Podcasts about high museum

273. Wise Living: Why to Get Outside and Travel and Read Aloud with Amber O'Neal Johnston   “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17 NIV   *Transcription Below*   Amber O'Neal Johnston is an author, speaker, and Charlotte Mason homeschooling mom who blends life-giving books and a culturally rich environment for her four children and others seeking to do the same. She recommends we offer children opportunities to see themselves and others reflected in their lessons, especially throughout their books, and she's known for sharing literary “mirrors and windows” on HeritageMom.com and @heritagemomblog. Amber is also the author of Soul School: Taking Kids on a Joy-Filled Journey Through the Heart of Black American Culture and A Place to Belong, a guide for families of all backgrounds on raising kids to celebrate their heritage, community, and the world.   www.HeritageMom.com www.SoulSchoolBook.com www.APlaceToBelongBook.com www.instagram.com/heritagemomblog www.facebook.com/heritagemomblog   Thank You to Our Sponsor:  Sam Leman Eureka   Questions that We Discussed: Looking back, what would you say has helped to shape your children's character the most? What have you learned about the importance of getting our kids (and ourselves) out into nature? How do you actually make time to be a content creator and to also homeschool and travel and host?   Other Related Episodes from The Savvy Sauce: 53 Practical Life Tips with Blogger, Rach Kincaid 57 Implementing Bite-Size Habits That Will Change Your Life with Author, Blogger, Podcaster, and Speaker, Kat Lee 82 Traveling with Your Family with Katie Mueller 84 Ordering Your Priorities with Kat Lee 103 Making Family Memories with Jessica Smartt 200 Planting Seeds of Faith in Our Children with Courtney DeFeo 204 Charlotte Mason Inspired Mini-Series: A Delectable Education with Emily Kiser 207 Cultivating Character in Our Children with Cynthia Yanof 212 School Series: Benefits of Homeschooling with Jodi Mockabee 253 Low Tech Parenting with Erin Loechner   Connect with The Savvy Sauce Our Website, Instagram or Facebook    Please help us out by sharing this episode with a friend, leaving a 5-star rating and review, and subscribing to this podcast!   Gospel Scripture: (all NIV) Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”   Romans 3:24 “and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”   Romans 3:25 (a) “God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood.”    Hebrews 9:22 (b) “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.”    Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”    Romans 5:11 “Not only is this so, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.”    John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”   Romans 10:9 “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”    Luke 15:10 says “In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   Romans 8:1 “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”   Ephesians 1:13–14 “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession- to the praise of his glory.”   Ephesians 1:15–23 “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”   Ephesians 2:8–10 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God – not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God‘s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.“   Ephesians 2:13 “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.“   Philippians 1:6 “being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”   *Transcription*   Music: (0:00 – 0:09)   Laura Dugger: (0:11 - 2:01) Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, where we have practical chats for intentional living. I'm your host, Laura Dugger, and I'm so glad you're here.   The principles of honesty and integrity that Sam Leman founded his business on continue today over 55 years later at Sam Leman Chevrolet Inc. in Eureka. Owned and operated by the Burchie family, Sam Leman's in Eureka appreciates the support they've received from their customers all over central Illinois and beyond. Visit them today at LehmanGM.com.   Amber O'Neal Johnston is my fascinating guest for today. She's an author and speaker and coach and she's just chosen to live a very wise life as a wife and mother, and I think you're going to enjoy gleaning practical tips such as the benefits of getting our children out in nature regardless of their age. She has teens and makes this super practical for things that they would enjoy too, and she shares these incredible benefits of what happens when we simply step outdoors. She's also going to share approachable ways to introduce our family to great art and other cultures, and she gives us a fabulous book list, so, make sure you stay tuned through the end of the episode so that you can see some of the top books that she recommends. Finally, if you don't have a copy of her own latest release entitled Soul School, I highly recommend you purchase that today. Here's our chat.   Welcome to The Savvy Sauce, Amber.   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (2:02 - 2:04) Thank you so much. I'm so happy to be here.   Laura Dugger: (2:04 - 2:14) Well, I'd love for you just to start us off and introduce us to your family, and will you just share a glimpse of your values and lifestyle?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (2:15 - 3:48) Absolutely. So, I live outside of Atlanta, Georgia with my husband Scott and our four children. We are just entering birthday season, but shortly they will be 16, 14, 12, and 10. The girls are the two oldest. The boys are the two youngest, and they've been homeschooled from the beginning, so, we're a homeschooling family. I'm originally from Illinois. My husband's originally from Ohio, but we met here in Atlanta at the High Museum of Art, which is really special. We are art loving, you know, fine arts loving, liberal arts loving family, and so, the idea that we met at the museum, I will just cherish that forever. I came to, before homeschooling, I was a stay-at-home mom, and prior to having children, I have an MBA, and I worked in corporate America in like marketing and advertising, and Scott comes from a similar background with the MBA, and he was doing work in that area too, so, we had that as a connection point, but I have always stayed home with the kids, and you know, our values are rooted in our Christian faith, and we're an African-American family, and so, we have values and cultural aspects that enter our home through that avenue as well. We are world travelers, so, we enjoy that as part of who we are, and I'm an author and a speaker, and I'm just a very happy homeschooler.   Laura Dugger: (3:48 - 4:12) I love that, and it sounds like such a rich and abundant life, and there's two little connections that I have to go back to. My husband and I had a date at that same museum. I love that you met your husband there. Oh wow, that's wild! And so, we met when we were in Atlanta, but live in Illinois now, so, which part of Illinois were you originally from?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (4:12 - 4:33) I'm from Elgin, Illinois. It's out past O'Hare Airport, and I was born and raised there. My parents were both public school principals there. My dad was principal of Elgin High, and there's actually an elementary school, Ron O'Neal Elementary School in Elgin, named after my father, so, that is where I'm from.   Laura Dugger: (4:33 - 4:46) Wow, okay, so, then even with that piece, your father being a principal, and then you said you've homeschooled since the beginning. Did you always anticipate you would homeschool, or what was your journey into that?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (4:47 - 7:15) Oh my gosh, never, and it's both of my parents were principals, so, that's wild. My grandfather was an elected school board official. My sister was an elected school board official, so, public school is just, you know, in my blood from the very beginning, and that's what I assumed I would do for my kids at first. Once Scott and I got married, and we had discussed it, we decided that I would stay home when they were little, and when they were old enough to go to school, I would go back to work, and my salary would pay for private Christian school tuition, and as the years, you know, months really came to fruition for my oldest, my husband started backpedaling, and he started talking this crazy talk about homeschooling. I'm like, that's a switcheroo for you. What are you talking about? I was like, that's weird. I don't want to do that. I don't feel called to do that. That does not seem like a comfortable space for me. I don't want my kids to endure that, and ultimately, I lacked confidence in that. I couldn't even articulate it. It felt scary, terrifying. Why would I take something so weighty into my own hands, and Scott was very persistent, and I can't even explain why he was so persistent about it, but I think to me, I feel like it was planted in him by the Lord, and he felt that this was the way he wanted to lead his family, and he did it so graciously because I was very resistant. He asked, would you please try it for one year, and if you are unhappy, you don't think it's right. I'll never ask you about it again, and that gave me a softer place to land where I felt like it wasn't signing up for a long-term commitment because I knew I was going to hate it, and I said, sure. I will do that, and oh, my gosh. It was the most amazing year, and I laugh now because my daughter was four, so, she's like four and turned five during that year, and so, she was so young, and people were like, well, what were you really doing, but I took it so seriously. I was doing all things, and I joined a homeschool support group, and I was reading about it, and I realized on Friday, I'm a stay-at-home mom, and on Monday, I took on this identity of a homeschooling mom, and it's just been a beautiful journey for us. I'm so thankful that the Lord led Scott in that way. He knew what was right, not just for our children, but for me, too, when I had no vision for it, and so, I'm just, you know, very grateful.   Laura Dugger: (7:16 - 7:30) I love that story. That's such an encouragement, and, okay, your oldest is turning 16, so, when you look back, what would you say has helped shape your children's character the most?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (7:32 - 9:29) Well, I think the time that we've all had to spend together, like intense amounts of time, so, not just quality time or quantity time, but both, and I think that there's nothing else I could have done that could replace that, so, I think that's one of the things. I think my own acceptance of the divine nature of me being their mother and those being my children, and really that leading me to embrace my mother's intuition, which is something that I was hesitant for at first because there are so many experts, and surely they know so much more than me, and that's not to say that that's not important. I read so widely. I'm always reading expert ideas and views, but what I realized is that those things can help me as tools. They can mentor me, but they can't master me because the master has already appointed me as the perfect mom for these children, and nobody knows them, the little tiny details of them that nobody knows more than me, and so, when I leaned into that and I'm like, yeah, this says this online, this book said that, this thing says that, I can take what I can from those, but ultimately I feel the spirit telling me and leading me in this way with these children, and when I really leaned into that, I have a right to do that. I am their mother. That revolutionized things, and I think that's what's helped shape my children's character the most is my willingness to lean into how I'm led to lead them, and so, that's been a motherhood journey for me, and I hope that it's a legacy that I leave with my children.   Laura Dugger: (9:31 - 9:53) And do you have any specific stories that come to mind that were examples of that mother's intuition, something that really I think it is such a gift from the Lord and that the Holy Spirit speaks to us in some unique way as mothers to be in tune with our kids, so, is there a time that it really benefited them when you exercised your mother's intuition?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (9:53 - 12:42) Well, there was one time with my third, my son, my oldest son, his name is Beckett, and he was in the high chair eating while I was braiding my daughter's hair, and I heard him start making like these really weird noises, and I looked over and it was like he was choking and gagging, and I run over, and but he seemed fine, but then he would do it again, and he started sweating, and you know today I really would say, you should call 9-1-1, but I didn't, I threw all the kids in the car, and I rushed to the ER, and when we got there he wasn't choking anymore, he wasn't sweating, they did his vitals and everything, and they said, well mom, whatever happened passed, he's fine, and you guys can go home, and I was like, no, he's not fine, I'm looking at him, he's not my little boy, his vitals are checking out, but he's not looking at me the way he normally looks at me, he's not interacting with me, the little funny things that I can make him smile all the time, he's not responding to them, and so, like, I know you have your tests, but like my, I'm telling you something's wrong with my little boy, so, they have a doctor, he comes in to tell me everything's fine, and he's sending me home, and so, I was like, well I'm not leaving, I'll just spend the night in the ER then with all my kids, because I know something's wrong, and the doctor, who's this older man, he turns to me, he looks me in my eyes, and he says, you know, in all my years of medical training, there's something that they never told us, but something I've learned throughout my career, never doubt a mother's intuition, and he said, we'll take him and run more tests, and they took Beckett back to run more tests, and they came back and said, you were right, he has swallowed a coin, and it's like just teetering on the precipice, and so, at times it was blocking his airway, and at times it was shifted a little bit, and we have to go in immediately and get it, and that could have choked him, if you had just gone home and put him down to bed, and so, in that story, I took away two things, one, that I am his mother, and I don't care what the test says, or what the data says, or what the news, or a book, at the end of the day, I knew that something was wrong with my boy, the other thing is the graciousness of that doctor, to see my humanity and my personhood beyond just the insurance payment, or protocol, or whatever, it let me know that like there's something powerful about letting other people know that you see them, and that you are connected to them, as another part of God's creation, like he respected me on that level, so.   Laura Dugger: (12:43 - 13:35) That is incredible, I'm so grateful that that story has a happy ending, and that you were assertive to say that, I think sometimes as women, probably especially as Christian women, we can think, oh I want to be nice, or not push back on somebody, but I love that you were assertive, it was what was in your child's best interest, and like you highlighted, that doctor's humility is admirable, but Amber, you mentioned too that you're a writer, and you contribute a lot to things like the Wild and Free bundles, and I was always struck by the way that you would be out in nature, and there's so much to learn, so, if you had to boil it down, what wisdom would you have to share from what you've learned about the importance of getting our kids and ourselves outdoors into nature?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (13:36 - 16:49) Yeah, that's so funny, I love that you asked me that, because I like to tell people I was raised in the air conditioning, and so, there is no one who began motherhood further away from nature and being outdoors than me, like, and I can look back at those early days of like, I knew you could take your kids to the playground, and I did do that, but like what else would you do outside, you know, and people would be like, oh we went hiking on this trail, and I was like, where did you get on it, like where do you find a trailhead, like I mean this is back, like this is where I was coming from, and I was just like, and then what would we do, like we just walk, and do we talk about trees, I don't know any trees, I know Christmas trees are evergreens, you know, so, it was just like coming from this very like foundational place where I didn't know anything, but I believed, right, I believed, I somehow inherently believed when I read that being outdoors was important for children, so, I'm reading Charlotte Mason's work, and she's talking about nature study, I'm reading Last Child in the Woods by Louvre, and I'm hearing about this, he calls it a nature deficit disorder, and I'm reading all of these different kind of people who really respected childhood, and personhood, and really wanted the best for children, I'm reading a Christian perspective of the joy in connecting with God's creation, first and foremost, but also this idea of encouraging natural and authentic physical activity, running, climbing, balancing, exploring, developing coordination, and confidence, and the mental health components, you know, reducing stress, and improving mood, and not just for the kids, but my friend from A Thousand Hours Outside, she talks about how the first time she like took her kids out for the whole day, it was for her, because she was going crazy with these all these little kids, and the house, and the bags, and the diaper bag, and the snacks, and she didn't know what else to do, so, she just went outside, and how healing that was, and therapeutic that was for all of them, the idea of curiosity, of fueling curiosity, and creativity, I've never seen my kids come up with the most, I mean, they come up with imaginative things in our house, but outside, the, oh my goodness, the things they come up with, the things they create, and make, and the storytelling that comes out of that, and I think the family bonds, our experiences, it's another way of memory making, I mean, we make memories when we go see plays, and musicals, and travel as well, so, it's not the only way, but it's a strong way of that shared outdoor adventures, so, like a couple weeks ago, we were all whitewater rafting, it's funny, like a lot of funny things happen when you're out there doing crazy stuff, and so, we have a lot of laughter, and we have a lot of inside jokes that come from our time together, so, I think that all of those, it's not just one thing, it's one of those rare things where there are all the pros, and there really are no cons, and so, I intentionally embrace that for my family, even though it's everything that I didn't have growing up.   Laura Dugger: (16:50 - 17:41) Wow, that is so interesting, I love how books have really inspired you to make changes that have benefited your entire family, and I'm thinking back years ago when I was in grad school, studying marriage and family therapy, there was this book that we read, Letters to a Young Therapist, I believe the author is Mary Pipher, and she said something that I found to be very true in my life, she said, from childhood when we all look back, our memories typically boil down to three categories, one is family dinners around the table, the second is traveling with our family, and the third is anytime we were outdoors, and so, I'm wondering that legacy that you're giving your kids, they're going to have an abundance of memories in all three of those buckets.   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (17:42 - 18:29) Yeah, I love that, and I had never read that, it's making me want to go and read her work, but I can't agree more, I mean that's what I've seen anecdotally, at least in my family, and it's definitely been the case for us, I can totally see that, the other thing I love about outdoors too is it's free, you know, so, there have, we've had times of plenty and times of not quite enough financially throughout our journey, due to layoffs, and you know, recessions, and all these different things, but that has been one thing that the travel hasn't always been as consistent as we wanted, but the nature, the time outside has always been accessible, even during COVID, that was accessible to us, so, I love it for that too, but yeah, that's really cool.   Laura Dugger: (18:29 - 18:41) Absolutely, okay, so, you started with, you were getting some inspiration from different books and speakers, but then when did you actually implement this? Do you remember how old your kids were?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (18:42 - 20:11) Right away, so, my oldest was like four, five years old, and we started going outside, now again, we had always been going to the park, so, they had been spending a lot of time outside, but I will say like that's like a very, you know, man-made structures, and you know, I can't think of it, like very cultivated space, so, we weren't spending time in uncultivated space until around there, so, maybe a four-year-old, two-year-old, and infant, and I know they started growing up in that way, and I had kids in an ergo on the back, and I remember hiking with a kid in an ergo on the front, and then snapped another one on the back, and you know, these are memories I have of being outdoors thoroughly by the time the boys were coming along, and I remember the story where we were at a creek, and I looked up for a moment, and just sheer panic that my little boy was gone, he wasn't in my eyesight anymore, and the girls were playing there, and I'm like, you know, and I look, and look, and look, and there's nothing, and no one, and all I can think you sees in the water, and I wasn't paying attention, and my heart's racing, and I'm like, girls, where's your brother? And my daughter says, mommy, he's sleeping on your back. And I'm like, oh my gosh, I just think, like, I was so tired during those years, and I just remember, I would just think, let's just go outside, and some days that's just the most I could come up with, but yeah, I was freaking out, and the little boy was sleeping on my back.   Laura Dugger: (20:12 - 21:50) And now a brief message from our sponsor.   Sam Leman Chevrolet in Eureka has been owned and operated by the Burchie family for over 25 years. A lot has changed in the car business since Sam and Stephen's grandfather, Sam Leman, opened his first Chevrolet dealership over 55 years ago.   If you visit their dealership today though, you'll find that not everything has changed. They still operate their dealership like their grandfather did, with honesty and integrity. Sam and Stephen understand that you have many different choices in where you buy or service your vehicle. This is why they do everything they can to make the car buying process as easy and hassle-free as possible. They are thankful for the many lasting friendships that began with a simple welcome to Sam Leman's. Their customers keep coming back because they experience something different.   I've known Sam and Stephen and their wives my entire life, and I can vouch for their character and integrity, which makes it easy to highly recommend you check them out today. Your car buying process doesn't have to be something you dread, so, come see for yourself at Sam Leman Chevrolet in Eureka. Sam and Stephen would love to see you, and they appreciate your business. Learn more at their website, LehmanEureka.com, or visit them on Facebook by searching for Sam Leman Eureka. You can also call them at 309-467-2351. Thanks for your sponsorship.   I'm wondering too, so, when you began, what did you start with? What did you do outside?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (21:51 - 24:13) So, we started with walking, and I also was very verbal about my, what I felt were my inadequacies with friends, and that's why, you know, I can't overemphasize the, I haven't brought that up yet, but the idea of community. You don't need a hundred friends, just a few people who either are doing the same thing as you, have done it, or know you personally so well. But I had a friend who was like this outdoor enthusiast, and I always admired her for that, and she'd be like, oh, I went to the hydrangeas, they're coming out today, and they're gonna bloom for four days, and you know, like, and she would be like, oh, do you want some wild blueberries? And I'd be looking at her with side eye, like, girl, I only eat blueberries from Publix, because how do I know that you know what you're doing? You know, those could be poisonous berries you identified wrong. So, we had this kind of ongoing thing, I just asked her, I was like, hey, could we go outside with you guys sometimes? And she was like, of course. So, our first hike was with her and her kids, and she showed me how to go outside and do nothing. Like, we didn't do anything, we just walked. And the kids let us, you know, they would stop and ponder things and ask questions, which she knew the answers to, but wouldn't answer. So, she was like, well, what do you think? Or that's something cool we can investigate, or whatever. So, I realized, wow, here's this expert naturalist who's not even using her expertise. I don't have any expertise, so I could do the same thing. Well, what do you think about that? So, the kids let us, we stopped when they stopped, we kept going when they kept going. We had plenty of water and snacks, which she had told me, which was important. And that was my first thing. It was a hike. And after that, I only went back to that place by myself with my kids without her, because that was the only trail I knew. I knew where to park and where to go, and I felt confident. And then lo and behold, I run into Charlotte Mason's work, where she talks about returning to the same place throughout the year, and having your kids compare what's happening their season to season. And so, different rationale for why I was doing that. But then I was like, look, there's beauty, even in the simplicity of me not knowing what else to do. So, that's kind of how we got into it. And then I started having more experience and going out and being more adventurous further away from home with my kids.   Laura Dugger: (24:14 - 24:24) Okay, so, then what other ways has it evolved? You mentioned whitewater rafting. So, you've got teens now. What does your time outdoors look like in this phase?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (24:25 - 26:02) So, lots of camping. So, you know, Memorial Day weekend, you know, we were camping in yurts with friends. This past weekend, we camped, we had a big Juneteenth celebration, and then we went camping for Juneteenth weekend. And so, I would say that kayaking, paddle boards, we have paddle boards, we take out fishing, I hate fishing personally, don't like it at all. But two of my kids enjoy fishing. So, I'm there for that. I'll just bring a book or whatever, because it's quite boring to me, but they love it. So, we moved. I mean, how much of a commitment is that we moved to a different house, when we were able to have our whole property is forest floor. So, it's completely shaded and intertwined with trees and plants and a kind of wild scape. And across the road is a lake where the boys can fish and I can call their names for lunch and they can hear me now. I have to yell it loud. It's kind of country. Other people probably like what is going on? I'm like, you know, but they can hear me right there. And so, the creek and just really everything. A lot, a lot of hiking, I will say we live near a mountain and we're in Georgia. So, the North Georgia mountains are not far from us. We have Appalachia or Appalachia, as my friend said, I mispronounce it. And yeah, there's nothing that isn't my one of my first dates with Scott was whitewater rafting. So, we've always kind of embraced that.   Laura Dugger: (26:03 - 26:37) Oh, that's a special way to tie in a married couple memory with your kids and get to pass that along. And water and mountains, those things are, they never get old. But I've heard others even say like, you don't have to take stuff other than water and snacks, like you mentioned, to go outside. But I like the practical tips that sometimes people take art supplies, and they can nature journal or a book to read aloud. Do you have any other practical tips like that, that you would encourage if somebody wanted to get started with this lifestyle?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (26:38 - 28:47) Yeah, I would say, um, we, okay, the best thing I can say is to just try it like I think that oftentimes I know my I'm like this, you want to try to be an expert at something before you actually put it into practice. And the point is, like, we're looking at someone's work or something that they're doing after years that they've been in practice. And then we're expecting to do that from the very beginning. And until we get there, we don't want to do it. So, for example, nature study, nature journaling, I always admired nature journaling. But when you look at people's nature journals that they people who are willing to share, there's usually a reason they're willing to share theirs because it looks beautiful. And mine didn't also look beautiful. But I was still willing to give it a try. And I love that. And I love my kids, what they've worked on. And I cherish all of our early beginning sketches. And quite honestly, I'm still not great. But I think having tools like watercolor pens and water pens where we can do watercolor on the go. And we've done many pictures out by the side of the creek on picnic blankets, especially like my older children while younger people are like, What do I do with these little ones like water, you know, like they love that splashing, making sandcastles and things while I'm painting or doing things watercolors with the with the older ones. And were they museum worthy? No. But there was a lot of enjoyment involved in a skill-based learning. So, I think asking questions and inquiry, using pictures, sure and painting, but also keeping track of things the the date that our cherry blossoms bloom, and our white cherry blossom blooms before the pink one every year and keeping track of that or paying trying to map all of the vegetation in our yard like we are, you know, know which trees what they're called where they come from that takes time. And those are things we've done. It's not like we're only just sitting there barefoot grounding ourselves and forest bathing. You know, we're out there learning as well. And I think that, you know, both are beautiful ways to enter into that.   Laura Dugger: (28:48 - 29:34) I love it. There's so many benefits. And you even mention grounding that helps so much going barefoot with inflammation and different body systems that are reset even by getting out and getting early morning light and the serotonin that's produced that turns into melatonin at night. So, we're happier in the day and sleepier at night, resetting systems in our eyes and like healing our body in different ways to an even how much better outdoor air is for us than indoor air. The benefits just go on and on. So, would you have any to add that either your family has experienced personally, or you've learned about just benefits of getting outdoors?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (29:34 - 31:29) Yeah, I think that one, even, you know, all the things you said, yes, and also the mental clarity. And that's why I don't like being time outdoors, being tied to a negative consequence for academic related behavior. So, the house across the road from ours, you know, I could say ironically, or just be like, God chose to gift us. It's a homeschooling family. They moved in a couple years ago, and they have some kids are some of our kids are similar ages. And our boys are just outside all the time together hours and hours and hours every single day. And I see the difference on days where the weather doesn't permit it or where one family or the other, you know, isn't available. There's a difference in terms of clarity and the work that's happening at the lesson table as well. And this came up, you know, my nephew, you know, they're not homeschooled, and his parents took him on a trip, which caused him to miss a day of school. And he missed an assignment that day, he didn't turn it in. And so, the school then when he got back to school punished him by keeping him indoors for recess. And I was helping, you know, my family craft a note that talks about two things. One, they punished a child for a decision the parents made. And that is grossly unfair, they should be talking to the parents about not missing school, if that's the important thing. And the second thing is, you took away the very thing that allows these children to have what they need to sit quietly and take in, you know, that that's not, that's not how you that's not an appropriate consequence. So, anyway, I feel that the mental clarity beyond the things I would have named the same things you already said, it would be the only other thing that I would bring in and why time outside actually helps us to achieve deeper and broader and more expansive learning when we are inside.   Laura Dugger: (31:29 - 31:54) That's good. And I love how you keep mentioning the piece of community that that's the best way to do this. So, regardless of somebody homeschools, or they don't, how can all of us actually prioritize this? And what's a good, healthy goal for getting started, even as specific as how much time outdoors, how many outdoors or how many days a week should we be outdoors?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (31:55 - 33:01) Yeah, that's, it's so different for every family, I think that you should go just past the point of comfort, you know, for most of us. So, if the point of comfort for you is like 30 minutes a week, then you would start out like aim for an hour a week, you know, 20 minutes, three days, if you're already outside for, you know, 10 hours, a couple hours each day, you know, I would say, maybe shake it up with what you're doing and see what would it be like to go on a really long outdoor excursion on a Saturday, or to take a day off or something like that. So, I don't want to say an exact number, because we're all entering in at a different place. For me, if someone had told me to spend eight hours outside with my kids, when I was first starting, and I'm used to going to playground for 20 minutes, that would have been overwhelming. And I would have been like; there's no way I'm ever gonna do it. So, I think like, just taking it, like, where do I feel most comfortable? And how can I push myself just past that point would be a great place to start and kind of a nice place to always stay? Like, what's the next thing that we can do to lean further into this?   Laura Dugger: (33:02 - 33:15) That's really good, very wise counsel. And Amber, you've mentioned that your family loves to travel. So, will you share any adventures that you've had as a family with world schooling?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (33:16 - 36:20) So, our goal, and it's just a fun thing, you know, I don't know if we'll totally do it, but I think we will, is to have children. So, for us, world schooling is where we're not on vacation, but we're actually deeply immersed in a learning stance in another country, another part of the world. And we're trying to do that on every continent, except Antarctica, before my oldest graduates. So, we have two continents left, we are going to be going to Asia in the fall. So, we'll be taking that one off of our list and for that particular feat. And then her senior year, we'll do Australia and hop over to New Zealand. That's the plan, if it's God's will for us to do that, that's what we would like to do, and that will complete our journey. And then we'll keep traveling, but that was just kind of a fun thing to help lead us, because there are so many places in the world to go, like how do you know? And so, that kind of helped us know, well, let's do this continent, let's do that continent. So, we took our first trip, we spent three months in South America, most of it spent in Bolivia. And I can tell you exactly the kids' ages, because my youngest turned two in Bolivia. So, they were two, four, six, and then one turned eight there. And so, that was, you know, diapers, I had a baby in diapers, a little one in diapers and still nursing when we went on our first trip. And I've never regretted that. People have said, why would you take kids so young? You know, they're not going to remember. And I think a couple thoughts. One, you'd be surprised, they do remember. They may not remember this artifact in some museum, but that's not what we spend most of our time doing. But they remember the people. And we've kept in touch with a lot of the people that we've met in these different countries. And we've even had visitors in our home, staying in our basement apartment that we met abroad. So, they do remember. They remember how things feel and taste more than they remember exactly, like historical markers and things like that. Also, I kind of compare it to like breastfeeding and nursing, like my kids, except for one little boy who held on way too long, but they don't remember that. But I believed that it was something good for them that was forming. It was helping to form who they were, not so much who they were personality wise, but their bodies as they were growing. And so, sometimes we do things that are foundational to our children's development, even if they don't have a conscious and direct memory of that thing. And that's how I see world travel. So, we've been to Europe, and we were in Greece when COVID hit. We were in the middle of a big trip there. So, we had the whole struggle to get back to the United States. We've been to West Africa, most spent in Ghana, England, France. We're going to Ethiopia this year. So, yeah, that's kind of, that's our thing.   Laura Dugger: (36:20 - 37:04) Wow. And those memories are incredible. Even let's say your children forget some of this, or if they're too young to remember all of it, you remember this and you get to share those stories with them and pass that along. I can't even imagine all of the learning that takes place from being immersed in those other cultures. But you also mentioned welcoming people into your basement apartment. So, you sound hospitable as a family. What does that actually look like? And I'm kind of going to throw two questions at you. What does that actually look like? And then both for world schooling and hospitality, what are tips for ways we can replicate that as well?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (37:06 - 39:52) So, one thing that's important to me to always share about world schooling, I have a whole chapter about our world schooling adventures in my first book, but one important thing that I call out there is Eli Gerzen. He's the guy who came up with the word world schooling. And he says, you know, we don't even need a passport to do it. That world schooling is really learning from the world around you. It could be your local library. It could be the internet. It could be your neighbors. And so, while I use this more global term of world schooling, because that's just what we call it in our family, the truth of the matter is it's a way of seeing the world and seeing all the opportunity to make connections right where you're sitting. And people are like, oh, you guys have so much money. I can't do that. First of all, we don't have so much money. Like, for instance, we have one car, right? So, there are sacrifices that we make that other people may choose to spend their money in a different way. So, we definitely don't have a ton of money. But more importantly, I'm thinking, yeah, you're saying that you don't have money, but how much have you explored your county? Like, what do you know about the history of your county? And have you been to your local historical society? And have you really, you know, got in? Have you been to an old the oldest cemetery within driving distance of your home? Have you gotten a tour of it to hear the stories of who's there? Like, you can have that same inquiry and curiosity without ever leaving. So, I'll say that first. And in terms of the hospitality part, it's like an it's an intention, right? You have to like, decide that you're going to do that, because it's so much easier not to have people at first view, like, oh, my house is not clean, and blah, blah, blah. And people don't just stop by the way they used to stop by, like my grandparents' house, it was so fun staying there in the summer, because people just folks just came in and out all day, just they come calling is what they call it, they come calling. And even when we read Jane Austin, people leaving the call guard, you know, when they came to visit, and you weren't there, like, there was this idea that you didn't have to have an appointment. And now you do, you have to let someone know before you're coming. So, it's a choice to be vulnerable, if you want to be hospitable in that way that people will see your, you know, dirty bones of your house. And you know that you're not always presenting this, like really sanitized version of your family and your family life. And so, I think that's intentional decision to say it's more important to us to be with other people and let them in than it is for us to always sanitize everything before they get here. And I don't mean sanitizes and clean the house that too, but I mean sanitizes and everyone's behaving the way that I want them to behave in front of people and all of that as well.   Laura Dugger: (39:53 - 41:05) When was the first time you listened to an episode of The Savvy Sauce? How did you hear about our podcast? Did a friend share it with you? Will you be willing to be that friend now and text five other friends or post on your socials anything about The Savvy Sauce that you love? If you share your favorite episodes, that is how we continue to expand our reach and get the good news of Jesus Christ in more ears across the world. So, we need your help.   Another way to help us grow is to leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts. Each of these suggestions will cost you less than a minute, but it will be a great benefit to us. Thank you so much for being willing to be generous with your time and share. We appreciate you.   Well, and I think it is a biblical command for all of us and it does bless the person or the people that we are hosting, but there are also rewards for us in the process. So, if you even just could think of one reward of a way that this hospitality has blessed your family, what would you say?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (41:07 - 41:55) Well, I would say John chapter five, it says, you know, this verse we've all heard, "I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit apart from me, you can do nothing." So, you know, when we talk about hospitality, we spend a lot of time talking about what my family is doing for other people. But also, that means that my family is constantly in contact with other believers and other people who are helping us with our faith to helping us to remain connected to Jesus. And without that connection, we know that there's nothing that we can do, nothing of any spiritual significance. So, while I'm inviting those people into our lives, it also ensures that my family is not alone in what we're trying to do in our faith. So, like, that's one of a very easy benefit, I can say right off the top.   Laura Dugger: (41:56 - 42:18) Then that one is truly invaluable for our children to get to witness the way other people live out their faith, and it impacts each of us. But I'm also curious, how do you manage your time so that you can be a content creator, and you can homeschool and travel and cultivate these relationships?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (42:20 - 46:08) So, first, let me say that it's not always easy. And there are seasons where I feel like I'm doing a really good job with that. And there are seasons where I feel like I'm not doing a good job. I always prioritize my family first. And so, during the seasons where I feel like I'm not doing a good job, it's very public. People can see I did not post on Instagram for a month, or I'm not speaking as much. They're finding it harder to find opportunities to hear me speak, or I have a long lull before books are published. Those are times where I've turned inward towards my family, where I felt like I didn't have the bandwidth for everything. And so, that's something I have to deal with on a constant basis, because I know that my business or my ministry is not as rich and robust as it could be. I have ideas for days. I have ideas and the ability to bring them to fruition. But I'm not willing to sacrifice the time that it takes to do those things in this season. Because even though I don't have little kids, I definitely have more time than I did when I had little kids. It's not even just time; it's more mind clarity as well. But I don't have as much time as people with little kids would think, because I want to be fully present, even for my teens. When they want to talk to me, I want to be talkable too. I want to be available to them. And we're going to places. We're doing things. They're busy. I'm busy. And I'm trying to prepare them for young adulthood. And that's just as time-consuming as trying to prepare my young children for the next stage of their development. So, I guess it's so messy. Oh my gosh, it's messy. It's chaotic. It's a little bit crazy. But in the center of it all, I really appreciate the opportunities I do have to do the things that help refuel, help me refuel. So, I'm a writer. So, writing isn't just about creating a book. It's that I get to create a book, but really it's about the process and how cathartic it is for me to sit in silence and wonder about things and be able to write them out. And oh, lo and behold, there's a publisher who is interested in publishing those things. But the real work for me is in the process of writing. Then when I come home from a coffee shop or I emerge from my room, I come back more enthusiastic about what it is we're working on and what we're doing. The other thing that I would share is that I don't do all of that stuff by myself. So, things that people don't, just like I say, I have one car and we travel the world, people are like, oh, okay, this is not what I thought. My husband does all the laundry, every piece of laundry in this house that the teens do their own, but all the laundry that's done, he does and has done for over a decade. So, that's a thing I have to say, because you might be picturing that I'm doing all of those things. Or when I wrote one of my books, I was struggling and Scott was like, how can I help you? And he was like, what if we get help to come in with the kids like a nanny or something a few hours a week? I'm like, no, that's the last thing I want somebody to touch. So, he's like, well, what is it? So, we hired a chef, and she would prepare all of our dinners according to like what I, how I like my family to eat and lots of whole foods and good things. And she would drop them off at our house. It was very expensive, but I used part of the money from the advance from the publisher to pay for that so that I could write the book. So, I think those are things that a lot of times people don't talk about, but I have support in place. I'm not super woman any more than anyone else.   Laura Dugger: (46:08 - 46:49) Oh, I appreciate that real picture and those creative ideas because as mothers, we don't just make goals for ourselves. Like you said, we have these dreams and ideas that we could put into practice, but we consider our relationships as well and how it will impact everyone. So, I love hearing practically how that plays out for you and the trade-offs that you've chosen to make. And I know that you and I also share a passion for reading aloud. So, if we could get really practical for a moment, what are some of your most recommended read aloud for families from a variety of age groups?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (46:50 - 53:05) Well, I'm always ready for that question, but I have to say, it's almost asking me, which of my children are my favorite? It's so hard in so many ways, but for younger elementary, I picked three books that I think kind of help show how expansive I feel like I want my children's reading life to be. So, this book is called Indigo Dreaming, and it's a book about two girls, one's in North America and another one we can believe is off the coast of Africa. And they're both doing what they do in their own homes. And it's beautifully illustrated also, but they're both doing what they do in their own homes while wondering, is there another little girl in this world doing what I do, liking what I like? Well, indeed there is. And it's poetic and it has soft paintings. It's just stunning. And then another one is called The Magic Doll. It's a children's book inspired by African art. And in this book, the mother desperately wants to have a child, but she's dealing with infertility, and she turns to the use of an infertility doll. And what would I say about that? My family doesn't believe that, but it's a book that I read with my children because we were going to visit this culture. And I wanted to explain to them how we can respect something and learn about it even without adopting it. And that you can understand the yearning of a mother's heart to hold a child in her hand and the desperation that that could bring about. And I wanted them to know that we would see fertility dolls there and what they meant and things like that. And it's also beautifully illustrated, which is important to me. And then this one's just a fun book. It's called I Had a Favorite Dress, but as the dress starts getting too small, she cuts it and turns it into a skirt. And then it gets turned into this. And then the little, small piece gets turned into some socks. And then it's just a little scarf and snip, snip, sew, sew, pretty hair bow. And so, the same piece of fabric, this favorite dress she had, every time she can't use it in that way anymore, it gets moved and shifted. Into something else. And this book reminds me to just, you know, sometimes we share heavier topics with our children, even beautiful topics, but sometimes it's just joy. Like that's the whole purpose of the book is to smile and have fun. And I'll move more quickly for the older elementary books. I have this book called Schomburg. It's a nonfiction book about Arturo Schomburg and the man who built a library, which is now housed. His home library is now housed as part of the collection of the public library system in New York. And he collected books about all types of black and brown people. And it was considered one of the foremost library collections. So, as a book lover, I love that story. This one's called Heart and Soul. It's the story of America and African Americans with stunning illustrations by Kadir Nelson. So, I love visual art. I always say my family, we can't afford to buy the most exquisite art for our walls, but we have an exquisite art collection through our picture books that I've collected. And then the last one is for that group is John Henry by Julius Lester and Jerry Pinkney illustrations. So, those are two powerhouses of African American author and illustrator. Both have passed. And it is the tall tale of John Henry told in a way that you've never seen before. For older kids, like middle schoolers, I love this one Big Open Sky because it's about some black exodusters who are moving west. And it goes so well for families who love Little House on the Prairie. But, you know, Little House on the Prairie, in some ways, there's some instances that are a little disrespectful to Native Americans and black people. And this is like a redemptive story, not instead of but alongside of it to say that there were black people that were also moving westward and what was their journey. And it's written in verse, like, oh, my gosh, I can't even tell you enough about that. This book, The Angel Orphan, my friend Leah Bowden wrote this book, and it's the story of Charlotte Mason. So, in chapter book form. So, there's also a picture book that someone wrote, but this is a beautiful story about Charlotte Mason. And my family's all-time favorite on my kids read aloud is The Winged Feather Saga by Andrew Peterson. And that whole series, oh, my goodness, that cemented so much of our family lexicon, because it's filled with like made up words. And it I mean, we have jokes and talks and sayings for days coming out of that series. For our older teenagers, um, or even early elementary, early middle school and early teenage years, the Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry is just like a such a classic, Mildred D. Taylor that many of us read. But she also wrote a young adult version where Cassie is entering young adulthood. So, different age audiences, but same author. And a lot of people haven't heard of the other book All the Days Past, All the Days to Come. So, for high school, I love that. And then I threw a couple things in for mama. I'm an epic story of called Homegoing about two sisters and the different paths their lives take during a time I'm part of it is told in Africa and part of its told in the United States. And the last book I have is this memoir, A Black Mother's Garden. It's called Soil. And she uses her actual real garden at her home to kind of give us this idea of life. And it's, it's, you know, it's, it's hard to explain, but it's her it's part memoir, part gardening, like learning and talking about the plants, but also how all of that can turn into kind of like the soil of your life and the people being plants, and she really focuses on wildflowers. So, it's a stunningly, like poignant and beautiful memoir. So, those are my favorite, you know, and now if you ask me tomorrow, you're going to get a different stack.   Laura Dugger: (53:07 - 53:27) I love it. What a gift to get to see all of those you and I share some of those favorites, and you've introduced me to some new ones. So, I'm very grateful and hope everybody listening feels the same. But speaking of books, you've authored more than one. But will you tell us about your most recent release entitled Soul School?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (53:28 - 55:58) Yeah, so, Soul School is it's Soul School: Taking Kids on a Joy Filled Journey Through the Heart of Black American Culture. And I know it's so hard with those. But it is a book of books. So, people who have enjoyed Honey for a Child's Heart, or The Read-Aloud Family, those types of books, which I have adored, and I have all of them, and I've highlighted them or, or Give Your Child the World is another one, highlighted them and dog eared them and have used them to check out books for the library for my children for many, many years. And, and at the same time, I was always very, you know, on my heart that the books that I spend a lot of time reading with my children that I choose and I select are never really included in most of those books.   And there was the season, you know, I'm like, frustrated, you know, I'm mad. I'm like, why? Why are they putting these books in here? And then the more I thought about it, I was like, the most you can ask for a mother to do when she's sharing these books, when it's coming from that is what she read with her children. So, am I going to be mad at her that she didn't read what I think she should read? No, do I wish that it had been more expansive? Sure, I do. But how many of us wouldn't go back and do something differently if knowing what we know today or whatever. So, I wrote a companion like the I see not to replace those books. But this book is filled with African American and black diasporic children's literature starting from preschool all the way through high school.   The first part of the book, I talk about what I'm looking for specifically in books about black American culture, and why those things are important. So, the first few chapters, first five chapters are really teaching the teacher. And then the rest of the book, which makes up most of the book are really rich annotated book lists with descriptions why I chose the book discussion questions, project ideas, and something called second helpings. Like when you think of a big soul food dinner, you go through the line the first time and you fill your plate, but then you go back for second helpings of the things that taste the very best. So, if your child likes this book, then here are two second helpings that they also would probably enjoy. And you know, the book was years in the making, I read all 300 plus books in there from cover to cover. And that's kind of my contribution to raising our children.   Laura Dugger: (56:00 - 56:40) Wow, I mean, it is a stunning piece of work. And there's so much for your family, but also for all of us. So, I think of being one of your kids, what a treasure that their mom read 300 books and put this together. But for all of us, I love books on books. And like you said, we can use it to go to the library or then once we read those and find which other ones we love, we can add it to our home collection. So, thank you for that powerhouse of work. And Amber, there's still so much more that you could share with us. Where can we go after this conversation to connect with you or to learn more?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (56:42 - 56:56) Go to heritagemom.com. And there you'll find all of my books and years' worth of blog posts and book recommendations and other things. My Instagram is @heritagemomblog and the same at Facebook.   Laura Dugger: (56:56 - 57:12) Wonderful. Okay, we will add those links to the show notes for today's episode. And you may be familiar that we're called The Savvy Sauce because savvy is synonymous with practical knowledge. And so, as my final question for you today, Amber, what is your savvy sauce?   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (57:12 - 57:50) Oh, this is such a great question. I love this part of your podcast. I would say that my savvy sauce is learning to be a really great listener. Like if there's nothing else, then that's listening to my husband and the things of his heart and listening to my children and my neighbors and my friends.   But also, people I don't know, people in other places. And also, people I disagree with and being willing to be quiet and listen and take what I can from what they're sharing as well. So, that is, I think my savvy sauce is being an introspective listener.   Laura Dugger: (57:50 – 58:13) That is well said. You are such an inspiring and creative soul. And I have thoroughly enjoyed this chat. And I know I've been hearing you speak on other podcasts and reading your work for years. So, this was such a treat to get to connect with you today. And I just want to say thank you for being my guest.   Amber O'Neal Johnston: (58:14 - 58:16) Thank you so much for having me.   Laura Dugger: (58:16 - 1:01:59) One more thing before you go. Have you heard the term gospel before?   It simply means good news. And I want to share the best news with you.   But it starts with the bad news.   Every single one of us were born sinners, but Christ desires to rescue us from our sin, which is something we cannot do for ourselves.   This means there is absolutely no chance we can make it to heaven on our own.   So, for you and for me, it means we deserve death, and we can never pay back the sacrifice we owe to be saved.   We need a Savior. But God loved us so much, he made a way for his only son to willingly die in our place as the perfect substitute.   This gives us hope of life forever in right relationship with him. That is good news. Jesus lived the perfect life we could never live and died in our place for our sin.   This was God's plan to make a way to reconcile with us so that God can look at us and see Jesus.   We can be covered and justified through the work Jesus finished if we choose to receive what He has done for us.   Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”   So, would you pray with me now?   Heavenly Father, thank you for sending Jesus to take our place.   I pray someone today right now is touched and chooses to turn their life over to you. Will you clearly guide them and help them take their next step in faith to declare you as Lord of their life?   We trust you to work and change lives now for eternity. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you prayed that prayer, you are declaring him for me, so me for him.   You get the opportunity to live your life for him.   And at this podcast, we're called The Savvy Sauce for a reason.   We want to give you practical tools to implement the knowledge you have learned. So, you ready to get started?   First, tell someone. Say it out loud. Get a Bible.   The first day I made this decision, my parents took me to Barnes & Noble and let me choose my own Bible.   I selected the Quest NIV Bible, and I love it. You can start by reading the book of John. Also, get connected locally, which just means tell someone who's a part of a church in your community that you made a decision to follow Christ.   I'm assuming they will be thrilled to talk with you about further steps, such as going to church and getting connected to other believers to encourage you.   We want to celebrate with you too, so feel free to leave a comment for us here if you did make a decision to follow Christ.   We also have show notes including where you can read scripture that describes this process. And finally, be encouraged.   Luke 15:10 says, “In the same way I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”   The heavens are praising with you for your decision today.   And if you've already received this good news, I pray you have someone to share it with. You are loved and I look forward to meeting you here next time.

Having inadvertently introduced Barbara Steinhaus - Chair of the Department of Music at Brenau University - as a music therapist, she not only set me straight with gentleness, but then walked me through her career as singer and educator, the value of music for healing, and how visiting art museums improves our wellbeing. I was taken by the four elements of singing in a healthcare setting that align with Barbara's life as a vocal artist: the intimacy of folk music, the transformational potential of the spiritual, classical vocal style, and a sense of meaning in song and lyrics that is particularly profound for her. For more information about Barbara's work as an educator, you can look her up on the Brenau University website. And for details about the study she's leading with the High Museum of Art, check out  https://www.brenau.edu/news/brenau-partners-with-high-museum-for-arts-and-health-research/ and https://high.org/press-release/high-museum-of-art-receives-80000-award-from-the-national-endowment-for-the-arts

✦ Today, it is more important than ever to state, define, and be clear about who you are. To do that, you may have to be bold, upfront, and... frank. To that end, a dynamic group of 11 queer artists, known as Frank, will present a diverse, multifaceted, and self-defining art show entitled "Being Frank: it is because I am." The show is at Ansley Mall from September 14 through the 17, and City Lights Co-Host Jon Goode recently sat down with two of Frank's founding members, artists David Clifton-Strawn and artist Royce Soble. ✦ City Lights Collective members Jasmine Hentschel and EC Flamming, the creatives behind Atlanta's visual art print magazine, "GULCH", want you to get out and engage with the city's art scene. Each week, they spotlight five standout happenings, and today, they'll tell you about Living Walls's 15-year-anniversary "quinceañero" party, an exhibit at Marcia Wood that's sure to excite all you color theorists out there, and Cat Eye Creative's final show opening in their current South Downtown space. ✦ It's never too early to spark a lifelong love of the arts and theatrical performance. To that point, The Alliance Theater's Bernhardt Theater for the Very Young, in partnership with the Marcus Jewish Community Center of Atlanta, is presenting a stage adaptation of "The Birthday of the World," based on the children's book by New York Times Bestseller Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen. The show runs through October 26 and includes two special outdoor performances at the MJCCA's Zaban Park on Sunday, September 14. City Lights Collective Engineer Matt McWilliams recently spoke to creator and director Jonathan Shmidt Chapman about bringing "The Birthday of the World" to Atlanta's youngest theatergoers. ✦ For 20 years, the High Museum of Art has awarded the David Driskell Prize to field-defining contributors in African American Art and Art History. This year, the award goes to Alison Saar, sculptor, installation artist, printmaker, and art scholar, whose sculpture "Salon" welcomed visitors to the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Driskell Prize winner joined WABE arts reporter Summer Evans to share her extraordinary legacy as an artist and scholar. ✦ Our series, "In Their Own Words," tells firsthand stories from our artistic community. This is where they tell us who they are, what they do, what they love, and a few things you might not see coming. What things? Who knows, there's only one way to find out. Today, we highlight comedian Nate Allen.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

✦ Food is a story—its origins, makers, and how recipes travel globally. The series "ChefATL," produced by SCAD, explores the stories behind the foods that inspire Atlanta chefs. In collaboration with WABE, SCAD students spotlight Atlanta restaurateurs each episode. WABE arts reporter Summer Evans spoke with SCAD student Astrid Sims, and Dear and the Dove owner Terry Koval to learn more about the show, which involved over 100 students across nine different SCAD degree programs. ✦ Local music artists across genres are coming together for a festival that organizers say is "by Atlanta and for Atlanta." City Lights Collective Co-host Kim Drobes has more on this weekend's Mainline Music Festival. ✦ Each Friday, the Atlanta Contra Dance community comes together at the Decatur Recreational Center to experience the joy of dancing to live music. City Lights Collective member Gillian Anne Renault has more on this high-energy dance that has a low bar of entry. ✦ City Lights Collective member Shane Harrison spends his days as executive editor of ArtsATL looking for cultural events to share with readers. He joins us weekly to share highlights, and today his mix includes a breakdown of the Atlanta Contemporary Music Collective's season opener, a new exhibition at The Sun ATL, and the Brookhaven Porchfest. ✦ Visual artist and music enthusiast Kosmo Vinyl bought his first LP when he was nine. He spent the next several decades immersed in music and began his professional career at London's pioneering indie label, "Stiff Records." In 1979, Kosmo started working exclusively with "The Clash," who were once billed as "The Only Band That Matters," and remained by their side until the punk icons disbanded in 1986. Over the years, Kosmo's record collection became legendary. In 2014, he began posting about his favorite releases on social media as part of his series, "Kosmo's Vinyl of the Week," and he joins us weekly to share the stories behind the records he treasures. Today, he tells us the story behind Cornershop's "Brimful of Asha." ✦ Artist, illustrator, and educator Faith Ringgold showed us our world through the eyes of young children in every medium you can think of –books, paintings, drawings, sculptures, even quilts. She trained and has been widely honored in the fine art and academic circles of New York City. Ringgold worked as an art teacher in New York City public schools for decades, focusing her work on those exceptional children, who have remained her lifelong muse. Now, the High Museum is presenting the most comprehensive exhibition to date of Faith Ringgold's art, featuring pieces from her children's books, including never-before-seen works. Curator Andrew Westover took a moment to chat with City Lights Collective producer Josh Thane about this extensive collection, which is on view through October 12.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta is thrilled to announce an exclusive collaboration with Lucid Group, Inc., the maker of the world's most advanced electric vehicles. This unique partnership offers guests complimentary access to the Lucid Air, blending a new level of luxury, performance, and sustainability from the heart of Midtown Atlanta. Guests can now explore the city in a stunning Lucid Air for self-guided adventures, enjoying the seamless combination of visionary engineering and elegant design. Whether it's a scenic drive past the High Museum and Piedmont Park, or a stylish ride to one of Atlanta's Michelin-starred restaurants, this experience allows visitors to discover the city's iconic neighborhoods silently, stylishly, and sustainably. "Our partnership with Lucid provides guests a unique opportunity to explore Atlanta with comfort, style, and sustainability in mind," says General Manager Nancy Chacon. The Lucid Air's cutting-edge technology and commitment to thoughtful luxury perfectly reflect the Four Seasons' dedication to unparalleled guest service and innovation. For added convenience, the hotel provides curated driving routes from its Concierge team and offers the Lucid Air as a chauffeured house car. With on-site EV charging stations, the hotel further supports electric mobility. This partnership is a testament to the Four Seasons Hotel Atlanta's continued commitment to providing a modern urban retreat where innovation, culture, and hospitality converge. Web: https://www.fourseasons.com/at... Photo Credit - Thomas Espinoza About Four Seasons Atlanta: As the vibrant cultural heart of the American South, Atlanta invites visitors to experience Southern hospitality with a modern, luxurious twist. This premier luxury hotel in Midtown Atlanta is perfectly situated for guests to immerse themselves in the city's dynamic energy. Just steps from renowned cultural landmarks like the High Museum of Art and the sprawling green space of Piedmont Park, the hotel offers an unparalleled blend of convenience and opulence. Whether you're a business mogul, a discerning celebrity, or a family exploring the city, this hotel caters to all. Guests can start their day with a delicious breakfast on the atrium bridge, indulge in a healthy dose of self-care at the serene Spa, or venture out to explore the bustling Peachtree Street. The day concludes with an exquisite dinner and drinks at the on-site dining hotspot, Bar Margot, making every moment of the stay effortlessly memorable. This is more than a hotel; it's a gateway to Atlanta's best, designed for those who seek luxury, culture, and connection. Searching for a luxury electric vehicle that redefines performance, elegance, and range? Look no further than the Lucid Air. This isn't just another EV; it's a meticulously engineered sedan that sets a new benchmark for sustainable luxury. With its groundbreaking design, unparalleled range, and exhilarating performance, the Lucid Air is a top contender for drivers who demand the best. Discover why this revolutionary electric car is turning heads and leading the way in modern automotive innovation. Web: https://www.lucidmotors.com/ai... Ash Brown: Your Ultimate Guide to Inspiration, Empowerment, and Action Are you searching for a dynamic motivational speaker, an authentic podcaster, or an influential media personality who can ignite your passion for personal growth? Look no further than Ash Brown. This American multi-talented powerhouse is a captivating event host, an insightful blogger, and a dedicated advocate for helping people unlock their full potential. With her infectious optimism and genuine desire to empower others, Ash Brown has become a leading voice in the personal development and motivation space. Discover the World of Ash Brown: AshSaidit.com & The Ash Said It Show AshSaidit.com: A vibrant lifestyle blog and event platform, AshSaidit.com is your gateway to Ash's world. Here you'll find exclusive event invitations, honest product reviews, and a wealth of engaging content designed to inform and inspire. It's the perfect online destination to stay connected and get your daily dose of Ash's unique personality and insights. The Ash Said It Show: With over 2,100 episodes and over half a million global listens, "The Ash Said It Show" is a powerful and popular podcast. Ash engages in meaningful conversations with inspiring guests, diving into topics that truly matter. Listeners gain valuable life lessons, encouragement, and practical advice to help them navigate their own journeys. Why Ash Brown is a Leading Voice in Personal Development What truly distinguishes Ash Brown is her authentic and relatable approach to personal growth. She builds a genuine connection with her audience, offering practical advice and encouragement that feels like a conversation with a trusted friend. Ash doesn't shy away from life's challenges; instead, she provides the tools to tackle them head-on with confidence. Authentic Optimism: Ash's positive energy is contagious, empowering her audience to embrace new challenges with a more capable and hopeful mindset. Relatable Advice: Ash offers unfiltered, real-world guidance that resonates with people from all backgrounds. Her understanding that life can be tough makes her advice both honest and deeply encouraging. Actionable Strategies: Beyond just feeling good, Ash provides practical tips and strategies designed to help you turn your aspirations into tangible results. For a consistent source of inspiration, genuine encouragement, and actionable advice, Ash Brown is your ultimate resource. Her incredible positivity and unwavering dedication to helping others make her the ideal guide for maximizing your life's potential. Connect with Ash Brown: Goli Gummy Discounts: https://go.goli.com/1loveash5 Luxury Handbag Discounts: https://www.theofficialathena.... Review Us: https://itunes.apple.com/us/po... Subscribe on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/AshSa... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/1lov... Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashsa... Blog: http://www.ashsaidit.com/blog #atlanta #ashsaidit #theashsaiditshow #ashblogsit #ashsaidit®Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-ash-said-it-show--1213325/support.

✦ We've all felt a little "othered" at times, but the shy, serious, teenage Leela, born in India, and on the autism spectrum, might have a bit of extra insight into the feeling. She's the lead character in the acclaimed play "Orange" by Aditi Brennan Kapil, which opens at Stage Door Theatre on August 9 and runs through the 24. City Lights Collective co-host Kim Drobes recently spoke with director Amee Vyas about the play and how the story of teenage growth unfolds. ✦ Since 2014, re:imagine/ATL has been empowering the next generation of creatives through hands-on training, mentorship, and real-world media production. With programs that equip young people to navigate Atlanta's growing film and production industry — and provide access to professional opportunities — the organization is helping emerging talent build both skills and careers. City Lights Collective producer Josh Thane spoke with Program Director Jessie Sparrow and program alum Syeara Dunlap to learn more about their work — and how they're using creativity to shape futures and communities. ✦ City Lights Collective members Jasmine Hentschel and EC Flamming, the creatives behind Atlanta's visual art print magazine, "GULCH", want you to get out and engage with the city's art scene. Each week, they spotlight five standout happenings, and today their mix includes: a story about how the Goat Farm is picking up where MINT left off, bringing the family to the High Museum for free, and explorations of Southern, Black, queer history and iconography. ✦ Comedian and podcaster Sean Jordan is following his life's calling to spread laughter and positivity to the masses, but these days, that can be a challenge. Especially as he balances fatherhood and life as a touring comedian, Sean strives to show up, hold it down, and turn life's ups and downs into material for his standup. You can see for yourself, as he makes his Atlanta debut this Friday, the 8th, at the Limelight Theater, and he spoke with City Lights Collective engineer Matt McWilliams ahead of the show. ✦ Several Georgia playwrights are showcasing never-before-seen works at this year's Essential Theatre Play Festival. WABE arts reporter Summer Evans shares more.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

✦ 0:30 - Atlanta's music scene is often associated with sold-out arenas, local small stages, or eclectic late-night venues. But hidden in corners of the city, another kind of music space is thriving, one powered by turntables, vintage speakers, and the warm crackle of vinyl. These are Atlanta's listening rooms, where music isn't just played; it's experienced. The rooms come in various flavors, shapes, and styles; almost all have opened within the last two years. City Lights Collective member Jacob Smulian has more. ✦ 11:24 - After three weeks of intensive workshops at Alliance Theatre's Palefsky Collision Project, twenty metro-Atlanta teens will showcase their original productions on July 25 and 26. WABE arts reporter Summer Evans shares more. ✦ 13:23 - Atlanta Artist Jym Davis describes himself as a myth builder. And that's true. However, the creative, better known as "False Face," is also a sculptor, photographer, online content curator, and a five-time National Park artist-in-residence. Davis's primary medium is elaborate and otherworldly papier-mâché masks inspired by nature. The artist then wears the masks in natural settings and captures their essence using performative photography. The result is enchanting. City Lights Collective co-host Kim Drobes recently spoke with Davis to learn more about his practice and how he curates his incredibly successful and beautiful Instagram account. ✦ 28:19 - Stone Mountain stands over 800 feet tall, making it the largest exposed piece of granite in the world. While it offers incredible views of the Atlanta skyline, it has a dark history and was once a well-known meeting ground for intolerance and hate. Photographer Jean Shifrin hopes to change that narrative by showcasing the diverse range of people who make the mile-long trek up to its peak year-round, and she aims to reframe Stone Mountain as a place for unity and diversity. WABE arts reporter Summer Evans recently spoke with the photographer about her new book, "Rise Above: On Top of Stone Mountain." ✦ 42:10 - Through light and sound, the sensory manifestations of mathematics, quantum physics, and vast archives of raw data are dancing on the walls of the High Museum this summer. In an immersive exhibition, critics are praising as "awe-inspiring" and "visceral," leading Japanese artist and electronic composer Ryoji Ikeda invites us to experience "data-verse." City Lights Collective producer Josh Thane recently spoke with High curator Michael Rooks about Ryoji Ikeda's epic installations.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

✦ Can you name a feeling? Dashill Smith and the musicians and vocalists that join him at TenATL certainly think so. City Lights Collective co-host Jon Goode recently went to visit TenATL in East Atlanta to learn more. ✦ In honor of MLB All-Star Week, Truist Park isn’t the only place in Cobb County to see baseball this summer. A new exhibition at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art features the work of artist Mike Schacht—a prolific painter of baseball legends. ✦ Known to soap opera fans as the hold no prisoners mob by Sonny Corinthos on General Hospital, actor Maurice Bernard has earned several daytime Emmy awards and the attention of millions of fans. However, in recent years, he has stepped into the role of a lifetime: mental health advocate. Diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Bernard has used several platforms, including his podcast, State of Mind, to raise awareness about living with mental illness. He'll share his candid experiences at the Punchline on July 24th with his one-man show, Maurice Bernard: Live on Stage. ✦ Artist, illustrator and educator Faith Ringgold showed us our world through the eyes of young children in every medium you can think of –books, paintings, drawings, sculptures, even quilts. Trained and extensively honored in the fine art and academic circles of New York City, Faith Ringgold nevertheless focused her work on the children who remained her lifelong muse, working as an art teacher in New York City public schools for decades. Now, the High Museum is presenting the most comprehensive exhibition to date of Faith Ringgold’s art from her children’s books, including never-before-seen pieces. ✦ Municipal Support for the Arts ✦ They play on street corners, beneath overpasses, and in MARTA stations — creating the soundtracks of Atlanta’s daily hustle. But who are these street performers, and what drives them? WABE arts reporter Summer Evans explores the city’s vibrant busking scene and learns how it compares to other musical cities.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

✦ WABE's "Sounds Like ATL" music documentary series explores Atlanta's renowned music scene. Each episode spotlights a local Atlanta musician, allowing viewers to witness their creative process while they perform a couple of songs. The weekly segments are released on our YouTube channel, @WABE ATL, and we share a preview of their recent episode, spotlighting singer and songwriter E'lanah. ✦ Atlanta fashion icon and philanthropist Lauren Amos recently gifted millions to the High Museum of Art to fund a new fashion-focused initiative that will bring a dedicated curator, cutting-edge exhibitions, and public programming and events to Atlanta. City Lights Collective member Jasmine Hentschel recently caught up with Amos to learn more. ✦ WABE's Kenny Murray has the story behind the Georgia Film Academy's recent announcement that it is partnering with one of metro Atlanta's most prominent movie studios. The aim is to provide education and workforce training to a new generation of professionals in the film and television industry. ✦ In the spring of 1955, the Heart of Atlanta Motel was built in downtown Atlanta, a flashy monument to mid-century hospitality. However, by the 1960s, it had become a civil rights battleground. A place where John Lewis was arrested, where hundreds protested, and where a segregationist attorney named Moreton Rolleston Jr. took his rage all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. City Lights Collective member, podcaster, and self-proclaimed history nerd Victoria Lemos recently traced the rise and fall of the Heart of Atlanta Motel, as well as the jaw-dropping twist involving Tyler Perry that emerged decades later. ✦ When you hear pancakes, booze, and art, what comes to mind? How about a festival combining this unlikely trio into a unique art experience? The Pancakes and Booze Art Show is a traveling festival coming to Underground Atlanta on July 19th. City Lights Collective producer Josh Thane recently spoke with festival organizer Justin Allen and Lyle Baldes, special events coordinator for Underground Atlanta, to find out more about this culinary culture mashup. ✦ Did you know that the last car Elvis Presley ever purchased is permanently located 50 miles northwest of Atlanta? The 1977 Cadillac Seville sits in an eclectic museum known as Old Car City USA. WABE Arts Reporter Summer Evans visited the rural town of White, Georgia, to explore how this 32-acre American car junkyard intersects with nature and art.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Julie Curtiss was born in 1982 in Paris, France and lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. She studied at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-arts, Paris, during which time she undertook two exchange programmes; one at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden and the other at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Curtiss graduated in 2006 with a BA and MFA. Recent solo exhibitions include White Cube Hong Kong (2023); Anton Kern Gallery, New York (2022; 2020; 2019); White Cube Mason's Yard, London (2021); Various Small Fires, Los Angeles (2018); and 106 Green, Brooklyn, New York (2017). Group exhibitions include Fondation Carmignac, Porquerolles, France (2024); Dallas Museum of Art, TX (2023); MCA Chicago, IL (2023); Yuz Museum, Shanghai (2023); FLAG Art Foundation, New York (2023); Leeum Museum of Art, Seoul (2022); Biennale des Arts de Nice, France (2022); The Shed, New York (2021); Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn, New York (2019); Perrotin, Seoul (2019); Clearing, New York (2019); White Cube Bermondsey, London (2017). She has been the recipient of a number of fellowships and awards, including Youkobo Art Space Returnee Residency Program, Tokyo (2019); Fellow of the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program, New York (2018); Saltonstall Arts Colony Residency, New York (2017); Contemporary Art Center at Woodside Residency Program, New York (2013); VAN LIER Fellowship, New York (2012); Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy's Young Artists Award (2004); and Erasmus European Exchange Program Grant, Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Dresden (2003).Curtiss' work is represented in a number of museum collections, among which are Bronx Museum, New York; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; High Museum, Atlanta; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Maki Collection, Japan; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; and Yuz Museum, Shanghai.

In this episode of Rising Voices of Fundraising: The AFP Emerging Leaders Podcast, we sit down with Christopher Beck to explore what it really means to innovate in fundraising today. From making the "secret sauce" in real time to embracing fresh approaches like giving circles, Christopher shares how nonprofits can stay relevant and responsive in a rapidly evolving sector. We dig into the importance of addressing DEI head-on and why transparency with both leadership and donors is key to building trust. Guests: Christopher Beck, is the Associate Director of Planned and Individual Giving at the High Museum of Atlanta (HMA).  With over 20 years of experience in fundraising for non-profit organizations like ALSAC/St. Jude and the Boy Scouts of America in Nashville, TN. Christopher excels at connecting people with their passions.  Throughout his career, he has focused on substantial gifts from individuals, corporations, and foundations, overseeing non-profit programs in youth services and sports fundraising/marketing. He has also developed expertise in volunteer and board development for non-profits. Additionally, he is experienced in various philanthropy programs and provides training and coaching for junior professionals in fundraising. In his current role at HMA, Christopher supports the Individual and Planned Giving Team, contributing to education, exhibitions, and collaboration with the curatorial team.  He holds a degree in education from Rust College and a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Certification from the University of South Florida. Christopher is a CAP Charter Advisor in Philanthropy and participated in the inaugural 2023 AFP Leadership Academy, Cohort One, held in Minnesota. He also possesses an Impact Advising Designation (IPA) from the Daylight Advisor Network, focusing on philanthropic advising. Outside of work, Christopher enjoys spending time with his wife and son. His interests include reading, visiting aquariums, listening to jazz, walking by the water, and engaging in fitness activities. He believes philanthropy goes beyond financial contributions; it represents a deep commitment to improving humanity, a value guiding his actions in the sector. Hosts:  Emily Leitzinger, CFRE, CNP, Director of National Leadership Giving, Cure SMA: Emily Leitzinger is a fundraising executive with over 15 years of experience driving organizational growth and sustainability through innovative fundraising strategies and donor engagement. She currently serves as the Director of National Leadership Giving at Cure SMA and is particularly proud of launching the first-ever Legacy Society for the organization. Emily is dedicated to advancing equity and inclusion in philanthropy, as noted in her Master's capstone. In this project, she examines the effects of donor influence on nonprofit operations and proposes frameworks for more balanced and ethical donor engagement. A chartering member and past president of the Mid-City, New Orleans Rotary Club, Emily is affectionately known as the Deputy Governor of "Yes" and is set to become the District Governor of District 6840. In addition to her professional achievements, she enjoys traveling, long-distance running, and craft beer, and is a huge fan of The Office.  She lives in New Orleans with her Elvis-impersonating husband, Mike.    Dr. Allison Quintanilla Plattsmier, CFRE, ACNP, GPC, CAP, Founder & CEO, AQP Consulting & Executive Director, ENP: Dr. Allison Quintanilla Plattsmier has fourteen years of experience in the nonprofit sector and has collectively raised approximately $5 million for over 75 organizations. She serves as Executive Director of ENP and runs her own nonprofit consulting firm, AQP Consulting, where she helps grassroots nonprofits with fundraising strategy, strategic planning, board development, and grant writing.  Allison is a vocal advocate for gender parity, closing the wage gap, and ending the motherhood penalty. With accolades such as AFP's Outstanding Young Fundraising Professional, NBJ's 40 Under 40, NBJ's Women of Influence, a National Latino Leader, and the Women Who Rock Nashville Social Justice Award, Dr. Quintanilla Plattsmier strives to serve and better her community every day. A dedicated AFP member for the last seven years, Allison currently chairs the Women's Impact Initiative (WII) Mentorship Program and serves on the LEAD Education Advisory Committee. When she is not out serving her community, she is spending time with her three kids, Quintan, Karina, and Kamren.

Ep. 248 Adrienne L. Childs is an independent scholar, art historian, and curator. She is Senior Consulting Curator at The Phillips Collection. Her current book is an exploration of Black figures in European decorative arts entitled Ornamental Blackness: The Black Figure in European Decorative Arts, published by Yale University Press. She is currently co-curator of Vivian Browne: My Kind of Protest for The Phillips Collection. She recently co-curated The Colour of Anxiety: Race, Sexuality and Disorder in Victorian Sculpture at The Henry Moore Institute in Leeds, England. She was the guest curator of Riffs and Relations: African American Artists and the European Modernist Tradition at The Phillips Collection in Washington DC, 2020. In April 2022 The High Museum of Art awarded Childs the 2022 Driskell Prize in recognition of her contribution to African American art and art history. Childs co-curated The Black Figure in the European Imaginary at The Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College in 2017. She is co-editor of the volume essays Blacks and Blackness in European Art of the Long Nineteenth Century, Routledge. She also contributed an essay on art and activism to Volume V, part II of The Image of the Black in Western Art edited by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. and David Bindman. As former curator at the David C. Driskell Center at the University of Maryland she curated many exhibitions including Her Story: Lithographs by Margo Humphrey; Arabesque: The Art of Stephanie Pogue; Creative Spirit: The Art of David C. Driskell and Tradition Redefined: The Larry and Brenda Thompson Collection of African American Art. Childs holds a BA from Georgetown University, an MBA from Howard University and a PhD in the History of Art from the University of Maryland. Photocredit: Rodrigo Salido Moulinié  Website https://www.adriennelchilds.com/ Phillips Collection  Vivian Browne: My Kind of Protest |The Phillips Collection https://www.phillipscollection.org/sites/default/files/2025-04/phillips-collection-presents-vivian-browne-my-kind-of-protest-press-release.pdf  https://www.phillipscollection.org/press/phillips-collection-presents-multiplicity-blackness-contemporary-american-collage https://www.phillipscollection.org/event/2020-02-28-riffs-and-relations-african-american-artists-and-european-modernist-tradition Ornamental Blackness https://www.ornamentalblackness.com/ The Driskell Center https://driskellcenter.umd.edu/news/former-driskell-center-curator-adrienne-childs-phd-wins-2022-driskell-prize High Museum https://high.org/driskell-prize/adrienne-l-childs/ The Clark https://www.clarkart.edu/fellow/detail/adrienne-childs-(1) Courtauld https://courtauld.ac.uk/whats-on/reconsidering-riffs-and-relations/ Columbia University https://abolitionism.universityseminars.columbia.edu/people/adrienne-l-childs The Wadsworth https://www.thewadsworth.org/event/public-lecture-pearl-drops-and-blackamoors-the-black-body-and-pearlescent-adornment-in-european-art-with-adrienne-l-childs/ ARTnews https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/adrienne-l-childs-david-c-driskell-prize-high-museum-1234620561/ Culture Type https://www.culturetype.com/tag/adrienne-l-childs/Enfilade  https://enfilade18thc.com/2024/09/20/lecture-adrienne-childs-on-pearl-drops-and-blackamoors/ MontclairArt Museum https://www.montclairartmuseum.org/press/press-room/montclair-art-museum-presents-landmark-exhibition-century-100-years-black-art-mam Portland Museum https://www.portlandmuseum.org/eventscalendar/2021-bernard-osher-lecture Journal Panorama https://journalpanorama.org/article/riffs-and-relations/ AHNCA https://ahnca.org/event/the-colour-of-anxiety-race-sexuality-and-disorder-in-victorian-sculpture/

Live from the tailgate lounge at Chicago Architectural Biennial 6's booth at Expo Chicago, Duncan and Ryan welcome Joey Orr, the newly appointed Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the MCA Chicago. In this densely brilliant and surprisingly hilarious conversation, Orr discusses what it means to steer a contemporary art institution in an era of deep social complexity, political polarization, and shifting museum ethics. We cover everything from the social life of objects to the lore of performance documentation, and even pitch a game show based on the varied memories of Chris Burden's early MCA performance. Orr reflects on social practice, audience authorship, and why curators are public servants—not VIPs. We get deep into what it means to be a meat sack in space, how to radicalize museum engagement, and why reenactments may just be the key to future institutional magic. This is art talk that grinds, gropes, and glows in the dark. No hot dogs, just conceptual fireworks.   Joey Orr – Deputy Director and Chief Curator at MCA Chicago IG: @joeyorr13 Bio: https://joeyorr.com/about/ Chris Burden – Performance artist Wiki: Chris Burden John Cage – Composer and performance artist Wiki: John Cage Resource: John Cage Trust Dick Higgins – Intermedia artist and Fluxus co-founder Wiki: Dick Higgins Alison Knowles – Fluxus artist IG: @alisonknowlesartist Wiki: Alison Knowles Mary Jane Jacob – Curator of public art and socially engaged practice Wiki: Mary Jane Jacob Bio: SAIC Faculty Page Pablo Helguera – Artist and educator working in socially engaged art IG: @pablo_helguera Website: pablohelguera.net Book: Education for Socially Engaged Art Diana Taylor – Performance theorist; author of The Archive and the Repertoire Profile: NYU Performance Studies Book Info: Duke University Press Naomi Beckwith – Curator, formerly at MCA and Guggenheim IG: @naomibx Article: Guggenheim Chief Curator Announcement MCA Chicago (Museum of Contemporary Art) Website: mcachicago.org IG: @mcachicago School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) Website: saic.edu IG: @saic_news High Museum of Art (Atlanta) Website: high.org IG: @highmuseumofart The Louvre Website: louvre.fr IG: @museelouvre Queens Museum Website: queensmuseum.org IG: @queensmuseum Fluxus – Movement reference MoMA: Fluxus Overview - https://www.moma.org/collection/terms/fluxus#:~:text=Founded%20by%20George%20Maciunas%20and,to%20integrate%20art%20and%20life.    

Ep.245 Natia Lemay (b. 1985 in Toronto, Ontario) was raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and is based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Her Interdisciplinary autoethnographic practice reflects her lived experience. Through personal stories, she interrogates the intersections between the mind, the body, and space to understand how these experiences relate to a broader cultural context. Natia Lemay has exhibited widely throughout North America. The artist was selected for the 2024 Fountainhead residency in Miami and the 2022 Royal Drawing School Residency in Dumfries, Scotland. She was awarded the National Trust Prize at Expo Chicago 2024, with her work acquired by High Museum in Atlanta in addition to being collected by the Art Gallery of Ontario, The Minneapolis Institute of Art, The Minnesota Museum of American Art, The North Dakota Museum of Art and The Montclair Museum of Art. She received her BFA from Ontario College of Art and Design in 2021 with a minor in Social Sciences and her MFA from Yale School of Art in 2023. Photo Credit is Gesi Schilling: Fountainhead Artist Residency Artist https://www.natialemay.com/ Whitehot Magazine https://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/her-first-nyc-solo-show/5792 Fountainhead Arts https://www.fountainheadarts.org/fhtv/artists/natia-lemay Juxatpoz https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/features/natia-lemay-the-act-of-being-seen/ Perrotin https://www.perrotin.com/artists/natia_lemay/1335#biography Galerie Nicolas Robert https://www.gallerynicolasrobert.com/natia-lemay Hyperallergic https://hyperallergic.com/851029/miami-fountainhead-residency-2024-selected-artists/ Ocula https://ocula.com/art-galleries/wilding-cran-gallery/artworks/natia-lemay/these-strange-girls-will-radiate-in-our-darkness/ Culture Type https://www.culturetype.com/tag/natia-lemay/ New American Paintings https://www.newamericanpaintings.com/artists/natia-lemay

La gran ciudad y el campo suelen ser conceptos excluyentes. Por su ubicación, clima y amor por los árboles, la capital del estado de Georgia es una excepción: casi la mitad del término municipal está cubierto de árboles. El bosque asoma en enormes espacios como Piedmont Park y el jardín botánico, en los frondosos laterales de muchas calles o en la enorme franja de naturaleza del BeltLine, antigua línea férrea rehabilitada como vía verde a lo largo de decenas de kilómetros. Podemos identificar infinidad de especies, incluido el melocotonero, que da nombre a una de las arterias principales (Peachtree Street) y presta su fruto como emblema y apodo a esta ciudad: The Big Peach. Una de sus habitantes, la filóloga y profesora Shannon Williams, nos acompaña junto a su pareja, Francisco Espinosa. Con ellos visitamos el Parque Olímpico del Centenario, legado de los juegos olímpicos de 1996, y el surtido de atracciones que tiene en su perímetro: una noria gigante, la sede central del canal CNN, estadios, un descomunal acuario y el contiguo Mundo de Coca-Cola, exhibición permanente sobre esta marca de raíz atlantesa. A unos pasos encontramos el Centro para los Derechos Civiles y Humanos, que mantiene vivo el espíritu de un ciudadano ejemplar, el premio Nobel de la Paz Martin Luther King. Su casa natal y otros lugares ligados a su biografía se reúnen en un parque histórico nacional que recorremos de la mano de Julie Galle. También contamos con las voces de otras residentes: Vanessa Álamo, Swani González y Ana Mari Toro. Descubrimos mercados y restaurantes en Krog Street Market y Ponce City Market; barrios inspiradores como el East Side, Midtown o el lujoso Buckhead; y propuestas culturales de la talla del High Museum of Art. Cerramos ruta en Roswell, encantador suburbio del norte de Atlanta que conserva construcciones anteriores a la guerra civil de Estados Unidos.Escuchar audio

Michael Rooks, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, details "Kim Chong Hak, Painter of Seoraksan," which opens at the High Museum of Art on April 11. Plus, "How Do You Atlanta's" Mike Jordan gets you ready for record store day and we hear about Atlanta's many listening rooms.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Photography by Balarama Heller Aaron Gilbert (b. 1979, Altoona, PA) lives and works between New York and Los Angeles. Gilbert received a BFA in painting from Yale University in 2005 followed by a MFA in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 2008. Gilbert also holds an Associate of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology from Penn State University (2000). Gilbert's work has been exhibited with Sant'Andrea de Scaphis, Rome; PPOW Gallery, New York; Chris Sharp Gallery, Los Angeles; Lyles & King, New York; and Deitch Projects, New York. Gilbert's work is in major public collections including the Whitney Museum of American Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Hammer Museum, Studio Museum in Harlem, Columbus Museum of Art, High Museum, and RISD Museum. Aaron Gilbert has also been the recipient of many awards including the Colene Brown Art Prize in 2022, Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Grant in 2015, and was named the 2010 “Young American Painter of Distinction” by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Gilbert has held residencies at Fountainhead Residency (2013), Yaddo (2012), Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Workspace Residency (2008), and American Academy in Rome Affiliate Fellowship (2008). Aaron Gilbert • g • o • p • u • f • f •, 2025 Oil on linen 66 x 129 inches (167.6 x 327.7 cm) © Aaron Gilbert Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Photography by David Regen Aaron Gilbert The Fourth Way, 2024 Oil on linen 108 x 74 3/8 inches (274.3 x 188.6 cm) © Aaron Gilbert Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Photography by David Regen Aaron Gilbert Judah (Al Green), 2024 Oil on linen 21 3/4 x 28 7/8 inches (55.2 x 73.7 cm) © Aaron Gilbert Courtesy of the artist and Gladstone Photography by David Regen

Curator Michael Rooks details “Thinking Eye, Seeing Mind: The Medford and Loraine Johnston Collection,” which is on view at the High Museum of Art through May 25. Plus, Donnita Hathaway, daughter of legendary soul singer Donny Hathaway and Robert King, Jr., writer and actor in the new musical revue "The Voices of Donny Hathaway," discuss the show, which is on stage at AMC Performance Company through March 2.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Year, New season of Studio Noize! Your boy JBarber went to see Giants at the High Museum of Art and he has some thoughts. The exhibition featured art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beats and Alicia Keys. There are so many conversations to be had coming out of the show. There's wealth and celebrity, there's propaganda, and there's phenomenal, awe inspiring art. We owe it to them and their efforts to give a good honest critique of the whole endeavor. The same way we examine a show like Afro Atlantic Histories we should examine the good and bad about Giants. A great way to blast into the new year! Listen, subscribe, and share!Episode 194 topics include:Giants at the High Museum of Art in Atlantacelebrity and wealth in articonographythe who's who of Black artKehinde Wiley's 30ft paintingBarkley Hendrickpropaganda in exhibitionsAbout Giants:Musicians, songwriters, and producers Swizz Beatz (Kasseem Dean) and Alicia Keys have stood as giants in the global cultural landscape for decades. As collectors, the Deans have lived their ethos of “artists supporting artists,” acquiring a world-class collection of paintings, photographs, and sculptures by diverse, multigenerational artists.The exhibition illuminates the renown and impact of legendary and canon-expanding artists. Preeminent “giants” such as Barkley L. Hendricks, Esther Mahlangu, and Gordon Parks push the boundaries of what can be seen on canvas and in photography while building a foundation for today's Black creatives. Contemporary artists like Hank Willis Thomas and Qualeasha Wood use materials like textiles, steel, and beads to celebrate Blackness and critique society, while mesmerizing compositions from Deana Lawson and Mickalene Thomas challenge and add nuance to perceptions of Blackness. Embodying the exhibition's “giant” ethos, the paintings by Amy Sherald and Titus Kaphar command attention through striking monumentality. Together, these works bring to the fore many facets of the term giants and reflect the spirit of the Deans, whose creative lives infuse the exhibition. See more: Giants exhibition at the High MuseumFollow us:StudioNoizePodcast.comIG: @studionoizepodcastJamaal Barber: @JBarberStudioSupport the podcast www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

Ep.227 Zohra Opoku examines the politics of personal identity formation through historical, cultural, and socio-economic influences, particularly in the context of contemporary Ghana. Opoku's explorations have primarily been expressed through her photography, which she translates into screen printing. This process has led to a collage art practice that combines hand-stitched embroidery on various pre-dyed natural fabrics. She also incorporates references from West African brass-making traditions into her work, which can be experienced as applications on the textile pieces or as sculptures themselves. While her work relays social commentary and broadly relevant themes around the human experience, each of Zohra's explorations is intimately rooted in personal identity politics. She repeatedly integrates family heirlooms and her own self-image into her visual observations of Ghana's cultural memory. In 2023, she is among the artists exhibited in the 15th edition of Sharjah Biennale ‘Thinking Historically in the Present' (United Arab Emirates), as Black Rock Sénégal Alumni at 14th edition of DAK'ART ‘Forger/Out Of Fire' in 2022 and at 7th Athens Biennale ‘Eclipse'(Greece) 2021. She has exhibited internationally such as the Brooklyn Museum (NYC), The Museum for Photography (Chicago), The Cleveland Museum of Art, High Museum of Art (Atlanta), Kunsthaus Hamburg, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Musée de l'Ethnographie (Bordeaux), Guggenheim Museum (Bilbao), Kunsthal Rotterdam, Archaeological Museum of Mykonos, Southbank Centre / Hayward Gallery (London), TATE London, SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin), Palais Populaire (Berlin), National Museum Nairobi, CCA Lagos, Nubuke Foundation (Accra) and RAW Material Company (Dakar). Her work is collected by renowned institutions such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles; CCS Bard College Hessel Museum of Art, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY; The Royal Museum of Ontario Toronto, Ontario; The Faurschou Foundation, Copenhagen, Denmark; TATE Modern, London, United Kingdom; The Onassis Collection, Athens, Greece and The Centre Pompidou, Paris, France. Zohra Opoku is born 1976 in Altdöbern (former GDR/ East Germany), lives and works in Accra/ Ghana and is represented by Mariane Ibrahim Gallery Chicago / Paris / Mexico City. Photo credit Nii Odzenma Artist https://www.zohraopoku.com/ Mariane Ibrahim Gallery https://marianeibrahim.com/artists/33-zohra-opoku/ Berlin Art Institute https://berlinartinstitute.com/visit-to-zohra-opoku-at-suite-berlin-and-mariane-ibrahim/ deCordova Sculpture Park and Museum https://thetrustees.org/exhibit/platform-33-zohra-opoku-self-portraits/ Interior Design https://interiordesign.net/designwire/10-questions-with-textile-artist-zohra-opoku/ Financial Times https://www.ft.com/content/2d916c9b-fafe-457e-8d21-0b6763430668 C& https://contemporaryand.com/magazines/zohra-opoku-empowering-children-of-color-to-love-themselves/ The Art Newspaper https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2024/09/10/four-galleries-and-four-artists-team-up-on-collaborative-project-suite-berlin Aperture https://aperture.org/editorial/zohra-opokus-evocative-reflections-on-mortality-and-resilience/ NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/arts/design/african-royalty-tate-modern.html The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/nov/01/laced-cut-mix-review-new-art-exchange-nottingham Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zohra_Opoku

Episode No. 682 is a holiday clips episode featuring artist Leslie Martinez. Martinez is included within "Shifting Landscapes," which is at the the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York until January 2026. The exhibition considers how evolving political, ecological, and social issues motivate artists as they address the world around them (which is to say US artists are addressing land and landscape as they have since the days of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thomas Cole.) The show was curated by Jennie Goldstein, Marcela Guerrero, and Roxanne Smith, with Angelica Arbelaez. Seven previous MAN Podcast guests are in the exhibition, including Robert Adams (Episode No. 41,  227, 555), Teresita Fernández, LaToya Ruby Frazier, An-My Lê, Patrick Martinez, Amalia Mesa-Bains, and Alison Saar. Martinez was previously featured in solo shows at MoMA PS1 in Queens, and the Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston. Their work is in the collection of museums such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. For images, see Episode No. 635. Instagram: Leslie Martinez, Tyler Green.

Ep.222 José Parlá (b.1973) creates paintings and multidisciplinary works based on his interest in hybrid forms of abstraction. He draws inspiration from various mediums including music, calligraphy, dance, and the decay of urban architecture and advertisements. His works poetically challenge ideas about language, politics, identity, and how we define places and spaces. Parlá's relationship with mark-making is physical and textural, incorporating the body's gestures into a painterly stream of consciousness composed of areas of addition, erasure, and layering that challenge the status quo of visual culture. Parlá was born to Cuban parents in Miami, Florida, and lives and works out of Brooklyn, New York. He studied painting at Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) in Savannah, Georgia; the New World School of the Arts, Miami, Florida; and Miami Dade College, Miami, Florida. Solo exhibitions of Parlá's work have been organized at institutions such as The Bronx Museum, New York (2022); Gana Art Center, Seoul (2022); Istanbul'74, Istanbul (2019); Hong Kong Contemporary Art (HOCA) Foundation, Hong Kong (2019); Neuberger Museum of Art, New York (2018); SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah (2017); Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), New York (2017); Goss-Michael Foundation, Dallas (2016); High Museum of Art, Atlanta (2015); amongst others. Public arts projects include permanent large-scale commissions including Far Rockaway Writer's Library, a collaboration between Snøhetta and Parlá, New York (2023); University of Texas, Austin (2018); ONE World Trade Center, New York (2015); A collaboration with Snøhetta, Hunt Library at North Carolina State University, Raleigh (2013); Barclays Center, New York (2012); Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), New York (2012); Concord City Place, Toronto (2010). Select group exhibitions and biennials include The Culture: Hip Hop & Contemporary Art in the 21st Century, Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore (2023); Brooklyn Abstraction, Four Artists, Four Walls, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2022); Reflections, Gana Art, Seoul (2019); Glasstress, Fondazione Berengo Art Space, Venice (2019); Beyond the Streets, New York (2019); Yasiin bey: Negus, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2019); Victors for Art, University of Michigan Museum of Art, Ann Arbor (2017); Post No Bills: Public Walls as Studio and Source, Neuberger Museum of Art, New York (2016); Seeing, Saying, Images and Words, Van Every/Smith Galleries, Davidson College, North Carolina (2016); Wrinkles of the City: Havana Cuba: JR & José Parlá, the Havana Biennial, Havana (2012); amongst others. Parlá's work is in several public collections including the Brooklyn Museum, New York; The British Museum, London; Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York; El Espacio, Miami; POLA Museum of Art, Japan; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida; The Gordon Parks Foundation, Pleasantville, NY; The Neuberger Museum of Art, New York; and The National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana. Parlá serves on the board of National YoungArts Foundation. Parlá has received numerous awards, including the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, Alumni Achivement Award (2024) Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship (2023), the Hirshhorn Museum Artist x Artist honoree (Hank Willis Thomas x José Parlá) (2023), National Young Arts Foundation Award (2022), Americans for the Arts National Art Award (2022), Americans for the Arts Public Art Network (2019), Miami Dade College Alumni Hall of Fame Award inductee (2016), Brooklyn Arts Council honoree (2014), Institute of Contemporary Arts(ICA) London – Grand Prize (2013), Heartland Film Festival - Best Documentary Short and Best U.S. Premiere for Wrinkles of the City, Havana (2013) Scholastic Art Award. Photographer James Chororos

In this episode, artists Meghann Riepenhoff and Penelope Umbrico chat with MoCP curator, Kristin Taylor. The two artists discuss their backgrounds and shared interests in experimenting and pushing the indexical qualities of photography, as well as the work of Alison Rossiter and Joanne Leonard.Meghann Riepenhoff is most well-known for her largescale cyanotype prints that she creates by collaborating with ocean waves, rain, ice, snow, and coastal shores. She places sheets of light-sensitized paper in these water elements, allowing nature to act as the composer of what we eventually see on the paper. As the wind driven waves crash or the ice melts, dripping across the surface of the coated paper, bits of earth sediment like sand and gravel also become inscribed on the surface. The sun is the final collaborator, with its UV rays developing the prints and reacting with the light sensitizing chemical on the paper to draw out the Prussian blue color. These camera-less works harness the light capturing properties of photographic processes, to translate, in her words, “the landscape, the sublime, time, and impermanence.” Rieppenhoff's work has been featured in exhibitions at the High Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Denver Art Museum, the Portland Museum of Art, Crystal Bridges Museum of Art, among many others. Her work is held in the collections of the High Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Harvard Art Museum, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. She has published two monographs: Littoral Drift + Ecotone and Ice with Radius Books and Yossi Milo Gallery. She was an artist in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the John Michael Kohler Center for the Arts, was an Affiliate at the Headlands Center for the Arts, and was a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow.Penelope Umbrico examines the sheer volume and ubiquity of images in contemporary culture. She uses various forms of found imagery—from online picture sharing websites to photographs in books and mail order catalogs—and appropriates the pictures to construct large-scale installations. She states: "I take the sheer quantity of images online as a collective archive that represents us—a constantly changing auto-portrait." In the MoCP permanent collection is a piece titled 8,146,774 Suns From Flickr (Partial) 9/10/10. It is an assemblage of numerous pictures that she found on the then widely used image-sharing website, Flickr, by searching for one of its most popular search terms: sunset. She then cropped the found files and created her own 4x6 inch prints on a Kodak Easy Share printer. She clusters the prints into an enormous array to underscore the universal human attraction to capture the sun's essence. The title references the number of results she received from the search on the day she made the work: the first version of the piece created in 2007 produced 2,303,057 images while this version from only three years later in 2010 produced 8,146,774 images. Umbrico's work has been featured in exhibitions around the world, including MoMA PS1, NY; Museum of Modern Art, NY; MassMoCA, MA; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA; Milwaukee Art Museum, WI; The Photographers' Gallery, London; Daegu Photography Biennale, Korea; Gallery of Modern Art, Brisbane Australia; among many others, and is represented in museum collections around the world. She has received numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship; Sharpe-Walentas Studio Grant; Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship; New York Foundation of the Arts Fellowship; Anonymous Was a Woman Award. Her monographs have been published by Aperture NYC and RVB Books Paris. She is joining us today from her studio in Brooklyn, NY.

Kevin W. Tucker, the High Museum of Art's Chief Curator, discusses “Georgia O'Keeffe: My New Yorks,” which opens on Friday and runs through February 16. Plus, Katie Coleman of “Run Katie Run” takes the spotlight for our series, “Speaking of Music,” and we premiere “The Beverage Beat with Beth McKibben,” our new series that examines Atlanta's vibrant world of cocktails and zero-proof beverages.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Curator Kimberli Gant discusses the new exhibition at the High Museum of Art, “Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys.” Plus, Dr. Scott Stewart joins us for the latest edition of “Music in Media,” curator Faron Manuel details the downtown Atlanta digital art installation “Local Stories,” and we hear about the new mural “Aging Is Living: Celebrating Legacy and Community.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rachel Parish and Sarah Cameron Sunde explain the story behind their upcoming “Atlanta to the Atlantic” Flux Project installation. Terminus Modern Ballet co-founders Rachel Van Buskirk and Tara Lee discuss changes and a forthcoming farewell performance. Plus, artist Greg Mike details the new ABV gallery space in East Atlanta, and we hear about the High Museum's upcoming “Access for All” day.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode No. 664 features curator Sarah Kelly Oehler and artist Rebecca Manson. With Annelise K. Madsen, Oehler is the co-curator of "Georgia O'Keeffe: “My New Yorks." The exhibition spotlights O'Keeffe's paintings of New York City, surrounding them with pictures she made of Lake George and the Southwest. It's at the Art Institute of Chicago through September 22, when it will travel to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. The exhibition catalogue was published by the AIC. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for $40-46. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth is showing "Rebecca Manson: Barbecue," an immersive installation made from ceramic. Manson's work has been shown in group shows at institutions such as Ballroom Marfa in Texas, and the Center for Craft, Asheville, NC, and at Tribeca Park in New York. "Manson" was curated by Clare Milliken and will be on view through August 25. Instagram: Sarah Kelly Oehler, Rebecca Manson, Tyler Green.

Ep.210 For Gerald Lovell (b. 1992), painting is an act of biography. Combining flat and impressionistic painting with thick daubs of impasto, Lovell's monumental portraits depict loving scenes often lost to the abyss of memory. Lovell's portraits refuse the notion that all Black figures put down on canvas are somehow political. Rather, his work records a deep commitment to fostering alternative community narratives by imbuing his subjects with social agency and self determinative power, while also revealing individualistic details that lay their essential humanity bare. Born in Chicago to Puerto Rican and Black parents, Lovell began painting at the age of 22 after dropping out of the graphic design program at the University of West Georgia. He has exhibited at P·P·O·W, New York; Jeffrey Deitch, Moore Building, Miami, FL; Anthony Gallery, Chicago, IL; Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA; The Harvey B. Gantt Center for African-American Arts + Culture, Charlotte, NC; MINT, Atlanta, GA; and Galerie Peter Kilchmann, Zurich, Switzerland, among others. In 2022, Lovell's work was on view in What is Left Unspoken, Love at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA, and is in the museum's permanent collection. Lovell completed the Fountainhead Artists Residency in October 2023. His second exhibition with P·P·O·W, verde, was held in Spring 2024. Portrait ~ Courtesy of Fountainhead, Miami. Photo, Cornelius Tulloch PPOW Gallery https://www.ppowgallery.com/artists/gerald-lovell#tab:thumbnails https://www.ppowgallery.com/exhibitions/gerald-lovell2#tab:thumbnails;tab-1:slideshow Anthony Gallery https://anthonygallery.com/exhibition/in-the-eye-of-the-beholder/ Juxtapoz https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/painting/gerald-lovell-verde-p-p-o-w-gallery-nyc/ Culture Type https://www.culturetype.com/2024/03/02/new-york-closing-soon-5-gallery-shows-featuring-works-by-nathaniel-oliver-tuli-mekondjo-theaster-gates-richmond-barthe-christopher-udemezue-and-gerald-lovell/ The Atlantic Journal-Constitution https://www.ajc.com/things-to-do/atlanta-painter-gerald-lovell-creates-portraits-of-family-friends-black-life/2PBC7PXW65AGLAGW4EI5U3K5SE/ whitewall https://whitewall.art/art/gerald-lovells-exhibition-at-ppow-captures-all-that-he-has/ Anderson Ranch https://www.andersonranch.org/people/gerald-lovell/ Artrabbit https://www.artrabbit.com/events/gerald-lovell-verde-ppow-390-broadway Black Art and Design https://www.blackartanddesign.com/artists/gerald-lovell-artist-overview/ The Galllery | Wish https://www.wishatlgallery.com/gerald-lovell Office Magazine https://officemagazine.net/gerald-lovell-finds-beauty-mundane Art in NYC https://artinnewyorkcity.com/2021/01/23/all-that-i-have-paintings-by-gerald-lovell-at-p-p-o-w/

More than 50 years after Henry Halem designed a series of cast glass sculptures inspired by the Kent State shootings, he decided to bring the imagery back to life. At a time when the Vietnam War empowered social activism and fueled political debates, the May 4, 1970, Kent State shootings seemed to take center stage, influencing several genres of music and art. Among these works was Halem's glass sculptures. “The imagery was based on the shootings at Kent State and the blindness that the political system had in relationship to what young people were about in protesting the war. They were blind to the generation that was protesting. And, so, I made these blinded images that had their eyes covered,” Halem said. Today, Halem is at it again, creating another series of blinded sculptures, but this time for a different reason. He has created seven blinded sculptures in the series so far, three of which are on view at Habatat Galleries Detroit. “I revived the imagery,” Halem said, “the blind imagery, to reflect the narrative of our blindness to the destruction of the earth, and who we are, what we are.” As a teenager growing up in the Bronx, Halem learned to throw pots at the Greenwich House Pottery in New York's Greenwich Village. Now, at 86 years old, he's still making art. Holding a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA from George Washington University, Halem did post graduate work at the University of Wisconsin as an assistant to Harvey Littleton in 1968. In 1969, Halem founded the glass program at Kent State University (KSU) and taught there for 29 years, subsequently teaching at Pilchuck Glass School and Penland School of Craft. He was one of the founders of the Glass Art Society and served as its first president.  Halem's body of work ranges from his early blown vessels to Vitrolite glass collages, glass castings to enameled and painted glass wall panels. His narrative boxes have been described as “… ordinary glass boxes filled with enigmatic objects and reverse glass drawings and paintings.” He is known for powerful responses to political events – the 1970 Kent State shootings, 9/11, and a memorial for American soldiers who died in Iraq.  Exhibiting extensively throughout the U.S., Europe and Japan, Halem's work is in the permanent collections of The Corning Museum of Glass, Cleveland Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Toledo Museum, Detroit Institute of Art, High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Hokkaido & Niijima Museums in Japan, and the Decorative Arts Museum, Prague. He has been honored by the Glass Art Society and the American Crafts Council; he received the Governor's Award from the State of Ohio as well as the President's Medal for Outstanding Achievement from KSU. He penned Glass Notes: A Reference for the Glass Artist and is still an authority on all things glass. Throughout the years, Halem has amassed a diverse set of techniques that are put into action with a little bit of know-how. No matter what he does regarding art, it gets “distilled” through what he has learned from one of his favorite books, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. “The moral of that book was, in order to fix something, you have to know how it works,” Halem said. “So, my search is into finding out how things work. That, and my belief that the artist's job is to question authority in itself, is what drives me.”  

Monica Obniski, the High Museum's decorative arts and design curator, discusses “Panorama,” their new outdoor piazza installation. Plus, WABE's H Johnson joins us with music from jazz organist Shirley Scott, and we listen back to Atlanta actor and artist Danielle Deadwyler detailing her time filming the HBO series “Station 11.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

John Wieland, president of The JW Collection, joins host Carol Morgan for this week's Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio episode. In this podcast segment, Wieland discusses The Warehouse, his 39,000 square foot private art collection that is now open to the public one day a month for the first time. When Wieland and his wife began collecting art, they started with pieces they admired priced within their budget. As time passed, his role in the real estate industry helped fund his passion for art and allow unique pieces to grace the walls of their home and office. The Great Recession caused a lot of businesses to change locations and adjust, including John Wieland Homes & Neighborhoods. While Wieland needed to downsize his office, he also needed a new place to house his expansive art collection. When a bank-owned property came available on the west side of Atlanta, he jumped on the opportunity and opened the doors of The Warehouse's permanent location in 2010. Today, The Warehouse showcases 400 pieces from 250 national and international artists. Themes include home, house and domesticity from a diverse perspective. “The interesting thing about art collecting is that you start out financing pieces focused on your collecting interests,” Wieland said. “Then after a while, the art seems to find you.” Managing an art exhibition goes beyond the art, it includes a ton of supportive elements. To keep the pieces safe and distinctive, Wieland invested in quality security, climate control, lighting and positioning. Due to the materials used, some art needs more care than others, which is why The Warehouse has targeted air conditioning that keeps the pieces at a controlled temperature. Art is best expressed in collections, so Wieland curates groupings of his art that complement each other, have a regional connection or some other tying factor. Wieland said, “We want the art in any of our gallery spaces to talk to each other.” The Warehouse offers visitors a glimpse of many different art types, including paintings, sculptures, fabric works and more. The exhibition also has pieces from notable individuals such as war veteran, Ferdinand Cooper, Reverand Howard Finster and numerous folk artists. Some pieces like the impressionable sculpture standing 16 feet by 24 feet wide from the 1988 MoMA Show capture the attention of visitors from the start. When Wieland purchased it on a whim, the piece was deconstructed and shipped to Atlanta, then reconstructed and placed outside his Gwinnett office where it was on display for years. Wieland also published his book, Homeward: Selections From The Wieland Collection in 2016, further spreading the reach of his collection. This monograph highlights various pieces that he acquired over the years and is available for purchase at The Warehouse and the High Museum of Art. Looking to plan your visit to The Warehouse? The art exhibition is open the second Saturday of every month. Admission is free but requires an advanced reservation. Prospective visitors can visit the website up to 30 days in advance and secure a time slot for the following month. Open from 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., The Warehouse offers both guided and self-guided tours. Wieland said, “I think everyone has felt like this was a wonderful experience, which is what we are trying to accomplish. We will never be charging for that.” Tune in to the full interview above to learn more about The Warehouse, or visit TheWarehouse.org. A special thank you to Denim Marketing for sponsoring Atlanta Real Estate Forum Radio. Known as a trendsetter, Denim Marketing has been blogging since 2006, podcasting since 2011 and is currently working on strategies for the Google Helpful Content update and ways to incorporate AI into sales and marketing. Contact them when you need quality, original content for social media, public relations, blogging, email marketing and promotions. A comfortable fit for companies of all shapes and sizes,

MDJ Script/ Top Stories for June 11th                   Publish Date:  June 11th    Commercial: From the Ingles Studio, Welcome to the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast.    Today is Tuesday, June 11th and Happy heavenly Birthday to NFL coach Vince Lombardi. ***06.11.24 – BIRTHDAY – VINCE LOMBARDI*** I'm Dan Radcliffe and here are the stories Cobb is talking about, presented by Credit Union of Georgia.  Human Skeletal Remains Found in Kennesaw Marietta Man Drowns in Lake Allatoona After Tubing Incident Rhonda Jacobson Named Cobb Chamber's Woman of Distinction   All of this and more is coming up on the Marietta Daily Journal Podcast, and if you are looking for community news, we encourage you to listen and subscribe!    BREAK: CUofGA STORY 1: Human Skeletal Remains Found in Kennesaw Human skeletal remains were discovered in Kennesaw on Monday by a Cobb Electric Membership Corporation employee near the EMC power station at 4043 George Busbee Parkway. Reported at 12 p.m., the remains were in an advanced state of decomposition. Kennesaw Police, currently lacking details on the victim's gender, age, or cause of death, noted no open cases matching the discovery. The remains were collected by the Cobb Medical Examiner's Office for an autopsy. The location, on the city limits, leaves many possibilities about the origin of the remains, said police spokesman David Buchanan. STORY 2: Marietta Man Drowns in Lake Allatoona After Tubing Incident A Marietta man, Robbie Cornelius, drowned in Lake Allatoona on Sunday after falling off a boat-pulled tube. Responding to a 2:25 p.m. call near Little River Marina, Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR) game wardens, along with Cherokee Fire and EMS and the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office, learned Cornelius wasn't wearing a life jacket and complained of leg pain upon falling. Rescue attempts by others failed as he began pulling them under. Using SONAR, game wardens and firefighters found Cornelius's body around 5 p.m. in 16 feet of water. The Cherokee County coroner now has his body. STORY 3: Rhonda Jacobson Named Cobb Chamber's Woman of Distinction Rhonda Jacobson, co-founder and co-owner of Cumberland Diamond Exchange, was named the Cobb Chamber of Commerce's Cobb Executive Women 2024 Woman of Distinction. Jacobson, also the VP of human resources and a gemologist, has been a key figure at Cumberland Diamond Exchange for over 40 years, driving the company to numerous accolades. The award recognizes exceptional leadership, community involvement, and social responsibility. Jacobson actively supports various causes and organizations, including the Wellstar Foundation and SafePath Children's Advocacy Center. Her mentorship and dedication to her profession and community set a sterling example for women in business.     We have opportunities for sponsors to get great engagement on these shows. Call 770.799.6810 for more info.    We'll be right back.   Break: DRAKE STORY 4: Marietta School Board to Hear Cell Phone Policy Proposal The Marietta Board of Education will review a new cell policy for middle-grade students on Tuesday. Superintendent Grant Rivera proposes locking students' cellphones and smartwatches in pouches throughout the school day, which can only be opened by staff. The policy aims to address mental health concerns and social media usage. The initial purchase of pouches will not exceed $100,000. Exceptions will be made for medical conditions, and families can purchase their own pouches if desired. Stakeholder feedback has been incorporated into the policy. A vote on the purchase will occur on June 18 after further public discussion. STORY 5: GOP congressional candidate walks off debate stage During a debate for Georgia's 2nd Congressional District runoff, Republican candidate Chuck Hand walked off the stage, leaving opponent Wayne Johnson to debate alone. Hand objected to debating someone outside the district, as Johnson lives in Macon. Johnson then highlighted Hand's misdemeanor from the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Johnson addressed illegal immigration, asylum policies, and opposed cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). He also suggested replacing federal student loans with grants and defended in vitro fertilization without federal funding. The district covers Southwest Georgia, from Columbus to the Florida line. We'll be back in a moment.   Break: INGLES 2 STORY 6: Lower Roswell Road Upgrades Back on Cobb Commission Agenda The Cobb Board of Commissioners will consider three items related to the $11.2 million road improvement project on Lower Roswell Road. The project includes resurfacing, adding a raised median and turn lanes, extending sidewalks, and creating a multi-use trail. Aimed at reducing crashes, it has raised concerns among local business owners about potential traffic and economic impacts during the two-year construction period. Commissioner Jerica Richardson delayed the project to address these concerns, developing a fact sheet and appointing a construction ambassador to work with businesses. Key decisions on land acquisition and construction contracts will be discussed at the meeting. STORY 7: 'God's Amen': Marker for Famed Vinings Folk Artist Unveiled The Georgia Historical Society, in partnership with local organizations, has unveiled a historical marker honoring self-taught African-American artist Nellie Mae Rowe. Located at the Hotel Indigo in Vinings, the marker commemorates Rowe's life and her “Playhouse,” where she created art after her husband's death. Rowe's home, known for its vibrant decorations and sculptures, was demolished after her death in 1982. The dedication event, attended by about 100 people, highlighted Rowe's influence on American folk art. Her works are displayed globally, including at the High Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Break: MARIETTA THEATRE HANDS ON HARDBODY   Signoff-   Thanks again for hanging out with us on today's Marietta Daily Journal Podcast. If you enjoy these shows, we encourage you to check out our other offerings, like the Cherokee Tribune Ledger Podcast, the Marietta Daily Journal, or the Community Podcast for Rockdale Newton and Morgan Counties. Read more about all our stories and get other great content at www.mdjonline.com/ Did you know over 50% of Americans listen to podcasts weekly? Giving you important news about our community and telling great stories are what we do. Make sure you join us for our next episode and be sure to share this podcast on social media with your friends and family. Add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing or your Google Home Briefing and be sure to like, follow, and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Produced by the BG Podcast Network   Show Sponsors: ingles-markets.com cuofga.org drakerealty.com mariettatheatre.com   #NewsPodcast #CurrentEvents #TopHeadlines #BreakingNews #PodcastDiscussion #PodcastNews #InDepthAnalysis #NewsAnalysis #PodcastTrending #WorldNews #LocalNews #GlobalNews #PodcastInsights #NewsBrief #PodcastUpdate #NewsRoundup #WeeklyNews #DailyNews #PodcastInterviews #HotTopics #PodcastOpinions #InvestigativeJournalism #BehindTheHeadlines #PodcastMedia #NewsStories #PodcastReports #JournalismMatters #PodcastPerspectives #NewsCommentary #PodcastListeners #NewsPodcastCommunity #NewsSource #PodcastCuration #WorldAffairs #PodcastUpdates #AudioNews #PodcastJournalism #EmergingStories #NewsFlash #PodcastConversationsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the first-ever episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf recorded in front of an audience, Sasha and photographer Rahim Fortune gathered at picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom to discuss his new book, Hardtack, published by Loose Joints. Sasha and Rahim delve into the significance of collaboration, with Rahim emphasizing the various forms of collaboration involved at every stage of the book's creation. This includes the individuals Rahim photographed, the production team at picturehouse, and the editing process with Sarah Chaplin Espenon at Loose Joints. https://www.rahimfortune.com | https://loosejoints.biz/collections/current-titles/products/hardtack Rahim Fortune is a visual artist and educator from the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. He uses photography to ask fundamental questions about American identity. Focusing on the narratives of individual families and communities, he explores shifting geographies of migration and resettlement and the way that these histories are written on the landscapes of Texas and the American South. Fortune's previous book, I Can't Stand to See You Cry, was published by Loose Joints in 2021 and was the winner of the Rencontres d'Arles Louis Roederer Discovery Award 2022. His work has been featured in exhibitions worldwide and many permanent collections, including the High Museum in Atlanta, GA, LUMA Arles, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and The Boston Museum of Fine Art. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

This week: we explore the Art Institute of Chicago's exhibition dedicated to what Georgia O'Keeffe called her New Yorks—paintings of skyscrapers and views from one of them across the East River, which marked a turning point in her career. Sarah Kelly Oehler, one of the curators of the show, tells us more. One of the most distinctive of all London's contemporary art spaces, Studio Voltaire, is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, and has begun a fundraising drive to consolidate its future, with a gala dinner this week and a Christie's auction later this month. We talk to the chair of Studio Voltaire's trustees and a non-executive director of Frieze, Victoria Siddall, about the anniversary and the precarious funding landscape, even for the UK's most dynamic non-profits. And this episode's Work of the Week is an untitled painting from the Austrian painter Martha Jungwirth's 2022 series Francisco de Goya, Still Life with Ribs and Lamb's Head. Based on a work by the Spanish master in the Louvre in Paris, Jungwirth's painting features in a new survey of her work that has just opened at the Guggenheim Bilbao in Spain. We speak to its curator, Lekha Hileman Waitoller.Georgia O'Keeffe: My New Yorks, Art Institute of Chicago, until 22 September; High Museum of Art, Atlanta, from 25 October-16 February 2025.The date of XXX, as the sale of works to benefit Studio Voltaire at Christie's is called, is yet to be confirmed. Check the organisations' websites for updates; Beryl Cook/Tom of Finland, Studio Voltaire, London, until 25 August.Martha Jungwirth, Guggenheim Bilbao, until 22 September. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ep.202 Adebunmi Gbadebo (b. 1992 in Livingston, NJ) is a multidisciplinary artist working with paper, ceramics, sound, and film, exploring Gbadebo explores the archival record of her family's ancestry. Through her research, material selection, and technical process, the artist emphasizes the prejudice of the historical record, activating her practice to restore Black subjectivity. She received a BFA from the School of Visual Art, New York. In 2023, she was the recipient of the Maxwell and Hanrahan Craft Fellowship and the Keynote speaker for the American Ceramic Circle annual conference. In 2022, she was a Pew Fellow at the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. Gbadebo is currently an Artist in Residence at The Clay Studio and has exhibited across the US and internationally in Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia. Her work is now on view in major exhibitions such as the 24th Sydney Biennale: Ten Thousand Suns; Minneapolis Museum of Art: Collage/Assemblage Part II: 1990-Now; and Hear Me Now: The Black Potters of Old Edgefield, South Carolina, which opened at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2022, and has traveled to the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, University of Michigan Museum of Art, and is now at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta. Gbadebo's work is in the public collections of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art, Washington, D.C.; Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Washington D.C.; Boston Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA; Minnesota Museum of American Art, St. Paul, MN; Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis MN; Weisman Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN; Newark Museum of Art, Newark, NJ; and South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, SC. Her public commissions include an ongoing sculpture project in collaboration with students and faculty from Clemson University, SC, and the Harriet Tubman Monument (2021), Newark, NJ. Photo Credit:Tobias Truvillion Articles ● Past Present Projects Magazine: Past Present No. 4 ● The Pew Center For Arts and Heritage: Fellow to Fellow: Adebunmi Gbadebo and Odili Donald Odita on Meaning in Materiality ● WHYY: Philly artist wins $100K craft prize for her work remembering Black ancestors ● PBS: Treasures of New Jersey ● Penn Today: Ritual and Remembrance ● The Boston Globe At the MFA, enslaved Black potters' work brings lives into the light in ‘Hear Me Now' ● The Post and Courier At the Met, in Harlem and beyond, acclaimed artist honors enslaved SC ancestors ● Forbes, Haunting Generational Trauma In “Remains” By Adebunmi Gbadebo At Claire Oliver Gallery In Harlem ● Brooklyn Rail, Abstraction in the Black Diaspora ● New York Times, Critic's Pick: The Magnificent Poem Jars of David Drake, Center Stage at the Met ● New York Times, New Shows That Widen the Beaten Path

Kerry Lee, co-artistic director of the Atlanta Chinese Dance Company, discusses her contributions to this year's National Council on the Arts. Plus, The High Museum's photography curator, Gregory Harris, details the new exhibition “Truth Told Slant,” which is on view at The High through August 11.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Claudia Einecke, the High Museum's Curator of European Art discusses their new exhibition, “Dutch Art in a Global Age,” which is on view through July 14. Plus, Emma Burke takes the spotlight for our series, “Speaking of Dance,” and we learn how art organizations can apply for the new grants from the Community Foundation of Greater Atlanta.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Lauren Quin draws from a pool of the unformed and the entropic to render shapes caught in a process of emergence or recession. Parts grow out of other parts. And like bacteria, material starts to infect and invade. Her mark-making implies a passage between dimensions that generate sensuality and movement. Quin holds an MFA from the Yale School of Art, and a BFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Her work has been the subject of several solo exhibitions including her first US museum show, My Hellmouth, at the Nerman Museum of Art in 2023. Her work is held in numerous public collections including the Columbus Museum of Art, Dallas Museum of Art, High Museum of Art, ICA Miami, Museum of contemporary art, Los Angeles, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Nerman Museum of Art; Pérez Art Museum, Phoenix Art Museum, Walker Art Center, and the Hirschorn Museum. Lauren opens her first solo show in New York on May 3rd at 125 Newbury.

Lois visits art scholar and curator Naomi Beckwith, the recipient of the High Museum's 2024 David C. Driskell Prize. Plus, we'll hear about Oakland Cemetery's light and art celebration, “Illumine,” and Shannon Mulvaney and Jacob Blaisdell of Decatur's Ella Guru Record Shop discuss Record Store Day and how limited exclusive releases can be problematic.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week we're back and we've just returned from some great trips. Kiki was on a relaxing trip to St. Lucia, where she soaked up the sun, hiked the Pitons (well, partially), and experienced the local culture at the Friday night street party in Gros Islet. It was the perfect getaway to disconnect and enjoy the beauty of the Caribbean.Medinah, on the other hand, had a wild adventure in Brazil. From her hilarious attempt to get a Brazilian wax in Brazil to her eye-opening visit to a favela, she shares the raw and real experiences that made her trip unforgettable. She even got to witness the grandeur of Carnival and learned about the deep African roots in Brazilian culture.We also touch on the importance of group travel and how it can lead to unexpected friendships and personal growth. Plus, we give a shoutout to our Patreon community and encourage you to join us for exclusive content and live chats.Lastly, we share some fun activities to do in Atlanta, like the First Fridays at the High Museum and a DJ mixing class called Scratch Out Loud. And of course, we can't forget to mention our lifesaver, Lume, which kept us fresh throughout our travels and everyday life, and Viia Hemp for keeping us zen.That's all for this episode. Make sure to tune in, join our Patreon, and check out our sponsors. Until next time, keep the discussions dirty and the cocktails strong. Cheers!Thanks to our sponsors!Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @lumedeodorant and get $5 off off your Starter Pack (that's over 40% off) with promo code COCKTALES at LumeDeodorant.com! #lumepodTry VIIA Hemp! https://bit.ly/3J1UitO and use code COCKTALES!Check out some of our other sponsors here:https://www.cocktalespodcast.comFollow Us@cocktalespodcast@kikisaidso@coffeebeandeanWant to sponsor or collaborate with us? contact us at sales@cocktalespod.comInterested in being a guest? Please contact addie@cocktalespod.com and include your information, what makes you an interesting guest, and any relevant links!For all promo codes and links for promotions in the episode, follow this link: https://www.cocktalespodcast.comContact Us!Advice: advice@cocktalespod.comCocktales: cocktales@cocktalespod.comWeird Sex: weirdsex@cocktalespod.comLive Show Sponsorship: sales@cocktalespod.comGuest Request/ General Inquiries info@cocktalespod.comGet your Vesper2https://www.lovecrave.com/products/vesper2/?aop=cocktalesGet Your Merch & Order Your Card Gamehttps://www.imcurioustoknow.comGet Klassy Baste! Learn to Cook with Kiki https://www.klassybaste.comJoin Kiki's Book Club https://www.patreon.com/kikisaidsoTravel With Medinah! https://linktr.ee/MedinahMonroePurchase Medinah's Coffee Mug! www.medinahmonroe.comInterested in sponsoring? Contact sales@cocktalespod.com today! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cocktales-dirty-discussions--2818687/support.

On Sunday, March 10th ATLradicalart held a rally outside the High Museum in Atlanta, GA. Their rally was to say No Artwashing Israeli Apartheid! They ask: "How does Empire use Art against the people and to cover up complicity in genocide?" Listen to the voices from outside on the streets! Songs/Speakers in order: 1) Song and chant - Priscilla Gay Smith 2) Opening with Rozina Shivaz Gilani 3) Umaymah Mohammad 4) Song by Emmanuel Lockett 5) Andrea Ornelas - Gaza Monologue 6) Nushrat Nur 7) Poem by Keara Skates 8) Gaza Monologue 9) Cristy York 10) Libre Sankara - Gaza Monologue 11) Song by Divina Salam

Parul Kapur's novel Inside the Mirror (University of Nebraska Press, 2024) centers on twin sisters growing up in 1950s Bombay, who aspire to become artists. The family is still recovering from the Partition of India in 1947, especially the twins' grandmother, who once fought for justice against the British regime. One sister is supposed to study medicine, but she is a talented painter, and other studies education, but she is highly trained in a classical Hindu dance form called Bharata Natyam. They live in a Bengali community in which parents choose their daughters' husbands and society demands conformity. Jaya's paintings and Kamlesh's dancing could destroy their chances of finding a good husband, ruin their father's career, and affect the family's standing in their community. Jaya moves out of the house, an aberration not only affects her medical schooling, but also disturbs the bond she has with her twin. This is a beautifully written novel about family, art, British colonialism, and coming of age in a time and place in which women could not easily choose their own paths. Parul Kapur was born in Assam, India and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was seven. She received a BA in English Literature from Wesleyan University and an MFA from Columbia University. Returning to India, she worked for a year as a reporter for the city magazine Bombay, covering social issues, and culture and the arts. A journalist, literary critic and fiction writer, Parul was a press officer at the United Nations in New York and a freelance arts writer for The Wall Street Journal Europe, New York Newsday, ARTnews, and Art in America during a decade spent in Germany, France, and England. Her articles and reviews have also appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Esquire, GQ, Slate, Guernica, and Los Angeles Review of Books. Her short stories appear in Ploughshares, Pleiades, Prime Number, Midway Journal, Wascana Review, and the anthology {Ex}tinguished & {Ex}tinct. In 2010, she founded the Books page at ArtsATL, Atlanta's leading online arts review, covering the literary scene for four years. She was also a co-founder of the global voices program, showcasing a diversity of authors, at the Decatur Book Festival, formerly the nation's largest indie book festival. She created programs such as visits to collectors' homes and artist studio visits for members of the High Museum in Atlanta. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Episode No. 643 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features curator and art historian John P. Bowles and artist Stacy Kranitz. Along with Dennis Carr and Jacqueline Francis, Bowles is the co-curator of "Sargent Claude Johnson," a survey of the artist's career at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, Calif. through May 20. The exhibition features over 40 works Johnson, a major Harlem Renaissance-era sculptor who lived in Oakland, Calif., made between the Great Depression and the civil rights era. It is the first Johnson exhibition in over 25 years. The excellent exhibition catalogue was published by the Huntington. Amazon and Bookshop offer it for about $40. The second segment features photographer Stacy Kranitz. Earlier this month Pro Publica published "The year after a denied abortion," an extraordinary story and photo essay by Kranitz and Kavitha Surama. The piece follows Mayron Michelle Hollis as the state of Tennessee simultaneously questioned Hollis' fitness to care for her four children and forced her to continue a life-threatening pregnancy. Kranitz was featured on the program in September 2023 when “A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845” debuted at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. The exhibition opens at the Addison Gallery of American Art in Andover, Mass., this weekend. It will remain on view through July 31. The exhibition considers the South as a forger of American identity and examines how Southern photographers have contributed to both the advance of their medium, and the US project. “A Long Arc” was curated by Gregory J. Harris and Sarah Kennel. The catalogue was published by Aperture. Bookshop and Amazon offer it for about $70. Kranitz's work, primarily made in the southern Appalachian Mountains, presents the complexity and instability of a rugged region on which industry has preyed. Her work is in the collection of museums such as the Harvard Art Museums and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Her 2022 book As it Was Give(n) to Me was published by Twin Palms and was shortlisted for a Paris Photo-Aperture First Photobook Award. Bookshop and Amazon offer it for about $75-80. For images of Kranitz's work discussed on the program presented by series or project, please see Episode No. 620 and: As it Was Give(n) to Me; From the Study on Post Pubescent Manhood; Fulcrum of Malice; and Target Unknown.

In this episode, we're talking about women, but not just any women. Women of the Civil Right Movement, we are kicking off Black History month. We discuss the history of the Civil Rights Movement including some of the well-known events and then talk about how women were not only involved in these events but also often held leadership roles. Then we consider how the media of the time viewed their fight, and how history upholds or diminishes their effort. This is followed up with further details on how women truly were the backbone of the Civil Rights Movement. Finally we discuss what how their struggles impacted women of the time and today. Trigger warnings: Racism, sexual harassment     Follow the podcast: BlueSky and Twitter: @BigRepPod Instagram and TikTok: @BigReputationsPod   Become a Patreon supporter: patreon.com/bigreputationspod   Merch: https://www.redbubble.com/shop/ap/86669619 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hosts: Kimberly Kunkle and Rebecca L. Salois Logo Design: Samantha Marmolejo Music: Shawn P. Russell Sound Consultant and Mixing: Shawn P. Russell Recording and Editing: Rebecca L. Salois ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sources: Belles of Liberty: Gender, Bennett College and the Civil Rights Movement in Greensboro, North Carolina, by Linda Beatrice Brown “The Women of Selma: The Backbone of a Movement,” by Keecee DeVenny “Six of the Women Behind Brown v. Board of Education,” by the Legal Defense Fund “Women in the Modern Civil Rights Movement,” by the National Museum of African American History and Culture “The Invisible Women of the Civil Rights Movement,” by Beth Olanoff “The Sit-In Movement,” National Women's History Museum A Woman Purposed To Be A King, by Bernice A. King Photos From the Civil Rights Movement by the High Museum of Art Atlanta  

Episode No. 635 of The Modern Art Notes Podcast features artist Leslie Martinez and curator Anthony Graham. MoMA PS1 in Queens is presenting "Leslie Martinez: The Fault of Formation," through April 8. The exhibition features paintings built with paint, folds, pools, and collaged materials such as rags and dried acrylics. Martinez's way of making paintings both mines the history of abstraction, but also a no-waste approach informed by methodologies of rasquachismo, a term coined by scholar Tomás Ybarra-Fausto to describe a Chicano "attitude rooted in resourcefulness yet mindful of stance and style." The show was curated by Elena Ketelsen González. Martinez was previously featured in a solo show at the Blaffer Art Museum, University of Houston. Their work is in the collection of museums such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Pérez Art Museum Miami, and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. The Speed Art Museum in Louisville is showing Martinez's work in "Current Speed: Angel Otero/Leslie Martinez" through March 24. The exhibition features works by the two artists that are new to the Speed's collection. The presentation was organized by Tyler Blackwell. On the second segment, a re-presentation of curator Anthony Graham on the Alexis Smith retrospective he organized at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego in 2022. Smith died earlier this week. She was 74. For images, see Episode No. 568.

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and photographer, Jim Goldberg discuss his new book, Coming and Going, published by MACK, which is a very personal story but also a book about storytelling itself. Jim talks about his lifelong interest in social justice and Sasha and Jim connect Jim's work to both Jazz and Punk music. Sasha also announces the first ever participants in the PhotoWork Foundation Fellowship. https://jimgoldberg.com/ https://www.mackbooks.us/collections/frontpage/products/coming-and-going-br-jim-goldberg Jim Goldberg's innovative and multidisciplinary approach to documentary makes him a landmark photographer and social practitioner of our times. His work often examines the lives of neglected, ignored, or otherwise outside-the-mainstream populations through long-term, in depth collaborations which investigate the nature of American myths about class, power, and happiness. A prolific and influential bookmaker, Goldberg's recent books include Ruby Every Fall, Nazraeli Press (2014); The Last Son, Super Labo (2016); Raised By Wolves Bootleg (2016), Candy, Yale University Press (2017), Darrell & Patricia, Pier 24 Photography (2018) and Gene (2018). Goldberg has exhibited widely, including shows at the Museum of Modern Art, New York; SFMOMA; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Corcoran Gallery of Art; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Yale University Art Gallery. His work is also regularly featured in group exhibitions around the world. Public collections including MoMA, SFMOMA, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Getty, the National Gallery, LACMA, MFA Boston, The High Museum, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Library of Congress, MFA Houston, National Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Goldberg has received three National Endowment of the Arts Fellowships in Photography, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Henri Cartier-Bresson Award, and the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize, among many other honors and grants. Goldberg is Professor Emeritus at the California College of the Arts. He is represented by Casemore Kirkeby Gallery in San Francisco. Goldberg joined Magnum Photos in 2002. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and photographer, Irina Rozovsky talk about her gradual realization that photography was going to be her life's work. They discuss how Irina's process has changed since becoming a partner and mother, and relocating to the South. They also discuss The Humid, "An educational space committed to the practice of rigorous and ambitious photography", that Irina started with her husband, Photographer Mark Steinmetz. Irina's work is included in, A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845 at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia where this episode was recorded. https://www.irinar.com https://high.org/exhibition/a-long-arc/ https://www.thehumid.com Irina Rozovsky (b. 1981, Moscow), makes photographs of people and places, transforming external landscapes into interior states. She lives in Athens, Georgia, USA and runs the photography space The Humid with her husband Mark Steinmetz Irina Rozovsky captures her contemplative, cinematic photographs from dramatic vantage points and with a deep sense of empathy. Her work highlights people and the surroundings that influence them, ranging from scenes of contemporary Israel to more personal moments with family in her native Russia. In Rozovsky's series One to Nothing, images of Israel are varied and consist of desert landscapes or sparkling views of cityscapes, often with obscured glimpses of community members engaged in daily rituals. As the sense of place figures prominently in her repertoire, for This Russia, Rozovsky took haunting images of life today in the place of her birth, while My Mother and Other Things from the Sky depicts intimate scenes of domesticity within the photographer's own family. Meanwhile, her photographs of Brooklyn, New York for In Plain Air portray a cross-section of life in Prospect Park, near the photographer's current home. Rozovsky's work has been published and exhibited internationally. Solo and group shows include those staged at Smith College in Northampton, the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, the Breda International Photo Festival in the Netherlands, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee, the Chelsea Art Museum in New York, the Southeast Museum of Photography in Daytona Beach, the Noorderlicht Festival in Groningen, the Netherlands and A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845 at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia. Rozovsky participated in Light Work's artist-in-residence program in August 2012. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and Michael travelled to the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, GA to speak with Keough Family Curator of Photography​, Gregory Harris and photographer, Rahim Fortune about the amazing show, A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845, up through January 14, 2024. Greg talks about how he and Sarah Kennel --curator of Photography at Virginia Museum of Art-- collaborated on the curation of the exhibition, some of the history behind the work, and the practical and curatorial decisions needed in order to narrow down the breadth of work made in the south from 1845 to today. Rahim shares his process of writing the afterword to the exhibition catalog, with Dr. Shakira Smith, published by Aperture, and shares his response to the work in the show along with its historical significance to the history of Black photographers in the American South. https://high.org/exhibition/a-long-arc/ https://aperture.org/books/a-long-arc-photography-and-the-american-south/ https://high.org/person/gregory-harris/ https://www.rahimfortune.com Rahim Fortune uses photography to ask fundamental questions about American identity. Focusing on the narratives of individual families and communities, he explores shifting geographies of migration and resettlement, and the way that these histories are written on the landscapes of Texas and the American South. Rahim has published two books of his photographs. His work has been featured in exhibitions worldwide and is included in many permanent collections, including those of the High Museum in Atlanta GA, The LUMA Arles, Nelson Atkins Museum and The Boston Museum of Fine Art. “Fortune's calm and striking photographs provide a compelling glimpse into the daily rhythms of the community, revealing its deep humanity and dignity, at a time when his own personal pain resonated with the experience of the nation. But his images also capture the pain, tensions and relentless everyday reality that have influenced the lives of these people. His portraits are so grippingly engaging because he finds the necessary balance between thoughtful compassion and hard truth.” - Collector Daily Gregory J. Harris is the High Museum of Art's Donald and Marilyn Keough Family Curator of Photography. He is a specialist in contemporary photography with a particular interest in documentary practice. Since joining the Museum in 2016, Harris has curated over a dozen exhibitions including Mark Steinmetz: Terminus (2018), Paul Graham: The Whiteness of the Whale (2017), and Amy Elkins: Black is the Day, Black is the Night (2017). For the Museum's 2018 collection reinstallation, he surveyed a broad sweep of the history of photography through prints from the High's holdings in Look Again: 45 Years of Collecting Photography. His collaborative projects have included Way Out There: The Art of Southern Backroads (2019), a joint exhibition with the High's folk and self-taught art department. Harris was previously the Assistant Curator at the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, where he curated exhibitions including Sonja Thomsen: Glowing Wavelengths in Between (2015), The Sochi Project: An Atlas of War and Tourism in the Caucasus (2014), and Studio Malick: Portraits from Mali (2012). He also organized and authored catalogues for the exhibitions We Shall: Photographs by Paul D'Amato (2013), Matt Siber: Idol Structures (2015), and Liminal Infrastructure (2015). Harris also held curatorial positions at the Art Institute of Chicago, where he organized the exhibitions In the Vernacular (2010) and Of National Interest (2008). His essay “Photographs Still and Unfolding” was published in Telling Tales: Contemporary Narrative Photography (McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, 2016). Harris has contributed essays to monographs by Amy Elkins, Matthew Brandt, Jill Frank, and Mark Steinmetz. He earned a BFA in photography from Columbia College Chicago and an MA in art history from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

Episode No. 620 features artists Stacy Kranitz and Kristine Potter. Kranitz and Potter are included in "A Long Arc: Photography and the American South since 1845" at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. The exhibition considers the South as a forger of American identity and examines how Southern photographers have contributed to both the advance of their medium, and the US project. "A Long Arc" was curated by Gregory J. Harris and Sarah Kennel, and will be on view through January 14, 2024 before traveling to the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, Mass., and to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond. The catalogue was published by Aperture. Bookshop and Amazon offer it for about $70. Kranitz's work, primarily made in the southern Appalachian Mountains, presents the complexity and instability of a rugged region on which industry has preyed. Her work is in the collection of museums such as the Harvard Art Museums and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Her 2022 book As it Was Give(n) to Me was published by Twin Palms and was shortlisted for a Paris Photo-Aperture First Photobook Award. Bookshop and Amazon offer it for about $75-80. Aperture has just published Potter's second monograph, Dark Waters. The book extends Potter's interest in using the US landscape as an ideological site by exploring how nineteenth and twentieth-century 'murder ballads' marry site to misogynistic violence. Bookshop and Amazon offer it for about $43-61. Instagram: Stacy Kranitz, Kristine Potter, Tyler Green.

Hiejin Yoo is a German born, Korean artist currently living and working in Los Angeles Her work has been shown at The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Half Gallery, Frederic Snitzer, Blum & Poe, Almine Rech, Konig Gallery, Loyal Gallery, Stems Gallery, The Pit, Spurs Gallery in Beijing and many others. Her work has been covered in Galerie Magazine, Juxtapoz, Hypebeast, Whitewall, ArtForum, It's Nice That, Elle Indonasia, New American Paintings, the LA Times and many more.