Meet The Artist

Event Photos

Embark on a journey into the artistic world of Ralph Philabaum, where every stroke tells a story and every color sings a tune. Join us on our website as we unfold the tale of a painter who colors beyond the lines of tradition, weaving a narrative that’s as vibrant as his watercolors. Ralph’s odyssey from a house painter to an artist who captures the spirit of the Southwest with a brush and palette is not just inspiring—it’s a testament to the power of following one’s passion.

A Canvas of Curiosity

Dive into the essence of Ralph’s artistry, where Aztec mythology meets the wilds of the Southwest. Discover how a simple bottle of tequila sparked a creative explosion, leading to a series of watercolor masterpieces that blend cultural motifs with the intricate details of local fauna.

The Alchemy of Art

Explore the meticulous techniques behind Ralph’s watercolors, where every detail is a deliberate stroke of genius. From the use of a single-hair brush to the magical corrections made with a dab of water, Ralph’s work is a delicate dance between precision and spontaneity.

From Palette to Passion

Ralph’s journey is more than just a transition from one medium to another; it’s about finding one’s true calling amidst the colors and canvases. His story is a vivid reminder that it’s never too late to embrace your creative destiny.

Episode Highlights:

• Ralph’s unexpected transition from house painting to watercolor artistry, sparked by inspiration from a bottle of tequila.
• The influence of Aztec mythology and Southwestern wildlife on his detailed watercolor pieces.
• His unique approach to art, utilizing extremely fine brushes and a meticulous technique to achieve intricate designs.
• The challenges and joys of working with watercolors, including the ability to correct mistakes and the process of learning through experimentation.
• Ralph’s reflections on his artistic journey, personal growth, and the reception of his work by the art community and enthusiasts.

Immerse Yourself in Ralph’s World

Don’t just listen to his story—experience it. Browse through a gallery of candid shots from our podcast event, making you feel as though you were right there, witnessing the magic unfold. See Ralph’s artistry through his eyes, and let your imagination roam free in the landscapes he’s so intricately painted.

Engage and Explore

• Connect with Us: Have questions or want to express your admiration for Ralph’s work? Reach out through our contact page. We’re always eager to converse with fellow art enthusiasts.
• Dive Deeper into Ralph’s Art: Visit Ralph’s artist page to delve deeper into his portfolio.
• See the Art in Person: Experience the vivid textures and intricate details of Ralph’s work firsthand at the Tucson Gallery, located at 300 E Congress St, Tucson, AZ 85701. Our doors are open Thursday to Friday from 3 PM to 9 PM, Saturday from 11 AM to 9 PM, and Sunday from 11 AM to 5 PM. Come by and let Ralph’s watercolors transport you to a world where every hue tells a story.

Join us in celebrating the artistic voyage of Ralph Philabaum—a journey of exploration, discovery, and boundless creativity.

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

We are back for another installment of Meet the Artist, a production of the Tucson Gallery down here in downtown Tucson. We’re on 300 East Congress, we’re in the Rialto Theater Block across from Hotel Congress, and we feature the work of 30 local artists, actually I think more than that at this point. And sometimes, every now and then, we’re lucky enough to get them to come into the gallery and talk about their work and when they do, we put a microphone in front of them and ask them a bunch of questions and then they get mad at us and they never come back. So we want to take full advantage while they’re here and today we have, I think the only artist in our gallery that works with watercolor, we’ve got Ralph Philabon.

Ralph Philabaum

How are you doing, sir?

Tom Heath

I’m good. Thanks for having me. A little bit closer.

Ralph Philabaum

All right. How are you doing, sir? There we go.

Tom Heath

That’s perfect there. So when we were looking to set up this gallery, my business partners and I, we had a little understanding of art. My partner’s more than myself. And I got to tell you, over the last year and a half, I have learned so much. Like every artist, there’s so much ways that you can create beauty in this world. You chose to use watercolors. Why?

Ralph Philabaum

I had actually never done any art with color other than silk screening prior to that. So, everything I’ve ever done has always just been black and white, ink on paper. And I saw some paintings at a restaurant in Phoenix and they’re really bright and colorful and so I thought I wanted to try something. So the first one I actually did was in colored pencil. Okay. And then I was like, well, let’s try paint. So I went with watercolor. When did you see this work in Phoenix? It was a couple of years ago, actually.

Tom Heath

Oh, so you’ve been doing this for just a few years in watercolor? 14 months, like, yeah. Are you serious? Yeah. Yeah. The intricacy of the work that you do, I mean, I would thought this is like a lifelong pattern.

Ralph Philabaum

It’s got to be the drawing or something, even drawing. I’ve always drawn like that very, very detailed but I never used a paintbrush on a canvas before.

Tom Heath

That is amazing to me. I honestly am, I thought you’ve been doing this for quite a while. Yeah. So, if you look at his work and you can see some of that on our website and you can see more in the gallery, this is extremely intricate and delicate. You know, it’s like you said you have a brush that has like one hair on it?

Ralph Philabaum

Yeah, it’s like it’s a 20 -0, it’s a 20 -0, it’s a really, really, really small, yeah.

Tom Heath

And so, I look at these things and I don’t know how someone can get that fine with a brush and watercolor and into some of these images, that’s…

Ralph Philabaum

Thanks. It’s um, you can you can ink back over also. So, if you go outside the lines, you know, typically I’ll come back with the –

Tom Heath

He just revealed the magic secret, people. I thought the lady was actually levitating. Turns out every now and then you might make a mistake and have to fix it.

Ralph Philabaum

It’s amazing what you can do with watercolor, how you can fix mistakes. You can erase it even, it’s like crazy. Wet it in paper towel and mostly gone and move on, yeah.

Tom Heath

Ah, have you erased anything? Oh, yeah.

Ralph Philabaum

That’s good then. Yeah, the guy that’s here, you know, it’s typical, I’ll be inking something in and I’ll stick my hand right in the middle of wet ink and make a big thing.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ralph Philabaum

There’s actually ink erasers also, which have like some kind of a grit in them that you can carefully grind it away.

Tom Heath

So, you’re like working on something, you lean over and you like put your elbow in it and…

Ralph Philabaum

Yeah,

Tom Heath

yeah. It’s all over the place. Okay. That sounds more like me. That’s what I would be doing. Then what got you into art in the first place? What’s got you drawing?

Ralph Philabaum

I’ve done it since I can remember like in seventh grade, you know, it’s like I’ve always taken art and it’s something I’ve loved forever.

Tom Heath

So art in the seventh grade, it looks, you know, you’re definitely a young man but you’re out of the seventh grade. Yeah. I hope.

Ralph Philabaum

Sixty -three.

Tom Heath

So hopefully you’re not still in the seventh grade. But what, between the seventh grade and 14 months ago, what, had you been selling art? Were you doing things professionally? I’d never.

Ralph Philabaum

I had a silk screening company in the 80s. really small. It was pretty much just me and my father -in -law and mother -in -law would come help and my wife and come help with it. But I was like the salesman and the artist and then they would come help do production at night. And I did that for a little while and it didn’t make enough money to do anything with, so we shut that down. But other than that, no. I just, I drew back then and I stopped until I started messing with this thing.

Tom Heath

Wow, that just seems, I mean, I’m glad you’re doing it now, but it seems like there are a lot of years where I’m curious what would have come out of your mind. Because your stuff is very, it’s very colorful and it’s very creative. You pair, you know, Southwestern animals together and you do it in a way that’s just, it’s a unique vision.

Ralph Philabaum

Thanks, thanks. I think it’s cool and it’s very rewarding that I’m finding that others like it, you know. I never thought I could sell a painting and then moved a few of them, I mean, it’s rewarding.

Tom Heath

Your originals are actually, what size are they? They’re the same size, right? They’re 11 by 16, yeah. Which is fairly small a canvas to work off of with watercolor. I don’t know much about watercolor painters. Did you research, like, why did you pick that size? Is it just what you had in the closet?

Ralph Philabaum

No, it was just what I was comfortable with as far as the details and so forth thinking where your elbow landed Probably wasn’t gonna be quite it could land outside of it It’s a it. It’s just a comfortable size for me. I tried doing some larger ones and It was hard It’s hard for me to Not rush it. Okay, you know you want to be done with it

Tom Heath

So, the 11 by 16 is the right size and fits your style and the nice thing about technology now is the reproductions. You can get a nice reproduction on canvas that is 24 by 36 and you can fit in the space that you need. I think when Tony Ray first saw your work and we saw the reproduction and then he saw your original, he literally called me and said, you won’t believe how intricate this is. It’s 11 by 16. It goes go look at that line and see that line on the big one and then look at how he would have done that on something 11 by 16 So I again, I think we’re just very impressed with your technical skills as well as well as your vision. Thanks. I appreciate it Did you did you go to school for this?

Ralph Philabaum

Did you are you just picking it up and you just no I never went to any formal education on it You know just high school art and junior high art and like one semester of pima college art. Okay

Tom Heath

And do you mind me asking what you do, like you had to make money somehow, were you in any type of artistic environment or like what was your…

Ralph Philabaum

No, my job, I’m a painter by trade, a house painter. I have a small painting company, it’s P3 Contracting, we’re remodeling a painting contractor. So, that was primarily my art before I did this. It’s like we painted the Rialto and that’s, you know, right next door. You painted the exterior, the entry, we restored the ticket booth. That was you? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Okay. That was my art. So, that’s very artistic.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I think so. Yeah, absolutely. Because you have to bring it back to, it’s got to be modern and antique at the same time. Yeah. Again, I think you’re mixing styles back and forth like you do with your art. And it’s, I can’t even describe, you know, your art adequately, so I would definitely have people check it out on the website so they can really get this image. But where do these creature partner pairings come from? Do you see them in the nature and you’re like, hey, I’m going to put these two together or, you know, because you got like a rabbit and a javelina and

Ralph Philabaum

– Right. So, it’s going to sound like a really good story. It all started with a bottle of tequila.

Tom Heath

All right, now we’re getting to the good stuff here.

Ralph Philabaum

One of my employees gave me this bottle of suerte tequila and it had this rabbit on it And I thought this rabbit was totally cool And he had like little things on him like a diamond on his foot and so on and little sparkle things Okay, and then and then probably a year later. I saw another rabbit on a bottle of silencio mezcal and Like what what is it with rabbits and agave based spirits? So I researched it a little bit and it goes back to the Aztecs and the Aztec goddess of fertility and the agave Was my well and my well gave birth to 400 rabbit Children that she breastfed Oakley or pulque which is a rough Version of tequila or Bacanora or Mezcal. And so, these 400 rabbits were these troublemaking deities. And so, that started me on the path of drawing these rabbits and then I got tired of drawing rabbits.

Tom Heath

And the tequila ran out. Then I got a bottle of scotch. Right, yeah.

Ralph Philabaum

And this is where I went. And so, then I started to morph into this Alebrije thing where like the Oaxacan wood carvings and and the painting that are on the Oaxacan woodcarving is going on with the rabbits. The rabbits have their calavera tile patterns and it just kind of grew out from that.

Tom Heath

Well, that kind of explains the next question but I noticed in we were inventorying your work and getting it ready for the gallery, there’s definitely a lot of Aztec influences. You know, some of the pieces you sent to me and this is just ignorant on my part but I had to Google what the name of the piece was and I wasn’t 100 % sure if you’d sent it inaccurately or… Yeah, they’re kind of weird, yeah. Because there’s like the warrior god.

Ralph Philabaum

Yeah. With Szilopochtli is that hummingbird and that was the Aztec god of war and he was either represented as a hummingbird or as an eagle and as a hummingbird, he was known as the blue one and that’s why there’s so much blue in that hummingbird.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ralph Philabaum

And so, that’s him and then Ometochtli was that one, the black rabbit. It was also known as two rabbit. So, of the 400 rabbits, only five of them had names and I can’t name them off for you. That’s okay. It’s not a test. One of them was the winged one, which is the raven and the other that I have is only totally or two rabbit. And so, as I…

Tom Heath

Like what got you into that? Was it literally the tequila that got you into the Aztec and you just started doing more and more and then all this art sort of pours from that? Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. See, tequila does. It does work. It does work. If used in the right application.

Ralph Philabaum

It works in mysterious ways, yeah.

Tom Heath

It was interesting because like the winged one, I saw that and that’s a raven and that made sense to me, right? The winged one. Yeah. I didn’t realize that it had its roots in Aztec culture.

Ralph Philabaum

Yeah. That was one of the rabbits.

Tom Heath

Yeah. Do like all of your works then have some connection to that?

Ralph Philabaum

No. So, I started expanding a little bit with the javelina and that’s where it rolled off into the Alebrijes, the Oaxacan wood carving patterns and then, but a lot of it does.

Tom Heath

I was hoping because you have one called Peeps, like the Easter candy and I was like, man, I’m hoping that has an Aztec root to it. Doesn’t.

Ralph Philabaum

It has Easter candy roots.

Tom Heath

I was like, if I could tie Peeps back, then I can have a cultural snack. Right.

Ralph Philabaum

I looked at her and she was purple and it was Easter I think when I was painting that and I’m like, ah, this is Peeps.

Tom Heath

Is it, do you get into anything that doesn’t involve animals? Is it any landscapes, any people, or does everything have a…

Ralph Philabaum

Not yet. Okay. Next one, I got that grasshopper mouse that I’m working on right now, and then I think the next one I’m going to do is going to be a coyote.

Tom Heath

Okay. And again, you have to see this to understand it. You brought us in one of your originals, and please help me with the name again, Wichipotle?

Ralph Philabaum

It’s Wichipotle, and I don’t know if my novel pronunciation is accurate or not, but… Yeah, it’s like H -U -I -T -Z -I -L -P -O -C -T -H -L -I.

Tom Heath

And that’s the one I had to look up to see. It’s Zillipoke. Is that actually the name or did he like hit the wrong buttons on the phone? But other people know that. But I was looking at it and, you know, it’s the hummingbird and then I’m looking at this piece for a while and then you draw my attention, you like zero in like from outer space and you know how they bring those satellite images in down to the finest point. You just zoom all the way down and I look and you tell me and you show me, there’s this little tiny hummingbird feeder. Right.

Ralph Philabaum

Hanging off a saguaro.

Tom Heath

And it’s barely the size of like a needle, like the head of a needle hanging off of a saguaro way in the background of this photo and it’s, you know, when you look at it, it’s actually got definition. It’s not just like a red blob that’s a, it’s, anyway, I just, I just think that’s, that’s

Ralph Philabaum

fun. I put some stuff in there like that. I’ve got one called Blood Moon that has a, and now I’m not going to remember the name of the rabbit constellation, but it has the rabbit constellation in the sky. Okay. Lepus is what it’s called. Lepus.

Tom Heath

Lepus. Yeah. There’s a bee film called The Night of the Lepus, The Killer Lepus, or something filmed in Tucson. I remember seeing something about that. I may have seen it. With the killer rabbits. Yeah, it’s filmed here, so I had to see it. And it was a horrible movie. It was awesome. And I think Tequila was involved with that as well. The direction, yeah. So, 14 months into this and I’ve noticed you’ve been doing a lot of shows. You got one coming up here down. You just came back from Tuvok. You’ve got one coming up at the Museum of Art.

Ralph Philabaum

Tuvok Museum of Art this weekend, yeah, I bet, yeah.

Tom Heath

So, unfortunately, by the time this airs, that will have passed, but you’re getting out there. I mean, for 14 months. I know a lot of artists that we’ve interviewed on this show that have been doing art for years before they really get the courage to go out and into the world but 14 months that’s for the amount of work that you’ve done and being in this place it really seems like quite aggressive.

Ralph Philabaum

I’ve been in sales most of my life and so it doesn’t bother me to walk in and knock on somebody’s door and just say hey look at this what do you think it won’t hurt my feelings if you hate it you know it’s uh I’m not tender like that so I’m not afraid for somebody to say get out earlier. But yeah, it’s crazy actually. When the very first one sold and the first one that sold was the winged one. I had another guy at Petroglyphs if that’s okay. Oh yeah, of course. Petroglyphs over in the Mercado. Yeah. And he’s actually sold like 10 pieces. I mean, it’s just been really gratifying. I mean, it’s a feel -good thing. Good. Yeah, Godzilla Polk Lee just got accepted to be at Steinfeld’s for the Art Walk. Nice. So, it’s, you know, that one will be there, I think, for four or five weeks.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ralph Philabaum

Yeah. Unless you sell it tonight. Well, that’s our goal.

Tom Heath

We want to ruin the Steinfeld Art Walk. Well, I hope we sell it, but if we don’t tonight, it’s going to move pretty quickly, as I would imagine. You haven’t put your originals out. I haven’t put any out. Yeah, so when you’re

Ralph Philabaum

selling pieces, you’re selling reproductions. Yeah, they actually blow up really cool. Yeah. The way the colors separate. But we do have a couple originals in there. I mean, do you

Tom Heath

intend to start selling originals or is that something you just… I think so. You know,

Ralph Philabaum

I didn’t know where to go with them. It was actually Tony Ray that talked to me and you guys, you and Darren. So yeah, I put some out at Tubach, just dealers.

Tom Heath

Okay. Well I think when you find the people that really get into what you’re doing, they see exactly what you’re doing, and you’re gonna find an audience in 14 months. I don’t think it’s enough time for people to really fully understand what you’re putting out. And you just keep working the shows, working the exhibits, getting the galleries, and you know, people are gonna start recognizing because there’s a distinctive style about a Ralph Filibon. Oh cool, thank you. And they’re all signed Rafa. Yeah. What is Rafa? Is that the…

Ralph Philabaum

Rafa is short for Raphael. Okay. Because art by Ralph just isn’t like there, you know.

Tom Heath

Not when you say it like that.

Ralph Philabaum

Art by Ralph. Yeah. My dad made fun of my name. My dad.

Tom Heath

Did he have anything to do with the naming of you or did he want to call you Raphael?

Ralph Philabaum

No, he named me after his best friend, you know.

Tom Heath

Just don’t be an artist. Yeah. If you do, change your name to Raphael. I saw the Rafa and I was like, you know, I assumed it was a shortened version of Ralph Philip on somewhere in there because that is a lot to paint in watercolors on a painting. You’d have to go for a larger size, 16 by 20 just to get your whole name on there. And so, we have some of the work in the gallery, you’re in a few other places. You mentioned Petroglyphs, you’re going to be at Steinfeld. What about personally? Do you have your own website? Do you have social media? How do people follow you?

Ralph Philabaum

I have Art by Rafa on Facebook and I have artbyrafa .com website that my daughter -in -law

Tom Heath

built for me. Nice. All right. Well, I can’t wait to see the next 14 months. This has just been an explosion. So, in the next 14 months, I guess this will be those interviews where I’m like, oh, I talked to him way back when when he was just getting started. That’s going to be it. And if you want to see any of Ralph’s work, if you want to, I’m sorry, Rafa’s work, Rafael, I’m not Ralph, gonna see any of his work. We’ve got several of them up on our website. We’re getting a few more up in the coming weeks. It’s the TucsonGallery .com. There’s an artist section, you can check him out as well as any of our other 30 plus artists here in Tucson. While you’re there, there’s social, or sorry, there’s a media page that has all the podcasts. So if you wanna listen to other artists or you might wanna hear the replay of this one, you can do it there. And we encourage you to check out our events page and sign up for our newsletter because you’ll get a notification once a month when people like Ralph

Tom Heath

Willebaum are coming into the gallery to highlight what they do. And that’s kind of special because if you didn’t sign up and you don’t know, you missed it. I’m sorry, but he brought in a work in progress, which is always fun. So, we’re going to get to see kind of that product before it’s finished. It’s got a big, I saw a big elbow stain on it.

Ralph Philabaum

Yeah, you can’t find it now though.

Tom Heath

Well, Ralph, I greatly appreciate your time. This is a lot of fun and I’m really excited about your future.

Ralph Philabaum

Thank you. I really appreciate the opportunity that you guys have given me. Thank you.

Tom Heath

Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist, a production by the Tucson Gallery, located inside of the Proper Shops at 300 East Conger Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price, and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to TheTucsonGallery .com for more information about our live events, listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts, and check out the wide selection of art, gifts, and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought -provoking, and forward -thinking artists.

Photo Gallery

Transcript (Unedited)

All right, welcome back to another episode of Meet the Artist. It’s a production of the Tucson Gallery in downtown Tucson. We’re located at 300 East Congress Street. We’re across from Hotel Congress. We’re in the same block as the Rialto Theater. All kinds of good stuff happening in downtown Tucson. And Tucson Gallery is proud to be situated right here in a busy corner of Congress and Fifth. Every now and then, we’re lucky enough to have one of our famous artists from Tucson come into the gallery. And when they do we snag them put some headphones on and say let’s talk. Yeah today. We’re talking with one of our fabulous muralists The very well -known here in Tucson, and I think right now right now controversial. Yes muralist Ignacio Garcia

Yes, welcome. Hey, thank you for having me. I appreciate this time. All right, so the first question How many murals have you done four thousand five thousand? No, actually, I’ve just counted them I think maybe around 40 50. No, these are just like For the public to see but oh, yeah, the residential ones for that when I started I’m sure there’s probably maybe another 20 I think so not much not much. No, you’ve done more than that. I’m sure I have I literally went to my all my My resources there that I had and I think was around

maybe 50s to 60s. Not much. That surprised me. I mean, I know they’re big so

they take a lot of time. I think so. I don’t, I try not to rush it. That’s probably the reason why I really take my time on it and because when you have something that speaks for itself, it stands out. So, I really enjoy that and so I don’t try to mark my territory. So, you’re a quality not quantity guy. Absolutely, yeah, definitely.

I had the privilege for the other podcast to do Life Along the Streetcar. I interviewed a couple in 2023 who had recently gotten married and for their wedding they didn’t ask for gifts, they asked for money for their GoFundMe site so you could do their mural.

That’s right, that’s right. I was quite surprised, I was honored and I was like, what a great idea. And just to kind of show his love towards his wife to have this beautiful mural and what they’re all about. I was like, let’s do it, let’s do it. So I was really stoked for it.

And I remember talking with them, I said, did you ask Ignacio what to do? Did he give you an idea? And then I get the response was, you know what, we gave him some thoughts as to what we wanted to have incorporated, but we wanted him to have the freedom to create his vision of that. And that got me thinking, like how do these murals get created? Do you go to someone and say, hey, I wanna do this on your wall? Or do they come to you with a vision Or do they say, hey, we’d kind of like something that’s fun and…

It’s a little bit of everything. I think, first of all, is what they are all about. I like to kind of read their brains and kind of dissect what their personality is. And from there, I like to kind of do some research and then I kind of give that back to them and say, what do you think? And they just love it. And so kind of go back and forth. It’s a sense of appreciation of what they’re all about because I just like doing different things. I’m just very curious of what how people think and what they’re all about and I kind of like to express that So and again, it’s every projects different and I like the challenge of that. I think it’s probably because of that It’s just learning along the way and you need to meet people and surprisingly It’s just the information that I gained from that just a one -on -one person. It’s just I like it’s addicting

I mean so by the time the mural actually gets by the time you start putting paint on on a wall You you’ve done this mural dozens of times in paper and print, and you’ve worked back and forth.

Yes, it takes me at least, the research takes me probably twice as long to do it right, because to make sure to, the thing is that, you know, wherever the wall is at, you want to see how it complements the building and the surrounding. You don’t want to have like an eyesore that people will just kind of be like, and it just takes away from other beauty elements around the community or the buildings. So I try to balance everything out because it does complement the surroundings as well.

But yeah, I have to kind of make sure everything’s fine. And sometimes, you’d be surprised, I try to throw it in a little something ugly, just kind of balance it out. Because I think that’s one of my little tricks that I try to do because you have, for example, five different renders to kind of start off. You have to throw one in there that’s completely way off and just kind of weird. Just to kind of, you have to kind of refresh your eye in that way. Okay, interesting. So, but sometimes they like that. So it kind of throws everything off from the original. But I love that adventure and it kind of, it’s just, it’s always, it’s just fascinating. It’s like exploring a new territory.

every single time. So when did you know you were gonna be a muralist? At what point, I mean, did you, what were you doing before you were painting on walls? I was,

I was actually painting musicians, like celebrities, and this was… Painting

portraits of them, or painting on them, like Kiss, like going on stage? Yeah, like naked

painting on their body, you know. No, it’s portraits of what they do, because usually, I used to work in the radio station as a DJ, so I used to do live, yeah, like mixing live. And so with that, you get to meet the artist. And then before they become famous, you get to meet them in person. So that’s kind of how I got my way into it. And they kind of wanted some approach to themselves and finding out they became world famous, like Eminem, for example. I mean, that can just go on like back in the early 2000s.

So – That wasn’t in Tucson though.

It was in Tucson and in Phoenix. Okay. So this was something that kind of come came unexpected in my lab I was actually in Phoenix at that time DJing and I just I needed to come to Tucson to get away from Phoenix for a bit and it was only going to be for like three months and then I’m staying here and working in the radio for hot 98 and Yeah, so I was there for two and a half years, you know

And you meet these artists and then you would start to unlike portraits of them started doing portraits. Yeah towards the end

Clear Channel took over, so it wasn’t the same. The creative field was pretty much gone. So then slowly we just kind of networking with them and figuring out a way to help out the new artists. So at that time, musicians were actually depending on the DJs because we were playing their music in the clubs to get their word out there. So that’s how they were coming to us. We were more valuable at that time. And to see where DJs stand now, it’s unremarkable to me.

You know and so then at what point did you decide hey, I want to I want to paint on walls

So so then I had this guy That my sister was getting his hair hair done by him wanted a portrait of himself So he liked it so much. He just came up and say hey, would you like to paint my ceiling like a you know? Yes, it’s like really kind of kind of Versace, you know, you know elaborate. Mm -hmm, you know ornate house I was like, oh, yeah, it’s a really cool idea, you know, it’s like, yeah, let’s try it out. It was just more like a fun thing to do. He trusted me. I was like, you know, we can, we can always repaint it. So it was something to kind of try out. Turned out to, it ended up being like three months doing that, and every, you know, it ended up being a three month project, that was my first mural. And so, surprisingly, it just took off like crazy. So now I’m gonna show you this real quick that way you’ll see what this is my first. This is great radio people

He’s showing pictures. So I know I

Have you this radio? I would want you to to to explain what you see here real quick. Oh, no, he’s gonna put

He’s gonna flip this around on me. Oh, no

Okay, never mind. I guess I can’t find it right now. Well, what we’ll do is So this was my first mural this is like the Sistine Chapel exactly this I mean

I mean, we got to put this on the Tucson Gallery’s Facebook page so they can see this, but this looks like it’s like a church in Rome, like done by one of the great masters. That’s incredible. Yeah, that was me.

I was 23 years old. That’s you? That’s me.

Oh, yeah, we got to put this picture on Facebook so people can see that because that does not look like you. It looks like a little kid.

Yeah, that was a long time ago, and that’s how it all started. and then kind of word spread and then did a lot of these fresco kind of

because at that time that was popular yeah and now now you see a lot of public work so what does that look like how do you get into the into the public setting is that do you do audition for that or do people come seek you out at first you

just ask hey you know can I paint your wall sure you know again you know you it’s a great way to kind of get your your name out there but you know at first is, you know, let’s see, 10 years ago, people thought it was like, oh, it’s kind of cool, but it wasn’t as gravitating as it is now. I mean, now it’s like globally people want to put murals everywhere. I think it’s going to last for a long time now because it’s the only way, it’s like it’s a marketing strategy and overall it’s not like social media that’s always instant because now you’re actually seeing a big piece. So I think that’s becoming an outdoor gallery everywhere. So it’s it’s gonna pretty much gonna last there. So yeah, so yeah

I don’t know how murals work across the country But in Tucson it seems like we’ve spent a lot of time trying to create something that is Appropriate for the building appropriate for the neighborhood appropriate for the topic So it’s it’s not just something that’s just a commercial for whatever the business is. It’s really about the community

No, I I live deliberately. That was my mission at first. This was like 10 years ago to kind of create a kind of a an outdoor gallery. I don’t know why. I think it’s just that it was a stupid idea that I had at that time because you know I was like well if people go to Italy and they see all these beautiful pieces in you know in the public and it’s historic you have to see these frescoes and all that. So I’m like why can’t Tucson have that? You know what I mean? Or anywhere can have that. So I was like Tucson was a great place to breathe that. And then so And then of course, the people here are just so open and friendly and they’re like, yeah, sure. So slowly started becoming that way in the public. But then I think 2016, that’s when it kind of started. But what it really, really started was after COVID. I think after George Floyd, that kind of made the statement of putting the message across. And somehow it just kind of carried it on its own, surprisingly but I’ll never forget that. I mean

people think it’s just kind of went on on its own but I honestly think I mean it was the George Floyd incident that actually sparked that and kind of put that message across and because of that it allowed artists to really put their you know their talent in in there

and then just kind of spread it that way. I think I think the community impact is important you know economically it’s a huge win for Tucson I mean you know in the Tucson Gallery, people come in for the murals, the people come to Tucson to tour murals. I mean, the collective muralist population is creating a lot of economic development for Tucson.

Yes. And that’s something that I learned along the way that I’m like, you know, if this is gonna be something that we can provide and including with the other artists that I actually talked to them, this was actually during COVID. I talked to Joe Padgett and Jessica Gonzalez, as well as Isaac Caruso. I was trying to get Rocky Sci -Fi to kind of say, hey, let’s team up here instead of, you know, instead of being independently and kind of not knowing each other, I think let’s just kind of collaborate. So, originally, I had an idea. It’s like, so we ended up going to Joe’s Padgett’s house and then we had a meeting and I was surprised that they would follow through. So, it was really nice to the first time to actually meet other muralists exactly the same, I know, hard work that we do behind, you know, painting, to be, you know, painting a mural. But, and then since then we just kind of felt like we understood the hard work that goes along with it. So we kind of became closer because of that

because not many people understood the hard work that went behind it. So, and it’s hard to explain that to people that, you know, so we just clicked. And since then we’ve just been helping each other out and helping other artists and supporting them and trying to influence other artists, too, as well.

I know when we started the gallery, you were the first person we approached, and long story behind that, which we won’t get into here, but one of your missions at that time was to make sure that other people had an opportunity to get into the art world. It wasn’t just about selling your work, it was about giving an opportunity for others.

That was my mission for a very long time. I felt that if having these public pieces of work, one thing that I … Okay, the reason why I had a passion for that is because when I was living in LA I’d see these beautiful works and during that art movement of the street art that was happening at that time with you know Banksy and Shepard Barry Shepard Fairey you know the invader these were like the beginning stages of the street art so that was the kind of the the beginning of like being street art finally getting accepted and then but I was there I was there to see that that development happen and so and I’m like why Tucson cannot have this type of quality of work So, and then I was like, well, let’s see where it goes. Let’s see where, you know, putting these types of work and putting that quality into it because this is exactly what I felt that Tucson needed. Because before it was the art world in Tucson wasn’t not like well -received and it was just devalued. And that’s what really aggravated

me. It’s like, you know, people are really working hard to sell a painting, but they’re getting less value for it. So then I decided, people need to be exposed by this and so that’s why I decided to push it hard for myself. And I’m doing this by myself in some cases, you know what I mean? It’s something I have a mission to do to kind of influence anyone or young artists or any artist that has that ability to do that or wants to do that.

So yeah, I know you’ve been very good with your time and if you follow Ignacio, you know and reach out to him on social Media, he’s usually pretty good about responding and and where he can providing some guidance I know you’ve been very helpful to a lot of young artists. Yeah, absolutely

I mean whatever I can do any tips and stuff more than happy to do it, but it it’s hard man. It’s no joke It’s it’s a hard You know medium that to to get yourself into I mean I’m like, I’m not worried like like being outside in the cold freezing cold You know, I mean the weather is unpredictable

I went up in that lift one time with you just to get a experience and I’m like, whoa This is like it’s vertigo up here. It’s very vertical. This thing starts shaking. You’re like man. You got a paint on that

Absolutely. So that’s why I wanted you come because it was a very important to me to for you to describe it How it is as a muralist, you know in that level, you know I’m like my face is halfway burnt because you know, there’s so much Sun that kind of reflects back to the wall So I’m kind of like, freezer burnt, you know?

Well, we’re part of an event today called Meet the Artist, and I’m gonna start wrapping it up here because we got a pretty big crowd waiting to meet with you. And part of the reason why, and I kind of can’t let this go without circling back, is the controversy. So we’ve had a mural on the side of the Rialto since 2016. Yes. It’s called Jack and Bill, it’s a jackalope with Bill Walton as a little cowboy riding this jackalope. Yes. And after seven years, with you and the Rialtos, it was time to change this.

Yes.

And so what goes into that? I mean, what makes that decision for you?

So, let’s start off with this. First of all, the original idea was actually a little girl riding the jacket. It was a representation.

Are you calling Bill Walton a little girl?

I’m not, I’m in the middle, I’m in the middle. I can’t decide. So, to be honest, it’s just when the rodeo days, always that it happened here and I’m like this only Tucson has this so I’m like what a great way to kind of represent Tucson that way you know I mean so I thought of like you know instead of having a horse you know or like anything I was like how cool would it be a jackal it would be because not many people knew what a jackal it was and so so I came out this concept and I just like this is great the day before I started wanted to start to paint they they ended up changing it to, hey, can you change him, can you change it to Bill Walton? And I’m like in front of all these people here, and I’m like, who’s Bill Walton? And they’re like, what, you don’t know? I was like, I’m sorry, I don’t, I’m just an artist.

If you don’t know, Bill Walton is a sportscaster, he’s a former basketball player, son played at the U of A, and if you listen to U of A broadcast, he is sometimes, he’s a little bit verbose, and that means some people like him, some people don’t, but a lot of people, if you follow U of A basketball, at least know him.

Exactly. It’s amazing to know that this just even just the opportunity to know that that change I it was completely unexpected on my end, but to know that that controversial situation definitely Kind of put me in the middle of it, but I’m still the same. I I don’t know I’m not into sports. So I’m not I don’t know much Yeah, so it’s like one of those people that really hate them or people love them or just don’t know so I’m in the category that I just don’t know because I’m not into much of the sports, so I’m sorry.

But then that’s been up there for a while, and now what you’re painting is, tell us about the one you’re doing.

So the reason why it was, for a while I’ve been wanting to paint over it because it felt like, it didn’t feel like it was downtown, it was more like a university kind of a perspective. And so, and then didn’t get the chance, and then now a new owner’s involved, so like now finally kind of got that gateway to be open. So it took a while to kind of get this opportunity and going but finally it went through and then and I felt like something that kind of again a sense of an identity of what Tucson is. People love the empowered woman so I’m like well maybe I can kind of branch it off but now it’s like for the first time I could actually paint something that it’s really about me in my style for the first time I actually kind of expressing myself as an artist and it’s bizarrely to go back to the traditional ways or traditional art it’s just interesting because it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of work. It’s time consuming. But I’m so devoted to it to make it look just perfect and to really reflect

on Tucson what it is. Because I mean to know that one number another thing that I really wanted to kind of connect to is that the growing music scene that’s coming here to Tucson. And that felt like I needed to have that connected for the future of the to see how far it goes. So before we

wrap up though, tell us a little bit about what the image will look like and of course we’ll have this on the Facebook page and you’ll see it as but

it’s like a guitarista? Yeah, la guitarista. Yeah, the woman in the guitar. Yeah, or the female guitarist. And it’s very beautiful, it’s very colorful.

If you’ve seen The Empowered Woman, it has a similar style. Yeah. And it’s it’s just it seems appropriate for the side of the Rialto. Yeah and I want to make

this clear this is something that I did not lean to lean to that style I mean it’s just because it’s something that people can really connect to so I out of respect it’s just like I think it’s the right thing how it’s kind of shifting on its own and to see how Tucson is actually to be honest I think Tucson is actually shaping it the way it is so I’m following and listening to the people and valuing and see how it’s evolving. And that kind of represents what I’m used to, what I’m seeing on the Tucson scene. So this is not my major perspective. But it’s something that kind of how the community kind of made this in this way.

Absolutely. And we’re going to have to wrap up because we’ve got a large crowd here forming for Mr. Ignacio Garcia. If you want to listen to other podcasts, you can head over to our website. It’s the TucsonGallery .com. Under the Meet the Artist section there, you can find different podcasts we’ve had with many of the different artists in the gallery. And then you want to sign up for the newsletter while you’re there because then you can find out about all these meet and greet opportunities and find out when Ignacio will be here next. And as long as we have, at the gallery, we’ve worked out with Ignacio, as long as we have those Bill Walton and Jackalope prints of the mural, a lot of them are going to go tonight, but as long as we have them, they’re free. So give us a call or come on down to the gallery and we can get you one of the free versions that are available. But that’s just to, again, to support the community and thank you and look forward to the next one. But Ignacio, thank you

so much for your time.

Well, thank you, Tom. I wish I could have talked some more about it, but yeah, we got it.

We’ll get you back on.

We’ll do a second version of this. All right. Thank you. You’re welcome.

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

This episode of Meet the Artist contains language and references to alcohol addiction. If you are looking for help with an alcohol addiction, you can reach the National Rehab Hotline at 866 -210 -1303.

Tom Heath

Welcome back to Meet the Artist. It’s a feature of the Tucson Gallery in downtown Tucson. We get to hang out with all these cool artists and they come and tell us their stories and keep all these podcasts on our website. It is the TucsonGallery .com. TucsonGallery .com, you can listen to past episodes. You can also see the work that we have available from each of these artists. And most importantly, there’s a newsletter you can sign up and learn about when they’re going to be in, because all these people do amazing things. And a chance to meet them, I think, is certainly worth signing up for a newsletter. That’s all done at the Tucson Gallery 300 East Congress. We’re across the street from Hotel Congress next to the Rialto, can’t miss us, we’re right on the corner. And today’s featured artist, he’s got a multidisciplined artist. He’s got some dance repertoire, he’s got some creative designs, does some artwork, and his name is Brian Dahl. Brian, thanks for joining us today.

Brian Dahl

Thank you very much for having me.

Tom Heath

And it’s Dahl, D -A -H -L. Correct. All right. You know, when I first met you, we were just opening the gallery, we were doing a meeting, opening the proper shops, we were doing a meeting, and you have your own space here. You are in the gallery, but you also have your own space where you do lots of stuff. And you introduced yourself as the guy who dances on Congress. Correct. And I said, huh, I thought that was just a weird thing, like why would he say that? And I realized that’s your business.

Brian Dahl

Yes. I branded myself as the guy who dances on Congress. So, I think we need to delve a little bit more deeply with that. So you’re, you tend to dance inside of the clubs, not necessarily right on Congress.

Brian Dahl

Not on Congress Street, but inside the clubs. Where I started was at Hotel Congress. And it was with Hump House. I was actually talking business with him. What is Hump House? Hump House is a local DJ, one of the better ones in town. So when was this, roughly? What year is this? I would say probably about 2016, 2017, roughly.

Tom Heath

Okay, so you’re talking six, seven years ago, you’re talking to a DJ.

Brian Dahl

On the stage, he was doing his thing and I was just watching and talking business with him at the nightclub. But then I started moving and people started recognizing me and said, Hey, you’re the guy who dances at Congress. You’re like famous. People know you. So yes, people recognize me and me and Hump House realized we could easily brand this and make this a thing and make people understand you can brand yourself quite easily and have an avenue how to market yourself.

Tom Heath

Okay, because that leads into some of the work that you do because you also help, now using that sort of philosophy, you work with small businesses and others to help brand them through social media mainly, right?

Brian Dahl

Mostly social media, but I also then help them, link them with other business partners. Okay. That’s big in business is to work with other people.

Tom Heath

All right, and you design, You have some of your own designs that you’ve got out there. We’ve got a couple on our website. Your profile is listed there, but your shop has obviously so much more. But tell us a little bit about what’s going on with this artwork here. What is –

Brian Dahl

So I started out promoting positive vibes only, but realized there was a lot of pushback. So I wanted to say, it’s not just about being positive, but being positive most of the time, go through the emotions. So I’ve also come out with it’s okay not to be okay. Okay, it’s okay to be okay And it’s okay to be okay, so you have to be able to deal with all your emotions All right, and then that that gets out in the world through like the t -shirts He shares social media stickers a little bit of everything and just I keep branding it branding it branding it So people know me as that guy

Tom Heath

Okay, and the the stuff that I’ve seen it’s interesting there’s similar messaging, but then it changes formats. Like you’ve got, for example, you have a sticker that has this information on it and it’s a heart, it’s okay to be okay, it’s okay not to be okay. But then you also have the same image and you have like the right half and the left half of the heart that come together to form a complete picture.

Brian Dahl

Correct, so there’s, you want to have different, be able to market different images into one because it’s like you have two different personalities, three different personalities, but it’s okay to be those.

Tom Heath

Speaking of different personalities, we don’t have the camera for this, but your hair is different today. It’s like red and spiky. Is this for the podcast where you’re like, oh man, I need to get dressed

Brian Dahl

up? I had to get ready for the podcast and show up, but no, it’s for Halloween. I’m going to be Jimmy Neutron, and right now I’m evil Jimmy Neutron.

Tom Heath

Okay. What does that mean? You’re evil?

Brian Dahl

So in the cartoon, off the movie, there was a version of him as evil. And they’re split instead of like a Johnny Bravo, Curly Q, the older people.

Tom Heath

PPR. Gotcha. So, so you’re, you’re in transition to be Johnny Bravo. JNL. No, Jimmy, Jimmy Neutron. PPR. I’m so uncool.

Brian Dahl

JNL. But for older people, it’s, people know basically it’s Johnny Bravo to an extent.

Tom Heath

PPR. And for older, older people like me, we just nod our head and say, oh, that’s so nice.

Brian Dahl

JNL. Yeah.

Tom Heath

PPR. So your, your career, this dancing, I mean, it, it’s no longer just at Congress. You’re, So you’ve been hired by clubs and like what your role is to.

Brian Dahl

So I’m out three to four nights a week dancing for three to four hours straight to get people to dance. I’m that icebreaker. And then I keep them going.

Tom Heath

Okay. And then like, do you dance with them or do you dance like in a cage? How do you get them going?

Brian Dahl

So sometimes it’s next to the DJ on the stage. Sometimes it’s on the floor. It just depends at the bar or the nightclub. It’s different in each spot. So I’ve danced at Hotel Congress, Playground, General Ben’s, Highwire, Cobra are some of

Tom Heath

them and Zen Rock have been a few. So you get out there and then the DJ or the club pays you because they want to create some energy and you just help to add to that.

Brian Dahl

Yeah, I’m very high vibes, positive vibes. So I’m always going and really rambunctious.

Tom Heath

Okay, and then I’ve seen you’re also doing some stuff now on social media where you’re I think was at high wire Where you were questioning people in line and recording their answers and such

Brian Dahl

So yes, I’m the guy who dances on Congress asking questions in line at high wire That’s that’s gonna be need a bigger t -shirt for that and that’s from usually on Saturday nights from like 12 to 12 30 really roughly do it

Tom Heath

so before Before 2016, 17, Hump House, were you a dancer? Did you go out and just dance or?

Brian Dahl

So ironically, no, I did not dance at all, really. I just went out and had fun. Okay.

Tom Heath

And then just one night, I mean, tell me kind of what’s going through your mind.

Brian Dahl

So I worked for a few different shirt brands and companies that made me able to understand branding.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Brian Dahl

And then I worked at corporations that I understood how to make it a systems to the T.

Tom Heath

Okay. But that branding and systems to the T that…

Brian Dahl

That helps in my broader object is to consult with people.

Tom Heath

Okay. But still, I’m still thinking about this night with Hump House. Like, what led you to start kind of dancing? Was it…

Brian Dahl

So it gave me the, I would say, building my brand, people seeing me, and it’s a way of building an audience.

Tom Heath

But when you started, was that your intent? Like, hey, I could become famous for dancing? Or did you start, like, what moved you? The music, I mean.

Brian Dahl

I just moved with the music.

Tom Heath

I just went with the music. And at what point did you realize, I know people recognize you, but at what point did you realize, hey, this is a brand? Was it quickly?

Brian Dahl

No, it took probably about a year. I slowly transitioned into it. At first with stickers. I added and that was an easy thing to hand out because everyone slaps it on their hydro flask now And that I put on my sticker my the guy who dances on Congress so everyone looks at my social media

Tom Heath

Then at what point did someone say hey this guy who doesn’t at the time doesn’t dance regularly But now is dancing like he would be good for creating energy like who came up with that idea Yeah.

Brian Dahl

I would probably say Hump House. Okay. Hump House was kind of the one who I would, I only danced with Hump House for a long time, but then I branched off on my own finally.

Tom Heath

So he just called you up and said, Hey, why don’t you come out and dance and create a little, create a little energy and all.

Brian Dahl

We were friends. So we were like, Hey, I’m going to come out and talk to you anyways. Let’s, let’s build this. Let’s make this a, make it a thing because people are having fun.

Tom Heath

Okay. And now we’re, we’re six or seven years into this and at what point, there’s usually a tipping point in a brand where people understand what that means. Have we reached that tipping point? I don’t think so. Okay.

Brian Dahl

I think we’re close, but I don’t think we’re there yet. Interesting. There’s still a lot of work to do and I’m out three to four nights a week pushing, dancing, so people see me.

Tom Heath

Man, that’s just, that’s gonna be exhausting.

Brian Dahl

And then I’m at proper shops every day we’re open.

Tom Heath

Well, let’s talk, let’s switch gears. I’m sorry, I’m fascinated with the dancing because it’s such an interesting way to build a brand and and it’s just I just love that you just took it and went with it. So why I

Brian Dahl

picked dancing was I’m showing I’m trying to show everyone that you can do it out of anything it’s just you have to put the work in. So then you take this

Tom Heath

brand and the proper shops open and if you’re not familiar the Tucson Gallery sits inside of the proper shops as well it’s a collective we have somewhere around 15 different independent retailers Brian is one we also have clothing, jewelry, other artwork, metalwork, a fabulous woodshop in your booth.

Brian Dahl

What do you offer through your store? So my store is, I call it TGWDLC. It’s the guy who dances on Congress shop. And it’s all my merchandise, my logo on shirts, cups, hats, whatever I can get my hands on for merchandise wise.

Tom Heath

And so people obviously, some people know that and they come in for that, but you’re also selling to people that have no idea, like before I met you, I had no idea, but I liked the vibe.

Brian Dahl

Yeah, so the messages I push on there is positive vibes or it’s okay not to be okay, or power of positivity, because there’s too much negativity in the world. So I’m pushing these key issues that we need to make normalized.

Tom Heath

Do you, with the design, are you a graphic designer or how did you come through to create some of this stuff?

Brian Dahl

So, I had help originally with my first one, Black Broccoli and Carne Queso from Cream helped me design it. So, Black Broccoli is his own business company and then Cream Carne Seca is his own company also and it’s a screen printing company. And they helped me for the first year or so get my logo started and then I realized I needed to do it myself. So, I got the programs and started slowly learning and still learning.

Tom Heath

Yeah. So, you’re a self -taught dancer, you’re a self -taught brander, you’re a self -taught graphic designer. You like to take your own path in the world.

Brian Dahl

Yes. So, I say I went to hippie school. So, it kind of led me to… What is hippie school? So, it’s a progressive education. I went from 5 to 18 and graduated from that school pass fail. Okay. So you had to be you had to be motivated to be there.

Tom Heath

All right. So you graduated from hippie school and that has led you to kind of finding things out on your own? Yeah. Seeing the world from a different point of view than most. Okay. That seems very, from what I know of you, that seems very accurate. You do come with a really strong energy and I think that’s pretty evident to anybody that meets you. Thank you. You know,

Tom Heath

you’re out in these clubs dancing, working up a sweat, and I know, and this might be a little too personal if it is, just let me know, but I do know that you went through some challenges with alcohol and have since kind of really kind of avoided it at this point. Is that something you can talk about?

Brian Dahl

Yes. No, we can talk about it for sure because I’m very, I try to be open book. It’s that hippie schooling. Exactly. I was a party boy, I call it, and I partied hard for a long time. And I am actually now sober for eight years, eight plus years.

Tom Heath

Paul Jay So, so your sobriety came prior to dancing? Paul Jay Interesting.

Brian Dahl

James LeBell So the self -help, I think, actually reading and stuff, helped me to understand I can do whatever I want, and I don’t need alcohol to numb it.

Tom Heath

Paul Jay Wow. That’s very interesting. I mean, I knew part of that story, but I really would have assumed it happened that,

Brian Dahl

you know,

Tom Heath

the alcohol is what got you into the dancing because that seems to be what happens for a lot

Brian Dahl

of people. I mean, I did dance, but I wasn’t known as the guy who dances at Congress. I was just a crazy dancer and I was very wild and I was kicked out of a few bars. I was 86 out of a bar recently until this last year because of my old times. And that was eight plus years they had me kicked out. And understandably, I was not, I was friendly, but I was sometimes, I got too much.

Tom Heath

And I mean, it just, I know it seems odd to me that someone that is going through that, I mean, it’s probably a daily struggle, but now you put yourself right back in that environment.

Brian Dahl

Is that? To me, I’m able to not even think about it. I have, I’ve used other things like an energy drink or water to have in my hand, and I don’t even think about alcohol now. It’s not even a question, because where I’m headed is somewhere way better.

Tom Heath

And did you go through like a program? How did you?

Brian Dahl

So technically, no, at the time when I quit, I did not I when I was younger, I did have a super extreme DUI. I’m not shy to say that. And I did have no alcohol for a year. But I started drinking again after that. But again, then after that, I stopped cold turkey.

Tom Heath

Do you remember? Was it a moment? Or was it a thought?

Brian Dahl

I just was basically on my last cat life. If I did something stupid, I would have killed someone or killed myself.

Tom Heath

That’s pretty amazing to recognize that because a lot of people that I’ve known over the years that when they’re in that place, they don’t see it and it can get dark pretty quickly and I’m glad that you did.

Brian Dahl

Thank you. I do say if you need help, get help. There’s people out there who can help. There’s many different organizations, AAA, or is it AA, sorry, not AA. But AA, yeah, because they can tow your car. Yeah. If you heard it, you can get your car towed, but there’s AA if you need to use that route. Use it because it does help.

Tom Heath

Yeah. I think a lot of people would struggle with doing it the way that you did that. I mean, courage to you and kudos to you, but it’s…

Brian Dahl

It’s not… Yeah, it’s not normal, I would say. And I left the bar scene for about six months. I cut a lot of friends out for six months or so. And some friends I don’t still talk to. Some friends I do, but they’re friends I only talk to for five minutes. They’re hiking friends. They’re sports friends.

Tom Heath

I appreciate, I appreciate you sharing that. And that probably has a lot to do with some of this resolve that you’ve had to help build the brand over this time and kind of curious to see where all this, where all this takes us.

Brian Dahl

It’s going to go much farther than people believe. There’s a few projects in the works right now that I’m really excited about anything. You can share Yeah, one of them’s actually where I got just got my co -host for we’re gonna do a podcast What he’s cutting into my time people but our book club for a book club. All right All right I’ll let I will let it pass and I got hump house media to be my guy to shoot that all So tell me about this podcast. It sounds interesting. So we’re going to do a book What I can reveal right now is we’re going to read a book for two episodes. It’ll be in two episodes, we’ll talk about the whole book, me and my co -host. There’ll be more information in a week or two we can release. So how do people stay in touch with you? How do they follow you? On the guy who dances on Congress right now is my source for my Instagram.

Tom Heath

All right. Do you do Facebook or is that for?

Brian Dahl

I do have Facebook, the guy who dances on Congress. I have actually TikTok. I don’t like using TikTok, but I do have it as the guy who dances on Congress.

Tom Heath

see TikTok to me like you’re throwing out all these all these nicknames and it’s TikToks is like the cool place like you’d want to be there. Why don’t you want to be on TikTok?

Brian Dahl

I’m trying to focus in more in on Tucson TikToks more worldwide. Okay. So I’m trying to really brand myself in Arizona right now.

Tom Heath

And that’s are we an Instagram town?

Brian Dahl

It’s easier to I think social media to a specific area on Instagram or Facebook.

Tom Heath

All right. The things you would learn hanging out with Brian Dahl, if you have any questions about marketing or branding, check him out on his Instagram or Facebook page or my website, theguywhodancesoncongress .com. You can book me. I can’t believe that one wasn’t taken. That’s just surprises me.

Brian Dahl

Like, I know, right. The guy who dances on Congress.

Tom Heath

It seems like that’d be like, it’d be great if there was the guy who dances on congress12 .com. Uh, 11 other people had this idea. I think it’s just phenomenal. I love your energy. I love the fact that you just took something that just organically popped up and worked with friends, developed a business model out of it. And I think the key, and from someone from an outside perspective, is this stick -to -itiveness, the fact that this didn’t just take off and you have a brand. It was a lot of deviations and changes and subtle movements along the way. But the whole time you believed this is going to be something. And now it is something. And you’re telling me this is just the this is like the foundation. Okay, six years. Now I’ve got what I now I got

Brian Dahl

the foundation to do what I wanted. This is the very start of it. And it’s just pivot, learning to pivot a lot. Do you

Tom Heath

have a name for your podcast? Not yet. He has a name. He just doesn’t want to share it with me. I see. You can see his eyes like you know, we

Brian Dahl

there’ll be a time we release it on our Instagrams, me and my co -host, so it’ll be… See, tell me who your co -host is. Her name is Lola. Okay, so you’re

Tom Heath

gonna read books with Lola, and we’re gonna put this out in the world, and what kind of, what kind of, it’s video, you said there’s gonna be video? There’ll be, it’ll

Brian Dahl

be a YouTube station, too. Fantastic. So it’ll be a YouTube podcast, and we’re going to try also to stream it live, so you can kind of get some playback. All

Tom Heath

right, and are people gonna be encouraged to join you in this reading?

Brian Dahl

Um, there’s yes, we want people to read at their pace or listen in the on audibles fine to different audible, whatever app you use or through the library.

Tom Heath

But we will keep an eye on that and we’ll, uh, we’ll share information through, uh, through our social media channels. And if you ever want to connect with Brian, he does have a shop here inside of the proper shops. He is also one of the artists on our website, which is the Tucson gallery .com. You can check out, uh, he’s got his images up there that he has, uh, put onto other material. Uh, you can get a, you know, if you want to like a poster or canvas with his messaging on there or something cool, like a notebook, it’s all on the Tucson gallery, uh, dot com. And, um, yeah, you normally, I say you missed your chance to meet him. Cause you know, we don’t do these meet the artists all the time, but honestly, Brian is here Thursday through Sunday, uh, in his shop. So if you come into the gallery and you’re like, Hey, where’s Brian, we will, uh, we send you back there. But you’re probably going to ask for where’s the guy who dances on Congress? It’s always the guy who dances. So I appreciate

Tom Heath

your time.

Brian Dahl

Thank you very much, Tom. I appreciate you.

Tom Heath

If you or someone you know is looking for information about an alcohol addiction, you can call the National Rehab Hotline at 866 -210 -1303.

Tom Heath

Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery located inside of The Proper Shops at 300 East Conger Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price, and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to thetucsongallery .com for more information about our live events. listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts, and check out the wide selection of art, gifts, and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought -provoking, and forward -thinking artists.

Media

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another episode of Meet the Artist. This is a product of the Tucson Gallery. We’re located at 300 East Congress Street. We’re in downtown Tucson and we’re in a busy corner here of Fifth and Congress across from the Hotel Congress. Been operating here since December and every week or a couple of weeks we get one of our artists to come in and share their story. It’s called Meet the Artist and as part of that we record a podcast. So if you want to learn more about the live events, come on over to the TucsonGallery .com website and there you’ll find a calendar of events and more importantly you’ll find a newsletter you can sign up for once a month to get updates as to all the cool stuff happening. And I will tell you as we’re recording this, we’re getting into fall. So we’re recording this in September of 23, getting into the fall, there’s all kinds of cool stuff. Have you been on that newsletter? You would have had Andrea Rodriguez join, get the information about her Meet the Artist event because she brought all kinds of goodies and food with her. You’re the first artist to cook for us. Oh, thank you. Yeah, well thank you. Welcome to the show.

Andrea Rodriguez

No, thank you Tom. I appreciate it. My name is Andrea Rodriguez and I’m super excited to be here tonight.

Tom Heath

Well, we’re excited to have you. I was excited to have you based upon your art, but then when you walked in with a plate full of food and you have like, what did you bring? You brought like apple strudel?

Andrea Rodriguez

Yeah, I’m a slave today in the kitchen completely for you guys and for anybody who will come tonight. But I make from homemade and traditional Czech apple strudel to spinach quiche to puff pastries to chlebíčky, which is kind of like a traditional Czech open sandwiches and some wine and fruit.

Tom Heath

This is why you have to sign up for these newsletters because you’re going to miss that. By the time you hear this recording, all that food’s going to be gone because I’m probably going to have most of it. It just looks fabulous. And you’re an artist as well. So that’s even more amazing. But you mentioned it’s a traditional Czech dish. So I understand from your biography that you grew up in the Czech Republic.

Andrea Rodriguez

Yeah, I was born in Komunis in 70s in Czech Republic. It used to be Czechoslovakia, so now it’s Czech Republic. And I came to the United States when I was 19 years old by myself.

Tom Heath

What prompted that trip?

Andrea Rodriguez

Well, my mom’s sister emigrated in 68 when there was some Russian thing happening and all the stuff. But they emigrated in 68. So I always know when, if the wall will come down, that we will have the opportunity to come and over here, you know, and then I fell in love with America.

Tom Heath

Wow. At age 19, you made this. I can’t even imagine. I mean, that’s.

Andrea Rodriguez

Yeah. Now when I’m looking back, because this year is actually my anniversary of 30 years. That’s bold.

Tom Heath

That’s very bold. Yeah, absolutely. So did you did you know you were coming to Tucson or how did you end up in Tucson?

Andrea Rodriguez

No, they actually used my uncle and aunt’s restaurant, Czechoslovakian restaurant on Prince Road. I used to call the Mountain View. And that’s why I ended up in Tucson, because I have relatives here.

Tom Heath

Oh, I know the Mountain View restaurant.

Andrea Rodriguez

Yeah. Now it’s a Mexican Guadalajara. Yeah. Yeah. So my uncle built it. OK.

Tom Heath

That explains your culinary background and how you brought these delicious foods in. I see.

Andrea Rodriguez

No, that’s a typically European woman.

Tom Heath

Everybody knows how to bake and cook. So you get you get here and you didn’t stay the whole time that you went to Flagstaff or Northern Arizona, right?

Andrea Rodriguez

No, actually. So I came here first and I was just a tourist. And then I have no idea what I’m getting into. So after a year and a half or a year, I went back to Czech Republic. And because I learned some English, I got an opportunity to work in the big corporation shop. I studied economics and I was like a secretary, accounting, stuff like that. It’s completely boring, completely out of element what I’m now.

Tom Heath

When I was reading the bio, which we have on our on our website, I was really fascinated because you you got into the interior design world.

Andrea Rodriguez

Yeah. So I was always fascinating with just colors in general, just anything what it has to do with color. And you can see it in my most of the painting. I’m so bold. I love colors. I think color express so much beauty and passion and all of this. And the basic change you can do in any interior design you can do is colors. You can do the most amazing changes with just changing the colors. But I get so from my original degree, what I studied in Czech, because I was not able to study design or art or any of this. I came back a couple of years later and I actually applied. So I went to U of A. So I’m actually a U of A student. I went to Pima College and I love Pima College. And then they have a program after I finished Pima College. I went to the NAU and they have a program over here. So I actually finished my interior design bachelor locally. So I didn’t have to move.

Tom Heath

Okay. I saw NAU on the bio. So I thought you got up there, but you did it here locally. Very cool. And then your business, it’s very well recognized. You have all kinds of awards and such.

Andrea Rodriguez

When I finished school, I started working for every company, local company in town, because when you actually work for somebody, you can get the experience to be on your own after. So I was working in for kitchen company, closet, cabinetry. I was selling JCPenney, custom window covering. I mean, you name it, I’ve done it all. And then finally, when I met my husband and got married 16 years ago, and he’s actually architect and had his architecture firm for almost 20 years before I even met him. Then we joined the forces and created our own interior design studio with architecture background.

Tom Heath

That’s an impressive combination right there. Did you meet through the business or did you meet separately and realize you have this?

Andrea Rodriguez

No, this is the funny thing. We met on Match .com.

Tom Heath

Well, good for Match. They know what they were doing.

Andrea Rodriguez

But you know, that time, I think it was so innocent to be dating online or actually meet somebody. At least for me, 16 years ago. I don’t know. I will probably not do it ever again at this age. Well, I hope not. You’re married.

Tom Heath

So I don’t think your husband would like you to do it again at all. Well, I think that’s fantastic that you, I mean, obviously those common interests were probably part of that match. And so you made life partners and business partners.

Andrea Rodriguez

Yeah. No, I’m really happy. We have a really nice relationship, working relationship and personal relationship.

Tom Heath

And then where did the art, like you, because as you mentioned, you do very bold work and it’s, and first of all, it’s in oil, which is unique because we don’t, surprisingly in the gallery, most of our art, I don’t think you might be the only oil painter we have in the gallery. Everybody uses acrylic.

Andrea Rodriguez

I take the niche. I take the niche to be the one and only one. Okay. But I think I always liked art. I was drawing and creating a lot of stuff. It’s my mom, as a girl, when my kids were small, I was looking for something because they always say, when you want to have a happy marriage, you should have to do something for you, for your fun. And the hubby should have some hobby for his fun. So I started taking classes at Park and Recreation just for fun.

Tom Heath

You just started just doing painting classes at the parks?

Andrea Rodriguez

Just Park and Rec. I signed up and it was basically like a Monday night. I call it Monday night mommy rock. But basically my husband was able to take care of the kids, cook dinners. So I was gone like from six to nine, nine -thirty every Monday when it was available.

Tom Heath

Wow. Wow. Yeah. That’s fantastic. So you, you kind of get it.

Andrea Rodriguez

So I don’t have a time to paint any time, any time. Well, my house, it’s a, we have a really like a old, older house from 1915 in the style in Midtown and a house is wonderful, but it doesn’t have enough natural light to paint. And I actually like to prefer to paint in the studio with everybody else because everybody else is working on different pieces and it’s inspiring. And it’s also, you walk around and, Oh, this is so cool. Oh, how you did that? So there’s always communication and close relationship and encouragement and what to change. And then the ability of somebody who can step in as a teacher and, you know, help you out and say, Hey, do this better, you know? So for this reason, I’ll prefer to actually studio setting with more people involved. Even today? Even today. Even if there is, and everybody working on different pieces and different meet with different media. It’s always better too.

Tom Heath

And do you find yourself now in the role of the teacher where you’re helping other people kind of?

Andrea Rodriguez

Well, I started doing that. So it started actually back at home because anytime I have a chance or a summer when the kids are out of school, it’s actually cheaper to take them home back to Europe to have the same experiments, you know, growing back like me, like in Czech in the village where actually my father is from the house is like 300 years old. And because it’s such a rural village, there’s nothing to do over there. I start painting with the neighbors and teaching them how to do it. And the most rewarding was after a couple of hours, they were taking their painting home and they have like two days with their husband like, where did we put this mom? This is great. Look at what you did. So I totally like elevated the moments because mostly the painting was for moments in the village. So most of the women who never painted ever in their life, they start like feeling, oh, I’m good at something else besides cooking and taking care of family.

Tom Heath

And they can express, like you said, they can they can through the colors or through their their images.

Andrea Rodriguez

So now anytime I’m going back, I already have two, three classes, book. So it’s the word is spread. It’s always fun.

Tom Heath

You’re you’ve gone from Parks and Rec to international, let me get you very fancy. Do you teach here in Tucson?

Andrea Rodriguez

Yeah, I did a couple of the classes for a friend who asked me to do like a for a meet and greet with like appreciation clients. So I think the last large one was like 24 people in the El Charro, which was so wonderful because they even cook all the appetizer and servette on the wooden pallet. Oh, wow. Yeah, it was gorgeous. So really good food, good atmosphere. El Charro, it’s a nice place to actually have.

Tom Heath

I’m getting this theme here, the food and the art. You have to make the food and wine. You got to bring it all together. Let me go back to a question earlier about oil. Why? Why are not more artists using it? Is it more challenging to work with or or why did you choose to work with it?

Andrea Rodriguez

So I start just with regular pencil, then I move to watercolors. It was too bland for me. The color didn’t pop up. And then I moved to acrylic. It gets dry so quickly and you cannot blend. And then I discover oil because Mariano’s dad had used to paint in his garage with oil and he when he passed away, he grabbed he got me the sets with the old and I will like it just just to try it. So I start trying it and start buying oil and it’s so nice and wonderful because the colors are really like the most boldest one. But also the blend is so beautiful and you can come back to the painting because I’m coming back every week. You can still spread it and make it wonderful and you can use the same oil if you cover them really good. So oil oil is nice. It’s take time to dry. Maybe that’s a good time. Actually, I’m painting once a week. I wish I paint more and I wish I had more time and maybe I will. Who knows from now on? Yeah, oil is just a beautiful medium. It’s it’s such a softness.

Tom Heath

And we realized we didn’t have an oil painter and thought we’ve got to get you. So we’re like we we invited you in. And the first few pieces that came in were sort of they were flowers. They were nature. And so I thought that’s kind of what you focused on. And then I’m seeing this work that you brought in for the event tonight. And you’ve got just just a whole array of subjects. You don’t have any limitations.

Andrea Rodriguez

No, and it has to catch whatever I paint. It has to be something that is speak to me. So the blooming of Puntia that Tony Fowler in love is and actually pick me up from the crowd. It was I just I usually I stop and take picture of anything and maybe when I have a good camera, but it’s always on my phone. So I have over 7000 photos on my phone just now. But I just stop in the neighborhood and I saw this beautiful it was I have to stop get from the car and get a couple of angles just to see it, how beautiful the sun is hitting at that. So it’s so yeah, it has to speak to me.

Tom Heath

But there are things that I mean, we’ve got you’ve got one that was very vibrant, Trace Latinas, like it was sort of a day of the dead feel to it.

Andrea Rodriguez

The single Katrina or the three girls. So this is the story behind this. I have a girlfriend in interior design wards and they always they used to have a studio right here on the 6th Street before the widening the road. They always dress up for the day of the day of the day and they even get photographer and makeup professional and everything. So I saw this picture and it catch my eyes and I say, oh, my God, I have to paint this. I have to paint this. So it’s actually three living girlfriend, still girlfriends up to today. And then the painting was donated to raising money for ASID for for Interior Design Society.

Tom Heath

Well, it’s absolutely stunning. All of your work, the colors, there’s just no question that color is your friend and you love to just be bold with it. I think it’s great. And if you if you’re listening and you want to check out any of the work, we’ve got some of what she has available on our website, the Tucson Gallery dot com. But you’ve also got a whole collection of work that we don’t carry. Your your nudes are very popular.

Andrea Rodriguez

They are. And usually they are always as soon as I post it on Facebook friends, usually they are gone. So maybe I have one nude pictures back as an original, but everything else is sold out. But Tony told me, no, no, no, we keep it clean. And I say, look, you cannot even recognize that it’s nude. It’s just bold colors, abstracts, all this. But so but you can still check it out on my website. This nude.

Tom Heath

So what is your website and your Instagram?

Andrea Rodriguez

And how people so simple. It’s WWW. My name, Andrea Rodriguez Gallery dot com.

Tom Heath

Andrea Rodriguez Gallery dot com. And what about Facebook, Instagram? Is it the same? Same.

Andrea Rodriguez

OK, yeah, I am. I went so professional. You guys make me to be so professional. This was this used to be my hobby. But now it’s like it seems taking over everything. But, you know, I appreciate it because on the other side, push me to do something that I never thought I will do now, one week before my 50th birthday.

Tom Heath

Well, I’m excited for tonight. I’m sorry if you’re listening to this and you missed it because it’s going to be a good time. And again, if you want to learn more about these events, head over to our website to some gallery dot com. Sign up for the newsletter once a month. You’ll get a list of all the events that are happening, not just the artist events. We do have concerts. There are other things that happen. And if you haven’t been down here, we’re inside of the proper shops, which is a collective of 15 different independently owned businesses. We have a bar. You can sip shop. But we’re on the Tucson Gallery dot com. Check out all the work there from from Andrea and all of our other artists.

Andrea Rodriguez

And and definitely you have to stop by. This is such a cool place. This is not only gallery. It’s much behind anybody. Imagine, you know, when you usually go to gallery, there’s a few pieces. And from only certain artists that you have to appreciate it. No, here this is like this is like a market of beautiful stuff, gorgeous from ceramic to acrylic, to canvases, to accessories, to closing line, to jewelry. I mean, you name it, you over here is everything.

Tom Heath

Well, you don’t have to take my word for it. Andrea Rodriguez is telling you, come on down and check out the proper shops and maybe just maybe we’ll have a few of your originals still left after tonight for people to buy. I hope so.

Andrea Rodriguez

Thanks. And if not, I can always pay more.

Tom Heath

Hey, thanks for joining us.

Andrea Rodriguez

I really appreciate it. Thank you so much. I appreciate it, too. Thank you, everybody.

Tom Heath

Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Congress Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to TheTucsonGallery .com for more information about our live events. Listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art, gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought -provoking and forward -thinking artists.

Media

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another fabulous episode of Meet the Artist, a product of the Tucson Gallery. We’re located at 300 East Congress. We’re in downtown Tucson across from Hotel Congress, next to the Rialto Theater and in the center of all this amazing activity. And we have this beautiful gallery with 30 different local artists all represented. Sometimes we’re fortunate enough that they will come in and say hello to us and meet their adoring fans. And we have Lauri Kay in today and we’re going to chat with her. If you want to hear this podcast or any others, you can head over to our website. It’s Life Along… That’s not it. It’s the Tucson Gallery, tucsongallery .com. And you’ll find different podcasts and there’s also a really nice calendar and a newsletter you can sign up for to get notification of all these cool events. By the time you hear this podcast, you will miss the opportunity to hang out with Lauri Kaye. And that’s so sad. Lauri, welcome to Meet the Artist.

Lauri Kaye

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Tom Heath

So I understand that we’re a little bit out of our comfort zone today.

Lauri Kaye

Absolutely. I purposefully did artwork so I would never have to be on a mic and do any public speaking. Perfect. Thanks a lot.

Tom Heath

That’s our job here is to make sure that we want to make you feel uncomfortable. That’s our goal.

Lauri Kaye

Perfect.

Tom Heath

All right. So let’s go back to the beginning. You got into art so that you wouldn’t have to be on a mic, but when did you get into art?

Lauri Kaye

I think I was born ready and willing and excited to do artwork. I’ve been drawing all of my life, whether it’s crowns or chalk, pencils. So it’s just something that’s been pretty innate and something I learned at an early age that I could hustle to earn a couple extra bucks.

Tom Heath

So you were selling your art as a kid?

Lauri Kaye

I was actually in elementary school. If I wanted to stand in that lunch line where you could get an ice cream sandwich for 25 cents or chocolate milk for eight cents, you actually had to have the money for it. So my parents pretty much said, if you want something, you got to earn the money for it. So I would paint on rocks, I would sell fuzzy pencils, and I had all sorts of schemes going on with my artwork.

Tom Heath

How old were you at this point?

Lauri Kaye

I was probably about eight.

Tom Heath

Oh my gosh, that’s incredible. That’s absolutely incredible. So you’re in line, you’re like, I want some chocolate milk and an ice cream bar. So I’m going to sell a fuzzy rock, a painted rock and a fuzzy pencil.

Lauri Kaye

And it worked. So I would make a batch at home, bring them to school, sell them to all of my friends and earn enough money to get that ice cream sandwich. So it was pretty sweet. And I think the endorphin rush of selling something and earning money for something I did was pretty wild.

Tom Heath

Where did you grow up? Was it here in Tucson?

Lauri Kaye

In Pennsylvania.

Tom Heath

Oh, Pennsylvania. What part? It’s a big state.

Lauri Kaye

So the town is called Yardley and it’s a suburb of Philadelphia.

Tom Heath

All right. So my dad is from the suburb of Pittsburgh, so we’re on the other end of the state from you there. Another country. So are you then an Eagles fan? Is that a thing?

Lauri Kaye

Yep. Yep. Eagles, 76ers. Went to tons of basketball games with my brother.

Tom Heath

Okay. So if you’re in the sports mecca, the Philly cheesesteak mecca, you’re making a living selling fuzzy rocks. What brought you out to Arizona?

Lauri Kaye

Well, I eventually moved on to selling t -shirts as a teenager and still back in Philly, still back in Philly and was contemplating, you know, a life and career and ended up going to art school, becoming a graphic designer. So I was in New York city for about 10 years going to school and working afterwards. So that’s where I began my professional art career.

Tom Heath

You went to art school in New York city? I did. That’s pretty like heavy duty stuff, right? I mean, you gotta be pretty good to do that.

Lauri Kaye

It was just awesome. I felt like I just found my groove. I was not big on high school, so to get into college and just love being with the people that were in my classes, I felt like I definitely found my tribe.

Tom Heath

Did the demand for fuzzy pencils and rocks dip at the art school or were you still selling those?

Lauri Kaye

You know, yeah, that was a thing of the past.

Tom Heath

So I had to reinvent yourself. That’s why you moved into t -shirts.

Lauri Kaye

Yeah. Yeah. When I was 16. So I could up the game a little bit.

Tom Heath

So then you go and you get a degree in like graphic design?

Lauri Kaye

Yeah, but it was a bachelor in fine arts and my first gig was at Rolling Stone. My one of my teachers, the magazine, oh my gosh, I didn’t know we had rockstar royalty

Tom Heath

with us today.

Lauri Kaye

You know, I was like very, very, very, very low woman on the totem pole. My teacher was the art director, Fred Woodward, and he was the most amazing teacher and every year he would ask a student to work at the magazine. So I was lucky enough to it was pretty wild. I knew very little about the magazine and but it was a pretty exciting place to be.

Tom Heath

So this is all making sense to me. You grew up in Philadelphia, you go to art school in New York City, you get a gig with with Rolling Stone and the natural progression then leads me to Tucson.

Lauri Kaye

Oh, yeah, for sure. I love Tucson. I love this place.

Tom Heath

How did you I mean, how did you end up here?

Lauri Kaye

Well, like a lot of people kind of like an early midlife crisis and also as much as I love New York City and I try to get back every year just to eat and people watch and draw. I knew that that kind of hustle and quality of life of just always being on the go was was not my long term plan. And I’ve always been drawn to the desert. I was in Israel quite a few times and just loved like the heat and desert life. So when I first visited Tucson, I felt like this was a place I could really see myself

Tom Heath

long term. So was it was it accidental that you came to Tucson to visit or were you here?

Lauri Kaye

Nothing’s really accidental, but it’s a long story. We can we can talk about that on the next podcast.

Tom Heath

Okay, we’ll have we’ll have a part two. This is exciting. This is the first teaser podcast that we have. So talk a little bit about your art is is it you you said you’ve been like drawing your whole life. So is what you do now mostly drawing?

Lauri Kaye

It’s it is mostly drawing.

Lauri Kaye

I’ve I had a restaurant here for about 13 years. So there was a blip in my life where I wasn’t doing artwork. So after that, in 2013, I was trying to think of what I was going to do. And I started drawing again and was really enjoying it and trying to kind of unlearn a lot of the rules that I learned in art school and to draw freely, not worry about mistakes and erasing. So I kind of intentionally draw with black markers that I can erase and just let things fly. So most of my pieces, well, they all start with line drawings, hand drawings. And then I incorporate photography and digital color. So I am using the computer once the drawing is done to add color and to add a little bit of photography.

Tom Heath

So everything we have in the gallery, it’s I think everything it’s either a print or it’s on metal and it looks like it was drawn and then transferred to a to a metal canvas.

Lauri Kaye

Yeah. So when I first got into this, I was just doing black and white and everybody was saying you got to add some color, you know, you just got to take it a little further. But I really didn’t like the idea of having to frame anything. So I was playing around with different materials and reproductions downtown on Sixth Avenue. They were huge, showing me some options. And when I found the metal, I was so excited because I wouldn’t have to pay money for a frame and it looked great on its own. And that’s the whole framing I thought was cost prohibitive. It would have been really hard for me to ever get started if I had to frame this. So and also I love murals. I love outdoor art. So the idea of printing on metal, just even though I’m mostly drawing, I kind of feel like I’m bringing the outdoors inside by using that that kind of material and it’s all outdoor signage material.

Tom Heath

Yeah. So you’re bringing the outside in and the inside out. Yeah, exactly. That’s that’s what artists do. They connect the worlds. Yeah. And you’re all of your pieces are in great detail and some of them are like you’ll stare at them for hours and just keep seeing more shapes or more objects sort of appear. Is that how do you do you just keep drawing until you feel like you’re done or do you have an idea of what the end is going to look like?

Lauri Kaye

No, I actually never know what the end is going to look like. And I for a lot of the pieces, I’ll do research on the subject material. And so I like to draw in the information into the artwork. So there’s a lot of text or icons or little images within the artwork. And that’s, you know, one, it adds texture to the piece. And it also helps me to remember what I learned about that particular subject. So and I also I know that I overdo it and they’re more like maximalist pieces. And then our teacher would probably say, that’s not OK. You went too far. But I don’t know. I’m an adult now, so I can do what I want.

Tom Heath

I can do that. And and I can tell you, the people that come in the gallery have never said she’s gone too far. They’ve been completely impressed with how far you’ve gone, but no one has felt that you’ve gone too far. That’s exciting because you’re a lot of different styles. It’s not just like you see something and instinctively you probably know it’s Laurie Kaye. But the subject matter can be different. You know, some are more like abstract than others. Some are seem a little bit more realistic and just it’s very interesting to me. But your style is is very clear.

Lauri Kaye

So, yeah, well, I love looking for different subject material here in Tucson and it is just endless. So, you know, my mission right now is to uncover all the people, places and events that make Tucson extraordinary. And so far I’ve done about 70, 75. And there’s you know, that’s just the tip of the iceberg, as you know.

Tom Heath

So and the one we’re unveiling tonight, had you gone to the website and signed up for the newsletter and gotten the advance notice, could have joined us. But since you’re hearing the podcast, you’ve you’ve missed this opportunity for the unveiling of your new piece on Tucson Icon that’s focused on the Sonoran hot dog.

Lauri Kaye

Yes. And I’m very excited about this very deep piece of art. So I’ve been wanting to do a piece on Sonoran hot dogs for so long. I’ve got a list that I’ve had for years and they take me so long to get to. So I was so happy to finally have the time to do it. And I love El Guero Canelo hot dogs. So I went over and asked if they could make me the most beautiful Sonoran hot dog, which they did. It’s I mean, they’re artists, they’re food artists over there. And I took a photograph so I could go home and use that as my inspiration. And I was working on it for, I don’t know, 10, 20 hours. And then finally I saw this like kaleidoscope of hot dogs turning into a barrel cactus. And so that’s what it is.

Tom Heath

That’s the amazing thing to me is how you get from from I mean, I’ve seen Sonoran hot dogs. I don’t they don’t last very long for me to take a picture of them because I eat them too quickly. But then to take it and create what you’ve done and it works, it’s so it looks so intentional. Like this is exactly what you laid out and wanted to do. And to know that you sort of progressed to that point is really fascinating to me.

Lauri Kaye

Yeah, I never know what I’m going to get. And so it keeps things exciting.

Tom Heath

And you’re sitting there like, oh, how about cool. A barrel cactus looks like a top of a barrel cactus. Well, there we go.

Lauri Kaye

Yeah. What the hell were you thinking?

Tom Heath

Well, whatever it was, it looks it looks fabulous. And these are the types of pieces you can head over to the Tucson Gallery’s website. See a lot of Lauri’s artwork. We have things for reproduction. One thing I’d always like to point out is the the we offer things on metal through our website, but it’s a different type of metal. Ours is really designed for indoor display. And when you print yours that you have in the gallery on metal, that’s a much heavier duty kind of printing. That’s that’s really good for outdoor use as well.

Lauri Kaye

Right. It’s a totally different process, different material. And they’re they’re signed. So, you know, they’re not really comparative, like apples to apples.

Tom Heath

Do you do limited or or?

Lauri Kaye

I do. All of the pieces do come in limited editions out of twenty five. And I add personalized information. So somebody will say, hey, I really want this twisted beauty piece, but I want the limited edition. And so I’ll ask them to give me some personal information. Maybe it’s a birthday, a quote, a little photograph, and I incorporate that into the artwork and then they get a certificate. And yeah, I only do that for up to twenty five for each piece.

Tom Heath

That’s fantastic. But that’s not it. But you have unlimited of some versions.

Lauri Kaye

All of the versions are unlimited. OK. And I wanted to keep things very affordable and accessible. So, you know, for one hundred and twenty five bucks, you can get a piece of art.

Tom Heath

Yeah, it’s really the price points are quite amazing as well as as the artwork. And you said you go back to New York like once a year in your. Yes. Is that a work trip? He said you like to draw the people.

Lauri Kaye

Absolutely. It’s very hectic. I go with all my pens and paper and I find all these, I don’t know, places to sit and have coffee and eat pizza. And I just draw to my heart’s content.

Tom Heath

Do you find the drawing is different because the surroundings are different? I mean, that’s the subject matter, but just the way you go about the process.

Lauri Kaye

No, no. The process is always the same. I just, you know, I’m just so inspired really wherever I am. So I don’t need to go out of my city of Tucson to be inspired.

Tom Heath

But nice. And then the other thing you mentioned, we kind of glossed over is you’ve got a list, you said, of like you’ve already done 70 of these items, but you said the Sonoran hot dog was so far down the list. You couldn’t wait. You’re so excited to get to it. Like how many more things are on this list?

Lauri Kaye

Well, the list is always growing, but I really want to do the Biosphere. There’s something on Gates Pass that a friend told me about. It’s like a stone, a stone building, I forget the name, but I’ve got quite a few on this list. I just finished the Saguaro Henge, which was a place that I had never heard of that exists here in Tucson.

Tom Heath

So, yeah, you’re telling me about that Saguaro Henge, I thought, oh, that’s cute. And then you showed me the picture. There’s actually a Saguaro Henge here in Tucson.

Lauri Kaye

Yes. And everybody should know about it. It’s such a cool place. Well, where is it? It’s on the west side off of, I think it’s off of La Cholla around Tangerine. And it’s called Prickly Pear Park.

Tom Heath

Prickly Pear Park. Yes. That’s just fun to say. Yes. That’s just fun to say.

Lauri Kaye

It’s a really cool park. Lots of great cacti.

Tom Heath

And I like with like when you do your displays here in the gallery, there’s you sometimes will put a picture of the original subject matter, which I think is fun. Yes. I try to do that more often. Oh, and your other places. I mean, you’re everywhere besides the gallery. You’re at the La Encantada, you’re part of the Sagu group up there.

Lauri Kaye

And at the Botanical Gardens, why I love where I live, it’s Oro Valley. And just who will ever have me? It’s I pound a lot of pavement, so it’s it’s a lot of work. It’s a lot of nose. And until you get it, yes.

Tom Heath

So you’ve got it dialed in. I think this started when you were seven years old. Painting rocks. But you’ve got you’ve got the system dialed in. Do you as part of Sagu, do you do or just in general, do you work with other artists to kind of help them get going? Or do you provide any mentoring or teaching or are you just too busy for all of that?

Lauri Kaye

I I feel like I’m always open for questions and people do ask me a lot of questions. And I love to tell people where I get materials, where I do my printing. And, you know, a lot of people, artists are very they don’t like to share information. They’re very, like, proprietary. And I’m totally not. And a lot of the artists at Sagu and that I’ve met are also very open and willing and sharing their ideas and information.

Tom Heath

And where can people find more? Because I know you are a prolific social media poster. Oh, that’s that’s. So that was a joke. That was sarcastic.

Lauri Kaye

It’s like, why are you talking to?

Tom Heath

Well, but people do you have a website? I mean, where can people check you out besides the gallery?

Lauri Kaye

OK, so create for the people dot com all spelled out. Oh, I love that. People dot com.

Tom Heath

That’s your brand.

Lauri Kaye

That’s the brand. And the point was to always make the art affordable. And when I do shows and exhibits, always to raise money for local charities.

Tom Heath

And notice that part of the unveiling tonight, you bring in Sonoran hot dogs and you’re collecting money for the Tucson Food Project.

Lauri Kaye

Yes, the Tucson Family Food Project. They support kids in school who don’t have access to food and who are hungry. They have meal plans that they pay for. So that’s what tonight’s contributions are going towards.

Tom Heath

It’s been it’s been a few years since you were purchasing chocolate milk and ice cream bars. But you’re still raising money for school lunches. I think that’s fabulous.

Lauri Kaye

Oh, didn’t think about that. I love that. Yeah. Wow. Something’s never changed.

Tom Heath

Create for the people at Lauri Kaye. Check her out on our website as well. The Tucson Gallery dot com. You can order prints in different formats as well. Not only on the metal, but we do things have things on canvas in case you want something with that pesky frame around it. And there’s also some merchandise that we’ve created. Just got into blankets, by the way. So some of these things on a blanket, I think are really, really kind of fun to see.

Lauri Kaye

And it’s getting cold.

Tom Heath

And it is getting cold as we are recording this. It’s barely 100 degrees outside. So it’s it’s getting chilly. To meet the artist, it’s the Tucson Gallery, 300 East Congress Street, downtown Tucson. Come by. We’re open Thursday through Thursday through Sundays. And check out the website for all kinds of special events. And just make an evening of it. Come down, grab some dinner, stop by. We do have a bar inside the galleries and grab a drink and walk around and enjoy this beautiful art from all these Tucson fabulous talented people. So, Lauri, thanks so much for your time.

Lauri Kaye

Oh, thank you. What a pleasure.

Tom Heath

Thank you

Tom Heath

for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery, located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Congress Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art. A forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to the TucsonGallery .com for more information about our live events. Listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art, gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought provoking and forward thinking artists.

Media

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another episode of Meet the Artist, our podcast filmed and recorded out of the Tucson Gallery in downtown Tucson. We’re at 300 East Congress, across from Hotel Congress, and we’re in the same block as the Rialto Theater, and every week we get a different artist to come in and talk about their process, their history, their story, and we share that on our website, thetucsongallery .com. You can check out all of our past episodes of what we call Meet the Artist, and more importantly, you can check out our calendar of events to find out when these artists are gonna be live in the gallery. And live today, we’ve got kind of a special treat, because we have, I think, a first in our gallery, and we’ll talk about that in a moment, but I wanna welcome Val to the show.

Val Garcia

Hi, I’m Val, I’m an artist. I kinda do like abstract, sort of like pop kind of art.

Tom Heath

When did you start painting?

Val Garcia

Actually, it’s a really funny story. I started painting actually, like, I would say a couple years ago, because I just kinda got a small interest about it, and, you know, I do like little doodles and like small drawings on paper, and then it kinda turned into, you know, like canvases, and then it kinda turned into this.

Tom Heath

Ha ha, so you, the reason why this is unique is because, for two reasons. One is, and I don’t normally ask this question to most of our artists, but how old are you?

Val Garcia

I’m 13.

Tom Heath

That makes you our youngest artist, and you have work in our gallery, and you are the youngest to do that. Also, it’s interesting, because you were the model for some of the art that was in our gallery. Your dad did something with you.

Val Garcia

Yeah, I was the kid running from the Pinatas, and I was, I would say around six years old. Can I tell the story? Yeah, tell the story, this is your show, man.

Tom Heath

I just wanna. We’re here to celebrate you. I can ask you questions, you do what you want.

Val Garcia

All right, I was just making sure. I don’t wanna ruin anything.

Tom Heath

No, man, you go for it.

Val Garcia

So, a couple years back, let’s start with my dad. So, my dad was fishing with his family, and there was this like giant, like, bull. Like, this bull was just like across the river, and my dad was so, like, freaked out, he ran back to the van and just hid there, and the whole family was just laughing, because the bull was just getting water and stuff, and then my dad kind of took inspiration from that, and, you know, I’m gonna turn that into art, and my dad took a picture of me, and it took me so many tries to do it, and he actually was saying, if you don’t do it, I’ll get your cousin on this instead. I’ll be like, jeez.

Tom Heath

Tough dad.

Val Garcia

Like, I was like, dang, I’m trying, man, I’m only six. So, I got the perfect pose, and my flip flop, like, flew. It, like, flung, and my dad caught it in, like, the perfect moment. It was like a new moment in that memory, because it felt like I was important, I would say.

Tom Heath

Well, you’re the centerpiece of a very big mural in downtown. Your dad, being Ignacio Garcia, painted the running of the piñatas, and there are two things that are very iconic about that. One of the, of course, the piñatas, but you running with the sandal flying off is, everybody recognizes that. So, you are important.

Val Garcia

I’m very, very grateful to be in this, like, just like this. I am more grateful than I can ever imagine. I, if I could thank everybody who likes my art, who likes my dad’s art, I would.

Tom Heath

That’s too many people, everybody. I mean, and let’s be very clear. I mean, your dad is a talented artist. Oh, yeah. But you’re here by your own merits. Your art is here because you are good, and we appreciate what your dad does, but what you do is different. You know, he does the murals and really fun stuff. Yours is a little bit more abstract.

Val Garcia

I took an abstract to, like, a pop kind of culture, and I thought it was interesting. So, you know the painting, Joy? So, that one was my first one of the collection.

Tom Heath

Can you describe, I’ve seen your five that you have here. Can you describe Joy?

Val Garcia

So, it’s like a blue, black, background, sorry, with like kind of purplish, and like a whole bunch of fun colors that just kind of squiggle on there. And I put my initials on it because I’m very joyful from, you know, like if I looked at myself in the mirror, I think I would be joyful. I think it’s very nice that I get to have like my own personal, like, art selling here.

Tom Heath

Yeah, it’s your own style, it’s your own brand. And I like all five of your pieces that we have have very, very succinct and very upbeat names. You’ve got Joy and Happiness, Satisfaction. What are the other two?

Val Garcia

Excitement and Love.

Tom Heath

Love, yeah. So, they’re all just, they’re wonderful pieces. They have a nice texture to them as well because they’re not just flat. And when you’re painting, what do you, are you thinking about these emotions when you’re painting? Or do you see it when you’re done and go, oh, this looks like happiness, or this looks like love?

Val Garcia

I usually just kind of go with it. Like when I’m painting, I just kind of go whatever’s like in my mind. And like, for example, like when I was painting Love, I actually was painting it, and I was like, oh, this is awful. And when I looked at it from afar, it was like, it really stands out, actually. And you know how it’s dripping? So, you know how like when you say you fall in love, you feel like you’re melting? So, I try to like capture in that moment the best I could. Like if you were really in love with somebody or something, I would try and reenact that through paint.

Tom Heath

That is fantastic. That’s, I love hearing that. And if you’re listening and kind of want to get a feel for these, you can always come down to the gallery or check out online at the TucsonGallery .com. We are getting all of Val’s work up so you can see it. It’s, the originals are available in the gallery. We’ll have some reproductions available as well online in the near future. But you can get a sense of what he is talking about. And I know that you do some other things too. I think the, what was the very first piece you sold was like a sword or something, wasn’t it?

Val Garcia

Yeah, the very, so there was this guy coming in and he wanted to do like a entire like episode about me and my dad. And the guy, I showed the guy like some of my woodwork. And he was like, man, that’s insane. And I was like, you know what? I could sell you my first one for about 150. And like, he was like, do it. And he was like, just paint the handle like orange because his favorite color is orange. And like make the ribbon like a gold. And I was like, for sure.

Tom Heath

There you go, your first commissioned piece. That’s awesome.

Val Garcia

And if you don’t know what a Gundam is, I, it’s like a Japanese model kit of a robot. It’s like Transformers, but it’s like vice versa. But they like don’t transform. And like Gundam came before Transformers. It’s very hard explanation, but I just bought a whole bunch of those. I swear, I’d even do investment, which was a very bad idea. I should have bought in like a, some paint brushes or more paint and stuff.

Tom Heath

Like the, you made art and you bought something that made you happy. You’re going to sell more art. That’s fine. I think it’s fun to splurge a little bit every now and then. Good for you.

Val Garcia

I think that next time I get money, I will definitely invest some, at least like 50 bucks each. I used to have a motorcycle and the reason why I’m starting to get into painting a little bit more is because to have how much money they can sell for. So I’m not like a big money guy, but like I kind of need a little money right now because my motorcycle broke. And I was like, man, I’ve been wanting a go -kart for a while. So I decided, you know what? I’m just going to get a go -kart with like all this painting money as I was like painting the canvases. And yeah.

Tom Heath

There you go. So if you want to help Val here get his go -kart or his motorcycle fix, you can support him by buying a little bit of his art. That’ll work.

Val Garcia

I would be so happy if he did that. Oh my God. I would hug you.

Tom Heath

So you’ve shown your art to some people and I know you’ve gotten different reactions. How does it make you feel when someone looks at that and just gets it and they just, puts a smile on their face?

Val Garcia

It makes me really, really happy that they can understand from my point of view. It just, it makes my day, to be honest. I just love seeing people love my art because my whole entire life I was bullied a lot. I mean, I’m not so much anymore, but most of my life from elementary to a little bit now. And it’s just so grateful for me that people actually come up to me and say, oh, I love your art. And it’s just, it means the world to me. If there’s anything I want more is just for people to love the work because I’m not trying to be selfish or anything.

Tom Heath

No, we create things because they mean something to us and when it means something to someone else, it feels very special.

Val Garcia

It’s just so special to me. Like what you’re just saying, it just means the entire world.

Tom Heath

Yeah, there’s a connection that we get through art and I think that’s why art is so powerful that you and I can look at something and see it completely differently. And when you see it the same way or you connect through it, there’s a power that unlike anything else. I get what you’re saying.

Val Garcia

Yeah, and I actually painted that for people to look through art instead of actually saying the words. So when you look through art instead of words, it’s better to look through it than art because for example, like satisfaction, let’s say you watch a satisfying video or something and you look at that painting and you’re like, oh, that kind of reminded me of that video earlier. So that’s what I’m trying to get people to follow through is I want people to really feel in that moment was my art.

Tom Heath

Awesome, and you were telling me this story, you have to fill me in a little bit, but you were working on a mural recently. Can you tell me more about that?

Val Garcia

This guy had these two huge walls and this very bland door and I was just looking at that. I’m just like, how? How can that just not be painted? And I asked the guy, can I paint that? And he was like, yeah, sure, I would totally love that. And I was like, sweet. And I did it for free because I just, I could not stand that door. I was just like, it’s so dark and like bland.

Tom Heath

Yeah, you need color, you need to bring life to things.

Val Garcia

I needed to touch it up. So I was at my mom’s house that week and I just filled up a whole bunch of random paints and even paints I didn’t even need.

Tom Heath

So when you went over, you have all these paints and there’s two walls and a door. Did you paint all of that or what did you paint?

Val Garcia

So I just painted the door and I just made it look like a nerd, like a nerd style. So there’s these two large rectangular squares that had windows in them. And I was thinking, what if I turn those into glasses? Because it’s really funny. And I made like the two boxes down into like really big, like buck teeth. And like this weird, like cartoonish, like crooked smile. And like he had this fat nose and like oil was dripping down it.

Tom Heath

I love that you used the material. I mean, you built it around the environment. So you didn’t try to change it. You just looked at what was there and you brought the life out of what was there. I think that’s fantastic.

Val Garcia

Yeah, so I made it look like a nerdy robot. Cool.

Tom Heath

And then you got a podcast out of that one, not this one. Someone’s gonna do like a real, you’re gonna make a famous podcast, not just a little thing with me. I’m just practicing, right? You’re just practicing with me.

Val Garcia

Yeah, I’m just practicing. No big deal. Don’t even watch this. Just go somewhere else.

Tom Heath

What’s your other podcast?

Val Garcia

So this other podcast is actually gonna be at Comic -Con and I’m gonna be actually dressed up as somebody. And this guy was saying like, oh, there’s gonna be like three other celebrities there and he wanted me in there. And I’m just like, really? And he was like, yeah. And I don’t know who the celebrities are yet. I haven’t checked, but I should probably go check now after saying this. Reminds me. But I’m very honored to do that because it really means a lot to me.

Tom Heath

Well, at 13, what you’re doing is impressive pretty much at any age, but at 13, it was so much ahead of you given what you talked about, briefly about your past and where you’ve come. Congratulations to you. I’m excited to see where you go, but congratulations on being positive and bringing life and love into the world. So thank you for that.

Val Garcia

Thank you so much. I mean, that meant the world to me, honestly, that really meant a lot because I’ve been struggling a little bit with school and stuff. And when people say that I bring the light into the world, it makes my heart melt, literally. It makes my day.

Tom Heath

Well, Val Garcia, you can check out his work at the Tucson Gallery or at 300 East Congress. We’re also online at the TucsonGallery .com. While you’re there, you can listen to this episode or past episodes of other artists on our media page. And of course, the best thing there, besides the artwork, is to get on the newsletter and find out what’s happening so that you know when the artists are gonna be in the gallery. We’ve got about 30 that we represent. Most of them have done at least one event and as we get into the fall and into 2024, they’re gonna be coming back for a second round. So don’t think you missed them. Just know that they’re coming up, but we’ll see when we get Val back in here. But Val, thanks so much for your time.

Val Garcia

No problem. I was so nervous doing this. I was like, man, I’m glad that I hope I don’t ruin this.

Tom Heath

You knocked it out of the park, man.

Val Garcia

Great job. Yeah, all right. Thank you.

Tom Heath

Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Conger Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price, and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to thetucsongallery .com for more information about our live events. Listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art, gifts, and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought -provoking, and forward -thinking artists.

Photos

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another raucous Meet the Artist event. We got a big turnout here tonight for our artist, Lisa Agababian. We are at the Tucson Gallery inside of the proper shops at 300 East Congress. It’s in downtown Tucson, across the street from Hotel Congress. We represent about 30 different local artists here in Tucson, and every now and then, we’re lucky enough to get them to come in and meet the public and share a little about their history and their story. And when they do, we steal a little bit of their time and record these Meet the Artist podcasts. If you want to learn more, you can head over to our website, thetucsongallery.com. On there you’ll see the schedule of events as well as past episodes of Meet the Artist. And then you can also see all kinds of merchandise for sale. In some cases, you can buy reproductions. But our artist today, it’s kind of hard to reproduce what she does because it’s all out of ceramics. But, Lisa, welcome to the show here.

Lisa Agababian

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Tom Heath

Yeah, we’re super excited. You got a big crowd here for you. People must like you. I’m going to try to move the microphone just a little bit closer to you there. So I was reading your bio, and I found it very interesting because a lot of the artists that we work with, they’ve come from a creative background. But you were, like, in computer software or computer. What were you doing?

Lisa Agababian

I was a computer consultant for many, many years, and I did a lot of work for nonprofits in Tucson and many, many nonprofits in yeah, but I’ve always had my hands in the clay, so I never felt like the clay is very important to me since I was a young person.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Lisa Agababian

And so even though I didn’t get the encouragement to move in the art direction and I went in a little bit of a different direction as far as my formal education, I always had my hands on the clay. Okay. But, yeah, I’m a techie. I’m a nerd.

Tom Heath

We don’t find too many of the artists that are techies. There’s, like, the left brain, right brain. You got all the whole brain working.

Lisa Agababian

Sometimes one works better than the other.

Tom Heath

At least one of them is working. Sometimes none of mine are working.

Lisa Agababian

I hear you.

Tom Heath

So you’ve always been working with clay. Do you remember what drew you to clay the first time?

Lisa Agababian

Oh, yeah. I was at an Armenian summer camp in upstate New York, and I remember taking a clay class and got my hands in the clay and just felt like this felt like home to me. And although I was interested in a whole lot of other things, I just kept going with it. I ended up becoming a camp counselor in ceramics, and I was there years. I say years, summers, like two months out of the year, but just to.

Tom Heath

Kind of get that bug and then all of a sudden you’re like, okay, now not only do I enjoy it, but I want to teach and train.

Lisa Agababian

Oh, yeah, you want to share your passion with other people because you can get really creative. Not only just throwing on the wheel. I was obsessed with throwing on the wheel as a kid, and I just obsessed with centering clay. But that’s the beginning of everything. Once you get centered, you can go anywhere.

Tom Heath

I think that centering. Then that’s probably like that computer side of you, that everything’s going to be right there. Right. Perfectly centered. And then the artistic side takes over and says, okay, now we’re going to create something.

Lisa Agababian

Now we’re out. Yeah, sky’s the limit.

Tom Heath

That’s beautiful.

Lisa Agababian

But yeah, I always got into it, and I also got into a little bit of sculpting, even though I was obsessed with throwing on the wheel.

Lisa Agababian

The minute you get your hands in the clay, it just kind of takes over. You see things just squishing a piece of clay. But then, like I said, I was obsessed with throwing on the wheel for many years.

Tom Heath

Now. I have to admit, I have a bit of a clay background. I think I made in fourth grade, I made an ashtray for my mom who doesn’t smoke, but that’s all I could figure out. I don’t think it started out as an ashtray. It might have started out as a bowl, but ended up as an ashtray.

Lisa Agababian

That’s so funny. You always keep cutting it down. You keep trimming the lid of the I should say the lip of the piece as you’re working on the wheel or if you’re working with coils, but it’s all so much fun.

Tom Heath

Well, that was the extent of my ceramic background, but I do remember I made it. And my mom was very gracious. Even though she doesn’t smoke, she’s like, we have friends that smoke. So there you go. So you did the corporate world, so to speak, for a while, and are you still doing that or are you an artist full time at this point?

Lisa Agababian

I am an artist full time. Wonderful. I felt like the world I got into was really the nonprofit world.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Lisa Agababian

I was in the corporate world, and that threw me for a loop, and I really didn’t like being in that environment. But once I started working for nonprofits, I felt something more personal with people, and then it just grew from there. And then I always had my hands in the clay. So even as a computer consultant, I’d still be creating and giving things away all the time. And so people always knew me as a clay person, even way back then.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I would imagine if you’re giving it away, they’re probably like wanting to really know you as a play person. But anyway, nowadays they’re not giving it away. Do you remember kind of that time frame like how you transitioned from being employed in one career and then just moving full time to an artist. Were you doing both for a while or did you just one day wake up and say, I’m done with this computer stuff?

Lisa Agababian

Yeah, I’ve always had my hands in the clay because it was part of my sanity and my serenity. And so I just needed that everybody has something where they kind of well, hopefully people have something where they can ground themselves in. Although I did love what I was doing with the computer work too. I just felt at home in the studio and working with clay. Anyway, the transition happened. Really big transition is I had many losses in my life, and I don’t want to go too much down the rabbit hole here because I can, but I had many, many losses in my life.

Lisa Agababian

The first one was the wake up call with my mom. When she passed on, she was here one day and gone the next. That just pulled me out of the water. And even though I was doing working with computers at the time, I just kind of got that message, like, right, be here now. That was the message. If you’re not doing or pursuing or moving slowly in the direction of what you love to do, you’re missing the boat right here, right now. And I got that message of enjoy here now. And then when my dad had passed, that was when I transitioned full time. I was like, my dad was pretty nuts. But anyway, God bless him, he’s like, Are you still working? Are you still working? You’re still making money? But anyways, I think we’re going to.

Tom Heath

Do a podcast just on your dad. Like a whole separate one. It sounds like there’s some good stories.

Lisa Agababian

Yeah, I think so. But anyway, so when he passed, I really kind of went low, and I felt like I was always kind of analytical and I was in my head, and I loved organizing and problem solving and stuff. And then it almost felt like a time where the universe was just taking me from my head to my heart. Literally. It was like I couldn’t think logically anymore. I knew I was going under on some level and that I should just go with the flow. And I feel like I just really made it to my heart. And then after many years, I feel like I’ve integrated both. Although, as you know, I can’t even keep a contact list these days. But I’m definitely into the art, and I do like having exchanges with people, and I do love what I do. And the people that I used to work as a computer consultant for, they all knew my heart was in the clay, too. Although I think I did perform pretty well for them at the time.

Tom Heath

Well, you did it for 20 years, so you don’t do something like that. Not well. You do it well, because otherwise people aren’t going to be hiring you.

Lisa Agababian

Yeah. And this was really, though, following my heart. It was like time. Instead of focusing outward, it was like focus inward. And who is Lisa and what is Lisa doing? And it was like, 50 million other questions of like, and not doing it. What are my interests? What are my passions? And not doing it just to do it for performance or money or kudos. It was almost like I was reborn again, and I was reparent parenting myself all over again and finding your purpose. Yeah.

Tom Heath

This is like life lessons here on Meet the Artist. This is fantastic. We’re going to start selling this as, like, coaching. This is great stuff. We talk to artists about all the time, about finding this passion and driving it, and people get to it to different ways. But this is kind of the first time that I’ve heard someone say, you know what? I forget about what I enjoy doing. Like, what am I supposed to be doing? And it sort of took you in that direction.

Lisa Agababian

Right. And it’s scary to go in that direction, but I had a little light that was just like I was trusting that and just going in the direction. And you never know how things unfold, but we’re all on some kind of journey and unfolding. Right.

Tom Heath

We talked last year and said, hey, I’m going to have a gallery. I don’t think I would be oh, yeah, sure.

Lisa Agababian

That’s right.

Tom Heath

That’ll be the case. Thank you. So we’ve talked a lot about hearts, and if you’re listening, I encourage you to head to our website, thetusongallery.com, and look up Lisa’s profile. You’ll see pictures of what she has in the gallery. And what we carry are just beautiful different sizes. These beautiful hearts with they’re not just ceramic hearts. There’s, like a mixture. You’ve sculpted items on these. But do you do mostly hearts, or is that just what we carry?

Lisa Agababian

No, I should say yes, I do hearts. That’s all I do. Yeah. Today, I mean, I used to throw on the wheel, but today it’s all heart sculptures and everything’s hand built. And it’s so funny. I went from throwing on the wheel as a kid and doing a little sculpting, but this is all hand building, and I love it. I go into a Zen mode and listen to music and podcasts, and I’m in heaven in the studio. For the most part. Everybody has good days and bad days, right? And I love the handbuilding, and I think it’s because I found my purpose. And I feel like something just keeps feeding me, and it’s just like and sometimes I just have to write down if I get an idea or I make a connection between the heart and something else, immediately write it down. Because clay is a major process. It’s not like painting where you just paint, and I don’t want to put down painting at all because I’m amazed at some of the painting.

Tom Heath

We’re going to have a throw down. Now, ceramics, the painters, that’s going to be a fundraiser. Put them in the boxing ring there and see what happens.

Lisa Agababian

No, I have total respect. But also, clay, as you might know, too, is a process. You create a form and then it has to dry.

Tom Heath

From my third grade ashtray, I do remember that process. Yours is probably a little bit more in depth.

Lisa Agababian

Yeah. But whatever you’re creating then has to dry. Then it goes into the kiln. You fire it for first firing. A BISC firing is at least like 12 hours, if not more. Then once it comes out of the kiln, it’s more brittle. It’s not as soft and breakable and porous. But then you go through the whole glazing process and you paint to use colors and stuff, but what you see is not what you get in glazing. And when you’re painting I’ve heard that.

Tom Heath

I’ve heard that from other people, though, because the heat transforms it. So you have to know with enough experience what it’s going to look like when you’re done, because it looks different going on.

Lisa Agababian

Exactly. And there’s a gazillion glazes on the market, and there’s so many ceramics is so vast, and that’s the beauty of it, too. You meet another artist and so different than what I might be doing or somebody else is doing. And there’s high fire and low fire and raccoon. It’s wonderful.

Tom Heath

And I’m going to use the word just, and I don’t want to put anything down. But you don’t do just hearts. Your hearts have so much character to them. And a lot of times there’s like hummingbirds coming out or there’s rivers running through them or there’s a house. First of all, how do you get to that? Does it happen during the creation? Or do you have a vision beforehand and create it?

Lisa Agababian

Sometimes when I have an idea or because I’m having a connection with someone or something, or I’m in nature and I have an idea or whatever, like I said, I have to write it down because then it will manifest later. I have to really prepare to okay, now I’m glazing. Now I’m working with greenware and working with clay. But sometimes I will just get in the studio and just start working on a piece and then it just kind of unfolds, too. So I would have to say, for me, it’s a little bit of both.

Tom Heath

Okay. And then when you’re creating, some of these look like they’re multiple pieces that are put together. When you go through the process, at what point do they come together?

Lisa Agababian

A couple of different ways. Like when I’m working in the greenware stage, when I’m working in wow, it’s getting a little rowdy out there.

Tom Heath

Lee’s got some fans here. We’re going to have to hurry up.

Lisa Agababian

Where was I? In the greenware stage. So in the greenware stage can you explain?

Tom Heath

I don’t know what that okay.

Lisa Agababian

Greenware is when you just take when you’re just getting some clay out of the bag. Okay. And so it’s like straight from the earth, pretty much. And it’s soft and it’s malleable. So you start working with the clay and I just kind of totally lost my traight.

Tom Heath

I was just trying to figure out when the pieces come together.

Lisa Agababian

Okay. So, yeah, I’ll usually work if I’m handbuilding, I make the heart form first, and then if I embellish it with, like if I want a hummingbird coming out or I want roses or lilies or whatever coming out of the piece, then I make those separately. But everything’s got to be consistent as far as the drying goes because I have to pull it all together if I’m doing that in the greenware stage. So I’m connecting the pieces together. So like roses or flowers, any flower just coming out of the piece, I attach the pieces in the greenware stage before I do my first firing.

Tom Heath

So when it comes out of that first firing, it’s already brittle. And these things are so delicate.

Lisa Agababian

That’s right. When you say delicate, I mean they’re more delicate before the firing because at that point well, if it falls in the biscuit stage, you can lose the piece in the greenware stage. It’s very brittle. I mean, it’s very soft.

Tom Heath

Okay. So that could change shape. It doesn’t take much to change the shape because it’s just lean against it and all of a sudden it’s not as hard anymore. It’s a square.

Lisa Agababian

That’s right. Yeah. And then once the piece dries, it’s still fragile. Once goes in the kiln and gets fired to like close to 2000 degrees.

Lisa Agababian

It actually goes through a process of drying. And basically what we call that is vitrification.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Lisa Agababian

And so it loses the water.

Tom Heath

Not only are people here to see her, people are calling. Lisa, this is incredibly popular today. Might be the most popular safety artist podcast we’ve had.

Lisa Agababian

You’re, sweetheart. Thank you. You’re so funny.

Tom Heath

With your passion for this. Do you teach? Are you doing classes? Do you help others with this?

Lisa Agababian

I occasionally teach. If I get a group of people together that want to do something, I will throw something together for them if I have the time. Like if I’m in the middle of doing a solo exhibit or a sculpture festival, I’m in the middle the midst of a lot of shows. I can’t do that, obviously, because I’m in the middle of production and creation. I say production because I make my self care spiral heart ornaments for the holidays and my heart grounding stones and things like that. But even when I’m just creating, you really have to be there. I’m with the clay creating, but occasionally I will throw class. I used to do more classes than I do right now, but I love sharing my passion with others. And I love sharing. Even when people come, maybe even this evening. I love sharing my process too. There’s a couple of secrets I’m not going to share, but for the most part, I pretty much share the whole process.

Tom Heath

I have heard in the ceramics world there are some trade secrets because of how things get put together. Like you said, there’s so many glazes and processes. Once you found one that works, it becomes sort of your style as well.

Lisa Agababian

Right? And I think that’s just how it is for everyone. You find your way and then that’s your way.

Lisa Agababian

I have shared some of the secrets with some people because I’m just that way. But anyways, it’s about the passion. I think it’s really at the end.

Tom Heath

Of the day, I think sometimes seeing other people succeed is almost as rewarding. How do people follow you? Are you on social media? Website. What’s your stuff?

Lisa Agababian

Yeah, I have a website, Fuchsiadesigns.com. And I’m also on Facebook. Everybody tells me I need to be more on the Instagram, but I haven’t kind of gotten too savvy with also, I’m a nature girl, so I really need my nature time or be in the studio. So I do share my pieces on my website. I will share all of my larger pieces on my website. Anytime a piece is finished, I get a photo of it.

Tom Heath

Fuchsiadesigns.com.

Lisa Agababian

Yeah.

Tom Heath

And then is the Facebook the same.

Lisa Agababian

Or is it under your name on Facebook? I have one profile that’s Lisa Agabian and then I have another one which I don’t even know why I started, but it’s Lisa Agabian, ceramic artist. I don’t know what I was thinking. But anyway, so I try to post on both. But if someone friends me as Lisa Agabian, they’ll see all the work.

Tom Heath

Lisa is another one of these fabulous Tucson artists. We are so blessed. When we opened the gallery, a lot of it was to share to the world how lucky we are in Tucson. And this is just another example. And literally the places is filled with people that are here to hear her. Tonight, do a little bit of presentation. If you want to see or you want to hear any of our past episodes, you can go to thetusongallery.com and under the media section. All of those episodes are there. If you find your favorite artist, they probably have a podcast and we have recorded these on video. So we’ll see some videos coming out soon. Just haven’t quite gotten there. Maybe we’ll get the videos out when you get on Instagram.

Lisa Agababian

Yeah, sounds good. I got to do that. That’s kind of funny. I came from the computer world and I’m so like went the other direction.

Tom Heath

I think that your gift to the world is your art. And people can see it in the gallery, they can see it online. The Instagram that’ll come, when the time is right, it will come.

Lisa Agababian

Thank you. Thank you.

Tom Heath

Tom, Lisa, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much.

Tom Heath

Whoo. Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Conga Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to thetucsongallery.com for more information about our live events, listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art, gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought provoking and forward thinking artists.

Photos

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back. Once again, we are at the tucson gallery for another installment of meet the artist. It’s a segment we do every time we get one of these fabulous artists to spend a few minutes of their time with us here in the gallery. Today we have a very famous author, laura strang is joining us. And of course, if you ever want to see the past episodes of other artists, you can head over to our website, tucsongallery.com. There’s a section up there of all of our past episodes and there’s a newsletter. Sign up so you can find out when the artists will be live. We’re in the tucson gallery at the proper shops of 300 east congress. We’re right across the street from hotel congress on the same block as the rialto, so we are pretty darn cool. And speaking of pretty darn cool, we have the fabulous laura strange joining us today. Welcome.

Laura Streng

Thank you for having me.

Tom Heath

You’re an artist.

Laura Streng

We’re obligated to have you artist. Maybe not.

Tom Heath

Well, I’m going to have you move down a little bit closer.

Laura Streng

Okay.

Tom Heath

Well, you are an artist. You have taken something that was a passion of yours and you figured out a way to enlighten the world about it. I think that’s what artists do. They enlighten the world about something they’re passionate about.

Laura Streng

Yeah, I would agree. I mean, I’m passionate about dogs and I’m passionate about connor.

Tom Heath

All right, well, let’s talk. So a lot of our artists, they do painting and sculptures and I think when we use the term artist because I’ve written a book. You’ve written a book. And sometimes when they say we’re artists, like, not really, it’s not the same, but I don’t know. You wrote a really cool book. It’s called connor finds a it’s a I understand, it’s kind of a documentary, isn’t it?

Laura Streng

It is a true story. We left out some of the harsher details to make it a children’s book of his initial finding of the home, but it’s all true. It’s all written on him.

Tom Heath

Well, so let’s start at the beginning then. I know I don’t usually like to give away the ending of a book, but this one kind of speaks for itself. So we might be giving the book away. This is not a thriller, but tell us a little about how connor found a home and how that led to the book.

Laura Streng

So connor was we got him from the sanctuary project, which at the time was a fostering program, and he was one of our third or fourth fosters, and he had had kind of a very tragic story. And we got him when he was four months old. And then once he had to go through numerous surgeries and I always just felt like he’s going to feel like he’s so abandoned because he’s in the hospital for weeks on end. So I would go and sit at the hospital and lay next to him and just wanted to see him and be next to him, knowing that I didn’t want him to think he was alone. So that kind of led us to basically make it a foster fail. So Connor found his home because I just couldn’t let him go. And Trevor knew how much I loved we just we made him a home in our home.

Tom Heath

Wasn’t there some other homes that he was a part of?

Laura Streng

He had a few other foster families before he came to us. And for some reason he wasn’t able to be adopted at that time because he didn’t have his surgeries done. So we had to wait for his surgeries to be done. So, yeah, for some reason we just got lucky enough to get him one time and fell in love with him and that was it.

Tom Heath

So he goes from being concerned he’s going to be left alone to I think I’m home, I’ve got my people.

Tom Heath

It’s a story, and we hear that story often, thankfully, that dogs get adopted, but somehow this turned into a so what, what kind of led you to do the book?

Laura Streng

So the book was actually initially started as more of a passion project for Trevor. Trevor really loves doing this sort of thing, and I got into it because he was like, I just like the way that you write. And I like this. And I was, okay, like, let’s figure this out. So we did, and then we got Emily involved, who is our illustrator, and she is fantastic. That is one thing that I cannot do, is I cannot draw. But Emily has a gift.

Tom Heath

Let’s talk a little bit about Emily because she does have a gift. She’s a very special individual, and she loves Connor as well. And she’s your neighbor.

Laura Streng

No. So her dad and I have worked together for ten years.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Laura Streng

Yes.

Tom Heath

Okay. I’ve been telling people she’s your neighbor. So if you bought a book and I told you he was your neighbor, then sorry about that. But there was a relationship. And she loves Connor.

Laura Streng

Yes, she loves all dogs. She loves all animals. Actually, her birthday is today. She’s turning 22 today. And she’s autistic, and she is amazing at art and she loves animals. So she works at the keno school some days and she helps in their farm and all that kind of thing. And she’s incredible.

Tom Heath

And she started drawing pictures, I guess, of Connor, and that’s kind of where sort of this idea to marry the story with her illustrations came from.

Laura Streng

Yeah. So anytime I was sick or one of the dogs were sick, I would talk to her dad at work and he would be like, oh, I’m so sorry to hear that. And then the next day, I’d have this cute little card drawn from Emily, and it was pictures of the dogs. And I was like, god, these pictures are so heartwarming, and just kind like, you look at the pictures, and they’re kind I don’t know if you can describe it that way, but they are.

Tom Heath

There’s definitely a positive energy of every character that she draws. There’s definitely this sense of happiness that comes from them. They’re smiling and big eyes and usually a tongue hanging out. And for the dogs.

Laura Streng

Yes. Yes.

Tom Heath

So then you decided, so Trevor, your husband, he’s like, hey, I got this great idea. I’m going to write a book. I just need to help a little bit. And then all of a sudden, you’re like, you know what? I’m taking over. I’m doing this. You’re out. Was this like a hostile takeover? It was like, what’s going on? You took my book.

Laura Streng

No, he actually was all for it. He did everything else, though, I can say that, literally wrote the story. However, he put it all together and put it on Amazon and did everything that he needed to do in that regard.

Tom Heath

Your producer, your publisher, he’s the guy that makes it all happen. Yeah, which is good because you need the talent to write, you need the talent to draw, and you need the talent to get it up and out to the world.

Laura Streng

It was a collaborative effort.

Tom Heath

Okay. And how long did it take you to write the story? Did it just pour out of you, or did you keep going back and rewriting?

Laura Streng

It initially just poured out of me because I know it so well. It’s our know there was no writer’s block, as most people would have, but this is a true story, so it just came very naturally because it was our life.

Tom Heath

And then how did Emily illustrate? She because the book is so well laid out with a chunk of the story and a perfect illustration. So did that all happen naturally?

Laura Streng

So basically what we did was we printed out the words and then printed out what we wanted on each page, and then we would give them to Emily and say, this is what we want, and some sort of direction as far as, like, we want Connor with a bowl, or we want this. And she just took it and ran with it. And she was amazing.

Tom Heath

There’s many illustrations, and my favorite is that moment when Connor comes home and there’s balloons and a welcome home sign, and he’s like, what is all this partying for? What’s the celebration for? And I still get, like, goosebumps thinking about that moment because it’s so well drawn, it’s so beautiful. The words are perfect. So that page, I mean, I’m a grown man, like, getting goosebumps over a little children’s book, so it might be made for more than just children.

Laura Streng

Well, that’s nice. I hope it is. I feel like the story is made for more than just children.

Tom Heath

And so you’ve kind of taken this. Now, your primary profession is not as an author, as I understand it.

Laura Streng

Correct.

Tom Heath

So the proceeds you’re getting from this. I know you’re donating a lot of them back to local charities, but you’re also taking this opportunity then to spread the story about fostering and adopting, and you’re doing it in a sneaky way because you’re like, reading this story to people, like, oh, it’s story time. But then you’re subtly putting in a message in there that’s kind of sneaky.

Laura Streng

Yeah. Now that school is out, we haven’t been doing it, but once school gets back in, in a few weeks, we’ve been going to some schools and reading to the kids, and I think that there’s no better way than to start early so they know the benefits of this and being able to serve your community.

Tom Heath

And then they go home and they’re like, hey, mom. Hey, dad, guess what? And you’re like, I don’t know where they got that from. Story time. And I love the marketing and this may have been Trevor’s, but I love the marketing that you have a storybook that’s been fully colored by Emily with her vision, but then you’ve also created a coloring book that allows people to be more interactive and create their own color vision for how the story turns out.

Laura Streng

Yeah, we thought that it would be nice because some kids maybe are getting this book and they can’t read, so why not let them illustrate it themselves? As far as the colors that they want the dog to be? Maybe their dog is black. Maybe they want their dog to be know, who knows? But then they can kind of customize it for themselves.

Tom Heath

And let’s talk about Connor. Has this all gone to his mean? He came in for the Meet the Artist night. He’s wearing a tie. He’s a little standoffish. He’s like, you know, do you have treats? I’m not talking to you if you don’t have treats. I’m famous.

Laura Streng

Yeah, he’s kind of a big deal. I mean, in our house, he is a big deal.

Tom Heath

He’s a big dog, so he’s a big deal in any house.

Laura Streng

That’s true. We don’t have his best friend, which is our Nala. That’s his tried and true best friend with us. Otherwise he would be right next to her.

Tom Heath

And Nala is the size of, like, three peanuts.

Laura Streng

No, that’s karma.

Tom Heath

Karma. Oh, okay.

Laura Streng

Nala is the pit bull mix. So she’s like a medium sized gotcha. Yeah.

Tom Heath

And you have three dogs total for the moment, because that’s what I had this morning. But with you and Trevor, I never know this afternoon.

Laura Streng

Let’s hope we stay at three for a little while. They get expensive.

Tom Heath

I understand that. And then can you talk just a little bit about the message of the book? And obviously it’s a pretty clear story about fostering and adopting, but the services that are out there that you support, that are doing things the right way, that need help from others, I feel.

Laura Streng

Like there are so many as far as that need help, I feel like they all do at this point. I mean, you can even look at Pack and they need help. There’s always a need. You got to spay and neuter your pets. That’s just the end of it. We have over 400 right now, I think, at Pack, but on Facebook, 400.

Tom Heath

Animals or 400 dogs. Oh, my gosh, yes.

Laura Streng

So I think that just from the smallest thing or even we were involved with a foster.

Tom Heath

Like a group of people that get together.

Laura Streng

It was a collective. It was a nonprofit. It was a nonprofit. It’s like a cult. Yeah, we all love dogs and we just do everything we can.

Tom Heath

Some leader blindly just crazy. Now I have three.

Laura Streng

But there is plenty of fostering opportunities. Even if you cannot keep a dog, you can always foster with the pandemic. There was a ton of people that were bringing in dogs.

Tom Heath

As far as fostering, have you fostered successfully? Other dogs?

Laura Streng

We have.

Tom Heath

And what’s that process like that. How long do you have them?

Laura Streng

It depends. So it depends on first the dog’s needs. If it’s a dog that needs surgery, then obviously you’re going to have them a little bit longer. If it is a dog that is literally just waiting for its perfect match, then it could be a couple weeks, it could be a month. You never know. We had one before Connor and it was a black lab. His name was Harley. And when we gave him back, everybody’s like, oh, God, how do you do you how do you give them back? And I’m like, well, it’s not giving them back. It’s giving them to a family that you know is going to love and always keep them and safe and just adore them. So yes, it is hard. And yes, we cried. Trevor and I both cried our eyes out when we gave Harley back, but we knew he was going to a family that would be there for him forever. So in that regard, when you’re fostering, you know that that family has been checked out and you know that they’re going to love that dog forever. So that makes it a lot easier.

Tom Heath

Do you ever get a chance to see Harley or do you ever stalk him at the dog park?

Laura Streng

No, I wish I did, though. I’ve tried to find him on Facebook.

Tom Heath

So you’re not connected with the family then?

Laura Streng

No.

Tom Heath

You’re working through an agency. They say, hey, it’s time we’ve got a family for Harley. You cry for a while, give some hugs and kisses and treats, and then Harley goes and you don’t know ultimately.

Laura Streng

Where Harley ends up. Right. But you do know that they have gone through an application process. It’s not just like, here, have the dog. So I know that they’re going to a great family, but I may or may not know the if because I.

Tom Heath

Know for the human side of things, there’s services where you can put your name out there and say, hey, I’m adopted. And people can say, well, I put up a child for adoption. And sometimes they meet through this service. I wonder if there’s anything for the foster, the dog fostering world. Or you can put out there and say, hey, foster these dogs.

Laura Streng

That’d be great because I’d love to.

Tom Heath

See that there, you can so now Connor finds a home, we’re going to write another book about how Connor reunites with Harley. That’s going to be the sequel.

Laura Streng

Gosh, we’ve got plenty of sequels, I’m sure, in Trevor’s brain.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I don’t doubt that. And the love that you have and the care that you take for the pups, and it’s phenomenal. And we love selling the book in the gallery because it is a true story. It’s a Tucson story. It’s a story that a lot of people are familiar with, but the art really brings it home. The words, the illustrations, of course, but just that the way it’s put together. It’s called Connor finds a home. I know you had a website or do you have a website?

Laura Streng

Yeah, it’s Connorfinesahome.com.

Tom Heath

Okay. And then I know their social media, they can follow you on Instagram, on.

Laura Streng

Facebook, and Connor finds a Home.

Tom Heath

That’s pretty hard to track down.

Laura Streng

You’re right.

Tom Heath

And where else are there other places selling the book? Like, can they get them at any does Pack have any no, not yet. They can buy them on Amazon exclusive at the gallery.

Laura Streng

Yes, yes.

Tom Heath

Connor finds a home. And we’re lucky enough to have Connor visiting us tonight as part of the meet the artist event. So we get to meet the artist and the subject. He has not told us yet whether he’s signing autographs, but we’re hoping he’ll see to signing a couple.

Laura Streng

I’m sure he’ll be okay with that.

Tom Heath

And on the website there’s information about the book, but also the true pictures of Connor and all of that.

Laura Streng

It’s also on the back of the book, too.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Laura Streng

Because a lot of kids like that to see the actual pictures of the dog.

Tom Heath

And again, it’s not just kids. I talk to adults and they look this and I show them the back and I’m like, this is a true story. And I show them your photo and that’s Connor. And then they read your bio and then Emily’s bio, and they just fall in love with this, for it is a true passion project. And you’ve knocked it out of the park.

Laura Streng

Thank you. We really love it.

Tom Heath

Well, Laura is one of these fabulous artists that we get to talk to and interact with down here at the Tucson gallery. Just about every week we have an artist that will grace us with their time and they do a meet the artist event. They’re typically on Fridays from six to 08:00 p.m.. If you head over to our website, thetucsongallery.com, there is a calendar of events and a newsletter that comes out once a month that you can sign up to receive and get notifications of the artist. Events, VIP events, special nights, music. We recently did a pop up which was really well received and all that information will get sent to you via that newsletter. And I think probably the biggest thing though is knowing when these artists are going to be in the gallery live and you have a chance to interact with them. Laura, I really appreciate your time and appreciate your effort to put to the.

Laura Streng

Other Connor story well, thank you for having us.

Tom Heath

Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist this is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Conga Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to Thetucsongallery.com for more information about our live events. Listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art, gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought provoking and forward thinking artists.

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to the Tucson Gallery meet the artist event. Every week we have a different artist coming to the studio. They share all their trade secrets. They meet with their fans, sign autographs, all the cool stuff that happens inside the Tucson Gallery, the proper shops, 300 East Congress in downtown Tucson. And then we always pull them away from their fans for a few minutes and record these annoying podcasts because they’re so engrossed. And I’m like, hey, come and come talk to me. And I have to have a podcast, otherwise they wouldn’t talk to me. We appreciate that, but you can’t miss us. We’re in downtown Tucson, across from Hotel Congress, next to the Alto Theater and next to the playground. So come down, check us out, and if you can’t make it down, check out our website, thetucsongallery.com. It’ll have a schedule of all the live events, all of our artists with profiles, those that have merchandise available online, and past episodes of Meet the Artist. Today we have a sculptor in

Tom Heath

our midst. We have the fabulous hopefully I’ll say this right, Ukiah Hoy, you got it. Look at that.

Ukiah Hoy

Thanks. Nice to be here.

Tom Heath

So you like to play with metal is what I understand.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, I think play would be the operative word. Right. I like to see where it goes and what I can make it do.

Tom Heath

How did you get started in that? Have you always been like, an artist or did you just wake up one day and say, I want to cut strips of metal?

Ukiah Hoy

I’ve been making art of all kinds since I was little, since I was a small child. My father, his dad was an animator for Walt Disney.

Tom Heath

Oh, wow. So you got some professional artistic blood in the family.

Ukiah Hoy

Exactly. So I used to sketch and doodle and give him my sketchbooks and wait, worryingly for him to meander them and critique them. I always thought I would keep it as just a side hobby. So when I started pursuing art in college, I didn’t really think of where I wanted it to go. And then I stumbled upon metal for one sculpture project there. And I knew in the back of my mind I was interested in metal sculpture. And it really made me angry and it was hard to navigate, but the outcome was really cool. And by the time I was done, I triumphed. And I thought, wow, I could really go somewhere with it.

Tom Heath

What was your first piece?

Ukiah Hoy

There were these two really cool great blue herons that were made in the same way I do all of my birds. And I kind of started out with all of the scrap metal and knew that I wanted to make herons because I had just had a heron eat all my koi out of my pond. That made me very angry and also inspired me.

Tom Heath

There’s a lot of anger in your art.

Ukiah Hoy

I know there’s sharp objects too. Maybe it’s correlated.

Tom Heath

So these heron eat your fish and you’re like, I’m going to sculpt you out of metal.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. Instead of like, shooting the bird and stuffing it. The koi were like, ten years old. That’s an investment if you’re a koi person.

Tom Heath

I am not. But a fish that’s ten years old of any sort seems like quite an investment of time and money.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. And the birds are protected, so what are you going to do? And they’re beautiful and majestic and fantastic and amazing.

Tom Heath

So did you make herons and then break them? Is that why you made them, so that you could take them down a pain?

Ukiah Hoy

I fell in love with them.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

And so as I’m sculpting with metal, I was learning about what it does. So it heats and it shrinks and that makes it move. And the way I weld is tack welding from the bottom all the way to the top. So by the time I got done, these creatures had this really inquisitive kind of look to their faces and these personas, they felt very alive. And I used them for a show as a senior in college and now they adorn my pond at home, hopefully keeping herons away.

Tom Heath

Wow, that calls full circle.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. It was humble, though. I kind of kept them in my pocket and I didn’t make anything like that for a while. And my art degree was focused on art education because I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to do as an artist.

Tom Heath

Okay, before we get into the art education, which we want to talk about, people can see that on our website, thetucsongallery.com but a lot of what you have in the gallery are birds. And is that still your primary sort of object that you create?

Ukiah Hoy

I think currently, yeah, that’s primarily what I’m creating, but I’m interested in how things are assembled, like how the way I’m creating is going to complement what the structure is. So I also enjoy insects for the same reason I enjoy the birds, because you can hide the weld work and make it look really candid and get a lot of movement out of them. And so I’m exploring more into mammals and other things, but it’s slow going because it’s very much an investigation.

Tom Heath

Okay. Well, these birds, I mean, they are incredibly lifelike. It looks to me like there’s like an under, like a base, like a body, and then you handcut hundreds of feathers and assemble them. Is that an accurate exactly?

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. I look at whatever bird I would like to make and I sketch it out and then I make an underbody, like a round rod structure that resembles its skeleton.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

And then I handcut every feather and I feather the bird from tail to beak.

Tom Heath

So you know a lot about birds.

Ukiah Hoy

Too, I guess, about how they’re put together.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I think how birds are put together. It’s interesting. You come at things from a very scientific and analytical perspective. It’s like it’s not how birds are created or how they’re born, it’s how they’re put together. Yeah, like the pieces and parts.

Ukiah Hoy

I think biology inspires me in that way. Right. Like you, me, plants, animals, there are all these really neat little puzzles that put together. And when you break an animal down or an insect down to its exoskeleton or to its skeleton and start from the inside and work outwards, I’m fascinated by that. I’m also quite the bone collector.

Tom Heath

Okay, we’re going to save that for another podcast of the creepy things our artists do. But I do want to get back to the art education because that’s a primary focus for you as well. You teach youngsters how to create art.

Ukiah Hoy

They do, yeah. So I got my undergrad at the U of A in art education, so I’m one of a handful of teachers that actually wanted to become the art teacher. I went to college for it. So bringing in contemporary art practice into a high school setting and teaching them how to expand beyond, I don’t know, I guess you would classify it as discipline based art education. So thinking outside of the box has always been a big passion.

Tom Heath

And then how long have you been doing this?

Ukiah Hoy

I’m going into my 8th year.

Tom Heath

Okay, what kind of some success stories? People that have come through your class that are I’m not sure, what should I do? And then you’re like, oh, and then there’s like this light bulb that goes off because you’ve given them some path.

Ukiah Hoy

To follow, runs the gambit. So it could be students that were really wayward that didn’t go to any other class and then got thrown in mine and we built a rapport. And then they really still only came to mind, but then landed some cool scholarships at Pima and went to college because of that experience. Or were dealing with really hard life issues and found a way to vent that through art. Or there’s kids that have gotten full rides to the U of A for the College of Art just based on merit because they showed their portfolio to professionals and they were that good.

Tom Heath

Wow.

Ukiah Hoy

And they wouldn’t have done that otherwise. We’ve landed a lot of scholarships and a lot of college placement. I was running the IB. So it’s international baccalaureate art program at Choya High School for the last seven years. And that’s just really in itself rewarding to see the kids analyze life and themselves and experience that through art making. If that makes sense.

Tom Heath

It does. Have you crushed any dreams? Anybody come to you and said, oh, I’m a great artist, and you’re like, wow, you should stick to the theater.

Ukiah Hoy

We call those ones dragons. Those aren’t teachers. We call them dragons.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

But the good ones, I like to pop their bubble for sure. Yeah. If they come into a critique heart like they know everything. I’ll definitely make some really technical digs and I’ve never had a student fail to rise to the occasion.

Tom Heath

Good, very good. Tough question here because we put you on the hot seat with Meet the artist, the joy of a successful creation, something that you’ve never done before, or the joy of your student success. Which one gives you more elation?

Ukiah Hoy

They’re equal.

Tom Heath

Yeah, they are, though. I love my kids all the same.

Ukiah Hoy

I think they both just both as much of a mystery, so you never know how it’s going to hit until it’s done. The kids, though, man, when you see someone struggle and you feel that to your core and you watch them triumph, that’ll get tears on my eyes right now, I have a bleeding heart for that.

Tom Heath

I think that’s good to be in a position that you are and I think that’s why you’ve had so much success. We like to talk about for other artists that are sort of in up and coming mode or trying to figure things out, you have a very busy life. I mean, you’re raising some kids of your own, you’re teaching a bunch of kids, you’re doing the art you’re displayed in many places around Tucson. What are some of those thoughts on balancing? Where do you find the time to do this?

Ukiah Hoy

Make time. You have to make it. You have to carve it out of your day and you have to say, I’m sure about this. Like, I’m confident that I’m going to at least try and see what happens because I think I spent a great many years trying to figure out how to find time. I’ll find time for that balance. And it wasn’t until I decided, no.

Tom Heath

I’m going to do it, okay, that it happened intentionally. You’re never going to be less busy than you are now.

Ukiah Hoy

Just do it and see what happens.

Tom Heath

Okay? That’s simple advice. Just do it. Don’t question, just do it.

Ukiah Hoy

Like a soda slogan, right?

Tom Heath

And then getting out into yard, into the world. So you’ve done shows you’re in galleries like that. What’s that process? Like, are you going from gallery? These things are heavy, so it’s like you can’t just, hey, here’s 20 pieces of work that I’ve done that’s like literally like a ton of material.

Ukiah Hoy

Literally. It’s a pain in the butt and I have really good gloves. We’re talking about upgrading transport for that because this has kind of been a big swoop, even just in the last year of how many things have been created and where they need to go. So logistically, I think a nice suited trailer, but then you get into thinking about shipping and handling and who’s going to take it beyond yourself. And those are all things that are I don’t think you negotiate when you’re like, I made this, I made this.

Tom Heath

This is beautiful.

Ukiah Hoy

There’s so many other little pieces to the puzzle that come together to get it to where it needs to be.

Tom Heath

Yeah. The commercial side of art sometimes is a little bit more complex, and a lot of the artists that we talk to, some of them are figuring it out. Some of them have it completely dialed in, and others are just struggling. It seems like it’s almost like a different brain function of the creative side as to how to market it is.

Ukiah Hoy

Absolutely. And I think it might be easier for some than others. If you’re dealing with paintings, they’re going to be relatively flat. You can kind of guess what their weight is going to be. But when you’re dealing with sculptures, it’s really more dynamic. I don’t know what shipping is going to require.

Tom Heath

Right, shipping. And then the delicacy of these. I mean, they’re hardy, they’re really well built, but they’re also really small feathers on some of these birds. If you don’t package it right, you could end up with a bald spot on one of your birds. Definitely destination.

Ukiah Hoy

If I did my job right, welds shouldn’t pop. But more so, they’re prone to puncture boxes and things because they’re so sharp. So that’s more of an issue, is.

Tom Heath

Getting arms and hands layers. When you first came in because you had those gloves and you were handling these birds, I mean, you honestly look like the actual falcon ear. Right. You got this huge raven, and you’re holding it in a way and looks like it’s perched on your glove. And I’m like, Wait a minute.

Ukiah Hoy

No, it’s a metal one. I do go through a new pair of welding gloves in about four months. If I’m working steadily, though, and then.

Tom Heath

How long does it take to create? I mean, because you got small, medium, large, but let’s just take like, a medium sized bird.

Ukiah Hoy

Like, how long start to finish from first tack to paint is probably about 48 hours.

Tom Heath

Oh, that’s faster than I thought. And do you work on one project at a time, or do you have multiple going?

Ukiah Hoy

I have multiple going. And if I’m making a set to sell, if I’m working for a market, or if I’m making stuff for the gallery, I’ll do things all at a time. Right. I’ll need feathers for three birds, so I’ll cut all my feathers.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

And then I’ll make all my frames, and then I’ll weld each bird out. And when you get systematic, you get a little faster.

Tom Heath

I guess that makes sense. And then the painting of it. I understand you use, like, a car paint or something really heavy. These are outdoor.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, they’re for outdoor use. So it’s a candy coated or candy pigmented clear coat that’s UV resistant automotive paint that’s sprayed on.

Tom Heath

I didn’t understand. I know all those words, but not in that order.

Ukiah Hoy

It’s on your car.

Tom Heath

It’s on my car. Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, but so it’s really great for Arizona sun, especially because they sparkle in the sun and they last.

Tom Heath

Any drawings you’re still doing? Is it all metal?

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, now I do a little bit of everything. I’m actually working on drawings right now. My daughter’s dog passed away. It was really sad. So I’ve been working on a commemorative piece for her. When you say that. So I like drawing. It’s a nice respite because it’s not so physical. Sometimes it can get exhausting.

Tom Heath

Well, I imagine you can. Drawing is also you can do it a little bit more frequently. You don’t need a space.

Ukiah Hoy

I don’t need, like, a space, a set up, a babysitter. I could have a cup of tea and a sketchbook. It’s kind of nice. It’s, like, very relaxing.

Tom Heath

You can draw on vacation. It’s kind of hard to well, on vacation, honey, pack the torch.

Ukiah Hoy

Burning my clothes and my hands and my hair and all that jazz.

Tom Heath

Yeah. So when do we see some of this other art? Is that available, or are you only commercially working on your sculptures and I’m.

Ukiah Hoy

Only commercially working on sculptures, so it’s kind of I guess it’s still dabble work for me with my 2D stuff. I think that it’s like an ever growing practice of where every year I try something a little different or see it change a little more into a way that I enjoy it, but nothing that I’m ready to get out and put on a wall yet.

Tom Heath

Is your grandfather still alive?

Ukiah Hoy

He’s deceased. His name was Frank Thomas. Not the baseball player, but the animator.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

He’s a cool guy. So he worked on every movie from Snow White to Fox and the Hound, except for Dumbo and Fantasia. He was a directing animator.

Tom Heath

Did he get to see your sculptures?

Ukiah Hoy

No, he died when I was, like, 16. No, I was 18.

Tom Heath

Okay.

Ukiah Hoy

I was 18 and he was 93.

Tom Heath

Because these strike me as sort of like 3D elements of what you would create for a cartoon.

Ukiah Hoy

I think he would have loved them.

Tom Heath

I think so, too.

Ukiah Hoy

You know that crayola air, dry clay?

Tom Heath

No.

Ukiah Hoy

Oh, man. Come on, get yourself to a craft store. I’ll buy you some. But I used to dabble with that, and I’d make him little creations, so I’m sure he would have been really excited to see where that went.

Tom Heath

Fantastic. Fantastic. And then with your students, it’s been eight years, so are any out? Professionally?

Ukiah Hoy

Yes, actually. I have one graduated that’s at the U of A right now, getting ready to be an art teacher. So that was one of the biggest full circle rewards. She observed my classroom again, and I have another one that just had her first solo show over at the Steinfeld Warehouse. And she’s got her own shop, and she’s slinging art, and it’s amazing.

Tom Heath

Wow.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah. Really proud of both of them.

Tom Heath

Wow. Well, good for you. Good for them. And I think the foundations of what we talk to these are is there’s someone in their life almost always that gave them some sort of credibility that this was possible or some sort of nudge that this is something they could do. Because a lot of them didn’t come by this just naturally. They’re like, hey, I’m a great artist, I’m going to do this. They had this talent but didn’t know what to do with it. And someone like yourself came along and said, well, you could do this and that, so to speak. Little pushed the bird out of the nest, so to speak.

Ukiah Hoy

Good.

Tom Heath

Yeah, look at that. Full circle back. So that’s why I get paid nothing. So your work is in the Tucson Gallery. Do you have website? Do you have social media? Where can people check out what you’re doing?

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah, I have social media. So it’s old canoe designs on instagram.

Tom Heath

Old canoe designs.

Ukiah Hoy

Yeah.

Tom Heath

Where does that come from?

Ukiah Hoy

It’s an inside joke from way back when I was dating my husband and his mom couldn’t remember my name and she said, invite that girl over, what’s her name? Used kayak, old Canoe, whatever it is, tell her to come.

Tom Heath

One more time.

Ukiah Hoy

Old Canoe, old Canoe designs on Instagram and Facebook and website in the works.

Tom Heath

Okay. And tell the website tip you can head over to Tucsongallery.com and check out all of the work that we have. Some photos of that as well as a nice bio and a little some fun pick photos of you and the family. And then while you’re over there, you can listen to other Meet the Artist podcast. It’s under a media section. And don’t forget to sign up for the monthly newsletter because we have kayan, all these artists coming in once a month to share their talents with an adoring group of fans and we’re lucky to have them here in Tucson. Tucson Gallery focuses on local artists and we are just blown away with the amount of talent that we have here in Tucson. So sign up for the newsletter, check out the artwork, peruse some of our other artists, listen to podcasts and buy stuff. Buying stuff is good, so don’t forget to do that and come on down and check out Yukaya, the Old Canoes work down here at 300 East Congress in downtown Tucson. Miss Canoe?

Ukiah Hoy

Yes.

Tom Heath

Absolute pleasure. Thank you.

Ukiah Hoy

Thank you so much.

Tom Heath

Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Conga Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price, and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to thetussongallery.com for more information about our live events, listen to other Meet the Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern thought provoking and forward thinking artists.

Transcript (Unedited)

Tom Heath

Welcome back to another episode of Meet the Artist. This is our weekly installment of Artist podcast. We record them as part of the event where artists come into the studio and share their knowledge with their fans. It’s every week. And it’s at the Tucson Gallery in downtown Tucson. 300 East Congress. We are located inside of the proper shops. We’re across the street from Hotel Congress, next to the realtor theater hub. You can’t really miss us. We’re down where it’s all happening. And we’re inside of a fabulous building here with all kinds of merchants. You can check out more information about the gallery on our website, tucsongallery.com. And while you’re there, you can check out these past episodes with all these fabulous artists. And most importantly, you can sign up for our newsletter and find out when your favorite artist is going to be live here in the studio. And had you signed up, you would know that your favorite artist, Casey, is going to be in the studio today.

Casey James

Hey.

Tom Heath

So we’ve got Casey. He is a photographer by trade, I think, but he’s a magician. Magician by night. We’re going to see how he puts all this stuff together. Casey, welcome to the show.

Casey James

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Tom Heath

So your art with us is kind of interesting. And

Tom Heath

there’s a lot of different layers that go into this. And it’s done with photography and painting and woodworking and stuff like that. So you’re quite extensive. You’re kind of busy. But what is your day job? What do you do when you’re not full time?

Casey James

I’m a full time photographer.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

I’ve been doing that eight years now. Full time. Primarily it was weddings, events, portrait work, working with people. But I really enjoy scenery, capturing sunsets, just what nature has to offer. So when I’m able to incorporate those two, say, people a couple, and then put them in nature with a nice sunset, that’s kind of my forte.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

So I do a lot of weddings with these epic scenic views, engagement shoots, family shoots, portraits for just couples, individuals. But when I’m out and about by myself, I like to go venture out sometimes at night, late midnight, look at the night skies. Sometimes I’ll go out during sunset just to get that sunset or just to get that sunrise. So that was kind of like the hobby side of photography. But ultimately I dove into real estate photography in 2019. Pretty tough. And that has kept us busy. So between doing weddings and events and real estate photography, I’m consumed with the camera.

Tom Heath

Okay, I get that. And then the art that you create then this is a photograph, and it’s inset in a shadow box. But then you’ve done all the paint. You’ve painted the box itself too.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

So pretty much to describe the product, it’s pop’s art. I called it that after creating the product. So I created the product first without a name and it kind of speaks for itself. It’s like pop art, but it does pop out at you. But what it is, is it’s a 3D cut sorrow or cactus, whatever the cactus might be, but the shape of that 3D cut. Well, I say 3D cut, but it’s actually plywood. And I use a laser to cut the shape of the cactus to match the shape of the photo. So I have to go out and get a nice photo of a, say, a Sauaro, like our showstopper. That’s kind of like the first one to debut with Pops and get that and kind of cut it out, as you would say in the photo, and then match that to a wood piece about a quarter inch thick of plywood. Put those two together to create this 3D Soworo. And then I actually had to figure out a way to bracket and mount that sauro so it’s in a shadow box, and it’s not just floating around. It’s not just pasted. It’s nice and sturdy. So it is a bracketed in

Casey James

the shadow box made of wood. And then the backdrop is just a solid, vibrant color with acrylic paint. And I use a medium to thicken up the acrylic, so it’s more of like a stucco, so it gives it extra dimension. And, yeah, the colors are kind of endless. I’ve been experimenting with those.

Tom Heath

That is just, like, so much work that is put together a single piece, and then you got them in different sizes, too. You’ve got small, medium, large. I think you’ve got some huge ones.

Casey James

Trying to go life size. Like, if I could, my goal, which is the goal by the end of the year here, is to have maybe like a six or seven foot sorrow framed wow POPSART with a nice canvas background that maybe be a solid color or could possibly have some gradients to resemble a sunset. I’m barely dabbling into the painting side of things. Being a professional photographer, I’ve definitely learned my lighting and technique as far as highlight shadows, and really that’s all photos are, is highlights and shadows and the contrast between that dynamic range. So when I dabble into painting, it’s a new thing for me. It’s so hard to achieve that result that I desire. But what’s beautiful about what I’ve created here with Pops is most of my backgrounds so far are just solid colors. So I have the opportunity to create a color that I desire of a nice, vibrant, poppy color and just apply that to a canvas. And with that, it’s not that there’s no skill behind that, but it takes less skill than being a meticulous detailed painter. I think most of the detail comes in the photography, which I do specialize.

Tom Heath

Yeah, I could imagine you would drive yourself nuts trying to you’re a perfectionist, so you would drive yourself nuts trying to get all these different colors to match what your vision is. So you got into photography professionally, and you’re doing this as a hobby, which came first? Was it the passion for the artistic side? And then you said, hey, I need to make some money, or I need to make some money. And then you’re like, you know what? This actually kind of leads me into my artistic side.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

So this was entirely very sporadic. It was just a vision and idea that I had. I was doing real estate photography at a Paid Job, a very nice home up in Catalina foothills. I saw a canvas print of a cactus with a black background. And then it wasn’t a full cactus. It was like an arm of a sororo. And it just struck my eye because it was so appealing, and I hadn’t seen anything like it. So I start to dissect it on the photography and just on the technical side, like, how did they capture this?

Tom Heath

Is it a photo?

Casey James

Is it a painting? And I realized, okay, it is a photo. But what they did was they took a photo at night with a flash where they illuminate the cactus. Therefore, the background is just black. Okay. You have nothing. Which looked cool, right? So I said, let’s try something. But that just triggered me to thinking even further, like, hey, maybe I could make something where the color is, like, crazy, right? Like, not black, but purple, pink, yellow, green, blue. And I’ve seen a lot of photos with sororos, but usually you’ll see, like, a night sky or a sunset or a blue sky. So you have a few different colors in that range. You’ve got blue skies. Sunsets here in Arizona are beautiful. It could really be any color of the rainbow. But for the most part, they’re like oranges and kind of purples, reds. Pretty warm.

Tom Heath

And then when did the 3D element come into it?

Casey James

Well, so I knew it had to pop out. So originally I was, like, cutting out foam, trying to match it with my photo to extrude it from another photo. So I was stacking a photo on a photo and extruding it by about a quarter inch.

Tom Heath

What is that word again?

Casey James

Extrude. I learned that back in college working.

Tom Heath

On my I went to the wrong college. What does that mean?

Casey James

So to extrude something is to, like to pull away, I guess.

Tom Heath

Okay, so you create depth. You create depth of the picture. So it’s like two pictures with a spacer in between it? Yeah, spacer. That’s the word us dumb kids use.

Casey James

Yeah, I guess it’s a spacer. Yeah, it adds depth. So I knew there needed to be depth. So what I was doing was pasting a photo on a photo, but I would add depth by using, like, foam core.

Tom Heath

We call it extruding.

Casey James

Yeah, I would extrude it how smart I am. But it looks so crafty and cool. And I actually have one in my house too. It’s got the three colors. It’s like pink teal and yellow, and they’re like the foam sticking out. If you go to the side of the photo, you could really see, like, the foam. It looks kind of crafty.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

But when I looked at that, it didn’t satisfy me, because, again, with not being a perfectionist, because I hate to claim that title, but I do strive to perfect a lot of things.

Tom Heath

You have a lot of attention to detail.

Casey James

Yeah, exactly. This is a better way to put it, but I wanted it to be much better. I wanted it to be presentable in an art gallery, presentable to a point where it’s like, wow, this is kind of realistic, even though it’s so far fetched, where it’s not real.

Tom Heath

Right.

Casey James

So to achieve that, I was just like, process after process, trial and error, trial and error, using the foam. Finally, I said, forget the foam. I need to just cut some, like, with a laser precision again, to get those edges perfect. So that way you see the side of the cactus, and it matches with the photo. It’s like a 3D cactus. So I looked around and finally found someone that could cut for me. So I sent the files. They had some prototypes, matched my photo perfectly, and that was the original, sororo so we ran a batch of 100 to start with, and each of those hundred she actually cut. My Lisa V Designs is actually my supplier for that. She’s amazing. She does more than just wood cuts. She designs wedding things and swag gear using engraving, anything with wood and lasers. She does it. So she’s kind of my source when I need to order a batch, a large batch. But in the meantime, I was like, I need to order my own laser so I could cut my own prototypes, figure it out. But once I got the 100

Casey James

on my hands, I had to order 100 prints, cut 100 prints, paste them to the wood. On top of that, the wood is just wood. So I also paint the wood black so it blends more with the photo. But yeah, just getting the actual cactus by itself in that 3D module is the hardest part.

Tom Heath

And you do then. So you’ve got the Suarez, the Agave, and the prickly pair.

Casey James

So three currently. I wanted to start with five. I wanted a choya as well. And then I also wanted to have a barrel cactus.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

I shot both the barrel cactus. The shape isn’t that appealing, to be honest. The reason I think the pops aren’t so cool is because shape of sororals or agaves or any cactus are so unique. There’s not really any items in our day to day world other than cactus that resemble that. Maybe a palm.

Casey James

Interesting. Yeah. Okay.

Casey James

So when you look at it’s, the shape more than anything. So when I cut out a barrel cactus shape minus the photo, it’s just like a half circle. It doesn’t look that great. So it didn’t excite me much. Now, maybe a barrel cactus with tons of vibrant fruit just bursting out of it might be pretty neat. So I do want to do that. And then the prickly pear or the Achoya, it’s so thin in some areas. Trying to cut like, a 3D wood and then match the photo to it, it’s almost impossible.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

So I’m limited currently to some of those.

Casey James

Okay.

Tom Heath

Confidence in you finding a way through some of this stuff.

Casey James

I think with a three for now, it’s a great opportunity because with just having three cactus, I also have three sizes, and then we also have what? Twelve colors.

Tom Heath

Yeah. We have a lot of people that will buy them in different sets, and they’ll find ways to mix and match them either by color or by style, or they want one of each, or they want different sizes because they’ve got different places, so they come together in a lot of different ways. And you mentioned earlier it kind of want to be realistic, but also very not realistic. And it is interesting because people will stare at them for a while to try to figure out what’s happening here because it kind of looks in some ways like it’s fantasy and then sometimes no, that’s a photo. But the way it all comes together, it it kind of tricks the mind.

Casey James

Yeah. Yeah.

Tom Heath

It’s fun. It’s fun to watch people stare at them.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

And I get caught staring at them as well. Walk into a gallery or if I see more than one piece, it’s like, wow. And it’s bigger than just, oh, I created that. But that’s the vision I’d aim for, is to create that, and it’s done. So ideally, my goal is to definitely expand the product variety beyond just those.

Tom Heath

Three cactus or cacti, anything outside of the natural world. I mean, anything else that other than like, cactus. Yeah.

Casey James

So I love Hawaii.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

And I have a vision maybe one day having POPSART out there, and it would just be Hawaiian.

Tom Heath

So I’m talking this trip.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

Surfboards. I think the pineapples would be a big hit. You have those in the tour.

Tom Heath

Pineapples would be fabulous.

Casey James

Get a contract with ABC stores. That’s all I need. I might be able to retire off of that, who knows? Okay, just kidding on that. But mainly, I think to brand it, I think I just want to keep it just like cactus. It’s Arizona.

Casey James

Okay.

Casey James

I think if it does grow bigger than what it is or what it’s deemed now, like, say, just locally here in Tucson, if I’m able to grow all throughout Arizona as a brand, as a product of pops art, and it’s known for what it is. I think that would be amazing because it just represents everything I’ve kind of built for me up to here with the photography, with business, and then being able to just express myself through the arts and stay up late nights painting canvases, different random colors that appeal to my eye. And even the assembly parts rewarding because that’s when everything comes together. The color of the canvas, the choice of the cactus, the size of the frame, and then the final product.

Tom Heath

So much thought into each and every piece. It’s really quite amazing. And you come at this from a different background than a lot of artists that we talk to because you started with a business mindset. So you were really aggressive about getting this product out into the market and advertising it and marketing it. Social media events. You’re doing a really nice job with putting that out there. So if you’re not, where do people follow you? Like on social media and Instagram, all that stuff?

Casey James

Yeah, so we have social media POPSART. Social media just was established in March, so it’s a couple of months in. We’re really trying to build a following, but we’re on like, TikTok, Instagram, Facebook. So those are the three ones. And aside from that, I’ve also got my real estate photography running all three of those. Instagram, Facebook, whatever. The TikTok.

Tom Heath

And what’s the brand on that?

Casey James

So the brand for the real estate is Luxe Realty Photography.

Tom Heath

Luxe.

Casey James

Luxe.

Casey James

L U XE.

Casey James

Yeah.

Casey James

So last year was our biggest year. It was just crazy with real estate. I had a team of five photographers. I think we closed on about we shot about 500 homes last year. So just between my team myself, I have editors in India. We’ve created a formula since 2019 when it was established to be able to really deliver a great service and product with the real estate. So that’s really consumed me. That is more to my day to day job, because weddings aren’t Monday through Friday, they’re usually Friday through Sunday, which usually I’m not working Friday, Saturday, Sunday, doing weddings, I would just be drained. Ridiculous. So where I’m at now, I did a wedding show at TCC a little while back. I generated quite a few leads from that, and that was amazing. Booked some weddings. And I’m not necessarily focusing on growing that because I’ve got quite a portfolio and I’ve been doing that the longest. But with the real estate, that’s kind of my main focus again, because it is the day to day operations.

Casey James

And then when it comes to the artwork, it’s kind of where I can meditate. Late night kids are asleep, families winding down. I’ve got some quiet time. And again, I could just paint.

Tom Heath

That was going to be perfect. Segue into my next question, which is, we always like to give Tidbits to people that are trying to figure out their path in life. You’re getting this figured out, but what kind of guidance do you have for someone that’s trying to manage that balance of man? I’ve got these full time restrictions on my time because of my job and what I have to do, but I also have this passion. But you’re fitting that in at different times and use the word. It’s like meditation. It’s your relaxation.

Casey James

It’s still a challenge every day, but I think starting Lux Realty Photography back in 2019 and trying to build a team and operating a team, I realized then that being in that industry too, in real estate, that a lot of people are just constantly working. So I set a boundary where Sundays I don’t work.

Casey James

Okay?

Casey James

I just don’t. I try not to if I can, I just don’t.

Tom Heath

But I mean, sometimes okay, when I.

Casey James

Say I don’t work, for some people, work is answering your phone or replying to an email which might take you a couple of minutes, but it does distract you and take you away from that moment. So if you’re able to free your mind entirely for the day from all distractions, I think that’s the healthiest thing to do mentally and then also for the family. If you do have a family, you got to allocate time to that. And it is hard working nine to five and coming home late nights and kids in school, things like that, and trying to build something. I don’t have an office where I clock in every day either. So my office is at home. So if my children are home and my wife’s home. And I’m working hard, avidly with deadlines in the office for hours up at 05:00 a.m., trying to beat them before they wake up at 630 or seven. So I could get 2 hours in and I get up to go get a cup of water, some coffee, or go to the restroom and they hear me and hey dad, that’s it. And it’s like quiet time is over. Yeah. It’s

Casey James

not about because I don’t desire to work. I don’t desire just to be away. But you need to be away in those times to be focused. Sure. So setting those boundaries, I think, is important. That the Sunday thing has been tremendous for me. My family goes to church Sunday mornings. Afterwards we usually go somewhere for lunch. We spend time with maybe other family members or go to a park and really just try to do the least. And I think that’s how you can really kind of wind down. And then come Monday, I know it’s manic Monday, it’s like who knows what’s coming the next day? But in that day, Sunday, it’s time to settle back and again. And it’s not always like that. If I book a wedding for a Sunday, I’m obligated to that wedding on that Sunday. I’m not going to necessarily turn a couple down just because I don’t work Sundays.

Tom Heath

But it’s the exception, it’s not the rule. I mean, you create the balance and I think that’s what we hear from others as well as you’ve got to figure out how the art relaxes you. You can use that as part of your meditation. And as you’re building that business, it’s creating enough boundaries so that you’re not mixing the two and kind of confusing where you are in that. Casey James, you’re known as the talented artist here in the Tucson Gallery. We are fortunate to have you.

Casey James

Thank you.

Tom Heath

People are going to check you out at POPSART. All over social media. They’re going to listen to this podcast and on our website you can see pictures of what we’ve been talking about. Is it POPSART? Is what’s your website?

Casey James

Yes. It’s just PopsArtGallery.com.

Casey James

Okay.

Tom Heath

So you can go to Tucsongallery.com or Popsartgallery.com and check it out while you’re on the Tucson Gallery. You can also listen to this podcast and others of our fabulous, all Tucson based artists. And that’s a product of the Tucson Gallery. Every week we do a different event and we’re fortunate to have tremendous talented and generous with their time. Artists come in and share what they do with us and as you can see, getting some loud fans behind you here. Getting a little rowdy here. So we’re going to wrap it up in case. We appreciate your time.

Casey James

Yeah, thank you. Thanks for having me.

Tom Heath

Thank you for listening to Meet the Artist. This is a weekly production by the Tucson Gallery, located inside of the proper shops at 300 East Conga Street in Tucson, Arizona. The mission of the Tucson Gallery is to support local artists by providing a space to show their art, a forum to engage with their audience, a virtual presence to connect with global patrons, an outlet to earn a fair price, and an opportunity to hone their business skills. Head over to thetussandgallery.com for more information about our live events, listen to other Meet The Artist podcasts and check out the wide selection of art gifts and other items created by Tucson’s modern, thought provoking and forward thinking artists.