Raw Material is back in the mixtape game with a collection of episodes by some of our favorite podcasts at the moment. Presented by Tamar Avishai of the Lonely Palette podcast, this mixtape explores not just how art contributes to our lives but also how we, as viewers or as listeners, contribute to art.

Mixtape: The Beholder's Share

This season, podcaster-in-residence Babette Thomas leads listeners on a journey through the power of Black Imagination –– surfacing voices of Black Bay Area art history pioneers in the archives and dreaming about free Black art spaces of the future.

Season 7: Visions of Black Futurity

It’s MIXTAPE Season! This year activist, writer, and media-maker, Alice Wong is Raw Material's "podcaster-in-residence"! Tune in each week as Alice shares five episodes from her podcast Disability Visibility that bring listeners to the intersection of art and disability. Away. We. Go!

Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com) 

Episode transcripts available at the link below:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1X2gdlMiCPbWcjdPLEGL74fvpVv0C5_Lo?usp=sharing

Mixtape: Disability Visibility

Season 4: Luvvers

Call 415-915-1784.

Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Season 7 Trailer: Visions of Black Futurity

Babette sets the sonic table for Season 7 of Raw Material with a playlist of songs inspired by the ethos of the Black Bay Area during the 1960s and 1970s. 

Spotify playlist: https://spoti.fi/3pfCBgY

Featured: Evangeline Montgomery, and Babette Thomas 

Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Playlist: The Vibes are Free

In Episode 1 of Visions of Black Futurity, Babette Thomas takes us on a journey through time. We travel to a 1968 Black arts exhibition in Oakland, California, called New Perspectives in Black Art. It was the first of its kind in the country and, in this episode, we meet the woman behind it all, a Black artist and curator named Evangeline "EJ" Montgomery.

Featured: Etta Moten Barnett, Dewey Crumpler, Zora Neale Hurston, Evangeline Montgomery, Ma Rainey, Bobby Seale, Babette Thomas, and Sarah Vaughn. 

Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 1: Finding Kinship in the Archive

In Episode 2 of Visions of Black Futurity, Babette visits a museum with no walls: the Noah Purifoy Outdoor Desert Museum in Joshua Tree, CA. Purifoy tells us what led him to the desert and Cauleen Smith creates a Black, feminist utopia in the spaces he built. Even our dreams have rhythm, let’s go together, moving through time + space — funkin to the beat of “One.”

Interview of Noah Purifoy provided by the Center for Oral History Research, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA

Featured: Evangeline Montgomery, Bí Oke, Noah Purifoy, Cauleen Smith, Babette Thomas, and Jay Thomas. 

Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 2: Preparing for Launch

In Episode 3, Babette tries to answer the question, “Where will we host our Black art spaces of the future?” In the woods, by the ocean, or in a city center? They turn to artists who deal with matters of space, place, and land: Octavia Butler, Richard Mayhew, and Bay Area artist Sage Stargate. Follow us, as we trace the footsteps our ancestors have left behind.

Featured: Richard Mayhew, Evangeline Montgomery, Bí Oke, Sage Stargate, Babette Thomas, Jay Thomas, and Veronica Thomas. 

Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 3: Big Black Open Spaces

In Episode 4 of Visions of Black Futurity, Babette shares an update on their search for Evangeline. Plus, we hear two episodes of Rightnowish hosted by Pendarvis Harshaw, exploring what it looks like to build liberated Black spaces in the Bay Area.

Featured: Deanna Van Buren, Pendarvis Harshaw, Tajai Massey, Evangeline Montgomery, and Babette Thomas. 

Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 4: Black Futurity Rightnowish

In Episode 5, Babette connects with artist Cheryl Fabio to discuss the work, impact, and foresight of her mother, poet and activist Sarah Webster Fabio. Rapper and fellow writer Nappy Nina reflects on the role of community in building an art career and practice.

Featured: Cheryl Fabio, Sarah Webster Fabio, Evangeline Montgomery, Nappy Nina, and Babette Thomas. 

Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 5: How Art Lives

In Episode 6, Babette is welcomed into the home of artist Mildred Howard. Twice. Listen to Mildred speak about letting her materials inform her, reflecting light through glass bottles, and giving Black women their flowers.

Featured: Elizabeth Catlett, Mildred Howard, Evangeline Montgomery, Betye Saar, and Babette Thomas. 

Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 6: We All We Got

In Episode 7, Babette reconnects with EJ, and we hear her loud and clear. Babette talks with KQED’s Pendarvis Harshaw + former Oakland head librarian Dorothy Lazard about what makes Oakland soulful. NIAD artists Deatra Colbert and Halisi Noel-Johnson tell us about being Black and legendary. 

Featured: Deatra Colbert, Nan Collymore, Susan Goldman, Pendarvis Harshaw, Martha Jackson Jarvis, Halisi Noel-Johnson, Dorothy Lazard, Evangeline Montgomery, Stephany Neal, and Babette Thomas.

Audio excerpt from Portfolios: E.J. Montgomery, ©Printmaking Legacy Project®, www.printmakinglegacyproject.org. Used with permission.

Cover art: Evangeline's Garden by Jeanna Penn @jinamae

Visions of Black Futurity Episode 7: Radical Dreaming

Raw Material is excited to share The Mission Muralismo Audio Zine – Volume I with our listening audience — because we know how much you love ART about ART! Local writers Olivia Peña and Josiah Luis Alderete interweave their perspectives on the history of the Mission Muralismo movement with stories from the muralists themselves.  

This zine expands storytelling related to SFMOMA’s Summer 2022 exhibition Diego Rivera’s America, centering voices of The Mission community and Muralism movement.

Full English Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ka7WNVGkoqxlGenvOd3N50W_x1fm_lZAAbRC9SQu2NQ/edit#heading=h.hgszqot914a9

Full Spanish Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1d3iZrqJSt2wHuoEfWhfW7UgXRUNq6Oe7nd18N5qsJss/edit#heading=h.hgszqot914a9

Featured Artists:
Juana Alicia, Susan Cervantes, Daniel Galvez, Mia Galaviz de Gonzalez, Nancy “Pili” Hernandez, John Jota Leaños, Consuelo Mendez, Irene Perez, Patricia Rodriguez.

Cast and Crew:
Josiah Luis Alderete – Narrator and Co-Writer
Javier Briones – Interviewer, Sound Recordist
Natalia De La Rosa – Production Assistant
Erica Gangsei – Executive Producer
Stephanie Garcés – Interviewer
Camilo Garzón – Voice Director, Co-Writer, Sound Designer, Interviewer, Sound Recordist, and Lead Producer
Santino Gonzales – Sound Designer, Sound Recordist, and Score Composer Christo Oropeza – Score Composer
Olivia Peña – Narrator and Co-Writer
Myisa Plancq-Graham – Executive Producer, Interviewer, Sound Recordist
Gustavo Vera – Sound Recordist

Collage by Myisa Plancq-Graham, with photos by Frevi, Carol M. Highsmith, and Myisa Plancq-Graham

Table of Contents:
00:00 – 02:37 - Prologue: Land & Language Acknowledgement, featuring a poetry excerpt of Holding Space Inside a Colonized Place by Josiah Luis Alderete.

02:38 – 06:12 - What does the Mission mean to you? Featuring Nancy “Pili” Hernandez & Consuelo Mendez.

06:13 – 08:18 - Mia Galaviz de Gonzalez reflects on the origins of Balmy Alley.

08:19 – 13:43 - Juana Alicia on her murals La Llorona Sacred Waters & Las Lechugueras.

13:44 – 16:43 - Susan Cervantes and Juana Alicia meet for the first time.

16:44 – 21:57 - La Misión a short story excerpt by Olivia Peña.

23:31 – 28:06 - Patricia Rodriguez & Irene Perez discuss the origins of The Mujeres Muralistas and share their artist manifesto.

28:07 – 35:36 - The impact and history of the Women’s Building’s MaestraPeace Mural.

35:37 – 39:25 - Artist and educator John Jota Leaños on Contemporary & Digital Muralism.

39:26 – 42:15 - The Galeria de la Raza Blues poetry excerpt by Josiah Luis Alderete.

42:16 – 44:52 - A collage of community member voices reflect on what the Mission means to them.

44:53 – 46:30 - Credits

46:31 – 48:21 - Epilogue: Daniel Galvez & Camilo Garzón on cave art, muralismo, & oral storytelling.

Raw Material Presents: The Mission Muralismo Audio Zine - Volume I

In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to India Harville, an African American queer disabled femme dancer, somatic bodyworker, activist, and educator.

Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com)

Full episode transcript available below:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TlOETTK70geysFM9MpBmYLmQ1ADhCF825M_6DZFC-Ws/edit?usp=share_link

Dance Off

Disabled Dancers w/ India Harville

In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to Jeff Thomas, an urban Iroquois photographer, researcher, public speaker, and curator. 

Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com) 

Full episode transcript available below: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/13hGXKXo1tJokHHKtpobdaHdJBG03eb0D-fL_-EAFm38/edit?usp=sharing

Disabled Artists w/ Jeff Thomas

In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to Lindsey D. Felt and Vanessa Chang, curators who collaborated on the multidisciplinary art exhibition "Recoding CripTech". 

Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com)

Full episode transcript available below: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1rW9gUlWx_jbxLV7aRTBimrIyoCbfCFY9NvoBiGfBxRI/edit?usp=sharing

Hard Out Here for a Gimp

Art & Technology w/ Lindsey D. Felt and Vanessa Chang

In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to Finnegan Shannon, a multidisciplinary artist making work about disability culture and access. 

Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com) 

Full episode transcript available below: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1b5mnmutrmxGUAci1nSxkQT1y6o--8dZ4HX6Eypzc6yY/edit?usp=sharing

Its Hard Out Here For A Gimp

Accessibility w/ Finnegan Shannon

In this episode Alice Wong introduces us to Amanda Cachia, an independent curator and critic whose work focuses on contemporary art, activism, and disability language in visual culture. 

Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com) 

Full episode transcript available below: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yz6gvmvR623muzyvxbkgHyMyJpYuvPyYHSQ4mu7Qhz4/edit?usp=sharing

Museums w/ Amanda Cachia

As an epilogue for the Raw Material: Disability Visibility Mixtape, we’re honored to share an audio piece by this season's podcaster-in-residence Alice Wong. The story first aired on KQED Perspectives, a show that features opinions from folks living in the Bay Area. If you haven’t already, check them out at kqed.org/perspectives. Thank you for listening and learning with us this season. 

Full episode transcript available below: 

https://docs.google.com/document/d/16gg7FbeIus45ltihrb1qA-i3i6xlBgMnwGmHXqVBURc/edit?usp=share_link

Episode Artwork by: Jen White-Johnson (www.jenwhitejohnson.com) 

Episode Artwork Description: Digital portrait of Alice Wong, an Asian person smiling. She is wearing a trach at her neck and wearing a crew neck blouse. She is sitting in her power wheelchair. There is a cream colored circle crown on a purple background.

I Still Have a Voice (Epilogue)

Discover Raw Material, a new arts and culture podcast from SFMOMA, coming October 2016.

Season 1 Trailer: Otherworld

A performance artist, a philosopher, a violinist, and a new age composer make art by harnessing unknown forces, deities, and interdimensional beings. An artist at the turn of the twentieth century holds a séance with spirits and gives birth to abstract painting.

Photo of Dohee Lee by Pak Han.

Otherworld Episode 1: The Vessel

A folk musician conducts an ayahuasca ceremony, a performance artist describes her shamanic rituals, and a pioneer of conceptual art communes with animals and inhabits his own unconscious.

Image: Joseph Beuys, I Like America And America Likes Me, 1974.

Artists featured in this episode: Santiparro, Dohee Lee, Joseph Beuys.

Otherworld Episode 2: The Ceremony

Experimental musician, pioneering performance artist, and general cult phenomenon Genesis Breyer P-Orridge reveals the role of magic in h/er life and artistic practice.  S/he describes h/er decades-long mystical work with sigils, chaos magick, sex magick, and the philosophies of Thee Temple ov Psychick Youth.

Image: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge by Ross Simonini
Artists featured in this episode: Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, Micki Pellerano

Otherworld Episode 3: The Sigil

Artists discuss intuition and divination, techniques used to perceive and foresee the unknown. They explore the intersections of their work with palmistry, poetry, astrology, and clairsentient readings.

Artists featured in this episode: CA Conrad

To read a transcript of our full interview with CAConrad, visit: http://openspace.sfmoma.org/2016/11/extreme-present-a-conversation-with-caconrad/

Otherworld Episode 4: The Diviner

Artists discuss how they both add to and draw from from Earth’s vibrations. A conceptual artist presents a chapel he has built for bees, and a free jazz improviser talks about making music with natural biological rhythms.

Photo: Terence Koh, by Ross Simonini.
Artists featured in this episode: Terence Koh, Milford Graves, Nat Evans.

Otherworld Episode 5: The Vibration

Catch a sneak peak of what’s coming this season on Raw Material, from SFMOMA.

Season 4 Trailer: Luvvers

Nayland Blake doesn’t create art to express who they are, they create art to investigate the possibilities of identity.  Hear the artist discuss their explorations of the queer, BDSM, kink, and furry scenes, and learn more about their unique approach to one of art’s oldest subjects—sex. 

Image © Nayland Blake, Courtesy Matthew Marks Gallery.

Luvvers Episode 1: What Get's You Hot?

Sex sells. In this episode, Chelsea Beck analyzes the history of persuasive sexual imagery, and imagines a world where titillation fosters compassion rather than divisiveness.

Image: Carolee Schneeman, "Interior Scroll," (1975).  Courtesy Carolina Nitsch, NY; photography by Anthony McCall.

Luvvers Episode 2:  There's No Such Thing As Too Easy

Through looking at a variety of relationships, Chelsea investigates the many ways desire can be expressed. Hear the famed love letters Frida Kahlo sent to Diego Rivera, as well as to the lesser-known, though no less poetic answering machine messages left by Chelsea’s husband.

Luvvers Episode 3:  Make Time, Make Love

The connection between the art world and the queer scene has not always been as openly discussed as it is today.  Delve into the complex relationships between art, activism, and queer identity, and discover the power of making noise through making art.

Photo: Douglas Crimp by T.L. Litt, 1990.

Interview with Douglas Crimp is courtesy of SFMOMA's Open Space, from a conversation with Claudia La Rocco at the Lab in San Francisco.

Luvvers Episode 4: Silence Equals Death, So Fuck Loudly

Sayre Quevedo begins Raw Material season six by breaking into his ex-boyfriend’s apartment. His goal is to retrieve twenty-two love letters he wrote to a man who doesn’t deserve them. Join Sayre as he searches for signs, symbols, closure, and perhaps, real connection.

Six Degrees Episode 1: Sayre

Welcome to Raw Material from SFMOMA!  Start here for a quick introduction to our seasonal arts + culture podcast, by SFMOMA Content Producer and Raw Material creator Erin Fleming.

Welcome to Raw Material

Catch a sneak peak of what’s coming this season on Raw Material's "summer mixtape," from SFMOMA.

Season update: Raw Material is temporarily suspending this season to create space for more urgent stories and conversations. Black lives matter.

Raw Material Mixtape: The Beholder's Share

Connor is a portrait of President William Howard Taft.  He's hanging on a wall, but is anybody looking at him?

This episode is produced by Everything Is Alive. More episodes at https://www.everythingisalive.com/

Connor by Everything Is Alive

“A painting is not a picture of an experience. It is the experience.”
— Mark Rothko

This episode is produced by The Lonely Palette. More episodes at http://www.thelonelypalette.com/.

Mark Rothko by The Lonely Palette

This episode focuses on Betye Saar (b. 1926). In a 1975 interview, she discusses the diverse sources for her art and how she prevailed in the face of racism and gender discrimination.

This episode is produced by the J. Paul Getty Museum Museum. More episodes at getty.edu/recordingartists/.

Betye Saar by Recording Artists

This episode, "The Many Deaths of a Painting" was produced by 99% Invisible. More episodes at 99percentinvisible.org.

Barnett Newman by 99% Invisible

Art History For All guides you through Roberto Matta’s surreal mental landscape, Invasion of the Night (1941), and explores its connections to physics and psychology.  

This episode was produced by Art History for All. More episodes at arthistoryforall.com.

Roberto Matta by Art History For All

The best-selling novelist and essayist, Olivia Laing explores the influential abstract artist Agnes Martin (1912-2004). Martin – a gay, working class woman who forged a path in a male-dominated art world – embraced solitude and didn’t have her first solo show until she was 46.

This episode was produced by Reduced Listening © Frieze.  More episodes at frieze.com/article/bow-down-podcast-women-art-history.

Agnes Martin by Bow Down

Roxane Gay reflects on Kara Walker's Christ's Entry into Journalism (2017).

The Way I See It, "Roxane Gay and Kara Walker's Christ's Entry into Journalism" was produced by the BBC in association with the Museum of Modern Art New York.  More episodes at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0009bf6.

The Way I See It

Kara Walker by The Way I See It

The art of postwar German artist Anselm Kiefer and the poetry of Holocaust survivor Paul Celan are both layered, dense, and hard to read. 
Sometimes the best starting point is through the layered, dense, and idiosyncratic ways that an individual processes trauma. So grab a spelunking hardhat and together we'll mine these layers of metaphor and materials, texture and text, golden straw and blackened ash, that comprise the unimaginable.

This episode was produced by The Lonely Palette.  More episodes at www.thelonelypalette.com.

Anselm Kiefer by The Lonely Palette

Raw Material is an arts and culture podcast from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA). Each season focuses on a different topic, featuring voices of artists working in all media and exploring the inspiration and stories behind modern and contemporary art.

Raw Material (SFMOMA)

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