Creators and Keepers: Recent Episodes
CultureVerse
Aubrey Martinson has engaging conversations with the creators and keepers of art, culture, and knowledge, with a focus on what inspired them in the past, what they're up to now, and where their work is heading. Aubrey is Executive Director of CultureVerse, a Michigan-based charity that uses 3D scanning and immersive technologies to support artists, educators, and preservationists.
In this episode, Aubrey sits down with Doug Coombe, legendary photographer and documentarian of the music scene around Detroit and Ann Arbor for the last 20+ years. Doug shares how he got into this field, from his record store beginnings to his incredible work with music industry greats. Doug also shares a bit about his innovative project and gallery show with CultureVerse. It's a can't-miss discussion for photography and music-lovers alike.
In this episode of Creators & Keepers, Aubrey has the pleasure of speaking with artist, educator, and 3D explorer Jason Ferguson. Jason's work as an artist and educator explores the intersection of 3D scanning, 3D printing, art and sculpture, creating intrepid works and inspiring a new generation of makers and artists. We sat down with Jason to learn more about his incredibly thought-provoking work.
More about Jason:
Jason J Ferguson is an installation and performance artist originally from the Washington D.C./Baltimore area. He received his BFA from Towson University in Baltimore and continued his studies at the University of Delaware where he completed his MFA in 2006. Ferguson’s work has been exhibited internationally including exhibitions in Tokyo, Berlin, São Paulo, and Tirana; as well as nationally in Brooklyn, Chicago, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Detroit. Notable venues include the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MoCAD), the Delaware Contemporary, the Institute of Contemporary Art Philadelphia, Brooklyn’s BRIC, and the International Museum of Surgical Science in Chicago. His artwork has been featured in a variety of publications including SCULPTURE magazine, Hyperallergic, SciArt Magazine, and more. Ferguson has been a Professor in the School of Art & Design at Eastern Michigan University since 2010 where he teaches Foundations 3D Design, Advanced Studio courses, and Digital Fabrication: An Exploration in Making.
In this episode we interview Detroit painter, muralist, chef, and all-around creative force Mike Han. CultureVerse worked with Han in 2021 and 2022 to develop a virtual and physical gallery experience "The House of Han from A to D" incorporating his paintings along with a range of tech including 3D immersive environments, NFTs, VR, AR and more. This deep and insightful conversation with a rising star in the art world is a must-listen for anyone exploring what it means to be an artist, develop a personal vision, and face the challenges of creating something new.
Learn more at CultureVerse.org
In this episode, we interview award winning 3D Artist and CultureVerse Creative Director Joe Grabowski. This nascent field of 3D Art produces work that is enjoyed by millions of gamers and movie-goers every day but not many people realize what goes into it or how one becomes a 3D Artist. We talk with Joe about all this and more, along with a glimpse into a recent cutting edge art and technology project he worked on.
In this episode, Aubrey Martinson sits down with Alex Kwon and Eric Douglas of Graft Living, a Detroit-based non-profit whose mission is to strengthen communities by reestablishing connection to Humanity and Nature. Graft Living pursues this end through place-based projects as well as youth educational programs. They are committed to inclusivity, recognizing the immense strength and beauty of diversity. Learn more at graftdetroit.org
Our conversation with them highlights one of their projects, a community-supported greenhouse in Southwest Detroit. This greenhouse celebrates the surrounding neighborhood and was built as a learning platform for SW Detroit schools and neighborhood children, to increase food access, and built hand-in-hand with the amazing community residents. CultureVerse worked with Graft Living to create an immersive 3D experience to help teach the world about their amazing work. Learn more about CultureVerse and our project with Graft Living here.
Aubrey interviews artists and married partners John Gutoskey and Peter Sparling about their innovative artwork and their shared "Liminal Landscapes" gallery show. Liminality is defined as a disoriented, in- between state, and a state that facilitates the disruption of both spatial and temporal dimensions.
Moving freely between video, dance and painting, Sparling creates hybrid liminal worlds based on the moving body with calligraphy-like brush strokes on black canvas and large-scale murals. Traces of motion accumulate to create kinetically charged impressions or energy fields of a dancer’s presence.
As a gay artist, Gutoskey “queers” his mixed-media monoprints (with collage, maculature, pochoir, and alcohol gel transfers) and invests in them a site for transformation, transition and self-reflection.
About Peter Sparling:
Peter Sparling is the Rudolf Arnheim Distinguished University Professor Emeritus of Dance and an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor Emeritus at University of Michigan. A graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy and The Juilliard School, Sparling was a member of the José Limón Dance Company (1971-73) and principal dancer with Martha Graham Dance Company (1973-87). As Graham’s assistant, he coached Rudolf Nureyev and collaborated with her on many new works. He has performed and staged Graham’s works all over the world and has appeared with the company twice on PBS Dance in America. His video curtain warmers, Beautiful Captives: Martha Graham and the Cinematic Id, Variations of Angels and Sacred/Profane have opened three of the company’s New York seasons.
About John Gutoskey:
John Gutoskey is an artist, designer, printmaker, & collector living and working in Ann Arbor, Michigan. John earned his BFA in theater design with a minor in sculpture from Webster University in St. Louis. He earned his MFA from the University of Michigan’s School of Art & Design where he studied printmaking & installation art, and also completed a certificate in LGBTQ Studies. John has shown his work across the US, including the Detroit Institute of Art, Grand Rapids Art Museum, Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, Indianapolis Art Center, Kinsey Institute, Ella Sharp Museum, and in galleries in Chicago, NYC, Detroit, Toledo, & Ann Arbor. His series of monoprints honoring the victims from the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida in 2016, “PULSE Nightclub: 49 Elegies”, won the prize for Best Juried 2D at Artprize X 2018 and the Alpha Omega Award for Religious Art 2018. John is the owner of JG Studio and the A2 Print Studio in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Aubrey speaks with Detroit painter and photographer Jason Johnson who works under the moniker RCKBNY. Jason discusses his influences, his work, and where he sees himself going.
The artist in his own words:
"Inherently afro-centric, my work began from a need to see strong, beautiful revolutionary images of black art. I figured the best way to depict our struggles is through our triumphs. My work revolves around love, manifesting, and culture building. As an African American, it’s about realizing the duties and blessings of being in the unique position to build/create our own culture from scratch, and being able to smell those roses in real time. It’s about evolution. The undeniable global impact we’ve made in such a short time. It’s about appreciation and acknowledgment.
My work explores color and how it feels coupled with the intention of creating a world for my theories and perceptions. I gravitate towards surrealism and minimalism with touches of whatever else."