Living Arts of Tulsa Podcast

Christopher Creese is a First Generation Vincentian American photographer and filmmaker originally from the Washington, D.C. suburb of Hyattsville, MD and currently based in Tulsa, OK. His work has taken him all across the country for clients including The New York Times, A&E Networks, Interscope Records, NBC News and more. When he was 4 years old, he received a gift: a 35mm Fisher-Price Perfect Shot camera that helped foster the love of photography at a very early age. He uses color and light to create a visual experience that takes you into the image. His work is a vivid tour de force.

To learn more about Tulsa Creative Engine, visithttps://www.tulsacreativeengine.orgChris Davis is an entrepreneur, community organizer and creative producer from Tulsa. A graduate of Booker T. Washington high school and the University of Oklahoma, Chris has spent most of his career as an independent project manager, communications specialist and strategic consultant for clients in the worlds of music, sports, food and culture. He is an executive producer for ‘Fire in Little Africa', a multimedia project commemorating the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre including a hip-hop album released in 2021 on Motown Records. He has been a co-organizer of DREAMLAND (formerly World Culture Music Festival) since 2018, and that event has since grown to one of the largest festivals in the region. Chris won the 2016 Tulsa Startup Series for his ice pop business The Pop House, and that has since evolved into a creative agency called POP HOUSE specializing in content production, creative direction and augmented reality.

To learn more about Shawna and her comedy, visithttps://www.shawnablake.comShawna Blake delivers  surprising and hilarious performances with calm confidence, a wink and finger guns. She brings a crowd along as if we were all close friends while she divulges embarrassing moments, private thoughts and personal victories. Her small town charm and cutting wit have delighted audiences across the region

Barbara Corso Ide, a native of Indiana, has lived near Nashville, TN, for 28 years. She has a BS and MA in Elementary Education from Ball State University, and an Ed.D. from Trevecca Nazarene University in Leadership and Curriculum. Barb and her husband have three children and four grandchildren. She enjoys gardening and food preservation, exercising, book clubs and quilt guilds. She comes to the art quilt world after retiring from a 43-year career in public education. Taking and manipulating digital photographs has become the fuel for her interest instorytelling through art quilts.

Steph Simon is a leader of World Culture Music - a collective of artists inspired by the legacy of Black Wall Street to stake their claim to the city and restore the excellence that 98 years ago turned to ashes.A true leader and visionary for the city, Simon uses his music to uplift and inspire transformation both personal and communal while never taking himself too seriously. There is a spiritual undercurrent to his work that is unmistakable, perhaps what one would expect from an artist who grew up listening to Notorious B.I.G. in the heart of the Bible Belt. As he puts it on the gospel-tinged track “Silver n' Gold”, his music is “like a mix between holy ghost and Hova quotes.”On his new album Born on Black Wall Street, Simon draws parallels between the creative culture in Tulsa today and the energy that made Black Wall Street thrive in the first place. Throughout the album Simon takes on the persona of “Diamond” Dick Rowland, a 17-year-old boy scapegoated for instigating the 1921 massacre after an incident with a white girl in an elevator. Of this creative choice Simon said, “I feel a connection to [Rowland] that I can't explain, almost like I'm carrying his spirit with me. It wasn't right that his name was used as a catalyst for a lot of pain and destruction, I use the name Dicky Ro to be the catalyst for transformation and hope.” His authentic spirit carrying messages of economic empowerment, community healing and personal growth will be felt by all who listen.Born on Black Wall Street stands as a seminal album for the emerging Tulsa hip-hop scene, but Simon is speaking to a uniquely black American experience that will find resonance in the heartland and beyond. On album centerpiece “Diamonds” he raps, “See it, want it, buy it then you own it/put your pot with mine let's make it grow.” 

To learn more about Cam and his music, visithttp://www.camjamesmusic.comInstagram: @itscamjamesTwitter: @itscamjameshttp://biglink.to/camjamesTulsa-based rapper Cameron James Williams, professionally known as Cam James, is a storyteller. At Georgia Tech in 2011, he started turning his spoken word pieces into music. He has built a career around thematically motivated songs that lend themselves well to film production.Following his first major television placement on BET's Being Mary Jane in September 2017, Cam starred in an international tourism campaign called "Hear The USA" for Brand USA and Spotify in 2018. His song "Lately" earned a placement in the Netflix Original movie Uncorked (2020), "114 AM" in the Netflix Original series Grand Army (2020) and "Babyface" in the OWN series Queen Sugar (2021).

To learn more about Jane and her work, visithttps://www.janedunnewold.comhttps://www.instagram.com/jane.dunnewoldhttps://www.facebook.com/janedunnewoldartistJane Dunnewold teaches and lectures internationally, and has mounted numerous solo exhibitions, including Inspired by the Masters (National Quilt Museum (2020) & Texas Quilt Museum (2018). A second mixed media series featuring re-purposed quilt blocks and gold leaf was exhibited at the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Texas (2017) and more recently at the Armory Art Center in West Palm Beach, Fl. Her archives were recently acquired by the International Quilt Study Center and Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska.Her work won Best of Show in the exhibition Timeless Meditations (Tubac Art Center/2013). She is a recipient of the Quilt Japan Prize, and Gold Prize at the Taegue (Korea) International Textile Exhibition. In 2019 she was named Artist of the Year by the San Antonio Art League.Dunnewold has authored numerous books, including the classic Complex Cloth (1996) and Art Cloth: A Guide to Surface Design on Fabric (2010.) In 2016 North Light Books published Creative Strength Training: Prompts, Exercises and Stories to Inspire Artistic Genius. Her recently self-published books, Best of Both Worlds: Enhanced Botanical Printing, and Improvisational Screen Printing are both available world-wide on amazon.com.She is a former President of the Surface Design Association and currently facilitates a ten month Creative Strength Training community online.

Anita (Annie) Centeno is a mixed-media artist in San Antonio, Texas. Although working with cloth and stitching are primary somehow mixed media finds its way into the things she loves and does: resin, beads, paper, found objects.   A love of creating things by hand was passed down from her father, a jeweler and her mother, who loved to sew and all things related to stitch. Currently she creates jewelry designs using resin, shrink film, and beads and also stitched statement purses using recycled/re-purposed materials which are sold at a local boutique/gallery.  In addition, she shows other artwork at galleries whenever the opportunity presents itself.Anita can be contacted by email: anniecentenoT1@gmail.comSome of her work is on Etsy: Jewelry3Daughters, that she shares with her sister.

To learn more about Elizabeth and her work, visithttps://www.elizabethsalvia.comElizabeth Salvia was born in St. Louis, Missouri. She grew up drawing, sewing and writing poetry. She also created collages using unconventional media—autumn leaves, wallpaper samples, Sears catalogues, National Geographic magazines, and scrap fabric from clothes her mother made.She earned her B.F.A from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she made art that examined life in city environments. After twenty-two years in Chicago, she moved to California, where she became involved in habitat research and restoration. Her studies of plant and animal habitats also inform her artmaking.Elizabeth Salvia creates textile and collage artworks that explore ideas of origin and place. Her works investigate the ways in which we are indelibly shaped and marked by our own histories and environments, as we struggle to understand and control them. Her stories are rooted in deep observation and attention to context, and often play out in locations where human-made and natural environments collide. Archetypes such as the Child, the Wanderer, and the Witness have been powerful tools in her work.She composes her works as collages, using silks, cottons, and papers. She begins with low-water immersion dyeing, and painting and printing with thickened dyes and paints. She then adds stenciling, embroidery, applique, quilting and beading, to create richly textured artworks.Elizabeth Salvia has shown work in galleries in the U.S. and internationally. She is a full-time artist living and working in the Central Valley of California. 

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Jeff sits down with David Boynton as he shares deeply about his life journey and how his experiences and evolution informs his artistic perspective and his process.To learn more about David and his work, visithttps://www.dabakhstudios.comArtist StatementCustom wood and resin artwork and fine art paintings created right here in the USA by a retired Air Force 21-year veteran. My work is inspired by my career in the USAF, the aviation industry and as a master diver doing deep sea SCUBA diving. I am deeply moved by the images of deep space that are sent back from international space projects and NASA research teams. Ocean currents and solar systems have colors and movement that greatly inspire my work and put me into motion as a painter. I am also inspired by the aura that some of my clients put out and it has produced some amazing results! I create resin and wood vases, decorative objects, and funeral urns. My wood and resin coffee tables and end tables are in the “river table” style. (And even the occasional hand-turned wood and resin wizard wand!) My philosophy of turning is that I reveal what is already within the wood and I find that if I try to bend it to my will, rather than listen to what the piece is telling me what it is, it ends in disaster or a wasted blank. The same goes with my paintings, they are created with various acrylic pouring techniques depending on what I want to convey in each painting and relaying what the painting wants to be. Custom work can be ordered to complement your color palette and aesthetic and there will never be another piece like it in the whole world, be it wood or acrylic.

Jeff sits down with DJ Hejtmanek to hear about her experiences and perspective since she started her paining practice and about what it has been like for her at a deeper level to have work showing in the Oh.Tulsa exhibit at Living Arts of Tulsa.Her website/art gallery/blog can be found at www.djhejtmanek.com, Instagram atwww.instagram.com/djhejtmanekand FaceBook at www.facebook.com/DJHejtmanekCreates.DJ Hejtmanek (pronounced HATE'-mon-ik)discovered a passion for painting during thepandemic, which is inspiring her to spark beauty,balance, and freedom – one brush stroke at a time.With no formal training, she is learning on the fly andloving it. DJ has worn many hats – most recentlyserving as a fundraising professional for aninternational non-profit organization, “Dovie” to fivegranddaughters, JoJo's dog trainer, and licensedminister.DJ creates paintings and mixed media art, and herintensely personal artwork depicts whimsical creaturesof land, sea, and air, and dreamy, subconsciouslandscapes. Her creations examine our existence andoriginal design, often splashing her interior worldacross a canvas, complete with transparency,imagination, whimsy, muddle, and God-focus.A native of Louisiana, she and husband Louis live inBroken Arrow, Oklahoma, with their grown children and their families nearby.

Jeff sits down with Brittany White as she shares deeply about her artistic perspective, about how she got started taking photographs and film, and about her work that will be in the upcoming Oh, Tulsa exhibit at Living Arts of Tulsa.To learn more about Brittany and her work, visitWebsite:  www.brittanykelleywhite.com Instagram handle:  @brittanykelleywhite Brittany is a photographer currently based in the Tulsa area. Her work is a means of self-expression and illustrates a combination of documentary and staged narrative.  Through the use of analogue photographic processes, she explores various themes such as childhood reflection, personal identity and the community in which she lives and works.  Her work is heavily influenced by filmmakers and cinematographers such as Wim Wenders, Robby Müller and Andrei Tarkovsky.

Watch on youtubehttps://youtu.be/2CeFHULhGowJeff sits down with Maggie Boyett And Marwin Begaye as they reflect very deeply about their experiences in co-creating over the past 5 years and about what this project means to them a few weeks after the opening of their collaboration for OVAC Art 365 at Living Arts of Tulsa, Body Acknowledgement: The Body as LandThrough their collaboration Body Acknowledgment: The Body as Land, printmaker Marwin Begaye and performer Maggie Boyett investigate their identities as Urban Indians. Like many Native people, they have wrestled with the concept of "living in two worlds"—the idea that colonization has forced Indigenous people to navigate American culture and create space to live out their Indigenous values. This perspective fragments cultural experience, impacting their relationship to land and their communities. The recent uptick in land acknowledgments at public events and in the media inspired the artists to use the concept of land acknowledgment as an entry point for deepening their kinships with land, self, time and wellness.

Jeff sits down with Alexa Goetzinger, the Associate Director of the Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition to hear about her experiences in administering the current Art 365 exhibit at Living Arts of Tulsa.She also shares an overview of the work of each of the artists in the exhibit.Anyone can sign up for the artists' workshops through www.Art365.orgAlexa was born and raised in Ardmore, Oklahoma, and graduated from the University of Oklahoma with degrees in fine art and art history. While she spent time working and interning in China and Italy after college, she ultimately realized there is no place like home. Since returning to Oklahoma she has been a high school educator, and most recently the Education Director for ARTSPACE at Untitled. In addition to her work in the non-profit sector, Alexa co-founded an annual international print exchange called Connect: Collect and is an avid printmaker. She is excited to be a part of the OVAC team and assist in the growth and development of Oklahoma's visual arts community through education, promotion, connection, and funding!

Mother Me is an interdisciplinary performance involving music, text, movement and film that explores the complex relationships, psychology and sociology surrounding motherhood. The artist untangles her own mother/daughter relationship, grapples with feelings of uncertainty as a childless woman approaching the end of fertility, and asks questions that hold particular significance for a generation in the midst of shifting personal, cultural, societal and biological dynamics.CreditsPerformers: Mary Prescott - creator, voice, piano, movement; Cara Search - voice, movementFilm Photography: Bill Phelps & Drew HillPhoto Credit: Bill PhelpsRebroadcast of a performance originally presented and livestreamed by Roulette Intermedium on June 14, 2021.Mother Me is made possible with support from Living Arts of Tulsa, National Performance Network, Roulette Intermedium, Epitaph Arts, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Lanesboro Arts, The Jerome Foundation, Minnesota State Arts Board, Sanguine Arts, and Metropolitan Regional Arts Council.

WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/yobsdN3UNf8Jeff sits down with CJ Ward to hear him share some very compelling reflections about the power of conversations in bringing about healing between people and between communities. He also speaks about his experiences in contributing work to the The Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Project at Living Arts and what it has been like for him to move to Tulsa and becoming a part of the community.From CJ-"There is therapy in expression, and freedom in self-expression. Whether literary, visual, musical, or physical, a unique perspective has the potential of bridging gaps - spiritually, mentally, and physically. Bridging gaps, and lapses in humanity. Gaps that may divide and separate humanity based on surface level judgment(s). I believe this is why arts & humanities will always go hand and hand. Art is beauty conveyed through the creative lenses of an artist, free spirit, and/or a free mind."    Let's work together!To learn more about CJ, visitFor youth mentorship and/or counseling (limited availability):https://www.cjwardcreations.com/the-ward-wellness-servicesTo book for workshops, sponsorships, trainings/webinars/seminars, or speaking engagements:https://www.cjwardcreations.com/booking-speaking-engagementsFor products and other services:https://www.cjwardcreations.com/products

WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/h3DUsU27AxMJeff sits down with Christina Henley, co-curator of the The Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Exhibit at Living Arts to hear about what this experience has meant to her at a deeper level, about her perspective on the impact of this exhibit on people who have interacted with it, and her thoughts on how this has been a "mind altering" experience for her and for many others.Artist Statement-Creating is a sensory experience for me in process and execution. I think about the materials I use. How they feel to the touch, the texture I want to show and convey. Choosing colors that are striking, bold, unusual and jarring, and the emotions I want to evoke to myself and the viewer. Sometimes, I'll include three dimensional elements to push the piece even further into the sensory experience. I want the viewer to feel what I feel by what they see, while also forming their own interpretation or idea of what they are looking at. I don't want to conform and I think my artwork expresses that.

WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/_rOAGN2jDOsJeff sits down with artist and educator Francine Campbell as she shares some incredibly compelling and meaningful stories about her experiences growing up in Deep Greenwood and about the connection between her childhood and why she chose to work as a teacher.She also speaks very candidly about her artwork that is featured in The Race Massacre Centennial Project at Living Arts of Tulsa and about some of the other artists' work that really speaks to her.

WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/Vn8o8B75fpgJeff sits down with artist Adam Carnes as he shares very deeply about what informs his work, about how moving to Tulsa and working here has changed his Consciousness, and about his work that is in the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Project exhibit at Living Arts of Tulsa.Adam Carnes (b. 1981), is a Tulsa transplant via Brooklyn. He received his MFA from the New York Academy of Art and BFA from the Ringling College of Art and Design.To learn more about Adam and his work, visithttps://www.adamcarnes.com*Photo by Melissa Lukenbaugh & Tulsa Artist FellowshipGKFF awarded Carnes with the 2017-2020 Tulsa Artist Fellowship. Growing up in Florida during the development of the Information Age, Carnes has been striving to maintain his connection with humanity through painting. Skira Rizzoli’spublication “The Figure” includes Adam’s work and is sold in museum book stores like the Met, Royal Academy and National Gallery. His Griots art pieces were published in BOMB Magazine’s Summer 2021issue #156 and “RELEASE ME, the Spirits of Greenwood Speak” anthology.These “Griots” pieces are an extension of my “Strangers, Friends & Sacred” series and they honor the 1921Tulsa Race Massacre survivors for their contributions to Tulsa’s Historic Greenwood District, dubbed “Black Wall Street” for it’s thriving concentration of black entrepreneurs. The overarching narrative speaks to the triumph of the human spirit.Griot is a “West African troubadour-historian. The griot profession is hereditary and has long been a part of West African culture. The griots’ role has traditionally been to preserve the genealogies, historical narratives, and oral traditions of their people; praise songs are also part of the griot’s répertoire.

WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/4Z5gcfO9NHwJeff sits down with Patrick McNicholas to hear him share about all of his artistic work over the years, about how he got started, and more specific information about Time-Travel Tulsa.Patrick McNicholas is the artist behind Time-Travel Tulsa. His time-bending artwork has been featured in various museums and exhibitions since the creation in 2018. Nearing the centennial of the Tulsa Race Massacre, McNicholas began a powerful series memorializing the Greenwood community and resilience to rebuild. His work is now on display at Living Arts for the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Project. To learn more about Patrick and his work, visithttps://tulsapast.comIG & FB@tulsapast

WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/cGhIkcYpAZ4Jeff sits down with Dr. Delia Gillis to hear about her work in education and about her creative endeavors.She shares very compellingly about why it is so important to her to teach and share history and Africana Studies to her students and about her passion for making it relevant and about what is going on today.Dr. Gillis also reflects about why it is so important to her to participate in the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Project Exhibition at Living Arts that opens May 7th.

WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/GRb65RBg5jYJeff sits down with artist Marium Rana to hear about her artistic perspective, about her process, and what it all means to her at a deeper level.She also speaks about her work that is on exhibit currently for the OVAC Momentum show at Living Arts of Tulsa.Marium Rana is an American-born Pakistani visual artist, who works primarily in ink and aqueous media. She is a graduate from Florida State University, where she received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Studio Art in 2013 and a Masters in Art Education in 2014. In 2011, Marium received a research grant from Florida State University to study Mughal miniature painting in Lahore, Pakistan. She was a teacher of visual art and art history in Tampa, Florida for 5 years. Marium has exhibited, curated exhibitions, painted murals, and taught workshops all over the United States. Her work has been on display at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan, Yale University, Aqua Art during Art Basel Miami Beach, and the Joshua Tree Art Gallery among others. Marium currently resides near Tulsa, Oklahoma.

WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/ib7gZn42QA0Jeff sits down with artist Andrea Duran-Cason to hear about her artistic perspective and about how her work has evolved over the years.She also speaks about her work that will be exhibited during the OVAC Momentum show at Living Arts of Tulsa opening April 2nd.

WATCH ON YOUTUBEhttps://youtu.be/2V0dCd7cuxIJeff 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, visithttps://www.amberlduboise-shepherdart.comAmber 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, visithttps://www.kristingentry.comBioKristin 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 StatementShe 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/EZXBbd3H_0kJeff 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, visithttps://www.seantylerfineart.comSean 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 https://youtu.be/jrMpwun4GgEDavid was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, but has spent most of his life in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He received a BFA from Oklahoma State University with his main area of focus in Sculpture and Ceramics. As an undergraduate, he worked with both wheel thrown and hand building techniques in ceramics. Since graduating, he has branched out into relief printmaking and has participated in several local and national exhibitions. He currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. To learn more about David and his work, visitwww.douthittdesigns.comInstagram @davedouthitt

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/BTTsNHrQj18

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/_2tD0BCSpLEJeff 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, visitFacebook/Pinterest: Wallflowers by Katrinka BoothInstagram: @wallflowersbykb Linkedin: Katrinka BoothKatrinka 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/-RN3KMBe9L8

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/w4wkgymjT2MJeff sits down with Nichole Montgomery as she shares about her art, her work with American Legion Post 1, and about why family, friends, and community are so important to her and how her art is connected to these various parts of her life. To learn more about her artwork, visit https://nicholemontgomery.com

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/tXifEuiLfssJeff sits down with Steve Liggett, former Artistic Director of Living Arts of Tulsa and owner of Liggett Studio to hear about his life and work since he came to Tulsa in the 1970's. He shares deeply from the beginning of his affiliation with the founder of Living Arts, Virginia Myers and about some of the highlights of his career there. He also reflects about the impact of Living Arts on the arts community and culture in Tulsa.Steve Liggett has been an arts advocate, teacher and artist in the Tulsa community for over 40 years. He is the recipient of the Harwelden Award, Jingle Feldman Award, Governor’s Art Award and John Hope Franklin Award for his artistic work in social justice. His own studio work has evolved from his ceramics and papermaking background to performance/video/installation work. He is the past Artistic Director for Living Arts of Tulsa and presently runs Liggett Studio.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/yfWKcz4NfywJeff sits down with Brandi Ross and Tyler Huffman to hear about their experiences in participating in the recent exhibit at Living Arts, Project Hope, Unity, and Compassion. EXHIBITION STATEMENTThroughout history, downtowns and town squares have served as the foundation of society’s freedom of expression and the center of community discourse. Downtown Tulsa is certainly no different. At an incredibly tense time in our community, and in the midst ofplanning for unprecedented events, we found an opportunity to showcase Downtown Tulsa’s core values on temporary canvases throughout Downtown.More than 300 artists responded to a last-minute call for art on June 18, 2020. Within hours, commissioned artists began painting storefronts thanks to permission from businesses and the generosity of an anonymous donor. Within two days, we were able to mobilize more than a dozen artists to paint murals and messages inspiring hope, unity, and compassion throughout Downtown.While the storefronts were restored and businesses reopened the following week, the conversations sparked by this art and the core values it represents continue.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/k4Nc3ZagJG0Jeff sits down with artist Krystie Bunch to hear her share deeply about her work and about how she got started creating art. She also speaks in a very heartfelt, moving, and a compelling way about the importance of community and culture and about what her experiences have been like facilitating and teaching art classes and participating in Downtown Tulsa & Living Arts Of Tulsa's recent project, Project Hope, Unity, and Compassion. Artist Bio: I’m a Tulsa-based interdisciplinary artist. I utilize art as a portal, allowing outsiders a glimpse into the beautifully complex layers of my daily existence. I’m a Black American female who lives as a lifelong creative, full-time mom, community activist, youth advocate and human who experiences a neurological disorder called misophonia/misokinesia. Life is a constant state of processing and readjusting. In my art I allow myself the opportunity to be still, heal and move in hope.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/NzyhpFgyS8UJeff sits down with artist Terren Zinbi as she shares deeply about her artistic journey, about how she got started creating art, and about her experiences since she started working as an artist full time. She shares very compellingly and in a very inspirational tone about her experiences in working through her emotions as she creates her work and about the importance of putting herself and her work out there and taking chances in her career. To learn more about Terren and her work, visit https://www.terrenzinbi.comAbout Terren: "I am a 26 year old modern artist currently calling Tulsa my home with my bf, dog, + houseplants. i am a true enneagram type 7 wing 6. i believe that variety is the spice of life + fomo is real!! i’m always looking forward to my next big adventure + making plans with people i love. i’m an eternal optimist + i think my biggest asset is being able to find joy in every little thing! Because a huge part of my life ever since i could remember. creative work is truly my passion in life and biggest outlet. i love getting to make art + designs that show a glimpse into my heart + creating things that point you to knowing + loving God more. my biggest hope in my work is that i am creating pieces that help you find joy in the little + the big things, and that they may help celebrate the everyday!"

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/TApB_QMFM1UJeff sits down with Natty Watson and Lauran Drummond with Cult Love Sound Tapes to hear about how their collective got started, about their vision and passion for supporting the Tulsa DIY music and art community, and about what their work and dedication to this community means to them at a deeper level. Cult Love Sound Tapes is a D.I.Y. community-based cassette tape, music, and art collective specializing in rare and limited releases from a wide variety of genres. They also have a large project, the Cult House, nearing its unveiling. Since the project's beginning in December, the Cult House, a 2 story 100-year old family residence, has been covered floor to ceiling in murals painted by local artists.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/Gad0d1Qy6lAJeff sits down with Chris Sker Rogers, a Tulsa-born graffiti artist, to hear an incredibly compelling and inspiring story of how he began to create graffiti art in the late 1980's and how he and his craft have evolved over the years. He speaks very candidly about his experiences and about what he learned since his earliest days and how these hard-earned lessons have informed his work today. Chris also shares very broadly the history of graffiti art and about the importance of remembering and honoring the history and lineage of this particular craft. Over the years, his work has showcased the power of the written word, the influence of letters, and the layering of style. Chris “Sker” Rogers is a graffiti artist, muralist and consultant, born and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Chris is recognized as one of the original founders of Oklahoma’s graffiti culture. Chris transitioned into commissioned work, focusing on professional murals and project management. After painting dozens of professional murals over the years, Sker maintains relevance with his community engagement and support of local arts, striving to serve as a creative catalyst. Sker has a passion for modern stylewriting, creating customized art with an emphasis on flow and composition. Well-versed in painting and design in addition to his first love, graffiti, Sker continually strives to move his skills forward while enjoying the process of artistic creation.

Jessica Dewey sat down with the directors of two documentaries shared for virtual programming as part of our Día de los Muertos Arts Festival. Jose Torres Tama and Rodrigo Dorfman are the directors of "This Taco Truck Kills Fascists" and Miguel J. Crespo is the director of "Utopía de la Mariposa." "This Taco Truck Kills Fascists""This Taco Truck Kills Fascists"This Taco Truck Kills Fascists weaves two narratives: the classic “against all odds” story of an immigrant artist of color bringing the voices of radical Black performers and undocumented workers out of the shadows and the story of a father struggling to raise his two boys into political consciousness in the Age of Trump. Seen through the eyes Diego (7) and Darius (10) who become members of their father's radical performance ensemble, This Taco Truck Kills Fascists invites the audience to navigate with them the line between innocence and knowledge, anger and love, agency and apathy; a challenge we all must face in order to heal our nation’s open wounds. This epic coming of age journey is born out of the urgency of the now and our responsibility to engage and confront white supremacy with the weaponized beauty of Art."Utopía de la Mariposa" Mexico is an indolent country. This is territory so violent that it has normalized the murders, disappearances, human rights violations, femicides, and other crimes that, due to corruption or omission of the authorities, almost always go unpunished. Lukas Avendaño is the most important and recognized artist in the muxe community. He was born in the Istmo of Tehuantepec, Oaxaca. At the age of seven, he used to tantrum so his father wouldn't take him to the country to work. He wanted to do other things like study, dance, feel, and fly like a butterfly. His strength on stage, the transgressive and anarchic of his speech, using his body as a performatic tool, has taken him to countries in Europe and Latin America. Even with all the virtuous and brilliant Lukas is, he has not been exempt from suffering a forced disappearance. On May 10, 2018, his brother Bruno Alonso Avendaño disappeared. Bruno was an active element of the Navy when his disappearance occurred. The response of the Secretary of the Navy was: "the element causes leave for absent three consecutive days to their work". How can you introduce yourself to work when you are missing? How do you demand and force an institution like the Secretary of the Navy that your duty was to look for Bruno? How do you move that bureaucratic and incapable elephant that is the Mexican judicial system? Lukas has used his body and the performing and digital theater scene to present his missing brother and in turn denounce the total absence of citizen guarantees of the right to life by the State. Lukas' search has not stopped a single day. "To think that we will find it is an utopia, because those other 40 thousand disappeared deny you," says Lukas. For him, Bruno is an offering, an emancipation that squeezes an open sore that we all want to stop: the missing in Mexico.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/WGurHV8YHAoJeff sits down with Elyse Wright to hear about her work in designing a recent exhibit at Living Arts of Tulsa, about her studies in Interior Design, and about her future goals.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/eOP2Vcv6PuwJeff has the honor and pleasure of being interviewed by Pam Savino of Live Authentically Podcast and spoke about his spiritual Journey and some of the most formative lessons that he has learned along the way.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/QVzdVzwMVGUJeff sits down with Francisco Treviño, Executive Director of Casa de la Cultura to hear about his life and work in Tulsa as he moved here in 1978 from Monterrey, México at the age of 11.He reflects about his experiences in Tulsa as a performing musical artist since his teenage years, as the former Executive Director of Greater Tulsa Hispanic Chamber of Commerce where he made it a point to collaborate with our local arts community, and about his current work at Casa de la Cultura and as a consultant with Vega & Treviño Consultants, where he helps companies reach their community engagement and diversity representation goals.He also speaks in a very compelling way about his strong belief in the undeniable link between the arts and business communities and why it's so important for him personally to be able to still get along with others even if they don't agree about the larger issues of life.The interview as Francisco also shares about what this time has been like during the pandemic for him and his family as well as for the Tulsa area Hispanic and Latin American community in general.To learn more about Casa de la Cultura and their programs, visithttp://www.findglocal.com/US/Tulsa/1440132309431997/Casa-de-la-Cultura

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/JX6DlbHRBhcJeff sits down with artist Hershel Self to hear about his work and some deeper thoughts about transition as he has had the opportunity to experience that recently and offers some very enlightening and inspiring thoughts about his experience over the past several months.To learn more about Hershel's work, please visithttps://www.hershelself.com/

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/mtIROY61xvQJeff sits down with Heather Duncan, Interim Executive Director of Living Arts of Tulsa, to hear a very compelling and very inspiring story about how she and the team there have pivoted and adapted since mid-March. She shares a very personal account of how this process has affected her, about what they have learned through this process, and about their vision and plans for 2021.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/VOSG54vTLfUJeff sits down with artist PetraBaye to hear about what her work means to her at a deep level, about how she got started creating art, and about what inspires and energizes her to continue to create work on an ongoing basis. She also shares about her beCAUSEicare Foundation and how she sells art and other items to raise money to help children in need and how it makes her feel better than anything else has in the world.To learn more about PetraBaye and her work, visit https://www.petrabayeart.com/

Jeff sits down with artist Claire Zevnik to hear about her work with fused glass and her photography as she has a vast collection of pictures that she has taken at rock concerts since the late 70's.

Jeff sits down with artist Anita Fields to hear her perspective about the intersection of indigenous art, culture, and language.She also reflects about the significance of Speak: Speak While You Can, the recently closed exhibit at Living Arts.To learn more about Anita and her art, visithttps://www.anitafieldsart.comBorn in Oklahoma, artist Anita Fields creates works of clay and textile that reflect the worldview of her Native Osage culture. Her practice explores the complexities of cultural influences and the intersections of balance and chaos found within our lives. The early Osage notions of duality, such as earth and sky, male and female, are represented in her work. Heavily textured layers and distorted writing are elements found in both her clay and textile works. These reference the complex layers and distortion of truths found in the written history of indigenous cultures. Fields creates narratives that asks viewers to consider other ways of seeing and being in an effort to understand our shared existence.The power of transformation and transformative actions are realized by creating various forms of clothing, coverings, and figurative forms. The works become indicators of how we understand our surroundings and visualize our place within the world.Landscapes, environment, and the influences of nature are themes found throughout the work of Anita Fields. They reflect time, place, and how the earth holds the memory of cultures who once called a specific terrain home. Fields is currently a 2017-2020 fellow with the Kaiser Foundation Tulsa Artist Fellowship. Fields’ work has been featured in American Craft, Ms Magazine, American Style, and First American Art. Her work can be found in several collections, such as the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Museum of Art and Design, New York City, Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, and the National Museum of American Indian, Smithsonian, Washington, DC.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/ijwuNHHsFZ8Jeff sits down with the Tony Tiger, the curator and 3 other artists from this exhibition, Antonia Belindo, Joshua Hinson, and Randi Narcomey-Watson to hear their perspective on the connection between Indigenous art and language and how it is all connected to their tribal communities and to the Ancestors.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW AND TO SEE HER ARTWORK THAT SHE SHOWS, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL ON YOUTUBE OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/Y47enNAK38gJeff sits down with Cherokee artist and educator Candessa Tehee as she shares very deeply about the connection between her artwork, her work teaching American Indian Studies and coordinator of Cherokee Language Education and Cherokee Cultural Studies Programs at Northeastern State University, and how this is all integrated within a life spent serving her community.She shares some of her artwork and a story about how she learned finger weaving and the oblique form and about how she has been teaching this centuries-old art form to others as well.Honored for her finger weaving, Candessa Tehee has helped resurrect this nearly forgotten art form, winning several finger-weaving awards since she began in 1999. She has mastered both the warp and weft form of finger weaving and the oblique form. In 2015, Tehee was an apprentice to Cherokee National Treasure Dorothy Dreadfulwater Ice.Currently, she serves as an assistant professor of American Indian Studies and coordinator of Cherokee Language Education and Cherokee Cultural Studies Programs at Northeastern State University.Candessa Tehee received the honor of Cherokee National Treasure in 2019.Before joining NSU, Tehee managed Cherokee Nation’s Cherokee Language Program and oversaw the Language Technology Department, Translation Department and Community Languages Program.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/TQUoCk64fdkJeff sits down with Cherokee artist and writer Roy Boney, Jr. to hear about the evolution of his art, about his life journey, and about his work with the Cherokee Nation Language Program.He also shares about how this program has adapted to make it easier for citizens of the Cherokee nation and others who are interested to learn the language to communicate with one another using popular electronic devices,Roy Boney, Jr. is an award winning Cherokee artist & writer. He grew up in Locust Grove, Oklahoma and currently lives in Tahlequah, where he works for the Cherokee Nation Language Program. His work has been exhibited across the US , Paris, and London. His writing and artwork have appeared in First American Art Magazine, Native Peoples, Indian Country Today, Oklahoma Today, and Art in AmericaHe is a painter, comic book artist, and digital media artist.He has also contributed to the graphic novel anthologies Tales of the Mighty Code Talkers, Trickster, Native Graphic Classics, and the newly released Moonshot,