Alyson’s recent list of favorite art documentaries brought to mind an often overlooked, but extremely rich resource for our continued art inspiration and education: podcasts.

Many museums have discussion and lecture programs featuring prominent artists, curators and arthistorians, which are archived and available to the public free of charge online. There are also some excellent independent podcasts out there.
Most of us don’t have a lot of time to sit down idly listening to our favorite artists discuss their work. Podcasts are perfect for killing time while driving or doing mundane tasks in the studio.

Podcasts have helped me further develop the language I use to inform my own artwork. Maybe they can do the same for you.

Getting Started
I find iTunes to be most convenient for getting the latest updates and syncing with mobile devices.

1. Just click on the podcast links below to take you to a iTunes Podcast Preview.
2. Click “view in iTunes,” which will open the podcast page in iTunes.
3. Select the “subscribe free” button. It will ask for an account confirmation and then will begin downloading the latest episode.
4. The older episodes show up on the podcast lists in light gray and can be downloaded at your leisure.
5. When ready to remove the episode, just select and delete, when prompted, be sure to “move to trash.” Otherwise, it will remain hidden on your hard drive.

My Top 9 Choices for Art Podcasts

In descending order . . .

1. National Gallery of Art: Notable Lectures
From Washington,D.C., Notable Lectures is one of the best museum lecture series featuring mid-carrier and established contemporary artists as well as earlier art movements. They have an archive of over 275 podcasts available.

2. MoMA Talks: Conversations
Another good lecture series with artist, curators, scholars, which discusses both modern and contemporary art. This can sometimes be a bit hit-or-miss, but still has some gems among the 180 podcasts available.

3. MoMA Talks Panel Discussions and Symposia
Similar to the MoMA Talks: Conversations. Pick and choose the subjects/artists that interest you most among the 144 episodes.

4. MOCA Audio Podcasts
A collection of audio tours and archive of art talks from the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. While there are only 44 episodes and it was discontinued in 2010, it is has some interesting conversations with artist like, Robert Rauschenberg, William Kentridge, and Paul McCarthy.

5. National Gallery Podcast
From London’s National Gallery. Explores their diverse collection. With 133 episodes and growing, this is an interesting podcast to get more of an historical slant on well-known artists from many different time periods.

6. SFMOMA Artcasts
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art’s podcast series brings you closer to the voices and sounds of artists, writers, curators, and musicians as they respond to the art on view at SFMOMA. With over 300 episodes, there is something for everyone.

7. LensWork
Examines the aesthetic considerations of photography and the creative process. I don’t give this podcast a 5-star rating, as new episodes are only available for a short time on iTunes. Get ‘em while you can!

8. KCRW’s Art Talk
For you Angelenos out there. These are our local off-the- beaten-path art happenings for Los Angeles. Just listen to one episode and you will be entranced by Edward Goldman’s charming accent and quirky use of language.

9. Art Marketing Action Podcasts from Alyson B. Stanfield
Talk about an art podcast that changed my life. This was my first and most entertaining exposure to Alyson’s art marketing wisdom. I still revisit these podcasts and they are the perfect bite-sized marketing nuggets that don’t overwhelm. Discontinued in 2010, but still available online.

For visual stimulation, check out Richard’s Favorite Art Video Podcasts with TateShots, ArtSpark and art:21 on top of the recommended list.

Please share your favorite art podcast in a comment.

About Our Guest Blogger

Richard Slechta is a contemporary art photographer who harnesses light to get at the physicality of illumination. His colorful photo-paper works are a camera-less interaction between light, painting and photosensitive paper.

The post 9 Art Podcasts You Should Follow appeared first on Art Biz Success.

A few juicy ones

These are 5 of the best episodes (IMO) you can look up quickly on iTunes or click on the title next to the episode to listen on this blog.
Episode 27: Open Yourself to Possibility (practice saying Yes)
Episode 9: Get Better Results with a Personal Plea (personalize your email)
Episode 44: Exceed Expectations (in every way)
Episode 60: Believe in Your Art (you can’t sell something you don’t believe in)
Episode 94: Offer an Upgrade (yes, you can upsell your art!)
Do you have a favorite Art Marketing Action podcast episode?
 
 

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I know a lot of you are trying audio and Internet radio. Maybe these thoughts will be of some benefit.

I know how to create my own audio!

I do all of my own recording using a cheap microphone and GarageBand on my Mac. I wrote about this and shared a photo in an earlier post.

I have a better voice for recording now.

In 2008 hired a private voice coach to help make the podcasts sound more animated. I can’t begin to tell you what a difference this made! Oh, what am I saying. Listen for yourself. (You really just need to listen to the first 20 seconds to get the gist of it.)

Before:
[powerpress url=”http://www.artbizcoach.com/podcasts/pickapart.mp3″]
After voice lessons and adding music:
[powerpress url=”http://artbizsuccess.com/audio/testimonials.mp3″]

She taught me to stand up, smile, and use my hands while I’m recording. It’s hard when it’s just you and the mic, but you should try to act natural–like you’re really talking to someone and not just speaking into a mic. I’ve heard that some people post a photo of their ideal listener as they’re recording.

I also learned that I probably shouldn’t be recording on my steel desk! I added a piece of fabric to the desktop to help buffer the tin-ny sound.

I have a better idea how iTunes works.

I know what it takes to get audio on iTunes! Granted, I had much help with this from Pat Velte. But I can quickly fill out an iTunes submission form and make sure my album cover is with every episode. I’ve tried to be meticulous about seeing that all of the fields are complete and consistent for each episode.

I now get easily annoyed with others who don’t take this care with their audio — probably because I import everything into iTunes and must clean up the files that don’t include enough info or that aren’t consistent.

I can mix audio!

Earlier this year I started jazzing up the podcast with music I purchased from BumperTunes. Yes, I add it myself.
My “audio enhancing” skills leave a lot to be desired. I still don’t know what all of the gizmos are for on the GarageBand screen, but I’m not afraid to click on them.

I can miss an episode here and there.

There were a few weeks that I just didn’t feel like doing a recording. OR, I thought that the written text didn’t lend itself well to audio. So I just skipped those weeks. It was a big deal to me that I missed recording an episode, but not a single soul ever asked me what happened to them.

You can’t slap a bunch of podcasts on a CD and make a quick product to sell.

A couple of years ago I tried repackaging the podcasts as CDs to sell. I thought there might be some people (a lot of people) who don’t like or know how to use MP3s. I’d also have CD products to sell at my workshops and events.
Here’s the thing: It doesn’t work that sweetly! The intros and exits for each podcast gets annoying after a few episodes. Transferring podcasts to CD should require more editing. IMHO, it would be faster to re-record them.

It’s easier to get good reviews when you ask for them and tell people how to do it.

Until earlier this year, I had only 2 or 3 podcast reviews on iTunes. Since iTunes doesn’t rate a podcast until there are enough reviews, this was a big deal. I went on a campaign where I asked for reviews with each episode. And I got ’em! My listeners are the best. Thanks to everyone who posted a review. If I knew your contact info, I probably sent you a personal thanks.
Do you create audio? What lessons have you learned in the process?

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