Living Arts of Tulsa Podcast

WATCH ON YOUTUBE
https://youtu.be/ib7gZn42QA0

Jeff sits down with artist Andrea Duran-Cason to hear about her artistic perspective and about how her work has evolved over the years.

She also speaks about her work that will be exhibited during the OVAC Momentum show at Living Arts of Tulsa opening April 2nd.

WATCH ON YOUTUBE
https://youtu.be/cGhIkcYpAZ4

Jeff sits down with Dr. Delia Gillis to hear about her work in education and about her creative endeavors.

She shares very compellingly about why it is so important to her to teach and share history and Africana Studies to her students and about her passion for making it relevant and about what is going on today.

Dr. Gillis also reflects about why it is so important to her to participate in the Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Project Exhibition at Living Arts that opens May 7th.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/5raIg6a-AcE

In this episode, Jeff sits down with Andrea Martin to hear her reflect about her art, her process, and how her work has evolved over the years due to her spiritual evolution.

As the conversation continues, she shares deeply about how her work has been very therapeutic for herself and for many others as well.

Andrea also offers a fresh, unique, and very compelling perspective about what her own work means to her at a deeper level and about her connection to it.

TO WATCH A VIDEO OF THIS INTERVIEW AND TO SEE THE ARTWORK THAT TAYLOR DISPLAYS DURING THE INTERVIEW, GO TO INSPIRING CONVERSATIONS PODCAST CHANNEL OR VIEW DIRECTLY AT https://youtu.be/AEtv_vuAsi0

In this episode, Jeff sits down with Diane Salamon to hear her reflect at a very deep level about her work and how it has evolved over time. 

She shares very candidly about her artistic perspective and about her journey as an artist and as a human being.

Steph Simon is a leader of World Culture Music - a collective of artists inspired by the legacy of Black Wall Street to stake their claim to the city and restore the excellence that 98 years ago turned to ashes.

A true leader and visionary for the city, Simon uses his music to uplift and inspire transformation both personal and communal while never taking himself too seriously. There is a spiritual undercurrent to his work that is unmistakable, perhaps what one would expect from an artist who grew up listening to Notorious B.I.G. in the heart of the Bible Belt. As he puts it on the gospel-tinged track “Silver n’ Gold”, his music is “like a mix between holy ghost and Hova quotes.”

On his new album Born on Black Wall Street, Simon draws parallels between the creative culture in Tulsa today and the energy that made Black Wall Street thrive in the first place. Throughout the album Simon takes on the persona of “Diamond” Dick Rowland, a 17-year-old boy scapegoated for instigating the 1921 massacre after an incident with a white girl in an elevator. Of this creative choice Simon said, “I feel a connection to [Rowland] that I can’t explain, almost like I’m carrying his spirit with me. It wasn’t right that his name was used as a catalyst for a lot of pain and destruction, I use the name Dicky Ro to be the catalyst for transformation and hope.” His authentic spirit carrying messages of economic empowerment, community healing and personal growth will be felt by all who listen.

Born on Black Wall Street stands as a seminal album for the emerging Tulsa hip-hop scene, but Simon is speaking to a uniquely black American experience that will find resonance in the heartland and beyond. On album centerpiece “Diamonds” he raps, “See it, want it, buy it then you own it/put your pot with mine let’s make it grow.”