Art on the Air

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 Kristopher Monroe

Join Tamara for an interview with Kristopher Monroe: "writer, editor, and freelance culture assassin with over two decades of experience writing about the arts and other symptoms of human creativity." He was born and raised in Atlanta, where he began his freelance writing career, then lived in Seattle and NYC before settling in Savannah in 2013. 

You've probably read Kristopher's arts column in the Savannah Morning News, which he wrote for many years. He's also contributed to publications ranging from The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, Village Voice, Juxtapoz, Dazed & Confused, Beautiful/Decay, and Swindle. Lately he's been serving as the current Chair of the Savannah-Chatham County Historic Site and Monument Commission, AND has returned to his first writing love - sci-fi and cyberpunk - and is actively looking for an agent for his recently-completed first novel!

Check out Kristopher's work and follow him here:

https://www.cultureassassin.com/
https://www.instagram.com/savartscene/
https://www.amazon.com/What-Tired-Web-We-Breed-ebook/dp/B07XPD8PH6 

Topics in their chat include:

What Kristopher means by calling himself "a cultural assassin;" how the World Trade Organization protests impacted his life trajectory; how he fell into writing about fine art, street art, and pop art despite no formal art education; how 2013 was the last time that either Kristopher or I had a full-time job (!); his years spent balancing a weekly SMN column with 1-2 columns in the Do magazine; how he has blossomed into full adulthood in his community work; and how in the past couple of years he has gotten back to his early love of sci-fi and surrealist creative writing - one short story is available on Amazon for $1 (with cover art by local designer and art aficionado Don Sanders!) - plus a full novel; and his obscure skills with running and fixing a 35mm film projector. 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Anna Young Byrd

Join Tamara for an interview with commercial photographer and SCAD grad Anna Young Byrd, who works out of Sulfur Studios. She fell in love with Savannah at age 12 when her sister came to attend SCAD, and has now lived here since 2017. Two years out of school, she's at such an exciting time in her career - just about to transition into doing her freelance photography full-time! 

Anna's goal during a shoot is to make the subject feel like "the coolest person ever," and her dream project would be shooting Dave Grohl for a Rolling Stone cover. 

The main design element she focuses on in her work, especially during the editing process, is color. From her site: "Anna is a forward-thinking, hard-working, and inquisitive artist. She is the first to introduce herself, the first to think, and the first to solve a problem. Her fulfillment in life is to bring joy to others. What better way to do that than taking some kickass photos."

Check out Anna's work and follow her here:

https://www.annayoungbyrd.com/
https://www.instagram.com/annas_eyeball/ 

Topics in their chat include:

How being a people person is so beneficial to her work in making her photo subject feel comfortable as quickly as possible; how coming to Savannah and finding other creative people made her transition from introversion to extroversion; using a digital Nikon as her first camera when she was young and experimenting; how the current trendy look in digital photography is to make it look like it was done with film - light leaks, grain, dust marks - i.e. the perks of digital but with the aesthetics of film; an added bonus of working in photography is working with her hands - putting lights and backgrounds together, and breaking things down; how getting her "big boy camera" allows her to take photos with huge file sizes, big enough to print at billboard size; the importance of using a reference photo to show clients her inspiration/direction/essence of her idea; she takes us through the start-to-finish process of a shoot; how choosing the wrong music once hurt her connection with a model on a shoot; being the creator of her set; how photography is the study and control of light; what is a "treatment book?"; how one's artistic community can help each other through imposter syndrome; and the elaborate setup and editing process it took to create her beautiful shot of a Neutrogena jar leaning over in water. 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with the Nomadic Photo Ark

Join Tamara for an interview with Monica Jane Frisell and Adam Scher, who have been on the road since July 2021, working from their Nomadic Photo Ark - a converted cargo trailer equipped with a full black & white darkroom and photo editing space. Together they're creating A Portrait of US, "photographically exploring and recording audio of the divisions and similarities in ideologies within our current American culture as we emerge from the pandemic." 

Monica & Adam are documenting the U.S. one community at a time, one person at a time, one story at a time, and have been working here in Savannah since early March. They have an exhibition up at Sulfur Studios, with a closing reception this Friday, April 7. 

Check out the Nomadic Photo Ark project and follow them here:

https://portraitofus.substack.com/
https://www.instagram.com/nomadicphotoark/
https://www.nomadicphotoark.com/ 

Topics in their chat include:

How this project perfectly combines Monica's training in analog photography, plus Adam's experience of traveling and working in audio recording and editing; what is the first radio station that ever played Lady Gaga?; Monica's 1800's-type steel camera that was built in the 1940s; the process of shedding your worldly goods to live on the road; how this long exhibition at Sulfur Studios has allowed them to analyze their how they pair art & sound for display; how they made a typical "rookie mistake" with their trailer early on in their project; how they juggle the administrative tasks involved in their work, such as constantly booking artist residencies; and how Adam edits peoples' response down to 5 minutes.  

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Sarah Cuda

Content note: in the 2nd half of the interview, we discuss Sarah's advocacy with sexual assault issues and navigating the legal system.  

Join Tamara for an interview with Sarah Cuda, local photographer, hairstylist, and barber. Her favorite subjects to shoot include musicians and dancers during performances, as well as nature closeups - she believes that everyone has a different viewpoint of the world that one can capture with their photos. 

Sarah loves to collaborate with other businesses, to bring growth to the small business community, and one of her many upcoming projects is a photo blog promoting other Savannahians' life and work. 

https://www.sarahcudaphotography.com/
https://www.instagram.com/sarahcudaphotography/ 

Topics in their chat include: leveling up your camera lenses; working at the Legion in 2007; going on nature photography trips; what is an Anhinga?; shooting concerts at Victory North and the Juneteenth festival on Tybee; putting on her first art show last May at the Sentient Bean; and what is a soft box? 

Bonuses!

Mini-interview at 49min with Gullah artist Sabree, a long-time City Market favorite. http://www.sabreesgallery.com/ 

A song by beloved local musicians Maggie & Jackson Evans at 56min. "Red and White," written by Jackson Evans. http://jacksonevans.com/maggie/ 

 

Tune in and get all the details!

Art(s) on the Air with Gabrielle Torres

Join Tamara and Melissa(!) for an interview with Gabrielle Torres, who earned her MFA in Painting from SCAD in 2021. She works in collage, installation, sculpture, etc, with media that runs the gamut from paint, wires, chains, live plants, fabric, and plastic bags.

In just the year since she graduated, she's shown her art at Sulfur Studios, Telfair Museum of Art, Savannah Cultural Arts Center, Savannah State University, and the September Gray Gallery in Atlanta, as well as having completed an Artist Residency at Sulfur Studios. Whew! 

https://www.gabrielleelizabethtorres.com/

Topics in their chat include: what Gabrielle's early artwork of horses represented to her, teaching art to kids as early as possible, explaining to gallerists the watering process for her artwork, the symbolism of English ivy, the location that her thesis show shared with recent horror movie "Halloween Ends," and using her Sulfur residency to talk to Savannahians about colonialism and other weighty topics. 

Tune in and get all the details! 

Art(s) on the Air with Jennifer Mack Watkins

Join Tamara for an interview with Jennifer Mack Watkins, a printmaker with a studio in Sulfur Studios. She was born in Charleston and holds a B.A. in studio arts from Morris Brown College, an M.A.T. from Tufts University, and an M.F.A. in printmaking from Pratt Institute. Her work investigates the societal constructs that can leave women feeling isolated, resisting definitions of femininity based on widely held notions of beauty and cultural norms.

If you happen to be in NYC in the next couple of months, Jennifer currently has a piece on view in The Metropolitan Museum of Art(!) - "The Power of Portraiture: Selections from the Department of Drawings and Prints," October 13, 2022–February 7, 2023.

https://www.instagram.com/mack_jenniferprints/
http://www.mackjennifer.com/
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/675828/you-gotta-meet-mr-pierce-by-chiquita-mullins-lee-and-carmella-van-vleet-illustrated-by-jennifer-mack-watkins/ 

Topics in their chat include: Shina plywood (a soft wood for woodblock printing), what Jennifer's dream print shop would contain, what is risograph?, what getting rejected from an AP art class in high school inspired in her, and the soon-to-be-published children's book she illustrated: "You Gotta Meet Mr. Pierce!" 

Tune in and get all the details! 

Art(s) on the Air with the Wednesday Writers

Join Tamara for a roundtable discussion with local authors Judy Bean, Helen Pitts Bradley, Susan Earl, and Beverly Willett. They've been meeting every Wednesday for over 5 years as a writers' critique group, the Wednesday Writers. 

Topics include: the process of reaching out to agents and/or directly to publishing houses, the Ossabaw Island retreat, Savannah courthouse drama, letting real people find their way into your writing, how a group keeps you accountable, having reading/book launch events in local shops, and the usefulness of Query Tracker.

Check out each of their work here:

 

Judy Bean https://www.linkedin.com/in/judy-bean-8aa1475 

Helen Pitts Bradley https://nexttribe.com/grandparents-raising-grandkids/ 

Susan Earl https://www.susan-earl.com/ 
https://sulfurstudios.org/susanearl 

Beverly Willett https://beverlywillett.com/

https://www.independent.co.uk/us/voices/breast-cancer-awareness-month-pink-b2205494.html

Get the answers to such burning questions as:

What are a few recommendations for getting past creative block?

How does a writer/artist decide whose advice/criticism to take?

What are the marketing materials you need to be top notch in order to pitch your novel?

 

Tune in and find out!

Art(s) on the Air with Becca Cook

Join Tamara and Melissa for an interview with Becca Cook, a folk artist from the islands off the coast of Savannah. She works in needlework, lacemaking, dollcrafting, performance, installation, and painting, and also manages Escape Savannah, an art collective and escape room experience.

 

https://www.beccacookart.com/

https://www.instagram.com/beccacookart/

 

PLUS a Mini Interview with REM about her Immersive Gallery space in City Market. It provides individualized and small group Creative UV experiences.

https://www.facebook.com/The-REM-Mark-Immersive-Gallery-111364634948265/   (Starts around 52mins.)

 

Get the answers to such burning questions as:

 

How long did Becca sit and crochet chain stitches to represent the number of people incarcerated in the U.S? 

What's the longest scarf Becca has made and where has it traveled?

What's a fun game you can play to make dish washing more fanciful?

 

Tune in and find out!

Art on the Air Presents Kay Wolfersperger

Perc. Green Truck. Foxy Loxy.

 

Everyone in Savannah knows these popular local businesses.

 

But did you know that Kay Wolfersperger is the one who designed much of their imagery?

 

Tune in to this week's episode of Art on the Air as we speak with this talented Graphic Designer and Illustrator about not only her commercial work, but also "Hey Y'all," her new project for the Drive Thru Art Box!