The Boulder Artist

Toni Oswald is a writer , musician , performer, filmmaker, and visual artist who currently lives in Boulder, Colorado with her partner Max Davies and their cats Kiki Pamplemousse Fontaine and Charlie Chaplin. Her work has been shown in Los Angeles, Amsterdam and New York. She has performed across the United States and Europe with Anne Waldman, John Frusciante, Max Davies, Thurston Moore, Lydia Lun...

Julia Vandenoever is a freelance photographer based in Boulder, Colorado.  She grew up in Chappaqua, NY and Norwich, Vermont. During her years at Smith College, Julia studied Art History and Photography. In addition, she attended the SALT Center for Documentary studies as well as SEA Semester. Photography led Julia to freelance at the Valley News, work with Wendy Ewald’s Literacy Through Photograp...

Joel Swanson is an interdisciplinary artist exploring the complex relationships between language, materiality, and technology. Working across discursive media—from neon text-based sculpture and obsessively detailed works on paper to new media works and large-scale public art—he investigates how linguistic tools and technologies subtly but profoundly shape meaning. As director of the TYPO Lab at th...

Bill has always liked making things, whether it be paintings, sculptures, films, or even a house. He earned his BFA from the University of Colorado but spent 30 years working in film and television, often alongside his wife Deann, before eventually returning to visual art. His current work is graphic, abstract, made unconventionally, and spans from painting to kinetic sculpture. He has exhibited i...

We don't usually do a Part 2 with our selected artists, but since we did more of a deep dive into Albert Chong's personal background last time, we decided to record a second, shorter episode to engage more fully with his art practice and philosophies. In this episode we discuss creating from intuition, the value of non-academic art, elevating humble materials as well as the audience, and a...

In this episode, Kristen and Becca discuss the artist’s nonlinear path; culture, history, and geology of Boulder; life lessons learned through painting; environmental preservation and climate action; and upcoming events! Kristen Ross is an artist based in North Boulder whose landscape paintings in acrylic and oil reflect the vibrant complexity of the natural world. Hiking and camping in public lan...

Albert Chong is an artist working in sculpture, installation, and photography. He has won Guggenheim and Pollock-Krasner Grants, among many other accolades. He has been a professor of Photography at CU Boulder for over thirty years, and sees himself spending more time at his home base in rural Jamaica. We discussed his early days working at his parents' shop in Kingston, the portraits he made...

In this episode, Liz and Becca discuss rich food for thought for any artist–including topics such as process, switching between different mediums, meanings behind form, pressure for cohesiveness, deadlines, and business skills. They also discuss the growth of Boulder, connections across the state of Colorado, and events relevant to the community. Connect with Liz via her website or instagram and r...

Sherry Wiggins is an interdisciplinary artist who sees her work as a feminist, relational process and enactment. Over the last three decades, her artistic practice has taken multiple forms in a variety of modes and media, including drawings, installations, performances, photographs, sculptures and writings. Wiggins’s work is collaborative, reflexive and globally engaged. She has worked on projects...

Steven Frost (they/them) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media Studies at CU Boulder and an interdisciplinary fiber artist. Their research focuses on textiles, queer studies, and community development. Using weaving, Frost combines traditional materials like yarn and cotton with non-traditional materials from a range of sources, exploring the ways history and time are uniquely embed...

This episode covers how McKenzie ended up in Boulder, her interest in rendering interiors and architectural spaces, her teaching of incarcerated individuals, and where she sees her painting practice in the near future. For nearly 30 years, McKenzie has explored architecture as a reflection of cultural, political, and social values. Early work focused on suburban sprawl and abandoned sites, later s...

This episode covers growing up in Boulder; the scene in Chicago; landscapes, ambiguity, and emotive figures in painting and ceramics; working with artists as a curator; advocacy work; and Stark’s upcoming shows at Rare Visions in Boulder August 2025 and for the Voices Embodied series in Chicago. Alex Stark is an artist and curator working between Boulder, CO and Chicago, IL. He received a BFA from...

This episode features  ⁠Anna Tsouhlarakis⁠ . Tsouhlarakis is an acclaimed interdisciplinary artist who had a recent solo exhibition at the MCA in Denver. She has shown at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C., White Frame in Basel, Switzerland, and the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, among many other institutions. Tsouhlarakis is an Assistant Professor and Director of Foundation...

This episode features musician and avid music supporter Pedro Urbina, who started an online show for interviews and performances with local musicians called Pink Sofa Hour . Pedro has decided to take the leap to further the project into a multimedia production business called Couched Media , a nonprofit sector, and even a new app. During our conversation we discuss the importance and evolution of...

Renluka Maharaj was born in Trinidad and Tobago and works between Colorado, New York City  and Trinidad.  She attended the University of Colorado, Boulder where she earned her BFA. She earned her MFA at The School Of The Art Institute of Chicago. She has received numerous awards, her works are in many institutional and private collections, and she has been recognized through various fellowships an...

Ondine Geary is is a Boulder-based choreographer, interdisciplinary performance artist, collaborator, and improviser.  Her work plays at the intersection of art, the body and critical, social engagement. She is the Managing Director of the B2 Center for Media, Arts and Performance in the ATLAS Institute at CU Boulder. She is also the front person, whipper-upper-of-energy in the band Slzy Mylfs . I...

Todd Edward Herman is a visual artist and curator. He is the founding director of East Window Gallery and co-founder of Sins Invalid Performance Project. We discuss his early films, his foray into collaborating with AI, his work in disability justice, and the origin story of East Window, among many other things. Hotharoids by Kevin Hoth  exhibit runs at the Bus Stop Gallery through October 2024. T...

In this episode host and producer, Becca Saulsberry, and fine art photographer and educator, Kevin Hoth, discuss key takeaways from the first 12 interviews on the show under 4 themes: community, curiosity, consistency, and connection with the natural world. They also announce a big transition for the podcast! If you’ve enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and consider supporting the future o...

In this interview with painter, photographer, botanic illustrator, printmaker, and writer, Margaret Galvin Johnson , we touch on: growing up in the Colorado outdoors, how the story of her life (now published in the New York Times best-selling book Hidden Valley Road ) has influenced her work,  mental health and wellbeing, joy in the process, abstraction and precision, teaching, Georgia O’Keeffe, a...

In this episode, Juan and Becca discuss cultural differences between South America and Colorado, differences in fine art and public art, murals, cosmovision, Abya Yala (the united land from Patagonia to Alaska), color, communicating with clients, European and Indigenous influences, and “loss of connection with nature and ancestral wisdom.” Join us for an especially inspiring, heartwarming, and inf...

This special episode was recorded live in front of an audience for Boulder Arts Week 2024! Aaron Mitchell is a singer-songwriter, visual artist, creative collaborator and community-arts activator from Ft. Lupton, CO who spent many years pursuing his art and music career in Chicago before moving to Boulder. He discusses music, authenticity, the creative process, balance, and more. If you’ve enjoyed...

Julie Rothschild explores movement via dance and art made of fiber and steel. We discuss the evolution of her work and her exhibit on display, as well as collaboration, being a newcomer in Boulder, materials, metaphors, and minimalism. Body at Work exhibit at Bus Stop Gallery March 2024 Boulder Arts Week April 5-13, 2024 If you’ve enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and consider supporting...

Amy Guion Clay –mixed media painter, traveler, and teacher–discusses risk-taking, curiosity, and artist residencies abroad, as well as the logistics of working as an artist, social media, developing style, limiting beliefs, and materials. There is so much in this episode! If you’ve enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating and consider ⁠supporting the future of this podcast⁠ ! To stay up-to-date,...

A very real, very relatable conversation with founder of The New Local , fine jewelry designer, musician, and Boulder native: Marie-Juliette Bird. She discusses Boulder culture, history, and landscape; how failure helped her shift from personal blame to a systemic perspective; the reality of money; and why nonprofits are the most viable path towards a sustainable arts presence. If you’ve enjoyed t...

Internationally-recognized, self-taught designers and artists, Todd and Lucian of Berger & Föhr, discuss the aspirational model they’ve developed to do work and live lives they love. This episode covers how to create work that resonates and endures, the value of simplicity, similarities and differences between art and design, ways to prevent or address burnout, and much more. To stay up-to-dat...