We recently connected with Emily Wilson and have shared our conversation below.
Emily, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Starting the podcast, Art is Awesome, has meant a lot to me. I was interviewing a lot of artists for articles I was writing, and I wanted to do something else to share their stories and their process.
I love going to their studios or shows and talking to them and how inventive they are in doing their work. I try to keep the podcast focused on them– I do an intro and introduce their quotes interstitially, but I want people to mostly hear from them.
Also, it means a lot to me because I’d wanted to do it for years. Since I had background in radio, I had some idea about interviewing and editing, but I didn’t feel confident in doing final edits and mixing. A lot of people I talked to just learn it on YouTube, and I totally admire that, but I wanted to have a person teach me. I tried a few classes and they didn’t work out. Then I found Charlene Goto of Goto Productions, who has tons of experience. I do the interviews and write the script and choose the cuts and record my part. I send her their cuts and my part and the script and I highlight the ‘you knows” and “umm” I’d like her to cut and she is fabulous about the doing the final edit and making it sound smooth and posting it. It’s a big relief to me that she does that.
Emily, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I taught at City College of San Francisco for years — reading and writing and a few different courses, but the bulk of what I did work in a program at CCSF for adults to get their high school diploma. So I taught math and literature and civics and history and humanities and writing. I loved it.
I did an internship at a live public affairs call-in at an NPR affiliate, and really liked finding guests for the shows, doing pre-interviews for the host and writing the intros. I started writing and did a news internship at another radio station. I loved going out and doing interview and writing the story for the evening news. For years, I freelanced and taught, and I worked at a small small weekly newspaper, covering fishing, agriculture, and education.
Then I went to Columbia Journalism School. When I graduated, I was a producer for another live call in show. I think it was during that time that invitations to press previews for museums came to the station, and I would sometimes go. I started doing stories for the art program on the radio station– although it was a challenge to find sound in a visual arts story. Years ago, I stopped teaching and just concentrated on writing. Along with visual arts, I’ve covered education, farming, theater, opera, and other types of music.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I find it so rewarding to get to talk with artists and hear about their work. I’ve already mentioned how inventive I find people. A lot of artists tell me a lot of their work is problem solving and I love that. Also, I think a lot of people don’t think of being an artist as work. That’s why I love seeing shows with artists’ sketches. You can really see how much they put into the final product.
Along with the podcast, I love writing about art. Recently, I went to an arts festival in San Francisco’s Chinatown, hosted by an organization I admire, Edge on the Square. They had put together a show about the five elements with in different alleys and streets. I talked with some curators and artists and people who attended, and I loved getting to highlight the festival.
Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?
The book, So You Want to Start a Podcast: Finding Your Voice, Telling Your Story, and Building a Community That Will Listen by Kristen Meinzer, was helpful. Specifically, her asking, “How much do you love your podcast?” because it’s going to be a lot of work. Yep.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artisawesome_podcast/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emily-wilson-02633b3/
- Other: https://art-is-awesome-with-emily-wilson.simplecast.com
This is the podcast on Simple Cast
Image Credits
Charlene Goto put together the cover art for the podcast. The other photos are mine.