Description
This issue is a celebration of work: how we do it, why we do it, and the doubts and triumphs we experience as we blunder our way toward some fuzzy creative resolution. To that end, the issue consists of interviews with artists from different milieus—all with a connection to the music that SA has championed over the years—about their working lives. Poet Eileen Myles, pastry chef Natasha Pickowicz, painter Albert Oehlen, and dancer/organizer Patricia Nicholson Parker talk with editor Nate Wooley about finding their modes of expression, how they are able to remain dedicated to the work and community they have developed, the moments insecurity and indecision that have cycled in and out of their career, and how music has affected what they have chosen to do with their lives. Wooley’s conversations with composer Nico Muhly, iconoclastic sound artist Ellen Fullman, and improvising bassist Brandon Lopez go deep into the creative process of making music and the personal ups and downs as living as a musician in America. Percussionist and composer Lesley Mok contributes a conceptually stunning standalone composition for our final Exquisite Corpse.