Posts from the ‘Artist Interview’ Category
Mar
23
Image Journal is visiting Canada in a series of four events this year. Their Calgary stop features a concert with Over The Rhine, followed by a panel discussion on art and faith. From their website;
A panel discussion after the concert on art, faith, and artistic integrity in the public square will feature: Karin Bergquist and Linford Detweiler of Over the Rhine, Gregory Wolfe, editor of Image, Val Lieske, Artistic Director/General Manager, Fire Exit Theatre, Karen Sudds, Artistic Director of Corps Bara Dance Theatre, and Sharon Graham Sargent, President, Emmaus Fine Art Group
It is free and again, from their website, here are the juicy details;
Calgary: An Evening with Over the Rhine
A Concert and Discussion
Wednesday, May 11, 7:00 PM
Engineered Air Theatre /
EPCOR Centre for the Performing Arts
205 Eighth Avenue SE, Calgary, AB
Free & Open to the Public
I plan to attend if at all possible. Anyone care to join me? ROAD TRIP! Seriously though, If you are interested in heading down for this, email info@iloveartists.ca.
Get more info on the event on their website at http://imagejournal.org/page/events/eikon/2011/calgary-may-11-2011
Tags: Calgary, Image Journal, Over the Rhine
Posted in Artist Interview, Events, Faith, Music, Workshops | Comments Off
Mar
5
I’m very happy to share with you the audio recording of our Jazz Makes Me Sad artists forum, hosted by Erika Kobewka back in January and recorded and edited by her husband Arden. I know and appreciate the work that goes into recording and editing a piece like this, so I’m very grateful for the efforts to make this wonderful conversation accessible to those who couldn’t be there and even those around the globe.
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Download Jazz Makes Me Sad – Part 1
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Download Jazz Makes Me Sad – Part 2
For those wanting to know more about the event, it was held as part of Erika Kobewka’s thesis project at The Carrot Community Arts Coffeehouse on the evening of January 17th, 2011. The conversation covers many areas related to the mental and spiritual health of artists and includes artists Erika Kobewka, Cora McLachlan, Jared Robinson and Dave Von Bieker, among other voices of those in attendance. Below is a copy of the text crafted by Erika Kobewka and handed out to participants that evening, which framed the conversation.
Jazz Makes Me Sad: Discussion Outline
introductions/welcome
the beginning of Jazz Makes Me Sad
Erika will give the background and story behind Jazz Makes Me Sad.
meet the voices of the evening
Please introduce yourself! Things to possibly include: your journey as an artist (what has brought you to this very moment?), places/areas of study, projects you are involved in (past and present), how awesome you are, current passions, your role within creative communities.
artists with issues
Often, an artist’s role in culture is to shock and provoke – to awaken the senses to a truth that we may not have seen otherwise. Often, an artist’s life is a reflection of this mantra. Our creative muse is often our pain and suffering. As you are able, please share an experience of an interaction you’ve had with a “tormented” artist. What was their perspective on suffering and the creative process?
let’s talk about creative community
What role does community play in your own creativity? How has creativity built up your community? (open stages, art nights, galleries, community recording projects,
etc.) Has community-life ever been a hinderance in your creative-life?
let’s talk about hard stuff
Have you observed specific emotional tendencies in creatives?
let’s talk about you
Artist self-care: What are some of the intentional rhythms, rituals, and habits you’ve embraced in order to care for yourself and your craft in the midst of the stings and throws of life?
what if it destroys us?
Has the creative process ever been harmful to you or an acquaintance’s healing? How long, is too long in the darkness? Is the artful legacy greater than a human life?
what if it heals us?
As artists that operate within a Christian faith context, what bearing does the death and resurrection of Christ have on your creativity? I’m not asking, if all your art is “Christian” or not. Rather, in what way does the reality of the resurrection of Christ affect your art? What role has creativity played in your own healing?
champion the church
As most of you participate within a faith community, please take a moment to speak life into the church concerning the care of artists. There has been much written concerning the church’s broken relationship with the arts. What is the church doing right? In what ways is the church still growing?
questions/comments from the audience
closing remarks and thanks
Tags: artist forum, audio, conversation, creative process, forum, interview, jazz makes me sad, pain, struggle
Posted in Artist Interview, Creativity & Inspiration, Essays and Reflections, Resources | 4 Comments »
Feb
16
Tomorrow morning I have the pleasure of chatting with Jaimie Clements, indie film director of the upcoming Avenue Movie, a documentary about a year in the live of the revitalization of Alberta Avenue. I’m very excited to help her out with a rebuild of the movie’s website, and take some time for an audio interview, too. It’ll be the perfect chance to put my new Blue Mikey to the test.
http://theavenuemovie.com/
Before I head into the conversation, I wonder if YOU have any questions you’d like me to put to Jaimie. These could be questions about the movie, about her life as a film maker, or about the quality of coffee we’ll be enjoying at Mandolin Books and Coffee Co. Any questions you may have about Jaimie or the project, please post to the comments below. Just be sure to get them in before tomorrow morning!
Tags: documentary, jaimie clements, the avenue movie
Posted in Artist Interview, Film | 3 Comments »
Nov
9
Cora McLachlan
The following is an email interview between Dave Von Bieker and creativity coach, Cora McLachlan, conducted in early November, 2010. Questions were sent by email, one at a time, with each successive question building from the last response. The goal of the email interview form is to create a sense of true dialogue, while maintaining the advantage of solitary reflective time to formulate questions and responses.
Cora, last month you began offering Creativity Workshops in Edmonton, and you have two more coming up before the year is through. Can you tell me a bit about each of those? What will you cover? What is the “feel” of the workshops?
The next two workshops are entitled Showing Kindness to Your Creative Self (Nov. 6) and Accessing Inspiration (Nov. 27).
Showing Kindness to Your Creative Self is focused on giving yourself grace in the creative process, based on the premise that being kind to self is a lot more helpful and enjoyable than beating yourself up for not reaching certain creative goals, or comparing yourself to other people. I think anyone can benefit from learning to show themselves a little more kindness.
Accessing Inspiration will be focused on looking at your personal forms of inspiration, possibly discovering new ones, and brainstorming ways to draw from them.
The feel of the workshops are quiet, small group, casual discussion. There will be a little more hands-on work in the last workshop (Accessing Inspiration).
I’m curious about how you chose the workshop subjects. All three, including your first on procrastination, deal with blocks in the creative process. They confront the inability to start or keep going. Did you have a sense that this is where creatives most need help, or were these things that you’ve wrestled a lot with personally?
The workshop subjects have definitely come from both my personal experiences and from what I have learned about creatives in general, through my training. More and more in my own journey as a creative person, I realize my blocks are not very unique, and that I am certainly not alone. Many creatives experience similar blocks, regardless of their art forms, or of what stage they are at in their art (ie. beginner vs. seasoned artist).
There are common issues which, when brought into the open, can help creatives feel less alone, more empowered, and more hopeful!
I’d like to get back to your training, perhaps in our final questions, but you’ve peaked my curiosity. It’s funny how our own personal struggles are more often than not universal struggles, and how that shared struggle makes it easier to bear. I know I can relate to the blocks you mention. I’m curious if you there are a couple more of these common struggles that come to mind for you?
I’d say that another common struggle for artists can be summed up in the word “fears”. Everybody experiences some sort of fear at times in their lives. With creatives, fear can be about so many different things, and is definitely a common block. Sometimes it’s fear of not being good enough in their art form, fear of being too old or too young, or even fear that their creative work is not a valuable thing for them to be spending their time on. (I personally believe that creativity is something that everyone needs at least a little of in their lives).
I’d like to end with that passion you have for creativity in general, and the training that has brought you to this place as a Creativity Coach. To many people, even that title sounds foreign. I’m sure it did at one point for you, too, and I’d imagine you’ve overcome fears of your own to get here. Can you share a bit about your training journey, what is next for you and how people can get in touch with you if they’d like to know more?
I know, it’s difficult to advertise for myself, because “creativity coach” is pretty much an unknown term, but it does make people curious. I found the coaching training by doing endless google searches at a time when I was looking for a way to expand my career options. I had worked for 2.5 years as an addictions counselor, and discovered that I got very energized when working with clients who were artists or creative in some way, because I could relate to them, and also I love to see people discover the joy of the creative process. The training I took required that we be coached a minimum of four individual sessions, as well as personally work through many of the techniques during our classes. I loved it!
With my coaching, I hope to continue to offer workshops in a variety of settings, as well as individual coaching sessions. I can be contacted through my website, and there is information about my coaching there, too.
Visit CoraMcLachlan.com for more information, or to contact Cora and sign up for an upcoming workshop.
Tags: cora mclachlan, creativity, creativity coaching, five questions, interview
Posted in Art, Artist Interview | 6 Comments »
May
28
As of tomorrow, Bridge Songs: Faerie will be just one week away. Thus, today’s Friday Feature is kicking off a “Faerie Frenzy”. Each day between now and the event, there will be a new Faerie or Bridge Songs related post. Booyah!
Today’s post brings you the long promised full interview with Jeffrey Overstreet, film critic and author or Through a Screen Darkly and The Auralia Thread, a four part faerie story in its own right.
The interview is just over an hour long and presented here in an only slightly edited version. Some ums and ahs were taken out, as well as some bad joke rambling rabit trails and weather-talk on my part. I thought you’d be better spared the extra 15 minutes of that.
The rest contains a lot of great insights. Jeffrey and I had a long, deep discussion about fearie, faith, childlike wonder and the state of the Christian imagination. We also talked about The Imaginarium of Dr.Parnassus, so catch that near the end.
I hope you enjoy hearing the conversation as much as I enjoyed having it. It is a good reminder of what is so pertinent about this year’s Bridge Songs theme.
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Download the file here and listen where you like >>
Tags: Bridge Songs: Faerie, interview, Jeffrey Overstreet
Posted in Artist Interview, Bridge Songs: Faerie, Friday Feature | Comments Off
Feb
26
Today is a big day for iloveartists. Today the website for Bridge Songs:Faerie has officially launched!
Bridge Songs is an annual collaborative concert, art show and album centered around a theme and held at the Avenue Theater.
This year’s event takes place on June 5th, and our theme will be Faerie. In the broadest terms, this is an exploration of childlike imagination, wonder and faith as well as the worlds of myth, story and fairy tale. You can read more about the theme, about submitting your art to the event or about attending on the website here.
As a little launch treat, I’d like to share with you a small piece of a long conversation I had last night with film reviewer and storyteller Jeffrey Overstreet. In this clip, Jeffrey reflects on the difference between “childish” and “childlike”, just one of the many themes I’m waiting to see explored at Bridge Songs: Faerie. More clips, as well as the full interview, will arrive on the site in coming weeks.
Childish vs. Childlike
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Tags: Bridge Songs: Faerie, childlike faith, Faerie, interview, Jeffrey Overstreet, launch, wonder
Posted in Artist Interview, books, Bridge Songs: Faerie, Film, Friday Feature | 1 Comment »
Jan
19
The following is an email interview between Dave Von Bieker and analog photographer Jeffrey Nachtigall. Questions were sent by email, one at a time, with each successive question building from the last response. The goal of the email interview form is to create a sense of true dialogue, while maintaining the advantage of solitary reflective time to formulate questions and responses.
self-portrait by Jeffrey Nachtigall
Jeff, can you describe your film photography project, the Art of Waiting? We’ll link to the website here as well [see bottom of this post], but for those who know nothing of the Art of Waiting, what’s the project all about?
The Art of Waiting is about one thing and many things. On the surface, it’s a collaborative project centred on the theme of waiting. But under that it’s about many other things that I think are very much related to each other: it’s about film photography, it’s about toy cameras, it’s about sharing a theme, it’s about international postal delivery, it’s about pen pals, it’s about observing the things in life as they happen, it’s about noticing things you hadn’t noticed before even though they were always there, it’s about interconnectedness, it’s about commitment, it’s about accountability, it’s about finishing something you started, it’s about language, it’s about the evolution from the daily habit of checking your mailbox to dangerous obsession of repeatedly checking multiple sites and networks for new messages all too frequently throughout the day, it’s about expectation, it’s about anticipation, it’s about patience, it’s about perspective, it’s about relationships, it’s about community, it’s about hope, it will at some point be about disappointment. It’s about not being about instant gratification, and it’s not too much about ones and zeros. And to be honest, some of it is about me talking to myself and really wanting someone to pay attention. But mostly it’s about waiting.
There are so many great themes there, and I like how you can draw them all from something so simple and silent as waiting. Perhaps because waiting is such a universal experience. You mentioned hope, and I’d like to return to that later, because it is a theme we’ll be exploring on iloveartists throughout 2010.
Before we go there, what drove you to take all of these reflections and form a collaborative photography project? How did it start out?
I find that when I can gather something together and call it a project – with a beginning, middle, and end – I am generally much more successful with it…with the beginning and middle anyway. I have a weakness when it comes to finishing things. I actually think that because of the enjoyment I get from having many things on the go, I sometimes prevent myself from completing things simply in order to keep things in the air. But I think that I have a real strength when it comes to organizing things…pulling things together that were once apart. Not actual things, but ideas and people – if that makes sense. What I really enjoy is being part of a talented group where I can use my strengths to remove obstacles to others’ talents. And that’s probably where this project started.
I wanted to do something that involved photography, but was not just about images but also about meaning and communication. And I needed it to be a collaborative project, so that there would be a team to keep me accountable for seeing it through to completion. And I wanted it to be something that was enjoyable and edifying to both the participants and those observing the process, but in different ways.
On November 13th, 2009 I sent this message: “I’m working on an analogue project exploring the concept of waiting, and I’d like to send you a personal invitation to consider joining me” to a couple dozen people, a good portion of whom had maybe never heard of me. I asked them to send me their postal address, and then I waited.
I can relate to much that you’ve said about finishing, and certainly the accountability of community. That’s one of the reasons I jumped at the opportunity to take part when I first read that magical invitation that arrived by mail. I know that by participating, I have something to look forward to at year’s end. I know that I’ll have completed something i can be proud of. Perhaps this waiting touches again on hope. A hope that I’ll finish. A hope that when I hand over my rolls of film in twelve months time there will be images worth looking at. Or images at all.
Those who aren’t involved in the project as participants likely don’t know what is involved for paticipants. Can you explain how the project works? What is expected of those who’ve joined the project, and what type of work will be making it’s way onto the website for all to see?
When I sent out the invitations (I actually still have a few to send this week), I included a long letter that explained the project, and asked for those receiving it to commit to the following 5 items if they were going to agree to participate:
1. A minimum of one picture per month.
2. Nothing gets developed until January 2011.
3. A minimum of one written contribution for the website per month.
4. All pictures taken for the project are shared at the end of the year.
5. You will attempt to capture what it is to wait.
So, I guess there are two main components: the first is that images are being made and we are all waiting to see them, and the second is the activity that takes place on the site while we wait.
Other than following the 5 parameters myself, my role in the project is to also act as the curator and guide. As the contributions come in to my mailbox, I will use them to keep new content on the site on a daily basis as much as possible.
It will be kind of like a photoblog without any photos. 
Yes, a photoblog without the photos. That concept is funny to me, and I imagine a little scary to you? You must feel a bit of pressure to string readers along for a whole year? It’s such a strange project, to build a whole year’s worth of material from sheer anticipation. And waiting. You already have a lot of great written content posted on your blog, so I look forward to seeing where the project goes. Especially come 2011 when the photos begin to appear.
Getting back to hope, and perhaps this is a good place to wrap up our conversation Jeff, what do you anticipate will happen with the project? What are you hoping for?
I don’t feel too much pressure – I wanted the project to include a fairly constant stream of new material; something to read while you wait, kind of like magazines in the doctor’s office. That’s one of the reasons the project is designed with many contributors. Hopefully my waiting room has some good magazines.
And you mentioned hope – which is interesting. Waiting brings to mind different things to different people. For some it’s hope, for others it might be despair. I’m looking forward to the patience vs. impatience theme, because that’s what comes to mind for me, but I’m also looking forward to seeing what themes develop for the others involved. The idea, however, is not to see what will happen at the end, but more to experience and practice waiting. It is a no fail project for me, because in the end, we will all have waited in various ways, and pondered, contemplated, and acted on the experience.
I also hope that I learn something. And I tend to be the kind of person who learns by doing and not as much by seeing or hearing.
You said that waiting can conjure different emotions in different people. In some hope and others despair. I like that concept, of waiting as a crucible for the human heart. A revealing. Your emphasis on process over product, or perhaps process AS product is admirable to me. I can certainly learn from that.
I look forward to reading and seeing what is revealed as we wait.
I realized that we skipped the small talk at the beginning of this conversation Jeff, so could you answer one more simple question for us? Who are you? Well, OK, more simple than that. What is your day job and how do you spend your time when you’re not on The Art of Waiting?
I thought you’d never ask. As a thirty-something married father of two who tries to be interested and interesting, I spend a lot of time reading and talking. From Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm, I earn my keep as a theological graduate school administrator. Outside of that I am a member of the City of Edmonton Naming Committee, and a frequenter of coffee shops and playgrounds. I am a collector of things, tangible and otherwise. I like to think I’m unique, just like everybody else I’ve ever met.
This interview took place in early January, 2010, over the course of several emails. More of Jeffrey Nachtigal’s photography can be found online at http://www.lomography.com/homes/dirklancer. The Art of Waiting project lives online at http://www.theartofwaiting.com.
DRUMHELLER MAXIMUM 30, BY JEFFREY NACHTIGALL
Tags: art in community, collaborative project, group project, interview, Photography, project, waiting, website
Posted in Art, Art Shows, Artist Interview, Photography | 8 Comments »
