Museum Confidential
139 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 61 ratingsMuseum Confidential is a behind-the-scenes look at museums hosted by Jeff Martin. The show is a co-production of Philbrook Museum of Art and Public Radio Tulsa. New episodes every two weeks.
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Episodes
Go Forward, Move Ahead
September 19, 2019 04:33 - 31 minutes - 26.6 MBSpoiler: Adam Lerner isn’t your average museum director. For the past 10 years, Adam ran the show at MCA Denver. His impact on the institution, the city, and in many ways, the industry, is undeniable. Adam recently stepped down to explore new adventures. We were asked to do an exit interview of sorts. Recorded live in Denver.
Getting High with Killer Mike
September 06, 2019 02:28 - 31 minutes - 28.1 MBDuring our summer break, we headed down to Atlanta to interview hip-hop artist and activist, Killer Mike. He’s known widely for his work with Run The Jewels, but this trip was to talk about museums. Specifically, Atlanta’s High Museum of Art. A little over a year ago, Mike became a board member at The High. We wanted to check in and see how it’s going. What follows is a chat with Mike and High Museum Director Rand Suffolk. Recorded in the studios of public radio WABE in Atlanta.
Jason Lee
June 28, 2019 05:04 - 38 minutes - 38.3 MBFor our 2019 Summer Special we chat with photographer, actor, and legendary skateboarder, Jason Lee (Mallrats, Almost Famous). Lee spent a good portion of 2018 road-tripping through Oklahoma taking photos for his first solo museum show. On view at Philbrook Downtown until November 10.
Live From New Orleans: Don Wildman
May 31, 2019 02:36 - 27 minutes - 20.9 MBFor our Season 2 finale we headed down to the Big Easy for a live show to kick off the annual conference of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM). We set up shop inside the beautiful and mouthwatering Southern Food and Beverage Museum for a chat with Don Wildman, host of the long running Travel Channel show, “Mysteries at the Museum.”
Every Picture Tells a Story
May 10, 2019 04:45 - 26 minutes - 25.6 MBThere are many examples of writers using paintings and other visual art as inspiration to create an entirely new work. Think The Girl with a Pearl Earring or even The Da Vinci Code. That’s exactly what award-winning writer Donna Baier Stein did when she decided to write a new collection of short stories based on works by iconic American artist, Thomas Hart Benton. The issues Benton dealt with through the height of the Great Depression and on still resonate and echo today. We recently sat dow...
What Is A Curator?
April 26, 2019 04:24 - 25 minutes - 24.6 MBIn our first show recorded in front of a live audience, we explore what it means to be a curator with Philbrook Museum of Art Chief Curator Catherine Whitney and Gilcrease Museum Senior Curator, Laura Fry. Your grandmother probably went her whole life without saying she “curated” something. And while so many people these days claim to curate this or that, the only ones that can truly own the title are actual curators. Featuring cameos by comedian Pete Holmes, exit signs, and the National Mus...
Confronting An Ugly Past
April 11, 2019 19:05 - 27 minutes - 29.8 MBWe recently stumbled upon a fascinating blog post written last year by Graham Boettcher, Director of the Birmingham Museum of Art in Birmingham, Alabama. The headline read, “DIRECTOR RECKONS WITH ART MUSEUM’S UGLY PAST” and looks at the museum’s troubling Jim Crow-era policies in the first dozen years of its existence. We sat down with Graham to discuss this and much more.
Museum Storage Wars
March 29, 2019 03:19 - 28 minutes - 24.9 MBMuseums have a problem. Too much stuff. But whereas you can take a few carloads to Goodwill or set up a yard sale, museums don’t have that luxury. Sometimes they end up building costly expansions just to contain the overflow. New York Times reporter Robin Pogrebin visited museums of various budgets and sizes to see just how big a problem museum storage has become.
Ask The Experts 2.0
March 01, 2019 01:27 - 32 minutes - 28 MBTime for our annual round table chat with three experts from different parts of the art world. The roster includes Hrag Vartanian, editor of the popular arts and culture website Hyperallergic, Philbrook Director Scott Stulen, and artist Sharon Louden who is currently putting the finishing touches on a brand new installation in the Philbrook Rotunda. The installation will be on view through the rest of 2019.
Glenstone, A Labor of Love
February 15, 2019 03:31 - 31 minutes - 34.4 MBLess than 20 miles from Washington D.C., there’s a place called Glenstone. It was founded by Mitch and Emily Rales and opened in 2006. Last fall Glenstone took a big leap into the next chapter. But what is Glenstone? It’s an art museum. It boasts over 200 acres of grounds. It’s private. It’s free. Kids and chewing gum aren’t allowed (that’s a little controversial). They only allow a few hundred folks at a time. No pictures. No phones. But don’t be easily distracted by those shiny objects. Mi...
Paintings for the Future
February 01, 2019 03:03 - 29 minutes - 31.4 MBFor the #1 slot on his Top 10 Best Art Shows of 2018, New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz selected an exhibition at the Guggenheim by Swedish artist Hilma af Klint titled “Paintings for the Future.” “The most magnificent sight in New York this year was the drop-dead first gallery showing of kaleidoscopically colored, structurally complex, completely abstract paintings made in the first two decades of the 20th century by unacknowledged Swedish visionary Hilma af Klint.” Since opening...
The Savior
January 18, 2019 05:50 - 27 minutes - 26.3 MBArt conservation: It’s sort of a magic trick. But there are immensely talented people using skills and techniques passed down over generations alongside the latest technology. On this episode we chat with Julian Baumgartner of Chicago-based Baumgartner Fine Art Restoration. Julian has taken his family business into the 21st century by embracing new media, becoming a bit of a social media star in the process.
The Underground Museum
January 04, 2019 03:33 - 26 minutes - 25.2 MBClose your eyes. Imagine a museum. Chances are we’re all seeing a variation on a theme. Open galleries, high ceilings, there’s a guard in the corner wearing a navy or perhaps maroon blazer. It’s quiet, it’s cold, it’s a museum. Those are the stereotypes of course, but you see where we’re going. Museums are, or at least, can be, much different. One of the places trying to change the way we interact with these spaces is The Underground Museum in Los Angeles. We recently sat down with the museu...
The Grand Vienna Museum: On Wes Anderson and Juman Malouf
December 21, 2018 03:44 - 31 minutes - 32.1 MBSeveral years ago, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, Austria began inviting artists to sift through the museum’s more than 4 million objects and create exhibitions filtered through the artist’s own unique point of view. Recently, the museum asked Wes Anderson, the Oscar-nominated director of “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “The Royal Tenenbaums”, and his partner, acclaimed designer, writer, and illustrator, Juman Malouf, to take on the same gargantuan task. They ended up choosing 4...
Ninth Street Women
December 07, 2018 18:02 - 27 minutes - 27.7 MBPulitzer Prize Finalist Mary Gabriel joins us to talk about her acclaimed new book, Ninth Street Women. After WWII, when names like Pollock and Rothko were entering the American mainstream, five women dared to enter this male-dominated space–not as muses but as artists. From their New York studios, where they worked, drank, fought, and loved, they kicked open doors for themselves and everyone that came after. On this episode we get to know Lee, Grace, Helen, Joan, and Elaine.
The World Famous Crochet Museum
November 21, 2018 02:53 - 25 minutes - 24.6 MBOn this episode we head to California’s High Desert with our roving correspondent, Preston Poe (of “The Preston Poe Show” podcast). As we often say, there are many kinds of museums. One of them is a tiny spot in a repurposed photo processing booth now dedicated entirely to crochet. The museum’s founder, as you’ll hear, knows how to spin a yarn or two. And rightly so.
John Waters on Indecent Exposure
November 08, 2018 04:34 - 29 minutes - 30.4 MBLegendary filmmaker and so-called "Pope of Trash" John Waters has a brand new project in his beloved hometown. On view through January 6, 2019 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, "Indecent Exposure" is the first retrospective of Waters' visual arts career, featuring more than 160 provocative photographs, sculptures, and video/sound works. We sat down to chat about the show, the 30th anniversary of "Hairspray," and a few other things. For more information visit artbma.org
The Afterlife of Edward Gorey
October 26, 2018 04:01 - 32 minutes - 33.6 MBIn our special Halloween episode, we step into the macabre with acclaimed writer Mark Dery, author of the new biography, Born to be Posthumous: The Eccentric Genius and Mysterious Life of Edward Gorey. Often called the “Grandfather of Goth,” Gorey’s work influenced Tim Burton, Neil Gaiman, Lemony Snicket, and countless others.
Two Scoops: The Museum of Ice Cream and The New York Times
October 11, 2018 16:07 - 39 minutes - 34.1 MBWe all scream. The Museum of Ice Cream (MOIC) is attempting to blaze a new trail in the museum world. But sometimes that’s a rocky road. First up, a chat with Madison Utendahl, MOIC’s Head of Content and Social. Closing out the show, and for an entirely different take on the emergence of “Instagrammable” or “Pop-Up” museums, we call up Amanda Hess, Critic-at-Large for The New York Times.
The Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia
September 28, 2018 03:00 - 25 minutes - 25.2 MBMuseums aren't always meant to be enjoyable experiences. That doesn't mean they are not important and essential. On this episode, we sit down with Dr. David Pilgrim, founder and curator of the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia at Ferris State University in Michigan. The museum was born out of his personal collection, one that began decades ago, when Dr. Pilgrim was growing up in Alabama. Our podcast also profiles a recent art project utilizing the Confederate flag.
This Old House (Museum)
September 13, 2018 19:18 - 28 minutes - 27 MBThis episode offers a chat with Alexis Light, Senior Manager of Media Relations and Marketing at The Frick Collection. She is that NYC museum's thought leader when it comes to public relations, marketing, and social media content. Also in this pod, we begin an occasional feature called "At a Museum in America." Our far-flung, gallery-going correspondent for this new feature is one Preston Poe, an independent curator, artist, and songwriter who also hosts "The Preston Poe Show" (which you c...
The Bob Dylan Un-Museum
August 31, 2018 02:02 - 32 minutes - 30.2 MBIn our Season Two opener we sit down with Bob Dylan Archive curator, Michael Chaiken to talk about how they’re trying to NOT make a museum with the forthcoming Bob Dylan Center. We also chat about his path to getting the position, music, and of course, Mr. Zimmerman himself.
Part 15: Museum Mailbag
April 27, 2018 03:06 - 28 minutes - 24.2 MBOn the season one finale we try our hand at a podcast classic, the vaunted “mailbag” episode. We invited social media followers to “ask us anything” about Philbrook or museums in general. We then gathered a panel of experts to provide answers, or at least attempt to. Results vary. See you this fall for season two.
Part 14: Art Church
April 13, 2018 02:50 - 27 minutes - 27.9 MBThe Rothko Chapel, established in 1971 in Houston, is both a sacred space and a modern art mainstay. Dedicated to non-denominational prayer and private contemplation -- and also to international peace and fellowship -- the building routinely hosts lectures, concerts, interfaith gatherings, and similar events. And at its heart, of course, are fourteen very dark, luminous, large-scale paintings by the late Mark Rothko. We speak with David Leslie, the executive director of the Rothko Chapel.
Part 13: The Experimental Philosopher
March 30, 2018 05:32 - 47 minutes - 49.3 MBLet’s be honest, conceptual art is polarizing. Sometimes intentionally so. We explore this and more in a wide-ranging and fascinating chat with self-proclaimed Experimental Philosopher, Jonathon Keats. From his early childhood days selling rocks for a penny to large-scale thought experiments commissioned by prestigious institutions, his career is nothing if not unique. As described in the pages of Wired magazine by science fiction author Bruce Sterling, “the guy is tireless.”
Part 12: In The Beginning...
March 16, 2018 01:59 - 28 minutes - 27.6 MBOn this episode we take an in-depth look at the very first Philbrook Director, Eugene Kingman. An acclaimed artist in his own right, Kingman’s journey included stops at Yale, The Rhode Island School of Design, the offices of The New York Times, and the organization that would become the C.I.A. We chat with Mark Brown, longtime journalist and executive assistant to the current Philbrook Director.
Part 11: The Right to Fail: Getting to Know The Museum of Bad Art
March 02, 2018 04:59 - 27 minutes - 25.5 MBWhat are we saying when we refer to a piece as "bad" art? All of us probably have guilty pleasures, or maybe a favorite mistake or two, but what does it mean to seek out and really cherish certain works of bad art? This episode of our podcast features a conversation with Louise Sacco, the so-called Permanent Acting Interim Executive Director of MOBA (a/k/a The Museum of Bad Art).
Part 10: The Thing Called Love
February 16, 2018 02:00 - 39 minutes - 39.9 MBFor our special Valentine's Day episode we explore many different kinds of love, from the boomtown couple that founded Philbrook to the supposed foot fetishism of an iconic French artist. Keep an ear out for cameos by Marie Antoinette and Edward Hopper.
Part 9: Best of the West
February 02, 2018 15:58 - 32 minutes - 27.1 MBGilcrease Museum houses the world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of art and artifacts of the American West. This episode features a chat with Gilcrease Senior Curator Laura Fry and special appearances by Neil Young and Henry Kissinger.
Part 8: Poetic License-Inside MoMA
January 19, 2018 05:23 - 28 minutes - 25.2 MBExplore the bookish side of museums in a revealing conversation with poet, Kenneth Goldsmith, the first and only Poet Laureate at New York City's iconic Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Part 7: The Forgotten Man
January 05, 2018 16:29 - 37 minutes - 36.8 MBArguably at the height of his career with work in Vanity Fair and Vogue, regularly shooting the likes of Jesse Owens, Gary Cooper, and Katharine Hepburn, photographer Lusha Nelson died in 1938 at the age of 30. His personal archive remained lost until 2015 when it was rediscovered by Philbrook. Hear the amazing true story.
Part 6: Everyone's a Critic
December 22, 2017 02:41 - 34 minutes - 33.3 MBMovies and museums. Museums and movies. They go together like popcorn and Milk Duds. On this installment of our podcast, we speak with Charles Elmore of the Oklahoma Film Critics Circle. Topics include memorable motion pictures of 2017, what makes a film an "art film," how today's so-called Golden Age of Television relates to (or doesn't relate to) today's films and filmmakers, and so forth.
Part 5: Drawing Conclusions
December 08, 2017 05:48 - 38 minutes - 37.6 MBOur first in-depth artist chat, with acclaimed photorealist, Karl Haendel. Topics range from the best types of pencils and football to Dutch artist M.C. Escher and politics. See Haendel's work in the current Philbrook Downtown show, "Game On."
Part 4: The Art of the Playlist
November 22, 2017 01:23 - 46 minutes - 46.7 MBSweetness! It's an extended and ever-so-tuneful edition of our podcast for the extended holiday weekend. Listen in as our host Jeff Martin and producer Scott Gregory dig various songs and/or bands inspired by art and/or artists and/or museums and/or The Muse. Sonic bliss? Odd audio? Both? Neither? It's in the ear of the beholder, friends. Look for the companion "Museum Confidential" playlist on Spotify.
Part 3: Ask The Experts
November 10, 2017 03:14 - 31 minutes - 27.1 MBAn in-depth chat with Hrag Vartanian (Hyperallergic) and Sharon Louden, two of the most prominent thought leaders in the art world today. Topics range from early museum experiences to a one-way trip to Mars.
Part 2: The Price of Art
October 27, 2017 01:34 - 30 minutes - 30.8 MBExplore a different side of legendary actor Vincent Price for our special Halloween episode with Philbrook curator, Christina E. Burke. Guest starring Michael Jackson, Johnny Carson, and Jack Nicholson. Hosted by Jeff Martin and produced by Scott Gregory .
Part 1: Big Boss Man
October 13, 2017 02:00 - 28 minutes - 28.8 MBOn the debut episode of Museum Confidential we chat with Philbrook Director Scott Stulen about his rock and roll ambitions, his past obsessions, the show he's been thinking about for years, and much more. We DO NOT talk about cat videos.
Introducing Museum Confidential
October 10, 2017 03:11 - 1 minute - 974 KBStarting Friday, October 13th, Philbrook Museum of Art and Public Radio Tulsa team up for a new podcast exploring how museums work from the inside out.
Museum Confidential
October 09, 2017 21:32Think of a museum. Any museum. Which art works get to be displayed, and which don't, and why? Where do they keep all the unshown (or unshowable) pieces? And why do they keep them at all? And just how does one pack/ship/transport a priceless painting or sculpture? Museum Confidential is a new and unprecedented exhibition at Philbrook Museum of Art that explores such questions. The show opens on October 13th, which is also when Museum Confidential: The Podcast will arrive. It's a collabora...