Cindy Cheng is an artist working in Baltimore, MD. Rooted in the practice of drawing, she explores the relationship between drawings and objects through complex constructions and explorations into ceramics. Cindy likes thinking about how built structures and artifacts may act as an incubator for history, memory and reflections on the physical and abstract self. She enjoys puzzles. Most recently she has been exploring ideas surrounding conspiracy theories.  

She has been a resident at the Vermont Studio Center and at the Anderson Ranch Artist Residency and in 2017 she was awarded the Sondheim Artscape Prize. She was a finalist for the 2016 and 2017 Trawick Prize, winning second place in 2017. She has participated in group and solo shows at St Charles Projects (Baltimore, MD), ‘Sindikit Project (a collaboration with Cheeny-Celebrado Royer) (Baltimore, MD), Present Junction (Toronto, Canada), Mount Saint Mary’s University (Emmitsburg, MD), Flashpoint (DC), E-merge Art Fair. She is thrilled that her first solo show on the West Coast is in cooperation with the lovely people of Ditch Projects!Cindy received her BA from Mount Holyoke College. She received a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate from MICA in 2008 and then earned an MFA from MICA’s Mount Royal School of Art in 2011. She is currently teaching at MICA in the Drawing Department.

Rebecca Ness creates richly layered and colorful paintings that capture mundane moments of contemplation or nuanced movements frozen in time. Ness is known for her atypical viewpoints and bodies rarely shown in full, but rather figures fragmented or obscured by books, newspapers or clothing. Elements of everyday life fill each canvas in their entirety, creating a tapestry of experience, memory, imagination, pattern and body language. While many of her paintings are imagined scenes, Ness admits that her work is usually triggered by something in reality, especially as it relates to her gender or politics.

Our Guest this week is Shawn Harris. Singer, Songwriter, Illustrator and adventurer, Shawn is most notably known for his band The Matches. His other musical endeavors include St. Ranger, Maniac and Fortress Social Club. He most recently has created and illustrated a children's book entitled “A Polar Bear in the Snow” with his long time friend Mac Barnett. We talk about music, art, living in an airstream, and the creative process!

Taj Stansberry (born in Oakland, California, United States) is an American director and photographer, known for his music videos with artists such as Rihanna, J Lo, Usher, Ne-Yo, John Legend, Young Jeezy, Ludacris, Keyshia Cole, Swizz Beatz, Eve, Wale and Big Sean.His video for J Lo's "On the Floor" is the most watched female video of all time on YouTube with over 800,000,000 views. He is currently developing a few feature projects as well.

Now residing in Los Angeles, His unique style and ability to capture an artists' personality has made him one of the most sought after directors in the business.

Taj is a self-taught photographer turned director. He started out photographing local rappers and models in Oakland, where he grew up. He then went on to work as a production assistant for renowned music video director, Anthony Mandler, who motivated Taj to start directing himself.Soon after he signed to his first production company, Boxfresh Pictures. Today he is with Happy Place Productions under the umbrella of his TPK (The Popular Kid) brand. Taj is represented by LARK CREATIVE for music videos and Verve Talent and Literary Agency for feature films.

Humphrey received a BFA from Maryland Institute, College of Art in 1977 and a MA from New York University in 1980. He has shown nationally and internationally and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Rome Prize among other awards. An anthology of his art writing, Blind Handshake, was published by Periscope Publishing in 2010. Mr. Humphrey is is represented by the Fredericks Freiser Gallery, New York.

Originally from rural Southwestern Virginia, Sable moved to Washington, DC in 2007 to attend American University, where she received an MFA in 2009. Sable also holds a BFA from Virginia Tech, with a concentration in Painting and a minor in Art History.

Bill Schmidt was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1947. He studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (BFA, 1969) and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Skowhegan, Maine before moving to Baltimore in 1969. He received an MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Hoffberger School of Painting in 1971.  He has received numerous grants and awards including the Semmes G. Walsh Award (Baker Artist Awards, 2016) and the Bethesda Painting Award (2015).  He has exhibited his paintings, drawings, and sculpture extensively in the Mid-Atlantic region. Recent shows include “Baker Artist Awards 2016” at the Baltimore Museum of Art, “Squared” at the Geoffrey Young Gallery, Great Barrington, MA; ”Variations in Paint” at the Painting Center, NY, NY; and “Interior Space – Small Scale Abstract Painting”, Salena Gallery, Long Island University, Brooklyn, NY.  He recently retired after 18 years as the director of the Post-Baccalaureate Program in Fine Art at Maryland Institute College of Art. In addition to his involvement with art, he is a musician who has been playing traditional American music on fiddle, banjo and guitar for over 40 years. He has recorded numerous times, and has performed in Canada, Europe and the United States.

This weeks we interview Katie Pumphrey! ( @katiepumphreyart )

This week we have the pleasure of speaking with the infamous Ken Tisa! ( @ken_tisa ) Born in Philadelphia in 1945, he received his BFA from Pratt in 1968 and MFA from Yale in 1971.

Beware the Artist Episode 002:

In this episode we talk with the pumpkin queen Jessi Hardesty and cover topics about her studio practice, Halloween, the occult, her curatorial practice and experiences as a professor