Speaker 1 00:00:34 You are listening to Right On Radio, on K ffa I 90.3 FM and streaming live on the
[email protected]. I'm Sam on tonight's program, Molly Ray Miller and the u n Arts and Design librarian. Deborah Olten will be taking the full hour to talk with Ager Cowans about his experience as an artist, photographer, and author. We will also have live jazz sessions by the band, the Temple Trio as they interpret sketches by ager and join in conversation about art inspiration and the merging of visual and musical expression, all of this and more. So stay tuned to Ride on Radio to hear us.
Speaker 2 00:01:44 Andrew, can you hear us? Andrew, can you hear us? I think we have to get your audio.
Speaker 3 00:01:55 Can you hear me? Here we go.
Speaker 1 00:01:56 Yes, we can hear you.
Speaker 2 00:01:57 Got you. Yay. Welcome. Hello.
Speaker 3 00:02:00 Hey,
Speaker 2 00:02:01 Thank you for
Speaker 3 00:02:02 Making, how's everybody? Hey,
Speaker 2 00:02:04 Andrew. Doing pretty good. I keeping busy. Um, my name's Molly Ray adra. I met you very briefly. I'm sorry you can't see me very well at the exhibition. Closing at the Anderson Library for your book that you had. And we're here with Deborah, whom you also know also. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> here with Scott Vu and Anthony of Temple Trio. They're gonna be doing some live music with us. And then also thank you Sam, our intern at K F A I and Josh, who's doing the engineering sound board work for us. Thank you so much for everybody being here. <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:02:41 Who's that ducking under there?
Speaker 2 00:02:44 <laugh>, you know her <laugh>.
Speaker 3 00:02:47 Hi Dan.
Speaker 2 00:02:48 Hey Adra. So great to see you in your studio.
Speaker 3 00:02:52 Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:02:53 Look at all that stuff.
Speaker 3 00:02:55 All that stuff. <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:02:56 Oh, that art stuff. And we're here to talk about more of your stuff. Um, your book Art in the Moment From that was published in 2018, and then also your incredible new art book, ager through 21st editions. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, I'm gonna let Deborah start with the full introduction of what this content is that we have here tonight. Yeah. Thank you Molly Ray. It's so great to be here. Um, you know, this whole thing started because at the University of Minnesota Libraries and specifically the university's archives and special collections, we work really hard to curate, uh, with cultural integrity, meaning representative collections of all people's voices and perspectives, histories, stories. And in 2016, we were able to, um, collect, acquire the, um, 21st editions, full collection of artist books through a special endowment that we have for the collection, the Francis b Gorman, rare Art Books and Media Collection.
Speaker 2 00:04:04 And with that collection, Stephen Al-Baha is the publisher that, um, gave us 62 artists. Books and artist books are works of art that are sculptural in some way in their form and content and maybe agile. Fill in a little bit more about what an artist book is. We also, uh, acquired their production archives. So all the conversations that Stevens had with the artists, all the papers, all the materials that they use to put these artist books together, the collection is international and scope, and it's of exceptional photographers, uh, that tell their personal stories, cultural stories, and their artistic explorations. And they're all very provocative in one way or another. Stephen is a really incredible publisher and leader, and works very intimately with hi with his artists in these collaborations, such as with the latest book that we're gonna be talking about today with ager titled Ager Having Once Played Music And With a Deep Love for Music.
Speaker 2 00:05:12 Um, Stephen has published works such as Hermann's, Hermann Leonards, listen, Tim mc, Duffy's Blue, and Graham Nash's Love. So they're all part of the collection at the university that you can look at. So there's a surge of interest in black art, black photography in particular, um, and two artist groups, the Kamongi Workshop and Afr Cova, which Ager was a part of back in the sixties. Um, have also kind of fallen into conversation these days with, uh, a show at the Virginia Museum of Art, um, on the Kamongi workshop. Um, so that's why we're here. Yeah. So all of that, there's the collection, there's the books. We have Ager, <laugh>, and then we have more stories that come out of that relationship between Steven and I, between Ager and Steven. And then, um, and, and then we'll tell you why these musicians are here. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> adjective. Should we jump right into questioning you?
Speaker 3 00:06:26 Sure.
Speaker 2 00:06:27 <laugh>. Oh, great. So now there's your incredible new artist book published by 21st editions titled Adger and Your Memoir Art in the Moment as well. What does it feel like to have this, these books with about you and about your work being out there for people to experience and interact with?
Speaker 3 00:06:45 Well, I think it's, uh, great because, and now I have the ability to reach a larger audience in terms of the photographs. Like photographs not only tell stories, but it's also a, um, your story. Mm. Because photographs you relate to with your visual experience. So it woes both ways and, uh, it's a good feeling and people come to me and say, I saw your book mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:07:16 <affirmative>,
Speaker 3 00:07:16 And I loved it. So, I mean, that makes me feel really good. It makes me feel that finally <laugh>, uh, all of these things are coming together and they, and I think it has a lot to do with humanity, you know, and, and, and trying to reach all people, not just one group of people, but everybody.
Speaker 2 00:07:40 Hmm. Wow. Well, so we've spoken a little bit how the book is primary, your photography, and then there's some, um, is it poetry interview mixed in there as well? The, the art book Edger. And so you're, yeah. Oh, did you wanna talk a little bit more about the content? The, um, you built the narrative in the book Ager, that's based on your personal writings, right? Ager?
Speaker 3 00:08:06 Yeah, it's, uh, well, Steve did a lot of interviews with me mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and they took the interviews and they did what they call, um, oh, I forgot the word already. Uh, erase your poetry. Ooh. So what happened was, instead of just copying everything I said, they picked, you know, certain parts and sections and wove it all together with the, uh, story so that the work says, um, well, the pages are all black mm-hmm. <affirmative> and the writing, some of it isn't white and highlighted. So if you read the white part, then you begin to understand what the rest is about, the black writing. But the whole idea of that was to give people an idea of what the stories are about. And later on they can come back and read them. But I was very interested in having the book Be Black, because, you know, when pages white, you have a really big after image, and I wanted this book to work like a shutter.
Speaker 3 00:09:14 You go from one image to the next, and it's black in between, just like a shutter. So you concentrate on one image at a time. And I think that you begin to see more. I didn't want any titles or dates or anything like that, because I think if you give people titles and dates, you know, bird on a Tree, then they look to see if there's a bird. And sometimes there's no bird on the tree <laugh>. So I wanted to eliminate all the confusion about the dates and the titles so that you could experience the photograph totally based on your experience visually. Um, and I think that's, that works very well.
Speaker 2 00:10:01 I would agree. Um, the experience of interacting with the book, it was really, um, I wanna say vast. There was, there was a lot of room for my own curiosity and my own creativity to move in and out of what you were offering in yours as well. Um, so you were have this book, you're also a painter and a poet, and museums around the country have pieces of your work in them and are proud to do so. Of course. Um, you've also had the opportunity to take film stills in key films such as The Cotton Club and on Golden Pond, and you even took a role or two in such as, um, I'm not rapaport with Ozzie Davis and Walter Mattau <laugh>. You also have a background in music having played saxophone and eventually having photo photographed some of our most iconic jazz musicians. Would you like to reflect on your experience in, uh, taking photographs of musicians and kind of your experience in music in general? I wanna move from that to a visual aspect towards the end of this, but, um, well, the first experiences
Speaker 3 00:11:07 I started out in as a kid with music and, uh, so I was very, very, um, influenced in all of my work with music because it's just part of my soul, I guess. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. And I think that, um, I was interested, interested in jazz when I was in school in Ohio University. We would drive to New York on the weekend to see Thelonius Buck if he was at the Five Spot, or he was, and Miles Davis was at Kearney Hall and we were students, but our teacher, David Hostettler, our sculptor teacher was the jazz drummer. And so he say, you know, uh, monks at Five Spot this weekend. So we'd all jump in the car after the last class and drive to New York and here at The Lone Smoke. So I have a big, big, big, big, uh, love for music, so photographing these different musicians, I didn't want to, um, I wanted to do something very personal with these musicians. Something that, uh, I felt about them as opposed to, oh, here he is. And I think that, that, that comes through because a lot of the photographs, they're not looking at the camera or facing, and they're involved in whatever they're doing. And I sort of captured certain moments of those people, which is what I think my whole style is about. I'm not a, um,
Speaker 3 00:12:43 What do you call it? A, um, conceptualist photographer. I don't have an idea. And then I set up these ideas that I photo, I tried to photograph life as it's happening in front of me, because I think that's, that's more important. You can do almost anything if you think about it long enough an idea and figure a way to do it in the cameras and all that. But to me that's, um, I'd like to deal with the reality of what's going on at that moment.
Speaker 2 00:13:12 Well, Deborah, oh, sorry to interrupt. Go for it.
Speaker 3 00:13:15 And that was the, the basis of most of the jazz musicians I photographed.
Speaker 2 00:13:21 So you're cap capturing them visually in the state that they're in. And then, now Deborah's just told me that you've also had some poetry that came that from inspiration from working in, taking photographs of people
Speaker 3 00:13:36 Gonna, the <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:13:38 <laugh>. But Andrew, that poem you wrote of all the musicians that you photographed is so musical.
Speaker 3 00:13:46 Yeah. Bright moments, that poem. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:13:49 Bright Moments.
Speaker 3 00:13:50 Yes. You like that one? Yes. And it was inspired by what I tried to capture in the point was the feeling of each musician, you know? Um, and that was what that feeling tone was about, you know, bird Bobs, uh, Louise Lips, uh, Ella Estella, you know, just trying and relate how I felt about their music. And that was what that was all about, that poetry.
Speaker 2 00:14:21 That's excellent. And then you also did these sketches, and it, do you wanna talk about your sketches and how the music is kind of integrated into them? And then, oh, you mean
Speaker 3 00:14:36 The scribble <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:14:37 Scribble, these sketches, scribble sketches or,
Speaker 3 00:14:40 Yeah, I, I call, I call 'em the scribble drawings because what I try to do, you know, you always make these little things on notepads sometimes when you're talking, you make these little notes. And now I made these little drawings, and when I was looking at 'em, I said, some of these look like, you know, different things. So I expanded that idea, and I called them scribble drawings because I draw them rhythmically very fast. I don't, you know, it's not like, you know, a shade and everything, just black and white lines done without trying to think about where it's gonna go, but deal with the shape that's happening in front of me. So it has a musicality to, it has a certain rhythm.
Speaker 2 00:15:26 Well, we have some in the studio that we're gonna come back to you in a bit. Um, okay. <laugh>, I wanna take a moment and introduce the Temple Tria who are here. They're here with us. Um, and it's Anthony Cox, Scott Foltz and Dvu Saru. We, they're all well known musicians in the area, and they're also internationally recognized. And thank you all three of you for being here so much. And I wanted to ask you three, a few questions. Um, I think, here's Scott. Would you, what, where did the idea to play from sketches come from?
Speaker 4 00:16:05 Oh, wow. Um, you know, a lot, there's a lot of overlap. Old, uh, exposure to, uh, Kandinsky concerning a spiritual and art, and, uh, working with Dvu and, uh, uh, exploring Cornelius Carou. But, uh, even without that, as soon as I saw Andrew's drawings, it was, uh, the sound blet off the images, and it was a no-brainer. I really wanted to try and engage with them musically.
Speaker 2 00:16:37 Well, I can see how that could inspire that for sure. With all the emotion and activity there in these sketches. And the sketches have, um, a quality of almost like notes, like you can, because of the way there's the, the black coloring of the shapes, right. And then the lines mm-hmm. <affirmative>, it's almost like all the notes start merging together, and then you can feel the rhythm and they, they just speak like music.
Speaker 3 00:17:09 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,
Speaker 2 00:17:11 Uh, DVU, do you wanna tell us, um, about the Temple Trio and kind of what your, your goals are in this,
Speaker 5 00:17:20 Please? I will, I promise the others that
Speaker 2 00:17:23 I would Thank you.
Speaker 5 00:17:24 Uh, well, we were, so they speak like music. We, Anthony Scott, and I would get together, uh, before the opening of the exhibit at, uh, Elmer Anderson library of, uh, edge Archive, uh, on, which was on display a couple months ago. Uh, we gather to figure out how exactly to make them speak like music, and in various ways we might approach interpreting the doodles or scribbles, excuse me, doodle though our address is a good one. That sounds almost like something that Ella Fitzgeral would say, <laugh>. But, uh, but the, the, uh, uh, so we would get together and we, in addition to, again, just sort of sorting, dealing with the visual, uh, you know, we did a little bit of reading and, uh, I, I ran, came into a quote of ars, which when as, so for me, the artist's responsibility is to keep the temple, the body, mind, spirit, clear, clean, and open when it is so, uh, uh, tuned.
Speaker 5 00:18:28 When it is attuned, uh, the creative impulse can be fully received, re reflected to the highest degree where, uh, form color define, uh, oh, excuse me, uh, color define a space that the viewer can feel with the heart, explore the eyes, and contemplate with the mind. Thought that was beautiful because, uh, we had got to have dinner with Ager, uh, last year. And part of the, uh, conversation we had was about some of the photographs. And there's a, a wonderful image of John Coltrane that, uh, uh, ager had had taken, and which is in the, a sort of a centerpiece, I at least I feel like, to the, uh, ager book, uh, the new book, uh, 21st, uh, editions. Uh, and, you know, I asked at dinner, I asked, uh, ager whether or not he, how he felt about the title Spiritual Jazz for John Coltrane's music, because that's something that people talk about often.
Speaker 5 00:19:26 Uh, and he said he thought it was okay. And that made sense to me, seeing his work and thinking about spirit. And, uh, it seemed like obviously Andrew is connected to something, uh, uh, again, beyond the conceptual, uh, what can be, you know, conceived of with the, with the head, the mind only. And so, uh, we took from this quote that, uh, language about the, the body has the, uh, the, the body, mind, spirit as a kind of temple. Uh, and I was thinking about lyric that the history of lyric poetry and the desire to express something and the bodies function in that. And, uh, so that's, that's how we, we landed on the Temple Trio.
Speaker 2 00:20:07 That is excellent and very exciting. And I must say, I'm very grateful that I got to see you in collaboration at the exhibit closing at Anderson Library. And it's just so fantastic to have you here as well. Um, Adger, what's it like to hear them hear your drawings? I know you are, you're obviously very close and know your drawings well, and then you get to hear them coming from the second party. What's that like? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.
Speaker 3 00:20:36 Well, I, I was just, I didn't know they were going to do that
Speaker 2 00:20:42 <laugh>,
Speaker 3 00:20:43 So when I got there and I saw the drawings and I said, oh, well, they're just background, you know, and then I went up and I looked at the stands to see what the music was, and he was so smaller drawings, and I, I said, oh, wow. He said, we're going to, you know, we're gonna play. So the drawings, and I was blown away. Mm-hmm. Because that's part of my dream to, you know, have something like that and I not have to say it
Speaker 2 00:21:14 Right.
Speaker 3 00:21:15 Them say it to me was just, I felt so great. I sit there, listened to the musicians and he was like, well, I said, I don't want, I want just listen. And it was really great. It was just cathartic. No, to me, I was just outta my bird. <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:21:31 Yeah. I wanna make one quick comment. That's where I caught you at the, the closing party. I was like, where is this person named? Ager? And then you were back in the corner, <laugh> listening to the music, all Quiet <laugh>. Um, Deborah, were you gonna say something? Yeah, just quickly, I just wanted to say the way that we had that set up for the Exhibit A, you had embroidered, uh, a few of your sketches, right. And they were, they're, they're big
Speaker 3 00:22:00 Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:22:00 <affirmative>, I don't how big are they? Like,
Speaker 3 00:22:03 Uh, three by four feet
Speaker 2 00:22:06 Sometimes. Yes. Something like that. And so we pinned them up and kind of created back sound. We tried to create some, um, sound boards, but using the embroidery. But as people came into the gallery and listened to the music, they also saw the sketches.
Speaker 3 00:22:26 Right, right. Yeah.
Speaker 2 00:22:29 Well, we're actually gonna do that again. Now we have, um, four of your sketches in here, I think. And we're gonna ask the Temple trio to put just like, just a couple minutes, um, great. Of interpretation in. And then we are gonna take a short little breather to do a couple announcements for the station, but then we're gonna come right back cuz we get the whole hour on, uh, temple Trio. Would you guys like to take it from here for a couple minutes? Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 00:26:32 Okay. Welcome back. Thank you. I wanna say thank you again to the Temple Trio for their interpretations. They finished up just before that. And this is Molly Ray Miller on K F A I radio, right on radio program with Adra Cohens and Temple Trio and Deborah, again, I don't want us to give you the wrong title again, I'm sorry. Um, uh, so adr, I wanna jump right back to you. Uh, your photography seems to be a primary medium in this new art book by 21st editions. And I wanna tell you something that I'm a painter and I actually really enjoyed your paintings that were up at the exhibition. And I did some of my own research to find your other art and on your website. And I'm just, I'm so excited about it. This, I got to see a few of them at the, the exhibit at the University of Minnesota in Anderson Library.
Speaker 2 00:27:26 And I really resonated with your statements in your first book of working with the paint in a physical manner and almost as if you're sculpting. And, uh, I kind of like the term graffiti came to mind because that's what I like to do with paint. And I could see you're doing that as well. You're scraping wet paint away and to and fro on these surfaces. So, um, in your book you talk about, is it we, Wesley Valey, Valey Kandinsky's, the Spiritual, spiritual and Art. And in the exhibition at Anderson Library in this past fall, one of your sketchbooks was on view with Paul Cleese's quote, art does not reproduce the visible, but makes visible. Can you talk about these influences on your work please?
Speaker 3 00:28:11 Um, well I think Kandinsky kind of released me to, um, find my own way, um, as opposed to being an abstract artist. Um, well all art to me is abstract because you're take him from life and it's not the thing itself, but it's your interpretation. So, uh, and his writing spoke to me in the sense that you can have a hundred different paintings by a hundred different artists with, uh, apple and a bowl on a table. It's still apple and a bowl on a table by different artists. What's, you know, so to distinguish himself, he used biomorphic imagery and I thought that was great. And so that really released me from having to um, be the sort of standard idea of painting that you paint on an easel and brushes, et cetera. So I started expressing paint using tools as opposed to brushes. And then that kind of released me.
Speaker 3 00:29:35 And then the idea that Paul Clay, you know, that statement is just so profound to me. It just resonated with me. And that's why I put it on one of, on one of my shows because, you know, art does not reproduce the visible, it makes visible. So that's like you are drawing out of spirit or you're you drawing from somewhere else to make something here. And I just thought that, you know, cuz most artists think about, oh, I'm gonna paint something I make, well not really <laugh>, it's there. And if you are so in tune with spirit, it comes through you. So you are a doorway or a, um, reflector of spirit. You know, it's not about you, it's about the work coming through you and you should feel happy and lucky that it's happening to you. Because I think to be an artist is a calling, just like being a preacher or a minister or anybody else, you know?
Speaker 3 00:30:44 So I, I heard a voice, I had a calling. Well, to be an artist is a calling is a calling deep within from the spirit. And if you hear it and you feel it, then you know, cuz many are called <laugh>. But if you hear the word, and I think that, um, that's just kind of where I'm at, it released me, can disk released me to experiment with my own ideas and concepts. Not having to say, well you have to paint like this and certain tradition you have to paint from big years and you have to learn to draw. And I mean, I like to draw, but you know, <laugh>, my drawing is different. And I think that that, you know, I think most artists I talk to you, you have to have your own voice. And that voice I think is not outside, but it's in you. And if you can express that and people have a feeling about then I think you've done your job.
Speaker 2 00:31:47 I think there's a lot of pressure in the art scene and the art world to do it right. And if you're not doing it right, you're absolutely doing it wrong. But, Hmm. You know, the way you're kind of talking about this is, you know, if you're doing it then it's right and
Speaker 3 00:32:03 Doing it right. There's no, something is wrong. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 00:32:06 <affirmative>, it's coming out. And I loved, um, your painting on the floor. I think in the book you, you <laugh> hunched over doing everything on the floor. And I, I think that's exciting. And you know, a lot of artists don't have the same means as all the other artists to produce. So really the creativity is key in production and really mm-hmm. <affirmative> doing what you're trying to do. Um, okay. I wanted to keep moving into your creativity and you talk a lot about it in autobiography and that was, now today things are a little different, you know, will you discuss with us what you think the most important aspects are in creating art specifically today? And by this I mean what is really making a difference and how can people try to continue to tap into their beautiful creative abilities even in like the stress and pressures of what we have going on? What would offer, what would you offer for some inspiration or encouragement?
Speaker 3 00:33:12 Listen, listen to your own voice. Don't listen to all the stuff that's outside. You see, if you're very quiet, you'll hear that little voice inside. It's very loud. It's like when you do something, you know it's not right. You have a feeling you may ignore it. You say, well that wasn't right. You didn't treat that person right way. You know, you didn't, but you guys gloss over. You keep going with life. But you also know when you've done something good, you know that energy. When you've done something nice for somebody, how do you feel? You feel, you feel uplifted because you helped somebody. You didn't ask for anything back from them, but you helped that person, uh, crossing the street, uh, giving somebody money, uh, doing something for somebody that they didn't ask you to do that they enjoyed. You know, any, anything that you give of yourself, your spirit, it comes back to you.
Speaker 3 00:34:24 And I think if you listen to the little voice inside, it'll tell you what to do. You know, we use it all the time, but we don't think about it. You know, we meet somebody for the first time and you like 'em or you don't like 'em, and what is that? Is their energy, you know, is their aura. You know, somebody gives you a limp hand and you, oh look, and it's an immediate feeling. You may not say, well that's this or that. If it's somebody you're trying to get with that has some money or this or that, you might excuse their bad behavior, you know, and you don't like them, but you have to deal with them because it's your job or they have money or there's something, you know, but you always feel that. And I think if you go with your first feeling, you know, that's pretty honest, you know. And I think that, um, your first feelings about anything, you know, but we don't usually go with what we always say. Oh, um, we make excuses. We make excuses for ourself, we make excuses for other people, you know, and it's very hard to deal with the truth. Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3 00:35:38 <affirmative> of your emotions and feelings. But when you can do that, you know, and I think, um, after you get to be 70, you don't care <laugh>, you just let it go. You know, you've had enough of life. I think at that point that you can begin to see the circles of life that you know, you know, if you do this, it's gonna come out over here. You know, you know what you're doing when you get to be a certain age, you know your feelings about everything and you don't make any excuses anymore. You some could do, but I think if when you're an artist and you're creative, you don't have time to play around with bs, you know, who's gotta get right to whatever it is. And if you deal honestly, you know, that's the only way to do it. Or listen to your inner voice.
Speaker 2 00:36:35 So I have an improv, improv question for you then. Uh, do you think that your art has changed then within the last few years with like the statement that you just shared? Or do you think that you've really kind of carried a steadfast mission that you're making?
Speaker 3 00:36:54 Well, well I think my is always changing because life is always changing. You know, if what I did back then, you might say, well, that I don't recognize it. It doesn't look like your style. I don't have a style. I try to make different images every time I step into the studio. I might use some of the same things, but I'm trying to think, how do I feel today? What's going on in the world today? How do I feel about this? How I feel about this color or that color, you know, uh, what do I wanna express? How am I feeling? So every day is different. Life is moving all the time. Nothing stays still. The whole universe is moving, you know, your whole body is moving, you're thinking, you're eating, you're doing all these different things. You know, you're sleeping, you're nothing stays the same.
Speaker 3 00:37:49 Life is motion all the time. And I think painting should be, all arts are that way, but they all deal in terms of your, uh, um, feeling about them. When you go see a really good movie and you walk out, you feel great and you wanna tell, oh, I saw this great movie. It was, it was really great. It was a great scene. They acted all, you see it, uh, something in the theater or dance and you, and you know, and you say, oh my God, that was, you know, and you tell somebody, did you see this? Or did that was so great? I felt so great. Even a week later I thought about it. I felt great. So that's the whole ball of wax in terms of expressing yourself as a creative person. You don't have to be a painter to be creative. You don't have to be a dancer to be creative. You can be creative in whatever it is that you're doing by giving it your heart, giving it your feeling, your best. And you're an artist, you know, and they kind of made, you know, the artists are, you know, different. They're over here, they're, you know, oh he paints or he dances or we are all artists, every human being and we're all, or is my friend used to say, we're all angels on our way to perfection.
Speaker 2 00:39:19 Thank you. That's, that's so encouraging and very, um, stimulating for new ideas and self encouragement. You know, there's a lot of, people are hard on themselves for not feeling creative enough and I think that knowing that they're allowed to be creative all the time, that's just, it's just so great.
Speaker 3 00:39:37 Have to be creative,
Speaker 2 00:39:39 <laugh>, you
Speaker 3 00:39:40 Know, just cause you are creative. People say, oh what? You can be creative every day, you know, without making a painting, without doing anything. Maybe you get up in the morning and you say, well in the morning I'm gonna wear a green in the afternoon I wear purple. You know, whatever. You can be creative with your clothing, with your life, with people, with your friends, everything.
Speaker 2 00:40:06 That's really, really lovely. Thank you <laugh>. Um, and just thank you so much for being here. It's, thank you. It's really cool to connect again and to have the opportunity to have you with us. And I really just wanna take a moment to thank uh, Deborah Alton as well, cuz she really helped put this entire thing together. She's the art and performing arts librarian and curator of the Gorman Rare art books and media collection and curator of the Performing Arts archives at the U of M. And I was lucky enough to get to know her and to have it turn into something as large as this. And it's just so exciting. And I wanna thank the Temple Trio as well for making time to come in here and to collaborate and overheat slightly in the studio with us, <laugh>. And we do have the time, so I would love to do some more, uh, little bit of improv, uh, with them off of your sketches and then come back and we can wind down and have a little more commentary and relax some more. Um, temple Trio, do you wanna take it off again and kind of work off these pieces of art that we have in here? Thank you.
Speaker 7 00:41:22 Trial
Speaker 3 00:41:25 <laugh>.
Speaker 2 00:44:39 Thank you again to all three of you. Oops. Okay, I got to get back. I was so lost in the music. I forgot we're, I was sitting here and I was supposed to be doing something <laugh>. Um, I wanna ask, um, we haven't heard from Anthony yet who is also playing with Temple Trio. Do you want to kind of start some conversation about your experiences in this and maybe the all three of your experiences together? I know we've each asked you one by one, it'd be great to kind of hear a little bit more detail.
Speaker 6 00:45:17 Well,
Speaker 8 00:45:17 Um, it came about when, um, Scott asked me about doing this playing, you know, for Andrews, excuse me, opening. And I, um, and one of the things he said was like, and it was all out of need or necessity, he said, um, I don't think a bass would work, an acoustic bass would work in the hall. So I, um, but he said a cello would really carry, and, and it does in there, it was like playing in a church. And I said, oh great, that sounds good. And so right there that created, sparked a different concept than what's usual because sometimes, you know, the, the instrumentation can, can dictate how, uh, how you're gonna play just because people have heard so much of a certain kind of, uh, instrumentation, especially like a bass sacks and drums. Um, then the next thing was Scott told me about is that we would interpret agers, um, drawings, scribbles, I don't <laugh>, whatever.
Speaker 8 00:46:24 And so like, uh, I said great. And so my experience playing in that way is that, uh, you know, I'm, graphic charts can be very meticulous in terms of, uh, what the composer wants and each little line means something and then you're supposed to do this and, and all that. And it's with the idea of a time, a forward, uh, time continuum, uh, related to pitches and you might be given the, uh, the choice. This was more open to us to just look at the shapes and interpret what we felt and how, uh, and um, and so it made it very interesting for us to, you know, I would look and sometimes I would be literal, you know, I'd see these swirling lines, but a lot of times I really, really, really tried to avoid that. I wanted to, um, I I just wanted to like kind of be at the moment when I looked at it and I'm not always looking at it. We, I none of us are. So that was one thing that we did. So it was really refreshing to, to uh, to play this play. Mm
Speaker 2 00:47:37 Mm-hmm <affirmative>. It was very refreshing and calming to listen to and be in the presence of as well. Of course. Um, if people wanted to know more about Temple Trio, is there a space where they could do that or well you kind of existing amongst yourselves?
Speaker 8 00:47:55 Um, not yet. I'll say it that way cuz we have big plans now. It just kind of set, it set us up and we, we have rehearsed and we're always, um, doing things and so we decided like we're gonna start recording, we're gonna start writing, we're gonna try every try different instruments also. Um, so we'll start to really document ourselves, um, this year. Okay.
Speaker 2 00:48:22 Thank you. That's good to know. I hope that we can get connected to that. I wanna close this up. I um, we are getting close to the end. I wanna thank you everybody and I wanna thank Ager Scott, VU, Anthony and Deborah from the U of M Libraries and everyone else here that's helping put this together, making this possible. We've spoken about Ara Cohen's new artist book Ager, available from the publisher, 21st editions also linked into his website, ARA Cohens dot com's full of art and inspiration. Um, and we also had commentary about his published memoir Art in the Moment. We're just so lucky to have everybody here and the treat of live music in between for our full hour. Um, thank you everybody so much.
Speaker 3 00:49:05 Thank you. Pleasure. Thank you.
Speaker 2 00:49:06 Thanks for making the time and I thank that. Is there anything else we need to comment on before we No, thank you Alger for being here. It's nice to see you.
Speaker 3 00:49:16 Nice to see you. Thank you.
Speaker 2 00:49:18 All right, so this is, uh, right on radio on K F A I. And thank you. And we can say goodbye again af off air here in a second. If we want,
Speaker 1 00:49:48 You are listening to Right on radio on K F a 90.3 FM and streaming live on the
[email protected]. I'm Sam, we would like to take this opportunity to thank Molly, Ray Miller, Deborah Olten, ARA Collins, and the rest for their fantastic interview. We'd also like to thank the Temple Trio for their great performance this evening. Finally, we'd also like to thank all of our listeners without your support and donations, KFA, I would not be possible. You can find more news and info about right on radio at kfa.org/right on radio. You can listen to all your favorite right on radio episodes, anywhere you stream your podcasts.
