Artist Interview: Mark Phelan

Words of the day: landscape. grief. color. curiosity. and music. Welcome to the Mark Phelan interview.

Mark Phelan has a solo show up at the Co-Creative Center in New Bedford, Massachusetts...

The exhibition runs from April 1st through May 31st, 2025. With an opening reception on Saturday April 5th from 6-9pm.

And additional receptions on Aha! night in both April and May. The Co-Creative Center is located at 137 Union Street in New Bedford, MA. Don't miss it!

A little about the interview,... I caught word about this show and thought it was a great time to dust off the ole podcast and talk with Mark about his work. I've been to his studio in the past and saw his last solo show back in 2022, which was titled Thresholding... so I'm really looking forward to this new show of paintings.

In this interview Mark and I open the conversation talking music in the studio, in depth about the exhibition title, so look out for that... ...places where certain sentiments and expressions land or don't land. Family also becomes part of the conversation. And Mark shares 2 great nature-based poems by esteemed poets you're sure to recognize...

Listen in for more via the audio player below on this post...thanks!

Studio view

Studio view

Audio interview with the artist:

Ahtcast · Mark Phelan Interview

(this player collects cookies for Soundcloud, just a heads up!)

The artist's website: Mark Phelan

Instagram: @generalgow and @_markmaking_

Artists mentioned in the interview: 

Tori Mulhern

Kim Barry

Tony Miraglia

Becky Yazdan (previous Ahtcast guest who submitted an interview question for Mark. Thanks Becky!)

Poets mentioned in this interview:

Mary Oliver

Wendell Berry

Bands mentioned in the interview:

Dirty Three

Dinosaur Jr

Explosions in the Sky

Saxon Shore

Godspeed You Black Emperor

Fontaines DC

Idles

Wolf Alice

and last but not least:

The Cure

The Smiths

Congratulations on your show, Mark! And thanks for the conversation.

And thanks to our listeners out there!

(Original intro song by David T Miller and Phillip J. Mellen)

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Artist Interview: Brooke Mullins Doherty Revisited

Words of the day: scale. organic. layer. complexity. intuition.

Welcome Brooke Mullins Doherty back to the podcast! 

Brooke and I first spoke in the early days of ahtcast back in 2011 and I thought it would be a good thing to catch up and talk about Brooke’s current show and the work in it, along with details regarding her varied and focused working methods. 

Brooke’s show is titled Divulgences, catch it if you are in the New Bedford, MA area for the reception October 13th 2022 from 5 to 8pm. The exhibition runs September 12 – October 20, 2022 at the Co+ Creative Center at 137 Union Street in New Bedford, MA. 

Also featured in the interview are 3 questions submitted by previous Ahtcast guest Chicago based painter, Renee Robbins! 

Listen below for more... 

 Spacial Divulgence 2

Acrylic on cut paper

6 x 6 inches

2019

 Reciprocity 10

Ink on paper

15 x 11 inches

2021

 Glorious Congruity

Enamel on monotype

24 x 18 inches

2020

Audio interview with the artist:

Ahtcast · Revisited: Brooke Mullins Doherty and Phillip J. Mellen in Conversation

The above player uses cookies for Soundcloud

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Brooke Mullins Doherty with her work

The artist's website: Brooke Mullins Doherty

Divulgences, catch the show if you are in the New Bedford, MA area for the reception October 13th 2022 from 5 to 8pm. The exhibition runs September 12 – October 20, 2022 at the Co+ Creative Center at 137 Union Street in New Bedford, MA.

 

 

Mentioned in the interview: 

Maplecroft Fall River, MA

 Renee Robbins - thanks for your questions!

Eva Hesse

Judy Pfaff

Barbara Takenaga

Gustav Klimt

 

 

Many thanks to Brooke for the conversation!

 

And thank you listeners! 

 

 

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(original podcast intro song by David T Miller and Phillip J. Mellen)

 

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Artist Interview: Barbara Laube

Words of the day: history. ritual. open. magic. portrait. 

This episode’s guest is Barbara Laube. In the conversation you’ll hear personal accounts and connections between the artist and her work. As well as the surprising, and not so surprising, places the work derives from. Also a list of artists’ studios she would like to visit. 

This interview also features a few questions submitted by previous guest Brigid Watson. And more…..listen below:

Dorothy's Dress

15 x 8 inches

oil on linen

2022

Install of small works

Morning Has Broken

5 x 4 inches

oil on linen on panel

2022

Mending

 7 x 5 inches

oil on canvas

2021

Barbara Laube in her studio

Audio interview with the artist:

Ahtcast · Barbara Laube interview

The artist's website: Barbara Laube

instagram: @barbaralaube

 

 

Morning Has Broken 

runs February 12th through March 20th 2022 

With a reception on Saturday March 5th from 2 - 5 pm

at Gold/scopophilia in Montclair, NJ

 

 

 Mentioned in the interview: 

 Vincent van Gogh

Jackson Pollock 

Willem de Kooning

Franz Kline

Bill Jensen

Barnett Newman

Mark Rothko

Giorgio Morandi

 Michelangelo

Velazquez 

della Francesca

 

Many thanks go out to previous ahtcast guest Brigid Watson for collaborating on questions for this interview!

 

Congratulations on Morning Has Broken, and thanks for the conversation, Barbara!

 

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(Original intro song by David T Miller and Phillip J. Mellen)

Artist Interview: Sabine Tress | Space Oddities

Words of the day: gesture. vulnerability. consciousness. Zero gravity.

For this episode Sabine Tress returns to the podcast, from her studio in Cologne, Germany, to discuss the work in her solo show Space Oddities. 

This conversation acts mostly as a virtual tour of Sabine’s exhibition. It details the relationships between the actual exhibition space, the paintings, the viewer, and the painter herself. Somehow I make my way into the mix as well. 

I did not know this interview would journey in the direction it did, it wasn’t until editing did I realized how these states were apparent. This recording creates a virtual venue where the show takes place for those who can’t make it to the brick and mortar space, and yet helps make it a show not to miss in person. Listen below...

Blizzard

180 x 140cm/70 x 55in

acrylic on canvas

2021

Teddy

180 x 140cm/70 x 55in

acrylic on canvas

2022

Ma Vie Sous Marine

180 x 140cm/70 x 55in 

spray and acrylic on canvas

2022

 

Audio interview with the artist:

Ahtcast · Sabine Tress | the Space Oddities interview

 

 

The artist's website: Sabine Tress

 

  Space Oddities runs through February 12th 2022

at Esther Verhaeghe Art Concepts

Brussles, Belgium

 

More info on the show: Esther Verhaeghe Art Concepts

 

  Esther Verhaeghe and Sabine Tress!

instagram: 

@sabtress

@esthersartytrail

She's vague

180 x 140cm/70 x 55in

acrylic and spray on canvas

2021

Sabine Tress,...congrats and thanks for the conversation!

 

 

(Original intro song by David T Miller and Phillip J. Mellen)