Interview

George Rodriguez addresses sensitive sociopolitical issues through his highly ornamented figurative ceramic sculptures. There is a tongue-in cheek-ease that is evident in the sense of warmth his works convey. Themes of culture and identity recur throughout his sculpture, celebrating the unique attributes of diverse cultures as well as the similarities that unite us all.

Rodriguez’s ceramic sculptures eloquently communicate the emotions they embody, through figures spanning a wide range of forms and personalities. Aspects of certain forms echo elements of African, Italian, and South American ceramic traditions, yet the resulting pieces are dynamically modern.

George received a BFA in ceramics from the University of Texas El Paso then went on to receive an MFA from the University of Washington.  His world curiosity grew as a recipient of a Bonderman Travel Fellowship where he traveled the world through most of 2010. His work can be found in the permanent collection of the National Mexican Museum of Art in Chicago, Hallie Ford Museum in Salem, Oregon and the Smithsonian’s Renwick Gallery amongst others.  George is represented by Foster/White Gallery in Seattle, WA and is the Artist in Residence at the Tyler School of Art and Architecture in Philadelphia.

The book he was reading that was mentioned in the interview was Natalie Diaz Book of Poems.

Susan Mastrangelo was born and raised in New York City and Washington D.C. She studied at the Kansas City Art Institute and the New York Studio School, and received her MFA from Boston University under the tutelage of Philip Guston. Based in New York since graduate school, she has shown nationally and internationally, and is a recipient of a Mercedes Matter Award, a Rockwell Grant and two grants from the Pollock Krasner Foundation. She has been a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome, a guest at Civitella Raneri, and a resident at Yaddo, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, The Ragdale Foundation, The Triangle Workshop (as a student of Anthony Caro), and the Tyrone Guthrie Center. For 27 years she taught and chaired the Art Department at the Buckley School in New York City, and now works as a full time multidisciplinary artist at the Can Factory in Gowanus, Brooklyn.

Robert Schirmer’s novel Barrow’s Point won the Gival Press Novel Award and was a finalist for a Foreword INDIES Book Award. He’s also published a collection of short stories titled Living with Strangers (NYU Press), winner of the Bobst Award for Emerging Writers. His stories have appeared in a wide range of literary journals such as Glimmer Train, The Sewanee Review, Epoch, New England Review, Fiction, Byliner, Confrontation, Joyland, and The Best of Witness. Over the years he’s won an O. Henry Award, a Pushcart Prize, a Walter E. Dakin fellowship to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and a fellowship from The Chesterfield Writer’s Film Project. His screenplays have been optioned by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Brothers. He’s also been a Visiting Writer at the Southwest Writers Series and at Stetson University as part of the Tim Sullivan Endowment for Writing.

Selina Trepp (Swiss/American b.1973) is an artist researching economy and improvisation. Finding a balance between the intuitive and conceptual is a goal, living a life of adventure is a way, embarrassment is often a result.

She works across media, combining performance, installation, painting, and sculpture to create intricate setups that result in photos, drawings and animations.

In addition to the studio-based work, Selina is active in the experimental music scene. In this context she sings and plays the videolah, her midi controlled video synthesizer, to create projected animations in real-time as visual music. She performs with a varying cast of collaborators and as one half of Spectralina, her long running audiovisual collaboration with Dan Bitney.

Woven from Selina Trepp on Vimeo.