Periodically, we pose questions about issues artists face in their work and lives. We wanted to revisit a question we first asked in 2016: What issues do you see artists grappling with that don’t often get discussed? Whether because they're hard to talk about or because they fly under the radar, some issues just don't get a lot of open discussion on forums such as this … [Read more...]
From the Archives
Miki Sawada: Gather Hear
Miki Sawada is a classically-trained pianist. Since 2017, she's been traveling with a piano, in a van, to community spaces throughout the country, to perform classical music for free. Called the Gather Hear Tour, Miki's project has traveled from Alaska to West Virginia to an upcoming tour in Massachusetts. We asked Miki about the tour, her work, and her life as an artist … [Read more...]
Studio Views: Marjorie Forte
ArtSake recently threaded our own needle by connecting with Marjorie Forte (Mass Cultural Council Drawing & Printmaking Fellow '20) and her expressive embroidery work. Thread is a simple thing found in every home. As a material, it evokes memories of handwork done by our grandmothers, binding the past with the present, speaking across generations. As a means of … [Read more...]
How Has the Pandemic Impacted Your Creative Practice?
Periodically, we pose questions about issues artists face in their work and lives. It's hard to calculate the change and disruption the COVID-19 crisis has caused, on every level. We were curious about the ways it might have shifted the trajectory of artists' work. We asked artists in different disciplines: How has the pandemic impacted your creative … [Read more...]
Shilpi Suneja: Writing a Silent History
Shilpi Suneja's (Fiction/Creative Nonfiction Fellow '18) novel-in-progress A House of Caravans remembers a history that's often been silent. The story is inspired by Suneja's grandfather's experience during The Partition of India in 1947, when the British Indian Empire was divided into India and Pakistan. Suneja says the disruption it caused still shapes the sociocultural … [Read more...]