26 episodes
The Department of Homeland Inspiration Art Ranger
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- Arts
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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Essayettes about the accidental beauty and often absurdity of being alive. Your host, The Art Ranger, specializes in seeking out "found art" while cultivating this capacity in others. Though being a professional artist has sustained many ups and downs and gaps in production, the art of writing has always been present. In the process, we've created a series of auditory pieces to share along with community contributions.
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Notes from the Field
Art Ranger continues her series of podcasts that celebrate books. "Notes from the Field" are reflections from National Poetry Month as April melted into May, relishing the use of Notes and Voice Memo "apps" as creative tools. Also, If you enjoy literature, learning, and the meeting of minds, here are two excellent podcasts The Art Ranger has tuned in to during the past few years, especially on walks or drives: Commonplace with Rachel Zucker, and Poetry Unbound with Padraig Ó Tuama.
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War is a Racket!
Art Ranger, along with her colleague Michael Sheridan, review "War is a Racket" by Brigadier General Smedley D. Butler. This highly decorated war hero becomes dogged activist and tours the country giving speeches about how he was in effect, a bully for the corporations, then quit. Art Ranger and Sheridan share excerpts of the text as well as a piece of their minds. Sonic textures provided by our back up band, The Dirty Pens. Check out Tea With Michael to learn more.
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Mobile Librarian
Art Ranger shares a rant-with-reflection from those blurring Pandemic months, while paying more granular attention to the contents of her neighborhood, namely the several Little Free Libraries that reside within a mile radius of her corral. Some riffs provided by our 2023 virtual band, Dirty Pens.
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Across the Plains in 1862
Art Ranger reads a passage from her great grandfather's book, "Across the Plains" An 1862 journey from Omaha to Oregon by William Smedley. The original palm-sized leather journal currently resides in a Colorado Historical Museum. This emblematic "Go west young man" story quest, contains raw struggles, dicey encounters with "Indians", descriptions of beautiful landscapes, and especially treacherous river crossings, that have never ceased to inspire members of the extended Smedley family. For the 160th anniversary of his journey, some of his great great grand children arranged a contemporary re-enactment of the crossing - Across the Plains 2022, traversing the very same landscape while contemplating ways that this narrative continues to feel relevant and to shape our family identity. In the highlighted river crossing, William invokes Greek mythology: "in avoiding 'Charybdis' we encountered 'Scylla'" referring to set of sea monsters living under rocks/ harrowing whirlpools that signify finding the least worst pathway through a tough situation, which he managed to do.
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Madder 2 Go
Adapted from a 2019 performance called, Mad 2 Go, and part of an art show named after the book, "Good and Mad". Now called, Madder 2 Go, the artist grapples with more recent slow-mo gutpunch, and flabbergasted anger and disgust over the churn of events concerning the assault on women's rights. Podcast vocal track is provided by the band, DIRTY PENS, a virtual anonymous set of noise making enthusiasts.
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"I am for an art .."
For this episode, Art Ranger performs a written work by the recently departed Claes Oldenburg. What Beat Poets were doing for the word and the freeing of spirits, Oldenburg and his visual artist contemporaries were embracing a shift toward everyday encounters, away from rarefied and toward a plug or a clothespin. "I am for an art ..." conveys this unmuseum (art is everywhere) enthusiasm that the Art Ranger relishes and interprets for the listener.
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