ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists. 

On today’s episode I speak with artist Mark Joshua Epstein, whose work has been widely exhibited in the U.S. and internationally. A graduate of the Slade School of Fine Arts, Epstein has held residencies at prestigious institutions like the British School at Rome. His work has appeared in publications such as the New York Times and Hyperallergic, and he is currently an artist-in-residence at the Sharpe Walentas Studio Program in Brooklyn, NY.

Today’s conversation delves into Mark’s artistic development, beginning with his transition from working on paper to using foam and epoxy clay. He describes his process of creating frames using foam, epoxy, and a proprietary gesso mix, and his eventual shift to Aqua resin and fiberglass for larger works. Epstein emphasizes the importance of maintaining a playful, improvisational approach while balancing durability and vulnerability in his work. He also discusses the challenges and joys of his "fabrication season," where he creates panels without even initially envisioning the final paintings.

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 If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com
 insta: @isaac.mann

guest: Mark Joshua Epstein
www.markjoshaepstein.com
insta: @markjoshuaepstein 

Thank you as always to ARRN, the Detroit-based artist and instrumentalist, for the music. 

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists. 

My guest back again today is Helen Frederick, an artist whose career has spanned decades of innovation in printmaking, paper-making, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Helen earned both her BFA and MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design, and went on to found Pyramid Atlantic, a hub for contemporary printmaking, hand paper-making, and book arts. 

Her work is held in over 45 international collections and has been exhibited in prestigious institutions like the Phillips Collection, MoMA Kyoto, the Whitney Museum, and many more. She has also served on numerous arts boards and panels and is a Professor Emeritus at George Mason University.

In today’s episode, Helen and I discuss working from leftovers, strengthening your position for creation, will power, perfection and survival. Helen also explains how she finds answers in chaos, why she believes artists are warriors and together we explore a collaborative series of works she is currently in the middle of.

This conversation is continued from last week’s episode. Enjoy!

You can now support this podcast by clicking HERE where you can donate using PATREON or PayPal!

If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!
 
 If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com
insta: @isaac.mann

guest: Helen Frederick
readingroadstudio.com
helenfrederick.com
insta: @helenfrederick

Thank you as always to ARRN, the Detroit-based artist and instrumentalist, for the music. 

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists!

Today on ARTMATTERS, Brooklyn-based artist Dik Liu and I finish up last week’s conversation. On today’s episode Dik talks about living in New York since the 80s, teaching, being a loner, his museum habits, painting when he doesn’t know the outcome, spending decades painting light and Leonard Bernstein. He also gave me some personal advice on my practice, which was too good not to include. So that’s there too. 

A little background on the man: Dik F. Liu  received his MFA from Yale University. He is widely represented in exhibitions throughout the U.S. As a teacher,   Liu has taught at Cooper Union, Hofstra University, and the School of Visual Arts and is currently teaching at the New York Academy of Art, Pratt Institute, and the New School University.

You can now support this podcast by clicking HERE where you can donate using PATREON or PayPal!

If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!
 
 If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com   

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com 
insta: @isaac.mann

guest: Dik Liu
www.dikliu.com
insta: @dik_liu

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists. 

On today’s episode I speak with the artist Dik Liu. I studied with Dik back in the day and was thrilled when he accepted my invitation to join me for this episode. 

Dik F. Liu  received his MFA from Yale University. He is widely represented in exhibitions throughout the U.S. As a teacher,   Liu has taught at Cooper Union, Hofstra University, and the School of Visual Arts and is currently teaching at the New York Academy of Art, Pratt Institute, and the New School University.

Today we discuss observational painting, Manet, skill, ego, abstract painting, color and light, Dik’s practice and material curiosity, the Maroger Formula, the economy of brushwork, consistency, failure, Rembrandt, world-building and painting as a form of engagement or escapism. It was great to reconnect with Dik, the man is a wealth of information and experience. This conversation is a two-parter, so stay tuned next week for the dramatic conclusion. 

You can now support this podcast by clicking HERE where you can donate using PATREON or PayPal!

If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!
 
If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com
insta: @isaac.mann

guest: Dik Liu
www.dikliu.com
insta: @dik_liu

Thank you as always to ARRN, the Detroit-based artist and instrumentalist, for the music. 

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists
On today’s episode I speak with NYC-based artist, Langdon Graves!

Together we sit down in her Bushwick studio and speak about building objects, combining mediums, Trompe-l'oil, different kinds of drawing, efficiency, the lead-up to an exhibition, different kinds of flow-states, preciousness, physical fatigue after long studio sessions, teaching, mentorship and community, a few ideas about contemporary art education, relief printmaking, variations, reading, and multi-tasking. 

Langdon Graves is a New York City-based artist with a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Painting and Printmaking and an MFA from Parsons School of Design. She is adjunct faculty now at both Parsons and the MFA program at Pratt Institute. Langdon is represented by Dinner Gallery in New York and has had solo exhibitions in New York, Florida, Virginia, Arkansas, Vermont and Massachusetts and has participated in group shows and fairs throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Australia. Langdon has attended the Fountainhead Residency in Miami, the Kunstenaarsinitiatief Residency and Exhibition Program in the Netherlands, the Object Limited residency in Bisbee, Arizona and STONELEAF Retreat in upstate New York. She is a recipient of Canson & Beautiful Decay’s Wet Paint Grant and has been featured in Art in America and Artnet, Maake, VICE Creators, Juxtapoz, Art F City, Blouin Artinfo, Hyperallergic and Madeline Schwartzman’s See Yourself X.

You can now support this podcast by clicking HERE where you can donate using PATREON or PayPal!

If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!
 
If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com
insta: @isaac.mann

guest: Langdon Graves
www.langdongraves.com
insta: @laaang 

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists!

I’m recording this intro from Washington DC where I’m rounding up a couple last interviews of the tour. It’s been a great trip so far and I’m very excited to share these conversations with you later this summer.

On today’s episode i speak to LA-based artist Georgina Clapham. I met Georgina on the PLOP artist residency in London back in 2018 and I was very excited to hear she had moved to LA to get her Masters at Otis College of Art and Design, which is where we sat down for this interview. 

Today we talk humor, finishing touches, allowing for discomfort, change, and what it feels like before change, stagnation and the return of joy and passion, seeing yourself in a painting, making yourself more available, new tools, the vulnerability of drawing, working unmonitored and a lot more. 

Georgina Clapham was born in Somerset, England. She has previously attended City and Guilds of London Art School, and The Glasgow School of Art. In 2015 she was awarded The Richard Ford  Travel Scholarship to draw at the Prado Museum, Madrid, Her work has been exhibited across the UK and internationally, holding her debut solo show, ‘Mythologies and Metamorphoses,’ at Triumph Gallery, Moscow in 2018. 

Enjoy this conversation with the artist Georgina Clapham.

You can now support this podcast by clicking HERE where you can donate using PATREON or PayPal!

If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!

If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com
insta: @isaac.mann

guest: Georgina Clapham
www.georginaclapham.com
insta: @georgina.clapham 

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists!
My guest today is Catherine Howe. Catherine is a New York-based artist who has exhibited throughout the United States and Europe for over thirty years, including exhibitions at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, MoMA PS 1 in New York, and the Albright-Knox Art Gallery in Buffalo.  Her work has been reviewed by Art in America, Artforum, Art Critical, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and the Los Angeles Times. 
On today's episode, Catherine and I discuss color, mise en place, gallery requests, speed, snark, pressure, an ecstatic practice, tuning out chatter, a crisis of confidence, resilience and change, enjoying contradiction, trust, gratitude and the three types of studio visits  from hell. 

Special Note:
For all my listeners in the LA area, Catherine Howe's upcoming exhibition Wallflower, opens May 18 at Von Lintel Gallery in Los Angeles and runs through July 6. I highly recommend checking this one out! Opening reception for wallflower is Saturday, May 18 from 4-7 Now on to the show….

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If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!
If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com
insta: @isaac.mann

guest: Catherine Howe
www.catherinehoweartist.com
insta: @catherineahowe

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists!
Back today is my guest Anne Harris. She is a painter, a curator, a writer, and professor at the Art Institute of Chicago. In today's conversation Anne speaks about Paul’s pisco sour, the artist spouse, therapy, loneliness, momentum, the Zone, music in the art studio and why painting is a vocation, not a career. Lot’s more too. Check it out!

About Anne Harris:
Anne Harris has exhibited at venues ranging from Alexandre Gallery and DC Moore Gallery in New York to the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute and many more besides.  She is also the originator of The Mind’s I, a drawing project done with other artists which has traveled and exhibited nationally and internationally. As for her studio practice, in Anne’s own words she wants her paintings to, "function like an eyelid, veering from dry to wet, inside to outside, opaque to transparent, form to formless, mute to aggressive, space curved outward toward the viewer, held in by fragile surface tension, the picture plane as membrane, the entire painting an eyelid.”

This is a two-parter folks, so don't forget to listen to part one from last week if you haven't already. Thanks for listening! 

You can now support this podcast by clicking HERE where you can donate using PATREON or PayPal!

If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!
 
If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com
insta: @isaac.mann

guest: Anne Harris
www.anneharrispainting.com
insta: @anneharris.painting 

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists. 

My guest today is Anne Harris. She is a painter, a curator, a writer, and professor at the Art Institute of Chicago. She has exhibited at venues ranging from Alexandre Gallery and DC Moore Gallery in New York to the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institute and many more besides.  She is also the originator of The Mind’s I, a drawing project done with other artists which has traveled and exhibited nationally and internationally.

On today’s episode we discuss routine, productively, working slow, numb panic, depression, relevance, on trend/off trend, contracts, royalties, a culture that values art but not artists, drawing, invisible labor, how art develops it’s meaning over time and the Venus of Willendorf. 

As for her studio practice, well, in Anne’s own words she wants her “paintings to function like an eyelid, veering from dry to wet, inside to outside, opaque to transparent, form to formless, mute to aggressive, space curved outward toward the viewer, held in by fragile surface tension, the picture plane as membrane, the entire painting an eyelid.”

Anne Harris was a blast to talk to, eloquent, honest and insightful. This is a two-parter folks, here’s part one. Enjoy. 

You can now support this podcast by clicking HERE where you can donate using PATREON or PayPal!

If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!
 
If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com
insta: @isaac.mann
 
guest: Anne Harris 
www.anneharrispainting.com
insta: @anneharris.painting 

Welcome back to ARTMATTERS: The Podcast for Artists.
Today i speak with the LA-based artist Jen Hitchings. Jen’s work investigates the tenuous relationship between humankind and nature and in recent years she has embarked on a deeply self-reflective investigation of the psyche, relationships, erotic desire, and cosmic forces. Her influences range from the rural Japanese landscape, the Hudson River School painters, science fiction film posters, spiritualist archetypes, and contemporary surrealist painting.

On today's episode: Jen and I discuss vertical vs horizontal compositions, deadlines, negotiation skills, her upcoming 21 ft-mural commission for Mailchimp, starting a painting, building a painting  and potential new directions in her painting practice. and a whole lot more.

About Jen Hitchings:
Jen Hitchings (1988, New Jersey) received her BFA in Painting & Drawing from SUNY Purchase College in 2011 and a certificate in Small Business & Entrepreneurship from CUNY Hunter College in 2018. She has attended residencies at Adventure Painting (Yellowstone National Park), DNA (Provincetown, MA), the Vermont Studio Center (Johnson, VT), and Studio Kura (Itoshima, Japan). Solo presentations of her work have taken place at Anat Ebgi (Los Angeles, CA) in 2023, Taymour Grahne (London, UK) in 2023 and online in 2022, One River School (Englewood, NJ) in 2019, MEN Gallery (New York, NY) and PROTO (Hoboken, NJ) in 2018, and Ideal Glass (New York, NY) in 2017 which was accompanied by a 16 x 30’ outdoor mural. In 2021, she completed two large-scale outdoor murals at The Wassaic Project, on view through 2023. In 2023, she was commissioned by Mailchimp to produce a 9 x 21’ indoor permanent office mural at their new headquarters in Atlanta, GA. Recent group exhibitions have taken place at Richard Heller, Anat Ebgi, Good Mother (Los Angeles), Kutlesa (Goldau, Switzerland), Chen Projects at Louisa Art Center (Taipei, Taiwan), Taymour Grahne (London, UK), Ana Mas Projects (Barcelona, Spain), Gaa Gallery, Cindy Rucker, Pierogi (New York, NY), and The Wassaic Project (Wassaic, NY) among others. She was a recipient of the Queens Council on the Arts’ New Works Grant in 2018. Between 2013–2020, Hitchings co-directed Transmitter and Associated Gallery in Brooklyn, NY, is the founder of artist-focused consulting agency Studio Associate, and Director of Career Services at California Institute of the Arts (CalArts). She lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.

You can now support this podcast by clicking HERE where you can donate using PATREON or PayPal!

If you're enjoying the podcast so far, please rate, review, subscribe and SHARE ON INSTAGRAM!
 
If you have an any questions you want answered, write in to artmatterspodcast@gmail.com

host: Isaac Mann
www.isaacmann.com
insta: @isaac.mann

guest: Jen Hitchings
www.jenhitchings.com
insta: @jenjonesjones