“There’s a certain Slant of light,
Winter Afternoons –
That oppresses, like the Heft
Of Cathedral Tunes –”
-Emily Dickinson
The warmth of the festive season has given way to the bleakness of January. We endeavor to embrace the cold and dark, the colorless palette of winter, but it weighs heavy. Although the light returns in increments, to our primal mind this feels the longest dark, a wintry sleep in which we cast about from one warm, lighted space to another, enduring rather than embracing the outdoors. These months of frozen quietude will give way to the riotous blaze of spring and summer.
Susan Mastrangelo joined us in mid-October. She told us that the last year had been incredibly productive for her. At the beginning of lockdown, she moved upstate to a home she has in the Catskills where she began knitting to soothe her anxiety. Typically her work involves upholstery cord, fabric and paint on wood but the knitting found its way into her work and things took off from there. Now returned to Brooklyn, she is still very productive and when we spoke, had a show up at a gallery there. To hear more about her work and her experience of the pandemic, listen to the complete interview.
George Rodriguez spoke to us in October from Philadelphia when he reported that the last year has been disruptive to his normal routine, which for him means working on his ceramic and sculpture in a large studio space. His current studio is part of Temple University where he was unable to go during lockdown. A separate, private studio of his in Seattle was also unreachable because he was unable to travel there. Rodriguez’s work is large scale, sculpted with ceramics. To hear more about his work, including a recent sculpture of a Bear that he worked on collaboratively in Anchorage, Alaska, listen to the complete interview.
A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:
Stay warm and keep the faith – the sun returns to break winter’s grip.
Interviews are available on iTunes as podcasts, and for Android please click here. All weekly essay pieces in a shareable format are here. The full archive of interviews is here.
Books to Read
What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. Susan Mastrangelo was reading Jack by Marilynne Robinson. George Rodriguez loves reading poetry to soothe the frantic energy of his studio – when we spoke, he was reading Postcolonial Love Poem by Natalie Diaz
Deadlines:
PigPrints invites artists and art students from around the world to submit their work for consideration in the 2022 Residency Prize competition. The selected artist will have the opportunity to produce a limited edition etching and add their work to that already in the PigPrints gallery. Additionally, the selected artist will be invited to a two week residency period in Milan, Italy to produce further work. There is a 1500 euro cash prize as well as some expenses covered for the residency period. For more information, visit the website.
Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis for Aesthetics. He has written six books for artists; Making it in the Art World, New Markets for Artists, The Art World Demystified, Fund Your Dreams Like a Creative Genius, Sell Online Like a Creative Genius, and Succeed with Social Media Like a Creative Genius. His book, Making it in the Art World, is available now with bonus content here.