Studio Noize: Black Art Podcast

Today we welcome film and television director Crystle C Roberson to the Studio Noize podcast. Crystal has been cutting in the director's chair for a long time. Lately, she brought her talents to Greenleaf and Ambitions on the OWN Network. We learn about Crystle's philosophy when it comes to making a movie, what it’s like working on a big-time production like Greenleaf, and how she’s helping mentor the next generation of film makers with CCR Storyhouse. We learn all about making movies today on the Noize!

Studio Noize brings you a special episode featuring the 2020 Horizon Award winner Neka King. Neka king is a digital artist and muralist in the city of Atlanta doing big things. A few of her beautiful murals have popped up around the city. It's just the beginning of this amazing young woman’s journey in the art world. We talk about how she got into doing her projects with Nike, AT&T, and H&M, and how she’s building her visual language with her piece. Get to know this great young artist right here on the Noize.

Studio Noize brings you a special episode featuring the 2020 Horizon Award winner Symone Baptiste. Symone made her directorial debut with the award-winning short film Sixteen Thousand Dollars after putting in years of work at NBC and booking comedy shows in LA. We talk about the process of making a movie, how she came up from working all her jobs, and what is going down in the comedy scene. We get to know this amazing filmmaker.

It’s a celebration on Episode 100 of Studio Noize! We start by celebrating the amazing Chadwick Boseman who just joined the ancestors after a long battle with cancer. Jamaal and Jasmine (back form hiatus) talk about the journey of reaching 100 episodes without podfading after 2 years and a lot of growing and changing. We get some help from some of our Studio Noize super fans telling us what they love about the show. We share some of our favorite episodes, what’s the hardest thing about podcasting and where we plan to go from here. Thank you so much for listening over the last 2 years. We appreciate you!

Arts Organizer Ash Nash returns to Studio Noize! Since we last caught up with her on our Kaeperbowl episode (way back at Episode 20) Ash has been building her company Power Haus Creative and doing amazing work in the city. We talk about her latest project which was a Juneteenth artist takeover of the Flat Iron building in downtown Atlanta, how she is partnering with organizations to lift up Black artists and what it means to be an advocate. Plus the return of Jiggy Jas from her summer break! Studio Noize if back in full effect!

Printmaker Jennifer Mack Watkins joins Studio Noize for some good conversation about her journey into mokuhanga, a Japanese relief printing technique. We talk about her trip to Japan where she learned from some real masters, her start right here in Atlanta at Morris Brown and how motherhood factors into her artist life. There are not a lot of Black printmakers doing this kind of work so its great to hear more about the technique.

Studio Noize welcomes Katharen Wiese to the fam! Kat is a young, super talented artist working in Lincoln, Nebraska. Her art deals with issues of multicultural identity and representation. She is a phenomenal painter and printmaker. Kat and Jamaal talk about her life experience being multiracial and growing up in predominantly white spaces. The conversation is reflected in her amazing artwork. We talk about the ways people identify, the sometimes problematic world of academia, and how black artists make their way. Kat is very thoughtful and insightful about her experience. It’s another great artist that you need to know.

Kevin Sipp from the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs talks with Studio Noize about the interaction between government and working artists. Kevin gives us a lesson on the history of the City of Atlanta’s support of the arts and moment in his long career as an artist, curator, and historian working with Atlanta’s cornerstone institutions for the arts. Such as Hammonds House and the AUC Center. Kevin gives us some great insights into the new wave of arts organizations and how we need to work together to continue to improve the environment for arts in Atlanta and beyond. Special Guest co-host Lauren Jackson Harris.

Dr Christena Cleveland joins Studio Noize for an in-depth conversation about how we visualize divinity. Dr Cleveland’s book Christ Our Black Mother Speaks discusses how our relationship to God is related to how we imagine God and if the image of God is a Black woman what that means to everyone that follows her. She talks about the history of the Black Madonna, the benefits of having a God that looks like you and her personal journey in her faith. It’s a powerful conversation about representation and belonging.

The 7 Mile girl, Jamea Richmond-Edwards joins the podcast to talk about her amazing mixed media work. Her work centers Black women fully and unapologetically. She crafts narratives around her life experiences growing up in Detroit in the ’90s. We talk about her inspirations from Ebony magazine spreads to Howard and beyond. It’s another great conversation with one of the best contemporary Black artists in the world.