Art on the Air

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!