Matt Connarton Unleashed: Amber-Nicole Cannan

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And joining us, making her return to the show she
was on with us a long time ago. Amber Nicole
Cannon is here.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Hello, Hello, thank you for having me.

Speaker 3 (00:08):
Welcome back.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
So what did you talk about when you were on
the show before, because we were talking about this off
air and it was so long ago, it was in
the previous building, but it was like like how many
like would you say, like four or five years?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
Four or five years, it's got to be at this point.

Speaker 3 (00:21):
Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
So I'd founded a company called Uncharted and we teach
kids science but trick them into thinking it's art. Okay,
And actually it has since become a nonprofit and we're growing.
We've got eight people working all the way from Franklin,
New Hampshire down to Lowell, Massachusetts, teaching kids in hands on, explosive,
colorful ways.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Okay, it's starting to come back to me now because
I think that was I think when you were on
that might have been one of those times that I
told the story of my own When I was a kid,
I remember how much I hated art class because I
felt like they were trying to force me to be
artistic and I'm not visually artistic at all.

Speaker 4 (00:58):
And that's Okay, yeah, I thought so.

Speaker 3 (01:00):
The art teachers did not.

Speaker 2 (01:03):
It's about exploring what your creativity actually is. Yeah, and
you know, really, be honest, teachers in schools are so
overworked and tired and they just need all our support
and love that they just don't get the resources that
really help every kid in the classroom.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
Right right, no doubt you've got. We should start with
you've got a big show coming up.

Speaker 5 (01:25):
I do.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
It's amazing. It's my first solo show. It is at
the Nashville Public Library on Thursday the fourteenth at six o'clock. Okay,
and the show's been up for about a month and
a half, so this is like one of the last
chances you get to see it. We're doing like a
closing insteaven opening because the summer's been wild. Okay, there
will be cake because it's also my fortieth birthday party.

(01:49):
I just decided, you've got to combine these things. We
don't have time to celebrate twice.

Speaker 3 (01:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:53):
But it's actually a big gallery. I didn't even know
it was there, and I got to Tourt and I
was like, I don't even know if I have enough
work to fill this, But it turns out I do.
And it's been a wild ride. People have been visiting
it and sending me pictures of them visiting it, and
I keep going in every week to just you know,
finicky touch up hanging tag or yeah, adjust an art piece.

(02:14):
But it feels really good.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
So so it's it's been up for a while. Yes, okay, yes,
So how does that work? Can people just go i
mean outside of the events. Can people just go at
any point.

Speaker 4 (02:28):
To any the library and see yes?

Speaker 3 (02:31):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (02:32):
And it's pretty family friendly too, because I work with
kids a lot. So if you want to bring your
kids during the summer break, right right before school starts,
get their last bit of reading in before the you know,
summer ends, you can totally go check out the art pieces.
There are even some pieces that will appeall directly to
kids that you can like buy stickers or prints of
that are like animals of New Hampshire. And it's a

(02:53):
great library. It and it's down in the basement. So
when you come in the main doors and you turn
right and you go down the stairwell on the right,
or take the elevator that's on the left. Right there,
you go down and it's this big open space and
I've got like really big silks that I made with
Able and h and then we've got some cyanotypes around
the other side of the wall. There's like this big

(03:14):
wall in the middle where you can put art on
both sides. So it's big art. It's big art. Turns
out I make big art.

Speaker 1 (03:22):
Well, okay, so tell us about the type of art
that you make, because I saw this from biomedical art.

Speaker 2 (03:29):
Yeah. So my background is I have a degree in
biomedical art from the Cleveland Institute of Art. Hence the
untarted thing, teaching kids, you know, science through art. I
hadn't really been into my formal art practice, you know,
in the fine arts for a while. I really, you know,
society tells us artists don't make money, so you don't

(03:49):
pursue the fine arts, and so I was really pursuing
the commercial arts thing with illustration and graphic design and
logos and that kind of thing. And I did fine,
and I showed that work regularly, but COVID hit and
I developed disabilities around the same time, more than I
originally had, and I needed a way to get it out,
so I just started making I had to relearn to

(04:12):
walk in Manchester during COVID.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (04:15):
So I had to walk on the sidewalks in Manchester,
which were not conducive to that process. So I would
walk for ten minutes, sit down and make a painting
for an hour and come back And I just did that.
Not well, it was part of my physical therapy. I
needed to do this interesting And so these pieces have
developed into what I think is a big feature in
the show called disability frames, where inside each piece is

(04:35):
this cute little five by five watercolor, but around it
is this massive frame that's more than twice the size
of the piece, reflecting the challenges I had getting there,
whether it was a lack of a sidewalk cut or
whether it was just pain that day I just couldn't
get out of bed, right. They all reflect the various

(04:56):
infrastructure challenges I face. Sometimes it was just wet leaves, right,
like what these were very scary.

Speaker 4 (05:02):
For me, I can imagine. Yeah, wow, And.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
So that's that's a big part of the show, is
talking about my body and its development through this phase
in my life.

Speaker 3 (05:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (05:14):
One of the things that comes up a lot on
this show is well, really a couple of things, but
they go together. One is using uh trauma and challenge
and negative experiences to create art out of that. You know,
we interview more musicians than anybody, so we talk a
lot about, you know, creating music from that. In fact,

(05:35):
our guests coming up an hour three, Nancy Manet, Uh.
You know, we always talk about that with her too,
because a lot of what she's been through and informs
of the music that she makes. So we always talk
about how that's really kind of the best therapy, right,
taking something negative and creating something positive, because not only
are you creating art, but you're creating something that other
people can relate to, So it not only helps you,

(05:57):
but it potentially helps other people too. And and the
other thing that we also it seems to come up
a lot on the show is COVID and and how
people found a lot of ways to be creative during
COVID that perhaps would not have happened otherwise. And again,
you know, when we're talking to musicians, it's usually you know,

(06:18):
while I, you know, my band and I we had
to learn how to email tracks back and forth while
we were recording an album because we couldn't all be
in the same.

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Room because it was very scary.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
And went on digital skills, right exactly.

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, and and it really forced the pandemic, really forced
a lot of musicians to open up to things that
they they hadn't considered before, even me, Like, I'm a
certified hypnotherapist, and I found myself since the pandemic more
open to seeing clients online, you know, instead of feeling
like I had to be in the same room with

(06:50):
them to properly do a session. So but but those
are two of the things that we talk about a lot,
you know, taking taking negative experiences and creating, and also
how the pandemic force people to find new ways to
do that or or new sources of inspiration to do that.
But in your case, I mean, it sounds like this

(07:10):
was a pretty serious example of that, right because because
of what COVID did to you and how you had
to overcome that and and create art while you're doing that.
I mean, that's incredible.

Speaker 2 (07:21):
Yeah, it uh, it really pointed out a lot of
the like challenges to getting around the city too, for me, yeah,
for other people that I maybe just overlooked a lot
because I was just zooming through life, you know, and
I didn't see people struggling until I was in the struggle, right,
And so I started reaching out to different organizations that
supported disabilities like able and agent got to As I healed,

(07:43):
I was then able to bring some of my healing
to communities outside of myself. And that's why that's why
the show is called Body of Work, because it's about
bodies and healing and then how when you're you heal
inside when you begin healing yourself, and I won't ever
be fully healed, like, let's be honest, it's more or
comfort of where I'm at and then finding the next challenge.

(08:04):
It's about then bringing it to others so that they
can maybe find some healing in what you've created. It's
about connecting with people.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, so now you have experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

Speaker 5 (08:18):
I do.

Speaker 3 (08:18):
Actually, Okay, do you still work in the pharmaceutical industry now?

Speaker 2 (08:21):
No? On Charter takes up most of my time. I
also volunteer as a Department of Public Works commissioner so
that I can advocate for sidewalks and bike lanes in Manchester,
which are very important to people getting around the city.
That's how you know, I turned my sadness and tears
into I'm gonna work on this problem, and then I
got out of pharmaceutical. So it's actually kind of a

(08:42):
weird story. But I was working on in the informed
consent process and I didn't feel like it was true
or real, and I couldn't find sponsoring companies for clinical
trials that were like interested in actually making it a
real informed consent process. You know, they get these like
two inch yeah really, but it's thick pieces of paper
written at a grade level. Most people don't understand saying,

(09:02):
you know, I'm gonna agree to participate in this clinical trial,
but then they don't actually understand it, right, and then
they get like surprised by something like a spinal tap,
and no one wants a surprise spinal tap, right. So
I realized I couldn't help the adults. Ultimately, I think
we adults, even myself, we kind of get stuck in
our ways and it's harder to open up our brains

(09:25):
to new ideas. So I started tutoring some people who
are very gifted in science but wanted to improve their
art skills because I could, I could bridge that vocabulary channel,
if you will, and it worked. And so then one
of the kids I was tutoring, their mom was a
headmaster of school and said come here, teach here. I
was like, yeah, sure, okay, and then within two weeks

(09:46):
I was in Claire's charter school, and within six months
I was in all the Title I schools in Manchester,
bringing this programming to kids so that when they hit there,
when they're in control of their health, they'll be able
to talk about it, they'll be able to help their
family health, and they'll be able to navigate the health system.
That's really what it like stemmed out of of course
we've gone wider, like we're talking about watershed management with

(10:07):
the Nature Conservancy who sponsored projects with us, and really
focusing on all around science education.

Speaker 1 (10:16):
How did so, how did that grow so quickly? I mean,
because that's that's impressive that.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
It's a great question, and if I knew, i'd write
a book about it. But I think it was just
clearly a passion of mine and I was in it
one hundred percent and loved it, and I think that
came through it. And I think there's a real need
for it too, because you know, we do seem to
be lowering the amount of money as a city that
we're putting into schools, so other things need to come

(10:43):
in to make up that deficit and that's potentially or
it is uncharted coming in and teaching those things. And
the kids are hungry for it too, you know, And
I fully support all the teachers in our schools. They
need so much more love and funds and everything to
make their lives easier, because it should be easier for them.
But they are setting into this mold that's been created

(11:07):
by buyer systems, and unchartered can come outside of that
mold and reach the kids that aren't fitting that mold.
So and I think there's a lot more that don't
fit the mold than we realize. Just like people with disabilities, right,
we don't fit this. Whatever the standard, and I'm using
quotations very clearly, whatever the normal is, we don't fit it.

(11:28):
And you know, as I get fully more and more
immersed and embracing of my disabled identity, I'm seeing it
in kids too. Actually, one of the things that's developed is,
you know, as I read IEPs for kids and the
things I need to be doing to make sure they're
learning it the best of their ability, I'm like looking
at and going, oh, that's a good I should do
that for myself.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Oh wow, So I'm.

Speaker 2 (11:49):
Learning a lot about myself when I'm learning about other
people's disabilities, which is also why I try to be
so open about mine so that other people can find
it faster and with less trial and tribulation than I did.
But yeah, the kids have taught me a lot about myself.

Speaker 3 (12:03):
Oh that's cool. By the way, for people who don't know,
what is an i EP.

Speaker 2 (12:06):
An individual education plan? Okay, okay, thank you for calling
that out.

Speaker 3 (12:10):
Oh yeah, no problem. It's funny. Over the years that
term has come up a lot on the show. But
but but yeah, but people don't know. Well, you know,
if it's not something you've had to directly engage with,
you wouldn't know.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
No, no, you wouldn't know.

Speaker 3 (12:23):
So now, so what.

Speaker 1 (12:26):
Parents who are putting their kids into uh, because you
have like a summer camp?

Speaker 2 (12:30):
Do we have summer camps right now? So we ran
three summer camps at Positive Street Art in Nashua because
they are fantastic partners.

Speaker 3 (12:38):
Oh, somebody from Positive Street Art was was on?

Speaker 2 (12:40):
Who was was it? Yeazz Manny Cecilia?

Speaker 3 (12:43):
No, there was somebody involved, though I can't remember. It
was a musician. Wasn't it a musician? I can't remember.

Speaker 2 (12:51):
Now there are so many good people that are part
of that organization supporting it because it's doing so much
good work.

Speaker 3 (12:57):
Yeah, what was it, Mike McDowell the Healer?

Speaker 5 (13:01):
No, I think what.

Speaker 2 (13:02):
I don't remember.

Speaker 1 (13:04):
You're asking the wrong that's okay, But but whoever it was, Yeah,
but it wasn't any of the three. Yeah, yeas was
on the show a long time ago, but it wasn't
any of the three people you mentioned.

Speaker 3 (13:12):
But we did have somebody on talking about it. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:15):
Uh. They're doing really fantastic work through the city here
and like giving opportunities to you know, kids that had
to pick different paths in life through various circumstances, and
they also work with people with disabilities in really engaging
and wholesome ways.

Speaker 4 (13:30):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (13:31):
Yeah, I'm a big fan. So partnering with them was
like a perfect Kismet opportunity. And they have a beautiful
space yeah, that we get to work out of with
the gallery and the kids getting so inspired by the
artwork around them.

Speaker 3 (13:42):
Really cowesome.

Speaker 2 (13:43):
And next week we're working with the y w c
A for our sy Art Camp, So you'll see us
downtown here going around the parks collecting little specimens of
bugs and and and and spiders and and plants and dirt,
and we're gonna look at under microscopes and we're gonna
learn to draw it and represent it in a science
communication kind of way.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
Oh very cool. Yeah, I remember who it was now,
I was Justin Hunt. Is that name familiar to you.

Speaker 2 (14:05):
I'm not as much on the music side, admitted.

Speaker 1 (14:07):
Gotcha, Yeah, Justin's Yeah, he's he's actually not a musician,
but he came on with an interesting story. He does,
he does a lot of really positive things. I should
get in touch with him, we should have him back on, but.

Speaker 2 (14:20):
Probably if he's associated with positive street art probably.

Speaker 3 (14:22):
Yeah, yeah, I hope I'm thinking of the right person.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
So now before so what was your experience like with
art before COVID were you were you actively?

Speaker 2 (14:34):
Oh? I never stopped making really truly, so I was.
I was working as a professional like creative director and
those kinds of things for different companies through through time,
and I always like just kind of doodled. I never
stopped like and you can look at the years on
the artworks in the show too and kind of see
that that was a case. Because I do I have
a Bachelor of Fine Arts, like it is arts, arts, arts, Yeah,

(14:57):
and but I really I don't so. I come from
a long line of scientists, engineers, physicists, that kind of thing,
and they were fully supportive of me going into the arts,
even if it did make me a little bit of
a black sheep. But I had my own internalized messages
that I needed to make money at this. Whatever I
was doing with the majority of my time, I needed

(15:17):
to make money, and so I really focused on the
commercial stuff, making ads and illustrations that would bring in money,
a lot less self expression. I did a lot with
like adornments that I didn't really consider art, whether it
was sewing or creating things for my house that really,

(15:37):
when I look at those are art objects and can
are just as valid as anything else to be displayed
in a gallery. And that came out of some of
my relationship with yazz and through positive street art, to
recognizing that these everyday creations that we are making, whether
it's even just in art life choices, they are art
and they are shaping the world around us and should

(15:59):
be considered just as strongly as a traditional painting.

Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, so you've always so when you when you decided
to do that and to pursue that degree.

Speaker 3 (16:10):
Did you have family members try to talk you out
of it?

Speaker 2 (16:13):
No, one tried to talk me out of it.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
They did.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
They did say, you know, art will never pay as
much as engineering, okay, which which is funny because when
my husband and I graduated college exactly at the same time,
technically I was paid more than he was. And he's
an engineer. Oh, he quickly surpassed me. But I just
negotiated more for my pay.

Speaker 3 (16:32):
Okay, okay.

Speaker 2 (16:34):
Hence, you know, I run a small business.

Speaker 3 (16:35):
Now.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
I don't mind that kind of talk. But they were
supportive in the best ways they could, and they always
knew I was some kind of artists Like you know,
my mom was like, even as early as first grades,
I's thrawing better than I am. I don't, I can't.
This isn't an area I can instruct her, And so
they'd find me, you know, art lessons at the library
and things like that. I watched Bob Ross religious.

Speaker 4 (16:57):
Oh nokid yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (17:00):
And you know, both my parents have their artistic focus,
Like my dad was photography growing up and now he
makes amazing award winning wooden kayaks. He's retired so he
can he can do that beautiful thing, and he did
it before he retired. My mom is is a noted
fibers artist that goes around and gives workshops on spinning
and weaving and knitting. I think I think primarily it's

(17:20):
the spinning she's into in the weaving, oh wow. But
always an artist, they just they chose to pursue the
fun making for their right, which is working well for
them because they're retired and comfortable now. You know, both
based on my generation and time graduating and choices of
my own career may never happen, but we'll work towards it.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
Sure, Sure, but I don't.

Speaker 2 (17:45):
I don't. I think even if I were to retire tomorrow,
if I won the lottery or whatever, I'd still do
exactly what I'm doing right now. So maybe I am retired.

Speaker 3 (17:52):
Yeah. Yeah. And in terms of.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
In terms of the art that you create, because you
mentioned that you didn't think or you were uncertain at
first when this opportunity to have your art at the
nash Is it Nashue a public library? Is that digital
that you didn't think you had enough pieces necessarily for
I was.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
I was concerned, yeah, And I'd been focusing on these
small pieces out of COVID, right, these things that I
could travel with, even taking as I relearned to walk,
I had to relearn to ski, so I would take
them up on mountains. I'd ski a couple runs and
sit there for an hour or two at the lodge
and paint and then ski some more. So, like it's
a very, very compact. But then I just started looking
back over my like I just started pulling things out

(18:32):
of the woodworks, you know, like how you store everything,
And suddenly I've got a massive pile of stuff that
I can put in and you know, not limiting myself, right,
because I've done a lot of fashion work, okay, and
so there's several mannequins in the show with various pieces
I've created for my body and other people's bodies. And
then that's also why it's called body work, because it
does it's it's all has to do with the body,

(18:53):
the human body. As a biomedical artist. That makes sense
because I am just kind of drawn. Is like a
special interest. And then it's not just my body, it's
other people's bodies and the art that goes on their bodies.

Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yeah, I wanted to ask you more about that too,
because the name of the show is body of Work,
and I think I think I forgot to mention that earlier.
So yeah, can you expand on that a little bit?
Why it's called that, and what's your inspiration to call
it that?

Speaker 2 (19:15):
It was that that pulling of the art from different
places all over the house. I was like, Okay, this
is what I have. How does this all unite? Like,
if this is all going to be one show, I
either need to limit it like and give it log
to the white space, or is everything relevant? And I
began thinking about it, and I started looking at pieces
that I was like, well, that's not relevant. But it's
got a skull in it. Well, that's that's a body part, right.

(19:38):
This was created in relationship in response to pain in
my body. This was related to my body moving through space.
This was a result of my body needing to rest.
This was me networking with other people and learning about
other people's bodies and helping their bodies engage in art.
And this went on my body. And this is a
T shirt that goes on my body. And this this

(20:00):
is a dress form I made of someone else's body.
This is a dress form made of my body. And
I began realizing it was all about the body, and
so it is a little bit of a pun I'm
not I love a good dad pun. So it's like
a body of work because that you can call that
rite and an artist like, this is my body of work.
But it's also very relational to a human body, my
human body and the body of community that is here

(20:23):
in New Hampshire through groups like Abele and h and others.
So it really came about and I was like, oh,
it all, it all relates. And there are a few
pieces I didn't put in because they didn't relate. Even
if they were bigger, like pieces that were more focused
on my yard or my garden, you could make a
case for them to be in. But when I got
to it, it really just I was like, this is it.

(20:44):
It's about disability, it's about community. It's about I don't
want to say recovery because that implies like an end,
but it's about healing.

Speaker 1 (20:54):
Yeah are you how are you doing today physically?

Speaker 3 (20:58):
I mean at this.

Speaker 2 (20:58):
Point, yeah, it's very interesting. So my nark, my idiopathic
hypersomnia is well managed.

Speaker 3 (21:04):
The dots have what what is that?

Speaker 2 (21:06):
It's a yeah, no, it's a form of it's like
narcileps and it means I sleep a lot when I'm
not medicated, so there's a lot of meds I have
to be on to manage that and to be able
to drive safely and things like that. But it means
I like a really very day, which is great because
that's what Chartered gives me, bopping between kids and writing
grants and interacting with people and that's beautiful and a

(21:27):
lot of it's focus here Manchester, so I can walk
or bike to get there, keeping everything as safe as possible,
so you know, food for thought out there. Bike lanes
are an accessibility device basically infrastructure because then I can
bike and it keeps everyone safe and me safe. So
and then I've got a number of neuralgias where they

(21:47):
cause pain. My my hardest one has been pudental neuralgia,
but that's been well treated over the last couple of years.
But I seem to have developed two more, one in
my neck and one in my lower back that I'm
going to see a new neurologist for at the end
of the month. But we also discovered that my digestion
I haven't been able to digest fat my whole life.
So now I've got great new big horse pills to
take for that, but it's great so I can eat out.

(22:09):
So my life is really like overall, like if the
last time we talked, if you had asked me, like,
how are you doing, I would have been like, oh, I'm
a sick person, but I'm fighting it. Yeah, And now
I feel like I've hit this equo lilbrium that is doable,
and it changes from day to day, Holly, and I
fully admit I took yesterday off and went to the beach,
so that's probably contributing to my really great feeling today.

(22:30):
You have to take rest days. But I couldn't go
in the water above my waist because of my new
lower back thing, so I'm you know, that's sad. And
I can't stand up pattaboard right now because I'm not
allowed to twist. Really, but I'm so in order to
stay functional, like at least appearing, I have to do
a lot of physical therapy. So like I work with

(22:50):
a physical therapist outside the insurance companies because they don't
want to pay for all the visits I actually need,
and I pay her monthly and she gives me workouts
and I do them. So I work out like an
hour to two hours most days, and it's I love it.
I love that I can do that, like I'm at
a place in my life. But it does it means

(23:11):
I have to focus on my body like ten times
more than other people. But ultimately I'm in a good spot.
Thanks for asking. It's nice that I get to say
that this time.

Speaker 1 (23:22):
Yeah, isn't it? And this was all, by the way,
So this was all the result of COVID.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
Oh, not a result. COVID had an effect. It did
affect my heart. So I lost the ability to walk
because I ran a triathlon and it turns out tenon
in my leg was turning the bone, which is not
supposed to happen, and they had to remove that. And
then so the amount of time that I was immobilized
before the surgery and then trying to relearn to walk

(23:46):
was what caused all that. And then so the narclepsy
or the idiopathic hypersomnia I ate. Narclepsy is like the
coverall term. It's a form of that I got started
getting diagnosed in like my late twenties, but I probably
been suffering through it all through college, like I was
a regular ten hour a day sleeper in college. I
never pulled all nighters, very regimented schedules that I could function. Yeah,

(24:10):
and I do have like a little bit of challenge
with my heart from COVID. It just doesn't respond the
way it should during exercise. Okay, but my physical therapist
gives me exercises. It's like this, really like I've always
been like a battler of exercise, like give me the
bike and let me go up the hill as hard
as I can. Yeah, but you know, she's focused way
more on this gentle stuff that's hopefully just going to

(24:31):
try to heal the blood vessels and the heart from
all that. And it may be something that I have
for the rest of my life, but I'll continue fighting
it because I want to be a healthy eighty year old.

Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah of course. Yeah. Wow.

Speaker 1 (24:41):
Well I'm glad you're doing so much better though. That's excellent. Now,
do you have more art shows planned after this one?

Speaker 2 (24:48):
I'm gonna look at talking. I haven't done this yet,
so I'll reach out. But the Manchester Arts Commission usually
allows artwork to be displayed at City Hall, and so
for the show in Nashville, I had to purchase insurance
for my art work. So I figure, while I have
the insurance, i'll do it there as well. These places,
city places don't have the insurance like a gallery does, okay,
so and I want to protect my work, so I

(25:08):
think I'll try to reach out and try to do
a show at City Hall. Okay, but I don't have
any shows after that plan. But if you're looking for
more shows, I always recommend checking out Positive Street Art
and Mosaic Art Collective because they're always doing fantastic things.
I just yeah, I love everything they're doing.

Speaker 3 (25:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (25:27):
Yeah, Jenny's had her art at Mosaic and also at
Terminus Underground in Nashua.

Speaker 2 (25:33):
Fantastic.

Speaker 1 (25:33):
Yeah, yes, absolutely absolutely. I didn't know insurance. I didn't
know that was a thing for I guess it makes sense.

Speaker 2 (25:39):
So when all of your life's artwork is all at
one room that so many people have access to, I'm
not leaving it on insurance.

Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah no, that makes sense.

Speaker 2 (25:49):
Like it's it's like I would I will part with
just about all of it for a certain price.

Speaker 3 (25:54):
But right right, yeah, But.

Speaker 2 (25:56):
At the same time, it's it is my creation and
I don't have children, so I guess that's it.

Speaker 3 (26:02):
Oh, there you go. There you go, very good.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
So now where should people go online to I assume
I mean, obviously you want people to go to the
show on the fourteenth, please do. But also I mean,
is there art online? I assume I assume it is.

Speaker 2 (26:16):
Yeah, my my website, bioside Creative, so b io s
ci creative dot com has has all the artwork there
and you can even purchase any of it that you want,
including the stickers or prints or the whole on art
if you're that kind of wealthy.

Speaker 4 (26:29):
Yeah, I'm not.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
I'm not wealthy enough to purchase my own art. That's okay.
It took so much time for those expensive pieces. But
and then you can also follow me on Instagram and
that's the same bioside Creative. And the library has on
their events page the details of the event posted and
and do come and let me know you're coming because
we're getting cake. So I trying to cake for everyone.

Speaker 3 (26:50):
Nice.

Speaker 1 (26:51):
By the way, is there anyone else you've met or
connected with who uses that term biomedical art?

Speaker 2 (26:59):
So, so, medical illustration is the old school word for it.
And the degree program I was in at the Cleveland
Institute of Art decided to expand it because that was
a little old school, and biomedical artists do a lot
more like I ended up through concentrating on different things
with like a minor in technology integrated media, so like

(27:20):
video editing, robotics and programming, web development, that kind of
thing I ended up with, and that's still biomedical art
and still used. Like, oh, it's very relevant. Of course,
three D modeling and animation is huge in that field
because it's used a lot in that degree. Program changed
their name to be a little more modern, but you

(27:42):
can think, you know, time goes back to like Leonardo
da Visions, Albrich, Duerr Gray of course of Grey's Anatomy,
not the television show Netter. These are all famous people.
But if you open up any science book that you
get in you know, elementary school, high school, college, and
there's drawings in it.

Speaker 4 (28:00):
Someone had to do those, Okay, So.

Speaker 2 (28:02):
That's like the old school, low paid aspect of the job.
But eventually if you start working with startups and education materials.
My favorite is taking like ideas from a physician and
putting it in a way that everyone else can understand.
It really is like a science communication field where through
my drawings and maybe even my writings. Now at this point,
because I've gotten better at writing, I can communicate this

(28:22):
idea from the idea originator, you know, a doctor with
a new procedure to other people either in their field
that need to learn it or to a patient who
needs to understand what's going on.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yeah, okay, Now that's interesting to me because I didn't know,
you know, that term biomedical art. I didn't know if
that was something that a term that you had come
up with specifically for what you do, or if this
was a broader thing.

Speaker 3 (28:40):
But apparently it is.

Speaker 2 (28:42):
Si art is the other one. Yeah, okay, it's a hashtag.
I think there's a thing on Sundays or something.

Speaker 1 (28:48):
Yeah, oh okay, okay. And by the way, do you
hear from people who've if people reached out to you,
either who who've gone and seen in person in Nashua
or maybe just look online and have said you know this,
you know I can relate to this.

Speaker 2 (29:04):
Yeah, a lot of people have said it. And even
one comment was, you know, just getting to know you
better because there is you know, writing in those some
of those pieces that talks about medical stuff that may
not come up in everyday conversation. I'm fully willing to
talk about it, but I don't want to, you know,
down everyone on the medical stuff all the time. So
but it's there if they want to read it. And
people reach out and said, you know, it's really great
to know these things about you. And then you know

(29:27):
others have reached out and been like, you know, you're
talking about this gravel to have a gravel piece that
talks about how hard it was to get to a
restaurant because I said their space was accessible, but the
it was gravel and I was in a wheelchair, so
I couldn't get there, so I had to be transported
by another individual. And she came up to me and
was like, this is like so exactly what I'm experiencing,

(29:48):
like going to the beach, trying to walk on the beach,
and I remember that too. I had friends that helped
me get to the water because it's so rejuvenating for me,
and and you don't know until you've experienced just how
hard that is.

Speaker 5 (30:05):
The aspect of your own independence and freedom is huge.
I have problems with my vision, amongst other things. As
you know, I get transportation assistants sometimes through volunteers, through
new futures in sight and to be able to make
an arrangement to go to my appointment or to have

(30:26):
a test on and not have to ask a friend
or look for a favor. But it's an actual volunteer
who wants to do this, and I get to make
the arrangement on my own, And that titch of independence
is so huge, and it's given me back a little
bit of dignity that I didn't have prior to having

(30:46):
access to transportation assistance. And you may not think about that,
but if you're somebody that maybe has a little time
during the day, if you help somebody get to a
doctor's appointment or get to a place to pick up
their prescription, yeah, that is so huge for that individual
to feel strong in self and not feel like a

(31:07):
burden or a problem or the constant oh God, don't
answer the phone, that can't ask me to ry. That
is like the worst thing in the world is losing
your ability to transport yourself.

Speaker 2 (31:19):
Yes, And I can relate so much because before this
current med that I'm on for my sleep challenges, I
needed if I was an evening event, I always needed
to go with a friend because I was driving home.
It just I wasn't willing to risk it. I've never
had an accent because of it. But I'm not willing
to hurt someone else because of my own hurts. And
now with this met I'm a lot more comfortable, you know,

(31:41):
being able to like and so much and small business
happens at these evenings of events, you know, just networking
and connecting, and it was really hampering my growth. And
now that I can do this, we've exploded in our
connections with other nonprofits.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
And especially when you have have a disability or something
that's going on, the end of the day is like the.

Speaker 2 (32:00):
Because you don't know what you got, Oh, you don't
know what you got left.

Speaker 5 (32:03):
You know, you've tried to space out your time and
like I'm only gonna use one spoon, I'm saving some
for later, and then you get to that end of
the day and it's so hard and you have to
push through, and it's I love everything that you are doing.
What you're doing for people like myself, disabled people and
people who want to be expressive, people who want to

(32:25):
experience life on their own terms. You give them that
and that is such a huge thing.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (32:33):
You don't really it's so you know, it's one of
those things that it really stinks, but I can't explain
to you what it feels like unless you've lived it,
and I hope to. Like heck, you never live ever.
You don't want anybody else in your shoes. But if
that little bit of monoicum of understanding comes out of anything,
it is such a big deal for everybody in our

(32:55):
community and right, and isn't that like most It's one
thing I love about New Hampshire and the City of
Manchester is there's a lot of community here. There's a
lot of people that you put these few people in
a room together and it's amazing what can explode for kiddos,
for people to disabil it just for average anybody, you know,
just to have somebody that in the community that smiles
and says, hey, you exist and I really care about you.

(33:18):
It's something that I think is kind of unique around here.

Speaker 2 (33:21):
We're still small enough that those individual meetings, groups of
people can get together and make a difference. And I'm
seeing it now on Pine Street right they're repaving it
and they're redoing the curb cuts. I don't know if
you've noticed, but those curb cuts, the tactile stripping has
been falling apart because they chose to try plastic product
and it didn't work. So they're redoing all those curb
cuts and they're going to put that bike lane on
Pine Street, which is fantastic. That will make me getting

(33:43):
around because I live just off of Pine Street so
much easier. Yeah, so's there's other things like if driving
isn't your thing, if you're like antisocial, like I get
it I sometimes, then if getting to know someone new
is hard, you know, using that click fix on Manchester
to point out like a curb cut that has broken
so someone using a stroller or a wheelchair can't get
up or down, it can be a huge things that

(34:04):
the city knows where those things are to repair them,
or that the tactile strips for people of vision challenges,
you know, if they're disappearing, then they may cross it
the wrong spot and get hurt and we don't want that,
so noting where sidewalks are because sidewalks are a big
part of independence for people who are mobile but have
other disabilities for getting around the.

Speaker 5 (34:23):
City, especially with folks who are in wheelchairs, because you
cannot bounce a wheelchair up a curve. It hurts and
you cannot And that's a huge one. If I ask
of anybody of anything in this city. My biggest pet
peeve is people who park in handicapped spaces are on
the lines. Oh but I'm just getting I'm just getting
my dinner. Yeah, but the person in the wheelchair can't

(34:44):
get out of their car now because you're parked on
the lines. And maybe that person was going to go
to an event downtown right like the Racks or whatever,
and now they can't get out of their car to
go because you've parked your car on the lines just
because you need a minute.

Speaker 3 (34:59):
Don't do it. Yeah, I'll please stop doing See that
a lot on Elm Street.

Speaker 2 (35:03):
Or parking on the sidewalks. Our sidewalks aren't designed for
the weight of your vehicle and it destroys them. And
we don't have the budgets to keep repairing sidewalks caused
by vehicular unplanned travel.

Speaker 3 (35:11):
Right.

Speaker 2 (35:12):
No, there were a number of businesses around Manchester that
while I was using an accessibility placard and unable to
walk that I would you know, I see it, I
see it the people parking in the spots without tags,
and I would I would go to do my grocery shoping.
Now I couldn't unload the car, but I could get
the groceries, and if I timed it just right, my
husband could bring them in right and then and so
I would still contributing to the family, which I wanted

(35:33):
to do, right and I would go, I'd get I
and I couldn't find a parking spot because they were
full of people without hangtags. And I went into some
of these places and said, you know that this is happening,
and they're like, oh, that's not a priority for us,
right right, like talk about sending me home crying that way, Like, okay,
so the grocery can't get done, money, Sorry.

Speaker 5 (35:52):
Yeah, I can't get milk, caniket eggs, can't get bread.
It's that serious, right, It's that significant to be able
to have food in your home. You have to be
able to get out of the car and back into
it safely with everything you need. So those spots are
really a big deal. It's not a convenience thing or
I'm just running in. This is about somebody being able
to live their life to the fullest in our city

(36:14):
and enjoy everything our city has to offer and get
the basics stuff.

Speaker 2 (36:17):
Yeah, most important, and I'll mention it, you know, the
door dash drivers and things. Parking, Yes, spots downtown. I
hate that in the restaurants, especially on Elm Street. Oh
my goodness, stop doing it.

Speaker 5 (36:31):
Absolutely, don't be so lazy, all right.

Speaker 2 (36:33):
And you can always call parking. Manchester Parking Apparently they
say they like those tickets because they're more expensive tickets.

Speaker 5 (36:38):
Yeah, they keep raising it, but people still doing it.
I think somewhere around five hundred I think.

Speaker 2 (36:42):
I yeah, but you can call parking. You know that
that helps a person out too.

Speaker 5 (36:47):
I did once have that happen on Elm Street, and
it was a glorious day because there's never usually somebody
around when you yeah, and somebody literally pulled in in
front of me and I'm telling this person get out. Yeah,
you're stopping somebody from like this is a big deal.
You can't block the way to get onto the curve. No,
Like the curb cutouts you're talking about are essential for

(37:07):
people to be able to actually get onto the sidewalk
right or they are stuck in the street.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
And you don't want to be stuck in the street
when you're seated below eye level.

Speaker 5 (37:16):
No or if you're using a navigational cane. Oh yeah,
I have deat procession issues. In certain situations, I need
to I don't want to be in the street. That's
like the worst place in the world to me, because
they're more likely to be pitfalls, you know, to fall
into and then you get a new injury and a
new issue, a new problem.

Speaker 2 (37:33):
That's definitely happened to me too. Yes, And it's not
just people with disabilities that benefit from these things too,
like moms and dads with strollers, that's a big thing.
Little dogs that have trouble jumping up the curve, those
little dogs are benefiting too. Like you know, I say
this jokingly, but there's a lot of benefit to those
infrastructure plans that we have, and we we need to

(37:54):
respect them so that the whole world is a better place.

Speaker 5 (37:57):
And if you want people to be involved in the
world around you, to make it accessible. Dred percent, I
love how you use your artwork. I really love how
you use your artwork to express the importance of these things,
but in the most creative ways. And it's interesting to
hear you talk about the anatomy and the art of
the anatomy, right because I never thought about that would

(38:19):
go to school, Like I never thought about my anatomy book.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
Who threw this stuff?

Speaker 2 (38:22):
Someone somebody did through this stuff.

Speaker 5 (38:24):
But I have a friend, Megan Bent, who's an artist
that does chlorophyll work on leaves where you where she's
imprinting imagery onto the leaf and she's done things like
with spines and things like that.

Speaker 3 (38:39):
I think you totally like love.

Speaker 2 (38:40):
God to check that out. I don't know anything about her.

Speaker 5 (38:43):
When you were talking that's I was thinking about that,
and like, you have to know this person.

Speaker 4 (38:47):
You have to meet this artist.

Speaker 5 (38:48):
She's an amazing artist, amazing activist, very much in the
fight to make sure people have health care accessibility. So
you know, you and I could probably talk about that
forever in a day.

Speaker 2 (38:57):
Forever, it would never end. We'd write a book.

Speaker 1 (39:00):
Probably, Well, we got to the time does go quickly.
We need to start to wrap up, but before we do,
I want to make sure, so again, remind everybody about
the fourteenth and Nashua.

Speaker 2 (39:12):
Six o'clock Nashua Public Library downstairs. You can get there
with an elevator or the stairs. And I'm gonna have
cake because we've decided to turn it into my fortieth
birthday celebration.

Speaker 4 (39:22):
As well, Happy birthday, thank you.

Speaker 2 (39:24):
Yeah, yeah, fortieth and glorious and yeah, just you know,
if you can send me a quick message let me
know you're coming so I can make sure I have
enough cake. That's awesome. If you don't, you know, just
come anyways, we'll figure it out. We'll cut half slices.
I don't care. Yeah, but it's gonna be a showing
on my work. Actually, i' gonna have Jasmine Man there
playing a little bit of music. I want to her
on the show. Yes, and I love her. And I'm

(39:46):
gonna have mocktails as well, so like see, Yeah, it's
gonna be great. And it's at the public library, so
anyone can come in and check it out. It's gonna
be a party. I really hope everyone comes out and
just kind of flourishes a little bit together.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Outstanding, outstanding, and tell people again where they should go
online to.

Speaker 2 (40:02):
Bioso Yeah yeah, Bioside Creative dot com. So it's b
io s C. I A lot of people like p
s I No, no, no, it's sc I like science
Bioside Creative dot com. And then on Instagram to do
follow me on Instagram, I post like sneak shots of
the show. Once the show comes down, I'll post full shots,

(40:22):
but right now it's just sneak shots because I want
you to go if you can, yeah, but not everyone can.
I get that, so you will get shots later on.

Speaker 3 (40:28):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
It's an accessibility thing, sure, and then you know, you
can always look at unchartered as well if you were
more interested in the kiddo stuff I get to do.

Speaker 5 (40:35):
Okay, And the event at the National Public Library is
at six pm.

Speaker 2 (40:39):
Six pm, that's right, excellent until seven thirty.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
All right, well, very good, very good. Well Amber, Nicole Cannon,
thank you so much.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
Thank you for having me. This is fun.

Speaker 3 (40:48):
Yeah. Yeah, we'll do it again in the future. Absolutely,