Full Width 
Shortcuts 
Sign Up 
Log In 
Articles 
Reading List More from The Great Discontent (TGD)
Britt Reilly's work lives at the intersection of immersive visual arts, historic architecture and preservation, and modernist design. Britt is the executive director and collections curator at the Irving & Aaronel deRoy Gruber Foundation in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and when we chat via Zoom, she is flanked by Plexiglas sculptures and a wall painted DayGlo Aurora Pink. "In color theory, hot pink is actually more calming than blues and grays," says Britt, who is full of nuggets like this that exhibit her range of expertise. She has worked with such artists and entities as Jon Rubin, Einat Amir, Pierre Huyghe, Janine Antoni, the Carnegie International, and dOCUMENTA (13); she founded the Pittsburgh Modern Committee of Preservation Pittsburgh; and she and her partner converted a 1930s building into their home, the first collaboration of their studio Hong Kong Trees. She spoke with us about local wanderlust, the magic of preservation, and the benefits of a great discontent. The post Britt Reilly appeared first on The Great Discontent (TGD).
Rafael Espinal was just 26 when he became an elected official. For the next 10 years, he worked within the halls of government, first as a New York State Assemblymember and then as a New York City Councilmember, advocating for artists, independent workers, and underserved communities, especially his own—the Brooklyn neighborhood of Cypress Hills. In 2020, he left politics to take the helm of the Freelancers Union, where he’s putting his experience to work growing the Freelance Isn’t Free movement across the country. He spoke with us about how it feels to create real change, what fueled his major shift in career goals (spoiler alert: it was a great discontent), and how all of his work is inspired by the impact of storytelling. The post Rafael Espinal appeared first on The Great Discontent (TGD).
Brad Montague is an illustrator, speaker, picture book author, video creator, and all-around maker. He’s a self-proclaimed dreamer and doer. Above all, he’s a storyteller, “working to create a better world for kids with kids” through Montague Workshop, the creative studio he runs with his wife Kristi in Henderson, Tennessee. Everything he puts into the world, whether the viral web series Kid President, which featured his then 9-year-old brother-in-law giving soul-buoying pep talks, or books aimed at kids (The Fantastic Bureau of Imagination) and former kids (Becoming Better Grownups), radiates with a sense of poignant wonder. Here he talks with The Great Discontent about the nonlinear path of meaningful work, the power of a parade, and what it means to be a joy rebel. The post Brad Montague appeared first on The Great Discontent (TGD).
When Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor came up with the idea for Ear Hustle, the podcast they’ve hosted together since 2017, Earlonne was serving a prison sentence of 31 years to life—the result of California’s three-strikes law. The two met at San Quentin State Prison where Nigel, a lifelong artist and photographer, was volunteering in the media center. For 13 seasons, Earlonne and Nigel have been sharing the experiences of those living life on the inside—“ear hustling” is prison slang for eavesdropping—and in the process have exposed listeners to countless characters, illuminating perspectives, and new depths of empathy and understanding. In 2018, Earlonne's sentence was commuted and he’s since continued creating Ear Hustle with Nigel as a free man. A fitting testament to the immense power of storytelling. Earlonne and Nigel spoke with The Great Discontent about their collaboration, process, and ambitions. The post Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor appeared first on The Great Discontent (TGD).
More in creative
World Models, Astra 6, Fervo, Cybercab, Lettuce Robot, Space Telescope, PSI + Extra Doses
I’m Jay, a full-time printmaker originally from Canada but currently living in Cornwall. I use wood engraving to create intricate and narrative landscapes that explore themes of home and solitude, and our connection with the natural world and each other. Describe your printmaking process. I work primarily in wood engraving, which is a niche form of relief printing. It’s the process traditionally used to print book and newspaper illustrations, so it’s perfect for capturing small details. It’s similar to regular woodcut or linocut in that you’re removing the areas you want to keep white (drawing with light), but it uses speciality end-grain wood and engraving burins instead of carving tools. I also create collages with pieces of my wood engraving prints. I deconstruct and then reconstruct the landscapes to create a series of new compositions in collage. How and where did you learn to print? I started printmaking at NSCAD University back in Canada. I went to art school thinking I was going to be a painter, but I took my first printmaking class and was instantly hooked (and never did any more painting!). I signed up for every print class I could find. I learned lithography, etching, screenprint, typography and relief print. I actually never tried wood engraving until I came to the UK. I saw people online doing engraving, and I was really interested in the process and how they were able to get such small details. Why printmaking? I love the whole process of making prints. I’ve always been drawn to the repetitive mark-making and all the different steps of preparation involved. I can get quite anxious and stuck in my head sometimes, and I find that the satisfying and meditative processes like engraving, tearing paper, and printing editions can help me feel more relaxed. Where do you work? Currently I work from my studio in Krowji, Redruth. Describe a typical day in your studio. Honestly every day is different depending on what I have going on. Some days are big admin days filled with answering emails, making social media posts, organising work for galleries, applying for exhibitions, and my least favourite of all, doing my taxes. But on the creative days I’ll have breakfast/coffee, drive to my studio, and spend the day working on my prints. My favourite days are the ones I spend engraving. Once I have the basic composition planned out on paper, I transfer it to the woodblock and create the image slowly by building up different marks. I love watching the image emerge from the darkness. It’s exciting because I never know exactly how it will turn out. If it’s a small block I can finish in a day, but the larger ones can take a week or more. How long have you been printmaking? For around 10 years (with a few years in the middle where I was working regular jobs and not making any art). What inspires you? I’m inspired by the vast Canadian landscapes where I grew up and the rugged Cornish coastline where I live now. My landscapes explore themes of home, solitude, and our intrinsic connection to the natural world and each other. What is your favourite printmaking product? The woodblocks. I love them as beautiful objects in themselves. And they’re so satisfying to work with. Sometimes I like them more than the prints! What have you made that you are most proud of? To be honest, I’m quite self-critical, and I’m always looking ahead to my next work. When I look back, I can see parts of different pieces that I like, but I also see everything that I would do differently. Maybe I’ll answer that I’m most proud of my growth as an artist, and that I’ve been able to find my own niche and style, and build a life for myself where I can be creative and self-employed. Where can we see your work? Where do you sell? I share a lot of the process on my Instagram page, and I sell through my website. If you want to see my work in person, I show with Cambridge Contemporary Crafts in Cambridge, The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle, Mōr Studio in North Yorkshire, and The Poly Guild in Falmouth, Cornwall, as well as other group shows around the UK. I’m also a member of the Society of Wood Engravers, which has an annual exhibition that tours different venues in the UK so keep an eye out for that! Maybe it will come to your city. What will we be seeing from you next? I’m excited to make some large scale work this year. I’m looking forward to pushing myself to work larger and get more expressive with my mark-making. Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives? My advice for other printmakers and creatives (and myself!) is to not let perfectionism paralyse you. It’s okay to make ‘bad’ work, and to try things and have them not turn out. Just keep showing up and making things regularly, and something good and meaningful will emerge. To see more from Jay, follow him on Instagram! Feeling inspired? If you want to try out wood engraving, have a look at our website where we have everything you need to get started!
Measuring the box-office impact of movie trailers and the cultural value that numbers can’t quite capture.
Apophenia is the uniquely human tendency to perceive meaningful patterns or connections in random or unrelated data, events, or objects. Humans are story telling machines. And one thing we do is turn co-incident events into more than coincidences. When we see faces and shapes in clouds, apophenia wastes our time in the form of pareidolia. […]
