Mormon Arts Center's Studio Podcast

Award-winning artists whose works are exhibited in museums and galleries around the world, Georgina Bringas and Ricardo Rendón discuss their work and philosophies of artmaking in this podcast episode. Living and working in Mexico City, they have entirely separate bodies of work that focus on sculpture and installation art of the highest caliber. Rendón concentrates on constructed work that documents the creative process, and Bringas makes probing, colorful works that explore time, matter, and the measurement of the infinite.The music for this episode is Pulso by Francisco Estévez, composed for five “clappers.”Support the show

Have you ever wondered how the fine art market functions, how air fairs and auctions, collectors and dealers, navigate through a $64 billion industry of art work sales? In this episode, private dealer Warren Winegar, former head of client services at Sotheby’s, discusses this fascinating world. He describes the impact of the pandemic and what it is like to travel the world in search of art for clients. Then, the discussion shifts to psychology and the consequences of collecting. What motivates people to collect? How do the visual images with which we surround ourselves affect our sense of self, and in the case of Latter-day Saints, what do the objects we have in our homes have to say about us? With music by Francisco Estevez, Luisiadas II, for toy piano. Support the show

Fifty LDS artists won Center grants in 2020 that responded to “the needs of the people at this specific moment.” In this podcast interview with the manager of the project, Emily Larsen Doxford, Art for Uncertain Times is described as a historical document of LDS artists’ reactions to Covid-19 and the social injustice protests in this turbulent, exhausting year, with examples from the winners’ literature, visual art, music, film, and dance, and the stories behind some of these powerful creations.This episode includes musical excerpts from four winners of Art for Uncertain Times grants: Julián Mansilla, Jed Blodgett/Andrew Maxfield, Daniel E. Gawthrop, and Harriet Petherick Bushman.Support the show

Theologian, scholar, and Senior Research Fellow at the Maxwell Institute (BYU), James Faulconer discusses his recent book, Mosiah, one of Institute’s The Book of Mormon: Brief Theological Introductions series. His insightful approach to close reading of scriptures emphasizes the creative act of study.The podcast interview also discusses his earlier books written with LDS audiences in mind, Scripture Study: Tools and Suggestions, the scriptures Made Harder series, and Faith, Philosophy, Scripture. Finally, on the eve of the presidential election, Faulconer reflects on what Mosiah has to say about governments and what the tragedy of the Book of Mormon means to us all. With introductory music by Robert Cundick.Support the show

After 20 years in the food publishing industry (Ladies’ Home Journal, Martha Stewart Living, Kids, and Weddings magazines) and televisions appearances on the Martha Stewart network, the Today Show, the Food Network among others, Tara Bench--her nom de plume is Tara Teaspoon--has written her first cookbook, Live Life Deliciously: Recipes for Busy Weekdays and Leisurely Weekends. In this episode, Tara discusses her approach to cooking, eating, entertaining and how kitchen time becomes a lifestyle.In addition to talking about the genesis of ideas for the book, the author discusses her library of cookbooks, what mentors and mothers have taught her, and how she developed her own cooking and writing style.With introductory music by Leonard Bernstein, Adolph Green and Betty Comden, “I Can Cook Too.”Support the show

Collaborators James Goldberg, Ardis Parshall, and Carla Jimison discuss their new book, Song of Names: A Mormon Mosaic, in this episode. The volume is divided into 22 sections, each telling an extraordinary story of quiet heroism by members of the Church lost to history, as Ardis writes, “…Trying to capture the sacred in Latter-day Saints’ everyday histories.” But there is nothing ordinary about their incredible stories that cover nearly two centuries of our history, and geographically include: Lebanon,  Sweden, Sri Lanka, Mexico, India, the United Kingdom, Sierra Leone, Brazil, France, Egypt, Singapore, Cambodia, Japan,  Spain, French Polynesia, the Shoshone Nation, and Argentina as well as states across the U.S. The trio describes moving stories unearthed by Ardis from decades of research and turned into art by James Goldberg, accompanied by visual images by Carla Jimison.Music for the episode is “The Towers of Zion,” an unpublished 1999 composition by Murray Boren setting text written by W. W. Phelps, whos

2020 marks three historic milestones surrounding women and voting rights. In her new book, Pioneering the Vote: The Untold Story of Suffragists in Utah and the West, author Neylan McBaine narrates this extraordinary history through the eyes of the women of the West, who were the first to vote in the nation. In this podcast interview, McBaine describes the complex relationships of polygamy, politics, and suffragists, and how local Relief Societies in remote Utah towns united to secure the right to vote against tremendous opposition. Most surprisingly, these are stories are almost entirely unknown until now. Music in the episode is an anthem of women's suffrage, written in 1910 by Ethel Smyth and Cicely Hamilton, "The March of the Women."Support the show

Although he was born with a physical condition requiring prosthetic legs and braces to walk, John Williamson was a high-functioning professional with a long career in the technology industry until five years ago, when his body began to break down, making employment impossible. In this interview, Williamson describes how he discovered artmaking late in life, how it became therapy for him after his new circumstances in a motorized wheelchair shook him to his core and robbed him of his identity and connection to society. He is a winner of the Center’s Art for Uncertain Times competition, and his image, Walking with Faith and Hope is part of a body of work that is a meditation on mobility, meaning, and visibility. Music in the episode is another Art for Uncertain Times winner, Wait on the Lord, or The Plaguel Cadence, by Harriet Petherick Bushman.Support the show

Two-time Emmy nominated writer James Best talks in this episode about his new one-act play, The Last Lake, which was a winner of the Art for Uncertain Times grant program of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts. In addition to a discussion about the two-character play, presented in Zoom performances last week, and his upcoming projects, the writer describes his varied career in television, stage, and print, as well as advocacy work and civil disobedience for causes including #NoKidsInCages.Support the show

In this special episode recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, four artists discuss their current life and work. Each answers the same four questions: What is it like to make your art right now?; How does this pandemic affect content?; Are there works from the past, written in similar times or about similar challenges that are meaningful to you?; and What advice might you have for an artist in quarantine?Playwright Javen Tanner in Sandy, Utah discusses his difficulties of focusing on creative work during the pandemic. He muses on Shakespeare and Chekhov, and he has a hearty laugh about a preacher named T. White circa 1577 who blamed the theater for the Bubonic plague, “…the cause of plagues is sin and the cause of sin are plays, it follows that the cause of plagues are plays.” Support the show

Composer Deon Nielsen Price in San Francisco, California talks about her distinguished career writing music that is socially relevant including works about the Watts Riots and Vietnam. She finds comfort in poetry written by Japanese Americans imprisoned in internment camps during WWII, and she describes how her composer heroes Schoenberg, Stravinsky, Messiaen, and Cowell all used their periods of isolation or imprisonment to formulate the musical philosophies that they would employ the rest of their lives. Support the show

Poet Susan Howe in Ephraim, Utah talks about the disruption of her writing practice that typically involves peers gathering together. She notes the lag time and emotional distance required for a personal experience to enter into her work without sentimentality, and she quotes a meaningful refrain by T. S. Eliot that has brought her comfort during the pandemic. Support the show

Painter Samuel Evensen in New York, New York is recovering from COVID-19 symptoms that have forced him into quarantine and attacked his body. A painter whose subject is the body, Evensen discusses the Spanish Flu epidemic, HIV/AIDS, and other global health crises and how artists such as Hyman Bloom and Egon Schiele chose to engage in the figure. His poignant advice for artists ends the episode. The music for all four segments is by Deon Nielsen Price. Support the show

American composer of jazz, musical theater, concert, and choral music, Lisa DeSpain has not one, not two, but three operas in late-stage development—all winners of important commissions and grants. In this interview peppered with excerpts from the operas and with DeSpain breaking into song as she describes the compositions, the topic at hand is how an artist juggles different projects, collaborators, producers, and publishers at the same time. The three operas discussed in the podcast are: That Hell-bound Train, Staggerwing, and No Ladies in the Lady’s Book.  Support the show

In this episode, scientist and novelist Steven L. Peck discusses his newest novel, The Tragedy of King Leere, Goatherd of the La Sals. The book updates the Shakespearean tragedy to the near future, specifically, after a global climate change disaster. At turns funny, tragic, and frightening, the novel--and the interview--wrestle with the truths to be found in art as well as science.Support the show

Painter Kent Christensen's Secrets of the Great Salt Lake is a virtuosic piece of visual satire representing early Utah history. Brigham Young rides a dinosaur in the lake while two trains bringing Jell-O, Snelgrove's ice cream, donuts, and toxic waste meet at Promontory Point for the driving of the Golden Spike. The state's animals frolic among recognizable tourist landmarks even while their existence is imperiled by climate change. Derived, in part, by Bosch's masterpiece, The Garden of Earthly Delights, Christensen's most complex painting yet is the topic of this episode along with a discussion of the purpose of satire, the relationships of illustration and fine art, and how a project that has taken 500 hours to create started.Support the show

"Beleaguered but buoyant parents of five children between the ages of 6 and 16," as The New York Times described Erik and Emily Orton, "hadn’t even plotted an itinerary when they bought a 38-foot catamaran (sight unseen), flew to a Caribbean harbor and set sail on a Swiss-Family-Robinson-style adventure." The resulting adventure was only the beginning. In this episode, the authors of Seven at Sea: Why a New York City Family Cast Off Convention for a Life-Changing Year on a Sailboat, describe the writing of the book and the lessons their experience continues to teach them as parents and dreamers.Support the show

Music from Bali is the subject of this podcast interview, with Jeremy Grimshaw, who brought the traditional percussion ensemble of gamelan to Brigham Young University. The nature of gamelan is communal music-making, and Grimshaw discusses the history and culture of Bali, his experiences there, and how a new community of gamelan has grown in Utah.Support the show

The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts provides a weekly Art Companion for the gospel study curriculum, Come, Follow Me. This was the idea of Jennifer Wilcox who explores, in this podcast episode, how the project came to be, how she uses art in her church teaching, how she commissions new art for her students, and ultimately how the home is the perfect classroom and art space.Support the show

Artist Brian Kershisnik discusses a new monograph of his art work, Looking for Something: Selected Paintings, published Unicorn Publishing Group (London) and discusses how growing up in Angola, Thailand, and Pakistan has informed his worldview and affected his body of questioning, joyful, vibrant art.Support the show