Art Walk

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In this episode we speak to René Crigler, a Bloomington-based contemporary artist who exhibited her show “Rejuvenation” at the John Waldron Arts Center from September 4th through the 25th.

No matter what subject matter, Crigler finds meaning in the process by bringing contemporary concepts into the ironically commercial materials. Whether enraptured by news of fires in Brazil’s Amazon set to make way for soy farming as in “Gerbera #1…up in smoke” or the inspired “birds of a feather” where two birds of paradise are mirrored to appear like Okeefe’s study of her iconic cows’ skulls, her work carries conceptual depth.

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Casey O’Connell

Edited by Casey O’Connell

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In this episode we speak to Rachel Calkins, a local digital, nail, and makeup artist.

To get through an art block, I try to look at what other people are doing, not to compare but to see what kind of stylistic choices they’re making; if something resonates with me I try to replicate it but make my own twist on it.

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Gloria Chi

Edited by Jessie Grubb

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In this episode we speak to Christine Missik, a local painter donating profits to the Environmental Voter Project, at the i Fell Gallery on August 7th, 2026.

Christine Missik discovered her passion for painting later in life, something she had never imagined. As someone who has always been highly goal-oriented (and perhaps a bit tightly wound), painting proved to be a source of joy and newfound freedom. She particularly enjoys painting in a loose and intuitive manner, delighting in unusual images and often using unconventional tools and repurposed materials. Her primary goal is to create wonder, something intriguing, and even joy! Like storytelling, music, and other creative endeavors, art has the power to infuse the world with fresh perspectives and emotions. Combined with her long-held desire to protect the environment, painting has become especially fulfilling.

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Ollie Schnell

Recording assistant Claire Watrous

Photos by Gloria Chi

Edited by Jessie Grubb

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In this episode we speak to Emily Zarse at the opening reception of The Pregnant Image at the John Waldron Arts Center on August 7th, 2026.

“Emily Zarse has collected more than five hundred photographs of pregnant people, made between the 1920s and the early 2000s, in the last decades before film gave way to digital. They are snapshots, taken in kitchens, yards, and hospital rooms, and each one was made to be kept in a family album. None of them are in those albums now. She bought all of them online, over four years, from about a dozen sellers who deal in estate lots and emptied albums.”

Paintings by Gloria Manzanares Romero 

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Ollie Schnell

Recording assistant Gloria Chi

Photos by Claire Watrous

Edited by Jessie Grubb

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In episode 44, reporters speak to Pluto Rall, a high school student with a passion for art and The Cure. Pluto cites the band as a huge influence around the time they started putting more energy into creating art. They also express concerns about the impact of AI on the environment and human creativity.

“Being able to create something is just very rewarding, especially like in times we live in now with you know AI and stuff. Like it shouldn’t exist because it’s really bad for the planet. It’s bad for the art community, and like honestly, just bad for humans in general.”

This episode of Art Walk was recorded at The Bloomington Stitchery on August 7th, 2026, in Bloomington, Indiana.

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Gloria Chi

Recording assistant Ollie Schnell

Photos by Claire Watrous

Edited by Jessie Grubb

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In episode 43, Youth Radio speaks to Kip May, a local Indiana photographer who is nationally published that traveled to Cuba to take pictures to document a story. He is traditionally a portrait studio photographer, but for this series he is doing street photography capturing Cuba.

“Kip May is a nationally published photographer. He opened his portrait studio 30 years ago and serves his growing base of clients from his studio in Bloomington, Indiana. He has been named Bloomington’s favorite photographer 9 times by the Herald Times People’s Choice Award.”

This episode of Art Walk was recorded at The I Fell Building on July 3rd, 2026, in Bloomington, Indiana.

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Ollie Schnell

Edited by Lexington Babcock

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In episode 42, Youth Radio speaks to Garry Tutorow, a local Indiana photographer traveled Cuba 1995 and took photos to document the story. His photos were taken on film because he prefers a physical form for his work.

“These prints came to fruition in the following manner. After several sojourns in Cuba, principally in Santiago de Cuba, I realized upon what I thought was my farewell to the island that I had neglected La Habana, and it neglected was falling down. I thought: save it. But how? My eyes informed me: photographs. I know nothing of the craft. But upon returning home, I bought a battered Leica, eye-studied the masters, especially Atget, hoping more for the alchemy of the osmosis, added an antique Rolleiflex, and returned to La Habana, July, 1995, during the depths of the Special Period.”

This episode of Art Walk was recorded at The I Fell Building on July 3rd, 2026, in Bloomington, Indiana.

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Ollie Schnell

Edited by Lexington Babcock

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In episode 41, Youth Radio speaks to Kay Westhues, a local Indiana photographer who talks about Bloomington’s sister city, Santa Clara, Cuba. Westhues traveled there and took photos to tell a story about the city.

“I first went to Cuba in 1986, drawn by the Havana Biennial, an international exhibition featuring contemporary artists from the Global South and their diasporas. The work I encountered there, and the broader discourse on art and society, changed me. I fell in love with Cuba, its artists, and its people, returning for the Biennials of 1989, 1991, and most recently, 2024.”

This episode of Art Walk was recorded at The I Fell Building on July 3rd, 2026, in Bloomington, Indiana.

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Ollie Schnell

Edited by Lexington Babcock

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In episode 40, Youth Radio speaks to Conray during the opening of their exhibit at the Fountain Square Mall.

“Born at the end of Y2K, Con Ray is a Michigan born multimedia artist who works in comic illustration, printmedia, painting, collage, writing, and more. Their comedic, tongue-in-cheek work is compelled by their own philosophy to truly listen to material and create work which blurs our reality with the world of art.”

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Ollie Schnell

Edited by Grace Cabrera

It’s Art Walk on WFHB, where Youth Radio members attend local galleries and events to talk with artists and art lovers.

In episode 39, Youth Radio speaks to Rachael Gressley of Hideout Press during an opening exhibit at the John Waldron Arts Center. The exhibit featured large scale prints from the 2025 and 2026 Mini Midwest Print Fest.

Credits:

Produced for WFHB’s Youth Radio

Interview by Ollie Schnell

Edited by Grace Cabrera