WORK IN PROGRESS: Conversations with Creators

Street artist Shepard Fairey emerged from the 1980s skateboarding and punk scenes. Best known for his breakout 1989 street art campaign, “Andre the Giant Has a Posse,” and the iconic 2008 “Hope” poster he designed for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, Fairey is one of the most influential street artists of all time.

On today’s show, he talks about two important new murals he’s painting in New Mexico this month – one in Albuquerque and one in Santa Fe – and his new exhibition at Santa Fe’s Turner Carroll Gallery, which runs from July 17 through Aug. 10. He also talks about the political implications of his art and how his work has changed over the years.

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Albuquerque-based Gigi Bella is an award-winning performance poet, actor, artist and activist. She was ranked 10th in the world at the 2017 Women of the World Poetry Slam and is a two-time Bronx poetry champion with the slam team Project X. Her latest poetry collection, "Without the Frills," was inspired by her experiences in the film and television industry. On this week's episode, Gigi talks to Logan about the new poems and performs two of them.

On the afternoon of Saturday, July 11, Gigi will host a book launch for "Without the Frills" at Launchpad in Downtown Albuquerque. The event will feature performances by poets Damien Flores, Jessica Helen Lopez, Zachary Kluckman, Kristin Patton, Marcial Delgado, Katrina Kaye and Brando Kentreles. There will also be music by The Asteroids, Yacht Pops and Albuquerque Nuevo Teatro.

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Devon Hawkes Ludlow, who lives in Santa Fe, is an Emmy-winning puppeteer, as well as an award-winning director, filmmaker, writer, editor and composer. He is the designer, lead puppeteer and a voice actor for the upcoming horror-comedy film, ‘Buddy’, starring Keegan Michael-Key, Cristin Milioti and Patton Oswalt.

As it happens, Logan and Devon went to undergrad together at Bard College, and Logan was around to witness some of Devon’s earliest forays into the world of alternative puppet theater. Devon talks about his life’s journey, which involved, at one point, organizing an international clown festival. A fascinating conversation with a true original!

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Maxine Thévenot is an award-winning Canadian American musician, composer and conductor, who serves as the organist and director of cathedral music at the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John in Albuquerque. She is also the founding director of the vocal ensemble Polyphony. On June 28, she will conduct Maurice Duruflé's Requiem with the New England Symphonic Ensemble and a 200-member choir at Carnegie Hall.

On today’s episode, Maxine demonstrates her conducting technique and talks about her road to becoming a conductor. She also gives insight into the meaning of sacred music.

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Maria Kelson is a poet and novelist. Her debut thriller, “Not the Killing Kind,” won the Eleanor Taylor Bland Award for Crime Fiction Writers of Color, the Women Writing the West WILLA Literary Award for a Mystery/Thriller and the 2025 International Latino Book Awards Gold Medal in Mystery. On this week’s episode, Maria talks about how her personal experiences working with undocumented mothers inspired her novel and what it was like coming to fiction writing as a poet.

On Monday, June 22, “Not the Killing Kind” will be a Kindle Daily Deal, priced at just $2.99. So, if you enjoy today’s conversation, check out the book!

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Anthonee Smith is an emerging, underground, Albuquerque-based filmmaker whose genre-defying experimental films, "Plants" and "The Museum," recently screened at Albuquerque's Guild Cinema.

On this week's episode, Anthonee discusses his idiosyncratic approach to filmmaking, his preference for raw, handmade films over AI and CGI slickness, and how his work fits into larger trends, including the "stoner nature documentary" genre and the vaporwave aesthetic.

To watch Anthonee's films for free, follow @fruitbirdfilms on Instagram and check out the links in their bio.

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Irish-born author Colm Tóibín wrote the critically-acclaimed novels "Brooklyn," "Nora Webster," "The Blackwater Lightship," "The Master" and "Long Island," among other titles. Two of his novels have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize.

On today's episode, Tóibín discusses his latest short story collection, "The News from Dublin," which includes a story he wrote on the eve of US President Donald Trump's second inauguration about an undocumented Irish immigrant in America. In the course of the conversation, Tóibín reveals how he is able to capture the interior worlds of his characters.

At this year's Santa Fe International Literary Festival, Tóibín will appear in conversation with National Public Radio host Scott Simon on Sunday, May 17.

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National Book Award finalist and 2022 Guggenheim fellow Brandon Hobson (Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma) is known primarily for his literary fiction novels "The Removed" and "Where the Dead Sit Talking." On today's episode, he discusses his latest novel, "The Devil Is a Southpaw," which is told from the perspective of an unreliable narrator. Hobson, who teaches creative writing at New Mexico State University and the Institute of American Indian Arts, also demystifies his writing process, offering tips and insights for would-be writers.

You can catch Hobson at this year's Santa Fe International Literary Festival, where he will be in conversation with Deborah Jackson Taffa on Sunday, May 17. For more info, visit sfinternationallitfest.org.

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Priyanka Kumar is the award-winning author of the creative nonfiction books "Conversations with Birds" and "The Light between Apple Trees." On this episode, she discusses how her love of nature informs her writing and how she blends research-based writing with personal narrative.

At this year's Santa Fe International Literary Festival, Kumar will give a talk about literature and ecology at the Santa Fe Botanical Garden on Monday, May 18. For tickets and info, visit sfinternationallitfest.org.

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Tamar Lando’s debut documentary feature, “Land with No Rider,” follows the everyday lives of aging cowboys in the Mimbres Valley of southwestern New Mexico. RogerEbert.com called the film “a stirring ode to the last few acres of the West.”

On today’s episode, Tamar talks about the long, slow process of making the film – a decade-long labor of love – and how that slow process contributed to the film’s authenticity. She also discusses the “cowboy code” that the men live by, which contrasts markedly with the hypermasculine image of cowboys in Hollywood Westerns and the alpha male culture of today’s internet manosphere.

“Land with No Rider” will be screened at Sky Cinema in Santa Fe beginning on April 17 and at the Guild Cinema in Albuquerque beginning on April 20, 2026. It will also be screened at the 2026 Taos Film Festival.

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