Art Town

with Joel Olzak

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, Justin sits down with artist Joel Olzak to talk about archaic, human-powered processes, collective labor, and the tension between activism and large-scale systems of power. Their conversation explores what it means to make work rooted in community, resistance, and the shared search for more sustainable ways of living. To see more of Joel’s work: Check out his website: www.joelolzak.com Or follow him on Instagram: @joelolzak Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: Joel's whistles played by Justin Baker Closing sound by Phantogram

with Daniele Frazier

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, Justin sits down with artist Daniele Frazier at September Gallery, recording in the midst of her exhibition Night Writing. Their conversation explores working blind in the darkroom, reviving obsolete photographic processes, and the shifting relationship between private studio labor and public-facing art. Together, they discuss touch, color, and material as ways of recording fleeting moments without a lens. To see more of Daniele’s work: Check out her website: www.danielefrazier.com Or, check out the gallery in Kinderhook, NY: www.septembergallery.com Or follow her on Instagram: @danielefrazier _____________________________________________ Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: Art Tunes Closing sound by Phantogram

with Ryan Lauderdale

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, Justin sits down with sculptor Ryan Lauderdale to talk about dead malls, internet culture, and the objects and spaces we collectively abandon. They explore how Lauderdale's work transforms the detritus of late capitalism and digital nostalgia into sculpture, and what it means to make art about the things a culture forgets to grieve. To see more of Ryan’s work: Check out his website: www.ryanlauderdale.com Or follow him on Instagram: @r_lauderdale Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: Oklahoma meets Aphex Twin Closing sound by Phantogram

with Barbara Todd

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this episode, Justin (and intern Cameron) speak with textile artist Barbara Todd, whose striking quilts combine the intimacy of fabric with bold political commentary. Barbara shares how her journey began with sewing doll clothes as a child and how her shift from more traditional art making to quilting opened up new ways of thinking about form, care, and activism. Together, they explore the power of contradiction—how the softness of quilts can carry sharp, urgent messages—and what it means to challenge traditional boundaries in both art and craft. To see more of Barbara's work: Check out her website: wwww.barbaratodd.com Or follow her on Instagram: @barbatod Or check out the Opalka Gallery www.opalka.sage.edu Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: Beach in Calvados, France Closing music by Phantogram

with Naomi Meyer

Art Town is a podcast based in upstate New York, hosted by artist and educator Justin Baker. Each month, Baker engages in thoughtful conversations with regional artists and artisans, exploring their work, creative processes, and the lives they lead. In this special episode of Art Town, I sit down with Naomi Meyer — my high school art teacher and someone who had a profound impact on my life, both as an artist and an educator. We talk about her path through art school, what led her into teaching, and the influence of her own high school art teacher. Naomi also reflects on 30 years in the classroom, the changing nature of students, and — yes — what I was like as a quiet teenager trying to find my creative voice. This conversation marks the beginning of a more personal season of Art Town, one that occasionally looks back in order to better understand where we are now. Theme music by Phantogram Interlude sound: School Bell Closing music by Phantogram