Melissa Matson, Professional Dancer and Movement Artist

Melissa Matson is a professional dancer/educator and mentor recently transplanted from Santa Fe, New Mexico, to Evanston, IL. Matson is a movement artist who works with people to bring out their inner radiance. Founder of Embodied Living, Matson uses the Alexander Technique to work with groups and individuals to increase physical and emotional well being as well as enhance creativity and stage presence. Learn more about her practice at melissamatsonmoves.com

This January Matson partners with musician Preston Klick to host Body High at Foster Dance Studios. For two hours Matson and Klik (longtime Chicago DJ + meditation leader) will guide attendees through this dance meditation journey. Sign up at melissamatsonmoves.com/body-high

The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

Artist Linda Lewis Kramer at Miishkooki Gallery

Linda Lewis Kramer has been making art for decades, starting on her dining room table and now out of her artist studio in Evanston, IL. Currently her work is on display in the Cosmic Characters group show featuring Kramer, Wayne Lent and Julie Murphy, at Miishkooki Gallery, 4517 Oakton Ave., in Skokie, thru. Jan. 13.

 
The ten drawings on display at Miishkooki by Kramer are from the series Plate Boy Bunny, Kramer's reaction of how women presented themselves in the eyes of Hugh Hefner, which she found horrifying. See the works on her website under 1972: Colored Pencil on Paper at lindalewiskramer.com

Kramer goes on to talk about her stance on overpopulation, her collection of work and her prolific career including installations and ceramics.

She also mentions the project, 70 Plus - Chicago Visual Artist Oral History Archive, which you can here online here.

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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

David Maurice of CocoDaco has exciting and immersive dance plans for 2018

Today on The Lisa D Show podcast we are talking with David Maurice, the interim artistic director at Foster Dance School’s CocoDaco Dance Project. Maurice is looking forward to immersive dance experiences, dance collaboration and more in 2018. Maurice’s debut show as performer, choreographer and director is “Soft Targets” in April 2018, featuring immersive experiences for audience and cast members.

Maurice has trained extensively with the former director Foster Dance School co-founder Ronn Stewart and is currently working in partnership with Sarah Goldstone, Ronn’s widow and co-founder of Foster Dance School.
David will be dancing in Evanston this weekend at “Keep Going (do it) With Love- A Tribute to Ronn Stewart”, Dec. 8-10 at Josephine Louis Theater on the Northwestern Campus. Tickets available at www.cocodaco.com.

Ronn Stewart was the founder of Cocodaco, creator of MoPeD (More People Dancing), a choreographer, brilliant dancer, teacher and inspiration. We are forever inspired by the 5 rules of MoPeD, Keep going, Suspend judgement, Listen, Remember and Do it with Love.

The tribute show will feature Ronn Stewart's work, "See Oh! Too SATURATION" created in 2007, "Garbage & Flowers" created in 2016 and new pieces by company members Ela Olarte and David Maurice.

David Maurice’s Background

David Maurice began training with César Degollado while attending the University of Arizona. In school, David performed works by Donald McKayle, Charles Weidman, George Balanchine, and Bob Fosse. As a dancer he has worked with Ronn Stewart’s Cocodaco Dance Project and Moving People Dance Santa Fe, Danielle Agami’s Ate9 Dance Company, Gustavo Ramirez Sansano’s Luna Negra Dance Theatre, Loni Landon Dance Project, Alex Ketley’s The Foundry, & Roderick George of the Forsythe Company. David serves as the resident choreographer of Condanza a San Francisco based dance company.

As a choreographer he has created work on Cocodaco Dance Project, Santa Barbara Dance Theater, and Ate9 Dance Company. He has assisted Barak Marshall’s creation The Castaways set on Ballet Rambert (London) and Loni Landon on Damon Cardasis’ award winning film Saturday Church. He has taught workshops at University of California Santa Barbara, University of California Irvine, Loyola Marymount


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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

Diana Sudyka, Artist and Illustrator, Talks About Making a Creative Life

Diana Sudyka talks about creating a life as an artist and illustrator. Sudyka is known online as Tiny Aviary (@tinyaviary) and specializes in illustrative works that feature birds, animals and humans in intricate design. Her early career featured event posters promoting musicians like The Black Keys and Neko Case and is now exploring book illustration work. Her work and online store can be found at dianasudyka.com

She now lives in Evanston and works out of her basement studio, with her husband Jay Ryan (The Bird Machine) and child, and is contributing to the creative community that makes this town a unique and interesting place to live.

We mention the event poster she donated to the Nasty Women Evanston fundraiser for Planned Parenting in June 2017, see below, and is available for purchase online. Visit her website and online store at dianasudyka.com

Bio from dianasudyka.com

Diana Sudyka  (pronounced soo-dee-kah) is a Chicago based illustrator. She started out by designing and screen-printing posters for musicians including: Andrew Bird, St. Vincent, The Black Keys, Neko Case, and The Decemberists. Examples this early poster work can be seen in Gigposters Volume 1: Rock Show Art of the 21st Century (Quirk Books). Following, she began illustrating YA books, illustrating several volumes of the award winning and NYTimes bestselling series The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart, The Secret Keepers also by Stewart, and Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley. She is currently illustrating the first of several upcoming children’s picture books to be released in 2018 and 2019. Working mainly in gouache, ink and watercolor, subject matter and aesthetic choices for her paintings are largely informed by a deep passion for the natural world, and inspired by a love of various folk art traditions. When not working or with her family, she volunteers in the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History bird lab. Her instagram feed sometimes has a disproportionate amount of pictures of lichens and moss.

Select Client List:
Andrew Bird, Abrams Books for Young Readers, Beach Lane Books, Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, EMI Records, The Field Museum of Natural History, Folio Society, Harper Collins Publishers, Intercontinental Hotels, Habitat Skateboards, Little, Brown, and Company (Hachette Group USA), Penguin Random House, POETRY Foundation, Scholastic Books, Simon and Schuster, Spirituality & Health Magazine, The Washington Post, Whole Foods Market.

CONTACT:
For book related inquiries, please contact agents Andrea Morrison and Rebecca Sherman at Writers House: amorrison@writershouse.com & rsherman@writershouse.com.
For all other inquiries: diana@dianasudyka.com

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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

Hannah Litvan, Founder of Ice House Gallery Evanston

As a recent art school graduate, Hannah Litvan confronted the ugly fact that art jobs are really, really, really hard to get. She applied for literally hundreds of jobs across the globe and barely heard back from two. What was Hannah going to do with her degree and desire to work in the arts? Her mom had an idea, start an arts-related business. Smart mom!

Hannah recently opened Ice House Gallery on South Blvd. in Evanston, that features first floor gallery and event space and artist studios upstairs. Housed in a historical building (where ice used to be made and stored) Ice House Gallery gives Hannah the freedom to work in the arts, live in the Evanston community and eventually the space to create her own work (which has been on pause for the two years leading up to the opening).

Ice House Gallery will feature Chicagoland area artists, there are 17 showing now, with a monthly featured artist reception on the First Saturday of every month. This Saturday, Dec. 2, 6-9p, meet artists Jim Parks, showing paintings of flowers, “Bloomz”.

Check the calendar of events for upcoming mid-month music, poetry and theatre performances at icehousegalleryevanston.com/events.

Artists looking for studio and gallery space can reach out to the Hannah directly at hlitvan[at]icehousegalleryevanston.com.

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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

Lindy Stockton, Founder of The Collage Cafe

Lindy Stockton is the founder of The Collage Cafe in Evanston, a creative studio space focused on inspiring and motivating people. In this interview we follow Lindy’s journey from corporate change manager to artist and change manager for her community.

The Collage Cafe used to be on Sherman Ave. with a retail storefront and has recently moved to West Evanston on Florence Ave. Ditching the retail component and focusing 100% on art and supporting people into a more creative life, Lindy’s new space allows for people to enjoy creative self expression from classes, to open studio time to girl’s night. Images below feature a look inside the studio and Baxter!

In 2018 The Collage Cafe is adopting a new business model, quarterly membership, where people can choose from a menu of creative activities to engage with the studio. Like most of the endeavors Lindy has chosen in the last several years, she will try this one on for size, see how it goes and if it leads to the creative freedom both herself and her customers need, it will be a success!

Learn more online at thecollagecafe.com or visit Lindy in person at 1129 Florence Ave. in Evanston.

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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

Ellen Greene on Painting Beyond the Canvas

In this episode of The Lisa D Show podcast we talk with artist Ellen Greene about her recent transition into portrait work. Ellen is a trained painter, having attended the Kansas City Art Institute, and is best known for her intricate work leather gloves.

Last year, Ellen gifted a portrait of a dog, shared it on the Internet (as one does) and the commissions for pet portraiture and now human have been fast and steady ever since.

Full disclosure, I am the portrait on the right below.

 

We talk about the struggle of choice many creatives face when pivoting from one area of focus to another, more lucrative area. If you are still painting, but you are painting pet portraits, have you lost your way as an artist? What I love is Ellen’s perspective on this shift in her work and her openness to the potential new mastery portrait work might bring her painting career.

See more of Ellen’s portrait work at portraitsbyellengreene.com and follow her on Instagram at portraits_by_ellengreene

To see her full body of work and wearable art visit artbyellengreene.com

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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

Photographer Jessica Kaplan on The Lisa D Show

Today on The Lisa D Show podcast we talk to photographer Jessica Kaplan, who captures candid portraits, fine art, architecture, people, streets, and more with her iPhone or camera. We talk about Jessica’s journey becoming a photographer, where she cultivates new skills to shoot the images she wants, and we also touch on the skills she uses from a previous life as WTTW line producer to draw out her subjects. The best part of being a photographer so far? Having something “tangible” that allows her to engage with the audience about.





Meet Jessica tonight at Backlot  offee for an opening reception of her work on display thru November. Visit her website and online store at jessicakaplanphoto.com and follow her on Instagram at JessicaKaplanPhotography. We reference the photo below in the interview, "American Gothic".

From jessicakaplanphoto.com:

Thank you for stopping by! I love to capture moments in a style that evokes confidence and intention. My natural light photography has a journalistic feel, featuring rich tones, depth and expert composition, inspired by my background in television news and as a storyteller.

Whether you are looking for an updated headshot, a portrait of your child, inspiring stock or custom photography for your own business, or an expertly framed image to hang on your wall, I am so glad you've stopped by for a visit!

My passion for storytelling began as a tween and evolved at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. That launched my 14-year career in the news business at WTTW, Chicago’s PBS station. Although I'm no longer in news, my passion for connection through storytelling still exists through the lens of my Canon DSLR and my iPhone 6.

I enjoy freezing time by capturing a look, an expression, joys and struggles. I love photographing people of all ages, in active moments or in quiet reflection. I work in both black and white and color, and I love creating natural light candid portraits.

I find inspiration on the street, in a new city, at the beach, in the water, in patterns in the sand. I celebrate wood, rust, texture and geometry. Looking up, looking down, looking into people’s eyes and watching children play are particularly satisfying. Depth and movement provide extra encouragement.

I am patient, yet persistent. I take the time to let a scene develop and evolve until it reveals itself to me. This results in a photograph with visually pleasing composition, providing a sense of balance, sometimes clean, sometimes gritty. Always compelling. I love excluding the expected and including the unexpected, turning a seemingly mundane scene into a thought-provoking image.

Jessica Kaplan Photography
email: jessica@jessicakaplanphoto.com

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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

Photographer Vanessa Filley on The Lisa D Show

Photographer Vanessa Filley's art tells the stories of today, the past and a future imagined. Storytelling through her photography, Filley builds engaging, inviting and sometimes eerie images with visually compelling collaborators … her children and her friend's children.

In this interview we walk through several of the pieces from her upcoming show “A Nursery Rhyme For You” opening Nov. 4, 5-8 p.m., at Perspective Gallery in Evanston, up thru Nov. 26. If you don’t make it, check out her work online at vanessafilley.squarespace.com

This interview is candid, inviting the listener into Filley’s artistic process and beautiful mind. I am grateful to know artists like this who make Evanston a more interesting and beautiful place to live.

More Info: A Nursery Rhyme For You

As a child some weekends we visited my grandparents in a farmhouse of decaying grandeur in New Jersey and other weekends we’d stay home and traipse through the halls of great New York City museums.  I always imagined how these places could be different, how they were a portal to another time, an imagined life.  In the attic of my grandparents home there were dust covered steamer trunks filled with ballgowns while the American Wing at the Metropolitan Museum of Art offered a glimpse into the interiors of early American homes. I dreamt of wearing these ballgowns and living in a different era, but despite my dreamy nature I never got much beyond dress-up in shoddy 1970’s halloween costumes.  

As the mother of two girls with fanciful imaginations in an era when unfettered childhood fantasy is interrupted or negated by an abundant access to technology I have sought to preserve and create for my daughters a little bit of the magic I longed to have brought into my own childhood while avoiding much of the contemporary child’s play market and trying to impart an honest sense of the world we live in today.

I find great inspiration in anything from fairytales to the primal relationships between humans and nature to current events. Every fairytale has a dark side, the death of a parent, the loss of a power and in an era of social and political upheaval and environmental degradation, the dreams and fantasy of a child are effected and shaped by the external forces buzzing in the world around them. In A Nursery Rhyme for You My Dear I am attempting to both create a child-like fantasy world and to allow the harshness of reality to seep in.  When I make an image I am very interested in exploring it’s underbelly.  It may look pretty on the outside, but perhaps there is more to it.  I want to both dwell on and delete some of the darkness in any given scenario, to try on a story for size, to understand what it might be like to exist in that moment and how to learn from it, but also leave it behind, as if in a dream.

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The Lisa D Show" is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

Shannon Cahill of Art En Object dreams in Vignettes

Shannon Cahill found a way to weave her passion for decor, art and objects into her creative endeavor ART EN OBJECT; a consulting service that facilitates placement of art and objects in homes.

Today we talk about her upcoming show at The Saw Room, Vignette, featuring art by local creatives paired with objects curated by Cahill. Artists on display include; Meghan Borah, Jane Carney, Ross Martens, Darren Oberto, Chris Greene, Anne Stevens and Dana De Ano.

The shows runs November 4 – December 31. Receptions Saturday, Nov. 4, 5-8 p.m. & Dec. 2, 5-8 p.m., at 1712 Rear 2 Sherman Ave, Evanston, IL 60201.

Learn more at www.artenobject.com

From thesawroom.com

Shannon Cahill, guest curator and founder of Art en Object, creates vignettes featuring unique objects and furnishings highlighted by local artwork. Her carefully curated vignettes will inspire you with design and style possibilities for your own home.

Here are Shannon’s thoughts on her passion:

“I dream in vignettes. Can’t help it….I’m obsessed.

It’s the finishing touches and the small yet significant details that make a house a home. Each piece of art and each object thoughtfully placed creates harmony and tells the story of the home and of those who reside within.

I have spent the greater part of the last decade creating a home that reflects my family’s personality, and I started ART EN OBJECT in 2015 as a way to bring my passion for art and design outside of my own home and into the community.

I am continuously amazed by the breadth and depth of artistic talent in our community and have been fortunate to work with local artists to place their art into private residences. And now I am thrilled to be highlighting their work through this show of home design vignettes. Carefully curated vintage and one-of- a-kind furnishings and accessories will serve to complement and “frame” each piece of art. You will find that by mixing timeless elements of furnishings and objects with original art pieces, a layered and collected look is achieved. And everything in the show is for sale, offering you the just right “finishing touches” to create your own home’s story!”

The Lisa D Show" is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com