Podcasts about rhode island school

A unique personal journey spanning from a third-generation textile merchant family in Japan to a thriving design studio in Beirut serves as the foundation for iconic designer Nada Debs' universal message of collaboration. The intricate world of Levantine woodwork, the philosophy of repetitive geometry, and the complex balance between handmade craft and modern scaling highlight the depth of her artistic vision. This narrative of personal heritage and local production illustrates how design can become a powerful tool to restore civic pride and challenge traditional mindsets.   00:00 Introduction 01:35 A Message of Oneness & Overcoming Conflict 04:01 Roots Across the Silk Road 10:39 Post-War Devastation & the Surge of Homegrown Pride 18:25 Dismantling the Western Complex & Embracing Equality 20:05 Finding Acceptance in the Search for Personal Identity 24:33 Embracing the Warmth of Beirut & the Value of Antiques 29:21 The Path to Design 33:17 Shifting the Mindset on Local Production 38:24 The Genesis of "East and East" & Establishing a Studio 44:48 Reclaiming Pride in Lebanese Craft 46:46 Deciphering the Levantine Vernacular 53:13 Hand Craftsmanship vs. Modern Scaling 01:02:04 Expanding the Language of Harmony   Nada Debs is a Lebanese designer living and working in Beirut. Her work spans scale and discipline: from product and furniture design to one-off commissions across craft, art, fashion and interiors. What ties her work together is her ability to distil culture and craftsmanship to create pieces of emotional resonance. Nada grew up in Japan, studied design at the Rhode Island School of Design in the United States and has spent significant periods of time living and travelling the world, finding connections between different cultures. She calls her approach: handmade and heartmade. Her grandfather travelled the Silk Route to Japan; her own personal Silk Route led her back to Lebanon, where she founded her studio in 2002. Her 'East & East' philosophy fuses Islamic geometry with Far Eastern minimalism.   Connect with Nada Debs

NOTE: the audio is a little crunchy the first 27 min, I did fix it! ❤️ART CLUB  https://artprof.org/support-us/

In this episode of the podcast, I am joined by the brilliant contemporary American visual artist Eric White. We spoke for over 3 hours, so the interview is going to be cut into two parts. This is part two.Eric is widely celebrated today for his intricate, cinematic paintings that effortlessly blur the lines between reality and surrealism. In our conversation, Eric takes me back to his early days as an artist. He sheds light on his formative experiences, the pivotal moments in his schooling at Rhode Island School of Design, and his early years as a professional illustrator.We dive deep into his artistic journey, discussing how his unique visual vocabulary developed over the years, the inspirations that shaped his signature style, and what it was like finding his footing in the competitive art world. Whether you're an avid collector, a fellow creator, or simply fascinated by the origins of great art, this podcast offers an intimate glimpse into an exceptionally creative mind.For more information on Eric White and his artwork, visit his website:https://ewhite.com/

Welcome to “Nuclear bombs and bots”, the first episode of our second series! Hosted by the ELN's Deputy Executive Director, Bekki Field, this episode explores the relationship between new “disruptive” technologies and nuclear weapons. To start the episode, Bekki is joined by Edan Simpson, ELN Project and Communications Officer, and Julia Berghofer, Head of the ELN's Nuclear and New Technologies programme, to break down what a “new technology” actually is, and why they matter for nuclear weapons policy. Edan's “How To Fix It” panel features Younger Generation Leaders Network (YGLN) members Alice Saltini and Ksenija Trajkovska; Alice is a former ELN Policy Fellow, where she spearheaded our research projects in nuclear and new technologies. Nowadays, she is the Senior Research Lead at the Rhode Island School of Design and a Non-Resident Expert on AI at the James Martin Centre for Non-Proliferation Studies; Ksenija Trajkovska is a Senior OSINT & CBRN Analyst at Fenix Insight and an incoming Research Analyst at Open Nuclear Network. We ask our panel:  Whether we focus so much on the risks posed by emerging technologies that we ignore their potential benefits to nuclear weapons systems? And how important is training for military personnel to recognise and challenge the biases that can evolve from an increasing use of AI in military systems?   Moving on to “Turn Back the Clock”, where we look at how new technologies have historically affected nuclear weapons, Bekki is joined by Alexandra Bell, a YGLN alumnus, former Deputy Assistant Secretary for Nuclear Affairs in the Bureau of Arms Control, Deterrence, and Stability (ADS) at the U.S. Department of State, and the President and CEO of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. Bekki and Alex discuss the history of these technological advancements, how technology changes threa perceptions, and how equipped the expert community is to cope with the pace of technological change. Finally, as always, the episode wraps up with “The Debrief,” where Bekki, Edan and Julie review everything they've covered. Catch up on previous episodes and make sure to subscribe to future episodes of “Ok Doomer!” Referenced in the podcast: The AI lens of cognitive warfare: Why LLMs language bias is a security risk by Ihor Samokhodskyi

Portrait of Jimena Velarde-Alvarez in her studio, 2026, Portrait by Silver Mikiver Jimena Velarde-Alvarez (b. 2001, Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian artist based in New York. She received her BFA in Painting from the Rhode Island School of Design and currently lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Emerging from attention—to and over time—Velarde-Alvarez's work develops through a process of accumulation and return. Working primarily across painting, drawing, and sculpture, she approaches image-making as a practice of sustained attention, returning to an image as it gradually emerges and evolves. Through repeated encounters, her work follows the echoes of time as they surface and recede. In her paintings, carefully considered compositions and an atmosphere of restraint allow light, shadow, and architecture to emerge in quiet relation to one another. Spacious interiors, recurring windows, doorways, and thresholds create spaces where atmosphere becomes an active presence within the image. Through translucent figures, shadows, and layered surfaces, Velarde-Alvarez traces the subtle ways time gradually reveals the contours of things. Across painting and writing, layering becomes both material and metaphor. The accumulation of paint and language mirrors the ways memory, attention, and time are sedimented within the self: how the past accumulates and is continually rewritten, and how these layers can only be accessed through stillness, yet never be fully recovered. Parallel to her painting practice, Velarde-Alvarez's writing opens another point of entry into the work. Through poetry, diary fragments, and text-based pieces, language serves as both companion and counterpart—a space for reflection and self-examination that deepens and expands the questions posed by the paintings rather than explaining them. Deeply rooted in personal experience, Velarde-Alvarez's practice continues to evolve alongside her, unfolding through and remaining open to the questions that emerge over time. Velarde-Alvarez's work has been exhibited in the United States and Peru. She is currently presenting her first solo exhibition, La sombra del tiempo, at Margot Samel, New York. Jimena Velarde-Alvarez Autopsia I, 2026 Graphite and dried pedals on board 13 x 15 in | 33 x 38.1 cm (framed) | 7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in | 19.1 x 24.1 cm (unframed) Image courtesy of the artist and Margot Samel, New York. Photo by Matthew Sherman. Jimena Velarde-Alvarez El peso de las cosas al caer, 2026 Oil on canvas 92 x 68 in | 233.7 x 172.7 cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Margot Samel, New York. Photo by Matthew Sherman. Jimena Velarde-Alvarez Puente, 2026 Oil on canvas 38 x 30 in | 96.5 x 76.2 cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Margot Samel, New York. Photo by Matthew Sherman. Jimena Velarde-Alvarez Adentro, 2026 Walnut, found keyhole, graphite, paper, light 10 x 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 in | 25.4 x 16.5 x 16.5 cm. Image courtesy of the artist and Margot Samel, New York. Photo by Matthew Sherman.

Erica Gerard Di Bona generates one thousand letters a year with an impressive speed of 110 words per minute (on a typewriter). She may very well be the United States Postal Service's consumer of the year. A former producer in network news, The Playboy Channel, documentaries, and kids' game shows, she has never let a single opportunity for a professional Thank You slide and has often received letters and messages back from such notables as Connie Chung, Norman Lear, and Henry Winkler. Currently a fundraising consultant for UC Santa Cruz and serving on the Board of Trustees for the Smithsonian Regional Council and formerly the Rhode Island School of Design, her unique letters open doors and attract donors. People frame Erica's snail mail, and she has left her influence on the power of the Thank You with high school and college students, development executives, realtors, dentists, and grateful grandparents. Erica is a proud University of California, Santa Cruz "Banana Slug" and a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles. She lives in Los Angeles with her television producer husband, artistic daughter, and seven typewriters. Website: https://www.ArtofThankYou.com/  Instagram: @Powerof_ThankYou  Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/erica.gerarddibona  LinkedIn: Erica Gerard Di Bona  YouTube: ArtofThankYou7557 Her book: A Letter is Better: The Art of Thank You (SPARK Publications, Sept. 22, 2025)

In this episode of the podcast, I am joined by the brilliant contemporary American visual artist Eric White. We spoke for over 3 hours, so the interview is going to be cut into two parts.Eric is widely celebrated today for his intricate, cinematic paintings that effortlessly blur the lines between reality and surrealism. In our conversation, Eric takes me back to his early days as an artist. He sheds light on his formative experiences, the pivotal moments in his schooling at Rhode Island School of Design, and his early years as a professional illustrator.We dive deep into his artistic journey, discussing how his unique visual vocabulary developed over the years, the inspirations that shaped his signature style, and what it was like finding his footing in the competitive art world. Whether you're an avid collector, a fellow creator, or simply fascinated by the origins of great art, this podcast offers an intimate glimpse into an exceptionally creative mind.This is Eric White part 1 on Art Dealer Diaries Podcast episode 407.

Caitlin Keogh (b. 1982 in Anchorage, Alaska) lives and works in New York. Her work has recently been included in group shows at Fondation Carmignac, Porquerolles, France, and The Church, Sag Harbor, NY. Keogh has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Melas Papadopoulos, Athens, Greece; and MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY. In 2021, Keogh completed a mural in the city of Holbaek, Denmark in conjunction with Holbaek Art, and in 2019, she participated in Art Basel Parcours, Basel, Switzerland. Her work has also been exhibited at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, CA; MoMA Warsaw, Poland; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Künstlerhaus Bremen, Germany; the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY; and the Queens Museum, Flushing Meadows, NY. Her work is represented in the collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Amorepacific Museum of Art, Seoul; the Rollins Museum of Art, Winter Park, Florida; and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence. Caitlin Keogh 07.10.25, 2025 Colored pencil on paper mounted on panel 16 3/8 x 11 5/8 x 3/4 in (41.5 x 29.5 x 2 cm) Caitlin Keogh Beige Matrix, Woman With Opera Glasses, 2026 Acrylic on canvas 72 x 96 in (183 x 244 cm) Caitlin Keogh Ultramarine Matrix, La Fornarina, 2026 Acrylic on panel, postcard 23 1/4 x 13 in (59.1 x 33 cm)

This week on About Art, Heidi Zuckerman speaks with actor, writer, and artist Lisa Edelstein and artist Robert Russell.Recorded as they celebrate their collaborative exhibition Palace in Time at the Skirball Cultural Center, this conversation explores partnership, artistic practice, Jewish ritual, memory, storytelling, and the ways we create meaning through the objects, relationships, and traditions that shape our lives.Lisa discusses her evolution from actor to painter, drawing on family photographs to create intimate works that explore narrative, memory, and the Jewish experience. Robert reflects on his paintings of everyday objects, the sacredness of attention, and how ordinary things become vessels for history, devotion, and remembrance.Together they speak about creativity, discipline, vulnerability, seeing, collecting, marriage, and the experience of building individual artistic practices while supporting one another's creative lives.Lisa Edelstein is an actor, writer, and artist whose paintings transform family photographs into deeply personal explorations of memory, identity, and storytelling. Her work has been exhibited at Charlie James Gallery, Anat Ebgi, GAVLAK, and is included in the permanent collection of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.Robert Russell is a conceptual painter whose work explores memory, mortality, iconography, and ritual through paintings of everyday objects. He received his MFA from the California Institute of the Arts and his BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design. His work has been exhibited internationally and is represented by Anat Ebgi Gallery.A conversation about attention, making meaning, and the ways art helps us understand ourselves and one another.

An artist and educator, C. Matthew Szösz has established a practice that revolves around experimentation and investigation of techniques and material, with a focus on understanding the ways in which physical objects and events transform into intellectual and emotional experiences. He operates and is interested in the space that exists between design, craft and fine art. Wrote William Warmus in Glass, the UrbanGlass Art Quarterly: "So each Szösz project represents a unique inquiry into outcomes driven by curiosity, inspiration, and technical opportunity. Attempting to wrestle these diverse series into unified categories is to limit the creative variation and diversity of each, to try to name the style. Perhaps it is best to list some of his most important investigations, summarize the findings, and enjoy the artifacts of Szösz's subversive and yet disciplined and meticulous process."  Since receiving his MFA(Glass) from Rhode Island School of Design, Szösz has been recognized internationally with awards such as the Irvine Borowsky Prize, the Jutta-Cuny Franz Prize, and a Tiffany Foundation Grant, and has completed numerous residencies in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. He enjoys working as an educator, and has taught at ASP Wrøcław, Rietveld Akademie, Virginia Commonwealth University, University of Washington, University of Hawai'i, Pilchuck Glass School, Penland School of Crafts, and Bildwerk Frauenau and others, and has lectured and given numerous workshops around the world. He is the founding member of the curatorial group Hyperopia Projects and was Executive Director of Public Glass, a non-profit public access studio in San Francisco.  Szösz's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented in private collections and public institutions in the United States, Australia, Europe and Japan, including at the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, NY, the Renwick Gallery/Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC, the Toyama City Museum of Glass, Toyama, Japan, and Het Glazenhuis, Lommel, Belgium. His career has allowed him to meet and work with friends, colleagues and collaborators across four continents and dozens of institutions. He currently lives in Seattle with his wife, Anna Mlasowsky. Recently, Szösz completed an IASPIS residency in Sweden, administered by the International Arts Grants Committee there. Later in the year, he will work at a residency in Lisbon organized by Maria Morales Lam, through her studio Lo Invisible. In the next two years, he will be visiting a pair of universities in China and teaching at Pilchuck Glass School in the summer of 2027. In between, Szösz is finishing up a commission for SeaTac airport that has been the main focus of his practice for the past three years. The project, titled Jonah, converts a part of SeaTac's north main terminal, an escalator well and a surrounding mezzanine, into a highly abstracted version of Jonah's whale. The installation has been broken into two parts -  a larger, more architectural part that creates two articulated glass walls that form the body of the whale, which was installed in December, and a more sculptural part that is scheduled for installation in September - a suspended, lighted piece that roughly corresponds to a whale's mouth holding a Pearl.  Says Szösz: "There are a number of metaphors and associations between the Jonah story and air travel, and I particularly liked the idea of the whale being a meta-space, something that has a long tradition in stained glass. I was also attracted to the apocalyptic overtones of the Jonah story in view of the current American political and environmental situation." In contrast, the personal objects and videos Szösz creates are the result of performance-based experiments documenting a deep knowledge and unbridled desire to allow the material to lead him. The artist describes his practice as "an attempt to maximize serendipity, and to allow a project to be guided by material and consequence, arriving, in the end, in an unfamiliar and unpredicted landscape. A successful project should not only be surprising but should also achieve an identity independent of the artist, and to at least some degree, escape his control and mastery." 

Mark Barga talks with Larry Levato, veteran educational architect at Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates, about what it really takes to design schools that serve students, teachers, and communities alike — and why the process matters as much as the product. Takeaways: Design for teachers too. Educators spend more time in school buildings than students. Great design treats teaching as a craft that deserves a professional environment. Listen before you design. Client relationships and deep listening are the foundation of every successful project — not design vision alone. Slow down to get it right. Larry's biggest "risk" was pushing back a project timeline. When COVID hit mid-construction, that decision saved the project. Schools can lead change, not just reflect it. Even traditional communities can be guided toward more innovative learning environments when trust is built over time. Legacy is about people, not buildings. Larry measures success by how much he's elevated the architects, clients, and educators around him — not by square footage or awards. About Larry Levato: Earning a Bachelor of Architecture and Fine Arts from Rhode Island School of Design in 1988, Larry has worked with K-12 educational clients over the course of his 34 year career. He joined Crabtree, Rohrbaugh & Associates in 2010 and continues to work with our K-12 educational clients throughout Maryland and Pennsylvania. Larry is the current A4LE President-elect, appointing committee positions and focusing on the creation of a stellar conference which include host city selection, school building tours and keynote speakers as well as conference theme. As Principal, he focuses on overall firm management as well as collaboration with project managers in establishing project standards and Best Practices as well as advising on educational programming and planning which are implemented throughout the architectural studio. LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/lawrencelevato09191992/   Episode 336 of the Better Learning Podcast For more information on our partners: Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) - https://www.a4le.org/ Education Leaders' Organization - https://www.ed-leaders.org/ Second Class Foundation - https://secondclassfoundation.org/ EDmarket - https://www.edmarket.org/ Catapult @ Penn GSE - https://catapult.gse.upenn.edu/ Want to be a Guest Speaker? Request on our website  

Nell Irvin Painter is Edwards Professor of American History, Emerita, Princeton University. She also holds degrees in painting from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers and the Rhode Island School of Design. Painter is the author of many books including Sojourner Truth, A Life, A Symbol; Old in Art School: A Memoir of Starting Over; I Just Keep Talking: A Life in Essays; and the New York Times bestseller The History of White People. She reflects on the origins of A History of White People and her career exploring how race is manufactured and lived along the color line. She also cautions that the race concept structures societies, but that we should always avoid the temptations of race essentialism. Painter counsels that we need to balance hope and pessimism. The Age of Trump is a calamity but this dark time will not last forever. We need to think nationally but work locally to create immediate change in our communities. And Nell Irvin Painter offers some hard-earned advice about being creative for a living, and balancing our personal and familial obligations and material realities such as paying the bills. *This conversation took place in 2024. Given Juneteenth and Trump's escalating assaults on multiracial democracy and the Black Freedom Struggle, I decided that now was the right time to share it with all of you.

Amanda Thackray is a multidisciplinary ecofeminist artist-educator based in Newark, NJ, who crafts intricate artwork exploring the intersections between nature, industry, and human experience. She is the recipient of several Creative Catalyst Fund Fellowships, a Puffin Foundation Grant for Environmental Art, and a NJ State Council Individual Artist Fellowship. Residencies include The Arctic Circle, Norway; The Center for Book Arts, NYC; and The Museum of Art and Design, NYC. Her work has been widely exhibited and is held in numerous international public and private collections including The Watson Library at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC, Mediatheque Andre Malraux, France, Yale University, and The Library of Congress. Thackray earned a BFA from Mason Gross at Rutgers University and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), both in printmaking.

Episode 529 / Gonçalo PretoGonçalo Preto (b. 1991, Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese artist living and working in New York. In 2024, he completed his Master of Fine Arts at the Rhode Island School of Design, having previously studied at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, USA, and at Kassel Kunsthochschule, Germany. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Lisbon.Recent solo exhibitions include The Ballads of a Sundial (2026), Galeria Pedro Cera, Lisbon; Phantom Limb (2024), Andrew Reed Gallery, Miami, USA; A Cadência de uma Chama (2024), Middle Finger Pedestrians (2019) and FRAG-MEN-TO (2017), Galeria Madragoa, Lisbon; and LIMBO (2019), Museu Carlos Machado, Ponta Delgada (São Miguel), Azores, Portugal, among others.Recent group exhibitions include Out of Frame (2025), Jack Barrett Gallery, New York, USA; what lovers do (2024), The FLAG Art Foundation, New York, USA; Prophetic Dreams (2024), Goldau, Switzerland; BIG OBJECTS (2023), Marvin Gardens, New York, USA; and Silvers in the Void (2023), MAMOTH, London, UK, among others. Gonçalo is the recipient of several awards, including a Fulbright FCC Grant (2022-2024), a Rhode Island School of Design Fellowship (2022-2024), and a Hopper Prize Finalist (2023).

Photographer, educator, and writer Odette Elix England speaks about her latest book, Isn't X Beautiful (The Ice Plant) as well as, The Long Shadow: Unwrapped ~ Marion Post Wolcott's Labor and Love (Libraryman), and to be developed, to be continued (Tall Poppy Press).https://www.odetteengland.comhttps://theiceplant.cc/product/isnt-x-beautiful/This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club - Begin Building your dream photobook library today at:https://charcoalbookclub.comOdette Elix England is a photographer, writer, avid reader, and educator. A 2022 John Simon Guggenheim Foundation Fellow, her artistic and research work explores the rituals of loving and leaving.She has exhibited her work in over 120 museums and galleries worldwide and has received grants and awards from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, the Puffin Foundation, and Anonymous Was a Woman, among others. She has been nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award (twice) and the Prix Pictet.She has published six award-winning books. Her first photo novella, Isn't X Beautiful!, is available for preorder here.She is currently working on her second novella, Once I Was A Photograph, and an experimental re-telling of Susan Sontag's On Photography.Elix England received her Ph.D. in 2018. She now teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design and Brown University.

Huda Smitshuijzen AbiFarès interviews American-Lebanese designer Wael Morcos. They start by talking about his educational journey in graphic design from Notre Dame University (NDU) in Lebanon to Rhode Island School fo Design (RISD) in the USA. They discuss the people and projects that have had an influence on his development as a graphic and type designer, leading to his founding of Studio Morcos Key (@morcoskey) with his partner Jon Key in Brooklyn, New York. The conversation revolves around what it means to design in the diaspora versus when living in the culture for which one is designing, and what the pros and cons are for working bilingually and biculturally. They unpack Morcos' work as a type designer and his various collaborations with well-known Arab and American type designers, and go on to discuss his Arabic lettering workshops and various prestigious branding, exhibition and publication design projects for clients like the 2nd Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah (2025) (@islamicartsbiennale), to his ongoing collaboration with the US-based Arab cultural foundation and magazine Mizna (@mizna_arabart), to his Arabic logotype for the campaign of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani (@nycmayor @zohrankmamdani). Among his many hats as a designer, Morcos maintains a commitment to Arab culture placing the Arabic script at the heart of his projects wherever and wherever possible. He also makes time to engage in pro-bono activist projects to support social and humanitarian causes, like fundraising for victims after the Beirut port explosion of 2020 with a design for a wool blanket. They discuss the growing design ecology in the Arab region and how it is an essential currency for the preservation and reinterpretation of cultural knowledge. They conclude with Morcos' plea for the need to encourage and advocate for more critical writing and debates on design amongst practicing designers from the region.  FOLLOW & RATE KHATT CHRONICLES:» Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/khatt-chronicles-stories-on-design-from-the-arab-world/id1472975206» Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ATH0MwO1tIlBvQfahSLrB» Anghami: https://play.anghami.com/podcast/1014374489THIS SERIES IS PART OF THE AFIKRA PODCAST NETWORK Explore all episodes in this series: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfYG40bwRKl5mMJ782dhW6yvfq0E0_HhAABOUT AFIKRAafikra | عفكرة is a movement to convert passive interest in the Arab world to active intellectual curiosity. We aim to collectively reframe the dominant narrative of the region by exploring the histories and cultures of the region – past, present and future – through conversations driven by curiosity.

Episode 523 / Chenlu Hou & Chiara NoBorn in Shandong, China in 1989, Chenlu Hou is currently based in Providence, RI. She earned her MFA in Ceramics from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2019. Since then, she has completed residencies at Museum of Arts and Design in New York, Penland School of Craft, Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, and Archie Bray Foundation. Her works have been included in exhibitions at Kristen Lorello, New York; YIRI Arts, Taipei City, Taiwan; the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, Texas; and the Archie Bray Foundation, Helena, MT; among other venues. Hou is currently a resident artist at Harvard Ceramics and a Visiting Critic in Ceramics at the Rhode Island School of Design.Chiara No was born in 1981 in Key West, FL, and currently lives and works in Johnson, VT. She studied Art and Theory at the Glasgow School of Art in 2002-03 and received a BA in Art History from Towson University in 2005 and an MFA from the University of Pennsylvania in 2015. She has been on faculty at School of the Art Institute of Chicago and an instructor at University of Pennsylvania. She has shown at Spring Break New York, NY; MoCA Westport, Westport, CT; Field Projects and Bible, New York, NY; Vox Populi, Philadelphia, PA; EXILE, Vienna, Austria; Johalla Projects, Chicago, IL; and has participated Printed Matter's Art Book Fair in both New York and Los Angeles. Her works on paper are included in the Whitney Museum of American Art's Special Collection, the Walker Art Center's Library and Archives, the Art Institute of Chicago's Joan Flasch Artists' Book Library. Chenlu Hou and Chiara No: What the Hands Remember to Hear. A joint exhibition at the Aldrich Museum of two artists who use ceramic sculpture to explore storytelling and spirituality up through MAY 25, 2026. 

What use is art makingwhen freedom is under pressure?From the Center for the Study of Art and Community? This is Art is Change, a chronicle of art and social change where activist artists and cultural organizers share the strategies and skills they need to thrive as creative community leaders. My name is Bill ClevelandThis episode is part of a special Art In Action series we're producing in partnership with the Charles F. Kettering Foundation Democracy and the Arts program. In these episodes, we'll be speaking with artists, cultural organizers and arts leaders who are navigating and challenging current efforts to to limit free creative expression and free speech.Together, we'll explore what freedom of expression means in practice, not as an abstract right, but as a lived responsibility at the heart of democratic life.This show features my conversation with painter, organizer, educator and “root waterer” Jordan Seaberry,about what happens when art moves beyond decoration and entertainment and becomes a powerful civic practice for listening, organizing and building people power. Jordan's work, which spans painting, policy, comics, teaching and movement building, is all grounded in the conviction that human creativity is not extra.Along the way, we follow Jordan's journey from the south side of Chicago to the Rhode Island School of Design, otherwise known as RISD, to Oregon organizing around prisoners rights, studying at Roger Williams University School of Law, and helping lead the US Department of Art and Culture.In it we will learn about:* How Jordan's life as a painter and organizer came together from RISD disillusionment to grassroots organizing, law school teaching and cultural strategy.* Why listening is central to both art art and organizing. Whether the canvas becomes an ear or an organizer helps someone rehear their own life with dignity* How artists can generate real civic power by joining movements, helping build alternative systems, and challenging dominant institutions from both inside and the street.Notable MentionsPeopleJordan Seaberry — Painter, organizer, educator, and co-director at the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture, whose practice bridges painting, policy, comics, and movement work.Adam Horowitz — Founding leader in the creation of the U.S. Department of Arts and Culture's people-powered national framework.Arlene Goldbard — Writer, speaker, and longtime cultural activist who helped shape USDAC's founding vision.Gabriel Baez — Cultural organizer and early USDAC leader involved in its national development.Jonathan Highfield — RISD faculty member and an important mentor in Jordan's political and intellectual formation.Carlton Turner — Artist, organizer, and co-founder of Sipp Culture, building rural cultural infrastructure in Mississippi.Brandi Turner — Co-director of Sipp Culture and key partner in its community-rooted cultural work.Dan Denvir — Host of The Dig, the podcast Jordan names as a useful guide in making sense of the current political moment.Nadine Bloch — Activist, trainer, and creative strategist with Beautiful Trouble, mentioned in connection with artists against authoritarianism work.Michelle Alexander — Civil rights advocate and author of The New Jim Crow, one of the books Jordan cites as deeply influential.Richard Powers — Novelist and author of Bewilderment and The Overstory, both named in Jordan's recommendations.Jon Fogel — Author of Punishment-Free Parenting, which Jordan connects to broader questions of punishment and power.Kathryn Bigelow — Director of A House of Dynamite, the film Jordan references in thinking about the state and the individual.OrganizationsU.S. Department of Arts and Culture — A people-powered, non-governmental “performance piece” that prefigures what a real federal department of arts and culture could do in support of cultural democracy.Charles F. Kettering Foundation — Partner on the Art in Action series through its work connecting democracy, public life, and the arts.Democracy and the Arts at the Kettering Foundation — Kettering's focus area for integrating the power of the arts into democratic life locally, nationally, and internationally.Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) — Jordan's alma mater and now one of the places where he teaches.Jordan Seaberry at RISD — RISD faculty profile outlining his work as a painter, organizer, and educator.Roger Williams University School of Law — The law school where Jordan studied while deepening the connection between art, policy, and public life.“Radical Imagination, Radical Listening” at RWU Law — Profile of Jordan's path through Roger Williams and the role legal study played in his work.Sipp Culture — Mississippi-based cultural organization founded by Carlton and Brandi Turner, named here as a powerful example of alternative system building through art, food, land, and community.Beautiful Trouble — Creative strategy hub for activists and organizers, referenced in connection with USDAC collaborations.The Nonviolence Institute — Providence-based organization where Jordan served as director of public policy.Publications, media, and resourcesThe Dig — Socialist podcast Jordan cites as part of his effort to understand the current political landscape.Bewilderment — Richard Powers novel exploring empathy, climate grief, and the human relationship to the living world.The Overstory — Powers's earlier novel, invoked here as part of the same moral and ecological terrain.A House of Dynamite — Kathryn Bigelow's Netflix political thriller, which Jordan reads as a study in how governments can reduce ordinary people to pieces on a strategic board.The New Jim Crow — Michelle Alexander's landmark book on mass incarceration and racialized punishment in the United States.Punishment-Free Parenting — Jon Fogel's book, which Jordan links to deeper questions about discipline, punishment, and retribution.Related episodeArt Is Change, Episode 78 featuring Carlton Turner — Bill notes this earlier conversation in connection with Sipp Culture and Mississippi-rooted cultural organizing

In 2025 Lily Colman took on the initiative to start her own publishing non-profit, FRAME/SEQUENCE, through fiscal sponsorship with CultureWorks of Philadelphia. FRAME/SEQUENCE is a quarterly print periodical spotlighting underrepresented and emerging photographers, writers, artists, and communities across Philadelphia and Greater Pennsylvania — connecting art, story, and place in a uniquely intimate and enduring form.FRAME/SEQUENCE's first edition, On Motherhood, captures motherhood's diverse and powerful experiences through art and storytelling. This collection highlights the complex realities of nurturing, sacrifice, mourning, and celebration, offering a platform to voices often unheard. This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book Club - Begin Building your dream photobook library today at:https://charcoalbookclub.comhttps://www.frame-sequence.comhttps://www.lilycolman.comhttps://hmcooper.com/home.htmlhttps://www.keavyhandleybyrne.comKeavy Handley-Byrne is a photographic artist, writer, and educator. Their work has been exhibited across the United States and included in numerous publications. Their photographic practice focuses on themes of queer identity, grief, and the intersections therein. They are based in New York City and work across the tri-state area. Helen Maurene Cooper, is an artist and educator living in Philadelphia, PA. She earned a MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a BA from Bard College.Selected exhibitions include; Onomatopee(Eindhoven, Netherlands), Clare Morris Gallery ( Ireland), Soap Factory (Minneapolis), Space Mountain (Miami), and Gaylord & Dorothy Donnelley Foundation (Chicago). Awards and Fellowships include; the Cultural Council of Eindhoven, the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and University of Chicago.Her 2017 monograph, Paint & Polish: Visual Economy and Visual Culture from the West Side (Onomatopee, Eindhoven Netherlands). Paint & Polish was reviewed in Bust.com, New City, Nails Magazine and the Creators Vice Magazine. Artists' talks have been given at PS1, The Fashion Institute of Technology, Kansas City Art Institute, Elmhurst Art Museum, The Arts Incubator at University of Chicago and Oxbow School of Painting. In 2021, Cooper founded Vanity Tintype, a commercial tintype studio in Philadelphia, through which she has done cultural commissions from The African American Museum of Philadelphia and Monument lab.Lily Madeleine Colman is a film-based photographer and educator from Philadelphia, PA. She makes work about womanhood, inheritance, and specifically how certain items and feelings are passed down between generations of women.Lily was featured in the 2021 International Juried Exhibition at The Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, NJ, where she was awarded First Prize and a Solo Exhibition. Her solo exhibition, The Knots on the Underside of the Carpet, ran from April 22 - June 4, 2022, at the CCA.Lily graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with her MFA in 2020, as well as a Certificate in Collegiate Teaching in Art and Design. She has always loved photography, education, and photo books, and wanted to make them accessible to everyone.In 2025 Lily took on the initiative to start her own publishing non-profit, FRAME/SEQUENCE, through fiscal sponsorship with CultureWorks of Philadelphia. FRAME/SEQUENCE is a quarterly print periodical spotlighting underrepresented and emerging photographers, writers, artists, and communities across Philadelphia and Greater Pennsylvania — connecting art, story, and place in a uniquely intimate and enduring form.Lily also currently works as an adjunct photography professor at Mercer County Community College, Rowan University, and Rowan College at Burlington County. She has also taught at The College of New Jersey, and Union County Community College, all located in New Jersey.

Laura Tempest Zakroff joins us for a conversation about what it means to inhabit your practice, not just perform it. We talk about energy flow, bodily autonomy, and sovereignty in witchcraft: how your body is the first territory you claim, how consent applies to magical work, and why embodiment isn't optional if you're serious about the craft.Laura's books Anatomy of a Witch and Weave the Liminal are required reading for every student on the Tempering Path, and for good reason. Her work taught us how to ground our witchcraft in the body, how to navigate liminal spaces with integrity, and how to stop treating magic like something that happens outside of us.This episode is us anchoring our own teachings back to the source, the work that shaped how we understand energy, boundaries, and what it means to be sovereign in your practice. If you've ever felt disconnected from your body in ritual, struggled with energetic boundaries, or wondered how consent shows up in magical spaces, this conversation is for you.This path isn't about perfection; it's about presence. Let's begin.A NOTE ON ADVERTISEMENTS: While I can add ads for revenue, I have no control over the ads that are being run. I thank each listener for being a part of this show. Books mentioned in the episode: *Some links below are affiliated links and help me continue producing content.* Weave the Liminal: https://amzn.to/3N97yllAnatomy of a Witch: https://amzn.to/3Nvw93MMore on Laura: Laura Tempest Zakroff (she/they) is a professional artist, author, performer, and Modern Traditional Witch based in New England. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and her artwork has received awards and honors worldwide. Her work embodies myth and the esoteric through her drawings and paintings, jewelry, talismans, and other designs. Laura is the author of several bestselling Llewellyn books including Weave the Liminal, Sigil Witchery, Visual Alchemy, and Anatomy of a Witch, as well as the artist and author of the Sigil Witchery Oracle, Anatomy of a Witch Oracle, The Liminal Spirits Oracle. Laura edited The New Aradia: A Witch's Handbook to Magical Resistance, The Gorgon's Guide to Magical Resistance, and Serpents of Circe: A Manual to Magical Resilience from Revelore Press. Laura is the creative force behind several community events and teaches workshops online and worldwide. http://www.lauratempestzakroff.comhttps://linktr.ee/owlkeymeJoin the Discord. Walk the Tempering Path: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://discord.gg/wfsDsZtMrh ⁠⁠⁠⁠Thank you to my subscribers!Step into the circle. Support the magick, fuel the flame, and get exclusive spells, stories, and sacred chaos on Ko-fi. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://ko-fi.com/witchycornerproductions⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Witchcraft, words, cosplay, and the path of a Priestess, step through the veil and explore my world, from the Temple of the Unseen Flame to the latest spellbinding reads. Start here:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.witchycornerproductions.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on social media: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/witchycornerproductions⁠

In this week's episode, both storytellers explore the surprising connections between dance and science.Part 1: Learning a modern version of her childhood Indian dances puts Sumitra Mattai's brain and body to the test. Part 2: When people doubt that dance can empower girls to pursue STEM careers, Yamilée Toussaint sets out to prove them wrong. Sumitra Mattai is a writer, storyteller and textile designer. She holds a BFA in Textile Design from the Rhode Island School of Design and an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School. Her essays have been published in Huffington Post, Scary Mommy, and Lit Magazine, among others. She lives in Harlem with her family. Yamilée Toussaint is the Founder & CEO of STEM From Dance, which empowers girls with the skills, experiences, and confidence to pursue careers in STEM through the transformative power of dance. Combining her background in engineering, education, and a lifelong passion for dance, she started the program in 2012 to inspire girls of color to pursue STEM careers. Yamilée holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and a M.S. in Teaching from Pace University. She has earned numerous accolades, including the MIT MLK Leadership Award, Teach For America's Social Innovation Award, AnitaB.org's Educational Innovation Award, Falling Walls Foundation Science Engagement Breakthrough of the Year, and a 2024 Top 5 CNN Hero.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of Office Hours, Tamara Johnson shares how her journey as a first-generation college student shaped her path to becoming a professional artist. From studying at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) to building a career in sculpture and large-scale public art, she reflects on the challenges and rewards of forging her own creative path.Tamara discusses how her background influences both her artistic practice and her teaching, and she gives insight into her work with the Committee on Public Art (COPA) and the many public art projects she has contributed to. Plus, she previews Fab Friday — a hands-on event open to the TXST community where anyone can try their hand at sculpting.

Emily Dustman is an antidisciplinarian; intertwining science, art, and innovative teaching practices.  In this episode, she talks about the importance of field work, awareness of the entire ecosystem, respecting the history, doing things differently, and collaboration through creation.About the GuestEmily A. Dustman is an antidisciplinarian whose practice blurs and expands the boundaries between art and science. She is the founder and creative director of E-Squared Magazine, an award-winning international print publication archived at Stanford that draws from diverse fields of inquiry to spark creative thought, experimentation, and cultural transformation.Dustman's work intertwines scientific research, visual art, and innovative pedagogy. She has been published in peer-reviewed journals for her research on species of conservation concern, and her academic journey includes leading science courses and STEAM curriculum development across universities. After completing a Natural Science Illustration program at the Rhode Island School of Design and painting the Turtles of Rhode Island through research at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology, she has championed the use of art to communicate complex scientific ideas. Currently pursuing doctoral research focused on integrating art into science education, Emily teaches biology, environmental science, and sci-art workshops while creating work that invites curiosity, dialogue, and transformative understanding.LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilydustman/Website: http://www.emilydustman.com/Magazine: https://www.esquaredmagazine.com/To learn more, visit:linkedin.com/in/jason-Shupp-18b4619bListen to more episodes on Mission Matters:https://missionmatters.com/author/Jason-Shupp/

Your Brand Is Your Business Outfit: The Unspoken Rules of Brand Identity That Drive Real GrowthGuest: Lexy Rubin, Owner and Creative Director of Rubin Design Company Host: Julie RigaOverviewIn this episode of the Stay On Course Podcast, Julie Riga sits down with Lexy Rubin, Owner and Creative Director of Rubin Design Company, an award-winning branding agency in South Florida. Lexy is a purpose-driven brand strategist whose career spans NASA internships, New York City corporate branding, and 11 years building her own legacy as a founder.Together, they explore what it truly means to build a brand that connects and stands the test of time. From first impression psychology to the rise of AI in design, this conversation delivers authentic growth strategies for entrepreneurs and business leaders ready to elevate their brand.Your Brand Is Your Business Outfit: The Unspoken Rules of Brand Identity That Drive Real GrowthAbout Lexy RubinLexy Rubin is the owner and creative director of Rubin Design Company, a South Florida-based branding agency offering custom logo design services, brand identity design, and brand strategy consulting nationwide. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she became the first graphic designer to intern at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, then worked with Bath and Body Works and L'Oreal in New York City.Fun Fact: Lexy's favorite food is Chicken Romano from the Cheesecake Factory.Key Topics DiscussedWhat Is a Brand, Really? Your brand is your business's first impression. It is the outfit your company wears every day. It shapes purchasing decisions, team recruitment, and client trust before a word is spoken.Why Professional Branding Matters in 2026 Working with a professional logo designer or corporate branding agency is your foundation. With AI everywhere, authentic human-crafted brand identity is a genuine competitive advantage. Apple, Nike, and Starbucks invest heavily in branding because perception is everything.The AI Question Every Business Owner Is Asking Can AI replace custom logo design services? Lexy says not at the soul level. There is an emotional and spiritual dimension to brand identity that no algorithm can replicate. Investment in professional brand strategy consulting is more urgent than ever.Branding Trends for 2025 to 2026 Typography is king, with bespoke typefaces driving personality across logos, websites, and cards. Motion graphics are replacing static visuals. Video-first design is now expected. If your brand has not been refreshed in ten or more years, it is outdated.You Are the Brand Your personal leadership presence and business brand are inseparable. In the age of AI cloning, being authentically yourself is your single most powerful asset.Memorable Quotes"Your brand is basically your first impression. It is the outfit your business wears.""The real, authentic version of yourself is going to be craved now more than ever because of AI.""There is a magical recipe to great brand identity: part logic, part skill, part soul."Key TakeawaysYour brand is your foundation. Get it right before you scale.Authenticity is your superpower in a world of AI-generated content.Every touchpoint is a brand moment: your logo, LinkedIn, and background.Refresh your visual identity as trends and audience expectations evolve.You are the brand. Leadership presence and professional branding are inseparable.Connect with Lexy RubinWebsite: www.RubinDesignCo.comLinkedIn and Facebook: Rubin Design CoConnect with Julie RigaWebsite: julieriga.com/leadCoaching: Learn more about leadership coaching and transformation#BrandIdentity #StayOnCourse #AuthenticLeadership #PurposeDrivenBusiness #BrandingTips2026Subscribe to Stay On Course wherever you listen to podcasts. Share this episode with any business owner who needs to hear this.

Lily Colman speaks about her show, She, Archivist, at the JKC Gallery and her new periodical, Frame/Sequence.She, Archivist is a project about womanhood, inheritance, and specifically how certain items and feelings are passed down between generations of women. The focus is on matrilineal inheritance through perceived rituals in Judaism, and the questioning of certain beliefs passed down.Using traditional film-based and alternative photographic processes and utilizing collage with domestic materials, Colman attempts to reconstruct her identity through her family's matrimonial history as well as her own experience with an abusive marriage and subsequent divorce.https://www.lilycolman.comhttps://www.frame-sequence.comLily was featured in the 2021 International Juried Exhibition at The Center for Contemporary Art in Bedminster, NJ, where she was awarded First Prize and a Solo Exhibition. Her solo exhibition, The Knots on the Underside of the Carpet, ran from April 22 – June 4, 2022, at the CCA.Lily graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with her MFA in 2020, as well as a Certificate in Collegiate Teaching in Art and Design. She has always loved photography, education, and photo books, and wanted to make them accessible to everyone.Frame/Sequence is a photobook periodical that blends personal storytelling with fine art photography. We currently publish bi-anually with the aim of becoming quarterly. We invite writers and photo-based artists—especially from Philadelphia and the surrounding region—to share authentic, lived experiences. Each edition, based around a theme, curates these narratives and striking visual work.This podcast is sponsored by the Charcoal Book ClubBegin Building your dream photobook library today athttps://charcoalbookclub.com

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for ArtistsOn this week's episode I'm joined by New York artist David Hornung.David Hornung is a painter and mixed media artist whose work has been exhibited in the US and UK. Over the course of a long career he has served on the faculties of The Rhode Island School of Design, Indiana University, Skidmore College, Pratt Institute, and Adelphi University. He is the author of Color: A Workshop for Artists and Designers (Laurence King Pub Ltd.), a color textbook. Translated into six languages it is used in art schools around the world. His work is shown at Cynthia Winings Gallery, Elena Zang Gallery, Pulp Gallery, and J.J. Murphy Gallery in NYC.We recorded this episode early one morning at the JJ Murphy Gallery during his solo exhibition "Continuum."On today's episode, David and I explore the nuanced terrain of painting practice and philosophy. We discuss the importance of a painting's surface, how he starts a painting and how one reads a painting. David shares his perspective on scale, arguing that painting is an intimate experience rather than spectacle. We trace his six-decade evolution from observational work through post-painterly abstraction, his collage techniques, and his four recent years of pure abstraction. The conversation touches on Henri Matisse, Ad Reinhardt, Fra Angelico, Albert Pinkham Ryder, and Paul Klee. David also talks his love of shapes, collage, a raw edge, painting slower than he is thinking, factual versus fictional painting, and finally, emphasizes the importance of recognizing one's own temperament and painting both honestly and sincerely from that space; which, he argues, is where great paintings come from.Support this podcast by clicking HERE and becoming a Patreon Supporter!If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!  If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com host: Isaac Mannwww.isaacmann.com insta: @isaac.mann guest: David Hornungwww.davidhornung.cominsta: @davidhornungartworkshops: https://www.artfuelstudio.com/scotland-september-2026-hornung madelineartschool.com/collections/workshops/products/exploring-improvisation-in-abstract-painting?_pos=7&_fid=5184b59de&_ss=c Thank you as always to ARRN, the Detroit-based artist and instrumentalist, for the music.

A Classic RISK! episode from our early years that first ran in November of 2013, when students from Brown University and the Rhode Island School of Design shared true stories at a RISK! live show on campus.

Native Americans have worked hard for decades to counter the stereotypes perpetuated in old movies and television shows about the American West. Now a new generation of Native technology experts worry that artificial intelligence is eroding that work. Scores of AI-generated images and videos are flooding people's social media For You pages. The creations are within easy reach of anyone typing a prompt into any AI generator that scrapes information from millions of sources. Often posted by anonymous creators, the products of those prompts present vaguely Native visual and audio characteristics with little to no authentic cultural connections. Along the way they generate hundreds of thousands of admirers. We'll talk about the work to counter the looming onslaught of AI cultural appropriation. GUESTS Dr. Angelo Baca (Diné and Hopi), professor of history, philosophy, and social sciences at the Rhode Island School of Design Trevor Reed (Hopi), professor of law at the University of California, Irvine School of Law and an associate justice for the Hopi Tribe Court of Appeals Dr. Tamika Worrell (Gamilaroi), senior lecturer of critical Indigenous studies at Macquarie University Break 1 Music: Obsidian (song) Red-209 (artist) Break 2 Music: Digital Winter (song) Ya Tseen (artist) Stand On My Shoulders (album)

Send us a textMichoel Muchnik (b. 1952, Philadelphia) blends formal training from the Rhode Island School of Design with Chassidic scholarship from the Rabbinical College of America. While celebrated for his early storybook-style art and illustrations, his recent work features intricate mixed-media bas-reliefs using crushed metal and polymer clay. His art is held in global collections, and has been exhibited in many places including the Brooklyn Museum. Major projects include the permanent 22-foot bas relief mural titled "The Treasured Land" at the Jewish Children's Museum in Brooklyn, and a 40-foot mural at the Tzfas Visitor Center at Mikveh Chana in the holy city of Tzfas, Israel. Additionally, Muchnik designs institutional donor walls and has illustrated numerous children's books.      He takes great pride in his children and grandchildren, some who  are Chabad shluchim and artists in their own right.-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------https://wig-guru.com - Use Code 'Brainstorm' For 10% Offhttps://ourvillageny.org-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------For more Brainstorm go to...Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2aPCiuzsIoNKYt5jjv7RFT?si=67dfa56d4e764ee0Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/brainstorm-with-sony-perlman/id1596925257Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@brainstormwithsonyInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/brainstormwithsony

Jerrelle Guy is an award-winning author and celebrated food photographer. A graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, she received her master's in gastronomy from Boston University and was nominated for a James Beard Award for her debut cookbook, Black Girl Baking. She is back with a terrific new book, We Fancy, and we hear about her interpretation of fancy, as well as how she thinks about developing recipes for all styles of dining.   Subscribe to This Is TASTE: ⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠, ⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠, ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many of us, handbags are an essential part of our lives. They allow us to leave the house with everything we need, and they also can be another place to show off our status or style. This hour, we look at the evolution of the handbag. We'll talk about famous "It Bags", how handbags contributed to human development, and the impact of the Walmart "Birkin." GUESTS: Nancy MacDonell: Fashion journalist and fashion historian. She writes the Wall Street Journal column "Fashion with a Past.” Her new book is Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion Hannah Carlson: Senior Lecturer in the Apparel Department at the Rhode Island School of Design. She’s also the author of Pockets: An Intimate History of How We Keep Things Close Audrey Wollen: Book critic and writer whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, The New York Review of Books and other outlets. Her article “A Unified Theory of the Handbag” recently appeared in The Yale Review Aarushi Bhandari: An Assistant Professor of Sociology at Davidson College. Her new book is Attention and Alienation Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode! Subscribe to The Noseletter, an email compendium of merriment, secrets, and ancient wisdom brought to you by The Colin McEnroe Show. Colin McEnroe and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show, which originally aired on June 4, 2025.Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donateSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Laura Tempest Zakroff is a professional artist, author, dancer, designer, and Modern Traditional Witch based in New England. She holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and her artwork has received awards and honors worldwide. Her work embodies myth and the esoteric through her drawings and paintings, jewelry, talismans, and other designs. Laura is the author of the best-selling books Weave the Liminal: Living Modern Traditional Witchcraft and Sigil Witchery: A Witch's Guide to Crafting Magick Symbols, as well as the Liminal Spirits Oracle (artist/author) and Anatomy of a Witch. Laura edited The New Aradia: A Witch's Handbook to Magical Resistance (Revelore Press). She blogs for Patheos as A Modern Traditional Witch, contributes to The Witches' Almanac, Ltd, and creates the Witchual Workout and other programming on her YouTube channel.www.LauraTempestZakroff.comwww.instagram.com/owlkeyme.arts/www.patreon.com/owlkeymehttps://twitter.com/ltempestz

This episode we are thrilled to be joined by the artist Martine Gutierrez. Martine is a transdisciplinary artist whose work uses photography, video, and performance to examine how identity is constructed and portrayed. Her projects range from billboards and music videos to her celebrated magazine Indigenous Woman, where she takes on every role — artist, subject, and producer — to challenge pop-culture tropes around gender, beauty, and representation.Her work has been shown internationally, including at the 58th Venice Biennale and in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, LACMA, Crystal Bridges, the Pérez Art Museum, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Her work is also held in major collections including MoMA, the Whitney, the Guggenheim, SFMOMA, LACMA, Crystal Bridges, the National Gallery of Art, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Martine will be in the 2026 Whitney Biennial.Martine received her BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and lives and works in New York.Martine is represented by Fraenkel Gallery and Ryan Lee Galleryhttps://fraenkelgallery.com/artists/martine-gutierrez https://ryanleegallery.com/artists/martine-gutierrez/Some artists discussed in this episode:Yoko OnoMarina AbramovićFollow along on Instagram at @artfromtheoutsidepodcasthttps://www.instagram.com/artfromtheoutsidepodcast

When science and art meet they create a nexus where inspiration and education combine to create impactful outcomes. From illustrated ID guides to building-sized murals, art has been interwoven into science communications for thousands of years and its value has continued to persist. Xerces has harnessed the power of images and we are excited to explore this topic.In this episode, we are sitting down with Jane Kim and Thayer Walker, who founded Ink Dwell, an art studio that produces stunning murals and other works that celebrate the natural world. Jane is a visual artist and science illustrator. She received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Printmaking from Rhode Island School of Design and then attended California State University Monterey Bay, where she earned a master's certificate in science illustration. She has created large-scale public art across the country, including the Wall of Birds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, and produced works for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, and more. Thayer manages Ink Dwell's operations and is an author and correspondent who has written about science, adventure, exploration, and the natural world for nearly two decades—and along the way had some adventures of his own. (I read something about 20 days on a desert island and escaping the jaws of a jaguar…) With Jane, he co-authored The Wall of Birds, a book about that monumental mural at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.---Photo: Benjamin ZackThank you for listening! For more information go to xerces.org/bugbanter.

In this episode of PhotoWork with Sasha Wolf, Sasha is joined by photographer, publisher, editor, and educator Nelson Chan. Together, they trace the winding path that led Nelson to his dream job as a professor at the Rhode Island School of Design. Along the way, Nelson reflects on the “guardian angels” who helped him stay the course, the openness that allowed unexpected opportunities to shape his trajectory, and the community of friends and collaborators who eventually inspired the founding of TIS Books. Sasha and Nelson also talk about the value of building connections, putting yourself out there, and treating your career as a marathon rather than a sprint. https://www.nelsonchanphotography.com/ https://www.tisbooks.pub/ Nelson Chan was born in New Jersey to immigrant parents from Hong Kong and Taiwan and has spent most of his life between the States and Hong Kong. Having grown up between two continents, this immigrant experience influences the majority of his work. Nelson received his BFA and MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design and the Hartford Art School, respectively. He has been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions such as the Museum of Chinese in America, New York, NY; Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA; The Print Center, Philadelphia, PA; Kunstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin, Germany; and 798 Space, Beijing, China. His books are collected in the institutional libraries of The MET, The Guggenheim, SEMOMA, The Whitney Museum, The Harry Ransom Center, and MoMA, among others. Along with his own photographic work, book publishing and education are extensions of, what Nelson refers to as, an industrious studio practice. He is co-founder of TIS books, an independent art book publisher and was production manager at the Aperture Foundation from 2016-19. In 2025, Nelson was awarded tenure at California College of the Arts but ultimately left the Bay Area to teach at the Rhode Island School of Design as an associate professor of photography.

How can we make our exhibitions more sustainable — in every way?Where do we start? What can museum teams learn from sustainability advancements in architecture? What's a “red list?” What is the difference between embodied and operational carbon? What does it mean to do “design for deconstruction?” And when can we all buy the upcoming “Sustainable Museum Exhibition Handbook?”Douglas Flandro (Exhibition Designer & Director of Sustainability, CambridgeSeven) discusses “What is Sustainable Exhibition Design?” with MtM host Jonathan Alger (Managing Partner, C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio).Along the way: museum egos, dark skies, and heat islands.Talking Points:1. Embracing Imperfection2. Design for Human Health3. Design for Social Health and Equity4. Design for Ecosystem Health5. Design for Climate Health6. Design for the Circular EconomyHow to Listen:Listen on Apple Podcasts:https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/making-the-museum/id1674901311  Listen on Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/6oP4QJR7yxv7Rs7VqIpI1G  Listen at Making the Museum, the Website:https://www.makingthemuseum.com/podcast  Links to Every Podcast Service, via Transistor:https://makingthemuseum.transistor.fm/ Guest Bio:Drawing on his background in theater and film design, Douglas Flandro is especially interested in sustainable exhibit design, new technologies, immersive experiences, experiential graphic design and hands-on interactive exhibits. He has designed exhibits and graphics for numerous science museums, children's museums, nature and visitor centers, aquariums, and zoos. As the firm's Director of Sustainability, Douglas leads CambridgeSeven's Sustainable Working Group and has taught and lectured at AAM, ASTC, Parson's School of Design, and the Rhode Island School of Design. He is the author of the forthcoming book, “The Sustainable Exhibition Handbook,” due to be released in the Spring of 2026.About Making the Museum:Making the Museum is hosted (podcast) and written (newsletter) by Jonathan Alger. MtM is a project of C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studio.Learn more about the creative work of C&G Partners:https://www.cgpartnersllc.com/ Links for This Episode:Douglas by Emaildflandro@cambridgeseven.com Douglas on LInkedinhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-flandro/ CambridgeSevenhttps://www.cambridgeseven.com The Sustainable Exhibition Design & Construction Toolkithttps://www.cambridgeseven.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/SEDC-Toolkit_v6_Sep2024.pdf The Museum Exhibition Materials Pledgehttps://www.mindfulmaterials.com/museum-materials-pledge The Gallery Climate Coalitionhttps://measure.galleryclimatecoalition.org/ The Bizot Green Protocolhttps://www.cimam.org/sustainability-and-ecology-museum-practice/bizot-green-protocol/ The Climate Toolkithttps://climatetoolkit.org/about/ Living Future (ILFI) Red List of Worst in Class Chemicalshttps://living-future.org/red-list/  Green Science Policy Institute Six Classes of Chemicalshttps://www.sixclasses.org/ DarkSky Internationalhttps://darksky.org/ Terrapin Bright Green 14+ Patterns of Biophilic Designhttps://www.terrapinbrightgreen.com/report/14-patterns/ The Design Museum, "The Waste Age: What can design do?"https://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/waste-age-what-can-design-do Links for Making the Museum, the Podcast:Contact Making the Museumhttps://www.makingthemuseum.com/contact  Host Jonathan Alger, Managing Partner of C&G Partners, on LinkedInhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanalger  Email Jonathan Algeralger@cgpartnersllc.com  C&G Partners | The Exhibition and Experience Design Studiohttps://www.cgpartnersllc.com/  Making the Museum, the Newsletter:Like the show? You might enjoy the newsletter. Making the Museum is also a free weekly professional development email for exhibition practitioners, museum leaders, and visitor experience professionals. (And newsletter subscribers are the first to hear about new episodes of this podcast.)Join hundreds of your peers with a one-minute read, three times a week. Invest in your career with a diverse, regular feed of planning and design insights, practical tips, and tested strategies — including thought-provoking approaches to technology, experience design, audience, budgeting, content, and project management.Subscribe to the newsletter:https://www.makingthemuseum.com/

Episode 503 / Ruby Sky StilerRuby Sky Stiler is an artist born in Maine and based in Brooklyn. She has been the subject multiple solo presentations, including New Patterns, The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (2022); Group Relief, Fairfield University Art Museum, CT (2020); Fresco, Saint-Gaudens Memorial Park, Cornish, NH (2019); Ghost Versions, The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefield, CT (2015); and Inherited and Borrowed Types, Portland Institute for Contemporary Art, OR (2010), among others. Her work has been included in numerous group exhibitions including Friends & Lovers, FLAG Art Foundation, New York, NY (2023); No Forms, Hill Art Foundation, New York, NY (2022); Classic Beauty: 21st-Century Artists on Ancient [Greek] Form, Providence College Galleries, RI (2018); The Times, FLAG Art Foundation, NY (2017); We Are What We Hide, Institute of Contemporary Art, Maine College of Art & Design, Portland, ME (2013); and the Socrates Sculpture Park Emerging Artist Fellowship Exhibition, Socrates Sculpture Park, Queens, NY (2010), among others. Her work is in the collections of Fairfield University Art Museum, CT; Farnsworth Art Museum, Rockland, ME; The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY; The Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY; and Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Providence, RI.

Spencer Lewis, born 1979 in Hartford, Connecticut, lives and works in Los Angeles. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and the University of California, Los Angeles. Known for his gestural paintings on cardboard and jute, Lewis uses flashy bright and colorful notions executed through streaked lines, smears of paint and rough strokes that suggest the impulsive creative process underneath. With chaotic, almost infinite layers, Lewis's canvases conceal and simultaneously unveil a brushstroke, a gesture over the other, stories and moments culminating and accumulating on the painting's densest parts. Despite the apparent unpredictability of Lewis's compositions, they are based on a methodology and structure. Lewis is, in fact, interested in pictorial organization and image-making. Consistently concentrating towards the centre of the canvas, Lewis's brushstrokes frantically tell the different layers of the same narrative. In a podcast recorded live in his LA studio, he and Zuckerman discuss wanting positive things, paint as a fluid object, seeing and feeling distance between ideas, cities, being courageous, finding novelty, what art is really good at, timelessness, how artists want to be free, having an anxious attachment style, why people like complexity, what feels big, the space of color, how and why you need a studio, how to make great paintings, his phrase “for me to make a painting,” how art is still about beauty, remembering that making art will feel bad, and how gratitude works every time!

We talk to the incredible producer and director, Ryan Cunningham! Ryan shares her journey from studying film at Rhode Island School of Design to working in comedy. She and Jason discuss her early fascination with film, pivotal experiences, and her eventual shift to comedy and television production. Ryan details her notable work on shows like 'Human Giant,' 'Broad City,' and 'Inside Amy Schumer,' and her transition to directing. She discusses the importance of storytelling, her approach to pitching ideas, and the significance of embracing neurodivergent perspectives in comedy. Additionally, Ryan gives insight into her theater directing experiences and her course through GOLD Comedy. Sign up for Ryan's Dec. 1st "Build and Pitch" course! There are 4 payment options: 1 payment: myrootabl.com/r/jr73igUk?rootabl=thereitispod 2 payments: myrootabl.com/r/Oi4HlKFM?rootabl=thereitispod 3 payments: myrootabl.com/r/Xm1WwQuU?rootabl=thereitispod 4 payments: myrootabl.com/r/PwBJpYFM?rootabl=thereitispod Instagram: @RyanECunningham, @ThereItIsPod, @JasonFarrPics  Threads: @ThereItIsPod, @JasonFarrPics Facebook: @ThereItIsPod  Subscribe to our comedy newsletter: https://mailchi.mp/e22defd4dee2/thereitis

Step behind the camera with Ellen Kuras, the award-winning director and cinematographer whose visual storytelling has defined a generation of modern cinema. From her groundbreaking cinematography in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) to her powerful directorial work in Lee (2024), Ellen has redefined what it means to tell stories through light, emotion, and movement. In this in-depth conversation, Ellen shares her creative process, challenges as one of the first women in major cinematography, and her approach to capturing the soul of a story on screen. Whether you're a filmmaker, cinephile, or curious creative, this episode delivers rare insights into the craft, collaboration, and courage that fuel visual storytelling.

Step behind the camera with Ellen Kuras, the award-winning director and cinematographer whose visual storytelling has defined a generation of modern cinema. From her groundbreaking cinematography in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) to her powerful directorial work in Lee (2024), Ellen has redefined what it means to tell stories through light, emotion, and movement. In this in-depth conversation, Ellen shares her creative process, challenges as one of the first women in major cinematography, and her approach to capturing the soul of a story on screen. Whether you're a filmmaker, cinephile, or curious creative, this episode delivers rare insights into the craft, collaboration, and courage that fuel visual storytelling.

Episode 498 / Elena RedmondElena Redmond (b. 1998, Pittsburgh, PA) lives and works in New York City. Redmond presented her first solo exhibition at DIMIN titiled "Sitting Ducks" spring of  2025. Redmond exhibited in DIMIN's three-person exhibition “Unfeigned Mysteries” in 2024, featured in “A Women's Thing”. She has mounted solo exhibitions with Long Story Short, Los Angeles (2022); and Tchotchke Gallery, New York (2022). Redmond has participated in group shows at Moosey Gallery, London; Orlando Museum of Art, Orlando; Blouin Division and Arsenal Contemporary, Montreal; Hashimoto Contemporary, Los Angeles; Andrea Festa Fine Art, Rome; and Eve Leibe Gallery, London. Redmond holds a BFA from Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI.

Hi, It's Michele! Send me a text with who you want as a guest!This Episode is sponsored by Opus 2, MBE LLChttp://www.nielsen-palacios.com/architecthttp://www.nielsen-palacios.com/testimonialshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/christiannielsenpalaciosPhone: 607-319-3150info@thegrouchyarchitect.comLink to blog for text and  images:https://inmawomanarchitect.blogspot.com/2025/10/interview-w-architect-stephen-chung-of.htmlProfessional BackgroundChristian Nielsen-Palacios is a licensed architect with over 40 years of experience, primarily focused on quality assurance (QA), quality control (QC), and technical specification writing for architectural projects. He earned his architecture degree from Universidad Simón Bolívar in Venezuela and later completed a Master's in the History of Architecture at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY .After relocating to the U.S. in 1984, Christian worked in various architectural firms, contributing to numerous public school projects. In 1991, he became a registered architect in New York State . Currently semi-retired, he operates Opus 2 MBE, LLC, offering consulting services that include:Peer reviews of construction documentsTechnical specification writingMentorship for architects, especially those in small firmsTranslation and proofreading services in English and SpanishChristian is active online under the moniker “The Grouchy Architect” (Google him!) where he shares insights on architectural practice, quality control, and professionalStephen K. Chung, AIA is a registered architect in Florida and Massachusetts and principal of Stephen Chung, Architect.  His Boston-based studio is focused on residential and hospitality projects. www.stephenchung.com  Stephen received his architecture degree from Harvard. His recent projects include a new 89 room boutique hotel in called The Sarasota Modern, three new houses in Sarasota and a townhouse development and residential building both in Boston.  In 2020-2024 Stephen won a “Best of Houzz” Award for his residential design work. In March 2009, Casas Internacional published a monograph on his residential work.  The book features eleven of his residential projects.  In addition to practice, Stephen has taught architectural design at several institutions, including Cornell, Rhode Island School of Design, the University of Texas at Austin and Yale University.  Currently he is an Adjunct Professor of Interior Architecture at Suffolk University. Stephen is committed to bridging the gap between the architecture profession and the general public.  To this end, Stephen was the creator, executive producer and host of the acclaimed public television series called “Cool Spaces: The Best New Architecture”. Season 1 of this landmark series debuted on PBS in 2014.  Stephen also hosted a podcast show called “Design Your Dream Home” with architect Doug Patt.  The podcast provided advice to those wanting to design their dream home.  www.thedougandsteveshow.comLink to MGHarchitect: MIchele Grace Hottel, Architect website for scheduling a consultation for an architecture and design project and guest and podcast sponsorship opportunities:https://www.mgharchitect.com/

Toy designer and educator Cas Holman explores how embracing play can unlock creativity, reduce stress, and help small business owners reframe failure as part of growth. Show Notes Page: https://www.thehowofbusiness.com/586-cas-holman-play-in-business/ Cas Holman, renowned toy designer, educator, and author of Playful: How Play Shifts Our Thinking, Inspires Connection, and Sparks Creativity, shares with host Henry Lopez how play isn't just for children. It's a powerful mindset for entrepreneurs. From her early projects like Rigamajig and playful installations at New York's High Line to working with teams at Google, Nike, and the LEGO Foundation, Cas has made a career out of turning curiosity and experimentation into design breakthroughs. Cas and Henry discuss how small business owners can benefit from a more playful approach to work, shifting from rigid outcomes to exploration and possibility. Cas explains her "three essentials for adults to relearn play": release judgment, embrace possibility, and reframe success. Together they reveal how these principles foster innovation, collaboration, and agility - qualities essential for thriving in today's rapidly changing business environment. "The most important thing any human can be right now is flexible," Cas shares. "A playful mindset makes us more creative, more agile, and more open to what's possible." You will be inspired to integrate play into small business meetings, problem-solving, and daily business life. Transforming creativity from a childhood memory into a strategic advantage. Cas Holman is an award-winning toy designer, educator, and author. Founder and Chief Designer of Heroes Will Rise and creator of the acclaimed Rigamajig building kits, her work focuses on the combination of creativity, design, and learning through play. Formerly a professor of Industrial Design at the Rhode Island School of Design, Cas now consults with companies and teams around the world, including Google, Nike, and Disney Imagineering, on the power of play to inspire innovation. This episode is hosted by Henry Lopez. The How of Business podcast focuses on helping you start, run, grow and exit your small business. The How of Business is a top-rated podcast for small business owners and entrepreneurs. Find the best podcast, small business coaching, resources and trusted service partners for small business owners and entrepreneurs at our website https://TheHowOfBusiness.com

What if boredom is the birthplace of your teen's creativity—and your sanity? And what if your own playfulness is the most powerful “parenting tool” you're not using? In this episode, internationally recognized play designer and RISD professor Cass Holman (creator of the RIGAMAJIG and author of Playful) shows us why free play—play that's freely chosen, personally directed, and intrinsically motivated—is essential for teens and adults. We talk about releasing judgment, embracing possibility, and reframing success (hint: it's not the perfect selfie at the summit). Cass explains why boredom matters, how “consuming” play (scrolling) differs from “generative” play (making), and offers practical ways moms can invite more low-pressure play into everyday life—without becoming their teen's cruise director. Guest bio paragraph:Cass Holman is an internationally recognized designer, educator, and play advocate. A longtime professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, Cass created RIGAMAJIG, a large-scale building kit used in thousands of schools and museums, and is featured on Netflix's Abstract: The Art of Design. Their new book, Playful: How Play Shifts Our Thinking, Inspires Connection, and Sparks Creativity, distills two decades of designing for play, leading workshops at places like Google, Disney, and Nike, and collaborating with child-development experts to help all of us—kids, teens, and adults—reconnect with true play. Three takeaways: Boredom is productive. Letting teens linger in boredom helps them notice what they actually need and choose self-directed, creative action. Reframe success. Swap “Did we reach the top?” for “Did we connect?”—and watch stress melt while curiosity rises. Model, don't manufacture. You don't need to entertain your teen; be playful yourself. Release judgment, embrace possibility, and let “good enough” be great. Learn more at: https://casholman.com/ Follow at https://www.instagram.com/casholman/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kendra Gay is a facilitator for the Rhode Island School Recycling Project, an organization that has been instrumental in engaging many schools in Rhode Island to participate in school food waste solutions.Enjoy Episode 166

Lisa Davidson is an ironworker with Local 377 San Francisco. Her team currently does ironwork on the Golden Gate Bridge. But we'll get to that. In this episode, S8 E3, meet and get to know Lisa. I first did that back in May at our Keep It Local art show at Babylon Burning (thanks, Mike and Judy!). Someone at the party that night approached me to let me know that there was a person there who works on the best bridge in the world (fact) and that I should meet them. I love when people really get me. Right away, I was drawn in by Lisa's warmth, charm, and sense of humor. And so we sat down outside in Fort Mason in early August and Lisa shared her life story. She was raised feeling like she had complete freedom. It was something Lisa didn't realize at the time, but looking back, it became clear to her. She was raised in Framingham, Massachusetts, just outside of Boston, in a liberal household. Her grandparents lived in Boston itself, and she loved visiting them when she was a kid. Her grandfather ran a tchotchke store in town called House of Hurwitz, and Lisa says that the place had a big influence on her outlook. It was located on the edge of what they call, to this day, the “Combat Zone” (think: red-light district). Her “wheelin' and dealin'” grandpa sold mylar balloons to the Boston Gardens for events held there. He told young Lisa that she could blow up balloons and that that could be her future. Lisa has a brother four years younger than she is. Her dad was an electrician. One of his clients was a lithograph press in Boston. He'd sometimes get paged for a job and have to leave his family, although Lisa now wonders whether he just wanted to get away from time to time. When she was a senior in high school, her parents divorced, despite being a very loving couple up to that point. She says her mom was “crazy in an I Love Lucy way. She was raised in the Fifties the way many young women at that time were, in a way that did its best to stifle any creativity. Suffice to say that her mom had fun decorating the house Lisa grew up in. Despite her and her family's Jewishness, Lisa revolted and wanted to go to Catholic school or just become a preppy L.L. Bean-type kid. She of course regrets rejecting the norms of her family nowadays. It was what it was. The family was more culturally Jewish than religious, though, something Lisa says was a huge influence on who she's become as an adult. She graduated high school and went to college at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. It wasn't Ivy League, but it was (and is) something of a preppy school. Where Lisa grew up, there was an expectation that kids would go to college, and so she went. It wasn't super far from home, but it wasn't close either. Her parents did suggest that Lisa maybe go to art school. But in her family, it was the kid dismissing that idea. “That's a not real school,” young Lisa told them. She liked sports. At Amherst, she joined the crew team. She liked the competition and how good of shape it got you in. She liked it, but it was a lot of pressure. She graduated, took a year off working odd jobs, then dove into art school. So next up was Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She was surprised she got in, and even navigated a bit of impostor syndrome. Surprised by the school's acceptance of her and feeling somewhat intimidated by other artist students, Lisa ended up doing printmaking. Rather than aiming for a master's degree, she sought a second bachelor's. Her studies had her spending a lot of time in the school's foundry, where she discovered welding. She loved it. During her time back in Amherst, she'd heard of a guy who was going to Alaska. (Lisa and I go off-topic into our shared distaste for camping at this point in the conversation.) Back to the Alaska story, her mom was fully supportive and even took her shopping at an Army Navy store. She went there and worked in canneries through the summer between her junior and senior years at Amherst. While she was up north, doing jobs all over the state, she met folks from California. From the stories they told her, it became a place she wanted to go. But first, RISD. In Rhode Island, she met a guy from Danville in the East Bay. When his family learned of her interest in our state, they invited Lisa to spend a summer with them, which she did. And she and her friend came to The City as often as they could. After those few months, she knew that California—and specifically, The Bay—was for her. She needed to go back and finish that second round of college in Rhode Island, and she did. After that, Lisa “beelined it” back to Oakland. She found work in a prop shop making sculptures out of foam with a chainsaw. Check back this Thursday for Part 2 with Lisa Davidson. We recorded this podcast at Equator Coffee in Fort Mason in August 2025. Photography by Jeff Hunt

Episode 489 / Alexis RockmanBorn in 1962 in New York, Alexis Rockman has depicted a darkly surreal vision of the collision between civilization and nature – often apocalyptic scenarios on a monumental scale – for over three decades. Notable solo museum exhibitions include “Alexis Rockman: Manifest Destiny” at the Brooklyn Museum (2004), which traveled to several institutions including the Wexner Center for the Arts (2004) and the Rhode Island School of Design (2005). In 2010, the Smithsonian American Art Museum organized “Alexis Rockman: A Fable for Tomorrow,” a major touring survey of his paintings and works on paper. Concurrent with Rockman's 2013 exhibition at Sperone Westwater, the Drawing Center mounted “Drawings from Life of Pi,” featuring the artist's collaboration with Ang Lee on the award-winning film Life of Pi. His series of 76 New Mexico Field Drawings was included in “Future Shock” at SITE Santa Fe (2017-18). “Alexis Rockman and Mark Dion: A Journey to Nature's Underworld” was presented at the Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT (2023) and traveled to the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art (2024). It will be on view at the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY until 5 January 2025, and at the Palmer Museum of Art at Penn State from August 30th through December 7th. His work is represented in many museum collections, including the Baltimore Museum of Art; Brooklyn Museum; Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; Grand Rapids Art Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; New Orleans Museum of Art; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Smithsonian American Art Museum; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and Whitney Museum of American Art. Rockman's first solo exhibition with Sperone Westwater, “Evolution,” was presented in 1992. He has had subsequent solo exhibitions at the gallery in 2013, 2018, 2020-21 and 2023. He lives and works in Warren, Connecticut.

Why do we design indoor spaces the way we do? What are the unseen socio-cultural impacts involved and how do they impact other aspects of the indoor environment that we can not see? Today, we're unpacking the idea that our indoor environments are not just passive shelters - they are complex, multifaceted situations with competing goals and perspectives. As our guest, Dr. Liz McCormick shares, our relationship with indoor space is a rich, interdependent web of circumstances that stretches well beyond the boundaries of any single discipline. We'll be bringing together insights from architecture, anthropology, and ecology to explore the substantial footprint of our built environments—physically, on a scale equivalent to global grasslands and tropical forests; psychologically, as we experience thermal blandness and a disconnect from nature; and ecologically, as we grapple with a misplaced sense of separation from the "dirt" and the world outside our carefully conditioned spaces. This conversation will challenge us to rethink outdated ideas and address why the air we live in—this "material" we are in constant contact with—matters so much for our health. We'll be looking at a comprehensive model for indoor air quality, considering the crucial interactions between pollutants, their pathways, and our exposure. Buckle up for another thoughtful adventure on the Building Science Podcast!Links from the Episode:Buildings don't use energy: people doEntomological HappeningsThe Architecture of Vector ControlLiz McCormickMcCormick is a licensed architect, educator, and researcher whose work explores healthy, climatically sensitive, and contextually appropriate building design strategies that connect occupants to the outdoors while also reducing the dependence on mechanical conditioning technologies. Her recent book, Inside OUT: Human Health & the Air-Conditioning Era (Routledge), tells the rich story of both the social and technological drivers of the conditioned indoors while making an argument for thoughtful interventions in the built environment. It brings together a multi-disciplinary group of experts of the indoors, including scientists, anthropologists, engineers, and architects, to discuss the future of human habitation with a dominant focus on human health in a post-pandemic world. Liz is also the lead-PI for the NSF-supported research study abroad program to Tanzania (through 2026).Liz is a WELL and LEED Accredited Professional and a Certified Passive House Consultant. With over 10 years of experience as a practicing architect, she has worked on a variety of project scales from single-family passive houses to LEED-certified commercial office buildings and campuses. She received a PhD in Design from North Carolina State University, Master of Science in Building Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as well as bachelor's degrees in architecture and fine arts from the Rhode Island School of Design. Liz was the recipient of the 2021 AIAS/ACSA New Faculty Teaching Award, which “honors architectural educators for exemplary work in areas such as building design, community collaborations, scholarship, and service,” the announcement reads. Liz is also an active member of numerous professional and academic organizations, including the American Institute of Architects (AIA), AIA Charlotte Committee on the Environment (COTE), National Passive House Alliance (PHAUS), the Society of Building Science Educators (SBSE). Additionally, she is an invited board member of the Softwood Lumber Board (SLB) and the president-elect for the Building Technology Educators Society (BTES)

In a world of perpetual motion, there exists a realm of profound stillness—where light doesn't simply illuminate, it transforms. Far from home amid Earth's frozen tundras, time itself seems suspended in crystalline air. In today's podcast, we'll visit these places where time hangs in the balance, and we'll explore the intrepid mix of endurance, patience, and vision it takes to make pictures there. Joining us for this conversation are polar photography specialists Acacia Johnson and Jonas Paurell. From making distinctions between Arctic and Antarctic regions, to learning about the unique challenges involved with photographing there, our polar experts share many valuable insights. In addition to tips about packing and safeguarding camera gear in cold weather climates, we also discuss the importance of managing expectations during such trips, especially when faced with a long wait to see wildlife amid the barren stillness. As Alaskan photographer Acacia Johnson puts it, “… I think going into a trip with kind of a sense of exploration, like the joy of the trip is that you don't know, and it's completely unique to your experience. And whatever you do see is kind of a gift.”   Guests: Acacia Johnson & Jonas Paurell Episode Timeline: 3:37: Acacia Johnson's upbringing in the wilds of Alaska and leaving the area for photo studies at the Rhode Island School of Design in the lower 48. 7:35: Jonas Paurell's youth in Sweden and the impact his first trek to Scandinavian Arctic regions had on his soul. 14:08: The differences between Arctic and Antarctic polar landscapes, plus Acacia's experiences during a winter in Arctic Bay, with no sun for four months. 29:13: Different approaches to storytelling about the Arctic based on subject matter, and capturing an emotion in images that does justice to the landscape. 37:31: The logistics of getting to Arctic and Antarctic locations, and expenses involved with working and living there. 43:19: The Jubilee Expedition Jonas organized to celebrate the 150th anniversary of a legendary Swedish polar expedition to Svalbard. 51:20: Episode Break 51:38: Preparations for a polar expedition and the camera gear Acacia and Jonas pack. 1:00:31: Using a large format camera on polar expeditions, plus managing gear in extreme cold conditions. 1:06:42: Managing expectations for travelers, misconceptions when planning trips, plus different types of vessels used during expeditions to polar regions. 1:16:42: Cultivating an authentic connection to place when photographing polar regions. 1:21:29: The changing ethics of photographing in polar regions, plus findings from Jonas's Jubilee Expedition Guest Bios: Acacia Johnson is a photographer, writer, and a 2023 National Geographic Explorer based in Anchorage, Alaska. Drawn to painterly light and otherworldly landscapes, her work focuses on the environment, conservation, and connections between people and place. Over the past 10 years, she has made more than fifty expeditions to the Arctic and Antarctica as a photographer and a guide—always seeking to inspire wonder and compassion for these remote regions during a time of rapid change. Her photographs have been exhibited internationally and have been featured in The New York Times, The Guardian, National Geographic and TIME magazines, among other publications. In 2021, Acacia was awarded the Canon Female Photojournalist Grant, and in 2022 she received the ICP Infinity Award for Documentary Practices and Photojournalism. Jonas Paurell is an explorer, conservation photographer, photo educator, and speaker from Gothenburg, Sweden. One of his most ambitious projects is a 25-year documentation of the Arctic. Through ski expeditions and icebreaker voyages, he has captured both the resilience and vulnerability of Arctic landscapes, emphasizing the fragility of the region and the urgent need for preservation. In 2022, Jonas launched The Jubilee Expedition, recreating the historic Swedish Polar Expedition of 1872 to highlight this region's rapid melting and the far-reaching impacts of climate change. Jonas is also founder of Terra Photography Expeditions, which offers immersive workshops in both Arctic regions and South American rainforests, helping photographers deepen their connection with nature while refining their craft. Additionally, before dedicating his life to photography, Jonas served as a human rights lawyer for the United Nations. Stay Connected: Acacia Johnson Website Instagram Facebook X Jonas Paurell Website Terra Photography Expedition Instagram Facebook YouTube   Host: Derek Fahsbender Senior Creative Producer: Jill Waterman Senior Technical Producer: Mike Weinstein Executive Producer: Richard Stevens