Interview
Anne Murray
Stephen Maine
Stephen Maine is a painter who writes about art. His work has been seen recently at Hionas Gallery in New York and County Gallery in Palm Beach, and in numerous group shows in the Northeast; upcoming projects include exhibitions at Silas von Morisse Gallery and Odetta Gallery, both in Brooklyn.
He has received support from the New York Foundation for the Arts and Yaddo. His critical writing has appeared in Art in America, ARTnews, Art on Paper, the New York Sun, Artillery, Artnet.com Magazine, Hyperallergic.com , and Artcritical.com, where he is a Contributing Editor. Stephen teaches at SUNY Purchase and Hartford Art School.
He works in Brooklyn, NY and Cornwall, CT, where he lives with his wife, the artist Gelah Penn.
Aaron Haba
Born in NJ in 1967 Aaron Haba grew up in a diverse family of artists, teachers and poets. The practice of exploring one’s creativity was part of daily life and a way to cope with the anxieties of the time; the end of the Vietnam War, Watergate, and the proliferation of nuclear arms and power. It was a time ofprotest marches, experimental theater and thought provoking exhibitions.
The other side of his childhood was spent in rural northwest Washington, a world away from the chaos that was the NY metropolitan area at that time. Here he tended a small herd of cattle his grandparents kept for him, learning to bale hay, run a tractor, clear land, and was told the stories of his Scandinavian ancestors who moved to this remote land to start a new life.
The two worlds came together when Aaron and his wife Elizabeth moved to Washington in 2003.
Working out of his studio on Camano Island, Aaron Haba creates a wide range of sculptural pieces, including gallery installations and site-specific outdoor sculptures. Employing the creative practice he learned early on with the tools and skills handed down from his ancestors he brings to life work that explores suffering, longing and the deep connection that runs through all living things.
His work has been shown throughout the Northwest and in NYC. He is the recipient of a GAP grant from Artist Trust and recently has been awarded a Fellowship Residency at the Millay Colony in upstate NY. In September of 2015 he installed a large site-specific installation ”Sanctuary”. Commissioned by the Bellevue Arts Museum for the forum, this work will be on view through 2018.
Carol Becker
Carol Becker is Professor of the Arts and Dean of Columbia University School of the Arts.
She was interviewed twice for this series, the second interview about her book, Losing Helen, can be heard here.
She is the author of numerous articles and several books including: The Invisible Drama: Women and the Anxiety of Change (Prentice Hall & IBD, 1987); The Subversive Imagination: Artists, Society and Social Responsibility (Routledge,1994); Zones of Contention: Essays on Art, Institutions, Gender, and Anxiety (State University of New York Press, 1996); Surpassing the Spectacle: Global Transformations and the Changing Politics of Art (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2002); Thinking in Place: Art, Action, and Cultural Production (Paradigm Publishers/Routledge, 2009); and her most recent long essay memoir, Losing Helen (Red Hen Press, 2016).
She travels widely often lecturing on art, artists, and their place in society. She also works closely with the World Economic Forum’s program on art and culture.