Hosted by Tamar Avishai · EN

In honor of Juneteenth, we're re-releasing the audio of a live event from January 2018 at the PRX Podcast Garage, titled "Keepers of the Culture: A Celebration Of Maduna And Holmes." The evening was a celebration of two award-winning artists, collaborators, and friends, whose work was on display at the garage's exhibition space. Their sculptures, masks, and collage-based works are an exploration of ancestral voices, family histories, and the power of hope, faith and self-determination. The evening was divided into two parts: a conversation between Ekua and Tamar, which included audio produced around Ekua's collage, "All Fly Home," and an exploration of interpretation and storytelling - as applicable to art as it is to podcasting. The second part was a powerful lecture by art historian Barry Gaither, on Vuzi's work, Ekua's work, and the myriad roles artists and viewers have the joy and the responsibility of playing for and with one another. Ekua Holmes is a painter and collage artist who uses news clippings, photographs, vibrant color, and skillful composition to infuse her work with energy. Her layered, abstract creations convey a sense of unity and evoke memories that are both personal and universal. In her collages, she revisits the joy and challenges of childhood through adult eyes. These works reexamine the foundational relationships, games, and rule that we learn at an early age and apply throughout our lives. Vuzi Maduna (1940 - 2007) was a sculptor and painter who spent much of his life as an artist resident of the Gallery at the Piano Factory in Boston. Maduna began his exploration of African culture with a study of African religions which led him to further examine and interpret the traditional embodiment of belief and myth. Educated at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, he was a member of the African American Master Artists in Residency Program of Northeastern University. His work has been exhibited in the MFA and the ICA, as well as in Tokyo and the People’s Republic of China. Yet Maduna returned to the neighborhoods of his childhood to create pieces that remind us of the African heritage that many in the community share. His public installations are located in Cambridge (the Margaret Fuller House, the Cambridge Community Center, The King School) and in the Boston area, including The Judge, in Roxbury. Edmund Barry Gaither is the founding Director and Curator of the Museum of the National Center of Afro-American Artists (NCAAA), an organization that he developed from a concept to an institution with collections exceeding three thousand objects and a thirty-two year history of exhibitions celebrating the visual arts heritage of black people worldwide. Gaither is also Special Consultant at the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston where he has served as curator for eight exhibitions including a ground breaking show in l970, Afro-American Artists: New York and Boston. Special thanks to Kerri Hoffman and PRX, Alex Braunstein and the PRX Podcast Garage, Gina James, and WGBH.

I'm thrilled to share the teaser for the upcoming season of Raw Material from SFMOMA, which I have the privilege of guest hosting. The season is a curated "mixtape" of art and art-adjacence podcasts (including episodes from 99% Invisible, Everything Is Alive, Recording Artists, and others, including a bonus new episode of The Lonely Palette), all of which explore the idea of The Beholder's Share: why an audience is so necessary for an artwork to become its most fully-realized self. This is an urgent-enough question on its own, but during a pandemic, when museums are closed, it becomes vital. So let's bring these objects to life together - not in person, but through our headphones. The series drops August 4th. Subscribe to Raw Material wherever you get your podcasts. SFMOMA's Raw Material: https://www.sfmoma.org/raw-material/ Music used: The Blue Dot Sessions, "Dirty Wallpaper"

The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: Trying to capture time in art is like trying to pin a wave upon the sand or hold a moonbeam in your hand. So leave it to Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto to do it so effectively by taking us to the Golden Age of Cinema. The exhibition "Seeking Stillness" was view at the MFA from September 24, 2017 to September 3, 2018. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/7/5/episode-31-hiroshi-sugimotos-byrd-theater-richmond-1993-1993 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Cash Cow", "Aourourou", "A Little Powder", "Delicious", "Astrisx", "Bliste" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: You've just had a manic break, cut off a piece of your ear, and gifted it to a prostitute. Who ya gonna call? Your get-a-grip postman friend, of course! See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/3/27/episode-16-vincent-van-goghs-postman-joseph-roulin-1888 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Step In Step Out", "Scratcher", "Over the Fence", "Scalloped", "On Belay" Lee Rosevere, "Curiosity" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: German Expressionists get hot. Nazis get bothered. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/9/28/episode-9-ernst-ludwig-kirchners-reclining-nude-1910 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" David Szeszlay, "Night Surfing" Michael Howard, "The Tallest Man in Idaho (Instrumental)" Jason Leonard, "Ritual Twelve" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Stilt", "Manele", "The Provisions" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: one man's trash is Ghanian artist El Anatsui's treasure. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2017/3/1/episode-15-el-anatsuis-black-river-2009 Music used: Podington Bear, "Down and Around" The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Coronea", "Mercurial Vision", "Stipple", "Our Quiet Company" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees” Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

Grab a parasol, put your monkey on a leash, and come spend Sunday in the Park with George, exploring how a canvas this monumental and as frozen as Dippin' Dots can help us better understand the world in his day, in Cameron Frye's, and in our own. See the images: https://bit.ly/2L0qPCg Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Feisty and Tacky,” “Stack Me Up,” “Base Camp,” “Thannoid,” “PolyCoat,” “Slow Rollout” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette Episode sponsor: www.evanblanch.com/lonely

The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and we're partnering up to bring the museum to you during its closure due to Covid-19 by spotlighting both the rock star and the lesser-known objects from the museum's permanent collection. So relax into your PJs, put your feet up, and let's #MuseumFromHome together. This week: it isn't 17th century Dutch art if we're not going so deep into Rembrandt's soul and so close to the meticulous details of his virtuosic portraiture that we make the guards nervous. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2019/5/23/episode-39-rembrandt-van-rijns-portrait-of-aeltje-uylenburgh-1632 Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Lovers Hollow” “Tailrunner,” “Entwined Oddity,” “Lupi,” “Thannoid,” “Camp Fermin” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, highlighting five objects from the ongoing exhibition "Women Take the Floor." This week: we go beneath the flowers, the unibrow, the broken body, and the shadow of her marriage, to reframe the fame of Frida Kahlo: the Cult Icon of Humanness. See the images: https://bit.ly/39qX739 Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Jat Poure,” “Li Fonte,” “Clouds at the Gap,” “Master,” “When the Guests Have Left,” “Curiously and Curiously,” “Thread Ceylon,” “Gondola Blue” Tinpan Orange, “Song for Frida Kahlo” Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

The Lonely Palette is currently the podcast-in-residence at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, highlighting five objects from the ongoing exhibition "Women Take the Floor." This week: you know TFW you’re rooted in place in front of a video screen, feeling unbearably uncomfortable yet unable to look away, and questioning everything you thought you knew about femininity, self-nourishment, and a woman’s relationship with her own body? Yeah, Patty Chang’s got you right where she wants you. See the images: https://bit.ly/33DsB4P Music used: Lobo Lobo, “Old Ralley” The Blue Dot Sessions, “Flatlands 3rd,” “Louver,” “Sino de Cobre,” “Dorica Theme,” “The Dustbin,” “We Shall Know Speed” Exhibition site: www.mfa.org/exhibition/women-take-the-floor Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette