Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Featured Artist posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Want your business to be the top-listed Media Company?
Share
Seeds of Inspiration for Featured Artist
Greetings One and All,
For the last year, I have been holding conversations with many of my fellow Disney Imagineering retirees and posting the recordings as podcasts. I was inspired by the stories that they could tell and how listeners might benefit. Well, it paid off and I have gotten some nice feedback. The “conversation style” of the show was easy and comfortable, not unlike the chat you might have with a friend in your living room. Having been bitten by the radio/streaming bug, I thought about a new market close to home here in Florence, Oregon, where the number of artists is sizable with a wide range of talents and interests.
Once Stephanie and I got our new home looking pretty much the way we wanted it, I felt that some community involvement would be good for the soul. Since my background is in photography and I spent so much time working around some of the most creative people on the planet at Imagineering, I joined the Siuslaw Public Library Art Committee to help promote the arts locally. Just a few months after I had started there, a vandal broke nine windows around the building, necessitating that they be boarded up. To turn lemons into lemonade, the Library Arts Committee decided to hold a community art project to cover the boards. To help get the word out, I went to the two local radio stations in town to record PSAs that urged locals to come to the library to paint and draw on paper that would be put over the boards. It was a huge success! And so, a kernel of an idea popped into my head that I may be able to promote the arts locally and regionally using radio/streaming/podcasts.
During this time, I joined the Florence Regional Arts Alliance and began to display my art and volunteer some of my time working in the Alliance’s gallery. During a member meeting, Kristin, the Alliance President, asked me if I would like to be a featured artist, to which I answered, “Of course!” On the drive home from the meeting, I kept turning the phrase,"Featured Artist”, over in my head. It was then that inspiration struck.
I would do a radio talk show and call it Featured Artist. Nothing like it currently exists locally. It would be in the style of a conversation, rather than a question-and-answer format and would feature conversations with local artists that currently have gallery displays at various venues in town. The program would be a half hour in length and designed to help raise awareness of the arts by getting to know the artists through open conversation and questions designed to reveal what drives them to create. Topics covered will generally include but would not be limited to:
Discussion with the artist about themselves; who inspired and influenced them, how and when they got their start working in their specific medium, what they love about their creations, and why they create what they create. How much of their time do they devote to creating their art? These and other lines of questioning are designed to give some background to the artist and find out what makes them tick.
Description of the art such as ceramics, oil paintings, photography, film, stage productions, sculpture, jewelry etc.
Play back recorded, “man on the street”, interviews to get impressions on the featured artists’ work.
Locations and times the display(s) and events are available for viewing.
Viewing hours (in many cases the hours of the location hosting the display such as the public libraries, private galleries, Florence Events Center, etc.)
Display the artists’ work on the KXCR website (TBD)
Create page, email and Twitter account for Featured Artist.
Prior to each show, participants would be required to submit a bio from which topics will be based, making the conversation flow as easily as possible. Ideally, the shows would be done prior to an upcoming artist's display or event but can also cover art already available for public viewing.
Here’s an important bit:
Perhaps, along the way, we can demystify the creative process to give listeners a better sense of what it means to pursue their artistic desires and to know that doubts and fears about choosing a path of creativity can be overcome.
I pitched the idea to Larry Bloomfield, Station Manager at Public Radio KXCR, 90.7 and streaming on the Web and he loved it. The truth is that everyone I spoke to in the art galleries and on the library committee, art shop owners, friends and neighbors, really sparked to the idea. Here are some quotes taken from email correspondence:
Wow, Jerry! So glad you were inspired to host a show. Looking forward to listening - give us a notice of the air time. Julie G.
Congrats on going after something you want to do!. Julie P.
Show looks like fun. Mike S.
Great idea! Meredith D.
Jerry, Thanks for the note. I am excited that you will be spotlighting artists and the arts. While I am the past President of FRAA and the current Chairman of the Public Art Committee, I am not a working artist. So, I have sent your message to Kristin Anderson, the current President of FRAA and asked her to identify potential artists who would be good guests for this show. On a related note, I would like to have the opportunity to discuss the current status and future of Public Art on your show when it is convenient. Thanks again for your interest in the Arts. Harlen S.
Awesome! Can you please attach the letter? I am not seeing it :) . You rock!! ~Jo (B.)
Jerry, I'm a member-artist at Backstreet Gallery and would like to be considered for an on-air interview for the "Featured Artist" program. Attached is the questions/release and some possible topics.
Thanks much. Tom L.
So, I hope that by listening to people talk a bit about themselves, diving deep into what drives them to create and how they overcame the same types of obstacles we all face, a person or two may be inspired to show the world just ho creative they can be.
