Art Town

Art Town

5.0 (5)
Society & Culture
Updated Weekly

Podcast by Art Town

May 29

with Joel Olzak

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, Justin sits down with artist Joel Olzak to talk about archaic, human-powered processes, collective labor, and the tension between activism and large-scale systems of power. Their conversation explores what it means to make work rooted in community, resistance, and the shared search for more sustainable ways of living. To see more of Joel’s work: Check out his website: www.joelolzak.com Or follow him on Instagram: @joelolzak Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: Joel's whistles played by Justin Baker Closing sound by Phantogram

57 min
Apr 27

with Daniele Frazier

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, Justin sits down with artist Daniele Frazier at September Gallery, recording in the midst of her exhibition Night Writing. Their conversation explores working blind in the darkroom, reviving obsolete photographic processes, and the shifting relationship between private studio labor and public-facing art. Together, they discuss touch, color, and material as ways of recording fleeting moments without a lens. To see more of Daniele’s work: Check out her website: www.danielefrazier.com Or, check out the gallery in Kinderhook, NY: www.septembergallery.com Or follow her on Instagram: @danielefrazier _____________________________________________ Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: Art Tunes Closing sound by Phantogram

1h 26m
Mar 22

with Ryan Lauderdale

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, Justin sits down with sculptor Ryan Lauderdale to talk about dead malls, internet culture, and the objects and spaces we collectively abandon. They explore how Lauderdale's work transforms the detritus of late capitalism and digital nostalgia into sculpture, and what it means to make art about the things a culture forgets to grieve. To see more of Ryan’s work: Check out his website: www.ryanlauderdale.com Or follow him on Instagram: @r_lauderdale Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: Oklahoma meets Aphex Twin Closing sound by Phantogram

54 min
Feb 6

with Barbara Todd

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, Justin (and intern Cameron) speak with textile artist Barbara Todd, whose striking quilts combine the intimacy of fabric with bold political commentary. Barbara shares how her journey began with sewing doll clothes as a child and how her shift from more traditional art making to quilting opened up new ways of thinking about form, care, and activism. Together, they explore the power of contradiction—how the softness of quilts can carry sharp, urgent messages—and what it means to challenge traditional boundaries in both art and craft. To see more of Barbara's work: Check out her website: wwww.barbaratodd.com Or follow her on Instagram: @barbatod Or check out the Opalka Gallery www.opalka.sage.edu Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: Beach in Calvados, France Closing music by Phantogram

52 min
Jan 25

with Naomi Meyer

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this special episode of Art Town, I sit down with Naomi Meyer — my high school art teacher and someone who had a profound impact on my life, both as an artist and an educator. We talk about her path through art school, what led her into teaching, and the influence of her own high school art teacher. Naomi also reflects on 30 years in the classroom, the changing nature of students, and — yes — what I was like as a quiet teenager trying to find my creative voice. This conversation marks the beginning of a more personal season of Art Town, one that occasionally looks back in order to better understand where we are now. Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: School Bell Closing music by Phantogram

1h 14m
12/21/2025

with Eric Wolf

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode of Art Town, host Justin Baker sits down with painter Eric Wolf to talk about growing up in a creatively supportive household, the quiet bravery of working only in black ink on white paper, and how a single suggestion from a professor can shape a lifetime of practice. They also explore the pull and resistance of social media, the meditative act of painting outdoors, and what it means to stay connected to nature through a limited, yet expressive, visual language. To see more of Eric’s work:  Check out his website: ericwolfstudio.com Or follow him on Instagram: @ericwolfstudio Theme music by Finn Wolfhard Interlude sound: girls screaming for Finn Wolfhard Closing song by Phantogram

55 min
11/23/2025

with Royal Brown

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, I’m joined by Marisa Espe, from the Albany Institute of History and Art, as we sit down with Royal Brown—artist, mystic, veteran, and clinical social worker—to explore the spiritual and symbolic roots of his work. Royal’s art merges Yoruba mysticism, quantum physics, aircraft mechanics, and esoteric alphabets into a singular visual language that feels both ancient and futuristic. We talk about how he builds sculptural “interdimensional vehicles” from found objects, channels ancestral energy through abstract painting, and approaches art as a tool for transformation and healing. Royal’s work is currently on view at the Albany Institute of History and Art in For Liberation and For Life: The Legacy of Black Dimensions in Art, on view through December 31. Insightful, intelligent, and grounded in the art world’s evolving narrative, Art Town is where regional voices find resonance. To see more of Royal’s work:  follow him on Instagram: @royalbrown2630 Theme music by Phantogram  Interlude sound: Japanese Bell  End credits by The Art Town Players

54 min
10/21/2025

with Phoebe Rotter

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, I talk with artist Phoebe Rotter about her creative evolution—from painting signs at Trader Joe’s to making politically charged work during her time with Bread and Puppet Theater, and finally arriving at a practice rooted in large-scale, body-driven wall drawings. We explore how Phoebe’s work has moved beyond messaging to become a physical act of resistance—where gesture, presence, and scale speak louder than slogans. Her bold mark-making challenges space, form, and power, transforming the act of drawing into something both vulnerable and revolutionary. Insightful, intelligent, and grounded in the art world’s evolving narrative, Art Town is where regional voices find resonance. To see more of Phoebe's work: www.phoeberotter.com Or follow her on Instagram: @phoebe_makes Theme music by Phantogram  Interlude sound: Phoebe bird song End credits by The Art Town Players

1h 3m

5

out of 5

5 Ratings

Podcast by Art Town

Creator

Art Town
Years Active

2023 - 2026
Episodes

43
Rating

Clean
Copyright

© All rights reserved
Show Website

Art Town