Art on the Air

Art(s) on the Air with Maxx Feist - Podcasthon collab!

Join Tamara for an interview with Savannah, GA artist Maxx Feist, a nonbinary self-taught artist from Asheville, NC who spends all the days and all the times painting! Highly influenced by a regular regiment of caffeine, heavy metal, and true crime podcasts, Maxx fights to connect the cerebral with the visual…always trying to maintain a balance between the dark and the light. This generally come through by way of underworld subject matter highlighted in bright colors and fun abstract shapes, borders, rope-like imagery, and other whimsical additions. 

 

** For this episode, I (Tamara) am very happy to participate in this 3rd edition of Podcasthon! For one week, more than a thousand podcasts will highlight a charity of their choice. There's no money involved—it’s all about raising awareness for various charitable causes.

I am highlighting The ACLU, which defends the rights of all people nationwide.

“With immigrant rights, trans justice, reproductive freedom, and more at risk, we’re in courts and communities across the country to protect everyone’s rights — and we need you with us.”

https://www.aclu.org/

If you enjoyed my episode, feel free to visit https://podcasthon.org/ to discover hundreds of other great causes through the voices and talents of other podcasters around the world! **

 

Check out Maxx’s work and follow them here: 

https://www.instagram.com/maxx_feist/

https://www.maxxfeistart.com/

 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Ben Copperwheat

Join Tamara for an interview with Ben Copperwheat, a versatile artist known for his exceptional work in fine art, wearable art, and interior concepts. 

His distinctive style is characterized by vibrant colors, bold graphic imagery, and captivating screen prints. His art bursts with a riot of rainbow and neon hues, encompassing a diverse range of motifs and icons that form a unique visual language. 

Ben was born in 1975 in Luton, U.K., and received a BA and an MA in the arts before moving to NYC in 2003. He worked as a Print Designer for Calvin Klein for a few years and then freelanced - co-founding an avant-garde menswear line, and working with stylist Patricia Field at events like Berlin Fashion Week and Art Basel Miami. In 2018, he moved here to Savannah and became a Professor of Fibers at SCAD.

Check out Ben's work and follow him here: 

https://www.instagram.com/bencopperwheat/ 
http://www.bencopperwheat.com/ 

 

Tune in and get all the details! 

Art(s) on the Air with Cyril Durant

Join Tamara for an interview with singer-songwriter Cyril Durant, who has lived in Savannah since 2013, after receiving a BM and an MM in vocal performance from Georgia Southern University.

His early professional life was as an opera singer (!), including performing at Opera Fayetteville in Fayetteville, AR as Friedrich Bhaer in Little Women. Since then, he has performed in the Savannah Music Festival, headed up the funk/jazz band "Those Cats," performed solo around Savannah as a singer and guitar or keys player, and has also been teaching Modern Band (like "School of Rock") at Benedictine Military School for the past 10 years.

Cyril plays solo shows around Savannah - particularly at Alida, Toasted Barrel, and Bar Julien - each week. Follow his IG to catch him live, and check out his work on all streaming platforms! (And if you go to the St. Patrick's Day Parade, look for Cyril in the midst of about 360 Benedictine marching band students.)

Song clips played during this episode:
Opera performance as Professor Bhaer of Little Women
Those Cats cover of "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley
"Love is a Drug," his first solo recording
Solo cover of "Toxic" by Britney Spears

 

Check out more of Cyril's music and follow him here: 
https://www.cdurantmusic.com/
https://www.instagram.com/cyrildurantmusic/ 

* Time to vote for Connect's 2025 "Best Of Savannah!" now through 3/17/25 - From Cyril: "Made it through to the voting rounds! Cash in a daily vote for me in the categories for Best Singer-Songwriter, Vocalist, and All-Round Musician." 

 

Tune in and get all the details! 

Art(s) on the Air with Carmen Aguirre

Join Tamara for an interview with oil painter Carmen Aguirre, a Miami native who got her BFA Fine Art in Miami, and then went to Spain for graduate study with Valencian classical painter Amadeo Roca Gisbert.  

Carmen moved to Savannah in 2016 and then spent about 10 years working for the former Grand Bohemian Gallery at the Mansion, eventually becoming Gallery Director. She is a figurative painter working in oil on canvas and/or panel. While she represents scenes of daily life, her objective is also to convey how the subject touches and inspires her. 

Check out more of Carmen's work and follow her here: 
https://www.instagram.com/carmenmaguirre/ 
https://www.carmenmariaaguirre.com/ 

 

Topics in their chat include:

The sharp learning curve of her graduate program in Spain, where she was thrown into the deep end of representational oil painting; she reminisces about her college and grad school era of not being super concerned about what her art would lead her to, career-wise, but just being at peace about pursuing your art degree for learning's sake; living in Miami and attending Art Basel from when it began in 2002; how she moved to Savannah about 20 years ago after having visited her daughter here many times; how she met good friend and fellow painter Dana Richardson when coming across Dana painting in Forsyth Park; her preference for including a frame on her art to call it "finished;" lessons learned from a past solo show at the JEA in which she had 24 (!) paintings; what are mangroves?; her conceptual painting of an orange LifeSaver candy; her years of having real creative control over discovering new Savannah artists and bringing them into the Mansion's Gallery; her recent series of paintings exploring Daffin Park and depicting the sense of vast space there; and her goals for 2025 of: building up a big series of paintings, putting on a public show, and possibly starting a series of artist salons.

 

Tune in and get all the details! 

Art(s) on the Air with Darcy Melton

Join Tamara for an interview with oil painter Darcy Melton, a local native who attended Savannah Arts Academy and then tried fashion school in NYC for a year, before returning to Savannah and the self-directed study of fine art. Her work focuses on portraits (she accepts commissions) and still lifes, and she has taught painting workshops at the Jepson Center and at Arts on the Coast in Richmond Hill.

Darcy's mother-in-law is Melinda Borysevicz, a former local figurative oil painter who has moved to Italy, and through her Darcy's been able to gain Italian residency too. She now splits her time between Savannah - look for her in shows at Location Gallery, SLAM, and Isle of Hope Art Fair - and Padula, Italy! 

 

Check out more of Darcy's work and follow her here:

https://www.darcymeltonfineart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/darcymeltonfineart/

Topics in their chat include:

How Darcy transitioned from watercolor painting to oil, and her advice that if you can work simply, with a limited palette and just one "solvent," moving from watercolor to oil painting is actually way less intimidating and complicated than people tend to think; once she started showing her work in person at a Sulfur Street Fair, and expanding to portrait work, both around 2021/2022, her career rapidly got a foothold; a large part of her art business recently is portrait commissions (she is open if you would like to book one!); juggling trying to learn Italian and/or Neapolitan, the dialect spoken in her town of Padula; and the 2 projects she shares with her husband Nathaniel Mellor - the "Only a Bag" podcast of Italian travel tips, news, and history tidbits, and their art & literary magazine "Pigeon Review," which they started during COVID and hope to reinstate in the near future.

P.S. - at some point we could not remember what ASMR actually stands for and I promised to do research, so here it is! "ASMR (Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response) is a relaxing sensation triggered by specific sounds or visuals, often described as a 'tingling' feeling in the head or spine." 

Tune in and get all the details! 

Art(s) on the Air with Andrew Meyer

Join Tamara for an interview (actually, we're calling it a conversation!) with notable movie producer Andrew Meyer. What exactly does a movie producer do? You better believe we cover that in the first few minutes! 

Andrew spent years in Hollywood, where he served as the President of Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ A&M Films, Robert Redford’s Wildwood Productions, and Norman Lear’s Act All Productions. For the past 20 years, he has lived in Savannah and worked as a Professor of Film and Television at SCAD.

Notable among the many films Andrew has produced are Fried Green Tomatoes, nominated for two Academy Awards; The Breakfast Club, which Entertainment Weekly named “The Best High School Movie of all Time;” Birdy, which won the Grand Prix Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival; and the iconic fan favorite Better Off Dead.

He recently published his second book, Walking In the Fast Lane - purchase it online here for now, and it will come out in print later in January! https://tinyurl.com/3rdrcnku  

Check out more of Andrew's work and follow him here:

https://andrewmeyerentertainment.com/
https://www.instagram.com/andyhmeyer839/ 

 

Topics in their chat include:

The different types of producers; how Andrew's best advice to become a producer is to option a book (acquire the rights); his early career as a music producer and a story of how the Police had to fight for "Roxanne" to be a single; his sabbatical year of traveling around the world, which ended when he received a telegram (!); the usefulness of learning the "Movie Magic" software; how The Breakfast Club went from being a small indie movie to a much larger-budget movie with a much better set; why authors are frequently not great at adapting their own work into a screenplay; the 2 different types of screenwriters; the fact that Stephen King sells the rights to some of his short stories for just $1, allowing aspiring filmmakers and students to adapt them into movies; and his job interview with Robert Redford that involved him traveling to Sundance and then being asked to ride horses through mountain territory together.

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air - A Local Music Special Show!

Hi everyone! It's the holidays and I'm taking a little break. Please enjoy a compilation of songs from many of the Savannah musicians I've interviewed over the last 2.5 years (since Rob Hessler handed the show over to me). 

Here are timestamps of the musicians included, and links to listen to their interview and to follow them, if you like what you hear and want more of it!

 

1:27-9:55
Kristin King (harpist and co-owner of New Arts Ensembles, a music booking agency)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-s-on-the-air-with-kristin-king/id1483496536?i=1000577827751 
https://www.instagram.com/kristinharp9
https://www.facebook.com/newartsensembles

9:55-13:22
Derek Hakikta AKA Kola Hak (solo electronic musician and also bassist for the metal band Black Tusk)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-s-on-the-air-with-derek-hak%C3%ADkta-lynch-kola-hak/id1483496536?i=1000580221896 
https://www.instagram.com/kola_hak/
https://kolahak.bandcamp.com 

13:22-22:01
Veronica Garcia-Melendez (half of synth band Bero Bero - singer, keys, songwriting)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-s-on-the-air-with-veronica-garcia-melendez-of/id1483496536?i=1000597614544 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSeLKL2d5alzeNSpMAQHDVg
https://www.instagram.com/beroberoband/ 

22:01-27:54
Matt Eckstine (Americana/Folk singer, guitar, songwriting)
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-s-on-the-air-with-matt-eckstine/id1483496536?i=1000640427905 
https://www.instagram.com/matteckstinemusic/
https://www.matteckstinemusic.com/ 

27:54-35:44
The Maxines ("a badass all chick rock band in Savannah, GA - grunge w/ a kiss of metal")
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-s-on-the-air-with-the-maxines/id1483496536?i=1000644487928 
https://www.instagram.com/themaxinesband/
https://themaxinesband.bandcamp.com/album/skin-tight

35:44-42:19
Jason Bible (Americana and rock singer-songwriter, guitar, harmonica) 
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/art-s-on-the-air-with-jason-bible/id1483496536?i=1000664592162 
https://www.instagram.com/jasonbiblemusic/ 
https://open.spotify.com/artist/1UXKMDrq24J2TJIJi4DJAN
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-7NvBK95xe8bPrdmvtW_IA

42:19-56:13
Eric Jones Trio (Jazz band who kindly provides she show's intro and outro music) 
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLwMrATqJ7yl6ZCM_o1_VJA  
https://www.instagram.com/edjmusicworld/ 

Thanks so much for listening, to this show and in general! I appreciate all of your support and kind words about our interviews.

Happy Holidays, Happy New Year, and see you back here with a new interview on Weds, Jan 1, 2025! 

--Tamara 

Art(s) on the Air with Charles Alexander

Knives out! Join Tamara for an interview with Charles Alexander, the Chef de Cuisine at Farm Bluffton. He grew up in NYC with a father who worked as a chef in Manhattan, and Charles has worked at fine dining restaurants in Key West, Atlanta, and now Savannah/Bluffton. 

Passionate about high quality and seasonal cuisine, Charles is trained and experienced in classical French, Mediterranean, Asian, and American cuisines.

Mark your calendars: Charles will be putting on a ramen pop-up at Strangebird on Tues, Dec 10! *Edit Dec 6 - unfortunately this has been canceled, but keep an eye on his IG for events to come*

 

Check out Charles's work, follow him, and get news on more pop-ups he'll be doing here:

https://www.instagram.com/chefcharlesalexander/ 

 

Topics in their chat include: 

Knives - seriously, so much info about Japanese knives!; the crossover between working in ceramics and working as a chef; how to use a thin metal probe to test whether fish is cooked properly (it's not as simple as using it to test a cake); the importance of math - how Michelin star restaurants measure ingredients out to the gram, so a recipe can easily be scaled up and down; the French term "mise en place;" why the earliest restaurant kitchens were run by military cooks; his tips on food photography and on multitasking when cooking a meal with multiple components; and how "farm to table" means that Charles has personal relationship with local farmers. 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Bailey Davidson

Join Tamara for an interview with photographer Bailey Davidson, a Milledgeville native who lived in NYC as an aspiring actor for a few years, before returning to Georgia in the late 90s to pursue his MFA in Photography at SCAD. 

Since graduating, Bailey has built his freelance career in all aspects of professional commercial and editorial photography, working with a wide range of clients, including Savannah Music Festival, Wine Enthusiast Magazine, and The London Observer.

This past spring he opened a studio in City Market - go visit him and his 20 years' worth of Savannah photos there! 

Check out Bailey's work and follow him here: 

https://www.facebook.com/BaileyDavidsonPhotography 
https://baileydavidson.com/ 

Topics in their chat include:

Bailey's indie movie he acted in, called "Bringing Down Dejonga" (this was the ending title after all! I found out online. --Tamara); how while in NYC he started taking headshots for his fellow actors and gradually took more and more photos, getting into art shows, and drifting from acting to photography; how he first heard of SCAD because his parents happened to meet the Poetters on a cruise; his Flannery O'Connor tie-ins of having grown up in Milledgeville and then living in the garden apartment of her childhood home as his first Savannah apartment; his practice immediately post-grad of shooting weddings and family portraits, to support himself as he built up his clients for commercial and editorial shoots; his show at the JEA last year that was a continuation of his MFP thesis show, "Bailey's Acres," all Holga pinhole camera work; the nostalgia of taking photos with an analog/film camera and then being surprised by the images once you pick up your developed photos; his Storyboards website where he displays his series of photos that combine to tell a story, influenced by David Hockney and Robert Rauschenberg; his photography books "Seasons of Savannah," "Savannah Past and Present," and "Milledgeville Then and Now;" recently getting published in the fine art mag "Black & White Magazine;" and his advice to students and young photographers to just shoot shoot shoot as there's no substitute for practicing your craft.

 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Julia Roland

Join Tamara for an interview with Julia Roland, a Savannah native who graduated from SCAD earlier this year with a BFA in painting and a minor in art history. The paintings in her portfolio symbolize the many different layers of African American culture and human identity through the juxtaposition of frontal facing confrontational figures, saturated colors, bold shapes, and loose patterns. These paintings are reflections of her identities intersecting as a black, queer woman. 

You can view her work in the current FAAA Small Works show at the Jepson Center, through November 26, 2024; at Bobby Bagley's studio/co-op gallery in City Market; and murals at Kim's Cafe and the outside door of a Head Start off of MLK.

 

Check out Julia's work and follow her here: 

https://www.juliaroland.com/
https://www.instagram.com/j.r.art_/ 

Topics in their chat include:

How Julia began showing her work in various Savannah spots as young as 18; she enjoys hand-building her substrates and using a jigsaw to cut out organic shapes for her wood panel art; she's always been into design and pattern but didn't want to create strictly abstract paintings, so her current work is portraits with abstract backgrounds; to build up the abstraction she relies on the underpainting to guide her, letting areas peek through or inform a pattern she's going to emphasize; creating murals at Kim's Cafe on MLK, including a portrait of MLK, Malcolm X, and the owners' mother, Kim (and thus the pressure to get portraits right when they're of recognizable people); what is a collagraph and why is it a good printmaking process for someone with a small working space?; her collagraph inspired by her experiences with roommates of different races and thinking about the differences in their hair; the challenge of using a handheld jigsaw to cut out her organic-shaped panels - it has to be thick enough to cut cleanly, but if it's too thick then the piece is very heavy, so Julia likes 1/4" plywood or a small piece of birch; her upcoming group show at Swan Coach House Gallery in Atlanta; her best advice to young artists who are looking to to find their style, message, and audience: thinking of creating art as a lifestyle and not a career, so that you find success in your productivity and not necessarily in your sales. 

 

Tune in and get all the details!