Ep. 5 — Ocean of Memory: Art, Family and the Mickens Siblings

Three New Jersey siblings. Decades of images. One shared creative inheritance. Dave Fletcher talks with Robert, Mike and Janet Mickens about Ocean of Memory / Ocean of Dreams, their multimedia window installation presented through Studio Montclair’s Windows at 127. The siblings revisit their childhood in Clifton, where their artist mother encouraged them to draw, make movies and transform ordinary materials. Robert discusses his journey from Pratt Institute into broadcast television and explains why television became his “boot camp for understanding images.” Cinematographer Mike recalls his early fascination with cameras and his experience working with legendary designer Saul Bass. Janet describes moving between art and social work before returning more fully to painting, drawing and transforming discarded furniture. Their conversation encompasses family home movies, public-access television, the Jersey Shore, creative aging, artificial intelligence and the countless images that accumulate within a family’s shared memory. Ocean of Memory / Ocean of Dreams runs September 6–October 11, 2026, in Studio Montclair’s Windows at 127, adjoining 127 Bloomfield Avenue near Bay Street in Montclair, New Jersey. Learn more at Robert Mickens Art, Welcome to Planet Janet, and Studio Montclair.