Looking for Something That's True: A Conversation with Dickson Schneider My relationship with Dickson Schneider goes back quite a ways. He was an important part of my own publishing efforts from the beginning and I've long been an admirer of his painting. Whenever we have gotten together our conversations tend to take a philosophical turn. At the time of this interview, it had been a while since I'd visited Dickson and, as usual, there were new paintings I hadn't seen. I'd already been noticing that the figure was appearing more often in his work. To begin, I asked him to tell me about that ... Richard Whittaker Dickson Schneider:  ... Jan 8, 2001, 33377 reads

A Life of One's Own: A Conversation with James Hubbell [This interview took place approximately a year and a half before the southern California fires that burned much of the Hubbell property. The property has since been substantially restored.]      I met with James Hubbell at his home northeast of San Diego, a compound of eight hand-made buildings constructed over a period of several years. Included are living quarters, studios, workshops, and a gallery. On most days there are apprentices, employees, and volunteers busy at work on stained glass windows, ceramic pieces, stone sculptures, specially designed gates, doors ... Apr 18, 2002, 32397 reads

Interview: Dan Duncan: Poet Laureate of Virtual Reality, SF, CA, 1992 photo - r. whittaker I'd know Dan for several years and was aware of his poetry and his intense love of many kinds of literature, but I really wanted to learn more about his passionate involvement with new developments in computer technology. [For many years Duncan had made his living as a technical writer for Logitech.] We met at his home in San Francisco. Richard Whittaker:  You have an official title: "The Poet Laureate of Virtual Reality." Dan Duncan:  That's my official title, right. Like you go to the place where they ... Jun 2, 2001, 32302 reads

Interview: Jane Rosen: Toward the Intelligence of Life Jane Rosen has been a long time contributing editor for works & conversations and an incomparable help in the early years of the magazine.      At the time of this interview—our first recorded conversation—Rue Harrison and I met Rosen at her rented house on a horse ranch in San Gregorio, California. [She now owns a property nearby.] In those days, her dog Mayo was never far away and we were surrounded by all kinds of examples of Rosen's love of nature—rocks, feathers, shells, seeds, pine cones. On the walls were many of her drawings, ... Apr 2, 1998, 31638 reads

To All Artists, Known and Unknown : I remember seeing a threadbare individual sitting in the cafe of the San Francisco Art Institute in 1992. He was very different from the rest of the students and staff personnel. He was old; old in hard years, not with the mellow patina of the well ensconced. He was in the cafe every day I came in, always sitting alone, always smoking and nursing a cup of coffee. Most striking in his appearance was the discrepancy between his physical, and what seemed to be his psychic, circumstances. He was worn, his physical being was worn, his clothes were fragile, almost brittle, garments ... , 31444 reads

Demetrio Braceros and the New Trail of Hope : Cayuga Park, S.F. I couldn't resist eavesdropping on the animated conversation at the next table-- something about “a little Asian man” and “this amazing place!”  Judging from the excitement, something had to be really special. A city park was mentioned. Cayuga Street? Once back home, I started searching online.      There is a park on Cayuga Street. So I drove over from the East Bay and there it was, laid out against the high concrete wall of Highway 280. BART trains passed overhead along the park's north side ... Apr 2, 2007, 31190 reads

Interview: Leigh Hyams: This Incredible Fact of Being Alive I’d arrived early. It was easy to miss the door at 545 Sutter Street. It opened into a narrow foyer where one suddenly felt transported back to the San Francisco of the 1950s. Deciding against the rickety elevator, I chose to climb the narrow stairs hidden in the back. On my very first visit to Meridian Gallery I’d been charmed by the place, by the feeling I was revisiting an era when the Beats were just getting going.      No one could mistake Meridian as a place dedicated to art as a saleable commodity. There was a different ... Nov 21, 2005, 30801 reads

Interview with Photographer Elaine Ling: Remote Wonders Elaine Ling was born in Hong Kong in 1946. At the age of nine, her family moved to Canada. She came to my attention when I got a note inviting me to a lecture she giving in San Francisco. Two of her photos were attached and caught my attention immediately. A quick Google search led me to her website where I was able to look at many more of her photos. No question, a portfolio of her work would be perfect for the upcoming issue of works & conversations. Often, pieces of each new issue fall together more from serendipity, than design. Discovering Elaine Ling's ... Jun 27, 2011, 30791 reads

Art and Healing: A Conversation with Katherine Sherwood Katherine Sherwood has been on the art faculty at the University of California at Berkeley for many years. Hers is a remarkable story. Having first studied art history, Sherwood found her way into a studio practice and became a painter. Her work was being noticed in the Bay Area when she suffered a serious cerebral hemorrhage paralyzing her right side. Impatient with the slowness of rehabilitation therapy, she decided to go back into the studio and try to paint, having to use her left hand. The return to painting turned out to be the most healing therapy she could have imagined. She was ... Mar 27, 2002, 30697 reads

Some Thoughts Sent to Ted Orland - Ladislav R. Hanka: I have read your book Art and Fear and have been moved by the deeply humane truths contained therein—enough so to reflect after thirty years as a printmaker, how it is that I survived into middle age as an artist, while nearly all of my colleagues from US art schools have not. What makes this situation all the more vexing, is that I attended art academy in Europe as well and nearly all of those colleagues still make art.  Why the difference? What can we learn from that dichotomy?   I imagine we all start as similarly talented and excited children, wanting to paint ... Aug 17, 2009, 30501 reads