Mindkiller

Heather Gabel has always worked as a visual artist, but over the past four years she's discovered the joy and catharsis of musical performance as half of the dark electronic duo HIDE, who recently returned from a tour in support of their E.P Castration Anxiety. We drank a large amount of coffee and discussed true crime, asshole sound guys, Hannah Hoch, Eve Libertine, parenting, Hollywood, and that amazing feeling you get when you realize that you can just start a band and people will find out about your shows and come see you.

Aay Preston-Myint has worked diligently for many years to build his thriving fine-art practice, but he's also devoted a tremendous amount of energy to collaborative projects that have improved the quality of life in Chicago for his fellow makers, and queer artists in particular. As one of the founding organizers of Chances, a series of dance parties, Aay helped to create a nightlife space where it was cool and safe to be both weird and queer,  fostering community and funding creativity with grant money raised from the proceeds. As a partner in No Coast, a print-focused collaborative, an Editor of the arts and literary journal Monsters and Dust and an organizer of the Chicago Art Book Fair,  he's learned valuable lessons about management and communication. We discussed the highlights (and a few low moments) from his multi-faceted career, and discussed strategies for letting go of criticality and getting in touch with the outside world- a tall order for introverts.

Molly Colleen O'Connell raids sewers and circuses to bring her trolls, clowns and eccentrics to vivid life. Via performance, painting, sculpture, video and cartooning she creates elaborate habitats and mindscapes that put the viewer in close proximity to creatures from the outer realms, but she imbues them with so much love and pathos it's impossible to come away unmoved. Buckle your spacewig chinstraps and get ready for an in-depth conversation about creativity, comedy, terry cloth and so much more.