Fresh Talk: Roswell Artists in Residence

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century

This episode features conversations with five current participants in the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program. Established in 1967 by artist and art collector Don Anderson, the program offers visual artists the unique opportunity to spend a year concentrating on their work. The voices you'll hear are those of Sarah Bostwick, Jon-Paul Villegas, Brian Kluge, Corwin Levi (aka RadioSebastian), and Siobhan McBride.

Sound Editor: Leo Madriz | Images courtesy Cathy Byrd and RAiR artists | RAiR acoustics: Sarah Bostwick | Music: Paper Bird, The Train Song

Fresh VUE: Art Basel + Scope, June 2012

FAI contributor Kesha Bruce shares a glimpse of her encounter with Art Basel and Scope 2012 in Switzerland last week.

Art Basel- The mother of all international art fairs, Art Basel has something for everyone. I spent the bulk of my time in the second building which housed the smaller galleries. It was a pleasure to escape the intense crowds and noise of the main building which I can only be describe as a cross between the inside of an agitated beehive and the mall of America on Christmas Eve.

Liste 17 - Billed as the "young" art fair, Liste 17 definitely had edgier and more daring displays, but not many were successful. I soon became weary of room after room of indecipherable installations and inaccessible conceptual works. I do give the organizers extra credit for the quirky location and taking risks on smaller innovative galleries. And at the bar out front, you could buy sausages and cheap beer which ended up being the highlight of my visit.

SCOPE- My hands-down favorite! The location was perfect and each booth was beautifully curated. Strong adventurous work coupled with approachable art dealers and pricing that didn't send me reeling. What more can you ask for in an art fair?

Navid Nuur, this week's featured artist on Fresh Talk, was there to present one of his experiments.


Images courtesy Kesha Bruce

Fresh Talk: Navid Nuur

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century

This episode features Navid Nuur, an Iranian artist based in the Netherlands. Navid was invited to present his first solo exhibition in Spain at Matadero Madrid, an art center developed on the former site of the city’s main livestock market and slaughterhouse. The artist who loves to experiment talks about Hocus Focus and the painting project he just presented in Switzerland at Art Basel 2012.

Special thanks to Gema Melgar, Matadero Madrid, for facilitating this podcast production.

Sound Editor: Leonardo Madriz
Photos courtesy Matadero Madrid and Cathy Byrd, except where noted 
Episode Sound: Navid Nuur, "Fire Painting," Hocus Focus, 2012

Cathy Byrd Talks Music with Jason Moran

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Conversations About Creativity in the 21st Century

Cathy Byrd spoke on the phone with Jason Moran, a jazz pianist/composer based in New York. The MacArthur Fellow and artistic adviser for jazz at the Kennedy Center talks about when he first started improvising, how he collaborates with contemporary artists and what unfolded during Bleed, the suite of events he created with his wife Alicia Hall Moran during their 2012 Biennial residency at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Sound Editor: Leo Madriz | Known image credits noted | Music: Jason Moran, He Takes His Coat and Leaves

Fresh Rx.7 with Kesha Bruce

 

Solutions for Your Creative Dilemmas

I'm one of those people that never got a visual arts degree, I decided to focus on art history/theory instead.  Now, I'm realizing that one crucial thing I missed was connecting with other artists. So now, I'm in a situation where I'd like to connect more with other artists to share ideas, discuss work, etc. but I don't know where to start. Artist residencies? Workshops? If so, which ones are best for emerging artists? Can you recommend ways to connect with artists locally and internationally?

Charisse, Normandy, France

Congratulations on realizing the benefits of being a member of a community of artists. I’ve said this once and I’ll say it a thousand times: Other artists are your greatest asset. They are your most valuable source of support, information, and resources.

I would definitely encourage you to enroll in a local class or, if you’re short on time, take a weekend workshop. Even if the other students in the class aren’t professional artists, you’ll find yourself in a supportive environment surrounded by other creative people who are interested in learning. Also, the person teaching the class will likely be a local artist that you can connect with long after the class has finished.

Another great way to meet artists is to go on your local artist open studio tour. Meeting other artists in their studios will give you a chance to not only see their most current work, but really have the chance to talk and connect with them. They may even have suggestions for other local artist groups or organizations they’re part of that might be of interest to you.

And let’s not forget the plethora of opportunities for meeting and connecting with other artists on-line.Facebook and LinkedIn offer hundreds of micro artist communities that you can tap into.

A few of my Favorites:

By using the Facebook search tool you can easily find a group called Art Bloggers. Even if you aren’t a blogger it’s a great group of artists who are usually having some very useful discussions about contemporary art. As an added bonus, if you find certain posts interesting you can then click over to their individual blogs, learn more about their work, and make connections and start conversations there too.

If you click on the LinkedIn Groups tab you’ll see that, like Facebook, LinkedIn offers thousands of art groups for almost every professional field. The two groups I find most useful are Contemporary Art Network and Art Business. These are my two “go to” groups when I need a question answered or I’m looking for a very specific resource. Information I’ve gained from these group members have been an incredible asset to both my studio practice and my art business.

Even if you never end up meeting these people face to face, although that too is a possibility, you can definitely benefit from the ideas and resources other artists in on-line groups will be able to offer you. Whether the group you find is on-line or off, the most important step is to join and start taking part in whatever community you choose to engage.

Send me your questions: freshartinternational@gmail.com. I'm here to help!

Kesha Bruce

Fresh Talk: Joan Jonas

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Conversations about Creativity in the 21st Century

In Austin, Texas, Cathy Byrd meets seminal video and performance artist Joan Jonas about how context affects each presentation of The Shape, The Scent, The Feel of Things, a project commissioned by Dia Beacon in 2004. Joan talks about the evolution of her transmedia process since the 1960s and the inspiration she gets from working with jazz improvisor Jason Moran. Joan's collaborator in The Shape, the Scent, the Feel of Things (2005-2006), and Reading Dante (2008), Jason will be featured in his own Fresh Talk episode. Joan Jonas and Jason Moran will perform together this September, in Kassel, Germany, during documenta 13.

Sound Editor: Leo Madriz 
Photos: known credits noted 
Music: Jason Moran, He Takes His Coat and Leaves