B+S With Friends

Sonnet Simmons is a keynote speaker, voice and presence mentor, performer, and entrepreneur who helps leaders, founders, and creatives communicate with greater trust, authority, and impact. We highly recommend that you follow her on IG: @sonnetsimmons 

Alex DiFrancesco is the author of the dystopian novel All City, the story collection reflecting trans realities Transmutation, and the memoir Breaking the Curse (2024). They are the recipient of numerous awards and have served as assistant editor for Sundress Publications and edited LGBTQIA+ nonfiction for Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Their work has appeared in Tin House, Electric Literature, Pacific Standard, Eater, and Vol. 1 Brooklyn, among others. DiFrancesco lives in Philadelphia.

Åsa Johannesson is an artist working across photography, writing, and video, exploring queer vocabularies in imagery and text. She has exhibited internationally, and written several books, including the research monograph Queer Methodology for Photography. Åsa’s prose poetry collection And I wanted to see it: my queerness in the best light is forthcoming. Åsa is based in London, UK and her hometown Växjö, Sweden. https://www.asajohannesson.com/

Zeek Taylor is a prominent LGBTQ+ trailblazer who married his longtime partner, Dick Titus, on May 10, 2014, after 42 years together, and became the first legal same-sex male couple to be married in the American South, an event that drew international media attention. Zeek is also an award-winning American painter, storyteller, and recipient of the prestigious Arkansas Governor's Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement. Zeek lives and maintains a studio in the historic art colony of Eureka Springs, Arkansas.*Thank you for your patience with my technical complications during this recording.   

Jim Obergefell is an American civil rights activist who was the lead plaintiff in the 2015 United States Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized same-sex marriage throughout the United States. Listen in as he describes the love of his life, John Arthur, and how his fight continues to inspire generations of people seeking justice and equality. 

Mario Elías is a multidisciplinary artist of Cuban and Syrian descent based in Chicago. His work spans fiction, nonfiction, photography, painting, and printmaking, often exploring themes of identity, memory, and cultural inheritance. His book Queering the Male Gaze reimagined masterpieces of the classical and modern canon through essays and self-portraiture, giving voice to the often-overlooked queer and female figures who shaped them. His portrait collection Perennial Beauty was the inaugural show for Golden Gate University's Social Impact Artist Series. He is the founder of The KindaSuper Project, a philanthropic initiative offering free photography and video services to underserved communities. His debut novel Beloved Disciples comes out May 12th via Amble Press.

Amina Cruz is a photographer known for capturing queer punk scenes within the Latino community and breaking cultural barriers with her work. Cruz captures the intimate moments shared between queer folk and is trying to expand the Latino identity with their work. @aminacruz.studio www.aminacruz.com/

Judy Giera is an artist, arts worker, and the Associate Director of Collections for the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Art in New York City, which is one of the only collecting institutions in the world dedicated to LGBTQ+ art and artists. In addition to her work managing the museum's collection of 30,000 objects, she has curated multiple projects for the museum. You can learn more about Judy at: judygiera.com

K.M. Soehnlein is an author, activist, and educator who discusses the challenges that the LGBTQ+ community faces today. Enjoy this week's encore episode, which provides a hint at the topic of our upcoming exhibition. 

Enjoy this episode with our Empowerment Grant winner, Monica Rodriguez. Monica "Mo" is a Chicago-born multidisciplinary artist whose work centers on healing, transformation, and emotional evolution through creative practice. Raised in a family where creativity was deeply valued, she has been making art for as long as she can remember, using it as a way to process experience, move through challenges, and understand herself more deeply. @by.mo.mo  by-mo.com

Stephanie Lampkin, PhD, is the Curator at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and has 12+ years of experience specializing in museum collections, museum education, exhibitions, and historical interpretation. Her research examines the early Black and indigenous histories of Florida, the southbound routes to freedom, and geographies of freedom. Enjoy this engaging conversation. 

This week we're doing something a little different by offering you a weekly update, insight on images that lend themselves to Valentine's Day and a reminder of what's on exhibit and what's up next. 

Mina Morita is a director of vital new plays that champion creative rebellion. She creates worlds where audiences and artists face uncomfortable truths and discover possibility together. Mina is a recent recipient of the 2026 United States Artists Fellowship. You can find more information at: https://minamorita.com

Kalada Halliday, our 2025 Empowerment Grant winner, is a Nigerian-American photographer and educator living and working in the Brox. For more than a decade, he has made pictures of his daily life, centered on putting a compassionate lens to the spaces he inhabits, and the communities he is a part of. Particularly those that are overlooked at marginalized. Enjoy this episode as Kalada discusses his passion and process. 

Katherine Ryckman Siegwarth is the Executive Director of Cincinnati's FotoFocus. She joined the organization in 2021 as the Biennial Director with 15 years of experience in art museums and archives. Siegwarth has a range of experiences and is an alumna of the Museum Leadership Institute’s NexGen 2020 Executive Education for the Next Generation of Museum Leaders program. You can find more information about Fotofocus at: https://www.fotofocus.org and IG: @fotofocuscincinnati

Miguel Luciano discusses the upcoming Fall of Freedom movement, happening November 21 and 22, 2025. Fall of Freedom is an urgent call to the arts community to unite in defiance of authoritarian forces sweeping the nation. Our Democracy is under attack. Threats to free expression are rising. Dissent is being criminalized. Institutions and media have been recast as mouthpieces of propaganda. November 21–22, 2025, galleries, museums, libraries, comedy clubs, theaters, and concert halls across the country will host exhibitions, performances, and public events that channel the urgency of this moment. There is still time to participate. Miguel Luciano is a multimedia visual artist whose work explores themes of history, popular culture and social justice through painting, sculpture, and socially engaged public art projects that are featured in the permanent collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, The Smithsonian American Art Museum, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of African American History and Culture, The Brooklyn Museum, El Museo del Barrio, and the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. He lives and works in New York and is currently a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts and Yale University School of Art.https://www.falloffreedom.com/https://miguelluciano.com/

Enjoy our conversation with Black Art Speaks President and CEO Alandes Powell. In addition to her role at the Cincinnati-based arts collective, Powell is renowned for her extensive community advocacy, including the creation of Cincinnati's BlackLives Matter Mural, which draws inspiration from her poem, "We Want What YouWant." www.blackartspeaks.com  IG: black.art.speaks

Rahsaan “New York” Thomas is writer, curator, director, producer, social justice advocate, restorative justice circle keeper, youth counselor, and runner. He is the co-founder of the San Quentin Film Festival and Executive Director of Empowerment Avenue.  Listen in to this engaging conversation with New York. https://www.empowermentave.org/https://www.rahsaannewyorkthomas.com/https://www.sanquentinfilmfestival.com/

Enjoy a repeat episode with Fizz White, Deputy Director of Mission Programs & Communications of The Matriots, a non-partisan, Ohio-based, political action committee dedicated to supporting, endorsing, and encouraging women candidates. Listen in on our conversation about the importance of electing more women leaders.

Thank God For Abortion is working to eliminate the criminalizing stigma around abortion by providing an apology-free space, and is committed to allowing others to repossess their narratives from the extreme right by inhabiting a joyful and authentic place for discussion. You can find them at: www.thankgodforabortion.com  and IG: @thankgodforabortion

Winnie van der Rijn is a multi-disciplinary artist of opportunity– collecting materials, experimenting with techniques and pursuing her curiosities. Her art practice includes textiles, sculpture, collage and collaboration (which she considers its own art form). She plays well with others! Winnie actively exhibits her work throughout the United States and internationally. You can find her at:IG @winnievanderrijn and www.winnievanderrijn.comEnjoy the episode!

Performance artist Asia Stewart centers her conceptual work on her body as a living archive. She devises rituals that reflect the way she weathers life in a deeply extractive society. Stewart’s performances frequently unfold as social experiments that negotiate terms of agency and power with audiences. You can find more of her work at: asiastewart.com

Carolee Schneemann was an American visual experimental artist, known for her multi-media works on the body, narrative, sexuality and gender who is a part of our permanent collection and featured in our current online exhibition. Enjoy this repeat episode with Rachel Churner, director of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation, who is also an art critic, editor, and part-time faculty member at Eugene Lang College at The New School, New York. 

Eric “Maserati-E” Abercrombie was born in Oakland Ca. and was featured in the Emmy nominated documentary "Q-Ball." Eric has been a co-host of the Last Mile Radio on Sirius XM, and is the Sound Designer for the Uncuffed podcast in Solano State Prison and San Quentin State prison. He plans to show the world people are not defined by their past circumstances. Maserati-E Plans to change the world by changing the way we view the world.

Greg Eskridge is a founding member of the Uncuffed radio program and podcast. On July 23, 2024, Greg was released from San Quentin prison after serving 30 years and 25 days and currently serves as Uncuffed’s first Leadership Fellow. Greg looks forward to continuing to elevate the voices of system-impacted individuals. Follow Uncuffed at www.uncuffed.org and IG: we.are.uncuffed

This episode features the social impact arts administrator and grassroots community organizer and the artist, who is incarcerated, Cuong "Mike" Tran. Mike called in from his prison environment for this conversation. We appreciate your patience with the audio, but listen in. It's a great conversation. You can find more information on Wendy's newest endeavor on Instagram at: @justarts_gallery

Marcus Manganni is a New York based sculptor and installation artist who is best known for his innovative, site-specific works that confront the crisis of mass incarceration. For today's episode, all questions were created by students at the California Institute for Women. Enjoy this insightful and provocative discussion. 

In celebration of the upcoming opening of Hilma's Ghost's mosaic mural at Grand Central Station next week, please enjoy this repeat episode featuring Dannielle Tegeder and Sharmistha Ray. You can get a sneak peek of the design at: https://www.hilmasghost.com/abstract-futures 

For our 50th episode, enjoy this engaging conversation with NY Inspector General Lucy Lang, who oversees investigations into corruption, fraud, and abuse in New York State government. 

Fizz White is the Deputy Director of Mission Programs & Communications for The Matriots, a nonpartisan political action committee dedicated to supporting, endorsing, and encouraging women candidates. Listen in on our conversation about the importance of electing more women leaders. 

As we continue exploring the theme of taking back equity, justice, and the future of our country in our current exhibition, Reclaiming Orange, we are revisiting a compelling episode of B+S with Friends. This conversation features Sara Bennett, a former defense attorney turned award-winning photographer, and Mark Loughney, a formerly incarcerated artist. Sara’s work focuses on capturing the lives of women serving life sentences, both inside and beyond prison walls. Mark, whose art has been widely exhibited, uses his creative practice to examine the profound impact of mass incarceration. We will return in 2 weeks with a new episode. Until then, enjoy the listen!

Shelley Brenner Baird is an Ohio-based artist whose work incorporates drawing, painting, photography, printmaking and textile surface design. An archivist by instinct, Shelley collects and creates images to construct a visual vocabulary, often in response to human rights topics. You can see more of her work at: https://www.shelleybrennerbaird.com/

Christen Clifford is a mother, artist, and writer who is a fierce advocate for the trans community. Her work is currently in Body Freedom for Every (Body) at Project for Empty Space and is working on an experimental memoir documentary film about her experiences with ovarian, uterine, and breast cancers. She teaches at The New School and can be found on Bluesky at @cdclifford.bsky.social and www.christenclifford.info. Resources included in the episode:Five Calls is the easiest way to call your representatives. https://5calls.org/Parents and Loved Ones of Trans Folx workshop. I worked with Shawndeez and it was great  https://www.shawndeez.com/workTransformative schools https://www.transformativeschools.org/Trans lawyer for the ACLU, Chase Strangiohttps://www.aclu.org/bio/chase-strangio

Carla Rae Johnson’ is an artist that often addresses issues of social, political, and cultural importance through drawing, sculpture, conceptual, peformance, and installation art. You can find her at carlaraejohnson.org

Enjoy this episode with Donna Beisel, Director of Museum Operations at Troy University’s Rosa Parks Museum in Montgomery, Alabama. 

Enjoy this episode with artist Robert Hightower, first recipient of the Bader+Simon Empowerment Grant. Hightower uses his art to show the struggle between vulnerabiity and strength —two things we all have but rarely show at the same time. 

Hilma's Ghost, a feminist artist collective, co-founded by Brooklyn-based artists Dannielle Tegeder and Sharmistha Ray in 2020, conducts experimental pedagogy, transcultural dialogue, and collectivity through the lens of feminism and spirituality to build community and reckon with patriarchal art histories that have excluded women, trans, and nonbinary practitioners.

Sarah Potter is a renowned psychic medium, known for her exceptional Tarot reading abilities and deep occult knowledge. Her spiritual guidance, personalized sessions, and communal rituals have positively impacted countless lives, spanning private individuals and corporate clients alike as a forefront face in modern witchcraft. 

Adriene Jenik is an artist, educator, scholar-activist and end of life doula. Her work supports personal introspection, social critique, community building, and culturaltransformation. Jenik's projects include "data humanization" performances, the crowd-sourced grief toolkit and repository “the Grief Deck” and publicperformances reading “climate futures” with her ECOtarot deck. More info at adrienejenik.net and griefdeck.com, IG @ecotarot

Listen in on this repeat episode with professional artist, V.L. Cox, whose work has been highly active in projects that involve Human Rights and Equality. Cox is currently featured in Riveting: Women Artists from the Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell Collection, currently on view on the Bader+Simon podcast. 

Rachel Churner is director of the Carolee Schneemann Foundation, an art critic, editor, and part-time faculty member at Eugene Lang College at The New School, New York. Listen in to hear about her trajectory and what's coming up next at the Schneemann Foundation. 

Patricia Cronin is New York based, award-winning interdisciplinary visual artist whose paintings, sculptures and public art examine issues of gender, sexuality, and social justice.

Jerry Smith is the Head Curator and Curatorial Affairs Director at the Dayton Art Institute. Listen in as he talks about what excites him about curating, who he'd like to be stalled with in an elevator, and what's coming up next at DAI.

Enjoy this repeat episode with Sara Vance Waddell. Our upcoming exhibition will feature the Sara M. and Michelle Vance Waddell collection that has recently been exhibited at the Dayton Art Museum.

Christopher Leigh Roberts is a scholar, teacher, father, artist and journalist who was wrongly convicted and incarcerated, yet is working to transform the educational system and ensure that no one falls behind. Creativity and education are at the foundation of his work, where he designs and facilitates courses that challenge conventional boundaries, encourages hands-on learning while aiming to spark curiosity and empowerment. 

Lewis Derogene, artistically known as PhenomenaLewis, is the Head of Exhibitions at MoCA CT where she assists with curation, manages exhibitions and visitor experiences, and creates programming, while also teaching neurodiverse adults.

Our next exhibition features how artists use their work to creatively discuss disabilities and neurodiversity. Please enjoy this repeat episode with the prolific artist Appleton, an artist and photographer who has been creating art, images, and sculptures his entire life. After surviving a diabetic coma at the age of six, he has gone on to inspire millions of people living with diabetes to carry on and realize that they are not alone in the daily battle. IG: appletonpictures

Listen in on artists Sharon Koelblinger and Mychaelyn Michalec talk about their processes, themes of their work, and the artists who most inspire them.

Artists Migiwa Orimo and Calista Lyon discuss the themes reflected in their work, their greatest influences, and the New Worlds Exhibition currently on view at The Weston Gallery in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Matt Distel and Sso-Rha Kang, co-curators for the Ohio exhibit of NMWA's Women to Watch exhibition series, discuss their process in putting together this spectacular show that focuses on women artists in Ohio.