Flattening the Curve, Day 44

Hello friends. Today is the forty-fourth day that I have been on mandated leave from my government job due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and today, Friday, I am here to feature another of my favorite art and creativity podcasts.

When I first heard Brooklyn, New York collage artist Luis Martin of the Studio Confessions podcast say that one of his goals with his podcast is to share how to activate your creativity to live an inspired and beautiful life, I was hooked.

For as an aspiring artist, armchair anthropologist and lover of philosophy, making something - initiating, setting ideas into motion, developing concepts - all require, for me anyway, the ability to connect with the world aesthetically.

But I digress...

On the podcast, Luis conducts interesting conversations with collagists, painters, authors and writers about the creative process and what inspires them, and culture makers such as arts administrators and curators about the business side of art.

Luis also gives museum tours via live podcasting, sending a virtual educational postcard to your ears. Some of the museums featured have been The Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles (his hometown), New York's El Museo Del Barrio and The Metropolitan Museum. With his extensive knowledge of art and culture, and as an arts educator, Luis brings the museum experience alive and offers practical tips for potential museum goers.

But I would say that it's his poetic monologues that get to the heart of what, as a professional artist and culture maker himself, Luis thinks and feels about art and culture, especially in this time of quarantine. For example, in his most recent expression, Sketches of the Future and a door to meditation, Luis acknowledges the grief, anger and sadness that we all feel about our current world pandemic. And yet, out of our processing of this predicament, it is a call to action. A summons for artists to fully embrace this moment in time to articulate those issues which our society seriously needs to confront - to hold up a mirror, to question. And ultimately, to utilize artistic expression to help society realize its potential for the good of all.

You can find Luis Martin on Instagram as artengineer and visit his website to see the full scope of his talents and offerings at Luis Martin The Art Engineer. And you must read Ava Darling and the bubble, an Existential Fairytale About the Wonder of Being.

Thank you for reading and I hope you are able to stay home, stay safe.

Till next time.