“What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.” -Seneca

What is the meaning of this? Are we to understand that life is nothing more than a series of trials until we reach the end of our road? Perhaps there is more to these ancient words than that. To weep is to express profound emotion – sorrow, pain, guilt, anger, joy, reverence, awe. There are layers upon layers of tears throughout our lives but this only means that we are living.

Alison McNulty lives and works in Hudson Valley, New York where she is currently working on a number of projects, both old and new. Recently, Alison attended a residency in the Catskills where she was fully immersed in an outdoor environment but in close proximity to a studio. This allowed her to move between the outdoor and indoor spaces and gave new dimensions to her work. She also recently participated in an interactive festival for which she revisited an older project. McNulty also teaches at Parsons School of Design and French-American School of New York. To hear more about how she is using her summer months between teaching, including her upcoming project titled Hudson Valley Ghost Columns which utilize materials local to the Hudson Valley, listen to the complete interview.

Sheila Pepe is based in Brooklyn. She is preparing to participate in a show at the John Michael Kohler Art Center titled Even Thread has Speech for which she will create an installation in a solarium filled with plants. Pepe grew up surrounded by religious objects which she eventually realized were also sculpture. She has a strong interest in the origin of things and a lot of her work itself originates in home crafts she learned as a child. These crafts were intended to suit an assumed future lifestyle as wife and mother. Pepe identifies as an androgynous lesbian feminist and so the origins of much of her work have in fact yielded a far different result than was intended by the instructors. To hear more of her fascinating interview that intertwines religious iconography, queer culture and a discussion of the meaning and origin of objects, listen to the complete interview.