Why Make? Podcast

On this episode of Why Make we have Jim Roberts a percussionist, producer, artist and educator who resides in Chapel Hill NC. Jim plays the drum set, djembe, congas, and has many recordings under his belt. He has just finished a 17 year teaching stint at Elon University where he taught percussion and directed the Elon World Percussion Ensemble.

Jims journey in percussion dated to his earliest years playing in band  class to marching band to drum and bugle core to African music traditional fiddle music and so much more. Please join us for a percussive journey with Jim Roberts

In this episode I talk about my first impressions of the Emma International collaboration, which took place on July 31 to August 8, 2024 in Big River Saskatchewan. If you need a little more background on Emma take a listen to What is Emma? Episode 59 of the podcast

When I returned from Why Makes great adventure to Emma earlier this month, I knew I needed to sit down and collect my thoughts about my experience before they started to drifted away. This short episode is a collection of my thoughts about having attended my first artist collaboration. I promise you there will be much more to come.

In Episode 62 of the Why Make Podcast we introduce the 1st in our Mind of a Maker series, a new part of the Why Make Podcast, with our guest Steve Fishman. Steve is a North Carolina printmaker and a painter in many mediums, as well as being skilled with pen and ink and the mighty pencil. He is also a teacher and someone who really knows how to think about the process of making art.

So journey back with me, Erik Wolken a little bit… to May of 2023. I'm thinking about how to put some new elements in the podcast and come up with the idea of trying to follow the thought process of an artist creating a specific piece of art. The name that came to me for that was Mind of a Maker, which I stole directly from the Anthony Bourdain PBS series Mind of a Chef

I was also thinking of this as a hybrid project, both a podcast and a short film, because of course after making one film I have mastered the medium. So the first thing I need is a guest/guinea pig to try out the idea, someone who will not mind if I waste their time and flail around. And that would be my good friend Steve Fishman, a willing victim, whom I've spent endless hours talking with about art and art making.

Steve had recently completed work on an exhibition of moon inspired paintings that were part of a much larger ongoing series. And as Steve and I are both fond of saying, "Bob's your uncle." I now had a willing subject and the perfect topic for my experiment.

So sit back and listen as Steve regales you with tales of painting the moon 🌙 🎨🌝

Episode 61 of Why Make? is the conclusion of our conversation with Carrboro, NC musician Jonathan Byrd, who, along with being an award winning song writer is also a story teller, a poet, a photographer,  a painter, a teacher and now a student in Physics at North Carolina State University.

Enjoy Part Two of our wide open discussion on a host of topics from song writing to physics with Jonathan Byrd.

Find out more about Jonathan, his music and much much more at www.jonathanbyrd.com

On Episode 60 of Why Make? our guest is Jonathan Byrd a Carrboro, NC musician, who, along with being award winning song writer, is also a story teller extraordinaire, a poet, a photographer, a painter, a teacher and now a student in Physics.

Erik has known Jonathan for a long time and has watched his career blossom over the years. After discovering that Jonathan had taken a hiatus from touring to go to school for physics it became evident that it was high time to get him on the podcast to find out more.

Enjoy Part One of a wide open discussion on a host of topics, from song writing to physics, with Jonathan Byrd.

Find out more about Jonathan, his music and much much more at www.jonathanbyrd.com

I first heard about Emma Lake as it was formerly known,  many years ago as this gathering of makers in the far reaches of northern Saskatchewan,Canada. I am not sure how I heard about it or in what context but I always remember it being presented as this other worldly event described with superlatives that somehow could not match reality. Furthermore I am not sure I really even understood what it was. At best it seemed like summer camp for woodworkers to just play and make anything they wanted in the company of like minded individuals.I also knew it was by invitation only and it was an invitation that I would love to receive someday.Fast forward to 2019 when we started the Why Make podcast one of our earliest conversations, episode 3, was with Melissa Engler and Graeme Priddle who went on to wax poetic about Emma to the extent that Graeme had created an Emma spin off event in his native home of New Zealand. And the mystique only grew as we talked  with other Emma participants over the years including Kim Winkle, Karen Ernst, Andy Buck and Adam Manley. And that invitation finally came for the Emma 2024 gathering in August and Why Make is thrilled attend and document this event . But first we humbly ask for your assistance in helping us attend as we provide conversation on What is Emma with board member Brian Gladwell

As mentioned in the podcast here is a link to excellent book of images and essays from the

Imagine Peace Now exhibition

https://imaginepeacenow.org/supportus/product/i-m-a-g-i-n-e-peace-now-publication/

On Episode 57 of Why Make? we talk with Brad Reed Nelson, a Glenwood Springs, Colorado woodworker, furniture maker and product designer creating magical pieces made from metal and wood. Brad, aka BRN, and his better half Ann, run Board by Design, a functional design company making such brightly colored amazingness as Knuckles, The Good Pot, Elefunction, Blokkey, Bling Pong tables and the steadfast Winsorrondack chair.

We talk with Brad about his years in school and learning about life and making with the likes of Wendell Castle, Garry Knox Bennett, Paul Sasso, Sam Maloof and Gail Fredell. Brad also reminds us about the importance and necessity of community, collaboration, listening and communication, fostering relationships and being vulnerable. And how these all pile up to the create the mountain from which every single person is made.

So join us as we lean in and get all twisted up in Brad Reed Nelson’s humble sense of humor and wicked sense of design?!

(or: alternate ending)

So join us as we talk with Brad Reed Nelson about making shit your kids will fight over when you are dead.

Find out more about Brad Reed Nelson at http://boardbydesign.com/

Episode 56 of Why Make? is a conversation 50 years in the making! Erik sits down sit with his childhood friend, the amazing metalsmith, jeweler, sculptor and teacher Boris Bally. Erik last saw Boris sometime in 1974 when they were 12 years old.

Originally, like Erik, from Pittsburgh, Boris now resides and works in Providence RI. A maker from the early days of his youth, Boris fell in love with the magic of working metal and never looked back. Growing up in a Swiss family he took advantage of an opportunity to do a 1 year apprenticeship in Basil Switzerland in metal smithing after high school. Upon returning to the U.S he enrolled in the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in Philadelphia and finished his degree at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.

Always the practical artist Boris has fashioned his career by teaching, doing commission work and designing and producing a number of very successful production items, along with his own more personal work. Join us as we catch on the last 50 years and find out what just what Boris Bally has been making.

We had the privilege of having this conversation with Boris while he was teaching a workshop at the Pocosin Center for the Arts in Columbia, NC in June with Bob Ebendorf our guest on Episode 54. Many thanks to the good folks at Pocosin for allowing us to spend some time on campus.