Podcasts about memphis college

Cynthia Nourse Thompson is a Professor and the Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Zuckerman Museum of Art at Kennesaw State University. Prior to this position, for six years she was Associate Professor and Director of the graduate programs in Book Arts & Printmaking and Studio Art at University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. She has also served as Associate Professor and Curator of Exhibitions at University of Arkansas; twelve years as Professor of Book, Print and Paper Arts and Chair of Fine Arts at Memphis College of Art; and additionally worked at Dieu Donné Papermill, Harlan & Weaver Intaglio and Rutgers Center for Innovative Print and Paper now the Brodsky Center at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.

Hour 3--J&J Show Friday 10/4/24--Navy/ UAB and John takes us around CFB / Bets + Gabe Kuhn in-studio discussing Memphis & College Football full 2815 Fri, 04 Oct 2024 22:13:24 +0000 yw2mcNmtSvhcD7UQ4MLklJ361wfWU5Jq sports Jason & John sports Hour 3--J&J Show Friday 10/4/24--Navy/ UAB and John takes us around CFB / Bets + Gabe Kuhn in-studio discussing Memphis & College Football Local columnists and hoops insiders Jason Smith and John Martin appear daily 11am - 2pm on 929FM ESPN/680AM! 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc. Sports False https://player.amperwavepodcasting.com?feed-link=https%3A%2F%2Frss.amperwave.n

RU309: MULTI-DISCIPLINARY ARTIST CHRIS COLLINS ON CREATING WITH CUT-UPS, BRONZE & SO MUCH MORE http://www.renderingunconscious.org/art/ru309-multi-disciplinary-artist-chris-collins-on-creating-with-cut-ups-bronze-so-much-more/ Chris Collins is a multi-disciplinary artist, designer, and educator based in rural Pennsylvania. Raised in Alabama, he earned a BFA in painting from the University of Montevallo and an MFA in sculpture from Memphis College of Art. His artistic journey into metal casting led him to Santa Fe in 2006, where he immersed himself in the art foundry industry for more than a decade. Beyond his roles as an artist and artisan, Collins co-founded an artist-run gallery and served as contributing faculty at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design. In 2017, he moved to Los Angeles, working at Louis Stern Fine Arts and serving on the faculty at Saddleback College in Mission Viejo until 2023. Currently, Collins offers instruction in the lost wax casting process through workshops at Yucca Valley Material Lab. https://chriscollins.com Follow him at Substack https://castintoform.substack.com Instagram https://www.instagram.com/chriscollinssculpture/ With his wife, Jennifer Joseph, he creates bronze design works via Aeris Botanica. https://www.aerisbotanica.com Follow at Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aerisbotanica/ Collins and Joseph are currently fundraising toward the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show in November with HERETIC t-shirts she designed: https://www.jenniferjoseph.com/living-room Watch this conversation at YouTube: Join us for The Magic of Occult Cinema with Carl Abrahamsson, Hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, beginning September 15: https://www.morbidanatomy.org/classes/the-magic-of-occult-cinema-with-carl-abrahamsson-hosted-by-dr-vanessa-sinclair-beginning-september-15 RU received the 2023 Gradiva Award for Digital Media from the National Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. https://naap.org/2023-gradiva-award-winners/ Support RU POD at: Substack: https://vanessa23carl.substack.com Make a Donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate/?business=PV3EVEFT95HGU&no_recurring=0¤cy_code=USD Or by joining Carl & I at Patreon where we post EXCLUSIVE CONTENT weekly https://www.patreon.com/vanessa23carl THANK YOU for your support! Rendering Unconscious Podcast is hosted by Dr. Vanessa Sinclair, a psychoanalyst based in Sweden, who works with people internationally: http://www.drvanessasinclair.net Follow Dr. Vanessa Sinclair on social media: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rawsin_/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@renderingunconscious Visit the main website: http://www.renderingunconscious.org Many thanks to Carl Abrahamsson, who created the intro and outro music for RU POD. https://www.carlabrahamsson.com https://www.bygge.trapart.net https://highbrowlowlife.bandcamp.com Follow him at: Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaAbrahamsson Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carl.abrahamsson/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@carlabrahamsson YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@carlabrahamsson23 Substack: https://thefenriswolf.substack.com/subscribe The song at the end of the episode is “Ready for business” from the album Ready For Business RELEASED TODAY by Vanessa Sinclair and Pete Murphy. Available at Pete Murphy's Bandcamp Page. https://petemurphy.bandcamp.com/ Image: Chris Collins

Hour 2--J&J Show Monday 8/19/24-- "Rundown" - Maui/Memphis draws UCONN, Memphis College Football Playoff full 2767 Mon, 19 Aug 2024 19:47:52 +0000 7wVha5nvGvs6sYpjxXBiKNEDnjHTjEao sports Jason & John sports Hour 2--J&J Show Monday 8/19/24-- "Rundown" - Maui/Memphis draws UCONN, Memphis College Football Playoff Local columnists and hoops insiders Jason Smith and John Martin appear daily 11am - 2pm on 929FM ESPN/680AM! 2024 © 2021 Audacy, Inc.

Hour 3--J&J Show Monday 7/8/24--- J&J discuss Memphis/College Coaches + "Respect Burgers" for Angel Reese + Disrespect Dog for Nathans on Chesnut, Fanatics & Summer Grizz expectations

Join Tamara and David for an interview with Stephen Kasun, who moved to Savannah and began working in the City Market studios back in 2009, and now has two ground-floor studios/gallery spaces. Before that he went to art school at Memphis College of Art, and then University of Cincinnati, and then sold his work in art fairs for years. Lately painting with acrylic paint and a palette knife, Stephen says: "My subject matter can be anything--as long as it's about mood and light. My direct, deliberate approach requires a lot of pre-mixing my colors and doing most of the "thinking" on my mixing plate. Each paint stroke is carefully considered beforehand."  Check out Stephen's work and follow him here:  https://www.kasunstudio.com/ https://www.instagram.com/kasunart/   Topics in their chat include: His switch from oil paint to acrylic 10 years ago and the experimental nature of acrylics; how both pig bladders and earwax (!) have figured into creating paint through the centuries; falling in love with Savannah and City Market back in the 1990s; his recommendation to young artists starting out; the time he lost an entire wall full of paintings into the Savannah River because of a gust of wind during a River Street art fair; how does one pronounce the word "scourge?"; the benefits of selling art through a gallery even though they're taking a commission; is a palette knife the Ferrari of painting materials?; the requirement when you have a ground floor space in City Market to staff/open your studio 7 days a week, but the tradeoff of how high your sales are; the specific qualities of acrylic paint that allow Stephen to be a "mad scientist" and do experiments with air brushing, mediums, etc; Stephen's bespoke palette knives (!); how the Six Pence phone booth is a "gift to artists;" and his upcoming work hopefully to be based on his new drone photography hobby. Tune in and get all the details!

Dr. Ken Lewis, pastor of Briarwood Community Church shares his journey to becoming a pastor and professor. Ken was formerly assistant professor of practical theology, New Testament, and church history at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. In addition to pastoring Briarwood, Ken serves as Dean of Memphis College of Urban and Theological Studies at Union University.

Work from MCA artists will be on display along with a history of the school.

A conversation with Zoe Kahr, the Brooks' executive director, about new exhibits, live music, how her family led her into the world of art museums and a future exhibit on the legacy of the Memphis College of Art.

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha and photographer, Tommy Kha discuss his latest book, Tommy Kha: Half, Full, Quarter published by Aperture. Tommy shares his thoughts about how photography is a language and a way to get to know people. Tommy and Sasha also talk about his life and work in Memphis and the obstacles he had to overcome to figure out his place as an artist there. http://tommykha.com https://aperture.org/prints/reassemblies/ Tommy Kha was born in 1988 in Memphis, Tennessee, and lives and works between Brooklyn, New York and Memphis. The artist received a BFA from the Memphis College of Art in 2011, and an MFA from Yale University in 2013. With a humorous and poignant touch, Kha examines how we construct belonging and otherness through photography, inventing new models for self-portraiture with a critical eye toward the medium's long history of absences and erasure. Growing up as a Chinese-American boy in Memphis, Kha had often been made to feel he was different. Now as an adult the artist locates a place for himself, both within the American South and the tradition of photography. Critical of the ways in which photography has been used to assert truths and historical narratives that exclude or misrepresent, Kha has found a model of picture-making through which he maintains agency as a subject of photography and questions the construction of the “self.” In his ongoing project I'm Only Here to Leave (2015 – Present) the artist creates cardboard cut-outs and prosthetic masks of his own face and photographs them, complicating and fracturing his representation. Kha has also reproduced his image as a puzzle and layered his photographs atop one another in exhibitions, furthering feelings of dislocation evoked by his work. Kha's work often returns to his family's history; Soft Murders (2014 – Present) is a collection of ongoing and related projects partially inspired by his mother's own snapshot photography from a photoalbum she gifted him. Soft Murders maps the connections between the artist's family, their history, and his hometown through staged photographs featuring himself (as well as cardboard cut-outs of himself), his mother, and signifiers of the Mississippi Delta Chinese Community. Kha has included his mother's personal photography – self-portraits of a young woman confidently posed, smiling at the camera – within the project. These stand in contrast to Kha's intentionally theatrical photographs, which balance precariously between comedy and tragedy, being and performing, and the mundane and the absurd. Representing experiences of Asian Diaspora and images of iconic Americana, the artist asks how photography, a tool which has been used to other people who look like him, might become a means by which he can be truly seen. This podcast is sponsored by picturehouse + thesmalldarkroom. https://phtsdr.com

Show Notes: Katie Jones was born in Memphis, TN and studied at the Memphis College of Art for her BFA in Painting and a Masters of Art in Teaching in Art Education. A majority of her time is spent making classroom examples or lesson plans but at the request of her therapist she is allowing herself to be "Katie the Artist" again in her life. Her childhood was spent growing up between Frayser and Raleigh in North Memphis and would often draw to escape the harsh reality of growing up without a father in her life. After promising her grandmother in 4th grade she would go to the Memphis College of Art she did just that and went on to get a BFA in painting and later on a Masters of Art in Teaching in Art Education to spread the joy and chaos of art to kids in Kindergarten to 12th grade which she has done fully licensed since 2010. Katie was also greatly influenced by the southerwestern artist Ted DeGrazia and Keith Haring. She would often focus on the way people sat or moved with each other than what they were wearing or their faces, and developed her own style of often faceless figures. She is a member of the Mid-South Cartoonists Association, Artists' Link, and is the new social media director for MidSouthCon. She has had her art in art shows around the mid-south including recently had her art featured in the MSCA's "SPAMalittle: Knights Of The Drawing Table" art show at Germantown Community Theatre, and will be part of Playhouse On The Square's 45th Annual Original Art Auction on April 22nd, and the upcoming Memphis Libraries' Comic Con on Free Comic Book Day- Saturday, May 6th. There's also some MSCA news included such as our next dinner meeting on Tuesday, April 4th at Garibaldi's Pizza from 6-8pm, and Lou Ferrigno's appearance at 901 Comics East on April 4th starting at 4:30pm. Give a listen for more details. Links: Mid-South Cartoonists Association/MSCA (Memphis, TN) – www.midsouthcartoonists.org Artists' Link – www.artistslinkmemphis.org/katie-jones Facebook – www.facebook.com/thatkatiejonesartstudio Instagram – www.instagram.com/thatkatiejones Diviant Art – www.deviantart.com/happysak TikTok – TheOtakuTeacher MidSouthCon – www.midsouthcon.org Garibaldi's Pizza – www.garibaldispizza.com 901 Comics – www.901-comics.business.site Germantown Community Theatre – www.gctcomeplay.org #midsouthcartoonistsassociation #cartooning #msca #thatkatiejones #cartoonist #drawingfunny #drawingfunnypodcast Music by Steve Oxen and David Fesliyan: ©2020 Fesliyan Studios Inc. – music and sound effects used by permission. Movie quotes and additional sounds from 101soundboards.com.  Run time: 42min 36sec

I had the best time chopping it up with Illustrator/Designer Mia Saine. This Arlington, TN native's family purchased land and bartered with one another in the 90's. Mia actually grew up in the midst of development in Arlington which welcomed new classes of people and many adjustments. She is the youngest of three siblings and was greatly influenced by her grandmother as a child that fostered her creativity. As a high school student, Mia was introduced to Graphic Media, Design and Screen Printing. She received a scholarship to attend Memphis College of Art where she excelled and began freelance work. In those early days Mia began working with clients such as New York Times, MLK50 and the singer Kirby working on branding. As she gained more clients, Mia's knowledge of negotiating and understanding contracts developed. She was able to help others in the art community in those areas during this Black Renaissance. Mia describes the Memphis art community as young, animated, innovative and energetic. As of today, Mia has signed with the Anna Goodson Agency from Quebec, Canada. This partnership is complimentary in the aspect of legal needs, advocacy and collaborations. Mia is adamant about keeping social issues at the forefront of her work using her art as a learning opportunity. Mia shares that during her Skittles collab she actually came out as a non-binary, black queer artist. She wants others to know that overcoming self-doubt is a game changer in any industry. Utilizing the power of social media as a canvas for your talent is extremely important. You can find Mia's Target Holiday Collection in stores right now. This project was special to Mia as she was able to showcase gratitude by highlighting black families and some of her favorite memories.

I had the best time chopping it up with Illustrator/Designer Mia Saine. This Arlington, TN native's family purchased land and bartered with one another in the 90's. Mia actually grew up in the midst of development in Arlington which welcomed new classes of people and many adjustments. She is the youngest of three siblings and was greatly influenced by her grandmother as a child that fostered her creativity. As a high school student, Mia was introduced to Graphic Media, Design and Screen Printing. She received a scholarship to attend Memphis College of Art where she excelled and began freelance work. In those early days Mia began working with clients such as New York Times, MLK50 and the singer Kirby working on branding. As she gained more clients, Mia's knowledge of negotiating and understanding contracts developed. She was able to help others in the art community in those areas during this Black Renaissance. Mia describes the Memphis art community as young, animated, innovative and energetic. As of today, Mia has signed with the Anna Goodson Agency from Quebec, Canada. This partnership is complimentary in the aspect of legal needs, advocacy and collaborations. Mia is adamant about keeping social issues at the forefront of her work using her art as a learning opportunity. Mia shares that during her Skittles collab she actually came out as a non-binary, black queer artist. She wants others to know that overcoming self-doubt is a game changer in any industry. Utilizing the power of social media as a canvas for your talent is extremely important. You can find Mia's Target Holiday Collection in stores right now. This project was special to Mia as she was able to showcase gratitude by highlighting black families and some of her favorite memories.

Southside Chicago native Ben Colar moved to the Bluff City in 2002 after to study graphic design at Memphis College of Art. He had only heard about the Convocation and Three 6 Mafia prior to moving to Memphis. Ben excelled during his time at MCA and was immediately baptized by the fire working at an ad agency the summer before graduation. After commencement, he moved to Philly and became engulfed with freelance work. Ben made his way back to Memphis and started his brand design firm Baby Grand in 2018 in addition to a craft cocktail bar Inkwell in 2022. He noticed the craft cocktail space, worth around $86M and expected to hit $1B by 2026, was dominated by white males. After frequenting many cocktails bars in the city, Ben would often receive sub par service. He created the "Inkwell" concept from the idea that you will need to "refill" once the ink runs dry. His space gives you a break from the club scene with very few distractions and plenty of communication. Colar always leads with the mission of fully representing the make-up of Memphis and giving back in various ways. Ben strategically opened in the historic Edge District that currently houses some of your favorite black owned establishments. Check out the website drinkatinkwell.com and try the grilled cheese!

Southside Chicago native Ben Colar moved to the Bluff City in 2002 after to study graphic design at Memphis College of Art. He had only heard about the Convocation and Three 6 Mafia prior to moving to Memphis. Ben excelled during his time at MCA and was immediately baptized by the fire working at an ad agency the summer before graduation. After commencement, he moved to Philly and became engulfed with freelance work. Ben made his way back to Memphis and started his brand design firm Baby Grand in 2018 in addition to a craft cocktail bar Inkwell in 2022. He noticed the craft cocktail space, worth around $86M and expected to hit $1B by 2026, was dominated by white males. After frequenting many cocktails bars in the city, Ben would often receive sub par service. He created the "Inkwell" concept from the idea that you will need to "refill" once the ink runs dry. His space gives you a break from the club scene with very few distractions and plenty of communication. Colar always leads with the mission of fully representing the make-up of Memphis and giving back in various ways. Ben strategically opened in the historic Edge District that currently houses some of your favorite black owned establishments. Check out the website drinkatinkwell.com and try the grilled cheese!

"When you start really thinking about what (Rust Hall) can be... when I look at what our current exhibitions could look like here, having the space where you could actually walk around each of the objects instead of having things against the wall where you can't fully appreciate the work... that's a moment that's exciting to me. It's also our educational programming. I get so excited thinking about what we could do here. If we can do (all that we do now) ... imagine all that in this space. The classes we could teach, the people we could engage, the lives we could change... it's exciting." That's Carissa Hussong, Executive Director of the Metal Museum, talking about the future of the Metal Museum's exhibits, projects and programs, and how they will have the chances for greater impacts and engagements in a restored and reimagined Rust Hall, overlooking Overton Park. Recorded in Rust Hall, the circa 1959 former home of the Memphis College of Art, in July of 2022, after the City of Memphis finalized a 100-year lease of the building to the Metal Museum. Join host Mark Fleischer as he talks with Carissa about the legacy and magic that is the Metal Museum, the restorations and renovations going into historic Rust Hall, and the efforts to expand the museum's works and programs into the iconic spot in the middle of Overton Park.

Rodan, also known as Daniel Ross, is a Memphis-based artist that focuses on telling the story of the Black American journey through art. He was educated at Tennessee State University and Memphis College of Art. Over the years he has perfected the use of hard to soft graphite and clay on cold press board, striving to make his work appear photo realistic. Through a technique he calls “loose realism”, Rodan exhibits control but not controlled paintings that will never let us forget the contributions of those who have paved the way for us in civil rights, music, literature and culture. Listen to how hip hop totally transformed Rodan's technique and purpose.

Rodan, also known as Daniel Ross, is a Memphis-based artist that focuses on telling the story of the Black American journey through art. He was educated at Tennessee State University and Memphis College of Art. Over the years he has perfected the use of hard to soft graphite and clay on cold press board, striving to make his work appear photo realistic. Through a technique he calls “loose realism”, Rodan exhibits control but not controlled paintings that will never let us forget the contributions of those who have paved the way for us in civil rights, music, literature and culture. Listen to how hip hop totally transformed Rodan's technique and purpose.

 Ep 51 The conversation on the pelvic floor continues with Magyn Darmstaedter, a licensed Physical Therapist Assistant specializing in pelvic floor therapy with an emphasis in pain, trauma, and sexual dysfunction. The various types of trauma include physical from childbirth or an accident, sexual assault or rape, and chronic emotional invalidation. Magyn is also a pregnancy and post-partum corrective exercise specialist, sexual wellness educator, Pilates instructor, and former ballet dancer. She began her professional career in painting and art education after receiving her BFA from the Memphis College of Art before returning to school to study physical therapy. Her paintings have been featured in several print magazines, including Create! Magazine, as well as in galleries across the US. When Magyn is not obsessing about pelvic floor function, she can usually be found hiking, skiing, mountain biking, or dancing. She is always the first out on the dance floor at parties or weddings, no matter how awkward the setting, and is willing to try just about any adventure at least once. Find Magyn at mayvestudio.com

G&J discuss the wild Monday Night Football game and Memphis/College Football - Trey Wingo in Seg 2 on MNF

(( SEC, MEMPHIS, College Football )) College Fight Song Roundup Week 2 from Geoff and Jeffrey

G&J on last night in Memphis, college football & Eric Hasseltine on signature shoes & more

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha talks to photographer, D'Angelo Lovell Williams about the experiences they had at the various art schools they attended as well as their rapid ascent in the art world at large after joining the roster of Higher Pictures Generation gallery. D'Angelo has a new brand new book out with Mack Books, Contact High, and they touch on many of the images in this new monograph. https://www.dangelolovellwilliams.com https://www.mackbooks.us/products/contact-high-br-d-angelo-lovell-williams D'Angelo Lovell Williams (b. 1992, Jackson, Mississippi) is a Black, HIV-positive artist expanding narratives of Black and queer intimacy through photography. They earned their BFA in photography from Memphis College of Art in 2015, an MFA in photography from Syracuse University in 2018, and are a 2018 Skowhegan School of Art alum. They live and work in New York City. D'Angelo Lovell Williams has had four solo exhibitions with Higher Pictures in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020. The 2020 exhibition, Papa Don't Preach, was presented in collaboration with Janice Guy at her gallery in Harlem. Find out more at https://photowork.pinecast.co

Carissa Hussong joins Eric Barnes on The Sidebar to talk about expansion in the former home of the Memphis College of Art and plans for their campus on the bluff.

Laurie Nye is an artist born in Memphis, TN who received her BFA from the Memphis College of Art, and her MFA from the California Institute of the Arts. In December 2021, Laurie's solo exhibition, “It Wasn't A Dream It Was A Flood,” at Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA) was an Artforum Best of Year 2021 feature. Nye's work is currently part of a group exhibition "Here Comes the Suns," at Bark Berlin Gallery (Berlin, Germany). In April 2021, Laurie's artist project, “Chickasaw Moon,” at Odd Ark (Los Angeles, CA) was the subject of an Artforum Critic's Pick. Laurie's work has recently been the subject of solo and group exhibitions at Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA);  Bark Berlin Gallery (Berlin, Germany); The Pit (Glendale, CA), Odd Ark (Los Angeles, CA); Big Pictures LA (Los Angeles) Blake and Vargas, (Berlin, Germany); The Dot Project, (London, UK); Day and Night Gallery (Atlanta, GA); La Loma Projects, (Pasadena, CA); and Unpaved Gallery (Yucca Valley, CA). Her work has been reviewed in such publications as Artillery, Los Angeles Times, Artforum, FAD Magazine and LA Weekly. She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

Learn from the Founder and President of Skepticon Lauren Lane about how this unique conference came to be and how it continues to find success today. Lauren Lane is the Founder and Executive Director of Skepticon, a national conference located annually in St. Louis, MO that promotes skepticism, science education and community building. She earned her BFA in drawing from Missouri State University and her MFA in Interdisciplinary Studio from The Memphis College of Art. She currently makes art, things, and trouble in St. Louis, MO.

(NIL/Memphis/College Sports) David Cobb, CBS Sports/College, on NIL implications/CFB and CBB with Giannotto & Jeffrey

From art student to artist, designer to chef to restaurateur, Karen Blockman Carrier has been creating in different mediums for more than 25 years. Her first love was painting and glasswork and that, in a roundabout way, is where she got her start in the culinary world. Apprenticing and studying under the brilliant artist, Dorothy Sturm, Carrier spent her early years at The Memphis Academy of Art gaining as much knowledge as Ms. Sturm would bestow. After graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Memphis Academy of Art and receiving a scholarship to Hunter College for her MFA in painting, Carrier moved to New York City in 1980. About 10 years later, she found her way back to Memphis and over the years has opened such renowned establishments as Automatic Slim's Tonga Club, Mollie Fontaine Lounge, Bar DKDC and The Beauty Shop. Carrier has also been a personal chef to such Hollywood stars as Tom Cruise, Francis Ford Coppola, Jim Jarmush and Susan Sarandon. Over the last 20 years, St. Jude Children's Hospital, Le Bonheur, March of Dimes, Friends for Life, Hope House, Share Our Strength, Ballet Memphis, Memphis College of Art, Arts Memphis and numerous other non-profit organizations have felt Carrier's generosity. Links to items mentioned in the interview: Another Roadside Attraction Catering Society of Entrepreneurs Profile Beauty Shop Restaurant Bar DKDC Mollie Fontaine Lounge Automatic Slim's The Spirit and Science of Holistic Health

(Memphis/College Hoops) Tony and TJ Madlock heading to Alabama State

Meet Anderson Goin: a contemporary abstract artist from Memphis, TN, and the founder of The Ugly Art Company. Anderson attended Watkins College of Art and Design in Nashville, as well as Memphis College of Art. His work has been shown in local and regional galleries and museums such as The Dixon Art Gallery and Brooks Museum of Art. He has been a part of many group shows, and presented two one-man shows. Anderson will be the first to tell you that much of his work is born from mistakes or the memories of mistakes made in the past. When asked to explain the meaning of his work, he claims that it is not as simple as interpreting brushstrokes on the canvas. For Anderson, it's about the whole process. The act of representing his missteps is as much a part of the work as the finished piece. He primarily works with oil paint on canvas. You can view and purchase his work through his website, www.andersongoin.com or find him on Instagram at @andersongoin The Ugly Art Company is a "Memphis based art company showcasing local artists and doing what they can to spread the love of art." Be sure to follow along on Instagram at @theuglyartco For more information surrounding Anderson's work, reach out to Sales@andersongoin.com Connect With Sarah: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahmalouf__/

In this webinar, we have Dr. Mark Morris, director of urban theological studies at Union University's Memphis College of Urban and Theological Studies. Along with Latif Peyman a pastor to Afghan refugees they will be discussing an in-depth country update on Afghanistan and how we can help.

On this episode of the Artist Collective Radio Show, I sit down with Stuart Sikes, an award-winning record producer, engineer, and mixer, and Diane Sikes, an artist and program director for Austin-based Women & Their Work. In this episode, we talk about their life works, empowering others to shine through art, and the changes they made to make it through the pandemic. More about Stuart:Stuart got his start as an unpaid intern at Easley-McCain Studios in Memphis, Tennessee, before working his way up to studio manager (a paid gig). In 2001, he moved from Memphis to Dallas and soon went on to open his own studio in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas. In 2005, Stuart won a Grammy award for his work engineering Loretta Lynn's album, Van Lear Rose. Stuart has worked with acts like Cat Power, The White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Black Pumas, and The Walkmen, as well as bands like Pleasant Grove (my husband's band), Pedigo's Magic Pilsner, Dove Hunter, and the up-and-coming, Jackson Scribner. In 2012, Stuart relocated from Oak Cliff to Austin, and just last year, he put the finishing touches on an at-home studio he built in a former yoga studio behind his home—a pivot resulting from the great pandemic of 2020.More about Diane:Diane has been in the world of professional artists since she earned her MFA from Memphis College of Art in 2000. Her own work has appeared in shows at 500X Gallery, Dallas; Dallas Contemporary; Art Con; Moody Museum, Ft. Worth; and the University of Art and Design Helsinki, among many others. Since 2017, Diane has been the program director for Austin-based Women & Their Work, where she develops educational programs, exhibitions, and membership and fundraising programs for the organization.Connect with Stuart:Website: http://www.stuart-sikes.com Instagram: @stuartsikesConnect with Diane:Websites: https://www.dianesikes.com https://womenandtheirwork.orgInstagram: @dhsikes; @womenandtheirwork*********************More about Artist Collective Radio Show:I'm Shashana Pearson, a writer, actor, sometimes textile artist, and long-time dreamer. If there's anything I've learned about the creative life, it's that #livinthedream is not always easy, and the road is always better when you're surrounded and encouraged by a community of others on the same journey. I publish interviews of in-depth conversations with artists on YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and Google in an effort to help surround, encourage, and inspire others and to build a sense of community, so we all feel a little less alone on this creative journey.Theme song written and performed by the brilliant @margaretchavezmusicConnect with me:Websites: https://shashanapearson.com http://artistcollectiveradioshow.comInstagram: @shashanapearson; @artistcollectiveradioshowSupport the show: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/acrstvFor on-camera bookings, please call my agent Gillian at The Horne Agency (214) 350-9220. #artistcollectiveradioshow #acrstv #shashanapearsonSupport the show (https://www.buymeacoffee.com/acrstv)

Artist and educator, Melanie Trout Anderson joins to show to talk about teaching during the pandemic, what inspires her, how she got her start, her ADORABLE dog art, and more.Anderson earned her BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Memphis and her Masters of Art Education from Memphis College of Art.  She began her career as a graphic designer and served as the Director of Advertising for Catherine's Stores Corporation for fifteen years before becoming an art educator.  She is a working artist, high school art teacher, and dog advocate living in Arlington, TN, a suburb of Memphis. She was recently named the West TN Art Educator of the Year.  She serves on the board of the TN Art Education Association, and is Youth Art Month Chairman for the state of TennesseeAnderson is most recognized for her large scale paintings of colorful, happy dogs. Her personal artwork was published in 2014 and 2016 by North Light Books Incite: Mixed Media Series, and was featured in August 2020 in the a special edition Acrylic Works compilation from Artists Magazine.  Her work and teaching practices were featured in the 2019 college textbook release Teaching and Learning in Art Education by Deborah Sickler-Voigt.  Anderson is in the process of writing a book entitled You Can Be A Maker: How to Find the Time and Space to Create due for release in 2021. Her work can be found in personal art collections around the country. To view or commission her work visit www.melanieanderson.net  Artist Statement: Why I paint dogs..."Dogs are gifts wrapped in spontaneity and freshness.  A dog's experience is always new, even when catching the Frisbee for the fifty-seventh time.  With open hearts and soaring spirits, they brightly color our world.  My paintings represent the pure nature of liberation that dogs embody.  They remind me to be fully present and free.  I am lucky enough to have two willing subjects of my own to inspire me daily.  Their antics provide me with an endless amount of subject matter." Melanie AndersonTo learn more about Melanie, or to follow her social media, check out the links below.Website:  melanieanderson.netInstagram: @melanietanderson @girlsnightartFB: Melanie Trout AndersonTo learn more about host, Tammy Takaishi, or to follow the podcast social media, check out the links below.Website https://tstakaishi.wixsite.com/musicInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creative_peacemeal_podcast/FB: https://www.facebook.com/creativepeacemealpod/

Meredith Olinger is an artist living and working in Chattaooga, TN. Olinger works primarily with wallpaper of her own design. Her work deals with the dependence of art and design on each other, handmade versus digital production, and blurs the line between painting and installation. Olinger has been included in many group shows, most recently the Color of the Year Exhibition sponsored by Pantone at the Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts and Studio Exchange: Memphis at Zeitgeist Gallery. Olinger holds a Masters of Fine Arts from the Memphis College of Art. https://www.instagram.com/mereditholinger/

Michael Coppage has lived and worked in Cincinnati since 2007. Coppage earned a B.F.A in Sculpture from Memphis College of Art and an M.F.A in Studio Art from The Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. Primarily a conceptual artist, Coppage has uses a plethora of artistic media including photography, video and sculpture to address issues around subconscious bias and racial disparities. He has traveled around the world extensively and has work in a number of private collections. Coppage has recently been featured in print an online for a controversial and provocative series entitled "American +" where he addresses the appropriation of African-American culture and the simultaneous demonization of black men as well as depicts white Americans as monkeys. Coppage is the winner of the Ohio Psychiatric Physicians Foundation Enlightenment Award for his work in providing education and reducing stigma in the community. He also received a Truth and Reconciliation Grant to expand his Black Box community engagement series which addresses the stigma associated with the color black. His TEDx Talk “Everybody's Racist” premiered on 2/27/21. Social Media https://www.instagram.com/prosper_jones_ --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

In this episode, Meah Austin '22 interviews Danita Beck-Wickwire '94 about her time on campus and her journey after Holy Cross.  Their conversation highlights the many ways that you can engage your passions throughout your life, be it through service, hobbies or professional work. Interview originally recorded on September 4, 2020.  Due to the ongoing effects of the pandemic, all interviews in season 2 are recorded remotely. --- Danita: It's always nice to know that what you are doing will change someone's life for the better, that you will affect change in individuals and communities and make this world a better place. Maura: Welcome to Mission Driven, where we speak with alumni who are leveraging their Holy Cross education to make a meaningful difference in the world around them. I'm your host, Maura Sweeney from the class of 2007, director of alumni career development at Holy Cross. I'm delighted to welcome you to today's show. In this episode, we hear from Danita Beck-Wickwire from the class of 1994. A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Danita currently makes Baltimore her home, having also spent time in Worcester, Chicago, Mississippi, Europe and Boston. Her professional journey reflects who she is. An artist, philanthropist and volunteer at heart, her career path shows what it means to follow your heart and your passions. Maura: Beginning her career as a teacher in the inner city in Chicago, she devoted the rest of her career to supporting education and the arts through fundraising and philanthropy. She is joined by Meah Austin from the class of 2022. They first met in Meah's first semester on campus at the BSU's 50th anniversary celebration in 2018. They have kept in touch over the years and formed a wonderful mentoring relationship. Their conversation showcases the many ways that Holy Cross and its community can remain alive and active throughout your life. Meah: Hello, everyone, my name is Meah Austin, class of 2022 and I am here with The Danita Wickwire, class of '94. Fun fact before we get started, Danita is one of the first alumni I met at Holy Cross and I can tell you all that knowing her these past few years have been phenomenal. She certainly has acted as a mentor to me. Danita would you like to further introduce yourself? Danita: Yes and I'm also going to introduce you as well. Meah, thank you for joining me for this conversation and thank you for following up with me. Meah and I met at the BSU 50th anniversary celebration in November, 2018 and I met a number of students that weekend and saw old classmates and friends and made a lot of new friends. I was really impressed with Meah because she sent me an email within a week of meeting and she always stayed in touch, and I remained in touch with her, and I was delighted to have the opportunity to see a young woman following in my footsteps as a student at Holy Cross. It's not an easy school, it's rigorous, and it strives for excellence. Danita: So I wanted to be there for you and I'm honored to have had the opportunity to have mentored you in the last two years, and to continue to do so, as long as we were together, Meah. So thank you for the introduction and for joining me today. Meah: Thank you. Don't make me tear up. So, to start us off, Danita, how did you end up in Worcester, Massachusetts being that you're from Tennessee? Danita: The journey to Worcester, Massachusetts, it's funny, when I was 10 years old, I decided that I wanted to go to college in Massachusetts. Now, how in the world would a 10-year old in Memphis, Tennessee take Massachusetts? Well, my elementary school was on a college campus at the Memphis State University at the time, campus school. There were faculty families from around the world, around the nation. Everyone was college bound because we were already on a college campus. Just looking at colleges and hearing the stories of some of my classmates and their families, I realized there were many good schools in Massachusetts. Danita: When I was 10, I didn't pick the one but I selected Massachusetts. I remained interested in college, college bound over the next few years from the age of 10 to 18. I did look around the nation. I looked around the world as well but in my junior and senior year, somehow I returned to Massachusetts, when I considered my final college applications. I added the College of the Holy Cross to that combination, because I was interested in the rigor of a Jesuit education and I was really excited by the mission of the College of the Holy Cross, combining service and the rigorous education focusing on excellence, that resonated with me. I really wanted to consider being part of that community. Danita: I enrolled in Holy Cross to get a solid, strong liberal arts education and I left Holy Cross as a woman for others, which is the case with our mission at Holy Cross. We are men and women for others. Meah: That's awesome. I can certainly agree, the Holy Cross education just fosters your values you come in with and just really creates them and promotes them into being formed with others. So that's amazing, now that we understand why you chose Massachusetts, why the small Jesuit Liberal Arts College, why Holy Cross? Danita: Okay, I can break that into parts. First of all small, I was interested in being in a small community where I can be a person, and not just a number, and that rang throughout the entire Holy Cross experience. I will answer your other questions, but I want to tell the story first of how I selected my major. I learned at the end of my sophomore year that there was a difference between deciding your major and declaring your major. When my class Dean, Vicki Swigert called me on a Tuesday morning, and she said, "Danita, you have not declared your major." I said, "Yes, I have. I've declared that it's going to be art." Danita: "It's not going to be history. It's going to be art," because I was interested in a dual major at one time and fascinated between art and history for my first year and a half. She said to me, "No, Danita, you need to declare your major, you need to come down to the registrar's office and fill out the paperwork to declare your major. When you get out of your design class this morning, come downstairs. The paperwork, we'll be waiting for you." I realized, "Okay, I need to declare my major." I also realized that my class dean knew that I had not declared my major. Danita: She knew my phone number, and was willing to make the call and she knew my schedule for the day. She knew that I was heading to design class and that I had nothing on my schedule after design class. I was a person she knew and she was a person I knew and not just the number. That is part of how a small community is really beneficial for many students as they pursue their college coursework. Now, the Jesuit tradition and the liberal arts tradition, as I just stated, I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to study. I was interested in many areas. I've always studied art. I've always enjoyed writing. In high school, I ... I was a triple major actually, now that I think about it. Danita: Yeah, you could do that in high school, but I took math courses all the way through. I was a social studies major. I took art courses. So I had a variety of interests and I knew that studying at a liberal arts college such as Holy Cross, I could pursue many of those interests. I could take the courses in the core curriculum, and with the liberal arts degree, learning how to think, learning how to solve problems, learning how to communicate verbally and in a written form, would position me to go into any career field. I might need additional training, additional coursework but I knew that I could do anything with a liberal arts degree and that I wouldn't be stuck in one track that I selected as an 18 year old without necessarily knowing the world or myself that well. Danita: So liberal arts appealed to me in that way and the Jesuit tradition, being a woman for others, that had already been critical in my life. I spent most of my summers engaged in volunteer work. I was a volunteer at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis for a number of years and through that experience, I became a point of light for those who are familiar with President George H.W. Bush and his inaugural address. He spoke of a thousand points of light and the United States recommitting itself to service in some way, similar to what President Kennedy called for with the creation of the Peace Corps in 1960, 1961, I should say. He spoke of a thousand points of light and it was beautiful to hear him speak of it. Danita: From that language, came up Point of Light Initiative. In our local newspaper, The Memphis Commercial Appeal, picked up on the concept of a thousand points of light and they decided to look for 1000 volunteers in the Memphis community, and in my work at St. Jude, I was nominated to be one of those 1000 points of light, and I was one of Memphis's thousand points of light. I had the opportunity to hear President Bush speak to the other 999 and myself the day before Thanksgiving, my senior year. Our points of light initiative in Memphis was considered one of the 1000 across the nation. Danita: So I am one one thousandth of a point of light and I am honored and compelled to continue to let my light shine, so that it may be a beacon to others, so I can help them to find their way in this world, and that is part of my commitment in connection to the Jesuit mission of the College of the Holy Cross. Meah: That's amazing. I mean, that's so exciting to have that experience and always be able to look back on that experience and realize that that was a pivotal moment that really led to your values and continuing to do the work that you did. So I can truly admire that. Also, touching upon the liberal arts piece, I certainly agree with that. Now, being a current student, I looked through the course catalog every semester, and I'm like, "How do I only take four classes with all these amazing courses that touch upon so many different areas." Meah: So I think that just shows like how Holy Cross is so interdisciplinary and really can make the students, regardless if you're a history, major, art major, psychology major, you're all learning so many different things that are really going to promote your professional life and even what you do in the world in your community. So I truly respect that and I think that's awesome. So now, to just dive a little bit deeper, how was your transition your first year? It must have certainly been something so different being raised in Memphis. You're getting cultural changes and not to mention all the winter snow that you find on the hill. Danita: So the transition was interesting. I had certain expectations of college. My older sister traveled from Memphis to New York to attend New York University three years before I enrolled in college. So I was prepared for certain aspects of college, particularly college in the northeast. I was prepared for the colder climate. I was prepared to start again, so to speak, going to a school where no one from my high school and in that city, no one from ... Excuse me, in that year, no one from Memphis was at Holy Cross. So I was prepared to start over and find my way, all over again, as I had done in other schools. Danita: I was also prepared to meet new people, have new experience and interact with individuals from all over the nation and all over the world. It was exciting. I was thrilled and I was looking forward to making that transition to New England. I must admit, I was very fortunate my freshman year. We did not see a big snowstorm first semester. Meah: That's surprising. Danita: I was done in the next few years, and we saw really big snowstorms but in that first year, when I was making my transition into living in Massachusetts, I didn't have to deal with a blizzard before Christmas, which was wonderful. Not everything was wonderful and perfect in that first semester, I must admit. The transition was ... Despite my expectations, and what I hoped for, the transition was a little more challenging. To be frank, I wanted to transfer. I was looking at other institutions but my parents, especially my father, made me stay at Holy Cross. They did not force me to stay but they let me know that if I left Holy Cross, I would not be able to enroll in a similar institution at home or at another community, I would have to return to Memphis. Danita: Even though I did not have friends from home at Holy Cross, all of my friends who were interested in going away to college had gone away to college. There were so many of us in New England. It was like part of Memphis had been transplanted to New England, to Boston, to Hartford and other communities around that region. I thought about what Holy Cross had to offer and there were some moments, some sparks especially with my wonderful roommate Colleen Keys. I realized it was a caring place, I realized I had not found ... from my place in the circle yet, and I believe in the power of yet, so I did stay. Danita: I gave it a second chance. Over time, I developed connections. I deepened relationships with some of the people I knew and some of those people are my closest friends today. The people I speak to on a regular basis. Angela Preston, Matt Dudley, Maury Bonner, Meghan Cecil, those were the individuals with whom I connected then and if you look at the last 10 texts that I sent out or the last 10 phone calls that I've made, those four people are among that list. Meah: That's amazing. So I can really attest to that, Holy Cross, it's something about the people there, something about the people that are really making a home. So just to dive a little deeper, if that was your transition, it was a little rough, what kind of involvement did you have during your time at Holy Cross that perhaps alleviated the homesickness, the desire to maybe transfer, what really made that difference? Danita: I really immersed myself into my art classes. I took drawing my freshman year. I was very fortunate, I had signed up for an art history course and the course was at 8 AM, 9 AM, some really ugly hour in the morning for me. I realized I wanted to make art and not study art at that point in my life. I met with Susan Schmidt, who had an opening in her Introduction to Design Class. This was in 1990, when you did not have the opportunity of looking on your computer, see an opening in a class and selecting that class and enrolling right away. You needed to ... and I lived in Clark on the fourth floor, at the beginning. Danita: You needed to go all the way down to Fenwick and up to the fourth floor at Fenwick to meet with the professor, to confirm that there was still the opening, that you could get into it and then, go down to the registrar's office to enroll. So I raced to Susan Schmidt's office as soon as I could and I asked her about the opening, and she told me that it had already been filled. She asked me if I had any art experience and if I had a portfolio, which I did. So I needed to race down the stairs, up the hill, up to the fourth floor of Clark. Meah: My goodness. Danita: With the portfolio and race back down to Susan's office, which I did and I was happy to do it. She looked at my work and she told me that I would need to take design later but I could skip Introduction to Design because I had a substantial portfolio that demonstrated my understanding of the basic elements of design in artwork. I enrolled in a drawing course and really enjoyed exploring the creativity and getting to know my fellow students. That was my first true area of engagement and interacting with classmates, friends, new friends on the hall in Clark Three because I moved to Clark Three when I moved out of my triple. Danita: That was really critical in my ... finding my way at Holy Cross because there were some great women on that Hall including my roommate, Colleen Keyes and Rachel Pierre and Gina Wilson, they were both juniors and lived around the hall from us. I still remember that night I came back in January of 1991, I didn't want to be there but as soon as I opened the door on the hallway, Rachel, Gina and Colleen raced down the hall, "She's back. Oh my gosh. She's back. We didn't think she was going to make it." They raced down the hall and grabbed my bags and escorted me back in and that was the first time that I really felt welcomed and missed and appreciated and loved at Holy Cross. Danita: I continue to feel that especially on Clark Three because Rachel Pierre was actually the SAA, the student alcohol advisor, which is one of the reasons why she was a junior living in Clark instead of one of the upper class dorms. She looked out for me, she and Gina looked out for me a lot. Rachel did my hair. Rachel and I took classes together later and she would grab me out of my dorm to make sure I studied and I remember my first history exam, she was not in my history class but one of her closest friends was, she'd walked into my room and she said, "What are you working on babe?" Because she called everyone, babe and I told her ... and she said, "I think Sayeeda is taking that same exam tomorrow, you guys should study together." Danita: She called Sayeda, confirmed that she was taking the exam tomorrow, and sent me down to Sayeeda's room for a study group. Otherwise, I would have been studying alone, I might have fallen asleep but I think I did better on that exam and in that class because of Rachel and Rachel always had cookies, and she fed me. Gina and Rachel both took me wherever they were going, whatever they were doing. Rachel was an RA and I went on trips with her hall to Boston and Gina's capstone project at the end of her senior year, which was my sophomore year was a historical play on the role of black women in the world. Danita: I was in an ensemble piece in the play about African women and I was in a critical role at the end of the performance, I was cast as Oprah Winfrey. Meah: My goodness. Danita: That's a huge role and one of the funny parts is we went through dress rehearsals in a casual manner, to the extent that there were many nights that I rushed from one performance as an African woman, not wearing shoes to the Oprah role. I just put on the clothes. The night of the performance, I walked out on stage with no shoes on, as I had done so many times during rehearsal, and I was about three minutes into the piece before I realized, "Oh my gosh, I'm on stage with no shoes on," but everyone thought it was intentional and part of the performance, so I just carried on from there. That was my first real performance, acting performance ever and that led to other acting performances later in my college life. Danita: So I did find my way, there were a few others who helped too on Clark three. I ran track for a little while and Egetta Schumski lived a couple of doors down as well. She had a roommate, Kristal Rice made sure that I made it to track practice and that I made it from the field house all the way back to Clark because I was pretty tired as a new runner. Egetta taught me how to run. She taught me how to breathe. She taught me what to wear. She really prepared me for a track experience and although I didn't stay with the team, I continued and continued to be a runner to this day. Thanks to the Egetta who is now Wellness Coach Alfonso. Danita: Kristal Rice, I think before I joined the track team, I tried to join the rugby team. Krystal was on the rugby team. She saw that I'd signed up for it. She was happy that I was interested but she pulled me aside and discouraged me from pursuing rugby any further. I thought, "Well, I think I can keep up. I think I can run and take a few hits and maybe catch the ball and possibly kick it. I think I can do this." She said, "No, that's not it. I don't think you can drink enough to join the rugby team." I trusted her good judgment and she probably really saved me from getting injured and becoming ill playing rugby. Danita: So Krystal, if you're out there. Thank you. Thank you very much. Those were simple basic forms of engagement, but in my sophomore year, that was when I truly explored leadership opportunities at the college. I moved to Wheeler and join the Wheeler House Council. I ran for an SGA position. I was the black student representative for SGA. I ... what else did I do that year? As a member of the House Council in Wheeler. There's the basic house council meetings and social events but we had a dynamic head RA, Rick Swanson. He was also committed to the Jesuit ideas and he was a fan of Bobby Kennedy. Danita: He created a thing called the dream of the month so that we would focus on some dreams, some aspect of giving back to the community, and he created and we created with him, an event called The Five Winter. It was a big party with food and music on the Wheeler Beach that raised money for the homeless in Worcester and that tradition continued for a number of years. Those were the types of things and the involvement that we had in Wheeler, which is amazing and phenomenal. Moving on in my next years, I used those two experiences, the SGA experience and being on House Council, as stepping stones. Danita: In my junior year, I became an RA in Wheeler. In my junior year, I was selected for the SGA cabinet. I was a subcommittee co-chair for the Tampa Center Board of Directors, CCBMD. I wrote for the newspaper. I was not a member of the staff, but I submitted regular editorials and what else did I do? I had a work study position in the art gallery. So senior year, I was a head RA in Clark and it was a funny thing about my Holy Cross experience, I only lived in two dorms. I started at Clark. I lived in Wheeler for two years and then, I moved back to Clark Three as the head RA and my head RA room was two doors down from the room I had freshman year. Danita: It's funny I remember my stereo could not pick up the exact same radio stations. Two doors down as I could in my old room. It was the weirdest thing but I found good music anyway. As a head RA in Clark we called the dorm, "the Clark Rock Café, No drugs, No nuclear weapons," and we created T-shirts Elliot Visconsi and I designed the short together. I hand drew the globe in Clark Rock Cafe and he had a computer and designed the rest in a graphic design format. We realized we needed more than T-shirts, so we created an event called the Clark Rock Cafe. It was an opportunity for so many of the campus bands to play on campus, instead of having them playing in the pubs and bars and parties off campus. Danita: I did drink and go off campus but I knew not everyone liked to do that. I didn't like to do that all the time and I really valued this event which was held three times as an opportunity for students to do something fun and interesting with the bands and inside the dorm without having to take the risks of going off campus. We served mocktails. We had the coolest bands on campus. We had Spindrift. We had Barfly. We had ... I should know all of them. We had the Sea Monkeys. We had Foot Bob. We had Prodigal and a number of other bands I might be forgetting and they don't know my address now so they won't come to get me. Danita: We had great bands and great fun. There was actually an alumni band that came back and performed for one of the Clark Rock Cafes. It was a fun experience, in my opinion. We had crowds in the door for ... both for two of them, one didn't do as well but for the first one and the last one, they were very successful and I'm really proud that that was one of my hallmarks on campus as a Head RA. Another area where I felt the dorm could be effective was, in the relationship between faculty and students. Students frequently spent time with faculty in certain areas on campus, in the classroom, in their offices, in formal events. Danita: We rarely had the faculty come to our doors to see where we lived and how we lived. So, we created Clark Tail Parties and invited the faculty to come to the social room where we once again served mocktails and hors d'oeuvres and students had an opportunity to interact with faculty in a casual fashion. I still remember some students asking, "Well, who's going to be there? I'm not doing well in such and such class. Can you make sure so and so come so I can choose with them?" They were great. They were effective. They were fun. The faculty seem to have fun and so did many of the students who were there. Danita: I still remember we made Wassail, Wassail for the Christmas Clark Tail Party and we had the social room and we had the study room and we had something on the pot. Something on the stove, cooking and bubbling and making Wassail for the first time. That was fun, but it worked out. So that was a really important event in Clark and I really love being head RA. Clark was great. I still have dear, dear friends who were part of my Clark RA team and my Clark House Council, I'm thinking of Shane McLaughlin and Killian MacCarthy and Isa Squicciarini and Chael Christopher and Pete Cronin, and a number of others who were part of that Clark experience. Danita: Cary Anderson was the Associate Dean for Student, like assistant dean or associate, one of those but he also lived in Clark, and he was one of my favorite Residence Life staff members and we're still not super close. We don't talk every day, but we're still in close contact. He sent me a few photos a couple of months ago, with pieces of art in his newish place in Philadelphia. So we're connected and it was great to be in the same building with Cary, but he said we were loud. My dorm room was right above his. So sometimes we were loud. Sorry, Cary. So I had a lot of wonderful opportunities to develop additional skills, make friends and prepare for many aspects of a career, whatever that might be. Danita: I learned in my years at Holy Cross that you can select any major at Holy Cross and through your extracurricular activities and through your summer internships, you will be well versed and well prepared to enter into a variety of career fields. You might need additional training, yes, but you will know how to think, how to represent your ideas and how to solve problems. I also learned that and some of those leadership opportunities, you could make many wonderful, phenomenal, lifelong friends and I can't believe I'm forgetting one of my experiences. Also, in my junior year, I was invited to an invitation only production called Crusadist. Danita: Crusadist was a comedy performance show that took a satirical look at life at Holy Cross. I'd read about Crusadist my freshman year and people said, "Don't see the show until you're a junior because you won't understand the jokes. You won't know Holy Cross moment up until your junior year to get the jokes." So I didn't see the show freshman year, sophomore year, but junior year I was selected to be in the show and there are only two juniors in the show. If you're selected as a junior, that means you will be the producer of the show in your senior year. So my senior year, I was the producer of Crusadist and with my co-producer Mark Diaz, selected the cast, with the cast created the scripts. Danita: We were engaged in all forms of production, selecting the venue which was the crossroads pizza seller, creating the schedule for the event publicity creating the video, editing the videos that we use in the show and selecting the nonprofit to which we would donate the proceeds from the show. Crusadist was a big part of my life as the producer and it's really funny to say that people who were part of the show are still my closest friends today. Some of them, I did not know before the show but we were joined at the hip for weeks straight and we never fully disconnected. Meah: That's amazing. So really Holy Cross like, it wasn't just the academics that really formed your experience. It's clear, your story really shows that it was everything from your ... being in Wheeler to being in work study ... working in the art gallery as a work study, all the way to being in a comedy club, kind of thing. So that's really awesome, how so many different things pulled together to form your Holy Cross experience. What did you do after Holy Cross? Danita: After Holy Cross that wonderful head RA I had in Wheeler, Rick Swanson, he was an assistant director, initially a teacher then an assistant director in a program in Chicago called Inner-City Teaching Corps. It was a volunteer ... is, I should say. It's still around. A volunteer teaching program similar to Teach for America but the focus of ICTC, as we still call it, was on parochial schools on the south side and the West Side of Chicago only. It was founded by a Jesuit school graduate, Pat Ryan, who wanted to recruit other young people who were interested in making a difference in communities through teaching. Danita: So he looked to Jesuit schools, he looked at Ivy League schools to create the first corps of Inner-City Teaching Corps. Rick Swanson recruited me for the program. I realized in my life that education had made such a difference for me. I was college bound already. I found my success. I felt that I was destined to do so but I realized that so many others were being left behind. They did not have access to quality education and education is necessary to uplift communities. As a black woman, I realized that it was critical, especially to uplift the black community and that was very important to me. Danita: So I accepted the position in Inner-City Teaching Corps. I moved to Chicago three weeks after graduation. I taught summer school, part time ... yeah, part time summer school, I co-taught with another teacher in a parochial school on the south side of Chicago. At this time, 26 years ago, I was a full time fifth grade teacher at the Academy of St. Benedict, the African Laflin campus on the south side of Chicago. I had 21 boys and 10 girls in my classroom. Meah: So you had to have some patience in your early post grad years. Danita: My gosh, a great deal of patience. I still remember all the kids' names. I still wonder about those kids. I love those kids. They were an active group. They like to talk a lot. That was the most trouble my kids ever got into. They talk a lot but they were wonderful kids, they all have good hearts. I remember, the day I had laryngitis, I didn't realize I had no voice until 10 minutes before the students arrived. So I found things for the students to do that they could do without my talking to them. The day that I had laryngitis, they were so quiet. They whisper because they knew I could not speak to them. That was 26 years ago and I still remember that's what my students did. Meah: That is super thoughtful for fifth graders. So I can see that your heart was really in teaching and I can really admire that about you, especially with them being fifth graders. That's hard in yourself but you really made it work. So why teaching, what made you ... I know you touched upon a little bit with the Holy Cross network connection but what really led you to teaching? Danita: It was that desire to uplift the community, uplift all communities for we all rise together. The rising tide elevates all boats and I realized that there were communities who were being left behind. I had the great fortune of attending some of the best schools in my community from the campus school on a college campus to the number one college prep school in Memphis, White Station High and then going on to Holy Cross but I knew that there were so many others who wanted a better education, who wanted a better life that is made possible through education and other avenues. I wanted to be a part of that solution for them. Danita: I wanted to do something different, which was to go into the inner city where there were so many needs to reach out to those individuals because they had been left behind. They were still being left behind and that's why I wanted to be part of the Inner-City Teaching Corps in particular. It is now called the Accelerate Institute, but that's why I want to be part of ICTC at that time, in my life. Meah: That like touches me. I was going to be a teacher now. Danita: You would be a great teacher. Meah: What did you say? Danita: You would be a great teacher, Meah. Meah: I don't know my nephew would say otherwise. Danita: That's just one kid. That's just one. Meah: So how long were you a teacher for and what was kind of your next stepping stone? Danita: The program was a one or two year program and the organization was still in its developmental stages. I was a member of the third corps group for ICTC, now called the Accelerate Institute and a very large organization, larger, I should say, now, 26 years later. As volunteer corps members, we were encouraged to participate in many aspects of the organization. Some of us were encouraged to participate in recruiting trips. I traveled to New Orleans as part of my experience to introduce the program to Xavier University and Loyola University in New Orleans. We were also encouraged and given opportunities to participate in special events, and fundraising. Danita: I realized that fundraising ... this thing called fundraising or development really appealed to me, the work resonated with me. I have done something similar in public relations as an intern and it all came together and started to make sense. I also realized that as a teacher, I could affect the lives of the 31 or however, many students I had in my classroom. I further accepted the reality that as a philanthropy professional is one who raised the money to support other teachers, I could, in my work, impact the lives of a great deal more students, in a school, in a community, in our society. Danita: That was the first step that started to lead me to a career in this thing called philanthropy, is what I call it development and I didn't even really know the name of it at the time. The first step was in Chicago. I moved back to Memphis after my year of teaching and I began working with a group of artists. We decided to coordinate an exhibition for black history month at the Memphis International Airport because the airport was celebrating the opening of a new wing and a new non-stop flight from Memphis to Amsterdam. It was the perfect time to have an exhibition. I drafted the letters to the airport authority, on behalf of this organization of artist. Danita: I didn't realize it at the time but I was becoming sick with Mononucleosis. I was sick and in bed and out of touch for a number of weeks. At that time, the organization dissolved and there were no longer artists or resources. As I was recovering from mono, I had to curate a show. I had to find artists and I had to secure the resources necessary to produce an art exhibition. I was able to make connections to the corporate community in Memphis and secure corporate sponsorships for this exhibition which I didn't what at the time but I quickly learned that corporate support is a big part of philanthropy and a few months later ... the show was a success, by the way. Danita: A few months later when I saw a job for development at the Memphis College of Art, I applied. They recognized my name from the publicity the show had received. They also recognized my name because several of the artists were either faculty students or alumni of the college. So, I had inadvertently promoted myself as a philanthropy professional as well as promoting myself as an artist in the art exhibition. I accepted the position at the Memphis College of Art in 1996 and that was the beginning of my career in philanthropy and development in nonprofit management. I'm still working on this field today and enjoying it tremendously. It's an important area. It's been life changing for me to be able to work in this field. Meah: That's awesome. So, I really admire ... I know I keep saying admire but it's just like, "Wow, I didn't know about Danita. Yeah, I didn't know that about Danita. Wow, she has so much we got to talk about." I love how you're able to take your major, your passion, what really drives you and connect that with the profession. So, it seems like obviously with you being an art major, that art goes beyond just a common area requirement at Holy Cross and even the major requirements and personally my stick figure drawings. So, what place does art has in your life? Danita: First of all, Meah, we are going to work on those stick figure drawings. Meah: We'll do a Zoom session together, an art Zoom session. Danita: No, we should do that. That would be fun. Second of all, do not embarrassed by stick figure drawings because they are an expression of your creativity and your being and people say stick figures are embarrassing. Some of my drawings are pretty basic so however you express yourself, but yes, art has been an important part of my life. I have a personal goal as an artist, exploring ... building upon Georgia O'Keeffe's thoughts, how important it is to feel space in a beautiful and thoughtful way and to encourage others to do so as a means of self-expression and communication and connection. I started making art when I was in elementary school. At that time, we had art classes twice a week. Danita: I began drawing on my own, on the weekends and my art teacher thought I should take private lessons, which I started to do when I was in fourth grade. I created my first oil painting when I was 10 and I continue to take art courses in school and out of school and to make art on my own for a number of years and I am still making art today. I have masters of fine art from the University of Mississippi, where I work ... did painting and print making and discovered photography and digital video. I also spent two intersessions in Europe during my three years in graduate school. I studied in Sicily, water color in Sicily and I studied water color in London and while I was in London, I took a track to Paris to work in photography for a few days. Danita: Art has always been central to my life for my personal expression and I've also been an art instructor off and on throughout the years. Yes, Meah, I can teach you to appreciate and enhance your stick figures. Meah: Yes. What years were you in graduate school? Danita: 2006 through 2009. Meah: Okay, that's awesome, it also is exciting. Just to loop back around, when did you ... what happened after a month as working in your art center in Memphis, what was your next step? Danita: After a number of years of working in philanthropy at the Memphis College of Art, I returned to Massachusetts, and at the corps, the invitation for me to return to Massachusetts in any way, shape or form, interestingly enough, came from the College of the Holy Cross. In 1997, I was invited to participate in an exhibition called Self Images, 8 to 80 and it featured the self-portraits of women and girls in the Memphis community, the youngest one was five years old, I think and the oldest one was 82. The day that the exhibition opened, Tina Chen, who at that time worked in the office of the Center for Interdisciplinary and Special Studies, contacted me to let me know that one of the paintings she had in her office was going to be moved. Danita: I had left a painting with Tina, when I graduated and I had also sold a painting to the college the day I graduated. So College of the Holy Cross was my first art collector, ever as a professional artist. In that conversation with Tina, I approved the moving of the painting. We spoke and she asked me what I was doing. I told her about the exhibition and she told me the college was preparing for the 25th anniversary of coeducation or women coming to Holy Cross. She wanted to talk to the planning committee about this exhibition and the possibilities of bringing the show to Worcester in the spring. Danita: She contacted me a few weeks later to let me know that the college wanted to bring selections of the exhibition and they wanted me to have my own exhibition with the cantor gallery, in the spring of 1998. So I was back at Holy Cross that spring with so many of my friends and during our time on campus, three of us who were not in Boston, decided to move to Boston and that was my friend Melissa Jean-Charles and my other friend, Ekwi Nwabuzor both from the class of '96. We turned to each other and we, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking it was that type of moment," and we all clicked and decided we wanted to move to Boston. Danita: We did some apartment hunting, and in the end, we moved into a house that had once been the home for the band Naked Thru Utah. They were originally Spindrift on campus, they became Naked Thru Utah. One of the band members was an artist and painted a mural of Utah in the living room, and that remained there while we were there and probably several occupants later because it's pretty cool. When the band disbanded, one of the band members, Shane McLaughlin live there with another friend Chael Christopher, and they let us know that they were ... they and another roommate were moving out of the house. Danita: We just needed rooms for three, so we moved into the house. The move was beautiful. It was just well choreographed, even without being choreographed. I showed up from Memphis with my moving van and my parents. Shane and Chael and Melissa and Ekwi were all there to help unload the van and put everything in the house and then, Shane and Chael put all their stuff in the van with my dad and drove to their new place in Somerville. They hung out with my dad and drink a couple of beers and then, eventually my dad came back to the house that I was moving into where my mom was waiting for him. "Everett, where were you? Oh, I was just hanging out with the guys." Danita: My dad like my Holy Cross friends and they liked my dad, my mom too. So it worked out beautifully and I've another Holy Cross friend who was like a son to my father too, Kona Khasu and Mark LaFlamme. My dad considered them his sons but that's the beauty of those relationships. You develop and that's how I moved back to Boston and it all began with a phone call from Tina Chen. Meah: Wow. So that's a lot. That's like exciting. So you're really given ... Holy Cross never forgets the students and I think that's awesome, because you know what I mean, it could be years after you've already started your early profession, and you get a phone call from someone from Holy Cross and now you're in Boston. I think that's so exciting. So what did you do while you were in Boston? Danita: While in Boston, I work for an organization called the Boston Private Industry Council and it's a nonprofit, nearly 50 years old and it connects individuals in the community to jobs and experiences in the mainstream economy. It is the convener of the public private partnership in the community. It connects the corporate sector, the big corporations in Boston with at least one school in the community. So to some degree, it was a bit of corporate relations once again, for me and a little bit of education. I had the privilege of working at Charlestown High School and working through that partnership, stewarding that relationship with Liberty Mutual, with Bain, with Thomson Financial Services. Danita: Bringing in additional partners to work with the students in the school and otherwise support the school in its various needs, as public schools tend to have. In my work with the Boston Private Industry Council and at Charlestown High, I had the privilege of meeting a young man named Janniver Castro, a bright young man. I encouraged him to consider Holy Cross, which he did. He applied and he was accepted and he graduated in 2004. It was amazing to have the opportunity to send someone to Holy Cross, so soon after I had graduated from Holy Cross and oddly enough, he had the same class dean. He had Dean Swigert as well. Meah: I think it's funny because I'm still at Holy Cross and I'm quick to tell like some of my high school friends and even my younger sister, I'm like, make sure you find Holy Cross. She's literally going into her sophomore year. I'm like, don't forget, because Holy Cross is the place. So what came after your experience in Boston? I feel like we're just walking through all the amazing experiences you had so I must ask. Danita: Sure. Sure. Eventually, I did return to Memphis after a number of years in Boston. I returned to Memphis and around that same time, my father was diagnosed with cancer. So, it was really important for me to be at home, but it also seemed like it was time for me to be at home, like fate had a hand in my returning to Memphis because around the time that I was visiting Memphis, visiting my parents, I discovered an opening at an organization called the Urban Art Commission, also a nonprofit organization and the mission of the Urban Art Commission is the proliferation of public art and design throughout the Memphis and Shelby County community. Danita: There was a need for someone who had an education, background and arts background and a fundraising background to once again, oversee securing grants and support for some of the projects that would be created by the artists in the community. I interviewed for the position. I accepted the position and worked with that organization, supporting artists and as they filled the space in a beautiful way throughout the Memphis community. It was a dynamic and exciting position and I must admit, working with so many artists in their installations and pursuing large pieces of art, I mean, huge pieces. Danita: That inspired me to want to make my own large pieces and installations and that was part of the impetus for me to return to graduate school, at that time in my life, after being out of college for so many years, I realized a tremendous desire to immerse myself in a creative community, creating art and solving problems visually for three years in a row. So that's when I made the leap and did go to graduate school at the University of Mississippi. Meah: That's so exciting. I know I keep asking what's next but I just feel like everything just stems from your like, one, your passion with art, your passion with Holy Cross, your connections with Holy Cross. It's kind of phenomenal when you really think about it and I'm sorry about your father as well, I should mention that. Danita: Thank you. Meah: After your time in Memphis and Mississippi, what came next after that? Danita: Before I get to what came next, I need to take a step back. One of the first large installations that I remember, that was finalized and unveiled during my time with the Urban Art Commission was created by an artist named Vito Acconci. The late Vito Acconci, studied at the College of the Holy Cross in the 60s and I believe he wasn't an art major, because there wasn't an art major at the time but he created his own special studies. So he was technically the first art major at the College of the Holy Cross and I had the opportunity of meeting him in Memphis during my work with the Urban Art Commission. Holy Cross is out wherever you go. Meah: Yeah. Holy Cross is spread over ... all over the world map, it seems like to me and not only the US map but everywhere. Danita: It is true. That is true. To respond to your question, what was next? What was next after graduate school, I knew that I wanted to return to work in nonprofit management and philanthropy. Philanthropy and service were still critical to my life. Interestingly enough, while I was in graduate school, I was approached by the director of the Holy Cross fund at that time, Gary Carskaddan and invited to become my class's co-chair. It was the perfect time to do so because I was in graduate school, I was busy but it was nice to have an opportunity to serve my college in a different way, especially while I was on another campus and feeling connected to the academic experience. Danita: Even though it wasn't a Holy Cross, I was on a college campus and I became my class's co-chair in 2006, with Amanda Robichaud at the time. It helped me to reconsider and hone my skills in philanthropy and consider my next direction for after graduate school. I decided not to become a teacher. The masters of fine art, the MFA is the terminal degree in the art field and with that degree, you could become a college professor. I considered it but again, education is important, realizing that securing the resources for education can really change more lives than being in the classroom. For me, that was powerful and effective. Danita: So I decided to return to work in philanthropy. I considered returning to the Massachusetts area. I thought about Chicago, other cities and I decided to move to Baltimore. Baltimore might seem a little farfetched after my experiences in Memphis, in Massachusetts, in Chicago. How did I select Baltimore? Well, in Memphis, I met a young man and a wonderful young man, I should say, named Emerson Wickwire. He was kind and interesting and a graduate of a Jesuit school, Boston College. He was in a fellowship program at Johns Hopkins University. It was a one year fellowship that turned into a two year fellowship. While he was in his fellowship program, and I was in graduate school, we would travel together. Danita: We would see one another at least once a month, but if one of us had a conference or another event, the other one would go along and we would spend time together traveling in that way. I had traveled to Holy Cross for the class co-chairs and correspondents meeting in November of 2008 and Emerson came with me and on the lawn of the Jesuit residence, overlooking Wheeler, oddly enough, he asked me to marry him. Meah: My god. That's like a movie scene. Danita: It was like a movie scene indeed. It was a complete surprise, poor Emerson had ... he had this ring burning a hole in his pocket and he was nervous and he was anxious. We were on the Holy Cross campus together for the first time and I had so many stories to tell him. I would not stop telling stories long enough for him to pop the question, so to speak. Eventually, I took a breath and he was able to ask me to marry him and I said, yes. We attended the class co-chair's dinner that night and I introduced him to people as my fiance. I still remember Gary Carskaddan was so cute. He said, "Wait a minute. Danita, we spoke this morning, you said your boyfriend was coming with you." Danita: "So what has happened in the last few hours," and shared the ring, told him the story and that was how and when and where our engagement began and our beautiful journey as man and wife, all started at Holy Cross and that is how I decided to move to Baltimore, where I still live. Meah: First of all, that's awesome. I feel like that's like a movie scene, like you guys could be in some like scene or something but that timeframe, obviously, was during the recession. So how did you connect with people, navigate life, build a new community in Baltimore being that it was really ... never been a place you then been at prior to that experience? Danita: That is true, Baltimore was a completely new city, a new environment. Emerson had been here for two years. At that time, he had a cousin who lived here and he made some friends, made some connections at Johns Hopkins but he was largely focused on his academic career. So you will see this, Meah. When you're in graduate school, you will not make as many friends as you do when you're an undergraduate because you're focused so much more on your studies. So that being said, I didn't make as many friends in graduate school. He had a small and growing network as well, but I was able to tap into the Holy Cross network when I moved here. Gary Carskaddan, introduced me to a woman at Loyola University who introduced me to a number of people, who introduced me to others. Danita: Julia Galleazi-Lapan lived here. She worked at Loyola, and later worked at Johns Hopkins. She introduced me to a number of people and Baltimore is a charm city, people are very friendly here. Philanthropy is also known for attracting people who have a sense of kindness and a sense of giving and a desire to help others. So, as I met more and more people who worked in philanthropy, they were willing to introduce me to even more people in philanthropy. I was able to create and build a network quickly based upon a foundation of a Holy Cross Network and a few connections. Danita: My first position was with an organization called CCS Fundraising. Oddly enough, the individual with whom I spoke first was in the CCS office in New York but it was Sean O'Connor, who was a '92 graduate of College of the Holy Cross. That helped to confirm my first position where I worked for five years and I've been with Johns Hopkins University for the last five years. I enjoyed my work in consulting. I enjoyed working to advance a number of different missions, but focusing on one mission was critical to me. That was something that I wanted to do and I knew I wanted to, once again, focus on higher education fundraising, especially for a larger institution. Danita: The mission of Johns Hopkins truly resonated with me, educating others and cultivating lifelong learning, supporting original research and the service aspect, sharing that knowledge with the world. That spoke to me in so many ways and I wanted to be a part of advancing that mission. Meah: That's awesome. So, just a little bit more in speaking about the mission, so how does the Johns Hopkins mission, even in your previous roles, align with your own personal missions and what you see in a profession, what you really ... what motivates you to go to work, what motivates you to really dive deeper and do what you're supposed to for Johns Hopkins and the other organizations you work for in the past? Danita: I've always had the fortune of ... good fortune, I should say, of working for many education organizations and arts organizations. Education is critical to the work of the Jesuits. That's part of the appeal of the Jesuits for me and promoting and advancing education, ensuring that education is accessible to more in the community or a better education is accessible to individuals and groups in the community, that has always been important to me and that's what gets me out of bed in the morning. To be able to support a mission. To be able to do great work, the small work that helps to bring forth the resources necessary, so that others can have access to high quality educational experiences both the traditional classroom learning and the experiential learning. That can help connect what someone's going to do when they finish high school, college, graduate school, to what they are doing in the classroom. Danita: Education has always been key for me and my family, and the Jesuits, and the work that I do, and I think now, specifically in my work at Johns Hopkins of the recent Bloomberg gift, the 1.8 million dollars for undergraduate aid was a phenomenal gift. We don't think about it as just a number. That's part of the beauty of working in philanthropy for an extended period. Danita: You don't think about the money, you think about what the resources can do. How they can affect others. With that gift, Johns Hopkins education is now within reach for so many families who couldn't have thought of sending their children to Johns Hopkins University. They're going to receive a tremendous education and the additional support that they need to stay in school and pursue their dreams as students and after they graduate, and having played a small role in the work to secure that gift is truly meaningful and heartwarming for me. It's always nice to know that what you are doing, will change someone's life for the better, that you will affect change in individuals and communities and make this world a better place. Meah: I love that. I love how you don't look at it as a simple dollar sign but instead what that dollar sign can do for students in Johns Hopkins, pursuing Johns Hopkins and even their life outside of Johns Hopkins, so that's awesome. Everyone listening can assume you've been really in touch with the Holy Cross community during your time at Holy Cross, shortly after your time at Holy Cross and even to the present day, so what do you do with Holy Cross currently? Danita: Well, Meah, I have the wonderful opportunity of now, spending time with students such as you, an informal mentoring and engagement. I'm also a member of the college's board of advisors. I am still my class's fundraising co-chair. I have a new co-chair now. He's been my partner in this work for the last three years, Matt Dudley, who was actually one of the first people I met, freshman year. I'm also a member of the Bishop Healy Committee. Additionally, I find myself working on a few independent grassroots projects and I really appreciate it that the staff at Holy Cross supports and partners with me and some of these efforts. In the spring, when the ALANA, an international student baccalaureate was zoom bombed by a horrible sign of hatred and fear. I was crushed, to know what happened. Danita: To see what happened and I moved quickly to work with other alumni to create messages for those students who had that horrible experience in their penultimate day as Holy Cross students, their last night on campus, that was their experience after being sent home for remote learning due to the pandemic. I knew they needed something, some outreach, some message they could keep with them. So 50 other alumni partnered with me to create brief messages of support, that were curated into one virtual hug, so to speak and sent to all of the 2020 ALANA and international graduates in June. Then, I count my blessings that so many alumni were willing to come forth and partner with me in that project. Danita: I also count my blessings that members of the staff and administration were supportive and allowed me to pursue that project. It was completely a grassroots effort and not from any organized group, just people who care and that's another part of the beauty of the Holy Cross community, people who care. Meah: I agree. Just the little things, the thoughtfulness, recognizing someone ... Yeah, I mean, these times are hard, what can we do as Holy Cross alumni speaking from your perspective, so you know better the situation. So that virtual hug must have been awesome and very touching in a sense. Danita: It was. It was an interesting final production, it was long, it's about 30 minutes long and no one complained that it was too long fortunately. It might have felt long, but in the message that I drafted to be sent to the graduates now, I encouraged them to play part of it, whenever they wanted to hear a few words of encouragement, if ever they felt down or lonely just to play a couple of videos for five minutes or whatever their favorites might be. Meah: Right and I remember when we first met BSU 50 and shortly after, getting into each other's email inboxes, you often had a lot of motivational and small things to send off to like a few people. So I know those little things, put a smile on people's faces and I personally got to experience that from you early on in our mentor-mentee relationship, so I appreciate that. Danita: You're welcome. You're welcome. It's a privilege and an honor to pass it on. When I was a student, there were alumni who came back for us, who spent time with us who spoke to us. I remember an alum, I think her name was Michelle. She came back to my dorm with me to see my artwork and I was so flattered that someone wanted to come to my messy dorm room in Clark to see my artwork. Ted Wells came back and spoke to us our freshman year, and told us of his experience. He encouraged us to give back as a means of staying in touch with the next generation of inspiring and influencing the next generation, and making a real difference at the college. Danita: If there were aspects of the college that we wanted to touch, we would need to be engaged and stay engaged in some way and not just criticize from a distance and hope that someone would hear our thoughts. Meah: Right, right. As our time comes to an end, I think it's really worth noting that through these unprecedented times, the Holy Cross alumni, specifically the Holy Cross BSU alumni have been really supportive of myself and even current students. So, I just want to thank you, Danita and the rest of the alum for really building these connections during these six months and continuing to build these connections as our lives are drastically different. So on behalf of students, again, thank you. I enjoyed a lot of happy hour, being able to laugh and talk with you guys, share our experiences and really get to connect deeper. Meah: I don't know if you want to touch upon that a little bit but I know I'm certainly grateful for those experiences. Danita: Meah, you are certainly welcome, you and the other students. It's really something that has been created for all of us to keep us connected. So thank you for participating and bringing other students to the conversations that we have every other week. This pandemic has been a very difficult time for so many, the social distance as it was called and it was social distance for a while, that we needed to find new ways to connect and interact. Now, that we've done so through Zoom and other means, it's physical distance but we are connected and having those conversations every two weeks were something to look for. A means of connecting and interacting and embracing normal, so to speak. Danita: The normal that we once knew and developing new relationships, because the alums who participate go as far back as the early 70s, up to the class of 2019. So we didn't all know one another before we started having these conversations together every other week and then, the side conversations that come out of that. In particular, having black alumni and students come together in late May and June, when we began to realize the unrest in the communities and the racial reckoning, that is again, at the forefront of so many conversations. It has been critical to have so many generations together to talk about what has happened in the past, what worked in the past. Danita: What patterns they have seen? What patterns we have seen, and how to determine the path forward so that this moment can be a movement, so that our actions will not just be transactional but transformational. That's been a core point of the conversations because it's time for change in our communities. In changing our community, we will change the larger community as a whole. Everyone needs to survive and succeed, for all of us to truly know joy and happiness in our worlds. Meah: I couldn't agree more. So Danita, what exactly is next for you? Danita: Meah, what's next? I'm actually moving in a new direction and my efforts to affect change in individual lives and communities. To be perfectly frank, in October, due to the challenges faced by Johns Hopkins University, the fiscal challenges presented by students not returning this fall, some really difficult cuts were made and my position was one of 114 positions to be eliminated. My last day was in November, which was hard and difficult, but I had already started to think about, to your point, what's next and an area that I had not explored fully but an area of interest for me was the climate and conservation. A couple of years ago, after Hurricane Michael was so devastating in many communities across the south, I was just stunned into a need to do something, to do something more than what I had done. Danita: Recycling wasn't enough. I began observing, and then my family started to observe Meatless Mondays as a way to reduce our carbon footprint by eating less meat on Mondays and at some times in the year, we just go completely plant based on Mondays. Even with that, I realized that my personal efforts were not enough. It's kind of like being a teacher versus raising money for the teachers to do their work to be effective in the classroom. In a similar way, wanting to contribute to the efforts in support of saving our climate and greater conservation. I wanted an opportunity to link my personal concern with the concern and commitment of others, and the actions of a respected and effective organization. Danita: Fortunately for me, I knew someone who was working in such an organization, the National Audubon Society and that was Sean O'Connor, who was the chief development officer as well as a graduate of a class in '92, I mentioned him earlier with CCS. We had started some preliminary casual conversations, even before I had lost ... before my position was eliminated at Johns Hopkins and I looked at Audubon, and the position as a dynamic opportunity to join a well-respected organization with expertise, credibility and a vast network of influencers and activists. Starting in four weeks, I will be the vice president of principal giving for National Audubon Society. Danita: I'm very excited to join the team. I get to work with the leadership and the development team and others in the organization to confirm transformational support that will facilitate increased and sustained change for the climate for conservation, for the birds and their habitats. For those of us who share the greater habitat of the birds, we human beings, Audubon is about the birds but I understand and believe and many o

Episode 9: Creative Cultural Leadership with Sanjit Sethi Sanjit Sethi has been an artist and cultural academic leader for the past twenty years and is currently the President of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. He has also served in leadership roles at the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at George Washington University, Memphis College of Art, the California College of the Arts and the Santa Fe Art Institute – among others. Additionally, he has taught at prestigious art schools such as the Srishti School of Art, Design, and Technology in India, MIT; and the Art Institute of Chicago. As an artist and curator, his work has spanned different media and geographies. Past works include the Kuni Wada Bakery Remembrance; Richmond Voting Stories; and the Gypsy Bridge project. Recent curatorial projects have included Spiked: The Unpublished Political Cartoons of Rob Rogers and 6.13.89 The Cancelling of the Mapplethorpe Exhibition.  Creative Cultural Leadership Creative Cultural Leadership is a philosophy that embraces artistry, innovation and empathy as fundamental to understanding and working with individuals and communities. The words creativity and innovation have taken on definitions which are too limiting. Creativity, experimentation and collaboration involves listening and decisiveness but also an embrace and an elevation of your own voice alongside the voice of others; it's not a solitary activity. All problems have a cultural aspect to it. The creative and the poetic mindset go hand in hand when building communities. Imperfection is OK Failure is an iterative process: Try, Fail, Learn – this is easier to see in art than it is in leadership. The world is asymmetrical in nature; very few things actually fit in neat tidy boxes. Our focus on symmetry allows us to avoid the real issues that exist in the world; oftentimes we're stymied thinking the system has to be perfect before being able to fix something. Leading a Team During a Crisis It's powerful to check in with your team about how they are doing – and yet be surgically efficient in how we use our time. Make space for visioning because you can't simply turn it on; inspire vision, create a visual palette cleanse to prepare the mind to vision. Push your team to not just solve current problems, but also to think about the future. Keep the team motivated: give credit, celebrate accomplishments, thank people in surprising ways, also there is no such thing as a dumb idea. Leadership Is… Leadership is how someone is able to judge when to leap from one moving freight train to another moving freight train and how to keep your hat during that leap. You have to know when to leap and when to wait. Leadership is asking what you know to be true that you think no one else in your field believes in; because you've got an idea everyone else thinks is absolutely bonkers. Leadership is being ok with the unease everyone feels which can be isolating. Leadership is showing empathy by showing a little bit of yourself. Leadership is vulnerability and contemplation which are two leadership qualities that are overlooked. Leading with Panic Check out Sanjit's article called Leading with Panic. Why Leaders Need to Talk More Openly About Anxiety. How do you take a disability or how do you take what seems like a disability and reframe it as an asset for communication and for greater empathy? Code Switching Working through leadership as a person of color Code switching can be exhausting and it's ok to acknowledge that Navigating white privilege Microaggressions can still exist even when have similar political perspectives Other References Jamie Bennett the Executive Director at ArtPlace America Ken Strickland who was the Dean at the Memphis College of Art Jean-Pierre Larocque a ceramicists and Associate Professor at Concordia University Ben Vinson, Provost and Executive Vice President at Case Western Reserve University Association for Independent Colleges of Art and Design To learn more about my work in executive coaching, leadership development and team effectiveness check out my website, connect with me on LinkedIn or email me at winnie@winnifred.org. Reach out and tell me what was helpful about today's episode or any suggestions you have for my show. Please leave a review and tell someone else about this show.  I look forward to sharing another transformative conversation with you next week!  

On this episode of the RAISE Podcast Brent is joined by VCU's Jay Davenport. Jay's background as an undergraduate working in the admissions office of his Alma Mater, Xavier University, sparked a passion that would launch his impressive career in Higher Ed. If you're a VP leading a younger advancement program, you will not want to miss this one!About JayJay Davenport serves as Vice President of Development & Alumni Relations for Virginia Commonwealth University and VCU Health.As VCU's chief development and alumni officer, Davenport leads fundraising and engagement efforts for the university, health sciences division, and VCU Health. Areas under his purview include advancement services, alumni relations, annual giving, corporate and foundation relations, development and alumni communications, donor relations, planned giving, presidential advancement, principal giving, regional philanthropy and the university-wide development staff.Jay has previously led fundraising teams at Wake Forest University, including assistant vice president of college development, assistant vice president of major gifts, and associate vice president and campaign director. He has also served as director of development and team leader at Rice University and held fundraising positions as a college development director at the University of Memphis College of Business and Wright State University College of Engineering. He began his higher education career as an assistant dean of admissions at Wittenberg University.Jay currently serves on the Board of Directors for Make-A-Wish of Greater Virginia and the Benedictine Schools of Richmond. Davenport holds a bachelor's degree in political science from Xavier University and a master's degree in higher education administration from Ball State University.

What role should your emotions play in expository preaching? Matt Woodley explores this topic with Greg Hollifield, Associate Dean for Assessment and Reporting at Memphis College of Urban and Theological Studies at Union University. He said “So I started listening more closely to Haddon (Robinson’s) sermons, and I realized the emotions he was evoking were in line with the content of the text that he was expositing.” He also warns preachers of being emotionally or intellectually manipulative, when preaching God’s word. Greg talks about a recent sermon he preached where Jacob wrestles with an angel, to pursue a blessing. Find out how he frames this story, to capture the emotion of the text.  Check out what was referenced on the podcast: -Kenneth Quick’s article "Your Text Has Feelings" found in “Staying True to the Text,” a preaching guide from Preaching Today. https://www.preachingtoday.com/preaching-guides/staying-true-to-text/your-text-has-feelings.html -John Walsh’s book "The Art of Storytelling." Moody Publishers, 2014. https://www.moodypublishers.com/the-art-of-storytelling/

Melanie Anderson has been teaching for 18 years, but had a 15 year career in advertising before going into teaching. She talks about the difficult decision to leave her first career in order to devote herself to motherhood and then her path to teaching. Melanie shared so much encouraging advice and experience. It felt so hopeful and helpful to hear her perspective as a parent. I definitely need that reminder to soak up this time with my daughter and give myself some grace with all the other things. This life is a marathon, not a sprint. There will be time when I won’t be juggling quite so much and maybe now I need to set down a few things momentarily. Do you feel that way? This conversation was recorded the week that George Floyd was murdered and I awkwardly asked Melanie about addressing racism as a white teacher. It’s something that has been a part of my teaching practice for years, but I’m still (and will always be) figuring out how to do anti-racism and anti-bias work as a teacher and now as a podcaster. I appreciated Melanie’s willingness to share her thoughts and how she sees her role as amplifying student voices. Scroll down for a short video about the student project she talked about, which looks at stereotypes. Melanie also talked about the book she has been working on, which sounds so exciting! Keep an eye out for Melanie’s book! Melanie earned her BFA in Graphic Design from the University of Memphis and her Masters of Art Education from Memphis College of Art. She began her career as a graphic designer and served as the Director of Advertising for Catherine's Stores Corporation for fifteen years before becoming an art educator. She is a working artist, high school art teacher, and dog advocate living in Arlington, TN, a suburb of Memphis. She was recently named the West TN Art Educator of the Year, and she serves on the board of the TN Art Education Association. Melanie is most recognized for her large scale paintings of colorful, happy dogs. Her personal artwork was featured in 2014 and 2016 in the Incite: Mixed Media Series published by North Light Books, and was featured in August 2020 in the a special edition of acrylic works from Artists Magazine. Her work and teaching practices are featured inthe college textbook Teaching and Learning in Art Education by Deborah Sickler-Voigt. Melanie is in the process of writing a book entitled You Can Be A Maker: How to Find the Time and Space to Create. Her work can be found in personal art collections around the country. Blog post with links, images, and videos www.melanieanderson.net Instagram: @melanietanderson Facebook: Melanie Trout Anderson . . . Follow: @teachingartistpodcast @pottsart Support this podcast. Subscribe, leave a review, or see more ways to support here. We also offer opportunities for artists! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/teachingartistpodcast/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/teachingartistpodcast/support

Native to Oxford, Mississippi, Sarah Megan Jenkins studied Painting at Memphis College of art in Tennessee, completing her degree in 2010. Sarah relocated near New Orleans, Louisiana where she now lives and paints full time. Engaged by nature at a young age, Sarah Megan's work represents the natural energy flow found within oneself and it's connection with the Earth. Pulling imagery from her own experiences and travels, Sarah's work searches for a rhythmic nature of its own. Her work is courageously pure and leaves the viewer embraced by the emotional quality in her paintings. Website- www.SarahMeganJenkins.com Instagram - SarahMeganArt Facebook - Sarah Megan Jenkins Art --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Update: Statement from the University of Tulsa School of Art, Design, and Art History The gallery is open to TU Students, Faculty, and Staff Only and is Not Open to the Public. While we are not open to the public, please join us Thursdays in September at the University of Tulsa School of Art, Design, and Art History Facebook and Instagram pages for special virtual programs and highlights. Our guest is Sarah Ahmad, a visual artist who received her MFA from the Memphis College of Art, her MA in Education from Union University in Jackson, Tennessee, and her BA in Fine Arts from the National College of Arts in Lahore, Pakistan. Now based here in our community, Ahmad is a Tulsa Artist Fellow . Her newest exhibit, which she tells us about on StudioTulsa, is now on view at the Hogue Gallery on the TU campus. It's called "Cosmic Veils." As Ahmad notes of this striking show on her own website : "A site-specific installation inspired by the Western Veil of the Veil Nebula -- a glowing haze

(Memphis/College Football): President M David Rudd on the J&J Show on Monday (8-10-2020) See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

“The presence of the Memphis College of Art just permeates the Memphis community now. And if you think of the concept of impermanence, that nothing can last forever, I've thought a lot about that. But it feels disingenuous to say that anything other than. . . this is a very tragic loss for the community.” That's MCA President Laura Hine, speaking to StoryBoard 30 host Mark Fleischer and her colleagues Marilyn Koester and Olivia Wall, about the importance of acknowledging the loss due to the closing of Memphis College of Art. “We always try to end on this positive note,” she said, “but I think it's a loss that will not only be felt now, but will be felt forever, really. It's a permanent loss, and I do think the visual arts and arts community is going to be much less rich after we're gone.” Join host Mark Fleischer for this very special 40-minute edition of StoryBoard 30, recording May 7th, just 48 hours before the final MCA Commencement ceremony, which was held virtually for the first, and only time Saturday May 9, 2020. This is a Must-Listen. Please join us.

In a dynamic conversation with two thought-leading guests, Mamady Konneh and Chip Harris — this episode covers how to stay cyber defended while working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We review our article published by the ISSA Journal which covered 6 key cyberlearning from 2019. We talk at length about media disinformation identification and avoidance tips, ransomware avoidance tips, cyber hygiene education, IAM best practices in the increased work from home context, CIO/CISO strategy, and supply chain and vendor cyber risk management — in the context of cyber or health disaster planning and response. Mamady Konneh is a senior information security professional, speaker and mentor with 10+ years of relevant experience in security, risk management, and project management in the healthcare, finance, and retail industries. He is a dynamic team player who leads by taking initiatives in developing efficient risk mitigation and situational awareness tactics. He is proficient at assessing the needs of the business and providing the tools to resolve challenges by enhancing the business process. He holds an MSST (Master of Science in Security Technologies) degree from the U of MN where he researched global I.D. card best practices for the country of Guinea. Chip Harris has an extensive background in government and business InfoSec engineering and red team planning and operations — with over 25 years of experience designing and managing IT systems. His expertise is in identifying and solving problems by delivering projects and solutions. His experience includes serving as the IT lead and project manager within the business unit, evaluating system performance, helping business leaders and non-technical clients understand how technology can improve workflow, developing and enforcing standard IT practices, and ensuring IT compliance with regulations such as NERC CIP, PCI, GDPR, HIPAA, and SOX. He has a Ph.D. in Cyber Security and Cyber Operations from the United States War College, a Masters in Cyber Security and Cyber Crime from the United States War College, and a Bachelors in Computer Science and Animation from Memphis College of Art. He has the following certifications: MCE, MCSE, NCE, MCSA, MCM, MCT, Security +, SUSE Novell Linux, Open SUSE Enterprise, Ubuntu Server Admin, PICK WMS, Backtrack 5, Netools 5, Dell Kace 3000 and 1000, IBM Q-Radar, Carbon Black, Tenable Security Suite, Dark Trace, Q-Radar, IBM Guardium, OWASP, Check Point, RHL, Kali Linux Certified, C|EH, C|PT, C|HFI, CCE, GIAC Rated, Barracuda, and he is even Tripwire Certified. More information on Abstract Forward Consulting can be found here. Disclaimer: This podcast does not represent the views of former or current employers and / or clients. This podcast will make every reasonable effort to verify facts and inferences therefrom. However, this podcast is intended to entertain and significantly inform its audience based on subjective reason based opinions. Non-public information will not be disclosed. Information obtained in this podcast may be materially out of date at or after the time of the podcast. This podcast is not legal, accounting, audit, health, technical, or financial advice. © Abstract Forward Consulting, LLC.

“The grief really never leaves. You tend to put it in its proper place and carry on with the work you have to do to close the school and honor the commitment to the students. But the undercurrent of grief is always there. Certain events really stoke it up some more, like our recent art sale, going through our collection of art, and seeing the vast history of pieces from the '30s and '40s and '50s, every decade, reminded us of our history but also the vacuum that's going to exist when we close our doors.” That's Laura Hine, President of Memphis College of Art, talking about the raw emotions that echo around Rust Hall in the final months of this important Memphis institution. Join StoryBoard 30 host Mark Fleischer for this candid conversation with Laura Hine as she talks about the legacy of MCA, the heartbreaking decisions that led to its closing, and the struggles that many institutions of higher education face nationwide.

Join Memphis College of Art (MCA) and other local institutions for the first ever Memphis Creative Collaborative Student Showcase.Memphis Creative Collaborative ShowcaseHosted by Memphis College of ArtTuesday, February 254:30 - 6:30pmRust Hall within Overton ParkStudents from CBU, LeMoyne Owen College, Rhodes College, and Southwest Tennessee Community College will participate alongside MCA seniors to offer a networking event and one-stop shop for creative students and employers or internship sites. This dynamic gathering will showcase 50 talented students including artists, animators, illustrators and designers who will be ready to share their work, receive feedback, and hear about the opportunities you have in your organization or know about in your network.Use this link to register by Feb. 21, 2020: https://mca-csm.symplicity.com/eventsQuestions can be forwarded to Dr. Carrie Brooks at cbrooks@mca.edu.Learn more:  http://mca.edu/

Gary and Chris are joined by ESPN's Chris Fallica - The Bear! - from College Gameday and the Stanford Steve & the Bear podcast to discuss:the crew's visit to Happy Valley for last week's Penn St vs Michigan gametop college football atmospheresthe process for picking locations for College Gamedaythe chances for Memphis to host College Gameday vs SMU on November 2ndgetting out of a gambling slumpand more!----------► Find out more about Tunica, MS sports books! http://bit.ly/2Ynn56V● WCE Weekly Football Picks Contest! http://bit.ly/2ZnqSkp● Get our gambling picks here: http://bit.ly/2MBSCLf● Subscribe on YouTube! http://bit.ly/2OFfgFaSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/winning-cures-everything9033/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Episode 060 features the talented Joseph Coleman! Joseph spent his formative years skateboarding, drawing, playing video games and winning art contests in Macon, Mississippi. After attending undergrad at Memphis College of Art and grad school at Academy of Art University he worked on various freelance projects before landing a job … Continue reading

Jina Bolton is an interactive designer and artist, working and residing in Silicon Valley. She co-authored The Art & Science of CSS. Jina has consulted for various agencies and organizations including the W3C Web Accessibility Initiative and Mass.gov. She holds a BFA in Computer Arts and Graphic Design from Memphis College of Art.