Cut and Paste

St. Louis artist and activist Elizabeth Vega spends a lot of time in her home. It’s a place in north St. Louis known as Art House, that she bought in 2015. There, she provides space for sign-making and other activities related to protest actions. She also works with local children to create kites, collages and other art to help them process their feelings. Recently, she spent five days and nights at Art House without leaving. An ankle monitoring device kept her tethered to her home. In our latest Cut & Paste podcast , we talk with Vega about the assault charge and conviction that led to her house-arrest and probation sentence, and why working with children is an important part of her activism. Here’s a little of what you’ll hear in the podcast: Vega, on wearing an ankle monitor: “There would be times that I would like get ready to walk out the door and realize that, 'Oh, wait, I’m under house arrest.'” About how her talents lie more in the writing realm rather than the visual arts

St. Louis-area artist Fabio Rodriguez was devastated when a very personal piece of his work was removed from an exhibition. But did that action rise to the level of censorship?

We’ve all had that dream. You know, the one where you’re naked on stage and the audience is laughing. For an improv performer, that’s no nightmare; that’s life. OK, they're wearing clothes but they're emotionally naked, working without a script, responding off the cuff to random cues from the audience and their co-performers. In our latest Cut & Paste podcast , we talk with Kevin McKernan, Melanie Penn and Becca Brooks — members of St. Louis’ Improv Shop — about what it’s like to be in the spotlight and the hot seat. Here’s some of what you’ll hear in the podcast: Becca Brooks on being thrown an unfamiliar word: “If there’s something we don’t know, we’re not going to let the audience know; so we just say, ‘OK.’” Melanie Penn on the importance of trust and vulnerability: "Improv, when you boil it down, is the art of being human." Kevin McKernan on sports analogies: "What we like about sports, and improv, is that we don't know what is going to happen." Look for new Cut & Paste (

The art of activism weaved its way more deeply into the St. Louis arts scene in 2016. In this year’s Cut & Paste arts and culture podcasts, we brought you conversations with performers, poets and visual video artists, inspired personal experiences and cultural issues. A poet and performance artist got her start in church . A visual artist made work around her mother’s cancer. A father drummed beatboxing into his daughter’s psyche before she was even born. In this podcast, we revisit some of

Two official St. Louis poets don’t always agree on what’s appropriate but they do concur on at least one thing: If you want change, you've got to work for it. For this pair, words are the tools. In our latest Cut & Paste arts and culture podcast , we talk with St. Louis’ first Poet Laureate Michael Castro , and new Youth Poet Laureate Bisa Adero , a student at Grand Center Arts Academy. Castro, 71, finishes his term at the end of this month. Adero, 17, is just getting started. As you'll hear

Millions have marveled at the beatboxing contests between father-daughter duo Ed Cage and Nicole Paris. They’ve battled it out in numerous YouTube videos and TV appearances including “The Late Late Show” and “Steve Harvey Show.” But did you know they live in St. Louis? And that their beatboxing ( percussion sounds produced mainly by mouth ) is more often collaborative than competitive? In our latest Cut & Paste podcast , we talk with Cage and Paris — and pull in Paris’ mom for good measure —

You can almost hear the silverware clatter, the glasses clink and the generations clash as Thanksgiving approaches. St. Louis artist Edo Rosenblith aims to capture the conviviality and chaos of the family dinner table — during holidays or not — in wall-sized mural, “Supper Club.” The 10-by-24 piece towers over work tables at the TechArtista co-working space in the Central West End (see image of full mural, below). In our latest Cut & Paste podcast , we talk with Rosenblith about the artistic

We’ve all been touched by cancer, through someone we love or admire, or even our own. Nearly 40 percent of us will be diagnosed with the disease in our lifetime. Three years ago, St. Louis artist Amy Reidel found out her mother had cancer. Shortly after, first one aunt, then another, got a cancer diagnosis. In the middle of it all, Reidel’s grandmother died. For more than a year, Reidel made no art. After that, she couldn’t stop. The Sheldon is holding an exhibition of the work inspired by her

An exhibition that opened at the Contemporary Art Museum Sept. 16 continues to draw fire for images that some say are demeaning to African-Americans. The issue has hit home with many St. Louisans including Shanti Parikh, an anthropology and African Studies associate professor, and her husband Jason Wilson , who’s on the board at CAM.

The title of an upcoming play by St. Louis’ Tesseract Theatre is a loaded question: “Am I Black Enough Yet?” It's a challenge that could cause discomfort but the play aims to make fun of the query with a playful approach. The first order of business is to proclaim that the entire audience is “black.” Those who were already black get to be “uber-black.” In our latest Cut & Paste arts and culture podcast , we talk with “Am I Black Enough Yet?” director Bre Love and Tesseract’s founding