The Stolen Hours Podcast

Benjamin Kator is an artist working and living in Philadelphia. From his roots in New Jersey, he ended up in the Kensington neighborhood in Philly while dealing with addiction. There he found a road to recovery and a new lease on his life as a creator.  For the past 5 years, he has built his life back up while building up a small art space named The Blockchain Gallery.  The gallery became a beacon of light in the struggling community. Ben left the light of the space on throughout the night to offer something different than the cycle of struggle that so many walked through on the streets. For creatives, it became a place to show and see work. For those in the neighborhood struggling with substance abuse, homelessness, or poverty it became a safe space to experience community and culture.  Blockchain Gallery gave Ben a place to create and share his creations, but building it into a not-for-profit entity also gave him a positive project to concentrate on while he worked out his life.  Kator's portfolio, full of pen and ink illustrations of the musicians he loves and his experimentations with abstraction and digital art, developed in earnest as he was given back his love and drive to create.   Follow his next ventures in life on Instagram @benkator1

Jessica Russo Scherr is an artist known for her large-scale paintings and social media videos that demystify art making. Her paintings intertwine her love of art history, travel, memory, and motherhood in a manner that often blends represented reality to such a degree that the visuals combine into plays of abstraction. Jessica is an International Baccalaureate Art Educator who challenges her students to create large-scale paintings and to understand their work in the context of art history. As a dedicated creator and as a teaching tool, she can't help but create her paintings in the same space as her students. Her media presence is full of honest experiences of succeeding and failing using materials like Gelli printmaking sheets or more traditional art-making methods. The Fulbright Grant she received earlier in her career set her on a track of international art education and art creation ventures that continue into her life now.  Jessica lives with her two kids and her husband in Germany where she teaches at the Frankfurt International School and continues to influence and share her passion for art with others. Jessica's creative life can be followed at @bluelavaart.

Eteri Chkadua- From Soviet Control to a Life of Freedom and Art Making: Ep. 67 S3 (published 3/21/2024)

Eteri studied at the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi, Georgia where her professors taught her to avoid Soviet style Social Realism, with an embrace of abstract and impressionist styles, as a reaction against the oppressive state. Before she finished her time there she made a painting that contained figurative realism to bust the chops of her professors that surprised them so much that it propelled her into the art scene of her home country. She came to America in 1988 with an American Linguist who was studying the Georgian language and helped her leave a place where no one was allowed to leave. Since then, she has become known around the world as a figurative painter who explores serious topics with a sense of humor. Her paintings explore the content of her new life in America (from Rastafarians to new relationships) alongside references to her life back in Georgia or the weapons of war that oppress people around the world. Enjoy this conversation that taps into topics of her creative art-making to Russian control that still threatens today.

A conversation between four artists who juggle big families, lots of jobs, and sneak in more time than ever to make things. We discuss the joys and struggles of having it all- from artist tips when your life is full of taking care of the kids to humble entrepreneurial endeavors.  Corey and Melissa Hardin, owners of The Art Studio in Highland Lakes, have four children, several jobs, two BFAs, and a passion for making and teaching art. Corey earned his BFA from Pratt and is a career-long Union Carpenter.  Melissa earned her BFA from Ramapo College and is a dedicated art educator in her own art school, and marketing coordinator for Gym Guys. My wife Kristin Dalelio (aka Kitchen) and I have five kids, two BFAs, and a passion for making and teaching art as well.  Kitch got her dual major degrees in Art and Religion from Felician University and is now a Cottage Food licensed baker. Dennis Dalelio earned his BFA from Mason Gross at Rutgers University, his MFA from William Paterson University, and has been a career-long art teacher (and host of this show.) Through years of alarm clocks or babies waking them up before dawn, ships passing each other in the night, learning how to be parents full of wisdom, and dedicated workers who earn their paychecks, all four have maintained a practice of creating and/or teaching art that makes them feel alive and to be who they each were created to be.  

Paul Larsen grew up in the woods of West Milford Township in NJ, just up the road from Greenwood Lake and just a stroll away from the Appalachian Trail. Now, he is a cultured arts advocate and community builder who opened an art gallery on a wooded plot of land in the middle of Bergen County next to the flowing waters of the Saddle River. He credits his parents, who brought him to artisan communities throughout NY and NJ and the cultural centers of NYC, and his artistic peers who were always doing interesting things, as his inspiration for a life of collecting and supporting artists. His gallery, in Saddle River, NJ, has become a place to share and sell his collections, but also a place where known and unknown dedicated creators show their work, make new works, and build community.  As he described it, "Our mission is to bring the community together through new exhibitions and opportunities to talk about and engage in fine art."  Follow on instagram @paul_larsen_gallery or go visit him at the gallery in Saddle River, NJ

Enjoy this conversation with Will Brady, an artist and baker who graduated from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers in 2003. Will's work consists of daily records kept in notebooks that are turned into collages. He has exhibited at Montserrat Gallery in Chelsea, NYC from 2007 -2022.  n 2006, he sold his complete collection of undergraduate school notebooks (weighing 300 lbs) to a collector from Japan when it was shown in the Pleiades Gallery in NYC.   Will recently won first place for drawing at the Bergen County Art in the Park show in 2023.

By Day, Will has spent 18 years working in the baking industry. He was a delivery person for 13 years and more recently worked as a pastry chef for the past 5 years.  His experience as a delivery driver allowed him to learn many North Jersey roads and landmarks that he now includes in his art.  While creating his baked goods, he keeps a folded-up piece of computer paper in his back pocket to write down ideas and create drawings. He then turns those notes into framed collages. You can check out Will’s art on Instagram @wbradyart.

The Artist, Ricky Boscarino, has been creating "Luna Parc," his major work/home/museum/installation for the past 34 years, alongside a journey of forging a career in the arts. The experience he made, for those who have the privilege of touring this creation, is one that is unforgettable and overwhelming. Unforgettable, in that, there is something interesting for everyone- from a collection of his own paintings, metal works, or the architecture itself (that he both designed and built,) to a small box holding his personal collection of matchbox cars from his youth, to collections of instruments, nature, or other artists' creations. It is overwhelming, in that, every detail of the house is an expression of Ricky's vision for the space, and you will most likely miss something- from the sculpted nest and birds hidden inside a cement-formed tree in his gardens to the inlaid glass box surrounded by multi-colored wood pieces within one of the upper floors that is designed to (when the time comes) contain his own ashes for display. Ricky shares how he is another artisan in a long line of artisans in the Boscarino family. He offers advice on how to support yourself with the sale of your own creations. For him it has been the sale of his intricate jewelry and now his ceramic face pots/commissions/tours that have paid all the bills for both his life expenses, the creation of "Luna Parc," and the education-minded Luna Parc Foundation. In the end, he describes, "it takes a lot of time" and effort to be an artist who steals nearly every hour of the day to create something.

Brian O'Boyle is a dedicated Artist and Art Educator who taught for over a decade in Paterson, NJ, and is now working at Bogota High School.  His entrance into public school art education was the artist's roundabout method into it all called the Alternate Route. Starting his working life as a Kean University-trained artist prior to getting certified to teach helped him to enter the teaching world as a working artist who consistently creates characters with found objects, paint, and his pure imagination combined. His portfolio consists of objects that are truly more relief sculptures than just simply paintings. His characters painted on skateboards, street signs, and old wood come to life as if his cartoon-like personas could not be constrained to only existing on a page or on a screen. He discusses how those who handed him the keys to his own creativity during his undergraduate and early career life have led him to be the one who hands the same type of keys to his students.

The Vice Rags is a timeless rock and roll band, inspired by music from the 50s till now, described best by Music Journalist Tris McCall as a group that sounds like a “high-speed Turnpike collision between Tom Petty and gutter punk.” Paul Rosevear on guitar and vocals joined his Long term collaborator GE Gay Elvis on Bass, Jack Roberts on guitar, and Joe Chyb on drums for this NJ love affair.  Their latest EP which came to the world in the last month of 2022 is called Midnight Ride and can be found streaming anywhere.  In this episode, I press record on my monthly meetups with Paul Rosevear at the historic NJ Diner called The Bendix, which packs its own brand of nostalgic timelessness. Here we discuss Pauls’s long and storied career as a songwriter, the Vice Rags’ latest release, and the joys of juggling music with the other joys of his life. Paul has “supported artists ranging from Joan Baez to Stone Temple Pilots, licensed his original songs to major networks like MTV and The CW Network, studied recording at the Magic Shop studio in New York City, and written and sang many songs in service of the world’s biggest brands, including Coca-Cola, Tiffany & Co.,  and Macy’s.” Special thanks to John Diakakis and his family, who have owned the diner since the 80s, whose hospitality and willingness to let us film our conversation in their landmark location were such a gift.

"Nothing Special" is writer Desiree Cooper's first children's book created in collaboration with the illustrator Bec Sloane.  It is a story of family connection across generations through the simple things of life and a return to the essentials that bring back true joy.  Our conversation introduces the book, the story's significance to Des and her audience, the intricate and impressive work Sloane put into the illustrations, and how the book has a life of its own.  Des Cooper is a former attorney turned Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and an author of fiction, poetry, and essays who won numerous awards, including the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Award. Her work has appeared in Flash Fiction America 2023, The Best Small Fictions 2018, Callaloo, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Best American Essays 2019, and many more publications. Bec Sloane, is a visual artist and Agricultural Research Technician working in and around farming communities in Central New Jersey who has worked in the arts and film industries in New York and abroad. She specializes in stop-motion animation and large-scale fabrication work for TV, theatre, and film. She has worked for clients ranging from the Jim Henson Company to Macy's iconic flagship, and has implemented arts-driven curricula for grades K-12. "Nothing Special" was named one of the New York Public Library's Top 10 Best Children's Books of 2022!

Nick Gallant is a Singer-Songwriter from Santa Cruz, California who doubles as a Disney Creative Director. In our conversation, Nick shares his passion for songwriting, the importance of creating to deal with the realities of life, and what an honor it is to be a part of other people's healing. He also shares some of the stories and the benefits of using his musical talents throughout his career as one who first made soundtracks for games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band and now as a Disney Creative Director.   He has released "6 albums as a solo artist and played/sung on 1000s of recordings for independent and major label artists, films, tv, and video games." His latest album 2019’s State Park was actually recorded in State Parks throughout Southern California. Nick is a father of 2 boys, a surfer, and truly an East and West Coaster as he splits his time between Kennebunkport, ME, and Santa Cruz, CA. 

Jennifer Lizza, is a writer who has turned her life as a mom into a source of inspiration for her creative writing.  Her "Outsmarted Mommy" blog, first made to be an outlet of self-expression, has led her to become a "parenting team contributor" for TODAY and a well-followed voice for so many.  She has been published in several books and consistently uses social media to share her reflections on her life as a mother of two boys and a wife of a full-time firefighter. Since her beginning, she has found a community of people online who have supported and encouraged her along the way.  Now she is the one who helps propel and support others with her Outsmarted Mommy community.  Here she discusses using her skill as a writer to reach out to the world at a time when she completely disconnected, how this act has been a source of healing for herself and others, and how thrilled she is to see her words mean so much to others. Check out her writing at www.outsmartedmommy.com 

Serge Strosberg is an acclaimed international artist who is known for his realist and expressionist portraits. After growing up in the US and Europe, he "received classical training at the prestigious Academie Julian in Paris and Ecole Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts. In 2008, he exhibited his work at the Felix Nussbaum Museum (Germany) and the Musee de Pontoise (Paris) in Germany with Lucian Freud, Philip Pearlstein, Chaim Soutine, Alex Katz in major group exhibitions of realist painting." He works with oil and egg tempura to create large-scale commissioned pieces for institutions or families. His goal in each painted portrait is to include the personality of the person; not just a photo likeness. Beyond this, his portfolio is full of concepts that critique the elite extremes of American culture (fashion, the 1%..) through figurative pieces that consider both composition and location as a means of questioning high society and cultural norms. He offers a candid description of what it is like to work on his own terms with the support of cultural organizations, the struggle of working within the established gallery system, and the gift of being able to spend his life making art.  

The cover art of this episode is one of Serge's paintings- a portrait of Blake Byrne

Lisa Marseglia-Moran is a visual artist and art educator, who after she retired from a 30-year career as a public school art educator, is dedicating her every day to creating large-scale paintings, printmaking weaves, and building and encouraging a community of creators around her. Her work is full of an appreciation of the energy and personality found in nature- specifically trees and the history that they contain.  Her love and respect for it, along with her appreciation of the materials she creates, give her an endless amount of inspiration.    Her dedication to teaching and her "greatest creations" (her four boys who are now young adults pursuing their creative endeavors) has consistently been fed by her life as an artist. She speaks of creating her drawings alongside her students after they got into the groove and using her laundry room as a studio.  The love and support of her husband and children go as far as them working together as her promotional team. They are also the ones who helped design and build her a studio from their old garage. She discusses how art changed over her life as a mother and teacher, but there was never a time when she was not creating.   Her insights abound on how to balance it all and how the best things in life are worth dedicating time to even if they don't make money (i.e. relationships, exercise, artmaking, teaching, etc.)

"Veggies $3 or pay what you can." was this morning's post from Nonchalant Cheese.

Our 2nd episode in season 2 is with the mother and son artisan cheesemaking team Jesse and Jonah Clark. They run Nonchalant Cheese, a local business known for their "grass-fed, raw milk, aged cheeses made from rotationally grazed Jersey cows at Meadowburn Farm in Vernon, NJ." Out of their honor system farm shop, they offer a whole world of original recipe artisan cheeses, breads, and… business practices. This conversation is a follow-up to our last episode talk with Makoto Fujimura, who described the world of agriculture as a metaphor for the importance of creating art and how the effort of literally building/growing something with neighbors produces a sense of culture care and generative good in the world. Jesse and Jonah live that agricultural life and community building daily. Here they offer insight into this process and introduce the concept of collaborating with nature to make their products-. Beyond this, they offer an alternative family story, naturally within their branding and in this discussion, to the fast-paced New Jersey family lifestyle by sharing what life is like working closely together on a farm to bring great food to the community that supports them.

Our first guest of Season 2 is Makoto Fujimura, an internationally recognized artist, and author. His paintings are made in the “Nihonga tradition, a form dating back to medieval Japan and emphasizing the beauty of materials— gold leaf and finely ground mineral pigments.” His most recent book “Art+Faith: A Theology of Making” was published by Yale Press in 2021. In our conversation, we discuss the book in earnest as he shares his insights into artmaking in connection with God for those who claim faith and for those who do not.  Makoto’s own Christian faith and his dedication to creating visual art throughout his life have led him to an overflowing amount of insights into the studio as a sanctuary and place of connection with the Divine. He offers insights into why we all need to create in order to heal ourselves and our world, but moreover to join in God’s plan for creating a New Creation.  From 2003-2009, Mr. Fujimura was a Presidential appointee to the National Council on the Arts and has 4 Honorary Doctor of Arts Degrees, from Belhaven University, Biola University, Cairn University, and Roanoke College. He is also the founder of the organization IAM, the International Arts Movement. This is where I had the honor of meeting and working with Mako back in the late 1990s into the early 2000s and it is an honor to reconnect here within this recording.

The Stolen Hours Podcast is… A media collection of conversations with creatives across the Arts. Season 2 of this collection’s theme is: Creating to heal, connect, and build community across the divide perpetuated by too many in politics, religion, and culture.

Cover Art Photo Credit: Wind Rider Productions

Rosita Gilsenan is a prolific painter who is originally from Moynalty, Kells, Meath, Ireland. Her landscape themed paintings are made with a method called "deconstruction" where paint is applied and wiped off in order to create atmosphere. She can often be found with a group of artists painting watercolors in plein air or throwing paint onto the canvas in her studios found in Highland Lakes, NJ, Naples, Florida or back in Ireland depending on the season of life.  Her well known batik work began when she studied art in Strawberry Hill in London. This work brought her to New York after a NY Times article introduced her and her batiks to America. Shortly thereafter, she moved to New York City, where she made her early living selling her artwork.  Once established as a US citizen, she eventually began Gilsenan Design Inc., an interior design company based in Warwick, NY that she built and established for 30 years. She recently transferred the reigns of the business to her daughter as she now spends her time steeped in communities in and around making art.

Brian Legentil is a bass player who listens to music all day while at work and even into the evening after he punches out of the time clock. His bass sits right next to him (and is not ignored) as he works as a manager for the wholesale supplier American Musical Supply. He and his bandmates in the band LKFFCT (pronounced Lake Effect) began making music together over a decade ago. It all began when Brian answered a MySpace request beckoning him with the"seeking a bass player...!" Brian found this request in the midst of finishing up college at Rutgers University, but he saw and heard the call and began playing with the original iteration of the band, originally called Washington Square Park. This put college graduation on pause for a couple of years as they toured all around the nation.  Once they returned home after a hard band breakup the band was reborn as LKFFCT. At this point they are releasing their 5th LP soon to be put out on Pizza Bagel Records in the midst of their grown up lives. Fun fact: In high school Brian had varying ranges of mohawk spikes during the early 2000s giving me hope that the 90s were not over.  He reveals here that he would set those spikes before he went to sleep at night so he could just stumble out of bed and head to class.

Professor Dr. Corinne M. Dalelio, media communications and culture expert and writer (and my sis!), discusses her critical analysis of media today. Her new book titled "Interactive Media and Society," that offers how to be one who is also critical of the media we use and depend on, will be published through Lexington Press later this year (2022.) The content of her book leads our conversation as we discuss the invisible realities behind media from the centralization of media in the past, the expansion of the early internet, to the now recentralization of social media platforms and all that comes with that. She reminds us that the grass roots media artists have used historically to always find a way to reach an audience will also find its way to rewrite the pathways around the AI algorithms or digital gatekeepers led by power and income decisions. Her hope is, that as we get used to and evolve our new forms of communication, that we will learn how to be open to all points of view and truly have a conversation that interacts through listening and responding in contrast to just becoming a new set of talking heads who have no ears. She wrote this book for the students she teaches at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina, but it is clear this information will be important to us all as we navigate these worlds ourselves, depend on them as creatives to share the content we make,  and try to teach our children to navigate it all with wide open questioning it all eyes.

Mark Neeley is an independent animator & designer from Cincinnati, Ohio who has dedicated himself to working purely in an analog manner using a lightbox, paper, and frame by frame recording methods. He is also a teacher of autistic children who inspire him with their freedom to allow their imaginations to directly come to life on paper with an innocence and immediacy. Kit Laybourne's "The Animation Book," found in Mark's childhood public library, introduced him to indie animation and the methods of how to create. The midcentury animation husband and wife duo John and Faith Hubley, who dedicated themselves to making at least one personal film per year in the midst of making commercial projects, introduced him to a mindset in which to work with your soul intact.  Mark's lifelong dedication to animation led him to create a short film called“Fragments” (2020.) It is an ideal vs. real mixed media animation inspired by his wife and him experiencing the joys of traveling to California contrasted with the loss of a family pet. It was the recipient of over a dozen film festival screenings and finalist awards. His love and specialization of creating music videos (Maston, Psychic Temple, Cactus Lee) connects directly with his creation of the "Aquarium Drunkard Picture Show" originally commissioned by the Adult Swim Network, and now an episodic production released on aquariumdrunkard.com. He is a generous creator who has even been known to offer free workshops for young people who are desperate to find a way to bring movement and life to their drawings.

Since 1999, Steve Wolfe has orchestrated the setup of skateboard parks for young people to come to learn to skate, teach others to skate, and to create community happenings that bring people together to connect in a positive way. In the beginning you would find him and the crowds who came (to skate, to smash cars, eat food, make art, or love those who showed up) in parking lots in suburban NJ. Now, twenty years later he is still doing "Solid" skatepark, but this time within a dedicated interior space in an old silk factory in Paterson, NJ. This interior space not only avoids the vulnerability of New Jersey weather, but also now offers the opportunity to do daily events. Solid continues to host free skate sessions for kids to drop in on the halfpipe, ollie over a lawn chair, teach, and/or just hang out with each other, but this space has also given life to Steve's vision to truly become a community center for local youth. They offer free workshops like resume building and "interviewing for a job" skills, a design class that teaches graphic design from the mindset and angle of the skate world, and more. Steve, his nonprofit organization, and the crew he has pulled together's vision just continues to build... We discuss it all from the evolution of his Christian faith that motivated him to begin outreaching to others, not falling into other people's version of how to do what you feel called to do, how love rather than fear should be your guide,  and to now building a place to support youth and positive community in the city of Paterson, NJ.

Through a visual dissection of would be lost iconic images of human history, Mike Ferrari's work revives the past in order to create a new “pulp fiction” - one where memory is fabricated through rendered or cut-and-pasted historical photographs, color, surrealism, and illustration. Through a series of fractured images and ideas working together in harmonious conflict, the subjects pictured in these works are ones who embody both beauty and despair. The patterns, found materials, and renderings that surround, backdrop, or interrupt these remnants of our culture and counterculture recreate them in an experience that matches how our own modern generation experiences life - with an undeniable seriousness, but also a bit of kitsch to soften the blow of how vulnerable we really are. Mike Ferrari is a painter and art educator who lives and works in New Jersey. He is indeed the one who made the original cover art for the podcast and an all around good guy worth listening to.

In the sanctuary of the dance studio, Arts Ed Now advocate and Dance Educator Claudine Ranieri has been dancing since her youth and teaching for over three decades.  Classically trained and an alumni of the LaGuardia High School of the Performing Arts in NYC, Claudine graduated from Brooklyn College's Dance program and dove into a life dedicated to the arts, arts advocacy for all, and sharing a passion for dance that she lives and breaths.  Her insights abound... from creating an environment of trust for her students, the joy and grind of rehearsals, the switch to performance preparation, and the profoundness of sharing what is done in the vulnerability of the studio for the public. She has easily brought together a profound collection of repertoire from the history of dance for her students with the improvisation of contemporary dance as it discovered in her classroom. Claudine is a powerhouse whose personal dance career outside of education is exhaustive, but she describes performing "All That Jazz" in three and a half inch heals at age 39, at 40 putting her point shoes on again, and performing an original choreographed piece for Maya Angelou as the highlights so far. She reminds us that dance is what we do when we don't have words, what we do to connect people, to express what is within, and with that it speaks for issues of justice, hope, planting seeds, and the connection of souls.

Heather Leigh Corey discovered printmaking at Moravian College. While learning the process, the importance of the papers printed on became a focus that introduced, in earnest, the ultimate creator's lesson that... materials matter. For Heather, this led to making her own paper and a discovery of how much even the content within the paper is essential. She fell in love with the process; the joy of the material itself inspiring new ideas. Since finishing her MFA at The Philadelphia Academy of Fine Arts in 2007, Heather's most inspired and large scale vision for this process is found in her ongoing project called "Love Corsetry," where her goal is to make paper sculptures (infused with plaster,) from casts of 100 specific women whose stories are told through each piece. This project paused for a time as Heather's own story has evolved into becoming a mom and pursuing artistic endeavors that integrate into this season of life like teaching art to children out of her home studio or organizing in town art events with the Arts Council of Glen Rock, NJ. Heather shares her love for art education, art as a means to build community, and how she can't help but keep creating in the midst of life.

On the ground floor sit heavy industrial sized blacksmithing machines, anvils, and tools to flatten, twist, and turn the scraps of metal stacked on the shelves on the outer edges of the open air room. The space, and all of its occupants, wait to hammer red hot metal into some new form with the remnants of a ballet studio (ballet bars, a piano) surrounding. Up the wooden stairs to the left is a huge room where waterfall-like aerial yoga silks stream down from their cathedral ceiling anchors. They wait, as well, for students to arrive who will gracefully entangle their bodies in a mid air choreographed dance that that is two parts wellness and one part performance. In both spaces the sounds of the wind whispering through the landscape sings alongside the cicadas and muted cars driving by up on the road that connects Vernon, NJ and Pine Island, NY. Eve McClanahan is the reason both of these spaces exist; the one who teaches and creates in these worlds rich with the act of forging through movements that seek to fulfill a vision. In each, there is a purposeful dance that is founded on good technique, dedication, and effort. We discuss her life as a dancer and budding blacksmith, growing up in New York City, becoming a student in the one top ballet schools, her time studying filmmaking and later dance at NYU, her family's move to Warwick, and how a lack of dance education in the local public schools led her to open her own dance studio. Now semi-retired, Eve has dedicated herself to spend at least one full day a week learning the art of blacksmithing in her downstairs studio and several other days expertly teaching private dance lessons upstairs.

David Corsaro's discovery of magic when he was coming of age has never left him. It led him from West Milford, NJ to an 8 day Magic Tour in Tokyo, Japan... from studying business marketing in college with a magic side hobby, to two decades of forging entrepreneurial endeavors that are led by being a magician who consistently performs and helps others understand how to market their magician careers. All the while, he has mastered the art of creating "the moment of astonishment," a feeling of disbelief and amazement that produces a response that is completely speechless. It is something that people may never get to experience outside of their childhood until that very moment when the magic trick brings it to them.  David leads us through the nuanced worlds of magic, of him and his contemporaries sitting around his kitchen table to make the the story telling and the slight of hand of each trick be more innovative and entertaining, the formal and informal schools of magic that have formed him along the way, and how he gets to be "a member of a secret society who make the impossible possible."

Opening the heartily built box-like cover of Juan C. Giraldo's artist book, "A View from Home," brings you immediately into his world and the world of his biological or found families with a sense of intimacy, vulnerability, and care. On the inside cover is a piece of silk to reference the silk mills that the city where Juan grew up is known for and where is grandfather once worked, Paterson, NJ. From there we see images that are full of intimacy, quiet drama, struggle, and hope. Content in the images range from work, family, faith, friends, and the interior still life scenes of homes that lie behind weather and economically worn facades of the houses, apartments, and commercial spaces that make up the cities of Paterson, NJ and Chicago, IL. In the end, the collection shows the life of an immigrant in urban America that is full of sincerity, personal narrative, and emotional truth. Juan is a a photographer who has been recognized within PDN 30 and the Photo Lucida Critical Mass Top 50. He is also a Photo Professor and Hopper Prize recipient.

This episode is dedicated in honor and in memoriam of our William Paterson professor Joe VanPutten.

Enter the world of filmmaker Chris White as he discusses his latest creation, Electric Jesus. The film is a coming of age comedy/drama that follows the exploits of a fictional 80's Christian Rock Hair Metal Band. It stars Judd Nelson (The Breakfast Club), Brian Baumgartner (The Office), and newcomers Sarah Hutchinson and Andrew Eakle. Chris and his wife, Emily Reach White, made the jump into the world of movie creation after working as public school teachers and since have created many independent short and feature length films. For Chris, this even included a stint working as a co-producer of several episodes of Star Trek Continues. With Electric Jesus, Chris and Emily have gone much bigger with a million dollar budget, big name actors, and national distribution. It will be released for digital stream nationally on November 2nd!  We discuss it all- making authentic art, hair metal music, evangelical culture in the 80s, the awkwardness and awesomeness of it all, and how the grace, forgiveness, and humanity that is genuinely in the best of faith may be just what the world and all of its judges still need to remember.

Coming off a fine arts education at NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Larry Confino and his roommate decided to go into business together. Right away they began to rent the very expensive equipment needed to make a go in the filmmaking world and created a company on their personal credit cards.  Their first films were documentary behind the scenes of Hollywood films. This led to them being able to buy their own gear and a path of doing great work for clients with professionalism and dedication while working on personal passion projects. Larry has since created several full length feature documentary films and his own business called Media Sector Inc. He has done work for HBO, PBS, Canon, Disney, and more. His personal projects "Trezoros: The Lost Jews of Kastoria," "Psychedelicized: The Story of the Electric Circus," and his current project with the working name "The 50 States of Sustainability" are all high level feature length productions. He chronicles the benefits of taking chances, the benefits of building a team full of talent, making training videos that literally save lives, raising a creative family with a nontraditional career path, and how now is very well the time to venture into the industry with an entrepreneurial mindset since the pro gear has gone down in price and the old career path guarantees of a gold watch upon retirement are over.

Adam is a Rock 'N' Roll explorer who considers himself an archeologist of sound, digging up that which may be lost to history. Since 1971 he has been into music and was always the guy who made mixed tapes for friends and family trying to expose people to the world beyond the Top 40. From 2005 - 2016 he shared his musical tastes on the online platform LIVE 365. He then moved his show to another online platform- England's Radio.co. Since 2017, he has aired his show on WSRX 107.9 FM, Vernon NJ’s local non-commercial radio station.  There, his shows range from "The Rock 'N' Roll Timeline" to his most recent ventures where he focuses on rock and roll singles released during the epic decade of the 1970s called "70's - The Music That Changed The World." Now In 2021, his newest show is called "The 80's." Adam is a dedicated music lover who spends his stolen hours producing these shows in his off time from his job working in the medical supply industry.  Catching his voice on the radio the other day made it very clear that he is both a complete radio professional and one who can school us for hours about all things rock and roll.

Joanna Smith is a mental health and arts advocate who has dedicated much of her adult life to the study of art history and working in the world of museums. After earning a masters degree in Art History from American University she spent time interviewing Holocaust survivors to help share their stories for the Holocaust Museum. She currently works as in image and footage rights and reproductions field with Bridgeman Images whose collection is focused on fine art, cultural, and historical content. Joanna shares her journey navigating the worlds that surround art history and balancing her own mental well being along the way. 

Di Shawn J. Gandy is an actor, director, genealogist/historian, and playwright. After decades working on stage with his original steeped in history productions, he took time in 2020 to direct the independent film Love And The Game, based on the book by Daniel Ali. He studied acting at Woody King Jr.'s New Federal Theater in NY, George Street Playhouse Education in NJ, and Jared Kelner's Actor’s Approach Acting Academy. He is an NJACT Award-nominated playwright for An American Tree based on his research that "traces the lives of two generations of his paternal ancestors who lived through, slavery, Reconstruction, and Jim Crow." He co-wrote the play, Thy Will Be Done based on a historical telling of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, which became an Official Selection at the DC Black Theater Festival. He serves as a board member of NJCAC (New Jersey Creative Arts Collaborative) and is a genealogist and family historian, who has created content for Ancestry.com. He and his wife, Dawn, cofounded Behind The Veil Productions, an award-nominated Theatre Company based in NJ. Beyond all of this, Di Shawn is also an ordained minister and serves as pastor of Love And Truth Ministries, a grassroots church ministry that he started in 2016.

Anthropologist and Visual Artist Marc Jablonski grew up in the home that the visual artists/art professors Andrea Geller and Carl Jablonski built. He is a documentary minded playwright whose musicals, songs, sound pieces, and drama performances that deal with the complexity of humanity’s experience with each other and as an individual. He discusses his generation’s desire to both save the world and at the same time just save their own personal world’s enough to stay sane, the return of theater, and making your own way in the arts post college. With that, he describes how the stage and the flow state it offers has been the way he learned to deal with his own anxiety. He has spent much of his working life past college working in media marketing by day and sound design by night for his many creative collaborators. He has infiltrated the marketing world (at AKA NYC), with his skillsets as a means to have an income to support all of his creative endeavors, but to also be a part of all that he loves with the altruistic purpose of trying to make it all affordable for the people. He reminds those on his team that the marketing data points are all about the human experience that will benefit individuals with what art can do. Just past the recording date of this episode he now works on his masters in Anthropology at The New School and is continuing to work on his own musicals, songs, and so much more that very well may directly affect how we all experience the arts in the future.

Deacon Todd Rushing and Dr. Tom Cacciola, are two friends who walk together almost daily, and... who may just create their own podcast called "The Deacon and the Doctor." This recording was made in the midst of their own test recordings, an ever present recognition that the act of walking together leads to very creative and complex conversations, and going back and forth in consideration of creating such a media endeavor. My plan was to give them a nudge by having them record their first, and hopefully not last, episode here on The Stolen Hours. Their unique insights on life include, of course, perspective on the mind, the body, and the soul.

Robert Gizzi is a saxophone player, a keyboard player, an innovative high school music educator, a marching and jazz band director, and an overall nice guy. He has created nuanced music electives like Guitar, Music Technology, and Piano lab as he has seen a rise in the amount of students who produce their own music in the past five years.  Bob followed directly in his music educator father's footsteps who taught music for 37 years while gigging the whole time. With that he also has a love for both teaching music and for performing music as much as possible. With Bob's dedication to playing and affinity for the improv of Jazz and the volume of Rock he has the versatility of being a musician who knows how to play the music he and his audience loves at the drop of a hat. In this conversation he describes the culture of a gigging musician's life throughout the New Jersey music scene and how he brings that back to his students. After 20 years in the classroom he now may be found on stage performing next to one of those who he helped set on the same musician's path.

Brynen Sosa has dedicated much of his life to playing music on the guitar. Now find his music out there under his own name, his band "Mythology", "Beebop and Rocksteady", the punk band "Bad Hormones", "The Pinstripe Players" and discover that he has no problem making music across a wide spectrum of musical genres and rock history. His musical tastes hit every arena from 90's alternative, to Doo-wop, to Classic Rock, to the musicals that he performed in high school. He names influences from Kurt Cobain to Frank Zappa. His band, Mythology, has opened for superstar bands like Yes and Peter Frampton over the years and has produced several albums that fully embrace the genre of progressive rock, but also put out an alter ego album that is full of 40's style Jazz inspired compositions called "The Pinstripe Players." Brynen can't help but keep creating and performing even as he juggles his career as an inside sales rep, a guitar teacher, husband, and father. This recording catches him on the road, between jobs and/or recording sessions, in a Quick Check parking lot somewhere in North Jersey.

Julia Crafton was born into a life of music in 2005. Her parents set up her and her twin brother Avery's high chairs right in the mixing room of their recording studio. They grew up with the likes of Richie Havens, Broadway performers, jazz artists, visual artists, poets, etc. joining her family dinnertime throughout her life. Julia's songs are a combination of the "sounds, history, and love from all those musicians who helped raise her." Her debut album that came out this year (2021), "Woodstock Child" is also full of some of those professional musicians playing along with her in the mix. "At 15, she has been a "Featured Artist" at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art's virtual "Balcony Bar from Home Series" in partnership with ETHEL, and has performed her own shows at New York's iconic "Bitter End" and "The Cutting Room" stages. Our conversation discusses much of this life steeped in the Arts and how Julia is forging her path as a creator. 

Matt Behre is an artist and industrial designer whose creations are often inventions for a future society or at least one who admits its obsession with technology and yet also a desperate desire for objects that mean something in the real world.  Often Matt's creations are critical of our virtual addictions, but moreover they are a return to what is needed in our humanity... something tangible and that will not make us have giant thumbs or craned necks. He is concerned with how it all affects our bodies, ecology, and what his creative brain can bring to the table.  Matt's art is in the sketches and functional prototypes that he makes that are beautiful in design, but also in their function.  He can't help but even imagine how to turn pandemic mask wearing into something that will benefit rather than intrude on nature. He imagines a mask that contains a plant that will feed off of the risky air we put out there. Matt shares his creative mind with us in this episode alongside his path of discovering a career that uses all of his skillsets as an industrial designer.  He also joined  this recording only a month into his life as a father to his little one- Lucy June.  At around minute 40 or so we discuss earnestly how to integrate your creativity into your parenting. Matt's insights into art making, forging a career from a metal tradesman to a designer, how skateboarding relates to Fauvism, and how being who your are leads to all the right doors opening.  

Deborah Frizzell is an artist turned curator turned Art Historian and Art Professor whose life has been dedicated to the Visual Arts. Her sculptures and time working as an artist were steeped with researching Art History to inform what she made. Her life as a curator led to the orchestration of shows and artists that remind that there were those who highlighted Black and female artists for the past 3+ decades, rather than just in the last couple of years.  She worked directly with the likes of Barkley L. Hendricks, Nancy Spero, and so many more. Her work as an Art Professor invited students directly into the art world to give them an intensive education of the art history that they were becoming part of alongside a hands on practical experience where she invited students directly into working artists' studios, foundations, and galleries. She continues to write for "Cultural Politics," a Duke University Press publication  in her retired life and overall can't help but still advocate for and participate in the art world.

Liz Mitchell is a multi-media artist who creates handmade books and sculptural works that are full of stories that connect to the universal human experience in content and materials. Her books are meant to be held and experienced intimately as the stories she shares are offered through a combination of images, words, printmaking, collage, and the beauty of the meticulously made binding and pages.  Her sculptural works often are presented as installations that are in human scale that invite her audience to be challenged with themes that are at times jarring and at other times connecting to the beauty of transcendence.  In either form she works with materials that look delicate, but are durable enough to travel around the world for display. She works with handmade paper, fibers, wax, natural elements, and figurative forms to create works that are both visceral and cerebral. All are created based on an immense amount of personal, artistic, and historical research that help determine all aspects of what she makes. Liz shares how that search often leads her down the deepest of rabbit holes, but also how it helps her also find the deepest connections between people. 

Paul Rosevear performs his latest songs in this episode as we discuss his life as a musician.  His latest EP, "Halls of Time Volume 1" is a collection whose lyrics consider the importance and torch passing of his personal family life integrated with musical melodies and instrumentation that remind of classic singalong songs of the past.  His songs remind us how the tunes we love are a part of who we are and our own histories. They became the minerals in the soil that helped grow our personal family trees with the music our parents or grandparents put on the record player as we played with toys on the carpet. They became what we sang around the campfire with our friends to make bonds for life. In this episode, Paul offers us the gift of his songs and even performs a piece of the original iteration of the song "Don't Look Back." He discusses how his music has evolved over time, but also how it his integrated so much into who he is and how he makes a living -creating songs for licensing, teaching songwriting to others, and creating original music for his fans for the past two decades. Paul's musician life has been prolific as he has made celebrated music in the bands Readymade Breakup, The Blakes, and The Vice Rags. This EP may just be his most intimate self portrait as he reflects on his life; yes- as one who writes and loves songs, but also his life as a son, and now a father.

Michael Dalton shares his photography, his love hate relationship with Instagram, and his venture into a new career as a UX Designer after working as a union construction worker for the past decade.  His critically acclaimed book "The Great Falls," is a New Documentary style photographic collection that combines portraits of people in and around Paterson and Newark NJ with landscape photographs of the poetic intensity of the The Paterson Great Falls (including both its grandeur and the harsh realities that surround it.) His photos, across his projects, are most often a combination in both conceptual and straight documentary seeking to tell his own story, but also the story of a particular place.  That mindset and his life as a construction worker led him to create a collection of photographs exploring laborers as his subject matter called "Turn it to the Sun (Labor.)" It deals with the people and places of his working life in a manner that joins the photographic tradition of glorifying the worker, but also admitting the harsh realities of work and work culture on the mind, body, and soul. Mike speaks to us while he is beginning a new venture into a career as a UX Designer while continuing to be prolific in his photographic efforts.  Listen as we discuss the agony and ecstacy of work life, making major career shifts, being an artist, and finding a way to allow the complexity of it all to exist up front without depending on facades.  

Carlos Roldan made a promise when he was eight years old,"When I grow up I am going to make sure no one goes hungry!" In 1993, at age twenty-four, he started to work at The Father English Center in Paterson, NJ. At his suggestion, they began offering food to those in need alongside the other community services the Center provided.  He was given a small room in the back to gather and give out food. He was not satisfied. He imagined the entire thousand person hall, used for bingo nights and parties, would one day be used to house and provide food.  In 2013, that hope became a reality. Since then, Carlos' creative side combined with his faith and conviction. He wanted to offer people more dignity by setting the pantry up to be like a supermarket where people could get the food items they need rather than the ones that others decided to bag up. In addition, an abandoned lot used for drug use across the street next to an elementary school is now a garden that grows produce for the pantry. Today the Center hands out over a thousand bags of food a day serving over 21,000 people a month. Carlos gives insight into how Covid tripled the need over the past year and a half and he fears as the world comes back it does not mean the need will decrease. Carlos' contact info- if you are in need or would like to help is:  Office: 973 279 7100 X 2108 Cell: 973-771- 9485 He offers sincerely to all, "Call me whenever you need to..." 

David Allocco is one who was always creative with a love for comedy, media, and creating original content. When he was at Syracuse he created comedy sketches and directed the university's sportscast segments.  His entry into his working life post college was in advertising, but he felt he could not use his full set of creative talents in that world.  Remembering the satisfaction he felt when he mentored younger students during his college years he decided to follow in his father's footsteps and become a Social Studies teacher. It is in teaching that Dave discovered he could do everything he was interested in. He created electives like "Terrorism Today" and "The History of Sports." Moreover he could fully be himself using every talent he has. He said it best with this line, "I always wanted to do comedy and I feel like I do it every day."  Beyond this he has inspired so many students to critically study history, but to also pursue their passions into careers "that never feel like work"...just like he has. 

Laura Birdsong is a singer songwriter, a painter, a baker, a gardener, and a photographer.  The seasons of the year and the seasons of her life bring her life into each media as it comes.  She is inspired by nature and nature's invitation calling her to plant when it is time or to just watch and listen enough to find inspiration for her next song or painting. She truly loves and lives in her home from working in her home studio to cultivating her gardens in her yard.  Laura is a breast cancer survivor and one who can not help but celebrate life through creating and the embrace of the community of musicians and artists that surround her in Highland Lakes, NJ. This episode shares some of her inspirations directly as we hear the atmosphere of Laura's life from the birds chirping to the sounds of the neighborhood in the background of this on location recording.

Sean Reynolds had a lifelong desire to start his own company and a heartfelt conviction to give to those in need. When he was 11 years old, he began his own carwash business with a whiteboard and hose right outside of his Brooklyn home. That same year, his mother invited him into her kitchen to teach him how to cook. His father's work ethic built into him an entrepreneurial spirit and his mother's love for others taught him to always help and serve others (even if you don't agree with them.) All of these life lessons found their way into his 2020 effort to begin The Brooklyn Banana Bread Company.  Now you will find Sean, who spends his days working as a telecom technician, in the midnight hour baking hundreds of mini loaves of his mother's banana bread to thank first responders, healthcare workers, and to help feed those in need. Listen in to hear his story, learn how a common desire to offer something to the people of Minneapolis led to the recording of this episode, and to support his mission to "create a blueprint for other companies to follow in order in to give back to the community."

John Gellings found his love for photography with the purchase of his first film SLR camera when he was a teenager.  From there, he became a student of the art form who performed at the top of his class as he earned his BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.  For the past two decades, he has continued to create from his roots in the darkroom, to a jaunt into creating music, to the moment where his move into New York City timed up with the purchase of his first digital SLR camera. This return to his first love came, this time, with a community of other photographers who John would meet up with to create together. This introduced him to a commitment and discipline to create throughout the Five Boroughs where walking ten or more miles and dedicating a full day to making images became his norm with or without his photographer friends.  John's collections of photos range from sense of place images that forge a path of modern street photography, portraits of friends or strangers, and what he calls "random" (still life images that scream pop culture, nostalgia, interesting documents of reality.)  His relationship with his wife and the start of his family life has led him to now live in Santiago, Chile. There, he has found a new location to photograph, with a whole new sense of light, culture, and humanity.  All the lessons of his life- from his passion for skateboarding when he was coming of age, his love of music, his time working and living in NYC, and now his life in Chile as a husband and father inform his work, whether it be documentary in style or conceptual at heart.