March 22, 2022 • 55 mins
tlybARTMAG is a visual arts magazine that focuses on Contemporary Artists living or working in Mississippi. The first issue is available to view or download for free at tlybARTMAG.com
You can order one of the limited print copies at thelittleyellowbuilding.com
Find Ellen:
http://www.ellenlangford.com/
https://www.instagram.com/ellenlangfordart/
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Derek Smith (00:08):
Hello and welcome or welcome back to the
Mississippi artists to artistspodcast where we feature
contemporary artists living andworking in Mississippi. Today is
special today is the release ofthe TL YV, art mag, the very
first issue, it's a visual artsmagazine dedicated to the
contemporary artists living andworking in Mississippi. Three of
(00:31):
the articles in the magazinewere based on interviews that I
hosted over zoom and we haveturned those into special
edition TL YB art mag interview,podcast things I don't know, I
wanted to to be able to hear allof the words that they said not
just the edited bars that madeit into the magazine. We're
(00:52):
releasing these back to back andour featured interview was with
Ellen length, you can visit Tlyb. Art mag.com To download
your issue view online orpurchase the limited edition
copy. All right on to theinterview.
(01:20):
Hey, everyone, and welcome back,I want to I want to welcome a
special guest. This is EllenLangford, who's joining us
today. And Ellen is our coverartists for our inaugural TL YV
art magazine, which I'm soexcited about featuring
Mississippi artists from acrossthe state things to do in our
state organizations to getinvolved with art to go see,
(01:45):
Ellen, thank you so much for notonly joining us today, but for
lending us your talents to themagazine, I just really, really
appreciate that.
Ellen Langford (01:53):
Well, I'm thrilled and honored to be
asked. So to get
Derek Smith (01:57):
started, why don't you tell us a little bit about
your background and your historyand art.
Ellen Langford (02:01):
Okay, um, I was born here in Jackson, where I'm
talking to you from and I hadparents who loved to have art in
the house. And we had terrificbooks on artists and books from,
you know, big picture books, youknow, coffee table type books
(02:26):
from museums all over the place.
And we, they traveled a ton myfather traveled internationally
and would would take us withthem when we traveled and always
made a point of going tomuseums, and I'd always loved
it. At some point, it became medragging my parents to museums,
(02:47):
as I got older, and eventually,and I always drew I was one of
those kids who always drew andalways, you know, if there were
paints that painted. And I had aI ended up having an incredible
high school art teacher. And shein fact, she just died a couple
(03:11):
years ago, we stayed close allthat time. And she, she was she
knew a ton about art history,she knew a ton about art theory.
She was she was a textileartist, she did not she really
didn't teach any of the visualart fundamentals that might be
(03:32):
good to have in high school, butshe encouraged us to just follow
our bliss, really, and I, youknow, worked my tail off trying
to figure it out on my own. Gointo college, I tried to get as
far from Mississippi as I could,because I had this idea that
(03:53):
racism and classism were, youknow, particular to Mississippi,
and I thought if I went to NewEngland or to California, which
were you know, I just looked ata map, what's the forest I can
get away? That That wouldn't bethe case, I ended up going to
(04:16):
New England. Mostly because Istarted to realize and I don't
know if you want this to editthis out, but I started to
realize I was gay. And I was notready for that. And I felt like
if I went to California and haveto be around a bunch of gay
people, and I was scared ofthat. And so I went to a college
(04:38):
in New England, that had adecent art department and a good
Museum. But my father basicallysaid, if you if you take the art
scholarship for Ole Miss, youcan study art. If you don't You
will not be studying art. Andso, you know, I said, okay at
(05:04):
first, and when I had to declaremy major, I was taking a
religions of China and Japanclass, and I loved it. And I
thought, well, two things thatreally run the world are
religion and economics, I'mgoing to major in these two
(05:25):
things and really understand theworld. And I was a disaster
economics because I can't readnumbers, they swit swap all over
the place for me, and Ieventually had to just like, Get
out before I failed the class.
And religion was fantastic worldreligions was my religion, my,
(05:49):
my religion, my major, and thatI eventually ended up with,
after getting a little lostalong the way. And I'm really
glad I did, because it was aterrific way to learn about the
history of people on the worldin the, you know. So being lost
along the way, at some point, Ileft the college I was at, and I
(06:14):
did come to Ole Miss for whatended up being a year because of
a girlfriend, and I decided,okay, father wants me to be a
doctor, I'm going to take premed, and I'm going to be a
doctor in rural Mississippi,because I had worked. In the
summer, I had worked rurallywith some desperately poor
(06:38):
people, and on a study that hadto do with high blood pressure
and diabetes, and I was going tohelp I was gonna change the
world, you know, I was going todo my part. And that was also a
disaster. Because science andmath just are not. They're
fascinating, and they're reallyhard for my brain.
(07:00):
But I learned a lot as far asanatomy and physiology, which
was helpful. Chemistry wasfascinating and a disaster. So I
stayed the rest of the year, andended up second semester taking
a fifth figure painting classfrom Jerry Allen, who is I don't
know if you know, his work. He'sa amazing painter. And he was an
(07:23):
amazing teacher as well. Andwhile I was taking that class, I
painted a portrait of my father,who said, Oh, okay, yeah, well,
I think you should take thisseriously. And so I did. And I
did finish up after that. Istudied one summer at the
(07:46):
Corcoran school in DC. And Istudied abroad for a semester in
Italy, at an international artschool, and got a scholarship
for that, which was terrific.
And I did take painting at thatcollege. But if there wasn't the
the strength of painting that Iwas, that I had received in
(08:11):
Italy, or in at Corcoran, oreven from Jerry Allen, who,
like, I don't know, that I'llever have as good a teacher as I
had, then, and let's see, isthis too long? And rambly?
Derek Smith (08:30):
No, not at all. No, I love every minute if you don't
understand.
Ellen Langford (08:35):
So I was gonna I had always painted, always
drawn, let's continue to dothat. I got discouraged about
the academics. When I tried totake it from the college where
it started in was finishing up alot of attitude. And if you
didn't know people in New Yorkand show in New York, then Then
(08:55):
what were you even doing, youknow, and, and not a lot of
helpful teaching. So I ventuallydid get get my degree from
there, I kind of in a whim,moved to San Francisco from
(09:15):
there, my brother and his firstwife, were out there and he
said, you know, think you'dreally like it here. And this is
before the.com Boom. So thingswere affordable for, you know,
people who were young andwilling to share a house with
six other people. And so I did Imoved out there and I worked all
(09:36):
kinds of low wage, hard workjobs for a number of years. And
I always painted always had aplace to keep my paints set up.
Also, right about the time Imoved out there, my father died
really suddenly. And so it wasmy two I kind of was falling
(10:01):
apart and I got a therapist,which was a smart thing to do.
And she said, You need to havealways have a place to set up to
paint. And so that was like, theone thing that she suggested
that I did. And it's one of thethings that when we get to the
suggestions for artists, I'llcome back to that, those pretty
(10:21):
lifesaving. So I was working alot having a lot of fun,
probably too much fun, althoughI'm not sure that there's a
thing, such as that. And, andpainting and painting and
painting, I started havinglittle shows back here, and
(10:43):
selling my work kind of by wordof word of mouth, just I would
come and visit my mother and setup a show at New Stage Theatre
or, and then a local galleryhere, picked me up, started
selling pretty well. And at somepoint, I decided I wanted to go
further with art education. Andso I spent a year at the San
(11:07):
Francisco Art Institute, whichwas an amazing experience. But
what I should have done isapplied to their graduate
program. Instead, I decided Ineeded a second grad, second
degree, undergraduate degree.
And you know, at that price,after a year of it, I was like,
There's no way I'll ever be ableto pay this back. And so I just
(11:30):
had that year, they're not justit was an amazing, but the
theory, the art history, and thetraining and visual arts that
the painters and drawers are,the artists that I studied
painting and drawing from, wereamazing. And one of them had
(11:52):
been part of that San FranciscoBay, the Bay Area, figurative
artists, who, you know, I thinkmy work is pretty influenced by.
And so it's really neat, youknow, feeling like had some
connection to that group and gotto be pretty close to him. He's
(12:13):
not living anymore. And so Istayed out there really, until
the.com, boom, hit. And Idecided at some point, I took a
first aid class, like a RedCross for, for extra credit, I
(12:35):
worked this motorcycle to soundsrandom, but it's not work this
motorcycle race. And so not whennot if but when they crashed in
each round, I was part of thiscrew that would go out and
assess them and kind of get themready for the ambulance to come.
(12:56):
And whatever reason, the way I'mwired, I found this absolutely
delightful. And I loved it. Andso I applied for paramedic
school, I got my EMT basic outthere. And I applied for
paramedic schools and realized Iwasn't going to be able to
(13:17):
afford to stay out there and bein school full time. And the,
you know, the computers, peoplewere everywhere, and the prices
were just going up everywhere.
And so I moved back here forwhat I thought was a year and I
went to paramedic school here atat the university down the
(13:39):
street. And was was has alreadykind of made a little bit of a
name for myself back here beforeI moved back as far as painting.
So I was painting in my mother'supstairs bedroom. You know, we
were like, making dinnertogether every night and
splitting a little bitty beer.
And it was kind of fantastic.
(14:02):
And and she had had a realparent, both parents had a real
hard time with my being gay,like a big they're, they're
really they were reallyreasonable people and not you
know, not right wing and ingeneral, really open minded, but
(14:27):
they were both born in the 20s.
And, you know, when my dad wasin med school, it was a sickness
and he they really, you know,were worried about me. And so
she and I had this time ofliving together and really
having really like having kindof a beautiful reconciliation
(14:50):
period was lovely. And I endedup meeting somebody Right
before, right at the end ofparamedic school, staying here,
having a child with them, allthe while painting and painting
(15:10):
and really loving what being inMississippi, allowed as far as
my growth as an artist. And infact, my mother eventually would
say, every child should have twomothers and she had really come
around. And events, eventuallyshe started losing, she started
(15:38):
really sliding into dementia,right about the same time that
my partner and I had to splitup. And I had, because I wasn't
the biological mom, I had toreally fight for time with my
son. So I couldn't commit to 24or 48 hour shifts on the
(16:00):
ambulance anymore. And I wasselling well enough that I kind
of had to make the leap. And Idon't know that I ever would
have, I thought I would go tograduate school, I thought I
would teach, I thought I'dalways have some kind of stable,
something to fall back on. I'deven started prereqs for
(16:22):
nursing, but I just didn't havethat time. I had, I couldn't. I
couldn't commit to anythingexcept my mother and my son. And
and because of that, having totake that leap and needing to,
you know, pay the bills, I hadalways taken it really seriously
(16:46):
as a full second full time job.
And now I like it basically hasbecome two full time jobs, you
know. And so that was about 1112years ago, I think. And so that
(17:07):
that's my only way of making aliving now is selling my art
occasionally teaching classes.
But that's much moreoccasionally mostly selling
selling paintings. Now, that'sgotten me to where we are,
Derek Smith (17:23):
yeah. And you strike me as the person that
doesn't, you know, you have alot of joy in life. But when it
comes to a decision to be made,you know, there's a lot of
consideration every time you gointo making a decision.
Ellen Langford (17:36):
Yeah, well, I don't know that. I would say
that as a younger Ellen. Now,yes, no, at at 22. When I
decided to move to SanFrancisco, it's like, yeah,
yeah, I'll do that. You know,
Derek Smith (17:52):
I think there's these periods in our life. And
age has a lot to do with age andbeing naive. And not really
understanding what it might taketo live off of something, I did
the same thing took off toFlorida didn't care what it was
going to take for me to eat, orto do anything else, it was just
going to happen. And you'reyoung enough and pliable enough,
(18:13):
where you can just stretch andbend and it all works out. But
Right, right. But as you getolder, you need that stability,
you can't bend as easy,
Ellen Langford (18:21):
right? And, you know, now I have a child and I
actually, he lives in Oregonnow. So a lot of what I've in
addition to, you know, mortgageand life things, and child
support. I also you know, it'sit's a huge time and money
(18:42):
commitment to travel to Oregonfor visitation. And which has
made you know, a little bit morecomplicated by COVID. But yeah,
Derek Smith (18:51):
well, you've had this beautiful long art arc in
your journey that has builtlayer on layer with your
artistry. How has your artdeveloped visually, through all
of this process?
Ellen Langford (19:08):
I hope it's gotten stronger. Although
sometimes I look back at work Idid in my 20s and 30s. And like,
ooh, like to get back to that,you know, that was so some good
stuff. I think for quite a whileit became really highly
(19:28):
narrative. And I'm what I'm kindof pushing myself now, to get
back a little bit more tofundamentals. You know, like,
I'm trying to push myself to dosome plein air some portraits,
(19:49):
portraiture, mostly selfportraiture because in a
pandemic, and I'd love to getinto it. Your drawing group at
some point. Yeah, I don't knowwhat I mean, I'm fully
vaccinated, but now fullyvaccinated people are getting
sick. So we don't know. We don'tknow.
Derek Smith (20:11):
It's a huge roller coaster. Yes. And you know, this
will be going up in March. Sofingers crossed that things have
taken a wonderful turn.
Ellen Langford (20:20):
Wouldn't that be nice. And in addition to trying
to push myself to get back tofundamentals and strengthen my
fundamentals, I'm also trying toadd, whereas my work has
developed quite a narrativequality. Visually, I'm trying to
add writing to my process, Ilove to write a love language.
(20:43):
And I have always had fun withmy titles, which are, you know,
two or three word poems,usually. But now, I really want
to figure out how to get actualwriting, kind of almost like
short stories to go with thevisual short stories, if that
makes sense.
Derek Smith (21:04):
No, that'd be a wonderful, I would love to read
those. So your paintings foranyone that's not very familiar,
or has has not, you know, hadthe honor of coming across your
work yet. Because I mean, I'm ahuge fan of your work. Your
paintings are there, these thesetiny stories, but they're not
(21:27):
super detailed. The thing thatis so for me, the thing that is
so special about your work is isall the just as much the things
you don't paint as the thingsthat you do. And you leave these
spaces for our imaginations andour own personal experiences to
jump into the painting. They'rethere, they, they bring back
(21:49):
lots and lots of memories, everytime I see a different painting
of yours, I can instantlyreflect back on to a time I felt
the same sunshine on my facethat the dog and the figures are
failing are, you know, the samegrass tones. I've seen those
walking through Mississippi. Andso they're very special to me.
And the fact that you, you, you,you take the time to not over
(22:17):
produce your work. It's, I do,I'm a huge fan.
Ellen Langford (22:22):
I love they take the time to not ever produce.
Yeah.
Derek Smith (22:27):
You just you, you know, you're you're you're not,
you don't go in and worksomething to death. It's just
bear and it lives together. Andit's just so nice to be around.
So now to know that you're gonnahave developed these stories to
go with them like I'm so intothat.
Ellen Langford (22:46):
Well, we'll see.
We'll see. Yeah.
Derek Smith (22:49):
Um, so tell us about, you know, moving back to
Mississippi, you you had kind ofa little base to start with. Did
you come in and open up astudio? Did you stay painting at
home? Pretty much did you haveyour separate jobs?
Ellen Langford (23:05):
While I was living with my mom, I had, you
know, one of my one of mybrother's bedrooms as a studio,
which was in such a luxury. Andthen I, when I moved in with my
child's other mom, my future exwife, we eventually got a little
(23:30):
like, an eight by 12, littleoutbuilding, you know, a little
portable building, but in thebackyard, which really wasn't
enough room. But it kept to me,it helped me move from being
surrounded by the things in thehouse that I really felt
obligated to do the laundry, thecleaning, you know, all that
(23:52):
stuff. You know, just by going,you know, 20 yards, down the
hill in the backyard and beingin a separate space was really
helpful. And eventually I JohnBower Bower Foundation had
donated a building to forartists studios in Jackson, and
(24:16):
somebody approached me aboutbeing a part of that group,
initial group and that wasterrific. It was Tony to Fatah.
Do you know Tony to Fatah? Okay.
His work is amazing. He's theDirector of Education at the
Walter Anderson museum now,
Derek Smith (24:34):
but I do know who that is. He's just
Ellen Langford (24:39):
one, Anthony de Fatah. And that's when I met
him. No, no, no, I'd met him alittle bit before and, and
another couple of artists thinkthey're just and John Maxwell
had a little Writing Studio andthat was amazing. So that was my
first real professional studio,even in San Francisco. Go I'd
(25:00):
had a basement to paint in,which was terrific. But this was
the first time I had, you know,somewhat of a professional, you
know, had an exhaust fan in thewindows, I could work in oil. I
had decent light, you know, fromthere I moved with one of those
artists actually an interiordesigner, he got a big space
(25:25):
also in Fondren that he ended uprenting part of to me and part
of two friends of ours who had alittle ballet school. And that
was really fun. At some point, Iwas down on Millsaps avenue for
a little while. But that was alittle tricky, because it was
(25:46):
mostly young guys in their 20s,who didn't really understand
space and respecting eachother's boundaries and had some
stuff go Miss anyway, what anideal, yeah, but you know, that
experience, I wish them the bestand, and now I share studio
(26:07):
space downtown and have formaybe six or seven years. And I
share it with a bunch of otherartists, but often on there by
myself, which is terrific. Imean, I love I love people. But
you know, I really need thattime to, and I'm about to start
a part of a residency here at anolder building in Belle Haven
(26:33):
heights, and pointing that waybecause that's south of here.
And I'm going to be paintingthere a couple days a week and
offering classes to kids in theneighborhood. And so I'm kind of
excited about that. So let'skeep my studio, but I'll be
working in wash, and maybe someoil, but mostly wash there.
Derek Smith (26:58):
So yay, that's exciting. That's
Ellen Langford (27:01):
probably more information that you want to
Derek Smith (27:03):
know, I want to know all of this. And you know,
for anybody that's going to belistening, these are all
opportunities that areavailable, you know, that they
might not know about in theirarea. And, you know, it's just,
it's every event that we canpromote every thing that we can
do for communities that are artbased that can share with
children that are growing up andshow them different ways that
(27:26):
art can be participated in artcan be used to, you know, in
their jobs and their differentjobs. You know, you don't have
to be an artist in order to doart things in your job, and no,
absolutely make you so valuable.
And so each one of these eventsand things gives children the
opportunity to have an entireworld open up to them. That just
(27:46):
wasn't available before.
Ellen Langford (27:52):
That you're teaching children. That's
terrific.
Derek Smith (27:55):
Thank you, I've something I never thought I
would do. And I really enjoy it.
Ellen Langford (28:01):
I'm so glad I taught my son's class for a
little while when he was inpublic school here. Let's see
what that would have been firstthrough third grade, they didn't
have art. And they didn't have ateacher that was doing art with
them, which a lot of teachersend up having to do. So I would
go in once a week, and I boughthim I bring with me all the
(28:24):
supplies. Eventually, theteacher let me have a place in
her little closet to keep themon. But I just, you know, that I
wanted them to know about, youknow, different different
artists around the world, youknow, and most of those kids
weren't white, I wanted to knowthat they were really important
artists of color. I want to knowwhat a portrait was, what a
(28:47):
landscape was, what differentmedium were. And also, we had a
great time just making messes,you know. I loved it, I loved
it. I don't I don't want toteach small children art as my
full time job. I think it takesa really someone really special
(29:08):
like you but I loved thatexperience of being able to do
that.
Derek Smith (29:12):
Another thing that I really appreciate about you is
you you live freely, you know,you don't live behind closed
doors, you don't live behind,you know, shut in. And it's very
easy to do that because it'ssafe. You know, and and I can
speak from experience as a queerkid that grew up here and moved
(29:36):
away and came back. You know,there's not a lot of times and
this is the first time I've eversaid it on the podcast. You
know, there's not a lot of timesthat I even feel willing to talk
about it. But what I am willingto do is be the best artist for
every single person that I comeacross so that they have
something other to you know tosee Yeah, yeah, and when Do
(30:00):
think of a gay person. And thenthey think of me, they think of
Derek, the artist who happens tobe gay, and then it becomes
okay. You know, and, and so you,I followed your story for a
while and it's not just you,it's it's you. And it's Jonathan
Kent Adams. And it's just,there's these personalities that
are coming to the surface inMississippi that is going to
(30:23):
eventually open up a ton ofopportunities. And, and not only
I, you know, I connected withthe Mississippi School of Arts,
and we did a show there thispast summer. And at the end of
the show, the school year openedup, and we had the opportunity
to do an artist talk with thekids, you know, and that was one
(30:45):
of their questions. They broughtit up, you know, they're like,
how do you live here? How areyou and, and there's so much
more to experience in life. Andthey get to see that and
artists, like you get to openthose doors for them. And I'm
just so grateful that you're inthe state and doing what you do.
So I just wanted to applaud youfor a second and just think
(31:08):
again,
Ellen Langford (31:09):
and I applaud you. Yeah. Is it? You know, I
don't know about you. But youknow, when I was growing up, I
didn't feel safe. And that's,you know, why? Part of why I
needed to get out ofMississippi, in addition to
thinking really that peopleweren't racist other places.
Boy, was I wrong? But yes, yes,yeah. Yeah.
Derek Smith (31:32):
So for anyone that wants to find Ellen, you can
find her on Instagram at EllenLangford, art, you can find her
on our website at Ellen langfor.com. Please go and do that.
I mean, I'm talking spectacularstorytelling, beautiful, fine
artwork, it just, it's what Ilove about contemporary
Mississippi art and the thoughtand the care that's being put
(31:53):
behind it. Ellen, for anybodythat's coming up behind you are
for you as a younger self, whatwould be some advice that you
would give to them?
Ellen Langford (32:03):
I love this question. And I've loved some of
the other responses that yourother interviewees have given.
Or something I always tellpeople is, wherever you live,
always make sure that you havefull time set up a way to do
art, if you're going to have toget your paints out, make sure
(32:26):
you have have enough paint, makesure they're not dried out full,
you know, find where did you putyour easel last, you know,
you're you're not going to bemaking art on a regular basis,
if ever, and, you know if itfit, even if you're not planning
to sell your work or be aprofessional artist, if making
(32:47):
art is important to your soul,and to how you ground yourself
in life, make sure that you havethat someplace, it can be a
corner of your little bittybedroom. Also put in your
backpack or your purse orwhatever you carry around a
sketchbook and some pencils or apen. And just always be you
(33:10):
know, if you feel comfortable,be taking notes wherever you
are, if you're out to somethingI've loved doing and miss doing
much since the pandemic is anice to have a group that we for
over a decade, we'd go up toBravo on Sunday nights, we'd
have drinks, and I would get outmy little bitty watercolor wash
(33:32):
set. And I would just makelittle paintings of people
around. And it was a great wayto study forms in you know, in
motion, in in groupings, in ininteriors, and also to just
develop your confidence. Andlet's see. So those two things,
(33:57):
if you're thinking about goingto study art, I think there are
great things about art schools.
And I'm certainly grateful forthe year I spent at the San
Francisco Art Institute and theone in Florence and my summer at
the Corcoran, but I think goingto a university that has a good
(34:19):
art department but also whereyou can learn history where you
can learn philosophy and learngovernment. You can take science
classes and get a goodfoundation and your anatomy
physiology and just have a badbroader understanding of how the
world is put together. Becauseyeah, there's YouTube and stuff
(34:45):
now but there's really not manyopportunities in life where you
really have the gift of beingable to study in an intense way.
Like you can at University. Um,as far as being a professional
artist, there's a great book byScott Pressfield Do you know
(35:07):
this book, The The War of Art.
And he wrote The Legend ofBagger Vance. That's the only
thing I know of else that he'swritten. But it's all about
taking yourself seriously as anartist, and making the time, you
know, making your workdays andtake, you know, making the time.
(35:32):
And not I mean, he, I think inthe book, he said, he writes,
just like four hours a day, butthose four hours are sacred. And
he has, you know, things that hedoes before and after that, that
are part of that process, butthe production time, you know,
and that may not sound like muchto someone who sits in an office
(35:52):
for eight hours a day. But thinkof how much productivity you get
in those eight hours, I'veworked office jobs, you know,
there's a lot of not beingproductive. And so I'd say, like
set press, Phil said, takeyourself seriously, as an
artist, try to identify whatpressures in life get in the way
(36:15):
of you taking yourself seriouslyand are he taught calls it
resistance, you know, do youfeel like you just have to sleep
a few more hours in the morning,or just gonna be awful. Get up,
you know, stretch, have somehave a cup of coffee. And
remember that this is your job,and that, you know, you are
worth it.
(36:37):
Do you you know, think of takingclasses from other artists as
continuing education, like areal job to make yourself
stronger and stronger. I met awoman when I was in college, who
was a painter, and she had had ateacher along the way who told
her um, your your paintings areperfect, never change, never do
(36:57):
anything else don't get any takeany advice from any other
teachers, and her paintingslooked dead to me. And I just
thought that was even then Ithought that was heartbreaking.
You know, even if something youfeel like is something is
working, you're selling aparticular look. Keep pushing
(37:19):
yourself to grow and, you know,push yourself beyond your
comfort levels. One of the greatthings about taking classes is
the discomfort that you willfeel and push through. Every
time I take a class I think, Whoam I kidding? I don't know how
to do this. This is terrible.
Ah, why did I take this class?
(37:40):
And then afterwards, I'm like,Oh, it starts to come out in
ways that you just you couldn'thave known what happened. And
when I teach classes, I tell mystudents that I have that
experience as well. Becausebecause people are going I can't
do that. Yeah, I'm asking themto do things way outside of
their comfort zone. Also takegood care of yourself, eat well,
(38:05):
exercise stretch. What positionare you in when you're making
art is you know, are you know,are you giving yourself
tendinitis and Crick's in theneck and you know, are you
taking breaks, I remember when Iremember, I set my timer a lot
because I can get like hyperfocused and find myself for
(38:26):
hours and hours in a completelyridiculous position that my body
will scream at me about later.
So take care of yourself. And Iprobably have a lot more advice,
you know, thinking about gallerystuff, but I don't know how much
time you have.
Derek Smith (38:41):
So I mean, I have all debt, go for it. But I mean,
as long as you as long as you'recomfortable and feel like
talking I mean, this is allwonderful. Especially something
that nobody talks about was thatlast part, you know, the the
stopping and my students, whenwe're drawing, you know, they'll
they'll be drawing for a littlebit and they hunched over and
they hunched over and theyhunched over and then all of a
(39:02):
sudden they're like, Oh, my neckhurts. I was like okay,
everybody take a break.
Everybody laying back on yourchair, roll your neck, as like
and then take your board and putit on your lap. So you're not
leaned over, like give your armfreedom, let your wrists be your
wrist and don't force things andlike there'll be times to go in
and get really like tight. Butyou know that that really struck
with all the other stuff? Yeah,
Ellen Langford (39:28):
absolutely. I set timers in my classes and I
make people and they don't wantto stop. You know that something
work and they don't want to stopand like put your paintbrush
down. Now, stand up, walk away.
Stretch, you know, I mean,they're adults. These are adults
I'm talking to they don't wantto do it. They're always glad
they did. But you know.
Derek Smith (39:49):
Well, you had just mentioned about your galleries.
You work with several galleries.
Would you mind listing those offreally quick so I can make sure
Oh, no. Item, the one
Ellen Langford (39:59):
that's Although I'm really lucky that the
galleries I work with are allpeople who are very wonderful
open generous souls who workreally, really hard for
themselves, but also for theirartists and have, you know,
(40:19):
bring a lot of good to the worldand so I you know, I guess I'm a
mid career artists I feel stilllike I'm just figuring out but
you know, I'm, I know that I'mreally lucky in that way. So but
I'll start with, with that said,the one that's kind of closest
to my heart is the attic galleryin Vicksburg, Mississippi. Have
(40:42):
you been there? Yeah. It's, it'sowned by Leslie Silver, who I've
kind of taken as a second as anadoptive mom. I I just love her
so dearly. And she is an artistherself. And she's passionate
(41:02):
about art. And she's aboutpassionate about truth in art,
not just pretty things that willlook nice on the wall, but you
know, honest, earnest good. AndI don't mean good in any kind of
like, judgmental way, but youknow, art with integrity, art
that, like, makes a differencein the world and comes from a
(41:26):
place of you know, real visionand its creation. And her
daughter's are fine with meadopting her as well. They're
about my age, and they've,they're fine with that. So then,
so that's the attic that at agallery in Vicksburg,
Mississippi. They don't have avery active website, but they're
(41:47):
great. If you call and say, I'mlooking for work by this artist.
They'll send you pictures,they'll work with you. They'll
ship stuff, but it's also a realtreat to go to. It's to me it's
like going to a little chapel alittle like spiritual center of
art. Okay, so that's the atticgallery. In Jackson, I'm
(42:08):
represented by an interiorsplace. That's art is kind of a
second thought, although they'regreat. I adore them. I just
haven't found the perfect artart home in Jackson, but there
it's the it's called Haven, acurated home. And a good friend
(42:32):
of mine is the owner X rays doneby two people. one's more of a
silent partner. She's Do youever listen to this? MPB Dr.
shows on the radio. She she andMichelle Owens, Alli Brown and
Michelle Owens do the Fridayone. Right. And they're
hilarious. But anyway, she's thesilent partner. Stephanie, well
(42:55):
just is the deck, the interiordesigner and she's just
terrific. And then also inMississippi, North Mississippi,
I've got the Oxford Tree Housegallery. Have you been there as
love
Derek Smith (43:10):
have not been there yet, but I want to go. So
Ellen Langford (43:14):
it feels like a retreat in the woods. It is one
of the loveliest commercefeeling places to go. And they
have a great group of artiststhere. They've got chickens on
the Sun of the land. It's alittle bit outside of town. So
you feel like you're just in themiddle of the woods in the
country. And they also live onthe property and they're both
(43:36):
artists, Vivian and Walter Neil.
He's a metal worker, and she's aprintmaker, and they're just
wonderful. All of these peopleare wonderful people. And then
over in Tupelo is the Karengallery run by Kim, am I taking
too long? There's just a couplemore. Kim Karen. And I've been
with her I think over a decade,I think so. And when she first
(44:04):
approached me, I thought Tupelowho's going to buy art to I was
a real snob about it. And youknow, just shows you what,
whatever thinking like that willdo for you. And so a year later,
she approached me a doubledecker year later, she also she
(44:26):
approached me again, she's like,you know, I'm really interested
in your work. I feel like Icould sell it. And I was doing I
think the next weekend I wasdoing a show in Tupelo is the
only time I've ever done that.
The gum tree festival. And shesaid, How about this? Anything
(44:47):
you don't sell? Just leave withme. No obligation. If I don't
sell it fine. You can come getit and at the end of you know,
two back to back shows. I wasOsted and so ready not to have
to pack all that work up, youknow, really woman. And so she
sells the heck out of my work.
And now she works with thehometown crew from Laurel. And
(45:12):
when they show when they showthe finished houses, they hang
work from the Karen gallery andme and Rachel Mazur, Robin would
like she has, she's great groupof artists. And it's so fun
people, we don't actually watchmuch just regular TV. But people
are always sending mescreenshots from you know, are
(45:35):
two pictures they've taken ofthe TV, which seems so old
school now. And like I saw yourpainting, you know, and that's,
that's really fun. And so shesells the heck out of my work.
And then in North Carolina, awoman named Betsy rose y is just
(45:55):
a delightful, delightful spirit.
And remember, I was I was at alittle tea shop near Gulf
Shores, Alabama, I was downthere for a week painting on the
beach, and I got this call fromthis woman, it's like, Ellen, I
(46:17):
have just been fun interested inyour work. And she was very,
like, not sure, but it could bea good fit. And so I felt very
much like, I hadn't evenapproached her. I felt like I
was on, you know, definitely ontrial, you know, to see if this
would be a good fit, which Itotally respect and took her a
(46:40):
bunch of work and she sellsreally well for me. That's up in
Asheville, North Carolina, it'scalled the American folk,
surname of the gallery, and it'sright on that main strip of
built more and she is just justfantastic. They I mean, they all
are, I'm really lucky to be ableto work with with all of these
(47:01):
guests, they're all women. Oneof those interesting things in
art, you know, growing up, Ikind of thought to be a
professional artists, youdefinitely had to be a man, you
know. And so it didn't evenoccur to me that it was
possibility because that's allyou, you know, I didn't even
know about Mary cusat. And, youknow, I guess that maybe heard
(47:24):
of Georgia O'Keeffe. But, youknow,
Derek Smith (47:27):
but it was, you know, women just weren't as well
documented. And now they've gotwonderful books, like they got a
big book of women artists. And,you know, for anybody that wants
to actually go in and dive intoart history, women had way more
to do with art history than men.
did. You know, if it weren't forLee Presley, the ancient
alcoholic wouldn't have beenanything. If it wasn't for Alain
de Kooning, Willem de Kooningwouldn't have been anything. So
(47:50):
like, go in and find out yourhistories about these. They
they're strong, strong,beautiful, amazing women artists
behind it.
Ellen Langford (47:59):
And there's also the National Museum of Women in
the Arts, which opened in themid 80s. And there they have a
Mississippi chapter, and I paymy dues for that. And they
occasionally have shows that I'mpart of here in this in
Mississippi. But I wanted to ifyou have time, I'd love to get
some advice about approachingartists, poaching galleries.
(48:21):
Yes.
Derek Smith (48:22):
Give me one second, because I just got a text
message somebody outside. Yeah,yeah.
Ellen Langford (48:27):
Do you see Rufus? Oh, look at that. Yeah.
Hey, Derek.
Derek Smith (48:36):
Yes, please share some advice with us about how to
approach galleries and howdealing with that because I know
for me, I deal with one gallery.
And then people have looked atthe little yellow building like
it's a gallery and it absolutelyis not much. It's a little
production house, we put onshows we put on books and stuff
like that, but there's a there'san art to working with a gallery
(48:57):
and having all of that be sosuper successful. So we have
please absolutely share with us.
Ellen Langford (49:04):
Terrific. Yeah, so I get I get asked a lot by
folks who, you know, they say Iwant to be an artist first. You
know, I feel like if you paintand draw if you make art, you're
an artist. Now being aprofessional artist is is a
different thing. And so I've hadpeople say well, you go and talk
(49:29):
to say Leslie silver and ask herto look at my work. Or they'll
just you know, Leslie willsometimes have people just show
up cold call. Both of those Iwould I would discourage. What I
would encourage is as far astaking yourself theories and
artists, make sure that you havea collection of work that you
(49:52):
have produced with withintegrity with seriousness. That
is a cohesive body of work and Iwould say, make sure you have at
least 60 to 100 pieces, and thatyou feel good about it and that
you can talk about, and you cantalk about your process. And
(50:13):
then and, you know, the world ischanging all the time, I think a
great way to do it is to havehave an Instagram or have some
kind of way to look at workonline. And then at that point,
I would say either email it byemail, or snail mail, you know,
(50:35):
look at look at galleries lookat the work being represented by
galleries get a feel, if you cantravel to it, get a feel of the
gallery physically, withoutgoing up and saying, I want to
be in your gallery, and, anddecide if you feel like it could
be a good fit for you. Becauseyou're going to be giving the
(50:57):
gallery 50% of your profit. Andthey are going to be giving you
50% of their profit. And itneeds to be a really good mutual
understanding that y'all areboth in it together. And that
it's a good fit. You know,there's so many ways of selling
(51:21):
your own art, without galleries,but I believe in them, because
the ones I work with work sohard for me, and are such good
support, you know, for artistsand for work for, for artwork.
And so in addition to this otherprocess of something else I was
going to add, ah, that just wentaway from my brain. Oh, know
(51:47):
what your prices are going tobe, you know, get a sit, look at
other artwork, look at whatsells, you know, talk to people
who know about business, youknow, what are, what are you
going to need to live on, don'tjust give your work away, yes,
you may have another job. Butdon't just sell your painting
(52:10):
for $25 Because you want to beselling your paintings. It kind
of devalues your work. Peoplewant to you know, pay money for
art. It also devalues the workaround you. You know other
people are like, I have to pricemy I mean as much as I'd love to
(52:33):
give my work away. You know,it's it's how I eat, it's out,
pay my mortgage and childsupport. And I, I price it as
low as I possibly can to be ableto live on and I've especially
the gallery in North Carolina, Iwould love for my prices to go
(52:53):
up. But, you know, I'm mostlysell through galleries in
Mississippi. And, you know,that's just kind of my reality
right now. And I also wantpeople especially my, my smaller
works of a really light forpeople to be able to own a piece
of art that they did invest in,you know, they paid a couple
(53:16):
$100 For but, you know, usuallypeople who start buying smaller
works and smaller works,eventually they do buy a bigger,
don't spend the money on that,and then they feel really good
about it. So anyway, so the Ididn't write that list I have it
somewhere because I have a likea advice for young artists list
(53:39):
in my notes that I give peoplesometime but I just think you
know all of that is important asfar as taking yourself seriously
as an artist and also taking thethe art business world
seriously.
Derek Smith (53:54):
Yeah, in with that you're I mean, you're your
peers, you know, you're alsotaking consideration for your
peers and yeah, yeah. I cannottell you how much I appreciate
you giving up all this time.
Like I really do appreciate youcoming on and filling us with
your your advice and your lifestory and letting giving us the
(54:18):
opportunity to get to know youbetter,
Ellen Langford (54:23):
was delightful to talk to and i really i did i
After we scheduled this while Iwas out seeing my son out west.
I downloaded all of yourprevious interviews and and
listen to him because most firstI was like, Well, I just want to
get a sense of like what he'sgoing to ask. And then I was
like, Oh, I'm just getting toknow more Mississippi artists
(54:47):
and look at her look at herwork. And you know, anyway, it
was delightful and I'm verygrateful that you're doing this,
and I'm honored to be on
Derek Smith (54:57):
for everyone else.
We will be back again soon. Withanother wonderful Mississippi
artists make sure you go by andcheck out try V art mag.com
where you can see Ellen's workalong with again, more
phenomenal Mississippi artists.
Until next time.
(55:17):
Thank you as always to ourmembers, the friends of the
little yellow building BethBreeland Mary Hardy, Jenny Moke
Evelyn PV. Jennifer Drinkwater,the Smith family when fury Mary
Adams, the Evans Family, JanetSmith, Jenny Howard, Buffy
Jordan and boppers at
Unknown (55:37):
all
Hello and welcome or welcome back to the
Mississippi artists to artistspodcast where we feature
contemporary artists living andworking in Mississippi. Today is
special today is the release ofthe TL YV, art mag, the very
first issue, it's a visual artsmagazine dedicated to the
contemporary artists living andworking in Mississippi. Three of
(00:31):
the articles in the magazinewere based on interviews that I
hosted over zoom and we haveturned those into special
edition TL YB art mag interview,podcast things I don't know, I
wanted to to be able to hear allof the words that they said not
just the edited bars that madeit into the magazine. We're
(00:52):
releasing these back to back andour featured interview was with
Ellen length, you can visit Tlyb. Art mag.com To download
your issue view online orpurchase the limited edition
copy. All right on to theinterview.
(01:20):
Hey, everyone, and welcome back,I want to I want to welcome a
special guest. This is EllenLangford, who's joining us
today. And Ellen is our coverartists for our inaugural TL YV
art magazine, which I'm soexcited about featuring
Mississippi artists from acrossthe state things to do in our
state organizations to getinvolved with art to go see,
(01:45):
Ellen, thank you so much for notonly joining us today, but for
lending us your talents to themagazine, I just really, really
appreciate that.
Ellen Langford (01:53):
Well, I'm thrilled and honored to be
asked. So to get
Derek Smith (01:57):
started, why don't you tell us a little bit about
your background and your historyand art.
Ellen Langford (02:01):
Okay, um, I was born here in Jackson, where I'm
talking to you from and I hadparents who loved to have art in
the house. And we had terrificbooks on artists and books from,
you know, big picture books, youknow, coffee table type books
(02:26):
from museums all over the place.
And we, they traveled a ton myfather traveled internationally
and would would take us withthem when we traveled and always
made a point of going tomuseums, and I'd always loved
it. At some point, it became medragging my parents to museums,
(02:47):
as I got older, and eventually,and I always drew I was one of
those kids who always drew andalways, you know, if there were
paints that painted. And I had aI ended up having an incredible
high school art teacher. And shein fact, she just died a couple
(03:11):
years ago, we stayed close allthat time. And she, she was she
knew a ton about art history,she knew a ton about art theory.
She was she was a textileartist, she did not she really
didn't teach any of the visualart fundamentals that might be
(03:32):
good to have in high school, butshe encouraged us to just follow
our bliss, really, and I, youknow, worked my tail off trying
to figure it out on my own. Gointo college, I tried to get as
far from Mississippi as I could,because I had this idea that
(03:53):
racism and classism were, youknow, particular to Mississippi,
and I thought if I went to NewEngland or to California, which
were you know, I just looked ata map, what's the forest I can
get away? That That wouldn't bethe case, I ended up going to
(04:16):
New England. Mostly because Istarted to realize and I don't
know if you want this to editthis out, but I started to
realize I was gay. And I was notready for that. And I felt like
if I went to California and haveto be around a bunch of gay
people, and I was scared ofthat. And so I went to a college
(04:38):
in New England, that had adecent art department and a good
Museum. But my father basicallysaid, if you if you take the art
scholarship for Ole Miss, youcan study art. If you don't You
will not be studying art. Andso, you know, I said, okay at
(05:04):
first, and when I had to declaremy major, I was taking a
religions of China and Japanclass, and I loved it. And I
thought, well, two things thatreally run the world are
religion and economics, I'mgoing to major in these two
(05:25):
things and really understand theworld. And I was a disaster
economics because I can't readnumbers, they swit swap all over
the place for me, and Ieventually had to just like, Get
out before I failed the class.
And religion was fantastic worldreligions was my religion, my,
(05:49):
my religion, my major, and thatI eventually ended up with,
after getting a little lostalong the way. And I'm really
glad I did, because it was aterrific way to learn about the
history of people on the worldin the, you know. So being lost
along the way, at some point, Ileft the college I was at, and I
(06:14):
did come to Ole Miss for whatended up being a year because of
a girlfriend, and I decided,okay, father wants me to be a
doctor, I'm going to take premed, and I'm going to be a
doctor in rural Mississippi,because I had worked. In the
summer, I had worked rurallywith some desperately poor
(06:38):
people, and on a study that hadto do with high blood pressure
and diabetes, and I was going tohelp I was gonna change the
world, you know, I was going todo my part. And that was also a
disaster. Because science andmath just are not. They're
fascinating, and they're reallyhard for my brain.
(07:00):
But I learned a lot as far asanatomy and physiology, which
was helpful. Chemistry wasfascinating and a disaster. So I
stayed the rest of the year, andended up second semester taking
a fifth figure painting classfrom Jerry Allen, who is I don't
know if you know, his work. He'sa amazing painter. And he was an
(07:23):
amazing teacher as well. Andwhile I was taking that class, I
painted a portrait of my father,who said, Oh, okay, yeah, well,
I think you should take thisseriously. And so I did. And I
did finish up after that. Istudied one summer at the
(07:46):
Corcoran school in DC. And Istudied abroad for a semester in
Italy, at an international artschool, and got a scholarship
for that, which was terrific.
And I did take painting at thatcollege. But if there wasn't the
the strength of painting that Iwas, that I had received in
(08:11):
Italy, or in at Corcoran, oreven from Jerry Allen, who,
like, I don't know, that I'llever have as good a teacher as I
had, then, and let's see, isthis too long? And rambly?
Derek Smith (08:30):
No, not at all. No, I love every minute if you don't
understand.
Ellen Langford (08:35):
So I was gonna I had always painted, always
drawn, let's continue to dothat. I got discouraged about
the academics. When I tried totake it from the college where
it started in was finishing up alot of attitude. And if you
didn't know people in New Yorkand show in New York, then Then
(08:55):
what were you even doing, youknow, and, and not a lot of
helpful teaching. So I ventuallydid get get my degree from
there, I kind of in a whim,moved to San Francisco from
(09:15):
there, my brother and his firstwife, were out there and he
said, you know, think you'dreally like it here. And this is
before the.com Boom. So thingswere affordable for, you know,
people who were young andwilling to share a house with
six other people. And so I did Imoved out there and I worked all
(09:36):
kinds of low wage, hard workjobs for a number of years. And
I always painted always had aplace to keep my paints set up.
Also, right about the time Imoved out there, my father died
really suddenly. And so it wasmy two I kind of was falling
(10:01):
apart and I got a therapist,which was a smart thing to do.
And she said, You need to havealways have a place to set up to
paint. And so that was like, theone thing that she suggested
that I did. And it's one of thethings that when we get to the
suggestions for artists, I'llcome back to that, those pretty
(10:21):
lifesaving. So I was working alot having a lot of fun,
probably too much fun, althoughI'm not sure that there's a
thing, such as that. And, andpainting and painting and
painting, I started havinglittle shows back here, and
(10:43):
selling my work kind of by wordof word of mouth, just I would
come and visit my mother and setup a show at New Stage Theatre
or, and then a local galleryhere, picked me up, started
selling pretty well. And at somepoint, I decided I wanted to go
further with art education. Andso I spent a year at the San
(11:07):
Francisco Art Institute, whichwas an amazing experience. But
what I should have done isapplied to their graduate
program. Instead, I decided Ineeded a second grad, second
degree, undergraduate degree.
And you know, at that price,after a year of it, I was like,
There's no way I'll ever be ableto pay this back. And so I just
(11:30):
had that year, they're not justit was an amazing, but the
theory, the art history, and thetraining and visual arts that
the painters and drawers are,the artists that I studied
painting and drawing from, wereamazing. And one of them had
(11:52):
been part of that San FranciscoBay, the Bay Area, figurative
artists, who, you know, I thinkmy work is pretty influenced by.
And so it's really neat, youknow, feeling like had some
connection to that group and gotto be pretty close to him. He's
(12:13):
not living anymore. And so Istayed out there really, until
the.com, boom, hit. And Idecided at some point, I took a
first aid class, like a RedCross for, for extra credit, I
(12:35):
worked this motorcycle to soundsrandom, but it's not work this
motorcycle race. And so not whennot if but when they crashed in
each round, I was part of thiscrew that would go out and
assess them and kind of get themready for the ambulance to come.
(12:56):
And whatever reason, the way I'mwired, I found this absolutely
delightful. And I loved it. Andso I applied for paramedic
school, I got my EMT basic outthere. And I applied for
paramedic schools and realized Iwasn't going to be able to
(13:17):
afford to stay out there and bein school full time. And the,
you know, the computers, peoplewere everywhere, and the prices
were just going up everywhere.
And so I moved back here forwhat I thought was a year and I
went to paramedic school here atat the university down the
(13:39):
street. And was was has alreadykind of made a little bit of a
name for myself back here beforeI moved back as far as painting.
So I was painting in my mother'supstairs bedroom. You know, we
were like, making dinnertogether every night and
splitting a little bitty beer.
And it was kind of fantastic.
(14:02):
And and she had had a realparent, both parents had a real
hard time with my being gay,like a big they're, they're
really they were reallyreasonable people and not you
know, not right wing and ingeneral, really open minded, but
(14:27):
they were both born in the 20s.
And, you know, when my dad wasin med school, it was a sickness
and he they really, you know,were worried about me. And so
she and I had this time ofliving together and really
having really like having kindof a beautiful reconciliation
(14:50):
period was lovely. And I endedup meeting somebody Right
before, right at the end ofparamedic school, staying here,
having a child with them, allthe while painting and painting
(15:10):
and really loving what being inMississippi, allowed as far as
my growth as an artist. And infact, my mother eventually would
say, every child should have twomothers and she had really come
around. And events, eventuallyshe started losing, she started
(15:38):
really sliding into dementia,right about the same time that
my partner and I had to splitup. And I had, because I wasn't
the biological mom, I had toreally fight for time with my
son. So I couldn't commit to 24or 48 hour shifts on the
(16:00):
ambulance anymore. And I wasselling well enough that I kind
of had to make the leap. And Idon't know that I ever would
have, I thought I would go tograduate school, I thought I
would teach, I thought I'dalways have some kind of stable,
something to fall back on. I'deven started prereqs for
(16:22):
nursing, but I just didn't havethat time. I had, I couldn't. I
couldn't commit to anythingexcept my mother and my son. And
and because of that, having totake that leap and needing to,
you know, pay the bills, I hadalways taken it really seriously
(16:46):
as a full second full time job.
And now I like it basically hasbecome two full time jobs, you
know. And so that was about 1112years ago, I think. And so that
(17:07):
that's my only way of making aliving now is selling my art
occasionally teaching classes.
But that's much moreoccasionally mostly selling
selling paintings. Now, that'sgotten me to where we are,
Derek Smith (17:23):
yeah. And you strike me as the person that
doesn't, you know, you have alot of joy in life. But when it
comes to a decision to be made,you know, there's a lot of
consideration every time you gointo making a decision.
Ellen Langford (17:36):
Yeah, well, I don't know that. I would say
that as a younger Ellen. Now,yes, no, at at 22. When I
decided to move to SanFrancisco, it's like, yeah,
yeah, I'll do that. You know,
Derek Smith (17:52):
I think there's these periods in our life. And
age has a lot to do with age andbeing naive. And not really
understanding what it might taketo live off of something, I did
the same thing took off toFlorida didn't care what it was
going to take for me to eat, orto do anything else, it was just
going to happen. And you'reyoung enough and pliable enough,
(18:13):
where you can just stretch andbend and it all works out. But
Right, right. But as you getolder, you need that stability,
you can't bend as easy,
Ellen Langford (18:21):
right? And, you know, now I have a child and I
actually, he lives in Oregonnow. So a lot of what I've in
addition to, you know, mortgageand life things, and child
support. I also you know, it'sit's a huge time and money
(18:42):
commitment to travel to Oregonfor visitation. And which has
made you know, a little bit morecomplicated by COVID. But yeah,
Derek Smith (18:51):
well, you've had this beautiful long art arc in
your journey that has builtlayer on layer with your
artistry. How has your artdeveloped visually, through all
of this process?
Ellen Langford (19:08):
I hope it's gotten stronger. Although
sometimes I look back at work Idid in my 20s and 30s. And like,
ooh, like to get back to that,you know, that was so some good
stuff. I think for quite a whileit became really highly
(19:28):
narrative. And I'm what I'm kindof pushing myself now, to get
back a little bit more tofundamentals. You know, like,
I'm trying to push myself to dosome plein air some portraits,
(19:49):
portraiture, mostly selfportraiture because in a
pandemic, and I'd love to getinto it. Your drawing group at
some point. Yeah, I don't knowwhat I mean, I'm fully
vaccinated, but now fullyvaccinated people are getting
sick. So we don't know. We don'tknow.
Derek Smith (20:11):
It's a huge roller coaster. Yes. And you know, this
will be going up in March. Sofingers crossed that things have
taken a wonderful turn.
Ellen Langford (20:20):
Wouldn't that be nice. And in addition to trying
to push myself to get back tofundamentals and strengthen my
fundamentals, I'm also trying toadd, whereas my work has
developed quite a narrativequality. Visually, I'm trying to
add writing to my process, Ilove to write a love language.
(20:43):
And I have always had fun withmy titles, which are, you know,
two or three word poems,usually. But now, I really want
to figure out how to get actualwriting, kind of almost like
short stories to go with thevisual short stories, if that
makes sense.
Derek Smith (21:04):
No, that'd be a wonderful, I would love to read
those. So your paintings foranyone that's not very familiar,
or has has not, you know, hadthe honor of coming across your
work yet. Because I mean, I'm ahuge fan of your work. Your
paintings are there, these thesetiny stories, but they're not
(21:27):
super detailed. The thing thatis so for me, the thing that is
so special about your work is isall the just as much the things
you don't paint as the thingsthat you do. And you leave these
spaces for our imaginations andour own personal experiences to
jump into the painting. They'rethere, they, they bring back
(21:49):
lots and lots of memories, everytime I see a different painting
of yours, I can instantlyreflect back on to a time I felt
the same sunshine on my facethat the dog and the figures are
failing are, you know, the samegrass tones. I've seen those
walking through Mississippi. Andso they're very special to me.
And the fact that you, you, you,you take the time to not over
(22:17):
produce your work. It's, I do,I'm a huge fan.
Ellen Langford (22:22):
I love they take the time to not ever produce.
Yeah.
Derek Smith (22:27):
You just you, you know, you're you're you're not,
you don't go in and worksomething to death. It's just
bear and it lives together. Andit's just so nice to be around.
So now to know that you're gonnahave developed these stories to
go with them like I'm so intothat.
Ellen Langford (22:46):
Well, we'll see.
We'll see. Yeah.
Derek Smith (22:49):
Um, so tell us about, you know, moving back to
Mississippi, you you had kind ofa little base to start with. Did
you come in and open up astudio? Did you stay painting at
home? Pretty much did you haveyour separate jobs?
Ellen Langford (23:05):
While I was living with my mom, I had, you
know, one of my one of mybrother's bedrooms as a studio,
which was in such a luxury. Andthen I, when I moved in with my
child's other mom, my future exwife, we eventually got a little
(23:30):
like, an eight by 12, littleoutbuilding, you know, a little
portable building, but in thebackyard, which really wasn't
enough room. But it kept to me,it helped me move from being
surrounded by the things in thehouse that I really felt
obligated to do the laundry, thecleaning, you know, all that
(23:52):
stuff. You know, just by going,you know, 20 yards, down the
hill in the backyard and beingin a separate space was really
helpful. And eventually I JohnBower Bower Foundation had
donated a building to forartists studios in Jackson, and
(24:16):
somebody approached me aboutbeing a part of that group,
initial group and that wasterrific. It was Tony to Fatah.
Do you know Tony to Fatah? Okay.
His work is amazing. He's theDirector of Education at the
Walter Anderson museum now,
Derek Smith (24:34):
but I do know who that is. He's just
Ellen Langford (24:39):
one, Anthony de Fatah. And that's when I met
him. No, no, no, I'd met him alittle bit before and, and
another couple of artists thinkthey're just and John Maxwell
had a little Writing Studio andthat was amazing. So that was my
first real professional studio,even in San Francisco. Go I'd
(25:00):
had a basement to paint in,which was terrific. But this was
the first time I had, you know,somewhat of a professional, you
know, had an exhaust fan in thewindows, I could work in oil. I
had decent light, you know, fromthere I moved with one of those
artists actually an interiordesigner, he got a big space
(25:25):
also in Fondren that he ended uprenting part of to me and part
of two friends of ours who had alittle ballet school. And that
was really fun. At some point, Iwas down on Millsaps avenue for
a little while. But that was alittle tricky, because it was
(25:46):
mostly young guys in their 20s,who didn't really understand
space and respecting eachother's boundaries and had some
stuff go Miss anyway, what anideal, yeah, but you know, that
experience, I wish them the bestand, and now I share studio
(26:07):
space downtown and have formaybe six or seven years. And I
share it with a bunch of otherartists, but often on there by
myself, which is terrific. Imean, I love I love people. But
you know, I really need thattime to, and I'm about to start
a part of a residency here at anolder building in Belle Haven
(26:33):
heights, and pointing that waybecause that's south of here.
And I'm going to be paintingthere a couple days a week and
offering classes to kids in theneighborhood. And so I'm kind of
excited about that. So let'skeep my studio, but I'll be
working in wash, and maybe someoil, but mostly wash there.
Derek Smith (26:58):
So yay, that's exciting. That's
Ellen Langford (27:01):
probably more information that you want to
Derek Smith (27:03):
know, I want to know all of this. And you know,
for anybody that's going to belistening, these are all
opportunities that areavailable, you know, that they
might not know about in theirarea. And, you know, it's just,
it's every event that we canpromote every thing that we can
do for communities that are artbased that can share with
children that are growing up andshow them different ways that
(27:26):
art can be participated in artcan be used to, you know, in
their jobs and their differentjobs. You know, you don't have
to be an artist in order to doart things in your job, and no,
absolutely make you so valuable.
And so each one of these eventsand things gives children the
opportunity to have an entireworld open up to them. That just
(27:46):
wasn't available before.
Ellen Langford (27:52):
That you're teaching children. That's
terrific.
Derek Smith (27:55):
Thank you, I've something I never thought I
would do. And I really enjoy it.
Ellen Langford (28:01):
I'm so glad I taught my son's class for a
little while when he was inpublic school here. Let's see
what that would have been firstthrough third grade, they didn't
have art. And they didn't have ateacher that was doing art with
them, which a lot of teachersend up having to do. So I would
go in once a week, and I boughthim I bring with me all the
(28:24):
supplies. Eventually, theteacher let me have a place in
her little closet to keep themon. But I just, you know, that I
wanted them to know about, youknow, different different
artists around the world, youknow, and most of those kids
weren't white, I wanted to knowthat they were really important
artists of color. I want to knowwhat a portrait was, what a
(28:47):
landscape was, what differentmedium were. And also, we had a
great time just making messes,you know. I loved it, I loved
it. I don't I don't want toteach small children art as my
full time job. I think it takesa really someone really special
(29:08):
like you but I loved thatexperience of being able to do
that.
Derek Smith (29:12):
Another thing that I really appreciate about you is
you you live freely, you know,you don't live behind closed
doors, you don't live behind,you know, shut in. And it's very
easy to do that because it'ssafe. You know, and and I can
speak from experience as a queerkid that grew up here and moved
(29:36):
away and came back. You know,there's not a lot of times and
this is the first time I've eversaid it on the podcast. You
know, there's not a lot of timesthat I even feel willing to talk
about it. But what I am willingto do is be the best artist for
every single person that I comeacross so that they have
something other to you know tosee Yeah, yeah, and when Do
(30:00):
think of a gay person. And thenthey think of me, they think of
Derek, the artist who happens tobe gay, and then it becomes
okay. You know, and, and so you,I followed your story for a
while and it's not just you,it's it's you. And it's Jonathan
Kent Adams. And it's just,there's these personalities that
are coming to the surface inMississippi that is going to
(30:23):
eventually open up a ton ofopportunities. And, and not only
I, you know, I connected withthe Mississippi School of Arts,
and we did a show there thispast summer. And at the end of
the show, the school year openedup, and we had the opportunity
to do an artist talk with thekids, you know, and that was one
(30:45):
of their questions. They broughtit up, you know, they're like,
how do you live here? How areyou and, and there's so much
more to experience in life. Andthey get to see that and
artists, like you get to openthose doors for them. And I'm
just so grateful that you're inthe state and doing what you do.
So I just wanted to applaud youfor a second and just think
(31:08):
again,
Ellen Langford (31:09):
and I applaud you. Yeah. Is it? You know, I
don't know about you. But youknow, when I was growing up, I
didn't feel safe. And that's,you know, why? Part of why I
needed to get out ofMississippi, in addition to
thinking really that peopleweren't racist other places.
Boy, was I wrong? But yes, yes,yeah. Yeah.
Derek Smith (31:32):
So for anyone that wants to find Ellen, you can
find her on Instagram at EllenLangford, art, you can find her
on our website at Ellen langfor.com. Please go and do that.
I mean, I'm talking spectacularstorytelling, beautiful, fine
artwork, it just, it's what Ilove about contemporary
Mississippi art and the thoughtand the care that's being put
(31:53):
behind it. Ellen, for anybodythat's coming up behind you are
for you as a younger self, whatwould be some advice that you
would give to them?
Ellen Langford (32:03):
I love this question. And I've loved some of
the other responses that yourother interviewees have given.
Or something I always tellpeople is, wherever you live,
always make sure that you havefull time set up a way to do
art, if you're going to have toget your paints out, make sure
(32:26):
you have have enough paint, makesure they're not dried out full,
you know, find where did you putyour easel last, you know,
you're you're not going to bemaking art on a regular basis,
if ever, and, you know if itfit, even if you're not planning
to sell your work or be aprofessional artist, if making
(32:47):
art is important to your soul,and to how you ground yourself
in life, make sure that you havethat someplace, it can be a
corner of your little bittybedroom. Also put in your
backpack or your purse orwhatever you carry around a
sketchbook and some pencils or apen. And just always be you
(33:10):
know, if you feel comfortable,be taking notes wherever you
are, if you're out to somethingI've loved doing and miss doing
much since the pandemic is anice to have a group that we for
over a decade, we'd go up toBravo on Sunday nights, we'd
have drinks, and I would get outmy little bitty watercolor wash
(33:32):
set. And I would just makelittle paintings of people
around. And it was a great wayto study forms in you know, in
motion, in in groupings, in ininteriors, and also to just
develop your confidence. Andlet's see. So those two things,
(33:57):
if you're thinking about goingto study art, I think there are
great things about art schools.
And I'm certainly grateful forthe year I spent at the San
Francisco Art Institute and theone in Florence and my summer at
the Corcoran, but I think goingto a university that has a good
(34:19):
art department but also whereyou can learn history where you
can learn philosophy and learngovernment. You can take science
classes and get a goodfoundation and your anatomy
physiology and just have a badbroader understanding of how the
world is put together. Becauseyeah, there's YouTube and stuff
(34:45):
now but there's really not manyopportunities in life where you
really have the gift of beingable to study in an intense way.
Like you can at University. Um,as far as being a professional
artist, there's a great book byScott Pressfield Do you know
(35:07):
this book, The The War of Art.
And he wrote The Legend ofBagger Vance. That's the only
thing I know of else that he'swritten. But it's all about
taking yourself seriously as anartist, and making the time, you
know, making your workdays andtake, you know, making the time.
(35:32):
And not I mean, he, I think inthe book, he said, he writes,
just like four hours a day, butthose four hours are sacred. And
he has, you know, things that hedoes before and after that, that
are part of that process, butthe production time, you know,
and that may not sound like muchto someone who sits in an office
(35:52):
for eight hours a day. But thinkof how much productivity you get
in those eight hours, I'veworked office jobs, you know,
there's a lot of not beingproductive. And so I'd say, like
set press, Phil said, takeyourself seriously, as an
artist, try to identify whatpressures in life get in the way
(36:15):
of you taking yourself seriouslyand are he taught calls it
resistance, you know, do youfeel like you just have to sleep
a few more hours in the morning,or just gonna be awful. Get up,
you know, stretch, have somehave a cup of coffee. And
remember that this is your job,and that, you know, you are
worth it.
(36:37):
Do you you know, think of takingclasses from other artists as
continuing education, like areal job to make yourself
stronger and stronger. I met awoman when I was in college, who
was a painter, and she had had ateacher along the way who told
her um, your your paintings areperfect, never change, never do
(36:57):
anything else don't get any takeany advice from any other
teachers, and her paintingslooked dead to me. And I just
thought that was even then Ithought that was heartbreaking.
You know, even if something youfeel like is something is
working, you're selling aparticular look. Keep pushing
(37:19):
yourself to grow and, you know,push yourself beyond your
comfort levels. One of the greatthings about taking classes is
the discomfort that you willfeel and push through. Every
time I take a class I think, Whoam I kidding? I don't know how
to do this. This is terrible.
Ah, why did I take this class?
(37:40):
And then afterwards, I'm like,Oh, it starts to come out in
ways that you just you couldn'thave known what happened. And
when I teach classes, I tell mystudents that I have that
experience as well. Becausebecause people are going I can't
do that. Yeah, I'm asking themto do things way outside of
their comfort zone. Also takegood care of yourself, eat well,
(38:05):
exercise stretch. What positionare you in when you're making
art is you know, are you know,are you giving yourself
tendinitis and Crick's in theneck and you know, are you
taking breaks, I remember when Iremember, I set my timer a lot
because I can get like hyperfocused and find myself for
(38:26):
hours and hours in a completelyridiculous position that my body
will scream at me about later.
So take care of yourself. And Iprobably have a lot more advice,
you know, thinking about gallerystuff, but I don't know how much
time you have.
Derek Smith (38:41):
So I mean, I have all debt, go for it. But I mean,
as long as you as long as you'recomfortable and feel like
talking I mean, this is allwonderful. Especially something
that nobody talks about was thatlast part, you know, the the
stopping and my students, whenwe're drawing, you know, they'll
they'll be drawing for a littlebit and they hunched over and
they hunched over and theyhunched over and then all of a
(39:02):
sudden they're like, Oh, my neckhurts. I was like okay,
everybody take a break.
Everybody laying back on yourchair, roll your neck, as like
and then take your board and putit on your lap. So you're not
leaned over, like give your armfreedom, let your wrists be your
wrist and don't force things andlike there'll be times to go in
and get really like tight. Butyou know that that really struck
with all the other stuff? Yeah,
Ellen Langford (39:28):
absolutely. I set timers in my classes and I
make people and they don't wantto stop. You know that something
work and they don't want to stopand like put your paintbrush
down. Now, stand up, walk away.
Stretch, you know, I mean,they're adults. These are adults
I'm talking to they don't wantto do it. They're always glad
they did. But you know.
Derek Smith (39:49):
Well, you had just mentioned about your galleries.
You work with several galleries.
Would you mind listing those offreally quick so I can make sure
Oh, no. Item, the one
Ellen Langford (39:59):
that's Although I'm really lucky that the
galleries I work with are allpeople who are very wonderful
open generous souls who workreally, really hard for
themselves, but also for theirartists and have, you know,
(40:19):
bring a lot of good to the worldand so I you know, I guess I'm a
mid career artists I feel stilllike I'm just figuring out but
you know, I'm, I know that I'mreally lucky in that way. So but
I'll start with, with that said,the one that's kind of closest
to my heart is the attic galleryin Vicksburg, Mississippi. Have
(40:42):
you been there? Yeah. It's, it'sowned by Leslie Silver, who I've
kind of taken as a second as anadoptive mom. I I just love her
so dearly. And she is an artistherself. And she's passionate
(41:02):
about art. And she's aboutpassionate about truth in art,
not just pretty things that willlook nice on the wall, but you
know, honest, earnest good. AndI don't mean good in any kind of
like, judgmental way, but youknow, art with integrity, art
that, like, makes a differencein the world and comes from a
(41:26):
place of you know, real visionand its creation. And her
daughter's are fine with meadopting her as well. They're
about my age, and they've,they're fine with that. So then,
so that's the attic that at agallery in Vicksburg,
Mississippi. They don't have avery active website, but they're
(41:47):
great. If you call and say, I'mlooking for work by this artist.
They'll send you pictures,they'll work with you. They'll
ship stuff, but it's also a realtreat to go to. It's to me it's
like going to a little chapel alittle like spiritual center of
art. Okay, so that's the atticgallery. In Jackson, I'm
(42:08):
represented by an interiorsplace. That's art is kind of a
second thought, although they'regreat. I adore them. I just
haven't found the perfect artart home in Jackson, but there
it's the it's called Haven, acurated home. And a good friend
(42:32):
of mine is the owner X rays doneby two people. one's more of a
silent partner. She's Do youever listen to this? MPB Dr.
shows on the radio. She she andMichelle Owens, Alli Brown and
Michelle Owens do the Fridayone. Right. And they're
hilarious. But anyway, she's thesilent partner. Stephanie, well
(42:55):
just is the deck, the interiordesigner and she's just
terrific. And then also inMississippi, North Mississippi,
I've got the Oxford Tree Housegallery. Have you been there as
love
Derek Smith (43:10):
have not been there yet, but I want to go. So
Ellen Langford (43:14):
it feels like a retreat in the woods. It is one
of the loveliest commercefeeling places to go. And they
have a great group of artiststhere. They've got chickens on
the Sun of the land. It's alittle bit outside of town. So
you feel like you're just in themiddle of the woods in the
country. And they also live onthe property and they're both
(43:36):
artists, Vivian and Walter Neil.
He's a metal worker, and she's aprintmaker, and they're just
wonderful. All of these peopleare wonderful people. And then
over in Tupelo is the Karengallery run by Kim, am I taking
too long? There's just a couplemore. Kim Karen. And I've been
with her I think over a decade,I think so. And when she first
(44:04):
approached me, I thought Tupelowho's going to buy art to I was
a real snob about it. And youknow, just shows you what,
whatever thinking like that willdo for you. And so a year later,
she approached me a doubledecker year later, she also she
(44:26):
approached me again, she's like,you know, I'm really interested
in your work. I feel like Icould sell it. And I was doing I
think the next weekend I wasdoing a show in Tupelo is the
only time I've ever done that.
The gum tree festival. And shesaid, How about this? Anything
(44:47):
you don't sell? Just leave withme. No obligation. If I don't
sell it fine. You can come getit and at the end of you know,
two back to back shows. I wasOsted and so ready not to have
to pack all that work up, youknow, really woman. And so she
sells the heck out of my work.
And now she works with thehometown crew from Laurel. And
(45:12):
when they show when they showthe finished houses, they hang
work from the Karen gallery andme and Rachel Mazur, Robin would
like she has, she's great groupof artists. And it's so fun
people, we don't actually watchmuch just regular TV. But people
are always sending mescreenshots from you know, are
(45:35):
two pictures they've taken ofthe TV, which seems so old
school now. And like I saw yourpainting, you know, and that's,
that's really fun. And so shesells the heck out of my work.
And then in North Carolina, awoman named Betsy rose y is just
(45:55):
a delightful, delightful spirit.
And remember, I was I was at alittle tea shop near Gulf
Shores, Alabama, I was downthere for a week painting on the
beach, and I got this call fromthis woman, it's like, Ellen, I
(46:17):
have just been fun interested inyour work. And she was very,
like, not sure, but it could bea good fit. And so I felt very
much like, I hadn't evenapproached her. I felt like I
was on, you know, definitely ontrial, you know, to see if this
would be a good fit, which Itotally respect and took her a
(46:40):
bunch of work and she sellsreally well for me. That's up in
Asheville, North Carolina, it'scalled the American folk,
surname of the gallery, and it'sright on that main strip of
built more and she is just justfantastic. They I mean, they all
are, I'm really lucky to be ableto work with with all of these
(47:01):
guests, they're all women. Oneof those interesting things in
art, you know, growing up, Ikind of thought to be a
professional artists, youdefinitely had to be a man, you
know. And so it didn't evenoccur to me that it was
possibility because that's allyou, you know, I didn't even
know about Mary cusat. And, youknow, I guess that maybe heard
(47:24):
of Georgia O'Keeffe. But, youknow,
Derek Smith (47:27):
but it was, you know, women just weren't as well
documented. And now they've gotwonderful books, like they got a
big book of women artists. And,you know, for anybody that wants
to actually go in and dive intoart history, women had way more
to do with art history than men.
did. You know, if it weren't forLee Presley, the ancient
alcoholic wouldn't have beenanything. If it wasn't for Alain
de Kooning, Willem de Kooningwouldn't have been anything. So
(47:50):
like, go in and find out yourhistories about these. They
they're strong, strong,beautiful, amazing women artists
behind it.
Ellen Langford (47:59):
And there's also the National Museum of Women in
the Arts, which opened in themid 80s. And there they have a
Mississippi chapter, and I paymy dues for that. And they
occasionally have shows that I'mpart of here in this in
Mississippi. But I wanted to ifyou have time, I'd love to get
some advice about approachingartists, poaching galleries.
(48:21):
Yes.
Derek Smith (48:22):
Give me one second, because I just got a text
message somebody outside. Yeah,yeah.
Ellen Langford (48:27):
Do you see Rufus? Oh, look at that. Yeah.
Hey, Derek.
Derek Smith (48:36):
Yes, please share some advice with us about how to
approach galleries and howdealing with that because I know
for me, I deal with one gallery.
And then people have looked atthe little yellow building like
it's a gallery and it absolutelyis not much. It's a little
production house, we put onshows we put on books and stuff
like that, but there's a there'san art to working with a gallery
(48:57):
and having all of that be sosuper successful. So we have
please absolutely share with us.
Ellen Langford (49:04):
Terrific. Yeah, so I get I get asked a lot by
folks who, you know, they say Iwant to be an artist first. You
know, I feel like if you paintand draw if you make art, you're
an artist. Now being aprofessional artist is is a
different thing. And so I've hadpeople say well, you go and talk
(49:29):
to say Leslie silver and ask herto look at my work. Or they'll
just you know, Leslie willsometimes have people just show
up cold call. Both of those Iwould I would discourage. What I
would encourage is as far astaking yourself theories and
artists, make sure that you havea collection of work that you
(49:52):
have produced with withintegrity with seriousness. That
is a cohesive body of work and Iwould say, make sure you have at
least 60 to 100 pieces, and thatyou feel good about it and that
you can talk about, and you cantalk about your process. And
(50:13):
then and, you know, the world ischanging all the time, I think a
great way to do it is to havehave an Instagram or have some
kind of way to look at workonline. And then at that point,
I would say either email it byemail, or snail mail, you know,
(50:35):
look at look at galleries lookat the work being represented by
galleries get a feel, if you cantravel to it, get a feel of the
gallery physically, withoutgoing up and saying, I want to
be in your gallery, and, anddecide if you feel like it could
be a good fit for you. Becauseyou're going to be giving the
(50:57):
gallery 50% of your profit. Andthey are going to be giving you
50% of their profit. And itneeds to be a really good mutual
understanding that y'all areboth in it together. And that
it's a good fit. You know,there's so many ways of selling
(51:21):
your own art, without galleries,but I believe in them, because
the ones I work with work sohard for me, and are such good
support, you know, for artistsand for work for, for artwork.
And so in addition to this otherprocess of something else I was
going to add, ah, that just wentaway from my brain. Oh, know
(51:47):
what your prices are going tobe, you know, get a sit, look at
other artwork, look at whatsells, you know, talk to people
who know about business, youknow, what are, what are you
going to need to live on, don'tjust give your work away, yes,
you may have another job. Butdon't just sell your painting
(52:10):
for $25 Because you want to beselling your paintings. It kind
of devalues your work. Peoplewant to you know, pay money for
art. It also devalues the workaround you. You know other
people are like, I have to pricemy I mean as much as I'd love to
(52:33):
give my work away. You know,it's it's how I eat, it's out,
pay my mortgage and childsupport. And I, I price it as
low as I possibly can to be ableto live on and I've especially
the gallery in North Carolina, Iwould love for my prices to go
(52:53):
up. But, you know, I'm mostlysell through galleries in
Mississippi. And, you know,that's just kind of my reality
right now. And I also wantpeople especially my, my smaller
works of a really light forpeople to be able to own a piece
of art that they did invest in,you know, they paid a couple
(53:16):
$100 For but, you know, usuallypeople who start buying smaller
works and smaller works,eventually they do buy a bigger,
don't spend the money on that,and then they feel really good
about it. So anyway, so the Ididn't write that list I have it
somewhere because I have a likea advice for young artists list
(53:39):
in my notes that I give peoplesometime but I just think you
know all of that is important asfar as taking yourself seriously
as an artist and also taking thethe art business world
seriously.
Derek Smith (53:54):
Yeah, in with that you're I mean, you're your
peers, you know, you're alsotaking consideration for your
peers and yeah, yeah. I cannottell you how much I appreciate
you giving up all this time.
Like I really do appreciate youcoming on and filling us with
your your advice and your lifestory and letting giving us the
(54:18):
opportunity to get to know youbetter,
Ellen Langford (54:23):
was delightful to talk to and i really i did i
After we scheduled this while Iwas out seeing my son out west.
I downloaded all of yourprevious interviews and and
listen to him because most firstI was like, Well, I just want to
get a sense of like what he'sgoing to ask. And then I was
like, Oh, I'm just getting toknow more Mississippi artists
(54:47):
and look at her look at herwork. And you know, anyway, it
was delightful and I'm verygrateful that you're doing this,
and I'm honored to be on
Derek Smith (54:57):
for everyone else.
We will be back again soon. Withanother wonderful Mississippi
artists make sure you go by andcheck out try V art mag.com
where you can see Ellen's workalong with again, more
phenomenal Mississippi artists.
Until next time.
(55:17):
Thank you as always to ourmembers, the friends of the
little yellow building BethBreeland Mary Hardy, Jenny Moke
Evelyn PV. Jennifer Drinkwater,the Smith family when fury Mary
Adams, the Evans Family, JanetSmith, Jenny Howard, Buffy
Jordan and boppers at
Unknown (55:37):
all
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