Curious Story Lab

Welcome to Episode 10 of Curious Story Lab. In this episode, we interview Es-pranza Humphrey, the education coordinator, about her first major curatorial project. The project is called "Black Power to Black People: Branding the Black Panther Party" held at the Poster House Museum in New York City. We discuss the complex process of curating exhibitions that bring history and Black visual culture to life.Credits:You can find Es-pranza Humphrey: Instagram: es-pranzaFor more information on Black Power to Black People: Branding of the Black Panther Party, visit Poster House Website: Poster House Museum:Instagram @PosterHouseBill Gaskin:Instagram: @BillGaskinsMICA: Founding Director of Graduate Photography+Media&Society Website: BillGaskins.comBomb Magazine: Bomb Magazine Spring Issue 2023Instagram: @BombMagazineDesign Museum of Chicago:Website: DesignMuseumofChicagoInstagram:@designmuseumofchicagoFind Curious Story Lab OnlineWebsite: https://curiousstorylab.com/Twitter: @curiousstorylabInstagram: @curiousstorylabEmail me: [email protected]:Creator & Host: Michele Y. WashingtonProducer: Alicia Ajayi @aliciaoajayiEditor: Angelina BrunoSound Engineer + Music: Roifield BrownFollow us on Spotify or Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite podcastAbout Us"Curious Story Lab" is a podcast that explores visionaries' of color working to reshape the future of our world. In this season, we explore the concept of "Futuring," delving deep into the stories of creators whose work shifts the narrative around design in the present and offers a glimpse into the future of their field.

In this episode of Reshaping Culture, I am thrilled to be joined by Marcia Minter, the co-founder, and director of Indigo Arts Alliance, a remarkable non-profit organization located in Portland. Together with her husband, artist Daniel Minter, they established Indigo Arts Alliance to provide a platform for artists of color to connect, create, and exhibit their work. Prior to starting Indigo, Marcia held the position of VP of Creative Director at LL Bean for 16 years. She also serves as a Trustee of the Portland Museum of Art and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts, and is a respected member of the Maine Arts Commission. During this episode, Marcia delves into what it took to plan last summer’s 2022 ReUnion Retreat at Haystack Artists Residency and then gives us a sneak peek into Indigo's big plans for this Spring and Summer season.Find more on Curious Story Lab:Website: Curiousstorylab.comTwitter: @curiousstorylabInstagram: @curiousstorylabEmail me: [email protected]:Creator & Host: Michele Y. WashingtonProducer: Alicia Ajayi @aliciaoajayiEditor: Angelina BrunoSound Engineer + Music: Roifield BrownFollow us on Spotify or Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcastYou can check out Indigo Arts Alliance on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, or Twitter. For more information on upcoming events, visit: Indigo Arts AllianceDavid C Driskoll FellowshipPrem Krishnamurthy:On LettersDept of TransformationSymposium information:How Can We Gather Now? Organized byWashington Projects for ArtsAsad Raza

In Part 1 of episode 5, Reshaping Culture, I’m talking with Michelle Wilkinson, curator of Architecture and Design at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC. She talks about why it’s essential for the museum to preserve Black Design History and why she has taken on building out this collection of work by key Black Architects and Designers.Building off preserving Architectural Design, Culture, and history in 2018, Michelle organized the museum’s three-day symposium, “Shifting the Landscape: Black Architects and Planners, 1968 to Now.” Then from 2019-2020, she was a Loeb Fellow at Harvard Graduate School of Design, which provided an opportunity to expand upon her research on preserving Black Architecture and Design. We also talk about what led her to seek out the work of Michael Puryear’s Dan chair, which is now part of the collection that Michelle is helping to build. Find more on Curious Story LabWebsite: Curiousstorylab.comTwitter: @curiousstorylabInstagram: @curiousstorylabEmail me: [email protected]:Creator & Host: Michele Y. WashingtonProducer: Alicia Ajayi @aliciaoajayiEditor: Angelina BrunoSound Engineer + Music: Roifield BrownFollow us on Spotify or Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcastYou can check out Michelle Wilkinson on Instagram or Twitter. For more information on the Smithsonian Institute African American Museum of History and Culture (NMAAHC)Fellowship:Loeb FellowshipWritings:Harvard Design MagazineRace&SpaceSymposiums/Talks: Shifting Landscape Black ArchitectureBlack in Design at Harvard 2017 

In Part 2 of episode 4, Building New Forms of Knowledge, I'm talking with Bill Gaskins. After interviewing both Kelly Walters and Bill Gaskins, because of the depth of what each shared, I felt strongly that this was the only way I could do them justice. They each have such powerful voices in the spaces they occupy through their practices and as educators, curators, writers, and in pushing forward new knowledge and learning. Bill is the founding director of a new program, Photography + Media and Society, at MICA, Maryland College of Art, in Baltimore, Maryland. Bill discusses why he chose to leave the Fine Arts to join the field-based program as an affinity group among Graduate Directors at MICA because the Program is not limited to the white cubes of Fine Art alone. Furthermore he talks about the ways in which his students examine ideas through fine art, fashion, advertising, video journalism, politics, marketing, and other contexts, while fostering radical collaborations in and beyond the MICA community. Then Bill speaks about what it's like for him not just to be a professor, but what it means to be a transformative professor.Find more on Curious Story LabWebsite: Curiousstorylab.comTwitter: @curiousstorylabInstagram: @curiousstorylabEmail me: [email protected]:Creator & Host: Michele Y. WashingtonProducer: Alicia Ajayi @aliciaoajayiEditor: Angelina BrunoSound Engineer + Music: Roifield BrownFollow us on Spotify or Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite podcastYou can check out Bill Gaskin's website. billgaskins.comFor more information on the Photography+ Media and Society, program at MICA, Follow him on Instagram: @billgaaskinsBooks:Good & Bad Hair: Photographs by Bill Gaskins, Publisher Rutgers University Pressshort film The Meaning of HopeExhibitions:His work has been featured at these major institutions:  Crocker Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Detroit Institute of Arts, and The Smithsonian InstitutionWritings:Working Together: Lou Draper and the Kamionge Workshop, published by Duke University Press, Out of Place, contributor Bill GaskinsYou can also find many of his essays in these publications: NKA; Journal of Contemporary African Art, Artsy, Aperture, Nature, and The New Yorker MagazineTalks: Art X Activism: Myra Greene X Bill GaskinsKamionge at the Schomburg Black Portraiture (V): Memory & the Archive Past 

We’re doing a book give away. All you need to do is leave us a review on Apple Podcast, share what you learned from listening to Kellys’ chat with me, then take a screenshot of your review, and email us at [email protected]. From this pool we will randomly select two winners, for Black, Brown, Latinx Design Educators. Please don’t just say I like this book, we need you to share more in your review. And this is a great book.In Part 1 of our two part episode, Building New Forms of Knowledge, I chat with Kelly Walters. A designer, curator, writer and educator, she is currently a Professor at Parsons the New School in New York City, where she teaches Graphic Design, and Visual Culture. Walters takes a deep dive, sharing her critical voice on the intersection of visual culture, design and race, plus a look at her curatorial practice.SponsorsPoster House Museum, the only museum devoted entirely to preserving Posters. Add in middle of EpisodeFind more on Curious Story LabWebsite: Curiousstorylab.comTwitter: @curiousstorylabInstagram: @curiousstorylabEmail me: [email protected]:Creator & Host: Michele Y. WashingtonProducer: Alicia Ajayi @aliciaoajayiEditor: Angelina BrunoSound Engineer + Music: Joanna SamuelsFollow us on Spotify or Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite podcastCredits::For our more on Kelly Walters: Bright Polka DotBlackExperienceinDesign.comInstagram: Bright Polk DotBlack Visual CulturalTwitter: @brightpolkadotBooks:Black, Brown, Latinx Design Educators: Conversations on Design and Race, (Princeton Architectural Press, 2021)Black Experience in Design: Identity, Expression + Reflection, Co-Editor(Allsworth Press, 2022)Exhibitions: Cast of Colored Stars, Parsons the New School, January 24 -March 01, 2022 Writings:Open Dialogue: Artists + Designers of Afro-Caribbean DescentOn Breaking Down Power Structures, Navigating Tokenism + Building Community in Design Education, Co-Authored with Anoushka Khandwala

In episode three, host Michele Washington has a conversation with Prem Krishnamurthy. A creator who exists between many worlds, from  designer and curation, to writing and education, while living in Berlin. Prem’s the co-founder of WKSHPS, known for its multidisciplinary design practices. The firm works across numerous platforms from art, architecture, education, and culture worldwide. Listen as he guides you through a down-to-earth discussion of an ever-evolving abundance of projects projects including being the creative director of Front International 2022, the Cleveland triennial of contemporary art. Prem has also produced an ever-changing experimental digital book, P!DF, plus Present!, a transformative live and collaborative series of virtual events he co-produced, a gathering of people from across the globe in the digital space.You can find Prem Krishnamurthy: Prem KrishnamurthyWKSHPSFollow Prem on Instagram: @PremKrishnamurthyCheck out Prem’s writings on: SubstackEmily Smith:Prof Emily Smith/University of EuropeEmily Smith ProfileFind Curious Story Lab OnlineWebsite: Curiousstorylab.comTwitterInstagram: @curiousstorylabEmail me: [email protected]:Executive Producer & Host: Michele Y. WashingtonProducer: Alicia Ajayi @aliciaoajayiEditor: Angelina BrunoSound Engineer + Music: Joanna SamuelsFollow us on Spotify or Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite podcastWhile you're at it check out this new Book, The Black Experience in Design, edited by Anne Berry, Kareem Collie, Penina Acayo Laker, Leslie Noel, Kareem Collie, Jennifer Rittner, and Kelly Walters. Published by Allsworth Press, Available in paperback or Kindle on Amazon, and sold at Target.

In episode two host, Michele Washington interviews Mabel Wilson, currently the Nancy and George Rupp Professor of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, a Professor in African American and African Diasporic Studies, the Director of the Institute for Research in African American Studies and co-director of the Global Africa Lab at Columbia University.  Wilson talks about her immense body of research, which ranges from academia, writing, race, architecture, and curatorial projects. One of her most recent exhibitions was held at MoMA, “Reconstructions Architecture and Blackness in America.” Wilson also discusses her practice Studio &, being a founding member of Who Builds Your Architecture, plus several books that she's penned. Check out this online free course: MoMA at Coursera: Reimaging Blackness and ArchitectureBooks: - Begin with the Past: Building the National Museum of African American History and Culture, (2016) - Negro Building: Black Americans in the World of Fairs and Museums, (University of California Press 2012 ). - Race and Modern Architecture,co-editor, (University of Pittsburgh Press 2020). You can find Mabel O. Wilson: Follow her on Instagram: @Studio_and Columbia University GSAPPFind Curious Story Lab OnlineWebsite: https://curiousstorylab.com/Twitter: @curiousstorylabInstagram: @curiousstorylabEmail me: [email protected] you're at check out this new Book, The Black Experience in Design, edited by Anne Berry, Kareem Collie, Penina Acayo Laker, Leslie Noel, Kareem Collie, Jennifer Rittner, and Kelly Walters. Published by Allsworth Press, the book can be found starting February 1, 2022 at Target, and is available in paperback or Kindle on Amazon.Credits:Creator & Host: Michele Y. WashingtonProducer: Alicia Ajayi @aliciaoajayiEditor: Angelina BrunoSound Engineer + Music: Joanna SamuelsFollow us on Spotify,  Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast

You ever wonder how designers reimagine the work they do that reshapes the world we inhabit? In episode one of Curious Story Lab, Del Terrelonge and I discuss how his work shifts the narrative as he straddles between the fields of art, architecture, and design. As the founder and creative director of RHED; his firm located in Toronto, Canada, Del speaks from experience on building a self-sustaining practice and how designers might envision building wealth. His firm works on a broad range of projects from developing and branding, such as The Templar, a boutique hotel to designing a gallery and modular housing outside of Toronto.You can find Del Terrelonge: RHED or Follow him on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rhedbuiltprojects/You can find Curious Story Lab onlineFor more information on Curious Story Lab visit our Website https://curiousstorylab.com/Or you can follow us on Twitter; Instagram; or Facebook:Find Curious Story Lab OnlineWebsite :https://curiousstorylab.com/Twitter: @curiousstorylabInstagram: @curiousstorylabFacebook: @curiousstorylabSponsor: Poster House Museum, the only museum devoted entirely to preserving Posters. Visit: https://posterhouse.org/Credits:Creator & Host: Michele Y. WashingtonProducer: Alicia Ajayi @aliciaoajayiSound Engineer + Music: Joanna SamuelsEditor: Angelina BrunoEmail: [email protected] us on Spotify or Apple Podcast or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast

Curious Story Lab is a podcast that captures the incredible stories of visionaries’ of color working to reshape the future of our world. Listen as we delve deep into the extraordinary lives and untold stories of architects, designers, curators, futurists, thinkers, and makers As we discuss the work they produce through an interdisciplinary lens, we’ll learn what inspires them, and how they create work that transcends boundaries at the intersection of art, design, culture, and technology.

Curious Story Lab captures the voices of creatives of color, working in areas like architecture, design, and are curators, futurists, makers, and thought leaders. Created and hosted by Michele Washington, she's an artist, designer, and researcher. Each episode shares stories of individuals whose work pushes beyond the boundaries.