Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast The Art Equation: A Now Be Here Podcast

Join us for a conversation with the founding director of Creative Capital and longtime arts advocate Ruby Lerner! In this solo episode, Kim sits down with Ruby as she shares invaluable advice about how artists can build a stronger network of long-term support. Ruby draws on her long history as an arts worker and supporter, and shares resources that people in the arts might already have that can move their career to the next level.

Mentions:

Ruby Lerner (rubylerner.com);

Creative Capital;

Herberger Institute;

Arizona State University;

Patty Disney Center for Life and Work;

CalArts;

Open Society Foundations;

Soros International Arts Fellowship;

Manhattan Theater Club;

Goucher College;

University of North Carolina;

Alternate ROOTS;

National Endowment for the Arts:

NEA v. Finley;

Archibald Gillies;

Andy Warhol Foundation;

John Baldessari;

Niegel Smith;

The Flea theater;

Mass MoCA.

In this episode, reference specialist Elizabeth Botten brings us behind the scenes at the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. The conversation dives into Elizabeth’s path to working at the Archives, how deep archival research really works, and everything that goes into documenting, preserving, and accessing original materials from artists and art world figures throughout American history. Kim and Patricia speak to their own unique experiences doing research in the Archives, and Elizabeth shares a selection of her favorite objects and some incredible stories from the collection.

Mentions:

The Museum of the City of New York;

Shirley Chisholm;

Elizabeth Botten;

The Smithsonian Archives of American Art;

The National Portrait Gallery;

Taína Caragol;

Emilio Sanchez;

(Patricia’s blog) https://www.aaa.si.edu/blog/2020/08/emilio-sanchezs-photographic-sources;

Catherine Opie;

Georgia O’Keeffe;

Smithsonian Artist Research Fellowship;

Jan van der Marck;

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago;

Esther McCoy;

Florence Knoll;

Walt Kuhn;

1913 Armory Show;

Marcel Duchamp;

Florence Allen;

Isabel Bishop;

Warren Chappell;

Eleanor Dickinson;

Trek magazine;

Miné Okubo;

Chiura Obata;

Walt Whitman;

Naul Ojeda;

Federico García Lorca;

Pablo Neruda.

Today, our hosts are sitting down with arts writer and cultural storyteller Sala Elise Patterson! The trio discusses the dynamic breadth of Sala’s practice, from experimental documentary projects and her work as a trustee of The Phillips Collection, to her path writing for outlets such as The Atlantic, Kinfolk, Harvard Design Magazine, Vogue, British Journal of Photography and The New York Times. Covering topics such as Black visibility in art, reimagining the “artist’s muse,” and the politics of architectural design, this is an urgent and beautifully honest conversation about writing - and so much more.

 

Mentions:

The Wadsworth Atheneum;

William Kentridge;

Phala O. Phala;

Nhlanhla Mahlangu;

André Breton;

Claude Levi Strauss;

Wifredo Lam;

Amié Césaire;

Frantz Fanon;

The Nardal Sisters;

Frida Kahlo;

Sala Elise Patterson;

Adrienne Fidelin;

The Phillips Collection;

Elizabeth Bishop;

Protect: Coastlines, Guns and Women in the Low Country, https://www.twolanefilms.com/protect;

Adrienne Fidelin;

Man Ray;

Saidiya Hartman;

Lee Miller;

Dora Maar;

Paul Éluard.

We're back at the Getty! Today, Kim is solo and chatting with Julie Wolfe, sculpture conservator at The Getty Museum. The pair discuss Julie's path to museum conservation, her book on Roy Lichtenstein's outdoor painted sculptures, and the realities of art couriering. Diving deep into the significance and evolving science of sculpture conservation, Julie offers insights into what it means to steward art for future generations. Bonus tip - be sure to stay for the bloopers at the end of the episode!

Mentions: Julie Wolfe; The Getty Museum; The Getty Research Institute; Roy Lichtenstein; “Roy Lichtenstein: Outdoor Painted Sculpture”, Getty Publications ; Camille Claudel; Ray Stark Sculpture Collection; Cy Twombly; Nancy Graves

Welcome to the conservation lab! Kim and Patricia bring on two art conservators from the Getty Research Institute, Melissa Huddleston and Elyse Driscoll, to discuss their paths to becoming conservators, the excitements and challenges of conservation work, and some of their favorite objects in the Getty's collection. Melissa and Elyse offer fascinating insight into the intricacies of the art conservation field and the exiting projects they're working on now.

Mentions: The Getty Museum; The Getty Research Institute; Fluxus; The Brooklyn Museum; The Waitresses; Anne Gauldin; Andrea Bowers; Barbara T. Smith; Pietro Rigolo; Elisar von Kupffer; Robert Mapplethorpe; Brian Tripp; The Getty Conservation Institute; The Studio Museum; Mavis Pusey; Ed Ruscha; Robert Rauschenberg.

We're off to New York! Patricia takes us inside the 2025 College Art Association conference in New York City. Patricia and guest interviewees bring listeners through the experience of being at a conference centered around scholarship and teaching in the visual arts. Providing history, a summary of some of this year's speakers, and artist interviews, this episode brings us back to the central theme of netweaving in the current moment.

Mentions: College Art Association; Taína Caragol; Pat Badani; Juan Carlos Quintero Herencia; Saidiya Hartman; Christina Sharpe;  Ruo Jia; Pavel Kunysz; Maria Fernandez Pello; Ana Mendieta; Jacqueline Loss; Sheryl Oring; Marina Zurkow; Snow Yunxue Fu; Melanie Nguyen; Coralina Rodriguez Meyer; Michelle V. Moncrieffe; Quipucamayocs; Khipu/Quipu.

Welcome to LA Art Week 2025! Kim gives Patricia a rundown of her experience attending Frieze LA and Felix Art Fair. Including interview clips from surprise guests, our hosts break down the emotional landscape of this year's fairs. Offering thoughts on the relevance of the art fair model and where people from different art world backgrounds fit into the fair ecosystem, Kim, Patricia, and guests talk about approaching the 2025 LA art fairs as a site of netweaving and connection.

Mentions:

John McWhorter, “How ‘Woke’ Became the ‘Woke Right’ (and Why It Shouldn’t Surprise Anyone)" https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/20/opinion/the-long-strange-trail-of-woke.html;

Felix Art Fair;

Frieze LA Art Fair;

Gramercy International Art Fair;

Chateau Marmont;

Dependent Art Fair;

Post-Fair;

wHY Architecture;

Yayoi Shionoiri;

Sarah Conley Odenkirk;

Powerhouse Arts, NY;

ArtConverge;

Christina Valentine;

ArtCenter College of Design;

College Art Association;

Mary Leigh Cherry;

Cherryworks;

Julia Colavita.

We welcome our first guest to The Art Equation! Los Angeles-based artist Lisa Diane Wedgeworth talks about the power of saying YES, her new suite of prints, and reorienting her practice after a life shift. In our conversation, we explore the challenges artists face in navigating their public personas as well as the fear and catharsis of change.   Mentions: Lisa Diane Wedgeworth, https://www.lisadianewedgeworth.com Jordana Moore Saggese, Driskell Center University of Maryland Beyte Saar, Artist Alexandra Grant, Artist Samantha Thomas, Artist Heather Harmon, Curator Anat Egbi Gallery Olivia Booth, Artist June Edmunds, Artist Conversations About Abstractions, https://www.youtube.com/@conversationsaboutabstrati653 Serio Press Fine Art Editions Steven Y. Wong, Curator Alma Thomas, Artist and art teacher Howardena Pindell, Artist and Curator Frank Bowling, Artist Fred Eversley, Artist McArthur Binion, Artist Mark Bradford, Artist "Once Overlooked, Black Abstract Painters Are Finally Given Their Due," Megan O'Grady, https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/12/t-magazine/black-abstract-painters.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Kim and Patricia sit down to talk about how artists and arts professionals use technology, and to what ends. We trace a line from the Sony Portapak to avant-garde film movements, feminist film theory to artists taking ownership of their archives, exhibition modeling, AI, cybernetics, and more. What effect does our tech use have on art itself, and society at large?   This episode is the first in an ongoing series centered on the theme of Art & Technology.   As a note to our listeners, this episode discusses the January 2025 LA Fires and their effects on artists and art workers.    References: Riddles of the Sphinx (Laura Mulvey) Cyberfeminism Index (Mindy Seu) In Mourning and In Rage (Suzanne Lacy and Leslie Labowitz) The Cybernetic Hypothesis (Tiqqun)

How do you use your time? Kim and Patricia discuss daily routines, how artists and writers get into "the zone," studio habits, gallery exhibition planning, and navigating artist/curator conversations about the technicalities of putting on an art show. Join us to learn about the inner workings of studio practice, the work of research, and some contemporary artists' relationship to process. [Recorded December 2024]

What inspired an art historian from Cuba and an artist from Chicago to start a behind-the-scenes podcast about the art world? Listen and find out! Our hosts sit down to chat about the origins of the podcast and share a bit about themselves. Hear their backgrounds and the story of how Now Be Here began. A great episode for first-time listeners and a teaser of what's to come. [Recorded November 2024]

The Art Equation is a podcast from Now Be Here, where art historian and curator Patricia Ortega-Miranda and contemporary artist Kim Schoenstadt talk with artists, writers, curators, registrars, archivists, and more, about everything that goes into pulling off an exhibition and being part of the art world. Now Be Here is a fiscally sponsored nonprofit, hosting a visual directory of women and nonbinary artists to develop opportunities and promote their work to wider audiences. www.nowbehereart.com