Art If...!

In this minisode, we talk about the provocation from Tom Drakulich! 

Episode Summary: We brought some finesse into the gallery for our last full-length episode for Season One. Haddy talked pop culture, from Bruno Mars to 80s hip-hop and DJs, showing how finesse illuminates generational shifts in aesthetic culture. Yassi talks about the preciseness of finesse in painting on the world’s smallest canvas: a grain of rice. As always, we end with a provocation, this one asks you to dig into the role of art in your family history.

Gabby Roney is a scenic artist from Kansas City who is currently studying at the University of Kansas City Missouri (UMKC)’s Conservatory for her MFA in Design and Technology. Her studies include hand and digital drafting, dry and wet media rendering techniques, life drawing, scenic art, property construction and construction. She is navigating a practice of live theatre during a pandemic. She previously spent two years as Drury University’s Technical Director building and paint charging shows. Her favorite part of the job was mentoring students to tool proficiency.

Find Gabby online:

In Minisode 15, Haddy and Yassi discuss their experiences with provocations from poet, Ed Mabrey.

Provocation (#artifpodcast) Once again we have TWO provocations this week! These artists are putting us to the test!

First: Say Yes! For one month to a year, say yes to everything that you can (that is safe and healthy for you to do) and see the world of opportunities open up before your eyes!

Second: find a group of friends and commit to renting a small space (as soon as the world opens up again!). With a space to call your own, see how your creativity can flourish!

About Ed Mabrey

Ed is the only 4 time Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the only 4 time Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam Individual Champion. He tours the country professionally as a poet, comedian, and motivational speaker. A two-time InkSlam winner, multiple LEAF Slam Champion, an Emmy winner, Ed has been on Seasons 3, 5 and 6 of Verses and Flow (TV One), ABC, FOX, HBO All Def Digital, Write About Now Poetry and was a speaker at 2015 TEDx Dayton. He’s performed at over 100 colleges and universities around the country, teaching workshops and conducting seminars. On the comedy front, Ed has opened for DL Hughley, Ian Bagg, Rob Schneider, Roy Wood Jr., Charlie Murphy and many more. Ed is a two time finalist in The World Series Of Comedy, held in Las Vegas and he’s been the voice of companies ranging from the Ohio State Medical Center to Lexus.

Find Ed Online

Art if...the oboe is the mistress! With conductor Nolan Dresden.

Episode Summary:

In this week’s gallery talk about art and journey! Yassi brings the work of performance artist Pope L.  to the gallery to talk about how his journey is more important than the distance travelled and Haddy talks about the history of postcards, which takes her on a journey she didn’t expect!.Then we interview music conductor Nolan Dresden and talk about how music has the power to transport us to faraway places. This week’s provocation asks you to revisit your favorite music and see if it can take you somewhere new!

Nolan’s Bio:

After a successful two year battle with Leukemia and a Bone Marrow Transplant, I'm back and better than ever. #takethatcancer

After attending university, I performed professionally for six years in musical theater and opera, and a few seasons as Music Director of a theater company outside of Chicago.  At this point I had come to a fork in the road; do I pursue a conducting career or a performance career?  Feeling that I had more to offer as a conductor and feeling more artistic fulfillment in that field, the choice was clear.

In 2009, I started to make my way up the instrumental conducting ladder here in New York City.   I have hit all the various marks, from standard orchestral works like Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 4 to lesser known pieces like Two Cine Pastrali by Toru Takemitsu.  I pride myself in programing outside of the box, in order to create an experience for the audience to venture through with the ensemble.

Episode Summary:

In this week’s unique gallery, Yassi and Haddy invite their good friend, Dan Boulus, to talk about “Art and the City” --how arts institutions shape the literal infrastructure and cultural feel of a city. Then to kick off our hometown series, they interview 2019 Reno City Artist and figurative abstractionist, Tom Drakulich. Finally, this week’s provocation asks you to confront a piece of abstraction and figure out what it means to you.

Dan Boulos received his PhD in Theater Studies from the University of California Santa Barbara in 2018. His dissertation examined the founding of the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center in New York City and Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles and situated their histories in the context of urban renewal during the Cold War in the United States. Earlier graduate research led to his Master’s thesis on the redevelopment of New York’s City’s Forty-Second Street and Times Square, reflecting a life-long fascination with American cities, the majority of which he got to see while spending nearly two years touring North America in a giant lizard costume in The Magic School Bus Live.

Biography: Born and raised in Reno, NV, Tom Drakulich is a process based, figurative abstractionist whose art practice navigates the play between the unique and the familiar. Having grown up exploring the Nevada landscape, he is influenced by the ways in which the physicality and form of the desert can be connected to the aesthetics of the body and his relationship with human nature. Tom is an interdisciplinary artist working in ceramics, mixed media painting and drawing, and site-specific sculpture. Tom received his A.A. in Art History from Truckee Meadows Community College, his B.A. in Criminal Justice from the University of Nevada, Reno, and his M.F.A. from the University of Nevada, Reno. In 2019, he was selected as the City of Reno’s inaugural City Artist.

Find Tom online:

Episode Summary: Reality bites in this week’s gallery chat as Haddy talks about the aesthetics of information visualization in graphs and charts and Yassi talks about the ways in which surveillance culture blur art and reality. Documentary filmmaker Andy Sarjahani, this week’s interview guest, joins in the conversation sharing his experiences in how visual storytelling works to convey deep truths and tackles existential questions.

Andy Sarjahani (b. 1983, Richland, WA) is an American-Iranian documentary filmmaker and photographer raised in the Ozarks of Arkansas and currently based in East Tennessee. He is interested in people, our relationship to place and how that shapes our worldview.

He has a Masters of Science in Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems from Montana State University and left his career in academia in 2012 to tell stories with a camera.

He worked on the critically acclaimed documentary Tower (Keith Maitland, 2016) and his work has been featured in Vice, Outside, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, and numerous other festivals and universities.

Find Andy Online

WEBSITE/SOCIAL MEDIA

Yassi and Haddy discuss doing the provocation from Episode 12 with Samantha Bearman.  You can listen to the episode here: https://anchor.fm/artifpodcast/episodes/Episode-12-Art-If---I-have-the-microphone--With-stand-up-comic-Samantha-Bearman-eh4nnn

Provocation (#ArtIfPodcast):

Find an area where you are not represented and create the platform to provide a space to be seen and for others to see you and so you can showcase your art and creativity!

Samantha Bearman is an Empowerment Coach + Writing Expert. She has a master’s degree in behavior change from the University of Kentucky. She has been writing professionally in the private and non-profit sector for over a decade and is a contributing journalist for Syndrome Magazine as well as an accomplished stand up comedian.  She is a motivational maven and loves being a supportive coach who provides encouragement, due diligence, and accountability to her clients. She has also used comedy as a way to bring the community together for a cause, producing sold out comedy and variety shows that raised money for organizations including the Alzheimer's Association, Planned Parenthood and the American Heart Association. She now has her own bi-monthly room, Bear Cave Comedy in Santa Barbara.

Find Samantha online at:

Episode Summary: This week’s theme is Art and Romance! Yassi delves into the lost art of love letters and gives us tips on how to write our own mushy gushy letters, and Haddy explores the underbelly of romance through the Museum of Broken Relationships! Then they chat with spoken word poet Ed Mabrey about the power of the word to change the world around us, including how to explore the many loves of our lives.

Ed Mabrey is the only 4 time Individual World Poetry Slam Champion and the only 4 time Southern Fried Regional Poetry Slam Individual Champion. He tours the country professionally as a poet, comedian, and motivational speaker. A two-time InkSlam winner, multiple LEAF Slam Champion, an Emmy winner, Ed has been on Seasons 3, 5 and 6 of Verses and Flow (TV One), ABC, FOX, HBO All Def Digital, Write About Now Poetry and was a speaker at 2015 TEDx Dayton. He’s performed at over 100 colleges and universities around the country, teaching workshops and conducting seminars. On the comedy front, Ed has opened for DL Hughley, Ian Bagg, Rob Schneider, Roy Wood Jr., Charlie Murphy and many more. Ed is a two time finalist in The World Series Of Comedy, held in Las Vegas and he’s been the voice of companies ranging from the Ohio State Medical Center to Lexus.

Find Ed Online

Provocation (#ArtIfPodcast):

Use your art form or your storytelling ability to try to create something that represents or speaks to marginalized, underrepresented, or unheard communities in your life. How can I create a piece or a project that represents this community or amplifies the voice of this community?  If you don’t consider yourself an artist, next time you pass someone, take a second, and dig a little bit deeper. Ask them a little bit more to get to know their story.

Starting this week, Art If…! Podcast will switch to a bi-weekly production schedule. We will post full length episodes with gallery and interview every other week. We will post minisode episodes where we discuss the provocations in the interim weeks. In other words, we will be posting alternating episodes: Full length episode one week, minisode the next, then repeat, so there is still something coming out for you to enjoy every week!

Episode Summary: This week’s theme is Art and Education. As the new school year starts off, Haddy and Yassi discuss the relationship between art and learning. Haddy invites you into the world of toy design and Yassi explores the history of children’s museums. Then they chat with Michaella Beatty, about the role of art in the learning process and art as self-care. Michealla issues 2 provocations that help you see yourself and the world around you a little more clearly.

Michaella Beatty is a current school counselor with a MS in Counseling and an EdS (educational specialist) degree. She uses art as a self care practice. Michaella taught painting classes for two years, and used artwork from this studio to transform canvas into wearable art. She makes upcycled canvas earrings, bags, bows, and even passport covers. Recently she has taken up urban sketching and watercolor landscapes. She enjoys the act of creating, as well as teaching people how to create for themselves.

Find Michaella Online:

Instagram: @michaellamade

Today we talk about experience doing the provocation from Digital Performer and Artivist, Sahar Sajadieh.  

Listen to the original episode here: https://anchor.fm/artifpodcast/episodes/Episode-10-Art-ifyour-body-is-obsolete--With-digital-performance-and-media-artivist--Sahar-Sajadieh-eghmao

Provocation (#artifpodcast):

Soundscape of Our Daily Rituals:

1.  Think about 3 activities/rituals that you do every day or in a regular basis during the week (e.g. Brushing your teeth, walking, …).

2.  Pay attention to the following 5 Viewpoints* in each (daily/weekly/frequent) ritual:

-tempo

-duration

-repetition

-spatial relationship

-topography

Episode 13: Art if... It's all in the DM's! With Jazz Pianist Bill Perry

Episode Summary: This week’s theme is Art and Improvisation. Despite the impulse to wing it, Haddy and Yassi looked up some cool improvisational art. Yassi talked about the practice of live painting and Haddy let inspiration guide her from improvised weapons to improvised architecture. Then they chat it up with jazz musician Bill Perry, Jr. who issued a provocation that encourages you to dig deep into a new activity.

Bill Perry, Jr. is an American musician born in Chicago, Illinois. Perry is a jazz pianist and music composer who lives in Oxford, MS. He has 3 albums, 2 of which are currently available on iTunes and other online music eStores: Beyond The Darkness (Bill Perry Trio), and Phantom (Bill Perry). He also has a hip-hop single called "Lovely" also available on iTunes under his rap name Bill Mysteryo.

Find Bill online at:

Summary: The gallery question of the week is: how do art and vulnerability relate to each other?  Haddy answers by throwing knives and Yassi makes the art disappear.  Then Samantha Bearman keeps it real and makes us laugh from her car. As per usual, we end with a provocation, this week’s asks you to make a space for your own art and creativity.

Samantha Bearman is an Empowerment Coach + Writing Expert. She has a master’s degree in behavior change from the University of Kentucky. She has been writing professionally in the private and non-profit sector for over a decade and is a contributing journalist for Syndrome Magazine as well as an accomplished stand up comedian.  She is a motivational maven and loves being a supportive coach who provides encouragement, due diligence, and accountability to her clients. She has also used comedy as a way to bring the community together for a cause, producing sold out comedy and variety shows that raised money for organizations including the Alzheimer's Association, Planned Parenthood and the American Heart Association. She now has her own bi-monthly room, Bear Cave Comedy in Santa Barbara.

Find Samantha online at:

Inspired by a collaborator’s play entitled, “Play For A Friend” Jasmine’s provocation challenged us to make art for the future generations. We were to ask a child in our life what kind of art they wanted to see and then make it. We were to offer it up for their feedback and take the feedback seriously and then remake the art.

In this minisode, Haddy and Yassi share their experiences embracing the playful and absurd suggestions that children make and taking them very seriously. Both art projects led to a wonderful and generous intergenerational exchange.

Jasmine Henri Jordan is a writer, performer, and teaching artist living in Chicago. She is an ensemble member at The Neo-Futurists, a company member at Playmakers Laboratory, and a founding member of Hot Kitchen Collective. She is a Florida State University School of Theatre alum. Her work is overwhelmingly about queerness, Blackness, pop culture, youth, and making messes

Summary: In this week’s gallery, we gather our ideas and thoughts on “Art and Community,” from large-scale grassroots murals to how the aesthetics of a golf course can shape our collective experience. Then we commune with photographer and storyteller, Thai Chu. As always, we end with a provocation that asks you to dig deeper into the communities around you.

Thai Chu is an independent photographer and storyteller shooting from San Francisco, California. His work is an extension of his training in Social Psychology where he spent 8 years researching how thinking and behavior differ across cultures. He continues to reflect on humans as a function of their social environment as a photographer, contrasting modern society with unseen cultures and bringing awareness to the quiet lives of those without representation. He also pairs my passion for storytelling as the Founder of Listen for a Change, a 501(c)(3) storytelling event on topics of social justice.

Provocation (#ArtIfPodcast):

Use your art form or your storytelling ability to try to create something that represents or speaks to marginalized, underrepresented, or unheard communities in your life. How can I create a piece or a project that represents this community or amplifies the voice of this community?  If you don’t consider yourself an artist, next time you pass someone, take a second, and dig a little bit deeper. Ask them a little bit more to get to know their story.

Find Thai Chu online at:

We extended our conversation with playwright and director, Robert Quillen Camp, to discuss Black plays and playwrights that would be especially informative during the current struggle for racial equality.

Bio: Robert Quillen Camp is a playwright and performance maker who often works with theater companies that create work using a devising process, including Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philly, with whom he wrote the Obie-award winning Chekhov Lizardbrain; NYC’s Hoi Polloi, with whom he wrote the text and lyrics for All Hands (with music by Dave Malloy) and the Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE). His most recent plays include Our Ruined House and How to Learn and he is currently working on a commission from the Kimmel Center to create a family-friendly piece of physical theatre with Pig Iron’s Dan Rothenberg.

Episode 10: Art if…your body is obsolete! With digital performance and media artivist, Sahar Sajadieh

Summary: Technology is on display in this week’s gallery as Haddy and Yassi talk about the aesthetic and performance considerations in car design and Bill Viola’s long career in video art. Then, they invite digital performance artivist (artist/activist) Sahar Sajadieh to talk about how technology has transformed her art and how it acts on the world around us. Finally, she issues a provocation that asks us to pay close attention to the qualities of our daily movements.

Sahar Sajadieh is an Iranian-Canadian digital performance & media artivist (artist/activist) and scholar. Her background is in Experimental Theater, Computer Science, and Performance Studies. Sahar has recently completed her PhD degree in Media Arts and Technology at UCSB. Sahar’s research lies at the intersection of interactive performance/media arts, human computer interaction (HCI), and performance/media theories. She designs and develops technologies that support emergent human rituals and interactions, and simultaneously study the human experience while interacting with various kinds of new media.  Her works have been presented in many international digital arts symposia and human-computer interaction conferences, and theater and performance Studies and interdisciplinary studies conferences. In addition to her digital artwork and research, Sahar has also acted, directed, and worked as a dramaturg in several theatrical productions in New York City, Vancouver, and Santa Barbara.

Summary: This week, Haddy and Yassi change up the show!. One of the Art If listeners suggested we talk about Protest music, and so they invited that listener on the show for an extended gallery! So, in this episode, we chat with Jacob Maher, about Art and Protest. Do you have an idea for a future gallery?  Let us know!!

Provocation: None this week. Maybe now is the time to revisit one of the previous ones?

Jacob is a recent college graduate living in Springfield, MO working on writing projects and googling articles about protest music in his off time.

Find Jacob’s lighting design work here:

Episode Summary: Haddy and Yassi brought the crystal ball into the gallery to discuss “Art and Future.” Then they sat down for an interview with writer, performer, and teaching artist, Jasmine Henri Jordan. Finally, this week’s provocation asks the future generation for input on your art.

Bio: Jasmine Henri Jordan is a writer, performer, and teaching artist living in Chicago. She is an ensemble member at The Neo-Futurists, a company member at Playmakers Laboratory, and a founding member of Hot Kitchen Collective. She is a Florida State University School of Theatre alum. Her work is overwhelmingly about queerness, Blackness, pop culture, youth, and making messes.

Episode Summary: Haddy and Yassi chat about art and the senses, how a certain horror film director used tactile sensation to make his films extra scary and the ways that artists use smell to broaden our experience of humanity and history. Then we schmooze with experimental playwright, director, and our friend, Robert Quillen Camp. We end the episode with Quill’s provocation, a month-long audio project that perform for yourself!

Bio: Robert Quillen Camp is a playwright and performance maker who often works with theater companies that create work using a devising process, including Pig Iron Theatre Company in Philly, with whom he wrote the Obie-award winning Chekhov Lizardbrain; NYC’s Hoi Polloi, with whom he wrote the text and lyrics for All Hands (with music by Dave Malloy) and the Portland Experimental Theatre Ensemble (PETE). His most recent plays include Our Ruined House and How to Learn and he is currently working on a commission from the Kimmel Center to create a family-friendly piece of physical theatre with Pig Iron’s Dan Rothenberg.

Episode Summary: Haddy and Yassi chat about art and home: how frames transform the art and how birds have an eye for design. Then they interview artists, musicians, and married couple Ingrid and Terry Luna. This time, we end the show with, not one, but two “provocations” … one that makes you think about what you put out into the world and the other that asks you to consider what art you bring into your home.

Provocations (#ArtIfPodcast):

1. Do something, it doesn’t have to be profound or earth-shattering, but a little something that makes someone smile or think. It could be anything from a sign in your yard, to googly eyes on a plant, to a chalk drawing. Just put a little magic out there for someone to come across.
   
2. Right now is a really good time to absorb everything that is out there in order to work on it later. Read as much as you can, listen to great music and watch shows, take it all in--and it will eventually come out somehow.  Intentionally experience the art around you.
   

This Week’s Guests:

Terry Luna is a professional fine jeweler and professional musician and all around artistic dilettante. Working in precious metal and gemstones, video production and editing, recorded music, live performance, performance art, some woodwork, metal sculpture, and live video installations/performances and endless litany of collaborations both completed and in various stages of production.  Primarily he works for a fine jewelry store as a jeweler by day and performs in a handful of bands by night, and is a father of two amazing young women and husband to an extraordinary fine artist and set painter Ingrid Luna .

Ingrid Luna is a Painter, Scenic Artist, writer, musician and muralist in Santa Barbara, CA. She loves conversations that keep you up all night, wine, books, finding magic in ordinary moments and of course, tacos.  She lives in Santa Barbara, CA with her two riot grrl daughters and artist husband.

From the gallery:

Episode 4: Art if…the times are exceptional! With conceptual painter Olivier Mosset

Episode Summary: Haddy and Yassi chat about art and collaboration: Live Action Role Playing and the husband and wife team Anna and Larry Halprin. Then they interview Swiss conceptual painter Olivier Mosset. And as always, end the show with an art “provocation” … can you do “nothing”?

Provocation (#artifpodcast):

Do nothing! Interpret that however you will. Document that however you can. Explore the possibilities that arise when you extract yourself from the constraints of productivity. Don’t forget to tag us on instagram, facebook and twitter #artifpodcast @artifpodcast

This week’s guest, Olivier Mosset:

Olivier Mosset is a Swiss conceptual abstract painter, now splitting his time between Tucson, AZ, Paris, and New York City. In his early work with Paris collective, BMPT, he helped disrupt traditional notions of authorship and helped shepherd in the minimalist movement in the 1960s. His solo work, primarily in abstraction and monochrome painting, has radicalized the art world--both in the sense of returning to painting and revolutionizing concepts of art. He has continued to produce and show all over the world and currently has work in the public collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, The Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, and Migros Museum and Cantonal Museum of Fine Arts in Switzerland.

Find Olivier online:

Episode Summary:

Haddy and Yassi chat about the art created in or inspired by pandemics: “consumptive chic” fashion trends in the cholera pandemic, Act Up AIDS activist protests; bubonic plague doctor’s masks, Egon Schiele’s haunting portraits, and Antonin Artaud’s controversial approach to theatre. Then they interview photographer Maike Pulliam of M.Rinaye photography. And as always, end the show with an art “provocation” … what will you make?

Provocation (#artifpodcast):

Find a pal who is willing to collaborate. Start a piece on your own, but leave room for the other person to add on to or transform what you’ve done. Maybe it’s a line drawing, or the beginning of a collage, or a cool background, or a fascinating found object. Start anywhere! Then, hand it off  (or send it by mail to a distant friend) and let your collaborator complete it. Once it’s complete, give it to an essential worker or anyone who is out there making a difference during this pandemic and could use a little pick me up. (And help support the post office! Because we all love getting mail!) Don’t forget to tag us on instagram, #artifpodcast, so we can share your work!

This week’s guest: Maike Pulliam

As the owner/photographer for M.Rinaye, Maike Pulliam captures real moments of people and the ones they love. Her photography celebrates commitments, creates family memories, and becomes art to be printed, hung on the wall, and passed down through generations.  She has a bachelor's degree in Design Art and Art History from Drury University, and started her own photography business in 2010.

Find Maike online:

Welcome to Art If...!  A new podcast where we talk about art, life, and everything in between. This mini-episode introduces you to the hosts, Yassi Jahanmir and Haddy Kreie, and the reasons why they are starting this podcast.  

Follow us on social media @artifpodcast.