Raw Material

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Visions of Black Futurity Episode 4: Black Futurity Rightnowish Feb 16, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 4 of Visions of Black Futurity, Babette shares an update on their search for Evangeline. Plus, we hear two episodes of Rightnowish hosted by Pendarvis Harshaw, exploring what it looks like to build liberated Black spaces in the Bay Area. Featured: Deanna Van Buren, Pendarvis Harshaw, Tajai Massey, Evangeline Montgomery, and Babette Thomas. Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 3: Big Black Open Spaces Feb 02, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 3, Babette tries to answer the question, “Where will we host our Black art spaces of the future?” In the woods, by the ocean, or in a city center? They turn to artists who deal with matters of space, place, and land: Octavia Butler, Richard Mayhew, and Bay Area artist Sage Stargate. Follow us, as we trace the footsteps our ancestors have left behind. Featured: Richard Mayhew, Evangeline Montgomery, Bí Oke, Sage Stargate, Babette Thomas, Jay Thomas, and Veronica Thomas. Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 2: Preparing for Launch Jan 19, 2022

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In Episode 2 of Visions of Black Futurity, Babette visits a museum with no walls: the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Museum in Joshua Tree, CA. Purifoy tells us what led him to the desert and Cauleen Smith creates a Black, feminist utopia in the spaces he built. Even our dreams have rhythm, let’s go together, moving through time + space — funkin to the beat of “One.” Interview of Noah Purifoy provided by the Center for Oral History Research, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA Featured: Evangeline Montgomery, Bí Oke, Noah Purifoy, Cauleen Smith, Babette Thomas, and Jay Thomas. Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 1: Finding Kinship in the Archive Jan 01, 2022

Show notes

In Episode 1 of Visions of Black Futurity, Babette Thomas takes us on a journey through time. We travel to a 1968 Black arts exhibition in Oakland, California, called New Perspectives in Black Art. It was the first of its kind in the country and, in this episode, we meet the woman behind it all, a Black artist and curator named Evangeline "EJ" Montgomery. Featured: Etta Moten Barnett, Dewey Crumpler, Zora Neale Hurston, Evangeline Montgomery, Ma Rainey, Bobby Seale, Babette Thomas, and Sarah Vaughn. Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Playlist: The Vibes are Free Dec 21, 2021

Show notes

Babette sets the sonic table for Season 7 of Raw Material with a playlist of songs inspired by the ethos of the Black Bay Area during the 1960s and 1970s. Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3pfCBgY Featured: Evangeline Montgomery, and Babette Thomas Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Season 7 Trailer: Visions of Black Futurity Dec 06, 2021

Show notes

Call 415-915-1784. Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Anselm Kiefer by The Lonely Palette Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

The art of postwar German artist Anselm Kiefer and the poetry of Holocaust survivor Paul Celan are both layered, dense, and hard to read. Sometimes the best starting point is through the layered, dense, and idiosyncratic ways that an individual processes trauma. So grab a spelunking hardhat and together we'll mine these layers of metaphor and materials, texture and text, golden straw and blackened ash, that comprise the unimaginable. This episode was produced by The Lonely Palette. More episodes at www.thelonelypalette.com.

Alexander Calder by Accession Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

This episode talks about a number of pieces by Alexander Calder. Calder is most well known for his mobiles, giant hanging pieces that move subtly with the currents in the room. This episode was produced by Accession. More episodes at accession.fm.

Kara Walker by The Way I See It Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

Roxane Gay reflects on Kara Walker's Christ's Entry into Journalism (2017). The Way I See It, "Roxane Gay and Kara Walker's Christ's Entry into Journalism" was produced by the BBC in association with the Museum of Modern Art New York. More episodes at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009bf6.

Agnes Martin by Bow Down Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

The best-selling novelist and essayist, Olivia Laing explores the influential abstract artist Agnes Martin (1912-2004). Martin – a gay, working class woman who forged a path in a male-dominated art world – embraced solitude and didn’t have her first solo show until she was 46. This episode was produced by Reduced Listening © Frieze. More episodes at frieze.com/article/bow-down-podcast-women-art-history.

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