Artists in Offices

On this episode, I’m excited to welcome back Janine Biunno to the podcast! When we last talked, Janine was wrapping up her MLS degree while working as an archivist and maintaining her art practice. This time around, we talk about life after that degree, parenthood during a pandemic, day jobs that turn into careers, daily practices, and valuing the little moments.

During our conversation, we discuss Oliver Burkeman's book Four Thous...

For the first episode of season 2, I welcome back Lisa Jonas Taylor, who became a parent in 2023. Lisa is a Santa Rosa-based artist who makes paintings that often incorporate sculptural and theatrical elements. Lisa has shown her work at places like Bass & Reiner Gallery, Southern Exposure, the Contemporary Jewish Museum, the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, and the Casa Romantica Cultural Center in Southern California...

Artists in Offices explores how the work we do for pay supports the work we do for love. I’m your host, Rebecca Bird Grigsby—visual artist, mom of two, and full-time project manager by day.

Season 1 featured artists balancing day jobs and creative practice. This season, I’m talking with artists who are also parents about maki...

In this bonus episode between seasons 1 and 2 of the podcast, I talk to Lennon Michelle Wolcott Hernandez, a Boston-based interdisciplinary artist who works in graduate admissions. Originally from Michigan, Lennon is a Latinx artist who speaks better Japanese than Spanish, is named after a Beatle, and comes from a family l...

In this bonus episode, I check in with Laura Torres, the second artist I interviewed for season 1 of the podcast. About a month after our initial interview in December 2018, Laura quit her full-time day job in higher education fundraising to focus more time on her circus arts training and everything else that supports her creative practice. This bonus episode was recorded in March 2019, a couple of months after Laura left her job.

...

In this bonus episode, I check in with Elizabeth Amento, the first artist I interviewed for season one of the podcast, who has since left her day job in San Francisco and moved to New York City. This bonus episode was recorded in late June 2019, a week before she started her new job, and about three months after she made the move.

Elizabeth was born in Boston, MA, and raised in the San Francis...

In the final episode of season one, I speak with Mike Rothfeld, an artist living and working in Oakland and San Francisco. He received his MFA in Fine Art and MA in Visual and Critical Studies from California College of the Arts (CCA) and his BFA...

In episode 9, I speak with Nicole Kita,  a visual artist living and working in Northern California, who works as an educator and advocate for artists with developmental disabilities. As an educator, Kita has taught artists of diverse ages, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds, as well as individual behavioral and learn...

Em Meine makes drawings, paintings, and sculptures as a means of exploring collective memory, storytelling, natural history, and anthropomorphism. The works are often figurative representations of imaginary objects or landscapes. She considers her artistic practice to be a ritual for contemplation and self-care, which enables her to experience a sense of conne...

Gabriel Martinez specializes in political art and Visual Cultural design. Gabriel has an eclectic history of being an artist whose works span the spectrum of being displayed on Bay Area gallery walls or finding their way directly to the hands of people for political empowerment. He has even had his portrait displayed at the de Young Museum. Gabriel's work unif...

In episode 6, I speak with Christopher Thomas Ford, an interdisciplinary artist from the Boston area who relocated to Los Angeles in 2016. He received his MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts/Tufts University. In Dorchester, Massachusetts, he co-founded the Howard Art Project artist space and artist collective. He has taught at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and the Lesley University...

In Episode 5 I speak with Brooklyn-based artist and archivist Janine Biunno. About three years ago, Janine decided to go back to grad school, having previously attended for art, to obtain a Master’s degree in Library Science. In this bonus mini-episode, Janine and I discuss her experiences the second time around and the similarities and differences betwe...

Janine Biunno is a visual artist and archivist based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is focused on analyzing and interpreting the semiotics of the built environment. Janine's artwork addresses the subjective practice of understanding and representing the architecture, infrastructure, and density of urban space, and how our general perception of those physical ...

Helena Hsieh was born and raised in Long Beach, California. She received her BA in English Literature from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2004, her BFA in Painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2008, and her MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/Tufts University in 2012. Her work has been exhibited nationally and inter...

In episode three, I talk to San Francisco-based artist Lisa Jonas Taylor, who works by day in the field of art and design higher education. Lisa’s studio practice is grounded in various mediums, primarily painting, sculpture, and installation, as well as project-based collaborative work. Her work has been exhibited at Goo...

In episode two, I speak with Laura Torres, a multi-disciplinary artist who has worked in sculpture, installation, film, and performance. She is a former member of the Atlantic Works Gallery in Boston, MA. Now based in Chicago, IL, Laura focuses on tightwire training, performing and coaching beginning wirewalkers.

<...

In episode one, I speak with Elizabeth Amento. In her work, Elizabeth explores relationships, between people, between colors, and the play between both. At the time of our interview, in November 2018, Elizabeth was working full-time in an accounting firm in San Francisco, making her work in the evenings and on the weekend...

Artists in Offices is a podcast that explores, through interviews with working artists, the idea that "the work you do for pay supports the work you do for love"...or does it? Hosted by Oakland-based artist Rebecca Bird Grigsby, Season 1 of the podcast launches on May 1, 2019, with the first 5 of 10 interviews conducted with artists across the U.S. between November 2018 and March 2019. Look for a new episode each week after launch ...