“Spring passes and one remembers one’s innocence.
Summer passes and one remembers one’s exuberance.
Autumn passes and one remembers one’s reverence.
Winter passes and one remembers one’s perseverance.”
-Yoko Ono

 

And so another summer begins to fade. There is a fervor in the woods as all living things gambol in the final throes of lingering light, gathering themselves for the coming stillness. We, too, as humans, seem to revel in this time. Nostalgia seeps into our souls through the earthy scent of leaves beginning to fall and decay and the occasional tang of wood smoke on cooler air of evenings.

 

Olivia Valentine‘s Iowa studio is characteristically busy at the moment. She is at work on an ongoing commission for a private home begun in 2015. She is also working on a series of photographs for Iowa State Park’s Centennial. Valentine’s work is rendered in photography, drawing and textile constructions. To hear more about what she’s up to, including details about the private home commission as well as audio recordings created with a collaborator, listen to the complete interview.

 

Tony Conrad lives and works in Appleton, Wisconsin where he is pressing forward with an ongoing body of work comprising geometric abstractions. There are around 30 paintings in the series so far and Conrad hopes to reach triple digits. The paintings range in size though he thinks of the smaller works as sketches. Conrad creates his complex paintings by hand although they can appear to be digital when viewed from a distance. Conrad also teaches painting and drawing at Lawrence University in Wisconsin. To hear more about his work and process, listen to the complete interview.