Latest / philly has heART / Minisode Redux feat. Becca Haber

Transcript

Minisode Redux feat. Becca Haber · philly has heART

0:00
Hey guys, Robert here. You may have noticed that
0:04
we have gone 48 weeks of pushing podcast episodes,
0:08
as many as three a week. Hello, Pride. And I
0:13
think it's time to give myself and podcast producer
0:16
Lou... the hardest working working mom in philadelphia
0:20
and probably the world a break don't you robert
0:24
me thinks you are right as much as i love this
0:26
project i love my sleep and my kids sometimes
0:30
most of the time my husband more i think i might
0:33
spend august hanging out with the family and
0:36
taking more naps Such is the life of a - Robert,
0:40
rude! Wasn't it just your birthday? It is Leo
0:44
season, rawr. We will be rerunning some deep
0:47
cut mini episodes featuring conversations between
0:50
us two and those who are both consultants of
0:54
the pod and friends in real life throughout the
0:57
majority of August. And Lucinda will be napping
1:00
through it. Did you know I snore? Your husband
1:03
told me. He didn't tell you anything else, did
1:05
he? You mean about how you like - Robert Thomas!
1:08
Stay tuned through the month of August into September
1:10
when we will open season three. And if you are
1:14
out and about and see us, make sure you stop
1:16
us and introduce yourself. Hey guys, Robert here.
1:33
We're on summer vacation, so we recorded a few
1:35
mini episodes with our friends of the pod. Next
1:39
up, we have Becca Haber, our brilliant marketing
1:42
consultant. Hey, Becca. Hey, Robert. how are
1:59
you i'm great welcome to the pod thank you for
2:02
having me on this side of it i know this is so
2:06
strange usually i'm just sitting in the corner
2:09
observing like literally setting the scene for
2:12
everyone sitting in the room there's a stool
2:15
literally in a corner and that's where i sit
2:17
and just watch them do their magic the last guest
2:22
said i needed to have a dunce cat And I think
2:25
I agree. No, no, no. That's the last thing you
2:29
need. I get to sit on the couch now. You need
2:32
a crown. Ooh, I'll take a crown. Becca, let the
2:38
audience know what you do with and for the pod.
2:42
Okay, so marketing consultant, what does that
2:45
mean? It's a lot of things. I think Lucinda and
2:50
Robert are the brains behind this operation.
2:53
And, you know, Robert does such an amazing job
2:55
hosting and asking such thoughtful questions
2:58
and making the guests feel comfortable. Oh, the
3:01
compliments. And then Lucinda does all the preparation,
3:05
booking the guests, arranging studio time. She
3:09
makes everything run so efficiently. And then
3:12
I have come on to help really Gain more of you
3:17
all, the listeners. Because, you know, a podcast
3:21
needs listeners. I know, that's so silly. So
3:24
I'm coming on to help the team put together what
3:27
does the brand look like. for Philly Has Heart?
3:30
How can we reach more of the Philadelphia community
3:34
and art lovers and maybe even people who are,
3:37
you know, want to dip their toe into the Philly
3:40
art community but don't know where to start?
3:43
And I think what you have put together has been
3:46
so captivating, so inspiring. It's helped me,
3:50
who is a Philadelphia native who kind of took
3:54
a stint somewhere else for a long time. and has
3:58
recently come back, kind of get acquainted with
4:02
the Philly art scene, as well as bring me, you
4:06
know, bring me out of my shell a little bit.
4:07
Bring me out of, you know, just the traditional
4:10
institutions here. So, yeah, I've been really
4:16
enjoying the pod myself. My job is to just help
4:20
you all get a bigger audience, and let's support
4:23
all these local Philly artists and gallery owners
4:26
and, you know. musicians and dancers and I think
4:31
that's that's what it's all about supporting
4:33
each other in the community and that's why I'm
4:35
here yes you are going to be able to expand the
4:39
voice and allow us to allow us to ripple out
4:44
into the community even more. I sure hope so.
4:46
I mean, that's definitely my goal here and feel
4:49
very honored to be a part of this. Well, we'd
4:52
love to have you. Going back, you know, as we
4:54
do with all of our guests, can you tell us a
4:57
little bit about your origin story? My origin
4:59
story. So as I mentioned, I grew up here in Philadelphia,
5:03
primarily in the Northeast. Think like Oxford
5:07
Circle, Somerton area. So like real Northeast.
5:11
spent basically my whole childhood here except
5:14
for high school they shipped me off to the burbs
5:16
unfortunately my parents are both philadelphia
5:19
natives their families are philadelphia natives
5:22
so like a really deep history like i actually
5:25
like i said i grew up in the northeast but now
5:27
i live in the fairmount area and The, like, house
5:30
that my great -great -grandparents lived in when
5:34
they first came to America is, like, around the
5:37
corner. Oh, my gosh. And where they had their,
5:39
like, I think it was, like, a shoe repair business.
5:42
And so, like, I feel like I'm even, like... you
5:45
know, returning home in a deeper way. Like I
5:47
grew up in Philly. But yeah, so I went to Philadelphia
5:51
Public Schools. And, you know, that's really
5:54
where I got kind of experienced my interest in
5:58
the arts and got really acquainted with it. I
6:00
was really fortunate to take part in a lot of
6:03
programs going up through the School District
6:05
of Philadelphia. I can think back to one of my
6:09
elementary schools had a relationship with the
6:11
Rock School of Ballet. Oh, my gosh. And we would
6:15
go down and watch the dancers go through a rehearsal
6:19
and practice. If we were lucky, we got show tickets
6:23
later to see the Philadelphia Ballet. I, you
6:27
know, saw operas like Madame Butterfly and Romeo
6:31
and Juliet. Like, I think I was probably eight
6:33
years old. Oh, my gosh. And it was all free,
6:36
all through the school district. I hope these
6:37
programs still exist today. Yes, yes. If not,
6:40
we should. I think it's through ArtReach. Yes.
6:43
need more because yeah it's really what got me
6:46
got me started and really loving arts I took
6:49
a like a free art camp in Fairmount Park for
6:52
like a week and now I live near Fairmount Park
6:55
and it's just like it's so rich and so nice to
6:59
like full circle so actually I brought with me
7:03
too because I've talked to Lucinda about this
7:05
too that I you know through other programs through
7:07
the city too I got to do reports on artists and
7:12
stuff like that. And we would go to the wood
7:13
mirror in the evening and like do a presentation.
7:18
So yeah. For the audience, we're looking at little
7:22
baby Becca at the museum in front of what your
7:26
entire class. Yeah. And probably their parents
7:29
and other folks. Doing your little report in
7:33
a beautiful pink dress. Thank you. Purple dress.
7:35
Yes. Thank you. And this is a real photograph
7:39
that we're looking at. This is not on the phone.
7:41
Yeah, this is not digital at all. Dating myself
7:45
here, I think this might have been like 28 years
7:47
ago, which is crazy to say. So I would say that,
7:50
yeah, my history really started in Philadelphia.
7:53
Like I said, exploring kind of the history and
7:56
the art scene here. I always was like very interested
7:59
in art. It's like some sort of career. And I
8:02
dabbled in a lot of things like ceramic, painting,
8:05
graphic design, but really stuck with me. Now
8:09
we're moved to the suburbs and I got to take
8:12
a class in advertising. I think it was junior
8:15
or senior year. And that to me was the perfect
8:19
intersection between my analytical side of my
8:23
brain as well as my creative side of the brain.
8:27
And how do you like marry art with creating brands
8:31
and telling a brand story? And that kind of led
8:34
me to a degree in marketing at the University
8:37
of Pittsburgh. And after that, I moved to New
8:40
York. I followed a boy. But like, I really did
8:44
want to live in New York. I had some opportunities
8:47
to come back to Philly, but I think ultimately
8:50
I wanted to. expand my horizons a little bit
8:54
you know again I grew up here I went to school
8:57
in Pennsylvania not too far away and my whole
9:00
family's still here so I wanted to do something
9:02
different had like several marketing jobs at
9:05
a variety of companies but now I'm back in Philly
9:08
so happy to say that I'm taking a little work
9:11
sabbatical right now Mostly because I want to
9:15
do something more local. And so I think this
9:17
is like perfect. Working on the pot and reconnecting
9:20
to my roots. Spoiler alert. She married the boy.
9:24
Oh, I did marry the boy. I guess that was. I
9:27
guess it was worth it. I guess it was worth it.
9:30
Oh, man. Shout out. If you could get a season
9:40
subscription. From any Philadelphia performing
9:43
arts companies, which one would it be? Oh, man,
9:47
this is a tough one. And you know what? I've
9:49
had subscriptions to a few over the course of
9:54
my existence. Like I mentioned, I have a long
9:59
experience with the Philadelphia Ballet that
10:01
dates back to my youth, thanks to... those philly
10:05
school programs i've done the like philly broadway
10:09
subscriptions which was so fun that was such
10:11
a nice way for me and my mom to like reconnect
10:14
not reconnect we never got disconnected but i
10:17
was living in a different state a different city
10:20
for so many years that it was a nice way it forces
10:22
a date yes for you to come together exactly have
10:26
dinner go see a show Absolutely. That's exactly
10:31
what it did. And it was so nice to be doing that.
10:34
Also, don't sleep on the Broadway shows of Philly.
10:38
Just as great of productions as New York. So
10:41
much more convenient and affordable. And you
10:44
get to see all the latest shows pretty soon after
10:46
they come off. Not even come off Broadway, but
10:49
launch. Get on that, people. More recently, I
10:53
was... Exposed? Exposed seems like not the right
10:58
word, but exposed to the Philadelphia Orchestra.
11:02
A friend of mine is a member there, and she mentioned
11:07
to me that they were having, they had this annual
11:10
Martin Luther King Day performance at Girard
11:13
College. And so she brought her daughter and
11:16
I brought my son. There were five. Honestly,
11:21
I was floored. I played clarinet in band in middle
11:26
school and high school. I know some of the classics
11:28
and stuff like that, but I think just listening
11:31
and probably in art because of screens and all
11:33
that, it feels hard to listen to just music as
11:38
a performance versus having something visual
11:41
to kind of see with that. And I think this performance
11:45
just really broke that kind of narrative for
11:48
me. so engaging sitting there and listening to
11:52
the live music surrounding you with so many different
11:55
pieces you know instruments and and people and
12:00
backgrounds and i was really speechless yeah
12:03
and i don't know if i've ever really just kind
12:06
of listened to the music the music of the orchestra
12:09
that way and it was such a beautiful event like
12:14
their like auditorium there It's just gorgeous
12:17
at York College. There were so many people filling
12:20
the halls. It is free every year, but you do
12:22
need to register for a ticket. We got to sit
12:25
so close and, you know, we got to be exposed
12:27
to music that I just had never even heard or
12:30
didn't know who was behind the music. So if anyone's
12:35
familiar with, you know, the works of Mozart.
12:38
No, this wasn't Mozart. I mean, don't get me
12:43
wrong. love Mozart that's a great focus music
12:47
for when you're studying and such but this was
12:52
uh this was some of the selections that were
12:55
in included were feature selections from william
12:58
grant um stills wood notes which is just so delightful
13:02
and was like kind of based on some poems on like
13:05
the landscape of the southern u .s they did an
13:10
amazing feature where they did barbers adagio
13:13
for strings which they paired with like mlk's
13:16
uh words and like honestly that had me weeping
13:20
so i think like just like this was a free performance
13:23
and so i'm very long long way to say i'm very
13:26
inspired to kind of attend the orchestra more
13:29
and i think that they're always putting on some
13:32
really interesting events and and kind of getting
13:34
yeah just more acclimated with that as a type
13:37
of art and like how i had that's my life you
13:42
know um that feels not the prettiest way to say
13:47
it yes that's where i'm at orchestra subscription
13:51
in our future So good. I did prepare for this.
13:56
I think I overprepared. So recently we went to
14:01
a first Friday at the Barnes and you gave me
14:04
some hot goss on how the collection wound up
14:07
in its current location. Can you share it with
14:11
our listeners? So this is such an interesting
14:13
story. I think I even had. been a little confused
14:18
by the rumors that have been going around but
14:20
i i went back fact -checked and this story is
14:24
just so interesting to me and it's it feels like
14:27
such a like a philly drama oh yeah that is unfolding
14:30
so enter barnes he's this self -made millionaire
14:34
who co -invented something called argoil which
14:38
was essentially this like silvery metallic like
14:41
substance that they used as an antiseptic back
14:44
in the day to treat gonorrhea They used to put
14:47
this on like baby's eyes to like clear up. gonorrhea
14:50
infections and i mean like since then we've moved
14:53
on to some better whatever makes a dollar i guess
14:58
i know but this is what a way to make your first
15:00
million yeah exactly um so in in itself like
15:04
he's a chemist like this you know very you know
15:07
feels very distant from the art world but this
15:09
is how he kind of made his money so he decides
15:13
to use his wealth to explore art and art education
15:17
and he starts collecting at the start of the
15:20
20th century. He has this friend from high school,
15:23
William Glackens, who's also a American artist
15:27
and says, go on this spending spree in Europe.
15:31
While he's on this spending spree in Europe,
15:33
he acquires what is today like half a million
15:36
dollars of art, acquires things like Van Gogh's
15:40
Postman and several other really like famous
15:44
impressionist pieces of art and stuff like that.
15:47
Like over the years, He continues to collect
15:49
and like eventually he amasses what is known
15:52
as the biggest personal collection of Impressiveness
15:55
and modern art, which if you've been to the Barnes
15:58
Foundation, you know, the walls are packed. Pact.
16:03
Brimming. It's not a large museum, but you have
16:07
to go back because you will miss things. There
16:10
are so much on the walls. And apparently that
16:12
was his style too. Correct. Because the actual
16:15
location was in Marion. In Marion, PA. In Marion.
16:20
Yeah. And the collection at the Barnes currently
16:23
is supposed to match the way that it was on the
16:26
walls in his house in Marion. Yes. Because that's
16:30
what he stipulated in his will, which had been
16:32
like figured out for a while. But like no one
16:34
really knew what was in this thing. So in 1951,
16:38
he tragically dies in a car crash. And his foundation
16:42
is kind of left to deal with this aftermath of
16:45
like executing his will, which has so many stipulations
16:49
in it. You kind of just touched on it. One of
16:51
them was that the artwork has to be arranged,
16:55
densely populated with other pieces of art. And
16:58
also include other pieces of his collections
17:01
that includes like medieval antiquities and like
17:05
African art. And that is his aesthetic. He wants
17:10
it like that. Screw the curators. Screw the curators
17:13
where it's like nice clean walls with like one,
17:16
two pieces on the wall. He wants you to just
17:19
be like hate in the face with art. I mean, I
17:21
love a gallery wall. So I'm here for it. Was
17:25
he the inventor of the gallery wall? Gosh, I
17:28
would love to know that. With that too, it's
17:31
like no piece can be removed from the wall. Like
17:34
once it is placed, it cannot be moved anywhere
17:36
else and it can't be sold, lent, nothing. The
17:40
biggest stipulation is the art was not to be
17:43
removed from the foundation and Marianne PA.
17:45
Of course, there's a lot of money to be made
17:48
when displaying art and the dealings of art and
17:53
stuff like that. There was a camp that wanted
17:56
to keep it. In Marion, PA, exactly to his wishes.
18:00
And then there was a camp that was, let's bring
18:02
it to Philadelphia, which he was very opposed
18:04
to. Through so many legal battles, actually kind
18:08
of hilariously, there's like two like diss films
18:11
about it. What? Yes. We are going to have a movie
18:17
marathon weekend. With martinis? Yes. Yeah. It's
18:21
like the one that originally came out is called
18:23
The Art of the Steel. And then in response to
18:28
that, there was The Barnes and Beyond In The
18:31
End, Truth Prevails. I'll let you guess which
18:35
side created which. We're talking years and years
18:39
of legal battles, these just films coming out.
18:42
But eventually, those who moved it to Philadelphia
18:46
convinced the judge that they would keep everything
18:50
exactly the same. And he prevented them to make
18:55
the move, which people are still furious about
18:57
today. I'll let you choose your side. The rumor
19:00
is that the walls were actually taken from the
19:02
house and like put in the in the foundation.
19:05
That's not true. The architecture who built the
19:08
new foundation, he did design it to the exact
19:12
specifications of Marian location, including
19:16
like the windows were and like the same. If you
19:20
go in, you'll notice like the mustard colored
19:22
burlap on the walls that is like exactly. To
19:26
match how it looked at the old foundation, as
19:29
well as they had to recreate the arches where
19:32
Matisse's The Dance hangs, which was curated
19:35
specifically for Barnes. The two of them were
19:39
friends. Who's our casual artist friend? Maybe
19:43
we don't know them yet. I mean, we just recorded
19:45
20. Maybe you have 26 casual artist friends.
19:50
I think about that all the time, especially when
19:53
I'm at the Barnes, because he was friends with
19:56
a lot of the living artists that hang on his
19:59
walls. And it's kind of interesting. Some of
20:02
them had already become pretty famous, but I'm
20:05
like, who would that be in our modern era? I
20:09
don't know. Maybe someone who was on the pod.
20:13
We're going to move into some rapid fire questions.
20:15
Yeah. Which artist in the Barnes collection is
20:18
your favorite? This one might be somewhat surprising.
20:21
I'm not sure. It's a piece by William Glackens,
20:24
who I just mentioned from the previous story.
20:26
I actually didn't put two and two together until
20:28
I was fact checking. But it's called Girl in
20:32
Green Turban. It's an oil on canvas. And if you're
20:36
curious, it's in room 12 on the north wall, right
20:40
by the doorway. It won't move. because it has
20:43
to stay there. And there's really nothing particularly
20:46
outstanding about this piece of art. Like, it's
20:49
a Glackens. He's kind of famous in his own right.
20:52
His earlier work, he's more known for. It's in
20:55
portrait style, so very, you know, of the time.
20:59
It's a portrait of a woman who's, you know, sitting
21:02
in what is definitely a posed position, but there's
21:05
just something that's just so captivating about
21:08
her. I would say the colors are so bold and complimentary.
21:13
There's this very, you know, they call it a green
21:16
turban. I would call it kind of like this muted,
21:19
but like very fresh mint color. And then it's
21:22
paired with these varieties of orange, kind of
21:25
the same mustard that is on the walls of the
21:29
foundation. I actually wonder it now. I'm like,
21:31
oh, was that it actually painted there? Probably
21:33
not the same time frame, but it's a very similar
21:37
color. so many deep blues and it's just like
21:40
very eye -catching and like very like comfortable
21:44
you know it's like when you get all those complimentary
21:46
colors together your brain just kind of like
21:48
feels happy like yes this all goes together i
21:51
don't know it's one of those ones again especially
21:53
where it's placed like as you're walking the
21:55
rooms it's right next to the doorway and she
21:58
catches me every time and i'm like i could i
22:01
could spend a lot of time like just again just
22:04
thinking through like what is going on in the
22:06
scene what do you think what is your secret this
22:08
is why i love the artist talks yeah when you
22:12
have an opportunity to go because then you kind
22:14
of get the insider information yeah and i think
22:19
we've been able to kind of change the way that
22:21
we document the insider information where they
22:26
didn't even have that opportunity before nobody
22:29
wrote it down it's so interesting too and i think
22:32
that maybe says something about the piece too
22:34
that it probably was done as like a favor or
22:37
for barnes himself since they were friends or
22:41
or something to that extent because Even on the
22:45
website, you can go to the Barnes Foundation
22:47
website and you can look at all their artwork.
22:50
They actually have it very nicely cataloged that
22:52
you can go and view. And if it's in the public
22:55
domain, you can download it too. Rapid fire questions.
22:58
Yes. Fill it off the art scene in one word. Rich.
23:03
love and i mean that like not rich as like you
23:05
have to be rich to buy it but like rich as in
23:08
just like there's so much so much it's so authentic
23:12
it's i know this is now more than one word i'm
23:15
sorry supposed to be brought to fire what is
23:19
your favorite drink of the moment This is very
23:22
funny. I've gotten into drinking cherry juice
23:25
lately. It's supposed to help with inflammation,
23:28
help with sleep, something that I'm really poor
23:31
at. But I don't like to just drink a full thing
23:34
of juice. So I'll do half cherry juice and half
23:37
like maybe a flavored seltzer. I love Waterloo
23:42
Seltzer. I think it's better than La Croix. Yeah,
23:47
so the half and half of that, it creates a really
23:49
fun drink. And it's become my kind of like go
23:51
-to mocktail when I want something more interesting.
23:54
Favorite Philadelphia neighborhood? I mean, I'm
23:57
definitely partial to the Fairmount area just
24:00
because of where I live. When the child grows
24:04
up and is not living in the home anymore, I could
24:08
see myself moving somewhere like downtown, like
24:10
more like Queens Village area. Hey, hey, Lucinda.
24:14
Or even like recently I went to dinner out on,
24:16
like, I guess it's around Pass Young Square on
24:19
Tasker. Yeah. I just really enjoyed it there.
24:22
Like, I guess that's South Philly, but yeah.
24:24
It's nice. Very neighborhood -y. Cheese steaks
24:27
with whiz or without? With whiz. Philly girl.
24:31
Yes. All the fixings. Becca. Yes. Sometimes we
24:35
like to play fuck, marry, kill on the pod. Are
24:38
you down? You ready? Yeah. Fuck, marry, kill.
24:42
Mm -hmm. Cy Twombly. Mm -hmm. Marcel Duchamp.
24:46
Uh -huh. Pablo Picasso. Ooh. Oh, those are good
24:50
ones. Ooh. I would marry Duchamp. I know. Scandalous,
25:01
right? I feel like his art kind of, it pushes
25:07
the boundaries. And I like that. I kind of like
25:10
that as a partner, right? Maybe to push me further
25:15
into my ways of thinking. I don't know. Not that,
25:18
Carrie. Carrie's like, I am nothing. He's probably
25:22
like, do you want poop? Sorry, Carrie. Fuck,
25:29
definitely Picasso. I feel like, yeah, he's a
25:33
good time. Yeah, it'd be a fun night. Bendy.
25:39
Lots of angles. And then Cy Duhamel scares me
25:46
quite a bit. I think this might be, yeah, I don't
25:51
know what's going on in this artist's brain,
25:54
but yeah, I would kill him. Becca, thank you
25:59
so much for joining us. Becca, it's been amazing.
26:02
Thank you for the conversation. Thank you. If
26:04
you like this episode, please like and subscribe.