Art Is Awesome with Emily Wilson (Emily Wilson with Go-To Productions)
Explore every episode of Art Is Awesome with Emily Wilson
| Pub. Date | Title | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 Aug 2023 | Photographer Shao Feng Hsu | 00:14:16 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with photographer Shao Feng Hsu. About Artist Shao Feng Hsu: Shao-Feng Hsu is a photographer whose work around the world mainly focuses on the interaction of humans and aquatic environment. From his native Taiwan — where he trained as a competitive swimmer — to Australia, Cambodia, Japan, and beyond, Shao-Feng Hsu has immersed himself in aquatic cultures in an ongoing study of the impact of the Anthropocene Era on our waters. In December 2017, he was selected to participate in Angkor Photo Festival Workshop, where he documented life in a village without proper sanitation and running water. Expanding on the project's themes back in Taiwan, he collaborated with the environmental NGO, RE-Think, on projects to illustrate shoreline pollution. His project, Inner Tidal Zones, combines color photograms and digital images to capture the perspective of aquatic creatures and the emotions of the water. He is a graduate of the Creative Practices program at the International Center of Photography and a recipient of Rita K. Hillman Award of Excellence. During the pandemic lockdown he co-founded Fotodemic.org and cademy.biz. He is currently a Fellow at the Headlands Center of the Arts and teaches B&W darkroom at California College of the Arts (CCA) Photography Program. Visit Shao's Website: ShaoFengHsu.com Follow Shao on Instagram: @ShaoFengHsu For more about the Headlands Graduate Fellowships HERE. Pictures of You: Headlands Center for the Arts Graduate Fellowship Exhibition at The Lab
-- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 28 Jan 2025 | Kirstine Reiner Hansen - Painter | 00:14:28 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with painter Kirstine Rainer Hansen, as they discusses her transition from design and illustration to becoming a self-taught artist specializing in 'Disrupted Realism.' Born in Denmark, Kirstine has lived across various countries, ultimately settling in Carmel, California. Her path to art was unconventional; due to financial and societal pressures, she initially studied design but shifted to painting after struggling to find work during a recession. Kirstine's work, influenced by artists like Rembrandt, Francis Bacon, and Lucian Freud, is currently on display at the Jack Fisher Gallery at the Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco. She talks about how moving to San Francisco shaped her artistic style, transitioning from classical realism to a more fragmented, collage-based approach. Kirstine also dives into "Three Questions" talking about her artistic identity, influential works, and inspiring locations in the Bay Area. About Artist Kirstine Reiner Hansen: Kirstine Reiner Hansen is an artist based on the Central Coast of California, US. Born in Odense, Denmark, she received a BA in Design and Illustration at Kolding School of Design. Her work has been exhibited in numerous galleries, most recently she had 2-person exhibition at Jack Fischer Gallery, San Francisco. In 2012 she received the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation Grant and was twice a semi-finalist for the Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition. She has been featured in Juxtapoz Magazine, BloPop Magazine and the Asian Curator as well as in the book ‘Distrupted Realism’ by John Seed, 2019. Her work is featured in the movie ‘Meaning of a Ritual’ by Berlin director Natalie MacMahon, 2023. Visit Kirstine's Website: ReinerHansen.com Follow on Instagram: @ReinerHansenArt For more about her current exhibit "Atmospheric Disruptions" at the Jack Fischer Gallery, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 15 May 2023 | Welcome to Art is Awesome! | 00:00:54 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome! hosted by Emily Wilson... We are excited to share this new podcast, featuring artists in the San Francisco Bay Area and beyond... Be sure to subscribe wherever you find your podcast media, so you wont miss an episode... conversations begin dropping in May!
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| 13 Aug 2024 | Margot Norton - Curator | 00:17:09 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with BAMPFA Chief Curator Margot Norton. In this Episode, Margot discusses her background, including her move from New York to Berkeley and her previous roles at the Whitney Museum and the New Museum. She describes an upcoming exhibition titled 'To Exalt the Ephemeral,' which focuses on impermanent art. She shares the transformative potential of museums, her inspiration from artists like Pepón Osorio and Eva Hesse, and her experience working with UC Berkeley students. The exhibition highlights experimental materials, memory, photography, and ends with a video installation by Joan Jonas. Then of course, "Three Questions" with Margot sharing her curatorial career and inspirations. About Curator Margot Norton: Margot Norton is the Chief Curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA). She is formerly the Allen and Lola Goldring Senior Curator at the New Museum, New York. She organized the 2021 New Museum Triennial Soft Water Hard Stone, co-curated with Jamillah James. Norton joined the New Museum in 2011 and has worked on a number of exhibitions, curating and cocurating presentations by Carmen Argote, Diedrick Brackens, Sarah Lucas, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Pipilotti Rist, Mika Rottenberg, Bárbara Wagner and Benjamin de Burca, and Kaari Upson, among others. In 2017, she curated the Eighth Sequences Real Time Art Festival in Reykjavik, Iceland, and the Georgian Pavillion at the 2019 Venice Biennale with artist Anna K.E.. Before she joined the New Museum in 2011, Norton worked as a curatorial assistant at the Whitney Museum, New York. She has contributed to and edited numerous publications and exhibition catalogues, and regularly lectures on contemporary art and curating. She holds an MA in Curatorial Studies from Columbia University, New York. Find more from Margot HERE. Follow Margot on Instagram: @MargotNorton To learn more about BAMPFA's Exhibit, "To Exalt the Ephemeral" CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily is a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 02 Jul 2024 | Alison Saar - Sculptor & Printmaker | 00:16:37 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. This Episode, Emily chats with Los Angeles based sculptor & printmaker, Alison Saar. She was visiting the Bay Area recently working with Arion Press on their recent production of Octavia Butler's Kindred. They dive Alison's artistic journey, influences, and her recent project illustrating Octavia Butler's 'Kindred' for Arian Press. Alison reflects on her upbringing in a creatively rich environment, heavily influenced by her artist parents, Betty and Richard Saar. She discusses her techniques, particularly her affinity for woodcuts and linoleum blocks, and the importance of texture in her work. The conversation also touches on Saar's interest in African and Indigenous art, her spiritual connections, and significant influences such as Elizabeth Catlett. The episode concludes with insights into Saar's favorite creatively inspiring places in Los Angeles and her experience of continuously making art from a young age. About Artist Alison Saar: Alison credits her mother, acclaimed collagist and assemblage artist Betye Saar, with exposing her to metaphysical and spiritual traditions. Assisting her father, Richard Saar, a painter and art conservator, in his restoration shop inspired her learning and curiosity about other cultures. Saar studied studio art and art history at Scripps College in Claremont, California, receiving a BA in art history in 1978. In 1981 she earned her MFA from the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles. In 1983, Saar became an artist-in-residence at the Studio Museum in Harlem, incorporating found objects from the city environment. Saar completed another residency in Roswell, New Mexico, in 1985, which augmented her urban style with Southwest Native American and Mexican influences. Saar’s style encompasses a multitude of personal, artistic, and cultural references that reflect the plurality of her own experiences. Her sculptures, installations, and prints incorporate found objects including rough-hewn wood, old tin ceiling panels, nails, shards of pottery, glass, and urban detritus. The resulting figures and objects become powerful totems exploring issues of gender, race, heritage, and history. Saar’s art is included in museums and private collections across the U.S. Visit Alison on the web by CLICKING HERE. Follow Alison on Instagram: @Alison_Saar Learn more about her Kindred project with Arion Press HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 04 Jul 2023 | Artist & Professor Taravat Talepasand | 00:11:23 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Artist & Portand State University Professor Taravat Talepasand. About Artist Taravat Talepasand: Taravat Talepasand is an artist, activist, and educator whose labor-intensive interdisciplinary painting practice questions normative cultural behaviors within contemporary power imbalances. As an Iranian-American woman, Talepasand explores the cultural taboos that reflect on gender and political authority. Her approach to figuration reflects the cross-pollination, or lack thereof, in our Western Society. Visit Taravat's Website: www.TaravatTalepasand.com Follow Taravat on Instagram: @artistvat You can find her Exibit at Yerba Buena Center For the Arts through July 23. CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 16 Jul 2024 | Suchitra Mattai - Multi-disciplinary Artist | 00:17:19 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. In this episode, Emily chats with south asian multidisciplinary artist Suchitra Mattai. Suchitra, born in Guyana and now based in Los Angeles, discusses her journey and the influences behind her artwork. She details her move from a background in statistics to a career in art, highlighting how her work addresses themes of memory, labor, migration, and colonization. Suchitra shares insights about her solo exhibit, 'She Walked in Reverse and Found Their Songs' at ICA San Francisco, which explores her ancestors’ forced migration and personal history through installations made of used saris. The episode also includes discussion about how she combines different materials to tell stories and reconcile her multicultural experiences. Additionally, Suchitra talks about the impactful art pieces and places that inspire her creative process. About Artist Suchitra Mattai: Suchitra is a multi-disciplinary Guyanese American artist of South Asian descent. She received an MFA in painting and drawing and an MA in South Asian art from the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Recent projects include group exhibitions at the MCA Chicago, Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the MCA Denver, the John Michael Kohler Arts Center and the Sharjah Biennial 14 and solo exhibitions at the Boise Museum of Art , Roberts Projects, and Kavi Gupta Gallery. Upcoming projects include solo exhibitions at the ICA San Francisco (San Francisco), the Tampa Museum of Art (Tampa, FL) , the National Museum for Women in the Arts (Washington, DC) and Socrates Sculpture Park (NYC, NY). Her works are represented in collections which include Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, the Nasher Museum of Art, the Denver Art Museum, the Tampa Museum of Art, the Joselyn Museum, the Tia Collection, the Perez Collection, the Shah Garg collection, and the University of Michigan Museum of Art. Visit Suchitra's Website: SuchitraMattaiArt.com Follow on Instagram: @SuchitraMattaiStudio For more about her exhibit, "She Walked In Reverse And Found Their Songs" at the ICA San Francisco, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 06 Jun 2023 | Multimedia Artist & Filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson | 00:09:07 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with multimedia artist and filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson. This was recording during a visit to her show, About Face, at San Francisco’s Altman Siegel Gallery. The show covered the last five decades of Lynn's career and work exploring the role of technology in the human condition. Lynn's work is showing now at the SF Altman Siegel Gallery until July 8. CLICK HERE to visit the Viewing Room. Visit Lynn's Website: www.LynnHershman.com Follow Lynn on Social Media: Instagram @Lynn.l.Leeson of visit her Facebook Profile About Artist Lynn Hershman Leeson: Lynn Hershman Leeson has been internationally acclaimed for her art and films. Cited as one of the most influential media artists, Hershman Leeson is widely recognized for her innovative work investigating issues that are now recognized as key to the workings of society: the relationship between humans and technology, identity, surveillance, and the use of media as a tool of empowerment against censorship and political repression. Over the last fifty years she has made pioneering contributions to the fields of photography, video, film, performance, artificial intelligence, bio art, installation and interactive as well as net-based media art. Lynn Hershman Leeson is a recipient of a Siggraph Lifetime Achievement Award, Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica, and a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship. In 2017 she received a USA Artist Fellowship, and the San Francisco Film Society’s “Persistence of Vision” Award. In 2022, she was awarded a special mention from the Jury for her participation in the 59th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia – The Milk of Dreams. In 2023, Pratt Institute of Art in NY awarded her with an Honorary Doctorate. Creative Capital awarded her with their Distinguished Artist Award in 2023. SFMOMA acquired the museum’s first NFT from Hershman Leeson in 2023. Her six feature films – Strange Culture, Teknolust, Conceiving Ada, !Women Art Revolution: A Secret History, Tania Libre, and The Electronic Diaries are all in worldwide distribution and have screened at the Sundance Film Festival, Toronto Film Festival and The Berlin International Film Festival, among others. She was awarded the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Prize for writing and directing Teknolust.!Women Art Revolution received the Grand Prize Festival of Films on Art. Artwork by Lynn Hershman Leeson is featured in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art, The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, The Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Tate Modern, The National Gallery of Canada, and the Walker Art Center in addition to many celebrated private collections. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 24 Sep 2024 | Gyöngy Laky - Sculptor | 00:17:27 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Sculptor & Fiberworks Center founder Gyöngy Laky...Ging shares her incredible journey from being a refugee from Hungary to becoming a pivotal figure in textile arts. She talks about her initial inspiration, work at Fiberworks Center, and a teaching stint at UC Davis. Ging also discusses how her experiences and background influenced her unique approach to textiles, incorporating natural materials and cultural anthropology insights. The episode concludes with Ging reflecting on her artistic milestones and the significant impact of the Bay Area's creative environment. About Artist Gyöngy Laky: Gyöngy Laky's sculptural forms are exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States. Internationally, her work has been included in exhibitions in Canada, Denmark, Sweden, England, Holland, Spain, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Lithuania, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Italy, Columbia, Philippines, Japan and China. Laky has participated in the US Federal Art in Embassies Program in Bangkok, Thailand; NATO, Brussels, Belgium; and Poland. In addition to one-person exhibitions in the U.S., she has had solo exhibitions in England, Denmark, Hungary and Spain. She is also known for her outdoor site-specific installations which have occurred in the US, Canada, England, France, Austria, Bulgaria and Italy. A past recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant, Award of Distinction, 11th International Triennial of Tapestry, Central Museum of Textiles, Lodz, Poland; and Award for Artistic Excellence, Women in the Arts, The Women’s Foundation, San Francisco, CA, Laky was also one of the first textile artists to be commissioned by the Federal Art-in-Architecture Program. Her work is in many permanent collections including the San Francisco MOMA, The Smithsonian’s Renwick Museum of American Art, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Oakland Museum, the Contemporary Museum in Honolulu and others (see “Collections”). In 2002-03, she was one of a team of three to develop a comprehensive Arts Master Plan for the new state-of-the-art, US Federal Food and Drug Administration campus being built in Maryland. In 2003, a book, “Portfolio Series: Gyöngy Laky,” was published by Telos Arts Publishing, UK, and the Bancroft Library at UC, Berkeley, released her oral history. Her personal papers are in the Smithsonian Institution‘s Archives of American Art, Washington, DC. Laky’s art has appeared in numerous books, magazines and catalogs in the US and abroad. April 2008, the New York Times Magazine commissioned her to create titles for its environmental issue (the titles received an award from the Type Directors Club). Laky was born in Budapest, Hungary, in 1944 and emigrated to the United States as a small child. She graduated from Carmel High School and completed undergraduate and graduate studies at the University of California, Berkeley (1967-1971). Postgraduate work followed with the UC Professional Studies Program in India. Upon her return, she founded the internationally recognized Fiberworks, Center for the Textile Arts, in Berkeley, with accredited undergraduate and graduate programs. As of 2005, Laky is Professor Emeritus of UC, Davis, (chair, Dept of Art mid-1990s). She joined the faculty at UCD in 1978 and soon after initiated establishing the independent Department of Environmental Design. In the early 1990’s she developed a graduate program. Visit Gyöngy's Website: GyongyLaky.com Follow on Instagram: @Gyongy.Laky For more about Fiberworks Center for Textile Arts, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 08 Oct 2024 | Amrita Singhal - Painter | 00:13:23 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with painter Amrita Singhal, known for her vibrant oil paintings and the Rama Prayer mural in Berkeley. Amrita discusses her background, growing up in a culturally rich city in India, and how her former career as a tax lawyer enriched her artistic practice. After leaving law due to health issues, Amrita pursued painting, finding her voice in oil paints. Her work often explores themes of spirituality, with influences from Giotto and Matisse, and she creates immersive virtual reality experiences based on spiritual practices. Amrita also shares her inspirations and favorite places in the Bay Area. About Artist Amrita Singal: Amrita Singhal is based in Berkeley, California. She had the good fortune to study drawing and art history with the brilliant and reclusive painter Louise Smith who was a contemporary of the Bay Area Abstract Expressionists (Diebenkorn, Park, Bischoff et al.) and a one time student of Hans Hoffman, Erle Loran and Margaret Peterson O’Hagan. Two of Amrita’s paintings are in the permanent collection of the UC Berkeley Art Museum (BAM). She has painted a Berkeley Public Works Art mural for Meyer Sound and regularly exhibits her work in solo and juried group shows. Amrita is currently producing one of her painting series in virtual reality and as an immersive exhibit. Visit Amrita's Website: AmritaSinghal.com Follow on Instagram: @AmritaSinghalStudio CLICK HERE to check out the Rama Mural in Berkeley. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 24 Oct 2023 | Multidisciplinary & Community-Oriented Artist Arleene Correa Valencia | 00:16:57 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Napa-baased artist Arleene Correa Valencia... About Artist Arleene Correa Valencia: Arleene Correa Valencia is a multidisciplinary and community-oriented native Mexican artist living and working in Napa, CA. Correa Valencia investigates various ethical, political, and aesthetic strategies in her practice to address the effects of our current socio-political and ecological climate on undocumented communities in the U.S. In 2020 Correa Valencia completed her MFA at California College of the Arts in San Francisco. She was featured in the Emmy award winning “Portraits of Napa Workers: Arleene Correa Valencia,” part of KQED Arts’ Represent series of artist profiles. She is a recipient of Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals and is one of four children originally from Arteaga, Michoacán, Mexico. Her family migrated to the United States in 1997 and made a home in California’s wine country, Napa Valley. Visit Arleene's Website: CorreaValencia.com Follow Arleene on Instagram: @ArleeneCorreaValencia For more info on Arleene at the Catharine Clark Gallery CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 04 Jun 2024 | Tucker Nichols - Artist & Illustrator | 00:19:31 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with NorCal based artist Tucker Nichols as he shares stories about his spontaneous move to Taiwan, where he immersed himself in a vibrant artistic community. He discusses his extensive body of work, including children's books and the initiative 'Flowers for Sick People.' He reflects on his background, including his mother’s influence and his intense study of East Asian art. Tucker's journey includes struggling with Crohn's disease and a career shift to become a full-time artist, supported by his wife. He talks about influential works and places, emphasizing his lifelong passion for art. The podcast concludes with three thought-provoking questions Emily asks every guest. About Artist Tucker Nichols: Tucker Nichols is an artist based in Northern California. His work has been featured at the Drawing Center in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Denver Art Museum, Den Frie Museum in Copenhagen, and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. A show of his sculpture, Almost Everything On The Table, was recently on view at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. He is currently an Artist Trustee at SFMOMA. His drawings have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, McSweeney's, The Thing Quarterly, and the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times. He is co-author of the books, Crabtree (with Jon Nichols) and This Bridge Will Not Be Gray (with Dave Eggers). Flowers for Things I Don’t Know How to Say was released in March 2024. Flowers for Sick People, his ongoing multimedia project, can be viewed here. Visit Tucker's Website: TuckerNichols.com Follow Tucker on Instagram: @TuckerNichols -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 05 Mar 2024 | Hayv Kahraman - Painter | 00:18:23 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Iraqi born, Los Angeles based artist Hayv Kahraman... About Artist Hayv Kahraman: Hayv Kahraman was born in Baghdad, Iraq 1981, now lives and works in Los Angeles. A vocabulary of narrative, memory and dynamics of non-fixity found in diasporic cultures are the essence of her visual language and the product of her experience as an Iraqi refugee/come émigré. The body as object and subject have a central role in her painting practice as she compositely embodies the artist herself and a collective. Kahraman’s recent solo exhibitions include; “Acts of Reparation“, CAM St Louis; “Audible Inaudible“, Joslyn Museum of Art, Omaha; “Sound Wounds“, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; “Gendering Memories of Iraq- a Collective Performance” which has been staged at CAM St Louis, Birmingham Museum of Art, Nelson-Atkins museum of art and Duke University; “Reweaving Migrant Inscriptions” Jack Shainman, New York; “Audible Inaudible“, The Third Line gallery, Dubai; “How Iraqi are you?“, Jack Shainman, New York. Recent group exhibitions include: “No Man’s Land: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection”, Miami; “UNREALISM: Presented by Larry Gagosian and Jeffrey Deitch”, Miami Design District; “June: A Painting Show”, Sadie Coles HQ, London. Hayv was shortlisted for the 2011 Jameel Prize at the Victoria and Albert Museum and has received the award “Excellence in Cultural Creativity”, Global Thinkers Forum. Visit Hayv's Website: HayvKahraman.com Follow Hayv on Instagram: @HayvKahraman For more on Hayv's exhibition, "Look Me In The Eyes" at the ICA San Francisco, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 26 Sep 2023 | Film & Video Artist Trina Robinson | 00:14:16 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with film and video artist Trina Robinson. About Artist Trina Robinson: Trina Michelle Robinson explores the relationship between memory and migration through film, print media and archival materials. She wants to get to the root of lost memories, especially in relation to migration, whether the move forced or initiated by a search for new opportunities. We all have a migration story in our bloodlines. She studies the fragments of memory and repurposes them. The lives of her ancestors are the catalyst behind her artwork and their stories are woven into every detail. Why did they leave? What were they hoping to find? What remains? She wants to explore every fracture, fold and glitch to release the trauma that lives inside. Her work has been shown at galleries and film festivals throughout the country including including the BlackStar Film Festival in Philadelphia, the Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) - a Smithsonian affiliate, the San Francisco Art Commission Main Gallery, Southern Exposure and Root Division in San Francisco, and New York’s Wassaic Project. As a storyteller, she traveled the country and telling the story of exploring her ancestry with The Moth Mainstage at Lincoln Center in New York, in addition to touring with them on stages in San Francisco, Portland, OR, Omaha, NE and Westport, CT. Her story aired on NPR’s The Moth Radio Hour in October 2019. She received her MFA from California College of Arts in Spring 2022. Her earlier written work was featured in the Museum of the African Diaspora’s I’ve Known Rivers Project, and New Jersey Dramatists Which Way to America at the Jersey City Museum and Puffin Cultural Forum. She has worked in production in print and digital media for companies such as The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The New Republic, California Sunday Magazine and Slack, in addition to working as a teaching artist with Women’s Project and Productions in New York. She has been invited to be a speaker or guest teacher at multiple conferences, colleges and high school campuses, including the being the keynote speaker at the 2021 Oregon Heritage Conference, 2019 Kentucky Borderlands Conference, Feminist Border Arts Film Festival at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, N.M., and Design Tech High School in Redwood City, C.A. In addition to discussing her research and approach to storytelling, she also enjoys discussing the importance of raising marginalized voices and how to mindfully create a diverse and inclusive environment at her speaking and teaching engagements. Trina was included in the Museum of the African Diaspora’s (MoAD) Emerging Artist Program 2022-2023, and had a solo exhibition in October 2022. Visit Trina's Website: TrinaRobsinos.com Follow Trina on Instagram: @Trina_M_Robinson -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 03 Dec 2024 | Lorraine Woodruff Long - Quilter | 00:14:30 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. In this episode Emily features Lorraine Woodruff-Long, a textile artist from San Francisco who turned to quilting after losing her job during the pandemic. Lorraine's work, rich in cultural heritage and social commentary, gained recognition when her piece was featured in the deYoung Open. She discusses her inspiration, including the iconic 'Quilts of Gee's Bend,' her use of text in quilts, and her focus on issues like gun violence and climate change. Lorraine's journey to becoming a quilter and her passion for teaching are also highlighted. Lorraine also shares her thoughts on being an artist, influential works, and her favorite creative spot in San Francisco. About Artist Lorraine Woodruff-Long: Lorraine Woodruff-Long is a self-taught San Francisco quilter with a primary focus on color, improvisation, and recycled/repurposed fabrics. Raised in Houston, and educated at University of Texas/Austin, Lorraine served in Peace Corps Kenya and afterwards moved to California as a “bucket list” dream to temporarily experience living in a progressive urban city. She fell in love with San Francisco and never left. After a career in marketing and advertising, Lorraine later worked in the nonprofit sector while raising two city kids with her architect husband before spring boarding into a fiber art practice prompted by the pandemic. Lorraine’s work has been juried into art exhibitions at the de Young Museum/San Francisco, the California Heritage Museum/Santa Monica, the Sanchez Art Center/Pacifica, Muzeo Museum & Cultural Center/Anaheim, TAG Gallery/Los Angeles the Drawing Room/San Francisco, and the San Francisco Women Artists Network Gallery. She has received numerous awards for her quilts at local, national and international quilt shows. Quilt exhibitions include the International Quilt Festival/Houston, QuiltCon, the Pacific International Quilt Festival, Visions in Cloth, and Quilt San Francisco among others. Lorraine is a member of the Modern Quilt Guild, San Francisco Quilt Guild, Studio Art Quilt Associates (SAQA), East Bay Heritage Quilters, ArtSpanSF, Northern California Women’s Caucus for Art, and a volunteer with the Social Justice Sewing Academy Remembrance Project. Her work is included in the 2021 book, “Stitching Stolen Lives: The Social Justice Sewing Academy Remembrance Project.” She currently teaches quilting at City College of San Francisco Extension and SCRAP-SF and teaches quilting workshops online and to guilds around the country. Visit Lorraine's Website: QuiltingInTheFog.com Follow Lorraine on Instagram: @QuiltingInTheFog And for more on Lorraine's Exhibit at St Joseph's Arts Society, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 20 Jun 2023 | Photographic Artist & Landscape Architect Ron Saunders | 00:12:15 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Ron Saunders, a landscape architect and artist in San Francisco. She visited Ron at his studio at the Minnesota Street Project, and he talked about becoming a landscape architect, why he likes public art projects, and starting a group for Black artists. About Artist Ron Saunders: Ron Moultrie Saunders, a co-founding member of the 3.9 Art Collective, is a photographic artist and landscape architect. Originally from Jamaica, Queens, New York, he currently lives in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. He creates photograms: photographs that are made without the use of a camera. His art work is in the San Francisco Arts Commission Civic Art Collection for projects he completed for the San Francisco Library, Linda Brooks-Burton Bayview Branch, Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital, Laguna Honda Hospital and, Public Utilities Commission New Headquarters in San Francisco. He was commissioned to create works for VM Ware, Inc. in Palo Alto, CA and Dallas, TX and, for The San Francisco Travel Association (formerly SF Convention and Visitors Bureau) new offices. His art has been exhibited throughout the US including “The Secret Life of Plants”, solo shows (San Francisco International Airport and CordenPotts Gallery, San Francisco, CA), and group shows "Echoes of Bauhaus Photography Cast Long Shadows" at Ruth's Table, San Francisco, California (2020),“Self:Scape” at Middlesex County College, New Jersey(2012), “Exposed: Today’s Photography/Yesterday’s Technology” (San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art), “Measure of Time”(Oakland Museum of California at City Center). His work is published in several books including “Self Exposure: The Male Nude Self-Portrait” and “From Art to Landscape”. Recently he completed an artist-in-residence at STAR (Shipyard Trust for the Arts) in the Hunter’s Point Shipyard in San Francisco. His studio is located at Minnesota Street Project Studio in the Dogpatch area of San Francisco. Visit Ron's Website: www.RonMSaunders.com Follow Ron on Social Media: @RonMSaunders on Instagram For more on the Black Space Residency, CLICK HERE For more on the Three Point Nine Art Collective, CLICK HERE -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 07 Jan 2025 | Carrie Ann Plank - Printmaker | 00:13:50 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. In this week's Episode, Emily features artist Carrie Ann Plank. Originally inclined towards a medical career, Carrie Ann found her true calling in printmaking. Her work, which combines science and art, is showcased in multiple renowned collections, including the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Library of Congress. Her latest exhibition, 'Cacophony' at Jonathan Carver Moore, visualizes sound through layered prints. Carrie Ann discusses her process, inspiration from scientific data, and collaboration with scientists. About Artist Carrie Ann Plank: Carrie Ann Plank is a San Francisco based artist working in installation, printmaking, and painting. Focusing on layers of sophisticated geometry, Plank examines the space of intersecting patterns to describe new structures. The work utilizes mathematical equations to create multiple overlapping impressions that reveal additional distinct pattern formations. The resulting forms are space in between, the intercession, of concrete data. Carrie Ann's work is included in multiple collections including the Fine Art Archives of the Library of Congress, Fine Art Museums of San Francisco, Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, the Guanlan Print Art Museum in China, Museum Meermanno in The Hague, Netherlands and Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, Cuba. Residencies include Black Church Print in Dublin Ireland, KALA in Berkeley, CA, Konstnärernas Kollektiva Grafikverkstad in Malmö, Sweden, Local Language, Oakland, CA, Taller Experimental de Gráfica de La Habana in Havana, Cuba, the Íslensk Grafík in Reykjavik, Iceland, Edition/Basel in Basel, Switzerland, Mullowney Printing in San Francisco, CA, Haystack Mountain School of Craft in Deer Isle, ME, and Bullseye Glass in Emeryville, CA. Additionally, Plank has had a 20 year teaching career before devoting herself solely to her artist practice in 2018. Plank is active in the Bay Area arts community serving on boards and committees such as Root Division, California Society of Printmakers, and Art for AIDS. She is also a 2024 SECA nominee. Visit Carrie Ann's Website: CarrieAnnPlank.com Follow Carrie Ann on Instagram: @CarrieAnnPlank Learn more about Carrie Ann's exhibit "Cacophony" at Jonathan Carver Moore - CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 18 Jul 2023 | Multimedia Artist Heesoo Kwon | 00:12:36 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with SF based multimedia artist Heesoo Kwon... About Artist Heesoo Kwon: Heesoo Kwon is a multidisciplinary artist based in San Francisco. Positioning herself as an artist, activist, archivist, anthropologist, and religious figure. Kwon builds feminist utopias in the digital realm that liberate one from personal, familial, and historical trauma rooted in patriarchy. Central to her practice and substantial bodies of work is Leymusoom, an autobiographical feminist religion she initiated in 2017 as a form of personal resistance against misogyny and an ever-evolving framework for investigating her family histories. Kwon utilizes technologies such as digital archiving, 3D scanning, and animation as her ritualistic and shamanistic tools to regenerate her woman ancestors’ lives without constraints of time and space, and to queer her past, present, and utopian dreams. Visit Heesoo's Website: HeesooKwon.com Follow Heesoo on Instagram: @Leymusoom For more about Heesoo's upcoming exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose, CLICK HERE. Link up to learn about Heesoo's Micki Meng Exhibit HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 05 Nov 2024 | Bridget Quinn - Art Historian & Author | 00:18:00 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily features a conversation with writer and art historian Bridget Quinn. Bridget discusses her latest book 'Portrait of a Woman,' which delves into the life of Adelaide Le Béliard, a pioneering 18th-century artist. She shares her journey of discovering Adelaide's work, her challenges in a male-dominated Royal Academy, and her rivalry with Marie Antoinette's painter, Elisabeth Vigée Le Brun. The episode also includes an exploration of how art and letters were used to reconstruct Adelaide’s story and a touching discussion of how Bridget's own experiences shaped her writing. This episode highlights essential themes of art, feminism, rivalry, and the force of Adelaide's will against significant odds. About Author Bridget Quinn: Bridget Quinn is author of the books She Votes: How U.S. Women Won Suffrage, and What Happened Next, an Amazon Editors’ pick for Best History books 2020, and the award-winning Broad Strokes: 15 Women Who Made Art and Made History (in That Order), an Amazon pick for Best Art & Photography Books 2017 and a 2018 Amelia Bloomer List selection of recommended feminist literature from the American Library Association. Translated into four languages, in 2018 Broad Strokes was a national finalist for best art book of the year in Ukraine. NPR’s Susan Stamberg calls it “a terrific essay collection” with “spunky attitudinal, SMART writing,” marking the second time “attitudinal” has been used about her work (first: Kirkus 1996). Her current book is Portrait of a Woman: Art, Rivalry & Revolution in the Life of Adélaïde Labille-Guiard, more than thirty years in the making. Raised on the high plains of Montana with six brothers, two sisters, a devout and sporty mother and a WWII Marine-turned-lawyer father, in a home surrounded by cows and nuclear missile silos, she’s lived since in Norway, New York, Oregon and California. She’s taught art history, history and writing for more than two decades; worked in museums and for galleries and private collections; worked at climbing gyms on both coasts, and was a researcher for the first several ESPN X Games, covering rock climbing, ice climbing, BMX freestyle and downhill mountain biking. A graduate of New York University’s Institute of Fine Arts and a regular contributor to online arts magazine Hyperallergic, she’s a nationally sought-after speaker on women and art. She is a contributing editor to On the Seawall, and the former co-host of The GrottoPod: Writers on Writing. An avid sports fan and Iron(wo)man triathlete, her Narrative magazine essay “At Swim, Two Girls” was included in The Best American Sports Writing 2013. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family, dogs, and hella bikes. Visit Bridget's Website: BridgetQuinnAuthor.com Follow on Instagram: @BQuinnterest Learn more about and purchase Portrait of a Woman - CLICK HERE -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 10 Sep 2024 | Wanxin Zhang - Ceramic Sculptor | 00:16:21 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Ceramic Sculptor Wanxin Zhang...Wanxin discusses his journey from studying art in China, his move to America, and the influence of prominent Bay Area artists on his work. He shares how artists like Robert Arneson and Viola Frey helped shift his perception of ceramics from craft to fine art. Wanxin's sculptures, which blend historical references with contemporary culture, are showcased in several prestigious museums and galleries. He recounts his early inspiration from his mother and the pivotal moment he decided to move to the U.S. Wanxin also talks about how changing his medium from metal to clay allowed him to express his identity and cultural heritage more profoundly. About Artist Wanxin Zhang: Wanxin Zhang was born and educated in China. He graduated from the prestigious LuXun Academy of Fine Art in Sculpture in 1985. In 1992, after Zhang established his art career as a sculptor in China, he relocated to San Francisco with his family and received his Master in Fine Arts from the Academy of Art University. Zhang had been on the faculty of the Academy of Art University, Department of Art Practice at University of California, Berkeley and California College of The Art in Oakland, and the San Francisco Art Institute. Visit Wanxin's Website: WanxinZhang.com Follow Wanxin on Instagram: @WxZhang25 For more about M is for Water at the di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Napa, CLICK HERE. For more about the Spirit House exhibition at Stanford University, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 18 Jun 2024 | Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán - Painter | 00:14:00 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily features a conversation with Oakland based painter Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán. Hector discusses his life and artistic journey, including his upbringing in Berkeley, education at Parsons School of Design and Rhode Island School of Design, and the challenges he faced with his health. He shares insights into his artwork, including his first solo show 'Tocando Tierra' in Los Angeles, which represents men in his life and himself at different stages. Hector also talks about his experiences teaching at Creative Growth in Oakland, working on a mural with artist William Scott at SFMOMA, and his forthcoming studies in the MFA program at UC Berkeley. The episode highlights Hector's deep connection to his culture and community, and how these influences shape his artwork. About Artist Héctor Muñoz-Guzmán: Hector spent his foundation year at The Parsons School of Design and a year in The Rhode Island School of Design’s painting department. He was a finalist for the Tournesol Award at The Headlands Art Center and has received the Berkeley Individual Artist Grant. His work has been exhibited at Fall River MoCA, Bureau Gallery, Movimiento De Arte y Cultura Latino Americana (MACLA), Good Mother Studio, and Part 2 Gallery. He published an art book with Sming Sming Books. He works as an artist instructor for William E. Scott. He currently lives in Oakland, CA. Héctor’s work has been published in Juxtapoz, 48 Hills, Mousse Magazine and Graphite Journal “POCKET” at the Hammer Museum. To learn more about and purchase his book, Brown Eyes From Russell Street, CLICK HERE. For more about his exhibit in Los Angeles, Tocando Tierra, CLICK HERE. Follow on Instagram: @HectorFMunoz -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 11 Feb 2025 | Ranu Mukherjee - Multi Disciplinary Artist | 00:17:06 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Ranu Mukherjee, a painter, textile, and film installation artist, who was recently appointed as Dean of the Film and Video School at CalArts in Los Angeles. Ranu discusses her background, her collaborative work with choreographers, and her latest project designing a curtain for the San Francisco Ballet's 'Cool Britannia'. She shares insights into her inspirations, including forests and their literary forms, and her early experiences that led her to become an artist. The episode concludes with Emily's regular segment, 'Three Questions', discussing influential works and inspiring places. About Artist Ranu Mukherjee: Ranu Mukherjee’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the 18th Street Arts Center, Los Angeles (2022-2023) de Young Museum, San Francisco (2018-2019); the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design (2017); the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco (2016); the Tarble Art Center, Charleston, IL (2016) and the San Jose Museum of Art, CA (2012), among others. Her most recent immersive video installations have been was presented in Natasha, Singapore Biennale 2022-2023, the 2019 Karachi Biennale (2019) and Los Angeles County Museum of Art (2016) as well as in numerous international group exhibitions. Mukherjee has been awarded a 2023 Artadia Award,a Pollock Krasner Grant (2020); a Lucas Visual Arts Fellowship at Montalvo Arts Center, Saratoga, CA (2019-2024); an 18th Street Arts Center Residency, Los Angeles (2022); Facebook Artist in Residence (2020); de Young Museum Artist Studio Program (2017); the Space 118 Residency, Mumbai (2014); and a Kala Fellowship Award and Residency, Berkeley (2009). Her work is in the permanent collection of the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; de Young Museum, San Francisco; the Escallete Collection at Chapman University; the JP Morgan Chase Collection, New York; the Kadist Foundation, San Francisco and Paris; the Oakland Museum of California; the San Jose Museum of Art; and the San Francisco International Airport, among others. In 2021 Gallery Wendi Norris released Shadowtime, a major monograph on Mukherjee's work over the past decade featuring a conversation with author and climate activist Amitav Ghosh, and an essay by Jodi Throckmorton, curator of Mukherjee's first solo museum exhibition at the San Jose Museum of Art. Mukherjee co-created Orphan Drift, a London-based cyber-feminist collective and avatar making combined media works since 1994. They have participated in numerous exhibitions and screenings internationally including in London, Oslo, Berlin, Oberhausen, Glasgow, Istanbul, Vancouver, Santiago, Capetown, and the Bay Area. Mukherjee received her B.F.A. in Painting, from the Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, MA in 1988, and her MFA in Painting at the Royal College of Art, London, UK in 1993. She serves on the Board of Trustees at the San Jose Museum of Art, and the Board of Directors at Bridge Live Arts. She is a Professor and Chair of Film at California College of the Arts, San Francisco. Visit Ranu's Website: RanuMukherjee.com Follow on Instagram: @RanuMukherjee For more on 'Cool Britannia' at the San Francisco Ballet - CLICK HERE. For more on Ranu's book, 'Shadowtime' - CLICK HERE -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 23 Apr 2024 | Charlene Tan - Interdisciplinary Artist | 00:14:06 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with filipina-american interdisciplinary artist Charlene Tan. In this Episode, Charlene shares her background, inspiration, and creative process behind her exhibition, Warp/Weft which pays homage to her Filipino heritage. It discusses her use of traditional Filipino materials like mung beans and ube, the personal connections embedded in her artwork, and the viewers' responses. Charlene's journey as an artist, from childhood to her current exhibitions, is also highlighted, along with insights into the labor-intensive nature of her work, family influences, and the supportive community that has shaped her artistic path. About Artist Charlene Tan: Charlene Tan is an interdisciplinary artist, whose work is thematically focused on the immigrant diaspora and its repercussions, post-assimilation identity, and anthropological investigations of nationalism and cultural heritage. Her work is inspired by her Filipina-Chinese-American identity, reconnecting her artistic cultural heritage of tribal weaving patterns of the Philippines. Using found images by means of digital scanning, these images are edited to pair down to the essence of the pattern. Once free of scale and color, Tan retraces the patterns to attempt to create a muscle memory of a cultural expression that was once commonplace with her ancestors. Her work has been included in solo and group exhibitions in the US, and is part of several private collections. She holds a BA History and Theory of Contemporary Art with a focus on New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute. Born in Houston, TX, she lived in the Philippines before moving to San Francisco for her education and work, and is currently a visiting artist at Minnesota Street Project studios. Follow Charlene on Instagram: @Char.Art.Tan Learn more about Charlene's art at the Warp/Weft exhibit at re.riddle by CLICKING HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 23 May 2023 | Ceramic Artist Cathy Lu - Our Debut Episode! | 00:13:18 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Richmond ceramics artist, Cathy Lu. Cathy is one of the winners of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s prestigious SECA award and her work is on display on the second floor of the museum for free through the end of May. About Artist Cathy Lu: Cathy grew up in Miami, in a family of immigrants from Taiwan and China. Her work manipulates traditional Chinese art objects and symbols as a way to deconstruct the assumptions we have about Asian American identity and cultural authenticity. By creating ceramic based sculptures and large scale installations, she explores what it means to be both Asian and American, while not being entirely accepted as either. Unpacking how experiences of immigration, cultural hybridity, and cultural assimilation become part of the larger American identity is central to her work. Visit Cathy's Website: www.CathyCLu.com Follow Cathy on Instagram: @_cathyclu_ -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 30 Jan 2024 | Charles Lee - Interdisciplinary Artist | 00:16:26 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with photographer and interdisciplinary artist Charles H. Lee. About Artist Charles Lee: Charles Lee is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, researcher and storyteller whose work exploits the fissures in the versions of U.S. history that we have been taught. His work confronts the fallacy of U.S. iconography and encourages critical dialogue questioning origins of American myths, the obfuscation of Black cultural creators and innovators from the historical archive and empowers Black viewers with a more accurate depiction of their histories and encourages the building of future histories. The stories offer insight into the notion of what it means to be a Black American today. The work rebuilds histories by uncovering truths that have been hidden. By unearthing these narratives the work also traces a lineage from deep in the historical past in order to move forward in the future as in the Ghanaian (Akan) principle of Sankofa. Whether it be film, photography, installation, sculpture or sound, Lee chooses whichever means of expression he sees fit for the dissemination of a feeling of belonging and identity. He is the recipient of the 2022 Edwin Anthony & Adelaine Boudreaux Cadogan Scholarship and Contemporary Art Award, All College Honors, Graduate Merit Scholarship, the 2021 Pabst Open Door Grant and is a 2022 Recology Artist in Residence. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally. Lee’s first solo exhibition, “Sweat & Dirt,” opens November 7th, 2023 at SF Camerawork. Visit Charles' Website: CharlesHLee.com Follow Charles on Instagram: @ohhh_so_sirius For more on Charles' exhibit at SF Camerawork, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 27 Aug 2024 | REPLAY! Esteban Samayoa - Charcoal Artist | 00:17:24 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. This week, we're taking an end of Summer break and revisitng a 2022 interview with Oakland painter Esteban Samayoa. Esteban shares his artistic journey starting from childhood, his growth in Oakland, and his diverse body of work. The discussion covers exhibitions featuring outdoor charcoal drawings, vibrant color paintings reflecting his Mexican and Guatemalan heritage, and installations exploring his recent conversion to Islam. Esteban emphasizes breaking barriers for artists of color, portraying community life, and highlighting the beauty of family and friends in his art. Emily also mentions the upcoming episodes and exhibitions featuring various artists. About Artist Esteban Samayoa: Esteban Raheem Abdul Raheem Samayoa grew up in Sacramento and started drawing when he was three years old. His only formal art class was at Sacramento City College, where a teacher showed him how to use charcoal, which became his favorite medium. A few years ago, to push himself, Esteban moved to Oakland. One gallery offered him a show, then another, and now he has a solo show at Pt 2 gallery, Ain’t No Dogs in Heaven. Visit Esteban's Work and Pt.2 Gallery by CLICKING HERE. Follow Esteban on Instagram: @wulffvnky Follow Pt.2 Gallery on Instagram: @pt.2gallery -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 29 Aug 2023 | Charcoal Artist Esteban Samayoa | 00:16:42 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Esteban Samayoa, an Oakland based charcoal artist. About Artist Esteban Samayoa: Esteban Raheem Abdul Raheem Samayoa grew up in Sacramento and started drawing when he was three years old. His only formal art class was at Sacramento City College, where a teacher showed him how to use charcoal, which became his favorite medium. A few years ago, to push himself, Esteban moved to Oakland. One gallery offered him a show, then another, and now he has a solo show at Pt 2 gallery, Ain’t No Dogs in Heaven. Visit Esteban's Work and Pt.2 Gallery by CLICKING HERE. Follow Esteban on Instagram: @wulffvnky Follow Pt.2 Gallery on Instagram: @pt.2gallery -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 12 Mar 2024 | Maymanah Farhat - Curator & Art Historian | 00:17:09 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with art curator and art historian Maymanah Farhat. About Curator Maymanah Farhat: Maymanah Farhat’s art historical research and curatorial work focus on underrepresented artists and forgotten art scenes. Since 2005, she has written widely on twentieth and twenty-first century art, contributing essays and chapters to edited volumes, artist monographs, and museum and gallery catalogs. She has written for such publications as Brooklyn Rail, Art Journal, Journal of Middle East Women’s Studies, Callaloo: A Journal of African Diaspora Arts and Letters, Vogue Arabia, Harper’s Bazaar Arabia, Art + Auction, and Apollo. She has presented her research at New York University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Law School, University of Minnesota, the University of Amsterdam, Johns Hopkins University, and Università Ca’ Foscari, Venice, Italy, among other institutions. Farhat has curated exhibitions throughout the U.S. and abroad, notably at the San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco Center for the Book, Pro Arts Gallery in Oakland, the Center for Book Arts in Manhattan, Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Arab American National Museum, Virginia Commonwealth University Gallery in Doha, Qatar, Art Dubai, and Beirut Exhibition Center. Farhat has been included among Foreign Policy’s annual list of 100 Leading Global Thinkers in recognition of her scholarship on Syrian art after the uprising (2014) and honored by the Arab America Foundation as one of 40 Arab Americans under the age of 40 who have made significant contributions to the Arab American community (2020). She holds a BA in the History of Art and Visual Culture from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a MA in Museum Administration from St. John’s University, New York. Visit Maymanah's Website: MaymanahFarhat.com Follow on Instagram: @Maymanah2.0 -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 10 Oct 2023 | Contemporary Multi-Media Artist Adia Millett | 00:17:43 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. On this podcast, Emily chats with Adia Millett, an Oakland based artist working in sculpture, textiles, embroidery, painting, collage, drawing, installation and video. About Artist Adia Millett: Originally from Los Angeles, Adia received her BFA from the University of California, Berkeley and an MFA from the California Institute of Arts. She has exhibited at prominent institutions including the New Museum, New York; P.S. 1, New York; Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco; Oakland Museum, CA; Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco; Santa Monica Museum of Art, CA; The Museum of Contemporary Art, Atlanta; The Contemporary Art Center, New Orleans; Barbican Gallery, London, San Jose Quilt and Textile Museum; California African American Museum, Los Angeles and di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art in Napa. Millett has taught at Columbia College in Chicago, UC Santa Cruz, Cooper Union in NY, and California College of the Arts. She is currently based in Oakland, California. Visit Adia's Website: AdiaMillett.com Follow Adia on Instagram: @AdiaMillett Learn more about Adia's current exibits: Wisdom Keepers at the Institute of Contemporary Art San Jose Inventing Truth at The Studio Museum in Harlem -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 21 May 2024 | Tosha Stimage - Multidisciplanary Artist & Floral Designer | 00:14:55 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with artist and floral designer Tasha Stimage, as they discuss her artistic journey, from her childhood experiences with nature to her current projects and inspirations. Emily highlights her creative process, experiences during the pandemic, and her upcoming installation at the Presidio Tunnel Tops. About Artist Tosha Stimage: Tosha Stimage is an Oakland-based multi-disciplinary artist who uses a variety of art mediums to examine how we create language. Her paintings, collages, installations, and floral sculptures “use experimentation to re-contextualize physical material and histories with fresh perspectives,” she shared. As the founder of SAINTFLORA, a full-service floral design company specializing in “unconventional flower experiences”, Tosha is also a local entrepreneur and the third and final artist within the Presidio’s Public Art Mentorship Program. In July 2024 Tosha will create and install a large-scale art installation to transform the space between the Presidio Transit Center and the enclosed Picnic Pavilion at Presidio Tunnel Tops. “Flowers put us back in the ‘circle’ and connect us to labor, land, and each other,” Tosha shared. “I’m incredibly excited to explore the flora of the Presidio and use it to spark curiosity and fresh perspectives. Nature provides an accessible and inclusive entry way for dialogue around complex social and environmental topics.” Visit Tosha's Website: ToshaStimage.com Support Tosha's Floral Shop: SaintFlora.com Follow Tosha on Instagram: @SaintFloraCo Learn More about her upcoming installation at The Presidio Tunnel Tops by CLICKING HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 21 Nov 2023 | Contemporary Fine Art Photographer Javiera Estrada | 00:15:21 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Javiera Estrada, a Los Angeles based photographer with roots in Acapulco. She currently has an exhibit running at the Jonathan Carver Moore gallery in San Francisco entitled Back to the Future: Life in Technicolor. About Artist Javier Estrada: Multi-media artist, Javiera Estrada, was born in Acapulco, Mexico, in 1981 and emigrated to the United States in 1989. Javiera’s broad scope of work, which includes photography, mixed media, photograms, film, and textiles, is influenced by her memories of growing up in Acapulco—a tropical paradise of vibrant colors, steeped in spiritual ritual and magical realism. Estrada’s mystical affinity for bridging the gap between the conscious landscape of reality and the subconscious world of the spiritual can be seen throughout her work. Philosophically, Estrada rejects Cartesian dualism and its compartmentalization of the whole, embracing a worldview of interconnectivity and unity consciousness. Artistically, she seeks to unify the mundane and the sacred. Javiera examines the theme of interconnected consciousness in a multitude of ways. From incorporating female bodies as sculptural forms in organic communion with nature, to creating galactic primordial environments with inks—fluid and formless, structures representing the “prima materia,” original essence of existence. The juxtaposition of shadow and light play a recurring role in Estrada’s explorations as well, representing the internal struggle between the spiritual and the physical. Estrada describes her artistic process as both frenzied and laborious. The work is multi-layered and time-consuming, a technique she sees as inducing presence, while moving away from the high-speed nature of the digital age. The initial messy, chaotic stage of unknowing is essential to Estrada’s process, as it allows for connection with the deeper, subconscious elements wanting to emerge through the work. Estrada has exhibited in the United States, Europe (London, Germany, China, Switzerland) and Singapore. In 2020, her solo show in Las Vegas received a Certificate of Special Congressional Commendation for the Arts from the United States Congress. Recently, she was commissioned to create a site-specific piece for the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland. Estrada currently lives and works in Los Angeles. Visit Javiera's Website: JavieraEstrada.com Follow Javiera on Social Media: @JavieraEstradaArtist For more info on her exhibit Back to the Future: Life in Technocolor visit the Jonathan Carver Moore Gallery. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 07 Nov 2023 | Mixed Media Visual Artist Patrick Martinez | 00:15:39 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Patrick Martinez, a mixed media visual artist from Los Angeles. About Artist Patrick Martinez: Patrick Martinez maintains a diverse practice that includes mixed media landscape paintings, neon sign pieces, cake paintings, and his Pee Chee series of appropriative works. The landscape paintings are abstractions composed of Los Angeles surface content; e.g. distressed stucco, spray paint, window security bars, vinyl signage, ceramic tile, neon sign elements, and other recognizable materials. These works serve to evoke place and socio-economic position, and further unearth sites of personal, civic and cultural loss. Patrick’s neon sign works are fabricated to mirror street level commercial signage, but are remixed to present words and phrases drawn from literary and oratorical sources. His acrylic on panel Cake paintings memorialize leaders, activists, and thinkers, and the Pee Chee series documents the threats posed to black and brown youth by law enforcement. Patrick Martinez (b. 1980, Pasadena, CA) earned his BFA with honors from Art Center College of Design in 2005. His work has been exhibited domestically and internationally in Los Angeles, Mexico City, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Miami, New York, Seoul, and the Netherlands, and at venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Brooklyn Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian NMAAHC, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Buffalo AKG Museum, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Vincent Price Art Museum, the Museum of Latin American Art, the Crocker Art Museum, the Rollins Art Museum, the California African American Museum, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, and El Museo del Barrio, among others. Patrick’s work resides in the permanent collections the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Broad Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA), the Rubell Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the California African American Museum, the Autry Museum of the American West, the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Tucson Museum of Art, the Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, the University of North Dakota Permanent Collection, the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, the Crocker Art Museum, the Escalette Permanent Collection of Art at Chapman University, the Manetti-Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis, the Rollins Museum of Art, and the Museum of Latin American Art, among others. Patrick was awarded a 2020 Rauschenberg Residency on Captiva Island, FL. In the fall of 2021 Patrick was the subject of a solo museum exhibition at the Tucson Museum of Art entitled Look What You Created. In 2022, Patrick was awarded a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. This year, Patrick’s suite of ten neon pieces purchased by the Whitney Museum of American Art is on yearlong exhibition installed in the Kenneth C. Griffin Hall in the entrance of the Museum. In September 2023, Patrick opened a solo exhibition at the ICA San Francisco titled Ghost Land and in November of 2023 Patrick will exhibit in Desire, Knowledge, and Hope (with Smog) at The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, CA. Patrick will be the subject of an expansive solo exhibition at the Dallas Contemporary opening in April 2024. Patrick lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and is represented by Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles. CLICK HERE to see more of Patrick's work. Follow Patrick on Social Media: @Patrick_Martinez_Studio For more info on his Ghost Land Exhibit, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 19 Nov 2024 | Troy Lamarr Chew II - Painter | 00:14:11 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Troy Lamarr Chew II, a talented painter with an ongoing exhibition at San Francisco's Altman Siegel gallery. Troy pursued his passion for art, eventually studying at the California College of the Arts and receiving a prestigious residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts. His recent work explores invisibility, inspired by his time as an Uber driver. His work can be seen in notable museums and galleries. Troy discusses his artistic journey, influences, and unique approach to language and representation in his art. About Artist Troy Lamarr Chew II : Troy Lamarr Chew II explores the legacy of the African Diaspora and its reverberations throughout American culture. His work looks methodically at systems of coded communication and how this is translated and mistranslated both within the Diaspora and the mainstream. Chew’s rich artistic visual language draws inspiration largely from Black culture and its history. A highly skilled realist, inspired by European painting techniques, Chew uses these art historical traditions to reframe their exclusion of Blackness. In his Out the Mud series, hand dyed and sewn cloths from West Africa are replicated in a trompe l’oeil fashion, their patterns “torn” away to reveal portrayals of contemporary Black culture and resistance. In another series, Slanguage, the artist paints Flemish style vanitas picturing everyday objects, coded in hip-hop lexicon. His Three Crowns series explores the social history of cosmetic dentistry and the use of grills in hip-hop culture. The artist’s lush and luminous oil paintings embody the energy of this infinitely re-mixed yet deeply rooted genre. In 2020, Chew was awarded the prestigious Tournesol Residency at Headlands Center for the Arts after becoming a Graduate Fellow from California College of the Arts, San Francisco in 2018. Solo exhibitions include The Roof is on Fire, Altman Siegel, San Francisco, CA (2022), Yadadamean, CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA (2020); Fuck the King’s Horses and all the King’s Men, Parker Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2020); WWJZD, Cushion Works, San Francisco, CA (2019) and Stunt 101, Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2019). Recent group exhibitions include Walk Against the Wind, Micki Meng and Parker Gallery, New York, NY (2023); The Culture: Hip Hop and Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD (2023); Imperfect Paradise, Barbati Gallery, Venice, Italy (2023); Continuum, presented by the Kinsey African American Art & History Collection and Residency Art Gallery at Sofi Stadium, Inglewood, CA (2022-2023); I Yield My Time. Fuck You!, Altman Siegel, San Francisco (2020); California Winter, organized in collaboration with Hannah Hoffman at Kristina Kite Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (2019), Vanguard Revisited, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA (2019), Graduation, Good Mother Gallery, Oakland, CA (2019) and Black Now(here), Museum of the African Diaspora, San Francisco, CA (2018). His work is included in the collections of the Kadist Foundation and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. See more of Troy's work at the Altman Siegel Gallery HERE. Follow Troy on Instagram: @troylamarrchewthesecond Troy at the Parker Gallery CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 14 Jan 2025 | Tricia Rainwater - Multimedia Artist | 00:15:21 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. In this episode Emily chats with multimedia artist Tricia Rainwater. Tricia delves into her artistic journey, focusing on self-portrait photography and installations. Her work, seen in exhibitions like 'Allegedly the Worst is Behind Us' at San Jose's Institute for Contemporary Art, addresses themes of political innateness, erasure, and the importance of creating personal archives. She also shares her experiences from childhood photography to her impactful pieces that highlight missing Indigenous women and girls. Their conversation touches on the emotional power and societal responsibilities of art. About Artist Tricia Rainwater: Tricia Rainwater (she/her) is a mixed Choctaw Indigiqueer multimedia artist based on Ramaytush Ohlone land. Tricia’s work ranges from self portraiture to large sculptural installations. Her work has been featured nationally and internationally through group shows and artist features. In her work, Tricia, focuses on creating pathways to a resilient and hopeful future by centering the process of grieving and healing. She is a recent recipient of the SF Artists Grant through the SF Arts Commission. Visit Tricia's Website: TriciaRainwater.com Follow Tricia on Instagram: @TriciaRainwaterArt Learn more about the exhibit, 'Allegedly The Worst Is Behind Us', currently at the ICA San Jose - CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 22 Oct 2024 | Chloe Sherman - Photographer | 00:14:30 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. This week, Emily features photographer Chloe Sherman, who shares her journey from Portland to San Francisco and her role in capturing the queer community of the 90s. Chloe's work, which portrays a time when the city's rents were affordable and its social spots thriving, has been exhibited internationally and highlighted in a well-received book. The episode also details how Chloe's daughter's social media efforts during the pandemic brought greater visibility to her art. The conversation delves into Chloe's inspirations, daily routines, and creative influences, with a mention of her show 'Renegades' at the Leica store in San Francisco. About Artist Chloe Sherman: Chloe Sherman (b. 1969, New York) is a San Francisco-based fine art photographer known for her vibrant portraits of queer life in San Francisco during the 1990s. As a vehement visual chronicler, Sherman captures an intimacy and vibrancy that brings a unique subculture to life, even decades later. Sherman received her degree in fine art photography from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1999, during which time she began documenting a generation of young self-identified Queers. The community became family, and she reveled in their collective creativity, support, pride, and their strident defiance of cultural norms. This was the catalyst for an entire body of work that would go on to be recognized and shown internationally. Sherman’s photographs, all shot on 35mm film, offer a window into an era of defiance, freedom, resilience, and tenderness, shedding light on the energy of San Francisco at a time when it was brimming with possibility. Her images are a throughline, anchoring viewers to a moment in Queer history and immortalizing moments of gender experimentation and joy. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at F³ Freiraum für Fotografie (Berlin), Schlomer Haus Gallery (San Francisco), Kunsthalle Nürnberg (Nuremberg), Leica San Francisco, and The Diego Rivera Gallery (San Francisco). She has been published extensively in Nothing But the Girl (ed. Susie Bright and Jill Posner; 1996), RESEARCH: Angry Women in Rock (Juno Books; 1996), Out In America (Viking Press; 1994), Rolling Stone Magazine, Interview Magazine, Deneuve, the Advocate, and the New Yorker. Sherman’s work is a part of the permanent collections at The National Gallery of Art, SF MOMA, and those of private collectors. In 2023, Hatje Cantz Verlag published a monograph of her work, Renegades: San Francisco – 1990s. Visit Chloe's Website: ChloeShermanStudio.com Follow Chloe on Instagram: @ChloeDSherman Learn more about her Renegades exhibit at Leica Store San Francisco, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 07 May 2024 | Saif Azzuz - Libyan-Yurok Artist | 00:15:12 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Pacifica based artist Saif Azouz, discussing his journey in art, inspiration from nature and literature, his current exhibition 'Cost of Living', and his reflections on boundaries and displacement. Saif's experience with art, his use of materials, and his perspectives on creativity and community are highlighted throughout the episode. About Artist Saif Azzuz : Saif Azzuz is a Libyan-Yurok artist who resides in Pacifica, CA. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and Drawing from the California College of the Arts in 2013. Azzuz has a forthcoming solo exhibition at Blaffer Art Museum in Houston, TX in 2025 and has exhibited widely in the bay area including exhibitions at 1599dt Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Adobe Books, San Francisco, CA; Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA; Galerie Julien Cadet, Paris, FR; ICA SF, San Francisco, CA; Pt.2 Gallery, Oakland, CA; Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco, CA; NIAD, Oakland, CA; Rule Gallery, Denver, CO; Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York, NY; Jack Barrett, New York, NY and K Art, Buffalo, NY. Azzuz is a 2022 SFMOMA SECA Award finalist and has participated in the Clarion Alley Mural Project and the Facebook Artist in Residence program. Selected public collections include de Young Museum - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Facebook, Menlo Park, CA; Gochman Family Collection, NY; KADIST, San Francisco, CA; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada; Stanford Health Care Art Collection, Menlo Park, CA; UBS Art Collection, New York, NY; and University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul, MN. Learn more about Saif, CLICK HERE. Follow on Instagram: @SaifAzzuz Check out Saif's current exhibit "Cost of Living" HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 15 Aug 2023 | Watercolor & Contemporary Culture Artist Kelly Inouye | 00:20:00 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with watercolor artist Kelly Inouye. About Artist Kelly Inouye: Kelly Falzone Inouye uses watercolor to explore contemporary culture. She has presented solo exhibitions at venues including Marrow Gallery in San Francisco, SPRING/BREAK Art Show LA in Culver City, and Interface Gallery in Oakland. Notable group exhibitions include “The de Young Open” at The de Young Museum and “Contemporary Watercolor” at Morgan Lehman Gallery in New York City. Kelly has been awarded public art projects by the San Francisco Arts Commission and the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Kelly also founded and ran Irving Street Projects, a San Francisco-based residency program that provided project development and exhibition opportunities to fellow Bay Area artists from 2015-2020. She is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute (MFA 2008) and UC San Diego (BA 1998). She lives and works in San Francisco with her family and tiny dog. Her work is represented by Marrow Gallery in San Francisco. Visit Kelly's Website: www.KellyInouye.com Follow Kelly on Instagram: @KellyInouye -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 30 Jul 2024 | Alma Landeta - Multidisciplinary Artist & Educator | 00:17:12 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. On this Episode, Emily chats with Alma Landeta, an artist whose work centers on queer and trans representation. Alma shares their background, including their education at the Maryland Institute, their move to Oakland, and current residency at the Palo Alto Art Center. They discuss their unique approach to portraiture, aiming to build a reflective relationship with their subjects. The episode also highlights Alma’s involvement in the LGBTQAI+ community through various projects, including a mural at the San Francisco LGBT center and a show at the Bakersfield Museum of Art. Alma reflects on their inspirations, upbringing, and the significant impact of an influential college teacher. Alma also shares insights on their journey towards embracing their identity as an artist and how they aim to provide hope and comfort to marginalized communities through their work. About Artist Alma Landeta: Alma Landeta (they/them) is a mixed-race, Cuban American, queer multidisciplinary artist and educator whose work seeks to build community through the exploration of intersectional identities. They make art about the importance of bodily autonomy for queer and trans people through drawings, paintings, and installations. Landeta received a Masters of Arts from MICA. They have shown work nationally and internationally through solo exhibitions, group shows, and artist residencies. Alma was the 2022 Homebody Fellow at Ma's House, and 2020-2022 Latinx Teaching Artist Fellow at Root Division. They sit on the Board of Directors as Studio Artist Representative for Root Division. Visit Alma's Website: StudioLandeta.com Follow Alma on Instagram: @Alma.Landeta For more info on Alma's exhibits: Resonantly Me and the 2024 King Artist Residency -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 16 Jan 2024 | Photographer & Installation Artist Marcel Pardo Ariza | 00:20:29 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Columbia-born & Bay Area photographer and installation artist, Marcel Pardo Ariza. About Artist Marcel Pardo Ariza: Marcel Pardo Ariza (they/them) is a trans visual artist, educator and curator who explores the relationship between queer and trans kinship through constructed photographs, site-specific installations and public programming. Their work is rooted in close dialogue and collaboration with trans, non-binary and queer friends and peers, most of whom are performers, artists, educators, policymakers, and community organizers. Their practice celebrates collective care and intergenerational connection. Their work is invested in creating long term interdisciplinary collaborations and opportunities that are non-hierarchical and equitable. Their work has recently been exhibited at the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Palo Alto Art Center; San Francisco Arts Commission Galleries; Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; Palm Springs Art Museum; and the Institute of Contemporary Art San José. Ariza is the recipient of the 2022 SFMOMA SECA Award, the 2021 CAC Established Artists Award; the 2020 San Francisco Artadia Award; 2018-19 Alternative Exposure Grant; 2017 Tosa Studio Award; and a 2015 Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Award. Ariza is a studio member at Minnesota Street Project, and the co-founder of Art Handlxrs*, an organization supporting queer, BIPOC, women, trans and non-binary folks in professional arts industry support roles. They are currently a lecturer at California College of the Arts and San Francisco State University, and based in Oakland, CA. Follow Marcel on Instagram: @MarcelPardoA Marcel's 500 Capp Street Exhibit, Orquídeas is on view now through February 17. CLICK HERE for more info. Visit Marcel's Website: MarcelaPardo.com -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 26 Mar 2024 | Shiva Ahmadi - Multimedia Artist & Professor | 00:17:04 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Iranian born artist and current UC Davis professor Shiva Ahmadi. About Artist Shiva Ahmadi: Shiva Ahmadi’s practice borrows from the artistic traditions of Iran and the Middle East to critically examine global political tensions and social concerns. Having come of age in the tumultuous years following the Iranian Revolution and subsequent Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s, Ahmadi moved to the United States in 1998, and has been based in California since 2015. Ahmadi works across a variety of media, including watercolor painting, sculpture, and video animation; consistent through her pieces are the ornate patterns and vibrant colors drawn from Persian, Indian and Middle Eastern art. In her carefully illustrated worlds, formal beauty complicates global legacies of violence and oppression. These playful fantasy realms are upon closer inspection macabre theaters of politics and war: watercolor paint bloodies the canvas, and sinister global machinations play out in abstracted landscapes populated by faceless figures and dominated by oil refineries and labyrinthine pipelines. Shiva Ahmadi studied at the Cranbrook Academy of Art, Bloomfield Hills, MI; Wayne State University, Detroit, MI; and Azad University, Tehran, Iran. In addition to recent solo exhibitions at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA (2017) and Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (2014), her work has been included in major group shows including Home Land Security, For-Site Foundation, San Francisco, CA (2016); Fireflies in the Night Take Wing, Stavros Niarchos Foundation, Athens, Greece; and Global/Local 1960-2015: Six Artists from Iran, Grey Art Gallery, New York University, NY (all 2016); Catastrophe and the Power of Art, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan (2018); and Revolution Generations, Arab Museum of Modern Art, Doha, Qatar. Her work is included in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; Asia Society Museum, New York, NY; Grey Art Gallery, New York University, NY; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, CA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA; Detroit Institute of Arts, MI; DePaul Art Museum, Chicago, IL; Farjam Collection, Dubai, UAE; TDIC Corporate Collection, Abu Dhabi, UAE; and the private collection of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, among others. In 2016, Ahmadi was awarded the ‘Anonymous Was A Woman’ Award and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Shiva Ahmadi, a new monograph of her work, was published by Skira in Spring 2017. She is currently an Associate Professor of Art at University of California Davis. Visit Shiva's Website: ShivaAhmadiStudio.com Follow Shiva on Instagram: @ShivaAhmadi_Studio For more on her current exhibit at the Manetti Shrem Museum of Art, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 09 Apr 2024 | Maria Guzman Capron - Textile Artist | 00:17:46 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with textile artist Maria Guzman Capron, as she discusses her journey from painting to textiles, influences from her multicultural background, her innovative textile design for the San Francisco Ballet, and her mission to incorporate craft into contemporary art. About Artist Maria Guzman Capron: Maria A. Guzmán Capron was born in Italy to Colombian and Peruvian parents. She received her MFA from California College of the Arts in 2015 and her BFA from the University of Houston in 2004. Select solo exhibitions include The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; the Blaffer Art Museum, Houston, TX; Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA; Texas State Galleries, San Marcos, TX and Guerrero Gallery, San Francisco, CA. Select group exhibitions include Boston University, Boston, MA; Contemporary Jewish Museum, San Francisco; Berkeley Art Center, Berkeley, CA; Shulamit Nazarian, Los Angeles, CA; The Mistake Room, Los Angeles, CA; Public Gallery, London, UK; NIAD Art Center, Richmond, CA; CULT Aimee Friberg Exhibitions, San Francisco, CA; Deli Gallery in Brooklyn, NY; and Buffalo Institute for Contemporary Art, Buffalo, NY. Her works have been written about in Hyperallergic, Variable West, Bomb Magazine, and Art in America. Capron’s work is in the collection of the de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA, the Jorge M. Pérez, Miami, FL, and the Speed Museum, Louisville, KY. As a 2022 recipient of SFMOMA’s SECA Award, her exhibition Respira Hondo was presented at SFMOMA through May 2023. For more about Maria, CLICK HERE. Follow Maria on Instagram: @MariaGuzmanCapron Learn more about Maria's Scenic Curtain at the SF Ballet HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 19 Dec 2023 | Painter Rupy C. Tut | 00:17:11 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with India-born, Oakland based painter Rupy C. Tut. About Artist Rupy C. Tut: Rupy C. Tut is a painter dissecting historical and contemporary displacement narratives around identity, belonging, and gender. As a descendant of refugees and a first generation immigrant, Rupy’s family narrative of movement, loss, and resilience is foundational to her creative inquiries. Tut's artistic practice expands, innovates, and reframes the traditions of Indian miniature painting. She mixes her own pigments and turns to hemp paper and linen to contend and make visible one’s place in the world. Rupy C. Tut lives and works in Oakland, California. Her work has been presented through exhibitions and talks at the de Young Museum, San Francisco; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; London City Hall; Stanford University; The Peel Art Gallery and Museum Archives, Toronto; a solo exhibition Rupy C. Tut: A Recipe for Brown Skin at the Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara; and a solo exhibition Rupy C. Tut: Search and Rescue at Jessica Silverman, San Francisco. Rupy C. Tut is represented by Jessica Silverman. Visit Rupy's Website: RupyCTut.com Follow Rupy on Social Media: @RupyCTut For more on Rupy's current & upcoming exhibits: -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 05 Dec 2023 | Painter & Installation Artist David Huffman | 00:14:45 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with East Bay Artist David Huffman, a painter, installation artist and educator. About Artist David Huffman: David Huffman studied at the New York Studio School, New York, NY and the California College of the Arts and Crafts in Oakland, CA. He received his MFA at the California College of the Arts in San Francisco in 1999. Huffman has had solo shows at venues including, Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, NY (2019); Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco, CA (2018); Worlds in Collision, Roberts and Tilton Gallery, Culver City, CA (2016). Recent group exhibitions include To the Hoop, Basketball and Contemporary Art, Weatherspoon Museum of Art, NC (upcoming); Ordinary Objects / Wild Things, de Young Museum, San Francisco, CA (2019); and Sidelined, Curated by Samuel Levi Jones, Galerie Lelong & Co, New York, NY (2018). In 2019, Huffman completed permanent commissions in Oakland and San Francisco at the Chase Center in collaboration with SFMOMA. His work may be found in the permanent collections of Arizona State University Art Museum, Arizona State University, Tempe Campus, Tempe, AZ; Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of; California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; Birmingham Museum of Art, Birmingham, AL; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY, among others. Visit David's Website: David-Huffman.com Follow David on Instagram: @DavidHuffmanStudio See David's work through the Jessica Silverman Gallery -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 13 Feb 2024 | Andrew Wilson - Multimedia Artist | 00:17:20 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with Andrew Wilson, a multimedia artist and UC Berkley alumnus. About Artist Andrew Wilson: Wilson received his BFA from Ohio Wesleyan University in 2013 with a concentration in Jewelry/Metals and his MFA from the University of California, Berkeley in 2017. Wilson’s work has been in many galleries and institutions including: The Berkeley Art Museum, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SOMArts, and the Museum of the African Diaspora. He has received such awards and honors as: the Jack K. and Gertrude Murphy Award, an Emergency Grant from the Foundation of Contemporary Arts, the Carr Center Independent Scholars He has also worked with Carrie Mae Weems on The Spirit that Resides in Havana, Cuba alongside the Havana Biennial and The Future is Now Parade for the opening of The REACH in Washington D.C. His work has been collected by Michigan State University and the University of New Mexico. Visit Andrew's Website: AIWArt.com Follow Andrew on Instagram: @drewberzzz For more on Andrew's exhibit, Torn Asunder at Jonathan Carver Moore, CLICK HERE. About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 17 Dec 2024 | Replay! Rupy C. Tut - Painter | 00:17:54 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. This week, we are replaying a conversation from December 2023, as our final drop of the year. It features Emily chatting with artist Rupi C. Tut, whose work focuses on capturing the stories of women like herself and her family. Rupy shares her journey from moving to the U.S. from India, studying pre-med at UCLA, to deciding to pursue art and successfully exhibiting her work in renowned museums, such as the De Young Open and the Institute of Contemporary Art in San Francisco. Rupy discusses her dedication to portraying everyday heroism, belonging, and cultural identity through her art, emphasizing the importance of representation and the significant influence of her background in her creative process. The episode also highlights her training in Pahati painting and her latest show, 'Out of Place,' reflecting on the broader impact of her work on diverse audiences. Rupy is a recent 2024 SECA Art Award recipient, and her work is currently being featured at the SFMOMA with other SECA Award winners. Art is Awesome will return on January 1st with brand new Episodes, featuring artists Carrie Ann Plank and Tricia Rainwater. About Artist Rupy C. Tut: Rupy C. Tut is a painter dissecting historical and contemporary displacement narratives around identity, belonging, and gender. As a descendant of refugees and a first generation immigrant, Rupy’s family narrative of movement, loss, and resilience is foundational to her creative inquiries. Tut's artistic practice expands, innovates, and reframes the traditions of Indian miniature painting. She mixes her own pigments and turns to hemp paper and linen to contend and make visible one’s place in the world. Rupy C. Tut lives and works in Oakland, California. Her work has been presented through exhibitions and talks at the de Young Museum, San Francisco; Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; London City Hall; Stanford University; The Peel Art Gallery and Museum Archives, Toronto; a solo exhibition Rupy C. Tut: A Recipe for Brown Skin at the Triton Museum of Art, Santa Clara; and a solo exhibition Rupy C. Tut: Search and Rescue at Jessica Silverman, San Francisco. Rupy C. Tut is represented by Jessica Silverman. Visit Rupy's Website: RupyCTut.com Follow Rupy on Social Media: @RupyCTut For more on Rupy's SECA Art Award Exhibit at SFMOMA, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||
| 12 Sep 2023 | Mural Artist Juana Alicia | 00:16:01 | |
Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily chats with mural artist Juana Alicia Araiza. About Artist Juana Alicia: Juana Alicia has been creating murals and working as a printmaker, sculptor, illustrator, and studio painter for over thirty years. Her style, akin to genres of contemporary Latin American literary movements, can be characterized as magical and social realism, and her work addresses issues of social justice, gender equality, environmental crisis and the power of resistance and revolution. Visit Juana Alicia's Website: JuanaAlicia.com Follow Juana Alicia on Social Media: @Juana_Alicia Learn More About Juana Alicia's Exhibit - Me Llaman Calle: The Monumental Art of Juana Alicia -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com | |||