Art on the Air

Join Tamara for an interview with Will Penny, who grew up in Ontario and first moved to Savannah about 20 years ago, to get his BFA in Painting from SCAD. After graduation he moved away, later returning for his MFA in Painting, and has been in town ever since.  * Special note that on Weds 5/22 and Thurs 5/23, he will participate in a two-day event at Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum: a light and s...

Join Tamara and David for an interview with Autumn Gary, a largely self-taught American/First Nations painter, sculptor, and art instructor from Portland, Oregon. Her practice revolves around therapeutic art outreach, public art, and intertribal collaboration with indigenous/native arts communities. Mark your calendar: Autumn and Alexis Javier (of Sulfur Studios) will have a joint exhibition at th...

Join Tamara and David for an interview with Melyssa Amann, who was born and raised in the Caribbean country Trinidad and Tobago. She came to Savannah in 2016 to attend SCAD, and after trying a couple of directions, earned a BFA in illustration with a minor in scientific illustration. Her website shows a wide variety of her work - portraiture, editorial and commercial work, murals, and scientific i...

Join Tamara for an interview with Danèlle Lejeune, who is a poet, memoirist, and photographer, as well as the Assistant Director at the Ossabaw Writers’ Retreat. From her website: "Danèlle was a livestock farmer in Southern Iowa. She moved to Georgia with her three kids and nothing else in 2016, to begin again from the ground up. After a twenty year hiatus she's writing poetry, making art, and cre...

Join Tamara for an interview with Molly Cusick, who works in the dual arts of photography and pottery, and shares a City Market studio with her mother (who also works in two art forms!). Traveling through the world's most beautiful places, Molly sees beauty where others are not looking. Faces of rocks, creek reflections, abandoned cars and barnacled boats offer a rich interplay of texture, color,...

Join Tamara for an interview with Phoebe Plank, who is just a few months from finishing her MFA in Fibers at SCAD. Her path to making art in the first place began when she studied abroad in Paris during her undergrad program, and had her eyes opened to a more unconventional way of life by the older woman who housed her. After graduating, she moved from Vermont to San Francisco, eventually making a...

Join Tamara and David for an interview with Stephen Kasun, who moved to Savannah and began working in the City Market studios back in 2009, and now has two ground-floor studios/gallery spaces. Before that he went to art school at Memphis College of Art, and then University of Cincinnati, and then sold his work in art fairs for years. Lately painting with acrylic paint and a palette knife, Stephen...

Join Tamara and David for an interview with The Maxines, "a badass all chick rock band in Savannah, GA - grunge w/ a kiss of metal." They're led by AJ Grey on vocals, with Emma Smith on bass, and twins Coco and Maddie Oke on drums and guitar. You might remember them from our musical episode back around Thanksgiving - if not, go have a listen! The Maxines released their debut album "Skin Tight" - n...

Join Tamara and David for an interview with Logan Artisan, a painter who works in an impressionistic style and who shows/sells her work primarily at the Savannah Gallery of Art. Originally from Fayetteville, NC, she earned an undergrad degree at Wingate University in music & vocals, with an aim to becoming a professional opera singer (!). After moving to Savannah, she studied fine art and illu...

Join Tamara for an interview with full-time musician Matt Eckstine, whose songs we featured on a recent special musical episode. Within this episode you'll also hear a few snippets of his music, both solo and with past band The Accomplices.  Matt was voted Best Local Americana/Folk/Roots Band/Artist in Connect Savannah's "Best of 2022" awards. Harnessing a wide range of influences from Tom Petty a...

Join Tamara – and David Laughlin, previous co-host of the show! – for an interview with Bobby Bagley, a full-time painter. Born and raised on a military base in Arkansas, he painted his first piece during his freshman year of college. After moving to Savannah, he spent 10 years spent selling every painting he created through the Morris & Whiteside Gallery (now the Red Piano Gallery) in Bluffto...

Happy holiday season! We're celebrating with a special show of music by some of Savannah's beloved local musicians. First, Matt Eckstine, voted Best Local Americana/Folk/Roots Band/Artist in Connect Savannah's "Best of 2022" awards. Harnessing a wide range of influences from Tom Petty and Jack Johnson to Steve Earle and James Taylor, Matt released his debut solo album in 2017. In 2020, the mandato...

Join Tamara – and David Laughlin, previous co-host of the show! – for an interview with Ron Martinez, owner of Hostess City Hot Glass, and his assistant Chris Charley. A native of nearby Metter, GA, Ron was first introduced to glassblowing while in college in the Pacific Northwest. While supporting himself in jobs ranging from salmon fisherman to antiques dealer, Ronald continued to pursue his lov...

Join Tamara - and David Laughlin, previous co-host of the show! - for an interview with Ted Michalowski, a Professor of Illustration at SCAD with a long career as an On-the-Spot/Reportage/Lifestyle Illustrator. He graduated in the inaugural class of Murray Tinkelman’s MFA Illustration program at the Hartford Art School, University of Hartford. Ted went on to work as a courtroom artist in a variety...

Join Tamara for an interview with Ivan Chow, who's lived in Savannah since 2013 and is in the process of retiring from his lifelong career as an architect. At the same time, he's ramping up his fine art practice - Ivan has been drawing buildings and cityscapes throughout his life, of Savannah scenes and of everywhere else he's visited.  For a few years now, he's been working as an Artist-in-Reside...

Join Tamara for an interview with Axelle Kieffer, painter and handcut collage artist. She was raised in a tiny French town on the German border, then moved to Strasbourg for college, and eventually came to Savannah at age 35 and has been here ever since.  She currently has a show up at Sulfur Studios -  Paper Cuts, An International Collage Exchange  - which runs through this Saturday, Oct 21. She'...

Join Tamara for an interview with Matt Toole ("Maker. Teacher. Explorer. Collector.") of Toole Sculpture Works. He creates contemporary artwork, custom furniture, lighting, and other unique objects for a variety of home and garden applications. Most elements are handcrafted from ferrous metals or upcycled from selected materials both manufactured and found in nature. Matt grew up around the barrie...

Join Tamara for an interview with Kurtis Schumm, a 20-year Tybee Island resident who started his adolescence playing guitar in the "esteemed haunts of Nashville and beyond, including the famed Bluebird Cafe at 14." After moving here, he transitioned into a culinary career, opening Tybee Island Social Club with his wife and eventually running 4 successful restaurants at once.  Just before Covid, th...

Join Tamara for an interview with Charla Pettingill, a published illustrator, surface designer, and illustration professor with 14 years of industry experience designing for print and pattern. A native of East Tennessee, she graduated from SCAD with a B.F.A. in Illustration and an M.A. in Visual Communication, then moved to Atlanta to work in the industry. She's now back in Savannah, having return...

Join Tamara for an interview with Faran Riley - local artist, geology enthusiast, fine jewelry connoisseur, and aspiring surfer. A Savannah native, she was one of the first classes to go through Savannah Arts Academy. After living in both Boston and NYC, she returned to town in 2020 and now works out of Sulfur Studios, exhibiting her drawings, paintings, and rock collections. Faran begins her pain...

Join Tamara for an interview with singer and musician Trae Gurley. He's a long-time Savannahian who specializes in songs by The American Songbook legends, such as Sinatra, Mercer, Porter, Gershwin, and Cahn. Over his 30-year career, Trae has performed at restaurants, jazz bars, private parties, and weddings, from The Hollywood Hills to Cape Cod. When downtown staple Jazz'd first opened in 2003, Tr...

Join Tamara for a re-interview with freelance artist/illustrator Adonis Deking. He was Tamara's first interviewee, so we're checking in to see what the past year has brought him!  Adonis recently had a month-long exhibition of landscapes and pet portraits at the Churchwood Gallery in Pennsylvania. He's a self-directed learner who recently taught himself the impasto and sgraffito techniques, and he...

It's the one-year anniversary of Tamara taking over host duties from Rob Hessler! Join her for a replay of the first show - an interview with then-co-host Melissa Taylor of recent SCAD graduate Adonis Deking. This episode originally aired on July 20, 2022.  And stay tuned for our next show, when I'll re-interview Adonis to see where he is in his freelance artist/illustrator career now that it's on...

Join Tamara for an interview with Kristopher Monroe: "writer, editor, and freelance culture assassin with over two decades of experience writing about the arts and other symptoms of human creativity." He was born and raised in Atlanta, where he began his freelance writing career, then lived in Seattle and NYC before settling in Savannah in 2013.  You've probably read Kristopher's arts column in th...

Join Tamara for an interview with commercial photographer and SCAD grad Anna Young Byrd, who works out of Sulfur Studios. She fell in love with Savannah at age 12 when her sister came to attend SCAD, and has now lived here since 2017. Two years out of school, she's at such an exciting time in her career - just about to transition into doing her freelance photography full-time!  Anna's goal during...