Latest / philly has heART / Of Black Wombhood feat. Tanya Latortue and Kara Mshinda

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Of Black Wombhood feat. Tanya Latortue and Kara Mshinda · philly has heART

0:15
Hey, Lucinda, how are you? Ça va bien. How are
0:21
you? Excellent, excellent. How was your weekend?
0:24
Great weekend. It was one of those weekends where
0:26
I felt like I lived 15 lives only on Friday.
0:31
But let's talk about your weekend first. Okay.
0:33
It started on Thursday. We had the Red Rose Farm
0:37
Philadelphia Ballet benefit event. It was absolutely
0:40
incredible. It was a packed house. We had great
0:45
weather. A little cold at the end, and so the
0:48
dew on the stage prevented the last performance
0:52
from happening. It was a lot of pointe shoes
0:54
at the end, so they had to nix it. It's okay.
0:58
They'll do it again. We'll see it again. But
1:01
overall, the crowd was absolutely amazing. Meeting
1:06
Point by Zay Chen, again. Ugh. That's the one
1:11
we saw at the PMA as a preview, right? Yes, as
1:14
a preview. They got better and better. They are
1:18
such a dynamic group together. And the entire
1:23
place just feels the movement. It's such a powerful
1:28
piece every time that we see it. And then they
1:31
had to move the Saturday performance because
1:34
of the rain. And they moved it to Sunday. And
1:38
I believe Sunday went off without a hitch. Did
1:41
you get into anything else this weekend? Had
1:43
a great birthday party this weekend that we celebrated.
1:46
And other than that, hung out in the garden.
1:50
I love your garden. It was nice. Like I said,
1:53
I had one of those weekends where it was just
1:57
nonstop. So starting on Friday, Petit Garçon
2:02
and I, we went jogging early morning. And then
2:06
I went into the office for an hour. And then
2:08
I went to his pre -K graduation. Adorable. I
2:14
cried. Nice. I was not the only one. Went back
2:20
to the office. Then I went to meet my husband
2:24
for lunch at Oyster House. And then I went back
2:26
to the office. And then I caught a ride to the
2:30
performance garage. Oh, yeah. With my husband,
2:33
but not before picking up. petite garçon again
2:37
he had a busy weekend too it was his dance rehearsal
2:40
yeah tech and dress rehearsal nice and then i
2:44
returned home for a nap and then i went out to
2:48
see the kooks that night wow it was so rainy
2:52
that night like you said yes walked out of the
2:55
film war to Almost, I mean, it downpoured at
2:59
a moment, but it lightened up. And then I ended
3:02
up walking because my lifts were getting canceled
3:05
left and right. You couldn't get through there.
3:07
It wasn't the parking lot that I heard that 76
3:10
was that night. Yes. I ended up walking from
3:14
the Fillmore to 3rd and Brown. Do you remember
3:19
where I used to live? Oh, yes. Yeah. Wow. Around
3:22
there. Got picked up by my lift there. And then
3:25
I ordered. McDonald's on the ride home. John
3:31
would have been so proud. It's my new guilty
3:34
pleasure. Yes. Then on Saturday, late morning,
3:39
it was my son's dance recital. We left that.
3:43
We had lunch. We stopped at a playground. And
3:47
then here's the most glorious thing. Three hour
3:51
nap. By all four members of my family. Perfect.
3:57
Concert, dance recital, oh my god, a pre -K graduation.
4:01
On to the conversation. On to the conversation.
4:17
Greetings. This is Robert Marsh and you're listening
4:20
to Philly Has Heart Podcast. In this podcast,
4:23
we sit down with artists, gallerists, educators,
4:26
curators, and other creatives who comprise the
4:28
Philadelphia art world to discuss upcoming performances,
4:32
exhibits, and other events and initiatives that
4:35
are not to be missed. The art scene in Philadelphia
4:38
is so rich that it can seem daunting. Consider
4:40
this your weekend cultural recommendation. With
4:44
me always is my producer, Lucinda Degerland.
4:46
Hey, hey. And today we have with us Cara. Machinda
4:52
fellowship director of Da Vinci art Alliance
4:55
and Tanya Latour to project and knowledge management,
4:59
professional independent cultural producer, amateur
5:03
photographer, serial hobbyist, small business
5:06
owner, and turtleneck enthusiast. Thank you both
5:10
for joining us today. Thank you for having us.
5:12
Yes. This is awesome. You had me at turtleneck.
5:15
I'm enthusiastic. I'm sorry to have one on today.
5:17
It was a little long. I learned so much about
5:19
you in that. I hope I didn't disappoint. So we
5:26
wanted to start with your origin stories, right?
5:29
Can you take us through your journeys? And we'll
5:32
start with you, Cara, on how it brought you to
5:35
Da Vinci Art Alliance. Yes. So my first experience
5:40
with Da Vinci Art Alliance was actually as an
5:42
exhibiting artist. I was a member of a collage
5:47
collective called Philadelphia Collage Works.
5:49
They're still in operation or still, you know,
5:52
organizing and together. So from 2019 to 2021,
5:56
I was a member and we had, wow, this is all coming
6:01
back. We had a show in June and it was Pride
6:05
Month. The theme was rainbow. I gave a little
6:08
talk about what the Pride colors stand for. And
6:12
also at that time. They had recently added in
6:16
2017 the black and the brown stripes to Philadelphia's
6:20
LGBTQ flag. And so I talked a little bit about
6:23
that. I can't remember how many members there
6:25
were, like at least 15. And we all contributed
6:29
maybe two or three small works. It was one of
6:32
the largest shows that Da Vinci did, Da Vinci
6:34
Art Alliance did. And so that's my first experience.
6:37
I'm a member of Tiger Strikes Asteroid. It's
6:40
an artist -run gallery that has five sites across
6:44
the United States. And so the founding one was
6:46
here in Philadelphia. Oh, wow. We have a gallery
6:49
space at the Crane Arts Building. Working with,
6:52
in that collective, I was still, I'm actually
6:55
co -director now, but at the time... I was working
6:58
with other artists, and Da Vinci had reached
7:03
out to her. Mary Henderson is her name, was a
7:05
fellow artist and member of TSA. And they wanted
7:09
to start a residency program. And so Mary was
7:13
like, hey, you know, DaVinci Art Alliance, you
7:15
know, what's your experience? I was like, I only
7:17
had this one experience and it was good. They're
7:20
like, yeah, well, they want to start a residency
7:21
program and I'm going to do the residency part,
7:24
but they also need a fellowship director. And
7:27
so she invited me. And I, you know, I spoke at
7:30
the time with Sam Connors and Bryant Gersh, who
7:33
was the co -director at the time. And I was able
7:36
to come on as fellowship director. And just this
7:39
year I took over. the residency as well in terms
7:43
of adding guidance for the residents and things
7:46
like that so that's that's my story of how I
7:48
came to DaVinci Art Alliance and we might talk
7:52
about how I came into Tanya's orbit but like
7:56
it was also through DaVinci Art Alliance of course
7:58
it was actually by happenstance I think yeah
8:03
I can use that as my origin. Yeah. No, that'd
8:06
be great. Yeah. So of Black Wombhood, I like
8:10
the word origin that you use because that's why
8:12
I like renamed the project of Black Wombhood,
8:14
like of from like, there's a lot of like origin
8:17
behind the word in terms of like its meaning.
8:20
So anyway, I started working on that project
8:24
in 2019 off and on. One of my girlfriends, she
8:28
had hosted a supper club. She used to do these
8:30
supper clubs all the time with like her friends
8:31
in Brooklyn. And this one was themed Black Wombhood.
8:34
So she invited me and this was like right after
8:36
we had met. And I was like, OK, what is what
8:39
is this about? And I hadn't spent a lot of time
8:41
thinking about my wombhood and I don't ever heard
8:43
that word before. And so I think most people
8:47
who were there were either going through fertility
8:50
treatments or thinking about fertility. So it
8:52
was a fertility heavy conversation. But as someone
8:55
who. didn't really want to have children. I didn't
8:58
really think about it. I had to meditate on like
9:00
what I wanted to bring to the conversation. So
9:02
I have endometriosis. And if you don't know what
9:05
endometriosis is, it's a condition in which the
9:08
lining of your uterus thickens abnormally. And
9:11
you can also have other extra uterine growths,
9:13
which can cause severe pain, it can cause infertility,
9:16
it can cause cyst growth, like a lot of different
9:19
things can happen. It's a very, very unpleasant
9:21
experience. And it's diagnosed through a laparoscopic
9:24
surgery, which I had in my early 20s so I thought
9:28
about my period story and how my whole life has
9:31
kind of revolved around how miserable it was,
9:33
and that's what I discussed. And just being in
9:36
a space where people spoke so vulnerably about
9:38
just their wombhood inspired me to do something.
9:41
I do have a background in public health, but
9:43
at the time, and most recently, I was working
9:45
as a regulatory project manager at a law firm,
9:48
so it was not at all connected to this, but I
9:50
wanted a creative outlet. So I asked my friend,
9:54
I was like, is it okay if I use this theme for
9:56
a project? I don't know. I want to do yet but
9:58
the end goal would be some some type of art exhibit
10:01
and she was like sure so then the pandemic happened
10:03
and other stuff happened and the project went
10:06
on pause and then I moved to Philadelphia in
10:09
late 2021 and I was like I think I should pick
10:12
this back up again and it felt like Philly was
10:15
a good place to nurture it so I did a lot of
10:17
research I had to try to build like a small community
10:19
around folks to help me because I knew I couldn't
10:22
do it on my own and we were lucky enough to get
10:25
some fun to support the interviews and the project
10:28
got a structure. At the end of last year, I found
10:31
out that the project was accepted at Da Vinci
10:33
Art Alliance for an exhibition that opens next
10:36
week and at Tilt for the exhibition that opened
10:39
previously in March. And we really wanted an
10:42
artist who could capture the essence of each
10:46
of the narratives in somewhat of a complex and
10:49
layered way. And I think collage is a really
10:51
interesting way to look at narrative portraiture.
10:54
And I was introduced... to Cara through Veronica
10:57
Cianfrano Cianfrano who's the gallery director
11:02
at Da Vinci Art Alliance as well as James Britt
11:05
who's the curator director at Tilt who was familiar
11:08
with Cara's work and when they both suggested
11:12
Cara like a light bulb went off and then we kind
11:15
of met at like the end of like the very last
11:19
minute but Cara was interested and I saw her
11:23
work and just Kara's approach to practice and
11:26
preparation like Kara sent us like a full deck
11:29
like this is my process and this is my previous
11:31
work and this is what I could do for the project
11:33
and I was like yes as a project manager I was
11:35
like bring her on and we just worked so well
11:40
together and so Kara was able to produce this
11:43
amazing body of work in such a short amount of
11:46
time that has been so well received by the art
11:49
community and we're excited to unveil her work
11:52
for this new iteration next week and though it'll
11:55
be up for a shorter run I just think that what
11:58
she's been able to do in capturing the stories
12:01
through like her vision but integrating aspects
12:04
of each of the narrator's lives so delicately
12:07
into her work just from everything from the colors
12:10
that she chooses to like the objects that are
12:12
in it she did interviews with each of the narrators
12:15
the intention and attention to detail is really
12:18
impeccable so I'm really glad we were connected
12:20
in that way I really think our meeting and collaboration
12:23
and working together was just really, I... Here's
12:26
that. Yes. Yes. And it's funny because I think
12:30
James knew my work because I had applied to be
12:32
a resident at Tilt at one point. And I didn't
12:36
get it, which is okay, because that's what happens.
12:37
As an artist, you apply to stuff, you just don't
12:39
get it. You keep on keeping on. But when I heard
12:43
about this project, I was like, this is exactly
12:45
what I want to do. Because my background is in
12:48
anthropology. So I went to undergrad and graduate
12:51
school for it. I graduated from Temple. I've
12:54
always done art, photography. I got into photography
12:57
from my father. He was like an avid and amateur
12:59
photographer. And so I started off on film photography
13:03
as a teenager, and I just kept doing it off and
13:06
on. So when I got into anthropology, I went to
13:09
a special program called the Anthropology of
13:11
Visual Communication at Temple. At the time,
13:14
it was one of two programs in the country. It'll
13:17
almost be 20 years since I graduated. I can't
13:19
believe it. So I just was like, in addition to
13:26
being a social scientist, I want to be an artist
13:28
as well because it just it meant something to
13:31
me. And I was trying to figure out ways to integrate
13:34
both. And I had kind of been working on the periphery
13:37
for a while. But then with this project came
13:39
along and. Tanya was explaining it's an oral
13:42
history project. I was like, oh my God, I was
13:44
in heaven. So I rose to the challenge. It's just
13:48
the work that I've been wanting to do as an artist
13:50
for a very long time. Oh yeah, it's the perfect
13:53
intersection for both of you. We know, Tanya,
13:56
that you curated an upcoming group show of Black
13:59
Wombhood opening on June 5th, but it's much more
14:03
than just an art exhibition. We did end up wandering
14:07
the website. You're addressing this from all
14:12
angles and it's truly multidimensional from oral
14:16
histories and the podcast or the art exhibition
14:19
to a digital archive. What component of this
14:23
came first and how did you expand on it from
14:26
there? So like I mentioned earlier, when I approached
14:29
my friend Janina, I wanted to do an exhibition.
14:33
But as someone who had no previous art training
14:37
or academic cultural training, I was just like,
14:40
I don't know what to do. But I did go to grad
14:42
school, so I'm going to do some research. So
14:44
I wanted to see how the word womb was showing
14:47
up in the literature, throughout history, in
14:51
existing artwork, what people were producing
14:53
that kind of revolved around this entity. And
14:57
so all this stuff started showing up. I mean,
15:00
obviously, you have the health and medicine aspect
15:02
of it. And, you know, you go back enough in history,
15:05
you have, like, eugenics and laws around eugenics
15:08
and, like, forced sterilization. And when you
15:10
think about slavery, like, the breeding farms
15:12
where, like, this body existed solely to produce
15:16
slaves. And that, you know, transcends through
15:20
generations into how we perceive the black body.
15:23
Like, if you're thinking, oh, this person is
15:25
promiscuous or, oh, this person is hypersexualized,
15:28
like, there's a reason why all that happens,
15:29
and it connects to the womb. And there were also,
15:32
like... womb laws that were telling Black women
15:35
what they could and could not do with their wombs.
15:38
And then there's certainly how Black bodies have
15:41
been exploited for anti -abortion clauses. And
15:43
there's just so much. It goes on and on and on.
15:45
So with that kind of dark... framework, you know,
15:49
creating like this cloud around movement. I'm
15:51
like, well, what does it sound like in the contemporary
15:52
context? I don't know. And I still didn't know
15:54
that oral history was going to be a part of it
15:57
until I was talking to a curator, very well known.
16:00
Her name is Michelle Millar Fisher. And she had
16:02
done a show here called Designing Motherhood,
16:03
where they use like the actual design of. medical
16:07
products and like other maternal products and
16:10
motherhood. And she gave me a lot of advice.
16:12
And she was like, why don't you do like a supper
16:13
club and bring people together to talk about
16:16
wombhood? Like what inspired you to do it? And
16:18
I'm like, okay, so there's like, that's storytelling.
16:21
And then I'm like, oh, researching how, you know,
16:23
storytelling formats. And then I ended up on
16:26
oral history just because it's so rich and relevant.
16:29
It's like scholarly, but also qualitative, but
16:32
also accessible. And so I was like, I think I
16:35
will. do oral history and had to learn how to
16:38
interview people, what questions were appropriate
16:41
to ask. Because in addition to... just women
16:44
specifically, it expands gender too. Like I started
16:48
thinking about, well, you know, all people who
16:50
have wombs don't identify as women. There's gender
16:54
non -conforming populations. There's like trans
16:55
people. So if someone has a womb story and they
16:58
want to talk about it, what is appropriate and
17:00
not appropriate to get them to speak about that
17:03
experience that is still relevant to wombhood.
17:07
And I want wombhood to be this super expansive
17:08
term. So there was a lot more research I had
17:11
to do around it, but I'm grateful. I'm grateful
17:13
for the gender studies and queer community for
17:16
creating those resources that informed how I
17:19
should approach it in a careful manner, in a
17:22
respectful manner, and that made people feel
17:24
comfortable in trusting this project to talk.
17:27
through their stories. And so the interviews
17:30
that are on the site are actually oral history
17:32
vignettes. Oral history is like a long format,
17:35
like storytelling, design. Like you hear all
17:38
the questions. There's like a long back and forth.
17:40
You get a full biography that's really centered
17:42
around like a historical moment in time. But
17:45
I wanted them to be vignettes because I want
17:46
people to like come back or want, like yearn
17:49
for more. And so with the exhibition, it's a
17:52
way for people's curiosity hopefully to be piqued
17:56
by their stories. I don't think that people have
17:58
to listen to all of the stories before they come.
18:01
If they haven't, I hope they come and want to
18:04
hear the stories, but listening to the stories
18:07
makes the exhibition experience a little bit
18:10
more rich, I think. So what should people expect
18:13
when they experience the exhibition coming up?
18:17
Yeah, so the second portion of this exhibition
18:20
is featuring five of the narrators. There are
18:24
five that were featured in the Tilt exhibition,
18:27
which is up until May 31st, but by the time this
18:29
comes out, let me just keep going. The theme
18:33
that we all kind of agreed upon was to really
18:36
make it feel like a lived -in space, as if you're
18:40
in someone's living room. room like a rustic
18:43
feel to it and also it's an art exhibition so
18:46
to have that element of aesthetic in it so you
18:48
know that you are actually at a you know you're
18:51
looking at artwork I'm looking forward to seeing
18:54
how the portraits will look in the space but
18:56
we're kind of creating this this lived in feeling
18:59
so a living room that's one of the hearts of
19:02
the home that was one of the narrator's stories
19:07
about her sharing the color girl museum that
19:13
she yes um up in germantown where they the living
19:19
room was such a center for growing up on like
19:23
sharing your stories and sharing your family
19:25
and sharing all of that. It was Tanya's concept
19:28
that kind of, you know, for this direction of
19:30
this iteration of the exhibition. And then there'll
19:32
also be sound. There's a soundscape that's going
19:35
to accompany it that JL Simonson. Yeah. Shout
19:39
out the third artist. Oh yeah. Yes. Who are the
19:43
collaborators? Yeah. When I tell you that this
19:45
team is great because it's so multilayered and
19:48
we all have like expertise in these different.
19:51
These different fields, but they really connect
19:55
and intersect with one another well. JL uses
19:58
their sound as like a collage artist as well.
20:02
So it's going to be multi -layered. I believe
20:06
that it's going to be welcoming. And I really
20:09
hope that those who visit the exhibition, you
20:13
know, will establish some empathy. Right. Connect
20:16
with some of the narrators, maybe also reflect
20:18
on their own personal stories and experiences.
20:22
If they have wounds or if not, you know, I'm
20:25
sure that they know someone. And like I said,
20:28
I had a great time developing the artwork for
20:31
this. I'm using instant film, you know, definitely
20:34
collage. archival photos and materials there
20:38
are going to be photo albums that people can
20:40
flip through just like at you know at tilt there's
20:43
going to be a process wall where i photograph
20:46
various stages of my art practice it helps me
20:51
as you know to understand what i'm creating and
20:54
also serves as a document and so there'll be
20:57
a photo a process wall where you'll literally
21:00
see like the the photographs i took while i was
21:03
constructing these collages I have to piggyback
21:07
off of Kara in terms of what I want people to
21:09
feel. When she said empathy, that was always
21:12
something from the start. And from an accessibility
21:14
standpoint, I wanted people to be able to either
21:17
see, hear, and or feel the project. So we have
21:22
the visual aspect, which Kara provides, and then
21:25
the sonic element, which J .L. designed. And
21:29
J .L. used excerpts from each of the narrator's
21:33
interviews in addition to other ambient. And,
21:35
um. resonant aspects to just create this dreamscape
21:38
so that's where you come in and you can kind
21:41
of sit in this living room setting in here and
21:43
to the extent we could we i wanted there to be
21:46
like a textural aspect to it because when i think
21:48
of wombhood and listen to the stories there's
21:50
a lot of texture from like each person's voice
21:53
is their own kind of like identity coming into
21:56
it as well as like the breadth of identities
21:58
you probably feel color emotion when you're listening
22:02
to different ones as you alluded to earlier so
22:05
that's textural in my opinion so we have some
22:07
textiles in there as well from like the type
22:11
of rug to the fabric on a chair to like the curtain
22:15
that we may or may not use i don't know but but
22:17
it's all like it's a should be a multi -sensorial
22:21
experience if people aren't able to like hear
22:25
everything we want to direct them to the site
22:28
so that they can listen to the episodes and hopefully
22:31
realize that womb doesn't just mean you know
22:35
one thing it can mean different things and it
22:38
means something to each person who is a part
22:41
of this project whether they're a narrator or
22:44
an artist or another collaborator I mean I think
22:47
a lot of visitors will come out with questions
22:49
of themselves and of Of the womb that they came
22:54
from as well. Right. That's something we all
22:57
share, right? Yes, exactly. It's all in our home.
22:59
Correct. I have questions for my mom. I already
23:03
do. Like, did they listen to you if you had gone
23:08
through a trauma or not during that time? And
23:11
what support were you given? So many of the stories
23:15
were like, we weren't even educated and we were
23:18
thrusted into this situation of... of the usage
23:24
of our womb and that was, I think a lot of the
23:29
visitors will come out with more questions than
23:31
none, which is good. It continues to help ripple
23:35
out the art even beyond the four walls of the
23:39
exhibition. We'll throw it into the universe.
23:41
We need all of that. Love it, love it. So where
23:45
can people find you both online and in real life?
23:51
Online, you can visit my website, CaraMShinda
23:54
.com. I'm also on Instagram. The work will be
23:58
up at DaVinci Art Alliance for the month of June,
24:00
June 5th to the 22nd. I also have... A show coming
24:07
up, and I'm really horrible. I don't have the
24:09
dates. It'll be at the 2020 House in Lansdowne
24:13
later in the fall. It's a group exhibition where
24:17
we'll be featuring aspects of the city and urban
24:20
spaces. I'm doing photography mostly and collage,
24:25
and there's some painters, and then there's some
24:26
installation artists. I have a studio at Cherry
24:29
Street Pier, which is off of Columbus Boulevard.
24:33
Anytime you're down there at Cherry Street, feel
24:35
free to stop by. It's called Griot Arts, and
24:38
it's Studio 3. We're going to be having workshops
24:41
throughout the summer. And you can follow Of
24:45
Black Womb Hood on Instagram at... of Black Womb
24:48
Hood, and also the project website, which is
24:52
theblackwombhoodproject .com. That's a mouthful,
24:55
but it's linked on the website as well. Yeah,
24:59
we'll be updating. And also Da Vinci will be
25:01
hosting a workshop, a Create Your Own Oral History
25:05
workshop that J .L. Simonson, who's the sound
25:07
artist, is facilitating, and that's on the 21st
25:10
at 2 p .m. at Da Vinci Art Alliance. So if folks
25:13
are interested, they can go to Da Vinci's website,
25:15
and there's a registration link to Eventbrite.
25:17
where they can sign up. And we'll include the
25:20
link to that in the show notes. Thank you. Excellent.
25:23
We're going to close out with some rapid fire
25:25
questions. If you could describe the Philadelphia
25:29
art scene in one word. Underfunded. Fund us.
25:33
Fund us. Love that. Give us some money. I'm going
25:39
to say real. This is a city of working artists
25:42
who are real. Forget all that pretension. Folks
25:45
are out here just grinding, doing their thing.
25:48
And that's what I love about it. That's what
25:50
I love about Philly. Cheesesteaks, with whiz
25:53
or without? I'm going to say without just because
25:56
my stomach is weird today. Yeah. I'm going to
25:59
say without as well. All right. Perfect. Which
26:02
piece of art, any art, would you have in your
26:06
home if you could? No limitations. I just saw
26:10
the John Sargent exhibit at the Met, which was
26:14
incredible. And I didn't know like how he's light
26:17
in his work, but I had unlimited income. He has
26:20
a piece, I don't remember what it's called, but
26:24
he had a woman come in and she, I think when
26:27
he. went to Morocco it's like the woman standing
26:30
over like a perfume like an incense container
26:33
and just like the light elements the details
26:37
of like the rug and I'm struggling to remember
26:39
the name I saw it and it was like such a stunning
26:41
piece I would I think that would go with any
26:43
decor at least in my home perfect that's what
26:46
I would I would choose It would have to be Monet,
26:50
one of the Water Lily paintings. Beautiful. I
26:53
cried. I was in Chicago and I went to the Art
26:55
Institute and saw it in person. I had never seen
26:58
one in person, only in a book. And I don't know
27:02
why, but it just floored me. Yes. Because Impressionist
27:05
art eats. It does. It does. So I would have to
27:12
say that. And so there's so many, but yeah. It's
27:14
a beautiful period. Great choices, great choices.
27:17
Is there a Philadelphia -based artist that people
27:20
are sleeping on? I don't think she's slept on,
27:22
but I just love her work because it's so multidimensional.
27:26
Colette Fu, who does these pop -up sculptural
27:30
pieces. They're incredible. If you haven't had
27:35
a chance to, like, see it in person, it's truly
27:38
something masterful. Like, the craft behind,
27:41
like, these large paper sculptures that, if you
27:44
ever had someone give you, like, a pop -up card
27:46
for your birthday, these are, like, human scale.
27:49
Intricate. Intricate. Yeah. She's Philly -based,
27:52
but she's shown, like, at Grounds for Sculpture.
27:55
Like, she's all over the place. Also a fellow
27:57
Leeway grantee. Check her out if you haven't.
28:01
She's probably booked and busy right now. I'm
28:04
gonna link her stuff too yeah she's incredible
28:06
that's that's a hard one I don't I know so many
28:10
wonderful artists we all should like have you
28:12
know get Guggenheim we should all be funded but
28:16
like I'm trying to think Don't sleep on Cara
28:19
either. Oh, well, yeah, thanks. You can self
28:22
-promote Cara. That's perfectly fine. Don't sleep
28:24
on Cara. I have a dream to show it. Love that.
28:28
I would love to show it at a museum one day in
28:30
my life, so I'm putting that out there. All right.
28:33
Love it. All right, Tanya, this is specifically
28:36
for you. Who or which brand makes the best turtleneck?
28:40
Okay, I'm going to go high -low. high is relative
28:44
but i would say for high commando just the seamless
28:47
fit is like so good and then accessible there's
28:52
this brand called marcella nyc which i'm like
28:56
obsessed with and i have got a jacket from them
28:59
i just love the little cutouts in the turn it's
29:02
like like you can get a regular turtleneck with
29:03
a little shouldered you know razzle dazzle so
29:06
yeah i just bought a sleeveless shirt from there.
29:10
It's a stand -up turtleneck. Oh. Okay. It's like
29:14
a woven. Oh, is it like the exaggerated? Yeah,
29:16
I know what you're talking about. Yeah, I would
29:18
say Marcella and Commando. And Cara, this one's
29:22
for you. Okay. If you could pick one of your
29:26
accessible mediums, so either your freehand drawing,
29:30
collage, or lo -fi photography, which one would
29:34
you pick? Oh, wow. No pressure. Right? No pressure.
29:43
I'm going to say drawing because I don't show
29:45
a lot of my drawings. So that's the most personal
29:50
work that I would have to say. That's the most
29:52
uniquely Cara type of artwork that I do is my
29:56
freehand drawings. It's really good, too. I think
29:59
you have some on your Instagram. Oh, yeah. I
30:02
draw on people's faces. Don't sleep on Cara.
30:06
Thank you. I appreciate that. Well, thank you
30:10
both so much for your time today. It's been absolutely
30:12
wonderful. And everyone, please check out Da
30:16
Vinci Art Alliance and Of Black Wombhood Project
30:20
that will open on June 5th. talk about what we're
30:40
doing this weekend can i just say wow yeah i
30:45
could have listened to tanya and kara for beyond
30:48
our studio time oh yes and i burned through all
30:52
of the interviews and they're just so moving
30:54
and those profiled shared with such vulnerability
30:56
i will definitely be going to the exhibit on
31:00
saturday you know what i'm excited about I'm
31:04
really excited to see how that space is transformed
31:08
from gallery to the lived in rustic space that
31:15
they're talking about in our conversation. And
31:18
it sounds like it's going to be very experiential.
31:21
Yeah. I mean, every listener should really take
31:24
the time to listen to some of those episodes.
31:26
They were truly moving and eye opening. Was it
31:31
really eye -opening as a man? Oh, yeah. Definitely.
31:35
Definitely. Same. Before going to the Da Vinci
31:39
Art Alliance Saturday, I actually have plans
31:41
to make it to Muse Gallery to see the Jean Plow
31:44
exhibit. Oh, great. I think it's Jean Plow, not
31:47
Jean. It's called Figure Slash Ground and probably
31:50
bringing Petit Garçon with me. Nice. We'll go
31:53
after French. And Small Ball opens on Friday
31:58
and my family will be there. Nice. Supporting
32:01
the PTC. Are you getting into anything? Are you
32:05
taking a weekend off? I might take a weekend
32:08
off. I might also check out some art on Sunday
32:14
because I'll be in the city. Oh, are you going
32:16
to the Rittenhouse Fine Art? Oh, yes. Rittenhouse
32:21
Fine Art. Fair is this weekend. It's absolutely
32:26
incredible every year. And hopefully the weather
32:30
is also incredible. It's usually a great time
32:38
to see some great pieces. And if that is out
32:43
of people's price range, the following weekend
32:47
is the... Art for the Cash Poor. That'll be taking
32:51
place Saturday, June 14th from 12 to 6. And there'll
32:57
be more than 100 local artists offering their
33:01
artwork for $250 or less. Accessible. Yes, totally.
33:08
And that'll be in like South Kensington area.
33:10
That was going to be my next question. Yeah.
33:12
And then the Fine Art Fair is in Rittenhouse
33:15
Square. Correct. Robert, here's my question for
33:18
you. Will you be bringing a U -Haul with you?
33:23
Potentially. I will also be running out of wall
33:26
space indefinitely. Let's talk about what else
33:32
is up for this weekend. If you are not going
33:35
to see Small Ball on Friday, and you absolutely
33:38
should catch it during its run, Old City First
33:41
Friday is this Friday. Also... John Poblador,
33:46
Chapel of Color, opened yesterday as of this
33:49
episode drop at Bridget Meyer Gallery. Cynthia
33:53
Paredes, By My Side or Back Me, is ongoing at
33:56
the Print Center until July 19th. The Chris RWK
34:00
Show is ongoing at Works on Paper Gallery, and
34:03
this is the last weekend. Let's be honest, it's
34:06
probably sold out by now. Oh, yeah. Make sure
34:10
Tara Bodies and Territories is on your calendar
34:13
for either weekend, and that's going to be June
34:15
13th, 14th, 15th, and 20th, 21st, and 22nd. I'm
34:21
thinking about buying tickets for Father's Day.
34:23
Oh, that'd be great. Yeah. Bring it on home,
34:26
Robert. What else? Also, there's tickets to Ballet
34:29
X's summer series that are on sale for July 16th
34:32
through the 20th, but the company also has their
34:35
June 5th stop at Longwood Gardens. and will be
34:39
popping up June 12th at Dilworth Park. As always,
34:43
Philly has heart. And art. It's forced us to
34:58
also, like, immerse ourselves more into the arts
35:02
community. I was going to ask, do you visit all
35:05
the places? We try to. Lucinda does an amazing
35:08
job of checking out all the galleries and checking
35:12
in over the weekend and seeing new openings and
35:17
everything like that. I'm also in the city and
35:20
he lives in Ardmore, so that's fair. It's a little
35:23
harder for me. You know, there's a gallery down
35:28
the street that it makes sense for me to stop
35:30
in during the lunch break and how lucky I am
35:33
to do that.