The Art Dive: Recent Episodes
Armando Castelan
Candid conversations with Artists and Creatives in the Arts. Host is Susana Lewandowski. Produced by Armando Castelan.
In this episode we have the pleasure of visiting great accordion player Roberto Rodriguez III . Known for playing different music genres with an accordion, Roberto has made a career of playing locally and internationally with famous groups like Los Skarnales, The Unbrella Man, Los Lobos and his current project TremoLoco. Roberto tells stories of going to Mexican wrestling matches as kid, earning a degree in literature and his passion for continuing to create and evolve as a musician.
Roberto Rodriguez III | Facebook
IG @elsqueezebox
In this episode Artist Lindsay Burck sits down with Susana to talk about her art process, exploring color, getting inspired by architecture and the mentorship program that helped her art career.
https://www.instagram.com/lindsso_electric/
http://www.artsoelectric.com
We visit Art Teacher and Artist Jordan Eggers who teaches middle school students in Houston. Ms. Eggers and Susana talk about her inspiration for becoming a teacher, adapting with her students to an online format, and her personal growth as an artist. Ms. Eggers believes in building community through creativity and providing the right tools to students so that they are prepared to lead. We appreciate her passion for art and creativity.
https://www.instagram.com/artwithmseggers/
We visit graffiti artist and muralist Gelson Lemus known as "W3R3ON3" at his home and studio near downtown Houston. Always evolving, "W3R3ON3" is well known in the graffiti scene with his concepts, characters and colors. He and Susana talk on his origin as an artist, his passion for creating, and good vibes.
https://www.instagram.com/w3r3on3/
http://www.w3r3on3.com
The Art Dive visits Multidisciplinary Artist Robert Hodge. Listen to Robert and our new host Susana talk about his recent artwork, curating art shows and his musical projects.
http://www.robertleroyhodge.com/
https://www.collectitfortheculture.com/
In this episode The Art Dive visits with actor Callina Anderson. We discuss a range of topics from election, the pandemic to her personal story as an actor. Let’s dive in!
www.dirtdogstheatre.org
You can follow her IG @socally and Twitter @socally_S
The Art Dive visits Tere Garcia in her home in Houston.
Tere Garcia is originally from Monterrey, NL, Mexico, and based in Houston and New York City. She graduated from the University of Houston with a Bachelor’s degree in Photography and Digital Media and is currently pursuing Parsons School of Design with a Master of Fine Arts Photography. Garcia works in a variety of media such as video, performance, sculpture, installation, traditional and digital photography. Her work employs conceptual and performative tactics to intervene in the photographic processes. Garcia has been traveling and working along the United States and Mexico Border since 2019. Garcia is the co-founder of The Pandemic Archive, a platform sharing work from artists around the world as they make work in quarantine or during the COVID-19 outbreak.
She has exhibited at The Houston Center for Photography, Blaffer Art Museum, Box 13, Photoville, HCC Central Fine Art Gallery, Fotofest participating spaces, Presa House, Rudolph Blume Fine Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA and New York, NY.
Eepi Chaad is a practicing multidisciplinary artist, advocate, and environmentalist who tells stories using textiles, fibers, metals, places, and people. Her artwork investigates the relationship between humanity and environment. Chaad was selected as one of the first ever resident artists for the City of Houston by the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs while working with an eco-art coastal margin preservation non-profit in Galveston. After taking a sabbatical for her residency with the city, Chaad took her current role as Director of Community Engagement at Art League Houston. Chaad also currently serves as part of the team of facilitators for the Artist INC Houston program, as board vice president of Artists For Artists, as co-ambassador for the National Guild of Community Arts Education Creative Aging Network, and on the steering committee for the Houston Museum Educators Roundtable. Eepi believes art is for every community and creativity is in every human.
Artist Statement:I am a visual artist, designer, arts access advocate, and environmentalist based in Houston, Texas. I tell stories using textiles, fibers, metals, places, and people. My approach to art making uses multidisciplinary methods that are informed by a background in architecture and an interest in social practice. I study the inner workings of the nature of the world. My work often deals with investigating the nuances of environments, both built and natural, by studying the layering of modernity over historical and societal infrastructure and how that informs humanity’s impact and interaction with nature. My interest in the physical world extends to knowledge of materials. Responsible use & reuse of materials in a sustainable manner is key to the design process. My practice is focused on exploration as much as it is on the final product. My work ranges from serious & minimalist to ornate & whimsical, but is always informed by the past & present and looks forward.
Artist | Advocate | Environmentalist
www.esquaredpidesign.com
Insta:
life & work - @eepi_chaad
artwork only - @e_squared_pi
Links to recent work (shift in practice during COVID)
We Are Friends
@wearefriendshou
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5vHYKWkFyqfC0s7tPaG4Bg
VOTE in TX
@voteintx
www.voteintx.org
In this episode we have a conversation with Houston-based Salvadoran artists and teacher Francis Almendárez who has recently been awarded a YES Contemporary Artist Grant to lead a workshop and screening at Cantón San Cristobal neighborhood (Ciudad Barrios, San Miguel, ES) in 2021.
In collaboration with his brother Anthony Almendárez, as well as fellow Texas artists & musicians Abel Cisneros, Sonia Flores, Xavier Gilmore, and Gabriel Martinez, this past September they performed and recorded Navigating the Archives Within. This performance-lecture has been commissioned and produced by Aurora Picture Show and funded in part by a grant from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. After being postponed in March, they have reconfigured this work to fit your screen so please look forward to the premiere in December followed by a conversation with curator and critic Laura August.
http://www.yescontemporary.org/2020-artist-grants
In this episode we have a conversation with interdisciplinary Artist Matt Manalo founder of Alief Art House in Alief, Texas. Alief Art House is a repurposed shipping container that has been converted into a community art space.
www.mattmanalo.com/aliefarthouse