art Talk Podcast Episode 32: Laura Caffrey - Reject/Respect

Episode 72: Fort Lonesome - Kathie Sever

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Fri, 11 Oct 2019 07:00:00 -0500

"At this point what makes me the most excited about the business, is trying to figure out how to build something that can be a sustainable platform for a number of different artists. It’s so hard to make a living in Austin as an artist or musician. Being able to bring people in and have us all working together on this thing has felt incredibly satisfying. To be able to stand back and watch these items being made by these people who I care so much about. I’m so proud of them and am excited to see where it will go because I am so inspired by them and all of their hard work."

Kathie Sever founded her company Fort Lonesome almost 20 years ago, which creates custom chain stitch embroidered western wear for local Austinites as well as musicians and celebrities flaunting their elaborate wears all over the world. In the interview we talk about her artistic origins and upbringing, her time living on a ranch in Montana, how she ended up finding and learning chain stitch embroidery and what that is, the many challenges she’s faced both professionally and personally growing the business, her awesome team of employees, and how she never really gets to meet the celebrities they work with and she’s OK with that. I love how candid Kathie is about the struggles she has had growing her business and how inspired she is by the people she works with everyday.

Kathie and I at the Fort Lonesome shop in East Austin.

Text courtesy of the Fort Lonesome website.

About

Fort Lonesome is a design-forward custom western wear and chain-stitch embroidery studio based in Austin, TX. We work collaboratively with our clients to create works that capture the stories of their wearers, in an effort to create pieces that slowly and carefully consider the symbiosis of art, narrative, and technician-ship. Our process is led by considerations of necessity and sustainability, and our designs are inspired by the natural world and its visible and invisible energies.

Story

Company founder Kathie Sever began working in western wear in 2000. She found herself spending a fair amount of time returning to her attempts to rebuild and make functional a hundred-year-old chainstitch embroidery machine she’d purchased. These machines have a legacy of connectedness with much of western wear’s most famous tailors. At that time, information about or mentors in the use of these machines was near to nil, so the learning curve was long and slow. But after many years of tinkering and communicating with some far-away fellow comrades, the gifts these machines, and their ability to confer the energy and individualism of their operators, resulted in the birth of Fort Lonesome in the fall of 2012.

In the coming months and years the team at Fort Lonesome grew to include first Dana Falconberry, then soon after, Christina Hurt Smith and Amrit Khalsa, each of whom brought to the table strong backgrounds in diverse art and design, and whose collaborative approach to working together grew into a shared aesthetic and style.

Since then the company has continued to evolve and grow, but slowly and always with the intention of pushing the boundaries of this long lost art form.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Intro
Having a platform
The spotlight/feedback
Having employees
Sacrifices/skills
You have to go through it
Finding your way
Staying connected
Building a business
Multiple voices
Unseen aspects
Ego/being a leader
Who am I without this
Self growth/help
Growing up in Cali
Parents and the outdoors
Dad’s photography career
Mom’s sewing influence
Studying art in school
Painting/teaching?
Montana experience
Western wear
Being in to clothes
Austin/marriage/children
Starting to sew
Childrens clothing line
Business got too big
Learning chain stitch
Re-brand/Ryan Rhodes
CSE vintage machines
How chain stitch works
Everyone on the team
Help with the business
Growth vs’ reacting
Next phase/Saying No
Valuing the work
Feeling deserving
Sustainability
Dealing with celebrities
Putting creativity to work
Love of the team
Getting back to making

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 71: Deborah Roberts

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Fri, 04 Oct 2019 10:30:00 -0500

"I’m going to continue to push my work forward. The work has always come first. It has to be the work, because it’s no good if it’s not. That’s my philosophy. I don’t push that on anyone else. That’s just always been my thing. That the work has to do what it needs to do."

In this highly anticipated followup to my first interview with Deborah from March of 2018, we sit down to talk about all of the wonderful and sometimes challenging aspects of her amazing career over the last year and a half since we last spoke. From grants to residencies to gallery representation in Los Angeles and London, it has been a will ride. But don’t think she is an overnight success. Her work ethic and passion have carried her though over four decades of pursing art to where she is now. As they say, luck is when opportunity meets preparation.

Deborah shares how her work has been evolving and where it is headed, her studio practice, as well as giving us a peek into some ideas for her upcoming one women show at The Contemporary Austin a year from now. I think Deborah proves that hard work, integrity, and persistence can change your life and the lives of others in a positive way. She is even planning to start a foundation to help other artists get the help that she so dearly needed to grow her career early on. If you haven heard our first conversation that covers the history of her life and career before last year, have a listen to Episode 19.

Artist statment and Bio courtesy of Deborah's website.

ARTIST STATEMENT

Whether I was aware of it or not, otherness has been at the center of my consciousness since the beginning of my artistic career. My early ideals of race and beauty were shaped by and linked through paintings of renaissance artists and photographs in fashion magazines. Those images were mythical, heroic, beautiful, and powerful and embodied a particular status that was not afforded equally to anyone I knew. Those images influenced the way I viewed myself and other African Americans, which led me to investigate the way our identities have been imagined and shaped by societal interpretations of beauty. Having one’s identity dismantled, marginalized and regulated to non-human status demands action. This led me to critically engage image-making in art history and pop-culture, and ultimately grapple with whatever power and authority these images have over the female figure.

My art practice takes on social commentary, critiquing perceptions of ideal beauty. Stereotypes and myths are challenged in my work; I create a dialogue between the ideas of inclusion, dignity, consumption, and subjectivity by addressing beauty in the form of the ideal woman, the Venus. By challenging Venus, my work challenges the notion of universal beauty—making room for women of color who are not included in this definition.

Wading through my work, you must look through multiple layers, double meanings and symbols. My process combines found and manipulated images with hand drawn and painted details to create hybrid figures. These figures often take the form of young girls. I’m interested in the way young girls symbolize vulnerability but also a naïve strength. The girls who populate my work, while subject to societal pressures and projected images, are still unfixed in their identity. Each girl has character and agency to find their own way amidst the complicated narratives of American, African American and art history.

BIO

Deborah Roberts (American, b. 1962) is a mixed media artist whose work challenges the notion of ideal beauty. Her work has been exhibited internationally across the USA and Europe. Her work is in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York; Brooklyn Museum, New York, New York; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California; The Block Museum of Art, Evanston, Illinois; Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas; Spelman College Museum of Fine Art, Atlanta, Georgia; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey; and The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery, Saratoga Springs, New York. Roberts is the recipient of the Anonymous Was a Woman Grant (2018), the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (2016) and a Ginsberg-Klaus Award Fellowship (2014). She received her MFA from Syracuse University, New York. She lives and works in Austin, Texas. Roberts is represented by Stephen Friedman Gallery, London and Susanne Vielmetter Los Angeles Projects.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

The first interview
New studio
Since the last interview
Painting vs Collage
Romantic/Americana
Flat and fixed
Work about boys
George Stinney
Where the work goes
Tamir Rice shooting
Evolving the work
Boys with pink shirts
Using fist imagery
Do you see the subtlety
Sculpture work/Books
Lot’s of work to be done
The first year/Car analogy
Taking control/Staying true
People working with her
Keeping up the level
Missing women
Volta/Being prepared
Having inventory
Who gets the work
Meeting new people
Paying the bills
Time to grow the work
The work was fracturing
Fear of changing
Grants for artists
A little bit of help
Not an overnight success
It’s not easy/Stress
Hours a week
Rauschenberg Residency
Studio manager
Contemporary installation
Why not be preachy
Getting back to people
New book release
Big Goals
Talk at Blanton

Upcoming Events

October 4, 2019 6pm-8pm

Book Release/Signing of "Deborah Roberts: The Evolution of Mimi"
George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center
1165 Angelina St, Austin, Texas 78702

October 8th, 2019 6:30pm

Artist Talk: Deborah Roberts and Robert A. Pruitt

This event is free to the public but pre-registration is recommended.

Blanton Museum of Art
The University of Texas at Austin
200 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. Austin, TX 78712

Banner image - Deborah Roberts
LET THEM BE CHILDREN 120" x 45"
Mixed Media Collage on Canvas 2018

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 70: Beili Liu - Resilience

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 23 Sep 2019 17:00:00 -0500

"There are all these pressures and talks about how do you make your career. How do you make a living? How do you make it sustainable? How do you be an entrepreneur as an artist. And they are all great sounding, very trendy. But at the same time I want to come back and say, why did you want to be an artist? And what makes you want to wake up in the morning and run to the studio and make that thing. At the very beginning it was never for money, it was never for fame. It was something that’s driving you, that’s eating you inside. You have to get it out.

How do we hold ourselves accountable? How do we know we are doing something that’s meaningful to ourselves first? And therefore it is meaningful for our viewers. If I am spending hours and weeks and months to make this thing, why am I making it. And what does it mean to people when they are seeing it. It has to be beyond, wow this is beautiful, or this is really cool. It has to mean something. To me and to them."

Beili Liu is an installation artist who for most of her practice has focused on the use of space to create transformative experiences for herself and the viewer. She experiments with and puts a lot of emphasis on the exploration of materials, process, and time. Drawing from her life and cultural memory the works often explore issues that she relates to on a personal level and often highlight the importance of feminine strength through the use of meaningful repetition, mending, healing and resilience. And as a teacher who is a working artist she is also able to guide and inspire her students with the wisdom she has gained doing installations and exhibiting her work all over the world.

Beili installing AMASS at University Gallery, Texas State University, San Marcos in 2013 Photo by Scott David Gordon

Lure/Rise, Chinese Culture Foundation, San Francisco, photo by Frank Jang

Bio courtesy of Beili's website

Beili Liu is a visual artist who creates material and process-driven, site‑responsive installations. Oftentimes embodying transience, fragility, and the passage of time, Liu’s immersive installations are engaged with multifaceted dichotomies: lightness contrasted with heft, fierceness countered by resilience, and chaos balanced by quiet order. Working with commonplace materials and elements such as thread, scissors, paper, stone, fire, and water, Liu manipulates their intrinsic qualities to extrapolate complex cultural narratives.

Liu’s work has been exhibited in Asia, Europe and across the United States. She has held solo exhibitions at venues such as the Hå Gamle Prestegard, Norwegian National Art and Culture Center (2016, 2011), Hua Gallery, London, UK (2012), Galerie An Der Pinakothek Der Moderne, Munich, Germany (2011), Elisabeth de Brabant Art Center, Shanghai (2009), and the Chinese Culture Foundation, San Francisco (2015, 2008). Liu’s work has been showcased in group exhibitions at the National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. (2012), Hamburg Art Week, Germany (2012), the Kaunas Biennale, Lithuania (2011), and the 23rd and 25th Miniartextil International Contemporary Fiber Art exhibitions in Como, Italy (2015, 2013), among many others. Beili Liu is a 2016 Joan Mitchell Painters and Sculptors Grant recipient. Liu has been designated the 2018 Texas State Artist in 3D medium by the Texas State Legislature and the Texas Commission on The Arts.Born in Jilin, China, Beili Liu now lives and works in Austin, Texas. Liu received her MFA from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and is a Professor of Art at the University of Texas at Austin.

The Little House Stands on the Prairie, Permanent Installation, Adobe bricks, wood, straw, newspaper, glass, hardware, 7'x14.5'x10.5' Art Farm, Nebraska

The Mending Project / 补缮工程, 2011, Iron scissors, Fabric, thread, needle, mixed-media, at Women & their Work. Photo by Blue

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Intro
Material/Time
Play/Studio practice
Red Thread
Each and Every
Migrant children
Growing up in China
Sewing and working
Lost generation
Separation from parents
Move to Shenzhen
Made in China
Migrant workers
What we share
Art growing up
Love of writing
English-Chinese
Culture shock
Resilience
Taking for granted
Being a teacher
Advice to students
Graduate program
Encouragement
Just do it
Di-Da installation
Parents support
Little house/Art Farm
House in China
Building the house
History/meaning
Timeframes
Perfection/enough
Sanctum/Fathom
Migrant deaths
Feather meaning
Tar and feather
Related installations
Women & Their Work
The Mending Project
Scissors
Feminine strength
Joan Mitchell Center

Banner photo by Scott David Gordon. Part of the Panorama365 project.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 69: Women & Their Work - Chris Cowden

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 06:00:00 -0500

"I think artists are extremely inspirational people. You need a lot of mental discipline to continue to affirm the role of creativity and your voice in the conversation. That’s why I think artists are so important because it's just a really important point of view and perception in this cacophony that we hear. Especially now it's really good to bend your ear towards maybe more nuanced, more complicated, more complex murmurings and conversations about issues that artists are giving us."

Chris Cowden is the executive director of Women & Their Work, which for over 40 years has pioneered elevating and exhibiting the work of women artists from all over Texas. They have presented over 1900 artists in all disciplines (dance, theater, music, film and visual art) since they started, and have produced over 130 color catalogs with commissioned essays about the artists they have shown. They have programs to educate the public and especially children about art, through various commissioned performances and many other exhibitions and events. They also provide fiscal sponsorship and technical support to artists in creating their work.

Chris has to be one of the biggest champions of artists I have spoken with. She is really passionate about her job and getting people to experience, understand, and collect art. I love this conversation. I had been so curious to learn more about Women & Their Work and about Chris and her job and this interview does not disappoint.

Text courtesy of the Women & Their Work website.

Women & Their Work is a visual and performing arts organization located in Central Austin that serves as a catalyst for contemporary art created by women living and working in Texas and beyond. For 40 years, Women & Their Work has brought groundbreaking art to Austin, with exhibitions, performances, and educational workshops.

Known for its pioneering spirit, embrace of artistic innovation, and commitment to Texas audiences and artists, Women & Their Work’s goal is to enrich the cultural experience for Texans by:

Emphasizing the value and excellence of art by women
Educating audiences of all ages about contemporary art
Equipping artists with financial and technical support
Engaging the community through diverse exhibitions, performances and other programs

Admission to the gallery is free. Donations are appreciated.

Gallery hours are Monday through Friday 10am to 6pm
Saturday Noon to 6pm.

1710 Lavaca Street
Austin, TX 78701

512-477-1064

General Inquires
info@womenandtheirwork.org

Red Dot Art Spree 2019

Opening - Thu Sep 12, 2019 7:00pm – 10:00pm
VIP Pre-Spree
6:00pm – 7:00pm

Looking for tickets to the party on opening night? Click here.

Exhibition - Fri Sep 13, 2019 - Sun Sep 22, 2019

For art lovers in Austin, Women & Their Work’s Red Dot Art Spree means red-hot buys on original works of art at $750 or less and a paint-the-town-red night. Join us on Thursday, September 12th from 7- 10 pm. This year’s event will feature over 150 works by some of the best contemporary artists in Texas. Paintings, sculptures, drawings, photographs, prints and mixed media works will be priced $750 and below, and all shopping that night will be tax-free.

A silent auction will offer items and services ranging from art-inspired travel getaways to gift certificates from some of Austin’s most sought-after establishments. There will be fabulous fare and cocktails making this the perfect occasion for artists, collectors, and creatives to come together for a night of artistic celebration!

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Chris’s job
Art in the US
Experiencing art
W&TW beginnings
The name/evolution
Women in the arts
Inclusivity/being seen
Different facets
Visual art exhibitions
Performance commissions
Education Program
Kids at the gallery
Fiscal sponsoring
Different events
Austin museums
Being an art center
Art collectors
High profile grants
Thirst on town lake
Sources of funds
Sale-ability of art
Richard Serra
Living with the art
Exposure to art
How it speaks to you
What it means/rules
Shana Hoehn’s work
Ballet in NYC
Keeps you curious
Imposter syndrome
Working with artists
Banking/other careers
New show every 6 weeks
Social media immediacy
Looking forward
How to support

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 68: Jan Heaton - Love, Gratitude & Family

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 02 Sep 2019 14:00:00 -0500

“I’m always trying to be tranquil. I’ve experienced a lot of sadness and crisis and trauma in the last 10 years. I think there is a part of me that could have gone that direction and you would have been able to see it in my work. I have done some small pieces where they do look angry. But as far as the larger pieces, I would always feel like if I was working on something that gave that message that it didn’t really calm me. It didn’t really work for me as art therapy which is at the time what I wanted it to do. I wanted it to be able to take me to a quiet place. A thoughtful place. I wanted it to be about love and community, not anger or separation.”

Watercolor artist and teacher Jan Heaton is this weeks guest. We met seven years ago when I was working on a photo project capturing artists in their spaces. That experience enhanced my desire to spend more time with creative people and explore their lives and work. Our conversation covers her creative childhood and her art and teaching career through until present day, which is typical of my interviews. But the main impetus for this episode is to share her late daughter Kristin’s story and the upcoming Davis Gallery group exhibition and fundraiser that celebrates her life.

Pink - 60" x 40" - Watercolor on paper

Big Pink Blanket of Love
Work by Jan Heaton & Friends

Opening reception: Saturday, September 14th | 7-9 pm

September 14 – October 12

Davis Gallery & Framing
837 W. 12th Street
Austin, TX78701
Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm | Sat 10am-4pm
512-477-4929

In partnership with the Peabody Fund and Dell Children’s Medical Center, Davis Gallery is honored to announce a unique group show in support of Davis’ own Jan Heaton, one of Austin’s premier watercolorists. In February of 2019 Jan’s daughter, Kristin Peabody, was taken by an aggressive cancer she had battled for ten years. In place of the solo exhibition that was scheduled for Jan, Davis Gallery and Austin’s artistic community are banding together in solidarity to fight cancer and find strength. Over sixty artists have contributed 4x4 inch squares of their own original artwork in an overall pink palette that will be hand-stitched together to create a pink quilt, symbolizing the community’s compassion, strength, and friendship. The idea for the pink quilt is derived directly from Kristin's feeling that the love she had been shown over the course of her treatments felt like a "big, warm, pink blanket of love". In addition to this collaborative quilt, an extended group show focused on love, gratitude, and family will feature original artwork by Jan Heaton and over twenty other artists.

Ten percent of the proceeds raised during this four weeklong exhibit will be donated to the Peabody Fund, a project set up in direct response to Kristin Peabody’s ambition to help develop innovative work in cancer research through the San Diego Center for Personalized Immunotherapy. The “big pink blanket of love” collaborative quilt will be donated to the Dell Children’s Medical Center’s fundraiser, “The Art of Giving”, an annual fundraiser dedicated to providing art and music therapy for thousands of young cancer patients.

Panorama of Jan from 2013 when we met.

Artist statment courtesy of Jan's website

My paintings are personal observations of color, movement, relationships and forms in nature. I prefer the watercolor medium, as I love paper, and the tactile manner in which the pigment integrates with the paper. Painting on cold pressed 100% cotton paper I patiently build translucent, veiled layers of color, allowing the forms and values to evolve in a detailed and orchestrated manner. I normally work in a series, which permits the wet color to dry thoroughly between layers. The images are not restricted by the paper’s edges. Every random mark is there because it needs to be there. The reputed “happy mistakes” (that watercolor legend reports often occur in this medium) are planned and controlled.

The circular orbs in my current work are simple, bold, direct, sensual, playful and often mysterious. The sphere recalls harmony, rhythm, movement, patterns, and boundless symbolic metaphors. In my work the circle exists independently and in groups, referencing water patterns on a shore, or a rising moon, rounded fruits, or the shape of a flower. The circle reminds me of family and friends, who are very important to my creative process. The times spent in a circle, talking, eating, dancing, playing, telling stories and solving the problems of everyday life. The memories of this connection to the circle are important to me.

My intention is not to impose a specific message to the viewer. I often hesitate to title my paintings, for fear that they will be translated only according to my vision and close a door to the viewer’s interpretations. I hope my paintings will allow the viewer to observe a familiar object in a new way.

Panorama with Jan at Boggy creek farmstand in 2014.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

How we met
Panorama project
Farmers market series
Ideas & editing inspiration
Mary Oliver poetry
Detroit childhood
Jan’s parents
Artistic family
Calligraphy
Thank you notes
Various jobs
Deadlines
Painting/website
Losing job/new path
Approaching galleries
Jace Graf portfolio
Wally Workman
Gallery representation
Hiatus Spa/calming work
Morning walk/looking
Boundaries/introversion
Validation/feedback
Discipline/schedule
The Art of Giving
Elizabeth Hendley
Art Therapy
Being a teacher
What is watercolor?
Opportunities/learning
Advertising experience
Business of art
Kristin’s story
The Peabody Fund
Davis Gallery exhibition
Personalized cancer vaccine
This interview
2nd/3rd opinions
Medical advocacy
Supportive friends & family
What’s different
Gratitude

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 67: Sydney Yeager

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 24 Aug 2019 06:00:00 -0500

"My most recent work there seems to be more of an embrace going on between parts as opposed to these diverse parts fitting together, maintaining their diversity. They seem now to be more a part of each other. That’s a mystery to me."

Sydney Yeager is an artist who describes her current painting style as gestural abstraction. She also teaches drawing and painting at Austin Community College. Teaching has been a part of her life from early on, but it wasn’t until after she had kids and decided to go back to school that she committed to studying art in a serious way. We talk about her history and what motivated her early work and how that has evolved over the years. We also touch on materials, teaching, being a huge art history fan, the Austin art scene and more.

Statement courtesy of Sydney's website

I keep returning to a beautiful quotation which has become something of a touchstone for me. The quotation is from Italo Calvino’s book, Mr. Palomar, and is a description of a flock of blackbirds flying over Rome. The narrator describes the flock as a “…moving body composed of hundreds and hundreds of bodies, detached, but together forming a single object…something…that even in fluidity achieves a formal solidity of its own.”

This idea of independent parts coalescing into a whole, only to collapse again into singular units, is one that has interested me for many years. Inherent in this idea is a sense of continuity, but a continuity constantly threatened with disintegration. It also suggests a state of suspension, where hierarchy yields to endless associations and connections.

In addition to these conceptual interests are more concrete references. Some are from the world around me: geologic formations (specifically the unstable limestone walls so common in Central Texas), pixels, and atoms. Some are artistic references, including Italian mosaic, pointillism, process painting, and pattern and decoration.

These diverse influences hold in common the theme of fragmentation. The question is whether these fragments are nostalgic reminders of a past presence, or conversely, the beginnings of a new form. The answer is never clear, which is why I remain interested in the question.

swimmer | oil on linen | 60x72 | 2019

naiad #2 | oil on linen | 72x60 | 2019

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Introduction
Galleries
Photo use
Painter?
Early history
Back to school
Growing up
Gang mentality
Narrative work
Limited art world
Informal class
Elisabet Ney
Supportive friends
Imposter syndrome
Art school
Transgressive work
Feminism/anger
Changing direction
Life & death work
Interior view/mortality
Towards abstract
Arabesque
Disintegration
People seeing work
Being open
Materials
Figure ground
The blank canvas
Jumping in
Flow state
Stopping
Love of paint
Style evolution
Teaching
Art history
Women & Their Work
Teaching in overseas
Studio in Elgin
What’s next
Austin art scene
Generational gap
Being an artist

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 66: GD Wright - Impossible Until It's Done

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sun, 28 Jul 2019 06:00:00 -0500

"I just think that we have a greater strength en masse. The more we can come together and support each other the greater our potential. Don’t build walls. Don’t tell people they cant do it. Show up for the people you think that you can, and you have the strength to."

GD Wright is a sculptor, fabricator, and design consultant working most often with metal, cast concrete, and blown glass. He also consults with other artists to help them realize their own visions and has collaborated on and managed many monumental scale artworks and constructions. After growing up and attending college in the midwest he then made a career and a name for himself in Oakland, CA. Recently he relocated to Austin to start his career anew and be closer to his young son. His personal work is often a reflection of himself and his desire to confront what might be holding him back and to dismantle the cages we all create for ourselves.

“GD Wright: Impossible Until It’s Done”

Through Aug. 18

Dimension Gallery
www.dimensiongallery.org
979 Springdale Rd
Austin, TX, 78702
512-479-9941
open Thursday through Saturday from 12pm to 6pm

Artist Statement for Dimension Gallery Fellowship

My sculptural work is driven by the goal to arouse a deep visceral response in the viewer. I work to achieve this by creating a heightened tension in the interaction of two systems, defined as rigid and fluid. Steel structures, once assembled into a specific form, are fixed and unchanging. The fluid systems they contain introduce a temporal element in which there is no longer a definite object, but a shifting one. The use of a steel mold elicits the feeling of an unchanging model, yet the bulbous forms interact with this foundation in abstract, organic, and often unexpected ways. I draw inspiration from larger systems found in nature and society, which represent the push and pull of containment and expansion, strength and fragility, and change and inertia. This interplay creates a push and pull that is dynamic, as perception of the work becomes reliant on the individuals own deep emotive response as they perceive it.

I began this body of work by capturing air, water, and soft pliable materials within my rigid structures to really focus in on the change and enertia that couldn’t be stopped in their interaction. This created a movement in the work I really loved. As sculptures would melt from within, deflate, or slowly wither away, I found the audience would interact with them in interesting and dynamic ways. The work was never static. During the next phase of this work’s evolution I transitioned into glass as my mode of movement in the hopes that the pieces would represent a more fixed object and potentially increase their ability to be collected. During this next phase within my studies I aim to employ my more developed skill set and experience with creating high end craft to realize them in a new and even more dynamic way. I plan to use materials such as castable resins, fiberglass, and maybe even concrete, to increase the scale of these works as I work my way to the monumental. I have done the experiments, now I need the funding to make them big. I would like to produce three to five, 6’-12’ works this year, as well as an installation built from the culmination of several smaller pieces that could wrap and move around the gallery space.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Introduction
Bubble cage guy
Complex craft
Fitting into shapes
Cages/mirrors
Upbringing
College/art classes
Punishment/repairs
Object vs Craft
Deadlines
Working with water
Beginnings in Oakland
Working with glass
Desire to teach
Anything is possible
People around you
Projects/business partner
Bus conversion
Greater impact
Facebook
Move to Austin
Ghost ship fire
Austin so far
CI grant/HS students
Art collectors
Cultural arts division
Diversifying income
Helping artists
Being a dad
Burning man
The temple and loss
Sacrificing for others
Dimension gallery
Message to artists

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 65: Brinston

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 22 Jul 2019 06:00:00 -0500

“I’m not solely an artist, that’s not my identity. I’m not just an artist, I’m a vessel. You are not defined by your occupation. You are not defined by the person that you spend your life with. You’re a creation that’s meant for more than just being an accountant, or a photographer, or a painter, or a carpenter. You’re meant for much more than just that. You are meant to use that as a place to help people.”

Dallas based artist Matthew Brinston categorizes his very distinctive painting style as something like descriptive realism that leans toward the abstract. The characters in his works come confidently right out of his imagination with each decisive brush stroke and seem especially unique and attractive in an odd way. Over the last 6 years since he was involved in an almost fatal motorcycle accident that changed his life, he has been painting in earnest and feels that his purpose is to create art to make the world a better place and to help others, primarily directed by his faith in God. Be sure to check out the work and also his very distinctive self branding, social media approach, and marketing style that as he states in the interview is aimed at getting people to take a pause.

About text courtesty of brinston.co

When death leads to life, art is inevitable. And art, as creation, is a reflection of its creator. Brinston and his work consistently grapple with the revolution of death and life and death again. The cacophonous symphony of color and shape, rhythm and structure that compose his work is all at once chaotic and calm. Just as the artist himself is an amalgam of mania and peace. The composition of art and artist is indistinguishable… just as his art is an extension of himself, the artist has become an extension of his art. For the artist, art is valuable in its making life worth living. Art has given him purpose and meaning, the people he loves, the places he’s been, literal survival, a future. Art is everything. And now with everything, the artist seeks to share this existential gift through collaboration and demonstration. Impact the world through connection. Inform himself and those around him through interaction. Art is the universal teacher. And the artist’s goal is to help people find little bits of themselves through personal synergy with the art. The artist’s path from life to death and back to life again has not been without pain. But the vision of Christ plus the inevitable clarity of death have afforded him balance amidst chaos and a wealth of generosity through selfless invention. The artist creates not for glory, fame or control… but because he is an artist. And an artist creates.

Photo courtesy of brinston.co. Photographer unknown.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Introduction
Art growing up
Early music career
Motorcycle accident
Miracle survival
Meeting Christ
Recovery/painting
Finishing school
First works
Self inspiration
Studio art/marketing
Emotions in the work
Getting to know the self
France residency
Daily routine
Studio practice
The blank canvas
Confidence
Daily prayers
Vulnerability/wisdom
Momentum
Identity/purpose
Daily clarity/adventure
Gratitude
Marriage/growing love
The world you create
Preacher paintings
Brinston brand
Pause/perception
Art vending machine
Leaving art in city
Creating urgency
Dallas community
Sense of career
Success & money
Nurturing relationships
Protecting yourself
Mentorship
Christ’s presence
Cheat code
Listening to your path

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 64: Werrick Armstrong - Faith & Inspiration

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 13 Jul 2019 07:00:00 -0500

"All of us as artists have inspiration that comes from a myriad of places. I felt just through a couple situations that had occurred, where I had not intended to do something, that the art had taken a life of its own separate from me. And I had seen the positive aspects associated with it, so it encouraged and motivated me to work hard to stay out of the way and to allow the inspiration to take place. And then once I acted on it the next piece was available to me. I think that’s one of the reasons I have been so prolific is because I was open and receptive to the inspiration and I didn’t question it and I acted on it."

Werrick Armstong is somewhat of an outsider artist who spent most of his life in business, but then retired and shifted his focus to art for the last 20 years. With his wife of 50 years he splits his time between Spicewood just northwest of Austin, and Marfa, an unassuming art and architecture mecca in far west Texas visited by people from all over the world. Werrick creates large and often physically and emotionally elaborate 2d and 3d works that deal with a variety of subjects that he is passionate about. Ultimately he feels he’s really just a tool to create the art, guided by his faith and a higher power.

Werrick in his Spicewood stuido with a piece about mass shootings.

King of the Jews

Werrick and your host, Scott David Gordon!

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Meeting in Marfa
Dad & Vietnam
Leaving business world
Starting to paint
Fear and risk
You need to just see it
Staying out of the way
An attitude of faith
Piece of Christ
Intent of the piece
Having faith
There’s more inside
Challenges
Artistic skills
Success
Marfa/gallery
Worldly visitors
Architecture
A real oddity
Holocaust piece
Relationships
Using your words
Humility and pride
Pastors coin story
The art world
Stewardship
Guided practice
Marriage/giving up
Spirituality/soul
How to contact
Thanks

WERRICK
Art gallery in Marfa, Texas

100 East San Antonio
Marfa, TX 79843

512-563-9403

Werrick.armstrong@gmail.com

Contemporary art by Werrick Armstrong.

Hours are variable–look for the “open” sign or by appointment

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 63: Taja Lindley - There's Work To Be Done

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 25 May 2019 07:00:00 -0500

"I think more and more now people are interested in this conversation of the intersection of art and culture with social movements. Art & culture have always been a part of social movements, but being strategic with artists inside of campaigns and things that we are trying to move forward, there’s a really rich conversation that’s happening now. It’s just really exciting to be in a place where I can be both-and. Because it has felt separate. There is something about being in tune with your imagination and creativity that allows for some creative thinking that can support what it is that we all want to move forward which is a more equitable world for us all."

This Ain't A Eulogy: A Ritual for Re-Membering from Taja Lindley on Vimeo.

Bio courtesy of Taja's website

An 80’s baby born in New York and raised in the South, Taja Lindley currently lives in Brooklyn, New York working as the Managing Member of Colored Girls Hustle. In 2007 she received her B.A. from New York University’s Gallatin School of Individualized Study where she designed her own major, concentrating in public policy and knowledge production with a focus on health and women of color.

Lindley is a memory worker, healer and an activist. Through iterative and interdisciplinary practices, she creates socially engaged artwork that reflects and transforms audiences, shifts culture and moves people to action. She uses movement, text, installation, ritual, burlesque, and multi-media to create immersive works that are concerned with freedom, healing and pleasure. She is currently developing a body of work recycling and repurposing discarded materials.

Her artwork has been featured at Spring/Break Art Show, Brooklyn Museum, Hammer Museum, Philbrook Museum, New York Live Arts, the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University, Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), the Gallatin Arts Festival at New York University, WOW Café Theater, La Mama Theater, in living rooms, classrooms, conferences and public spaces. She has received coverage in the New York Times, VICE, ELLE, Blouin Art Info, Art Zealous and Artnet News, and ARTSY. In 2014 she was a Create Change Fellow with the Laundromat Project and selected to participate in EMERGENYC - an artist activist program of New York University’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics. In 2015 she was a Fall space grantee at BAX. Her 2017 residency at Dixon Place Theater culminated in the world premiere of her one-woman show "The Bag Lady Manifesta" in September 2017. This work is currently on a nationwide tour in the United States.

In addition to being an artist, Lindley is actively engaged in social movements as a writer, consultant, and facilitator. For over a decade she has worked with non-profits, research institutes and government on policies and programming that impact women and girls, communities of color, low/no/fixed-income families, queer people, youth and immigrants. Most recently, she served as a Sexual and Reproductive Justice Consultant at the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, facilitating a community driven process that created The NYC Standards for Respectful Care at Birth. She continues her work at the NYC Health Department as the current Public Artist in Residence, a program of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.

Her writing has appeared in Rewire, YES! Magazine, Feministe, Salon and EBONY. She is a member of Harriet's Apothecary and Echoing Ida.

Re-Membering is the Responsibility of the Living: An Installation by Taja Lindley

Closes Saturday July 27th, 2019

George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center
1165 Angelina Street
Austin, TX 78702

Open Hours:
Monday-Wednesday 10am -6pm; Thursday 10am-9pm
Friday-10am-6pm; Saturday 10am-4pm
Sunday-Closed.

The Carver Museum & Cultural Center will present the work of New York-based, multi-disciplinary visual and performing artist Taja Lindley. Her mixed media installation, "Re-Membering is the Responsibility of the Living," will be on view from March 7, 2019, to July 31, 2019. Moved by the non-indictments of the police officers responsible for the deaths of Eric Garner and Michael Brown, Lindley draws parallels between discarded refuse and the violent treatment of Black people in the United States. The artist uses re-purposed trash bags to re-member, honor and value the Black lives that have been lost due to state-sanctioned violence. In this post-Ferguson moment, Lindley is imagining how to recycle the energy of protest, rage, and grief into creating a world where, indeed, Black Lives Matter.

Image and text courtesy of The Carver Museum

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 62: Sev Coursen

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 22 Apr 2019 07:00:00 -0500

"It’s about looking, and continually trying to hone that and develop an eye."

Sev Coursen is an artist working in multiple media including photography, sculpture, film and video. His work has been presented in exhibitions and screenings in the United States and Europe.

ONE PLUS ELEVEN OBJECT SHOW
Curated by Lauren Jaben

APRIL 2019
Opening Reception Saturday 27 April, from 4-7pm

AGAVE PRINT
1312 E Cesar Chavez
Austin, TX. 78702

Open 8:30 am - 5 pm
Monday through Friday.
By appointment.

Exhibition Artist Statement

My lifelong fascination with architecture and the history of developing landscapes form the core components of my sculptures, photographs, films and videos.

The signage, border markers and fragmented shapes of buildings and background structures in transitional zones within the built environments of rural, exurban, industrial and urban landscapes have inspired many of the forms and surface textures in my objects.

Objects and artifacts observed in natural history museums have also been a lifelong source of visual inspiration. These items are often taken out of their context in their original environments and placed in formal display settings. This fascination has resulted in creation of objects that could be interpreted as functional devices, ritual objects, architectural models or as decorative items.

There is an additional series I refer to as portable objects -– self-contained, collapsible pieces designed for easy transport and setup. Some of the portables are fairly simple hinged devices and others are more complex. Pink Portable has hand-milled articulated hinges that allow the piece to be collapsed or extended in multiple configurations.

Recently I showed the newly completed Pink Portable to Lauren Jaben. She immediately suggested we display it in the window at Agave Print. The title of the current show “One Plus Eleven” refers to this initial selection and the eleven additional pieces she selected, including several objects that have not been previously shown.

I have long wanted to present a sculpture show with a variety of work and I am grateful to Lauren Jabens and Peter Williams for the opportunity to show my objects in their beautiful space at Agave Print.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Introduction
Three chapters
Childhood in Minnesota
Observing the landscape
Early art creation
Robert Irwin
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Subliminal
Mystery/layers
Epiphany moments
Dioramas
Transitions
Move to Boston
Experimental music
Creative collaboration
Madison Hotel
Drawings/documentation
Move to Austin
Media development
Sculpture/object origins
Craftsmanship
Color/visuals
Artistic practice
stoplightanalytics
Cuero Hotel story
The last three years
Turning points
Reactions to work
Why make art?
Agave exhibition

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 61: Julie Speed - Moments Of Clarity

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 13 Apr 2019 07:00:00 -0500

"If I close it off then it’s not right. If you look at it and there’s only one answer, then it’s not right. So when I was talking about my older work, maybe it’s not technically good, but it brings up a question that everybody would give a different answer to. And not just other people. Quite often I’ll go back and see something I haven’t seen in a while and it will set off a whole new chain of thoughts."

Eating Warhol's Lunch 2016 gouache & collage, 41 x 29 inches

Upcoming Exhibitions

Julie Speed: East of the Sun and West of the Moon

Taubman Museum of Art - Roanoke, VA

Saturday, August 31, 2019 - Sunday, March 15, 2020

Touring from the El Paso Museum of Art, Julie Speed: East of the Sun and West of the Moon explores the rich artistic production of Marfa, Texas, artist Julie Speed from the past five years, including many recent works previously unseen. Speed’s last museum show before East of the Sun and West of the Moon occurred in 2014 and was limited to works on paper.

Featuring twenty-nine works, the Taubman Museum of Art's presentation of Julie Speed: East of the Sun and West of the Moon consists of diverse works in the artist’s favorite media of oil, gouache, collage, and combinations thereof. Resident in Texas since 1978 and in Marfa since 2006, the artist forged her own path early on by ending her studies at the Rhode Island School of Design and devoting herself to imaginative figuration coupled with consummate technique. Sometimes described as neo-surrealist, Speed’s art holds affinity with the figurative Surrealism of René Magritte, yet her work offers scenarios that are simultaneously more personal and more complex than Magritte’s visual puns. Her art melds a technical mastery rivaling the Old Masters with motifs created from diverse sources ranging from Renaissance engravings to Japanese woodblock prints. As critic and curator Elizabeth Ferrer has written, “The contemporaneity of her art is rooted in its emphatically open-ended nature.”

Some of the themes examined in the exhibition and the accompanying catalog are Speed’s mixing of structured and spontaneous processes, her unique bridging of painting and collage, her playful dialogue with artistic tradition, and the intention and power of her art to spark myriad imaginings and narratives. The exhibition includes a “Close-Up Room” consisting of a three-channel video-and-sound installation designed by the artist and highlighting the processes and details of her art.

Julie Speed: East of the Sun and West of the Moon was organized by the El Paso Museum of Art and will be on view August 31, 2019 - March 15, 2020 in the Bank of America/Dominion Resources Gallery.

Text courtesty of Taubman Museum of Art website

Some of the subjects we discuss:

When we met
Marfa/sin faucets
Making things
Pleasing arrangements
Moments of clarity
Cracking herself up/anger
Atoms/amazons
Behind the veil
Focus on painting
Putting in the hours
Older paintings
High standards
Not perfect
Time/gardening
Building a life
Spacial proportions
No compartments
Afterlife/questions
Where socks go?
Specific & open
How to look at art
Painting the Duck
Forming images
Assumptions
Meanings changing
Eating Warhol’s lunch
Rules for collages
Color/symbols
Fairy tales/magic fish
No words of wisdom
Closeup room
El Paso exhibition

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 60: Brooke Axtell - Beautiful Justice

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Tue, 02 Apr 2019 21:00:00 -0500

"I feel that my capacity to create, in so many different forms of media, to step into my work as an activist, to speak in a very vulnerable way in the types of spaces I’ve been invited into, really began with writing about and sharing my deepest shame. And once I had finally illuminated that, and I had brought everything into the light, the things I was the most ashamed of, the things that caused me the greatest pain in my life, I was then able to speak and to explore my creativity in ways that I never had before because I didn’t feel there was anything I had to hide anymore. I think a lot of the fears that artists have, and many of the artists I have mentored over time, they tend to fixate on fears about the work, what work to create and how it’s going to be received. But I think really all those fears are a manifestation of shame. Because we don’t trust ourselves, and we don’t trust that we are enough, and that our truth is worth sharing. I think the remedy for that is healing relationships. Being in communities and in relationships with people that can finally reflect back to us, all of you is welcome here. And that if there is a truth you need to tell it will be heard, because you deserve to be heard."

Bio courtesy of Brooke's website

Brooke Axtell is the Founder and Director of She is Rising, a healing community for women and girls overcoming rape, abuse and sex-trafficking. Through her mentorship programs, retreats and workshops, Brooke helps survivors become leaders. She is passionate about inspiring young women to reclaim their worth and express their power to create a more compassionate world.

Her work as a human rights activist led her to speak at The 2015 Grammy Awards, The United Nations and the U.S. Institute for Peace. She is a member of the Speaker’s Bureau for Rape, Abuse, Incest, National Network (R.A.I.N.N.), the largest anti-sexual assault organization in the U.S., and an Advisor for Freedom United, global initiative to end human trafficking.

Her work as a writer, speaker, performing artist and activist has been featured in many media outlets, including the New York Times, LA Times, Rolling Stone, Time Magazine, Wall Street Journal and CNN. Brooke has published several award-winning poetry books and released three CDs of original music to critical acclaim.

From Amazon

Beautiful Justice: Reclaiming My Worth After Human Trafficking and Sexual Abuse Paperback – April 2, 2019

A story of healing and a guide to seeking justice after sexual abuse from Brooke Axtell, one of the foremost survivor experts on sexual assault, domestic violence, and human trafficking

When Brooke Axtell was seven years old, her nanny subjected her to sex trafficking. Today, she is a champion and advocate for women around the world who have experienced sexual violence and trauma.

Beautiful Justice shares Brooke's own gripping story, both the trauma of sex trafficking and also her pathway through healing, moving on, and reclaiming power. Along the way, she imparts warm wisdom for others who have experienced similar violence, providing lessons from her own life and from the thousands of women, advocates, and lawmakers she's spoken with. Relying on her own experiences and a keen awareness of public policy, she provides a clear-eyed awareness of the ways that our culture and government work against women experiencing violence around the world.

Inspiring and powerfully redemptive, Brooke encourages readers to take part in a creative resistance as a path to justice.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 59: Elizabeth Chapin - Deconstructing Nostalgia

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Wed, 20 Mar 2019 19:00:00 -0500

"I was aware of the culture I grew up in, but I was unaware of the cost for other people, and also unaware of the cost for me. I think when you are raised in a culture like that you have definitions for yourself that feel very comfortable and safe and you’re not even really aware of that. And so you start thinking, why am I telling myself these things? Why is that true? Why does that have to be true? It started seeming like an impoverished narrative. Or like a small narrative that I wanted to step outside of. I feel like every time I step outside of a story I’m telling about myself I see another story. It just feels like that right now, and I’m trying to keep honoring that. So this show is really about that girl, me, and the woman I am, and trying to step into that and keep stepping into it."

Elizabeth's artist statement about "Deconstructing Nostalgia"

This work began with my exploring the reluctance among women in the deep South to perceive patriarchal and racial structures. I remember myself as a little girl in Mississippi covered head to toe in lace, anticipating being fussed over, wanting to be the object. It sets up an early feeling of being doll-like and not owning one's body. And it sets up a very pleasurable, safe existence that rewards not questioning the system. I am interested in the way I have maintained my investment in this system—partly out of the privilege of not having to be aware of it and partly out of a conflictual relationship to beauty--beauty as emotional safety.

I started thinking about lace as a metaphor for this experience, the obfuscation of ugliness--a representation of the gentility and graciousness of the South made possible largely by a history of graceless and dark systems. This obfuscation is highly effective in maintaining the status quo of both the oppressed and the idealized.

This work is also about the portrait and my identification as a figurative painter from the South, an identity I find both rewarding and problematic. The Southern portrait is often a signifier, a status symbol, a decorative object, or a kind of pre-Instagram posting.

I am using neon (unraveling and lit) and plexiglass (crystallized and glowing) as "lace"--neither bonnet nor halo, but playing with both. I made large ruffled "pillow" paintings and stuffed figures--fringed or in altar-like configurations with mirrored plexiglass and glitter clouds, re-interpreting the "trophy" room, woman as trophy, a type of padded cell of Southern culture, church altar.

I am attempting to have a conversation with this girl I was and am, partly a confession, partly a blessing. I am also trying to expand the portrait beyond the confines of ego and decorative object, challenging the culture of gentility and nostalgia which is rooted in and particular to the South, but whose questions of privilege and beauty as both safety and entrapment are universal.

Still Explosions
acrylic on canvas, 72 x 48 inches, 2018

Current/recent exhibitions

Elizabeth Chapin: Deconstructing Nostalgia
March 2-31, 2019

Wally Workman Gallery
1202 West 6th Street
Austin, Texas 78703
512.472.7428

Open Tuesday - Saturday, 10am to 5pm. Sunday 12pm to 4pm.

Chapin’s large scale works reference her Southern upbringing and the conflicted nostalgia surrounding the gentility and graciousness of the South. Chapin views much of this culture as made possible largely by graceless and dark systems. This obfuscation of ugliness and the worship of appearance is the theme that runs throughout her new body of work. Using the idea of lace as a metaphor for this experience and referencing historical religious painting, she explores beauty as safety for both the oppressed and the worshiped and idealized. Halos of fabric, acrylic and neon surround Chapin’s paintings. Some of the pieces are stuffed like giant decorative pillows, epitomizing the comfort of beauty as well as referencing the trophy room. With these works, Chapin has exposed Southern portraiture as a pre-Instagram status symbol and examines the pleasure and willful ignorance derived within it.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Podcast origin
Dana Schutz
What to say
Lace/the south
Adoration/cage
Racism/systems
Portraits
Living into it hard
Emotional journalist
Use of color
Restricted pallet
Watercolor
College
Being awake
Self definitions
Creating the new work
Ultralight beam
Boys/Henry
Kanye/worship
Understanding men
Women/consent
Other works in show
Bonnets/young women
Portrait of Henry
Alabel/modeling
Tablecloth & cake
Sam is everything
Privilege/permission
Daily struggle
Focus/discipline
Taking yourself seriously
Our one opportunity
What’s next

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 58: Stella Alesi - Journeying

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Tue, 12 Mar 2019 18:00:00 -0500

"When I was eleven I said I was going to be an artist, it’s just part of the process. You have to make bad work sometimes, it’s part of the deal. If you are not willing to make bad art then you are not willing to take chances. You have to make bad art to get to the good stuff. It’s just part of it."

Text courtesy of Stella's website

Stella Alesi has resided in Austin, Texas for the last 25 years. Her work has been exhibited in commercial and university galleries throughout Texas, as well as being purchased for many private collections. Her most recent exhibit took place in November as part of the "Femme Abstract" exhibit in Austin. Currently a full time painter, Stella taught photography at the Austin Community College and ran a successful photography business for over 15 years.

In 2005 she was awarded a Brown Foundation Full Fellowship to attend a residency at the Vermont Studio Center. She and her husband, Leon, founded the in-house gallery BLACKBOX in January of 2012 , and have curated and produced 12 exhibitions of emerging Austin artists. In addition they exhibit and promote their own work during Austin's open studio tours.

Born on Long Island, New York in 1963, she was raised in New Jersey. She began her undergraduate work at Parsons School of Design in New York City, with stints in Paris and Los Angeles, and finished at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. Her graduate work was completed at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

Number 270 from the Journeying series, 48x48 inches, oil, cold wax & bookbinding tape on oil paper mounted to panel, 2019

Prizer Arts & Letters
2023 East Cesar Chavez St., Austin TX 78702 | (512) 575-3559

OPENING RECEPTION: Journeying, featuring new work by stella lj alesi.

FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 7pm to 10pm

Visit the gallery on Saturday, March 23rd from 2-5pm for an afternoon respite. The artist will be present. We can sit and be with the paintings, exchange ideas and talk of art.

Coffee will be served.

Exhibition Dates: March 15th - April 13th

Gallery hours: Saturdays, 12-5pm or by appointment.
email: info@prizerartsandletters.org

Prizer Arts & Letters is pleased to present: Journeying, new works by stella lj alesi. The exhibition will showcase hard edge, minimal abstract paintings that express the need for, and a path towards, balance and interconnectedness. Progressing from Alesi’s earlier highly detailed, long hand abstraction, Journeying moves in the direction of simplicity. Simple, monumental, stacked shapes speak quietly of the lived experienced and the constant micro adjustments made continuously as a need for balance and a recognition of interconnectedness is achieved.

Within the lineage of hard edged painting from the late 50’s into the early 70’s, Alesi’s paintings bring a new narrative for a new time. These paintings are in direct opposition to the fast paced and visually overloaded times they were created in. The simple shapes and limited palette require the viewer to bring their own dialogue and experiences to the viewing.

Stella writes, “I find that when living with these paintings that they quietly support; bring joy. They whispers answers to questions. They listen as well as speak. These paintings seep in, and serve as a quiet companion.”

Stella Alesi grew up in New York and New Jersey and attended Parsons School of Design, the University of New Hampshire, as well as the University of Massachusetts in Amherst for her MFA. She has lived and exhibited her work continuously for the last 25 years in Austin, Texas.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

The podcast
How we met
Introduction
Growing up/college
Moving around
Starting photography
So many jobs
Grad school
Gender roles
Being consistent
Erotica work
Berry paintings
Shooting weddings
Goal to quit
Mandalas/yoga
Getting into birds
Meditative dots
Working with color
Moving to Austin
Old & today’s Austin
Undergrad work
No fear/mistakes
Paying attention
Sketches/studies
What do you see/hear?
Channeling
All about the visual
Balancing act
A happy place
Digging for emptiness
Using oil paper/tape
Narrowing scope
Make bad art
Seeing work clearly
Willing to show
Editing/sharing
Blackbox gallery
Influences
Journeying
Staying calm/respite
Current goals
Rothko quote
Who am I really
Full time artist
Feeling blessed
Learning about yourself
Ceramics
New ideal job
The prime spot
Prizer exhibition
The process
Putting love first
Being a woman

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 57: Ariel René Jackson

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 04 Mar 2019 07:00:00 -0600

"For me the success of a piece is if I’m able to create a weird sense of peace and disturbance to keep people there longer to sort of sit with it. Sometimes it can be hard because a lot of my work on the surface level you’re not able to see that research, you’re not able to receive that information. So a lot of it is the form and the experience with the form. I’m not necessarily interested in making didactic work. I’m very interested in using research and personal archives and communal archives to pull out some kind of poetic feeling that sort of takes from all of that research a feeling."

Statement courtesy of Ariel's website

Throughout Ariel René Jackson's family's history, land has been both a permanent reminder of systemic racism and temporal unfolding of possible transformations and outcomes based on individual and communal actions. Material remnants of a legacy of farming and traditions of black epistemology throughout the diaspora functions as a guide to sourcing materials and research. Jackson often uses installation to situate her practice into ideas of spatial matters as black matters understanding landscape as palimpsest, something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form. Jackson's installations incorporate physical, virtual, and aural elements. Jackson often encases found objects, embeds molds of material archives, and enlarge communal structures using naturally ephemeral materials like soil, clay, and chalk. Performance for Jackson is an opportunity to collaborate or engage with video projection, thinking of the body as both virtual and physical. In different and at times concurrent moments the body, materials, and objects become themselves and leave traces of themselves in Jackson's landscape(s).

Ariel René Jackson (b.1991) grew up between New Orleans & Mamou, LA. She currently lives and works in Austin, TX where she is completing her MFA at The University of Texas at Austin. Her work has been shown in New York City (Studio Museum in Harlem, 2016; CUE Art Foundation, 2018; SculptureCenter, 2019) as well as at the RISD Museum (Providence, RI 2017/2018), Depaul Art Museum, (Chicago, IL 2018), and the Contemporary Art Center (New Orleans, LA 2018).

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Deborah Roberts
Introduction
Masters at UT
Research practice
Grandparents farm
Forty five acres
Collecting/systems
Grandmothers chair
Palimpsests
Use of soil/location
Austin redlining
Cage match project
Artistic origins
Grandmothers habits
High school/college
Confuserella/blues
Grad school
Dressing yards
Mary Gilmore
Being in the wake
Chalkboards
Education
Grid machine
Peace/disturbance
Nod to the past
Intuition
Differences
Awareness

Upcoming:

2019 Studio Art MFA Thesis Exhibition

May 10 – 25, 2019

Visual Art Center
The University of Texas at Austin
Art Building
2300 Trinity St (directly north of DKR – Texas Memorial Stadium)

This exhibition presents culminating work in a range of media by students receiving their master of fine arts degrees in Studio Art from The University of Texas at Austin.

The opening reception is on May 10, 2019.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 56: Koichi Yamamato - Making A Mark

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 07:00:00 -0600

"Failure or success is really subjective, and it’s conditional. The one moment I might consider a failure, I learned something so I guess since I learned something maybe it wasn’t a failure. By having those prints I will open up another possibility that I didn’t even consider thinking of. I think those are fertilizer. Probably it stinks in the beginning but it will eventually become part of a very important fuel for the creativity. Then try to solve the problem from the difficult condition in a way. I think the failure is extremely important."

Bio courtesy of Koichi's website

Koichi Yamamoto is an artist who merges traditional and contemporary techniques so as to develop unique and innovative approaches to the language of printmaking. His prints explore issues of the sublime, memory, and atmosphere. Koichi has worked at many scales, from small and meticulously engraved copper plates to large monotypes.

He completed a BFA at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland, Oregon and then moved to Krakow, Poland, later he studied engraving at the Bratislava Academy of Fine Arts in the Slovak Republic. Koichi also studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, Poland and completed an MFA at the University of Alberta, Canada. In addition he has worked as a textile designer in Fredericia, Denmark.

Koichi has exhibited internationally. He has taught at Utah State University and the University of Delaware and is currently an Associate Professor at University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Introduction
Wyoming/ceramics
Gyotaku/Japan
Art school in Portland
Myrna Burks/Printmaking
Communal art
Clay, Prints, Drawing
Light & atmosphere
Dr. Gordon Gilkey
Move to Poland
The Artist union
Improvisation/adaptation
Economic optimism
Letter to Liz Ingram
MFA in Alberta
Large relief printing
Drawing/human body
Move to Denmark
Immigration/language
Utah State University
Starting Intaglio
Knoxville,Tennessee
The physical mark
Kite surfing
Making kites
Japanese gods
Symmetry/faces
Monotype/light
Making decisions
Failure and fear
Sketchbooks
Good shoes/health
Sports/decisions
Risk/safety
Traveling/story
Kite with history
Role of artist
Communicating
Final words

Gallery Shoal Creek

KOICHI YAMAMOTO / Aspect Ratio
An Installation of Intaglio Printed Kites

January 19 - February 23, 2019
January 19 / Gallery Talk at 4 pm
Opening Reception from 6 - 8 pm

Photos by Scott David Gordon of Jan. 19th Artist Talk w/ Judy Taylor

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 55: Alyssa Taylor Wendt

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 28 Jan 2019 07:00:00 -0600

"As an artist you have to remember that you are always working. And you’re not just working when you are in the studio actually making something. You are working when you’re sleeping, dreaming, reading, looking at other peoples art, having conversations, and tripping over a rock. It’s all a part of your practice. To be able to embrace every element of your life as being a part of your practice takes the pressure off of going to the studio and the blank page. Just think of your studio as another tool."

Bio courtesy of Alyssa's website

Alyssa Taylor Wendt is a multidisciplinary artist, filmmaker and curator that works in Austin, Texas and Detroit, Michigan. Her recent projects reference themes of ritual, animism, monuments, mysticism, the primordial, architecture, gender and mortality using video, sculpture, staged photographs, sound and performance. The work tends to provoke questions in the viewer with dark and evocative aesthetics and multiple layers of perceived truth. She earned her BA from NYU and her MFA from Bard College. Transplanted from New York City, she has shown in numerous national and international exhibitions and performed at The Museum of Art and Design in New York, envoy gallery, The Fusebox Festival and Deitch Projects and completed residencies in Iceland and Norway. She is currently finishing her opus multi-channel video work HAINT and just curated an epic exhibition about death and transformation with over 60 artists at DEMO Gallery in Austin. She enjoys darkness, gospel blues and bad jokes.

The following text courtesy of the Visual Arts Center website

Alyssa Taylor Wendt: HAINT

January 25 – February 22, 2019

HAINT is an immersive, three-channel video installation by Austin-based artist and curator Alyssa Taylor Wendt. Filmed over the course of three years in Croatia, Detroit, and Texas, the individual channels unfold in counterpoint with one another to create a haunting meditation on the ways we process history, both as individuals and as a culture. The piece draws on motifs from Wendt’s personal cosmology and explores the associative powers of perception, cycles of history and ruination, and the spiritual energy that objects, the landscape, and architectural spaces carry with them. Using Eastern European songs, voiceover, opera, black metal drones, and ambient sound, HAINT combines images of post-war architecture, monuments, and ruins to create a poetic investigation of war, memory, and storytelling. In addition to the video, the exhibition includes sculptural elements and a collection of staged production photographs that intersect with the video’s multifaceted narrative.

This exhibition is organized by MacKenzie Stevens, Director, Visual Arts Center, with Clare Donnelly, Gallery Manager, Visual Arts Center and Robin K. Williams, Ph.D. candidate in Art History at The University of Texas at Austin.

Visual Arts Center
The University of Texas at Austin Art Building
2300 Trinity St (directly north of DKR – Texas Memorial Stadium)
512-471–3713

Hours
Tuesday – Friday 10am – 5pm
Saturday Noon – 5pm
Sunday / Monday Closed

HAINT Viewing and Q&A with Alyssa Taylor Wendt
Tuesday, January 29, 2019
12 PM
Visual Arts Center

Artist Talk: Alyssa Taylor Wendt
Tuesday, February 5, 2019
4 PM
Art Building, Rm. 1.120

HAINT Viewing and Q&A with Alyssa Taylor Wendt
Tuesday, February 19, 2019
5:30 PM
Visual Arts Center

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Intro
Project based
Bard college MFA
Starting with photography
Nayland Blake
Using all her skills
Artistic origins/childhood
Getting into music
The punk scene
New York/NYU
San Francisco
Acting in movies
Back to NYC
Studying acting
Dilettante?
ICP photo program
Thesis project
Highlights
Move to TX
Austin career
Current practice
Vulnerability
Listening/animism
Communication
Art fairs/zeigeist
Collaboration
Filmmaking
Utilizing skills
Everything
Too polite/pleasing
Embracing darkness
Personality vs work
Haint details
Drone metal
Singing & Music
Inter-editing
Narrative film
Fathers stories
Ruins/cycles
VAC event details
Film/photography
Thanks!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 54: Alejandra Almuelle - Revealing the Presence

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 21 Jan 2019 07:00:00 -0600

"Seriously it's like being in love, staying in the studio."

Alejandra Almuelle is a full time ceramic artist who creates sculptures and pottery that often merge traditional and contemporary styles and often feature the human figure. Her most recent and largest exhibition of work to date titled The Journey, interpreted the hero’s journey and was inspired by events in her own life. By making pottery, which she sells online and at art fairs, she is able to create her sculptural work and explore it under less pressure to make a living. The creation of each piece is a dance of control, her unconscious, the limits of her abilities, years of experience, and the same doubts we all have bringing something new into the world. She persists until the presence inherent in the clay reveals itself to become its own entity. Being of service to something beyond herself she daily finds joy and love through her work. What a great interview. Have a listen and enjoy!

Bio below courtesy of Alejandra's website

Alejandra Almuelle was born in Arequipa, Peru. She spent few years in Pizac in the Sacred Valley of Cuzco, a center for ceramic making. Peru is a country in which the abundance of clay has made this medium a language of artistic expression. Clay is its own idiom, and being there, she began to speak it. After she moved to Austin, she started working with clay. Addressing the functionality of the medium as well as its sculptural expression has been equally important for her. She has participated in art fairs, galleries and museums with both pottery and sculpture.

The exploration of an idea in a piece is central to Almuelle. She works in a series until the idea is exhausted within the form. She has completed several series in which the common thread is the human shape. She usually finds herself in between the pull that lures her to work to see “it “in front of her and the challenge to translate into form what has an intangible shape in a corner of her mindʼs eye. “While working on a piece, the piece is also working on me, working as a way of revealing, making visible, bringing into light”. As a base medium, she feels that clay is appropriate for expressing the human journey because it is the stuff we are made of.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Intro
Ceramics & pots
Growing up/influences
The valley of Cuzco
Move to Austin
Realizing the work
Being in love
Saving your life
What is real
When it flows
Conscious narrative
The Journey work
Hero’s journey stages
The departure/threshold
The state of things
The hungry ghosts
What falls away
The epiphany
Reconfiguration
Memory of essence
The return
Power of the exhibition
Creating the work
Can’t take credit
Doubt and blocks
Working on now
Persistence
Levels of attention
Clay/we are it
Revealing
What drives you
Sacrificio
Joy

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 53: Seth Orion Schwaiger

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 07 Jan 2019 18:00:00 -0600

"In a way you can use words as a lure to get people to think in a way that’s more expansive. To think in visuals, and in space, and in symbol that’s beyond language. To find meaning between words. So writing about art is really fun. Because art can mean things that really can’t be touched on with language. But you can kind of lead a reader to it. You can take these glancing blows at what arts meaning is and maybe through that long series of glancing blows map out a silhouette. And maybe people who are doing all this reading can guess at what’s within that boundary. I love that it is so populist and accessible, language itself. The written word can bring people to something that’s for a lot of people inaccessible."

Seth Orion Schwaiger is an artist, curator, critic and arts writer, and teacher, who splits his time between Austin and New York with his wife Elizabeth, who is also an artist. As a writer one of his goals is to attempt to communicate intelligently about art in a way that everyone can understand. In recent years the art creation side of identity manifest in three exhibitions of work in different cities, which were called Complex 1, Complex 2, & Complex 3. In the interview we speak in detail about each exhibition, his approach to the different aspects of his practices, the Austin art scene, its strengths and weaknesses, and his future plans. Have a listen, share any feedback, and be sure to check out Seth’s work if you have the chance.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Experience
Yearly schedule
Artistic origins
Meeting wife
Glasgow
Criticism/writing
Role of the artist
Aspects of practice
Complex series
Pump Project space
Complex 1
Something to prove
Complex 2
Processing the past
Complex 3
Christian cult
Dance production
Exhibition details
Manipulation
Any clarity?
Forgetting
Scott’s work?
Vulnerable
Pushing limits
Writing & words
Masters thesis
Merit of work
Future hopes
Austin art scene
Resources
Collectors
City funding
Gentrification
No advice
What’s next

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 52: Sharon Bridgforth - Circles Of Relationship

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 17 Dec 2018 13:00:00 -0600

"We need to not only find ourselves but we need to find a way to each other. It’s really hard to show up fully for others if you haven’t shown up for yourself. It’s really hard to have the hard conversations we need to have right now, so that we can move together collectively, so that we can tend our relationships, if we haven’t done that for ourselves. I think it’s really hard to make courageous choices as artists if we haven’t done that work. Because our fear and the things that we are hiding from inside of us will govern us. And it will never be the brave choice. It will never be the free thing. It will never be all that we are capable of. And I think it’s hard to hold onto our wealth if we haven’t done that, because we won’t on some level believe that we deserve it."

Sharon Bridgforth is a writer and performing artist who collaborates with actors, singers, dancers, and audiences to share works that explore, celebrate, and put forward African American migration stories and performance traditions. The work is also a form of prayer to tell stories, transform, remember, and pass on language of the heart with the intention to bring us all along and create space to be shaped together.

A strong interest in reading as a child led to a life of writing that was mostly kept hidden for many years. At the insistence and encouragement of others Sharon started to share the work which turned out to be well suited for performance. That was the beginning of a long career which has always emphasized creating and nurturing long term collaborative relationships with people of different backgrounds. These experiences for the performers and the audience allow for deeper connections with others and ourselves.

What a treat to be able to sit down with Sharon and talk about living as and artist. Such wisdom and grace and clarity. In the interview we talk about Sharon’s beginnings and there is a big emphasis on the importance of relationships, and financial stability and knowledge. And most importantly what is in the way that is keeping you from living with joy? Have a listen and share any feedback or thoughts you might have and be sure to check out Sharon's writings and performances!

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Introduction
The great migration
Family origins
Starting to write
College classes
First performance
Predecessors/we
Relationships
Transgressing
Perfomance/prayer
Not one sided
Circles of relationship
Academic world
Connected/dispersed
Financial stability
Money/wealth
dat Black Mermaid Man Lady
Home Project
Tipping point/jobs
love/rituals & rage
Living as an artist
Playwright residency
Genevieve Vaughan
Life challenges
Self exploration/writing
How to live joy
A way to each other
Role of the artist
Prayer and ritual
Gratitude
Last words
Allgo/thanks

Banner image by Nia Witherspoon

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 51: Drew Riley - Gender Portraits

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 06:00:00 -0600

"One of the things that helped me be a better ally to other communities is to believe people. Generally you don’t need evidence to trust if a whole community is saying something. If a whole community is saying we experience this or if a whole community is saying this hurts us. Trust that they know and trust that their experience is authentic."

"Do what works for you. Give yourself permission. I had so many people tell me what real art was or what is right or wrong. There would be times where I did something that would work for me and I would be like, but I cant do that, that’s not correct. Actually it works for me. Let yourself use processes that help."

Drew Riley is an artist and activist who through her transition to fully discovering and revealing herself found an opportunity to help others do the same. With her Gender Portraits project she paints, interviews, and shares the stories of trans, intersex, and gender non conforming people. We get a glimpse of their lived experience, their essence, and their lives outside just talking about gender and the oppressive societal norms we all have to deal with in big and small ways. If we are open to taking in these powerful portraits and stories no doubt we can all in some way relate.

In the interview we go in depth to explore three self portraits she has created that each represent her journey, challenges, and breakthroughs on the road to embodying and realizing her authentic self. Drew’s skill at creating such realistic and expertly rendered portraits came from her strict classical training and many years as a full time concept artist in the gaming industry. That industry supported her but she could not completely be herself and make the type of artwork she truly desired. Leaving that world to pursue her art and activism full time she lost some security but found a huge weight was lifted off of her shoulders.

As the executive director of Gender Unbound, Drew is furthering her mission to help trans and intersex artists. The Gender Unbound Art Fest, which happens in September, showcases the artistic talents of this community and allows attendees to interact with and support these multifaceted and valuable people in an affirming way. It is a sponsored nonprofit project of Austin Creative Alliance.

What important work Drew is doing. I’ve discovered for myself over the last year how fulfilling it is to be of service and focus on others. It’s even more important when it comes to people who are often marginalized for not confining themselves to societal norms. How can we be more inclusive and open and respecting of others and give them the space and security to exist and explore their authentic selves. Aren’t we all doing that? Don’t we all deserve the benefit of the doubt that we are doing our best with what we have. Have a listen and please support Drew's effort's to make difference in these peoples lives.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Introduction
Gender portraits
We can relate
Artistic beginnings
Gemini School
Painting realistically
Loosening up
Video game track
Concept artist/confilcts
Leaving game industry
Choosing a better life
Getting laid off
Starting self-portraits
Leap of faith
Mask comic/story
Adolescence portrait
Painting specifics
Cavan portrait/story
Artist advice/techniques
Non-profit and art
Finding balance/self-care
Exploration portrait
Struggle/gratitude
Social exploration
Letting go/being yourself
Gender norms
Male privilege/feeling safe
Prudence portrait
Believing people
Love or heroics
Gender Unbound Festival
Winter Art Market
How to support!

Adolescence by Drew Riley

Exploration by Drew Riley

Prudence by Drew Riley

Gender Unbound Winter Art Market

December 15th, 1 – 6 pm, at Austin Creative Alliance

81 San Marcos St., Austin, TX 78702

Feel good about supporting trans and intersex artists this holiday season. Shop visual art, jewelry, apparel, and more by local trans and intersex creators. Get uniquely crafted gifts for your friends and loved ones, gender pride gifts for the trans or intersex person in your life, or something beautiful and extraordinary for yourself.

This is a free event with complimentary drinks to keep up your cheer. All ages welcome. Must be 21+ to consume alcohol. Find the Winter Art Market in the courtyard (gate access on San Marcos St.). Street parking is available, but not everywhere. Pay attention to signs!

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 50: Tammie Rubin - Everything You Ever

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 03 Dec 2018 07:00:00 -0600

"I think that the thread has definitely been that it’s all sculptural. I’m truly a 3D person. The idea and the making of the work kind of happen at the same time. Or maybe I cant identify exactly what comes first but I feel like I am pushed forward in the studio though making itself. Researching is a part of that but I actually have to have my hands moving."

Tammie Rubin is a ceramic sculptor and professor at St. Edwards University. Since moving to Austin only three years ago she has fully established herself in the local art community. While maintaining a consistent studio practice she also teaches multiple classes, supports many other artists, is a member of ICOSA, and is a Dimension Gallery fellowship artist.

As Tammie stated in the interview she pushes herself in the studio to create work while her ideas coalesce through the act of doing and pushing forward into the unknown. After the work is done she can then more fully formulate concrete language about its meaning. She creates order from the noise and chaos of her thoughts and ends up hopefully with the visual cues in her pieces that communicate her complete thought process.

Previously her artwork utilized more industrial and recognizable readymade objects that she would then transform and reconfigure through her hand into ceramic sculptures. These pieces were often very colorful, textured, and complex. Her latest exhibition, Everything You Ever, on display at Women & Their Work, utilizes ball moss, wire, steel wool, and other elements as the base of the sculptures.

In the interview we cover the process of making the pieces and also her thoughts about the meaning behind the work. We also talk about the ideas she has explored in her pervious work and how she got into sculpture and teaching, including the details of a class on art & activism.

Be sure to visit her website to see all of her beautiful and intriguing work and if in Austin make your way to Women & Their Work before January 10th, 2019 to see her solo exhibition.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Hometown show
Feedback from artists
A lot going on
Cagematch project
Overall approach
Working with porcelain
College professor/mentor
Art History/Chicago
The power of objects
Context of art
What conversation
Thread of ideas
The contraption
Oregon/single use plastic
Silence/communication
Fathers death/new work
Transmission/reconfiguring
Peoples associations
Ceramic textures
Technical process
Ball moss analogy
Push and pull
Teaching/higher education
Students influence
Art & activism class
Assessing artwork
Project Row Houses
Everything you ever details

Everything You Ever

Tammie Rubin

Sat Nov 17, 2018 - Thu Jan 10, 2019

WOMEN & THEIR WORK
1710 Lavaca St.   Austin, TX
(512) 477-1064
Monday - Friday 10am-6pm
Saturday 12pm - 6pm

The wispy tendrils of the native Texas ball moss serves as a signifier of gathering chaos, conclave connections, concentrated confusion, a labyrinth of values, and growing will. Sculptures are constructed of knots and tangles of twine and rope, embedded with steel wool and cotton, and armatures of wire. These forms are then overwhelmed with porcelain slip, covering, drowning, distorting and obscuring the original. What will be lost? What will remain?

WOMEN & THEIR WORK events:

Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear

Performance and readings

December 8, 2018, 2pm-4pm

TalkAbout: Everything You Ever

Artist Talk with Tammie at Women & Their Work

January 5, 2019, 11:30am-12:30pm

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 49: Darden Smith - The Habit Of Noticing

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 17 Nov 2018 05:00:00 -0600

"Getting in the habit of noticing is what is essential to actually being an artist. You have to first off get in the habit seeing things and noticing. It's not only visually seeing, it’s hearing, and listening, and tasting and using your senses. Wake up and think, what am I going to notice today, because the work is around you. The input that you need to do the work, there is no shortage of that, if you are paying attention."

Darden Smith is a Texas born singer/songwriter who just released his first book. The Habit of Noticing is an honest and poetic journey through Darden’s life as an artist, what he has learned so far, and the many interesting people that have crossed his path. His writings are artfully juxtaposed with his own drawings and photographs.

Reading the book while listening Darden’s voice and the musical score that accompanies it was really powerful and moving for me. His vulnerability is evident and appreciated and his artistic struggles relatable. Sitting down to talk in person we spoke about his life as an artist and how he got to where he is today along with many other questions. How do you gain access to something bigger than yourself and with more depth? What’s it like to write songs with kids, homeless teenagers, and soldiers? How do you embrace everything even the parts of life that are hard? Have a listen and see if we found any answers. And please have a look or listen to his book!

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Childhood/songwriting
Haydust/the other
Move to Austin/making music
Scoring dance works
Symphony commission
Be yourself
Drawings/DJ Stout
Bale Creek Allen/Flatbed
Fearing your gift
The world needs you
Being fully realized
Songwriting with soldiers
Be an artist program origins
Attention/Intention/Love
Power of difference
No plan B/making it work
Fuller family meeting
Being a working artist
Play the game
Every seven years
The Habit of Noticing
Bizarre life/interesting people
Seeking mentors/being awake
Warren Zanes intro
Not knowing the rules
Loving what you do
Everything
Embrace the suck
Stepping out
Hope for the book

The Habit of Noticing: Using Creativity to Make a Life (and a Living) by Darden Smith

Text from amazon

"Now, in his most adventurous and deeply personal project to date, The Habit of Noticing is Smith's collection of stories that serves as a personal manifesto on the value of art and creativity in daily life. A guidebook for those seeking to bring more creativity into their daily life, Smith dives deep into his inspirations and influences, the importance of commitment and endurance in tough times, and the beauty that comes from finding meaning in your work and your life"

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 48: Randal Ford - The Animal Kindgom

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 27 Oct 2018 05:00:00 -0500

“We have literally been depicting animals since we could make artwork, since we could paint on the walls of caves. It’s pretty much across every culture and civilization in history, animals have been part of artwork that’s been created. I just found that so fascinating and when I was thinking about how to put what I was doing down on paper. That felt like the cornerstone idea of why I am doing this and why these animal portraits can be important and part of this, a part of humanities portrayal of animals in artwork.”

Photographer Randal Ford, who specializes in conceptual portraiture and advertising work, just released a gorgeous book of animal portraits. The Animal Kingdom is a project that he has been creating on along side his regular work for almost 10 years. It all started when DJ Stout of Pentagram Design approached Randal to make portraits of Dairy cows. It was a novel and fresh idea and soon he found himself getting more animal related advertising work. When he self initiated his own photoshoot of a lion, tiger, and bear, it tipped over into a personal project that would take him to many locations and studios to capture a 150 different mammals and birds.

He describes his love of photography as a kind of obsession that started in high school and grew into college even though he ended up studying business. By not specifically pursuing an art or photography degree, he was forced to find his own way and solely create a vision of what he wanted his career and work to look like. He used his resourcefulness and determination to learn what he could from various sources and worked hard to build his business and develop his skills by creating a lot of images and by experimenting. After moving to Austin he worked as an assistant and second shooter but soon found himself wanting to go out on his own.

Since that time he has built a successful career with advertising portrait work and directing and is now venturing into the fine art world with his arresting studio images of animals. His work has entered the cannon of depictions of animals that humans have been creating since the days of cave paintings. Just as he has perfected his skill in portraying people he now has proven his ability to capture an animals personality, beauty, and soul just as well. The viewer can connect with these subjects on a deeper level as they bring their own emotions and memories to the unspoken conversation we have with art as a mirror of ourselves.

Randal is a consummate professional and is obviously a very skilled image maker, aritst, and business person. I really enjoyed this conversation and am excited to share it and help spread the word about his new book. It’s quite an accomplishment and is worthy of the praise it has received. We talk about the book but also the balance between being and artist and running a business and he shares some bullet points and recommendations for aspiring artists towards the end. Have a listen to the interview, share some feedback, and be sure to check out his work at randalford.com.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Photography origins
Studying business
Choosing a career focus
Grandfather’s lessons
Jack Hollingsworth
Self initiated work
Frames per animal
Going out on his own
Being professional
Learning to shoot portraits
Photographing animals
Working with people
Relinquishing control
New respect for animals
Animal portrait specifics
Dairy cow beginnings
Lion, Tiger, and Bear
Using clients images
40,000yrs of animal art
Beyond exotic animals
Animal connections
Powerful moments
Primal and present
Handlers and owners
Cat Haven in Cali
Producers & assistants
Retoucher/background
Davis Gallery show
Advertising and Art
Advice for artists
Animal stories/names
Creative collaboration
Directing big shoots
Bullet points elaboration
Business books
Family/final question

Behind the scenes on some of the animal photo shoots.

Randal's new book The Animal Kingdom: A Collection of Portraits

Released by renowned publisher Rizzoli New York. Available on Amazon.

Proceeds for the sales of the book benefit Project Survival's Cat Haven.

Upcomming events

PDNB Gallery Exhibition + Signing in Dallas
154 Glass St #104, Dallas, TX 75207

Thursday, November 15, 2018
5:00 PM 8:30 PM

Come see over 25 large format pieces of Randal Ford’s work at one of Dallas’s most respected photography galleries, PDNB. We will have bites, beer, wine, and spirits from Deep Eddy. Randal Ford will also be doing a signing early in the evening. Open to the public.

Davis Gallery Exhibition + Signing
837 W. 12th Street, Austin, TX 78701

Thursday, December 6, 2018
5:30 PM 8:30 PM

Come see over 25 large format pieces of Randal Ford’s work at The Davis Gallery in Austin, TX. Randal Ford will also be doing a signing early in the evening.We will have apps and drinks as well! Open to the public.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 47: Maura Grace Ambrose - Folk Fibers

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sun, 21 Oct 2018 20:15:00 -0500

"Being a parent I can relate. I know what it’s like now to not be able to work on projects that I want to work on. And those are like real life obstacles, whether it’s a day job, or a sick family member, or a young child that needs taken care of. There are a lot of obstacles in our life that keep us from being creative. Whether they’re just excuses we make up for ourselves or they are real. We still need to be creative. That’s the breakthrough that I made. It seemed harder to do my work as an artist and be a mom. It felt easier to maybe just stop being an artist. Even playing around with that I tired putting it down for a month or so seeing if that was easier, and it wasn’t. That was a real breakthrough to know where my creativity came from and why I needed to create. It made me more of myself and it made me a happier person and it was an expression that I needed to get out. That’s nice to know that it’s not for other weird egotistical reasons that people feel like maybe they are or might be creating for. It was nice to clear the air and understand that I wasn’t creating for anyone other than myself to become fully myself."

Maura Grace Ambrose is a natural dye artist and quilt maker who lives close to the land on ten acres just outside of Austin with her husband and four year old daughter. She studied fiber arts at The Savannah College of Art and Design and after some time working on an organic farm as the greenhouse manager took a fateful four month trip around the US with her husband. As they made their way back to Texas she decided to give it a go and put her skills to use by starting her own company. In addition to her love of the fiber arts Maura was encouraged by her experience growing plants from seed at the farm and felt compelled to create and tell the story from plant to dye to color to quilt in her own unique way. Folk Fibers was born.

Relating more to a painter than quilter, she loves to capture in her work, seasonal colors, the palate and soothing patterns that are the story of nature and her surroundings. The resulting quilts are practical, functional, long lasting, but also a piece of art, the makers hand in every stitch and composition. She is also inspired by the materials, techniques, processes, and traditional styles of the past.

The interview delves into many aspects of being a parent and an artist. After much success early on in the life of her business she had her daughter Ada. She realized she couldn’t maintain the same pace of work and had to really look hard at why and how she wanted to create going forward and balance that with just wanting to be a mom. As Ada has gotten older there have been more opportunities to make space for projects and teaching and she relishes those windows of time where she can completely focus on her work.

I’m very happy to share this conversation with my very good friend of eight years! I admit after watching her new Piecing A Scrap Quilt workshop, I want to make my own. With the release of the first of many video workshops, she is able to teach those who what to learn quilting and go at their own pace, but who would not be able to attend her limited in person workshops in Texas. Maura is very thoughtful and has a lot of things that she shares with me in the interview that I am thrilled to share with you. Please enjoy and be sure to check out her website and workshop at Folkfibers.com.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Intro
Working at JBG
Quilting community
The quilting life
Starting the business
Road trip with Chap
Levis quilts/Martha Stewart
Gaining momentum
Having a child/slowing down
Guidebooks-video workshops
Picking yourself/book deals
Being a parent and artist
Making vs undone
Living the rural life
Property potential
Ideas and inspiration
Not a perfectionist
Video workshop details
Making vs buying
Final words question
Being yourself
Follow your bliss
Friendship/balance
Ada’s to-do list
Rough house
Waldorf craft/nature
Being a parent
Being an artist

Click on the image below to check out Maura'a new workshop!

Here are some photos of Maura I have taken over the years.

Maura seeding in the JBG greenhouse Jan. 2011.

Maura and Chap at Feliz in 2012.

Playing around during a quilt photo shoot in 2013.

With Ada during an Indigo dyeing session in 2015.

Teaching a quilting workshop at her home in 2016.

All photos by Scott David Gordon

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 46: Shawn Camp - Dualities of Existence

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Fri, 12 Oct 2018 13:00:00 -0500

"A single object can be these extremely different things depending on the context. When the lights are bright in the gallery a whole bunch of what that painting is becomes completely obscured, it’s not even present at all or barely visible or not even there. And when the lights cycle off it's the same thing, there’s a whole bunch of that painting that’s not there at all, but all those things that were hidden before are now visible. I like that back and forth and that feeling of transformation. And the painting itself being a static object but existing as a time based thing.“

The dualities of our existence are many, life and death being one of the most prominent. And we are often searching for rational patterns and order in our experience. Art can sometimes greatly change our subjective view and that can be very intentional on the part of the artist. Shawn Camp has pushed himself for decades to use painting, sound, video, and his teaching skills to explore these varied ideas and many others, to facilitate going deeper than just surface layers. And he draws on his studies in Philosophy and Psychology, in addition to teaching Art, to enhance his concepts and motivations and to stay inspired.

His work has transitioned over the years from thick landscapes of impasto to subtle and ethereal geometric planes sometimes juxtaposed and merged with backlit atmospheric murals. The context and presentation of his work is often crucial to the experience and understanding of it. Lights cycle on an off like day and night, to reveal the dichotomy of his work which can include aspects of video and sound to create an immersive curated reality.

I’ve known Shawn for years and he is the nicest guy. And so very humble. His job as a teacher thankfully allows for untethered freedom in the studio where he experiments and crafts work that is gorgeous beyond belief. See his work in person if you can. You wont regret it.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Intro
Teaching
Generations
Information
Growing up/school
Early painting style
Grad school
Influence of landscape
Contentious mentor
Tokyo/Austin
Music/sound
Evolution of work
Backlit concept
Glazing/layers
Light/time/surface
The battle
Roadtrip analogy
The good & bad
Making a living from art
Creativity as a skill
My heaven and hell
Fish Factory residency
Works on paper
Shaped pieces
Iceland landscape
Equivocation

Equivocation (installation view), 2018, backlit oil painting

Shawn Camp’s EQUIVOCATION is an installation consisting of a wall painting, a video, a loop of sound, and a large back-lit painting in a room with subtly shifting light. The experience is a mediation on the cyclical nature of being and an abstraction of the way we perceive time and space.

Northern–Southern
1900-B East 12th Street
Austin, Texas 78702

12th on 12th Happy Hour
Friday, October 12, 5–7pm

Final Visiting Hours
Saturday, October 13, 3–6:30pm

Shawn Camp Artist Talk
Saturday, October 13, 4:30pm

Across the Window - Acrylic on paper / 9 x 13 in.

SHAWN CAMP / My heaven and hell are the same

October 20–November 18, 2018
Reception: Saturday, October 20, 5-8 pm

Gallery Shoal Creek
2832 E. MLK Jr. Blvd. / Suite 3 / Austin,Texas 78702
512-454-6671 / galleryshoalcreek.com
Tue-Fri 10-5; Sat 12-5

Text below courtesy of Gallery Shoal Creek

"Having recently returned from an artist residency at the creative center in Stöðvarfjörður, Iceland, Shawn Camp presents new work influenced by the rugged terrain, glacial ice, and volcanic ferocity of the sub-arctic island nation. The experience took him in a new direction with a series of works on paper which reflect his ongoing interest in linear forms, geometric references, and reflective surfaces.

In response to the tumultuous interaction of landscape and sky, the paintings slow to a stand-still. At times dark and atmospheric, the imagery resonates a quiet ambiguity through reflective surfaces and delicate transitions of color. Linear forms are cut like broken panes of geometry through deep recesses of space, hinting at the changing states of matter formed by geological forces within the earth.

These new works investigate dualities and exploit the effects of context on our perception. They convey a sense of atmosphere and explore the mystery of light and our subjective experience of the constantly changing visual world. Through the use of refractive pigments, glazed and sanded repeatedly atop smooth, mirror-like panels, the experience of color and shape becomes elusive and indefinable."

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 45: Dameon Lester - Serene Disturbance

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 06 Oct 2018 05:00:00 -0500

"I had never been to a glacier. I had this vision of them being these giant massive things that were just there. I never really thought about how much of a living organism they are. Growing and retreating, melting, and expanding and changing. When we went on hikes on the glacier the pathway changes constantly because of the nature of the glacier and the route. With climate change these things that have been around for thousands of years are disappearing. This object I thought was a permanent structure has this really ephemeral, impermanent quality."

How would you communicate the enormity of a glacier or the complexity of global warming, with a sculpture or drawing? Would you travel to Iceland to see for yourself the scale of the issue and personally trace the many miles of ice that have been lost? Dameon Lester did just that, motivated by a desire to go beyond just looking at images on the internet. He wanted to use all of his senses and see it for himself as he crafted a body of work with the goal of communicating the issues, anxieties, denials, decisions, and inter-connectedness of us all, the planet, and the consequences of our actions related to climate change.

Completing two residencies in Iceland in the last year allowed him to explore different materials and experiment in a studio, while also exploring the ephemeral landscape of that distant place. The tactic that he chose was to pare everything down to the most simple and basic forms as a way to filter all the elements under consideration into a cohesive approach.

The current results of his work and travel, around the issue of climate change, is the exhibition Serene Disturbance, on display at grayDUCK gallery until October 28, 2018.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Iceland residencies
Serene Disturbance
The one rock
Permanece/simplicity
James Balog’s work
Global warming
Seeing first hand
The uneasy tension
Controlling materials
Art school history
Need to make art
Working in the studio
Parameters/focus
Show title origin
Intensity/anxiety
Different materials
Tempo public art
Future plans
Images of sculptures
ICOSA group show/EAST
Adult special education
Contentment/values
Letting go/Crit group
Everything’s meaning
grayDuck

Serene Disturbance

Dameon Lester

grayDUCK Gallery

Opening Reception: Saturday, September 15, 7-10pm
Artist Talk: Sunday, September 30, 2pm
Exhibition Dates: September 15 – October 28, 2018

Photo by Colin Doyle.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 44: Vy Ngo - Present In This Moment

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sun, 23 Sep 2018 23:00:00 -0500

"We are all connected. We need to be a village for each other and raise and support each other through everything. Being in the art community what I have found is that I've finally found my tribe. I found my tribe in the people that understand the emotional roller coaster ride of being an artist and the constant self questioning and pushing. It’s that hunger in us to constantly be better."

After going to medical school and practicing as a pediatrician for many years, and at the same time growing a family, Vy Ngo felt that there was still something missing from her life. As a child and in high school she pursued many artistic endeavors, but that took the back seat to her career as a physician for decades.

Once she started creating art again three years ago, her drive to work hard and push herself to be the best kicked in, and it has greatly enhanced the rest of her life in the process. She found that creating art was a way that she could have freedom and time away from the demands of her life and it also made her feel more whole and facilitated a lot of personal growth, and self acceptance

She acknowledges what a blessed life she has and wouldn’t be here if not for the courage of her parents who left Vietnam at the end of the war and made a perilous journey to the US. Starting with nothing they built a successful life and worked very hard. Vy’s parents sacrificed a lot and that has inspired her to make the most of her life and to be of service and help people. She chose to work with children, who she learns a lot from, and sees as being very truthful and masters of the present moment in their youthful innocence.

It’s inspiring to see how hard Vy works and what her parents overcame to bring her to the US and then raise her to be an amazing human being. Even though she works as a physician and has a family she’s figured out a way to also be an artist who prioritizes relationships, connection, and vulnerability.

Art has been very fulfilling and has enhanced everything else she does in her life. It has helped her get through loss and grief. And it is helping her to process and understand her cultural identity in the world. The dialogue continues between her and whatever medium she chooses as she strives to express her life and figure out how to translate feelings and emotions into works that others can connect with.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Her 3 jobs
Childhood interests
High school pursuits
Parents story/Vietnam
Medical school/11 years
Turning point/balance
Community
Starting to paint
Art education?
Strangers from home
Lessons learned
Meeting with friends
Having a studio
Being present
Human connection
Medical/art classes
Vulnerability
Memories/time
Dreamscapes series
Grandmother/poetry
The Artist’s Way
Future plans
In-between series

Vy Ngo – Dreamscapes

On view through October 6th

RECSPEC Gallery
2832 East Martin Luther King Jr Blvd Austin, Texas 78702
(Inside Flatbed Press and Gallery)
Open every Saturday from 12-4,
for exhibitions and by appointment.

New works by Austin, Texas based abstract artist Vy Ngo.

With a future that feels so uncertain for many, “Dreamscapes” is a show about how our historical past and memories can shift with time and emotionality into a world unrecognizable even to ourselves. Through exploring the depths and layers of those unfamiliar landscapes, it gives hope in discovering the evanescent beauty of all things and that focusing on the present moment will only bring more infinite possibilities

Photo by @christinaqphotography

“Life is available only in the present moment. If you abandon the present moment you cannot live the moments of your daily life deeply.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 43: Vincent Valdez - The Beginning is Near

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 17 Sep 2018 17:00:00 -0500

"These images like murals are images that can speak to people and that people can identify with. You don’t have to be from a certain background or certain city or community or ethnicity or political belief or religious belief. These are my visual memorials to the epic and endless struggle of the human experience."

From Vincent Valdez’s point of view we have a choice as to which way we want to go as a country. We can start again. It could be the beginning of a darker chapter in our history or a more enlightened and inclusive one. And art can sometimes be that guide to help tell us who we are, what we are made off, and where we can go from here. One of his biggest fears is that we are not learning from history, some of which is seemingly lost, and some of it ignored or manipulated to favor one group over another.

Vincent has never wanted to be anything other than an artist and he vowed and pledged an oath to himself and his work right from the beginning. Never would he sway from what he felt in his heart that it was most important to say, no matter the consequences. He has stayed true to his vision for almost two decades and has used his struggles in life and in the studio as fuel to propel him forward.

His integrity, clarity, and work ethic come from his parents and family who are the common people that have helped to build their communities and America while enduring discrimination and the systemic limitations built into our society that do not favor people of color.

At the very beginning of his life as a small helpless baby in an incubator Vincent was holding on for life, but his grandmother saw then what is obvious now to the rest of us. He has something to say and he has the ability, the determination, and the courage to say it in his own visual way. As he developed his skills, discipline, and interest in art growing up, he really found his calling when he started to paint murals with his mentor Alex Rubio.

That was his first real education about people, life, and how the world works. He vowed to never loose sight of or touch with the community that he was learning to portray and give a presence and a voice to in those murals. We see now in his works the truths and realties of life’s struggles and a mirror of ourselves and the human experience that we night not always recognize on our own or want to look at. Potential moments of truth and something greater than just one person or one artist.

In his studio Vincent feels the most freedom in his life and the main limitation is having the time to manifest all of his ideas. Beyond painting and drawing he feels he is just a novice so there is much to learn. The work is an outlet to try to make sense of the world outside of the studio and success is simply having the ability to do what he wants to do. Be an artist and keep reinventing himself and keep exploring how to see and show things differently, or as they really are. When he has an intense feeling and idea for new work his biggest challenge is how to then translate that into a painting or drawing that will potentially give the viewer of that work a similar feeling.

Vincent and I met in 2011 at The Serie Project thanks to the amazing Sam Coronado. Over the years our paths have crossed again but with the excitement around the inclusion of his paintings The City I & II at the Blanton Museum of Art, I knew the time was right for an interview. And what a great interview it is, not because of anything I did, but because of Vincent’s humble, generous, and wise perspectives on life, being an artist, and staying true to your ideals. Please enjoy and if this episode or any other I've produced have helped or added value to your life please consider supporting the podcast so it can continue and grow. Thanks!

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Sam Coronado
The Strangest Fruit
Defining moments
Visiting The Alamo
Painting murals/community
Getting held up at gun point
Facing tough issues/truths
Amnesia/looking in the mirror
Influential artists
Struggles/oath to work
Capturing a feeling
Challenges/bodily limits
Source of integrity/parents
Voices of the people
The Beginning is Near
Critical thinking
The role of Art
Travel outside US
Origin story/childhood
What is success?
Doing the work
Skill level/types of work
Fortunate enough
Teaching/corazón
Adriana Corral
Requiem sculpture
Collaboration

Vincent in his studio with a painting of his grandparents.

Current Local Exhibitions

Vincent Valdez: The City

The Beginning is Near (Part I)

CLOSES →October 28, 2018

On view at The Blanton Museum of Art
The University of Texas at Austin
200 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Austin, TX 78712
512-471-5482
info@blantonmuseum.org

Here's a link to the museum website dedicated to a discussion of The City.

http://blantonmuseum.org/valdethecity

Also on view in the permanent collection of the Blanton are two of Vincent's paintings from The Strangest Fruit series. They are right across from two prints by previous podcast guest Deborah Roberts. The photo below was taken by me on 9/29/13, the day he finished the series at his former firehouse studio in San Antonio, right before they came crate them up.

Vincent Valdez: Dream Baby Dream

The Beginning is Near (Part II)

Fri, Sep 7, 2018 → Sat, Nov 10, 2018

David Shelton Gallery
4411 Montrose Blvd., Suite B
Houston, Texas 77006
713 393-7319
info@davidsheltongallery.com

The lights are on. The mics are live. The cameras are rolling, yet no one is sure where to begin.

Gestural brushwork composes the scene. Moments of pause. Speakers at podiums, flanked by microphones and floral arrangements. Each is silent. Some mournful. Some pensive. Others meditative or distant. Collectively uncertain of where we go from here.

Dream Baby Dream (2017–2018) is Part II of Vincent Valdez’s allegorical trilogy The Beginning Is Near. The series follows on from Part I (2015–2016), two large oil paintings, The City I and The City II, that address the structural oppression, hate and violence Valdez sees as inscribed into the sociocultural landscape of the United States. As he completed the final canvas of The City I, news broke of the death of Muhammad Ali (June 3, 2016). A week later, between bouts of painting, Valdez watched television coverage of people following the hearse carrying Ali’s body, the funeral service and the eulogies honoring “The Greatest.” The diversity of the speakers and the compassion and conviction of their words resonated with Valdez, but months later, during the culmination of the 2016 presidential campaign, he found new meaning in the spectacle surrounding Ali’s death. Returning to the footage, Valdez sought to reconcile Ali’s life and legacy with the dawning apprehension, anxiety, division and disillusionment that echoed across the country from screen to shining screen.

From an essay by Ian Alden Russell, August, 2018

Banner Image - Dream Baby Dream (7), 2018
oil on paper 42 x 72 inches
Photo: Peter Mollick

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 42: Marjorie Moore - Drawn from Nature

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 08 Sep 2018 17:15:00 -0500

“I don’t remember what artist said this but I’ve always liked this. She said ‘There are no dumb ideas.’ And I always keep that in my head. Maybe you are not going like it when you get to that point of is this done or isn’t or who cares. You have to try it. You have to see where it goes. That’s why we’re artists. Were allowed to do that. Nobody is telling us you can’t do that. There might be people saying that but they are wrong. You can do this. You can do whatever you want. That’s why you’re an artist.”

Marjorie Moore’s art career has continued to evolve through many decades of work. Her core themes and ideas have maintained consistency and evolved but the way she communicates with and through different types of drawing, painting, and combined media have changed with the different phases of her life. From the isolation of a farm in western Maine to the big city, it has all shaped what she wants to say and how.

She has a love of materials, the tactile experience of making things by hand, collecting curiosities, and above all nature. The way aspects of the natural world are anthropomorphized and juxtaposed with pop culture and science creates some of the narratives and psychology that she explores. From puppets and soft sculpture, to large dark and theatrical paintings with animated characters and dolls, to small delicate nature based works, and many styles in between, she has never let herself get locked into or lost in any one style of art.

After living in Austin for over two decades she moved back to Maine to retire with her husband where she continues to cultivate her interest in the ocean. Some of her current work partly incorporates drawings made working directly from objects she has acquired along the shore of the island where she lives, such as seaweed, shells, lichen, and rocks. She sometimes builds up the surface of a piece by starting with a watercolor painting and adding strips and cutout shapes from mylar stained with ink, and found objects including plants dipped in beeswax.

What an nice adventure it was traveling by ferry out to Great Diamond Island off of Portland, Maine, to visit Marjorie while I was on vacation. She was recommend to me by a two previous podcast guests, Hayley Gillespie, and Madeline Irvine. Her and her husband graciously showed me around their beautiful residence, the island they call home, and they even took me out for a very fine waterside lunch on my birthday! Please enjoy this interview which ends with Marjorie and myself exploring the beach where she sometimes finds inspirations for her artwork.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Maine intro
Beginnings in art
Love of materials
Self sufficiency
Nature drawing course
Interest in things
Meeting Steven
Peace Corp in Iran
Return to US
Farm in Maine
Brunswick/Portland
Painting/darker work
Move to Texas
Earthwatch Fellowship
No dumb ideas
Maine/Austin art community
Drought, Fire, Ash
Monkey lady
Interest in ocean
Current work
Meaning of the work
The future
Beach visit
Final advice

Marjorie on the beach at Diamond Cove.

Marjorie in her home studio.

Marjoire being interviewed.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 41: Valerie Fowler - Layers of Meaning

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 25 Aug 2018 09:00:00 -0500

"For me it only becomes an artwork if it has the potential to have a lot of layers of meaning.

I have my themes that I always want to emphasize and I’m always looking for ways buoy those themes and so I’m on the look out. The aesthetics are never the thing that get me. It’s if there is something out there that I see that will speak to what I am already thinking about.

Memory plays a big part when I come back to my studio in what I want to infuse back into my paintings. So I know that it was a beautiful waterfall but its not about just a beautiful waterfall. Its about family, and trust, and memory of that beautiful walk. I’m probably the only one that knows that. But while I’m painting I’m definitely thinking about that and hoping I can infuse that kind of depth into my paintings."

Drawing and painting are a way for Valerie Fowler to be in the moment, to relax, and to get into the flow and journey of her art. She starts with an idea and then reacts to what happens next as the details evolve. It’s not just about the aesthetics but about her and the stories, memories, feelings, and themes, that she hopes to infuse into the work in a deep, honest, and meaningful way.

Early on in her career the work was more narrative, portraying dramatic scenes and psychologically charged persons and props, that often were representations of herself. As someone who was very shy it was a way for her to explore and talk about miscommunication and other issues important to her at the time.

With the happiness of starting a family and raising children her work became more botanically inspired, complex, and thematic, based on her garden and the nature surrounding her home. Initially what she captured was more a recording of what she saw in person but then it matured into mostly creating from memory.

With clean and precise edges and colors that pop she continues to create works that are intensely detailed and beautiful with layers of meaning beyond the obvious, but definitely relatable and understandable. The subjects are relevant to her past and present life and also reflect her concern for the state of nature and man's effect on the planet.

Valerie also collaborates with her husband Brian Beattie who is a musician and producer. Together they create storytelling performances that use a “Crankie” to display a long linear scrolled drawing that is accompanied by music. Her current project is based on a historic home in west Austin that is being turned into a museum. See the details below for this most recent project and how to see it in person.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Her work
Artist parents
Fathers influence
Early work/school
Narrative paintings
Figures and themes
Deer series/story
Nature and death
Raising kids/gardening
Botanical work
Screen paintings
Negotiating safe passage
Working from memory
The agave painting
Layers of meaning
Lake George Waterfall
Teaching/advice
Fine art/commercial
Art at Flower Hill
The Crankie

Valerie Fowler: The Story of the Deer in the Road

September 7th - 28th, 2019

Opening Reception
Saturday September 7th, 2019
6:00pm to 9:00pm with the artist in attendance
Facebook event link HERE.

Crankie Performances
In conjunction with the exhibit, Valerie Fowler has created a 30-foot long narrative drawing to be “cranked” on a roll and accompanied by live, original music written and performed by Brian Beattie, her husband and long time collaborator. In addition, writer Robin Chotzinoff will present a reading responding to the artwork in the exhibit. There are three free performances however, space is limited so an RSVP is suggested.

Saturday September 14th, 1:00pm EMAIL RSVP HERE
Saturday, September 21st, 6:00pm EMAIL RSVP HERE
Thursday, September 26th, 6:00pm EMAIL RSVP HERE

Link to all Crankie events on Facebook HERE.

Location
6448 Hwy 290 E., Suite A102, Austin, TX 78723

CAMIBAart Gallery is pleased to present Valerie Fowler and her exhibit “The Story of the Deer in the Road”. Viewers familiar with Valerie’s artwork will automatically recognize her expressive style, with its bend toward surrealism, and her sense of place, often a romanticized life in Central Texas. Her vision is uniquely personal, yet universal in message. She employs elements from the natural world as allegorical characters to imply storytelling with a mission to inspire contemplation concerning human interaction with our natural world.

The artworks in this exhibit explore Valerie’s personal visions of vulnerability and confrontation with death and threats to human existence in general, manifested in the form of a deer. The animal, ubiquitous in Texas and throughout the U.S., transgresses into human habitat such that its presence is a constant reminder to us that its own natural habitat has shrunk and is continuously being altered. This deer, a female, portrayed in various visions or settings, is, in turns, the protagonist in a story not completely revealed, an omen, or an alter ego to the artist.

In her own words:

Through implied narratives I relay my concern and love for our fragile home as I explore the mark we humans make on it. Stories, taken from my own interactions with nature, are integral. Over time I’ve developed personal touchstones and archetypes sourced from my native Texas environment, which hint at allegories.

About the Artist:

Valerie Fowler is a visual artist, a painter and mixed media artist, and most recently, a visual performer. Her past work includes painting murals for Whole Foods Market in Austin, Chicago and Ann Arbor; illustration and layout work for The Texas Observer; illustrations for CD jackets forlocal musicians, including a fully illustrated, 64 page book that accompanies the CD for "Ivy and the Wicker Suitcase", a musical project written, recorded and produced by her husband, and frequent collaborator, Brian Beattie. The "Ivy" project toured the East and West coasts and she and Beattie produced the full stage production for Austin's Stateside at the Paramount Theater in 2014. Fowler teaches art in her home studio and is also an art instructor at The Contemporary, The Art School at Laguna Gloria. Most recently, the Texas Book Festival chose Fowler as their 2018 Festival artist. Her painting Spring, Everything Changes; Fredericksburg, Texasgraced the festival poster and corresponding campaign materials.

About Robin Chotzinoff:

An all-purpose writer of books, songs, skits and odes-while-U-wait, Robin Chotzinoff has been telling stories from stages around Austin for the past decade. She is the author of People With Dirty Hands and four other published books, as well Project Time: the DIY Musical. She works both as a general contractor, helping clients make their construction dreams concrete, and a ghost-writer-for-hire, specializing in burnishing and tightening narrative voices. A long-time supporter and admirer of Valerie Fowler’s art, she is honored and excited to contribute to The Story of the Deer in the Road.

About Brian Beattie:

Brian Beattie, Valerie Fowler's husband and frequent collaborator, is an Austin based musician/songwriter/record producer. He's worked with Bill Callahan, Daniel Johnston, Shearwater, and Okkervil River, among others. He produced K. McCarty's landmark album "Dead Dog's Eyeball- Songs of Daniel Johnston". More information about Brian can be found on his website here.

This project is sponsored in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Center for Women and Their Work.

Here are a few of the paintings mentioned in the interview.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Valerie Fowler - website
Valerie Fowler (@ivy1938) • Instagram
Valerie Fowler - Facebook
Valerie Fowler: Art at Flower Hill - Facebook event
Valerie Fowler's 'Art At Flower Hill' | KUT Arts Eclectic
Flower Hill Foundation | Urban Homestead Museum | Smoot
Brian Beattie - Website
2019 Valerie Fowler: The Story of the Deer in the Road — CAMIBAart — This project is sponsored in part by the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department and the Center for Women and Their Work.

Episode 40: John Paul Caponigro - Find Your Way

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 18 Aug 2018 07:00:00 -0500

"You really need to define success for yourself, separately from the reactions of other people. If you are waiting to publish the book or get collected by museum X or all of those things that depend on other people, you need to reframe success for yourself. You can't control them nor should you really want to. You could hope that they would come along for the ride. Define success for yourself and then focus on making sure that happens. You can control that. You can get involved in that and make those things happen."

Getting to interview John Paul was definitely at the top of my wish list while visiting Maine during the month of August 2018. As I say in the interview I've been following his work for years and have always been impressed with how generous he is with his teachings and processes and also the depth and beauty of his images.

If you are looking for a technical discussion on Photoshop and cameras to choose this is not the one. We had a fairly philosophical conversation about many subjects including defining a mission in life, being present, nature, spirit of place, creativity, play, and how to find your own way as an artist and a human. I love how thoughtful and specific he is with his words and wisdom. It’s no wonder he is a sought after lecturer and teacher.

Please enjoy this conversation recorded in John Paul’s home gallery located in Cushing, Maine on a beautiful summer day. And be sure to keep up with him and enjoy what he shares by signing up for his Insights enews subscription.

The following biography is used courtesy of John Paul's website.

John Paul Caponigro is one of the most prominent visual artists working with digital media. His art has been exhibited internationally and purchased by numerous private and public collections including Princeton University, the Estée Lauder collection, and the Smithsonian.

John Paul dynamically combines his background in painting with traditional and alternative photographic processes using state-of-the-art digital technology. A form of environmental art in virtual space, his work is about the perception of nature and the nature of perception. His life’s work is both a call to connection with nature and a call for conscientious creative interaction with our environment during a time of rapid change.

Respected as an authority on creativity, photography, and fine art printing, he is a highly sought after speaker, lecturing extensively at conferences, universities, and museums, in venues as diverse as Photoshop World, Google and TEDx. He leads seminars and workshops around the globe.

John Paul’s work has been published widely in numerous periodicals and books including Art News and The Ansel Adams Guide. Author of the video training series R/Evolution and the book Adobe Photoshop Master Class, for over twenty years he has been a contributing editor to a variety of magazines and websites including Camera Arts, Digital Photo Pro, The Huffington Post, and Apple.

John Paul is a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame, an Epson Stylus Pro, and an X-Rite Coloratti. His clients include Adobe, Apple, Canon, Epson, Kodak, and Sony.

Learn more – visit www.johnpaulcaponigro.com and get a free subscription to his enews Insights.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

JP’s mission
Music/piano lessons
Point of view
Play
Perfectionism
Interconnectivity
Nature
Spirit of place
The same location
Antarctica trips
Personal project
Many ways to do it
Dreams/vision
Living with art
Creativity
Meditation
Write it down
What’s helpful?
The artist’s path

John Paul's Mission

My life's work is dedicated to inspiring conscientious creative interaction with our environment.

Authentic creativity is the key to unlocking solutions for the most pressing issues of our times.

Each of us has unique and valuable contributions to make during this important moment in history.

I urge you to make yours now.

And I'm here to help you.

The two images below are metioned towards the end of the interview and are a part of his new Land in Land series.

Land in Land II

Land in Land XXV

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 39: Caitlin G McCollom - Following My Vision

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 06 Aug 2018 18:00:00 -0500

"You have to cultivate your own ability to be inspired. As I become more mature as an artist its how do I create the circumstances to cultivate the mood and the mental state I need to be in to really connect with my vision as an artist."

Four years ago when she hit a low point in her life, artist Caitlin McCollom could not have imagined that today she would be a full time artist with a successful career. When you don’t have anything, you don’t have anything to lose someone once said. Then why not just create the work that fulfills your soul as opposed to what everyone else wants you to do she thought. Starting from the emptiness of nothing forces you to surrender and appreciate all of those meaningful physical and spiritual moments that you might have before taken for granted. It was a painful reset but it allowed her to start making the work she was meant to make.

She had wanted to be an artist from a young age and always had a strong compulsion to create. As she rebuilt her life even if she couldn’t create artwork she did at least something small everyday to keep her creative spirit and thoughts progressing. Previous to this time, studying art in school, she developed her survival instincts and knew the art world was competitive. She also was not afraid to experiment and throw work away if it didn’t make the cut. Starting from scratch she knew one of the important things to cultivate would be her point of view and how to convey what she wanted to say along with her ability to stay inspired.

No doubt Caitlin takes her craft seriously. Her paintings tell many different stories and are infused with spirituality, mysticism, jungian archetypes, and existential voids, to name a few aspects. Their creation is intentional but there’s also room for chance. The shapes are symbolic and so are the colors. Her ideas and inspiration come from a lot of research, reading, journaling, and just paying attention to her mental state and what comes up in life.

In this interview we talk about her art but also quite a bit about business, social media, and the kinds of advice she gives to her interns about being an artist. She talks about the tools she uses and why she decided to hire a PR firm. Her business utilizes a lot of Instagram and Facebook ads and she discusses many of her strategies for those. Feel free to contact her if you have any questions and enjoy this fantastic episode full of inspiring and practical information!

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Early years
College mentor’s advice
In the mood to work
Vision for the work
Description of paintings
Meaningful moments
The work you need to make
Red Space/apartment gallery
Moving to NYC and back
Starting over from scratch
Red and Blue in work
The last four years
Selling to collections
Hiring people to help
Strategic marketing
Wonderwall Studio
Using a PR Firm
Living the dream
Advice to interns
Artwork Archive
Professional practices
Social media strategy
Instagram/Facebook ads
Art Collectors/value
Future plans

Upcoming Events:

Wonderwall Studio
Opening: October 4th, 2018 7pm

Solo exhibition debuting an exclusive collaboration with Wonderwall Studio. A collection of original paintings and reproductions will be on view and available for acquisition.

Open Studio
October 19th: 7-10pm

Open Canopy is a fun free art event hosted by Big Medium and my studio complex Canopy sponsored by Tito's vodka and local breweries, I'll have my studio open for viewing, you can see the work in person and chat with me about what I'm working on.

916 Springdale Austin, TX 78702

VIP Preview
Invite Only: November 3rd, 6-10pm 2018

A grand reveal of new work for collectors, patrons, and press only. Sip curated wines and nibbles while absorbing the studio before EAST. Patrons receive a special promotion. Add a new painting to your collection before November to be invited.

916 Springdale, studio #122

Austin, TX

The Femme Abstract
Opens November 2018

An exhibition of 30+ female abstract artists

Curated by Moya McIntyre Featuring: Caitlin McCollom, Rebecca Bennett, Stella Alesi, Cherie Weaver, & Vy Ngo.

1300 E. 5th Austin, TX

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 38: Claude Van Lingen

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Mon, 30 Jul 2018 21:30:00 -0500

“My advice would be to work as hard as you can on your work and get interested. Use anything you can, get hold of anything you can. Study that and work at it. You have to work at it a lot. Research, do your work, and get as much knowledge as you can from as many people as you can. That’s about it.”

At the age of eighty seven Claude Van Lingen has had a long career as an artist and is still doing as much as he is able to create work everyday. He has since he was a child sought to learn about and practice art, and as an adult has additionally spent many years teaching young artists and giving back. Initially he was trained in a very academic style but then eventually got into more abstract and non conventional work and made breakthroughs after following his own advice that he gave his students in a class on creativity he created. After moving from South Africa to New York City in 1978 he gained an MFA from the Pratt Institute, and in 2006 moved to Austin.

The Austin Critics Table awarded him Artist of the Year 2013-2014, and Solo Exhibition of the year 2017-2018 following a career retrospective at Co-Lab Projects. His work often looks at the passage of time and addresses natural disasters and other issues that have been exacerbated by the impact of man on the planet.

I love how dedicated Claude is to the Austin art community. You will often see him out at art openings and he does take a serious look at the work presented and researches and contemplates its meaning. It was an honor to interview him and it's wonderful to know an artist who is still so passionate about his craft and the issues that are important to him.

He is also working on a book that he summarizes here:

“Art, Creativity and Controversy, Why and How Artists Create Controversial Work is based on the premise that it is within the philosophy and zeitgeist (spirit) of the times that innovative artists develop new ideas and use the means most suitable to interpreting them.

By understanding WHY adventurous artists create unusual work skeptics will, (even if they still don't like the work) be able to discuss it intelligently and not denigrate it.”

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Artist Statement
Concern for the world
Today’s artist
Educating yourself
Early history
Perceptual studies class
Foam pieces
Students work/examples
Being an adventurous artist
Dealing with fear and failures
Examples of work
TV-Mirror installation
Getting the viewer thinking
Writing/words in work
1000 years/the future
Life to the fullest
Beginnings with art
Researching other artists
Current and future work

"TIMEKEEPER" a narrated slideshow of Claude van Lingen’s life and work from Co-Lab Projects on Vimeo.

Banner image - 1000 YEARS FROM NOW
Endangered and Threatened Species of the 21st Century, 2006 - All Species
18" x 48" - 6B Graphite Stick and 9H Pencil on paper

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 37: Pooneh Ghana - For the Love of Music

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 21 Jul 2018 05:00:00 -0500

"It’s easy to get stagnant with what you are doing. I just want to keep staying motivated and keep getting better. But also just not being so hard on myself. It’s easy to be your own worst critic and just think everything you are doing is horrible and getting in those ruts. But to be able to just pick yourself right back up and just be like, OK why am I like this. Why do I feel like this? What's the next step?"

Most of us have seen great live and behind the scenes images, or portraits and press photos of our favorite bands, but do you ever wonder who gets to take those? Pooneh Ghana is local but for the past 10 years she has been spending a lot of her time traveling all over the US and the world photographing at music festivals, touring, and doing portrait and video shoots. Many of the bands you have probably heard of but some maybe you haven’t. She is inspired to capture these musicians and events because of her love of music and to help share and support the community.

What if one photo could make someones day or inspire that person to check out a band she likes or get it’s name out there? She is a super fan with an incredible work ethic, full access, and a fantastic eye, always there to capture the images she knows that other fans would love to see. Often a fly on the wall during tours she captures the sometimes fun and crazy nights and the slow days of long distance travel and recuperation.

As a huge music fan she started out taking photos for fun but then at the very beginning of her career she found a love for film and Polaroids. Those mediums inspired her to experiment and enabled her to capture more fun and intimate moments with bands. Those first images caught the attention of some online music blogs and the rest is history. Over the years film has continued to help her develop her creative eye and being self taught has not hindered her one bit. Even though the life of a freelancer can be unpredictable Pooneh enjoys that aspect of her job. You never know who might call you up to do a photo shoot if they like your work. She is able to work consistently and aspires to be a photographer as a life long pursuit.

This is a really fun interview and Pooneh has such a great attitude. There’s definitely some wisdom to be found in the way she approaches her career and her joy for life.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Loving music
Getting into photography
Gorilla Vs. Bear
Having a mentor
Touring/Highlights
Being a female music photog
Having a good attitude
Taking care of yourself
Doing band portraits
Favorite portraits
Still shooting film
Music videos
Using Instagram
Making a difference
Finding inspiration

Check out this great video about Pooneh prodcued by Chaco Footwear

Banner image of Wiz Khalifa by Pooneh Ghana

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 36: William T. Carson & Rebecca Rothfus Harrell - SOURCE MATERIAL

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sun, 15 Jul 2018 19:00:00 -0500

“In one of our early meetings I expressed to Rebecca that I was having some confusion around how do I continue to present things and ideas that I have worked on in the past. Working with this material of coal but also introduce something new and explore new territory. She really didn’t hesitate and was like, go wild, don’t slow yourself down. Just keep creating and keep making and explore, you know keep exploring. And so I think that is something I will take away from this show is that idea of just like you said not pigeonholing yourself but allowing yourself to be constantly influenced by new things and influenced by new people and new interactions that you have.” - William T Carson

SOURCE MATERIAL is a collaboration between artists William T. Carson and Rebecca Rothfus Harrel, conceived by Troy Campa, the owner and curator of CAMIBAart. Turns out each artist was a big fan of the others artwork and jumped at the chance to work together. But to what extent would they collaborate? Would their individual work just hang side by side or would they create pieces together, or any variation in between. They ended up influencing and supporting each other quite a bit through the process of preparing the exhibition and the results are really wonderful. Have a listen to the interview and visit the gallery to see the work in person.

William T. Carson got his start in the northwest US and still has a strong connection to his family’s cattle ranch in Montana. He didn’t grow up on the ranch for most of his life but has nonetheless has a desire to understand and experience that area, a landscape with vast natural beauty and a long history of coal mining. He passed much of his time before college drawing as a way to see and understand the world but at a certain point started to incorporate coal into his artwork. As an adult art has become a way to connect with others and he loves the community aspect around making art and the conversations about life that ensue. His current work incorporates various sized pieces of coal that are placed in a ground up coal and adhesive mixture. With each successive artwork he has learned to be more present and divisive and stay out of his head. The proccess of creation only allows for one chance to make each individual piece in that moment before everything solidifies. One goal of the work is to inspire viewers to come away from his work seeing the materials that he uses in a new way and rethinking their relationship to them and what they mean.

Rebecca Rothfus Harrel grew up in Pittsburg and had the great opportunity to attend art classes at the Carnegie Museum from and early age through high school. With that experience she learned a lot about creating art and education, which very likely led to her two current professions, being an artist and a teacher. Her early artwork in college not surprisingly was about education but after moving to Texas she found herself in awe of the big skies and evolving landscapes, especially those in west Texas. She transitioned to making more landscape work and for many years focused on the types of things people consider ugly or don’t pay any attention to but that also give a sense of the future or some kind of progress. Then she discovered an interest in rocks and minerals, which now most all of her abstract landscapes are based on. She uses matte opaque gouache and graphite gradients to render micro/macro worlds, diagrams of mineral structure that could also be perceived as vast landscapes. There is an ambiguity of scale in her work and you might while looking at it imagine you are an ant crawing on a geode or mineral, the inhabitant of antoher world.

William T. Carson & Rebecca Rothfus Harrell: SOURCE MATERIAL

June 16th - August 11th, 2018

CAMIBAart
2832 E. MLK Jr. Blvd., Suite 111, Austin, TX 78702

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Williams beginnings
Choosing coal/connection
Horsepacking trip
Drawing/art community
Process of making a piece
Rebeccas beginnings
Museum art classes
Art Institute of Chicago
Interest in teaching/education
Texas/towers/landscapes
Minerals and rocks
Abstract landscapes
The collaboration
What they learned

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 35: Madeline Irvine - Naturally Curious

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 23:00:00 -0500

"I just love learning from the work. Just leaving it open and learning. It’s part of my being in the world. I try to be patient with myself and my artwork. There were years where it felt like it didn’t connect to the larger art world. But I just had to keep working. And I think you never know what’s coming unless you keep working, unless you keep that thread going. I think developing as a person is a part of what goes into the work. Who you are and what you think about and what's important to you is what comes out in the work whether you want it to or not."

Madeline Irvine uses a hyper saturated salt solution to draw and paint works on paper that reference the ocean and recently try to address issues around climate change and the importance of buffer zones. When the water evaporates from the paper it leaves behind crystalline salt structures that grow independent of any control or intentions imposed upon them. Beyond the climate change issues, these salt paintings and drawings are beautiful and fascinating simply as works of art on their own. But our impact on nature is a difficult and potentially depressing subject that none the less needs to be brought up. One hope is through this work people will be more aware of how these issues relate to their lives and explore what they can do to help.

In addition to being an artist Madeline has also had many jobs in the arts including administration, teaching studio art and art history, being a curator, and as an arts writer and critic. She has always been curious and very much into reading and her upbringing simultaneously gave her a love of art and of nature. Those traits have kept opening doors for her and have helped her learn about herself and the world.

There is a lot of wisdom in this interview and I was excited to sit down with Madeline knowing the breadth of her experience in the arts. If you can be sure to check out her current exhibition in Ft. Worth listed below.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Artistic origins
Country home/Nature
Art School
The Ocean
School 33 Arts Center
Art History
Writing about art
Austin artists
Painting journals
Losing the thread
The Salt work
Control/Open
Buffer zones
Mangrove Forests
Climate change
Making more work
Being of service

Buffer Zone by Madeline Irvine
Fort Worth Community Arts Center
July 6 - July 27, 2018
Reception: July 6, 2018; 6 - 9pm

"I am a multidisciplinary artist whose focus is the natural world. The ecological history of the oceans is the source of my current work. Covering 70% of the planet, the ocean is larger than we can fully comprehend, and one of the great unexplored regions of the earth.

I work intuitively and in partnership with natural elements, incorporating chance into the process of making the work. Salt and water are essential elements necessary for all life, and in my artworks they interact, creating the unexpected. I draw with a sea salt solution. As the mixture dries, salt crystals grow in reaction to their environment, leaving records of the process as they change from an amorphous liquid to light catching solids. I research the ocean at large, and it is the knowledge of how the ocean and its elements work that fuels my imagery.

The Buffer Zones exhibition concentrates on mangrove forests, one of the three buffer zones between ocean and shore. These fertile zones – coral reefs, giant kelp forests and mangrove forests – feed a huge percentage of marine life and protect our shores from the full force of the seas. Mangroves are extremely adaptive trees, and here I focus on their roots, which live undersea for half each day. During the ebb tide, the roots breathe in oxygen for the trees.

Since I began working with the ocean in 2013, climate change is rapidly changing the undersea landscape and life. Coral reefs (1/3 of the Great Barrier Reef, for example) are dying and giant kelp forests are endangered. The marine life they support is disappearing. It is my hope that with an awareness of the impact of climate change in the ocean, people will explore how they can make small or large changes in their lives to help preserve the natural world as we have come to know it. For now, mangrove forests are holding on, a beacon of hope in changing times."

Banner image: Above and Below by Madeline Irvine

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 34: Dawn Okoro - Punk Noir

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 23 Jun 2018 05:00:00 -0500

"For me authenticity is being truthful, and just allowing yourself to be vulnerable."

"I express myself through fashion by just letting it flow and just walking into my closet and kind of treating it like a palette and just wearing what I feel and grabbing pieces that I feel work for me instinctively at that moment."

Dawn Okoro is a figurative painter who uses bright and bold saturated colors and as she has in her most recent exhibition, Punk Noir, captured the spirit and presence of creative people in her community who live with a kind of punk attitude. She started out at a young age being good at art but ended up studying psychology and law for many years and took a circuitous path to becoming the artist she always wanted to be. Realizing that life is short and that she had been repressing and muting an important part of her true self she began two years ago to paint more seriously, partly inspired by her life long love of fashion and fashion photography. Many of her previous series of work have addressed issues such as intersectionality, the objectification of women, and how black women are portrayed in media. Dawn puts her all into her artwork and when the roller coaster of emotions and challenges meets the deadline, she finds herself fulfilled and facing a powerful and beautiful collection of portraits. And she takes you along with her on the journey of her work and life with her regular social media posts, which she uses to foster connections with fans, curators, collectors, and other artists. In the future she aspires to explore her Nigerian heritage more deeply and find a way to create her own fashion in addition to her portraits.

Punk Noir is such a fantastic exhibition and after I saw it I knew I had to interview Dawn. She is such a delightful person and really has a great work ethic and a lot of integrity in what she is trying to create along with the positive effects it could have. Please enjoy our conversation and be sure to get over to the Carver Museum before July 21st to see for yourself.

PUNK NOIR: DAWN OKORO

Exhibited from March 8, 2018 to July 21, 2018.

"A selections of monumental works that explore Afro-punk creative expression.

Featuring portaits of black musicians, filmmakers, photogaphers and other creatives -- Punk Noir revels in the divine feminine and masculine energy in her subjects. Through color, pose, and clothing, Okoro conveys a sense of grit, glamor, and grace. This is reincorced by her gestural use of copper to obscure the body and alludes to issues of erasure, self-agency, and resistance. Indeed, Punk Noir offers an alternative to life lived in a black body on stark white canvas. For Okoro, punk has always been black."

The George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center

1165 Angelina St, Austin, TX 78702

1-512-974-4926

M,T,W,F 10-6
Th 10-9
Sat 10-4
Sun Closed

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 33: Paul Soileau

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 16 Jun 2018 05:00:00 -0500

"It’s not easy but for me it’s very enjoyable to put on these wigs and be these people. One mainly because I am an entertainer and I like to entertain people and I like what these characters do to people, and to me. But then in a deeper sense I’m very much exploring and reclaiming a lot things about myself that were taken from me as a kid. And that’s a slow, slow process."

Paul Soileau simply considers himself an artist even though he does practice and inhabit many different forms of art, theatre, performance, music, dance, and ways of self expression. More than creating a singular piece of art he is utilizing his body, voice, creativity, and soul to craft a unique and inspiring experience for his audience, one that he would want to witness himself. Rebecca Havemeyer and Christeene Vale are his most well known and traveled characters. They couldn’t be more different but the motivation behind them both comes from a simliar place. In addition to being very entraining and well loved, each character is a way for Paul to challenge his fears, expand his mind, and explore the deep, dark, and suppressed parts of his past and identity.

Rebecca is the wealthy old Hollywood grande dame and Christeene is a dark, dangerous, and sexual creature that challenges gender and societal norms with a twisted innocence. By trying to get out of his own way he is making room for these other personalities to have a life of their own. But at the end of the night when he takes off the wigs and makeup he’s back to just Paul. Acknowledging and exploring his own character becomes just as important, and is integral to inspiring and keeping the others alive. At the same time these others serve to force Paul to evolve more into the person he wants to be. And there is an integrity in what these characters say and do and a responsibility and commitment to walk one's talk, on and off the stage. He’s preaching to the choir of the audience and himself at the same time.

Surviving an intense previous two months has led Paul to a feeling of accomplishment and clarity. Christeene released a new album (Basura) at the same time that Rebecca had her first full-on one woman show (Winkie). Paul put himself through the gauntlet and in the process learned what is important to him. And the more he listens to the things he is making, and his gut, the closer he gets to better self acceptance and finding all of the potential he still has buried in the backyard of his restrictive catholic school years and the trauma of hurricane Katrina.

I think its fair to say Paul is a genius and is super talented. It was fun getting to know his work in anticipation of the interview. What he creates is appreciated and followed world-wide and he’s got a busy year ahead touring and promoting Christeene’s new album. Fans of Paul will very likely adore this conversation and those who don’t know him will I think come away with some new perspectives, quite a few laughs, and an appreciation for what he is doing even if it’s not your cup of tea.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

I’m an artist
Childhood/theater
Voice work
Supportive family
Chameleon/coming-out
College/New Orleans
New York/influences
Drag Queen grad school
Developing Rebecca
Back to NOLA/Katrina
Move to Austin
Camp Camp/community
Christeene origin
Processing childhood limits
Self identity/discovery
Three years in
Evolving/inspiring
Performing/album release
Creating environments
What means the most
Winkie/Kerri Atwood
Passed the test
Future plans/touring
Self care/long term
Rebecca & Christeene

Banner image of Rebecca Havemeyer by Celesta Danger
Christeene Vale by Michael Sharkey

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

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Episode 32: Laura Caffrey - Reject/Respect

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 09 Jun 2018 14:45:00 -0500

"I am generally not thinking about what it means because I don’t know that I am imbuing it with any particular sort of meaning. I’m more inclined to let the viewer take what they want from it. I’m not generally sending a message. Except, look at this amazing old stuff. That is the message. Look at this stuff that you walk by everyday and don’t care about."

Laura Caffrey has spent the last 20 years creating artwork out of junk. Well maybe not always what you might consider straight-up junk but often things that most people would not stop to pick up off the ground or buy from a thrift store. Laura on the other hand is always looking for what she considers treasures and materials to create really beautiful and thoughtful assemblages of those strange and wonderful finds. She has had a life long passion for seeking out and sharing curiosities and she knows the story and origin of every little bit that goes into each piece she creates. Minimalism is not a lifestyle that she would entertain or subscribe to in the least. It’s a cool idea but there are some pretty amazing old things whose material and physical nature excites her to no end.

Being a life long learner, higher education as a hobby, she has studied many different trades and subjects and has had numerous jobs in a diverse array of places. Architectural historian, picture framer, and now handywoman are a few of the most prominent professions she’s held. Her self-sufficient family upbringing taught her how to be independent and work hard. And her eclectic childhood home was the genesis of her fascination with things and the need to share her finds. And through all of her different jobs in different locations she has over the last few decades managed to continue creating artwork that is surprisingly consistent in it’s style and aesthetic.

It was so enjoyable spending time with Laura in her own home of curiosities and we had such nice conversation about her life and work. Her exhibit at the Dougherty Arts Center will be a sort of retrospective of the last two decades that she has been creating assemblages. Thankfully she is OK with selling her work despite the fact that she really loves and is attached to each piece. No doubt you will feel the same way after seeing them.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Childhood
College
Framing
Fine Art Services
Starting to create art
Masters in Architecture
Arch. Historian
Working in Louisiana
Working for TxDOT
Showing work
Handywoman gig
Liking stuff
Making assembledges
Charmed/Tragic
John Traber
Selling work
List of materials
Color & curiosities
Reject/Respect
Dougherty Arts Center

Laura Caffrey - Reject/Respect

Dougherty Arts Center

Reception: Saturday, June 16, 2018, 1pm – 3pm

Exhibit Dates: Saturday, June 16 to Saturday, August 25, 2018

"Twenty years of carefully crafted and intimate assemblages by Austin-based artist Laura Caffrey are influenced by her careers in picture framing, architectural history and handywoman. Her passions for collecting, recycling and meticulous organizing are evident in her work. Each careful composition is framed by the artist, providing a new context in which the viewer is invited to reconsider previously unappreciated materials."

DAC - Contact Info
Phone: 512-974-4000

1110 Barton Springs Rd.  Austin, TX 78704

Open Hours:
Monday - Thursday 10 AM - 10 PM
Friday 10 AM - 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM - 4 PM

Laura's Artist Statement

When I was five, my family moved into the house where my grandmother had been born. The house had minimal electrical service, plumbing was limited to a single cold-water tap in the kitchen and heat was delivered by three coal stoves. Built around the turn of the last century, the house was an example of what is now politely called “vernacular” architecture, cobbled together from available materials. It was dark, filled with heavy, dusty old furniture and even dustier carpets. The unfinished basement was stocked with ancient canned fruits, mysterious medicinal preparations and rusty tools. The newspaper insulating the living room wall had an article reminiscing about the not-long-ago President Grant, family portraits hung under domed glass in tiger-striped oval frames, and buttons and bottle caps of several generations of my thrifty and resourceful ancestors filled rusted tins. This seemingly endless supply of bizarre old things was precious to me.

We lived at the end of a dirt road and if I managed to convince other kids’ parents to drive them to our house, I would spend most of our time together showing them all of my treasures. Many decades later, I find myself in a similar position. I find beauty in the intentionally discarded and the inadvertently abandoned, the crumpled and cracked, and the back sides of things. The detail and attention once lavished on the smallest item is not something many people now get to appreciate. I still play with the new stuff, too, but I get great joy from showing people all of the wonderful bits and pieces they may not have had the opportunity, or taken the time, to notice.

Some of Laura's Materials

Banner Image - "6011" (2008) was one of 15 pieces Laura did that year, the first year of having a dedicated studio in her house. It contains: gypsum board, watercolor, glass pipettes, used welding rods, catgut, metal screen, snail shells and a wasp nest.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Intro music generously provided by Stan Killian

Support this podcast.

Links:

Episode 31: Charles Heppner - Moved by Beauty

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sun, 03 Jun 2018 12:00:00 -0500

“This is what I want, this is what makes me fulfilled, is to make work. I need to do that. In order to go further, in order to grow, as an artist you have to do! You can’t ask why all the time. You can ask why later.”

Visual artist Charles Heppner’s work spans many different mediums and has many themes but ultimately focuses on the sanctity of beauty, especially in nature, how its appreciation makes us human, communication, and the interconnectedness of everything. He is devoted to both being an artist and a great parent and has figured out how to be present in both as he has integrated his art practice into his life as a stay at home dad. As a parent he has figured out how to be responsible while keeping his projects moving forward which is not always easy. Years of making work along with daily creative discipline and a journaling practice have given him the confidence to ask better questions to explore through his art and at the same time not be attached to finding an answer. Give up control and follow your heart.

He emerged from a fear of irresponsibility as an artist and the influence of pragmatic parents, having studied math in addition to art and working as a floor trader, to being a full time artist with a dream studio where he paints, creates box constructions, make scans, and works on photographs that he takes daily with his ever present camera. He is always looking with a curious eye for what is visually compelling and wants to share the beauty and magic he discovers. Fulfillment often comes from working consistently, always being prepared to capture moments, and searching for a way to add to the conversation and be in dialogue with other artists work.

Charles is such a thoughtful and deep thinker. I really appreciate the way his mind works and his reverence and commitment to being an artist. The discipline he has around his daily practices is inspiring and makes so much sense when thinking about how to keep progressing with your work and keep your head in the game. My favorite takeaway from our conversation is the idea of figuring out which artists are important to you and what conversation you want your work to be a part of. This is a great interview that I know many artists will derive value from.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

His work/philosophy
The beauty of a child
Arboreal/prayer rugs
Sacred Fabrics series
High School/college
Studying art and math
Trading/East Pilsen
Becoming a parent
Art and parenting
Creative hygiene
Dream studio
Discipline/athletics
Adding to the conversation
Hyde Park Art Center
Reading routine
Goethe biography
Daily journaling
Arboreal chords
In awe of nature
Great questions
Looking for beauty
Davis Gallery show
Sacred fabrics

Davis Gallery & Framing

June 9th - July 21st, 2018

...of Warp and Weft
Caprice Pierucci and Charles Heppner

Opening reception: Saturday, June 9th | 7-9pm

837 W. 12th Street | Austin, TX | 78701

Hours: Mon-Fri 10am-6pm | Sat 10am-4pm

512-477-4929

Banner image -“Sacred Fabric: Gentle Breeze”
30”x58”, UV cured pigment print on Dibond
Edition of 10.

Links:

Episode 30: Jason Phelps - The Creative Self

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 26 May 2018 05:00:00 -0500

"Who are the people in your life that inspire you, that support you, that you can connect with on a regular basis, to keep that creative spirit going, to inspire you to explore things that you maybe never have?"

"If you have something that lights your fire, that really inspires you, find a way to do it and surround yourself with people who are doing it also."

For the last thirty five years Jason Phelps has been studying and practicing a diversity of performing arts including acting, dance, music, and voice-over. Additionally he has been dedicated to and invested in education, tutoring, mentorship, voice training, and directing. He gets inspiration from his peers and other Austin artists as well as people working all over the world as he seeks to collaborate and continue the conversations that drive him. What can you create that is relevant to the place where you live and address issues in that community? How can we think more creatively to solve problems? Jason is also passionate about exploring the different facets of the father and son relationship, social justice, being a mentor, what it means to engage in acts of compassion, and how can we be our best creative selves.

I have known Jason and his wife Margery for many years and have seen him perform on a lot of different stages and even once in the front yard of his house. His confidence and creativity have always impressed me as well as his sincerity and the honesty in his acting. He is really a joy to be around and the conversation was thoughtful and inspiring. Please make a point to follow his work and get out to see him perform. You won't regret it.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Theater in H.S.
College in Boston
Mentors?
Living in Chicago
Move to Austin
Meeting Margery
Deborah Hay
Busy 90’s
Having a Child
Northeast/Grad School
Waldorf school
Move back to Austin
Feast of my heart
Teaching Willie
Father/Son Project
Being a father
Fear of performing
Active voice
More play
A creative life/self
Resources for artists
Future work

Capital T presents

Small Mouth Sounds

by Bess Wohl

Directed by Mark Pickell

May 17th - June 16th, 2018

Thursday – Saturday at 8pm

Hyde Park Theatre
511 W 43rd St
Austin, TX 78751

Links:

Episode 29: America Martin - It's Not Enough Just to Look

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 19 May 2018 16:00:00 -0500

"The way that I look at things, anything, even this big storm brewing outside, I feel like my eyes aren’t acknowledging it enough. I feel almost restless that I’m not able to look at it and be satisfied. I want to capture it again. I want to hold the moment again through my hand or a gesture of that big tree blowing in the wind. I want to recycle and feel it again but through my translation. Because I think this world is so gosh darn gorgeous and people are so interesting that it’s not enough just to look at them. I want to smell them and draw them and feel it again."

America Martin endeavors daily to capture this gorgeous and interesting world and the people in it with her art. She translates what she sees by holding and acknowledging the many moments and gestures of life through painting, drawing and sculpture. It’s not enough just to look. This translation then communicates to the viewer the world as she perceives it. Knowing at a young age that she wanted to be an artist she set about getting to work and has not stopped since. Her work ethic is solid and she is prolific in what she creates. Filled with hope and curiosity she she figures out how to do what she wants to do and is always looking for new perspectives.

She voraciously consumes literature, music, art, and people with a sense of just what little time we do have. What is there to learn and how could she change her perspective and look at things differently? Being curious and fascinated by the joyful bits of life and experimenting and doing more are motivation enough to keep going. The life of an artist can also be very solitary so time with family and friends, bringing people together, and checking out other artists work, is the counterbalance that then feeds back into her own work and passion.

This was a really enjoyable conversation recorded during an intense rain storm. America is a delightfully interesting artist who truly embodies that profession. Her passion and interest in the world and people is refreshing. And there is an appealing visual language in her work that I think taps into some kind of universal symbolism and iconography that is very appealing. Please enjoy the interview and if you come across this episode before May 26, 2018, please make a point to see her work at Wally Workman Gallery. Even after the show comes down her work will be available for viewing. Enjoy!

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Artist beginnings
Vernon Wilson
College in Boston
Drive to make art
Her view on life
Two quotes
Awareness of self
The splits
Selling 1st drawing
Mom’s garage/LA
Making a lot of art
Dis-Organization
Studio manager
The muse
Three wishes
America’s mom
People and Friends
The LA studio
Alien question
Anthropologist
Interacting with people
Favorite artists
Sculpture
Trying new things
Get interested

Wally Workman Gallery
America Martin: Solo Show
May 5th - June 2nd, 2018

1202 West 6th Street
Austin, Texas 78703
512-472-7428

Open Tuesday - Saturday, 10am to 5pm.

Banner image by America Martin
Yellow Poppies, 2014
Oil & acrylic on canvas
56-7/8 x 105-1/8 inches

"Inspiration exists, but it has to find us working." - Pablo Picasso

Links:

Episode 28: Elizabeth Chiles - Weave

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 12 May 2018 16:00:00 -0500

"What are the sensual takeaways from being in a place? When I think about how it feels to be lying in my backyard in the hammock watching the pecan trees it's not static images of green leaves. It's spectral light, it's rainbow light moving through. It has pink and it has orange and it has all of these colors."

Elizabeth Chiles creates photographic collages and complex composites with images she has taken of nature. Growing up her love of the outdoors and the openness of the big Texas sky lent itself to her eventual pursuit of the natural world as her primary subject. As a child each day was an eternity without rules, with time to explore and enjoy her shared suburban wilderness.

She found her innate calling to create art in college while studying art history and went on to study photography, video, performance, and book making in graduate school. During her years at school she also worked at many prestigious art galleries and gained a very useful education there as well. Since moving back to Austin after graduating she has continued to purse the same questions that have fascinated and motivated her from the beginning.

How do you communicate through images the quiet moments and slowness of life in a fraction of a second captured by a camera? How do you make work that is alive and true to what a moment in the world is like? She finds much joy in the making of the work and wants to contribute her own voice to the dialogue happening across time with artists past and present.

Her most recent project and current exhibition at grayDUCK Gallery is called WEAVE. Images of plants, tress, and clouds have been woven together with vivid colors that are based more on personal perception than any realistic rendering. They are sensual takeaways from being in a place, light moving through things, and experiments seeking to shift perspectives and move the viewer through the world in a very alive way. The whole project including the exhibit, poetry, performance, and workshops, is a conversation of lines of interaction, each being an individual consciousness, woven together with horizontal lines of metaphorical text and dialogue to create something stronger and more whole. A textile of reciprocity.

The breadth of Elizabeth’s knowledge of art, history, and photography is vast and we only just scratched the surface of what she could share. Hopefully there will be a part two at some point. Please enjoy the interview and if you come across this episode before May 20, 2018 please make a point to see her work at grayDUCK Gallery.

WEAVE

grayDUCK Gallery

Exhibition Dates: April 13th - May 20th, 2018

2213 E. Cesar Chavez
Austin, TX. 78702
(E. Cesar Chavez & Mildred)

512-826-5334

duckduck@grayduckgallery.com

grayduckgallery.com

Hours: Thur-Sat 11-6pm & Sun 12-5pm

Parking is located in the back of the building via the alley off of Mildred

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Childhood in nature
Texas/family heritage
College/art history major
Finding clarity/crossroads
Move to Houston/then Boston
Krakow Gallery/making work
Commercial gallery education
Client relationships/selling work
Graduate school at SFAI
Fraenkel Gallery/job miracle
Respect for artwork
Move back to Austin
Leap before you look
Lora Reynolds Gallery/teaching
Weave at GrayDuck
Collages/composites
Introduction of vivid color
Performance/collaboration
Text/poetry

Banner image by Elizabeth Chiles

Links:

Episode 27: Faustinus - El Subconsciente

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 05 May 2018 05:00:00 -0500

"We all are photographers. Everybody will have their own excuses to take photos. But to me just being able to keep shooting I think it is already in my veins, in my mind, in my heart, in my soul."

Photographer Faustinus Deraet learns more about himself every time he clicks the button on his camera, captures an image, and makes a print. These images are windows into his subconscious (subconsciente) which end up revealing something deeper that needs to be expressed. He also uses photography as a journal of his life as he tries to be fully in every moment and find balance. The work he creates is initially only for himself and is for the pure joy of it. The universality of his images are not as much about a specific place but more a kind of language of relationship, reality, and of something deep in the soul.

What a fun and lighthearted conversation. Faustinus is such charming and humorous guy and his images really speak to me. We talk all about how he got started in photography and speak about his work, views on life, and his upcoming solo exhibit at the Dougherty Arts Center.

“Chilango Subconscious is a collection of street photography by Faustinus Deraet taken in Mexico City. Guided by the artist’s subconscious, chance encounters result in candid images that look closely at the urban environment.”

Chilango Subconscious

Dougherty Arts Center

May 11th - June 2nd, 2018

Artist Reception: May 11, 2018 6-8pm

Artist Talk: May 30th, 7 to 8pm

West Austin Studio Tour May 12-13 and 19-20, 11am to 6pm

DAC - Contact Info
Phone: 512-974-4000

1110 Barton Springs Rd.  Austin, TX 78704

Open Hours:
Monday - Thursday 10 AM - 10 PM
Friday 10 AM - 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM - 4 PM

Some of the subjects we discuss:

His previous career at IBM
Quitting his job
Studying photography
La Vida Privada
Moving to Austin
Making new friends
Building relationships
Looking at yourself
Work about a death
Relationship of things
Repetition of life
Shooting anywhere &
For yourself
No mobile phone
Making prints
Joy of the click
Austin photos
Self portraits

Banner image by Faustinus from Chilango Subconcious

Links:

Episode 26: Karen Hawkins - The Pink Bow Project

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sun, 29 Apr 2018 17:30:00 -0500

"I am just grateful that people are finding this as an outlet to be able to say that this happened to them. As a way of walking through and finding some semblance of healing in it or using it as their very first outcry. There are people who have reached out to me who have never told anyone else……There is a true feeling of empowerment in doing this. It’s been so cathartic for me. Whether you are a survivor or not the one thing that I hope will happen is that it will make people talk."

The Pink Bow Project is an installation at Gallery Shoal Creek in Austin, Texas from April 13th to May 12th, 2018. Fifty two panels each with 1000 bows to approximately represent the substantiated cases of sexual abuse of females under the age of 18 each year in the US. The problem with that reported number is that it is likely very low when considering all of the factors that go into and work against each case first being shared, then believed, and lastly officially proven.

Every aspect of the installation has meaning and at first the beauty of it is disarming and it’s easy to be drawn in. But once in the middle of the panels you might feel constricted and unable to connect with others you see just on the other side of thousands of innocent pink bows. All of this and more is intended to communicate some of the feelings Karen Hawkins has had as an artist and survivor of sexual abuse.

Karen created the project to open up more conversations about sexual abuse, to help educate people, to create the opportunity for healing, and bear witness to those who are the victims of that abuse. It originated out of a space where she was really struggling to see how she fit in the world, was looking for more purpose, and also a desire to be a part of the national discourse about abuse. How could she add to the collective empowerment of the movement and keep it going it forward? Karen decided to use her story, creative energy, and voice, along with those of other women, in a potentially influential way to help bring this issue out of the shadows. If others can be vulnerable and come forward then so can she.

Karen started to explore being an artist later in life out of the necessity to stay sane once she had raised her children. She found sculpture very fulfilling as she moved towards expressing her creative side in a less domestic way. Art satisfied her soul and helped with anxiety and depression which dissipated the more she was creative and worked with her hands. But early on she still found it hard to own that she was an artist even though she was creating in a more powerful way along with journaling and therapy to help process her past traumas and struggles. After many years of hard work and with the help of many loving and supportive people that changed.

A lot of her art is based on books, which she has been enamored with since childhood. As an adult she still very much loves the form of the book, the feel of the paper, the smell of its history, and imagines the life it led and who possessed it. The process of turning a book into an object and manipulating its form for her is a repetitive, healing, and zen like practice and movement. It is the entire process she goes through that is the most satisfying, not just the final product. Her work is visually engaging and often has meaning beyond its atheistic form as is of course the case with The Pink Bow Project.

What a powerful and moving conversation this was for me. Karen’s vulnerability is so impressive and the fact that she created such an important installation to address a severely under-appreciated issue is commendable. The first half of the interview we speak about her art career and life and the second half we dig into the details of The Pink Bow Project. If you find this interview valuable please share it and further Karen’s mission to help educate and hopefully try to heal and prevent this all too common abuse perpetrated upon the women of the world. As she says in the interview we can no longer accept the status quo.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Seeking expression/sanity
Choosing art
Transitions
Childhood
Family/College
Studying art
Mentor Margo Sawyer
Understanding art
Importance of Books
Meditative repetition
Jelly rolls/grandmother
Life of a book
The Pink Bow Project
National movement
How to move forward
Sharing her story
Panels, fray, bows
52,000 plus barriers
Relationship w/ men
Healing relationships
Shame and blame
Out of the shadows
Experiencing the project
Women's voices
Empowerment

Gallery Shoal Creek
KAREN HAWKINS
The Pink Bow Project

April 13 - May 12, 2018
2832 E. MLK Jr. Blvd., Suite 3
Austin, Texas 78702

512-454-6671
info@galleryshoalcreek.com
HOURS: Tue-Fri 10-5,
Sat 12-5 or by appointment

Links:

Episode 25: Jenn Hassin - A Life Of Service

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 21 Apr 2018 22:00:00 -0500

"If everyone that wants to make a difference, just started making and taking those steps to actually make a difference, then imagine the world we would live in. I think that doing good today is invaluable and we need it. Just do it. Just start. Just take the necessary steps to make it happen."

Jenn Hassin cares about the world we live in and is trying to figure out what we can do as a society to make it a better place. Her artwork is often focused on raising the awareness of important issues like veteran suicide, sexual abuse in the military, and mental health. She believes in community engagement and tries to bring people together to help connect them, especially when it comes to the gap between civilians and veterans, which she feels an obligation to help bridge as a veteran herself. This often happens around the creation of a new artwork where she gets a diverse group of people together and involved to help make the piece, a kind of art therapy.

Like a Trojan horse some of her work presents itself as beautiful landscapes and arrangements of hand made rolled paper but when you look into the meaning of a piece you cant help but be introduced to and informed about the serious topics Jenn believes we should all take issue with, contemplate, and ultimately make action to change or improve. Defeating ignorance is the mission and intent.

Humble small town beginnings along with an unstable family life growing up contributed to her hard working ethic and leadership qualities. Luckily she also had some great mentors in her community. Soon after finishing high school she enlisted in the Air Force and fate took her to the UK where she worked as a dental technician. On her way to becoming a dentist in college after leaving the military she found art and switched her major. Her career and studio practice continue to evolve as she strives to address issues, work on commissions, and experiment with new directions and ways of expressing herself. And she is about to embark on a new chapter in her career by attending grad school in New York City.

You might or might not be able to tell in the interview that Jenn and I have been good friends and neighbors for many years. I think her work is really important and I'm very happy to see her expanding her world and future. No doubt she will keep up the hard work and be a voice for the issues that are not addressed and dealt with enough. All the best to her and her family on their new adventure. Have a listen and get involved if you can with anything that might be of service to others. You likely will not regret it.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Humble beginnings
Weevil logo/Her mission
Growing up with violence
Starting work/Staying busy
Early mentors
Integrity/Grandfather
Military service
Sexual abuse
Mental health stigma
Veteran suicide
Making paper
A Battle Lost
Pursuing art/St. Edwards
Letters of Sacrifice
Rolled paper
Condolence letter
Rejection/The Pentagon
Persistence
Community engagement
Studio practice/Commissions
Grad School/Pratt
Move to NYC
Legacy/Call to action

Banner photo: A Battle Lost
rolled paper handmade from military uniforms &
gold foil & matte medium
101" x 52" x 6"
2015

Links:

Episode 24: AKIRASH

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 14 Apr 2018 11:30:00 -0500

"People they are the cloth that protect me, that cover me. Without them, I’m nothing, I can't do anything. So they take me to this level. They should not leave me here. They should continue. Be behind me. Be forward. Be at the back. Be at the side. And I will also do my best and continue to be there and be contributing to this world we are living."

Olaniyi Rasheed Akindiya is most well known by the name AKIRASH. He is a unique interdisciplinary artist who has few boundaries when it comes to what can best be used to tell the story he wants to share. Painting, sculpture, clothing and textiles, paper, elaborate installations, voice and music, and performance are all enlisted to create moments and places, with people being the most important piece. His work attempts to address serious and thought provoking issues but is often done with humor as a way to educate and communicate truths.

It was not until he thought his career as a pharmacist was set and he was a role model to his family and community that he found his true calling. He chose to start over and study art, a tough choice that lost him the support of a lot of his family for quite some time. But he loves challenges and hard work and after many years was able to prove to himself and his family in Nigeria that it was a worthwhile pursuit and now he is reaping many blessings from that choice. And his study and work as a scientist still plays a part in the adding and subtracting and experimentation that is involved in creating new works.

How do you create an artwork or a performance that will stop someone in their tracks and make them forget where they are for a memorable moment? Engaging and getting the audience involved is important, as is creating a discussion. So is collaboration which allows anyone to be a part of the creation, inspiring them to be much more connected to the work and its life and fate. By approaching art in a humble way and by traveling and exposing himself to different places and ways of doing things all over the world he developed his style and motivation to be a part of making the world a better place to live for everyone. If we find ourselves in a privileged position we can use that to help others.

When I think about Akirash and especially when I see him I get the biggest smile on my face. There is a lot of joy in him that is infectious. He also has a lot of life experience and wisdom that I was excited to talk with him about. This was a great interview for me and those of us who are in Austin are fortunate to have such an artist in our midst. He is someone who enjoys challenging himself and the rest of us to be better and make a difference. His example inspires me to explore my limits, ask questions, and not play it so safe all of the time.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Origin of his name
Introduction to his work
Beginnings in Nigeria
His parents & family
Job as pharmacist
Discovering art school
Quitting job to pursue art
Figuring out art/being humble
Winning award/Parents accepting
Hard work and blessings
Honesty and criticism
Asking yourself questions
Powerful memorable moments
Challenges and failure
Working like a scientist
Textiles/paper/sculpture
Shifting between works
Performance origin/reason
Issues and activism
Countries with petroleum
Privilege & responsibility
Fusebox performance
Creating discussion
Collaboration
Masks we wear
Future plans

Links:

Episode 23: Ron Berry - Fusebox Festival

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 07 Apr 2018 20:30:00 -0500

"Within our festival there’s space for really different kinds of expression of art, and some of those are perhaps harder immediately to relate to. But we’re holding space for those artists to challenge things, to experiment, to tinker. To help us as people, as artists, think about things in new ways, and give us things to chew on. I love things that have mystery to them, that I don’t understand."

The annual Fusebox Festival aims to allow for a meaningful exploration and exchange between varied art forms and art communities by making space for what might only be possible in a live environment with other people. Each year Ron Berry and his team curate and paint onto the canvas that is the festival, a rich cross section of artists from different backgrounds and geographies into a diverse set of live event situations and performances. It is a platform for local, national, and international artists to have their work seen and it fosters an exchange between them and with the audience as they share combinations of theater, dance, film, visual art, music, and literature.

Beyond the event itself the intention of Fusebox is to take something typically ephemeral, and keep it alive in relation to the city of Austin year round. The arts are not separate from life and as the city grows and changes how can he and his team play a role in keeping the dialogue about housing, space for artists, and other issues, moving forward and allow for community engagement, inclusivity, and thinking about solutions while staying in tune with the rhythm of the neighborhoods they aim to serve.

Ron’s leadership style allows for and encourages contributions from others and is driven by curiosity, a desire to learn and grow, and the use of doubt as an impetus to crack things open and find new answers. Over the last 14 years, since the festival started, Ron had traveled all over the world, has experienced 100’s of performances, and has built a vast network of artists, curators, organizations, and collaborators to work with. Even though the line between his personal and professional life is blurry he finds much inspiration and is fed artistically as the festivals Executive & Artistic Director.

Ron is such a generous and wonderful guy and our conversation was really fun for me. It’s hard not to be excited and inspired by what he and his team are doing every year. If you have ever attended the festival you know how fantastic it can be. Not to say that it is easy to relate to all of the work and that some of it will not challenge you in new ways, but if you are open to it the rewards can be very memorable and thought provoking.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Ron’s background
Festival origins
Separation of art forms
The live experience
Creating each year
thinkEAST
Festival missions
Community engagement
Leadership
Curatorial approach
Free model
Going full time
Relationships
Ant Hampton
Local/national/international
Relating to challenging work
Themes and threads
Evening of art
2018 festival details

FUSEBOX Festival 2018

April Tue 17th - Sun 22nd, 2018

Office: 512-800-3066
2023 E. Cesar Chavez
Austin, TX 78702

Image banner courtesy of the Fusebox Festival featuring Tania El Khoury تانيا الخوري, Justin Shoulder, Erin Markey, and Charles O. Anderson.

Links:

Episode 22: Elizabeth Hendley - The Power of Art Therapy

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 31 Mar 2018 05:00:00 -0500

“Giving people compassion and respect, it just goes such a long way to healing. You never know what somebody is going through or what could happen in their lives.”

A lot of people don’t know what art therapy is but for those who do they probably understand and appreciate its power and potential. Elizabeth Hendley, the art therapist at Dell Children’s Medical Center, might not think she is a saint but she is doing really important work. It’s the kind of work that has a good chance of making a visit or stay in the hospital a little easier or at least a little less horrible. She is part of a team that also includes experts in music therapy and play. These expressive therapies allow kids to explore, process, and share their feelings in a healthy way with a trained professional and are a part a family centered care approach.

Elizabeth has had a lifelong love of art and creating, and an openness and compassion for others. Especially people that might not fit in or be as easy to relate with. But as she says everyone deserves compassion and respect. Her desire to help others led her to art therapy as a career. It’s a job that is not very common or completely understood so the Second Lady Karen Pence, an artist herself, started an initiative to raise awareness. Mrs. Pence met with Elizabeth last year which helped spotlight her work at Dell Children’s within the medical center and to the whole city of Austin and beyond.

This conversation will enlighten you to the world of art therapy and inspire you to think about the ways you could incorporate it into your own life. Art can be a powerful force if we allow it, by letting go of the perfectionism, the judgment, the fear, and just letting ourselves play. Please enjoy this conversation and consider donating to the Art of Giving event or directly to Dell Children’s. And share this episode far and wide so that more people can know about art therapy and what an influential force for good it can be in anyone’s life.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

What is Art Therapy?
Creativity growing up
Wanting to help early on
College/Discovering art therapy
Moving to NY to pursue dream
Attending Hofstra
Learning Art Therapy
Also being an artist
Therapy in action
Karen Pence’s initiative
Promoting art therapy
How it started/history
Art as therapy/art psychotherapy
Tree painting example
Working with families
Assessing/intuition
Coping strategies
Relating to people
Compassion and respect
Preparing to work with someone
Pain management
Having an impact
Art in your own life
Everyone is creative
Elizabeth’s family
Supporting kids interests
Model magic/drawing
Painting breakthrough
Art of Giving event
How to support

Art of Giving

April 8, 2018

https://www.dellchildrens.net/support-dell-childrens/art-of-giving/

Banner photo taken in the lobby of Dell Children's Medical Center.

Links:

Episode 21: Natalia Sylvester - Everyone Knows You Go Home

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 24 Mar 2018 05:00:00 -0500

“We all have creativity in us and we’re all very imaginative people but we also have all these voices that tell us we’re not. I just don’t give myself credit for it. I don’t think any of us do.”

Novelist Natalia Sylvester says of her most recent book, she is writing for the people who have shared common experiences around immigration and know about being caught in between. These powerful and sometimes painful stories need to be out in the open so that the subjects and those like them know that what they went through has not gone unnoticed. But it’s not just about the struggles. It’s also the overlooked triumphs, courage, strength, and ordinary moments of daily life that need to be recognized.

To re-create a world based on the lives of many you have to exercise your empathy, listen, and imagine what it must have been like. Some of the story though she doesn’t have to imagine because she lived it herself. Her family fled Peru in the late 80’s to get away from the violence, terrorism, and unrest common at the time. She moved many times once in the US and has memories in all of the places she has called home. But what would it take for you to leave your home forever and start over from scratch in a new place? You might have to learn a whole new language. And you might eventually, after never really feeling welcome or at rest, have to leave that place and move again.

Her first book, about the experience of a woman kidnapped for ransom in Peru, and her husband’s plight to get her back, was based on stories from her family. Chasing The Sun was not as much about Natalia’s life as it was that of many people subjected to the fear of having a loved one kidnapped in South America decades ago. Her second novel, Everyone Knows You Go Home, delves more into immigration and life on the border of the United States, of reality, and the spirit world. It's a more personal story drawn from her own life that starts on the Day of the Dead, the same day she was married.

There is a lot to learn in this conversation, especially for someone who wants to do a better job at understanding and choosing to stand up for those who often have to fight harder for their rights and opportunities. We speak about her childhood, the craft of writing, both of Natalia’s published books, a few of the things she learned in 2017, and some other very important and timely issues. Everyone Knows You Go Home is available now online and everywhere books are sold. As of March/April 2018 she is touring the US on a book promotion tour and has already started working on her third novel.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Starting to write as a kid
Learning to speak English
Encouragement to write
Creative Writing/Journalism study
Working as a writer/Freelancing
Her “first book”/getting an agent
Learning the craft/Her mentor
Fleeing Peru as a child
Family history and trauma
Chasing The Sun summary
Common stories & connections
Publishing and promoting 1st book
Back to day to day life
Imagination vs. Discipline
Work ethic from parents
Writing 2nd book
Day of the Dead
Everyone Knows story
Doing research/empathy
Who is the audience
Yearly what I have learned post
Reaction to the election
Being politically active
Not knowing everything
Making mistakes and learning

Links:

Episode 20: Griffon Ramsey - Chainsaw Art

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 17 Mar 2018 05:00:00 -0500

"That's the thing that got me excited about being creative is that you start with nothing and then something happens. We have so much power as creatives."

If you get to the point in your artistic career where you are invited to help carve and build a church and sculptures out of ice in Slovakia for three weeks, you might think you have made it. But for Griffon Ramsey it is only a part of the beginning of the next exciting chapter. After spending many years working and creating in the world of theater/film and the gaming/comic/online sphere she discovered something more entrepreneurial, challenging, physically satisfying, and ultimately a purer form of expression.

How about carving raw masses of wood into highly detailed and often elaborate sculptures, using a portable mechanical saw with a toothed rotating chain, along with many other specialized tools. Over the course of many days or even in just an hour something amazing can be created. This could play out in a secluded warehouse, a scene that epitomizes the solitary artist, or in front of hundreds of people, who live and breathe with awe and exhilaration as the story of the piece is revealed. So there is the skill and the art of creation, the performance, the experience of the onlooker, and the durable final product, a literal work of art born from a lot of hard work.

After many years of practice and persistence Griffon has reached a level where she is invited to carving events and competitions all over the U.S. and the world. This allows her to pursue the professional and artistic development she desires with a global community of piers and mentors who enjoy sharing and learning from each other. Its a community she loves and wishes to promote and encourage. So listen and learn and share!

This was such a fun conversation and Griffon’s voice is so enjoyable to listen to, she had me smiling the whole way through. We talk about her beginnings in Oregon growing up in a ghost town and discover the original childhood inspiration for her current career, Sea Gulch! She touches on her schooling and work in film and theater, her years at Rooster Teeth, and the rest of the time we cover many different aspects of chainsaw art, carving, and the life of an artist. Don’t try this at home might be an appropriate warning but you do have to start somewhere. And there are a few curse words which she does apologize for. Enjoy!

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Chainsaw art
The Fort AXT
Growing up in Oregon
Visiting her father
Creative & resourceful
Making sacrifices for art
Various carving tools & safety
School and theater
Working at Rooster Teeth
Long term projects/jobs
Reevaluating & rebranding
Entertainment & attention span
Ways artists make money
Performance art/carving events
Discovering chainsaw art
Mentors/Sea Gulch
Chainsaw specifics
A pure form of expression
Relationship with lumber
Working with different woods
Learning from a global community
World wide competitions
Slovakian ice church
Learning to carving ice
Women in the art
Making carving videos
Motivations and callings
Business side of art
Physical labor
The joy of carving

Banner photo by Brian Vogel

Links:

Episode 19: Deborah Roberts - Dedicated to the Work

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 10 Mar 2018 05:00:00 -0600

"I’ve always dedicated my life to the work, and what ever the work needed that’s what I did."

It has been an incredible year for Austin based artist Deborah Roberts. But after decades of hard work and scholarship it’s not really a surprise. She was already an established artist long before deciding to go back to school to get her MFA in 2014, to study and find the language and direction for her new work. Her imagery started out in a very romantic Americana style but after a time that didn’t completely match the reality of what she was feeling and seeing in the world. The work needed to change. After finishing school she gave herself two years to succeed in art before having to give up once and for all. Then she received a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation in 2016. For the first time she could spend a whole year completely focused on her art full time and create without fear. What has followed is sold out shows all over the country and lots of press praising the work and giving her credit which was overdue.

With a focus in collage, painting, mixed media/installation, and text, Roberts is best known for creating portraits of young black girls, aged 8-10, that ask the viewer to consider how their beauty has been imagined: by art history, pop culture, American history, and black culture. And when and why do these young vulnerable girls have to put on their gloves and start fighting battles? It's important work and it resonates with a lot of people.

Deborah is a delight to be around and the interview was a lot of fun. We go all the way back to her beginnings in art and work our way to the present. She then dissects the meaning and language of the work and talks about the future and her new found fame and power.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Drawing as a kid
Forced busing
Magnet School/Gifted and Talented
First sold out show
Black Americana romantic painting style
Norman Rockwell
Work becoming more abstract/complicated
The never-ending summer break
Feeling the need for more scholarship
Going back to school/graduate degree
Finding the language for you work
Starting small
Art Palace show
Getting a job/struggling
Avoiding the trap/quitting
Two year agreement
Pollock-Krasner grant year
Creating work without fear
Volta NY/selling out everything
Where have you been?
An incredible year/new notoriety
Listening to the work
Slowing down and scaling up
Incorporating more painting
The structure of a piece
Four freedoms project
New found power

Banner image components by Deborah Roberts
(left to right) Betwixt, Untitled, It's All Good,
Power Has No Use For Truth, Red Stripes.

Links:

Episode 18: Roi James - Leaps of Faith

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 03 Mar 2018 08:00:00 -0600

"You're an artist, you can create your future"

After twenty years of being a full time artist you learn a few things. Like how to make simple but transcendent art, and how powerful and capable you really are. At least that could be said for Roi James, someone who has made it through a lot of adversity and challenges of belief to find success. But it’s not over yet. After many leaps of faith he’s gotten to where he is now, but at this very moment he is in midair hoping to again find firm footing when he lands. It might be a similar feeling to staring into a blank canvas or deep into yourself. Roi creates sublimely beautiful abstract paintings and "Constructs" that are a combination of sculpture, painting, and architecture. Please enjoy this raw and fascinating conversation filled with the wisdom of the artists journey.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Childhood talent
Starving artist myth
Discovering art again
Choosing to create beauty
Staying in touch with music
Working at Dell for 7 years
Joining Davis Gallery
1st show with Steve Brudniak
Old masters style
Quitting job at Dell
The first three years
Help from financial coach
Ending gallery representation
Money as freedom
Selling out of the studio
Knowing your power
Leaps of faith
Hitting bottom and getting help
Caring and support
The appeal of abstract art
Belief systems/feeling worthy
Having cancer/facing death
To love more/creating moments
Pursuing songwriting
Future plans
Offer to artists

https://roijames.com/

rjstudio@roijames.com

Banner painting image Seru Andromius by Roi James

Links:

Episode 17: Kirk Weddle - The Next Big Gig

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 24 Feb 2018 15:00:00 -0600

Advertising and editorial photographer Kirk Weddle has worked with a lot of different local and corporate clients on jobs that have taken him all over the world. Throughout his career he has honed his skills photographing people and loves to do environmental portraits which often include the opportunity to visit some interesting and exciting locations. He has also specialized in a very difficult and adventurous type of photography. Underwater. Near the beginning of his career he got a big break with a shoot for the iconic cover of Nirvana’s Nevermind album and a few months later photographed the band in a swimming pool. Kirk works well under pressure (and underwater obviously) and has a lot of experience which allows him to continue working steadily, but what will his next big gig be? We will just have to watch and see where his talent and momentum takes him.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Beginnings in photography
Diving and Underwater Photography
Nevermind cover shoot
Shooting Nirvana in a pool
Kurt Cobains Death
Spencer Elden
Underwater challenges
Photographing people
Working under pressure
Lighting photos
The old days of the darkroom
Shared studio space
Photo rights and income
Advertising and Editorial
Working under pressure
Bahamas story
Personal projects
Having the shot
Reviving Nirvana photos
Modern Rocks Gallery - Steven Walker
Good or bad work?
Future of photography

Contact Kirk
512-576-4440
kirk@kirkweddle.com
http://kirkweddle.com/

The Nirvana Nevermind swimming pool photos are now available at Modern Rocks Gallery here in Austin, run by fellow photographer and musician Steven Walker.

https://www.modernrocksgallery.com/shop-nirvana-nevermind

The studio that Kirk works out of is called Photogroup Studios.

PHOTOGROUP STUDIOS SOUTH
321 WEST BEN WHITE
SUITES 106A & 107
AUSTIN, TX 78704

STUDIO: 512-373-8547

http://www.photogroupaustin.com/

Banner photo by Kirk Weddle

Links:

Episode 16: Bale Creek Allen - No Limitations

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 05:00:00 -0600

Bale Creek Allen has chosen to pursue a beautiful and rich life and live by his own rules. He is a prolific artist with a great work ethic who creates art in a very diverse amount of ways and with many different materials. Bronze, neon, sculpture, painting, wood, photography, music, spoken word and theater to name a few. Bale grew up in California, went to school in Boston and now calls Texas his home. He is a working artist with a great Austin gallery that exhibits fantastic national and international contemporary art. What a joyous and inspiring interview full of the experience and wisdom that comes with working your ass off and having the courage to never stop.

If you find yourself at Canopy in Austin which is at 916 Springdale Rd, and you are visiting another gallery or grabbing some coffee or food at Sa-Tén, be sure to stop by and see Bale's studio and gallery in Building 2 Suite #103. Call to make an appointment or if the light is on knock on the door and you might be lucky enough to meet Bale in person and see his kick-ass artwork.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Growing up in Fresno
Family life as a kid
Starting to draw
Art School in Boston
Doing the work
Having faith
Courage to create
Leaving school
Being a visiting teacher
Struggle of the artist
Creative integrity
Amazing parents
Current work
Creating new work
Residency in Germany
Focus on the art
Gallery artists
Owning a gallery
Upcoming exhibitions

Bale Creek Allen Gallery
916 Springdale Road, Bldg. 2 #103
Austin, TX 78702

Gallery open by appointment only
512-633-0545
baleallen@gmail.com

Links:

Episode 15: Michael Anthony García

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 03 Feb 2018 13:00:00 -0600

Michael Anthony García is a multidisciplinary artist, independent curator, and activist. His work takes many forms and attempts to addresses personal, local, and global issues, often highlighting those in this world who are marginalized, unseen, and under appreciated. Whether he is curating a show of someone else’s work, doing a live performance interacting with a video and audience, or presenting a very personal one man exhibit made up of sculptures created from old clothing and furniture, Michael is sharing with us his passion and what drives him to be an artist as he attempts to make a positive difference in his life and community and world as a whole.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Dual citizenship
Early life/College
Discovering art
Mark Monroe
Finishing school/Move to Dallas
Graphic production/Art Direction job
Move to Austin
Los Outsiders
Curation projects
Performance work
Sculptural object art
Suspension of belief
Chimera at Grayduck
Sci-fi influence
Processing current events
El Capacitor
Working with the community
Austin art scene/Gentrification
Comedy and humor
Self care and saying no

Banner photo by Kelly Ngo

Links:

Episode 14: Nancy Mims - It Begins With A Walk

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 20 Jan 2018 20:00:00 -0600

By seeking out the mundane and overlooked visual aspects of our world and sharing them through her perspective Nancy Mims shows us the beauty and expansiveness we might be missing. There can be order from chaos and it can be photographed. Not stopping there, by printing these images on fabrics, sometimes weaved back to together or embellished with vibrant stitching, she enhances these views to create a very personal take on what is right in from of us all. Our lovely conversation delves into her life and work and how hard it can be to accept and embrace the fact that you are an artist.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

The artist label
Early influences
Travel and family artists
Studying medicine
Switching to art
Sculpture class turning point
Moving to LA and working at a gallery
Textile design career
Mod Green Pod
Shifting to photography
Printing work and exhibiting outside
The Elisabet Ney
Taking and editing images
Roots in the south
Dougherty exhibit
The practice of seeing
Collaboration
Future work
Tera Incognita opening

Nancy Mims
Terra Incognita
Opening Reception: Saturday, January 13, 2018, 1:30–3:30pm
Exhibit: January 13 - February 3, 2018
Artist Talk: January 24, 2018, 7-8pm

Dougherty Arts Center - The Julia C. Butridge Gallery
1110 Barton Springs Rd.
Austin, TX 78704
Phone: 512-974-4000
Open Hours:
Monday - Thursday 10 AM - 10 PM
Friday 10 AM - 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM - 4 PM

Links:

Episode 13: Flip Solomon - (Bonus Stories) Lek Chailert and the Hare Dream

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Tue, 16 Jan 2018 13:00:00 -0600

This is bonus content from the interview with Flip Solomon Episode 12. The first inspiring story is about Lek Chailert who with the help of many others saves and rehabilitates hundreds of animals in Thailand. The second story is of a dream that inspired a drawing and created a connection. If you haven't listened to Flip's main interview please go back and check that out first. Thanks!

Breaking Cycles: Lek Chailert

Hare of the Hare

Links:

Episode 12: Flip Solomon - Darkest Before Dawn

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 13 Jan 2018 17:00:00 -0600

Flip Solomon grew up with art being at the center of her world but after leaving home found herself exploring everything else life has to offer for many years. But with the arrival of her daughter and the necessity of self care and meditation, to manage her newly intensified narcolepsy, she found her passion for creating art again and started translating the themes and symbols found in her very vivid dreams into epic, touching, and timeless pen and ink drawings. In the last five years she has built up a successful art business selling originals, prints, and a whole line of products based on her images. It's an inspirational story about how to turn a problem into a solution and help others in the process.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Her upbringing and parents influence
High School and college
Taking a big break from art
Having a baby
Living with Narcolepsy
Starting to draw again
Getting older
Meditating
Sleep and dreams
Passion and connection
Needing lots of sleep
Turning a negative into a positive
Getting info from dreams
Finding a voice
Themes and symbols
Darkest before dawn

Where to find Filp's work:

Her current series ‘Darkest Before Dawn’ is at Book People until the end of January. In February it goes to Black Feather Vintage on Springdale Rd. behind Dimension Gallery, with a Pre-Valentine’s Day Event the weekend of February 10th.

Also, there are some large canvases going to the Hye Rum Distillery in Hye, TX on the 290 Wine Trail. And in San Marcos, there are some large canvases on display at One and Only Tattoo on the Square.

Her work’s available year round at Austin Art Garage and the big events in November and December are EAST, Blue Genie and The Armadillo Christmas Bazaar. Works can be purchased online at Skyline Art Editions.

Fennec Foxes">

Links:

Episode 11: PRINTAUSTIN - Cathy Savage & Elvia Perrin

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 30 Dec 2017 06:00:00 -0600

PRINTAUSTIN is one of the top art events in town that happens every January and February. Cathy Savage and Eliva Perrin started this celebration of printmaking five years ago, and with a lot of hard work and some help along the way they have created a month long community building and art promoting steamroller. Join me for a fun conversation about their own careers, how they met and started PrintAustin, and many of the great exhibits, artist talks, demonstrations and workshops that will be happening this year.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Cathy’s background
Eliva’s background
How they met
Starting Print Austin
Approaching galleries
Printmaking history & evolution
Learning about printmaking
Austin printmaking hub?
Print Culture event
Flux - Paloma Mayorga
Printexpo + Steamroller event
Building printmaking community
Board members
Planning/Getting help
Learning printmaking
The contemporary print event
Looking forward

PRINTAUSTIN: Jan 15-Feb 15, 2018

https://printaustin.org/

Volunteer! https://signup.com/group/26958268080

printaustin@gmail.com

PrintAustin's mission to the Austin art community and galleries is to share our enthusiasm for printmaking by helping galleries curate, exhibit, and promote works on paper and to engage a wider audience through in-house artist talks, signings, panels, printmaking demonstrations, and print-focused art happenings.

Cathy Savage is a multi-media artist but, when asked about her work, describes herself as a printmaker. She’s in love with the printmaking process, especially the delightful surprises each state often brings. She gravitates towards the textural effects of collagraphs finding platemaking is only limited by one’s imagination. Cathy has exhibited throughout the US but primarily in Austin, and celebrated her first solo show at StoneMetal Press in 2010. Honors include Juror’s Award of Excellence from the Bering James Gallery in Houston as well as statements and reproductions of her work in the Austin-American Statesman and the Austin Chronicle. Cathy received a BS in Studio Art from Florida State University.

Elvia Perrin received her MFA from the University of North Texas at Denton in 2002. She was a collaborator, printer and artist at Flatbed Press + Gallery in Austin, Texas for seven years. She has taught printmaking and foundation courses locally for over a decade. She currently is a Lecturer of Art at Texas State University and working in her own printmaking studio. Elvia is the Founding Executive Director: PrintAustin, a city-wide contemporary print event. She has collaborated with Retailers Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrel and TRNK, NY and has shown nationally and internationally. Elvia is currently represented by Wally Workman Gallery and lives in Austin, Texas.

Links:

Episode 10: Claire Howard - Curating & The Open Road

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 23 Dec 2017 06:00:00 -0600

This interview is with Claire Howard, the Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Blanton Museum of Art here in Austin. The museum is currently hosting a traveling photography exhibit called The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip. Claire speaks about the content and images that make up the exhibit and shares what goes on behind the scenes to plan for and integrate an exhibition into a new space. She also had the chance to add elements to the original line up that enhance the conversation and relate to our location and it’s history for the benefit of a local audience.

Don’t miss this great exhibition which will be on view from November 25th, 2017 until January 7th, 2018. It was organized by the Aperture Foundation in New York and curated by David Campany and Denise Wolf, supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Photographs by Robert Frank, Inge Morath, Ed Ruscha, Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander, William Eggleston, Joel Meyerowitz, Stephen Shore, Victor Burgin, Bernard Plossu, Shinya Fujiwara, Eli Reed, Joel Sternfeld, Todd Hido, Alec Soth, Ryan McGinley, Justine Kurland, Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs.

Blanton Museum of Art
The University of Texas at Austin
200 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Austin, TX 78712
PHONE: 512-471-5482
EMAIL: info@blantonmuseum.org

Some of the subjects we discuss:

The Blanton
Claire’s previous work history
Austin gallery spaces
Prep for The Open Road
Origins of the exhibition
Hanging the show
Photographing america
Joel Sternfeld
Lee Friedlander
Alex Soth
Inge Morath
Justine Kurland
Photography today
Robert Frank
Claire’s additions
Eli Reed
Road trip inspiration
Walt Whitman quote

Claire's Bio

Claire Howard is the Assistant Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Blanton Museum of Art. She was the 2016-2017 Vivian L. Smith Foundation Fellow at the Menil Collection in Houston, and from 2010 to 2013, she was a Graduate Research Assistant at the Blanton, where she worked on exhibitions including Through the Eyes of Texas: Masterworks from Alumni Collections, and curated the collection exhibition Cubism Beyond Borders (both 2013). Claire previously worked at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, where, as a Research Assistant for Modern and Contemporary Art, she helped organize special exhibitions including Marcel Duchamp: Étant donnés and Arshile Gorky: A Retrospective (both 2009). Claire has also worked and interned at the Fabric Workshop and Museum (Philadelphia), Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (New York), and Wellesley College’s Davis Museum and Cultural Center (Wellesley, MA). She is a PhD Candidate in Art History at The University of Texas at Austin, and is writing her dissertation on the Surrealist movement and its cultural context from 1950-1969. Claire earned an MA in Art History from The University of Texas at Austin and a BA in Art History and English from Wellesley College. She is a native of Philadelphia.

Links:

Episode 9: Hayley Gillespie - Art.Science.Gallery.

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 16 Dec 2017 06:00:00 -0600

Turns out that art and science are more related than you might expect. This weeks highly informative episode is with Dr. Hayley Gillespie, the founder and director of Art.Science.Gallery. She has bachelor’s degrees in biology, fine art, and environmental studies from Austin College and a doctoral degree in ecology, evolution, and behavior from UT. In addition to being a small business owner she also studies endangered species, creates art that is inspired by her activities as a scientist, and practices sustainable urban agriculture and native plant restoration. She is also a full time lecturer in Biology at Texas State University in San Marcos, TX. There is so much to learn in this episode. Be sure to explore the links at the bottom of the show notes to take a deep dive into many of the subjects and persons we talk about in the interview. So inspiring!

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Origins of the gallery
Childhood influences
Graduate school
Blogging & making art
Collages of scientists
Charles Darwin, Ernst Haeckel, Anna Atkins, Angie Lewin
Margie Crisp, Leonardo DaVinci, Ele Willoughby, Grace Hopper
Mary Golda Ross, Joan Roughgarden, Mary Anning
Women in science
What is Science art
Running a gallery
Supporting Austin artists
Trading car show
Herb & Dorothy
Solar show/Print Austin

Founded in 2012, Art.Science.Gallery. is a crowd-funded art space dedicated to art-science fusion of all kinds. Located in the Canopy fine arts complex in East Austin, the gallery’s mission is to engage the public in the natural sciences through the visual arts. Art.Science.Gallery. exhibits artwork that is steeped in and reflective of scientific ideas; artwork that exemplifies the integration of scientific knowledge and discovery with a very thorough artistic process. Art.Science.Gallery. is also proud to be a woman owned small business and a Platinum-Level Austin Green Business Leader.

ART.SCIENCE.GALLERY. BY THE NUMBERS (2012-2017)

• 45 science-inspired art exhibitions free and open to the public.
• 700+ artists featured in gallery exhibits from 40 US states and 18 countries (40% Texas artists).
• $120,000+ paid directly to science-inspired artists in support of their work and careers.
• 56 artists represented in the gallery’s science-inspired gift shop.
• 200+ free public events hosted including film screenings, science talks, artist lectures and more.
• $5,000+ in donations and services given to 20+ causes and non-profits.
• 40+ organizational sponsors and partners to broaden the impact of our exhibitions and programs.
• 13 students and recent graduates trained in our 14-week professional gallery internship program.

Gallery Hours

tue / thu / fri 12-6pm
sat / sun 12-4pm
mon / wed closed

Open through Christmas Eve, December 24th 12-4pm.

Gallery closed Christmas Day December 25-January 19th, but is available for rental during this time.

(512) 522-8278 or info [at] artsciencegallery.com. Messages and emails left on mon & wed or holidays will be returned the next business day.

916 Springdale Rd. Bldg 2 #102
Austin, TX 78702

Links:

Episode 8: Yuliya Lanina - The Nature of Being

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 09 Dec 2017 12:00:00 -0600

Yuliya Lanina is one of the most diverse artists I know having already gained a lot of experience and wisdom in her life and career. Her work is evocative and multi dimensional and is most often intended to be interacted with face to face in an immersive way. She creates paintings, animations, animatronics, and often collaborates with others to create performances in person, and also through the movement of the beings and creatures she brings to life on paper and mechanically in 3D. The interview covers most of her life, starting in Russia as a teenager, to the present day in Austin with her family and her busy and inspiring career as a multimedia artist extraordinaire. She is also a lecturer at the UT Austin College of Fine Arts.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Growing up in Russia
Moving to the US
Pursuing art in college
Moving to NYC
Becoming a graphic designer
Quitting to become a full time artist
Working in the studio in Brooklyn
Graduate school
Moving to Austin
Having kids
Creating performances
Collaboration
Animated work
Darkness and humor

Links:

Episode 7: Paloma Mayorga - Healing & Empowerment in Art

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 02 Dec 2017 06:00:00 -0600

Since graduating from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, in 2010, Paloma Mayorga has inhabited and worked in three different art worlds. She has had a great career, at a young age, as a professional artist, has worked with and curated many exhibits for other artists and organizations, and has years of experience in art administration. Her own art focuses on women's issues, meaning, relating to others, seeing, gender limitations, personal narratives, and how we can heal and empower each other with our own self expression.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Early art influences
Falling in love with art in college
Learning to see
Art as self expression
Working at the MACC
Serie Project & Coronado Studio
Print Austin
Creating different series
Evolution of a style
Addressing issues
Cruelty Free
Photography
Creating images
Nature, women, & the planet
#Metoo
Healing & Inspiration
Vulnerability
Creating scans with nature
Solo mía
Curation
Arts administration

Links:

Episode 6: Steven Walker - Rocking Photography

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 06:00:00 -0600

Moving to America from England almost four years ago was a risky move for him and his family, but Steven Walker made it work because he knew it would. Persistence, hard work, and a love for music and photography were key ingredients. His vision was for a gallery focused on offering high quality classic rock & roll photography as well as fossils, rocks, and minerals. He knew Austin was the place to do it and now Modern Rocks is one of the best galleries in town. We had a great conversation filled with many lessons and insights into the world of photography, running a successful gallery, and a life well lived.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Origins of the gallery
A life in music, touring the US
Getting into photography
Moving to America
Kirk Weddle/Nevermind
Overnight notoriety
Scott Newton archive
Freedom/Simplicity of the past
Michael Zagaris
Owning a gallery
Selling the work
Gallery vs. Solo
Social Networking
Instagram
Up next-Contact Sheets
Film to digital
Aesthetic Standards
Looking forward
Closing advice

Links:

Episode 5: Emily Galusha - Undercurrents

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 11 Nov 2017 14:00:00 -0600

Painter, illustrator, and graphic designer Emily Galusha did not start out with the intention of becoming an artist, even though she had a very creative and supportive upbringing. After studying dance for many years she transitioned to 2D art and being a graphic artist and now uses that knowledge of dance to inform her artwork. She is also very influenced by the aesthetic of the southwest US and the rural lush green forests and county life of Arkansas. She has found a balance between her commercial work as a designer and her artwork through many years of deep personal work and dedication to her craft of drawing and painting. We talk about all of these things and more.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Creative beginnings in Arkansas
Studying dance
Shifting to visual arts in college
Merging dance experience into art
Choosing visual arts as a career
Graduating from college
Working for an Ad agency, design firm, marketing firm
Freelancing on the side
Transitioning to full time freelance work
Discovering the southwest US
Incorporating that aesthetic into artwork
Drawing pistols
Moving to Austin, starting over
Getting out, meeting people
Challenges and growth
Artist residency in Italy
Undercurrents dance series
Nurturing your art
Moving forward

Links:

Episode 4: Patrick Puckett - Nostalgic Figures

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 01:00:00 -0500

When I arrived at Patrick's he offered me a drink and we had a great talk while sipping Old Fashioneds and trying to keep his hound dog Boudro calm and quiet. From his childhood and college years in Mississippi, to his 6 year hiatus from painting after moving to Austin, to painting almost daily for the last 6 years, we covered a lot of ground. With his fourth show at the Wally Workman gallery open for the month of November 2017, his work is as popular as ever.

"If one really looks, you can see the time pass on the canvas— the life of this figure born there. You can feel their ups and downs and the energy it took to get them to this place."

Rachel Stephens - aether magazine

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Beginnings in Mississippi
Jim Meade at College
Moving to Austin
Starting to paint again
Work ethic
Figure painting
Finding subjects
Pre-visualizing
Painting process
Nostalgia
Future plans

Links:

Episode 3: Shea Little - EAST and the Artist

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 28 Oct 2017 08:00:00 -0500

If you have been in Austin long and are into art you have probably heard of the East Austin Studio Tour or Big Medium. One person at the center of both from the beginning has been Shea Little. With EAST 2017 coming up it made sense to sit down with Shea and find out how it all started, how he got involved in art, and what the future might look like.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

How does Big Medium support artists
E.A.S.T, W.E.S.T. differences
Texas Biennial explanation and history
Beginnings in art and school
Having a job and making art
Sodailtas collaboration
Evolution of his art style
History of E.A.S.T. and Big Medium
Talking about and pricing your art
Generous Art/Creative Standard
EAST present and future

East Austin Studio Tour 2017

Big Medium's East Austin Studio Tour (EAST) is a free, annual, self-guided art event spanning two weekends in November. EAST provides opportunities for the public to meet the artists and artisans of Austin in their creative spaces.

Dates & Times

Free and open on November 11-12 & 18-19, 2017 from 11am-6pm.

Tour boundaries

East of I-35
West of HHW 183
South of HWY 290
North of Riverside

Big Medium at Canopy
916 Springdale Rd, Bldg 2 #101
Austin, TX 78702

Big Medium at Bolm Studios
5305 Bolm Rd #9-12
Austin, TX 78721

Links:

Episode 2: Troy Campa - Architecture to Art Gallery

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 21 Oct 2017 06:00:00 -0500

Troy Campa, co-founer with his partner of CAMIBAart, started out as an architect in Houston but then decided to change careers, and after a year break decided to open a gallery in Austin. We talk about that transition, what he has learned over the last three years running his two galleries, and his wonderful international art tours.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Childhood beginnings in art
Art and Architecture
William T. Carson’s Artwork
Leaving architecture career to open a gallery
From pop-up shows to a business plan
Lessons from running a gallery for three years
Finding mentors
Choosing artists
Clarifying the galleries aesthetic
Artist submissions
Selling art
Building relationships
Communication and marketing
Collecting art
Helping artists
Living with art
Curating local and international art tours
Supporting local causes at destinations
Artists choosing a gallery
Educating collectors
Austin Art Alliance
Why buy art?

CAMIBAart GALLERY is located in the Flatbed Press Building at:
2832 East MLK Jr. Blvd., Austin, TX 78702

Open Hours:

Tuesday through Friday: 10:00am – 5:00pm

Saturday: noon - 5pm

other times by appointment

CAMIBAart also curates the gallery at:
2000 East 6th Street, Austin, TX 78702

Open Hours:

Saturday and Sunday: 11am - 5pm

other times by appointment

Troy Campa, AIA : Co-Founder & Director, TroyCampa@CAMIBAart.com

Rene Ibarra : Co-Founder & Director of Tours, Rene@CAMIBAart.com

Links:

Episode 1: Stephen Clark - Austin History and the Photographic Gallery

podcast@austinarttalk.com (Scott David Gordon) — Sat, 14 Oct 2017 18:00:00 -0500

For our first episode we speak with Mr. Clark about his rich history living in Austin and also about the ins and outs of running a gallery and selling art. After you listen to the show check out some of the links below to many of the people he mentions in the interview.

Some of the subjects we discuss:

Austin beginnings and stories
Photography as Art
Childhood influences & Houston upbringing
Selling and collecting photography
Specific artists work
Advice for artists
Living with art
Running a gallery
Editioning photos
Digital photography
Pricing your work
The future of fine art photography in Austin
Who is collecting
Living a rich life

Stephen L. Clark Gallery
1101 W. Sixth Street
Austin, TX 78703
1-512-477-0828

Hours
Tue–Sat: 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Or by appointment

www.stephenlclarkgallery.com

gallery@stephenlclarkgallery.com

Links: