That's Not Art - Broken Area Podcast

Isabelle Michaud and Mark Helsten ([email protected])

What's art and who decides what it is? In our podcast, we discuss the variety and the approaches taken by a multitude of artists to create their artwork. How often we hear the words "that's not art!" Mark and myself, we try to consider the art world in a personal and authentic way.

Arts Visual Arts

Update frequency: every 21 days
Episodes: 50
Years Active: 2015 - 2019

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Episode 31 Digital and Physical Media's Awkward Moments

Mark's new phone works, which is good. We discuss my projects in Advanced Studio and in Painting IV. The mixing of drawing and digital work in in my mind, where is it going? I am not sure. Mark used …

Sun 09 Oct 2016

Episode 30 London Artists Laura Woermke and Frank Caprini

Summer meanders led the wheels of our Jayco Tent Trailer to the Bruce Peninsula then to London where we visited family and with co-host Mark. The first part of this podcast is a free conversation we …

Mon 29 Aug 2016

Episode 29 Kelsey's Meetup

Isabelle and Mark meet at Kelsey's in London Ontario and share impressions on recent exhibits they recently saw. As it turns out, they both saw the work of Barbara Astman especially the exhibit Cleme…

Wed 22 Jun 2016

Episode 27 Major and minor installations

This Sunday, Mark and I talked about Kiki Smith and the Uber Organ. I didn't understand installation art but after having made a mini one for my Advanced Studio class, I am starting to understand how…

Thu 07 Apr 2016

A conversation with London Artist Brian Saby

As an art student, I find it humbling to listen to the passion in Brian Saby's expression as an artist. Brian is from Windsor, he studied at Fanshawe. As you are listening, you will hear that he is a…

Wed 23 Mar 2016

Episode 25 Dreams of France

Mark wishes he could travel to Europe and see the Louvre. I came back from a 48 hour video-making challenge hosted and ran by the Gore Street Café in my town. I presented a 4 minute video for the f…

Tue 01 Mar 2016

Episode 24 - The return of Mark!

The holidays brought in a lot of interesting stuff, then the return was pretty busy. Mark went to Cuba and I was busy with schoolwork. In this episode, we talk about stuff in a general way. No real …

Sun 21 Feb 2016

Episode 23 A Conversation with Artist Jeff Willmore

Today we have a treat!! London-based artist Jeff Willmore joins Mark and me on our crazy chats about the art world. I very much enjoyed our discussion about his life as a seasoned artist. I especiall…

Tue 22 Dec 2015

Episode 22 Art and Science

It's good to be joined with Mark again. We discussed Art and Science. What does it mean to be making art in 2015? Does painting have a place in the Canadian art scene? Young Canadian artists are infl…

Fri 18 Dec 2015

Episode 21 Aryen Hoekstra's Above the Clouds

This last Friday, I had the pleasure to chat with Aryen Hoekstra. We discussed his exhibit Above the clouds which has been showing at 180 Projects and which was closing that night, in Sault Ste. Mar…

Sun 06 Dec 2015

Episode 20 Isabelle's studio visit with Shawn Serfas

I was so lucky to meet a great art teacher and artist last Wednesday. Shawn Serfas is a Canadian artist born in Saskatchewan who creates 3-D, multi layered, textural paintings about landscape and abo…

Sat 21 Nov 2015

Episode 19 Ellsworth Kelly and our Childhoods

Inspired by Mark's posting of a video of Ellsworth Kelly, now 92 years old, we went on talking about our childhoods and our understanding of art at that time. It was a great little video which I woul…

Wed 28 Oct 2015

Episode 18 - Auguste Renoir and Marina Abramovic

This week we have not prepared anything to talk about specifically, so we let our previous posts on our Facebook page guide our conversation. Isabelle could not remember if Renoir was an Impressionis…

Sat 24 Oct 2015

London meetup : discussion about contemporary art

Mark and I met at Milos pub on Talbot Street in London Ontario. Mark recently returned from a visit to the Detroit Institute of the Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit (MOCAD) as well…

Tue 13 Oct 2015

Episode 16 Immersive Fluxus

The Fluxus manifesto asks artists to purge from Europanism and to make anti-art that all peoples can understand. What if people only like traditional art? Are some artists able to make universally …

Mon 14 Sep 2015

Episode 15 Paul Walde

At Marks's suggestion I attended last night's opening of Paul Walde's Exhibit currently showing at the Art Gallery of Algoma. This is a raw recording of the opening. The first voice is that of Jasmi…

Fri 04 Sep 2015

Episode 14 Creating

In this episode, Mark and Isabelle talk about Isabelle's return from a 3 day workshop on Manitoulin island. Mark argues that everyone is capable of creativity, as it is part of the human experience.…

Mon 24 Aug 2015

Episode 13 - Series of Shorts: Lynne Cohen

Photography for me is simply a way to archive my life. For others, it's a means of artistic expression. Lynne Cohen is an amazing photographer and artist. Her exhibit Faux Indices was super cool. She…

Fri 10 Jul 2015

Episode 12 - Series of Shorts: Crochet in art

Lately, I have noticed an influx of artisanal art into the current multimedia and hybrid art movements. Crochet has escaped Aunt Midge's livingroom and taken to the streets in the form of yarnbombing…

Thu 09 Jul 2015

Episode 11 Series of Shorts: Cluny tapestries

Les tapisseries du musée de Cluny are lush, sensual, repetitive, heraldic and bright. After all these years, the colours still dazzle my eyes. The figures are strange and funny sometimes, especially …