“Tasting chartreuse”, laying in fields of peonies, and sitting under tables at some of Canada’s most important art events. My first guest of this new podcast season is Anong Beam. She is an artist, a mother, a paint maker, and she’s from an Ojibwe family that is part of both Canada’s Indigenous history and art history. Now, if any of you use Beam Paints… and I already know that a LOT of you do, then you might recognize Anong as the founder of this beautiful, sustainable, creative brand. Listen right up there under Anong out in her happy place on Manitoulin Island, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify.

First up, a little peak at Anong with her artist parents, Carl and Ann Beam:

How beautiful… and a part of Canadian Art History! You can read more about both of her parents and their work: Carl Beam / Ann Beam.

Speaking of work, here are some of the most recent pieces by Anong:

Gah! Gorgeous! The final image above is the first WIP in her dad’s studio. So, so special.

And of course, this post wouldn’t be complete without a look at Anong’s absolute beautiful, hand-crafted paints. WARNING: Do not eat them, even though you’ll really want to:

Aren’t they stunning? And clearly her dad would be very proud… here he is, back in the day, making his own paint on the hood of car!

And finally, to THE GIVE-AWAY!

If you’d like to enter to win this little combo, brought to you by two artsy Canadians, just leave a comment here. I will draw ONE NAME next Saturday, September 18th and that lucky person will receive Beam Paints’ “Mixing Six” and a signed copy of my kids’ book, HOW TO SPOT AN ARTIST. Thanks soooo much to Anong for sharing all of her stories, thanks to Storyblocks for supporting this episode, and huge thanks to you for listening. There will be a brand new episode of ART FOR YOUR EAR in two weeks. See you then!

Other links:

1. Beam Paints
2. Beam Paints on Instagram
3. Anong on Instagram
4. Carl Beam
5. Ann Beam
6. Ojibwe Cultural Foundation
7. Indian Residential School Survivors Society
8. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
9. No Such Thing As Too Much Art Society 
10. Storyblocks 

PAINT CHIPS. Two artists eating chips while talking about paintings? Yep! My two passions coming together! And who better to have along for the very first episode of this new experiment than my good friend – who’s always up for pretty much anything – Philly based artist / illustrator / educator Martha Rich. Martha sent me some chips from Pennsylvania, UTZ Honey BBQ to be exact, we both picked a painter we wanted to talk about, and then we hit RECORD. It was weird, but fun… and isn’t that the whole point? You can listen right up there under that artsy paint chip, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts and/or Spotify.

First up, Martha’s pick… Surrealist Leonor Fini {1907 – 1996}:

See? This is why I suggested popping over to here to see what we were talking about. Cats and ladies on shelves, a wrinkly beautiful portrait, and a scene that inspired quite a few questions from both of us. Speaking of a lot of questions, here’s my pick. American painter Amy Bennett:

Whaaaaat?! Yep! Look at the worlds Amy creates before she even starts painting. Crazy amazing. Clearly, I have to get her on the podcast to hear all the ins and outs of these possible crime scenes. Okay, most of them aren’t crime scenes… but I’ll still take the case!

Finally, a peek at Martha’s in-progress cut-outs, my clay cigarettes, and the super cute UTZ girl to wrap things up:

Awww, isn’t she cute?! So, there we have it. The very first PAINT CHIPS episode is “in the bag”. Get it? Yeah you do. Here’s to many, many, many more bags of chips {maybe some dip next time}, and a bunch of conversations about fabulous artists! Thanks so much to Martha for always saying yes to my weird suggestions, thanks to my hilarious husband Greg for not only coming up with this idea but also editing every single episode of ART FOR YOUR EAR {it’s so much work but he does it happily every week!}, and as always, thanks to YOU for listening! There will be a brand new episode next week. ~ Danielle

Other links:

1. Martha Rich on Instagram
2. Leonor Fini, Artist
3. Amy Bennett, Artist
4. Georganne Deen, Artist
5.  Mike & Tom Eat Snacks, Podcast
6. Henri Rousseau, “The Sleeping Gypsy” 1897
7. Matisse’s Cut Outs via SFMoMA
8. Fashion Institute of Technology, NYC {where Martha teaches}
9. UTZ Snacks!

“Women Words” by American artist Betty Tompkins. There are decades of history behind this work, but these are some of the latest iterations of a series that now includes thousands of paintings, and mixed media pieces. These ones, ripped from the pages of art history books*, are the most recent {2017-2020}. I found so many interesting interviews with Betty, that instead of retelling the story, I just pulled my favorite bits from several places:

In 2002 and 2013, Tompkins circulated the following email: “I am considering doing another series of pieces using images of women comprised of words. I would appreciate your help in developing the vocabulary. Please send me a list of words that describe women. They can be affectionate (honey), pejorative (bitch), slang, descriptive, etc. The words don’t have to be in English but I need as accurate a translation as possible. Many, many thanks, Betty Tompkins.” Over 3,500 words and phrases were submitted in seven languages, equally split between men and women. – Gavlak Gallery

…

Tompkins had bought more than *60 art history textbooks and was tearing out pages, unapologetically defacing some of the world’s best-known paintings and using female figures as canvases for unused suggestions for “Women Words.” “I come from a family where you couldn’t even crack the spine of a book, let alone tear out a page,” she recalled, admitting that “it was a lot of fun!” – Artnet Interview

…

ELLE: A lot of anger, violence and frustration towards women comes out through this process of audience participation. How do you deal with that?

BT: I have a really good sense of humour, and I think it’s saving my life – and my blood pressure! There was one guy who had written ‘the only thing that would make her more beautiful would be my dick in her mouth’ and I thought, who is this guy? You have to laugh. Someone else had written ‘heck, most people don’t like women’ and I thought ‘okay, let’s think about this one!’ – Elle Magazine Interview

…

Words on Mona Lisa above: “POOPSIE” IS A WORD USED BY MY EX-BOYFRIEND WHICH I THOUGHT WAS SEXIST AND DEMEANING. HE MIGHT HAVE TREATED ME NICE BUT I WAS HIS CONCUBINE, BOUND FEET, DYSLEXIC, SUZY WONG OR TROPY WIFE. AFTER A SEVEN YEAR REATION, HE GOT HIS 7-YEAR ITCH. HE GOT ME ARRESTED FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AFTER I GOT LAID OFF. I WAS HOMELESS FOR 6 MONTHS. EH ENCOURAGED ME TO COLLECT DISABILITY BENEFITS WHILE HE SURFED THE NET FOR A WIFE. SHE JUST HAPPENS TO BE 29 YEARS OLD. IN ADDITION, HE KEEPS HIS 2 HOUSES IN PROVINCETOWN AS WELL AS HIS RENT-STABILIZED APARTMENT. OF COURSE THERE IS NO WORD FOR A MAN UNLESS HE IS A CASANOVA, A PLAYBOY, AND OTHER POSITIVE THINGS TO PROVE HIS VIRILITY. – via @bettytompkinsart on Instagram

Kick-ass women are my favorite.

ART FOR YOUR EAR, the quarantine episode. Yep, my son Charlie and my husband/producer of the podcast, Greg, are going to be my guests today… whether they like it or not! Where else do they have to be? Literally NOWHERE. Yep, we’re all sequestered away in our house together, so I figured I’d cram all three of us into the podcast pillow fort. I’m gonna quiz my boys on some art trivia, get their thoughts on one of my favorite collages from art history, and then finish things up with “The Not-So-Speedy-Speed-Round”… x TWO. You can listen right up there under the 2007 Krysa Kiss ™, or you can subscribe to the podcast right here.

First up, I’ve gathered all of the bits of art history we discussed… including Michelangelo’s mallet-smashed nose {who knew?}:

Wow. That’s it. The podcast is over an hour, but this was a very short post! Oh well, it still does the trick. Thanks so much to Greg and Charlie for taking time out of their busy quarantine lives to do this with me; thanks to Artist/Mother Podcast for supporting the episode {and listen to my interview with them on Monday – it will be right here}; and as always, thanks to YOU for listening. Stay home, wash your hands, and make art. There will be more ART FOR YOUR EAR next weekend. ~ Danielle

Other links:

1. Artist/Mother : Crit Group Sign Up {April 1 DEADLINE}
2. Face distorting Photo Booth App
3. Art Trivia Quiz
4. #30DayArtQuarantine on Instagram
5. Info on the Richard Hamilton collage via the Tate
6. CJ Hendry, Artist {episode no.140}
7. Melissa Meier, Artist
8. Wes Anderson Movies: Fantastic Mr.Fox ; Grand Budapest Hotel ; French Dispatch – out in July
9. Taika Waititi Movies: Jojo Rabbit ; Hunt for the Wilderpeople

KEVIN! Oh my word, YES, this is how I want to finish 2019… with Kevin the Kitten. These hilarious {and beautifully painted!} pieces are the work of Australian artist Vanessa Stockard. If you want to smile every day, go follow her on Instagram… Kevin will be there waiting for you. You’re welcome.

This is “All the Clothes of a Woman (Hans-Peter Feldmann)” , and it is the washy watercolor work of German artist Manfred Naescher. Yes, he repaints previously created artworks – from Jeff Koons to Leonora Carrington – and I love them all. Here is Manfred’s artist statement:

“There is a paradox at the core of my drawing practice: What I do is both image-making and the avoidance of image-making. I hesitate adding to the continuous flow of visual material that we are subjected to daily, hourly, near-permanently. The creation of images, in my practice, is little more than an intentional side effect of my interest in the reflection on existing imagery: What is the image? Where does it come from? Why do we make it? How does it change in time? My work starts and ends with source material (usually from art history, that is, from the history of imagemaking or its margins): The source imagery remains clearly visible in the drawings, often placed at the center of the composition, isolated from its context, with an outline — a simple handdrawn line — providing clarity and sharp contours against the background of an indistinct cloud, inside of which digital image production is increasing at accelerating pace.”

… and here is the 1973 inspiration for these seventy paintings, titled “All the Clothes of a Woman” – a photographic series by German artist Hans-Peter Feldmann:

Yes, that’s THE Esther Pearl Watson – and her trusty sidekick, Gherkin – out in the middle of the California desert. Esther is a Los Angeles based artist and she also teachers at ArtCenter in Pasadena. I like to think of her as a modern day Grandma Moses… if Grandma Moses painted narrative scenes of a slightly dysfunctional childhood in rural Texas. I loved Esther’s “memory paintings” years before I ever met her… let’s face it, she had me at “pink UFO”. So, Esther once told me that she reads strange stories from art history to her students while they’re painting, so I asked her to bring those stories over here! Yes, it’s officially “Storytime with Esther Pearl Watson”… psst… there are a lot of stories that involve pee, so consider yourself warned! You can listen right up there under Esther and Gherky, or subscribe on iTunes.

First up, a few of Esther’s paintings, complete with titles that definitely tell a story:

I love everything Esther does, and how she does it – finding humor in some not funny situations. So vulnerable, and so empowering.

So, let’s have a look at Grandma Moses. She painted “the good old days”, unlike Esther’s “dysfunctional days”:

See, all she needs is a UFO in the sky, and BAM, she and Esther could be art twins.

Alright, onto Esther’s stories! First up, tyrian purple:

Liz gets it. Purple from head-to-toe in every scene as Cleopatra. Ah, soooo many snails, so much pee. If you haven’t listened to the episode yet, that should make you curious!

Next up, van Gogh’s vibrant, and kinda random, color choices … thanks to Julien, the paint salesman:

Ta-dah, the white roses that started out as pink roses! Oh Julien, make sure your products stand up over time, dude.

And of course, Paul Cezanne‘s “grotesque” bathers, butt cracks and all:

Apparently he didn’t work from models, but I wonder if he just needed some good glasses. Ah, we’ll never know.

And finally, I had to include this awesome photo of Esther WAY above the Los Angeles skyline. I assume she’s waiting for the mothership to beam her up:

And that’s that. Now, at the end of the episode, I said I wouldn’t be back until January, but I think I’ll pop in with a bonus mid-holiday episode between Christmas and New Year’s Eve… just in case your family is driving you crazy and you need a little escape to the studio! Thanks so much to Esther for digging up these amazing stories for us, thanks to THRIVE for supporting yet another episode, and huge thanks to you for listening! ~ Danielle

Other links:

1. Esther on Instagram
2. Lili Todd on Instagram
3. Mark Todd
4. Hey There Gallery, Joshua Tree
5. Susanne Vielmetter Projects {at Art Miami with Esther this weekend!}
6. I was right about Monet’s vision… kinda.
7. Mark Liam Smith, painter
8. Jenny Saville, painter
9. Mickalene Thomas / Her exhibition at BMA, Baltimore {Now till May 2021}
10. Book: Secret Lives of Great Artists by Elizabeth Lunday

Gasp! These oil paintings {on panel} are the work of British-born, Toronto based painter Mark Liam Smith. Inspired by 17th and 18th century Flemish floral paintings, Mark’s goal is to “reinvigorate interest in the role of beauty and fragility in the mundane.” Um, mission accomplished! Oh, and ps. Mark is color blind…

“Because I am colour-blind, I long had to rely on my knowledge of colour-mixing formulas to recreate skin tones and other local colours. Later in my practice, I realized that local colours served only to restrict my expression. By viewing my colour-blindness as a strength rather than as a weakness, I began embracing the use of non-local colours to develop my work. I use non-local colours to exaggerate the idea of subjectivity.”

Ah, so fantastic! Speaking of fantastic, his newest series, titled In Bloom, will be showing in Montreal at Galerie Youn later this month. The opening reception is on Thursday November 21st at 6pm, and the show runs until January 19th, 2020.

FRIDA! Monday morning fun fact: Did you know that, while she was alive, Frida Kahlo only had one solo show in New York City? Yep, it was at the Julien Levy Gallery in 1938. Well, 81 years later, the Brooklyn Museum is shining a huge spotlight on all things Frida with this fabulous show, titled ‘Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving’:

“‘Frida Kahlo: Appearances Can Be Deceiving’ is the largest U.S. exhibition in ten years devoted to the iconic painter and the first in the United States to display a collection of her clothing and other personal possessions, which were rediscovered and inventoried in 2004 after being locked away since Kahlo’s death, in 1954. They are displayed alongside important paintings, drawings, and photographs from the celebrated Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection of 20th Century Mexican Art, as well as related historical film and ephemera. To highlight the collecting interests of Kahlo and her husband, muralist Diego Rivera, works from our extensive holdings of Mesoamerican art are also included.”

The show runs from February 8 until May 12, 2019. Go!

Third time lucky! Yep, this is the third time I’ve had New York based artist Trey Speegle on the podcast. We’ve covered his childhood, 80’s in New York and everything in between… but today we’re talking about Andy Warhol! Trey’s new studio/gallery, Gallery 52, has a show up right now, for one more week, filled with all things Warhol… and so is this episode! Also, I could listen to Trey’s story alllll day long… wind him up and let him go! You can listen right up there under Andy’s purple cow, or subscribe on iTunes.

So, let’s not waste any time … here’s just some of the bits ‘n pieces of ‘Warhol Ephemera’ that are part of this wonderful time capsule / show:

Isn’t that crazy? And that’s just the tip of the Warhol iceberg. Thank goodness Trey is a collector, stashing away hundreds of paint-by-number kits for his own work, and also saving all of these amazing pieces of art history.

Speaking of which, here are a few of the photographs he mentioned. After we talked, Trey went through them a little more carefully and look what he found:

Himself! Well, those top two strips are photos of Trey taken by Andy at a party, and the contact sheet below features the shirt Trey designed, being worn by John Sex.

Next, his beautiful new space in upstate New York. Introducing Gallery 52…

How fantastic is THAT? If you find yourself in Jeffersonville NY, stop in and say hello… and then buy some stuff!

Oooh, and I have to show you these… Trey’s flowers, on repeat:

LOVE! Not only do I love that he has used this image over and over in different ways {very Warholian}, I also love how generous Trey is about creativity. He has so many great ideas around getting unstuck and just playing. He even offers his images for people to play with {the folder above for example}.

And finally, I know you want to see this guy:

Ha! Terrifyingly awesome… the clown cookie jar! Thanks so much to Trey for telling me all of his stories, thanks to Saatchi Art for supporting the episode {and I’ll see you next week at The Other Art Fair in LA!}; and as always, thank YOU for listening. There won’t be an episode next weekend, but I’ll be back the week after that. See you then.

Other links:

1. Martha Rich
2. Ashley Longshore, Episode No. 135
3. Trey’s Coloring Book + {gift packs etc}
4. Trey, Episode No.4
5. Trey, Episode No.80