Margaret Malone talks with Thick in the Throat, Honey about time, taxes, and tours, and how she and her filmmaker husband Brian Padian balance art, work, and family life in a two parent-artist household. 

Episode 4: Interview with Margaret Malone (fiction writer)

Discussions on creativity and the parent-artist life. Parents John C. Savage, musician, and Claudia F. Savage, writer, interview parent-artists and answer your questions about balancing family needs, art-making, making money, and keeping marriage steamy without going (completely) crazy. All in under 30 minutes.

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Kids & Family

Wendy Chin-Tanner, author of the poetry collections Turn (a finalist for the Oregon Book Awards) and Anyone Will Tell You (both from Sibling Rivalry Press), as well as co-author of the graphic novel American Terrorist (A Wave Blue World), is the mother of two daughters, married to a graphic novelist, co-founder of A Wave Blue World, and the proud daughter of immigrants. Born and raised in Brooklyn, NY and educated at Cambridge, she talks with us about how racism kept her from writing for a decade and motherhood brought her back. If ever there was an artist who was able to talk with deep eloquence and insight about the necessity of a creative life when you are a mother, it is Wendy. 
































  “In 2007, when I had my first child, somehow in that kind of postpartum space, it cracked open my consciousness, a kind of time-space portal, and poems started pouring out. “


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  “I got an agent in London right out of college from a single poem in a journal…. I went for the first guy that approached me. I didn’t know my ass from my elbow…. I didn’t understand as a woman of color that I didn’t have structural support…he wanted me to make my characters white in a screenplay…. After he dropped me, I didn’t write for 10 years.”


























  “Motherhood is a repository for social fantasies. It is the Tom & Jerry show in my house.”


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            Wendy and her family
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  “I was telling my husband to take my writing time because he had a pressing deadline. But that’s the wrong thing to do. Even if I need to sit in my office and stare at the wall, that’s what I need to do.”Wendy Chin-Tanner author websiteA Wave Blue World (Wendy and Tyler’s graphic novel independent publisher)























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Episode 15: Interview with Wendy Chin-Tanner

n this special episode, recorded at the Mineral School Artist Residency in Mineral, Washington during parent-artist week, Grace Campbell (flash fiction and non-fiction writer and mother of 3) and Laura Stanfill (fiction and non-fiction writer and mother of 2) talk with Claudia about how women can take up space and honor their voices, while not buying into cultural myths about motherhood and art-making. You won’t want to miss this crass, revealing, insightful talk that can only happen when three fed up women speak their minds.

Episode 14: Interview with mamas extraordinaire Grace Campbell (flash fiction and nonfiction) and Laura Stanfill (writer and publisher)

Two artists interview two artists--with our children playing in the adjoining room sometimes, sometimes under our feet. Amy Conway is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work utilizes performance, drawing, writing, video, installation, collaboration, and comedy. Her pieces tend toward reflections of the personal. Brandon Conway is a guitarist who primarily focuses on free improvisation. He likes both minimalism and maximalism, spontaneous intuition and nerdy formalism. Amy let’s everything run together and percolate. Brandon compartmentalizes his art, work, and family life. They have two boys, Heywood and Alvah, aged 10 and 8, who love video games and comic books.
































  “There are so many people, [who say] ‘I don’t like kids, I mean yours are okay.’ But you know what? You can go fuck yourself.” —Amy


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            Brandon and Amy taking time to relax.
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  “Brandon and I have a long history of arguing over art…”


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            The Conway family wades in the surf.
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  













































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            The Conway family in their mirror.
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  













































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            Amy
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  https://amyconwayart.wordpress.com/ https://www.instagram.com/glacierface/ he moves like the ocean: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMkICKJ1pRc&t;=2s     this is how i communicate: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsycgtycouU&t;=17s     twist and shout: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIGuujRhOfA&t;=7s    


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            Brandon
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  https://halfbird.bandcamp.com/ https://soundcloud.com/halfbird-pdx https://soundcloud.com/nanrandcowboy http://nanrandcowboy.com/web/“I’m pretty adamantly against delay and looping pedals, but if someone uses them I still like them.” —Brandon Indivisible Gallery: https://www.indivisiblepdx.com/  OCAC/PNCA combined MFA in Applied Craft & Design: http://acd-ocac.pnca.edu/ Creative Music Guild: https://creativemusicguild.org/  Kickstand Comedy Space: http://www.kickstandcomedy.org/   























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Episode 13: Interview with Amy and Brandon Conway (visual artist/comedian, and musician)

Jacklyn Brickman, visual artist, environmental activist, educator, and mother of 3, renews our trust in change and possibility. An avid experimenter in both form and subject matter, Jacklyn has produced work on the competitiveness of birds, the calls of frogs, the housing crisis, suburban lawns, and Egyptian mother goddesses. A Detroit, Michigan native, she recently moved her family of 5 to Columbus, Ohio to start a graduate program and has fallen in love with the black walnut. She is interested in the dynamic interrelationship between people and their habitats and her work spans installation, sculpture, drawing, and video with a special interest in collaboration and social engagement. Take the time to enter her world online. If you're extra lucky, she'll have an exhibit near you soon.
































  "Sometimes I think I miss out on opportunities because I have a whole entourage to consider."


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
              
              
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
            
          
        

        
          
          
            Jacklyn Brickman at a recent exhibit, photo taken by her daughter
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  "I have artist friends who say they can’t get to work until their house is clean and, well, I would never get to work."


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
              
              
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
            
          
        

        
          
          
            Jacklyn Brickman with husband, Andrew Bahrou, and 3 children.
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  "Where do environmentalism and culture collide? My aim is to engage people and try not to push them away."


























  Video tour of Jacklyn's studio with her kids























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Episode 12: Interview with Jacklyn Brickman (visual artist, educator, and mother of 3)

Christopher Luna, poet, organizer and dad to Angelo, reminds us what it means to trust others and ourselves and how that can be applied to art-making, child-rearing, and life. An avid collaborator and supporter of others, he believes that putting love and community first allows everyone access to the best parts of themselves. He lives and teaches in Vancouver, Washington, runs the Ghost Town Poetry reading series at The Angst Gallery, runs Printed Matter Vancouver: a press and editing business with his wife, Toni Partington, and has transformed the writing scene, being named the Poet Laureate of Clark County for a record 5 years. 






































  "So, I'm in Vancouver [USA] and I'm bored because it is boring."


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            Christopher Luna (photo by Julian Nelson
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  "It is not the path of least resistance, it is the path of no resistance...what would happen if you allow people to self-police?"


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            Christopher with his son, Angelo, at his high school graduation
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  "When Angelo turned 12, I kept waiting for him to wake up...and hate me...but it never happened and now he is 18 and we still trust and respect each other."


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            Christopher and Angelo on St. Mark's Place
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  





  "No one says, can you take those poems off the bus please? I think it is a good thing for a writer to take public transportation because it gives you a more direct experience of your life."Check out one of Christopher's latest projects Documenting Street Art (with Toni Luna and Leah Jackson) at The Angst Gallery--July 6-28, 2018.


































































  

    
  
    

      

      
        
          
        
        

        
          
            
          
            
                
                
                
                
                
                
                
                

            
          
        
          
        

        
          
          
            Christopher Luna's work space
          
        
      
        
      

    
  


  


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Episode 4: Interview with Margaret Malone (fiction writer)

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