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Welcome to the Lehigh Valley Arts Podcast, where we explore the local arts culture in the Lehigh Valley. We’ll be doing this through conversations with individual artists, administrators, and organizations. We’ll explore all types of mediums with the goal of enriching local culture.
Elise 0:04
Welcome to season four of the Lehigh Valley arts Podcast where we explore the local arts, culture and community in the Lehigh Valley.
Ben Orr 0:11
We'll be doing this through conversations with individual artists, administrators, musicians, poets, actors, and arts and cultural organizations will discuss all types of mediums with the goal of enriching local arts culture. Hello, everybody, and welcome back to the Lehigh Valley arts podcast. My name is Ben, and today we are having a very special conversation with the artist, educator, Administrator, father and friend known by many as Danny Moyer, if you were confused or curious about the name of this episode when you first clicked on it, I promise that by the end of today's episode, it will all come together. Danny Moyer was born in Northeast Philadelphia and raised in Central Connecticut, but eastern Pennsylvania is where he is called home for most of the last 25 years. After rewarding experiences in the art program of his public high school in 1990. He majored in Art Education at southern Connecticut State University, and never left the art classroom again. In 1993, he continued studying fine art at Bucks County Community College before finishing his degree and teaching certification in 1996 at Kutztown University. Soon after his schooling, He began teaching and creating art for exhibition. Connections art gallery in eastern Pennsylvania was where he first brought his work to sell. With Success and support from Robin Porter, the original owner of the gallery, he was invited to have his first solo exhibition in 2000, followed by shows in Oh 408 and 2012. He continues to exhibit through connections gallery regularly in their seasonal exhibitions. After joining several local arts organizations and contributing work to open calls around the valley, Jim Toya invited him to have a studio space and be a visiting artist in Lafayette colleges Williams visual art building in 2004 20 years later, Lafayette College has continued to be a large part of his art education. 2005 brought him to the Banana Factory where he was a resident artist. As his family grew, another change was necessary. He built a home with a studio in Penn argil, Pennsylvania to raise his children and be near his in laws. traveling a little further, he continued to participate in the Lehigh Valley art scene, group exhibitions at Lehigh University, Lafayette College, Kutztown University, Northampton Community College, the Banana Factory, the new arts program of Kutztown, the Shelton him Art Center in Philadelphia, the Allentown Arts Museum, and many more kept him engaged not only in his painting practices, but also in developing video and installation art as well. During this time, he continued graduate studies at University of the Arts in Philadelphia 2013 brought more changes alongside a relocation to Easton. He opened Bank Street Studios and moves downtown. His installation work was in the boom exhibition, located in the Alpha building in Easton in 2014, which was an invitational exhibition that ushered in the beginning of brick and mortar art gallery. The solo exhibition followed at brick and mortar in 2015, as they invited him to show regularly until they're close, he began framing for several local artists at this time as well. He decided to move out of the downtown area and moved to his basement on College Hill, transitioning Bank Street to dank Street. Around this time, he served as the Board Chair and President of the arts community of Easton, also known as ace and started as the coordinator of the young masters wall for the Carl sterner arts trail. outgrowing the basement of his home, it was time again for a change. COVID was among us and he decided in October of 2020, to join the artists of 1120 Butler street through his studio practice. He wants to make art that make people feel as good as he does when he sees work that he likes. He likes to use every tool he sees fit to communicate visually with people who are open to seeing how he feels. In addition to being an artist. He has been teaching for the Whitehall Copley school district full time serving as a drawing teacher, graphic design teacher and director of the Zephyr Art Gallery at Whitehall High School. He has received awards in Art Education from Kutztown University, Lehigh Valley Arts Council, and the Scholastic arts and writing organization. He has two daughters. Mattia, a focused 20 year old communications major at Bloomsburg University, and Gigi, a considerate junior who cheers for Penn Argyle High School. He has a wonderful partner, Christy boule, who is a photographer and music trivia master and Stella who he calls the best dog ever before getting into Danny's interview. Here are a few words from other Lehigh Valley community members about who Danny Moya is to them. Kicking us off is Maryanne Riker.
Maryanne Riker 4:57
I first met Danny through his work At Connexions gallery in downtown Easton, but Danny has been such an influence on my own creative process. And he's such a great person, a great artist and a great friend, that I thank him for all that he's done for the arts community in the Lehigh Valley, and as an art teacher, and I just really enjoy Danny's work, but most of all, he has such a great personality. And it's such a giving kind hearted soul. Thanks, Danny. I'm
Anthony Smith 5:26
Anthony Smith. And these are the things that anymore are to me. He's a friend. He's a mentor. He's an advisor, and he's one of my biggest cheerleaders. Hey, my name
Doug Boehm 5:36
is Doug Boehm. I've known Danny Moyer for over 20 years. And we were introduced in the early 2000s. And at that point, we had traded paintings traded artwork, and we've been fans of each other's are following each other's art being supportive of each other's art since the thing about Danny, you know, his art is just incredibly consistent. He's one of the most prolific Lehigh Valley artists that I know. And he's a huge fan of the Lehigh Valley arts community. I think he's been at just about every art opening that I've been to over the last bunch of years and not only art openings, but also musical performances. I've seen him at lots of musical performances. And that's something that him and I share, you know, the passion for art and music. So, I am a huge Danny Moyer fan.
Giancarlo DeMarchi 6:26
My name is Giancarlo DeMarchi. I'm a painter living and working in Pennsylvania. I've been asked to say something about my friend, Danny Moyer, who's at times been more than a friend, a contemporary, a confidant, and very much an advocate of my work. Somebody I confide in and talk about my ideas with real easy person for me to talk to. I think for a lot of the artists that he knows who are his contemporaries, he's advocated for them as well. He also is a advocate for his students, a great person to know if you're a creative Danny's work is very layered, multifaceted, process driven work, goes through many changes, and I've had the pleasure of being in his studio and discussing his processes and ideas. It's safe to say I'm a fan of his paintings drawings, definitely an inspiration for me to try new ideas. I mean, I've certainly gained a lot from my having the opportunity to know Danny, and share my work with him and have him share his work with me. Hi,
Ben Orr 7:30
my name is Pete Mayes, and I'm the principal of Whitehall High School in Whitehall, Pennsylvania. I'm happy to share a message about one of our amazing teachers Danny Moyer. Danny Moyer, is not only an art teacher who inspires his students through drawing and graphic design, but he also manages our art studio and make sure that our students always have opportunities to be exposed to brand new and current artists to inspire their work as they go through school. We are so lucky to have him on our faculty.
Kate Hughes 8:00
This is Kate Hughes and I have a passion for collecting work of artists in and around the Lehigh Valley. Want to talk about Danny Moyer really enjoy his work so much. I love the colors, the lines. And what's so interesting to me is when you look at his work the second third, fourth time around, you always see something new. I'm not sure exactly how he does that. And I love that he draws from everyday things. billboards advertising, you can really see the influence in his work. So proud that we are able to have Daniel Moyer in our community in the Lehigh Valley and absolutely cannot wait to see what he does next.
Todd Frankenfield 8:42
My name is Todd Frank infield, and I met Danny in 2014. While filming an art documentary, Danny is someone that always seems to know how to push people in the right direction. I have gotten to Danny many, many times seeking advice or an opinion on something I'm working through. And he's never made me feel like what I'm asking is wrong. Or not worth his time. He sees the best in people. He always has something nice to say. I think the world needs more people like that. People like Daddy. Hey
Brad Scott 9:14
there. This is DJ Brad Scott coming at you from the heart of Lehigh Valley. I'm all about spinning beats and throwing those wild events to keep the dance floors alive. But you know what really keeps me going. My buddy Danny Moyer. He's not just an artist. He's a friend with a heart of gold always rocking the best teas with those powerful social justice messages. That's how I knew Danny was more than just a mate. He's a great man through and through.
Al Johnson 9:36
Hey, this is Al Johnson. mixed media artist. Danny Moyer is well, I always thought of myself as being a kind of a Robin Hood, amongst other artists. I was stood up Danny as being kind of my, my little John. He's the guy who just happens to know just wherever thinking and how everything should go because he's so down to earth. He's a really great artist, a great, a great dad. I communicate with him on so many different levels. I mean, it's just a kindred spirit to me. And definitely to many others. Danny's very, very vital to my work. He plays a very important role in my work over the last few years. And I'm glad that I can share this with you about my brother, Danny Moya. Hi,
Anthony 10:32
My name is Anthony. I am the manager and curator of connections gallery here in eastern Pennsylvania. I have known Danny Moyer since 1998, I believe when he was setting up his artwork in the circle during the creative art societies. I think they were Sunday's arts pop ups. He is an amazing artist and educator in the Lehigh Valley, and just the overall good person in front of me,
Ben Orr 11:00
Danny, welcome to the show.
Danny Moyer 11:02
Thanks for having me.
Ben Orr 11:03
Second time we're trying to record this episode had a small mishap with the first one. But I'm excited to have you back in the studio for more,
Danny Moyer 11:10
it's great to be back,
Ben Orr 11:11
you do so much. And I really just want to want to dive right in what made you want to become someone so engaged with the arts, especially as an art teacher,
Danny Moyer 11:19
I've always considered myself an artist or identified as an artist, I was into visual things, very early comic books and things like that, I could remember going to Kmart as a little kid. And I'd go to the album section and just look at the album covers. And that was that was great. Just looking at pictures. I went to a parochial school that didn't really have a lot of art. And that was K to eight. So art was really just a personal thing that I did at home on my own drawing a lot. And again, from the Marvel Comics and being inspired by that stuff. I went to a public high school that had an art program. And I remember walking into that classroom for the first time. And seeing all the art on the walls and seeing the space and and like asking, like, is this like the only stuff that's taught in here and that just blew my mind is as a kid, it was like, I've never been in an arts classroom. It was just, you know, construction paper at your desk. In my my earlier years, I was just enamored and and loved it and spent every single minute if there was a study hall, I was getting passes to go to the art room, I whatever art classes were in the course catalog, I took all of them. And it was just a huge part of of my high school career and growing up with that. And I knew by by the end of my senior year that like one of those things, I felt like I never wanted to leave. Like it was like this is the environment I need to be in and I guess I have to go become an art teacher if I want to stay here. And then that way I could legitimately do that all day. Yeah, so that was that was the plan right out of high school. And I went to southern Connecticut State University. And I enrolled in their art education program to get a bachelor's degree there. Took a lot of drawing classes, 2d design, 3d design, printmaking, and I had a great first two years taken a lot of studio classes there. I had some family things going on. I was actually born in Philadelphia, but in my at this point, my education, I'm up in Connecticut, my my parents got trapped, my father got transferred. So that's where I grew up. And here 20 years later, my parents moved back to the Pennsylvania area. And I was in the middle of college and I had two years in at southern Connecticut State University. And my father had some health issues and asked if I'd come down and be be around more. So I left there and they tried to convince me and they're like, just, we don't care if you take all our classes if you just just jump into the community college here and just take our classes if you'll come down and I was like, Ah, just take studio art classes. Okay, okay. Yeah. So I went to the Bucks County Community College, and that place blew my mind to great professors. This guy Robert dodge was a drawing teacher. I had so many great artists and they had a wonderful gallery there that they'd bring in, like real like solid artists and that we'd learned from at the college. It was just great. It was just I really had a great year. They're really immersing myself in the fine arts. And it was great because it's like being in Bucks County. I was going to like the new hope area Lambertville area and looking at like the Bucks County impressed snus, in like the early modernism, and there was like a lot of Sheeler work going on around there at the time. And I was so close that, like, I had a membership to the Philadelphia Museum of Art and, and it was like, great to go on road trips down there and go to First Fridays down there in Old City, and it was like, it was just a great, you know, to be like, 2021 years old in my education and still, you know, studying art and immersing myself in that community. It was great. And I knew I wasn't going to stay there. And the goal was, again, to get that teaching degree. So I was I was going between temple Tyler and looking at their art ed program, or going to Kutztown was someone that someone at the college said, now there's this little, little town up and the way you know, if you want to check this out, it's kind of far but it's, you know, and I checked it out, and I thought it was pretty awesome too. So, you know, I kind of looked at the two opportunities and, and I ended up gravitating to Kutztown to finish my degree. And that was not a mistake either. I had a lot of great friends, a lot of great people heard a lot of great music, and made connections that I still have to this day, you know, going out to try to show it the spaces that are out there and stuff like that. It's it's really great. I did a little more after Kutztown. I did some graduate work at University of the Arts and Kutztown took some printmaking classes down at you arts and some drawing classes down there that were really, really great. And that, that the Kutztown part is what got me to the Lehigh Valley. So I met someone and we got married and she was from the Lehigh Valley. She was from Pienaar jewel. So after graduating, that that's where that's where we I was at and I was in Panozzo for a very short time. And then we always found ourselves going east and this is like 96. So are they met Sheikh Deborah Verbinski had a gallery down where Tandoor grill is right now that used to that used to be a really big art gallery. Oh, very cool. And I saw the work of Isidora Dukkha. And Sigur Foose, and just it's there's some serious, heavy hitting art and I was like, this is fantastic. Like I can come down 20 minutes to this little town and, and there's these cool shops there was the archive shop was this great, great shop that these architects own. So like all the gifts and stuff, and they're just so so just so tasteful. And I also started to get to know Lafayette College and see go into openings that they would have for their shows. But it's pretty much cuts down in love got me to the Lehigh Valley. And the yard got me to Easton. Yeah.
Ben Orr 18:11
So you said something really interesting there at the beginning that when you were in high school, you spent a lot of time in the art classroom. Correct. And you said that that like wanting to be in the art classroom is what made you want to become an art teacher. And I'm curious there because that's a really distinct nugget of information. It's not I want to be a studio artist, it's I want to be an art teacher.
Danny Moyer 18:37
Well, I don't know, I just had such good experiences. I mean, it was like you're discovering who you are as a person, you know, you're going from adolescence to adulthood. And the conversations that you're having are around tables where you're sitting in the round. And the work that you're doing is visual and creative. And you're producing something, you're all producing something. Yeah. And you could see you're producing a paper, you're producing a record of 30 math equations that you successfully completed. You can you know, complete essays, or produce essays, but like, they don't have the same impact as creating images of of things from reality or your imagination. Sure. And then the laughter and the joy that I fell as a learner. I felt like, Man this this dude's got it good man. This is you come to work and you're hanging out with us and you're you're given us the prompts and you're evaluating our success and you're there when we are going through things and we share things and there was a lot of fun louder Led Zeppelin tapes and different music and, and, you know, it was like a shared boombox. And it was like, who brought a tape in that we could listen to? Or what radio station? Are we gonna argue over in the classroom and like, I don't know, I just I just had such a, I don't know if it's that I was starved of it. In my earliest years that when I got to the high school and saw that it was just like, this is the studio, I want to be in forever. And it's like, it's all inclusive. It's like you're trying to cover all bases. It's not just one thing. And that I guess that's the studio that I fell in love with. Instead of thinking about, like, my own studio, where I want to produce my work, which you still do now, which I do. Yeah, so like, yeah, I love that too. But like, yeah, I don't know if you gave me a debate on what space I like more. But if you I know you were my studio, but if you came out to my classroom, you sure it wouldn't be that different. Yeah, it would not be that different. Yeah.
Ben Orr 21:03
And that was part of what prompted me to ask that question is knowing that you actually do both. Where that where that initial nugget of the art teacher coming first came from? And I think you answered that pretty well. Yeah,
Speaker 8 21:15
that that's just my experience. Yeah. And I don't want to I, you know, and it's, it's being a teacher. It's almost it's like a fountain of youth too. Because it's like, I don't know if I'm, I know, I'm not the most mature 51 year old, but that might be cuz i i roll with 16 year olds on on the reg is they would say, you know, Kevin? It okay. But like, that's, it's like, if that's who you're that's who you're spending time with? It's like, that's who I'm spending time with? Yeah. The conversations I'm having are not that different. It's just not Zeplin you know, sure. It's Drake, or it's a little baby or, or, I tried to put Wilco and pavement on him. But like, it'll take a couple of years. So they go, Oh, yeah. You know, you can still get stuff and love them.
Ben Orr 22:15
Well, I think that's a really good bridge, you would mentioned one teacher so far, but being a teacher yourself, what what teachers throughout your life really left a left a lasting and positive impression on you,
Speaker 8 22:29
I'll sister some ball, the left some marks that I probably still have on some parts of my body, some rulers. And she you know, she did leave a mark on me though. I mean, it's funny, she did teach me some stuff about art, I could remember her seeing me like, turning my arm around a paper to draw. And she was like tearing the paper, like, you control the art, you know, the art doesn't control you. And, and it was like, this is pretty cool. Coming from Sisters of Balda. You know. And then, as far as high school, I could definitely say all my art teachers, and they were all very different. But I see that as a gift that like you know, you get different stuff from different people. Like you can't hear it all from one. And so like there's a special spot in what I do, where I think of them, you know, often when certain certain things. And then as far as college goes, like I said some great ones at its southern in it Bucks County, but at Kutztown. This this gentleman Dr. Tom shots and Dr. Marilyn Stewart, Dr. Shots, just the way he ran his classroom, the way the way information was displayed. In on the bulletin boards, it was like so visually clear, what we're about to go through. Like I being a visual learner like that. It was like and his work. His courses were more about, like animation and media and it got into advertising and ethics and recognizing things and, and criticism and how to really, really appreciate what you're, what you're watching what you're looking at what goes into it. But as a teacher, he was like, my most influential model and I think I still try to set some things up in my own classroom the same way he did. Back in the in the early 90s. And then Dr. Marilyn Stewart, she was just as very happy. Like our lover and human lover like she loved being in a room with a bunch of young college students talking about art just as much as the art. It was about the conversation. It was about, well let's talk about this. Like what is this? What is this? make you think of or what have you, what are your experiences, and I could remember talking about talking about being at a Metallica concert, mosh pit, and being at a Ramones mosh pit. And like I like wrote this essay on, like the different types of mosh pits and the vibe of the music and the experience and the people and like, and she was so lit up on hearing about the dancing and like, would talk about how ritual and all this stuff is like bigger than us and the interconnectedness of so many other things and like, and like the look in her eye, when we would have these conversations was so authentic that it was like she really cares about and it just felt so good. And like, I signed up, she had so many classes that were it was called criticism on the go, this is a graduate level stuff. And it would be like an all intensive set a weekend's and it'd be like, Oh, we're going to Storm King. And we're going to SUNY Purchase, and we're going to go through their galleries, and then we're going to DC or you know, and it's all out. Where's this? Where's it this semester? Yeah, I'm signing up for those credits, you know, and, and it was so great. Like, you just really get in there. And then you'd all go out to eat afterwards and talk about the work you just saw. And just the smile on her face all the time and her energy I just totally vibed with and it was like oh man, like this is an all the art criticism, stuff I do with my current students is right out of the exactly like right out of the stuff that we were doing. And it's so engrained in my head. And I feel like I'm just doing that to a new generation. Yeah. But I know it's valid. You know, I believe in it. And I see its value not just in art criticism, but in general criticism. Yeah. How you observe everything. Absolutely. Yeah. So Maryland, Dr. Marilyn Stewart and Dr. Tom shots for sure.
Ben Orr 26:59
Nice. You've brought up your students quite a few times. That's
Unknown Speaker 27:02
inevitable.
Ben Orr 27:03
What what do you find yourself learning from your students?
Speaker 8 27:09
Jokingly before about the slang and stuff, it does feel good to still kind of keep it fresh. And yeah, and I, I'm kinda like up on some music trends because of, of being with them. And sure, and I liked some of it. So like, it doesn't, I'm good with it. It so being with them makes me feel younger, it makes me feel I'm excited to share with them. The the art that I come across, and I want to, you know, for a lot of them, it's like, I just assumed too much that people know, you know, how you get you know, about Warhol, I and then like in the EU, and it's like, What do you mean, who? And it's like, how do you not know? And then it's like, Oh, oui, oui. Yeah. Like Minecraft and tick tock like, they don't necessarily know about that. Sure. You know, and you're, and it's like, you can't assume and, and, I mean, we were just going over that, the block print the Great Wave, and you know, and they're like, Oh, I've seen that on stickers. I see this on. Yeah, this and that. And like, the commercial use of it. Sure. Sure. And then we talk about it. And we talked about, like, Japan and their border policies. And like, wait, what, like, they close their borders to everybody. Yeah. And. And that was trade, that was everything. And they and you could be killed for leaving, or you're like, that's how it is. And it's like, interesting that it's like, and then this black print, which again, it's like for the people because there was an art coming into Japan. So it was yeah, like art for the people of Japan. Like, yeah, printmaking, you know, logical, but like to think about issued border policies and issues of today. And, you know, hundreds of years ago, what was going on in other parts of the world with dealt with things, power struggles, and like, they talked about this great wave was going to be like the demise was like, demise was coming from the ocean, like, meaning it could be not even the wage Sure, metaphorically for the Westerners. You know, coming through. Yeah. But all this is like, these are the conversations we're having. Stemming from. pretty popular. Yeah, print that's on target T shirts Sure. Know what I mean?
Ben Orr 29:36
Well, it's, I mean, it's also incredible thinking about the impact that that would have on American culture as as it pertains to Japanese printmaking, with like the imports coming in, right. The paper used to stuff those imports being Japanese woodblock prints, and then people would order imports into the United States just to get these woodblock prints.
Speaker 8 29:59
What I love is it Oh heart is the trigger for the conversation. Yeah. So it's like these could be, you know, I don't want to talk about that, or why is he bringing this up? Or then and then? And it's like, yeah, but like, it all relates to this. And it's Oh. And it's like, what else? Can we look at that? What else is going to trigger thoughts and ideas? Yeah, I had no idea and like, so like, what I learned from them, is I learn all this stuff. For my, like, I learn it, because I'm teaching them. Yeah. And it's like, I get to, I get to continually be a student. Yeah. Because of them. And like, that's a gift. And, and I get to have these conversations, and it brings joy to my heart, if I don't resist going to work. I don't like getting up as early. Sure. Some people know that. But like, but, but the job itself, like, is so important and so valuable. And it's not just about the art, it's about the kids. So it's like, what do I get out of it? Or what do they teach me? You know, a popular saying it is what it is. And I resist that. And I say, it's never what it is. And the kids taught me that. And the kids taught me that, like, there's always a backstory. So it's like, it's easy for anyone to observe someone and make a judgment call or an assessment. And it's like, yeah, but did you know this? And it's like, Ah, no, I didn't take that into consideration. And it's like, oh, so it's not. It's not how you thought it was like they're not. They're not that it's not that way. It's like, there's more to this. And it's like, there's always more to this. And then that totally ties into art. And we're and I was just at a I was just at a what do I get out of the kids being a variable, I was just that an artist talk. I want to say I want to say Gabriel Rico, is showing right now. Not to disel date the podcast and whenever, but he he's showing at the Williams Center at Lafayette College, and I went to an artist talk. He's a Mexican artist. And he makes these giant math equation installation math equations on the wall. And he doesn't use numbers, he puts objects in the spaces of the equation. And he challenged us to think about how does an object define an object? And it's like, oh, wait, what do you mean? It's like, well, how would these glasses define this cell phone? Like, is it greater than less than equal to? Is it? Is it? Or does it add? Do they go together? Like chocolate and peanut butter, there'd be an addition sign, you know, and so I'm looking at this, this this artists installations and listening to his talk about basically objects being substituted in for variables in the equations. And we have this deeper conversation about how we're all variables to all of our own equations than, like, who we meet. And, like, part of who we are, like, you know, put me here x equals than what's on the other side of the equal sign, like, what's the is what it is like, Okay, if it is here, then what is on this side? Yeah. And when saying it's not always it is what it is that math example, isn't it clear example, that it's not that like, this is x and this is square root square, you know, divided by the that. And then when you start putting in, you know, objects or people or experiences in that equation, being a teacher, you're part of that equation, you're part you're like, whatever they develop and become, yeah, the ones that came through your room that learned about criticizing are the ones that had those joyous conversations and some of those harder conversations like I get to be, I get to be a variable in a lot of people's equations. Yeah. And there's a lot of equations out there, like a lot. Absolutely.
Ben Orr 34:25
I was planning on holding off this topic until closer to the end of end of us chatting today. But I think it's so pertinent to what we're talking about now. And that's the Zephyr gallery. And you would also mentioned toward the beginning of when we were talking today, that the gallery that was at the college in Bucks County, yes. Was really formative for you and I'm credibly for him. I'm curious what kind of a connection there may be between
Speaker 8 34:54
definitely there's definitely a connection. I feel bad saying this But like, my first two years at southern Connecticut State University, I don't really remember a gallery being there, like there was a place to hang work and see work or, but I don't really recall a gallery space at the college and yeah, forgive me southern It was a long time ago, you know, and it was my first two years of college. So maybe I wasn't the most observant at that time. But when I went to bucks, that college was like, the first you come into the art building that was like the first room that you saw, and it right out of the gate, it's like, this is not a classroom, this is a place to, to go look at work. Yeah. And sit down and look at that for a while, you know, and learn from it. And, you know, they'd have artists talks, and they would invite the art, you know, that definitely, definitely was a huge part. Kutztown did have a gallery. So Cookstown really followed through in my experience that it's like a one two punch that it's like, if that's what I got out of box. I certainly got that out of Kutztown. And sure. And I would even say that that gallery at Kutztown would be the impetus of me being a maker. Because when I was going for my undergrad at Kutztown, and I'm finishing up my art Ed stuff. And I was in school for quite a while I never did poorly, but I moved a lot. So the transferring kind of, oh, we'll give you the credits, but it doesn't count as the requirements I Oh, great. I'll graduate with a million credits. But But in all seriousness, like, I got to take a lot more studios than the average bear, because of my experience and just moving around a bunch. Yeah. So for Kutztown they have because they have a gallery, every May, if you're an art major communication design major, or an art major, there's a show at the end of the right before graduation, where you exhibit. And I kind of got the vibe from a lot of my peers that people were picking like their best project from their best class, like let me go through my portfolio. And this was the most successful watercolor painting I did in Dobs. Class. Sure. And it's like, I just felt like, this is a chance to show in a gallery. Like, I don't want to show the assignment. You know, I don't want to show the thing I made when I was prompted with a set of rules. Sure, you know, and I took that as an opportunity to just make my own mixed media pieces, because I feel like I didn't even know what I was doing. Because I had all these different studio classes. It was like, What do I say I am at the end, you know. So like, I ended up like stretching these two canvases, and they were paintings. But then on the back of the painting, something got me all into the structure of the back and I started collage and stuff back there. And there was like thin ceramic pieces and growing grass that like I planted grass seeds. So there was like plants involved. And there was this like this flat 2d painting on the front. And then all this busy 3d found object collage stuff on the back. And my one question is, like, how you gonna display that? And I was like, I'll hang it from the ceiling. So like, I got ropes, and we suspended like these two paintings, middle of the gallery space. And I had this, this feeling of pride that it was like, I came up with this, like, this wasn't this wasn't an assignment like this is purely every weird notion that I have on what would be an interesting thing to look at. Or, like, I know what as a maker, the joy I was getting out of looking at what I was making, and I guess I was essentially hoping that someone else saw what I saw and had the same triggered experiences. And that really was the beginning like those were the first two paintings I've ever made that I call mine. Not a project. sure that all comes from that gallery. Wow, that gallery wasn't there if Kutztown didn't say this is a requirement for graduation. I don't know. I don't know if that would have I don't know if that's I don't know. I don't know I you know if that would be how it would work out but I know how it did work out. Yeah. And that was the beginning of it. Wow. Now the gallery at our school. Yeah, I know our first show was Doug will trout, phenomenal artist temper temporary painter. Out at the Banana Factory. He's been there from the start. He also is a Whitehall grad resident and alum Night. So he was the inaugural show and I was really special because if you don't know Doug's work, he's got these monsters beautiful watercolor paintings. From figures to still lifes it's just all phenomenal to get to know his work. But in all these years 1012 plus years, we've had at least four regional artists in a year so like, over that time, it's a very long list that I know I gave you a while ago. Yeah. Paul Dearie is a Darla Dukkha Adrianne, ofera nella. I know I got rego Peralta just showed last year Andrew Kish back in the day John Carlo De Marchi, Jackie Lima, had incredible work there. Charles Stonewall, Femi Johnson, it's been wonderful. I mean, one of the best, I mean, they're all such great experiences right now. We're showing Tammy Petrella, the everyone's going bonkers over her landscapes. They're so beautiful. We had this wonderful artists named Chris Carter at the beginning of the year, she had these sketchbooks that, that were just so inspiring. Owl Johnson, so many so many Anthony Smith, and he had an incredible show a couple years ago. One that was really special for me. You know, I mentioned it earlier, we talked earlier about Marvel Comics and comics being, you know, a big thing for me. Yeah. The artists, Scott Hanna works for Marvel and DC. And he's part of the Lehigh Valley region. I mean, he knew a little closer to bucks. Yeah. But he's, he's a neighbor, for sure, Lehigh Valley adjacent. And I reached out to him, and he's like, Sure, I'll exhibit, you know, exhibit there. And it was like, why like, and then like, the work he brought was so phenomenal. And he had like, he had this one piece that was like, a black panther. A Black Panther cover, and like Black Panthers standing in the middle with his arms raised over a crowd of like, white people come in and rage and against them. And and then it's like, he shows me the history of this Conan the Barbarian comic that it's like, Conan, but with savages, you know, or whatever. And the bottom of his and it was like, such a beautiful honor like, oh, my gosh. And I think it was it presented maybe I think it was off a Frazetta because, you know, he did some of the Conan stuff. Yeah, that illustrative work. And to see like the history of Frazetta, and then Scott Hanna, and then like, I was all about comic books. When I was young in school, when I'm thinking like, oh my gosh, like, I have students that want to be cartoonists, and yeah, they're seeing in sky Hannah's work in their high school. And he came to talk about it and it was like, this is I can't believe this is like a dream come true for me yet. See this stuff? Yeah. Growing up looking at X Men and X Factor and Avengers and all that stuff. It's like, I was it was like a kid in a candy shop. But like it was my candy shop. It was so amazing. Yeah.
Ben Orr 43:29
Well, are there any other moments that really just looking back make you think, Man this is this is why we do this? This is why this gallery exists?
Speaker 8 43:39
Well, certainly when when I'm able to bring in these these professionals that have great stories and experiences to share. But it's also a treat when when it's alumni and and when you have alumni that are killing it in photography are killing it and painting, doing murals, doing illustration for companies like Magic, The Gathering, and Dungeons and Dragons, like that's another, you know, weird thing that like as a kid, I was looking at these monster manuals, and one of my students illustrates for current monster manuals, that's like a, like, not a full circle thing. But like, it's weird. It's weird to be like, You're inspiring young people a year people are imitating your drawings. People are drawing what you drew like, yeah, and to be able to work with these people when they're like 13 or 14 or 15. Because I did a stint in middle school and then high school. And some of these students I've had through the years, and when they come back and they get to show it's like I'm so proud of them and it's it's like even more meaningful. That's also
Ben Orr 44:51
what's it What's it been like working alongside some of these artists as you plan these exhibitions and artists talkbacks
Speaker 8 44:59
it I, sadly I take it for granted just because I'm just living my life. It's not like I'm doing it for the gallery at school or having relationships for a school reason. Yeah. But it's just, it's a blessing, you know, and I'm privileged that like, I have the opportunity to work in a school that has a gallery. I know we were inspired by Nazareth has the Eagle's Nest gallery. And Parkland has a gallery and a couple other schools in the valley do. It was a trend that started up about 15 years ago, and budgets were getting caught. They were actually forward thinking of, instead of having the money on a field trip, if we had a specific space that we were bringing the art to the school, it would give a little bit more time to have other faculty, English teachers have written responses to uh, yeah, you know, it'd be an opportunity to make it a completely educational experience for more than just a group on a field trip. Working alongside these artists. It's, well, obviously it feels really great when you're like, Hey, buddy, will you? Hey, Tom. Tom D'Angelo, or Chaz Hampton. Like you guys want to show your work at the school. And you know, I want to show I feel like I'm playing show and tell like, Oh, you got to see this guy stuff. Yeah, Jesse Shaw, that he was an amazing printmaker, like, bringing stuff in and like hat and being like, hey, check, you know? And then where are they from? And it's like, I would reach out to like, the Banana Factory would be a big source for a lot of the artists. And then the college is like asking professors at Lafayette asking professors at Lehigh asking professors at Muhlenberg in different places to say, Hey, would you like to show? And I kind of see how it's all. It all, like stems into other things. And it over the there's an overlap. It's like, I've had students that go to they go to Lehigh Carbon Community College, and there's a guy Jeremy site, who's a painter there. Yeah. And he showed in our gallery, and, you know, as soon as like, I'm taking our classes. I'll try see Oh, yeah. Who Who do you have? Oh, you know, it's funny. We have that guy that he was in our gallery. I'm like, did you tell them that you saw his work? And they're like, I didn't want to say anything. And it's like, oh, what are you talking about? You know, and it's like, so and then they do end up having the conversation. Sure. And it's wonderful to think like, I feel like the kids at Whitehall are getting a leg up, if any of them end up going to any of these Lehigh Valley Colleges where I'm trying to make a connection between their staff and showing their work to our students. That it's like, a subtle introduction, or a subtle, you know, connection that already starts. And that's been really awesome. And that's happened with several different artists. Sure. Anthony Smith being one of them, too. Yeah, it feels great to be able to share that with my students. And it also the connections, you know, they know I love their work when I'm asking them. I'm not I'm not fluffing somebody, like if I'm telling you, I think your work is important. And people need to see it. Like kids need to write about it. Kids need to look at it, they need to digest it. Yeah, I certainly hope that they're flattered. Or see it as a respect that I have for every single one of them. Absolutely. And what what they bring to the equation. Yeah, because just like me and you like, we're all variables. So it's like, that's another thing that's rewarding is we have not repeated an artist yet. Wow. So. And it's tough, because it's like Doug Boehm showed, like, way back in the day. Sure. And it would be so easy to be like, ready for another show. And these are, these would be kids. It was still over 10 years ago. So like, these kids are going to kindergarten? Why wouldn't they didn't know. It wouldn't be more the same. But I've been blessed that and I think we'll probably get to this, that the Lehigh Valley is just so loaded with so much skill and talent and our and like, yeah, voices that need to be heard and shared. Absolutely. And there has not been a shortage yet. Where I'm like, Oh, I don't know who are the four people I'm going to ask the next year. I just don't know who I'm gonna ask. Like, it's more like, man, they move in faster than I can keep up with. You know, yeah,
Ben Orr 49:33
absolutely. I love the Lehigh Valley. I know you love valleys. What is what has been the driving factor prompting you to stay here in the Lehigh Valley?
Speaker 8 49:46
Love brought me to Pienaar jewel, and then down to Easton. Unfortunately, that that didn't pan out but but the love of art in the Lehigh Valley stayed and and my family's here my children, you know, are still relative Lee here as far as I have went out at Bloomsburg and sharing with me now on spring break, but, you know, my kids are part of this community. I, I want to be part of this community. I got my career in this community. So like, I'm embedded in that in Whitehall culture even though I don't live in Whitehall. Yeah, it's, it's a community that, that share just as much with me is I have with them and you know, getting to see, you know, what happens to these efforts when they get out there. It's, it's great to be part of it. And, and I'm grateful for it. Like, where I grew up in Connecticut was a lot like East and Bethlehem area. There was this historic aspect. It was married in Connecticut. It was right between Hartford and New Haven. It's exactly between New York and Boston. Yeah, it's along. Route 9184. It's like major throw away big malls. And it's like, okay, Lehigh Valley's kind of like, okay, you got malls, you got his, you got historic stuff. I was totally taken by Easton with the whole, you know, Declaration of Independence was read here. Trenton and Easton were like, the two places after Philadelphia that were the first to have it read, you know, and that's kind of interesting to me and like seeing the history of the architecture. And yeah, you know, I, I'm a, my, my sign is cancer. I am a water sign. I was a swimmer in school. I love the ocean, more than anything, but the rivers do it for me. The rivers are enough, have enough water to keep me flowing. And I was I was born on 611 down in Philadelphia and 611 is a stone's throw from my house. So I only I only moved up the line. Yeah. And the arts in Easton and the colleges. The really it's I was just at Muhlenberg last week to see Lea Francis had a photography show it'd be Did you see that?
Ben Orr 52:06
I haven't seen it yet. But I I really plan to Yeah, it's incredible. It's
Speaker 8 52:12
up. You got to see that. So that same it's rich Americana. Yeah. Like it's it's coal region. Yeah, it's Pennsylvania. It's America. But like, I kind of can't, I'd see the Pennsylvania part of it.
Ben Orr 52:24
I I saw her work. I believe she had a small exhibition at the Banana Factory about a year ago. And I have absolutely loved seeing her work there. So very powerful, really excited to see but
Speaker 8 52:36
I mean, and she's she's technically a neighbor of my studio. She lives like two blocks from my studio. Oh, and I see her husband DJ all the time. Yeah. But like that venue, Muhlenberg like the Muhlenberg providing that that's what that's what we're doing Thursday night, we're going to Muhlenberg and we're gonna go check out some work and you know I came for this but I didn't know this was there and and there were these great heads there too. If you get there, this artist and solace. They're incredible sculptures found objects, sculptures, but like, I have that at Muhlenberg. I have that at Lehigh. I have that at the paint her gallery Moravian Yeah, I have that at Lafayette at the two Galleries Lafayette whether it's the William center at the top, or if it's the newer one down at the bottom. Yeah. And it's like between an I mean, say the downtown Art Museum, but I absolutely love the downtown Art Museum. Yeah, more people need to celebrate that space. There's so much great work in there. It's like between the museum and all the college galleries. It's like, the Lehigh Valley has it. Like, you don't have to, like New York and Philadelphia are awesome. I was born in Philly. I love Philly. I love New York. We just went to Chinese New Year a couple of weeks ago, like love the cities, but I love my valley. Yeah, you know, absolutely. And I love the the I feel like Allentown Bethlehem Easton are kind of like, siblings, but like, kinda, yeah. And it's kind of like Allen towns like the biggest sibling and Easterns, the smaller sibling and they're all competing for like, who's the coolest kid? You know, bathrooms, like we got these murals. And then Easton is like, well, we got these murals. And then Allentown was like, Oh, someone say murals. Let's do murals. And then Oh, you got an art swap? We'll do an art swap. Yeah. And then it's like, I love the competition. Because we're, we're, we're winning wherever we are. If you love art, and you don't mind driving 20 minutes. We get to see it all. Yeah, and we get to love it all. And but Easton, similar to Goldilocks I feel like that, but that one's just right. For me, for me. Yeah, East is just right.
Ben Orr 54:50
What are some of your favorite places to go in the Lehigh Valley?
Speaker 8 54:54
Again, that's a super long list. I mean, if I said What town But like Allentown Art Museum and Art House soft machine gallery soft machine gallery is where it's at right now like there's so much great stuff going on there. Even John the programming that they're doing the music that they're doing the comedy open mics that they're doing the art that they're having. It's so amazing. And it's it's like such a treat because it's like not where you'd expect it you know as far as like neighborhoods and like, it's like it's it's really special. What they got going on there. Bethlehem I enjoy the Banana Factory. I have several friends that have studios there so like it's always like a First Fridays a bit of a reunion to be like you know the stops you need to make say hey to Dad, go say hey to Doug go say hey to Anthony. You know and get up there and move around and check it out. And so I really I really dig that in Bethlehem and and Bethlem house gallery Same deal. It's like you can you know, you know you're gonna see some good stuff. It's, it's a lot of fun. Absolutely. Back to Easton Lafayette connections connections Art Gallery has been a staple. It's where I started with Robin Porter, the original owner. And Anthony and Alice have done an amazing job. Keeping it going and making a blossom and bloom into into better things. And Robin probably ever dreamt it's just so amazing. Such a community rich space. Absolutely. They're back courtyard. It's like the social vibe of I really don't go to their openings until like 830. And it's kind of like I missed the whole elbow part where you're bumping and talking. And it's like, I get there late enough to be like, Alright, who was who's lollygagging and hanging out and then you go sit back and one of those chairs in the back? Yeah. And do you see this? And what about that? Did you like that? Oh, wow. Did you see their work? Oh, who's that? Who's that? That just came to town? Well, what's that? Who's doing that? You know, and it's it's a great space. sterner modern, is a beautiful, beautiful, beautiful space on fairy street. That Jonas's keeping going after his late father. The nurturer Nature Center has incredible programming, they celebrate the art but they also have such a big message about the environment. They like it's always educational. It's not just visual it's like you go there for the visual but then you get the you get the underlying story behind it. Yeah, you grow and learn together and and it refreshes you to think about good ways to be a better human. The restaurants are great. State Cafe is one of my my go to places I have a lot of art hanging up there I am good friends with the owner and I help them with the decor. The Lafayette the Lafayette in or the Lafayette bar is where it's at for jazz and bingo Yeah. I don't drink but I find myself there every Tuesday for bingo. And they take good care of me they pour a good half and half I asked for clubs, soda and ginger ale with a lemon twist to it takes good care of me. And it's just so much fun. It's It's such a fun community. The if Museum, like if you want to weird out and be like, what's that, like go to the F Museum. Check it out. It's a museum. It's not a gallery. It's there. It's not for sale. It's to be, it's to be consumed. In your heart, not with your wallet. And they too are having they have experimental jazz stuff they have. They have comedy open mics. That is something that's blowing up in the Lehigh Valley right now. I know this is an art podcast, but I'm really proud of all the people showing up and coming out to tell jokes. Yeah, and and oh, it's an art form. It is an art form. It's something that I love. Performance is something that I love, but like, I kind of feel like with everything going on in the world right now. It's like, it's like there's a need for laughter like, there's a need to go out and laugh and, and we certainly stream enough from our screens. Yeah. But seeing saw even seeing someone go up and fail. Yeah, it's fantastic. It's like, you watch and you're like, oh, man, that dude's not hitting it. It's like oh, they're trying but then you start thinking about oh, they should have said this or oh they could have pulled this and then it's like oh this is so this is just so great to be part of just yeah watch and be part of absolutely no and and the live musics the same the live musics the same black and blue on Tuesdays. This guy Bob nobles, a bass player and he brings in Joe Sarathi or John Kim Ock and, and different musicians, Mike Frank and it's a So I, you know, I know we talked before about music tastes. It hasn't come up on this part yet, but I'm a deadhead. And they play such a rich variety of their music and yeah, like, that's again, like, I never would have thought growing up, that I'd be in my 50s. And regularly, I'd be able to go somewhere, catch a meal, listen to this live music. And it's not a big deal. Like you're just going in. And you're having a Cobb salad and some brown eyed women and red, you know, it's like, oh, it's so great. So great. You know, it's like this is I can't believe it. Like, yeah, I can't believe this is regular. Like, I can't believe bingos. Regular. I can't believe DJ Brad Scott and dancing until you're like, sweating off that third ginger ale, you know, and it's like, this is this is this is normal here like this is and I think to like anyone living in any other community, like, Oh, it's too bad. They should be here. Like they I wish they knew. And like, maybe they know and don't. Yeah, I don't know. For me. It's like, this place was built for me though. Yeah, I am. I want to be part of this. I'm like, I'm, I'm, I'm engaging. Yeah,
Ben Orr 1:01:22
the live entertainment in the valley has seen I mean, it's always been here. But whether it's the marketing is better or something. There's just been such a resurgence. And like we see that on the show, and we have some really exciting things that we're going to be coming up with later. That's fun
Speaker 8 1:01:39
to house. Yeah, I was just it start making sense. They played 15 year anniversary shows there on Friday and Saturday night. Yeah, I was at their first show at the secret art space. 15 years ago, the first time they assembled. And it was like, I remember seeing the jaws dropping in the room. Like, oh, you got to do something with this. And here they are. 15 years later. Wow. You know, they just came back from a tour in Australia. They tore up to Boston and Burlington. And they is like, they're all They're just all over the place. Yeah. And, and I'm so happy for him. And it's like, I remember seeing the insidious rays at the funhouse. Like I remember, all the other bands, these guys were in Yeah, that was here and like, their people are going east. And guys, you know what I mean? It's like, there's like these, these two families, and you know who you are genetics that are like, you know, the Eastern family and the P Berg family, and there's a couple people with families, whether it's the bronze, or the kinsmen, sure. And it's like, you know, woodsmoke Aaron kinsmen, his current band and all these different like, it's like, oh, man, this is this. And we've been Doug hawk. It's like, we've been listening to this stuff for like, is this this is? Yeah, this is who we are. Is this our this is our town. This is our Oh, man. This is ours. It's so good.
Ben Orr 1:03:03
Well, and recently, have you been to a show at live at the V at the Flying V? No,
Speaker 8 1:03:08
but the summers, former all of them were drawing students of mine. No, but I go and see them at the funhouse. But I keep seeing them posting that they're that they play there at the Wii. Yeah,
Ben Orr 1:03:18
they have exploded. We did a we did an episode earlier this month at the Ice House. And
Unknown Speaker 1:03:29
that's doing comedy. Oh,
Ben Orr 1:03:30
a lot. They alive. Yeah. Yeah. And we interviewed so many musicians for backstage episode. And without fail. Probably 75 80% of them when asked if they had something they wanted to promote said I have a show coming up at live at the V. Nine be there. And it was
Speaker 8 1:03:47
like given the funhouse, a run good. Yeah. And we got options. Yeah. And it was like,
Ben Orr 1:03:52
throw everyone we had probably a Tuesday through Sunday, like sequential dates were given for shows. And it was just it blew my mind. I'm like, wow, this is this is really active. This is incredible. That's
Unknown Speaker 1:04:07
out that is fantastic.
Ben Orr 1:04:10
For sure. Well, throughout throughout the years, you've been you've been in the Lehigh Valley for a while. I have how have you seen the arts community kind of morphed and changed throughout that time?
Speaker 8 1:04:20
I do see changes. I mean, there's some things that stay the same, but changes necessary and changes good. In a lot of artists are transient people anyway, you know, whether they're, you know, we were just talking about the strong colleges, that all have great art programs in the Lehigh Valley. A lot of their professors, you know, might come in as an adjunct for a short run and then they go on to another school and then some other art professor comes in and has more to share and new things and new visions. And then even the community itself. I mean, we've lost a lot of great artists in the in the You know, 25 years that I've been around here, you know, and then a lot of younger artists have shown up and moved here and have arrived. And sure, so like those changes are there. But like, I know coming out of coming out of Kutztown and really just being hungry, but without a ton of art experience. I knew I want to get involved. So like, there was a small group called the Creative Arts Society in Easton. And it was just a small group of of hobbyists that painted and they were like, we're gonna have a show in the circle. And I was like, Yeah, I want to have a show in the circle. And I made some collages. And I sold some collages and everything. And I got that feeling that that oh, wait. All right. So people might want this too. And then then the arts community of Easton ace was born. And that there was so many there was, it just it seemed like there were more artists around then. But it ebbs and flows really. And when that when that organization first started, you know, it was, hey, let's have a show. At the State Theatre. Let's have a show at Connections let's and then. Okay. And we all identify as artists. Yeah, this area. Yeah. And I was like, Oh, well, what's this group? It's the Lehigh art Alliance, what's that group? And then I joined that nonprofit, and they're like, oh, oh, we have two exhibitions a year. And we exhibit at all these colleges you keep talking about and, Oh, and there's, we're nonprofit, and we get sponsors, and we have prize money. And it's like, oh, you have like a juried with prizes. Okay. And, you know, as a younger artists, newer artists, I didn't have a huge inventory of work to like, have a solo exhibition. So it was like, real comforting to be able to produce work at a rate that you can always have somewhere to show something new. And if you can do it competitively, not not that it's really all about that. But when people that you don't know or are making a hierarchy through a group of artists that submit it's the rewarding when it works out for you. And when it doesn't, it's motivating to to end you got to take everything in stride anyway. Because you know, so much is subjective. But these arts groups, the new arts program out in Kutztown, I mentioned was a small nonprofit gallery. Yeah, they have an annual exhibit in the summertime a small work show. And the professors that started that, you know, they had international connections. So like when you were shown in that show, you never knew who you'd be showing. Sure. There's like a Keith Haring mural on the floor. Philip Glass does performances for them. Like it's, it's like this is a fantastic space out in Kutztown. And the we hired alliance is kind of around Bethlehem and then, oh, you know, join the Allentown Art Museum and pay attention to what they have going on at the open calls. And then, and then it's like one thing leads to another and then you're like, oh, there's this art center down in Cheltenham near Philly, and oh, and then join this arts group. And it's like, I just joined all the different groups to just pay a nominal do and meet some people. Yeah. And it's all been rewarding ever. Like it always has been from the beginning to last night. It's rewarding. So like, it hasn't changed. Yeah. The faces that are there. You know, I went to an ace meeting last night. They had their their their officer votes. And it was so incredible. To see the young people stepping up. I'll butcher the name. I'm so sorry, Daniel. But Daniel degiro. G en so Allah. There's no way I said that correctly. But the Daniel part. There's a reason I know that name. But he's the new president of ACE people. is those of you in the arts, listen to this podcast, that that is going to be pretty exciting. Yeah, it's gonna be pretty excited. Yeah. And like everybody that stepped up so many fresh people on their board and it was exhilarating to see like a changing of the garden or organization because like I used to I was the president of the organization for a while back. And I know one of the biggest things to kind of deal with is artists and their egos as far as some artists that see themselves so established that they don't want to they don't want to necessarily fraternize with the with the Crafty or folk and, and some of the Crafty artists out there. don't necessarily want to hobnob with people that are being elitist and you know, looking down their nose at what someone does that moves them visually. You know, I always thought that ace was like, this word organization that was going to bridge bridge the gap between the two and be a common space. And I kind of felt like Easterns. That city where it's like there's room for everybody. Yeah, there's room for hobbyist and there's room for, for the fanciest of intellectual thinkers and conceptual ponders of visual art. And it's just trying to get everybody to get along and share what they know. And what I saw last night, like it's going to be pretty exciting. I'm looking forward to see what they do as an organization and be part of that. The Lehigh art Alliance, that place is great, too. I mean, I've shown in the Altona museum several times through their organization, upstairs, downstairs everywhere. Yeah, I have worked up currently at SteelStacks, which is nice when you go to a rock and roll show there. And as my painting hanging up right down there, that's cool. You know, and, you know, given given a little shout out, you know, to the artists that it's they have a modern show going on right now. That's if I wasn't in that organization, they wouldn't have said, Hey, let's put your work up for people to see when they're going to the theater, the performances or anything that's going on there. That's part of getting involved. Yeah. Which I really recommend everybody out there. You got to show up. Yeah. And you got to be available. Yeah. And joining those organizations is really what built the relationships that I have with the artists that I invite to show at the school at my day job. It's those relationships that I have at those meetings and those experiences that I bring into the classroom that are real and authentic, that I'm not just talking about art from a book or art from a slide. But like, No, this is art from someone who lives in Bethlehem. No, this is art from someone that lives in Nazareth. Yeah. This person graduated here. You didn't know Bart Cooper. Yeah. You might know some of his cousins. Yeah. Yeah. That's that's their cousin. Yep. Yeah. And it's like, oh, oh, all right. You know, it's, and I think he asked earlier about how does it work like these artists that you know, and how does it work with the bringing them into the school? It's, it's, it's also interwoven, you know, what I have in content for my for my day job, you know, is completely tied to what I do. Yeah. In, you know, after three? Yeah. Everything I do after three informs everything I do before three? Yeah. And everything I do before three? Like when you I think you asked me once before about what do I get out of it? Or what's? What are the kids teach me? Yeah. I don't know how many of my colleagues have to explain the elements and principles of Art and Design. regularly. Yeah. Like, regularly? Like, is it time to ask these criticism questions again? Yes. Today we're describing the work. Let's talk about who made it where it was made? Sure. You know, oh, wait, today we're talking about interpreting the work? What is it remind you of? What are the artists do to get you to think of those thoughts and ideas? Can you think of a metaphor for the work that you're seeing? Do you think the artist intended that? Is there a message or a deeper meaning? Do you think this work is special? Do you think this is important? What is it in the work that you see that helps you define it is important or special? And then the kids will say? Well, I wrote No. I wrote, I wrote No, it's not important. What does that mean? Well, that means I don't have to answer the second question. Because I said, No. And I'm like, No, I'm sorry, you still have to answer the second question. They're like, What do you mean? I said, No. That's okay. It's totally okay. That you do not think that that work is important. They're special. I don't know if I find it to be important or special. But what is it? Or what does it take for a work of art to be important or to
Ben Orr 1:14:02
be considered in that way? Where
Speaker 8 1:14:04
did it fall short? Tell me write it down, write down that thing that fell short. And then it's like, Ah, alright. And then he reluctantly, you know, start to expand. And then it's like, you know, it really wasn't about the art. Yeah, it was about you. And do you understand that when we do art criticism, it's not it is what it is? Yeah. It's never what it is. It's never what it is. If the arts done well, it's not what it is. Because it's a depiction of something that's triggering the thoughts of the maker. Yeah. That you're getting as a responder as an audience. Yeah, what you're seeing into it. It's not what it is. I mean, it's my greed. It's it's this is not a pipe. You know what I mean? Again, yeah, I say that. They don't know what I mean. I never saw that pipe. But talking to another adult. Yeah, you know what I'm talking about? Yeah. Like this is not a pipe. This is a painting of a pipe. Yep. So good art done well is never what it is. Not it is not. But it's a representation of what it is. Yeah. And then art that's done poorly. That's not what it is either. So it's never what it is.
Ben Orr 1:15:26
Yeah. I mean, just a few moments ago, you talked about how interconnected all of this is. And this is the second time we're recording this episode. Yeah, we could do it three slower. Yeah. So many conversations. We've had some studio visits. Yeah. And it doesn't make it any easier to weave together these questions.
Speaker 8 1:15:42
Oh, no, well, I'm a bit of a stray cat. So it's like, you know, there's my students. They know, they know, my triggers. They know what to say to get past. They're like, Oh, just say you like this, and they'll start going. And, you know, but hey, at least I can get going. Yeah, and I'm sorry if I get excited an off topic or off tangent or
Ben Orr 1:16:09
but but even when we're not, I mean, there's so many of these huge topics, like we've been talking for a while now, we don't even get into your personal art practice yet. I know. I'm sorry. And we haven't even talked about music yet. And, and both of these things are so pertinent to you. And they music has been brought up time and time again, throughout so far. And like, all of these things, we need to talk about them. I want to talk about them. You have to put this down to something so it's so interconnected. That it's it. No, it is we're getting there we are we're getting there. And everything we've talked about so far is hugely important. If you have to
Unknown Speaker 1:16:43
do a part two, I understand.
Ben Orr 1:16:47
Well, let's, let's touch on music. Okay, let's we've, we've brought up music. We've talked about live performance, what more do you brought up being a deadhead? You brought up the influence of your students and keeping you up to date on everything or
Speaker 8 1:17:02
musicians? Kyle, Brokenshire? You know, you're one of the best out there, brother.
Ben Orr 1:17:08
Well, I want to I want to know, where do you find yourself finding music recommendations the most?
Speaker 8 1:17:15
I do love my Spotify, you know, originally would be friends like originally, like, Oh, gee, I could remember. Charlottesville, my buddy Jeff McKay, he moved back down to Philly. He's got great tastes. And at the time of like, before even streaming, it was hard drives. And it was like, Oh, wait, we can we can share this much on a hard drive. And it would be like, Dude, I have a hard drive for you. All right, I got a hard drive for you. And then And then you'd share and then you just listen. And it'd be like, Wow, is this what's happening? Yeah. And currently, though, some of the artists, Todd Frank and field has a really great year. And Michael Francis, his studio is right next to me. And a lot of times I get there, and they're already there. So I'm listening to what they're listening to. If it's if it's Todd Todd's on one side and Michael's on the other. Todd, is a little more. I wouldn't say jazzy and weird, but more Ambien. It's like, just start painting right away. While this is on, like, just get to the painting, because Todd's got the right music on right now for being quiet. And talking to the art, you know, but then Francis will be playing stuff. And it's like, Who's this? That sounds like Neil Young, but it's a woman. What? And he's like, oh, yeah, they're from Philly. Florrie every year Florrie. And I'm like, No. And he's like, Yeah, put it on your Spotify. And then it's like, next thing you know, I'm listening to all this different Flori stuff. And they're from Philly. And then I'm listening to Flori. But then all this. I think it's MJ Linderman comes on and I'm like, Oh, all right. Well, I didn't know that. And then it's like, I guess the algorithm is like, well, if you like this, you might like that. So if you find some friends that have a little bit of weird taste, they can bring you into an orbit. That's like, Ah, okay, now I listen to DIY and like college radio. Yeah, so I'm already I mean, the most commercial really is like x PN which is not commercial. But like of the college radio stations. They're kind of a little more corporate now they're sure and back in the day, the DJs on DIY, give me fresh stuff, Arnie lichten. There's so many great radio shows. Yeah, listen to locally that do give us some fresh stuff. That's not always all the old same stuff. So That's where I get my music. The other art weird Oh friends I have is where I get that what
Ben Orr 1:20:05
what role would you say that music plays in your life like, I am really,
Speaker 8 1:20:10
I'm wound up so like I need music on most of the time. And I've identified with music almost as much as art. I mean, I don't see myself as a musician, I play guitar and mandolin. And I do like I used to do more open mics and, like socially play, but there's a guitar in my classroom that students have played and I play on occasion. Yeah, and make up songs about what we're doing and stuff. But music is just I love it. I love it as I love playing it. I love listening to it. I love painting to it. And it's really all over the place as to say what do you play when you paint? It's like, because like I said, with Todd's music, sometimes the ambient jazzy stuff is nice to like, get to a place I've been listening to a lot of early Herbie Hancock like late 60s, late 60s, early 70s, Herbie Hancock, and I didn't know any of this music in my youth. And I was like, Oh, who shows this and so like, that's more the jazz and sometimes I'm in a mood for the Grateful Dead Sometimes I'm in a mood for if I want to go edgier? More like pavement or Steve now Miss solo work? Yeah, yeah, that's the that's the vibe. Usually. Nice. That's usually what's up.
Ben Orr 1:21:39
Well, I think it's finally time we dive into your art.
Speaker 8 1:21:43
Yeah, pictures. I love making pictures.
Ben Orr 1:21:47
So when when would you say that you officially started your studio or practice did that though it
Speaker 8 1:21:54
started with that show coming out of college. In Now granted, that was in an apartment and not a studio studio. Or even right after college. I had like, in my first apartment with my girlfriend. There was a there was like an extra bedroom that I called the studio. Yeah. And it was a little bit like, Who are you calling that extra bedroom at Studio? And it's like, well, because that's where I make my paintings. And then some of the civilian friends I have would be like, What do you mean, you need a room to make your paintings? Like, wow, you just make them in the kitchen? And it's like, cuz it's like different having a room where you're like, No, this is what happens in here. Kind of like the bathroom. You know? Yeah, it's a special place for for certain things, you know, and the studio is kinda like that, you know, it really is. Yeah. And so I had one in our first apartment. And then when we moved to Easton, I had we had a nice, a nice little place that had a two car garage, and I converted that into my studio, then I really felt like oh, look at me, I really got space now. And I can invite people over to, to talk about work and look at work. And yeah, this is where it's at. So my work started to grow having that space. And then Lafayette College invited me to have a studio to have studio space in their, in their studios and be a visiting artist. And they gave me a key to the building. It was like, near like, you can have this whole area and I'm like I can and they put me up and they were like, we just want you to talk to the students about what you're doing and why you're doing what you're doing. And I'm like, okay, you know, I'll do that. So then I had a studio space there. And then that led to me applying for a studio at the Banana Factory. And I want to say 2005 And maybe four, four or five. And so then I had a studio there. And then that was like, Oh wow, I'm part of a community. Now. It's not just the studio. Sure here or in a college. It's like in a place with other artists. And there's First Fridays. And it was again like the relationships and connectedness and after the Banana Factory. I did build a house. And there was a studio in the house after the Banana Factory. And that that really served his purpose. After I left that home and moved back to Easton. I had a space on Bank Street just before the public market was born. Right in the back of the alley there behind oak, the restaurant like at the end where the new parking garages I had a studio loft space. It was like a 300 square foot studio and then a 300 square foot living quarters. And that was fantastic. That got me connected with the city even more, I was getting more involved with as I was shown with brick and mortar brick and mortar had a gallery space right downtown in the circle next to pearly Baker's. We did a big, they put a big community show together called Boom, that was this big monstrous exhibition. Right in the circle. Everything just started to grow from that studio. I then moved closer to to Lafayette up on College Hill and I had a studio in my home there. And it was really get getting too busy too, too tight for the amount of work that was happening. And that's when just the universe said, these guys over on Butler street have something going on go see if they have any room over there. And I went over and met Clint and Bert. And they said, Yeah, we want you to be one of the one of the first artists down here in the next section downstairs and, and I said I can be loud and they said you can be loud. And I said, I can make a mess. And they say you can make a mess. And I said oh and yeah, so this is where it's at. And it's been three plus years. And that place is it's, I can't I can't express how grateful I am to be surrounded by that great group
Ben Orr 1:26:25
of people. Yeah, that's 1120
Speaker 8 1:26:28
It is such a great studio space. 1120. I mean, I did the Banana Factory. I think I did some different art spaces. This is like such a weird, natural experience. Like it's like there's no rules. It's like, yeah, very casual and special. Just for us. You know, I think part of it not being open to the public. Like, is kind of one of the things that makes it a little I mean, it makes it a little more exclusive. And but none of us there. We didn't all get studios there to be seen. It was like we're there to work. Sure. And there's a big difference. It is really is and and the only distraction is another artist Sure. Like there isn't somebody popping through. Oh, what do you do? It's like, now it's, it's it's more like, Hey, do you need a break? Do you need a break? Yeah, let's sit down and shore and vent for a couple minutes and then get back to work?
Ben Orr 1:27:22
Yeah, understandable. So how would you describe your artwork generally kind of like from where you started to where you are? I?
Speaker 8 1:27:32
Well, I love it all. So I love drawing. I saw myself as a drawler more than a painter. But I love it all. And I love building things. And I love making things. And when I was making those first two pieces for graduation, they were a little bit of everything. And I liked that. And it kind of made me feel like you didn't have to nail it down and just say this is what it was sure. And at the time someone was like, Yeah, you just say your work is mixed media, because it's a mix of everything. And then it's like okay, and then Oh my God, everything is mixed media. Yeah. And then if you say your collage artists and people Oh yeah, like you DECO, posh stuff on chairs. And it's like, wow, no, I don't glue stuff on chairs. But I do glue stuff. And so then it's like, where's the name? Or what are you going to call it? Sure, sometimes I'll say a painter. And because I guess I'll end up painting on top of everything anyway. Yeah, so then it's like, well, you're essentially a painter, but you're just painting on top of the stuff you built. And then an organized hoarder. So I don't know if you can be a hoarder and be organized. I think if you're organized, you're a collector. If it's if it's in a you know, they're in organized piles and bins and things so it's not too bad. But like I collect a lot of stuff like and a lot of visual things that are meaningful to me or and they could be abstract like it could be numbers, it sure logos it could be graphic stuff i i grew up working in a grocery store. My first year teaching I wasn't full time, I was working at giant at night in the produce department. And I found me I found myself like taking the number of stickers on the sides of the boxes that had bananas and lettuce and like putting them in my apron and I'd come home from work and I'd have all these like remnants of coding and things that were like only important to the person knowing where they're supposed to put the box to go where in the freezer for this for the delivery guy in the truck to know what's the code this code is irrelevant to anyone after this. Yeah. And to me, I found that interesting. Like I found that interesting that like everything has its time and place and what is it trigger? You know, we talked about our criticism And before, like, what thoughts come to mind when you see this work? Like, yeah, essentially, all these things that I see as garbage that like people are throwing away, or whatever I would see is like, I want to use that I want to put that in, I want to I want this to go with that. And, you know, kind of like talking about the work of Gabrielle Rico, it's like making those equations but with objects of like, well, how does this work with this? And then it is an equation. Yeah. And it is about balance. And it is about math. And it is about like, you know, is this heavy here? Is it, you know, shoe? Is there more content here? And it's like, that's all I do is I build content on two dimensional surfaces for people to respond to, and, and I'm the first responder because I'm responding in real time as I'm making it. And then I got to a point where it's like, well, I don't want to be this guy, that she's cutting everything out of these magazines, and don't use those magazines, because then you'll just be identified as the guy that's always using those magazines. And then it's like, alright, well, then I got a very what I'm using, and then well, what am I trying to say? And am I am I talking about myself? Am I Am I referencing things that are going to be appropriate for someone that was born in the 70s? Or is this an 80s thing? Or is this a 90s thing, and I'm a school teacher. So like, I'm also dealing with kids that are dealing with things today. So like, or tick tock is like, I do not have a tick tock account. But what I'm saying is like current parts of our visual culture, screen time, you know, I want to I haven't done it yet. But like, yesterday, I was thinking about wanting to put something in a piece that says something like, it's just gonna say, click Share now, and the third person really loves your painting. You know, like something that's totally off, you know, that we're that we see in all these reels and all these streaming cultures. And, you know, how does the current world I get all these bots of these very attractive women that want to follow my, my Instagram, but it's odd that their profile is not so much like the invite and, and it's like, I started screenshotting and saving those and I'm like, fake fans, and like, I want to kind of like they love my art. They want to see my art. Yeah. And it's like, no, they don't like, but it's funny, because it's like just a bot of what is the crap that is coming out, you know, or what is the part of our current cultural visual world? And tying that into this stuff? That's triggering thoughts of the 80s and 90s, or sugar or 70s? Or history? Yeah, I don't have a very big family. I got one cousin that I'm really that I'm close to but the the rest of it I, it just had, it didn't really happen. I think my family moved a lot, you know, aunts and uncles were seen on on great occasion. It was It wasn't like a regular normal thing. Sure. And I've got one brother and one sister and neither of them procreated. So my kids don't have cousins. And it's just it's a small, tight, you know, group that I exist in as far as my blood family. And I think my art law has some longing in it for that connectedness. You know, maybe that's the drive to be part of the equation, because it's like family is like the first equation. Yeah, you know, yeah. So that really is strong in my work. subtle things influence my current work, the current work that I've been making for the last two years, and I really don't see a time that I'm going to stop doing it this way, because I'm still, the fire is still burning deep in my in my my mind for what's going on right now. Yeah. But there's a series that I've been working on, that all stemmed from a lesson I was teaching in a graphic design class, and it was about I was teaching about the Yin Yang is a symbol or an icon. And in this in this lesson about the history of the symbol, we learned about that it wasn't so much about the black and the white, it wasn't so much about the polarity of everything, whether it be the sun, the moon, male, female, Yin Yang, you know, positive, negative, but that s curve that's between the two, and that there was a name for that, and that the name for that was the way and that that was the path of living, and that you had to have one foot in the white and one foot in the black on your journey, and that that life has to be balanced and you have to see the interconnectedness or the interdependence of each side in order to exist. And when we're going over this lesson, it was the day that Kyle Rittenhouse got acquitted. And I was i i was a yin to his Yang because I I did not agree with with that, that situation if anyone follows those, those stories, and I was trying to understand that I have to myself that I have to live
Speaker 8 1:35:13
in the way like I have to live with that with accepting both sides of things, you know, like it's, I easily lean one way or another. But like, in order to have sanity and stability, I there's like a necessity to coexist somewhere in the middle. Yeah. And I came within my studio that night after school, and I'm looking at this painting I'm working on. And I was I've been into cubes lately, or at least the last two years, because it was a way to get more three dimensional from the work that I'd made in the past, there was more of an X Y axis. And I'm looking at this cube that's in the middle of this, this collage painting. And I thought about masking off this large shaped area on the left and masking off this large shaped area on the right so that only the back plane and the bottom plane to the cube are showing. And this cube is floating over the collage ephemeral stuff that I put down on a panel. And it was like, I don't want to say subliminal, but like, the Yin Yang was not obvious. Sure, like, Sure, you'd have to point it out to say that this black and this white are opposites. And it's not on a circle. So it also is like deviating from the icon. Yeah. And the part that exists between the black and the white is the collage stuff that I'm making naturally on my own already. So I kind of felt like visually, I'm represented between the black and the white. Yeah. And in some paintings, there's a little more black and some paintings, there's a little more white shows. It's never perfect. You know? It's never what it is. Yeah, no, and I've been I've been that has been motivating me, so much. So that like there's no shortage of work yet to be produced. It's just the only thing that determines the output is time. Yeah. And working full time as a teacher, it's been so rosy. This whole podcast has been so rosy about how positive it is to be a teacher and how it influences my work and the relationships with different artists and kids in life. But, you know, if I wasn't doing that I have more time to paint Sure, unless I was working somewhere else to pay the mortgage and pay for the cars. Yes, and, you know, life itself. So I am grateful that it is all tied together. But it doesn't award me the most amount of time to produce large bodies of expression. Sure. So I have to be limited with my career as far as my output. But I work hard. And I have a lot going on. And I have probably at any one time. You know, six to eight pieces in progress. Yeah. So it's not that I can focus on one thing and work on to work on it until it's finished. It's more like juggling that. It's Oh, you finished these two and now there's five Latin Oh, you just started three other panels. So like, there's still eight you know, but these the six are further along than the two that just got started and then Oh, you got an idea? Oh, you want to put in that the if you share this to third persons this then I guess you got something else to do? Yep. But I'm I'm looking forward to I just look forward to painting I just look forward to making and I am I am blessed that the experiences I've had and the 25 years in the valley that I know when I'm when I'm ready to put have a full exhibition ready to go. That I know the avenues that are available to me to represent and exhibit and that's that's a that's a gift that a younger version of me did not have. Sure. So there's no in a way there's no stress. It's I will accept it on I'll accept life on life's terms and everything will occur when it's supposed to occur. And if it's not right now then it wasn't supposed to happen right now. Yeah. My my work yeah, it's so it's mixed media collage for the people that want to try to go to a common denominator. But that's what I'm inspired by MCs putting a bunch of things together. You know, I was trying to say earlier about what I pick, you know, could define my style. Sure. One of the things that I kind of did to avoid that or make it more personal and with the age of technology, you know, an iPhone 13 takes a pretty good picture. And I love kept I am not a photographer like I do not have the skill sets. I do not know the tech analogy. But I use it more as a tool to capture something I'm trying to bring back to the studio. So like if I go to, you know, one of my places to be in heaven is the Sellersburg flea market. And I could walk through there and look at all the crap and be like, oh, I need that for a collage. Oh, I need that, oh, this is gonna be this. And that was like, a great spot to be for inspiration. Yeah, well, get out your phone, and start taking pictures. And then I'm taking pictures of like, these accidental still lifes that are unintended still life side column. Because like they weren't setting it up on the table to look good. They were arranging it to sell it. And they weren't thinking about, well, I want this here to be next to this. And it's like, yeah, but with your if you look and you capture, and you're like, oh, when are you gonna see this? Statue of this next to this toy next to this hardhat next to this horse? Yeah. And then you take a picture of it. And then you're like, Wow, that's a nice collection of crap to make sense out of, let's throw that down on the board and make an equation? Well, we're going to subtract this. And then we're going to add this from your bin. And then you know what we need, we need to paint a cube on top of this, you know, because it's really not about this anyway. Yeah, it isn't what it is, you know, it never is. And and that's what it is, is just figuring that out. And like the process and being able to experience that myself. It's very selfish, but like, it's, it's, it's what I need to do as a person. It's what I need to do is sure, and it's how I identify,
Ben Orr 1:41:48
you've mentioned a bit about these collage elements, and that the cubes and the paintings kind of go over it. Tell me a little bit about the ephemera that you'd like to use. Like, what what are you pulling from in terms of some of these?
Speaker 8 1:42:02
Well, an easy one right now, or an obvious one is graffiti and garbage, which is kind of odd. I mean, graffiti is not odd. It's sure culture, street art, you know that I know there's graffiti haters, but I also know there's graffiti lovers. Sure. I appreciate it. And like, I went down to a friend Beth and had a show down at Grove. Grossman. Cleef in Philadelphia, I was going down to see her exhibition. And before, I don't know if I was early, but before I went in, I ended up ducking down a couple alleys, like off a Walnut Street down there. And I was just like, it wasn't great graffiti, but it was like, look at these alleys, like, just the dumpsters and the, the, the pallets and the and the colors. And the there's some street there is some like paper, stencil stuff, but then there's some just tags and, and I even think I even think poorly done. graffiti tags are interesting to me. Because like I teach graphic design. So we I talked about typography. And it's like, well, what about the human hand and like look at and how quick someone had to do this? And how, Oh, you don't? Oh, you didn't see that. They wrote their name sideways, you just didn't recognize the letters and how esoteric it was and and see, you know, you had almost like coding. And you know, so I went and I took a lot of those pictures. And then that's what I would blow up and lay down first. And then I would build my collages over those photographs. So like if it was a flea market, photo shoot, or a graffiti alley, photo shoot, and then the irony of like, you know, I I sold a painting to a collector last year, that was one of these cube ones with the graffiti and, and there's like a waste management dumpster like right in the middle. And it's like, Who would want a waste management dumpster in the middle of a painting in their living room like arts? Like you would think theoretically the art for the majority of collecting your buying artists, I hope making you feel good. Sure. I know art does everything. It's it's meant for all emotions. But if you're gonna live with it, I'm hoping that you get joy out of it. So it's like ironic that like, Can I can I take something so lowbrow and elevate it to something worthy to display in your home with pride? And it's like, if you can do that, then you're really never making it it is what it is like, you know that's that's the transformation I'm looking for. Yeah, which I think most artists are looking for that transformation. This is not a pie tape. This is paint on canvas. I transformed it to something else. And Kosuth and other, you know, deeper thinking artists out there they deal with these plays on words like what is language? What is? Yeah, you know what is a word as a symbol is, you know, and the more descriptive you get, you know, there's definite, there's pluses to being vague. And then they Oh, you'll reach more people with something vague, but you'll get it, the more specific you are, the more isolating it is. And yeah, it's like that in literature. It's like that in art. It's like that in music. You know, I and having these relationships with artists from the valley helps me grow as an artist ask myself these questions. You know, we have these debates. I hear things like, you know, it's not the artists job to get you to like their work. It's the art shop to make work. Now, if you like it, that's awesome. Sure, if you connect to that person's voice, that's awesome. Uh huh. But you know, Florrie isn't trying to be the number one song on the radio. Sure. You know, Linderman is not trying to sell out the Lincoln Center. Yeah, not all. Everyone's not trying to be the most sold postcard at the MoMA. Like, I want my heart to be for the audience that wants it. Like, I'm not trying to convince an audience to like it. Sure. I just want to be like, I know you're out there. I've heard it before. And I know because I, I like to kind of work. I'm inspired by other artists too. Like, I know, when I see Todd's work, you know, when I, when I see artists work, when I see Al's work, there's there's things that it's like, oh, we're having a conversation. Yeah. Like we're not, you know, and then same time, someone else who might be a figurative worker, Adriana Fenella, like his cloud paintings are so outstanding. They are so far from, from what I do, you know, but that doesn't mean I don't love it. Sure. Absolutely. Love it. Sure. That's one of the gifts of being the art teachers. It's like, there's room for everything on my plate. Yeah,
Ben Orr 1:47:10
absolutely. In in a number of your works. I've I've seen corporate imagery, and especially things like McDonald's and Burger King, and a lot of these fast food corporate images. Well,
Speaker 8 1:47:27
sadly, sadly, I've had a relationship with fast food. That hasn't been the greatest. And so some of that is an internal inner demon thing working out. And I've gratefully been away from the fast food industry. But at the same time, and teaching graphic design, some of them got some good marketing, and up up up is pretty good. And I will maybe I'll be the first one on record saying it but like, I think the you rule is genius. For Burger King. Yeah. Like, I don't, I don't know, it's like, I catch myself singing that jingle. And then like, you're intimate with you rule. Like, that's pretty nice. That's smart. That's from some pretty smart advertising. It really is. You're complimenting your, your audience that you're trying to get, you know, and, like, I find that stuff fascinating. So, you know, I had a, there was a stint when I was studying art Ed, where I considered for a semester going into Advertising and Graphic Design. And I just, I don't know if like if it was that grocery store experience of like, squaring down the aisles and building the end caps and, and being inundated with logos and colors and bounty, and, you know, whatever, you know, the cereal aisle, I mean, as an artist, like sure a red aisle as a kid is like, look at all this collar and these cartoon characters. You know, the adult stereos don't have a drawing on them. Yeah, you know, look at and it's like, that was that was so taken by visual stimuli. And it's just so like, that's going to show up in my work. Like, I love pop art. I'm a sucker for it. I did my first. The first artists that probably spoke to me, in a personal way was a guy named Joseph Cornell. And he would make mixed media pieces in like little boxes and drawers. They were they were more they were more three dimensional sculpture and not necessarily flat. But that's what really turned me on the most. finding value in something that was disregarded, and making it valuable. Like I feel like that's magic. I'm like that special, if you can do that, that special. And then just because of curriculum, they were like, Yeah, you did our history one, you did our history too. You also need to take art since 1950. And it's like, okay. And then that was like, this is Robert Rauschenberg. And he likes to make stuff with all the trash that he found in New York. And it was like, he's making stuff with signs and presidents and the moon landing and current events and color you like color? Remember, remember the cereal? And it's like, yeah, I do. Yeah, I do love color. And. And then it was like Jasper Johns, and language and communication and text. And it was like, Oh, these guys are great. I think they like each other, too. And then it was like, oh, Lichtenstein. Oh, there's the comics coming back and, and then Warhol. And it's like, wait a minute, Warhol did comics, too, before he was doing all the label stuff? And it's like, yeah, and I love these people. I love this stuff. I love all of it. And so that, that influenced my early work huge, like pop art. And, you know, I don't know, it's just, it's, it's quick to like, see, quick to get a response. But like, it's a world we all live in. You know? Not speak to that. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I'm more motivated by that. I mean, I love plein air painting. But when I do it, I do it for myself. I'll get the easel out and I'll get the paints out and I'll go for a drive and, and no one will see that painting. Sure. I'll go to figure drawing at Lafayette, they have Thursday night figure drawing. And I'll go there with, I'll go there with like, random. I'll dig in my studio stuff. And I'll find like, five pieces of pastel that are like the broken ones that didn't make it back into a box. And I'll be like, Okay, this is what you got a limited palette. This is all your work. And with tonight, I guess if you want it lighter, it has to be green, because you have the light green pastel, and I guess it's gonna be red if it's darker, because you have the red pastel, and that's the darkest one of the four you brought. And it's like, oh, that's not right. Like, that doesn't look like the model at all. But then next thing you know, it's like I'm looking at shapes. And I'm looking at forms. And I'm not thinking about all the other stuff that I'm thinking about all day. I'm not thinking about my cable bill. I'm not thinking about my car registration. I'm not thinking about change. I'm not even thinking about work. Like I'm not even thinking about school. Like I am just looking at a figure. Yeah, I am making marks and I am responding to the physical world. That's right. And sure, because
Ben Orr 1:53:08
at the end of the day, that peace is not the model.
Speaker 8 1:53:11
It's never what it is. It's never what it is. But but those experiences that are meditative, they're not Yeah, yeah, they're not painting still look at Sure. There are things for me to go through. And the stuff that I'm making in my studio that I'm encouraging people to invest in. Well, that's me too. But that's more of the song I sing. Yeah. And if you've been following the all over and it's of this podcast, I think it's very representative of the work. Yeah. You're going to it's going to, you'll have to, you're going to go somewhere, if you want to stick around. Sure. And if you're like, Hey, I saw it, I'm on I'm moving on. That's cool, too. Sure. Now, that's totally cool, too. It's for whoever, whatever, you know, the same laws don't work for every fish.
Ben Orr 1:53:57
Yeah. You've talked a little bit about being an organized collector. And I've been I'd, I'd love to hear about how you bring that into the naming conventions of your pieces. While
Speaker 8 1:54:09
they're there. They're different, I mean, everything in the word visually, I'm trying to evoke a response. And I know from just even colleagues practices to art history, that a title carries a lot of weight. And, you know, sometimes you might look at some non objective piece and it has this really heavy title that's gonna like take you somewhere to try to recontextualize what it is that you're looking at. And I feel like that's a whole nother that's a whole nother avenue of the work that I don't say I'm not interested in but I don't want to rely on the title to take you anywhere. I want you to get there on your own. Like I I set up the road, but you You're, you're in control of looking at it, how you're going to look at it. And I feel like by giving it a title with a name that's so specific, I'm leading. And I'd rather lead with color than lead with words. And so I got this idea of, well, did I finish this today? Well, what's today? All right, is today the 10th? All right, well, then it's, then it's more than it's 0310 to four, because it's just the date. And then, am I working on a set? Or am I working on an individual piece? Well, if I finished three of them today, well, then the last number will be one. And if it's the first one, and the last number will be two, if it's the second one, and then so on, and so forth. Now, the odds are most of my pieces and with a one, because most of my pieces are the only one I finished that day. But everything else, you start to see the coding, you start to see it and who really sees it as my computer because it's great. And the files are, because everything is arranged chronologically just by the Numerix that I'm using. So it's really great. I was looking for an older piece that I was referencing from 2003. And just the other day, I was going through my my file folders, and I have them all by year. And it was like, Oh, I haven't done this in a long time. And it was like, wow, it was kind of neat to see the large icon pictures of all the things from that year. And then right away, it was like triggering memories and thoughts of like, Oh, that was when this was going oh, that was when my daughter was born. That was when that's when I went from the middle school to the high school. Oh, that was when I was at the Banana Factory visa had this thing in it. And that's when this person was in my life. Make sense? It's fantastic. Yeah.
Ben Orr 1:56:55
Well, I want to use some of the time that we have left to discuss a specific piece of yours. Yes, the one that you submitted is titled, oh 706 21. One. And I know you're familiar with our show. And we love to do art description to key the audience into what we're what we're talking about. So for the audience, how would you describe this piece?
Speaker 8 1:57:21
Okay, this is, again, using that word mixed media just implying that you're looking at a lot of stuff, you're seeing paper collage stuff, you're seeing paint, you're seeing some like physical things like screening fabric, you're seeing a lot of texture, there's areas of a very flat color. And then there's areas of muted, weathered, worn, you know, maybe even sanded paint areas, areas of paint, there are snippets of things. In this particular piece that we're looking at. It's a very large, it's two large rectangle rectangular cubes. There's a blue one that's a little smaller, and a golden one that takes up the majority of the picture plane, the picture looks divided into sections. So there's almost like the formatting of a comic book page. There are like panels that connect to one another, that kind of build a larger visual image. This particular piece has the fraction of a word, it was taken from a sign from giant that it was just something was on special. And it's it's the the letters S P, E, C, are the only letters that are in the, in the work, they are vertically aligned. So it's not logical, it's not set up like you're meant to read it. So it's really I think subliminal of, of things that aren't necessary. Like it's like background because you're not trying to read it, it's not communicating a message. All it is is an n SFP, an E and A C, and it's also cropped, so uh, you don't even see the full bottom of the E that could be an F, you're just assuming it's an E because as PFC makes less sense. So like your brain works, and I'm trying to get that brain to do stuff. And that's happened in here. The other little remnants are things from like encyclopedias, like little illustrations of flowers, some blueprints, one of my favorite pages from my memory, going through comic books. I used to love like on the back page, there was like sell this many magazines and you win this you could pick from these prizes. And do you want to race track? Do you want one walkie talkies? Do you want X ray specs? Do you want a whoopee cushion? You know, and it looks like, it's almost like, I don't have any tattoos. But if I, I'd like to get sleeves, of all the things, the prizes that you could have got, if you sold the most magazines, you know, like the little turntable? Or, you know, what are the different things that you the resistor radio, you know, the video game. There's a little snippet any anyone that's it's of our generation, you know, late 70s 80s knows the comic books I'm talking about knows that back page, the inside page probably tried to get you see monkeys, you know, but the back, I use that a lot in my collage. It triggers great memories to me. It's a time I didn't have to know about all this stuff going on in the world. It was me and my Legos. You know what I mean? Yeah, that's pretty good time. Yeah, pretty good time when it's just you and your Legos. So those are, those are the things that show up in the work stuff that's going to trigger memories from youth memories from suburbia, because that's, that's, that's who I am like, I can't speak to other those other experiences, nor should i Yeah, the work, it's a bunch of color. You know, this, this work that we're referencing is current enough that it's got that black white polarity stuff that we talked about earlier. There's a large black shape on the right side of this particular painting. And the white is on the left in this particular painting. I feel like the cubes are symbolic of obstacles that that we have or blocks that we have in front of us. The cubes that I paint are always irregular wired frames of cubes, meaning that none of the planes are opaque or solid. Most of the time, it's like you're seeing through the cube to the to the collage work that's painted, or collected underneath it. So there's like layering that occurs. Earlier in the podcast, I mentioned an xy axis, again, from comics and Legos. I think I built everything on an X axis, like lining up imagery, left to right, and then it would go up and down the way a book is read. But during COVID, I was looking at my I was working on some pieces. And I just, you know, from teaching the elements of art, I knew I had to get some diagonals in there like like even the collage stuff that I use. I'm not cutting out, I'm not cutting a figure out and gluing it on. I'm not cutting out any specific object and gluing it on. I'm using a rectilinear image and gluing it on. So that rectilinear and that rectilinear image is next to another rectilinear image. Yeah, which is next to another rectilinear image. It's never like, it's not fabricated like a like a mythological creature like a pet. You take the wings and glue it on the horse. Like I'm never taking parts of something to build it. I don't know if I'm making it clear in my articulation. I think you know what I'm saying? Yes, it's this X, Y axis, this grid? Yes, part of it. So when I got to the diagonals, it was like, Okay, this is starting to get dimensional, this is starting to lift off. It's not so much. So much of it is about surface that this change that somehow. Yeah,
Ben Orr 2:03:45
that makes sense. I've asked us to a few artists, and I love the variants and responses. But if someone were looking at this work, what's a question that you would love for them to be asking either you or themself about it?
Speaker 8 2:04:00
I don't know if I could articulate that I kind of feel like a lot of it is intuition. And, and I know what I like. And I know that I don't always understand what I like. So it's like, well, if you don't get it, and why do you like it? Yeah, how many songs I can tell you I love and I don't know the words. And it's like, well, if you love that song, why don't you know the words? I don't I? I don't need it's not the words that I'm in love with? Yeah, it's the song I'm in love with. And it's like, well, well, then why do you like that song? And it's like, oh, well, because because of how it makes me feel. Yeah. And I feel like looking at art is the same. Like, it's great to have that little paragraph that could tell you the story about the deeper sure what it's about. Sure, but at the end of the day, and I tell this to my students, the aboutness is really personal like it's a it's about what it's about to You Yeah. And, and as far as like, what question would I want them? To ask me? I'd like him to ask me how they should pay for it. When do I accept cheque cash, Bitcoin? Sure. And my I do have a Venmo account, and we could probably put that on the podcast if you want. But like, joking, not joking, as far as a question that I think they should have for themselves might be, why do you like this so much? Or even Why do you hate this? Or, you know, it's so intuitive. It's so like, I'd like to hear why someone likes something. Sure. You know, sadly, because this is our second go around that we can't fake the authenticity. No, you're laughing because you know what I'm going to bring up? Yeah. So for the listeners out there, this particular piece, during our first go around, we had a conversation about this piece. And Ben shared with me that it reminds him of a film called they live and he says, Did you Did you ever see they live? And I just started laughing because I pull up my sweatshirt. And I'm wearing a t shirt from the movie that my girlfriend bought me, because we both love the movie. And she thought he'd get a kick out of it. And she bought me that shirt. And it was just like so mind blowing in our conversation of like, how are you wearing that shirt? While we're talking about this work? And what is it about this work that makes you think of that movie? Yeah. And I think we touched on a couple earlier ways when we're talking about like, if anyone's a fan of that movie, or rowdy. Roddy Piper, there's something subliminal in the movie. Yeah, that there's messages and they're, they're hidden under billboards and advertising. And you need special glasses to see it. Maybe you need special glasses to see my work. But our conversation about this particular piece, you know, I'm speaking for you Sure. There's a blue shirt. There's a there's a textile, there's like a very little bit a corner of a of a young man's shoulder. And he's wearing a blue shirt with like a tan grid on it. It's like a plaid shirt. And Ben says, Well, it's the shirt from the movie. And then I went back and looked at the movie. I'm like, Oh, my God, he's totally right. Like, he's wearing the same shirt. It's in this. It's in this collage. And it's like, it has nothing to do with the movie. But that's that's art. Like, yeah, like the idea that a simple pattern. Yeah. can trigger a thought. Yeah. Of a movie from a time. That has nothing to do with it. Yeah. That's our like, yeah, it's because of your experience. Because what you saw Yeah, seeing your equation? Yeah,
Ben Orr 2:08:03
yeah. And there was so much I mean, I, I totally wish that we had that recording. Yeah, we can't that that authenticity, not wear that shirt. But like, there was so much about that piece that I looked at it. And the the kerning of the letters and the typography of that S P E. C, reminded me so much of the obey poster right from that, and the black and the white. And the way that the rectangular cubes are acting almost as though see through glasses, and then seeing that I'm like, it just it makes sense. Like you're not
Speaker 8 2:08:39
gonna You're not the first person that said that my work reminded them of that movie. Really honest to god, wow, you're not the first. But the first person that I'm wearing the t shirt. Yeah. And that they tell me Yeah. So I mean, that was that was cool enough. And it
Ben Orr 2:08:55
was just Yeah, though. It was such a cool moment. And so I think a good question that you brought up and that you had stated again is having people ask themselves What does this work mean to me? Like why do I like this? Why is this special and for me, like making connections to things are so huge and seeing this piece? Why I love it is because it reminds me of the first time I watched today live
Speaker 8 2:09:20
and it doesn't even it doesn't even have to mean that you liked they live Sure, but it's that time in your life. Yeah, was positive. Yeah. Joyful, who you were with when you saw that movie? Was it a day? Was it friends?
Ben Orr 2:09:39
I was in class, like,
Unknown Speaker 2:09:40
what school were you at?
Ben Orr 2:09:42
I went to film school. I love it. And we were okay. I went to Baylor University went to film school, and we are watching it in my directing class and then that's that's pretty good. It was a double feature with the movie roar.
Speaker 8 2:09:56
I'm not familiar it is a while Hold
Ben Orr 2:10:00
the movie. I'm going to write that as, it's not particularly great. No,
Speaker 8 2:10:05
but, but like to see it in context to this one. Yeah, but it
Ben Orr 2:10:12
it was filmed with something like 60 Live lions Oh, and a bunch of people got hurt on the set. And our film professor was like, there are times when authenticity is being chased. And it's just stupid. And this is one of the cases where the authenticity of them wanting to have all of these lions for this movie, and really get authentic shots of these lions chasing these people was not a good set environment. Yeah, and that that context was so huge. But I don't know that that class was a joy. Thinking back on that class was just school is pretty cool. Yeah. And seeing that cool. Yeah, seeing that piece just had all of those memories flood back. Awesome. Yeah. There's so much more that we could talk about. But I think we're gonna have to start to wind down the conversation. Danny, where can people find your work?
Speaker 8 2:11:06
I have work. Like you said, it's steel stacks for the next probably till May. I don't know when the podcast will be out. But if you're checking stuff out, maybe you'll remember state cafe and Easton has some stuff connections art gallery in Easton carries my stuff. I have stuff at the next bomb school of art auction that benefits the art programs at the bomb School of Art this spring. I'm also going to be in a show after that at the bomb school, because there's an invitational of 1120 artists. So our, our little, our little enclave of of art makers in Easton are going to be featured out now in town. And I'm looking forward for an opportunity at the goggle works is having a international show coming up that I'm looking forward to as well.
Ben Orr 2:11:57
That's awesome. And where can people find you online?
Speaker 8 2:12:00
You can find me at Danny Moyer dot artists on my Instagram. That's where I pretty much pushed the art scene. Not Tik Tok, and yet, no need to tweet. I. I talk enough in real time. And Facebook, you can look me up on Facebook, if you're down with Facebook, but that's more like if you want to see my kids too.
Ben Orr 2:12:23
Well, you mentioned it earlier if people want to buy a piece and they want to pay with Venmo Oh, yeah. How can they pay you?
Speaker 8 2:12:29
Yeah, Venmo. I'm pretty sure it's on my Instagram. Oh, sweet. Pretty sure it will be after this. If it's not, but come out to 1120. That's, that's the space. And again, I don't know when this is actually going to get broadcast. But man, if you can get there by April 27. We're having an open house. If it's after April 27. And you'll go I remember going to that on April 27. That was awesome. A lot of good times you're going to be had that night.
Ben Orr 2:12:55
Oh yeah. Well, thank you so much for coming. Thank you for having me. It's an honor and on again. Ya know,
Speaker 8 2:13:01
for real, though, I mean, I've been following you guys and I've been enjoying your podcast Abby Roscoe so many of your are so many of the people you featured we've Abby showed in our gallery. It's the the list is so long, but like, you guys are really doing a great job of covering all aspects of it. And for the valley, like not just the visual arts but everything that you've been doing. It's been such a positive part of the Lehigh Valley. I really mean it.
Ben Orr 2:13:28
Thank you so much. You bet. This episode's opportunity of the week is for the ongoing figure drawing sessions every Thursday at the William Visual Arts Building. Thank you to Lafayette College for making this possible. Sessions are from six to 8:45pm and is free for all. However, tips for the model are greatly appreciated. Although never required. The doors unlock at 5:45pm and relock at 7:30pm. Hope to see you there.
Elise 2:13:57
Thanks for tuning in to the Lehigh Valley arts podcast. Don't forget to like the podcast leave us a review and follow us on both social media and streaming services at Lehigh Valley arts podcast.