1000 Words

By: Ronnie Das
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  • Summary

  • They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so grab some headphones and brush up on inspiration and insight into an artist’s thought process.
    Ronnie Das
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Art
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Episodes
  • 1000 Words - Vasilisa Kiselevich

    1000 Words - Vasilisa Kiselevich
    Nov 8 2022
    “Всё мгновенно, всё пройдет; Что пройдёт, то будет мило.” -Александр Пушкин “Everything is momentary, Everything will pass, What will pass will be dear.” - Alexander Pushkin 1000 Words is a podcast that paints a picture about the creative process. This is a lens to focus on the unique perspective of a specific artist. Hopefully drawing insight as we brush up on how imagination provides a groundwork for artistic exploration. We continue that journey today with Vasilisa Kiselevich! It will pass, but we hope that the photos will remain. We hope that the images will help us halt this beautiful moment. And it is not just a Faustian fleeting moment of personal life. Now it is a fleeing moment for the whole humanity, the whole World. Vasilisa Kiselevich's landscape and wild life photography is her contribution to documenting nature on the brink of ecological crises due to climate change and to progressive damage inflicted by human activity. For Kiselevich it is also a way of studying nature. For the last 7 years she has been documenting in images and notes the life of a swan family. She also observed and photographed night life of beavers for a couple of years. Macro photography lets her into the invisible word of butterflies and flowers. Kiselevich did not know that butterflies had two proboscises when they were just born, until she saw it in her photo. Finally, photography is her way of immersing herself in nature, it is a way of being in it, and being a part of it. It is her therapy, which she calls “Nature Sessions.” Our time is a fleeting moment for society as well. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 Pandemic, she has been working on my “Parallel Worlds” project. While documenting nature in the National Parks, in Canada, in Alaska, and in Buchanan, Michigan, She also documented the tectonic movements of the social landscape in Chicago: Pandemic, Black Lives Matter, 2020 Elections, and most recently the response to the war in Ukraine. The latter gives my photography a new purpose. The photos that she is taking at Ukrainian rallies and events are her way of sharing support, pain and hope. Her images promote awareness about the war and are exhibited in the South Bend Museum of Art as well as in the Buchanan Art Center. Kiselevich says she is also fortunate to be able to share the world of photography with her talented students. A student’s wife told her: “Thank you for giving photography to my husband. Now it is all of his life.” The student himself said that after taking her classes he became addicted to photography and sees everything “as if it were in a photo.” “Il faut être toujours ivre. …. Pour ne pas sentir l'horrible fardeau du temps qui brise vos épaules, et vous penche vers la terre, il faut vous enivrer sans trêve. Mais de quoi? De vin, de poésie ou de vertu, à votre guise. Mais enivrez-vous! - Charles Baudelaire. (You have to be always drunk. … In order not to feel the horrible burden of time which breaks your shoulders, and bends you to the ground, you have to get drunk all the time. But with what? With wine, poetry or virtue, as you wish. But get drunk.)  “With wine, poetry or virtue,” or with photography, Kiselevich would add. For Kiselvich photography is a way of life, a way of perceiving, and a way of seeing things. It is also a way of expression. She often pairs her poems with her photographs, and calls them photo poems. Photography is like poetry: it distills the essence. That’s why her studios name is “The Essence of Light Photography.” We cannot halt a fleeting moment,  But we can capture it as light, Express its essence in a sonnet, Or write a fugue to voice its flight.
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    58 mins
  • 1000 Words - Angie Thieszen

    1000 Words - Angie Thieszen
    Nov 1 2022
    1000 Words is a podcast that paints a picture about the creative process. This is a lens to focus on the unique perspective of a specific artist. Hopefully drawing insight into inspiration as we brush up on how imagination provides a groundwork for artistic exploration. We continue that journey today with Angie Thieszen! Angie Thieszen hails from Defiance, Ohio, but now lives in Millersburg, Indiana. Thieszen has come from a family line of artistic talents in various professional and hobby art careers. She studied art at Bluffton College (now Bluffton University) in Bluffton, Ohio. Most of her past work has been as a hobby artist working with mediums such as watercolor, acrylic, chalk, and Etch-A-Sketch, but her wood stain art has taken her to a professional level. In 2021 she opened her first public studio and shop inside the beautiful Southgate shopping marketplace (27751 CR 26, Elkhart, Indiana). When she is not working on art, Angie values spending most of her time living life to the fullest with her husband and their four children. She enjoys being in nature, having deep conversations, loving on animals, and encouraging others. She is frequently motivated by the words of Wonder Woman, “You are stronger than you believe. You have greater powers than you know.” The most valuable part of her life comes from knowing that Jesus Christ is the source of that strength and power in her life. For Angie Thieszen, there is a breath of life found in details and contrast. Although this world is beautiful as a whole, the busyness of life has caused some of the most beautiful details to be lost to us. The ripples in the pouring of your favorite drink, the delicate edges of flower petals, the soft curves of the human body, the reflection of light and life in the eyes of a favorite animal, and so much more. These overlooked details have the ability to stir emotions, evoke memories or even elicit change if given the chance. Angie finds joy in capturing the life of these details and giving them the audience they deserve. Angie's eye is most often drawn to the contrast between light and dark, shadows and highlights, depth and reflection. These elements are brought out in uniquely dynamic ways by using wood stain as her medium instead of traditional paints. Once Angie has a photo to work from, she often reduces that image even further until the detail she sees is uniquely highlighted. She hand-draws that image onto a smooth unfinished wood surface and uses q-tips and cloths on her fingertips to paint the images directly into the wood with wood stain. Layers of Polycrylic are then added to seal in and protect the piece for lasting durability. The process of making wood stain art is a challenge full of intuition, patience, experience and the willingness to learn from mistakes. Although she experimented on everything from rolling pins to furniture, old kitchen cabinet doors to indoor full sized-doors, she now primarily works on Poplar Veneered MDF board for her wall hangings. Each species of wood handles stain differently and Angie has found she appreciates the contrast and workability of poplar wood the most. She changed from boards of solid poplar to poplar veneered MDF board to avoid some of the warping and cracking of her larger pieces. These changes have brought not only longevity to her pieces but also much added value.
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • 1000 Words - Kandy Grady

    1000 Words - Kandy Grady
    Oct 25 2022
    1000 Words is a podcast that paints a picture about the creative process. This is a lens to focus on the unique perspective of a specific artist. Hopefully drawing insight into inspiration as we brush up on how imagination provides a groundwork for artistic exploration. We continue that journey today with Kandy Grady! Kandy Grady is an artist from Dowagiac, Michigan. Acrylic is her medium of choice but she also works in mixed media with paper she prints. Her work varies from figurative portraits to colorful mixed media landscapes. Grady's artwork is expressive of who she is as a black person of color who is a daughter, sister, and mother. Her experience of navigating humanity and her social environment has made her conscious of her desire to depict her African American culture in positive ways and vivid colors. Hopefully you’ll find a little something to brighten your space with colors of joy.
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    53 mins

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