Why Make? Episode 81: Playing with Fire with Vivian Beer

Empathetic objects, world making and dragons oh me oh my, we are really diving into the deep end in way we have never before in the podcast. A truly nerdy conversation on why we love highway overpasses with this episodes guest metal sculptor Vivian Beer. She grew up as self described feral child in rural Maine with a blow torch in hand at the age of ten and an endless curiosity on making things and the perfect guest for the Why Make podcast. Her work can be seen at museums across the U.S including the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Art Museum and the Museum of Art and Design in NYC. As well as public art installations in Newport New Hamshire, Greenville South Carolina and the Buffalo Arts Center in Nevada

See Joyce’s work at joyce-lin.com

Welcome to the world of Automata, a form of sculpture this episodes guest Tom Haney specializes in. What is Automata? It is kinetic figurative sculpture that tells a story. And the figures are powered by an equally artful system of handmade gears, and springs that resembles a watch movement. An incredible degree difficulty that extends to just pronouncing the word Automata. A task me, your humble interviewer struggled with mightly. Listen carefully to this episode and you too will be a cool cat and be able to pronounce it flawlessly. We joined tomorrow in his Studio in Black Mountain North Carolina and had a chance to see the full range of his creations, powered by hand cranks, electric motors and amazing ingenuity.

I have always been amazed by detailed meticulous objects because I know I am not capable of such work myself. I do not have the attention span or patience to manufacture and assemble hundreds of pieces of anything into a detailed mosaic of an idea no matter how compelling that idea might be. But as this episode’s guest Vivian Chiu clearly states she is not afraid of time nor repetition in fact there is something very comforting and enjoyable in figuring out the process of boring hundreds of accurately placed holes and then boring said holes. And the results of her labors speak for themselves, a body of work that is both diverse and compelling.

This episode is the story of two artists, two very different approaches and a almost two hundred year old photographic process called Cyanotype or blue printing. Join us as we journey to take a look at an exhibition at the Visions of Museum of Textile Art in San Diego California called Cyanotype with two of the participating artists Patti Gaddis and Morgan Ford Willingham. As we once again explore the world of modern fiber art.

Haystack at 75 An Experiment in Community and Education Why Make Today we’re sharing a piece we are calling “Haystack at 75 - An Experiment in Community and Education” in celebration of the school's 75th year. A conversation with Haystack executive director Perry Price. We talk about the history of Haystack and the iconic campus that is perched on a cliff above the Atlantic Ocean. Why it still calls itself a school of craft and not art. How the craft school experience differs from an academic institution and finally how has Haystack approached teaching technology. So take a listen, breath in the salt air and hear the sound of the waves pounding the cliffs below Haystack.You can listen to it here and on Apple Podcasts and Spotify View fullsize Haystack campus in Deer Isle, Maine, aerial photo courtesy of OPAL Architecture / Research / View fullsize Students move their looms onto the deck outside the Fiber studio to enjoy the sunshine on the Haystack campus, 2023. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. View fullsize View of the Metals studio overlooking Jericho Bay, 2023. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. View fullsize Resident artists gather and collaborate in the Fab Lab during Open Studio Residency, photo by Dan Rajter, 2023. Image courtesy of Haystack Mountain School of Crafts.

There are four unattributed voices in the podcast that I would also like to mention and they are in order of appearance, Adam John Manley of San Diego CA,Lisa Geertsen Seattle WA, Jason Nemec Charlton NY andM Craig Campbell of Ness Creek SKAgain my many thanks the Emma board of directors for Inviting Why Make to the 2024 event and to the Emma community as whole for being the wonderful supportive generous people they are. Please go to https://www.emmacollaboration.com/ for more information

In Episode 74, my sister Johanna Zorn turns the tables and interviews me about the podcast. This should be a familiar name to those who listen to the credits at the end of our episodes. She has helped edit many of the episodes we have released in the last two years and was in the background making suggestions years before that. She is a veteran of radio and the audio documentary format having worked at WBEZ public radio in Chicago and then founding the Third Coast International Audio Festival, an organization dedicated to audio storytelling. She is now a freelance editor and producer. So take a listen as she tries to get me to answer the question, why I make Why Make?

In 2009 I attended the Furniture Society conference in Boone North Carolina and sat in on an artist presentation by three young amazing makers whose work left a lasting impression. Sylvie Rosenthal, Katie Hudnall and Yuri Kobayashi. Sadly Sylvie passed away on October 14th and that bright shining light is no longer with us. In remembrance of Sylvie please take a listen to the wonderful conversation we had with her in October of 2020. Sylvie Rosenthal is a Madison, Wisconsin based artist and educator. She maintains a studio practice making commission furniture, work for online sales, and fantastic genre challenging sculpture dealing with the intersecting flight patterns of the histories of trade, hybridity, materiality, queer theory, and the natural world.  On Episode 21 of Why Make? we discuss her fascinating 2018 show at the Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum in Milwaukee called “House Of Risk” and the implications of taking risks in ones work. We also talk about the way in which Sylvie seeks to put multiple layers of understanding and interpretation in her work but ultimately leaves it to the viewer to determine meaning. Take a chance, roll the dice and join us for the next hour as we discuss risk with Sylvie Rosenthal!

In Episode 73 of the podcast we talk with Teresa Audet an artist and educator based in Pittsburgh PA. Her journey as an artist took it’s first turn in college when switched from being a painting major to spending all her time in the wood shop. She then spent the 10 years after graduating making cutting boards, furniture, working in a hardware store and working one day week for a wood carver named Cecilia Schiller who creates Automata. Kinetic whimsical wooden characters that move through a system of gears and hand cranks. Graduate school led to an exploration of performance art and participation in the groundbreaking exhibition Making a Seat at the Table- Women Transform Woodworking. And that is not all, please take a listen to our conversation with Teresa Audet