Art on the Air

Art(s) on the Air with Ron Martinez (Hostess City Hot Glass)

Join Tamara – and David Laughlin, previous co-host of the show! – for an interview with Ron Martinez, owner of Hostess City Hot Glass, and his assistant Chris Charley.

A native of nearby Metter, GA, Ron was first introduced to glassblowing while in college in the Pacific Northwest. While supporting himself in jobs ranging from salmon fisherman to antiques dealer, Ronald continued to pursue his love of the ancient craft in Seattle, the Bay Area, and even on a program in Sweden! Ron eventually returned to Savannah with his wife and daughter, and after a few years of working at the now-closed Drayton Glassworks, he opened Hostess City Hot Glass in 2018. 

In his amazing glassblowing studio you can take a class, book an event, and shop online and in-studio. They even put on seasonal "epic little scavenger hunts" called Glass Hunts, which allow folks to explore a certain spot in Savannah and find their very own one-of-a-kind hand blown piece of art! 

Check out Ron's glasswork and follow the shop here: 

https://www.hostesscityhotglass.com/
https://www.instagram.com/hostesscityhotglass/ 
https://www.etsy.com/shop/HostessCityHotGlass 

Topics in their chat include:

Ron considers himself to be a glass turner, as opposed to a glass blower; how a glass business is really difficult to maintain, not least because your electric and gas bills are super high - the temperature in his studio frequently reaches 2300 degrees so they have fans running and much of their making is done at night; Ron's belief that his business's success is due to keeping a balance of both making/selling products, and teaching glass making; his term "glasshole" for the jerks in his business; the glass hunts they put on every few months - keep an eye out on their social media! - basically an Easter Egg hunt in a particular spot in town, but you're finding and keeping one of Ron's small glass objects!; at the beginning of the second half Ron goes into the history of glassmaking and info about the modern scene, how the two major tracks are Venetian and Swedish; creating all of the art for his show last year at the Mansion on Forsyth Park in one week; how Ron will be exploring light fixtures for his new/upcoming work; his focus on symmetry as the main technical element in his work; his loss of fingerprints on one hand (!); their new shopdog, Peaches the bulldog; and his awesome answer to David's last question: What's something you can do with glass that you can't do with other mediums?

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Ted Michalowski

Join Tamara - and David Laughlin, previous co-host of the show! - for an interview with Ted Michalowski, a Professor of Illustration at SCAD with a long career as an On-the-Spot/Reportage/Lifestyle Illustrator. He graduated in the inaugural class of Murray Tinkelman’s MFA Illustration program at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford.

Ted went on to work as a courtroom artist in a variety of high-profile trials, broadcasted by CNN, CNN en Español, CBS News, ABC News, and Fox News. For ten years he also studied privately under Fred Brenner, prominent children’s book illustrator, wildlife artist, fashion illustrator, and educator.

He and his students got the chance to create live drawings of many actors visiting for the recent SCAD Film Fest, including Bob and Erin Odenkirk and Kevin Bacon. Ted also has an original piece in an exhibition opening Nov 17, at the Society of Illustrators in NYC! 

Check out Ted's work and follow him here: 

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

Topics in their chat include:

Ted's hilarious quote about courtroom illustration: "capturing people through drawing; drawing people who have already been captured;" his father's influence on Ted and instilling the value of making, keeping, and maintaining friendships; the "friendliness of drawing" in connecting with a person visually; teacher Fred Brenner who inspired him to start drawing people while sitting out in public, and his thoughts about a face being a landscape; a teaser of Ted's AMAZING rock DJ voice at the beginning of the show's second half; the annual live music and live drawing events Ted and a musician friend puts on throughout Poland; Ted's thoughts on society's salacious interest in violent video games and in the famous trials he's illustrated, vs. the real-life emotionally difficult experience of sitting near the families involved, having to listen to the testimony, etc; Fred Brenner's words: "the role of the artist is to reinforce the value of life;" Ted's compliments on the quality and emotional depth of the movies shown at the recent SCAD Film Fest, especially "American Fiction" and "Poor Things;" and his thoughts that becoming a teacher was about finding something he loved that gave him meaning, and then turning around and passing it along to a new generation.

 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Ivan Chow

Join Tamara for an interview with Ivan Chow, who's lived in Savannah since 2013 and is in the process of retiring from his lifelong career as an architect. At the same time, he's ramping up his fine art practice - Ivan has been drawing buildings and cityscapes throughout his life, of Savannah scenes and of everywhere else he's visited. 

For a few years now, he's been working as an Artist-in-Residence and Educator at Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater. He's also self-published two books of his artwork, created both en plein air and in the studio: "Sketching Savannah" and "Travel Sketching." 

Check out Ivan's work and follow him here: 

https://www.instagram.com/qkkdraw/
https://www.facebook.com/ivanchowsketches 

Topics in their chat include:

Ivan was in Harvard grad school in the early 80s was when computer-based design programs started to take over in educational curriculums, quickly pushing hand drawing to the back seat; his thoughts on the importance of "the craft," of using one's hands for drawing, building, etc; the book "The Thinking Hand"; his experience as a young architect using the infamous "diazo printer" amidst all of its VOCs; his work with Fallingwater: performing a survey and recommendations of all the properties for the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy; and developing his art/illustration practice by hanging work at the Savannah Gallery of Art, making prints and cards of his drawings, and self-publishing his books so he could make sure to have gloss finish paper on the interior pages. 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Axelle Kieffer

Join Tamara for an interview with Axelle Kieffer, painter and handcut collage artist. She was raised in a tiny French town on the German border, then moved to Strasbourg for college, and eventually came to Savannah at age 35 and has been here ever since. 

She currently has a show up at Sulfur Studios - Paper Cuts, An International Collage Exchange - which runs through this Saturday, Oct 21. She's collaborated on over 200 collages since 2019, mostly through the postal service with other artists from around the world, and this exhibition is displaying many of those pieces.

Also this year, she's been published in MA LANGUE SUR TON CŒUR (MY TONGUE ON YOUR HEART), a collective book published by Joie Panique that brings together texts and images about love, by 70 artists from all over the world. 

Check out Axelle's work and follow her here:

https://www.instagram.com/axellekieffer/
https://axellekiefferart.com/ 

Topics in their chat include:

How Axelle defines the difference between surrealism and Dada; how for her first years in Savannah she created oil paintings of skulls, skeletons, etc, and she realized that her childhood was spent amongst medieval churches that had chandeliers and other decorations made from bones, which had made its way into her subconscious so thoroughly that she didn't even think of it as macabre; how she started thrift store shopping and found lots of old medical books, and the colors and shapes inspired her to begin taking them apart to create paper collages; her thoughts on using a scalpel to cut paper for a collage vs. tearing it to create an interesting, textured edge; and her involvement in "Collective Concern" - an upcoming show that will be traveling around the U.S. for the next 4 years. 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Matt Toole

Join Tamara for an interview with Matt Toole ("Maker. Teacher. Explorer. Collector.") of Toole Sculpture Works. He creates contemporary artwork, custom furniture, lighting, and other unique objects for a variety of home and garden applications. Most elements are handcrafted from ferrous metals or upcycled from selected materials both manufactured and found in nature.

Matt grew up around the barrier islands and salt marshes of Savannah, Georgia. He received a BFA from Georgia Southern in 1994, and an MFA from Southern Illinois University in 2000. He returned to Savannah for good around 2003, and then spent time as a professor at both Georgia Southern and at SCAD, before eventually creating his company and becoming a full-time sculptor. 

Check out Matt's work and follow him here:

https://www.instagram.com/toole_sculpture_works/
https://toolesculptureworks.com/ 

Topics in their chat include:

How Matt fell in love with pouring and melting metal during his BFA program for 3D art; working as an art mover and installer in Atlanta between undergrad and grad school; how seeing a George Beesley iron performance inspired him to go into iron casting and making art for a living; what's the difference between casting and forging?; the safety mishap he had during a metal splashing demo; how a Minnesota winter drive him back to Savannah for good, around 2003; how many of his commission clients want to collaborate on the thinking and planning processes and how much Matt enjoys that; his work with the city's Storm Drain and Rain Garden Flowers projects, educating kids (and adults!) about environmental issues; how towns with "bloom" in the name come from the steel industry, ex. Bloomington, Indiana; his upcoming group show at Ology Gallery in October; and the music festival he's organizing for Nov 18 - a benefit for Pegasus Riding Academy, which helps kids and veterans with special needs. 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Kurtis Schumm

Join Tamara for an interview with Kurtis Schumm, a 20-year Tybee Island resident who started his adolescence playing guitar in the "esteemed haunts of Nashville and beyond, including the famed Bluebird Cafe at 14." After moving here, he transitioned into a culinary career, opening Tybee Island Social Club with his wife and eventually running 4 successful restaurants at once. 

Just before Covid, they sold their restaurant concepts and Kurtis transitioned again, into a full-time art career. His work largely depicts female portraiture and an island aesthetic, and his materials are truly unique: epoxy and acrylic paints, and ink, on plexiglass. (And because he's painting on a clear surface, he works "backwards," i.e. painting in mirror image on the back side of his substrate.)

Check out Kurtis's work and follow him here:

https://www.instagram.com/givemeschumm/
https://www.kurtisschumm.com/ 

Topics in their chat include:

The connection between wine and colors, and how that led Kurtis to visual art; moving to Savannah about 20 years ago, when his artist mother moved to Tybee; studying food under a woman from Verona, Italy; Kurtis's idea to teach cooking to underprivileged communities so they can get the most healthy food out of a small budget; how he began painting just to create some art for the walls of his restaurants, and finding success selling them; details about how Plexi behaves - how you can cut it down by scoring, how he hangs it with or without frames, how various types of paint and ink behave on it; doing a portrait commission for realtor Cora Bett Thomas that included her surrounded by 10 of her dogs through the years; if you own his art and repaint the wall it's hanging on, you can change the color tone of his piece; getting his art printed on the labels of 2 wines for California-based Seamus Wines; how you can buy his work around town at Grand Bohemian Gallery and One Fish, Two Fish, as well as on St. Simon's Island; and also at the Isle of Hope show on Oct. 21, where Kurtis will be selling various sizes of original paintings.

 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Charla Pettingill

Join Tamara for an interview with Charla Pettingill, a published illustrator, surface designer, and illustration professor with 14 years of industry experience designing for print and pattern. A native of East Tennessee, she graduated from SCAD with a B.F.A. in Illustration and an M.A. in Visual Communication, then moved to Atlanta to work in the industry.

She's now back in Savannah, having returned to SCAD's Illustration department as a professor. Charla juggles this with her freelance work creating artwork for magazines, product packaging, floor coverings, fabric, gift wrap, and greeting cards, as well as children's activities and books. Repeat patterns are her passion!

Check out Charla's work and follow her here:

https://www.charladraws.com/ 
https://www.instagram.com/charladraws/

Topics in their chat include:

Savannah feeling like a big city when she arrived in 2004; learning the "straight line technique" in life drawing class; interesting facts about the use of gouache in mid-century illustration, and its revival now, including being used in Rifle Paper Co.'s greeting card illustrations; while in "Intro to Illustration" class as a sophomore she got a freelance job illustrating a family friend's book, "The Last Voyage of the Cosmic Muffin;" what does "Work for Hire" mean in a contract?; how print on demand sites are great for artists to continue making passive income; how Charla transitioned into digital art during SCAD, learning Illustrator and Corel Painter (now surpassed by Procreate); her advice to anyone doing graphic or surface design to "make friends with Illustrator;" what is "collateral" in the design world?; how nowadays illustration can overlap with animation, film, graphic design/advertising, and architecture; what is "fairycore?"; and the time a journal she design was featured in Apartment Therapy.

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Faran Riley

Join Tamara for an interview with Faran Riley - local artist, geology enthusiast, fine jewelry connoisseur, and aspiring surfer. A Savannah native, she was one of the first classes to go through Savannah Arts Academy. After living in both Boston and NYC, she returned to town in 2020 and now works out of Sulfur Studios, exhibiting her drawings, paintings, and rock collections.

Faran begins her paintings with abstract imagery in Sumi ink (and sometimes acrylic paint), then "carves the image out," adding backlighting and moments of realism and surrealism using colored pencils. Her fantastical landscapes are inspired by a combination of her Night Walks around Savannah, and time spent at her family home in coastal Maine.

Check out Faran's work and follow her here:

https://www.instagram.com/faranriley/
https://www.faranriley.com/

Topics in their chat include:

Working on performance art and installation while attending the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, including a diner in her studio made of cardboard, operating 24 hours a day; the emotional turmoil of her college critiques and review boards; her post-college years living in NYC and working as a studio assistant to Yunhee Min; Faran's thoughts about the contemporary versions of the Old Masters artists who subcontracted parts of their painting work to assistants; her interest in gemstones and diamonds, stemming from working for years in a high-end jewelry boutique; getting back into art by taking drawing classes at the 1898 NYC institution, The National Arts Club; how she moved back home to Savannah at the start of Covid; using materials to experiment with markmaking in order to depict textures in her landscapes; the well-loved NYC art model Madeline; Savannah's new gallery space Ology Gallery near Bonaventure Cemetery; her current pieces merging the foliage and landscape of Savannah with her family's home in Maine; and her final words about Savannah feeling like such a supportive community because there are enough artist opportunities to go around without us competing.

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Adonis Deking (one year later)

Join Tamara for a re-interview with freelance artist/illustrator Adonis Deking. He was Tamara's first interviewee, so we're checking in to see what the past year has brought him! 

Adonis recently had a month-long exhibition of landscapes and pet portraits at the Churchwood Gallery in Pennsylvania. He's a self-directed learner who recently taught himself the impasto and sgraffito techniques, and he's juggling his pet portrait commissions with fulfilling orders of his stickers and prints on both Faire and Etsy. 

Check out Adonis's work and follow him here:

https://www.instagram.com/deking_art/
https://adonisdeking.com/

Topics in their chat include:

How Adonis started having more success selling his stickers and prints wholesale, i.e. to businesses, than directly to people; how his pet portrait business has grown massively since he raised his prices substantially -- he now provides a certificate of authenticity, plus a sticker and a print of the pet; the difficulty of painting landscapes on-site (en plein air) as an introvert; his easel that has a built-in carrying case and wheels, so he can safely transport a still-wet painting; what do the techniques impasto and sgraffito mean?; Adonis's cool project of tracking all of the states to which he's shipped Etsy orders; the excitement of buyers wanting to see you hand-sign the print they're buying; his practice of looking at other artists selling similar items for inspiration of how he can package/market his pieces better; and his goal to sell a higher amount each month even if by $5, to constantly be "a better version of himself." 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air - Tamara’s one-year anniversary show! - Replay of first interview with Adonis Deking

It's the one-year anniversary of Tamara taking over host duties from Rob Hessler!

Join her for a replay of the first show - an interview with then-co-host Melissa Taylor of recent SCAD graduate Adonis Deking. This episode originally aired on July 20, 2022. 

And stay tuned for our next show, when I'll re-interview Adonis to see where he is in his freelance artist/illustrator career now that it's one year later! 

Check out Adonis's work and follow him here:

https://www.instagram.com/deking_art/
https://adonisdeking.com/

This episode includes the following, plus much more:
What is Adonis’s theory of the 3 groups his fellow Animation students can be broken into?
What inspired him to pick up brushes and paints instead?
What early degrees did Tamara and Melissa get, before pursuing completely different fields?
What 1980s method of transportation does Adonis use?