Something Rather Than Nothing

“Disrupting the Canon” investigates how four women of colour use their practices to disrupt a predominantly Eurocentric, male art narrative. The goal behind this exhibition and presentation is bigger than diversifying the canon, which can still leave artists of colour and women on the margins. Rather, this discussion is part of the huge project of deconstructing the racist and sexist tendencies of our societal and institutional structures with the aim of building a new foundation of multiplicity. Natalia Arbelaez, Magdolene Dykstra, Habiba El-Sayed, and Heidi McKenzie work to fashion a more egalitarian canon through artistic practices that delve into diverse histories.

Dakota Noot is a Los Angeles-based artist and curator. He uses drawings, paintings, and installations to create animal-human hybrids that explore rural yet fantastical, queer identities. Originally from Bismarck, North Dakota, he continues to show in both North Dakota and Los Angeles, including solo and two-person shows at Highways Performance Space, MuzeuMM, and PØST. Noot has exhibited in group shows at Charlie James Gallery, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Torrance Art Museum (FORUM. 2019; MAS-ATTACK, 2016), and “Queer Biennial: What if Utopia?” at LAST Projects. His series of cutout drawing-installations have been shown at LA Freewaves, Cerritos College Art Gallery, and Otis College. 

Noot graduated with a BFA in Visual Arts from the University of North Dakota (2015) and an MFA from Claremont Graduate University (2017). He is currently an Adjunct Professor at Oxnard College and Orange Coast College. Along with Christopher Velasco, he co-founded the nomadic curatorial project Scream Queen. He was the key artist for the 2018 Slamdance Film Festival. 

https://www.dakotanoot.com/

Amy Guidry (b. 1976, Jacksonville, N.C.) is an American artist residing in Lafayette, Louisiana. She grew up in Slidell, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans. Guidry comes from a family of artists including the late painter Eleanor Norcross. She studied at Loyola University of New Orleans where she received her Bachelor's degree in Visual Arts in 1998. She was the recipient of the Loyola University Art Scholarship, which is awarded to only one student per graduating class. 

Guidry’s work has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationwide including the Visual Arts Center of New Jersey, Aljira a Center for Contemporary Art, Brandeis University, the PhilaMOCA, the Paul & Lulu Hilliard Art Museum, and the Acadiana Center for the Arts. Her work is present in public and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia; including the Alexandria Museum of Art, The City of Slidell, and the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. Guidry’s paintings have been featured in publications such as American Artist, Adbusters, and American Art Collector as well as online features such as Hi-Fructose and the Huffington Post. Her work has also been featured on MTV’s The Real World, Season 20: Hollywood. She is represented in New Orleans by LeMieux Galleries.

www.amyguidry.com

SRTN welcomes Charlie French!

“Yes, I have Down syndrome, but first I want you to see me: Charlie French. And then I want you to see my art. I am an abstract artist. I am an intuitive artist.  I embrace a blank canvas with a sense of wonder and adventure. I work hard, I keep learning but mostly I let go, be FREE and have FUN.

Special thanks to guest co-host Karen French.

The Questions:

Question 5: what or who made you who you are?

My imagination. It is always with me. It is me. And I’m a funny guy.

Question 7: why is there something rather than nothing?

I don’t like nothing. I like lots of somethings. And my imagination gives me lots. I happily paint on a big white canvas of nothing. My imagination creates lots of somethings! So I will keep painting!

Question 1: were you an artist when you were born?

yep

Question 2: let’s chat about your artwork, your painting

OK! My website: www.justcharliefrench.org is a portfolio of my art. This is where you can see a lot of my art. My series.

At first these paintings were BIG. But now I paint these on fine art paper. Some days I like to be FREE when I paint, and some days I love to follow a routine.

These paintings follow a process now: tape the paper, use titan buff and white high flow for a base coat, choose high flow colors and add with a scraper and water spray. Keep adding colors until I am happy. Let dry, and then add the black lines using my template and a bigger scraper. And that’s it. Morning in Paris. I have 10 new ones coming out this summer, and I am learning how to make prints for an on-line shop. It is not as easy as painting.

My Instagram followers really like my Morning in Paris series. During Covid my little brother Will was staying with us. We watched a movie from when we were little kids: Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. We lived in Europe and have visited Paris many times. I love Paris. And so I started painting Notre Dame with my brother. It was a lot of fun.

And one more series I love is my Squares series. There is something about squares that makes me feel good. I love shapes. But my favorite is the square. I love using big brushes to make big square designs. And also using pencils.

More recently, I painted The Muffin Man paintings. These are about muffins. I love muffins. Even gluten free muffins! I was laughing so hard when I painted these that I had to sit down one time.

I really hope my paintings help people see my happiness.

I have a lot more series. I paint what is in my mind. What makes me feel good. I just let go and be free. So, for example, when it was snowy and cold, I painted a new series called Snowy Day. How could I paint snow? Well, I used one of my favorite tools: high flow white acrylic paint. I pour it from the top of the canvas and swipe down with a big sponge. Beautiful snow.

I went to Mexico after my vaccines. And I have been working on this series, but using white textured bubbles instead of dark fathoms. I loved watching and touching the white bubbles in the ocean. It’s beautiful.

My favorite series is In the fathoms below. These paintings are about the beginning of The Little Mermaid Disney movie. The sky, the sea, the birds and the ship in the dark fathoms below! This always makes me laugh. It makes me happy. I play the music when I paint this series. I love it!

So first is my Imagination. These are paintings from my mind. They are inspired by music, water, food, movies, shapes. They are inspired by things that make me happy.

http://www.justcharliefrench.org/

A warm welcome to Elizabeth Beston

Her artist statement gives a wonderful introduction to her explorations:

We often associate the microscopic world as looking inwards, and downwards (as opposed to space, which is felt of as an outward, expansive pursuit). Through my photographic work, I want to challenge this paradigm, using the microscope as a platform for connecting to something bigger than us – after all, in H.G. Wells’ ‘War of the Worlds’ it wasn’t the power of the humans that won earth it’s victory, it was microbes, unseen by us on our plane of vision, but there nonetheless, mightier than any army. Through my microscope, I am invited into new galaxies, and whilst I use my instrument for scientific exploration, I also find abstract and aesthetic beauty – mysterious landscapes, intriguing textures, and depths of colour. It is these fascinating discoveries I want to share with the world, and show the beauty under a microscope through visceral eyes.

https://www.instagram.com/elizabethbeston/

For over a decade, Zoë Presley has guided individuals, couples and groups in cultivating wellbeing. Trained as a Depth Psychotherapist and Forest Therapy Guide, and in Transcendental Meditation, her approach inspires heart-centered healing, self-knowledge and connection to the natural world. She has served as a wilderness guide, eco-therapist, author, meditation teacher, and lecturer. In addition to her private psychotherapy practice, she offers guided Forest Therapy walks in the Portland area. 

https://www.zoepresley.com

Audrey Martinovich is a recording engineer and producer that specializes in acoustic music such as classical, jazz, and folk. She co-owns & engineers at a recording studio in Madison, Wisconsin called Audio for the Arts and produces podcasts. She has been working in audio for eight years and has been a full-time studio owner & recording engineer for three years. 

She has recently worked with The Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, and Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra, and artists Johannes Wallman & Sam Ness. She produces the Big Wild Radio Show every week, which reaches over 100,000 listeners and has engineered remote guests for podcasts such as Alan Alda’s podcast, Pod Save America, NPR’s A1, & Terrible, Thanks for Asking.

https://soundgirls.org/audrey-martinovich-studio-owner-recording-engineer-producer/

Eric Lotke has worked for, with and against labor unions. Early in his career he did advocacy in the criminal legal system, researching problems and proposing solutions that all reached the same conclusion – we lock up too many people (especially people of color) and don’t do enough to keep people safe. His work includes the book, The Real War on Crime, and the studies such as Hobbling a Generation, The Tipping Point and Prisoners of the Census. An attorney, Lotke sued private prison companies and departments of corrections over the excessive price of prison phone calls and other conditions of confinement. During this time, police and corrections unions were usually on the opposing side. 

Lotke spent the next several years as research director of a think tank, the Campaign for America’s Future in Washington DC, researching and writing about kitchen table economics – including health care, manufacturing and clean energy. Now he often found himself on the union side – the folks who brought us the weekend. Eventually he decided to join the union team. He worked first for the Service Employees International Union (SEIU, “Justice for Janitors”) and most recently the National Education Association. He spends most of his time fighting against the privatization of public education and in favor of higher pay for educators everywhere. 

Lotke is the author of three novels, Union Made (about the criminal legal system), Making Manna (about labor unions) and 2044: The Problem isn’t Big Brother, it’s Big Brother, Inc. (sequel to Orwell’s 1984). Before any of that, as readers of Making Manna may guess, Lotke earned his living as a chef.

https://ericlotke.com/

For this episode we visit with Danish artist and musician Peter Sund.    Lunau & Sund songwriting is inspired by a beautiful mix of Nordic hymns and songs mixed with folk and Americana. You could call the style Nordicana.  Trine Lunau (vocal, accordion) and Peter Sund (guitars, vocal) have been playing together and writing music for 18 years. Their performance and connection on stage are second to none. Their concerts are built up around their voices and guitar and the music is supported by humors tales and anecdotes about the duo’s life and their sources of creative inspiration.      

Lunau & Sund has for many years been playing concerts in Denmark. They have since extensively been working on building an audience in Sweden. This has resulted in several tours in Sweden, the latest in March/April. In addition to Sweden, several other European countries have been visited in recent years, such as Germany, Estonia, Greece, Switzerland and Italy.    In 2019, Lunau  & Sund played to the delight of Rhode Islanders in Newport.   

http://www.lunau-sund.dk/  

Paige Pettibon is an artist based in Tacoma, Washington. Her medium focus is acrylic painting, but has extended to fiber art, beadwork, and other media.     Paige is black, white, and Salish (from the Confederated Salish and Kootenei Tribes). Paige is influenced by her native northwest community by learning the Lushootseed language, tribal songs, dances and traditions.

https://www.paigepettibon.com/