CalArts Podcasts - Beyond the Blue Wall: Alumnx K Rocka Knittel and the Other Places Art Fair

Beyond the Blue Wall: Alumnx K Rocka Knittel and the Other Places Art Fair

03/02/22 • 61 min

Henderson Blumer talks with K Rocka Knittel (Art MFA 10) about their experience at CalArts, Other Places Art Fair (OPaf), and what it takes to make an independent art fair happen (with some help from funding awarded by the Alumnx Council).

The next OPaf will take place on Saturday, May 14, 2022 in Santa Rosa, CA. OPaf 5 is happening in San Pedro on September 17 and 18, 2022. Learn more at Other Places Art Fair and visit them on Instagram.

Beyond the Blue Wall is a production of the CalArts Office of Advancement. You can find all of the episodes at calarts.edu/btbw.

Previous Episode

24700: Douglas Kearney

If you’ve been to a reading by poet, librettist, and former CalArts faculty Douglas Kearney (Critical Studies MFA 04), you know that Kearney doesn’t merely recite and read poetry. He performs it, lives it, breathes it, on stage or at the lectern, with an energy that’s more akin to hip hop and jazz with varied rhythms and turns of phrases.

Kearney has published seven poetry collections, including this year’s National Book Award nominee, Sho (Wave 2021). A Foundation for Contemporary Arts Cy Twombly awardee and Cave Canem fellow, he currently teaches Creative Writing at the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities.
In October 2021, Kearney returned to CalArts as a visiting guest artist and lecturer for the Creative Writing Program’s Writing Now Reading Series.

Before Kearney’s lecture, we chatted with him for the 24700 podcast about his book, Sho, the performance of poetry, his writing influences, and teaching. (And because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, masks were required on campus, which Kearney wore during this interview.)

Music by: Erick Pepper Rivera (Music BFA 12)

Beyond the Blue Wall is a production of the CalArts Office of Advancement. You can find all of the episodes at calarts.edu/btbw.

Next Episode

Beyond the Blue Wall: Alumnx Socks Whitmore

Socks Whitmore (Music BFA 20) talks about the ins and outs of starting your career as a freelance artists.
Socks (they/them/theirs) is a Los Angeles-based singer, stage and voice actor, lyricist-composer, and writer. They have done voice over work on projects like the Narwhal & Jelly audiobook series (Penguin Random House) and the fiction podcast "Georgie Romero Is Done For." Socks has also written the book, lyrics, and music to original musicals like "We Are Here" (New Voices Project winner 2019) and "Back to One," as well as originated roles in new works like the ballet operetta "Children Cannot Sleep" and the new musical "The Bully Problem."
Learn more about Socks at sockwhitmore.com
Check out Building Your Freelancing Career, a new specialization from Coursera for CalArts, offered FREE to all students, alumnx, faculty, and staff at CalArts.

Beyond the Blue Wall is a production of the CalArts Office of Advancement. You can find all of the episodes at calarts.edu/btbw.