In Between – Jeffery Saddoris

If you’ve listened to any of my shows before, you know that I spend a fair bit of time talking about creativity, both in the literal and in the abstract. I’m fascinated by how and why we create. Why for some, the need to express who they — we — are is as important to the human experience as taking a breath. Questions around creativity inform many of the conversations I have — whether or not I’m rolling tape — what I read and even some of the things I watch. For example, this morning I watched a TED Talk by Ethan Hawke. Now, I wouldn’t call myself a FAN of Ethan Hawke, per se, although I’ve seen Gattaca a half-dozen times and he was great in Training Day with Denzel Washington. Anyway, like I said, I’m not a huge fan but I do have massive respect for the choices he makes as an artist. I mean, just scanning through his filmography reminds you of some of the often unexpected and occasionally brilliant left turns he’s made in his career. And whether or not a project did well at the box office or was acclaimed by the critics, he seems to get something out of everything he does and watching this TED Talk sort of reaffirmed that notion and it might even give you something to think about as you try to go deeper into your own creative process and self-expression as an artist and frankly as a human. At one point in the talk , he says, “To express ourselves we have to know ourselves. What do you love? And if you get close to what you love who you are is revealed to you and it expands.”

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SHOW NOTES

Give Yourself Permission to be Creative | Ethan Hawke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRS9Gek4V5Q

David Bowie on why you should never play to the gallery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNbnef_eXBM

David Bowie - Blackstar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kszLwBaC4Sw

 

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

 

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When I was a kid, my mom used to say that if the house ever caught fire, the one thing she would grab before anything else was the box of family photos that she kept in her closet, which I’m sure was common for many of us before analog became digital. For my mom, those photos were the things — the objects —that she held most dear, more than jewelry or money or a favorite piece of clothing. They anchored her to specific memories and feelings and because of that were more or less irreplaceable. Objects have meaning and…

At the end of May, I decided to take a break from social media so I could focus on making without the constant background noise that seemed to be sucking the life out the urge to create anything. It was a self-imposed blackout that I hoped would allow at least some of the creative light back in. Inspired by a recent documentary, I decided to work on a series of 12 paintings simultaneously rather than a single piece, and within a couple weeks I had completed twelve new pieces of work. Seeing them spread out on the bench was like…

There’s something about wet plate photography that I can’t get out of my head. Maybe it’s the process, maybe it’s the unpredictable nature of it - Sally Mann calls it “the angel of uncertainty.” Or maybe it’s the permanence of the objects themselves. When you look at a plate by Matthew Brady or Timothy O’Sullivan, for a moment you’re no longer part of the present. And I would argue that that sense of timelessness is one of the reasons a handful of modern photographers still choose to embrace the 170-year-old process.

In 2018 there was a Sally Mann show at the National Gallery called A Thousand Crossings. It is by far my favorite show I’ve ever seen since I've been in DC and, in fact, I went back to see it about a half-dozen times. While I love her entire body of work, it was the wet plate work—both plates and prints—that I found myself gravitating to the most. Far from the pristine edge-to-edge sharpness of modern photos, they exude life, inexorably binding them to the maker.

A couple weeks ago, I got an email form Shane Balkowitsch, a wet plate photographer from Bismarck, North Dakota who began shooting wet plate after seeing a plate of a motorcycle. Something about it refused to let go and he reached out to the photographer to ask about the image and the process behind it. 45 days later, he made his first wet plate—an image of his brother. That was 2012. Today, more than 3500 plates later, Shane’s work is in collections including the State Historical Society of North Dakota and the National Portrait Gallery. His ongoing project photographing Native Americans and helping to preserve their culture has earned him the name “Shadow Catcher.”

SHOW NOTES

Connect with Shane: Website | Instagram | Facebook

Northern Plains Native Americans: A Modern Wet Plate Perspective 

Balkowitsch (Documentary)

State Historical Society of North Dakota - https://www.history.nd.gov/archives/manuscripts/inventory/2014-P-025.html

Awake: A Dream from Standing Rock: https://www.awakethefilm.org/

Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings - https://www.nga.gov/exhibitions/2018/sally-mann-a-thousand-crossings.html

 

Music in this episode: Please Listen Carefully (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

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Last week, I decided to take a much needed break from social media. There’s just too much going on in the world that pulls my focus away from the areas of my life that really warrant – and frankly need – that focus – specifically my family and my art. In my final Instagram post before the break, I wrote that I wasn’t who I wanted to be lately followed by a list of distractions that to a lesser or greater extent contribute to it. After seeing the post, Jon reached out and asked if I’d like to talk about…

What happens next? That’s the question isn’t it? It’s something I get asked a lot, especially lately, both from friends and from strangers. I wish I had an answer but honestly I’m still spending a fair bit of time struggling to answer “what now?” I’m sure most of you are thinking about it too and maybe you even have an answer. Eventually, we’ll all have to think about it. What happens when we can go outside — without a mask — to grab dinner with family and friends, go to the movies, see a baseball game and just get back to something resembling normal? But, what does normal even look like in the wake of this?

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SHOW NOTES

If you’re a gamer—and even if you’re not—the tech demo for Unreal Engine 5 running on the PS5 is pretty damn impressive. The level of detail that’s possible is just incredible and in many ways it’s a quantum leap over the already impressive Unreal Engine 4, which in addition to being used to power AAA games was also used to create the virtual environments on Disney’s The Mandelorian.

PS5 Unreal Engine 5 Tech Demo - YouTube

CNN posted a terrific piece highlighting a site called Trailblazers of Light, which celebrates women in photojournalism. More than 500 photojournalists are featured on the site, from Frances Benjamin Johnston who began working as a freelance photographer in the 1890s to Linsey Addario, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist whose work has been featured in The New York Times, National Geographic, TIME magazine. It’s a fascinating resource.

Home - Trailblazers of Light

And finally, I don’t know a lot about musicology or music theory, but I know enough to be able to recognize what a musical monster Jacob Collier is. His latest video All I Need is an homage to 70s Stevie Wonder funktastic goodness. The melodies that he comes up with continuously amaze me. If you want more after watching the video for All I Need, check out the Tiny Desk Concert from last year.

Jacob Collier: All I Need (with Mahalia & Ty Dolla $ign) - YouTube

Jacob Collier: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert - YouTube

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

 

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As much as I love working with acrylics in my paintings, because many of them are literally dozens of layers of pigment, collage, found objects, and thick layers of acrylic medium, it can take weeks to finish a single piece just waiting for layers to dry. A few years ago, I began looking into using encaustic, which offers the ability to create work with a similar aesthetic to my acrylic work in a fraction of the time. In doing the research, I came across the work of Lisa Pressman. Lisa is a fabulous artist from New Jersey who works in both encaustic and oils and has been exhibiting her work for nearly four decades. In addition to making her own work, she inspires others to start their own artistic journey through her workshops and one on one mentoring. Lisa and I have spoken a few times and I’m so grateful that we were finally able to hit the record button.

SHOW NOTES

Elizabeth Murray: https://elizabethmurrayart.org

Ross Bleckner: https://rbleckner.com/

Susan Rothberg: https://www.artsy.net/artist/susan-rothenberg

Gregory Amenoff: http://www.gregoryamenoff.com

Terry Winters: https://www.terrywinters.org

Philip Guston: https://www.wikiart.org/en/philip-guston

Joan Mitchell: https://www.wikiart.org/en/joan-mitchell

Jake Berthot: http://www.bettycuninghamgallery.com/artists/estate-of-jake-berthot-1939-2014

James Marshall: https://www.moca.org/exhibition/kerry-james-marshall-mastry

Hans Hofmann: https://www.hanshofmann.org

Alice Neel: http://www.aliceneel.com/

Pretty much the best book out there for working with oils and cold wax: Cold Wax Medium: Techniques, Concepts & Conversations*

Connect with Lisa: Website | Instagram | Twitter | Facebook

Music in this episode: Please Listen Carefully (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

 

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Back in January, I came across a terrific piece of writing by author Paul Jarvis. One part of it in particular really spoke to some of the things I’ve wrestled with over the years — loving what you do, following your passion, and the costly obsession that often goes along with each of those things. I ended up subscribing to Paul’s newsletter and regardless of whether you’re a full-time creative, an enthusiastic amateur or someone in the middle just trying to live a more creative or interesting life, there are so many valuable insights and observations that it’s quickly become…

Do you know the Serenity prayer? Even if you don’t know it by name, you’ve likely heard it. It goes:

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, Courage to change the things I can, And wisdom to know the difference.”

Originally written as part of a sermon in the 1930s by theologian Reinhold Niebuhr, the Serenity prayer has been adopted by a number of twelve-step programs, most notably Alcoholics Anonymous. Regardless of whether or not you are religious or part of a twelve-step program, the core of the Serenity prayer - change and acceptance - are ideas that virtually everyone struggles with at one point or another. I know I do.

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LINKS

Regina Gimenez

The Price of Everything

Under the (Ray) Gun: Chris Ashworth

 

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

Several years ago when I wasn’t really sure what direction my life was taking, one of the ideas I kept coming back to was getting a Volkswagen Westfalia van and just driving around the country, allowing the universe to put interesting people and experiences in my path rather than trying to follow a specific plan. I hadn’t started podcasting yet, nor had I picked up my paint brushes again, so the “what I would be doing to actually support myself” aspect of it was pretty nebulous. Still, I loved the idea and for years it was a running joke between…