Speaking of the Arts

For the past 30 years, the visual artist/sculptor/dancer/educator Nick Cave has been making art that speaks to racism, gun violence, inequality and injustice. It was in 1991 as the brutal beating of Rodney King by the LA Police reverberated around the world, that Nick Cave created a wearable artwork that would go on to change his life: it was the first of his now 500-plus Soundsuits, a body-camouflaging second skin that conceals race, gender, class; a wearable, kinetic, sound-producing, protective carapace that both demands to be seen, and also forces the viewer to look without judgement. Today he has works in public collections in 30 states, plus museums around the world from Sydney to Stockholm, and through October 2nd the first career-spanning survey of his work, entitled ‘Forothermore’ is on display at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. And this week Diana Moxon spent the full hour of the show chatting with him about his work, growing up in Fulton and Columbia MO, and about being an artist with a civic responsibility.

What would you do if you knew your life's potential - and it wasn't the life you were currently living? This is our entry point into the fictional town of Deerfield, Louisiana and the latest novel from M O Walsh (https://www.mowalsh.com/) called 'The Big Door Prize', which is this year's Daniel Boone Regional Library's selected One Read book. In Act One of the show Diana chats with author M O Walsh about his book and writing fiction. And in Act Two, social justice singer-songwriter, Crys Matthews (https://www.crysmatthews.com/), talks about writing from the heart and turning difficult conversations into songs. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

On Speaking of the Arts this week host Diana Moxon visits with St Louis musician/singer/songwriter Paige Alyssa (https://www.paigealyssamusic.com/) whose new band, Paige Alyssa and The Max, has their live debut this week, and who counts Sonic the Hedgehog as one of their musical influences; in Act II there's a peek beyond the footlights at Maplewood Barn with Russ Scott, the director of the Barn's upcoming production of Hamlet and Diana confesses to her antipathy to Shakespeare; and in Act III Diana chats with Plattsburg artist Laurel DeFreece (https://www.laurelsartstudio.com/) whose fine art tells the story of the fragility of the natural world and the ravages of climate change. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

Utopian societies popped up all over the United States in the 1840's and for one Ozarker, Columbia-based novelist Steve Wiegenstein, it was a chance for him to combine his love for an area of Missouri in which his family goes back 5 generations with his fascination for these 19th century egalitarian communities. He talks about his Daybreak series of novels with Diana Moxon and how the history of a legendary and terrifying guerilla fighter intersects with his own ancestors. And in Act Two of the show, Diana chats with metal sculptor, butch Murphy, who went from a career in the sanitized world of medicine to a retirement of rust, oil and the grime of scrapyards. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com).

On this week's show, host Diana Moxon's chats range from Afrofuturism to magical realism. Columbia-based musical artist J. Artiz (https://www.jartiz.com/home) is a community activist who is using his passion and purpose to help the next generation find their self identity through art and talks to Diana about stepping into the world of Afrofuturism and seeing his name on the same stage listing as Chaka Khan; actors Christine Bay and Kirsten Malinee talk about theatre roles for women over 50 and the upcoming play at Talking Horse Productions 'The Things You Least Expect' about finding love, and yourself, in later life; and infrared color photographer, Matthew Piper, talks about his worlds of dreamscapes and magical realism. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com) (pictured: 'Life and Death' by Matthew Piper https://www.matthewstuartpiper.com/)

On this week's eclectic art tour, Diana Moxon has conversations that span from New York City to Kansas City with a stopover in Columbia. There's a board game that became a stage play, by way of a movie and a musical, that is taking to the stage at the Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre and Diana chats with its director, award-winning actor and director, John Treacy Egan; there's a visit with Missouri's 6th Poet Laureate, Maryfrances Wagner and a peek at her tiny books project, and how a rich Italian-American heritage shaped her as a poet; and Diana checks in with Daniel Boone Regional Library's Lauren Williams for an advance peek at Columbia’s 2022 One Read book, 'The Big Door Prize' by M.O. Walsh, and the series of accompanying literary and art events that will roll out this September. Opening and closing musical credits to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

Each month the Missouri Arts Council features four artists on its website from a variety of arts genres, and on this week's show Diana Moxon checks in with the July artists: Kendall Hart, a sculptor of monsters and fantastical creatures from Farmington, who played Frankenstein with his dinosaurs as a child; St. Charles-based mixed media artist and photographer Kim Bouldin-Jones whose art career started with some COVID 'Wear your Mask' postcards; watercolor painter Alicia Farris from Springfield whose degree in psychology helps her find a story in every face; and in Kansas City, photographer Kirk Decker whose passion for photography began when he was 12 years old and his glamorous aunt brought her Minolta to town. You can see the works of this week's guests on their websites: https://grimstonestudios.com/; https://www.hangingtime.org/; https://www.afarris.com/; https://www.kirkdecker.com/index. Thanks, as always, to guitarist Yasmin Williams (http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/) for the show's opening and closing music entitled, 'Restless Heart'. (pictured artwork by Kim Bouldin-Jones 'House the Invisible')

As composers start to arrive from around the world for this year's Mizzou International Composers Festival (July 25-30), Diana Moxon catches up with three of them: Guest composer, Angélica Negrón (https://www.angelicanegron.com/) from Puerto Rico who writes for orchestras, ensembles, film, drag queens lipsyching opera, and her own tropical electronic band, Balún, whose album 'Prisma Tropical' was named as a Top Ten 2018 Latin album by Rolling Stone Magazine; and resident composers, Niko Schroeder (https://nikodschroeder.com/) from Columbia Missouri whose oeuvre encompasses concept works about historic chess moves and polka music; and Cassie Wieland (https://cassiewieland.com/), now based in Brooklyn but originally from Normal Illinois whose works range from hometown nostalgia to the human anatomy. Plus Maplewood Barn theatre director, Morgan Dennehy, talks about the Barn's production of the Oscar Wilde play "The Importance of Being Earnest". Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

Love and the world we live in are themes that run through all of Diana Moxon's chats on this week's show. West Plains Missouri-based poet Dave Malone is the author of seven books of poetry, including a brand new one 'Tornado Drill', which centers on love in many guises and our journey along the babbling brook of life. On stage, Greenhouse Theatre Project are performing 'Lungs' by playwright Duncan Macmillan, which interweaves a love story with concerns about the planet and whether having a baby is the right thing to do in a world that's over-heated, over-populated and overly divisive. Director Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri and actors Anna Sundberg and Rob Glauz talk about their upcoming production. And Dan Eck, the new Director of the University of Missouri's Museum of Art and Archaeology talks about his aspirations for the museum and how it was an abandoned canning factory behind his childhood home that first got him interested in archaeology. Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

Each month the Missouri Arts Council features four artists on its website from a variety of arts genres, and on this week's show Diana Moxon checks in with the June artists: Kansas City mural artist JT Daniels who sees blank walls as an opportunity to communicate; classical guitarist W Mark Akin in St Louis whose musical career started with a birthday guitar he wasn't expecting; Columbia-based printmaker and collage artist Lisa Franko, whose thesis show was inspired by IKEA; and encaustic painter Jodie Sutton in Springfield, whose encaustic journey started with an episode of a TV crafting show. You can see, and hear, the works of this week's guests on their websites: https://www.jtdanielsart.com/; http://www.wmarkguitar.com/; https://www.lisafranko.com/; https://www.jsuttonstudio.com/gallery. Thanks, as always, to guitarist Yasmin Williams (http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/) for the show's opening and closing music entitled, 'Restless Heart'. (pictured artwork by JT Daniels, Lee Summit mural)