Episodios

  • Maria Jensen - SOMArts Executive Director

    Maria Jensen - SOMArts Executive Director
    Mar 17 2026
    Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Host Emily Wilson sits down with Maria Jensen, executive director of SOMArts Cultural Center in San Francisco. Maria shares her journey from dancer and playwright to arts administrator, including stops at SFMOMA before finding her home at SOMArts. The conversation covers Cece Carpio's solo exhibition Tabi Tabi Po: Come Out with the Spirits, You Are Welcome Here, featuring found objects, poetry-infused wall text, and immersive altar installations that blend Bay Area and Filipino cultural traditions. Maria explains why SOMArts returned to solo shows after focusing on group exhibitions — to amplify community artists ready for bigger platforms. Maria also discusses the "Artists Live Here" cultural convening, which drew over 400 people in response to the announced closures of California College of the Arts and the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts. Designed as an "unconference" with no slides and no panels, the gathering channeled grief and anger into collective action and joyful community building. Other topics include SOMArts' annual Día de los Muertos exhibition, the Murphy and Cadogan Awards for Bay Area MFA students, and how Maria organized an art fair at the Tenderloin's Phoenix Hotel that brought together galleries, local artists, and civic partners. She credits advocate Ebony McKinney as a major influence and finds creative inspiration in the Bay Area's natural landscape. About Creative & Exective Director Maria Jensen: Maria Jenson is recognized as a leader in the arts for advancing innovative strategies to sustain creative communities in the midst of rapidly changing urban environments. As Creative and Executive Director of SOMArts, Jenson has deepened the organization’s commitment to racial equity, creating clear pathways for Bay Area artists to cultivate new ideas and grow their careers. Through her leadership, Jenson has expanded SOMArts’ public programs, advanced new public-private partnerships, and fostered groundbreaking exhibitions such as The Black Woman is God, The Third Muslim: Queer and Trans* Muslim Narratives of Resistance and Resilience, and many more. These projects represent SOMArts’ commitment to incubating the growth and careers of Bay Area artists and curators. Prior to joining SOMArts, Maria was a key member of the SFMOMA External Relations team during the museum’s expansion and was the Founding Director of ArtPadSF, an independent art fair launched in the Tenderloin at the Phoenix Hotel in 2010. A graduate of the 2018 Getty Foundation Executive Leadership Institute, she is a sought-after thought leader on the role of cultural institutions advocating for a more democratic and equitable society. Visit SOMArts Website: SOMArts.org Follow SOMArts on Instagram: @SOMArts For more about the Cece Carpio exhibit at SOMArts, CLICK HERE. -- About Podcast Host Emily Wilson: Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco. Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast -- CREDITS: Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    18 m
  • Joe Cerda - Painter & Tattoo Artist

    Joe Cerda - Painter & Tattoo Artist
    Mar 3 2026

    Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Today, Emily chats with Richmond-based artist Joe Cerda about his multifaceted creative practice spanning tattoo art, painting, and sculpture.

    Key Topics:

    • Joe's earliest artistic memories, including his godfather teaching him to draw a boat at age four
    • His self-taught journey into tattooing, starting with hand-poked tattoos and a homemade machine built from a Walkman motor
    • Moving between Southern California and the East Bay, eventually opening his own tattoo shop in Richmond
    • His specialty in realistic portrait tattoos and photorealistic paintings
    • Travel-inspired artwork from trips to Spain, the Philippines, and Mexico
    • Sculpture training at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco
    • The emotional connection he feels to his paintings versus commissioned tattoo work
    • Influence of representational artist Richard Schmid on his painting technique
    • His plans to incorporate more abstract elements while maintaining realism

    Location: Cerda Art Studio, Richmond, California

    Next Episode: Maria Jensen, Executive Director of SOMArts

    Visit Joe's Website and Tattoo Studio: CerdaArt.net

    Follow Joe on Instagram: @CerdaArtStudio

    --

    About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:

    Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.

    Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil

    Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast

    --

    CREDITS:

    Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson.

    Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

    The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions.

    For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    16 m
  • Kristine Mays - Wire Sculptor

    Kristine Mays - Wire Sculptor
    Feb 17 2026
    Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, Emily features San Francisco wire sculptor Kristine Mays discussing her politically charged exhibition "State of the Union" at Modernism Gallery. Created in response to the uncertainty and division at the beginning of 2025, the show explores themes of American identity, social justice, and individual responsibility through intricate wire sculptures.Kristine walks through several powerful pieces: "This is America," a frayed wire American flag with beads representing blood and tears; "Human Complacency," depicting the see/hear/speak no evil concept; and "Modern Day Lynchings and Hashtag Memorials," featuring hand-embroidered names of Black people killed by police on silk ribbons. Many works incorporate quotes from writers like Audre Lord, whose words "your silence will not save you" inspired Mays to create this body of work as both political statement and personal healing.She traces her creative journey from childhood craft projects with her mother to her current practice working with construction-grade wire. She explains how she creates faceless figures and sculptural garments that allow viewers to project their own stories and recognize loved ones through gesture alone. The meditative quality of working with wire and its durability appeal to her desire to create lasting legacy work.A major milestone: the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture recently acquired her piece "Hush Harbor." Kristine, who has participated in San Francisco Open Studios for over 20 years, credits her "divinely led" journey and her mother's early encouragement to create without fear of failure.About Artist Kristine Mays :Kristine Mays, a San Francisco native has been an exhibiting artist since 1993. She was the Grand Finale Winner in 2015 of the 5th Annual Bombay Sapphire Artisan Series National Competition. This competition not only provided an opportunity to exhibit her work at Art Basel Miami, but she had a solo exhibition at the Scope NYC Art Fair as well, and was also afforded a chance to collaborate on a large scale public mural. Her mural is on the side of the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco on Fillmore and Geary Streets. (It has large wire feathers placed among the portraits that adorn the walls, reflecting the fleeting existence of black jazz musicians in San Francisco.) In 2015 she also participated in the Hearts in San Francisco program, creating a large 400 pound heart for their annual public art installation. The heart spent a few weeks on display in Union Square before going to its final home upon purchase from AT&T.In 2009, Kristine was a featured artist in the San Francisco Art Commission's "Art in Storefronts" pilot program, a project which transformed vacant storefronts and commercial corridors into a destination for contemporary art, bringing a new energy to the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood. A participant in the San Francisco Open Studios program for over 20 years, Kristine has also served on the Board of Directors for ArtSpan-- the Producers of SF Open Studios and has participated on several of their committees. Kristine served as the 2011-2013 artist-in-residence at the Bayview Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco. She is a graduate of Lowell High School, received her Bachelor Degree in Arts Administration from DePaul University and has occasionally served as a grant review panelist through the San Francisco Arts Commission.Seeking to create impact and change with her art, Kristine has participated in raising thousands of dollars for AIDS research through the sale of her work by collaborating with organizations like Visual Aid, the San Francisco Alliance Health Project and WE-Actx. Her work has received local and national press including mentions in the San Francisco Chronicle, New York Times, The New York Post, The Washington Post, Source Magazine, Artsy, and the interior design blog Apartment Therapy. She is represented by Simon Breitbard Fine Arts in SF, the Richard Beavers Gallery in Brooklyn and Zenith Gallery in Washington DC.Kristine has participated in programming at the De Young Museum, Museum of African Diaspora (MoAD) and exhibited at the California African American Museum (CAAM) in Los Angeles, CA. Collectors of her work include an eclectic mix of people including Star Wars creator George Lucas and the dearly departed Peggy Cooper Cafritz (who amassed one of the country’s largest private collections of African-American art). Her work is displayed in many Bay Area homes and private collections throughout the USA.Visit Kristine's Website: KristineMays.comFollow Kristine on Instagram: @KristineMaysFor more about Kristine's exhibit, "State of the Union" CLICK HERE--About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California ...
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    16 m
  • Adriene Busch - Weaver

    Adriene Busch - Weaver
    Feb 3 2026

    Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area.

    In this week's Episode, Emily features Adriene Busch, a Bay Area fiber artist and weaver whose exhibition "Of Water" is currently on display at M Stark Gallery in Half Moon Bay. They chat at Adriene's home studio and discuss her artistic journey and creative process.

    Adriene grew up in Arizona making art but studied business in college, considering art impractical as a career. She continued creating throughout her education, exploring photography, ceramics, and painting. About 10 years ago, she discovered fiber arts through embroidery, which led her to weaving—a medium that combines everything she loved: the composition skills from photography, the tactile nature of ceramics, and the color mixing from painting.

    Her breakthrough came with "West Bay: A Love Letter," a large-scale aerial view of the Bay Area made with felted wool details like San Francisco skyscrapers. This piece was displayed at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Center for a year and caught the attention of gallerist Marianna Stark, who offered her the current exhibition.

    About Artist Adriene Busch:

    Adriene Busch is a contemporary weaver based in San Mateo, California. She has worked in various modes of fiber art since 2016, eventually committing fully to tapestry weaving. As a self-taught weaver, she finds great joy and satisfaction from artistic problem solving and in the continual development of her technical skills and artistic vision. She is intentional in her selection of materials, using color and texture to represent particular characteristics of her surroundings. As a tapestry weaver, she enjoys the many choices that working with fiber allows; in her pieces, color, texture, and composition interplay to create a balance between bold and neutral, flat and three-dimensional. Adriene’s work reflects her personal connection to the world around her, creating pieces that embody her daily experiences.

    Visit Adriene's Website: WestBayFiber.com

    Follow Adriene on Instagram: @WestBayFiber

    For more on Adriene's exhibition "Of Water" at the M Stark Gallery - CLICK HERE

    --

    About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:

    Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.

    Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil

    Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast

    --

    CREDITS:

    Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson.

    Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

    The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions.

    For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    15 m
  • Christine Wong Yap - Visual Artist & Social Practitioner

    Christine Wong Yap - Visual Artist & Social Practitioner
    Jan 20 2026

    Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Today, Emily chats with Christine Wong Yap, a visual artist working in printmaking, social practice, and community-based art.

    Christine discusses her latest project "Bay Windows/Ventanas," a trilingual public art installation featuring lanterns created with Chinese-speaking women in Chinatown and Spanish-speaking women in the Mission District. The lanterns, displayed at five locations through March 11th, explore themes of mental health, belonging, and immigrant experiences through traditional paper-cutting techniques.

    About Artist Christine Wong Yap:

    Christine Wong Yap is a visual artist and social practitioner who works in community engagement, drawing, printmaking, publishing, textiles, and public art. Through her hyperlocal participatory research projects, she gathers and amplifies grassroots perspectives on belonging, resilience, and mental well being. Last year, she received a a Creative Power Award from the Walter & Elise Haas Foundation and Creative Capital Award. She has served as Neighborhood Visiting Artist at Stanford University (Stanford, CA) and Creative Citizenship Fellow at the California College of the Arts (San Francisco, CA). She has developed projects with the Chinese Culture Center of San Francisco, For Freedoms, the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, the Othering and Belonging Institute at UC Berkeley, Times Square Arts, and the Wellcome Trust, among others. She holds a BFA and MFA in printmaking from the California College of the Arts. She was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has lived since spending a decade in New York City from 2010 to 2021.

    Visit Christine's Website: ChristineWongYap.com

    Follow Christine on Instagram: @ChristineWongYap

    For more about Christine's Bay Windows project and upcoming scavenger hunt CLICK HERE

    To learn about The Creative Capital Award CLICK HERE

    --

    About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:

    Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.

    Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil

    Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast

    --

    CREDITS:

    Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson.

    Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

    The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions.

    For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    15 m
  • Replay! Tucker Nichols - Artist & Illustrator

    Replay! Tucker Nichols - Artist & Illustrator
    Jan 6 2026
    Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area. Happy New Year! Cheers to a great 2026! In today's Episode, we continue our Winter Hiatus with a Replay of EP27 from June of 2024, with Illustrator Tucker Nichols... Emily chats with NorCal based artist Tucker Nichols as he shares stories about his spontaneous move to Taiwan, where he immersed himself in a vibrant artistic community. He discusses his extensive body of work, including children's books and the initiative 'Flowers for Sick People.' He reflects on his background, including his mother’s influence and his intense study of East Asian art. Tucker's journey includes struggling with Crohn's disease and a career shift to become a full-time artist, supported by his wife. He talks about influential works and places, emphasizing his lifelong passion for art. The podcast concludes with three thought-provoking questions Emily asks every guest.Stay tuned as we return in 2 weeks with a brand new Episode with featuring a new batch of Awesome Artists! About Artist Tucker Nichols:Tucker Nichols is an artist based in Northern California. His work has been featured at the Drawing Center in New York, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Denver Art Museum, Den Frie Museum in Copenhagen, and the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco. A show of his sculpture, Almost Everything On The Table, was recently on view at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. He is currently an Artist Trustee at SFMOMA.His drawings have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, McSweeney's, The Thing Quarterly, and the Op-Ed pages of The New York Times. He is co-author of the books, Crabtree (with Jon Nichols) and This Bridge Will Not Be Gray (with Dave Eggers). Flowers for Things I Don’t Know How to Say was released in March 2024. Flowers for Sick People, his ongoing multimedia project, can be viewed here.Visit Tucker's Website: TuckerNichols.comFollow Tucker on Instagram: @TuckerNichols--About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWilFollow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast--CREDITS:Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson. Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 LicenseThe Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions. For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    20 m
  • REPLAY! Saif Azzuz - Libyan-Yurok Artist

    REPLAY! Saif Azzuz - Libyan-Yurok Artist
    Dec 23 2025

    Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area.

    Today, for our end of the year REPLAY! Episode, we revisit Emily's chat with Pacifica based artist Saif Azouz, discussing his journey in art, inspiration from nature and literature, his current exhibition 'Cost of Living', and his reflections on boundaries and displacement. Saif's experience with art, his use of materials, and his perspectives on creativity and community are highlighted throughout the episode.

    About Artist Saif Azzuz :

    Saif Azzuz is a Libyan-Yurok artist who resides in Pacifica, CA. He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Painting and Drawing from the California College of the Arts in 2013. Azzuz has a forthcoming solo exhibition at Blaffer Art Museum in Houston, TX in 2025 and has exhibited widely in the bay area including exhibitions at 1599dt Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Adobe Books, San Francisco, CA; Anthony Meier Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA; Galerie Julien Cadet, Paris, FR; ICA SF, San Francisco, CA; Pt.2 Gallery, Oakland, CA; Ever Gold [Projects], San Francisco, CA; NIAD, Oakland, CA; Rule Gallery, Denver, CO; Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York, NY; Jack Barrett, New York, NY and K Art, Buffalo, NY. Azzuz is a 2022 SFMOMA SECA Award finalist and has participated in the Clarion Alley Mural Project and the Facebook Artist in Residence program.

    Selected public collections include de Young Museum - Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; Facebook, Menlo Park, CA; Gochman Family Collection, NY; KADIST, San Francisco, CA; North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC; Rennie Museum, Vancouver, Canada; Stanford Health Care Art Collection, Menlo Park, CA; UBS Art Collection, New York, NY; and University of St. Thomas, Saint Paul, MN.

    Learn more about Saif, CLICK HERE.

    Follow on Instagram: @SaifAzzuz

    --

    About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:

    Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.

    Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil

    Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast

    --

    CREDITS:

    Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson.

    Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

    The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions.

    For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    16 m
  • Kathy Aoki - Conceptual Artist

    Kathy Aoki - Conceptual Artist
    Dec 9 2025

    Welcome to Art is Awesome, the show where we talk with an artist or art worker with a connection to the San Francisco Bay Area.

    In this episode, Emily interviews artist Kathy Aoki, known for her witty, satirical works that blend pop culture, gender commentary, and fictional narratives. Kathy discusses her “Koons Ruins” project, her creative process, and the inspiration behind her art, including playful takes on celebrity culture and the art world. Tune in for a fascinating conversation about imagination, humor, and the power of storytelling in contemporary art.

    About Artist Kathy Aoki:

    Kathy Aoki is a multi-disciplinary visual artist who uses satire to critique the absurd value systems that dominate gender, pop culture, and politics. Her printmaking work can be found in major collections across the U.S. including the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.She received fellowships at MacDowell (NH), the Headlands Center for the Arts (CA), and Frans Masereel Centrum (Belgium) and other venues. Aoki has completed commissions for the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Museum, and the San Jose Museum of Art. Her studio is located in the San Francisco Bay Area where she is a Professor of Studio Art at Santa Clara University.

    Visit Kathy's Website: KAoki.com

    Follow Kathy on Instagram: @KathyAokiArtist

    For more info about Kathy's exhibit Koons Ruins CLICK HERE.

    --

    About Podcast Host Emily Wilson:

    Emily a writer in San Francisco, with work in outlets including Hyperallergic, Artforum, 48 Hills, the Daily Beast, California Magazine, Latino USA, and Women’s Media Center. She often writes about the arts. For years, she taught adults getting their high school diplomas at City College of San Francisco.

    Follow Emily on Instagram: @PureEWil

    Follow Art Is Awesome on Instagram: @ArtIsAwesome_Podcast

    --

    CREDITS:

    Art Is Awesome is Hosted, Created & Executive Produced by Emily Wilson.

    Theme Music "Loopster" Courtesy of Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
    Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

    The Podcast is Co-Produced, Developed & Edited by Charlene Goto of @GoToProductions.

    For more info, visit Go-ToProductions.com


    Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
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    20 m