We talked with people and we listened. (Artblog 2003-2025)
Sometimes we recorded the conversations for Artblog Radio. Sometimes interviews worked better as written stories. In all events, we loved talking with artists, arts administrators, gallerists, museum workers. We loved to learn and to share with you the joy in our discoveries.
Artblog contributor Matt Kalasky speaks with Daniel Park and Arianna Gass (via telephone!) of the team of “Obvious Agency,” a multi-media game and interactive experience group. The “Obvious” team comes from theater and performance backgrounds and works to immerse people in fun activities in galleries and museums. The podcast comes to us through the courtesy of The Galleries at Moore’s radio station, TGMR. The interview is 26 minutes long.
Read MoreAllan Edmunds is a founder and Director of the Brandywine Workshop and Archives. This great but under-known art and education organization located at 728-30 South Broad St. Founded in 1972, Brandywine’s 47-year history makes for a lot great material to talk about and in this podcast Roberta speaks with Allan in “The Printed Image” Gallery, where they currently present the bold and provocative relief wood prints of John T. Scott. The interview is 36 minutes long.
Read MoreIn one of her last podcast interviews for Artblog Radio, Imani Roach speaks with Yolanda Wisher, poet, educator, community advocate and Curator of Spoken Word at Philadelphia Contemporary (PC). Wisher talks about her beginnings as a writer, fueled by a mother who was a voracious reader and forceful advocate for her as a writer when she was in elementary school. The wide-ranging conversation explores why Wisher has a studio at Cherry St. Pier; how she figured out that poetry could be used for social change; her (not widely known) work as a singer and her upcoming podcast series for PC, which will enlist Philadelphia poets and DJs and include poetry recitation and music, and not so much conversation. This great conversation was recorded at Moore College of Art and Design’s TGMR Radio, and is 38 minutes long.
Read MoreNew contributor and friend of Artblog, Wit López speaks with multi-disciplinary artist Heather Raquel Phillips about documenting people of color in the leather community and turning the camera on herself.
Read MoreMorgan Nitz chats with friend and fellow Tyler alum Patricia Renee Thomas. As both a working painter and a teaching artist, Thomas is blazing a trail for young black women in the visual arts.
Read MoreArtblog’s resident bard, Levi Bentley, speaks with organizer Boston Gordon about their ongoing reading series for queer and trans poets, You Can’t Kill a Poet. Inspired by a queer youth group that provided refuge for Boston during their high school years, You Can’t Kill a Poet has provided a regular outlet for a variety of queer voices since 2014. Catch up with Boston and their ever-changing roster of poets at the next reading, Tuesday February 12, at Tattooed Mom.
Read MoreIf you’re still kicking yourself for missing MR. SOUL! at the 2018 BlackStar Film Festival, then we’ve got some good news for you. This Friday, January 25th, our friends at Scribe Video Center are hosting a Producer’s Forum screening of this joyous documentary about the life and work of Ellis Haizlip, who was not only a pioneering television host and black arts advocate, but also Scribe’s very first board chair. Director (and Ellis’s niece) Melissa Haizlip will be on hand for the screening, which will be preceded by Turnin’ the Tables, a documentary short by local youth filmmaker, J’Lynn Matthews. In this August 19, 2018 “From the Vault” post Imani Roach interviews MR. SOUL! cinematographer Hans Charles about his contributions to the film and his approach to filming black subjects. Read on and we’ll see you at Scribe on the 25th!
Read MoreSamuel Brown, a musician and writer, interviews the squad leader of the West Powelton Steppers and Drummers, who tells him that the drum team kept him alive and out of jail when he was young, and now he’s paying it forward, helping kids today focus on performing music and precision steps, rather than hanging on street corners and getting into trouble. Drum squads are a big part of Philadelphia’s recent history and culture, and Antoine Mapp tells you why they matter.
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