Being An Artist With Tom Judd – Details, episodes & analysis

Sarah McEneaney’s art is singular and unique in its focus on the everyday existence of the artist. Living in the middle of the very busy and complicated city of Philadelphia, she has created a lifestyle of almost monastic discipline as an artist. McEneaney is also an activist and community leader including the formation of the Callowhill Neighborhood Association in 2001, and the co-founding of the Reading Viaduct Project in 2003.

She works mostly in egg tempera, and her work is raw and direct, a slow moving autobiographic investigation of the nature of her life, and our life. In that way her paintings are very universal and profound. 

She has shown her work in major galleries and museums for the last 40 years, including an extensive retrospective in 2004 at the Institute of Contemporary Art at the university of Pennsylvania. She is included in major collections including Philadelphia Museum of Art,[2] Mills College Art Museum,[3] the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts,[4] Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Woodmere Art Museum  in Philadelphia.

Judith Schaechter:  Stain glass artist that has redefined the scope of contemporary art in both materials and subject matter. She has created a startling body of work, using hi-tech and low tech, if not centuries-old techniques. She has chosen for her subject matter an equally archaic focus that seems to bring the suffering and story telling of ancient religious iconography into the 21st century. Her work can be seen all over the world in major museums and galleries including:  Smithsonian Institution, the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco. Schaechter's Bigtop Flophouse Bedspins appeared in the 2002 Whitney Biennial. She has artwork in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Hermitage Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art,

Host Tom Judd speaks with Eileen Neff about how literature has influenced her work, including the poetry of Wallace Stevens.

Neff, a Philadelphia based artist, began as a painter until she discovered photography was the pathway to her expression as an artist in the early 80s. Known also as a sought after art critic and writer, she went on to develop an astounding body of work over a 40 year period.

You can learn more about her on her website eileenneff.com

Two powerful artists by themselves , the married couple love to mix it up including collaborating on paintings and sharing ideas about art and artmaking.

Established contemporary artists, they are both published writers and love to play music together. The interview reveals an expansive studio practice between their two homes, New York City and a country house in rural Pennsylvania. 

The COVID outbreak impacted them immediately when Jennifer came down with the virus and was bed ridden for a month back in March. She talks of how she drew her way out of it with drawings from bed which later led to a whole series of large paintings. 

David produced an astounding body of work for his show at Fredericks and Freiser in the fall with a Title surprisingly appropriate "Arms of the Law." He also completed an extensive monograph of his long career, "David Humphrey" edited by Davy Lauterbach.

You can learn more about them on their websites davidhumphreynyc.com and jenniferlcoates.com

Host Tom Judd sits down with painter Tim McFarlane to discuss the importance of putting in the work, and showing up. Tim also talks about the daily challenges with a painting, even when it's not going well, and how to listen to the painting instead of your busy mind.

Your can learn more about Tim on his website timmcfarlane.com

On this episode of Being an Artist, host Tom Judd talks to sculptor Darla Jackson about her love for clay and sculpting, quitting her full time job to pursue art while pregnant, getting endorsed by Courtney Love and more!

Darla ran Philadelphia Sculpting Gym. It was a coworking space for sculpting that ran for four years. She is currently working on her show Enter the 36 Chambers, a series of 36 bird sculptures that tells a blend of Kung Fu, Wu-Tang and fairytales through the lens of her brain.

Check Darla Jackson out at DarlaJacksonSculpture.com