It’s the end of the year!
What a year 2022 turned out to be! We covered many serious issues this season from learning about our allies to HIV to the challenge to abortion. But, we want to finish the season off on a lighter note. We’re turning to the arts to get a lift up. We have two wonderful guests artists to talk to. JoAnne McFarland is a multi-medium artist, curator and Artistic Director, Artpoetica Project Space in Brooklyn, New York. Gayle Hall of YouGo Productions in England where she creates Bespoke Art. Their work is very different but we were surprised to hear them talk about common themes that motivate them and influence their work. Our conversation with them was so interesting we decided to run two segments of it called the Healing Power of Black Art.
Both of our artists encourage us to embrace our creative sides. JoAnne has a praxis where she encourages everyone to do at least one creative thing every day. And she says she was intentional about building her space at ArtPoetica Project. She wants it to be a safe place for all who come in. In contrast, Gayle engages in a collaborative process of making art with her customers, using their memories to create art which speaks to them directly. Both women use the power of words in and throughout their work and neither of them wants us to let fear keep us from achieving. In addition to her fine art, JoAnne is also a poet. She has some new work coming out at the beginning of 2023. We’ll put a link below so you can be on the look out for it. As for Gayle, her work and notoriety are growing. She suggests listeners look for her revamped website launching in 2023.
Links for our artists
Publication coming in Spring of 2023: PULLMAN
Make sure to check out our resource page next week. We’ll have additional links to our artists’ work.