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Benjamin Clark : Portland, Oregon |
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Written by Charlie McEnerney
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Watch and listen to the 30 minute interview.  Benjamin Clark is a wonderful painter in Portland, Oregon whose work runs the gamut between portraiture and landscape, nudes and recreations, almost all of which has Clark re-using found and recycled wood as his canvases. He also builds furniture for a variety of clients in the Portland area, utilizing much of the Northwest's wood in its second (or third) life. Culture Sleuths sat down with Clark recently at his home in North Portland to talk about his need to paint, some ideas of new business models that might improve the art gallery world, and how he started building furniture. Check out his Web site and you can see Clark's work at Pamela Springfield's Cannibals Gallery on NW 21st in Portland. To see some of his tables in action, eat dinner at Clyde Commons and stay at the Ace Hotel. |
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John Fulton : Boston, Massachusetts |
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Written by Charlie McEnerney
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 Listen to the 40 minute interview. Author John Fulton has published three books to date, 2001’s Retribution, 2002’s More Than Enough, and his latest, 2007’s The Animal Girl. Working in short stories, novellas, and novels, Fulton’s characters are often confronted with difficult decisions amid pivotal moments in their lives. Fulton's work often tackles topics that might make us flinch in real life, but his characters find their own unique ways of approaching difficult subjects and issues. In addition to his writing, Fulton teaches fiction writing at University of Massachusetts-Boston. Fulton has won numerous literary awards and was just short listed for The Story Award, the most prestigious award for fiction collections written in English. Culture Sleuths sat down with Fulton on a cold, sunny afternoon in January Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts to discuss his passion for short fiction, how his stories and characters develop, and how teaching fiction influences and inspires his own writing. Check out Fulton’s web site for more information and read two stories he’s excerpted online, including Hunters from The Animal Girl collection and Braces from his Retribution collection. |
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Susan Eisenberg: Boston, Massachusetts |
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Written by Charlie McEnerney
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Listen to the 38 minute interview with Susan Eisenberg  Licensed as a master electrician, Susan Eisenberg has written several books of poetry and a book of non-fiction about women in the building trades entitled We'll Call You When We Need You: Experiences of Women Working Construction (Cornell University Press, 1999). The book was selected as a New York Times Book Review Notable Book and optioned by MGM for a feature film. Her collection of poems on the building trades include It’s a Good Thing I’m Not Macho(Whetstone Press 1984) and Pioneering: Poems from the Construction Site (Cornell University Press, 1998) which were followed by Blind Spot (The Backwaters Press, 2006), a series of poems marking key points in her own life as well as the issues that we prefer to be unseen. Eisenberg recently debuted Perpetual Care, a cycle of poems accompanied with photographs that opens a conversation on chronic illness. The show was on display at Lesley University in March 2008 and will be at Brandeis University where she is a Visiting Artist/Scholar. Eisenberg's On Equal Terms installation will exhibit at the Women's Studies Research Center gallery at Brandeis from October 2, 2008 to January 9, 2009. Eisenberg also travels widely as a poet and lecturer. Photo by Simon Eisenberg |
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Aaron Belyea and Alphabet Arm Design : Boston, Massachusetts |
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Written by Charlie McEnerney
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Listen to the interview and see samples of work from Alphabet Arm Design 
Alphabet Arm Design is a growing design firm in Boston, Massachusetts that creates logo and identity materials, CD and book covers, and merchandise design for a wide variety of clients. They also work closely with BzzAgent, the leading word-of-mouth marketing agency. Join us for a conversation with Aaron Belyea (A.K.A. Alphabet Arm—his design moniker), Ira Cummings, Ryan Frease, and Chris Piascik about how the design process works, what the agency’s goals are for creating a company’s new logo or look, and how they are taking their design sensibilities to an increasing number of national clients. You probably already know their work...not find out how it gets created. |
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We need “culture sleuths,” like trusted friends with good taste, to help us discover the best from cities around the world who then produce short audio, video, and mixed-media interviews that go deep into subjects with authors, chefs, painters, musicians, poets, filmmakers, etc. It's taking the idea of my site 