Eva Mayhabal Davis "BIPOC on Colonialism, Nationalism, and [the Harmful Illusion of] White Supremacy"

Head over to Soundcloud for our conversation with arts advocate and curator Eva Mayhabal Davis (B. Toluca, Mexico). We talk about our mutual disdain for Picasso, Davis' art journey, her project El Salón, the prospect of gathering together again, our mutual anxiety at onscreen crowds (and the 80s and early 90s lack of cellphones), how she advocates for community through the arts, and what old hobbies became new again during the pandemic.

Davis was born in Mexico, raised in the United States, and studied art history at the University of Washington. She is a founding member of El Salón, a meetup for cultural producers. Her Mexica identity, immigrant and working class narrative informs her work in advocacy for equity and social justice through the arts.

Davis is a the Intake Paralegal at UnLocal, Inc, a non-profit organization that provides direct immigration legal representation, legal consultations, and community education to New York City’s undocumented immigrant communities. She is also director of Transmitter NYC, curator for NYC Crit Club, and her writing has been featured in many publications such as Foundwork, Arte Fuse, Art Spiel, the Hemispheric Institute’s Cuadernos, Nueva Luz: Photographic Journal, Guggenheim Museum Blog, and Cultureworks Magazine.

Meghan Elizabeth Trainor on "Art, AI, and Technology"

Head over to Soundcloud to listen to our fantastic conversation with Seattle-based interdisciplinary artist, writer and performer Meghan Elizabeth Trainor (not THAT one) about Computational Witchcraft, creating mythologies in order to truly own our places in spaces like tech that are historically unwelcoming to and erasing of womxn and other folxs who have been marginalized (because we have always been there, regardless of the dominant mythologies), using her project Witchcraft Memes to try to spark an interest in STEM for teens and tweens, using nurturance in community as a form of activism, her installation Elektron Oracle form the show Good Witch/Bad Witch at Museum of Museums in Seattle, curated by Bri Luna AKA The Hoodwitch, and much more.

“Meghan Elizabeth Trainor is a Seattle-based interdisciplinary artist, writer and performer.  

Trainor’s work has been shown, performed and presented at spaces that include Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona; The Esther M. Klein Art Gallery, Philadelphia; Ask The Robot at The Frying Pan, New York; and 911 Media Art Center, Seattle.  

She completed her Masters at the Interactive Telecommunications Program at Tisch School of the Arts/New York University. She has been artist-in-residence at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Digital Performance Institute and the Janie & James Washington Foundation.

Her 2014 Pugetopolis Manifesto is included in the Feminist Data Manifest-No Playlist, Compiled by T.L. Cowan with Marika Cifor and Jessica Lapp.

She wrote The Familiar Algorhythm in 2016 which was included in the curated box-set SIGIL, a project of Sharon Arnold’s Bridge Productions.

The Hedreen Gallery at Seattle University commissioned her to create a performative response to the 2016 exhibition Robots Building Robots resulting in an audio piece called Robot Philter.

Her project #meghantrainorwitchmemes was featured in the most recent issue of continent. magazine; APOCRYPHAL TECHNOLOGIES.  

Trainor's work was included in the Danish design, technology & feminism ‘zine Wilful Technologies: Rage & Resilience edited by Madeline Balaam Lone Koefoed Hansen.  

She is currently working on Elektron Oracle, an installation for the Good Witch/Bad Witch show at The Museum of Museums gallery in Seattle. This piece grew out of her talk Witch Science on the Moon that was part of the Salish Sea Anti-Space Symposium in 2019.”

Adela Goldsmith on "Art, Gender, and Sexuality"

Head over to Soundcloud (or any of our other hosting services via the buttons above) to hear our latest episode with Adela Goldsmith about queer elders, our love/hate relationship with museums (some we really love), the value of experiential knowledge, the importance and innate queerness of archives, the future of museums (is there one?), the roles of care networks, mutual aid, and queer methodologies during this historic moment, what the Critical Bounds drinking game would look like, and "What is a Career?".

Adela Goldsmith is an independent art scholar and curator, who graduated from Smith College with a BA in Art History and a concentration in Museum Studies, wherein they completed a project which examines the relationship between the development of museums’ permanent collections and archival documentation.

They have held curatorial internships at the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, as well as an archives internship in artist Cass Bird’s studio, and was a Junior Assistant at the Center for Curatorial Leadership.

Currently, Goldsmith has joined forces with the think-tank/research lab known as the Institute of Museums Against All Fucked Up Social Systems (IMAAFUSS), which explores adaptive solutions for experiencing art collectively and critiquing arts institutions in the midst of a catastrophic pandemic and a watershed reckoning with racism and inequity in the cultural sector and beyond. They have also gotten involved with the soon-to-debut mutual aid and resource-sharing network, Aid for Art Now (A4AN), which aims to support and sustain current and prospective arts workers and create a more inclusive and accessible museum field.

Their curatorial practice focuses on the intersections of queerness, archival
impulse, and institutional memory.

Tiffany Shaw-Collinge on "Art and Climate Crisis"

Head over to Soundcloud (or Apple Music, Spotify, We Heart Radio, or your chosen podcast subscription service) to listen to our latest release with Métis artist and architect Tiffany Shaw-Collinge, where we discuss holistic sustainability, Ocicicwan Contemporary Art Collective, and Contemporary Indigenous Art and Architecture.

“Tiffany Shaw-Collinge is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and registered architect based in Edmonton, Alberta. She holds a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD) University, a Masters in Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Tiffany has exhibited widely including the Architecture Venice Biennale, Winnipeg Art Gallery and more recently the Chicago Architecture Biennial. She has been the recipient of a major commission for Edmonton's Indigenous Art Park, among other public art projects, has produced several notable transitory art works and is a core member of Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective. Tiffany was born in Calgary, Alberta and raised in Edmonton - her Métis ancestry comes from Fort McMurray via the Red River. “

Carol Rashawnna Williams on "Art and Climate Crisis"

It is time to listen to the first episode of our Art and Climate Crisis segment with Carol Rashawnna Williams. Through her work, Williams presents climate crisis through the lens of racial inequalities. Her often-communal art experiences explore our personal relationships to the land in order to promote healing, and further our understanding and personal responsibilities—to the earth and to each other.

In addition to her creative endeavors, Williams herself is active in community-building, and has been certified through Seattle Parks & Rec as an Urban Forest Educator, spending time teaching about “…conifers, indigenous, and invasive species.”

Listen on Soundcloud, Apple Music***, and Spotify to hear us talk about all of this, her childhood in Germany and Tacoma, the changing face of Seattle, how structural inequity affects climate concerns, and what individuals can do to make a difference.

Our Episode with Carol Rashawnna Williams is almost here.

It has been A While since we recorded with Carol Rashawnna Williams for our Art and the Environment segment. Right before the Covid19 pandemic really hit the US, in fact (which is part of what has taken so long) but look for her episode to hit @criticalboundspodcast over the next few days. Image: "WATER". (2017). Carol Rashawnna Williams (Instagram @k_love_4art @klove4art). Painting, oil monoprint on canvas, 72 x 72". Photo by Chloe at Artist Trust.