#ArtCanFix

This week, Andy’s guest run an art gallery and restaurant called “The Gallery” in Lake Forest, IL, where the menus are themed to the art. Founded by Cecilia Langdon and Dominic Zumpano.

For this one year anniversary episode of #ArtCanFix, Andy is joined by video artist Ashley Williams, from Video Girl pro. Used to being the one to ask the questions, the tables are turned for once as Ashley describes her life behind the camera, the projects she’s been passionate about, and the Homegrown Arts & Music Festival rockumentary.

Kimmy Higginbotham stops by the show this week to talk about her life as an artist and actor. Her collaborative art show K-llaboration is being held at CC’s Art Garage & Gallery this Saturday, June 8th. Event information can be found on the K-llaboration Facebook event page.

Visiting the United States for only a short time, French painter David Twose stopped by the show to talk about art, philosophy, and his debut exhibition in America. Having only become a full-time artist later in life, David prefers to paint in the abstract, and hopes to find his “absolute” through a style he calls “abstractivation”.

This week, musician and singer-songwriter Jay Schraub connects the disparate lives of John Lennon and Picasso, details the process of using a Talkboy and a boombox to record a multi-track album at the age of seven, and reminds everyone that they are not alone in whatever battle they are going through.

Stay tuned after the episode for two songs, the first being an unreleased track titled “It’s Alright”, and the second track coming from Jay’s most recent album, titled “Road I Missed”.

Visual artist and all around creative person Ashlee Grant joins Andy this week to discuss everything from art to costume design to funerals and then ghosts. It’s a little bit of everything, with some trademark amateur therapy, horse thoughts, and cremation questions. Well, one specific cremation question.

“Helvetica Burke was one of the most famous and respected children’s authors in the world. Her books had captivated millions, but the life she led wasn’t quite a storybook affair. Through the eyes of her beloved stuffed bear, Myron, we see the three women she was - the past, present, and future of the person no one knew.”

Featuring playwright Will Coleman, director Madison Smith, and actors Rae Hamilton-Vargo, Mac Westcott, Adam Mengesha, and Brianna Joy Ford. Recorded live at the Nox Arca Theatre in Chicago.

Joe Riedel is a man of many talents. Growing up around the arts, he eventually attended Columbia College in Chicago for Television Writing & Production, where he and Andy became roommates. Since then, Joe has worked as an improviser, an improv teacher, a writer, and a performer. A cancer survivor, Joe is also working on a web series titled “Good Sense of Tumor”, a fictionalization of his experiences with cancer discovery and recovery.

As the founder of both Skyline Music Entertainment and the Homegrown Arts & Music Festival, Aaron Williams is a hard working musician with a passion for discovering and promoting original artists and their music. His own work can be seen and heard all around the Chicagoland area, and has been featured occasionally in film and on TV.

And, for the first time in #ArtCanFix history, this episode features two songs performed live during the recording of the episode.

Exemplifying the #ArtCanFix message, musician Mike Vinopal joins Andy this week to talk music and mental health. Frontman for the band Local Motive (as well as other group and solo projects), Mike is also Lead Educator at Hope for the Day, a Chicago-based suicide awareness non-profit helping to spread the message that “It’s okay not to be okay.”