Making connections with brutalist architecture, 8 bit pixel graphics, teletext and future fossils in her upcoming exhibition, “Concrete Redundancy,” Raquel Meyers uses obsolete technologies as tools to create animations and pose questions around our unhealthy relationship patterns with technology. Her work explores ideas around the naivety of brutalist architecture ethics and technology that emerged post world war II, exposing the dystopian undercurrents left in its wake.

To learn more about Raquel Meyers visit: www.raquelmeyers.com/

Our current Artist in Residence, Annette Isham, takes over the podcast! Annette is an artist and professor living in Denver, Colorado. She creates captivating mirrored, animated and layered videos within landscapes where she explores identity but more specifically, how a woman of mixed race can appropriate the masculine myth of the American West. Annette invited her friend Nori Pao to discuss the intersectionality of ideas and concepts in their creative practices. Nori is a ceramicist and also works in several other mediums such as photography, drawing and digital fabrication, her works explores themes of time, memory and identity, she like Annette uses landscape and location in a very interesting way to reference the self. Together they talk about embracing obstacles, getting into the flow state, breaking the rules, working with limitations and collaborating with materials vs controlling them. Born in the Dominican Rep and growing up in Colorado, Annette received her M.F.A. from The American University in Washington, DC and currently teaches 4D and Animation at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design.

To learn more about Annette visit: annettewashburneisham.com/home.html

To learn more about Nori visit: noripao.com/

Jonathan and Letishia Kelley, talk about what it was like to document the Minneapolis uprising and the protests at the 2020 Fourth of July GOP rallies at Mount Rushmore. They discuss the skewed media portrayal of the events, Lakota protest tactics and the beauty of seeing all kinds of people come together for the good of all.

They will be sharing their collection of photographs and video in an exhibition titled, “Portraits of Change” November 5th at PlatteForum in Denver, CO.

As a creative husband/wife duo Jonathan Kelley (Afro Indigenous) and Letishia Kelley (Diné), are storytellers that aspire to create narratives that evokes awareness, unity, and collaboration. As lifelong learners, researchers and students of the visual arts, the emotional connections to their motives lead them to capture the most intimate moments. The themes that they choose come from a place of intuition and an impulsive desire to partake in the unique stories that unfold around them. The beauty and the essence of their body of work is truly based on the unique characters and creative storylines from an internal point of view. As Filmmakers, Music Producers, Editors, Photographers, Creative Writers, and Community Activists they use complementary perspectives which produce thought-provoking, candid, dramatic and authentic forms of self-expression.

Letishia Lynn Kelley (Diné) was born and resided on the Navajo Nation Reservation in Northern Arizona until she was 18 years of age. She attended the University of Arizona and Pima Community College in Tucson, AZ where she studied Psychology and Native American Studies. Having a long affinity for film, particularly Star Wars and Documentaries, Letishia decided to pursue Photography and Filmmaking along with other creative passions. As an Indigenous Leader, Letishia is the CEO of iiCreatives which is a Creative Agency Co-Founded with her husband and creative partner Jonathan Kelley. Letishia’s 1st photo exhibition titled “Portraits of Change '' will be opening at PlatteForum in Denver, CO on November 5, 2021.

Jonathan Kelley (Afro-Indigenous) was born and raised in Oakland, CA. He spent some of his youth living in Orlando, FL after his parents divorced at a very young age. He graduated from Johnson and Wales University (Denver, Colorado) with a degree in Business Administration in 2002 and in 2016 he returned to Denver, CO with his creative partner Letishia Kelley to be a contributor to the blossoming art, cultural, innovative, and creative community in Colorado. In 2017 he graduated from the Colorado Business Committee for the Arts (CBCA) Leaderships Arts Program. Upon graduation he served on the Board of Directors for PlatteForum, a youth arts organization and on November 5, 2021, his 1st photo exhibition “Portraits of Change” will open at PlatteForum.

Website: www.thinc-inc.com Instagram: @iicreatives_

Alejandra Abad talks about her upcoming exhibition at PlatteForum, reveals her creative process and asks ArtLab interns what traditions they would like to see passed down, as they imagine a collective future together through her upcoming exhibition.

Alejandra Abad was born in Venezuela and partially raised in Florida. She is an interdisciplinary artist with a penchant for dense, fantastical landscapes through abstraction and light. Her style is informed by her studies in Architecture at Florida Atlantic University and in Film, Video, and New Media at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she received her BFA. In 2018 she received a fellowship at CU Boulder, in Spring of 2021 she will have earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Media Arts Practices. Currently she is part of the 2020-2021 Engaged Arts and Humanities Graduate Student Scholars cohort at CU Boulder.

Her recent projects feature conceptual and collaborative pieces that work to break down the barriers between artist and audience. She creates honest and symbolic narratives in a visual language that depicts fragmentation, mythology, and folklore that reflect her identity and values. Her installations use analog and digital processes – including painting, animation, sculpture, audio, projection, etc. – to make immersive environments that investigate wellness, community, equity, empathy and imagined futures.

Art Moves is a new PlatteForum podcast where resident artists and community members talk about what means the most to them within their practice, in a space where art meets social change.

To make a donation or learn about upcoming exhibitions, visit our website: platteforum.org/ To learn more about Alejandra visit her website: alejandraabad.com/

Steven Frost, PlatteForum’s most recent resident artist and Kim Estes McCarty, Executive Director of PlatteForum candidly chat about Steven’s residency at PlatteForum, working with youth, organizational equity, queer art, fiber art and the changes that PlatteForum is currently undergoing.

Steven was PlatteForum’s 2021 summer resident artist, he is an interdisciplinary artist with a focus on textiles, memes, queer history, pop culture and community development in DIY spaces and libraries. He is also a professor of media studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. Kim is the Executive Director of PlatteForum, Through Kim’s collaborative leadership style, PlatteForum has achieved great success in building trusting relationships with teens, using art to educate them on important social issues, and helping them become highly engaged citizens and leaders. As executive director, Kim plays an active role in guiding youth as they transform from quiet observers to vocal contributors, and has been inspired by their active engagement in student council and school boards, participation in activist organizations and events, purposeful outreach to elected officials, and enrollment in college majors that lead to public service careers.

To make a donation visit: www.platteforum.org/

Artist and activist Laura Soto joins us in this episode to discuss and celebrate recent immigration bills that have passed favoring immigrant rights in the state of Colorado. Laura eloquently shares her personal story and experience through poetry both in Spanish and English. This episode ends in multiple mini interviews with PlatteForum community members who offer what they think Americans should know about the immigrant experience from their perspective.

Laura Soto is a DACA recipient, Mexican ARTivist who currently resides in Longmont, CO and works at Philanthropiece Foundation as Operations Manager. Through her position, Laura serves in many local initiatives in a Bilingual and Bicultural capacity under the themes of Latinx leadership, immigrant rights, indigenous advocacy, climate justice, economic justice and youth engagement. She is an active member of the SVVSD Parents Involved in Education (PIE) Taskforce, the Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition (CIRC) and the Latinx Advisory Committee to Congressman Joe Neguse. She has co-founded local grassroots organizations Voces Unidas of Boulder County and Colectivo Cultura. Laura shares her activism via performance, spoken-word and written poetry. She has performed for Motus Theater, Latino Community Foundation of Colorado, City of Longmont, City of Lafayette, Migrant Youth Leadership Institute, Noche de Peña in Boulder, Tonos Latinos, Latino Advocacy Day, the Hispanic Access Foundation among others. Laura says: " Through my work as an artivist I say that “I was born a warrior.” In part because I want to honor all the struggles and adversities my family, my ancestors, my people, and I have lived through, but also because I wish to inspire this “fighter spirit” onto my community; to show that resilience is not something we do only through hard times, but that it is a way of life."

Art Moves is a new podcast by PlatteForum where resident artists and community members talk about what means the most to them within their practice, in a space where art meets social change.

Special thanks to: Kevin, Brice, Eriko, Tsogo and Edna

To make a donation or learn about upcoming exhibitions, visit our website: platteforum.org/

In this episode, bio artist and sculptor, Lauri Lynnxe Murphy and photographer, filmmaker and producer Jonna McKone muse about nature, bugs, trees and changing landscapes, touching on the lingering effects of colonialism on our environment.

Art Moves is a new podcast by PlatteForum where resident artists and community members talk about what means the most to them within their practice, in a space where art meets social change.

To make a donation or learn about upcoming exhibitions, visit our website: platteforum.org/

Learn more about Lauri Lynnxe Murphy: www.laurilynnxemurphy.com/ Learn more about Jonna McKone: www.jonnamckone.com/

This debut episode explores a Black artist's journey of self discovery and healing interweaved with a dive into the Japanese art and philosophy of Kintsugi. Denver artist and photographer, Narkita Gold shares her personal story of self growth and healing while we also hear from Japanese Arts Network Founder and Creative Producer, Courtney Ozaki about the art of repair through Kintsugi.

Art Moves is a new PlatteForum podcast where resident artists and community members talk about what means the most to them within their practice, in a space where art meets social change.

To make a donation or learn about upcoming exhibitions, visit our website: platteforum.org/ learn more about Narkita Gold and the Japanese Arts Network: www.narkitagold.com/ www.ja-ne.org/