Dear Adam Silver

New Orleans based artist Abdi Farah is back on the pod to discuss the NBA season so far, conceptual art and camaraderie at the All-Star game and our desire to be part of a team, through art. Abdi is a regular on the podcast and I am so excited to share our most recent conversation. 

To view Abdi's artwork, click here. 

In the middle of this episode I mention Steven Adam's autobiography, but I forgot the name of it while we were recording. For anyone who is interested, it is called My Life, My Fight and I very much recommend it. 

Thank you as always for subscribing and sharing, as well as your ratings and reviews. 

Maria Molteni is a Boston based socially engaged artist whose process and work defies any one category of art.  Our interview covers Maria's own time as a basketball player, the process of painting basketball courts as a way to create a conversation with the cosmos, and New Craft Artists in Action (NCAA), an artist collective that she is a founding member of which pushes back on traditional notions of the objects and people who contribute to sports. 

Maria and I both share a fascination with the history of basketball and use the game as a starting point for far reaching discussions. 

If you would like to see more of Maria's work, please visit her website here and follow her on Instagram @strega_maria. You can also learn more about NCAA  and their recent work here. 

Brandon Juan Surtain is an artist and former defensive back for the Louisiana State University Tigers football team. He is now currently pursuing a Master's in Architecture from Tulane University in New Orleans. We met when we were both studying art at LSU. For today's episode,  we had the chance to discuss his development as an athlete and an artist, the impact Hurricane Katrina had on his life, and his ongoing series Just Trash. Thank you to Brandon for coming on the show and sharing his thoughts and process. You can view his  artwork here. 

Tucson based artist Linus Schief is on the podcast to discuss the Venn diagram of her current work that includes nuns, basketball and eggs. 

You can follow Linus on instagram at @yolkjammer

Thank you to KXCI for providing studio space and as always, thank you to my sponsor Bookmans. 

Tucson based artist ( and part time H-O-R-S-E player) Linus Schief, aka Yolk Jammer, made time to sit down with me at the KXCI downtown to discuss the Venn diagram of basketball, eggs and nuns.  

Follow Linus on instagram @yolkjammer 

Thank you to KXCI for the use of the studio and as always, thank you to Bookmans for sponsoring Dear Adam Silver. 

Gail Buckland is an author, educator and curator of photography. She has held the position of curator of the Royal Photographic society of Great Britain as well as the Benjamin Menschel Distinguished Visiting Professor at Cooper Union. She is the author and collaborator on fourteen books of photography and history and the curator of a number of photography exhibitions. Her book Who Shot Sports is paired with an exhibition of the same name that was first shown at the Brooklyn museum. Who Shot Sports is a survey of sports photography from the invention of the camera to almost present day. Gail Buckland honors the men and women from around the world who make compelling imagery of sports, often exerting themselves, thinking critically, and always composing the most thoughtful images. The pictures in the bookrange from portraits of athletes to abandoned Olympic sites to the pensive inbetween moments of preparation and recovery. The collection of images is both beautiful and educational and makes you think more about the artists behind the each photograph. 

Please don't forget, if you are local to Southern Arizona, you can pick up a copy of Who Shot Sports at any of the six Bookman's locations. 

To read more about Gail and see more of her work, click here

Maryam Amirvaghefi is an artist and educator based in Fayetteville, Arkansas. Originally from Iran, Maryam's work encompasses her cultural identity without explaining it; her work speaks to where she comes from but she does not feel the need to indulge the viewer's expectations and stereotypes about art that an Iranian woman might make.  She shows humor and appreciation towards games and sports as a place where true winners and losers exist. 

To view her work please visit  her website and follow her on instagram @marivaghefi

More information about her work can be found here 

Sinda Karklina is the artist behind Sissy Moon Ceramics. For much of her recent work, basketball is her muse and she responds to the game thoughtfully through the pottery she makes. We had the chance to discuss how she became a fan of the game, her design process, any why we both are hesitant to actually play.......sometimes! 

Thanks so much to Sinda for joining to discuss her work and ideas!

Sissy Moon Arts and Crafts is based in Portland, OR.  To see and learn more about Sinda's work, visit her website www.sissymoon.com

You can follow her @ sissy.moon on Instagram 

Sean Feeney is a long time fan of the game of basketball and happens to be the President of Bookman's Entertainment Exchange, the company that sponsors this podcast! With a background in film criticism, his way of thinking about and approaching sports is a near to perfect fit for Dear Adam Silver.

Thanks so much to Sean for joining the podcast! I am looking forward to many more collaborations with Bookmans in the future. 

For more information about Bookmans, please visit www.bookmans.com. 

Here are links to two recently written pieces that I recommend in the introduction of this episode about David Stern, the long time commissioner of the NBA who recently passed away.

https://www.thenation.com/article/david-stern/

Brazilian based curator Glauco Adorno joins the show to discuss our experiences as artists-in-residence at Kaunas Photography Gallery in Kaunas, Lithuania earlier this year. Glauco and I make up a two person art collective called No Look Pass where we engage in researched based projects involving sports, political identity and the body. Our time spent in Kaunas, researching and making work about the story of Senda Berenson, an early women's basketball pioneer born in what is now the village of Butrimonys, was the first major work we undertook together. As a someone who is not a fan of basketball, Glauco's perspective on our work and time spent in Lithuania is unique and incredibly important. 

From making cyanotypes in the village square to sitting court side at professional games, we did it all. 

Glauco's work and writing can be seen at https://www.glaucoadorno.com and read more about No Look Pass at https://www.glaucoadorno.com/nolookpass/about. 

This episode was produced and edited by Eliseo Casiano.