Artroverted

Though Pride month 'technically' ends today, Pride for LGTBQ+ folk is year-round and this week's guest embodies that to the fullest. Ghislain Pascal is the co-founder of London's Little Black Gallery (@tlbgallery) and creator of BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! (@boysfineart) a publication and platform dedicated to promoting queer and gay photography including exhibitions, books, a bi-annual magazine, photography courses, competitions, and an online art platform.It now represents more than 65 photographers from 30 countries - including China, India, Iran, Poland, Russia, and Turkey where gay rights are repressed and queer lives are under constant threat. In our conversation, we talk about the challenges of promoting queer artists, how he combats pervasive institutional homophobia, being kicked off Instagram, building a global platform, and his advice for artists everywhere.  Head over to the BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! site to purchase the magazine and original works by emerging and established gay and queer photographers. Purchase your copy of BOYS! BOYS! BOYS!: https://boysboysboys.org/collections/booksPurchase With Love From Russia by Vlad Zorin: https://boysboysboys.org/collections/books/products/with-love-from-russia-by-vlad-zorin

Happy Pride Month! In honor of LGBTQ+ Pride, we're focusing on queer creators. This week we speak with Louky Keijsers Koning (@loukykk),  director of the estate of Barbara Hammer (@barbarahammer1). Barbara is a feminist filmmaker and pioneer of queer cinema who made over 90 moving image works as well as performances, installations, photographs, collages and drawings over a 45-year career. Regarded as the first lesbian art filmmaker, her works playfully and relentlessly challenged accepted norms and taboos of queerness, blazing the trail for generations of lesbian and queer artists.We hope you enjoy this episode celebrating Barbara's life and multifaceted work. You can learn more about her work and grant program sponsored by her estate at BarbaraHammer.com and see her work on view at AMP Gallery in Provincetown (@amp_artmktptown).

Wishing you a happy PRIDE month! In celebration of LGBTQ Pride, we’re dedicating the next two episodes to two leaders in the field of LGBTQ film and photography. First we speak with Louky Keijsers Koning (@loukykk), the director of the estate of Barbara Hammer (@barbarahammer1) a Feminist filmmaker and pioneer of queer cinema, who made over 90 moving image works as well as performances, installations, photographs, collages and drawings over a 45-year career. Regarded as the first lesbian art filmmaker, her works playfully and relentlessly challenged accepted norms and taboos of queerness blazing the trail for generations of lesbian and queer artists.Next we speak with Ghislain Pascal (@ghislain.pascal), co-founder and director of London’s Little Black Gallery (@tlbgallery) and publisher of BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! (@boysfineart) A bi-annual print publication and online platform that promotes queer and gay photography. BOYS! BOYS! BOYS! represents over 65 photographers from 30 countries - including China, India, Iran, Poland, Russia and Turkey where gay rights are repressed and queer lives under constant threat.We’re so excited to feature these pioneers in and supporters of LGBTQ artists and look forward to sharing our insightful conversations about their work. Stay tuned for the premiere!

Interdisciplinary artist Alicia Eggert creates captivating work, which wrestles with fundamental existential questions in witty and awe-inspiring ways. From monumental inflatables, flashing neon signs, cut flowers, and more, her dynamic works have been exhibited globally. Often taking the form of text, she transforms words and phrases collected in her journals into profound, arresting installations that illuminate her interplay with time and language. She credits her preoccupation with time and existence to her upbringing as a child of evangelical Pentecostal missionaries. At a young age her family moved to South Africa to establish a ministry and she spent much of her time listening to her father’s sermons, contemplating life and performance, which left an indelible impact on her work. One of the beautiful things about her work is its simplicity and legibility which render them easily comprehensible. As a sculpture professor at the University of North Texas, she teaches a course about public art that culminates in students executing their work formally. Her dedication to her craft and students is inspiring and a reminder to live in the present, but with an eye to the future. About Alicia:(b. 1981) is an interdisciplinary artist whose work gives material form to language and time, the powerful but invisible forces that shape our perception of reality. Her creative practice is largely motivated by an existential pursuit to understand the linear and finite nature of human life within a seemingly infinite universe. She derives her inspiration from physics and philosophy, and her sculptures often co-opt the styles and structures of commercial signage to communicate messages that inspire reflection and wonder. Alicia creates neon signs that illuminate the way light travels across space and time, and billboards that allow Forever to appear and disappear in the fog. These artworks have been installed on building rooftops in Russia, on bridges in Amsterdam, and on uninhabited islands in Maine, beckoning us to ponder our place in the world and the role we play in it.Alicia's work has been exhibited at notable institutions nationally and internationally, including the CAFA Art Museum in Beijing, the Triennale Design Museum in Milan, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Corning Museum of Glass, the Albuquerque Museum of Art and History, the Telfair Museums, and many more. Recent solo exhibitions have been held at Galeria Fernando Santos (Porto, Portugal), The MAC (Dallas, TX), and T+H Gallery (Boston, MA). Alicia is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including a TED Fellowship, a Washington Award from the S&R Foundation, a Direct Artist Grant from the Harpo Foundation, an Artist Microgrant from the Nasher Sculpture Center, and an Individual Artist Fellowship from the Maine Arts Commission. She has been an artist in residence at Google Tilt Brush, Sculpture Space, True/False Film Festival, and the Tides Institute and Museum of Art. In 2020, she was added to the Fulbright Specialist Roster by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs.Alicia earned a Bachelor of Science degree from Drexel University in 2004, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Sculpture/Dimensional Studies from Alfred University in 2009. She is currently a Presidential Early Career Professor of Studio Art and the Sculpture Program Coordinator at the University of North Texas. Her work is represented by Galeria Fernando Santos in Porto, Portugal, and Liliana Bloch Gallery in Dallas. She lives with her son, Zephyr, in Denton, Texas.Learn more about Alicia on her website and follow her on Instagram @aplaceintheuniverse.

Wishing you a Happy New Year from Artroverted! We’re excited to continue Season 2 that’s dedicated exclusively to women in the arts. We at Artroverted believe the future of the art world is female and we’re delighted to continue to highlight female leaders and changemakers across the arts. This season we’ll feature artists, art advisors, social media influencers, curators, and many more!If you haven’t listened to the first three episodes from season 2 we published last year we hope you will and would love to hear your feedback - you can DM us on Instagram @artrovertedpodcast Please rate and review us wherever you listen, it only takes a second, and will help other artroverted listeners like you find us. Remember when it comes to art, it doesn’t matter if you’re introverted or extroverted because you can always be artroverted. Thanks again for listening and we’ll see you soon!

In 2020 the Baltimore Museum of Art appointed their first native curator, Darienne Turner, Assistant Curator of Indigenous Art of the Americas. Her hire signaled a commitment by the museum to promote and interpret the art of indigenous peoples of the Americas. A member of the Yurok Tribe of California, Darienne is one of the few native curators of native art in U.S. museums. In our conversation, she discusses her role and the challenges in presenting and collecting native art in an institutional context and her responsibility to tell the stories of native peoples thoughtfully and reverently.  When we spoke with Darienne in December 2020, the museum was partially closed. The only spaces open to the public were the gift shop and a portion of the first floor where her first exhibition at the museum, Stripes, and Stars: Reclaiming Lakota Independence (October 11, 2020 — March 28, 2021), was installed. The exhibition presented a small selection of objects from the museum's collection produced by the Lakota peoples of South Dakota. Confined to reservations by the late 19th century, the makers of these objects incorporated the American flag in their detailed beadwork. On caps and vests worn by children, boots, pouches, and a monumental hood for a horse, these emblems of the flag served as a talisman and a way for the Lakota youth to participate in cultural activities which had previously been outlawed. Her exhibition was the first in what we hope will be many that celebrate the achievement of native makers of the Americas.  The Baltimore Museum of Art is one of the leading U.S. encyclopedic museums committed to collecting and promoting inclusivity. Being a majority-minority city, Baltimore and the museum is a model for the future of U.S. culture and institutions.Learn more about the museum and her exhibition here:Exhibition page: https://artbma.org/exhibition/stripes-and-stars-reclaiming-lakota-independenceExhibition Installation Videohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LrgHLLqglkoTalk with Darienne Turner and Sheldon Raymore, member of the Cheyenne River Sioux Nation and multidisciplinary artist and performer, on the occasion of the exhibition Stripes and Stars: Reclaiming Lakota Independence at the BMA.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIycn3OzPMUPress: 'We Were White and Sleepy Before’—The Baltimore Museum of Art's Radical Makeover – Wall Street Journal, 11/22/19.About Darienne:Darienne is the Assistant Curator of Indigenous Art of the Americas at the Baltimore Museum of Art, is a member of the Yurok Tribe of California, and has taught in MICA's Graphic Design Department since 2017. She earned a B.A. in Comparative Literature from Stanford University and an M.A. in Design History & Material Culture from the Bard Graduate Center. She is the curator of Stripes and Stars: Reclaiming Lakota Independence (2020) and has contributed to exhibitions at the Bard Graduate Center, Walters Art Museum, Utah Museum of Fine Arts, and Yellowstone National Park. Her essay "Terrestrial Gateways to the Divine" was featured in the Ex Voto: Agents of Faith exhibition catalog, named one of the Best Art Books of 2018 by the New York Times.Episode recorded on December 16, 2020.

The science of collecting is a fascinating field, and Shirley Mueller, M.D. has devoted her life to studying the science of collecting, museum curating, and scholarship on her own collection of Chinese export porcelain. A passionate collector, Shirley has authored numerous articles and a recent book on the neuropsychological forces at play in the mind of a collector. Her groundbreaking research has contributed to museum exhibitions and scholarly papers that help us understand the inner workings of a collector’s brain. In our conversation, we discuss the science of collecting, her experiences as a collector of Chinese export porcelain, how museums are using scientific analysis to measure visitors’ neurophysiological responses in real-time, as well as the future of collecting online. Shirley M. Mueller, MD is an internationally known collector and scholar of Chinese export porcelain, as well as a physician board-certified in Neurology and Psychiatry. This latter expertise led her to explore her own intentions while collecting art, which, she discovered, are applicable to all art collectors. This new understanding is the motivation for this book. Mueller not only lectures and publishes about the neuropsychology of the art collector; she also was guest curator for Elegance from the East: New Insights into Old Porcelain at the Indianapolis Museum of Art (now Newfields) in 2017. In this unique exhibit, she combined art represented by Chinese export porcelain with concepts from neuroscience to make historical objects personally relevant to visitors.You can learn more about Shirley’s collection and scholarship on her website. 

After her untimely retirement from her career as the director of the Dallas Museum of Art, Bonnie set her sights on bringing arts education to the field of medicine. After countless visits to clinics to diagnose her respiratory illness, she noticed a pattern among doctors examining her. They spent their time focusing on her chart but not her. Having spent her life teaching people about art she set about to design a curriculum that would teach doctors to examine the patient holistically. She started by bringing students from UT Southwestern Medical Center to the Dallas Museum of Art and training them how to look at works of fine and decorative art, from Neo-gothic bed frames to Congolese power figures she gave doctors the tools to approach their patients mindfully.   In our conversation, we talk about her childhood visiting the studios of Robert Motherwell and Hans Hofmann, her career in museums, her Do Something New™ practice and her trailblazing work with art and medicine. Learn more about Bonnie's work at the UT Center for Brain Health and her courses with art and medicine at the University of Texas at Dallas.Follow her on her daily Do Something New practice on instagram @bonniepitman

Leaving New York is a tough choice for many artists, but it was a no-brainer for this week's guests. Returning to Texas allowed Tamara and Trey to realize their dream exhibition space, an outdoor sculpture park. Founded in 2018, Sweet Pass Sculpture Park is located on a one-acre lot in the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of West Dallas, TX. Their program highlights emerging and mid-career artists from around the world. In our conversation, they talk about how they've built a pandemic-friendly art venue that has become a refuge for many and how "The Great Postponing" affected their exhibition program. These projects include Black Power Naps (Navild Acosta & Fannie Sosa), Ssalute (Marina Rosenfeld) for the 10th Aurora Biennial, The Staff of Aslecpias (Erik DeLuca) The Philosophy of Goo, their first collaboration that received an NEA grant in association with Wassaic Projects, and Tamara's solo exhibition How to Fold a Fitted Sheet all of which opened during the pandemic.       Their ability to balance their vision for a "Socrates of the South" with their artistic practice and teaching positions is inspiring. In a post-COVID-19 age, when viewing art safely is not guaranteed, the need for more spaces like Sweet Pass will continue to grow. These two are true leaders and changemakers in the art world, and what Artroverted is dedicated to showcasing.This episode was recorded on October 30, 2020Find out more about Sweet Pass here: sweetpasssculpturepark.comOn Instagram @sweetpasssculpturpark @tamarajohnson @treyburns @ourmuttVisit www.ourmutt.com to purchase the Duchamp inspired dog bowl for the contemporary art lover who has everything. Music credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License). 

Fifty-five miles south of Dallas lies the sleepy town of Corsicana, Texas. Known for its award-winning cheerleading program and the Collin Street Bakery (the world’s largest manufacturer of fruit cakes), it’s also home to a world-renowned artist residency, 100W. Housed in the now-defunct 1898 Odd Fellows Lodge, 100W hosts rotating groups of artists and writers for several month-long residencies. Kyle Hobratschk founded 100W in 2012 and has hosted artists from around the world who’ve utilized the space and the town in fascinating ways. The allure of Texas is legendary, and many of Kyle’s residents use their time to investigate the town while deepening their artistic practice. In our conversation, we talk about the challenges of running a residency, why it matters, and the impact of creative practitioners in small towns. This episode was recorded on May 26, 2020Find out more about 100W here: http://www.100westcorsicana.comOn Instagram @100w_corsicana @khobratschk @anteroom_corsicanaMusic credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License). 

Katherine Wagner is the CEO of the Business Council for the Arts. Her mission is to connect business with the arts and connect the arts with business. She does this by creating primary connections that train and place business leaders on nonprofit boards and through programs that foster synergy businesses with the arts. Business Council for the Arts (BCA) was founded by Raymond D. Nasher in 1988 as an outgrowth of a 1987 Dallas Citizens Council initiative. Nasher—a Dallas real estate developer, leading philanthropist and global art collector—as well as other key business leaders and Citizens Council members determined that Dallas would have the best opportunity for becoming a prominent business city with parallel growth in the North Texas region’s cultural community.Using the model developed by David Rockefeller in 1967, Nasher created a new agency. BCA opened in June 1988 as Dallas Business Committee for the Arts, an affiliate of National Business Committee for the Arts. One of BCA’s roles is to collect data about cultural institutions and programs that have informed and shaped the Dallas cultural policy for decades. Their partnership with Americans for the Arts led to the 2017 Arts and Economic Impact Study, which showed that the arts are not a charity but an industry and that in North Texas nonprofit organizations had a $1.5B impact on North Texas and employs 52,000 people. Their Leadership Arts Institute program, one of their many programs, has been responsible for training and placing board members in all cultural sectors across the DFW area. Tune in to learn more about the BCA’s work to align business and the arts. Happy listening!Learn more about BCA on the web: https://ntbca.org/ @bcatexas on Instagram

This week's episode is one of many firsts for Artroverted, recording in a studio with two guests! Our conversation features two leaders in the field of emerging artists. Natasha Arselan and Ty Bishop. Natasha is the founder and CEO of AucArt, the world’s first online, hybrid auction house devoted to emerging artists, connecting collectors with artists enabling them to purchase directly from the artist’s studio. Ty is the founder and publisher of Friend of the Artist, a hard-back, bi-annual, juried publication that publishes the work of emerging artists from around the world. Both Natasha and Ty’s platforms have created opportunities for both emerging artists and artworld insiders to help each other connect and grow. On Monday, they begin their first collaboration, a sale of works selected from the most recent issue of Friend of the Artist, Volume 12. In our interview, they talk about everything from vouching for artists on visa applications to the end of Art. It’s leaders like these two that are essential to the survival and growth of the art world. This episode was recorded on October 22, 2020 To learn more about Friend of the Artist visit FriendoftheArtist.com and @friendoftheartist on Instagram. To learn more about AucArt and the sale, visit AucArt.com, and @auc.art on Instagram. Music credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License). 

This week I speak with Charlie Adamski Caulkins, Vice President, Head of Office, for Sotheby's in Dallas. Established in 1744, Sotheby’s became the first international auction house when it expanded from London to New York (1955), the first to conduct sales in Hong Kong (1973), India (1992), and France (2001), and the first international fine art auction house in China (2012). Today, Sotheby’s has a global network of 80 offices in 40 countries and presents auctions in 10 different salesrooms, including New York, London, Hong Kong, and Paris.When we spoke in May, live auctions that have been a fixture of the art market since the 18th century were postponed indefinitely. We talked about Charlie's ascent up the auction house ladder from New York to San Francisco and now Dallas.We caught up in October following the debut of Sotheby’s new auction format, the first-ever global live-streamed auction. Taking bids in real-time from Hong Kong, London, and New York resulted in record-breaking sales, proving that the demand for great art had not waned. Our conversation was taped days after the newsworthy October 28th sales, where the Baltimore Museum of Art removed two works it planned to deaccession just hours before the auction. Charlie talks about the relationship between auction houses and museums, the pandemic’s silver linings, and how she’s always working to deliver for her clients.This episode was recorded on May 14, 2020, and October 30, 2020 To learn more about Charlie and Sotheby’s, visit Sothebys.com@charliecaulkins @sothebys on InstagramMusic credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License). 

This week we speak with Jennifer Klos, founder of Collector House, a boutique art advisory firm. As a trained decorative arts historian and former museum curator, she takes a holistic approach to building her client's collections. In our conversation we talk about the business of collection building and how she combines her academic studies in decorative arts and interior design with her career as a museum curator to accomplish her client’s goals.   This episode was recorded on June 11, 2020. To learn more about Jennifer’s advisory services, visit http://www.collectorhouse.com@jenniferklos on InstagramMusic credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License). 

This week's guest is Mark Busacca, curator, art consultant, and owner of Busacca Gallery in San Francisco. After graduating from art school in the 1980s, he was immersed in LA's celebrity culture that brought him in contact with Andy Warhol, Leo Castelli, and others in their milieu. Mark's insight into what makes a successful artist is sage advice for aspiring artists everywhere. His decades of experience as a dealer propelled him to found an art technology company that aims to "archive all the world's objects." His platform, Artifact, plans to disrupt the art market by giving collectors access to their #artdata. This episode was recorded via Zoom on April 29th, 2020. To learn more about Mark's gallery, visit BusaccaGallery.com@markbusaccaartcollections on InstagramVideo on Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/66473401

The path to becoming a museum director is circuitous, and the responsibility they have to their communities is unique. We spoke with Graham C. Boettcher, R. Hugh Daniel Director of the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama, in May during the museum’s closure and discussed his career, the role of museums in society, and how he and his colleagues are weathering the pandemic.This episode was recorded via Zoom on May 8, 2020.Learn more on the museum’s website: https://www.artsbma.orgInstagram: @bhammuseum @grahamboettcherMusic credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License). 

Founded in 2016, ATŌ developed a proprietary technology that utilizes the decentralized database model to store market data and information on works of art they've authenticated. Their freely accessible resource aims to increase trust and transparency in the art market by giving artists and collectors the tools to understand the value of their art. After conducting hundreds of surveys and interviews, she and her team identified the most significant problems facing artists and collectors: counterfeits, provenance, and data for valuation. For Carrie, the solution is in the Data. In making more #artdata accessible to artists and collectors, she hopes that she can restore confidence and transparency to allow artists to grow their careers and invite a new class of collectors to the table. Her experience as an art technology entrepreneur and collector are insightful and informative to both creators and art world insiders. This episode was recorded via Zoom on April 25, 2020.Learn more on ATŌ's website: https://atogallery.comInstagram: @ato_galleryMusic credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License). 

Nancy Willis is an artist, activist, and educator. Until the pandemic, she taught "Principles of Design," an art class for pastry students at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Napa Valley. As an artist and chef, Nancy works to bridge the divide between the culinary arts and the fine arts through exhibitions, workshops, and her art practice. We spoke about her work at the CIA, activism with the Yazidi refugee community, and Nourish, an exhibition project she curated at the Napa Valley Museum. Her course at the CIA taught students traditional design conventions and how to look at art and analyze it through their own experiences. She required students to visit a gallery or museum and select a work they could translate into a plating design. For many, it was the first time they had been to a museum. In this intensive course, many students had profound responses that allowed them to work through past trauma.In 2015 Nancy curated NOURISH, an exhibition that brought together chefs and artists, including Anne-Sophie Pic, Grant Achatz, Richard Diebenkorn, Miro, Picasso, and Wayne Thiebaud. Through a Kickstarter campaign, she was able to present a diverse group of works across all media. She also traveled to Valence, France, to install a Nest camera in the kitchen of Anne-Sophie Pic, one of four female Michelin starred chefs, that live-streamed the kitchen during service into the museum. In 2017 she was invited to participate in an exhibition related to President Trump's travel ban on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries, which allowed her to engage with the Yazidi refugee community. She traveled around the world to conduct monotype workshops with Yadizi refugees of all ages. On a trip to Europe, she met Nadia Murad, a recipient of a Nobel Peace Prize (2018), and led her and her husband through a monotype workshop in her hotel room. In conducting workshops with diverse communities, Nancy brings her extensive background in hospitality to art-making that fosters intimate exchanges that are often transformative. 36:51 Lightning round questions.51:35 One work of Art she would own.57:22 Wish for the Art World.We recorded this episode on May 28, 2020.More about Nancy:Artist Nancy Willis lives and works in the Napa Valley. As a painter/printmaker she works with themes of intimacy and social connection by creating series such as The BED, RSVP, the CHANDELIER and TERRAIN. With paint or printing ink, Willis uses an additive and subtractive process to explore how color, light and atmosphere can instill meaning and evoke a sense of place.Until the Covid-19 restrictions, Willis taught classes at the Culinary Institute of America/Greystone, Nimbus Arts and the Napa Valley College. She quickly pivoted to offering online classes out of her studio, including Bake Like an Artist, and Postcards from the Edge. Her entrepreneurial projects include Path of an Artist tours, leading artists to France and Sundance for annual painting workshops. Willis' curatorial projects include Discrepancy/living between war and peace (2011) and Nourish (2015). Her recent exhibitions include NEXT: Print Matters in Houston, Texas and her solo exhibition, Savor the Moment, in Oakland which was an homage to Paris. In 2018/19, Willis was awarded two Community Fund Grants for her project Conflict Zone, a collaborative printmaking project with Yazidi women, men, and kids from northern Iraq.       Learn more on her website: https://www.nancywillis.comMusic credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License). 

In this episode, we speak with Amy Williams Monier, the co-founder and curator of Connemara Conservancy in Plano, TX. Connemara was founded in 1981 by Amy and her mother, Frances Williams, as one the first land trusts in Texas. At the suggestion of her mother, Amy invited artists to create work that celebrated the land's beauty that often resulted in monumental works. Over the years, it became famous for its pioneering installation art program that Amy curated its closure in 2002. During the 21-year run, the meadow attracted visitors from around the globe and was influential in the careers of many successful installation artists. Amy discusses the challenges of creating an installation art program, land conservation, and how Connemara was very much of its time. This episode is the first recording of Artrovered, via Zoom on April 23, 2020. Before starting her work at Connemara, Amy helped produce the inaugural edition of Baltimore Artscape in 1981. It was working with artists there that she was first introduced to installation art. When she returned to Dallas the following year, she helped run 500x, one of Texas's oldest, artist-run cooperative galleries. Her experience working with artists and organizations in both places helped her build Connemara's art program. Contemporary reviews of Connemara describe a bucolic union of art and community. In 1984 Janet Kutner, of the Dallas Morning News, wrote, "In Connemara's casual setting, there is nothing intimidating about these works. Visitors can move around their perimeters; some sculptures allow viewers to walk into or through them. Several pieces invite touching. One work creates musical sounds." The article continues quoting that year's sculpture coordinator Charlene Marsh:"Ms. Marsh, Who has spent more time with the Connemara exhibit then anyone beside the artists, sees it as a "mini-synopsis of what's happening in sculpture today." Many of these artists see themselves primarily as builders, she says, in that they like to have physical, hands-on involvement… The Connemara exhibit also suggests what Ms. Marsh calls, "the plight of the serious contemporary sculptor," who is "hungry" for a place to show his work. The unwieldy character of sculpture, and the expenses involved in making and storing it, virtually prohibit artists from making pieces of this scale unless they are commissioned for specific sites.…Obviously, one reason artists like to show at Connemara is that their works can be seen to such advantage in the open landscape.Kutner, Janet. Plano's Connemara showcases sculpture in rolling landscape, Dallas Morning News, April 15, 1984.Learn more about Connemara Conservancy: http://connemaraconservancy.org/wordpress/Music credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License). 

In this episode, I speak John Abodeely, CEO of the Houston Arts Alliance. In our conversation, we discuss his career path, creating equity in the arts, and how he’s working to help the creative community of Houston cope with the pandemic.We discuss how he’s worked to improve arts education access in his past positions at Americans for the Arts, the Kennedy Center, and the President's Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and his current work as CEO of the Houston Arts Alliance. About John:John Abodeely is Chief Executive Officer of Houston Arts Alliance (HAA). Joining HAA in November of 2017, he brings a strong background in arts and arts education policy as the  Acting Executive Director of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, service as Manager of National Partnerships for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and Manager of Education at Americans for the Arts.As CEO of Houston Arts Alliance, John directs strategy in grantmaking, civic art development, and new programs. He is committed to developing the organization’s service to the arts community, in partnership with board, staff, grantees, investors, and other stakeholders.At the Presidents’ Committee, an advisory body to the White House on cultural issues, John was instrumental in the expansion of Turnaround Arts, a program that leverages the unique power of arts education to improve non-arts outcomes in a cohort of the nation's most struggling schools. During John’s tenure, the program successfully scaled from eight schools to sixty-eight. In April 2016, the Committee led sent the first federal cultural delegation to Cuba, immediately following the President's own historic trip. As the Trip Director for the delegation, Abodeely organized ten bilateral meetings with senior Cuban government officials and arranged for high-visibility U.S. artists to tour artist studios, explore schools, visit youth arts programs, and perform on stage with Cuban musicians. As a result of the delegation, embedded press and ongoing, bilateral artist and preservation exchanges helped to further the President’s goal of normalizing relations with Cuba.John has taught education policy at the graduate level, and served on boards and various review panels. He is a graduate of Amherst College with a bachelor's degree magna cum laude in Biology and Fine Arts, and holds an MBA from John Hopkins University.About the Houston Arts Alliance:Houston Arts Alliance (HAA) is a local arts and culture organization whose principal work is to implement the City of Houston’s vision, values, and goals for its arts grantmaking and civic art investments. HAA’s work is conducted through contracts with the City of Houston, overseen by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs. HAA also executes privately funded special projects to meet the needs of the arts community, such as disaster preparation, research on the state of the arts in Houston, and temporary public art projects that energize neighborhoods.In short, HAA helps artists and nonprofits be bold, productive, and strong.Alliance website: https://www.houstonartsalliance.com/Music credit: Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major - II. Assez vif, très rythmé produced by the Isabella Stuart Gardener Museum (issued under a Creative Commons License).