New contributor and friend of Artblog, Wit López speaks with multi-disciplinary artist Heather Raquel Phillips about documenting people of color in the leather community and turning the camera on herself.
Read MoreMorgan Nitz chats with friend and fellow Tyler alum Patricia Renee Thomas. As both a working painter and a teaching artist, Thomas is blazing a trail for young black women in the visual arts.
Read MoreArtblog’s resident bard, Levi Bentley, speaks with organizer Boston Gordon about their ongoing reading series for queer and trans poets, You Can’t Kill a Poet. Inspired by a queer youth group that provided refuge for Boston during their high school years, You Can’t Kill a Poet has provided a regular outlet for a variety of queer voices since 2014. Catch up with Boston and their ever-changing roster of poets at the next reading, Tuesday February 12, at Tattooed Mom.
Read MoreIf you’re still kicking yourself for missing MR. SOUL! at the 2018 BlackStar Film Festival, then we’ve got some good news for you. This Friday, January 25th, our friends at Scribe Video Center are hosting a Producer’s Forum screening of this joyous documentary about the life and work of Ellis Haizlip, who was not only a pioneering television host and black arts advocate, but also Scribe’s very first board chair. Director (and Ellis’s niece) Melissa Haizlip will be on hand for the screening, which will be preceded by Turnin’ the Tables, a documentary short by local youth filmmaker, J’Lynn Matthews. In this August 19, 2018 “From the Vault” post Imani Roach interviews MR. SOUL! cinematographer Hans Charles about his contributions to the film and his approach to filming black subjects. Read on and we’ll see you at Scribe on the 25th!
Read MoreSamuel Brown, a musician and writer, interviews the squad leader of the West Powelton Steppers and Drummers, who tells him that the drum team kept him alive and out of jail when he was young, and now he’s paying it forward, helping kids today focus on performing music and precision steps, rather than hanging on street corners and getting into trouble. Drum squads are a big part of Philadelphia’s recent history and culture, and Antoine Mapp tells you why they matter.
Read MoreSydney Cox gets a visit from one of her favorite up-and-coming fiber artists, Ariel Posh. Here they discuss the recent Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) grad’s “thread paintings” and the age old question of craft’s relationship to gender. Read on and see below for recent examples of Posh’s intricate and often irreverent works. P.S. we’d like to say there’s something amazing in the Baltimore water. Celebrated artist and “MacArthur genius” awardee, Joyce Scott, whose work uses craft techniques (weaving, beading) to discuss serious representation of women and people of color, is a MICA graduate!
Read MoreTo break bread with someone is to forge an intimate bond. Here Logan Cryer interviews local artist and 2018 Leeway grantee, Shreshth Khilani about their participatory performance “Immigrant Kitchen,” which runs through Monday, December 3rd. Part dinner, part coming-out party, this project uses Hindu mythology and South Asian foods to create communion around tradition while opening up the possibility of change. See below for ticket details!
Read MoreFor over a decade, Massachusetts-based artist, Gina Siepel has been using woodworking and other craft techniques to grapple with the myth of self-reliance and its relationship to both gender and nationalism. Here Levi Bentley speaks with Siepel about “Self-Made,” her current installation of objects, video and documents at Vox Populi, and pens a thoughtful response to the exhibition’s central themes. We can’t recommend this show enough, so read on and catch it before it closes on December 16, 2018.
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