Works in Progress

Matt Saunders, Professor of Art, Film, and Visual Studies; Jennifer Roberts, Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Professor of the Humanities, and American and Contemporary Art and; Kristian Hardy & Erik Zou, Harvard Undergraduate Fellows, Summer Humanities and Arts Research Program (SHARP).Diving into “artistic research,” we discuss what it means to Harvard professors and students. In today’s case study, we catch a glimpse into how artists and scholars engage with a specific set of images in the Alan Burroughs special collection at the Harvard Art Museums. To discuss its contents, we are joined in the studio by Harvard professors Matt Saunders and Jennifer Roberts who provide insights on how this collection inspired their scholarship and art making. We are also joined by Harvard college student, Erik Zou, an undergraduate Summer Humanities and Arts Research (SHARP) fellow. A Harvard graduate himself, Burroughs was interested in using X-rays to distinguish between original and repainted works of art. Join us in discovering what goes on within a painting and how technical analysis has radically altered our perception of art and artistic research.Link to Alan Burroughs collection: https://harvardartmuseums.org/publications/special-collections/alan-burroughs-collection-of-x-radiographs?group=Alan+Burroughs+Collection+of+X-Radiographs Link to Matt’s biography: https://afvs.fas.harvard.edu/people/matt-saunders Link to Jennifer’s biography: https://haa.fas.harvard.edu/people/jennifer-roberts Link to Jennifer’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenniferrrrrroberts/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y%3D Link to SHARP undergraduate research programs: https://uraf.harvard.edu/sharp-project-descriptions Link to Kristian Hardy’s biography: https://artlab.harvard.edu/people/kristian-hardy Works in Progress is recorded and produced in the Mead Production Lab, located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. The show is hosted by Bree Edwards and Kristian Hardy, engineered by Kat Nakaji, edited by Jemma Byrne, and produced by the ArtLab at Harvard University with help from Thinkubator Media. Theme music by Kicktracks and Gvidon.For more information about the show, the ArtLab, and the artists featured, visit artlab.harvard.edu. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching ArtLab at Harvard.

Talking about Tap, today we are joined in the studio by Ayodele Casel, award winning tap dancer, actor, and choreographer of the current Broadway revival of “Funny Girl” and her collaborator and partner, the Director, Torya Beard. Ayodele and Torya were first at the ArtLab in 2019 and have been advisors to its development since then. They return to Harvard for the premiere of their newest performance, 'Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic' at the American Repertory Theater. Leaders of the Arts both on stage and off Torya is the executive director of A Broader Way, a youth leadership and nonprofit with the mission to amplify the power of women and femmes through the arts. Undercover their magic as we discuss how tap dance has shaped their world and how they plan to use it to improve the lives of others.Link to Ayodele’s residency page on ArtLab website: https://artlab.harvard.edu/Ayodele-Casel New York Times Review of Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/09/arts/dance/review-ayodele-casel-chasing-magic.html Link to purchase tickets: https://www.joyce.org/ayodele-casel-chasing-magic Link to Torya’s biography: https://americanrepertorytheater.org/bio/torya-beard/ Link to A Broaderway Foundation: https://abroaderway.org/ Link to Kristian Hardy’s biography: https://artlab.harvard.edu/people/kristian-hardy Works in Progress is recorded and produced in the Mead Production Lab, located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. The show is hosted by Bree Edwards and Kristian Hardy, engineered by Kat Nakaji, edited by Jemma Byrne, and produced by the ArtLab at Harvard University with help from Thinkubator Media. Theme music by Kicktracks and Gvidon.For more information about the show, the ArtLab, and the artists featured, visit artlab.harvard.edu. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching ArtLab at Harvard.

Join us in the studio with MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and Harvard Music Professor, flutist Claire Chase and her collaborator Lisa (Li)  E. Harris. Professor Chase commissioned Li to create a musical composition that would be co-written and performed by Harvard freshman students in the fall of 2021 and 2022. The score entitled, A Black Woman Told Me, And I Believe Her: A Movement Still Moving, was performed this morning at the ArtLab. Claire and Li are working in experimental composition to challenge the conventional boundaries of music performance and art. In doing so, Li is also the founder and Creative Director of Studio Enertia, an arts, education, and production studio in Houston, Texas. Both women are dedicated to incorporating education and collaboration as an integral part of their artistic practices and advocacy work. Please join us with ArtLab director, Bree Edwards and co-host Harvard College sophomore Kristian Hardy in discovering these dynamic practices transforming traditional thought and theory of art and composition.Link to Claire’s residency page on the ArtLab website:  https://artlab.harvard.edu/Claire-Chase Link to Lisa’s residency page on the ArtLab website: https://artlab.harvard.edu/lisa-e-harris Link to Studio Enertia: https://studioenertia.tumblr.com/ Link to Kristian Hardy’s biography: https://artlab.harvard.edu/people/kristian-hardy Works in Progress is recorded and produced in the Mead Production Lab, located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. The show is hosted by Bree Edwards and Kristian Hardy, engineered by Kat Nakaji, edited by Jemma Byrne, and produced by the ArtLab at Harvard University with help from Thinkubator Media. Theme music by Kicktracks and Gvidon.For more information about the show, the ArtLab, and the artists featured, visit artlab.harvard.edu. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching ArtLab at Harvard.

One of the first artists in residence at the ArtLab, Dr. Merritt Moore combines two unique passions in her career: physics and ballet. Merritt graduated with a degree in physics from Harvard and went on to earn her PhD in Atomic and Laser Physics from the University of Oxford. She has been named to the “Forbes 30 Under 30” and is featured in "Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls," alongside Ada Lovelace and Oprah Winfrey. While in residence at the ArtLab, Merritt experimented to design, choreograph and program a dance duet between a robot and a human working with a multidisciplinary team which included collaborators from the Graduate School of Design. In this episode, Dr. Moore discusses her experiences of being a woman in STEMM fields, her aspirations to explore space and the challenges and rewards of bringing the arts and sciences together. We hope you join us in an inspiring conversation at the studio with Merritt and ArtLab director, Bree Edwards; Lori Lennon founder and CEO of Thinkubator Media, an organization focused on elevating the profiles of women in STEMM and co-host Harvard College sophomore Kristian Hardy.   Link to Merritt’s residency page on the ArtLab website: https://artlab.harvard.edu/Merritt-Moore  Link to Merritt’s personal website: http://physicsonpointe.com/ Link to Merritt’s instagram page: https://www.instagram.com/physicsonpointe/ Link to Kristian Hardy’s biography: https://artlab.harvard.edu/people/kristian-hardy Link to Thinkubator Media: https://thinkubatormedia.comWorks in Progress is recorded and produced in the Mead Production Lab, located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. The show is hosted by Bree Edwards and Kristian Hardy, engineered by Kat Nakaji, edited by Jemma Byrne, and produced by the ArtLab at Harvard University with help from Thinkubator Media. Theme music by Kicktracks and Gvidon.For more information about the show, the ArtLab, and the artists featured, visit artlab.harvard.edu. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching ArtLab at Harvard.

Artist Jordan Weber joins us in the ArtLab studio to discuss race, identity, design of the built environment and art-making in historically white spaces. Employing slick black obsidian stone and chrome rims, Weber’s sculpture entitled Perennial Philosophies was recently installed outside the ArtLab. For the artist, it evokes a dark “sea we must wade,'' a line from poet Amanda Gorman’s inaugural poem “The Hill We Must Climb”. A section of Gorman’s poem is included in this sculpture as a memorial to the social upheaval of the summer of 2021. We sat down with Jordan to discuss the halfway point of his year-long Loeb/ArtLab Fellowship at Harvard where he is using utilitarian materials to produce sculptures, and social spaces that speak to ways in which racially oppressed people are physically restricted. We are also joined in the studio by John Peterson, Curator of the Loeb Fellowship at the Graduate School of Design; Director of the ArtLab, Bree Edwards and co-host Harvard College sophomore, Kristian Hardy. Link to Jordan’s residency page on the ArtLab website: https://artlab.harvard.edu/jordan-weber-0 Link to Perennial Philosophies: https://artlab.harvard.edu/event/new-sculpture-jordan-weber Other projects by Jordan: http://jordanjweber.com/ Link to John’s Biography: https://www.gsd.harvard.edu/person/john-peterson/ Link to the Loeb Fellowship website:  https://loebfellowship.gsd.harvard.edu/ Link to Kristian Hardy’s biography: https://artlab.harvard.edu/people/kristian-hardy Works in Progress is recorded and produced in the Mead Production Lab, located on the traditional territory of the Massachusetts people, the original inhabitants of what is now known as Boston and Cambridge. The show is hosted by Bree Edwards and Kristian Hardy, engineered by Kat Nakaji, edited by Jemma Byrne, and produced by the ArtLab at Harvard University with help from Thinkubator Media. Theme music by Kicktracks and Gvidon.For more information about the show, the ArtLab, and the artists featured, visit artlab.harvard.edu. You can also follow us on Facebook and Instagram by searching ArtLab at Harvard.

Art is a journey, but very rarely do we get to witness the creative evolution. Imagine the conversations that could be explored if we truly understood the artistic process and appreciated the research and experimentation that each artwork entailed? Works in Progress, a production of the ArtLab at Harvard University, is taking on this challenge. Start listening to Works in Progress in early 2022 wherever you listen to your podcasts. WORKS IN PROGRESS is a podcast produced by the ArtLab at Harvard University. In this podcast, we speak with the contemporary visual and performing artists working at ArtLab. The ArtLab is helping create the conditions for the Arts to flourish at Harvard, and this podcast brings these artists and their ideas to you.  Season 1: Spring, 2022 Hosted by Bree Edwards, ArtLab Director, with Kristian Hardy, a student at Harvard College Ep 1: Jordan Weber, artist and John Peterson, Curator of Loeb Fellowship Ep 2: Merritt Moore, ballerina, and physicist Ep 3: Claire Chase, flutist, and Harvard professor, and Lisa E. Harris, opera singer, and composer Ep 4: Ayodele Casel, Tap Dancer and Torya Beard, Director, and Educator Ep 5: Matt Saunders, artist, and Harvard professor; Jennifer Roberts, Art Historian, and Harvard Professor and Eric Zou, a student at Harvard College