The Queer Creative

Jonah and Renessa's updates this week include Madonna's latest NYC performance, Drag Race UK, the onePULSE Foundation's National Pulse Memorial & Museum design contest finalists, Jonah's laundry list of goals in therapy, and making fun of each other's feet and thumbs. They then sit down with London-based artist Paul Harfleet to discuss The Pansy Project, which was catalyzed by a personal experience for him. Paul plants pansies at the site of homophobic abuse, and the flower is then photographed in its location, entitled after the abuse, and posted on the pansyproject.org. His photographs have been exhibited internationally. The Pansy Project has brought Paul around the world to memorialize homophobic hate crimes and was the focus of the documentary film Les Pensées De Paul. Paul also wrote and illustrated the book Pansy Boy and does workshops at schools across the UK, US, and Canada.
Interview starts at 35:14
Show links:

• Paul Harfleet and The Pansy Project: http://www.thepansyproject.com
• Instagram & Twitter: @thepansyproject
• onePULSE Foundation Memorial & Museum Design Competition

We're excited to say good riddance to 2020, and even more excited for our Season 3 finale guest, Shikeith!!! Shikeith is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work investigates the experiences of black men within and around concepts of psychic space. His work has recently been featured in solo exhibitions including the Alexander Brest Museum & Gallery, Jacksonville University, Locust Projects in Miami, FL, Atlanta Contemporary, and The Mattress Factory Museum of Contemporary Art in Pittsburgh, and his films have been shown at Moma in NYC. He received a 2019 Painters & Sculptors Grant from The Joan Mitchell Foundation, the 2020 Art Matters Foundation Grant, is a recipient of the 2020 – 2021 Leslie Lohman Museum Artist Fellowship. A Philly native, Shikeith currently lives and works in Pittsburgh, PA, and joins us today from his artist residency at Fountainhead in Miami, FL. We learn more about the deep and intentional symbolism and meaning behind his work and the materials that go into his work, the themes and intersections of blackness, masculinity, and queerness, we discuss specific installations, photographs, and films, and hear about his upcoming exhibitions! (see show links below)
Thank you for listening to The Queer Creative in 2020. We hope you've enjoyed listening, and hope you will leave us a rating and review! We thank you for your support! Check us out on Instagram @TheQueerCreativePodcast, on Twitter @CreativeQueer, and on YouTube by searching The Queer Creative.
SHOW LINKS:

• Shikeith's website: https://shikeith.com
• Twitter: @shikeithism / https://twitter.com/shikeithism
• "Feeling the Spirit in the Dark" exhibition at The Mattress Factory: https://mattress.org/works/feeling-the-spirit-in-the-dark/
• Stream Shikeith's latest film, "A Drop of Sun Under the Earth," on the Criterion Collection: https://www.criterionchannel.com/a-drop-of-sun-under-the-earth

It’s our 1-year anniversary, Queer Creatives! This is our Season 2 finale, and we’ll be back in July. Don’t miss Jonah’s tangent about his pandemic small business woes and harassing Citibank employees. Renessa reports on Prince’s tribute special and some global 2020 Pride event resources.

Our guest this week is Debbie Millman! She was one of the first in the game of the podcast phenomenon we know today, and one of the most influential designers of our generation. An author, educator, and businesswoman, Millman launched the hugely successful podcast Design Matters in 2005, and has interviewed 100’s of influential creatives and leaders. She’s authored six books, is the President Emeritus of the American Insitute of Graphic Arts, and the chair and co-founder of the Masters in Branding Program at the School of Visual Arts in New York City... among many other contributions to the creative world. We hear from Debbie about working with global brands and important non-profits, seeing your branding work all over the world, going after the things you want, being a great interviewer, coming out later in life, and love/life with her fianceé, writer Roxane Gay.
Interview with Debbie starts at: 00:15:08
Qmmunity Updates start at: 01:03:52

Show Links:

• Pride events spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sbMOE10qUQgnwQWKaokZK5weEhV5fFCkam8c2vkvwvk/edit#gid=0
• Small Business Loans dramarama: https://www.politico.com/amp/news/2020/04/23/small-business-loans-sba-203846
• Debbie Millman: http://debbiemillman.com
• Design Matters Podcast with Debbie Millman:
• Follow Debbie on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debbiemillman
• Follow Debbie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/debbiemillman
• Joyful Heart Foundation: http://www.joyfulheartfoundation.org

Qmmunity Updates links:

• Orange Juice & Biscuits podcast: https://www.dnrstudios.com/ojnb/
• Gattison: Instagram @gattisonofficial / Twitter: @iamgattison / music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDBK9yCovJE / Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/gattisonofficial/transformation/s-Jzgo9G6bhIp
• Robert Fieseler’s article, “My marriage was broken. The coronavirus lockdown saved it” http://huffpost.com/entry/coronavirus-lockdown-marriage-relationships_n_5e960d78c5b6a00694f48183

Jonah and Renessa catch up about life, work, and the shooting of Jacob Blake in Wisconsin. BLACK LIVES MATTER. DEFUND THE POLICE. NO JUSTICE, NO PEACE. SPEAK UP AND VOTE.
Our guest today is Marcos Chin, an award-winning illustrator whose work has appeared as surface and wall designs, on book and CD covers, advertisements, fashion catalogs, and magazines. He has worked with clients such as MTA Arts for Transit, Neiman Marcus, Fiat, Budweiser, Time, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker, GQ, Sports Illustrated, and The New York Times. Marcos has given lectures and workshops throughout the U.S. and abroad, and currently lives in New York where he teaches Illustration at the School of Visual Arts. We heard about his work during the pandemic, his creative heroes and passion for writing fan letters, his Canadian and African roots, participating in the #BlackLivesMatter movement and what Pride meant for him this year, how he started getting big clients and being published, his experience with artist agents, his personal artwork, sharing his process and queerness on social media, teaching at SVA, and (bonus) his first time seeing a vagina!
Stay tuned after the interview for a new installment of Qmmunity Updates, where we highlight queer companies and creators! If you would like to submit yourself for an upcoming episode, send Jonah an email at [email protected] with the subject line “Qmmunity Updates” and he’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Show links:

http://www.marcoschin.com

https://www.instagram.com/marcoschinart/

https://twitter.com/marcoschinart

https://www.facebook.com/marcoschin

What Does Pride Mean Now? article: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/arts/author-gay-pride-2020.html
Qmmunity Updates links:
hillsandholler.com / Insta: @hillsandholler
evanjpeterson.com / Twitter: @evanjpeterson / Insta: @evan.j.peterson

gayprideapparel.com / Insta: @gayprideapparel / Twitter: @GayPrideApp

First we do a brief PSA reminder to get pap smears, and then look at some of the latest in queer culture including the VMAs, SNL, and Dolly. We also chat about that time the Swedes called in gay to work in 1979.

Our guest this week is Ava Glasscott, the first trans model signed to Maggie Inc., a makeup artist and hairstylist, and a nightlife and cosplay performer. She represented the State of Massachusetts in the Miss Trans USA Pageant in 2018 and 2019, and was a 2019 Boston Pride marshall (hey Charlie Baker, holler at ya girl!), and is currently working with Massachusetts Trans Women Leadership. Ava’s journey has been featured by NBC Boston and the WCVB-TV show Chronicle, and she was in Amy Schumer’s film I Feel Pretty (2018). She represented the State of Massachusetts in the Miss Trans USA Pageant 2018 and 2019, and her modeling work has appeared in the magazine Boston Spirit, Logo TV’sGo Out Loud, MAXIM'S FINEST and a Commonwealth of Massachusetts public health campaign. She also appeared in the documentary film All Stars: The Changing Face of Drag (2016), which she promoted at RuPaul’s DragCon in Los Angeles. We had a super fun kiki in the studio with Ava talking about all of the above, being her authentic self, and finding a tribe.
*****INTERVIEW STARTS AT 23:25*****

Show links:
Intro:

• Look out for our next guest, Antwaun Sargent, and his book The New Black Vanguard: https://aperture.org/shop/the-new-black-vanguard/
• Holiday ad campaigns increasingly including queer references: https://www.queerty.com/big-brand-ad-campaigns-increasingly-include-matter-fact-queer-references-20191123
• re—inc: https://re-website.com
• The time the Swedes called into work https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/63529/time-swedes-called-gay-work
• Jason Mraz comes out as bi: https://www.washingtonblade.com/2019/11/22/jason-mraz-opens-up-more-about-his-bisexuality/ and https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-7712269/Jason-Mraz-admits-struggled-bisexual-years.html

Interview:

• Song before interview: "Do Me" by Kim Petras
• Ava Glasscott’s website: www.avaglasscott.com
• Follow Ava on Instagram: @AvaGlassCott
• Twitter: @AvaGlassCott
• Facebook fan page: @AvaGlassCott
• YouTube: @avaglasscott
• Ava’s hair and makeup work: @avaglasscott_hair_makeup
• Noxie‘s Instagram: @noxeema_jackson
• Massachusetts Trans Women on Facebook: @masstranswomenleadership / Instagram: @masstwl
• Gay Mafia Boston at Legacy every Saturday: Website: gaymafiaBOSTON.com / IG: @gaymafiaboston / @jovancardiniv
• Nanducket on Facebook: @NanducketStyle / Instagram: @nanducket / Website: www.nanducket.com