Join Tamara for an interview with photographer Bailey Davidson, a Milledgeville native who lived in NYC as an aspiring actor for a few years, before returning to Georgia in the late 90s to pursue his MFA in Photography at SCAD.  Since graduating, Bailey has built his freelance career in all aspects of professional commercial and editorial photography, working with a wide range of clients, including Savannah Music Festival, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, and The London Observer. This past spring he opened a studio in City Market - go visit him and his 20 years' worth of Savannah photos there!  Check out Bailey's work and follow him here:  https://www.facebook.com/BaileyDavidsonPhotography  https://baileydavidson.com/  Topics in their chat include: Bailey's indie movie he acted in, called "Bringing Down Dejonga" (this was the ending title after all! I found out online. --Tamara); how while in NYC he started taking headshots for his fellow actors and gradually took more and more photos, getting into art shows, and drifting from acting to photography; how he first heard of SCAD because his parents happened to meet the Poetters on a cruise; his Flannery O'Connor tie-ins of having grown up in Milledgeville and then living in the garden apartment of her childhood home as his first Savannah apartment; his practice immediately post-grad of shooting weddings and family portraits, to support himself as he built up his clients for commercial and editorial shoots; his show at the JEA last year that was a continuation of his MFP thesis show, "Bailey's Acres," all Holga pinhole camera work; the nostalgia of taking photos with an analog/film camera and then being surprised by the images once you pick up your developed photos; his Storyboards website where he displays his series of photos that combine to tell a story, influenced by David Hockney and Robert Rauschenberg; his photography books "Seasons of Savannah," "Savannah Past and Present," and "Milledgeville Then and Now;" recently getting published in the fine art mag "Black & White Magazine;" and his advice to students and young photographers to just shoot shoot shoot as there's no substitute for practicing your craft.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Julia Roland, a Savannah native who graduated from SCAD earlier this year with a BFA in painting and a minor in art history. The paintings in her portfolio symbolize the many different layers of African American culture and human identity through the juxtaposition of frontal facing confrontational figures, saturated colors, bold shapes, and loose patterns. These paintings are reflections of her identities intersecting as a black, queer woman.  You can view her work in the current FAAA Small Works show at the Jepson Center, through November 26, 2024; at Bobby Bagley's studio/co-op gallery in City Market; and murals at Kim's Cafe and the outside door of a Head Start off of MLK.   Check out Julia's work and follow her here:  https://www.juliaroland.com/ https://www.instagram.com/j.r.art_/  Topics in their chat include: How Julia began showing her work in various Savannah spots as young as 18; she enjoys hand-building her substrates and using a jigsaw to cut out organic shapes for her wood panel art; she's always been into design and pattern but didn't want to create strictly abstract paintings, so her current work is portraits with abstract backgrounds; to build up the abstraction she relies on the underpainting to guide her, letting areas peek through or inform a pattern she's going to emphasize; creating murals at Kim's Cafe on MLK, including a portrait of MLK, Malcolm X, and the owners' mother, Kim (and thus the pressure to get portraits right when they're of recognizable people); what is a collagraph and why is it a good printmaking process for someone with a small working space?; her collagraph inspired by her experiences with roommates of different races and thinking about the differences in their hair; the challenge of using a handheld jigsaw to cut out her organic-shaped panels - it has to be thick enough to cut cleanly, but if it's too thick then the piece is very heavy, so Julia likes 1/4" plywood or a small piece of birch; her upcoming group show at Swan Coach House Gallery in Atlanta; her best advice to young artists who are looking to to find their style, message, and audience: thinking of creating art as a lifestyle and not a career, so that you find success in your productivity and not necessarily in your sales.    Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Zack Turner, a Savannah native who studied Sequential Art at SCAD for 3 years, until COVID happened. Since then, he has been working and pursuing his art by creating sequential art zines, illustrations, and occasional murals. For the month of October, you can find Zack every Saturday 11-6 and Sunday 1-5 at Neighborhood Comics, where's he's working as the Artist in Residence.  And check out “Sunday Scaries” - his newly-self-published 16 page horror-comedy comic collection - available at Neighborhood Comics or through his IG.    Check out Zack's work and follow him here: https://www.instagram.com/intentional_zombiehorde/ https://www.zackturnercomics.com/  https://neighborhoodcomics.com/pages/neighborhood-comics-sequential-artist-in-residence-program  Topics in their chat include: The challenges of working in traditional sequential art media - pencil and then pen and ink on paper or board - when you have a "heavy hand;" how the industry really calls for artists being able to do at least some of their work in digital, unless there's a big enough budget for the time it generally takes to work traditionally; for his artist residency Zack is working on a collaborative zine called Radio Jammers, with a few artist friends in Texas, creating narratives based on songs they've chosen (Zack's is Death Machine by AJJ); the physical challenges of painting murals, including the need to constantly run back and forth away from it, to evaluate the entire scene; learning how to do comic book lettering with an Ames Lettering Tool; thinking of comic books as "a movie on paper," and you do the work of the director, sound designer, costumer, screenwriting, etc, so a lot of comic book artists also work in storyboarding for movies; the common practice in comic books to collaborate with a different artist who specializes in the graphic design and lettering aspects; did you know that the GA Southern Armstrong campus has a print shop available to the public?; the joy of classic Sunday newspaper comics such as Peanuts, Garfield, and Calvin and Hobbes; how much fun he had during the SOY X SOY Art Battle back in July and how surprised he was to make it to the last round; and finally: Zack loves art collaborations - feel free to reach out to him if you're interested!   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Brian MacGregor, a fine artist and - more so over the past couple of years - a muralist who's had a studio in City Market for 20+ years now. He moved to Savannah from Richmond, VA in 2000 and got an Illustration degree from SCAD. Brian says: "You may have notice​d all the handwriting in the backgrounds of my paintings. These pages come from thousands of different people's hand written nocturnal dreams that I collage into the background of my work.​ I have been collecting these dreams for over 15 years in several journals hanging outside my galleries for the public to write in. I call my style "Romantic Surrealism" inspired by the artists of the late eighteen hundreds, mixed with contemporary artistic methods."   Check out Brian's work and follow him here: https://brianmacgregor.net/  https://www.instagram.com/brian.macgregor/ Topics in their chat include: How Brian started showing at A.T. Hun Gallery in City Market in 2003 (until 2008), while still a student, because he was assertive about getting involved in, and volunteering for, the gallery; his trial and error with layering different colors as transparent layers that will be saturated, yet still show the collaged handwriting pages beneath; how he plans out and draws the compositions of his paintings precisely, but then wants the painting stage to be fairly loose; how currently his art business has shifted to be more mural jobs than fine art sales; the importance of researching how much sunlight an outdoor mural is going to get; renting a construction lift for his big murals; how physically arduous painting a mural is; the huge ceiling mural he did on the soon-to-open Subaru dealership in Pooler (and how hard that was on his body); his devotion to Behr paint and toned primers; the recent mural he did for the City, right on the surface of a road at an intersection in Cloverdale, intended to slow down traffic; and Brian's advice to begin your mural portfolio just by painting your own walls.    Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Kasey Jeffrey, a mixed media artist and graphic designer. She is currently focusing on collage and watercolor, often incorporating organic and hand done elements into her digital designs and illustrations. She's a member of Dreamhouse Studios, an artist workspace above the Starland Strange shop, where she both creates her art and leads various craft workshops. You can order her "Magic Beet" book through Barnes & Noble, etc!    Check out Kasey's work and follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/kaseymakesstuff/ https://www.kaseyjeffrey.com/ https://www.dreamhousesavannah.com/workshops Topics in their chat include: How Kasey moved here from Pennsylvania in 2022, sight unseen, with her partner, and loved it here right away; her degree in Communication Design - comprised of graphic design, advertising, web design, and illustration - and how the illustration parts have inspired her to bring in handmade, physical collage into her graphic design; her first post-college job as an in-house designer for Martin Guitars in PA, doing such work as the labels inside sound holes, art on the guitar neck and fretboard, and the graphics for the company's guitar museum; visiting the workshop where the "inlay guys" were hand-creating the fretboard art she had designed; the joy of using a "clay pasta" machine to make her polymer clay jewelry; she's now a year into being completely freelance, juggling her graphic and web design work, making and selling her own prints and jewelry, and hosting regular creative workshops; "Magic Beet," a book illustration project she landed while still in college, after having proactively reached out to local design businesses for gigs; Kasey's belief in the benefit of cold-calling potential clients to grow her graphic design business; her advice to only show work in one's portfolio that's the type you want to continue to make; and going forward, she's pushing herself to work on larger and more detailed pieces, using paper that expands out beyond the page and has non-flat elements, and working through how to finish/frame it.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Mary Carol Kenney, a "figurative artist known for her work in painting and mixed media, often drawing inspiration from her surroundings to explore themes of nature, people, and culture." Mary Carol moved to Savannah in early 2021, largely because someone once told her she would really like it here, and joined the City Market Art Studios at the beginning of July, after having spent years working from her home studio. Visit her symbolism-filled figurative paintings and her pop art screenprints in her studio, or on Saturdays at the farmers' market/lane of artists selling in Forsyth Park!  * This Sunday, Sept 8 from 4-7pm we're throwing an Open Studios event at the City Market North side (above the Georgia Tasting Room) - please join us to chat with the artists and enjoy light refreshments and music! *   Check out Mary Carol's work and follow her here: https://www.marycarolkenney.com/ https://www.instagram.com/marycarolkenney/   Topics in their chat include: How Mary Carol transitioned from being a "happy hermit" in her home studio to working out of City Market at the beginning of July, to boost her sales from just selling Saturdays in Forsyth Park; what are cyanotypes and screenprints?; her time spent in Santa Barbara taking all variety of art and craft classes at the local school; her first career of working as a self-taught seamstress for 40 years; her thoughts about the "generosity of spirit" she saw amongst artists both in Savannah and in Santa Barbara; how Mary Carol ended up in Savannah based on someone once telling her she would really like it here; how she began her painting series of shells with Dutch pours through doing crafts with her young grandchildren, of which 6 paintings were recently chosen by a new interior decor shop downtown (!); how her "To Err is Human" series was inspired by the time she spent caring for her mother with late-stage dementia; getting involved in a few upcoming art fairs this fall: Gordonston and Isle of Hope; and her thoughts about selling in Forsyth Park and all of the energy the SCAD students bring to town.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Lusiana Morales, who was born in Puerto Rico and began an architecture program there, while also apprenticing at a local tattoo shop and honing her linework skills. Midway through her degree she moved to Savannah to instead get her BFA in Painting at SCAD - she arrived in town in early 2020, so her first months here were during the height of Covid!   Since graduating, Lusiana spent some time in Miami before returning to Savannah to work at Tramp Art Studios and pursue her MFA in Fibers, which she is currently halfway through. Check out Lusiana's work and follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/lusiana.arte/ (art) https://www.instagram.com/lusiana_morales/ (tattoos)  https://www.lusianamorales.com/  Topics in their chat include: How Lusiana got into art and making by carrying her coloring books and markers around everywhere as a child, and then by her Grandma teaching her how to use a sewing machine growing up; growing up amongst the nature of Puerto Rico (including snakes and iguanas); her 2 years of architecture school, which led to her apprenticeship as a tattoo artist, and the gradual realization that she wanted to study drawing painting instead; how she arrived in Savannah at the beginning of 2020 and the challenge of then immediately taking her Life Drawing and other studio classes over Zoom; what kind of undergarments do life models wear when they are modeling over Zoom?; the tattoo licensing exam is mostly about how to handle bodily fluids and about pathogens and CPR; her recent 1-month internship in various rural areas of Guatemala to learn about traditional textile techniques; the difference between back-strap weaving and a floor loom; being able to travel around and do guest residencies at other tattoo shops, and how she packs her inks for plane travel; and what she's looking forward to: the annual SOY X SOY group show this fall at the Cultural Center, and looking ahead to her final year of her Fibers MFA program. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Jason Bible, an Americana and rock singer-songwriter and instrumentalist who was born in Fort Worth, Texas. He began performing and recording music in the 90s - singing and playing guitar and harmonica. He left Texas and moved to Savannah in 2001 (due to a "banking issue"), and immediately began playing multiple shows a night, focusing on bars on River Street, and eventually out on the islands. In 2005 he formed the band The Train Wrecks, who are still going strong today. Nowadays you can catch Jason playing solo, with The Train Wrecks, *and*, recently, out playing Nirvana covers with his teenage son Jack.   Check out Jason's music and follow him here for concert and album news: https://www.instagram.com/jasonbiblemusic/ https://open.spotify.com/artist/1UXKMDrq24J2TJIJi4DJAN  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-7NvBK95xe8bPrdmvtW_IA   Topics in their chat include: How Jason started learning guitar and harmonica in HS, through private lessons focusing on early Dylan songs; playing solo both in indie coffee shops and in various Barnes & Nobles in Denton, TX during the heydey of the coffeehouse era; his recent gig opening for BB King's daughter and Stevie Ray Vaughan's nephew at Tybee Post Theatre; what does he mean by "leave sawdust on the stage?;" how his longtime band The Trainwrecks started, playing 3 gigs a night running around out on Tybee and Wilmington Island; how he and a co-writer have written 2 books, with a corresponding song per chapter, named for principles/tenets of Buddhism (contact Jason for these books); how difficult it is to find left-handed guitars and Jason's recommendations for where to buy them; the "Quarantine Concerts" Jason played during the pandemic; Jason's recent musical endeavor with his drummer son Jack, performing Nirvana covers around town for the past year, and the challenge of reenacting Kurt Cobain's screams; his karaoke song is "Roadhouse Blues;" and his upcoming projects: keep an eye on his IG about a new record and book coming out hopefully fall 2025, and about all of his upcoming gigs.   Tune in and get all the details!

It's the 2-year anniversary of Rob Hessler handing the podcast over to Tamara Garvey (after having done it for 5 years)! To celebrate, Tamara, Rob, and David Laughlin - who also did the show for a few year with Rob - met up for a looooong wild chat about Savannah's creative scene and the art(s) of interviewing and writing about it.  (One thing we all agree on is the excitement of getting feedback from people who are listening to/reading our interviews HINT HINT!)     Do you want even more of our unhinged thoughts? Check out each of our social media here: https://www.instagram.com/tamgarv/ https://www.instagram.com/work_by_rob_hessler/  https://www.instagram.com/thedavidlaughlin/    Topics in our chat include: Rob insulted his way into a regular writing gig at the Savannah Morning News; the in-and-outs of the current publishing cycle of the SMN; how the nature of the 1-on-1 interview is much easier for (introverted) creatives to talk about their work than at public Artist Talks; how creating each interview episode is an art project in itself; how rewarding it is to interview a burgeoning artist and give them a little boost; particular interviews that have stood out to each of us; the time David recorded a car crash during one of his interviews; the fact that Savannah has been a cultural mecca for years and we are wondering if it has/is peaking (a la Key West), because of housing prices; we each answer a few of David's "studio questions," including a great piece of advice we've each received; Rob talks about a recent article he wrote that has drawn some heat; choosing interview subjects and the necessity of being inspired by each other; "art decorates space and music decorates time;" the shared experience of trying to protect our time and our creative labor when society tries to get these things for free.   Bonus article David found that related to our talk about Savannah! Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Adriana Iris Boatwright, a creative photographer and writer with a focus in social media. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, and came to Georgia in 1994 by way of NYC and Germany.  Her clients include: Coca Cola, Savannah Morning News, H&M, Bath and Body Works, Ghost Coast Distillery, Paramount Pictures, Do Savannah, and more. Adriana is also an editor for La Voz Latina (a Spanish online magazine for SMN), *and* one of about 4 founding members of SOY X SOY, a space for Latino and Native American artists and creatives to meet, collaborate, and exhibit their work. * Get ready for Art Rumble - A @soy_x_soy event! 8 artists will go head to head to win it all. What they draw is up to you! So make sure you attend to participate. July 13 | 5-9 pm | Starland Yard * Check out Adriana's work and the SOY X SOY group here: https://www.instagram.com/adrianairis/  https://adrianairis.com/  https://www.instagram.com/soy_x_soy/  Topics in their chat include: How Adriana was involved in Starland becoming an artsy district from its early days, throwing theme parties at the Wormhole; how her creative career came about through her blog about her baby daughter - she wrote a post about her brother's death and it went viral, and she suddenly got photography offers from various publications, including Savannah Morning News, where she still works; she transitioned out of blogging about her daughter as she got a bit older, to writing and photographing for SMN, particularly when they first launched "Do Savannah;" she shot the covers for years, including covers with the first gay couple and the first drag queen; how much she loved doing photo shoots with bands and collaborating about their location and their visuals; the pressure that comes from having a large Instagram following and a lot of people keeping an eye on you; the fact that Savannah has about 300 professional photographers (!); the importance to her of still going out to do personal and conceptual photo shoots for fun; having to transition from film photography to digital, including teaching herself Photoshop; being a sort of "purist" who doesn't rapid-fire during a shoot; doing food photography for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and SMN; she tells a wild story about the time an alligator suddenly walked through City Market, until being rehomed by Animal Control; shooting the yearly Lowcountry Pow Wow at Hardeeville, the only one in the area; upcoming Conde Nast Traveler in England of our local coffee shop Agatha's (!); and the upcoming SOY X SOY Art Battle.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Henry Dean, who works in various modes (drawing and mixed media works on paper, installation, painting, sculpture, video), and is also a Foundations professor at SCAD.  Our talk centered around his recently completed "Now and Then," a national immersive land-art project inspired by Nature and Cosmos - specifically the April 8th, 2024 total eclipse. As an Arts-Science initiative it imagines Nature and environment as unique and wonderful attributes of the cosmic whole (and was a project two years in the making!).  Henry graduated St. Andrews University, Scotland (1980, MFA honors, Geography and Fine Arts combined), and Savannah College of Art and Design (2003, MFA Painting). Check out his work and the "Now and Then" project specifically, and follow him here: https://www.henrydean.art/  https://www.instagram.com/nowandtheneclipse24/  Topics in their chat include: Before Henry moved from Philadephia to Savannah in 1999, he was mostly making and selling very large, plein air landscape paintings; his theories on why North America has had 2 total eclipses a few years apart, after not having had any for years; we try to wrap our heads around the experience of the Old Masters who created art in obscurity, died, and then were discovered & lauded throughout the world for centuries (!); how a long creative career always involves different waves of work, including transitional periods, and how craftspersonship can carry your work through successfully; coming to see that "Now and Then" was not specifically about the eclipse, but really about people, honoring communities and landscapes, expressing a wonder for nature, shared experiences, and tying communities together; and the details on that project: two years' worth of work and planning, 15 sculptures across 6 locations, driving across the country reaching out to local governments and chambres of commerce to make pitches for an art project that hadn't yet been completely designed.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Sharon Norwood, a conceptual artist whose work spans several media to include painting and ceramic. She was born in Jamaica, then raised in Canada, before moving to the US to earn BFA and MFA degrees in art & painting from schools in Florida. Sharon's work investigates the ways in which race, gender, and cultural identity shape our perceptions of ourselves and other people. In her work the curly line becomes a metaphor for the “black body." She is an active educator and lecturer, and her work is part of public collections at notable institutions such as the Gardiner Museum, Washington & Lee University Museums, The Telfair Museums, and The National Museum for Women in the Arts. Check out Sharon's work and follow her here: https://sharonnorwood.com/ https://www.instagram.com/sharonnorwoodartist/  Topics in their chat include: Sharon and other family members emigrated from Jamaica to Canada when she was about 9 years old, which plunged her into a period of muteness; getting her BFA and MFA degrees after an early career in graphic design; a "controversially famous" poet uncle; how her time at art school began with her trying to get better at painting realistic portraits, but because she was then the only student concerned with mixing colors for painting dark skin tones, her work immediately became tagged as "political" or "about race," when that wasn't even her intention; so her work then became an examination of *that* phenomenon; how many porcelain tea sets are luxury items; her group show in 2019 at Laney Contemporary; her great practice of traveling around the US and Canada for artist residencies; and a recent installation she did in the drawing room at the Owens-Thomas House, in which she also incorporated sound. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Will Penny, who grew up in Ontario and first moved to Savannah about 20 years ago, to get his BFA in Painting from SCAD. After graduation he moved away, later returning for his MFA in Painting, and has been in town ever since.  * Special note that on Weds 5/22 and Thurs 5/23, he will participate in a two-day event at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum: a light and sound festival entitled “Celestial Seafarers,” featuring Will and 6+ other local artists. Info and tickets here: https://www.shipsofthesea.org/celestial-seafarers Will is a multi-disciplinary artist whose practice incorporates an assortment of media ranging from painting, video, sculpture, programming, and projection. His work aims to combine traditional art making tools with new technologies, to create space to explore themes such as embodiment, presence, fantasy, and the sublime. Check out Will's work and follow him here: https://www.willpenny.com/ https://www.instagram.com/willpennyart/  Topics in their chat include: During his BFA Will focused on refining his skills at painting realism, but when he returned for grad school he focused more on exploring concepts, and took elective classes in motion media design and visual effects; his interest in nostalgia (ex. the history of hockey masks) and working through his childhood of the 80s and 90s, both the good memories and the more traumatic ones; working through your memories, with all of the associated emotional attachments; how he came to be represented by Laney Contemporary; the whole emerging element of how archival work that incorporates technology or media is, whether it might degrade over time, and whether a museum or artist should maintain it; how his past series of 3D printed pieces were exploring the "sublime experience" of nature (but ended up too expensive to continue to produce); lessons he learned from his Big Mouth Billy Bass AI project, both from the summer heat outside of Green Truck and indoors at the recent ArtFields Festival; and his upcoming two-day event at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum: a light and sound festival entitled “Celestial Seafarers,” featuring Will and 6+ other local artists.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara and David for an interview with Autumn Gary, a largely self-taught American/First Nations painter, sculptor, and art instructor from Portland, Oregon. Her practice revolves around therapeutic art outreach, public art, and intertribal collaboration with indigenous/native arts communities. Mark your calendar: Autumn and Alexis Javier (of Sulfur Studios) will have a joint exhibition at the #art912 space in the Jepson Center from July 19 until next February 9, with an Artist Talk & Reception on July 18!  Check out Autumn's work and follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/autumn.gary.art/ https://www.telfair.org/exhibitions/of-one-mind/  Topics in their chat include: Growing up in an artistic and inclusive environment; making pilgrimages to the Kahnawake Mohawk Territory in Quebec; learning the Mohawk language and discovering how many words and feelings are untranslatable between it and English; having moved to Savannah in 2008, largely as the result of a dream; her sculpture project at the Savannah Center for the Blind and Low Vision, which was a collaboration with the blind users of the center; the center's Training Sidewalk, which recreates the various topographies of a city, so blind people can practice getting around; what she and AJ are planning for their collaborative sculpture and immersive Jepson Center exhibition coming up in a few months; the unstructured way she teaches at the Telfair's art summer camps; the awesome surfing metaphor we came up with toward the end of the show; and dancing with seniors.  Tune in and get all the details!   * And some cool podcast news: Feedspot has highlighted Art on the Air as one of the Top 3 Georgia Art Podcasts on the web. Hooray!  https://blog.feedspot.com/georgia_art_podcasts/

Join Tamara and David for an interview with Melyssa Amann, who was born and raised in the Caribbean country Trinidad and Tobago. She came to Savannah in 2016 to attend SCAD, and after trying a couple of directions, earned a BFA in illustration with a minor in scientific illustration. Her website shows a wide variety of her work - portraiture, editorial and commercial work, murals, and scientific illustration - and she does a great job including sketches and progress images for each project.  Since graduating, Melyssa has gotten a steady stream of mural commissions. You can go see her public work at Kanpai II on Chatham Pkwy., the new Artstryngs Gallery on Liberty St.; and the JEA's basketball court.  Check out Melyssa's work and follow her here: https://www.melyssaamann.com/ https://www.instagram.com/melyssaamann/  Topics in their chat include: A little background info on Melyssa's birthplace of Trinidad & Tobago; her roundabout journey to studying illustration at SCAD after trying engineering and industrial design, due to not knowing how one would make a living in the arts if not in a "serious" design field; the weirdness of graduating college in spring 2020; how working at Wasabi's on MLK while studying at SCAD led to her first mural, of koi fish, which has in turn led to multiple other mural commissions (even today!); the agony of seeing your chalk mural getting accidentally smudged by restaurant diners; the pluses and minuses of having many different styles and types of projects on one's website; the arduous experience of painting on a basketball court during June in Savannah;  her desire to continue breaking away from just depicting strict and tight representation, but to be able to incorporate concepts as well; and a lovely piece of advice Melyssa would give to other artists. Tune in and get all the details!   * And some cool podcast news: Feedspot has highlighted Art on the Air as one of the Top 3 Georgia Art Podcasts on the web. Hooray!  https://blog.feedspot.com/georgia_art_podcasts/

Join Tamara for an interview with Danèlle Lejeune, who is a poet, memoirist, and photographer, as well as the Assistant Director at the Ossabaw Writers’ Retreat. From her website: "Danèlle was a livestock farmer in Southern Iowa. She moved to Georgia with her three kids and nothing else in 2016, to begin again from the ground up. After a twenty year hiatus she's writing poetry, making art, and creating a a lot of chaos with her opinions on onions and pies." You can find her debut poetry collection, Landlocked: Etymology of Whale Fish and Grace (Finishing Line Press, 2017), at the Book Lady here in Savannah, or online at the major book retailers. Check out Danèlle's work and follow her here: http://www.danellelejeune.com/  https://www.instagram.com/danelle_lejeune_author/   https://ossabawwritersretreat.org/    Topics in their chat include: Coming to Savannah in 2014 for the first time to attend the Ossabaw Island Writers' Retreat...but she was actually undercover to research and study the Ossabaw pigs, to help with her and her then-husband's pig farm in Iowa; how her quick iphone photos taken while hiking on Ossabaw were published as the posters for AWP (Association of Writers & Writing Programs); how that conference led to her getting an invite for a free(!) writers' retreat & residency in Prague, where she wrote enough Irish mythology-related poems to make an entire book, which was also quickly published; teaching composition classes at University of South Carolina at Bluffton; how dramatic a writers/artists retreat can be; and how supportive the Book Lady shop has been for her and for other local writers. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Molly Cusick, who works in the dual arts of photography and pottery, and shares a City Market studio with her mother (who also works in two art forms!). Traveling through the world's most beautiful places, Molly sees beauty where others are not looking. Faces of rocks, creek reflections, abandoned cars and barnacled boats offer a rich interplay of texture, color, and tone. Her eyes are drawn to the way that nature overtakes manmade objects. She has a specific project called the Tree Pilgrimage: "...born from the ashes of the Thomas fire, in January 2018, is a project honoring embodied connection and awakening.   I followed a calling from deep within my heart to be with and photograph the amazing Trees around the world while I still had the chance."   Check out Molly's work and follow her here:  https://www.instagram.com/mollycusickphotography/ http://www.mollycusickphotography.com/  https://www.thetreepilgrimage.com/ https://www.instagram.com/mollycusickpottery/   Topics in their chat include: Growing up in a creative home and receiving her first (film) camera at 14; her affinity for junkyards and rusty old cars; in February 2020 Molly went to New Zealand for a 3-6 month photography trip, and when the pandemic hit she ended up staying there for 1 1/2 years, extending her visa to travel solo and do nature photography; her early time in Savannah selling work at the Savannah Gallery of Art; being a part of the Clayer & Co pottery teaching studio in Thunderbolt; getting photo prints made and her discovery of metal prints; close calls with bears and cobras; and her plans for future photography trips to Bulgaria and Madagascar. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Phoebe Plank, who is just a few months from finishing her MFA in Fibers at SCAD. Her path to making art in the first place began when she studied abroad in Paris during her undergrad program, and had her eyes opened to a more unconventional way of life by the older woman who housed her. After graduating, she moved from Vermont to San Francisco, eventually making a bunch of artsy friends and attending the Burning Man festival, and from there she decided to move to Savannah and pursue her art.  Phoebe says: "With what might be considered waste, or overlooked foraged materials, I assemble and create useful art objects and experiences. To address an overwhelming degree of alienation in our time, I aim to make work that is useful, even if in quiet sensory ways."   Check out Phoebe's work and follow her here:  https://www.instagram.com/phoebe_plank/ https://phoebeplankart.squarespace.com/   Topics in their chat include: Phoebe coining the name "stickwork" for her recent series of pieces, alluding to a magical, whimsical, wand-like vibe; playing around with hanging her stickwork on the wall with one point of contact, as a metaphor for how one exists/balances in the world, vs. hanging it from the ceiling and allowing it to sway around; what is "wet lab" felting and how do horses come into it?!; how is a jacquard loom like a player piano?; how "Dobby" refers to both a Harry Potter character and a person in the weaving process; weaving weeds in Lacoste; Phoebe's "pocket Rumi" book and how she pairs a poem with each of her pressed flower pieces; the amazing Rumi poem about cooked chickpeas that sticks in her memory; and her goal to live in France and pursue her art, post-MFA. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara and David for an interview with Stephen Kasun, who moved to Savannah and began working in the City Market studios back in 2009, and now has two ground-floor studios/gallery spaces. Before that he went to art school at Memphis College of Art, and then University of Cincinnati, and then sold his work in art fairs for years. Lately painting with acrylic paint and a palette knife, Stephen says: "My subject matter can be anything--as long as it’s about mood and light. My direct, deliberate approach requires a lot of pre-mixing my colors and doing most of the "thinking" on my mixing plate. Each paint stroke is carefully considered beforehand."  Check out Stephen's work and follow him here:  https://www.kasunstudio.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kasunart/   Topics in their chat include: His switch from oil paint to acrylic 10 years ago and the experimental nature of acrylics; how both pig bladders and earwax (!) have figured into creating paint through the centuries; falling in love with Savannah and City Market back in the 1990s; his recommendation to young artists starting out; the time he lost an entire wall full of paintings into the Savannah River because of a gust of wind during a River Street art fair; how does one pronounce the word "scourge?"; the benefits of selling art through a gallery even though they're taking a commission; is a palette knife the Ferrari of painting materials?; the requirement when you have a ground floor space in City Market to staff/open your studio 7 days a week, but the tradeoff of how high your sales are; the specific qualities of acrylic paint that allow Stephen to be a "mad scientist" and do experiments with air brushing, mediums, etc; Stephen's bespoke palette knives (!); how the Six Pence phone booth is a "gift to artists;" and his upcoming work hopefully to be based on his new drone photography hobby. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara and David for an interview with The Maxines, "a badass all chick rock band in Savannah, GA - grunge w/ a kiss of metal." They're led by AJ Grey on vocals, with Emma Smith on bass, and twins Coco and Maddie Oke on drums and guitar. You might remember them from our musical episode back around Thanksgiving - if not, go have a listen! The Maxines released their debut album "Skin Tight" - named after the first song they ever wrote - back on October 1.  Their next show will be Feb 24 at El Rocko!  Listen to The Maxines and follow them here:  https://www.instagram.com/themaxinesband/ https://themaxinesband.bandcamp.com/album/skin-tight   Topics in their chat include: Their great experience recording their recent and first album, Skin Tight, with Scary of Black Tusk; their new bassist Emma, who replaced Veronica Garcia-Melendez (a previous interviewee on the show!); the addition of an instrument called a "donkey jaw;" how the band formed through word-of-mouth of various female musicians around Savannah, and all of the shared songs they wanted to cover; AJ's physicality during their performances and her philosophy on preparing ahead of time for that; Madonna's lifelong influence; working through the stage fright of their first performance; the complicated bass solo in their song "Letter to a Pill" and how Emma faces it; the success of their first show - an open mic in late 2021 at the Wormhole; their collaborative process of songwriting; going on their recent first tour, lasting 2 weeks, with Savannah band Neckromance; how Coco and Maddie have taught themselves screenprinting to produce all of the band's merch; the excitement of getting CDs made (they still have some available!); their brand-new band manager!; the success of the album release party / music fest they threw in October; new experimental sounds they look forward to trying, such as megaphones; and how metal singers take care of their voices, both in general and especially on tour.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara and David for an interview with Logan Artisan, a painter who works in an impressionistic style and who shows/sells her work primarily at the Savannah Gallery of Art. Originally from Fayetteville, NC, she earned an undergrad degree at Wingate University in music & vocals, with an aim to becoming a professional opera singer (!). After moving to Savannah, she studied fine art and illustration in graduate school at SCAD. Stick around for the 54-minute-mark of the show, when Logan sings "Habanera," an aria from Carmen!   Check out Logan's art and follow her here:  https://loganartisanart.weebly.com/  https://www.instagram.com/loganartisanart/    Topics in their chat include: Challenging the "artistic snobbery" against painting Savannah landscapes; painting soft edges and working in an Impressionist style; earning an undergrad degree in music & vocals, with an aim to becoming a professional opera singer (!), but then unfortunately being waylaid due to the effects of Lyme disease; her success in selling at Savannah Gallery of Art; the occasional horror of countryside living, as far as animals killing each other; the beauty of Ginnie Springs in Florida; Logan's practice of making a daily "drawing of a girl;" quitting drinking; her early years living in Savannah and working in the service industry (complete with server nightmares); discovering a love of egg tempera during her MFA in Illustration program at SCAD; and the wild realization during the interview that she was attempting to do illustrations in her painting classes, and paintings in her illustration classes. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with full-time musician Matt Eckstine, whose songs we featured on a recent special musical episode. Within this episode you'll also hear a few snippets of his music, both solo and with past band The Accomplices.  Matt was voted Best Local Americana/Folk/Roots Band/Artist in Connect Savannah's "Best of 2022" awards. Harnessing a wide range of influences from Tom Petty and Jack Johnson to Steve Earle and James Taylor, he released a debut solo album in 2017, and then in 2020 he created a home studio, resulting in his album "Lil' Blue." Matt sings and plays guitar regularly in Savannah, Bluffton, and Hilton Head. He plans to work on a brand-new album after the New Year, so keep an ear out!  Listen to Matt's music and follow his show schedule here:  https://www.instagram.com/matteckstinemusic/ https://www.matteckstinemusic.com/    Topics in their chat include: His recent show at the Lucas Theatre with the Savannah Philharmonic, and in a Traveling Wilburys tribute show at Victory North; how he taught himself guitar in high school; moving to Bluffton and then Savannah from Ohio; his years in the band The Accomplices, including an anecdote from touring life that would make a heartwarming Christmas movie!; and how he balances his time between performing live and creating/recording/editing new music.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara – and David Laughlin, previous co-host of the show! – for an interview with Bobby Bagley, a full-time painter. Born and raised on a military base in Arkansas, he painted his first piece during his freshman year of college. After moving to Savannah, he spent 10 years spent selling every painting he created through the Morris & Whiteside Gallery (now the Red Piano Gallery) in Bluffton. After that relationship ended, he moved into his own City Market studio (307 W. St. Julian Street, Upper Level, Studio #11), where he now works and sells his art. In his highly realistic paintings, he typically depicts landscapes that are "a perfect bubble," like his childhood environment, yet they always include some winks to Black history as well. His titles are evocative and include "The Brown Girl You See" and "Come Sunday." Check out Bobby's artwork here:  https://www.instagram.com/bobbybagleyfineart/ https://www.connectsavannah.com/savannah/bobby-bagley-painting-his-own-story/Content?oid=19995496  Topics in their chat include: Bobby burying hints/nods to Black history in his paintings and/or titles; composition, story, and color are the most important elements in his work; "Come Sunday" is a nod to the items in his grandmother's purse during church services; why he doesn't depict a person's entire face; Bobby's view that "art doesn't always have to be fun," because it's work, and making it can be tedious; his 10 years spent selling every painting he created through the Morris & Whiteside Gallery (now the Red Piano Gallery) in Bluffton; how that relationship eventually ended because of a disagreement over Bobby's desire to experiment with a different direction with his art's content; currently he works out of a studio in City Market (on the south side), juggling a few paintings at once; the surprising disclosure that Bobby listens to "the saddest music possible" while he works (!); how his color palette is heavily influenced by the colors in stained glass windows, because of all of his church memories; and Bobby's recent practice of revisiting old drawings from years ago, working in a quicker and less detailed way than he usually does. Tune in and get all the details!

Happy holiday season! We're celebrating with a special show of music by some of Savannah's beloved local musicians. First, Matt Eckstine, voted Best Local Americana/Folk/Roots Band/Artist in Connect Savannah's "Best of 2022" awards. Harnessing a wide range of influences from Tom Petty and Jack Johnson to Steve Earle and James Taylor, Matt released his debut solo album in 2017. In 2020, the mandatory quarantine provided him with an opportunity to move to a home studio, resulting in "Lil' Blue," 8 brand new tracks that vary in sound and feel but are grounded in their influence. We're playing 9 of his songs, most of which are from that album, plus a few older ones.   https://www.instagram.com/matteckstinemusic/ https://www.matteckstinemusic.com/  Then after our station break, switching the vibe up! We're playing music by The Maxines, an all-female rock band led by AJ Grey on vocals, with Emma Smith on bass, and twins Coco and Maddie Oke on drums and guitar. With angsty, swoon-worthy guitar riffs and moody vocals paired with powerful performances, their mesh of grunge rock and metal speaks for itself. Listen here to 6 songs from their debut album "Skin Tight" - named after the first song they ever wrote - just released on October 1 of this year.  https://www.instagram.com/themaxinesband/ https://themaxinesband.bandcamp.com/album/skin-tight Stay tuned for future weeks of the show, because we will be featuring an interview with each of these bands, as separate episodes, as well!  

Join Tamara – and David Laughlin, previous co-host of the show! – for an interview with Ron Martinez, owner of Hostess City Hot Glass, and his assistant Chris Charley. A native of nearby Metter, GA, Ron was first introduced to glassblowing while in college in the Pacific Northwest. While supporting himself in jobs ranging from salmon fisherman to antiques dealer, Ronald continued to pursue his love of the ancient craft in Seattle, the Bay Area, and even on a program in Sweden! Ron eventually returned to Savannah with his wife and daughter, and after a few years of working at the now-closed Drayton Glassworks, he opened Hostess City Hot Glass in 2018.  In his amazing glassblowing studio you can take a class, book an event, and shop online and in-studio. They even put on seasonal "epic little scavenger hunts" called Glass Hunts, which allow folks to explore a certain spot in Savannah and find their very own one-of-a-kind hand blown piece of art!  Check out Ron's glasswork and follow the shop here:  https://www.hostesscityhotglass.com/ https://www.instagram.com/hostesscityhotglass/  https://www.etsy.com/shop/HostessCityHotGlass  Topics in their chat include: Ron considers himself to be a glass turner, as opposed to a glass blower; how a glass business is really difficult to maintain, not least because your electric and gas bills are super high - the temperature in his studio frequently reaches 2300 degrees so they have fans running and much of their making is done at night; Ron's belief that his business's success is due to keeping a balance of both making/selling products, and teaching glass making; his term "glasshole" for the jerks in his business; the glass hunts they put on every few months - keep an eye out on their social media! - basically an Easter Egg hunt in a particular spot in town, but you're finding and keeping one of Ron's small glass objects!; at the beginning of the second half Ron goes into the history of glassmaking and info about the modern scene, how the two major tracks are Venetian and Swedish; creating all of the art for his show last year at the Mansion on Forsyth Park in one week; how Ron will be exploring light fixtures for his new/upcoming work; his focus on symmetry as the main technical element in his work; his loss of fingerprints on one hand (!); their new shopdog, Peaches the bulldog; and his awesome answer to David's last question: What's something you can do with glass that you can't do with other mediums? Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara - and David Laughlin, previous co-host of the show! - for an interview with Ted Michalowski, a Professor of Illustration at SCAD with a long career as an On-the-Spot/Reportage/Lifestyle Illustrator. He graduated in the inaugural class of Murray Tinkelman’s MFA Illustration program at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford. Ted went on to work as a courtroom artist in a variety of high-profile trials, broadcasted by CNN, CNN en Español, CBS News, ABC News, and Fox News. For ten years he also studied privately under Fred Brenner, prominent children’s book illustrator, wildlife artist, fashion illustrator, and educator. He and his students got the chance to create live drawings of many actors visiting for the recent SCAD Film Fest, including Bob and Erin Odenkirk and Kevin Bacon. Ted also has an original piece in an exhibition opening Nov 17, at the Society of Illustrators in NYC!  Check out Ted's work and follow him here:  https://www.instagram.com/tedmichalowski/ http://tedmichalowski.com/  Topics in their chat include: Ted's hilarious quote about courtroom illustration: "capturing people through drawing; drawing people who have already been captured;" his father's influence on Ted and instilling the value of making, keeping, and maintaining friendships; the "friendliness of drawing" in connecting with a person visually; teacher Fred Brenner who inspired him to start drawing people while sitting out in public, and his thoughts about a face being a landscape; a teaser of Ted's AMAZING rock DJ voice at the beginning of the show's second half; the annual live music and live drawing events Ted and a musician friend puts on throughout Poland; Ted's thoughts on society's salacious interest in violent video games and in the famous trials he's illustrated, vs. the real-life emotionally difficult experience of sitting near the families involved, having to listen to the testimony, etc; Fred Brenner's words: "the role of the artist is to reinforce the value of life;" Ted's compliments on the quality and emotional depth of the movies shown at the recent SCAD Film Fest, especially "American Fiction" and "Poor Things;" and his thoughts that becoming a teacher was about finding something he loved that gave him meaning, and then turning around and passing it along to a new generation.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Ivan Chow, who's lived in Savannah since 2013 and is in the process of retiring from his lifelong career as an architect. At the same time, he's ramping up his fine art practice - Ivan has been drawing buildings and cityscapes throughout his life, of Savannah scenes and of everywhere else he's visited.  For a few years now, he's been working as an Artist-in-Residence and Educator at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. He's also self-published two books of his artwork, created both en plein air and in the studio: "Sketching Savannah" and "Travel Sketching."  Check out Ivan's work and follow him here:  https://www.instagram.com/qkkdraw/ https://www.facebook.com/ivanchowsketches  Topics in their chat include: Ivan was in Harvard grad school in the early 80s was when computer-based design programs started to take over in educational curriculums, quickly pushing hand drawing to the back seat; his thoughts on the importance of "the craft," of using one's hands for drawing, building, etc; the book "The Thinking Hand"; his experience as a young architect using the infamous "diazo printer" amidst all of its VOCs; his work with Fallingwater: performing a survey and recommendations of all the properties for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy; and developing his art/illustration practice by hanging work at the Savannah Gallery of Art, making prints and cards of his drawings, and self-publishing his books so he could make sure to have gloss finish paper on the interior pages.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Axelle Kieffer, painter and handcut collage artist. She was raised in a tiny French town on the German border, then moved to Strasbourg for college, and eventually came to Savannah at age 35 and has been here ever since.  She currently has a show up at Sulfur Studios - Paper Cuts, An International Collage Exchange - which runs through this Saturday, Oct 21. She's collaborated on over 200 collages since 2019, mostly through the postal service with other artists from around the world, and this exhibition is displaying many of those pieces. Also this year, she's been published in MA LANGUE SUR TON CŒUR (MY TONGUE ON YOUR HEART), a collective book published by Joie Panique that brings together texts and images about love, by 70 artists from all over the world.  Check out Axelle's work and follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/axellekieffer/ https://axellekiefferart.com/  Topics in their chat include: How Axelle defines the difference between surrealism and Dada; how for her first years in Savannah she created oil paintings of skulls, skeletons, etc, and she realized that her childhood was spent amongst medieval churches that had chandeliers and other decorations made from bones, which had made its way into her subconscious so thoroughly that she didn't even think of it as macabre; how she started thrift store shopping and found lots of old medical books, and the colors and shapes inspired her to begin taking them apart to create paper collages; her thoughts on using a scalpel to cut paper for a collage vs. tearing it to create an interesting, textured edge; and her involvement in "Collective Concern" - an upcoming show that will be traveling around the U.S. for the next 4 years.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Matt Toole ("Maker. Teacher. Explorer. Collector.") of Toole Sculpture Works. He creates contemporary artwork, custom furniture, lighting, and other unique objects for a variety of home and garden applications. Most elements are handcrafted from ferrous metals or upcycled from selected materials both manufactured and found in nature. Matt grew up around the barrier islands and salt marshes of Savannah, Georgia. He received a BFA from Georgia Southern in 1994, and an MFA from Southern Illinois University in 2000. He returned to Savannah for good around 2003, and then spent time as a professor at both Georgia Southern and at SCAD, before eventually creating his company and becoming a full-time sculptor.  Check out Matt's work and follow him here: https://www.instagram.com/toole_sculpture_works/ https://toolesculptureworks.com/  Topics in their chat include: How Matt fell in love with pouring and melting metal during his BFA program for 3D art; working as an art mover and installer in Atlanta between undergrad and grad school; how seeing a George Beesley iron performance inspired him to go into iron casting and making art for a living; what's the difference between casting and forging?; the safety mishap he had during a metal splashing demo; how a Minnesota winter drive him back to Savannah for good, around 2003; how many of his commission clients want to collaborate on the thinking and planning processes and how much Matt enjoys that; his work with the city's Storm Drain and Rain Garden Flowers projects, educating kids (and adults!) about environmental issues; how towns with "bloom" in the name come from the steel industry, ex. Bloomington, Indiana; his upcoming group show at Ology Gallery in October; and the music festival he's organizing for Nov 18 - a benefit for Pegasus Riding Academy, which helps kids and veterans with special needs.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Kurtis Schumm, a 20-year Tybee Island resident who started his adolescence playing guitar in the "esteemed haunts of Nashville and beyond, including the famed Bluebird Cafe at 14." After moving here, he transitioned into a culinary career, opening Tybee Island Social Club with his wife and eventually running 4 successful restaurants at once.  Just before Covid, they sold their restaurant concepts and Kurtis transitioned again, into a full-time art career. His work largely depicts female portraiture and an island aesthetic, and his materials are truly unique: epoxy and acrylic paints, and ink, on plexiglass. (And because he's painting on a clear surface, he works "backwards," i.e. painting in mirror image on the back side of his substrate.) Check out Kurtis's work and follow him here: https://www.instagram.com/givemeschumm/ https://www.kurtisschumm.com/  Topics in their chat include: The connection between wine and colors, and how that led Kurtis to visual art; moving to Savannah about 20 years ago, when his artist mother moved to Tybee; studying food under a woman from Verona, Italy; Kurtis's idea to teach cooking to underprivileged communities so they can get the most healthy food out of a small budget; how he began painting just to create some art for the walls of his restaurants, and finding success selling them; details about how Plexi behaves - how you can cut it down by scoring, how he hangs it with or without frames, how various types of paint and ink behave on it; doing a portrait commission for realtor Cora Bett Thomas that included her surrounded by 10 of her dogs through the years; if you own his art and repaint the wall it's hanging on, you can change the color tone of his piece; getting his art printed on the labels of 2 wines for California-based Seamus Wines; how you can buy his work around town at Grand Bohemian Gallery and One Fish, Two Fish, as well as on St. Simon's Island; and also at the Isle of Hope show on Oct. 21, where Kurtis will be selling various sizes of original paintings.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Charla Pettingill, a published illustrator, surface designer, and illustration professor with 14 years of industry experience designing for print and pattern. A native of East Tennessee, she graduated from SCAD with a B.F.A. in Illustration and an M.A. in Visual Communication, then moved to Atlanta to work in the industry. She's now back in Savannah, having returned to SCAD's Illustration department as a professor. Charla juggles this with her freelance work creating artwork for magazines, product packaging, floor coverings, fabric, gift wrap, and greeting cards, as well as children's activities and books. Repeat patterns are her passion! Check out Charla's work and follow her here: https://www.charladraws.com/  https://www.instagram.com/charladraws/ Topics in their chat include: Savannah feeling like a big city when she arrived in 2004; learning the "straight line technique" in life drawing class; interesting facts about the use of gouache in mid-century illustration, and its revival now, including being used in Rifle Paper Co.'s greeting card illustrations; while in "Intro to Illustration" class as a sophomore she got a freelance job illustrating a family friend's book, "The Last Voyage of the Cosmic Muffin;" what does "Work for Hire" mean in a contract?; how print on demand sites are great for artists to continue making passive income; how Charla transitioned into digital art during SCAD, learning Illustrator and Corel Painter (now surpassed by Procreate); her advice to anyone doing graphic or surface design to "make friends with Illustrator;" what is "collateral" in the design world?; how nowadays illustration can overlap with animation, film, graphic design/advertising, and architecture; what is "fairycore?"; and the time a journal she design was featured in Apartment Therapy. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Faran Riley - local artist, geology enthusiast, fine jewelry connoisseur, and aspiring surfer. A Savannah native, she was one of the first classes to go through Savannah Arts Academy. After living in both Boston and NYC, she returned to town in 2020 and now works out of Sulfur Studios, exhibiting her drawings, paintings, and rock collections. Faran begins her paintings with abstract imagery in Sumi ink (and sometimes acrylic paint), then "carves the image out," adding backlighting and moments of realism and surrealism using colored pencils. Her fantastical landscapes are inspired by a combination of her Night Walks around Savannah, and time spent at her family home in coastal Maine. Check out Faran's work and follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/faranriley/ https://www.faranriley.com/ Topics in their chat include: Working on performance art and installation while attending the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, including a diner in her studio made of cardboard, operating 24 hours a day; the emotional turmoil of her college critiques and review boards; her post-college years living in NYC and working as a studio assistant to Yunhee Min; Faran's thoughts about the contemporary versions of the Old Masters artists who subcontracted parts of their painting work to assistants; her interest in gemstones and diamonds, stemming from working for years in a high-end jewelry boutique; getting back into art by taking drawing classes at the 1898 NYC institution, The National Arts Club; how she moved back home to Savannah at the start of Covid; using materials to experiment with markmaking in order to depict textures in her landscapes; the well-loved NYC art model Madeline; Savannah's new gallery space Ology Gallery near Bonaventure Cemetery; her current pieces merging the foliage and landscape of Savannah with her family's home in Maine; and her final words about Savannah feeling like such a supportive community because there are enough artist opportunities to go around without us competing. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with singer and musician Trae Gurley. He's a long-time Savannahian who specializes in songs by The American Songbook legends, such as Sinatra, Mercer, Porter, Gershwin, and Cahn. Over his 30-year career, Trae has performed at restaurants, jazz bars, private parties, and weddings, from The Hollywood Hills to Cape Cod. When downtown staple Jazz'd first opened in 2003, Trae began a weekly Thursday night singing gig, and he stayed for 10 years! After all these years, he and his band El Alma are about to return for 3 performances: Saturday August 19, Saturday September 23, and Saturday October 14.   Check out Trae's music and follow him here: https://www.traegurley.com/  https://www.instagram.com/traegurley1975/  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ok9b7-deggc&t=4s  Topics in their chat include: How Trae got started in music by learning saxophone in high school; his memories of growing up in Garden City and then Pooler; the thriving musical theatre scene in Savannah during the 90s (did you know there used to be "Shakespeare in the Square?!"); how he spent years emceeing kids' dance competitions every weekend before segueing into becoming a voice performer; his earliest performances in a Savannah club called Moxie's, singing in an oversized tuxedo at midnight, to people playing pool; the term "The Great American Songbook" to describe Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, etc; his night singing "Moon River" at a gig next door to Johnny Mercer's old house; and getting to return to musical theatre by performing this past spring in "Once."  (Side note re: our conversation about Sinatra, per Google it is true that "He didn't have any formal music education, but he had perfect pitch.")  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for a re-interview with freelance artist/illustrator Adonis Deking. He was Tamara's first interviewee, so we're checking in to see what the past year has brought him!  Adonis recently had a month-long exhibition of landscapes and pet portraits at the Churchwood Gallery in Pennsylvania. He's a self-directed learner who recently taught himself the impasto and sgraffito techniques, and he's juggling his pet portrait commissions with fulfilling orders of his stickers and prints on both Faire and Etsy.  Check out Adonis's work and follow him here: https://www.instagram.com/deking_art/ https://adonisdeking.com/ Topics in their chat include: How Adonis started having more success selling his stickers and prints wholesale, i.e. to businesses, than directly to people; how his pet portrait business has grown massively since he raised his prices substantially -- he now provides a certificate of authenticity, plus a sticker and a print of the pet; the difficulty of painting landscapes on-site (en plein air) as an introvert; his easel that has a built-in carrying case and wheels, so he can safely transport a still-wet painting; what do the techniques impasto and sgraffito mean?; Adonis's cool project of tracking all of the states to which he's shipped Etsy orders; the excitement of buyers wanting to see you hand-sign the print they're buying; his practice of looking at other artists selling similar items for inspiration of how he can package/market his pieces better; and his goal to sell a higher amount each month even if by $5, to constantly be "a better version of himself."  Tune in and get all the details!

It's the one-year anniversary of Tamara taking over host duties from Rob Hessler! Join her for a replay of the first show - an interview with then-co-host Melissa Taylor of recent SCAD graduate Adonis Deking. This episode originally aired on July 20, 2022.  And stay tuned for our next show, when I'll re-interview Adonis to see where he is in his freelance artist/illustrator career now that it's one year later!  Check out Adonis's work and follow him here: https://www.instagram.com/deking_art/ https://adonisdeking.com/ This episode includes the following, plus much more: What is Adonis’s theory of the 3 groups his fellow Animation students can be broken into? What inspired him to pick up brushes and paints instead? What early degrees did Tamara and Melissa get, before pursuing completely different fields? What 1980s method of transportation does Adonis use?

Join Tamara for an interview with Kristopher Monroe: "writer, editor, and freelance culture assassin with over two decades of experience writing about the arts and other symptoms of human creativity." He was born and raised in Atlanta, where he began his freelance writing career, then lived in Seattle and NYC before settling in Savannah in 2013.  You've probably read Kristopher's arts column in the Savannah Morning News, which he wrote for many years. He's also contributed to publications ranging from The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, Village Voice, Juxtapoz, Dazed & Confused, Beautiful/Decay, and Swindle. Lately he's been serving as the current Chair of the Savannah-Chatham County Historic Site and Monument Commission, AND has returned to his first writing love - sci-fi and cyberpunk - and is actively looking for an agent for his recently-completed first novel! Check out Kristopher's work and follow him here: https://www.cultureassassin.com/ https://www.instagram.com/savartscene/ https://www.amazon.com/What-Tired-Web-We-Breed-ebook/dp/B07XPD8PH6  Topics in their chat include: What Kristopher means by calling himself "a cultural assassin;" how the World Trade Organization protests impacted his life trajectory; how he fell into writing about fine art, street art, and pop art despite no formal art education; how 2013 was the last time that either Kristopher or I had a full-time job (!); his years spent balancing a weekly SMN column with 1-2 columns in the Do magazine; how he has blossomed into full adulthood in his community work; and how in the past couple of years he has gotten back to his early love of sci-fi and surrealist creative writing - one short story is available on Amazon for $1 (with cover art by local designer and art aficionado Don Sanders!) - plus a full novel; and his obscure skills with running and fixing a 35mm film projector.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with commercial photographer and SCAD grad Anna Young Byrd, who works out of Sulfur Studios. She fell in love with Savannah at age 12 when her sister came to attend SCAD, and has now lived here since 2017. Two years out of school, she's at such an exciting time in her career - just about to transition into doing her freelance photography full-time!  Anna's goal during a shoot is to make the subject feel like "the coolest person ever," and her dream project would be shooting Dave Grohl for a Rolling Stone cover.  The main design element she focuses on in her work, especially during the editing process, is color. From her site: "Anna is a forward-thinking, hard-working, and inquisitive artist. She is the first to introduce herself, the first to think, and the first to solve a problem. Her fulfillment in life is to bring joy to others. What better way to do that than taking some kickass photos." Check out Anna's work and follow her here: https://www.annayoungbyrd.com/ https://www.instagram.com/annas_eyeball/  Topics in their chat include: How being a people person is so beneficial to her work in making her photo subject feel comfortable as quickly as possible; how coming to Savannah and finding other creative people made her transition from introversion to extroversion; using a digital Nikon as her first camera when she was young and experimenting; how the current trendy look in digital photography is to make it look like it was done with film - light leaks, grain, dust marks - i.e. the perks of digital but with the aesthetics of film; an added bonus of working in photography is working with her hands - putting lights and backgrounds together, and breaking things down; how getting her "big boy camera" allows her to take photos with huge file sizes, big enough to print at billboard size; the importance of using a reference photo to show clients her inspiration/direction/essence of her idea; she takes us through the start-to-finish process of a shoot; how choosing the wrong music once hurt her connection with a model on a shoot; being the creator of her set; how photography is the study and control of light; what is a "treatment book?"; how one's artistic community can help each other through imposter syndrome; and the elaborate setup and editing process it took to create her beautiful shot of a Neutrogena jar leaning over in water.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Ariel Felton, a writer and editor with a decade of experience in feature writing, travel writing, and copywriting. She first arrived in Savannah in 2013, to pursue her MFA in Writing from SCAD.  Post-graduation, she held writing jobs with SCAD and then taught creative writing for local non-profit Deep Center. Her writing has since been published in The New York Times, Vogue, The New Yorker (Shouts & Murmurs), The Washington Post, Bloomberg, The Bitter Southerner, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Scalawag Magazine, and more. Her essay “A Letter to My Niece,” first published in The Progressive, was listed as Notable in “Best American Essays 2020.” Check out Ariel's work and follow her here: https://arielfelton.com/writing https://www.instagram.com/ar.felton/ https://twitter.com/Ariel_R_Felton  Topics in their chat include: When Ariel began her MFA program there were only 2 other new Writing students; the aspiration to become a David Sedaris-type writer of personal essays; keeping her own creative writing going while she worked as a creative writing teacher for middle- and high-schoolers at Deep Center; her observation that today's young generation cares about anti-bullying and how the internet has handed them terminology that helps them not internalize the various -isms they experience; showing her piece "A Letter to My Niece," a response to James Baldwin's "A Letter to My Nephew," to her parents and sister before it was published; her love for Twitter and using it to find publications' pitch calls; how writing travel blurbs for Atlas Obscura led to a door opening with a Washington Post editor; how she formats her email pitches to editors; how she pitched to the editor at the New Yorker for a year before getting an assignment; branded content is the "cheat code" for a writer to pay the bills; and how she's currently throwing herself into an upcoming book project.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with photographer and multidisciplinary artist Nathaniel Thompson. He was born in Thailand, grew up on St. Simon's Island, and has now lived in Savannah for about 4 years. He primarily uses vintage and analog devices such as early digital cameras, 1980’s slide projectors, medium formats, 35mm, and instant film. Nathaniel finds inspiration through his current geographical location, road trips, and historical reenactments, depicting images of everyday architecture that are both nostalgic and beautiful, and the relationship between the past and present.  He has a show up now through June 21st at Cafe M here in Savannah, which includes photographs, a vintage iMac displaying his images, and a hand-bound limited edition photo book for sale. Check out his work and follow him here: https://www.nathanielryanthompson.com/  https://www.instagram.com/nr.thompson/  Topics in their chat include: Nathaniel grew up with a photographer dad and grandpa and received his first camera at age 6 (a digital Kodak point-and-shoot); in high school he entered Reflections, the PTA-run art contests, and won multiple times up to the county and/or state level; armed with his first film camera, he took a 3ish-months-long solo road trip from Ohio all over the eastern U.S., generally just sleeping in his car; how his drives on the small roads between Savannah and Brunswick inspired his love of folk and outsider art, as well as estate sales and thrift stores to find ephemera and vintage photography equipment; how he recently spent time with Nomadic Photo Ark, learning their darkroom process and how to use their vintage 4x5 camera; what is lomography film?; development is happening very quickly here in the south, and he is driven to discover sites and buildings and document before they've changed; what was Kodachrome film, other than the title of the Paul Simon song?; and the recent shift of people going back to printing out photos and hanging them up in their home, or even reenacting "vacation slide viewing" by having PowerPoint parties (!).    Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with textile maven Katie Glusica. She came to Savannah in 2008 to pursue her MFA in Fibers from SCAD, where she would have access to a then-rare and sought-after jacquard loom.  Post-graduation, she exhibited her personal textile work in tons of renowned shows, including the Smithsonian Craft Show, the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, and a SCAD booth at Design Miami of Art Basel. She uses weaving as a means to engage her viewer with the quantum concept of wave/particle duality.  At the same time, Katie launched her business of repairing and restoring handmade rugs, caning, wicker, and rattan. In recent years she has *also* done consulting work with the Telfair Museum and the Owens-Thomas House, assisting them with various textile preparation, installation, and appraisal.  Check out her work and follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/katieglusica/  https://www.katieglusica.com/  Topics in their chat include: How landing a part-time job at a rug restoration shop in Richmond during undergrad inspired Katie's lifelong work; at her fine craft shows she created an immersive gallery space to create an "experience;" she built her business of restoring furniture and rugs with an eye toward sustainability, which is antithetical to the design world which relies on you consuming every few years; her work with the Oglethorpe Plan Coalition, dedicated to preserving the Savannah Downtown National Historic Landmark District; her message to artists: tenacity is very important and don't be afraid to hear "no;" rugs are a special niche even within the special niche of textiles, and not taught in very many academic spaces; what does "deaccessioned" mean?; and how the Jacquard loom, developed in 1804, was the first machine to use binary code.    * More info on the Oglethorpe Plan Coalition: The National Historic Landmark District in Savannah, Georgia, designated in 1966, is now under threat from excessive and inappropriate development. The district is supposed to be protected by local ordinances, but increasingly, important provisions in these ordinances are not being enforced. The National Park Service grades the district as “threatened,” and preservationists are now grouping together to take action to restore the district’s integrity. https://oglethorpeplancoalition.org/  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Curtis Bartone, printmaker and SCAD printmaking professor, who's lived in Savannah since 2001. His paintings, drawings, and etchings focus on the uneasy relationship between human beings and the natural world, exploring the idea of wilderness and how it has changed from being a real place–mysterious, unknown, and pristine–to a distorted fiction. Curtis does a great job breaking down all the ins and outs of various printmaking processes, including lithography, intaglio, and etching, and also his subject influences -- from Italian Renaissance painting and 17th-century Dutch still life to 19th-century scientific illustration.  Check out his work and follow him here: https://www.instagram.com/cabartone/ https://www.curtisbartone.com/  Topics in their chat include: Our perception of the natural world vs. the reality of it; his fascination with animals who have been brought / have migrated to an area where they aren't naturally found; how Curtis started out as a painter but fell in love with printmaking in an etching class during grad school at Northwestern; what is Bavarian limestone?; the Tamarind Institute, a a lithography workshop in New Mexico; the art of purposefully leaving some areas of a piece unfinished; how printmaking is the art of "thinking in layers"; his experience doing an artist residency in Iceland; how much he's learned from bearing witness to his students' printmaking experiments in his 20+ years; and the best artist advice he's gotten.  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Mary Hartman, who moved to Savannah in 1996 to get her M.F.A. in Painting from SCAD and has lived here ever since. She works with vine and compressed charcoal, pastel, and acrylic washes, traditionally on heavy hot pressed watercolor paper, but lately has branched out into canvas and panel as well. Her work is very distinctive - an abstracted, gestural way of depicting realism. The subjects of her ethereal drawings include: horses and other livestock; still life objects such as lemons, juice presses, and cast iron pans; and anvils; as well as portrait commissions.  Check out Mary's work and follow her here: http://www.maryhartman.net/  https://www.instagram.com/maryhartmanstudio/  Topics in their chat include: How Mary spent the pandemic delving into lots of virtual foundation & drawing classes on classical technique; the different types of erasers one can use on charcoal, including parts of your hand; how the starting of a piece is the absolute worst but using toned paper or laying down an immediate field of charcoal helps a bit; her love of depicting a lemon; what is liquid pencil?; her night owl tendencies; the technical aspects that have to go into framing a charcoal or pastel piece - floating mats, and spacers in the glass; how you can currently view Mary's work upstairs at PW Short on Whitaker St., and finally - she's working toward putting on a solo show sometime in the next year, possibly called Decommissioned!  Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Monica Jane Frisell and Adam Scher, who have been on the road since July 2021, working from their Nomadic Photo Ark - a converted cargo trailer equipped with a full black & white darkroom and photo editing space. Together they're creating A Portrait of US, "photographically exploring and recording audio of the divisions and similarities in ideologies within our current American culture as we emerge from the pandemic."  Monica & Adam are documenting the U.S. one community at a time, one person at a time, one story at a time, and have been working here in Savannah since early March. They have an exhibition up at Sulfur Studios, with a closing reception this Friday, April 7.  Check out the Nomadic Photo Ark project and follow them here: https://portraitofus.substack.com/ https://www.instagram.com/nomadicphotoark/ https://www.nomadicphotoark.com/  Topics in their chat include: How this project perfectly combines Monica's training in analog photography, plus Adam's experience of traveling and working in audio recording and editing; what is the first radio station that ever played Lady Gaga?; Monica's 1800's-type steel camera that was built in the 1940s; the process of shedding your worldly goods to live on the road; how this long exhibition at Sulfur Studios has allowed them to analyze their how they pair art & sound for display; how they made a typical "rookie mistake" with their trailer early on in their project; how they juggle the administrative tasks involved in their work, such as constantly booking artist residencies; and how Adam edits peoples' response down to 5 minutes.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Kamryn Shawron, who moved to Savannah from Ocoee, Florida about 10 years ago to earn her SCAD degree in Fibers, and now works as a multimedia artist. Her work focuses on the integration of portraiture, embellishment, and fibers, and she describes it as "stitching and sewing beads into both found and original photos, canvas, and everything else." Kamryn has created a large body of work stemming from her own photos shoots, which she directs and designs, using friends and family as models, and then embellishes the photos to craft her desired narrative(s). In the past 2 years, she's had both a group and a solo exhibition at galleries in Atlanta, and she also installed a large piece in the Whitaker Street Windows, which locals will know as the tall windowed column just outside of Starland Yard.  Check out Kamryn's work and follow her here: https://www.instagram.com/kamrynleelu/ https://www.kamrynshawron.com/   Topics in their chat include: How Fibers artists Tricia Cookson and Sam Norgard influenced her early career; describing her art as "painting with beads;" the post-college transition and how being furloughed during COVID was what really gave her the time first to create a big extensive piece, and then to launch her full-time art career; lessons she has learned about running a needle back and forth through a photograph as opposed to a piece of canvas; does Kamryn's way of working make her a crow, a raccoon, or a surgeon?; her words of wisdom when it comes to stitching various areas across a large surface; her "Mystery Bag" pieces and how she loves decorating and embellishing them; and the theme of celebration/joy/happiness in her work. Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Jessica Leigh Lebos: Writer, Adopted Southerner, Anti-Socialite, Camellia Thief (and, as we decided during the interview, Public Menace). She arrived in Savannah around 2005, and then spent years writing 3 columns a week during Jim Morekis's era of the Connect Savannah, where she was voted Best Newspaper Columnist. She's also a 2022 Winner in the National Society of Newspaper Columnists. In 2018 she compiled her essays into a book called "Savannah Sideways." Since then, she publishes regularly to a Substack (which you can subscribe to), and has a second novel due to come out soon!  Read Jessica's work and follow her here: https://jessicaleighlebos.substack.com/  https://www.instagram.com/savannahsideways/ https://www.amazon.com/Savannah-Sideways-Jessica-Leigh-Lebos/dp/0692950877  (But we encourage you to shop local ;) ) Topics in their chat include: Spending her first Savannah year living on Tybee Island; her view that the writing is just the deliverable for the privilege of the research, thought, visits, and conversations she gets to do; how a Savannah River visit by Ralph Nader in the 70s eventually led to the Clean Water Act; her recommendations for for the best camellia viewing around town; will Jane Fishman's musical "Johnny Mercer and Me!" eventually make it to Broadway?; juggling other copywriting gigs, including for Savannah Bee Company; and can she be a cross between Carrie Bradshaw and the Joan Didion of Savannah?    Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with William Kwamena-Poh, who moved from Ghana to the U.S. as a young man. After studying art in college, he eventually arrived in Savannah in 1995 and has been here ever since. He's a full-time artist with a City Market studio, a busy schedule of selling (and winning awards) in art fairs across the country, and he even had a solo exhibition at the Jepson Center for the Arts in 2019-20. Through his gouache paintings, William depicts scenes from Ghana, in order to communicate to diverse communities about a people who have been disenfranchised and viewed negatively throughout the years.  Also, William was one of 5 artists profiled in the recently-released Savannah episode of the Amazon Prime show "The Story of Art in America!" https://www.williamkfineart.net/ https://www.instagram.com/kwamenapoh/  Topics in their chat include: being taught to draw without holding/using an eraser; how making $600 in a 1-night art show in Chicago in the late 80s made him move there; how screenprinting teaches you to really pare down your work's shapes and colors; his philosophy on being open to bargaining when you sell art at fairs; opening his City Market studio AND a gallery in 1996; how he started painting with gouache literally because a tube cost less than a tube of watercolor; his love of driving cross-country for shows; and working toward a big museum show coming up in 2025 at the Dennos Museum in Michigan.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Ashley Havy of Pashley Pottery, who works on the wheel to create mugs, pots, TINY pots (!), vases, and ceramic jewelry, using such varied techniques as mishima, sgraffito, hand painting, carving, and sculpting. She describes her inspiration as coming from flowers/nature, Art Deco patterns, nail art, and clothing. The first ceramicist Tamara has interviewed, Ashley wisely stated that "ceramics is the art of letting go." https://www.pashleypottery.com/ https://www.instagram.com/pashley.pottery/  Topics in their chat include: Living in Alaska for 6 months post-college to work in a brewery; is Ashley the last person left who has a few undeveloped film canisters sitting around?; how she defines pottery vs. ceramics; what is "trimming"; why have there not been more horror movies that take place in photography darkrooms??; how her pop-up art show in the notoriously haunted upstairs room in Moon River went; how she makes her 1" mini pots; why are handles so complicated to make and attach?!, and what is the thickest that a ceramics piece really can be before it won't ever dry sufficiently.   Tune in and get all the details!

Join Tamara for an interview with Veronica Garcia-Melendez, who is half of synth band Bero Bero - described as Sade meets Kate Bush - as well as a member of the more recent grunge/metal band The Maxines. You might remember hearing a few of Bero Bero's songs on our Local Music show at Thanksgiving, and there'll be 3 clips that play during this interview as well. Awesome to be learning the details on how they were created!  Check out Bero Bero's videos on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSeLKL2d5alzeNSpMAQHDVg And follow both bands for news about shows and upcoming releases here: https://www.instagram.com/beroberoband/ https://www.instagram.com/themaxinesband/  Topics in their chat include: The importance of a music teacher/tutor being a consistent presence in kids' lives; the success of using Craigslist to find musical opportunities in NYC vs. Savannah; getting up on stage at a Wormhole open mic night; which Bero Bero song is most often filmed at their shows and shared online; recording on others' albums as a hired musician and/or singer; what are Timbales?; what is a layered ostinato?; how the keytar has changed Veronica's live performances; and singing karaoke at the Jinx.    Tune in and get all the details!