June Stratton (Figurative Painter): Process, Studio Practice & Painting the Human Form

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Well, my guest this week hails from Savannah, Georgia, but
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not originally. Now she's facing the salty marshes of Savannah,
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Georgia and where she has a beautiful studio as you
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can see. If you're watching on YouTube, then you'll see
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June Stratton is joining me from down south, deep south,
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you would call it. But if you're on your podcast app,
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don't forget, you can watch us on YouTube as well.
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So welcome June. Thank you for joining me. I see you.
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Are you in your studio now?
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I am? And thank you for inviting me. Chris, I'm honored.
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Well, it's lovely to have you here because behind you
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we see those marshes of Savannah, Georgia and all the
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friendly wildlife or maybe not so friendly wildlife.
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You have been pens, but.
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You're used to. You've been there for a while now,
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haven't you. I have.
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I've been in this house for I don't know, seventeen
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years something like that. My husband will correct me on that.
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I'm sure. I'm not good with dates.
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But you've you've been your transplant because you grew up
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on the when you were born in Honolulu, right in Hawaii,
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and then moved to Seattle. So do you feel like
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you're a West Coast girl? Do you still feel that?
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I still feel like a West Coast girl. I My
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accent can change depending upon whom I'm with. But I
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spent a lot of time in northern California where I
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grew up in the Bay Area and the Northern California,
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and my dad's family was from there. He was just
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in the army for a short time. I think as
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a baby, I spent twenty seven days or twenty four
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days or something like that in Hawaii, So not very long,
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not very long at all.
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No, but you were you were, you were born off shore,
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as we say. But now your father's no longer obviously
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in the army was there, that was just a short time.
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My father was a banker. He'd managed a bank in Danville, California,
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where I spent my let's say, from the fourth grade
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to the end of high school. There were more cows
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in Danville back then than there were people, So I
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guess I'm used to being out in the wilds.
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What were you doing as a child?
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Was doing as a child?
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I was.
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I was just telling my husband, I've never mowed a lawn,
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but I was the housekeeper for the house. But I
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enjoyed being sent to my room because that meant I
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could play with my pencils. I could make things. I
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could I used to make little animals I could play with.
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I was never cleaning my room like I was supposed
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to be. I was creating.
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Never did what you're supposed to be doing. But you
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were a creative child then, from an early age were.
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You very And I was encouraged by my worst and
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best critic would have been my grandmother Stratton, and they
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lived in Berkeley, and I enjoyed visiting with her. There's
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a story I like to tell about how I was
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drawing birds in my mind. I was not allowed to
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have crowns, by the way, because they thought as were
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not real art materials or coloring books, because they wanted
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you to create your own images, which sounds cruel, but
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you know, I learned to love pencils at in early age.
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But I was drawing birds like children do, with sort
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of a dot in the middle into eyebrow wings. And
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she looked at it, went and grabbed the Audubon book
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and slapped it down next to me and said, you
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need to look at birds. So from then on, I
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looked at birds. I guess what she was trying to
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teach me is to work from reference, which is interesting
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because I naturally like to draw representational things. But in
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a way, it kind of blocked my childlike creativity. I
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don't know how you would how you would talk about that,
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but I learned to look and she became well. They
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always encouraged me to draw. You know, I was at
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cocktail hour. I was drawing.
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But you also faced with dyslexia as a child. How
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did that hamper you and interfere with your artistic development?
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I actually think it helped my artistic development a lot,
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because when you're dyslexic, you actually have to learn how
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to get around things, how to solve problems, not in
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a straightforward way, so I had to make things up
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as I went along. I think that I got passed
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on from class to class because I was a polite,
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small child, and the school classes were very large for
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the ratio to students to teachers weren't very good, and
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we had to share desks, which is how I met
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my best friend in high school, Lorie Lee Larson. We
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shared a desk and start giggling and getting in trouble.
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Oh yeah, I.
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Don't see her very often. She's still on the West Coast.
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I have a couple of West Coast friends that I'm
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close with, But you know, it's really hard to keep
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up when there's a three hour difference, which seems I mean,
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I'm sure you keeping in touch with people in Europe
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and that's a six hour difference. It's hard. So she
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kind of helped me through. I would copy her papers
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to math papers, especially because I'm not good with numbers,
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and I was especially a bad at spelling. A great
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handwriting at the time, not anymore. But getting through school
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was the hard part. I did not enjoy school at all.
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If there was a way I could do a project
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that would involve drawing my way out of something, I
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would do that, like for a creative writing class. I
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did a little in high school. I did a little
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book that was sort of looked like Ziggie, but all
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my misspellings were meant to be kind of This character
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lived on the page, so he would walk around the
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page and there was a line at the bottom of
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the page that he would walk along. And he was
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very lonely, which I mean. I had a few friends,
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but I always felt like the geek in high school
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or even before then. I could tell you many stories
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of being harassed. It was kind of geeky for most
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of my school year. But anyway, so this carecter Fred
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decided to make himself a friend. So he pushed the
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line at the bottom and it went up into a balloon,
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and then I colored it with all kinds of color
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and it came down looking just like him. And then
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he said, oh my god, you're colored, which was relevant
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to the time because the time they we're doing, you know,
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bussing and things like that, and the friend started to cry.
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Fred gives him a hug, and I think the end
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line was something like Fred makes a friend side by side.
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It's difficult to describe, but anyway, I got an A
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for that creative writing.
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Well look at you. I mean, did you think about
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going into animation then? And cartoon?
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No, I was much more into Raphael Caravaggio. He had
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bigger ambitions than that. And besides, my cartoon was an
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awful lot like ZIGGI. So no, probably not. I wasn't
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that imaginative. I think that would take a lot more
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practice for me.
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Where did the classical influence come from? Then? Oh?
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My grandmother would take me to museums, like the Palace
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of Fine Arts had had a great collection, and I
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can't think of what movies influenced me early on, but
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she had a lot of art books and I pored
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over those things. You know, don't ask me to tell
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you what date anything was created, and sometimes not remember
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the artist's name, but I usually could. My husband now,
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like when we first got together, we went we just
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happened to be in Chicago and we were at the
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museum there, and it's like, he goes, well, who's that.
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I'm like, well, that's so and so I also happened
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to be a show that was a retrospective of Gerhard Richter,
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and I was like all over that wide eyed. I'm like, oh,
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this is another room filled with more. There are more
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Richters in here.
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This is everything.
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Anyway, I like museums, So picture books and museums were
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how I got my esthetic taste. Is that a good
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answer to you question.
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Yeah, definitely. I mean we all wonder where there's a
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there's very early influences come from and who was inspiring
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you because it clearly set the pathway for you. But
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did you know then in your youth that you were
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going to be an artist, that that was the pathway
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for you.
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Oh, there was, There was no choice for me. I
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always wanted to be an artist. I remember patterns as
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early back as you know, looking at my whatever patterns
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were in my bed as a young child. And then
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my grandmother had Japanese woodblock prints and other paintings in
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the house that were David park Is a more contemporary painter.
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They appreciated the arts. They were friends with some pretty
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cool photographers. My grandmother deviled in photography. My aunt, who
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went to live in Spain in the fifties and stage
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got married there, did a lot of photography and actually
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documented the Mediterranean side of Spain pretty well back in
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the day. And there was a photographer named Carol Baldwin
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who used to take family pictures and I was always
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influenced by her compositions, I would say. And they were
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all friends with like Ansel Adams and Imogen Cunningham. I
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don't like blanking on the other names, but so I
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looked at a lot of photography too, black and white. Mostly.
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Did you do any photography?
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No, I couldn't afford any kind of good camera. So
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it wasn't until much later in my life that I
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got a good camera finally. But I went through a
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phase where I did blurry images of people in bars,
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but that didn't happen until like two thousand and six,
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two thousand and seven, and it was meant to be
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a cross between Gearhard Richter and Francis Bacon, and I
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kind of got tired of painting blurry women in bars
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that looked like that had way too much to drink,
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so I stopped for a while.
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Well, you do play paint mainly women, right, that's your
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main focus.
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Now that's my main focus. I don't know why, but
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I run into beautiful women and they're fun to paint.
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I like painting flesh, that would be and I love
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painting faces and hands the most. Everything else is just
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like ugh, you know. I like to put more landscape
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skies in my work that looked like woodbox prints. I've
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done that before. There's a painting I don't think I
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sent it to you, but it's called Transcendence, and it
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actually has part of a woodblock painting clouds in it
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that looked like moonlight moonlit clouds. But for me, painting leaves,
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oh feet worse than death. I've done all kinds of things.
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I started painting, teaching myself how to paint, buy painting landscapes,
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and they were very blurry at the time, and this
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was in Seattle, so they were a very tonalist and dark,
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and I painted reductively with liquid that is very toxic.
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I did not use gloves. I didn't know what I
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was doing at all, because I had some experience in watercolors,
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but so that's how I knew how to paint. I
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was just like, okay, I'll take out a little white
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with a rag. I would paint the whole thing like
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an amber color and pull out where the whites would be,
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and then I'd gradually get darker and darker and darker.
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I think the artist that was influencing me at the
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time very detailed large pieces, a guy named Mark Tansy
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who does that very sort of same reductive painting, but
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there it could be landscape or historical references, and some
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of them are mirrored, which is just I don't know
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how he does this. I saw this in a museum
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in Seattle and I was overwhelmed with like, oh my god,
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this guy is great. So my works started out as
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landscapes and when I got to Atlanta because I met
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my husband at a wedding in Atlanta.
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This is your first husband.
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This is my second husband, third husband. Sorry keeping track.
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My first husband was in Seattle, and maybe I should
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start there. He actually was running a gallery and we
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ran it together for a while. There's a lot of work.
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We were restoring a house at the same time, and
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we had his children fifty percent at the time, so
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it was big. And then we were both had our
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own artistic careers. He taught me how to sell art,
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how to approach a gallery, how to present your art,
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and his dealers that were going to give him a
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solo show in the downtown Seattle were in our big
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he had. He was a master printmaker by the way, also,
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so he worked with Jacob Lawrence and many other artists
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that would come into the print shop, and so he
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had a whole printing press his studio, my studio. The
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dealers came in and they looked up in my loft
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and they're like, who's that artist, And they instantly gave
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me a solo show. They didn't know that those were
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my first oil paintings. They had no clue, and they
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sold really well. They were very simplistic. They're what I
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would call slow moving creek with reflected bush. You can
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kind of fit them anywhere in a hospital or a hotel,
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things like that. They were very pastoral, but also very
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dark and moody.
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I'm just wondering how your first solo show, how that
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impacted your early career then? Was that a pivotal moment
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for you?
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I think so. This gallery had a downtown Seattle presence.
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Seattle is.
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A really nice little hotbed for all kinds of art,
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you know. Dale Chahuley Studio was across the street from ours,
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and all the galleries were open every First Thursday, and
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it was a thing to do to go to the
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gallery Walk Charleston something like that on Fridays. Now that's separate,
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but yeah, it was. It was pivotal. But my work
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always changes because I get bored easily. And my second
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show there was a lot darker. It was more like
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club clubby looking like not as dark as Rider's work
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or I don't know, maybe like that dark only they
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weren't boats being capsized or anything like that. But I liked, liked,
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I don't know. There was a lot of dark work
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in my grandmother's house too, there was a guy. I
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have a painting by William Keith who was friends with
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John Muir, and it was very dark work and the
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gallery at first didn't like it, but it's the kind
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of thing that would go and someone's den who possibly
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smoked cigars and drank cognac, and that show did pretty
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well too, so they stopped telling me what to do.
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I went to another gallery, and I forget the reason why.
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I went to a gallery named Lisa Harris Gallery. It's
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called Harris something now Darnett can't remember. But I am
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always evolving. And so when I moved to Atlanta, met
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my third husband at a wedding, he said, well, what
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do you want to do, because dark, moody works were
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not going to sell in Atlanta and I didn't feel
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like painting Azalea's so I said, I want to paint
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figurative work. And he's like, well, take some courses, here,
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take your time. Here's photoshop. He knew nothing about photoshop.
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He just bought me the program and said just save
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everything you won't you'll be fine, like okay. So he
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would call me up in the middle of the day
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and he'd go, have you got the mail yet? I'm like, uh, no,
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I haven't got the mail yet, because are you still
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in your slippers? Yes, I'm still in my slippers. Are
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you on photoshop? Yes, I'm still on photoshop. I just
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got addicted, learned how to do layers and stuff like that.
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Eventually I took some workshops, but I really felt out
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of place because the workshops were from life and I
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really liked working from photography and I didn't want to
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do portraits per se. I just wanted to paint flesh.
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It wasn't sure how I was going to present it,
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so I started with the blurry stuff. I think even
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at that time, this was before Instagram, so there was
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no There was either abstract or portraits. In Atlanta. It
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had to go over the sofa, or you had to
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represent someone the collector knew, or their dog or something
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like that, or their boat. And I wanted to do
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something that actually had it a little bit of a
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narrative to it. So that's how I started with the blurry,
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blurry art and actually had a couple pieces in the
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Saint Regis Hotel there which were fun.
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What was it about the flesh and the tones of
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the flesh, because that's to me is the largest. That's
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very challenging. It's not my area, so it just seems
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to me most challenging. And maybe that was the challenge
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that motivated you, that inspired you, because now your painters
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look quite large. What size are they?
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Gin?
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Typically?
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Typically there anywhere from twenty four by twenty four? Well,
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I do smaller pieces like twelve by twelve, but I
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feel uncomfortable doing small work. I'm working on a thirty
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by forty and the largest pieces in the last show
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or thirty eight by no, thirty six by forty eight.
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So you like large? Is that your preference to go large?
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Yes? And if I could go larger, I wed.
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What's stopping you?
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Those take a lot longer to sell. I mean I
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have to as a former gallery owner, and let's say
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when I first got to Savannah, I was so a
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gallery owner. I don't know if I sent you. There's
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a painting from two thousand and eight called One Horse Opera,
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and that is on my website at the very bottom.
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It was meant to be a series of six women
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on horses. And I had a gallery that was showing
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my blurry figurative work in Boston and it was too out.
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It was the crash, So it was I think it's
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sixty by seventy two inches and it's still in my
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dining room because you know, you think of it from
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a gallery perspective, you can't sell it. You have to
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send it back to the artist, and that piece would
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had to go freight, especially if there were six someone.
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I was influenced by Julie Heffernan at the time. I'd
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gone to New York and seen a show by her,
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and so I wanted to create these six giant pieces.
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But it was just really bad timing, you know, when
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you think about it from a gallery perspective. Also, you
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have to ensure these pieces, so that becomes quite expensive.
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So that was a very uncertain time financially, and so
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I never did the next five. I would do it
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slightly differently now, I think, because I've learned a few things,
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and I might even be better at what I do.
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I mean, after a few years, you hope you'd get better.
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I want to go back to your parents and your childhood,
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just for a moment, because you haven't mentioned Jim, mother Francis,
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who she's no longer with us.
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She's no longer with us, But your dad is my
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dad is living in San Diego. He's eighty eight years
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old and doing great in his mind. He gets to drive.
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He took a in person driving test and he's very
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proud of that.
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I'm wondering when you look back on your childhood then
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growing up in June, what you were doing with your
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parents and how they influenced you.
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My dad was working a lot. My mother, I guess
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I can talk about her. She'm pretty sure she was
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bipolar and very narcissistic. My current husband tells me, I
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was raised by wolves. There wasn't a whole lot of
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guidance there, and my mother, I don't know. My parents
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didn't get a lot. Let's just put it that way.
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My mother was hard to get along with. I didn't
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like being around her, so I spent a lot of
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time avoiding her, and maybe that influenced my fantasy drawing world,
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because that, you know, other than dreaming I was, I
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was safe in that world. She would do things like
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I'd come home from school and she'd take drawings that
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I had thrown away in the trash and I come
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home from school and see her sharing them with her friends,
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which made me very angry. And to this day, if
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I still have pieces that I don't like and aren't
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singing for me. They get destroyed one way or another.
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I don't That also goes back to me my first
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husband when we did prints lithographs, he would you know,
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throw the trashy prints in the trash and then we'd
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find like street people selling them on the street for
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two dollars. So we learned pretty quick you had to
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destroy those too, shried them up. So anyway, I curate
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my work pretty severely. Now if it hasn't sold in
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a long time, it just goes away. Then you know,
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I think my collectors actually have good taste.
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So AUNT really was your salvation going to your room
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and shutting the door and being yourself and your creative
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self and developing that where you felt safe.
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They did I was. It was also my safety net
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at school because if you know, the me girls would
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discover if there was an art project they had to do,
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June could help them with it. So yeah, throughout my
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life that was I will paint my way out of anything.
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And but I was also easily bored. I you know,
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once I learned how to do something, it's like, oh, hey,
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how can I make it all that much? More difficult,
392
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is it?
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00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:27.039
You'll comfort blanket now? Oh?
394
00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:40.440
Absolutely. My My studio is not neat and tidy, and
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my husband only occasionally if he dares, comments on it, like, well,
396
00:29:48.400 --> 00:29:53.799
look at the handle to your door. My kid's yeah,
397
00:29:53.839 --> 00:29:58.359
but I'm going in and out. You know, it's a handle.
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00:29:58.400 --> 00:30:04.599
It can be replaced. My studio is, yeah, my salvation.
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How much time do you spend in there each day?
400
00:30:07.400 --> 00:30:07.519
Then?
401
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Is it an all day, five days a week retreat.
402
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It is an all day, five days a week retreat.
403
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I love my space here. It's I also work weekends,
404
00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:32.480
but I'm not with My husband married me for companionship,
405
00:30:32.880 --> 00:30:35.759
but he didn't realize artists like to be in the studio.
406
00:30:36.400 --> 00:30:39.079
We'll hear that above on the show June. So if
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you can take some comfort in that.
408
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Yes, I am not going to retire, and he knows that,
409
00:30:47.000 --> 00:30:51.000
but he's he's very happy that I bring in extra
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income playing in the studio, as he calls it. I'm like,
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sometimes it is really work, and there is pressure. Sure,
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when you have a solo show and you have a
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deadline and you're trying to create something new, slightly new
414
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but still in your in your vein, there's a pressure
415
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to keep it within a box and push the parameters
416
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of that box.
417
00:31:20.720 --> 00:31:23.240
So much of your art it seems to be self taught,
418
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because you did go to the California College of Fine
419
00:31:25.839 --> 00:31:29.079
Arts and Crafts, but you dropped out, you said for
420
00:31:29.119 --> 00:31:31.000
a number of reasons.
421
00:31:31.720 --> 00:31:35.480
Yes. The first and the most likely reason was a
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I was really young. I was seventeen years old. I
423
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was the youngest person in the school at the time,
424
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and I really didn't have a what do you call it,
425
00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:51.279
a counselor to guide me on what Your first year
426
00:31:51.359 --> 00:31:54.160
was pretty much set and you had to take life drawing,
427
00:31:54.160 --> 00:31:58.599
which actually turned out to be great because I can't
428
00:31:58.839 --> 00:32:01.160
I wouldn't be able to do what I do now
429
00:32:01.480 --> 00:32:07.480
was out that background. But that was the only realism
430
00:32:07.559 --> 00:32:09.119
being taught.
431
00:32:09.759 --> 00:32:10.119
You go.
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I took a painting course, and clearly this woman didn't
433
00:32:15.480 --> 00:32:22.079
know how to paint in my mind, and I tried
434
00:32:22.079 --> 00:32:26.839
to take some illustration courses. One illustration course, they start
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00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:29.920
out by asking do you think you need talent to
436
00:32:29.960 --> 00:32:35.000
be an illustrator? And I raised my hand along with
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00:32:35.039 --> 00:32:38.000
a few other people, and he says, well, feel free
438
00:32:38.039 --> 00:32:41.240
to leave the class if you think you need talent.
439
00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:49.799
So I left I mean, I just didn't fit in.
440
00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:58.079
That was nineteen seventy eight, seventy seven, and the closest
441
00:32:58.079 --> 00:33:03.200
thing to realism in the Bay Area was Blanking on
442
00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:07.480
his name. He did fruitcakes and beautiful sort of stacked
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landscapes of San Francisco. I'll send his name to you
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00:33:13.400 --> 00:33:18.240
somewhere later on. But Wayne Tebow, I knew I could
445
00:33:18.279 --> 00:33:22.400
retrieve him. Wayne Tebow was probably the most realistic painter
446
00:33:23.799 --> 00:33:28.279
at the time, or David Park like my parents collected,
447
00:33:28.279 --> 00:33:33.480
but those were jazz scenes and they're very impressionistic. Everything
448
00:33:33.559 --> 00:33:38.839
was either very impressionistic or very abstract or I don't
449
00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:43.640
know what. It was a weird time. There was no Internet,
450
00:33:43.720 --> 00:33:50.079
so if you were anything representational, you were either an
451
00:33:50.160 --> 00:33:55.880
illustrator or a wildlife painter, and that was not considered
452
00:33:56.200 --> 00:33:58.480
a good thing. That was like you, you don't want
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00:33:58.480 --> 00:34:04.480
to be that. So I was lost artistically. That would
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be the first reason. And then I had to have
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00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:13.360
surgery on a foot that I had some arthritis, and
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00:34:13.400 --> 00:34:16.239
so they fused some joints in my foot, and I
457
00:34:16.360 --> 00:34:21.840
spent quite a few months in a cast and working.
458
00:34:22.400 --> 00:34:25.320
I couldn't go up and down the Berkeley Hills carrying
459
00:34:25.400 --> 00:34:30.440
a portfolio in a cast. I just wasn't going to work,
460
00:34:32.039 --> 00:34:35.960
and then just money ran out. My parents weren't going
461
00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:38.719
to fund it, and since I wasn't getting what I
462
00:34:38.800 --> 00:34:46.960
wanted out of it, I just left for a while.
463
00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:51.039
I actually modeled for the life drawing classes from the
464
00:34:51.119 --> 00:34:57.719
teachers that I most respected, actually, and then they would
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let me sit in on classes. So if that was
466
00:35:04.880 --> 00:35:08.559
that was fortunate, and they understood how poor I was
467
00:35:08.639 --> 00:35:10.559
actually too, I didn't. I didn't have a lot of
468
00:35:10.800 --> 00:35:13.840
money at all, so they would buy me supplies. And
469
00:35:15.559 --> 00:35:16.440
you can't make a lot.
470
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Of money.
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00:35:18.679 --> 00:35:21.079
Modeling. I mean you might get eight dollars an hour
472
00:35:21.119 --> 00:35:25.639
at the time, but you'd only work maybe five or
473
00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:28.039
six hours a week, so you couldn't live on that,
474
00:35:29.039 --> 00:35:29.480
but you.
475
00:35:29.400 --> 00:35:32.039
Were able to observe. I'm wondering if you used models
476
00:35:32.039 --> 00:35:34.159
today for all the women that you paint.
477
00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:40.400
I do. I do not paint or draw from life anymore,
478
00:35:40.679 --> 00:35:45.639
but I take thousands of pictures. I hoard my models
479
00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:53.280
I have. I find them in like coffee shops or
480
00:35:53.320 --> 00:35:58.639
grocery stores. But two of the models I most paint,
481
00:35:58.800 --> 00:36:04.519
or have most paint they've grown up now are twins.
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00:36:05.440 --> 00:36:07.440
You'd think it was the same person, but it's not
483
00:36:07.519 --> 00:36:14.199
their twins. I had a collector friend who I knew
484
00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:16.679
had twins, and I was trying to get more than
485
00:36:16.719 --> 00:36:18.760
one person in a composition, and I didn't want to
486
00:36:18.760 --> 00:36:23.519
go through the whole. I don't know. I just hate
487
00:36:23.559 --> 00:36:26.119
the idea of putting it out on Facebook. I'm looking
488
00:36:26.159 --> 00:36:28.800
for a model that it is five to two or
489
00:36:29.400 --> 00:36:34.400
and above and whatever color hair. I didn't want to
490
00:36:34.440 --> 00:36:36.239
do that, but I called him and I said, hey,
491
00:36:37.079 --> 00:36:40.920
you've got twins, and he's like, yep, I have twins.
492
00:36:41.239 --> 00:36:43.760
And they walked into what was my gallery at the
493
00:36:43.800 --> 00:36:49.199
time in Savannah. I showed other artists other than myself.
494
00:36:49.400 --> 00:36:53.320
By the way, I tried to be very contemporary. It
495
00:36:53.360 --> 00:36:57.400
didn't fly. But at these two girls walked in. They
496
00:36:57.440 --> 00:37:01.320
were fourteen, and it was like two little cornswand like
497
00:37:01.400 --> 00:37:06.360
the long blonde hair down here in the beautiful Swedish
498
00:37:06.440 --> 00:37:12.880
looking faces, beautiful eyes. And I have a stash of
499
00:37:12.920 --> 00:37:17.239
photographs of him, And gradually over that period of time,
500
00:37:17.280 --> 00:37:21.760
my camera has got better, and now that I'm scaling up,
501
00:37:21.920 --> 00:37:27.960
I really appreciate the high resolution photographs I can take now.
502
00:37:28.920 --> 00:37:31.320
So sometimes I go back and I look at things like, yeah,
503
00:37:31.360 --> 00:37:37.239
that was a great shoot. That's not really in focus. Gosh,
504
00:37:37.360 --> 00:37:42.280
don it to make something up there. But it's a challenge.
505
00:37:43.519 --> 00:37:47.039
We haven't mentioned your younger brother, Dwight, so let's bring
506
00:37:47.119 --> 00:37:51.159
him into the picture here. He's now on the left,
507
00:37:51.159 --> 00:37:52.960
still on the left coast, so he don't seem as much.
508
00:37:53.000 --> 00:37:56.639
I'm guessing. But what was your relationship as children? Will
509
00:37:56.679 --> 00:37:57.039
you close?
510
00:37:58.800 --> 00:38:03.880
No, we're closer now as adults. We were, like my
511
00:38:04.000 --> 00:38:05.920
mother used to say, we couldn't walk down the same
512
00:38:05.960 --> 00:38:09.960
hallway without hitting each other. I was always blaming him
513
00:38:09.960 --> 00:38:12.280
for things, and he was always blaming me for things.
514
00:38:12.440 --> 00:38:17.159
And I don't remember this, but my mother said when
515
00:38:17.159 --> 00:38:19.800
she brought him home from the hospital, I told her
516
00:38:19.880 --> 00:38:25.599
to take him back. I wanted an older brother. But
517
00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:30.679
that's okay. We get along now. He's doing okay. He's
518
00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:36.079
got lots of friends in Sacramento. And my stepdaughter also
519
00:38:36.119 --> 00:38:39.559
lives in Sacramento, which is she grew up in Atlanta.
520
00:38:39.599 --> 00:38:44.280
I don't know how it happened, but they don't see
521
00:38:44.320 --> 00:38:48.800
each other. They travel in different circles, but they're both well.
522
00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:52.880
So my brother didn't have much influence over me. I
523
00:38:52.880 --> 00:38:56.280
think I was in my room a lot. He wasn't
524
00:38:56.280 --> 00:38:59.360
allowed to go in my room. I wasn't allowed to
525
00:38:59.360 --> 00:39:04.639
go in his room either. Fortunately we didn't have to
526
00:39:04.679 --> 00:39:05.639
share a room.
527
00:39:06.440 --> 00:39:09.920
But you enjoyed the big outdoors, did you As a child?
528
00:39:10.039 --> 00:39:12.800
What were you doing outdoors?
529
00:39:13.400 --> 00:39:15.320
Well? I avoided it when I was at the house.
530
00:39:15.519 --> 00:39:19.039
I've never mowed a lawn in my life. My brother
531
00:39:19.119 --> 00:39:23.559
got to do the outdoor activities, except weeding. We both
532
00:39:23.599 --> 00:39:28.159
got to do that together, especially as punishment because in
533
00:39:28.199 --> 00:39:33.599
California the dirt is adobe and weeding was especially for
534
00:39:33.760 --> 00:39:36.360
twenty five cents an hour. I think my parents were cheap.
535
00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:45.599
But we would go to Tahoe frequently to ski. That
536
00:39:45.760 --> 00:39:48.119
was a requirement if you were a Stratton, you had
537
00:39:48.119 --> 00:39:50.440
to learn how to ski. I hated it for most
538
00:39:50.480 --> 00:39:54.880
of my childhood until high school when I figured out
539
00:39:54.880 --> 00:39:57.840
I could join the ski club, which was the only
540
00:39:57.880 --> 00:40:01.440
athletic thing I could do. I mean, if you put
541
00:40:01.519 --> 00:40:03.800
me in left field in baseball, I would the ball
542
00:40:03.920 --> 00:40:06.519
was coming to me. It would be like that. No,
543
00:40:08.400 --> 00:40:11.280
So I wasn't into team sports, so skiing was it.
544
00:40:12.679 --> 00:40:15.719
And then we'd go in the summer and it was
545
00:40:15.840 --> 00:40:18.599
just beautiful up there. I love the smells and the
546
00:40:18.639 --> 00:40:23.400
shapes of things. I'd make mud pies. My brother and
547
00:40:23.480 --> 00:40:26.800
I would trap ants in resin just to see what
548
00:40:26.800 --> 00:40:31.480
they look like. But you know, which is weird because
549
00:40:31.519 --> 00:40:33.639
now I'm working with three dimensional things and it does
550
00:40:33.719 --> 00:40:39.159
remind me of making mudpies and creating three D things.
551
00:40:39.199 --> 00:40:43.519
But so a lot of outdoor activities in Tahoe, and
552
00:40:43.559 --> 00:40:46.800
then my grandparents had a second home north of San
553
00:40:46.840 --> 00:40:51.760
Francisco in a place called Inverness, where we did took
554
00:40:51.800 --> 00:40:58.239
sailing lessons and that was it was fun ish, except
555
00:40:58.360 --> 00:41:06.800
that was when Jaws came mount like no, because we
556
00:41:06.840 --> 00:41:09.760
did have great white sharks and Tamala's Bay and it
557
00:41:09.880 --> 00:41:15.000
was cool. It was not It's what Jay, my husband
558
00:41:15.079 --> 00:41:18.880
now calls useless water because it's cold you can't swim
559
00:41:18.880 --> 00:41:23.760
in it. He likes the warmer water of the East Coast.
560
00:41:26.320 --> 00:41:30.400
I want to talk about music, June, because you've sent
561
00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:33.159
me your playlist and you mentioned, and remember ago that
562
00:41:33.320 --> 00:41:38.320
your parents collected art, that it was jazz scenes as well,
563
00:41:38.360 --> 00:41:41.760
and I know you grew up listening to Johnny Cash.
564
00:41:41.800 --> 00:41:45.280
You mentioned a lot of classic classical music that stayed
565
00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:48.320
with you throughout your life, But what were your earliest
566
00:41:48.440 --> 00:41:51.800
musical memories, and did that encourage you to play an
567
00:41:51.800 --> 00:41:52.719
instrument yourself?
568
00:41:55.599 --> 00:41:59.480
Unfortunately I am toned off. I tried to join the band,
569
00:42:00.519 --> 00:42:05.119
uh play flute, and I got tossed out. No, but
570
00:42:05.639 --> 00:42:08.719
that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy music. I love music.
571
00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:16.239
My first memories, I had one of these plastic turntables
572
00:42:16.280 --> 00:42:18.320
that you could put it was like a little suitcase.
573
00:42:18.480 --> 00:42:22.719
Need open it up and I could put Tchikovsky's Sleeping
574
00:42:22.760 --> 00:42:26.440
Beauty on it. I mean I played that thing over
575
00:42:26.760 --> 00:42:31.880
and over and over again. I don't remember having to
576
00:42:31.920 --> 00:42:36.000
turn it down as a kid. And then my parents
577
00:42:36.199 --> 00:42:39.639
liked music, but I don't think. I wasn't allowed to
578
00:42:39.679 --> 00:42:42.199
talk to touch my dad's record player. That would have
579
00:42:42.199 --> 00:42:49.599
been sacrilege. But I think he liked jazz and swing.
580
00:42:49.639 --> 00:42:54.159
But they also liked current music like Crosby, Nails, Nash
581
00:42:54.159 --> 00:42:56.639
and Young, I mean, some folk music. I'm sure they
582
00:42:56.840 --> 00:42:59.519
liked Joan Biaz and I mean I kind of liked
583
00:42:59.559 --> 00:43:07.159
that too, But my tastes in the seventies kind of
584
00:43:07.159 --> 00:43:13.679
went darker. I loved led Zeppelin. I was a big fan.
585
00:43:14.679 --> 00:43:18.039
Were you dancing a lot in your teens?
586
00:43:21.880 --> 00:43:24.760
I don't know you'd call it dancing. I wanted to
587
00:43:24.760 --> 00:43:28.920
be a ballet dancer. I took ballet when I was
588
00:43:28.960 --> 00:43:31.199
a young kid, but they noticed that I had this
589
00:43:31.280 --> 00:43:34.519
problem with my ankle, so there was that dream was
590
00:43:34.559 --> 00:43:39.480
shot down. In high school, I took contemporary dance, and
591
00:43:39.480 --> 00:43:43.000
that's what I guess you would call whatever I do
592
00:43:43.079 --> 00:43:50.559
at a concert. So I dance in the studio when
593
00:43:50.599 --> 00:43:56.599
some I have certain songs that come up on Pandora,
594
00:43:56.639 --> 00:43:58.360
which I'm not going to mention because some of them
595
00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:03.039
are just they're really poppy, but they come up and
596
00:44:03.039 --> 00:44:06.679
it's like, Okay, this is an ABS workout, and it's
597
00:44:06.719 --> 00:44:09.039
sort of like, okay, there's not much room in here
598
00:44:09.079 --> 00:44:12.199
when I've got a solo show going, so it's more
599
00:44:12.280 --> 00:44:17.280
like a hula hoop action, and I'm trying to keep
600
00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:18.519
myself physically fit.
601
00:44:19.480 --> 00:44:20.239
How do you do that?
602
00:44:22.400 --> 00:44:25.320
I have a balance board. It's sort of like a
603
00:44:25.320 --> 00:44:30.280
bongo board. It's a board that has a cylinder underneath it,
604
00:44:32.360 --> 00:44:34.719
and I've actually been doing that since I was a kid.
605
00:44:34.840 --> 00:44:38.679
My uncle's cabin and Tahoe had one. A very early
606
00:44:38.719 --> 00:44:47.480
one was around cylinder with a little groove in it
607
00:44:49.480 --> 00:44:52.440
somewhere and you balance on it. It was a ski
608
00:44:52.639 --> 00:44:57.239
training thing, so This will get your knees in shape,
609
00:44:57.320 --> 00:45:00.519
and it also is really good for your core. And
610
00:45:00.639 --> 00:45:04.159
if you're really good on it, you can whirl and twist.
611
00:45:04.320 --> 00:45:08.719
But I'm at an age where I don't feel like
612
00:45:08.760 --> 00:45:14.480
falling over. You know, I fallen once on it when
613
00:45:14.519 --> 00:45:18.519
I've got tennis elbow on my right side. And okay,
614
00:45:18.559 --> 00:45:22.920
that's a warning, no tricks. Tricks are your kids.
615
00:45:24.000 --> 00:45:25.840
When you're not doing that in your studio, when you're
616
00:45:25.840 --> 00:45:27.760
actually working, what do you listen to?
617
00:45:30.519 --> 00:45:38.239
It really depends on my mood. I will I like
618
00:45:40.440 --> 00:45:47.760
movie scores a lot, and then sometimes it's house music,
619
00:45:48.519 --> 00:45:51.400
something that you know, you can kind of lope along to.
620
00:45:52.800 --> 00:45:55.519
And other times, like you know, when the news is
621
00:45:55.559 --> 00:46:01.360
really dark, I just like silence. And when I'm trying
622
00:46:01.400 --> 00:46:04.679
to create something new, it's silence that I like the most.
623
00:46:06.599 --> 00:46:13.119
And then it's not until the painting is like two
624
00:46:13.159 --> 00:46:16.559
thirds of the way done and I'm feeling good about
625
00:46:16.559 --> 00:46:20.920
it that I'll put some kind of house music on
626
00:46:21.119 --> 00:46:24.880
or you know it. Sometimes a little indie rock B
627
00:46:25.039 --> 00:46:27.000
fifty two's can be very uplifting.
628
00:46:27.199 --> 00:46:31.480
I mean, you listen to audio books.
629
00:46:32.440 --> 00:46:41.079
No, I find words very distracting, so I can't I
630
00:46:41.079 --> 00:46:44.719
guess I can't chew them and walk. I can't paint
631
00:46:44.760 --> 00:46:49.400
and listen to words. I mean, so that's probably why
632
00:46:49.719 --> 00:46:54.639
I'm not as familiar with podcasts as I should be,
633
00:46:54.639 --> 00:46:58.559
because I god, you can learn a lot through just
634
00:46:58.920 --> 00:47:04.119
the little sniffs that I've been getting. So but I
635
00:47:04.159 --> 00:47:08.079
work hard. That's usually from nine thirty to five with
636
00:47:08.119 --> 00:47:08.800
a lunch break.
637
00:47:10.639 --> 00:47:16.639
Where does religion and spirituality fit into your life?
638
00:47:16.880 --> 00:47:21.199
I would say not much, but yes a lot in
639
00:47:21.719 --> 00:47:27.559
a John Muir kind of way. Like sequoias those are
640
00:47:28.800 --> 00:47:34.239
church like things, or okay, go to Barcelona and I've
641
00:47:34.280 --> 00:47:36.199
forgotten what the name of that church is, but that
642
00:47:36.360 --> 00:47:46.639
was it. Goudy just did amazing light texture and he's
643
00:47:46.639 --> 00:47:52.559
a big influence on my texture work right now. So
644
00:47:52.559 --> 00:47:57.559
that's it. I mean he put amazing bits of nature
645
00:47:57.679 --> 00:48:00.800
and like the doors that have Salomon on them and
646
00:48:00.880 --> 00:48:03.960
leaves and things like that. It's like, oh, that is
647
00:48:05.039 --> 00:48:11.320
I want to do that, because I mean I'm out
648
00:48:11.320 --> 00:48:13.920
in nature. I like, I was great with the window
649
00:48:13.960 --> 00:48:18.760
open last night before something either got murdered or whatever
650
00:48:18.840 --> 00:48:22.440
animal was having a hard time because there are there
651
00:48:22.480 --> 00:48:26.480
are night birds that make sounds, and there's the cicadas
652
00:48:26.480 --> 00:48:29.960
that are just starting up now and there's a light
653
00:48:30.039 --> 00:48:35.320
wind going in the neighbors, wind chimes, very slight in
654
00:48:35.360 --> 00:48:40.719
the background. So yeah, I like going out on our
655
00:48:40.760 --> 00:48:46.119
boat because you can boat like half an hour from
656
00:48:46.159 --> 00:48:51.280
our house and be in the middle of nowhere there's
657
00:48:51.320 --> 00:48:58.679
nothing but water and marsh, and yeah, that's that's a
658
00:48:58.800 --> 00:49:01.280
church for me, rely nature.
659
00:49:03.400 --> 00:49:05.679
What most excites you these days? What do you most
660
00:49:05.719 --> 00:49:06.360
look forward to?
661
00:49:08.079 --> 00:49:13.079
I tell you what I'm focusing on, ever expanding, putting
662
00:49:13.159 --> 00:49:16.719
three dimensional things in my work and experimenting with different
663
00:49:16.760 --> 00:49:22.440
materials and not limiting myself to plaster. I'm putting china
664
00:49:22.519 --> 00:49:24.880
in it. I'm putting shells in it. I'm doing things
665
00:49:24.960 --> 00:49:29.119
like that. But I want to I'm working on balancing
666
00:49:29.119 --> 00:49:35.840
a social life where going out to see music, like
667
00:49:35.880 --> 00:49:40.199
we're gonna go see Annie DiFranco this week. Excited about that.
668
00:49:40.360 --> 00:49:43.400
It's gonna be fun. I love live music, and I
669
00:49:43.599 --> 00:49:49.079
just we live about a half an hour away from Savannah,
670
00:49:49.480 --> 00:49:51.760
but we have a place where we can stay when
671
00:49:51.800 --> 00:49:54.039
we stay overnight there, so I get to have my
672
00:49:54.519 --> 00:49:57.679
I'm trying to divide my time. Most of my friends
673
00:49:57.719 --> 00:50:00.719
are in town Savannah, people that I met when I
674
00:50:00.760 --> 00:50:06.679
had a gallery there, and I love nature that church
675
00:50:06.760 --> 00:50:11.760
of mine, but it's isolating as well, so trying to
676
00:50:11.760 --> 00:50:13.960
get a balance of all. I guess three of those
677
00:50:14.000 --> 00:50:21.440
things nature aren't friends because I don't know. I'm getting
678
00:50:21.440 --> 00:50:23.760
to an age where they don't want to lose my
679
00:50:23.840 --> 00:50:29.199
friends by not socializing. I think it's good, good to
680
00:50:29.199 --> 00:50:33.639
get out see people and also hear there are different
681
00:50:33.679 --> 00:50:39.360
perspectives on life because we're all different. Yeah, they're really.
682
00:50:39.480 --> 00:50:41.119
I mean, some people would like to put us in
683
00:50:41.119 --> 00:50:43.519
two different boxes, but there's just so many shades of
684
00:50:43.760 --> 00:50:44.679
color in between.
685
00:50:45.360 --> 00:50:49.480
Well that brings us perfectly to your dinner party that
686
00:50:50.000 --> 00:50:53.239
you're you've been thinking about, I know, and you have
687
00:50:53.360 --> 00:50:55.159
your guest list already.
688
00:50:55.519 --> 00:50:59.199
Will you be cooking for them? I, you know, I
689
00:50:59.239 --> 00:51:04.559
would need some assistance. I like to serve things that
690
00:51:04.679 --> 00:51:12.280
are a little bit done beforehand and could be served
691
00:51:13.400 --> 00:51:16.840
on a couple of large chade trays and people can
692
00:51:16.920 --> 00:51:19.880
pick and choose what they want to eat, Like it
693
00:51:19.920 --> 00:51:25.960
would be seared tuna with maybe some roasted chicken, fresh salad, greens.
694
00:51:29.360 --> 00:51:31.880
Even though my husband hates beets, I'd have roasted beets
695
00:51:31.880 --> 00:51:36.880
on the side, mozzarella, hard boiled eggs with some nice vinigrette,
696
00:51:36.920 --> 00:51:40.400
and maybe I don't know, some crusty bread on the side.
697
00:51:40.440 --> 00:51:50.559
For those people who eat bread. There would be white
698
00:51:50.599 --> 00:51:59.039
burgundy and peanut noirs available and some I don't know,
699
00:52:00.159 --> 00:52:04.159
whatever you want to drink. Music would probably be a
700
00:52:04.199 --> 00:52:08.599
saxophone and guitarist playing together in the distance, so we
701
00:52:08.639 --> 00:52:13.360
could yell at each other or talk. But i'd need someone.
702
00:52:13.599 --> 00:52:15.519
I like setting my own table. I'm going to tell
703
00:52:15.519 --> 00:52:19.440
you that that's an artistic yes, with candlelight.
704
00:52:20.519 --> 00:52:25.480
So is this a dining room table or a kitchen suppo? Oh,
705
00:52:25.519 --> 00:52:28.079
the whole nine yards, the.
706
00:52:28.000 --> 00:52:31.000
Whole nine yards. I've got nice china, and I believe
707
00:52:31.039 --> 00:52:33.679
in using it, like my mother had great china, and
708
00:52:34.840 --> 00:52:37.119
I'm not sure she used it more than three times.
709
00:52:37.320 --> 00:52:41.000
I'm using it. My grandmother was the same way. It's like,
710
00:52:41.599 --> 00:52:42.960
what do you have it for if you're not going
711
00:52:43.000 --> 00:52:49.199
to use it? So, yes, I probably wouldn't have a tablecloth,
712
00:52:49.280 --> 00:52:51.320
per se. I've got these nice mats and I like
713
00:52:51.360 --> 00:52:55.440
to mix it up between rough surfaces, and I have
714
00:52:57.719 --> 00:53:04.320
china handled flatware that would go. And I'd put out
715
00:53:04.360 --> 00:53:08.760
the nice glasses if people promise not to throw them.
716
00:53:09.599 --> 00:53:13.440
But oh well, it's only got to use it.
717
00:53:14.440 --> 00:53:18.039
Well, who's coming to dinner on my list?
718
00:53:18.840 --> 00:53:23.800
First up, oddly is Ben Franklin. I would love to
719
00:53:23.840 --> 00:53:27.280
hear his perspective on how things turned out in this
720
00:53:27.400 --> 00:53:32.480
country or are turning out, because it's got He was
721
00:53:32.519 --> 00:53:37.320
an inventor, and if my other my husband was looming
722
00:53:37.360 --> 00:53:40.679
around helping me out, he'd be fascinated with him too.
723
00:53:41.960 --> 00:53:48.639
And I'd like to know what the real history from
724
00:53:48.719 --> 00:53:55.320
his perspective was, not just what he wrote down. You know,
725
00:53:55.960 --> 00:54:00.400
from his eyes, what he would think of a cell
726
00:54:00.440 --> 00:54:11.519
phone or light, or women having pocketbooks, women voting. I
727
00:54:11.519 --> 00:54:16.079
would love to know what he would think. I just
728
00:54:16.119 --> 00:54:21.519
think that would be fun. And you know, I heard
729
00:54:21.559 --> 00:54:24.360
he was a hefty drinker, so he might be entertaining
730
00:54:24.400 --> 00:54:30.199
as well. Next step would be Dolly Parton just for fun. No,
731
00:54:30.199 --> 00:54:32.320
I don't listen to a lot of Dolly, but I
732
00:54:32.400 --> 00:54:38.719
know she's like a genuinely nice person. You have to
733
00:54:38.760 --> 00:54:42.320
have a nice person at the table to balance things,
734
00:54:42.480 --> 00:54:45.840
and I think calm people down. I think she would
735
00:54:45.880 --> 00:54:50.440
be fun too. I don't know what Dolly eats. I
736
00:54:50.480 --> 00:54:53.039
don't know what Ben eats, but that's why I have
737
00:54:53.119 --> 00:55:01.440
the variety at the table. So there's Dolly Marilyn Minter
738
00:55:02.239 --> 00:55:07.559
who's an artist. They just made a documentary about her
739
00:55:08.519 --> 00:55:13.760
called Dirty Something blah blah blah. Should have notes on this.
740
00:55:14.800 --> 00:55:19.119
But she does scaled up paintings of.
741
00:55:20.760 --> 00:55:22.320
High heel shoes.
742
00:55:22.039 --> 00:55:25.840
With glitter on them that have been splattered in mud,
743
00:55:27.079 --> 00:55:33.800
and lips that have pearls that are dripping. She just
744
00:55:33.880 --> 00:55:41.280
recently did a painting of like Jane Fonda and a
745
00:55:41.360 --> 00:55:47.119
number of other people. I added her because she talks
746
00:55:47.159 --> 00:55:50.440
a lot about her subjects and how she got to
747
00:55:50.519 --> 00:55:55.960
painting women, and she's a feminist. But I'd like to
748
00:55:56.000 --> 00:56:01.760
grill her on her materials. I'd like to do because
749
00:56:02.320 --> 00:56:05.719
I don't know. I love painting lips myself that I
750
00:56:05.719 --> 00:56:11.519
have no interest in just imitating her. That's I get
751
00:56:11.559 --> 00:56:14.079
tired of seeing women that are wet, and there's a
752
00:56:14.159 --> 00:56:16.280
lot of that going around. It's like, what is that?
753
00:56:16.400 --> 00:56:19.519
I don't know that she does in her own way,
754
00:56:20.000 --> 00:56:24.000
that is, and she does really super large paintings. I'm like,
755
00:56:24.159 --> 00:56:27.800
how what are you? You have a team? Can I
756
00:56:27.800 --> 00:56:33.639
borrow your team? I don't know. So I'd grill her
757
00:56:33.039 --> 00:56:36.920
on that kind of thing because I like her subject matter.
758
00:56:36.960 --> 00:56:41.199
I understand why she does it. So next up would
759
00:56:41.239 --> 00:56:48.320
be Hetty Lamar, who was not only gorgeous, you know,
760
00:56:48.480 --> 00:56:54.400
she's a perfect example of you can be gorgeous and
761
00:56:55.000 --> 00:56:59.559
brilliant at the same time. There's not one or the other.
762
00:57:02.719 --> 00:57:06.360
She tried to do the right thing for our military.
763
00:57:06.360 --> 00:57:08.280
I don't know if you know anything about Hetty, but
764
00:57:08.400 --> 00:57:18.880
she invented signal hopping. They're calling it, but it and
765
00:57:18.880 --> 00:57:21.679
I'm blanking on what it's really called, but it was.
766
00:57:22.880 --> 00:57:26.039
It was a way to communicate with torpedoes so that
767
00:57:26.079 --> 00:57:29.039
the Germans could not figure out where the torpedoes were going.
768
00:57:29.880 --> 00:57:34.840
And she developed this from looking at player piano sheets
769
00:57:35.480 --> 00:57:39.880
so the signals would be random, and come up with
770
00:57:39.960 --> 00:57:42.400
the name of this signal hopping.
771
00:57:43.800 --> 00:57:47.760
It's genius what she did. It was so clever. Yeah,
772
00:57:47.760 --> 00:57:54.800
and she wasn't recognized so much as for that really genius,
773
00:57:54.800 --> 00:57:55.840
not at all.
774
00:57:56.079 --> 00:57:59.920
She took it to the military and the military said,
775
00:58:00.880 --> 00:58:05.119
go away, pretty lady, go sell war bonds, which she
776
00:58:05.199 --> 00:58:09.119
did and sold millions of dollars worth of war bonds
777
00:58:09.159 --> 00:58:12.920
just going around on a train kissing random people. And
778
00:58:15.000 --> 00:58:18.280
I mean she did what she could and didn't wasn't
779
00:58:18.280 --> 00:58:25.039
recognized until later in her career after she'd done Hollywood
780
00:58:26.280 --> 00:58:31.840
and eventually she was recognized by her her patent had
781
00:58:32.239 --> 00:58:35.920
run out. Just had so sad she invented Wi Fi.
782
00:58:36.280 --> 00:58:39.880
I mean everything that we you know, GPS everything.
783
00:58:41.199 --> 00:58:43.880
I would imagine she and Dolly would get along great.
784
00:58:43.920 --> 00:58:45.400
They would have an interesting conversation.
785
00:58:46.840 --> 00:58:50.199
I think so. I think so. And I think she'd
786
00:58:50.239 --> 00:58:56.599
have fabulous conversations with with Ben I mean, I mean,
787
00:58:56.599 --> 00:59:00.519
did he invent electricity and anyway? They could talk about
788
00:59:00.519 --> 00:59:07.159
stuff like anyway, So yeah, she'd be there. Then. I
789
00:59:07.280 --> 00:59:11.199
like Jack White because I have to have some contemporary music.
790
00:59:14.559 --> 00:59:18.719
I like the White stripes. But I like not only that,
791
00:59:18.800 --> 00:59:21.679
but he's really creative with his guitar. I would love
792
00:59:21.760 --> 00:59:26.119
to have musical genius in me. I do not. But
793
00:59:27.840 --> 00:59:31.599
there's a movie out there called This Might Get Loud
794
00:59:32.880 --> 00:59:38.000
and it's Jimmy Page produced it, and he's in it
795
00:59:38.920 --> 00:59:43.639
along with the guitarist from You Two, and it's Jack White,
796
00:59:43.840 --> 00:59:47.039
and they all kind of meet and get together and
797
00:59:47.119 --> 00:59:58.360
compare creatively their musical style, which I really found interesting
798
00:59:58.519 --> 01:00:06.400
because every artist does that very same thing. You could
799
01:00:06.440 --> 01:00:12.119
maybe be doing master copies of whoever. But really, when
800
01:00:12.119 --> 01:00:15.159
I paint, it's like no matter what I do, it
801
01:00:15.159 --> 01:00:19.400
always ends up looking like me. But I'm trying to
802
01:00:19.400 --> 01:00:22.559
push the envelope. And I think Jack White does a
803
01:00:22.559 --> 01:00:27.480
great job of what he's doing with guitar, and he's
804
01:00:27.480 --> 01:00:30.119
also just sounds like a fun person to be around.
805
01:00:31.400 --> 01:00:32.239
I was the other one.
806
01:00:32.280 --> 01:00:38.239
And then okay, I have two more. I have Patti
807
01:00:38.320 --> 01:00:45.559
Smith just for poetry, Oh my god, just say it
808
01:00:45.639 --> 01:00:49.000
like it is. And she was a visual artist as well,
809
01:00:49.559 --> 01:00:53.519
so she would have something in common with Marilyn and
810
01:00:53.880 --> 01:00:55.679
I mean they're both alive today. I don't know whether
811
01:00:55.719 --> 01:01:01.280
they've met, but I think Patti Smith would be a
812
01:01:01.280 --> 01:01:08.559
great addition and poetic inspiration. And then the last person
813
01:01:08.599 --> 01:01:15.559
would be John Muir for to bring the outdoors in
814
01:01:17.320 --> 01:01:23.760
and an old dead relative of mine had a little
815
01:01:23.760 --> 01:01:30.679
battle with him over how Yosemite was formed, and John
816
01:01:30.760 --> 01:01:33.880
Muir turned out to be right, so he could be
817
01:01:34.039 --> 01:01:38.039
argumentative too, so we can have some fun discussions about
818
01:01:38.079 --> 01:01:44.000
how how the planet was formed and Earth and the
819
01:01:44.039 --> 01:01:50.679
spiritual nature of trees, birds. So that would be my party.
820
01:01:51.559 --> 01:01:54.000
That's a very interesting mix. And I'm wondering who's going
821
01:01:54.079 --> 01:01:56.880
to sit by at the side of you, who are
822
01:01:56.920 --> 01:01:58.079
you going to get into it with.
823
01:01:59.519 --> 01:02:02.599
I'd like to move around the table. I'm a hostess,
824
01:02:02.639 --> 01:02:06.320
I have to. I'd probably sit between Ben and Dolly
825
01:02:06.360 --> 01:02:09.400
at first and get Ben used to looking at Dolle.
826
01:02:09.559 --> 01:02:10.199
I was thinking that.
827
01:02:12.360 --> 01:02:16.320
Ben snap out of it, stop staring at Doll. Boobs
828
01:02:16.440 --> 01:02:22.559
don't do that, So I don't know. I maybe start there,
829
01:02:22.599 --> 01:02:29.719
and then i'd really like to talk to Hetty, you know,
830
01:02:29.760 --> 01:02:32.800
and then John muiror I mean, I guess i'd start
831
01:02:32.840 --> 01:02:37.000
with the dead people, move to the live people, and
832
01:02:37.000 --> 01:02:40.280
then I'd cozy up to Marilyn mentor later on Grill
833
01:02:40.320 --> 01:02:45.400
Heir on her technique, which I know she paints an enamel,
834
01:02:45.480 --> 01:02:48.320
but I don't know how she does it well.
835
01:02:48.360 --> 01:02:52.840
Thinking about your favorite subject to paint, I'm wondering if
836
01:02:52.840 --> 01:02:55.239
there's a woman out there that you would love to paint.
837
01:02:56.920 --> 01:03:05.320
I think Lana del Rey. A lot of people like
838
01:03:05.360 --> 01:03:12.039
Taylor Smith's Swift Come on Brown to Tune Swift, but
839
01:03:12.360 --> 01:03:18.280
I like Lana because she's dark, and I don't know,
840
01:03:18.320 --> 01:03:23.079
she just seems more free to do what she really
841
01:03:23.119 --> 01:03:25.320
wants to do. I don't know how to explain. Each
842
01:03:25.360 --> 01:03:31.920
of her albums are completely different, but I know Taylor
843
01:03:31.960 --> 01:03:37.079
complains about how female artists have to evolve. I don't
844
01:03:37.079 --> 01:03:41.199
feel that as a visual artist. But let's see who
845
01:03:41.280 --> 01:03:50.360
else would I want to paint. Jane Fonda, Deborah Harry
846
01:03:50.760 --> 01:04:03.239
maybe yeah, I mean Michelle Obama would be fun too,
847
01:04:03.360 --> 01:04:06.800
but she's she's been done before.
848
01:04:06.880 --> 01:04:12.199
Really well, lots of inspiration there. If only you could
849
01:04:12.800 --> 01:04:15.679
find these women and have them sit for your even life,
850
01:04:15.679 --> 01:04:18.320
wouldn't that be a challenge for you?
851
01:04:20.159 --> 01:04:23.199
I get nervous. I would be too nervous to be
852
01:04:23.280 --> 01:04:26.280
painting live in front of them, and I would be
853
01:04:26.400 --> 01:04:32.360
respectful of their time, set up my studio and take
854
01:04:32.400 --> 01:04:35.119
as many pictures as I could in an hour hour
855
01:04:35.119 --> 01:04:41.280
and a half. After that, everybody gets tired, so and
856
01:04:41.320 --> 01:04:45.039
I'd have any props or whatever already set up, or
857
01:04:45.880 --> 01:04:47.920
like in the case of Lana, she could set up
858
01:04:47.920 --> 01:04:49.559
her own props. I would work with that.
859
01:04:50.719 --> 01:04:53.039
June. I'm wondering where people can find your work now,
860
01:04:53.920 --> 01:04:57.119
because we'd like to send them two galleries. If you
861
01:04:58.519 --> 01:05:00.920
can share with us where whether they can find your book.
862
01:05:02.320 --> 01:05:08.039
You can find my work in Charleston at Robert Lang Studios.
863
01:05:10.119 --> 01:05:16.480
They're on Instagram as rls art and their website is
864
01:05:17.320 --> 01:05:20.800
well you'll find it under Robert Lang Studios. I also
865
01:05:20.920 --> 01:05:29.159
show at Reese Contemporary in New York, and that's pretty
866
01:05:29.199 --> 01:05:30.760
much all I can handle at the moment.
867
01:05:32.519 --> 01:05:35.320
And online and social media.
868
01:05:36.559 --> 01:05:40.920
Social media. You can find me on Instagram and Facebook.
869
01:05:41.519 --> 01:05:45.920
It gave up on TikTok and Blue Sky, and I
870
01:05:45.920 --> 01:05:51.360
don't know. There's a number of new media platforms. I'm
871
01:05:51.400 --> 01:05:55.920
stuck with meta because there just isn't. My clients are
872
01:05:55.920 --> 01:06:02.400
on Instagram mostly. I try to post too much that
873
01:06:02.679 --> 01:06:07.000
is a finished product, that isn't just a snap of
874
01:06:07.039 --> 01:06:10.920
a second, because I don't really want anyone screenshotting it
875
01:06:10.960 --> 01:06:14.280
and putting it into a calendar, not that it would
876
01:06:14.280 --> 01:06:17.800
come out high resolution. So a lot of what you
877
01:06:17.840 --> 01:06:23.639
see on Instagram is just how process how I paint
878
01:06:23.719 --> 01:06:29.119
and that. There's a couple of posts now that are
879
01:06:29.119 --> 01:06:32.920
about my recent solo show at Robert Lank Studios, which
880
01:06:33.079 --> 01:06:42.480
was beyond what I imagined could be successful. It's shocking. Actually,
881
01:06:43.079 --> 01:06:47.599
it's the most successful show I've had yet, so I'm
882
01:06:47.599 --> 01:06:48.760
pretty happy.
883
01:06:49.960 --> 01:06:55.280
Well, congratulations and yeah, keep up the good work. It
884
01:06:55.360 --> 01:06:58.840
is beautiful, beautiful artwork, June, So thank you very much
885
01:07:00.199 --> 01:07:05.840
being anytime soon. No, keep up the good work, and
886
01:07:05.920 --> 01:07:08.000
thank you for taking time to come on the podcast
887
01:07:08.079 --> 01:07:08.599
this week.
888
01:07:09.639 --> 01:07:13.400
Well, thank you for inviting me. This has been fun.
889
01:07:13.440 --> 01:07:15.480
You brought out things I hadn't thought of in years.
890
01:07:17.000 --> 01:07:20.360
You're a good interviewer and fun too.
891
01:07:21.400 --> 01:07:24.159
You can follow us, of course on social media at
892
01:07:24.199 --> 01:07:28.519
The Art Podcast and also on YouTube. If you're listening
893
01:07:28.559 --> 01:07:31.239
to the podcast, do hop over to our YouTube channel,
894
01:07:31.280 --> 01:07:36.199
The Art Podcast. You can also follow my musings on substack,
895
01:07:36.400 --> 01:07:39.719
just not for Chris Stafford Official, and that's where if
896
01:07:39.760 --> 01:07:42.800
I have anything to say, I generally do my writing
897
01:07:42.880 --> 01:07:46.440
on substack these days, and also post to other art
898
01:07:46.480 --> 01:07:50.400
worker and of course any links to the podcasts that
899
01:07:50.480 --> 01:07:53.320
go as they go live. So follow us on substack
900
01:07:53.880 --> 01:07:57.360
and on Instagram and on YouTube and I'll be back
901
01:07:57.400 --> 01:07:59.760
in a couple of weeks with another inspiring guest from
902
01:07:59.760 --> 01:08:01.880
a the world of visual arts. So I do hope
903
01:08:01.920 --> 01:08:04.079
you'll join me then. In the meanwhile, my thanks again
904
01:08:04.519 --> 01:08:07.079
to my guests this week, June Stratton, and to you
905
01:08:07.199 --> 01:08:07.719
for listening.