The Truth In This Art: Stories That Matter
The Truth In This Art with Rob Lee is an arts and culture interview podcast connecting arts, culture, and community. Sharing stories that matter through in-depth conversations with artists and creatives — photographers, filmmakers, designers, musicians, chefs, writers, and more. Guests share studio routines, community roots, career insights, and the ideas and choices that shape their projects. New episodes, show notes, and transcripts available here.
Episodes
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Shaun Stewart!
About the guest: Shaun Stewart is the HBIC (Head Bartender In Charge) of Patterson Pins in Baltimore's Upper Fells Point. Known for "killing the business, one cocktail at a time," Stewart brings years of bartending experience—including consulting for Hemingway's, features in Esquire, and competition wins—to his role at one of the oldest duckpin bowling al...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Amir Browder and Maxwell Young!
About the guests: Amir Browder is the curator, creative director, and founder of Homme Gallery in DC. Maxwell Young is the founder of the Art Shopping Network, a writer, and works on projects that socialize art buying and support living artists, nonprofit institutions, and galleries.
We talk about Acquired Taste and what it does: a cat...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Sarah B. McCann!
About Sarah B. McCann: Sarah is an artist, curator, and founder of SBM Gallery in Baltimore's Highlandtown Arts District. Her text-based mosaics, prints, and multimedia work has been shown nationally. She spent 15 years curating exhibitions nomadically before opening her own space this year.
We talk about launching SBM Gallery and what it means to her to...
In this episode of The Truth In The Art, I sit down with Sam Furnish—founder of Bemo's Clothing and the guy behind Baltimore's "born in Baltimore" premium civvies movement.
About Sam Furnish: Sam launched Bemo's Clothing in 2025 after years in the outdoor industry learning product development and manufacturing. The brand name comes from his father's childhood nickname—"Bemo"—given by Sam's grandpa in 1950s Midwest America a...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, Rachel Mijares-Fick returns to the program.
About Rachel Mijares-Fick: Rachel co-founded Future Fair back in 2020 during the pandemic with Rebeca Laliberte. Future Fair is an art fair in New York where galleries, artist collectives, and independent curators from around the world come to set up exhibitions. The fair spotlights emerging and under-recognized voices in the art world...
In this episode of The Truth In The Art, the guest is Omri D. Cohen!
Who is Omri D. Cohen: Author of Questions to Humanity — a collection born from five months backpacking South America — Omri has spent six years asking one question to 700 people across 50+ nationalities, documenting stories and street/landscape photography that reached millions.
Omri D. Cohen talks about his journey leaving home to backpack South Americ...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Douriean Fletcher!
About Douriean Fletcher: An acclaimed jewelry designer and artisan whose work bridges adornment and storytelling. She was the specialty jeweler for Marvel's Black Panther and Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, and became the first jewelry artist to be part of an Academy Award–winning costume design team—an honor she achieved twice. Douriean has expanded ...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Alex Jennings!
Who is Alex Jennings: Author, poet, and former standup comedian who lived in New Orleans for nearly 20 years—now working on his second novel from Chicago. You might remember Alex from my New Orleans series where we discussed his book, The Ballad of Perilous Graves, here.
In our conversation, Jennings talks through his new book Dead End Boys—set in an alte...
In this episode of The Truth In The Art, the guest is Barry Wright III!
Who is Barry Wright III: Baltimore-based improviser, teacher, technology professional, and co-founder (and current board president) of Highwire Improv, launched in 2020. You might remember Barry from his first appearance on The Truth In The Art here.
In our conversation, Wright talks about Highwire's origin during the 2020 lockdown, building an impro...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Cecilia M. McCormick!
About Cecilia M. McCormick: President of MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) with 33 years in higher education, an art collector who raised three sons now working in the creative field.
In our conversation, McCormick talks through MICA's bicentennial year and the vision she's building as the school hits 200. She connects the programming to thre...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Jess Owens-Young!
Who is Jess Owens-Young: Maryland-based collage and mixed media artist and professor who creates work informed by her experiences as a Black woman, mother, and former athlete, using vintage magazines (Ebony, Jet, Essence) to explore the joy and melancholy of Black life in the United States.
In our conversation, Owens-Young talks about her transition fro...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Chandler Chavez.
Who is Chandler Chavez: A Los Angeles–based filmmaker, editor, story analyst, and writer originally from Arizona, drawn to complicated characters and stories that test our empathy—especially when they’re filtered through the strange mechanics of online attention.
In our conversation, Chandler unpacks his feature debut: a dark-comedy “screenlife” film...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Kenny Riches!
Who is Kenny Riches: A Miami and Salt Lake City-based filmmaker born in Toyota City, Japan, whose award-winning features explore loneliness, identity, and human connection through intimate, character-driven narratives. With a BFA in Painting and Drawing and a filmography that includes The Strongest Man (Sundance premiere, 2015) and A Name Without A Place (...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guests are Ben Baker-Lee and Rasaan Hammond!
Who are Ben and Rasaan: Ben Baker-Lee and Rasaan Hammond are Baltimore-born filmmakers and co-directors of A Life in Art through the eye of Dr. Leslie King Hammond. Ben, founder of TrueView Film, has been documenting life through a lens since high school, drawn to film's power to capture truthful emotion and lived experience. Rasaan, ...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, returning guest Esteban Whiteside is back!
Who is Esteban Whiteside: A Durham, North Carolina-based artist, Esteban Whiteside creates bold social commentary through what he calls "concrete oppressionism"—work that confronts American cultural absurdities with childlike aesthetics, parody, and irreverent humor. Working across canvas, wood, and sculpture, his art is both therapy and tr...
In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Veronica Jackson!
Who is Veronica Jackson: A Washington, D.C.-bred and Virginia-based visual artist whose foundation is rooted in architecture and museum exhibit design. She critically examines the lives of Black women through innovative visual art, exploring themes of invisibility, hypervisibility, and devaluation—bringing powerful narratives to life using familiar obj...
In this episode of The Truth In The Art, the returning guest is Lanise Howard!
Who is Lanise Howard: A Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist, Lanise Howard creates work centered around a reimagining of different histories, especially within the black experience. She pulls from the past and from the future, which she often sees in her dreams. Working across paintings, drawings, sculpture, and soon textiles, Howard is a ...
In this episode of The Truth In The Art, the guest is Ruut!
Who is Ruut: A Finnish-born, Maryland-based singer, songwriter, composer, and writer, Ruut is a multidisciplinary artist and creative leader known for her evocative music and dedication to uplifting women artists. She’s the founder of the Making Her Mark Foundation, a young nonprofit born from personal loss that connects, mentors, and amplifies women artists in Bal...
In this episode of The Truth In The Art, the guest is Barbara Perez Marquez!
Who is Barbara Perez Marquez: Baltimore-based, Dominican Republic–born writer and creator working in comics and prose, focused on middle grade and young adult readers.
Barbara Perez Marquez talks about her path into writing and why she centers younger readers and her own lived experience. She shares insights from The Cardboard Kingdom and pr...
Back by Bodacious Demand. Let's Watch It Again is back!
Rob Lee and Isaiah Winters revisit the 1991 childhood classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze for its 35th anniversary.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) drops the turtles back into a messy, fun, 90s adventure: reconnecting with April and Splinter, fighting Tokka and Rahzar, and chasing the mysterious ooze that create...
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