Studio Noize: Black Art Podcast

On this special episode of Studio Noize brought to you by Print Austin, we go complete print nerd on you! We’re talking with printmaker Julia Curran, who was selected for the Print Austin and Print Sante Fe 5 x 5. Julia’s work deals with the larger social and political phenomena that land in the body, and she has a unique vision for how that manifests. We talk about some of the themes she explores like her Mother Nature monsters, the perils of working as an adjunct professor, and the ways she uses different print mediums. of course, we talk about some specific pieces with her world-class titles and what career change she sees as an addendum to her art practice. All that and more on this print-focused episode. Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode topics include:

exploring printmaking

processes real life through art

the perils of adjunct teaching at universities

switching careers

understanding the human body

a dream studio set up

Julia’s time at the Jentel Residency

exploring different mediums

networking for success

The Spring Break Art Fair

Julia Curran is a multi-disciplinary artist with a background in the socio-politically conscious tradition of printmaking. Through her experiences dealing with an auto-immune disease from a young age, she has developed a fascination with what it means to be in touch with one’s body in a disembodied culture, our presumption of agency over flesh, and the interconnected health of our internal and shared environments. Recent works feature Mother Nature embodied as a cast of anatomical and anthropomorphic figures such as trees, suns, bones, roots, seedlings, volcanoes, digestive systems, and underground monsters – each perpetuating cycles of life and death, as well as humorous remixes of old myths. Her intricate and precise craftsmanship combines painting, printmaking, and collage; Curran calls for us to look within and around, and to find resilience through celebrating our fleshy, sexual, abject, mortal, celestial, and interdependent nature.

See More: www.juliacurranprints.com + Julia Curran IG @julia.s.curran

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

Today your boy JBarber explores his experience as an exhibition juror over the last year. It’s a different perspective on artist calls and calls for art programs and contests. The experience of awarding the Hudgens Prize last year was a real eye-opener in terms of what works and what stands out in a wide-open field. We talk about things that eliminate you immediately and what can help when applying. JBarber also went through the process of creating an artist’s call for this year’s annual juried show at Mint Gallery. Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 158 topics include:

Being an art juror

applying to artist calls

how to eliminate yourself immediately

ways to approach making work

what interests you to apply to an artist call

how jurors think about the work

the Hudgens Prize

Send a voice memo of your thoughts about artist calls to [email protected] to be included in a future episode of the Noize.

See More: Hudgens Prize Winner 2022

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

Happy New Year! The Noize is back for more Black art conversations for you. Your boy JBarber can’t come back without talking about the biggest thing going in art right now. The Hank Willis Thomas sculpture honoring Martin Luther King and Coretta Scott King. To say the reviews have been mixed is an understatement. JB talks about the piece, all the conversation around it, and what we can take away from it all. We are excited to announce our partnership with Black Art In America and how we will work together to keep bringing you more content and conversations. Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 157 topics include:

Embrace sculpture by Hank Willis Thomas

intention versus interpretation

public criticism

considering scale as an artist

expectations of art patrons

synergy with Black Art In America

Send a voice memo of your thoughts about the Embrace sculpture to [email protected] to be included in a future episode of the Noize.

See More: Spelman Museum website + Spelman Museum IG @spelmanmuseum

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

The new executive director of the Spelman Museum of Fine Art, Dr. Liz Andrews, joins the Noize! She has been tasked to lead the museum through a new exciting period in its illustrious history. We recorded live from the Lave Thomas: Homecoming exhibition in the halls of Spelman. Dr. Andrews tells us about the upcoming Black American Portraits exhibition overflowing with some of the biggest and best Black women artists like Bisa Butler, Amy Sherald, and Calida Rawles. She discusses her time at LACMA, the power of museum acquisitions, and the meaning of portraits. Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 156 topics include:

Lava Thomas: Homecoming

Spelman Museum of Fine Art

curating at LACMA

the power of museum acquisitions

authenticity in art

Black American Portraits exhibition

meaning of portraits

the reputation of Spelman College

the new Spelman Center for Innovation & the Arts

Liz Andrews is an artist, curator, museum professional, and leader who is dedicated to the arts and social justice. She has worked with arts organizations across the nation. In August 2021, Liz began her role as Executive Director of the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art. Prior to joining Spelman College, Liz Andrews was Executive Administrator in the Director’s Office of LACMA where she expanded her role to collaborate on projects and priorities across museum departments, including diversity and inclusion efforts and curating exhibitions. Her curatorial projects at LACMA included The Obama Portraits Tour and a companion exhibition Black American Portraits, and she commissioned an augmented reality (AR) monument dedicated to Biddy Mason by the artist Ada Pinkston, among other projects. Liz’s career is also defined by a long-standing commitment to engaging college students through research and the arts through teaching at George Mason University and serving as an advisor and organizing public programming at the NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Liz was born and raised in Denver, Colorado and attributes her commitment to justice from her father, attorney Irving P. Andrews. She holds a B.A. in American Studies from Wesleyan University, a M.A. in Arts Politics from the NYU Tisch School of Arts, and a Ph.D in Cultural Studies from George Mason University. Her dissertation was entitled Envisioning President Barack Obama.

See More: Spelman Museum website + Spelman Museum IG @spelmanmuseum

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

ArtFields is a southern art competition that is changing the landscape of art in South Carolina and giving real money out to artists. Kyle Coleman, fine art manager of ArtFields, joins Studio Noize to let us know about this 9-day celebration of art. We get to know the ins and outs of the ArtFields competition, from the selection panels to the live events in Lake City, SC. We talk about the impact of a festival like this in the rural south, the response from the artists and the community, and what’s coming in 2023 as ArtFields celebrates 11 years of this event. Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 155 topics include:

ArtFields in Lake City, SC

creating an art competition in the rural south

cash prizes for artists

growing ArtFields over 11 years

art selection panels

comparison to Art Basel and other art fairs

ArtFields Jr.

interfacing with artists as an organization

ArtFields started in 2013 with a simple goal: honor the artists of the Southeast with a week’s worth of celebration and competition in the heart of a traditional Southern small town. The competition and exhibition offers over $145,000 in cash prizes. The winners of two People’s Choice Awards are determined by the votes of people visiting ArtFields; a panel of art professionals selects all the other awards, including the $50,000 Grand Prize and $25,000 Second Place award.

Kyle Coleman is the fine arts manager of ArtFields since 2019.

See More: ArtFieldssc.org + ArtFields @artfieldssc

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

What does it look like to have an art institution built for Black artists and audiences throughout the diaspora? Today we talk about the African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta (ADAMA) with founder, Dr Fahamu Pecou and interim village chief, Stephanie Flemming. This is not a Black version of a white museum. It’s a space that honors, uplifts, and celebrates the culture of the diaspora. We talk about the programs like the Bridge Residency and PassPortal, how to build a new institution, and connecting with Blackness around the world. More of that good art talk that we do right here on the Noize! Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 154 topics include:

African Diaspora Art Museum of Atlanta

diversity in institutions

Adama Bridge Residency

PassPortal

connecting with Blackness around the world

cultural exchange

physical museum spaces vs virtual spaces

building an institution

STEPHANIE FLEMING, Interim Village Chief of ADAMA

I am a first generation American from an innovative pair of Jamaican immigrant parents. I am passionate about how people of African descent construct identity and discover agency in a world that insists upon misconstrued narratives. I love working with ADAMA because it feels like home and the institutional extension of my art practice. For me ADAMA is where I can bring my whole self with joy, as a Jamaican Black woman, an artist, a storyteller, facilitator, and cultivator.

DR. FAHAMU PECOU, Founder of ADAMA

I am an interdisciplinary artist and scholar whose works combine observations on hip-hop, fine art, and popular culture to address concerns around contemporary representations of Black men. Through paintings, performance art, and academic work, I confront the performance of Black masculinity and Black identity, challenging and expanding the reading, performance and expressions of Blackness.

See More: adamatl.org + ADAMA IG @adama_atl

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

Studio Noize fam, Dawn Okoro, returns to the show to catch us up on her art life. Dawn has been through some major changes since we last talked to her. She toured her Punk Noir show, created and showed new work in London, and featured her work in movies, tv shows, and Life Water bottles! We talk about her latest show, Mad Explosive Spontaneity, Kool-Aid drawings, and baking to survive the pandemic. It’s always great to catch up with the fam! Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 153 topics include:

Mad Explosive Spontaneity show

showing work internationally

working during the pandemic

Kool-AId drawings

Life Water deal and response

changing your art process

working with models online

Punk Noir updates

publicity from having art in movies and tv shows

how Dawn sees her career growth

Dawn Okoro is a multidisciplinary artist living in Austin, Texas. Her desire to make art sparked from her love of fashion illustration and design. Her work is influenced by punk, hip-hop, and the composition techniques used in fashion photography.

Okoro’s art is highlighted on Season 2 of “Law & Order: Organized Crime” on NBC. Her work can be seen in theaters in Sony Pictures’ “The Invitation,” opening on August 26. She has collaborated with Pepsico, with her art on the company’s LIFEWTR water bottles.

Okoro is featured in Harper’s Bazaar, Architectural Digest, Hyperallergic, USA Today, W Magazine, and Essence. Her art was recently exhibited at Christie’s New York. In 2022, Okoro made her UK debut with her solo exhibition, “Mad Explosive Spontaneity” at Maddox Gallery.

See More: okorostudio.com + Dawn Okoro IG @dawnokoro

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

Tattoo legend, Miya Bailey, jumps on the Noize to talk about everything he’s got going on. Miya has been tattooing for 30 years and he invested in creating a community of artists and art lovers in Atlanta with City of Ink tattoo shop and Peter Street Station, the artist-owned community art center. Miya tells us about his attitude toward building an ecosystem, his appreciation for his tattoo clients, working with apprentices, and funding his vision with the Black dollar. A lot of that good art talk today on the Noize! Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 152 topics include:

Moving to Atlanta in 1994/ early ATL art scene

transparency in art

client relationships

having apprentices

tattoo culture

valuing the Black dollar

Twin Flame exhibition

Government Cheese exhibition

retiring as an artist

artist-run galleries

Currently residing in Atlanta, Miya Bailey (b. 1975) is an illustrator, film producer, painter, celebrity tattoo artist and founder of City of Ink Tattoo shop. Bailey is passionate about art, family and education. He uses his gifts to extol the importance of the arts in one’s community and to encourage art enthusiasts to support living artists through collecting. Bailey grew up in Asheville, North Carolina.

See More: Miya Bailey IG @miyabailey + City of Ink IG @cityofink + Peter Street Station IG @peterstreetstation

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

Kevin “WAK” Williams is preparing for his annual Atlanta exhibition and stopped by Studio Noize to talk about it. Kevin has had a long, successful career in art and has created some legendary work along the way. We talk about what keeps him engaged in art making after so long and the differences between how he did his work back in the day, hustling art on the streets of Chicago, and working with brands and galleries worldwide. We get some insight into the new show, If Not Us… Who? opening at Mint Gallery on November 5th. We touch on Kevin’s idea of creative freedom, building narratives in art, controlling your business, and staying relevant over 30 years as an artist. Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 151 topics include:

building a legacy through art

creative and financial freedom

managing your brand (bet on yourself)

building narratives

understanding your value

copyright for artists

staying relevant

impact, empowerment, and enlightenment

Kevin A. Williams is an artist on a mission, but his is no solo trip: He wants to take you on the journey, too. His destination is a place where more African-Americans will appreciate, own and even create fine art that honors their rich heritage and hope filled destiny. So far, tens of thousands of people have willingly followed Williams to that vista – including talk-show host Oprah Winfrey, and actor comedian Bernie Mac. From celebrity homes to small businesses, corporate offices and women’s spas, Williams’ original and lithograph artwork hangs from coast to coast. As the best-selling artist in the African-American print market, Williams is a popular personality at national art shows, conferences of African-American groups and major international events, including the Essence Music Festival. His art has been featured on television’s “Law & Order” (NBC) and “Soul Food” (Showtime). An artist who has received no formal training Williams’ success has been in what some may call non-traditional methods of reaching art consumers. Kevin A. Williams/WAK Urban Fine Artist CEO, WAKART, LLC

See More: www.artbywak.com + Kevin "WAK" Williams IG @artbywak

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

The Noize is back! Season 8 kicks off with a bang because we have one of the best young artists in Atlanta, Tim Short. Tim has developed a distinct voice to go along with his amazing level of skill in painting. We recorded this episode as the artist talk for his solo show, “For Da Folks”, at the end of his Mint Leap Year residency. Tim talks about the process of making his paintings, how he imagines Blackness, making art that makes him happy, and getting a message across through art. We talk about his sci-fi leanings and where he sees his work going in the future. Listen, subscribe, and share!

Episode 150 topics include:

Mint Leap Year residency

confidence in style

mastery in art

handling criticism

different approaches to creating a painting

imagining Blackness

balancing the supernatural elements of his art

Timothy Short was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia. He moved to Atlanta in order to attend Georgia State and pursue art in 2011. Predominantly as an oil painter, Timothy constructs imaginative narrative spaces always centering the Black figure. These stories are meant to venerate the everyday people close to him, often chosen as models for his work, using cosmological and celestial imagery. By detailing the subjects of the works in darker palettes, associations of lighter colors and spaces with inherent goodness or divinity are subverted and a metaphysical iconography is granted to the Blackness of these universes. Timothy’s inspirations are Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Jordan Casteel amongst many other painters, a host of manga and comics, and great Black music.

See More: www.timshortart.com + Tim Short IG @culturedstruggle

Follow us:

StudioNoizePodcast.com

IG: @studionoizepodcast

Jamaal Barber: @JBarberStudio

Support the podcast 

www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast