“Ukraine’s glory hasn’t perished, nor her freedom
Upon us, fellow compatriots, fate shall smile once more.
Our enemies will vanish, like dew in the morning sun,
And we too shall rule, brothers, in a free land of our own.

We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom,
And we’ll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.
We’ll lay down our souls and bodies to attain our freedom,
And we’ll show that we, brothers, are of the Kozak nation.”

-Ukrainian National Anthem

 

Ryan Takaba joined us in November from San Antonio, Texas. In November 2020, he opened an exhibition that ran for six months in order to accommodate limited entry at the same time due to the pandemic. Takaba spends a great deal of time in his garden. He and his wife cultivate fruit trees – an apple, a few plums and a pear tree. Following the winter storm that struck Texas in 2020, spring was unusually verdant and the fruit trees produced better than ever. Takaba teaches at a small independent art school that experienced a shutdown before returning in person in the spring of 2021 with smaller class sizes. To hear more about his teaching and his own studio artwork, listen to the complete interview.

 

Holly Murkerson spoke to us from Chicago. A photographer, she works with traditional analog processes and uses a community darkroom. The pandemic limited her time there significantly. As a partial solution, she purchased a Lomography instant camera. Now able to access the darkroom once more, she combines her traditional photography work with this new-to-her format. Murkerson says she could fit into the category of landscape, though her images don’t reference the horizon line, they are rather more intimate glimpses of spaces. To hear more about her work, listen to the complete interview.