Episode 06 - Art is Trial and Error with Reina Takahashi

Reina Takahashi is a paper artist is is responsible for some of the most delightful work I've ever observed. There is something about paper art that really makes people respond to it in a way that they wouldn't to any other medium. It feels friendly, playful and incredibly clever.

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How does one discover that you can be a paper artist? This is the question that I had top of mind when I recorded this conversation with my friend and paper artist, Reina Takahashi. In observing her art of the years, I have noticed that there is something about paper art that really makes people respond to it in a way that they wouldn't to any other medium. It feels friendly, playful and incredibly clever. Maybe it taps into the construction paper days that many of us experienced as children. Maybe it’s that every work of cut paper is a tiny engineering feat. Maybe it’s just that it’s really fucking cool.

Whatever the reason, Reina is just out here, creating some of the most delightful work I’ve ever observed, and I wanna know more! In this episode, we talk about saying yes to projects before you might be ready for them, why giving yourself constraints can actually be better for the creative process, and how we are both united by our love for food-themed projects.

Episode 05: Art is Voices with Dana Martin

Dana Martin is many things: my best friend, cosplay aficionado, potato chip enthusiast, art educator, and in her own words, a cultural facilitator (™). From the moment I met her, I noticed that Dana had an incredible way of talking about art in a way that demystified it, made it more accessible for people who might not have an art history degree, but were at the very least curious.

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Sometimes the world is crazy and you just need to talk to your best friend. And lucky for me, I’ve got a great one. Dana and I met each other several years ago when she was working in Public Programs and I was interning at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. We hit it off right away. I remember, from the very beginning, that Dana had an incredible way of talking about art in a way that demystified it, made it more accessible for people who might not have an art history degree, but were at the very least curious. It was refreshing to find another person who cared as much as I did about the accessibility of art and reforming museums from high-brow institutions do diverse centers for community education.

Nowadays, neither of us work in museums anymore, but Dana and I still constantly talk about the ways that art continues to motivate us, nourish us and how ultimately none of it matters if it’s not accessible to everyone. I’m so happy to welcome my partner in all things to this project. In this episode, we talk about how art shapes community, how art can foster communication better than language, and why art education will cure cancel culture.

Episode 04: Art is Medicine with Mira Shah

Mira Shah is an incredible Art Therapist who lives in Portland, OR who I am so lucky to call one of my closet friends. Mira and I were only roommates for a very brief time, but she is one of those people that leaves such a meaningful and lasting impression on your life.

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Mira is an incredible woman that I am so privileged to call one of my closest friends. Mira and I were only roommates for a very brief time, but she is one of those people that leaves such a meaningful and lasting impression on your life. As a child, while undergoing what was supposed to be a routine surgery, an unforeseen medical mishap occurred that would ultimately alter the course of Mira’s life. Despite the resulting physical and emotional trauma, Mira was able to tap into art as a healing tool that helped her re-frame her experience in a way that has lead her down a path that would allow her to help countless people though her current career as an art therapist.

More than that though, Mira is resilient, strong and, to be honest, a little bit of a wild child. You know that friend in a friend group who is a little mischievous and is always sort of breaking the rules, but somehow things turn out even better than you originally planned? THAT’S Mira. In this episode, we talk about finding ways to communicate parts of ourselves, using art as a tool for healing, and why sometimes, you just have to use wood burning tools to get your aggressions.

Special Episode: Black Lives Matter

Hey everyone, I will resume with the regularly scheduled programming next week, but I wanted to dedicate my tiny space of the internet to drawing attention the civic unrest that is happening in so many communities in America right now.

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Hey everyone, I will resume with the regularly scheduled programming next week, but it didn’t feel appropriate to post a regular episode today. Instead, I wanted to dedicate my tiny space of the internet to drawing attention the civic unrest that is happening in so many communities in America right now. Here are some ways that you can help:

Please consider donating at some of these organizations:

For a list of more organizations, as well as a list of non-monetary ways you can help, please go to bit.ly/ANTIRACISMRESOURCES for a list of books, articles, videos and podcasts that you can consciously consume.  

Please never, ever stop fighting for each other. We are all we have. ♥️

Episode 03: Art as Conversation with Karen Tepaz

Karen is an incredible Brooklyn-based ceramist, sculptor, and educator, but if I had to choose a single word to describe her, it would be: H U S T L E. This girl works 👏SO 👏DAMN 👏HARD and exemplifies the adage of getting out what you put in.

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I met Karen almost 13 years ago, during a year abroad program we both attended in Florence, Italy. The story of our friendship goes like this: She sat next to me on the plane on the flight from LAX to Florence. I had packed a sandwich for the plane ride, I offered to share it with her, and she accepted. And we’ve been friends ever since.

These days, Karen is an incredible Brooklyn-based ceramist, sculptor, and educator, but if I had to choose a single word to describe her, it would be: H U S T L E. This girl works 👏SO 👏DAMN 👏HARD and exemplifies the adage of getting out what you put in. On top of all that, she’s one of the funniest damn people I know, so I hope you have as much fun listening to this as we did making it. We talk about discovering her passion on accident, why her process is a constant conversation, and the (shocking) opinion that theater kids were actually cool and intimidating in high school.

  • 🎈 View more of Karen’s work on her website: www.karentepaz.com

  • 🥪 Follow her on her Instagram, @k_tepaz.

  • 🎉 Watch a recent artist talk she did with BKLYN CLAY, here.

And if you were at all curious to see the sculpture of me that she did and then smashed in an alley, look no further:

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Episode 02: Celebrate Small with Tori McGoogan

This week's guest is my friend and co-worker Tori McGoogan! Tori currently works as an Art Director for the Visual Systems Studio at Facebook, but that's not even the reason why I wanted to talk to her! She's one of the most creatively curious individuals I've ever met and is one of the biggest advocate for creative exploration.

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🎉 First official episode! It’s now official guys: I’m an official business woman now with an important podcast empire to run.

This week's guest is my friend and co-worker Tori McGoogan! Tori currently works as an Art Director for the Visual Systems Studio at Facebook, but that’s not even the reason why I wanted to talk to her! She’s one of the most creatively curious individuals I’ve ever met and is one of the biggest advocate for creative exploration. We talk about the accessibility of art, celebrating the small things, and why whatever you get out of art is the right thing.

Episode 01: Let's Start at the Beginning

Gah! It’s happening, ya’ll. This is the first ever episode of Just Wondering, and we’ve already gone through a hard pivot. I had a totally different episode ready to go out today, but in the middle of the night last night, I suddenly decided to go a totally different direction. That’s just the sort of high--octane, thrill-ride this podcast promises to be, so I hope you’re ready for adventure.

SURPRISE! YA GIRL’S BEEN SCHEMING! 🎉

The world might feel like it’s falling apart around us, but fear not! I’ve been secretly plotting a tiny liberation! A soothing balm! An auditory antidote! A beacon of hope for human kind! Look, it’s actually none of those things. It’s actually a podcast. And it’s (probably) not going to save the world, but it WILL be a lot of fun.

Here’s the tea, sis.

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Just Wondering is a podcast where I’ll be dedicating an entire season deep-diving into a single idea or topic that I’ve always been curious about. Possible topics include: Which font is the BEST font? How does a musician’s brain even work? Why are ASMR/slime/soap-cutting videos such a thing? You’ll get to listen to me interviewing experts* on each topic to debunk the mysteries, crack the cases and just learn more about ourselves and each other.

The first season is dropping on May 10th, 2020 (my dad’s birthday 😊), right here on this very page, and you can expect to hear a new episode every week afterward. I can also promise you’ll hear me occasionally laughing at my own jokes and periodically quoting lines from my favorite tv shows. So if you’re on board with that, then we’re gonna have some fun.

Also, I don’t think I’m like, in LOVE with the “a podcast for the eternally curious”** line, so that could change. But we’re rolling with it for now, okay? Don’t you know there’s a pandemic going on?

Thank you for, at the very least, being curious about this. I’m not going to pretend that I know exactly what I’m doing, but let’s see where this goes…

🌱♥ ya girl, Ali B.

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* Full disclosure, these experts might also be my friends. Who are all totally brilliant. So either way, you win!

** Look, I just LOVE a sub-title. Sub-header? And if there’s alliteration? 😗👌 ~chef’s kiss