WPKN Archives Archive Feed: talk

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis Episode 58: A conversation with Power Boothe!

Sat, 25 Jan 2020 11:00:00 GMT

Live Culture 58:
A conversation with Artist Power Boothe!

This month onThis month on Live Culture I am delighted to welcome artist, educator and thinker Power Boothe to the program. The program promises to be a heady mix of art, technology, ideas and books as well voyaging from the past to the NOW and the future, talking life in the New York artworld that was, and getting an advanced look at some of his upcoming exhibits and projects here in Connecticut.

Power Boothe has exhibited his paintings for over four decades. His work is represented in public collections including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Whitney Museum, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the British Museum in the UK, as well as many private collections nationally and internationally. In addition to his studio practice, Power has spent years working in the theater- notably for Richard Foreman and the Ontological-Hysterical Theater Company in NYC . He has received awards for his designs for experimental theater, dance and video productions, including a Bessie Award for set design, a Film/Video Arts Foundation Award for film, and several Art Matters Grants for theater. He came to New York as a student in the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in 1967, He continued to live and work as an artist for the next three decades in New York City. He studied classical archeology at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece and linguistics and philosophy at the University of California, Berkeley. In 1989 he received an Honorary Doctorate of Arts degree from Colorado College for his mid-career accomplishments.

Locally, he exhibits at Fred Giampietro Gallery in New Haven and has a forthcoming exhibit at Five Points Gallery in Torrington. Boothe is currently Professor of Painting at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford. He served as Dean of the Hartford Art School from 2001 to 2010, where he led a successful campaign to build the Renée Samuels Center, a studio facility focused on teaching art and technology. As Director of the School of Art at Ohio University from 1998 to 2001 he produced a symposium on cognitive theory and the arts: Art/Body/Mind. As Co-director of the Mount Royal Graduate School of Art at the Maryland Institute College of Art from 1993 to 1998, he curated the exhibition, Art + Necessity. Boothe served as Lecturer in the Humanities at Princeton University from 1988–1994 and served on the faculty of the School of Visual Arts from 1979 -1988.

Among his other talents Power can also list RADIO. A former radio presenter himself, we welcome him back to the live airwaves as we welcome in 2020!

To see some of Power's work online and to find out more please visit: https://www.powerboothe.com/

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis Episode 57: Glad Tidings!

Sat, 28 Dec 2019 11:00:00 GMT

This month on Live Culture we end the year on a positive note with a tour and discussion with Hugh French, Director and Kristin McKinlay, Director of Exhibitions and StudioWorks Residency Coordinator for The Tides Institute and Museum of Art in Eastport Maine. This is a success story of a small institution revitalizing its community through art, using a variety of inventive and forward-thinking methods. Join me on an audio tour with Hugh and Kristin through their newly renovated StudiosWorks residency space, and the very-much-under-construction renovation of the old Masonic Building downtown, which will give them expanded exhibition space, collection storage, a museum shop and restaurant.

The Tides is dedicated to bridging borders and exploring boundaries. While many small arts institutions are struggling to survive in today's market-driven climate, TIMA offers a model for creating collective goods for artists and local residents, while preserving historic buildings and using green innovations with their construction projects. Located directly on the U.S./Canada border between New England and the Atlantic Provinces, the Tides Institute & Museum of Art weaves together a range of regional and international interests, resources, and initiatives to build critical mass, synergy and connectedness. Founded in 2002 in Eastport Maine, the Tides Institute & Museum of Art offers initiatives and programs to foster new innovative and cross-sector works; through its wide ranging collections, education and preservation e?orts; and through its partnerships and endeavors to strengthen the region’s economic prosperity, vitality and wider connections.

TIMA's StudioWorks Artist-in-Residence Program is now in its seventh year. Facilities include an 1887 downtown StudioWorks space, an 1819 North Church Project Space plus two historic buildings for artist housing. By the end of 2019, 57 artists from 17 different states and three foreign countries will have participated in the program.

TIMA's collections are extensive and wide ranging – from historical to contemporary, from the 18th century to today. The collections have a particular focus on art, broadly conceived, but also have strong interests with architecture and history. The focuses of the collections are on the U.S./Canada northeast coast with connections to the broader world.

TIMA has received two awards from the national ArtPlace initiative based in New York City that is a partnership of 16 of the largest private foundations in the U.S.. In the first nine years of ArtPlace's existence, TIMA remains the only institution in Maine to have received ArtPlace funding.
More about TIMA and the StudioWorks Residency Program can be found here: https://www.tidesinstitute.org/

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis replay of Episode 53: protest Readings

Sat, 30 Nov 2019 11:00:00 GMT

This month of Live Culture offers an interview with Gallerist Jeff Bergman about his ongoing Learn-As-Protest project which has people reading out loud to each other at Trump Tower. Popular with artists and writers, this protest has a wide roster of participants and texts and adapts itself as current events unfold. We discuss creative forms of peaceful resistance, share stories about reading in the tower and discuss why even carrying a book into the building is a powerful act. Jeff has been leading this event weekly since 2016 and has been featured in the Guardian, the New Yorker and The New York Times to name some of the press this action has garnered.

More about the project here:https://www.facebook.com/learnasprotest/

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis Episode 53: protest Readings

Sat, 27 Jul 2019 11:00:00 GMT

This month on Live Culture- an interview with Gallerist Jeff Bergman about his ongoing Learn-As-Protest project which has people reading out loud to each other at Trump Tower. Popular with artists and writers this protest has a wide roster of participants and texts and adapts itself as current events unfold. We discuss creative forms of peaceful resistance, share stories about reading in the tower and discuss why even carrying a book into the building is a powerful act. Jeff has been leading this event weekly since 2016 and has been featured in the Guardian, the New Yorker and The New York Times to name some of the press this action has garnered.

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis number 34: The Net Neutrality Episode

Sat, 30 Dec 2017 11:00:00 GMT

"Net Neutrality"-- what does this mean and why should you care?

This month I am in discussion with Thomas Kadri, a Ph.D. in Law candidate at Yale University whose his research spans the intersection of media, technology, and the First Amendment.

The FCC has repealed consumer protections that prohibit internet service providers - or ISP's- from discriminating against or favoring websites by blocking or throttling internet traffic. These ISP's will also be allowed to charge fees to websites and online services for faster and more reliable network access. We will discuss the ramifications of this, in particular for artists, non-profits and other small-scale producers of online content.

To sweeten this rather sobering topic for our final show for 2017, I am including some musical selections from my picks for the top 10 albums and songs for the year. Please join us for this live interview in a bustling downtown cafe surrounded by people sipping lattes, talking and playing with their phones, laptops and other devices.We close out this year by looking ahead to the challenges of 2018 for WPKN, creative artists and all who use the internet.

featuring music by Iggy Pop, Wolf Alice, Ezra Furman and Nadine Shah.

Live Culture Episode 28: Summer Tastes, Summer Sounds

Sat, 24 Jun 2017 11:00:00 GMT

Join us on sun-drenched stairs facing the Mediterranean, for a program filled with the sounds of motorboats, sea birds and the odd power tool! Episode 28 features a discussion recorded on the Côte d'Azur, with Anna Metcalfe, an American potter who makes works that invite the public to share food, talk about sustainability and the world bee crisis. We sat and chatted about her practice during her residency at the Camargo Foundation, and later I caught up with her at her "potluck" which brought together local food producers and fellow residents for an alfresco event on the Foundation's garden terrace, her first foray into an international version of the projects she spearheads in the USA.

Anna's work bridges ceramics and public art, exploring how art can be a vehicle for social change. A member of the Socially Engaged Craft Collective, Her work focuses on reframing our relationship to land and agriculture, and creating meaningful ways to connect with natural resources. Clay, an ancient medium that finds its way into every home - as a sink, a dish or a decorative object - is a ubiquitous and tactile material. She uses it as a springboard for public engagement, collaborating with community members who create the narratives that she weaves into the pieces specially made for the events she facilitates. Anna has been working as a public artist for 7 years and as a professional ceramic artist for 15 years.

This episode includes music by Sabrina Malheiros and One Ring Zero.

with thanks to Anna, Fleur Marin-Lamellet for her translations and all of the fellows and staff at the Camargo Foundation.

More about Anna Metcalfe can be found at:
http://www.annametcalfe.com
https://sociallyengagedcraftcollective.org
and
to help save the bees: http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/sustainable-agriculture/save-the-bees/

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis Episode 20

Sat, 29 Oct 2016 11:00:00 GMT

Episode 20: Greetings from the Labyrinth!

This month we are presenting a live broadcast from the Erector Square weekend of City-Wide-Open-Studios, an annual event that has hundreds of artists opening their studio doors to the public. Guests include open studios artists: Leila Daw, John Arabolos, Kathryn Frund, Lani Asucion, and Janet Lage, Artspace New Haven Director Helen Kauder and Erector Square Managment's Kathi Telman.

This special event has kindly been made possible through the generosity and help of: Kenneth Boroson Architects, The Erector Square Management Company, LLC. and the wonderful volunteers and staff at WPKN.

more about Erector Square open studios weekend here:

https://artspacenewhaven.org/cwos-home/oct-29-30-erector-square-weekend/

Live Culture with Martha Willette Lewis--Episode 15

Sat, 28 May 2016 11:01:00 GMT

This month's episode begins in conversation with Vanessa German, the current artist at The Wadsworth Athenaeum’s MATRIX series. German’s installation “i come to do a violence to the lie” . MATRIX 174 will transform the Bunce Gallery into an underground excavation site, with strings of bare light bulbs minimally illuminating a powerful female army of over 30 of German’s figurative sculptures installed in military formation on an earthen floor. The presentation was inspired by the estimated 7,000 terra cotta warriors buried near the 2,000 year-old tomb of Chinese Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi.

In her signature prose, German describes them as:

“an army of healers.an army of weepers. An army of protectors. Armed and dangerous upon the lie.” She defines their role in “a sustained accumulation of destruction to the vicious and debilitating compendium of hate, lies, and murder; the shapeshifting nature of the weapons aimed against my very flesh and soul. (i do not have to tell you that___black lives matter.)”

In May she was artist in residence at Hartford Public Schools.
In July she will return to Hartford for summer sessions with community groups including True Colors, Real Art Ways’ Park Art, Billings Forge Community Works, and The Wadsworth Atheneum’s Summer Community Studio.

Vanessa German lives in the Homewood section of Pittsburgh, where crime, drugs, and
gun violence continually wreak havoc on the historically African-American urban community,
and where many residents have personal connections to the victims of violence. In response to
her life experiences, German creates inspiring sculptures in the tradition of African “Nkisi”
power figures, divine protective objects thickly encrusted with nails, beads, shells, and found
objects that evoke suits of armor. Housing mystical forces to eradicate evil, German’s enigmatic
contemporary variations of the ritualistic sculptures embody a performative, spiritual, and
affirming function.

Matrix 174 begins June 9 and runs through Sept. 4, 2016.
An exhibition opening reception on June 8 will feature a performance of German’s
signature style of spoken word opera, a hybrid of spoken word poetry combining the theatrical
elements of hip hop, African storytelling and opera. Tickets are available for purchase online at www.thewadsworth.org.

The Wadsworth Athenaeum Museum of Art is located at 600 Main Street Hartford, CT 06013

During the second half of the show, Martha is in discussion with Artist Debbie Hesse about her project Sway. Shift: Sea Garden, version 12.0, A community-enhanced installation at Vauiso Greenhouse Growers, located at 75 Hosely Ave., Branford. The installation is on view May 10-June 15, during daily retail hours.

This work aims to spark a visual conversation about the relationship between agriculture and ocean Farming while highlighting local initiatives to grow underwater restorative sea gardens that address issues of food security and the environment.

Hesse has partnered with multiple organizations for this project including Vauiso farms and Green Wave. This project is the aftermath of her fall residency at Hongti Art Center in Busan, South Korea where she researched traditional seaweed cultivation practices and created a video installation.

Debbie Hesse is an installation artist who combines organic and artificial materials and forms with cast and painted shadows to create parallel, hybrid, ephemeral environments that explore ideas about growth, materiality and the ethereal.

Debbie was recently awarded an International Artist-in-Residence in Busan, South Korea, a Regional Art Initiative Grant from the Connecticut Office of the Arts and Shoreline Arts Aliance and is a recipient of a Rhode Island Visual Artist Sea Grant, a Connecticut Visual Artist Sea Grant, and a Vermont Studio Residency Individual Grant.

www.geomorphictank.com
http://www.vaiusofarms.com/

playlist of music excerpts:
Hell you Talmbout,
Janelle Monae and Wonderland

Burn the Witch,
radiohead, moon shaped pool

Octopus’s Garden
Rockabye Baby! lullaby renditions of beatles songs

Live Culture Episode 9 with Martha Willette Lewis: All The World's Futures, Part 1

Sat, 28 Nov 2015 11:00:58 GMT

Closing out 2015 Live Culture focuses on live recordings made during the Biennale di Venezia and airs over two months Nov 28 & Dec 26 - to fit it all in.

For the November broadcast I featured:
interviews with Artwise -Dea Vanagan, Susie Allen, Laura Culpan, the curators from the vast international exhibit VITA VITALE at the Azerbaijan Pavilion
and in the second half, I have an audio tour with
Francesca Giubilei and Luca Berta, the curators of the Brian Eno/ Beezy Bailey collaboration: THE SOUND OF CREATION, at the Palazzo Pisani, Conservatorio Benedetto Marcello, Venice’s music school.

More about this year's Biennale which ran from May through November 2015 here

More about VITA VITALE here
More about Artwise here
More aboutTHE SOUND OF CREATION here.
Ayoutube video interview with Beezy Bailey here.

Live Culture Episode 8 with Martha Willette Lewis Arty Beasts & Talented Monsters

Sat, 31 Oct 2015 11:00:00 GMT

Arty Beasts & Talented Monsters

"Glendower: I can call spirits from the vasty deep.

Hotspur: Why, so can I, or so can any man; But will they come when you do call for them?"

- William Shakespeare, from Henry IV, part 1

This month's program offers up a beastly menagerie for creative children of any age- first we have the team behind the book 43 Monsters, which is about to come out in a new, family friendly edition for kids.
My guests are
Artist Chuck Webster,
Author Arthur Bradford and
Gallerist Katie Michel, one of the founders of Planthouse Gallery NY, who published the original 43 Monsters in 2013 as a hardcover art book, printed in limited edition by Trifolio in Italy.The irreverent text has been updated for its family friendly debut, and the book laid out in accessible format for monster-appreciators of every age.

During the second half
I am in conversation with:
Author, Composer and Performer Michael Hearst,
About his ongoing project: a CD- Songs for Unusual Creatures, A Book: Unusual Creatures: A Mostly Accurate Account of Some of Earth's Strangest Animals, and now a digital PBS production. He maintains a lively performance schedule and often uses unusual instruments to portray his menagerie of eccentric and truly wondrous animals. Michael has upcoming performances at Barbès, In Brooklyn, Carnegie Hall, NY, and at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Throughout the program we will hear a sampling some of Micheal's audio animals.
so:
“Let the wild rumpus start!”
â€• From Maurice Sendak, Where the Wild Things Are