Peachy Keen

Peachy Keen spent the morning at home talking art over coffee and pound cake with visiting curator, Rachel Reese. The kind of person that graduates from college ahead of schedule (3 ½ years, y’all!), Reese amassed an impressive resume of arts-related positions before landing in her current gig as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Telfair Museums in Savannah.

An Atlanta native, she shares some insights from her time at BURNAWAY and the Atlanta Contemporary. (Why would a digital art magazine want to do a print edition? Where did Sliver Space come from? This is your chance to find out.)

We break down how Reese’s remarkable experiences working for big-name galleries like Deitch Projects in New York and Fleisher/Ollman in Philadelphia have translated (or not) into her career down South, share a few laughs at the expense of our well-meaning thrift store art shopping moms, and get the low down on the ins and outs of being a curator for the oldest public art museum in the South.

Vivian Liddell and Donna Mintz.

Peachy Keen met with artist and writer Donna Mintz in the back room of her exhibition at Sandler Hudson Gallery in Atlanta during the recent blackberry winter to talk about her current body of work. We discussed her use of materials to express ideas on memory and place: kaolin gathered from Georgia’s Fall Line recalls an ancient sea, elementary school milk cartons become a practical casting container for gold reliquaries, samples of water taken from North Georgia rivers and streams mark childhood haunts, and found large format negatives capture the gravitas of memory—even if those memories are unknown to us.

Mintz gives us a detailed account of her 24 hours at a 1920s homesteaders’ cabin observing Walter De Maria’s masterwork, The Lightening Field, and explains how the concept of the sublime expressed in this work relates to her own art.

This is a good episode for you visual folks to bulk up on your literary to-do list because in addition to James Agee (who is featured with De Maria in Mintz’ current book in progress) Mintz references the works of many literary giants including Vladimir Nabakov, Ezra Pound, James Dickey, Lillian Smith, and Joel Chandler Harris. Also discussed: lost-cause mythology, the impermanence of human life, and generational gender roles.

Not all serious, we get a little silly with some chat about ASMR and maybe give you something to think about before you go whispering to the person next to you while an author is reading an emotional passage. 

Donna Mintz’ installation from her exhibition “Ex Astris” at Sandler Hudson Gallery.

Donna Mintz. From the “Reliquary” series of works at Sandler Hudson Gallery.

Related Links:

Donna Mintz, Sandler Hudson Gallery, Sewanee School of Letters, Walter De Maria’s The Lightening Field, The Wren’s Nest (Joel Chandler Harris House), Lillian E. Smith Center, Hal Jacobs, Jerry Cullum on Ex Astris, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men, Caspar David Friedrich, Matthew Brady (Library of Congress), The Painful, Essential Images of War by Ken Burns

Want to support Peachy Keen? Leaving a review on iTunes is a great way to help our podcast get heard by more folks—it’s free and anonymous! Want to take your support to the next level? As a Patreon subscriber to the podcast you can help Peachy Keen to continue to document and uplift the voices of Southern women in the arts for as little as $1/month. Recurring donations from subscribers like you are essential in ensuring that the podcast continues. Want a good cobbler recipe? Some Peachy Keen swag? An on air shout out to YOU on our next episode? Check out our Patreon page now for subscriber tiers and their rewards:

Follow @peachykeenpod on Twitter for news and commentary.

Follow @peachykeenpodcast on Instagram for announcements, news & of course, more pics. 👇

Christina Vogel and Vivian Liddell

Peachy Keen met up with Christina Renfer Vogel in her Chattanooga studio to talk shop about her painting, teaching and curatorial projects. Originally from Pennsylvania, Vogel has been in Chattanooga for the past 6 years. We discussed her interim time in Nebraska working at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, how she turned her office into an alternative exhibition space and the lingering benefits of going unplugged for a two-week summer residency at the Hambidge center.

Although working from life is a very traditional form of painting, Vogel explains how it remains new— energizing and surprising in its ability to slow us down. We talk about her artistic influences, her embrace of the heavy relationship painting has to art history and get some technical insights into her process as she prepares for two upcoming exhibitions.

In the spirit of the podcast, we blow up some hierarchies associated with painting beautiful, colorful still lifes. Painting flowers can be its own kind of bomb.

Related Links:

Christina Renfer Vogel, Appalachia Now! - Asheville Art Museum, David Lusk Gallery, Andrew O’Brien, Ty Smith, Susanna Coffey, The Hambidge Center, Modest Painting by Mira Schor, Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts

Want to support Peachy Keen? Leaving a review on iTunes is a great way to help our podcast get heard by more folks—it’s free and anonymous! Want to take your support to the next level? As a Patreon subscriber to the podcast you can help Peachy Keen to continue to document and uplift the voices of Southern women in the arts for as little as $1/month. Recurring donations from subscribers like you are essential in ensuring that the podcast continues. Want a good cobbler recipe? Some Peachy Keen swag? An on air shout out to YOU on our next episode? Check out our Patreon page now for subscriber tiers and their rewards:

Follow @peachykeenpod on Twitter for news and commentary.

Follow @peachykeenpodcast on Instagram for announcements, news & of course, more pics. 👇

Katie Hargrave is an artist and educator in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Meredith Lynn is an artist and curator based in Tallahassee, Florida. Peachy Keen caught up with them in Chattanooga, where they were meeting up for the weekend to collaborate on a body of work for an upcoming exhibition at the Wiregrass Museum of Art that they first began exploring while at a Signal Fire residency in Oregon.

Artist Corrina Sephora moved to Atlanta in the mid 90s after receiving her BFA in Sculpture and Metalsmithing from the Massachusetts College of Art in Boston and has stayed on to become an integral player in the Atlanta arts community, establishing a prosperous artistic practice in metal and other media. 

She tells Peachy Keen how she created her own apprenticeship program (looking up blacksmiths in the White Pages and refusing to take no for an answer), how local teachers and benefactors helped set her on the path to manage her own studio, and paints a picture of the gritty but thriving creative scene that was Atlanta in the 90s—when her neighbors included both artists (such as Radcliff Bailey and Danielle Roney) and guys that refurbished Mack trucks. 

We got into some discussion of how gender has and has not affected her trajectory in a career where women have been historically underrepresented, learned the ins and outs of moving a 3000 pound sculpture over a three story house, and covered some of the family backstory and artistic and cultural influences that play into her current exhibition: Between the Deep Blue Sea and the Universe

Corrina Sephora’s Studio

Corrina Sephora’s Office Wall (Discussed at the beginning of episode)

From Corrina Sephora’s Exhibition Between the Deep Blue Sea and the Universe

Related Links:

Corrina Sephora, Mason Fine Art, Elizabeth Brim, Penland School of Craft, Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Park, Radcliffe Bailey, Danielle Roney, George Beasley at Georgia State University, Michele Schuff at Sandler Hudson, Hambidge

Want to support Peachy Keen? Leaving a review on iTunes is a great way to help our podcast get heard by more folks—it’s free and anonymous! Want to take your support to the next level? As a Patreon subscriber to the podcast you can help Peachy Keen to continue to document and uplift the voices of Southern women in the arts for as little as $1/month. Recurring donations from subscribers like you are essential in ensuring that the podcast continues. Want a good cobbler recipe? Some Peachy Keen swag? An on air shout out to YOU on our next episode? Check out our Patreon page now for subscriber tiers and their rewards:

Follow @peachykeenpod on Twitter for news and commentary.

Follow @peachykeenpodcast on Instagram for announcements, news & of course, more pics. 👇

Haylee Anne and Angela Bortone took a Twitter friendship to the next level, eventually joining forces with Jessica Caldas, Angela Davis Johnson, and Danielle Deadwyler to become the Living Melody Collective. This group of Atlanta-based, female-identifying artists is all about participating in and uplifting their community through creative projects.

Peachy Keen chatted with Haylee Anne and Angela Bortone on a Saturday morning amongst Haylee Ann’s cat babies—who added a few sound effects for this episode. We discussed the group’s commitment to provide support to each other (especially as artist parents) and some of their individual backgrounds before getting into the nitty-gritty:

How did they come up with the design for their mural at the Center for Civil and Human Rights? What’s the deal with the school bus that they painted and are using to promote voter engagement? Check out this episode to find out.

with Tommye Scanlin

Artist Tommye Scanlin sat down with Peachy Keen at her loom in her Dahlonega, Georgia, studio to discuss teaching, learning, and tapestry on the eve of her second retirement from teaching. We got deep into the history of the University of North Georgia art department, where she taught for 28 years and was appointed Professor Emerita in 2002. Raised by a single mother, Scanlin attended college on scholarships and learned early on to balance her teaching career with her artistic practice. She described the role that her teacher, mentor, and then-colleague Bob Owens played in shaping her career, and she passed on some serious teaching wisdom centered on the desire to learn and the willingness to make mistakes.

Scanlin is a dedicated studio artist with a rigorous daily practice and uses her own paintings for inspiration as she creates large scale tapestries. She breaks down her process, how she arrives at her imagery, and how her paintings and tapestries relate to each other. 

When the studio gets too quiet, Scanlin listens to—what else?!—podcasts! She gives us a few recommendations. 

Tommye Scanlin’s work in progress

Organizational goals: Tommye Scanlin’s Studio

Related Links:

Tommye Scanlin, University of North Georgia Department of Visual Arts, Penland School of Crafts, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, John C. Campbell Folk School, Aya Fiber Studio, Southern Highland Craft Guild, Kathe Todd-Hooker, American Tapestry Alliance, Tapestry Weavers South, Anni Albers

Want to support Peachy Keen? Leaving a review on iTunes is a great way to help our podcast get heard by more folks—it’s free and anonymous! Want to take your support to the next level? As a Patreon subscriber to the podcast you can help Peachy Keen to continue to document and uplift the voices of Southern women in the arts for as little as $1/month. Recurring donations from subscribers like you are essential in ensuring that the podcast continues. Want a good cobbler recipe? Some Peachy Keen swag? An on air shout out to YOU on our next episode? Check out our Patreon page now for subscriber tiers and their rewards:

Follow @peachykeenpod on Twitter for news and commentary.

Follow @peachykeenpodcast on Instagram for announcements, news & of course, more pics. 👇



Jenny Fine and Vivian Liddell outside the Wiregrass Museum of Art

Peachy Keen met up with artist Jenny Fine in the upstairs classroom of the Wiregrass Museum in Dothan, Alabama on a hot Friday afternoon in early October.

We discussed the influence that many strong creative women have had on her career—most notably that of her grandmothers (who both play an important role in her work) and of Ann Hamilton (a world-renowned installation artist who Fine studied under and then later apprenticed).

Fine elaborates on how her interest in the wet-collodion process and post-mortem photography is related to her “Flat Granny” series—which references the “Flat Daddy” photographic cutouts used by military families to help maintain a presence at home for deployed loved ones. We also get the lowdown on her performances and current stop motion film (link below) as they relate to her family history and her still photography.

In our talk, Fine explains how her personal narratives have allowed her to enter a larger discussion about white identity in the rural South, and we tiptoe into the minefield of racially charged regional iconography and customs depicted in her work that include the boll weevil, peanuts, and the pageantry of local parades and clogging.

Daddy Dancing with Flat Granny, 2013, archival pigment print, by Jenny Fine.

Exterior of the cyclorama, 2017, Performance No. 6, Stephen Smith Fine Arts, Fairfield/Birmingham, Ala. by Jenny Fine.

Related Links:

Jenny Fine, Link to In Unison Stop Motion Video, Wiregrass Museum of Art, Hurricane Michael Donations, Ann Hamilton, Amy Powell, Honoring the Legacy of Gay Burke, Wet Plate Collodion Workshop with France and Mark Osterman, Wingate Fellowship at The Center for Craft Creativity & Design, Flat Daddies, UAB Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, Smith & Lens

Want to support Peachy Keen? Leaving a review on iTunes is a great way to help our podcast get heard by more folks—it’s free and anonymous! Want to take your support to the next level? As a Patreon subscriber to the podcast you can help Peachy Keen to continue to document and uplift the voices of Southern women in the arts for as little as $1/month. Recurring donations from subscribers like you are essential in ensuring that the podcast continues. Want a good cobbler recipe? Some Peachy Keen swag? An on air shout out to YOU on our next episode? Check out our Patreon page now for subscriber tiers and their rewards:

Follow @peachykeenpod on Twitter for news and commentary.

Follow @peachykeenpodcast on Instagram for announcements, news & of course, more pics. 👇



Courtney Sanborn and Vivian Liddell in the back room at the Mint Gallery

Peachy Keen caught up with Texan turned New Hampshirite Courtney Sanborn on a Thursday afternoon in the back room of Atlanta’s MINT Gallery.

Sanborn’s embroidered “episodes” are informed by a strange and wonderful mix of situational narratives and art historical imagery. She explains the iconography (lots of friends and demons!) of her work in progress, how her musings on parenthood are related to Goya’s Caprichos and why she temporarily gave up the loaded process of painting for the freedom of embroidery.

We bond as two gals who work with male nudes, she explains how the penis sometimes functions as a prehensile tail in her work, and we get the lowdown on Coach Royce, the gym sled and the world of competitive power lifting.

Related Links:

Courtney Sanborn, MINT Gallery ATL, Alex C. Kerr, Redbud Gallery in Houston, Washington St Gallery in Somerville, MA, Marguerite Zorach, Francisco Goya’s “Caprichos 20,” Barnaby Fitzgerald at SMU, Grant Drumheller at UNH, George Marshall Store Gallery in York, ME, Three-Dimensional Embroidery Stitches by Pat Trott, raised chain stitch band tutorial

Want to support Peachy Keen? Leaving a review on iTunes is a great way to help our podcast get heard by more folks—it’s free and anonymous! Want to take your support to the next level? As a Patreon subscriber to the podcast you can help Peachy Keen to continue to document and uplift the voices of Southern women in the arts for as little as $1/month. Recurring donations from subscribers like you are essential in ensuring that the podcast continues. Want a good cobbler recipe? Some Peachy Keen swag? An on air shout out to YOU on our next episode? Check out our Patreon page now for subscriber tiers and their rewards:

Follow @peachykeenpod on Twitter for news and commentary.

Follow @peachykeenpodcast on Instagram for announcements, news & of course, more pics. 👇



Peachy Keen began the school year with a visit to downtown Atlanta and the campus of Georgia State University to talk with artist Shanequa Gay in her studio.

We discussed vulnerability and the importance of sharing the highs and the lows of life to pave the way for fledgling creatives. She accuses the women in her family of lying (not owning up to the fact that they were artists!), and admits to having her own kind of crazy, which has prompted her to steer clear of drugs and alcohol.

She explains how her work as a spoken word poet is related to her performance art, and we specifically discuss her performance for Kathryn Johnston— a 92-year-old woman who was shot by police while inside her Atlanta home in 2006. She also gave us some background on the thought process behind her latest body of work, a photo series of African-American women.