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The Lonely Palette

The Lonely Palette

Tamar Avishai

Welcome to The Lonely Palette, the podcast that returns art history to the masses, one painting at a time. Each episode, host Tamar Avishai picks a painting du jour, interviews unsuspecting museum visitors in front of it, and then dives deeply into the object, the movement, the social context, and anything and everything else that will make it as neat to you as it is to her. For more information, visit thelonelypalette.com | Twitter @lonelypalette | Instagram @thelonelypalette.

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Top 10 The Lonely Palette Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Lonely Palette episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Lonely Palette for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Lonely Palette episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

The Lonely Palette - Ep. 54 - Grant Wood's "American Gothic" (1930)
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09/30/21 • 31 min

A man. A woman. A window. A pitchfork. It’s the most seemingly straightforward double portrait to come out of rural America - and certainly the most famous - yet it’s become synonymous with ambiguity and mystery, parody and polarization. Amazing how hungry we are to turn a portrait of an artist’s hometown spirit into a portrait of a larger American cultural moment, both then and now. See the images: https://bit.ly/2WuV2CQ Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Long and Low Cloud,” “Hakodate Line,” “Cornicob,” “Sylvestor,” “Di Breun,” “The Silver Hatch,” “Speaker Joy” Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette

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The Lonely Palette - HiatusEp 0.4 - Hub & Spoke Presents: Ministry of Ideas
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10/23/19 • 33 min

The Lonely Palette is on break until November 2019, so every Wednesday in October, a different Hub & Spoke producer will take the host's chair to present an episode of their show that Tamar is especially fond of. Enjoy this month's podcast petri dish of art, culture, history, and society, and subscribe to any and all Hub & Spoke shows at www.hubspokeaudio.org. This week: Zachary Davis's Ministry of Ideas is a small show about big ideas, presented as punchy secular sermons. This episode tackles that thorny issue, Modernity. Many think modernity is about the rise of science, the spread of democracy and capitalism, or the decline of religion or superstition. But those stories ignore the bigger picture about colonialism and race. Listen to Ministry of Ideas at www.ministryofideas.org, or wherever you get your podcasts. Next week: We hit up Art Prize with Culture Hustlers. Listen to The Lonely Palette archives! www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes Support The Lonely Palette! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette
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Dar Williams has been described by The New Yorker as “one of America’s very best singer-songwriters,” but to thirteen-year-old Tamar she was, quite simply, a personal hero: a songwriter whose poetry, poignancy, and humor could capture at once the authentic voices of an inner child, a searching young adult, and a wizened sage. We met in person in 2013 at Dar’s songwriting retreat, and our friendship has been evolving ever since, exploring together the rigors of writing and storytelling through sound and song, and what it means to dip in and out of a creative space as a way of simply getting through the day. Dar has recently published a book about songwriting that is chock full of philosophical wisdom and applicable nuggets, many of which borne from a decade of retreats. We sat down together to talk about songwriting, art museums, the art of writing songs about art, and specifically her evocative, ambivalent "Mark Rothko Song," which tackles it all head-on. [2:05] Dar’s relationship with museums and creating a space for poetic thinking. [8:40] Specific museums, exhibitions, paintings that have inspired Dar’s songs: Dia, “Made in America,” the Fogg. [11:45] Writing Mark Rothko Song. Where did Dar go? Where did Dar really go? [14:45] The difficulties inherent in writing about art. What prompted the writing of this song? Dar’s first encounter with Rothko’s “Untitled (Blue Green)” and the first verse. [20:15] Diving into the prosody of the song, how the music and lyrics support the voice of the song: finger picking, major to minor, chord to chord, key to key, mood to mood. [27:41] Return to the lyrics and narrative. The way that Rothko encourages people to make subjective associations...but then comes the foil of the second verse, creating the contrast between subjective and objective. [33:52] The song’s dueling (or complementary?) aha moments in the bridge and final verse. People both love Rothko and struggle to connect to him. Following the narrator’s journey as she wrestles with seeing something versus knowing something. [45:47] Appreciating an honest song about art viewing that doesn’t flatten the characters. Reflecting on the elements of the song that hold up as Dar has gotten older. [51:19] The similarities between art museums and songwriting retreats: opening up, engaging poetic thinking. [55:28] Also the hazards of living in a space of poetic thinking, especially as a parent. The necessary objectivity of the caretaking space. [1:02:20] The “Five Things” Rule, and whether Mark Rothko might just be the exception that proves the rule. Tamar meets her Rothko and gives hope to kind pedestrians everywhere. [1:09:14] Mark Rothko Song in full. Music Used: Dar Williams, “When I Was A Boy”; “Mark Rothko Song” (live); “The Beauty Of The Rain”; “Mark Rothko Song” (album version) Episode Webpage: https://bit.ly/3RJm9Ak Support the Show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette
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The Lonely Palette - Ep. 12 - Jackson Pollock's "Number 10, 1949" (1949)
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12/13/16 • 21 min

Dust off your verbs, it's time to make sense out of chaos. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/11/30/episode-12-jackson-pollocks-10-1949-1949 Music used: Eric Dolphy, "Out To Lunch" The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Parade Shoes", "Inessential", "City Limits", "Lacquer Groove" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees”
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Think abstraction is totally inaccessible? Pull up a chair. See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/10/6/episode-10-piet-mondrians-composition-with-red-yellow-and-blue-1927 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "The Provisions", "A Certain Lightness", "A Rush of Clear Water", "Brass Buttons" Lee Rosevere, "Puzzle Pieces" Tamar Avishai, "Grid (after Sol LeWitt's Drawing Series)"
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The Lonely Palette - Ep. 8 - Richard Serra's "Torqued Ellipses" (1996)
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09/20/16 • 18 min

This big bully is about to give you a lesson in contrasts you won't soon forget. Featuring Dar Williams! See the image: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2016/9/19/episode-8-richard-serras-torqued-ellipses-1998 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Turning", "Downhill Racer", "Cloud Line" Lee Rosevere, "Reflections" Dar Williams and the WASTM Good Times House Choir, "The Water is Wide"
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In which we go beneath the flowers, the unibrow, the broken body, and the shadow of her marriage, to reframe the fame of Frida Kahlo: the Cult Icon of Humanness. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2019/7/14/episode-40-frida-kahlos-dos-mujeres Music used: Django Reinhardt, “Django’s Tiger” The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, “Jat Poure,” “Li Fonte,” “Clouds at the Gap,” “Master,” “When the Guests Have Left,” “Curiously and Curiously,” “Thread Ceylon,” “Gondola Blue” Tinpan Orange, “Song for Frida Kahlo” Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette Episode sponsors: www.thegreatcourses.com/lonely www.visualartspassage.com/palette
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Our Patreon Listener Challenge is ongoing! And if you're on the fence about supporting the show, why not sit back with a re-release of our first-ever Patreon listener-supported episode from 2018 on C.M. Coolidge's "Dogs Playing Poker," where we dive into the trials and tribulations of kitsch, the battle between the Sams and Dianes of the world, and what it means to appreciate art at a frequency that we all can hear. And if you're so moved, please consider making us happy little trees by becoming a Patreon patron at any level, and we'll do you one better with an episode on your favorite soothing soft-voiced paint-dabby PBS mainstay and mine, Bob Ross. See the images: www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/201...g-poker-1903 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Rose Ornamental," "Flattered," "Arizona Moon," "Laser Focus," "Alchemical," "Two in the Back," "Maisie Dreamer," "Gullwing Sailor," "Maldoc" Joe Dassin, “Les Champs-Elysees" Support the show! www.patreon.com/lonelypalette
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On October 10, 2018, both the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and Cecilia Vicuña herself were generous enough to give me the opportunity to take a few moments away from the installation of "Disappeared Quipu" and interview Vicuña. We talked about bridging the masculinity of Land Art and the femininity of Fiber Art, the origins of Vicuña's life as an artist, and how her own awareness has evolved throughout her career.
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The Lonely Palette - Re-ReleaseEp. 28 - Yoko Ono's "Cut Piece" (1964)
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03/08/21 • 25 min

In honor of International Women's Day, we're re-releasing our love letter to the inimitable Yoko Ono, who once fell for a musician and has become inextricably - and involuntarily - linked with his band's undoing. But she made some truly exceptional art, both in the years since and particularly the years before she met him. And that art is, ironically, an exploration of all the messy, complex power dynamics of a woman giving up control. See the images: http://www.thelonelypalette.com/episodes/2018/3/29/episode-28-yoko-onos-cut-piece-1964 Music used: The Andrews Sisters, "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" The Blue Dot Sessions, "Plaster Combo", "Valantis", "Strange Dog Walk", "Hundred Mile", "Down at the Bank"" Support the show: www.patreon.com/lonelypalette
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FAQ

How many episodes does The Lonely Palette have?

The Lonely Palette currently has 118 episodes available.

What topics does The Lonely Palette cover?

The podcast is about Podcasts and Arts.

What is the most popular episode on The Lonely Palette?

The episode title 'Ep. 54 - Grant Wood's "American Gothic" (1930)' is the most popular.

What is the average episode length on The Lonely Palette?

The average episode length on The Lonely Palette is 31 minutes.

How often are episodes of The Lonely Palette released?

Episodes of The Lonely Palette are typically released every 20 days, 21 hours.

When was the first episode of The Lonely Palette?

The first episode of The Lonely Palette was released on May 4, 2016.

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