The Lisa D Show with Melissa Blount

In this interview we talk about a community arts activism project Dr. Melissa Blount, PhD is creating in Evanston, the Black Lives Matter Witness Quilt. The public is invited to create this quilt together during M.E.E.T. Social Justice Sewing Circles this spring and will be on display this June in Evanston. Click here to RSVP for the next sewing circle.

From the invite: Please join MEET (Making Evanston Equitable Together) as we work to expand and highlight the Black Lives Matter movement here in Evanston. Recently our community was fortunate to have in our presence Seneca artist Marie Watt at Northwestern University's Block Museum. On two occasions she brought our community together around issues of equity through participatory sewing circles.

In that spirit, MEET wants to continue gathering our community to engage in social justice handwork activities and create what we are calling a Black Lives Matter Witness Quilt. We want to honor and draw attention to the lives of Black women and girls lost to violence in Chicago by incorporating their names into our community quilt.

We also discuss Melissa's work with community groups in Evanston, MEET (Making Evanston Equitable Together) and OPAL (The Organization for Positive Action and Leadership).

Melissa Blount is a licensed clinical psychologist in private practice in Evanston, Illinois. Dr. Blount has spent over twenty years studying human behavior, specifically interested in the way racism, gender and class impact physical and psychological outcomes for communities of color. She lives in Evanston with her husband and her precious and precocious tween girl.

Learn more about Melissa at www.blountpsychology.com

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 The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrates creatives. Listen to 20 minute, unedited conversations with host Lisa D. and the creatives who make our world a more connected, interesting and beautiful place to live. Podcasts will be posted at https://thelisadshow.blogspot.com

This podcast is recorded at 1100 Florence, an art event space in West Evanston, IL, owned and operated by Lisa Degliantoni and Dave Ford. It is a former Polish Grocery store, probably not the BEST place to record a podcast (boomy to say the least) but we're new and it will get better. Reach out to thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

The Lisa D Show with Ben Blount, unedited

Lisa Degliantoni and Ben Blount talk about his upcoming art exhibit Recollection which deals with race, memory and perception. 

Recollection examines the notions of race and culture we encounter growing up in the United States. Shared through reimagined learning tools and remembered narratives, this work explores how we collect these formative ideas about identity and commit them to memory. This collection of work from artist Ben Blount includes letterpress prints, handmade books, and various interactive elements.

Ben Blount is a printer who uses books, posters and installations to explore notions of race and identity in America. Shaped by two decades of experience in design and advertising, his work draws on a common cultural language of objects, stories and experiences to draw attention to the differences between what we see, and how we are seen. With a range of contemporary influences from Dave Chappelle and Kara Walker to Mos Def and Amos Kennedy, Blount’s work is often provocative and topical. He has taught book arts courses at The Cleveland Institute of Art and Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago. A native Detroiter, he earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago and currently lives in Evanston, IL. 

Image above: Spread from ABC: An Abecedarium of Black Culture

See more of Ben's work at benblount.com

The public is invited for the Opening Reception Saturday, Feb. 4, 6-9 p.m. 

The public is invited back Sunday, Feb. 12, 3-5 p.m. We'll host an artist talk and hear from Ben and his wife Melissa Blount on their work in social justice. Ben is a founding board member of OPAL (Organization for Positive Action and Leadership). He is interested in equity issues in Evanston and how we as a community can affect change through political participation. Seats are limited, please click here to RSVP on EventBrite. 

1100 Florence is a new art event space in West Evanston, IL, owned and operated by Lisa Degliantoni and Dave Ford.

The Lisa D Show is recorded in a former Polish Grocery Store in West Evanston, IL, this podcast celebrates creatives. Listen to 20 minute, unedited conversations with host Lisa D. and the creatives who make our world a more connected, interesting and beautiful place to live. Podcasts will be posted on this blog and on Soundcloud.com, https://soundcloud.com/lisa-degliantoni