“No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” -Aesop
Our world spins ever on, with more and more of us clinging to its surface all the time. It can be a harsh and lonely place, the earth, filled with strangers each of whom are looking out for their own interests, their own fortunes. When we turn our backs on each other, we make this cold place even colder. It only takes a small gesture, a kind work, a hand reaching out when there is need, to let someone know they aren’t alone.
Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore spoke to us from Seattle. Her most recent book, The Freezer Door, was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, one of Oprah’s best LGBTQ books of 2020 and a finalist for the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award. The book is about desire and its impossibility. Through that lens, it is about the dream of the city of the place where you find everything and everyone that you never imagined and whether that possibility even exists anymore. Set in Seattle, the book explores the foreclosure of things that the city once allowed. The gentrification of the city, Sycamore believes, has contributed greatly to this. To hear more from the author including live readings from The Freezer Door, listen to the complete interview.
Autumn Wallace spoke to us from Brooklyn where she is working out of a temporary studio following two months residency working in a Brooklyn brownstone. When we spoke, Wallace was preparing for a show in Cologne, Germany at Gaa Gallery. The working title of the show is Ode to the Working Thermometer, an homage to archaic things whether customs, utilities, all those things that have been packed out of existence. The exhibition will take up three rooms. Two of them will be filled with paintings and sculptures and the third will be a group show along with curators who have been instrumental in Wallace’s career. To hear more about the solo portions of the show and other aspects of her life and work, listen to the complete interview
A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:
Be the light in someone’s darkness.
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 here.
Books to Read
What are you reading? Add your titles to our reading list here. The Freezer Door by Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore is available now. Autumn Wallace was reading Aesop’s Fables.
Deadlines:
The Prince Claus Mentorship program in partnership with the Goeth Institute is a year-long interdisciplinary program that creates space for artists and cultural practitioners to explore critical artistic practices on the intersection of arts and environmentalism. Emerging artists interested in exploring the climate crisis we find ourselves facing are encouraged to apply. For more information visit the website. Deadline for applications is August 26.
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.