Salley Mavor Headshot
Get to know more about fiber artist, illustrator, and children's book author Salley Mavor in Season 5 of the Creative Exchange.
April 24, 2023 (Cape Cod, MA) – Four years ago, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod (AFCC) launched the Creative Exchange podcast to celebrate and spotlight local and regional artists and arts leaders who are making a difference through their work.
On Sunday, April 23, the AFCC kicked off its 5th season of the podcast – the 39th episode in the series – by releasing an interview with the organization’s 2023 Artist of the Year Mark Adams of Truro. The podcast is available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and the Arts Foundation’s website, with new episodes released every Sunday.
“It’s been a fascinating journey from the start of this podcast in 2019 to today. I’ve really been able to broaden my perspective on the artistic process and understand more fully the impact the arts are having in our region through these conversations,” said AFCC Executive Director Julie Wake who hosts the Creative Exchange. “This podcast offers great insight into the way artists and makers approach challenges. Anyone looking to strengthen their work, whether in the creative field or not, will gain something from listening.”
Adams, who is a painter, printmaker, naturalist, cartographer, and writer, explores the connection between art and nature with Wake on the first episode of the new season. “It was fun. I like doing these conversations, especially if it can spur a response and make people think a little bit about art and the environment,” said Adams, who worked as a geologist and cartographer for the National Parks Service before being named as the Center for Coastal Studies first-ever scientist/artist-in-residence in January of this year.
Joining Adams as guests on this season of the Creative Exchange are musician Julian Loida of Falmouth, a percussionist, composer, and producer; fiber artist, illustrator, and children’s book author Salley Mavor of Falmouth; photographer Heather Pillar of Brewster; and Cape Cod Theatre Company Producing Artistic Director Kate Pazakis. Future interviews include a collaborative discussion with visual artist Joe Diggs of Osterville, and musician Sam Holmstock of Cotuit, on their work with incarcerated youth; designer and artist Oren Sherman of Truro; visual artist Sarah Dineen of Cape Cod; Andre Lima of Brewster, the founder of both Capoeira Besouro Cape Cod and Movement Arts of Cape Cod; and performing artist Jonathan Hawkins of Provincetown.
“Chatting with Julie was pure joy. She asks smart questions and doesn’t shy away from digging into deeper conversations that examine all aspects of the arts,” said Pazakis, who spent several years in Los Angeles, where she co-created the UMPO (Unauthorized Musical Parody Of) series, a comedic adaptation of popular movies and TV shows for the theater. “By the end of the interview, I felt that I had made a new friend.”
Loida, who will be releasing his sophomore album Giverny in May, is currently one of 12 artists in the AFCC’s inaugural Capacity-Building Grant Program which is a partnership between the Arts Foundation and MASS MoCA’s Assets for Artists to give local creatives access to the tools, resources, and support they need to grow their practice and achieve financial sustainability.
Over the past 45 years, Mavor has been hand-stitching three-dimensional artwork which has been applied to standalone pieces, in children’s books, and in stop-motion animation. Her embroidered art was photographed and used in “Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes” which won the 2011 Boston Globe-Horn Book Award and the 2011 Golden Kite Award.
Having lived, taught, and photographed in seven countries over four continents during the past 25 years, photojournalist Heather Pillar is known for her series, Morrie: Life and Death Matters, which chronicles the last six months of Brandeis professor Morrie Schwartz’s life. Schwartz, who died of ALS in 1995, was the centerpiece of Mitch Albom’s 1997 book, “Tuesdays with Morrie.” Pillar is currently working on a photography book and corresponding exhibition featuring her images of Schwartz.
Click here to listen to the Creative Exchange podcast. To sponsor the Creative Exchange podcast, email Arts Foundation Director of Development Amy Tuttle at atuttle@artsfoundation.org.
Founded in 1987, the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod’s (AFCC) mission is to support, promote and celebrate the arts and culture of Cape Cod. It fulfills its mission by funding grants, fellowships, and scholarships; by increasing access to arts and culture in the region for all on Cape Cod; by advocating for more awareness on the impact the Cape’s creative economy has on our region and beyond; and by building a strong arts community network through membership and its Creative Exchange program.
###