“The quality of mercy is not strain’d/it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven/upon the place beneath.” -William Shakespeare
With power comes responsibility and a critical necessity to understand the limits. One cannot presume to gather up absolute power with no regard for the sanctity of life and one must recognize, on a fundamental level, the asymmetry of the starting line. One must move to correct it so that others stand on level ground. The power of some was won on the backs of others, at the expense of justice, at the cost of human lives.
Claudia Alick runs Calling Up Justice, a trans-media social justice practice that keeps her very busy in a digital world in need of much social justice. Her practice is one of anti-capitalism and radical generosity, among other things, and much of the work is done within digital spaces. Alick is also an adviser for a digital commons platform. She recently joined the advisory board for Northwest Artists Streaming Hub (NASH) which is a digital platform for artists to present their work online. In short, Alick is working across the arts and digital space in a huge capacity, with a hand in multiple projects as well as making her own work. She tackles critically important topics in our increasingly divided world. Make time to listen to this complete interview.
Kevin Kearns is a painter based in Newburgh, New York. He has had a varied career that led him to painting over 20 years ago. He studied illustration and worked in the advertising business creating storyboards before becoming an art director and then a creative director. All that time, he envied those who made a living making the images rather than designing ads as he was. After his creative direction career he became a freelancer but around 2000 when the dot com crash occurred, he found it difficult to get work. Kearns lived in SoHo at the time in an artist only building where he was surrounded by painters who helped and encouraged him as he learned a new medium and connected him to his first galleries. To hear how Kearns’ career progressed from there to his role as a full time painter, listen to the complete interview.
A Few Words to Keep in your Pocket:
It is well past time for a leveling of strength. It is well past time for an honest dialogue about the way forward.
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. We Were Eight Years In Power by Ta-Nehisi Coates; White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo
Deadlines
Leveler is a peer-to-peer wealth distribution organization. Those in need submit a form explaining their circumstances and others in a better financial position at the moment pool resources to help. Visit the website to check out the form and submit – or to consider helping if you’re in a position to. Rolling deadline.
Weekly Edited Grant and Residency Deadlines – review the list here.
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Brainard Carey is an author, artist and educator. He is the director of Praxis Center 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.
Photo credit: Claudia Alick