Speaking of the Arts

This week host Diana Moxon explores the works of two photographers. Dr David Lancaster (https://www.davidlancasterphotography.com/) is a photographer and physician at Capital Region Medical Center in Jefferson City and when the Delta variant started to flood mid-Missouri, he started a project called 'BROKEN', taking portraits of the healthcare workers, administrators and patients whose lives had been profoundly changed by the pandemic. Professor Priya Suresh Kambli (https://www.priyakambli.com/index.html) is a professor of art and photography at Truman State University and her collection entitled 'Buttons for Eyes' explores the cultural debates around migration and identity. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com). Artwork, David Lancaster 'Reality' from BROKEN.

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 January four: St Louis-based musician, Vince Martin whose band supported Kiss when he was just 15; mixed media collage artist Melissa Donoho in Kansas City who has a fondness for leaving guerilla art shows in her wake; fabric-scapist Dave Walker in Columbia who turns scraps of fabric into fine art landscapes; and landscape artist Lee Copen who paints the Ozark countryside and riverways from her home in Mountain View. You can see and hear the works of this week's artists on their websites: http://www.vince-martin.com/; https://www.melissadonoho.com/; https://bestofmissourihands.org/walkerdavi/; https://www.leecopen.com/.Thanks, as always, to guitarist Yasmin Williams (http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/) for the show's opening and closing music entitled, 'Restless Heart'.

With January a bit of a doldrum for the arts, this week Diana Moxon looks back on some of her visual artist chats from last year. Kirksville based artist Lindsey Dunnagan (https://www.lindseydunnagan.com/) was on the show in February talking about her collections of work that explore place and memory; painter Andy Thomas joined Diana in October to talk about his works that tell stories, and in particular the stories of American Presidents (https://andythomas.com/); St Louis jeweler Allison Norfleet-Bruenger came on the show in July and explained why she thinks of her works as her 'babies' (http://www.alnbcollections.com/); and in September Malcolm 'Airbrush Assassin' McCrae chatted about how art saved his life as a young teen and touring the country in his converted art bus (https://www.malcolmmccrae.com/home). Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

In 2021 Diana Moxon dedicated one show each month to chatting with the Missouri Arts Council's featured artists. On this week's show she revisits four of the chats she had with the music makers on the 2021 roster: classic guitarist Patrick Rafferty, the Queen of Avant Soul Candice Ivory, bluegrass singer songwriter Ray Cardwell, and jazz songstress Denise Thimes. Opening and closing music credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasmimwilliamsmusic.com)

As we head into the new year, Diana Moxon invites Unbound Book Festival Executive Director and Skylark Bookshop owner, Alex George to share his Skylarky commendations for the past 12 months of book releases, including most obscure title and the book that he loved so much he started reading it over as soon as he had finished it. And in Act Two of the show, Ragtag Film Society's Barbie Banks looks back over the year in film and shares her favorites including best doc, best actor/tress, the movie that you should only watch on a huge screen, and the film most likely to make you laugh so hard you had to pee. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

This week Diana Moxon invites avid theatre goers and actors, Monica Palmer and David McSpadden, into the tinsel-strewn Speaking of the Arts studio to snuggle up by the crackling fire with some rum-spiced hot chocolates and warm blankets to look back over the past 12 months in local theatreland and make recommendations for who might receive the SpeakingoftheArties awards, if in fact they existed. Opening and closing music with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com).

Each December the Sager Reeves Gallery in Columbia brings in work by 20th century masters. This year the exhibit focuses on two artists who were central to the abstract expressionist movement but who never became household names: John Little and Jack Roth. Diana Moxon chats with Sager Reeves gallery curator and director, Hannah Reeves, about their work and their lives (https://sagerreevesgallery.com/). Plus there's a chat with painter Joachim Knill about his strangely haunting paintings of stuffed animals, which live in his installation work, National Treasure (http://www.joachimknill.com/); and interdisciplinary artist, Sukanya Mani, talks about her Tyvek-cutting artworks and how her art explores both the quantum world and the cosmos (https://www.sukanyamani.com/). 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 November four: St Louis-based musician, singer-songwriter Candice Ivory aka the Queen of Avant Soul; conceptual artist Marco Rosichelli from Kansas City whose work scrutinizes and sometimes satirizes the nuances of the institutional nature of the art world; plein air and studio painter Janey Seamans Hale from West Plains; and watercolor artist Dana Forrester from Independence whose ouevre of brick wall ghost signs and corvettes has made him a unique voice in the art world. You can see and hear the works of this week's artists on their websites: https://candiceivory.com/; https://www.rosichelli.com/; https://www.janeyseamanshale.com/; https://danaforresterart.com/.Thanks, as always, to guitarist Yasmin Williams (http://www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com/) for the show's opening and closing music, 'Restless Heart'.

The holiday season is upon us and so are a slew of Christmassy/Holiday Season-themed performances. On this week's show Diana Moxon chats with writer/actor Stacia Fernandez and composer Danny J Rooney about their brand new musical, A Smalltowne Christmas, which makes its world premiere on Stephens College's Macklanburg theatre stage; Arrow Rock's Lyceum Theatre's Producing Artistic Director, Quin Gresham, talks about the return of their holiday season tradition 'A Christmas Carol'; Columbia Entertainment Company's Executive Director, Enola White, and director David Hall chat about the company's production of 'The Winter Wonderettes', and the Missouri Symphony Orchestra's Executive Director Trent Rash discusses MOSY's annual Symphony of Toys concert together with the concert's Creative Director, Melissa Bohon-Webel, and its conductor, Michelle di Russo. Opening and closing musical credits with thanks to guitarist Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com)

It is Thanksgiving week here in America, so what better time to be thankful for all the arts chats of the year, and to look back on just a handful of them. There was the chat with the champion of Juneteenth, the fabulous Ms Opal Lee of Fort Worth TX back in February; in June Greenhouse Theatre Project's Elizabeth Braaten Palmieri and David Wilson talked about the one-woman show 'Grounded', and artist David Spear's finished his painting of the Blind Boone mural and talked about anamorphic perspective; Mizzou International Composer's Festival composer Nina Shekhar came on the show in July to talk about composing and her captivating work 'Quirkhead'; Ragtag Film Society's incoming artistic director, Chloe Trayner, joined host Diana Moxon in September to chat about her expectations of moving to the midwest from London - and her Blink 182 novel; and musicians Violet Vonder Haar and Sifa Bihomora were on Speaking of the Arts in September to talk about their music as they prepared to take to the Roots n Blues stages. Opening and closing music credits thanks to guitarist, Yasmin Williams (www.yasminwilliamsmusic.com).