The Inspiring Conversations Podcast

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https://youtu.be/2V0dCd7cuxI

Jeff sits down with artist and educator Amber DuBoise-Shepherd to hear about what her work means to her at a deeper level, about her artistic perspective, and about how her work is informed and inspired by having grown up in a home immersed with different Native cultures, traditions, and languages.

She also speaks about her work that will be displayed in the upcoming OVAC Momentum exhibit at Living Arts of Tulsa from April 2 through the 23rd.

To learn more about Amber and her work, visit
https://www.amberlduboise-shepherdart.com

Amber L. DuBoise-Shepherd depicts contemporary Native American narratives based on her family heritage of Navajo, Sac & Fox, and Prairie Band Potawatomi. Her mixed media pieces and oil paintings reference an illustrative quality. She has an Associates of Art from Seminole State College and completed her Bachelors of Fine Arts in Spring 2016 at Oklahoma State University. She was accepted into Momentum March 2017, March 2019, March 2020, and in 2021 she was accepted as Spotlight Artist in Oklahoma that was hosted by the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition. 

She won Best of Show in 2016, 1st Place in 2017, and 1st, 2nd, and Judges Choice Award in 2018, and Best of Show in 2019 in her categories for the Cushing, OK Native American Heritage Festival Juried Art Show and Native Fest Juried Art Show. She also won 1st in her category for the Stillwater Art Guild’s Spring Show 2019. She won grand prize and runner up in the IMAGEN Art Competition: “Native Tradition is Medicine: Resilience and Native Lifeways during COVID-19” in 2020.

 She was asked to show work in an exhibition at Studio112 and a Half in January 2018 for the show named Unframed. DuBoise-Shepherd was also a speaker for Native American artist of Oklahoma at the Indigenous Arts Ecology presented by First Peoples Fund. DuBoise-Shepherd was also one of two selected for the first ever Red Earth’s Emerging Artist Award in 2018 by the Red Earth board for her body of work. She has exhibited Southern Plains Indian Museum in Anadarko, OK consisted of her most recent body of work in her exhibition Tradition Through Modern Eyes 2018. 

Her most recent exhibition was a solo exhibition at the Jacobson Native Art Center from April-May 2019. 

She started off the year 2020 exhibiting at the TAC Gallery in Tulsa, OK for her exhibition Living on the Native Oklahoma Reservation, as well as being accepted into two Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition Exhibition Concept/Survey at the Ahha Gallery in Tulsa, OK and Momentum 2020 in Oklahoma City. DuBoise-Shepherd will also be exhibiting work at the Ahha Gallery in July 2020 for the Re/Convening exhibition and Azhwakwa: Contemporary Anishinaabe Art exhibition at the Jacobson Native Art Center in Norman, OK in August 2020. She exhibited for the Speak: Speak While You Can exhibition at the Living Arts Center in Sept. – Oct. 2020. 

She has increasingly been showing at different markets to sell and show her work to the public and was accepted in the Santa Fe Indian Market August of 2018 and 2019, which is the biggest Native American arts market in the world, in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She attended the Artesian Native Art Market in Sulpher, OK, and The Cherokee Art Market in Catoossa, OK for the first time in 2019. DuBoise-Shepherd is the Manager of Education and Outreach at the Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art in Shawnee, OK since April 2019. She is married and currently lives in her hometown of Shawnee, OK with her husband Josh Shepherd.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/udv_tAxPbdw

Jeff sits down with artist Kristin Gentry to hear her share about her role in co-curating the upcoming OVAC Momentum exhibit opening April 2nd at Living Arts of Tulsa and about her work and what it all means to hear at a deeper level.

To learn more about Kristin and her work, visit
https://www.kristingentry.com

Bio
Kristin Gentry is passionate about using her art to create different ways to preserve her traditional Native American tribal culture. Kristin has exhibited her artwork in numerous juried, invited, open, and group shows across the Midwestern United States.

She works as a professional visual artist in the areas of relief and monotype printmaking, painting, jewelry and photography. She also works as a writer, designer, and curator. She worked as a full time arts educator in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and now works full time as an artist. Kristin is an enrolled member and registered artist of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. Kristin finished M.S. degree in Native Leadership from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in the spring of 2020.

She received the National Center for American Indian Enterprise Development’s 40 under 40 award in 2012. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in fine arts from Oklahoma State University in 2009, and graduated as a Senior of Significance denoting the top of her class.  She attained her Associate of Art in education from Tulsa Community College in 2005 as an Honor’s Scholar Graduate.

Artist Statement
She uses her art to educate and restore the beauty of her people’s journey to where they are as Chahta Okla, Choctaw People, today. Through her art she continues to find more of her Indian Identity as a Chahta Ohoyo, Choctaw Woman, and Ishki, Mother. She understands that the need for her cultural art is necessary to the future of her daughter and her people. She works to involve her community through education and being the voice for Native American artists and Native American women in today’s society. She is a writer, curator, painter, printmaker, and photographer. She often photographs families in their tribal regalia and creates designs and patterns from traditional clothing in her painting and prints.    

I stylistically form nature in a  way that is in contrast of how many artists rely on realistic representations. Formally, I am very interested in making compositions out of the colors, the positive or negative shapes of the plants and other nature. I am interested in symmetry as it’s always present throughout my tribal culture. I emphasize nature’s influence by showing the floral patterns from traditional clothing. Through this stylistic approach, my work honors my culture that is found in nature based customs and traditions. I look at our designs and research how they have transformed or remained unchanged to today. I also research the influence of tribal agrarian history of gardened produce and pollination for crops’ influence on Native American art and clothing. Through my art I explore how the symbolic meanings of the designs influence our cultural traditions today and influence our larger communities.  

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/YbYydnXY4nM

Laura Hensley and Jeff sit down with Katrina Loos to hear about her life journey, about her evolution, and about her yoga practice. 

She shares deeply about the most formative lessons that she has learned along the way.

Katrina Loos is a yoga teacher in training whose open documentation of her spiritual journey has enchanted and intrigued humans from all walks of life. Known as Yoga With Kats across social media, Katrina shares her yogic thoughts, yoga asana practices, spiritual mantras and affirmations, and her two cats, Flicker and Pumpkin Spice Latte. Follow Katrina in her journey here: @ yogawithkats

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/U_ejbtzXAOA

Laura Hensley and Jeff sit down with artist Jasmine Jones to hear about what he art practice means to her at a deeper level, about her experiences with Factory Obscura and the OKC art community, and about how she finds moment-to-moment presence as she experiences her own work unfolding.

To learn more about Jasmine and her work, visit
https://artofjj.weebly.com

Jasmine Jones is a multidisciplinary artist and maker from Midwest City, Oklahoma. She has an Associate in Arts from Rose State College and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art from the University of Oklahoma. Through her art she traverses through various ideas as well as various methods and materials that she sees fit. With a form of familiarity and the everyday, Jasmine is constantly integrating areas of her life into her artwork and vice versa while working with concepts like spirituality, therapy, and interaction and materials like textiles, paper, and charcoal. Jasmine’s a member of two artist collectives – Art Group and Factory Obscura. She appreciates working collaboratively to show that art can be interactive, immersive, beneficial, and more.

ARTIST STATEMENT
How we both collectively and individually function and make decisions is fascinating. Interactions, connections, and experiences have the potential to happen daily - each one having the potential to be new, yet mundane. As an artist and maker, my ideas are fueled by this magic of everyday, the secrets of life, and chance. My influences are inclusive of therapy, personal and shared memory, sacredness of humanity and self, as well as complexity and simplicity in nature. I introduce those mysteries and wonders into my work through symbolism, figures, color, and pattern. Just as there are variables in life, the materials for my work are often in flux. My methods take the form of charcoal on paper to situations presented to an audience. I work to show that people can find curiosity or beauty striking at any moment, in the seemingly insignificant or from within. The potential for the cultivation of magic and wonder may help us rethink and how to differently or actively engage in the many paths of our lives.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/EZXBbd3H_0k

Jeff sits down with artist Sean Tyler to hear about her work and her focus on the human figure, the female experience, and expanding the boundaries of fine art with fiber arts.

She also shares deeply about her recent work that is centered around exploring the female experience in "selfies" as well.

To learn more about Sean and her work, visit
https://www.seantylerfineart.com

Sean Tyler is a painter, fiber artist, and mixed media artist from Tulsa, OK. Tyler received a BFA from Rogers State University in May of 2019. She works with mixed media formats and specializes in painting on canvas and fiber arts. While at RSU she showed multiple times in the yearly Juried Exhibition and received the Best in Show award of the 2017 and 2019 exhibition. She has shown across the United States as well as Italy. She is currently exploring new directions in fiber arts and expanding her teaching practice. Tyler splits her time between her hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma and the University of Iowa where she is pursuing an MFA in painting/drawing.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/_2tD0BCSpLE

Jeff sits down with artist Katrinka Booth to hear her reflect about the very deep and connected relationship between her life experiences and between each work of art that she creates. 

She also shares very deeply about her process, about where her inspiration comes from, and about how she got started creating works of art. 

To learn more about Katrinka and her work, visit
Facebook/Pinterest: Wallflowers by Katrinka Booth
Instagram: @wallflowersbykb Linkedin: Katrinka Booth

Katrinka Booth was born in South Central Missouri and raised in Bentonville Arkansas. Her influences include her family, her love of textiles, her years spent as a seamstress of couture clothing, and the landscapes and terrain of Arkansas and the surrounding areas. 

Her art began as a relentless recurring dream of her stitching a wallflower on her simple sewing machine. The dream didn’t stop until she stitched her first piece. 

Each piece of art teaches her something about the next one to come. 

Katrinka expresses the elation and freedom she experiences stitching these detailed, Elaborate pieces. She hopes the viewer is transported to another place, where time is suspended and you can “be free in your wildness.” 

Much of her work is accomplished using fabric and thread on a humble domestic sewing machine in a free hand style. 

Recently she shelved her art practice to make over 2,000 masks, and has invented a new method of embroidery involving yarn as paint on a canvas, having dubbed it “Neo-Embroidery”.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/bJGSOoofXik

Jeff sits down with veteran comedian Derek Richards to hear about what it's like to be a comedian from his experience and perspective "on the other side of the mic."

A regular on the Las Vegas Strip, Derek’s act is fast, fresh, and at times, fanatical. He brings the funny with tales about his Irish-Catholic upbringing, divorce, the holidays, and his child-free existence. Described on a show review as, ‘Just the right amount of wrong.’

His one hour special with The Irish Comedy Tour can be seen on demand via Amazon Prime, DISH, DirecTV, iTunes, VUDU, Vimeo, Google Play, Microsoft XBOX and YouTube. \

You can also catch him via the SiriusXM Satellite Radio Network, Pandora, The Weather Channel’s Top 10, The Tom Shillue Show on Fox News Radio Network, and The Anthony Cumia Show with Dave Landau.

A veteran of several USO and Armed Forces Entertainment tours, Richards has performed at U.S. base camps in Iraq, Afghanistan and 15 other countries. His work for the military has been featured in Newsweek.

On the concert stage, he’s been the opening act for Motown legends, The Temptations and The Four Tops.

His third comedy album, 60 MPH School Zone, garnered Honorable Mention accolades in the International Songwriting Competition.

His release is sold at shows, iTunes and at derekrichards.com.

In October of 2018, Derek released his first self-published book, Whiskey, Cancer & Bad Decisions, which is his twisted memoir of a comedian’s journey with cancer. The release is available on Amazon, Kindle and Audible.

To learn more about Derek and his life and comedy, visit
www.derekrichards.com
www.theirishcomedytour.com
www.twitter.com/comedndrichards
www.facebook.com/comedianderekrichards
www.instagram.com/comedndrichards

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/GG7ZYKoVKfw

Laura Hensley and Jeff Krisman sit down with Mac Coplin as she shares very deeply and compellingly about her life journey, some very formative lessons learned, and about her evolution.

She also shares about her work as a freelance photographer and about her practice of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and how these practices have been very healing for her.

To learn more about Mac or to reach out to her, visit
youtube.com/macluvsyou2
twitch.tv/macbjj
instagram: @macluvsyou @mac.bjjphotos @vineandjude

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/36roKO1iu4s

Jeff sits down with artist Frida Cornelio to hear about hear artistic perspective and about how she creates art that confronts the public on social issues while promoting awareness and change. 

She is a Mexican figurative painter whose interest in the human figure is in what composes it aesthetically and psychologically.

Frida also speaks about "Dalia," her exhibit at Liggett Studio that closed recently. Her work for this show deals with the femicide that is plaguing Northern Mexico right now due to the culture of machismo. 

Latin America has one of the highest rates of femicides around the world, and the cultural acceptance of this violence is linked to the culture of machismo that exists within Latin America. 

Through the depiction of the female portrait, Frida has brought light into this issue and empower women who have been victims of gender inequality and abuse to find their own self-worth. 

To learn more about Frida, visit 
https://www.fridacornelio.com

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/mBV73FRCVGI

Jeff sits down for a Conscious conversation with artist Ra Vashtar about the deep relationship between his life journey and his artistic perspective.
 
He shares very candidly and compellingly about his process and evolution and how that has informed his craft and how his craft has brought about new insights and healing as well.

To learn more about Ra and his work, visit 
www.artsaflame.com

ABOUT RA's UPCOMING SHOW AT LIGGETT STUDIO ON FEBRUARY 12TH
"LIVING EPHEMERA": This will be a one-night event showcasing an art installation and gallery pieces created out of ephemeral materials such as newspaper, junk mail, receipts, packaging, etc. The focal point of the event will be an installation of multiple rows of wire with string wrapped around the wire and through holes punched in Polaroid photographs depicting themes of nature, time, and human experience. The gallery pieces will be artwork created from/on ephemeral materials that echo themes of mortality, time, and change. No photographs will be allowed of the artwork, and all artwork is to be destroyed immediately following the event.

ABOUT RA AND HIS WORK
Ra Vashtar is a mixed media artist with a focus on depicting monsters as a metaphor for the internal world. Vashtar's method often involves layers of ink, acrylic paint, watercolor, found objects, and resin. He draws imagery from dreams, mythology, and the belief in the esoteric practice of creating art. Vashtar cites Junji Ito, Guillermo Del Toro, Salvador Dali, and Japanese Gaming and Animation as influences in his work. 

As a queer, transgender, and autistic person, Vashtar's work explores themes of mental health, neurodiversity and identity. He finds meaning in seeking to show others they are not alone in their struggles, and in opening conversations about difficult topics. 

Vashtar was born and raised in Ponca City, Oklahoma, and has worked full time as an artist in the Tulsa area since 2017. Vashtar graduated from CG Spectrum with a certificate in advanced concept art in 2020. He works as a freelance illustrator and sells handmade adoptable monster figurines. 

Vashtar is a member of the Hot Topic Creator Program and a contributor for the neurodiversity blog NeuroClastic, making comics and illustrated articles about living with autism.