Author & Artistic Director of Athens-based Persona Theatre Company
Unless it starts from within you, then you’re not going to set the same amount of investment. So there are moments when I feel I’m suffocating within the limits of those roles I have to play, and sometimes I feel like I’m failing them all. I’m always on the lookout for the next thing to quench the desire to create.
Author & Artistic Director of Athens-based Persona Theatre Company
Unless it starts from within you, then you’re not going to set the same amount of investment. So there are moments when I feel I’m suffocating within the limits of those roles I have to play, and sometimes I feel like I’m failing them all. I’m always on the lookout for the next thing to quench the desire to create.
All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost was a departure. It’s actually my favorite because it was just a huge pleasure to write. So much fun to write. Nothing to do with my background, my family, it’s all about lived experience and observations I made coming up as a writer. Because for me becoming a writer went hand in hand with me becoming a person.
All Is Forgotten, Nothing Is Lost was a departure. It’s actually my favorite because it was just a huge pleasure to write. So much fun to write. Nothing to do with my background, my family, it’s all about lived experience and observations I made coming up as a writer. Because for me becoming a writer went hand in hand with me becoming a person.
Director · Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center
Jackson Pollock said it himself. “It's energy and motion made visible.” So these are things that come spontaneously from his own feelings, but they're based on, first of all, observation, the natural world around him, all the forces of nature that were so influential. And then, processing that and figuring out how to create a visual language that expresses those feelings. And some of those feelings can be very complicated.
The technique, the means of expression is dictated by what those feelings are. It's not the other way around. People think – Oh, he used the liquid material and then he sort of danced around and that kind of gave him ideas. – No.
Interview Highlights
Director · Pollock-Krasner House & Study Center
Well, a lot of graduate students in art history I don't think they really relate that well to the artists, on a personal level. They often don't really know the techniques from having done them. I think it's wonderful when graduate students also take studio art so that they can get a sense of what's involved in actually making something. It's not that easy.
Bruce Wolosoff is a composer and pianist whose work has been recognized for the way it integrates modern, classical, jazz, and blues together into "an authentic American voice". In recent years, Wolosoff has been composing music in response to visual art. "Astronomer's Key", inspired by the artwork of Milton Resnick, was commissioned by the Roswell Artists in Residence Foundation for the Montage Music Society in celebration of the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program's 50th Anniversary. “The Loom”, inspired by the watercolors of Eric Fischl, was commissioned by the Eroica Trio and premiered at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. “for April” a work for cello and piano inspired by the charcoal drawings of April Gornik was recorded by Wolosoff with cellist Sara Sant'Ambrogio and released as part of a book of Gornik’s drawings.In July 2018, Bruce Wolosoff’s “Concerto for Cello and Orchestra” was recorded in London by Sara Sant’Ambrogio and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Grzegorz Nowak. A frequent collaborator in the field of dance, Wolosoff has collaborated with choreographer Ann Reinking on two ballets for Thodos Dance Chicago. “The White City” was named "Best Dance of 2011" by the Chicago Sun-Times, and a film version of “A Light in the Dark”, based on the story of Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan, received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Achievement for Arts Programming. Wolosoff’s recording “Darkling, I Listen” is being used for a new Ann Reinking ballet based on the life of John Keats. An accomplished pianist as well, Bruce Wolosoff received early acclaim for a recording of piano music by Busoni. More recently, he has performed and recorded his own compositions, including "Shenandoah Variations", “Many Worlds", "Four Blues", and "Darkling, I Listen”. Wolosoff’s discography also includes “Songs without Words” on Naxos American Classics. Mia sat down with Bruce in his home on Shelter Island to discuss his creative life and music.
Bruce Wolosoff is a composer and pianist whose work has been recognized for the way it integrates modern, classical, jazz, and blues together into "an authentic American voice". In recent years, Wolosoff has been composing music in response to visual art. "Astronomer's Key", inspired by the artwork of Milton Resnick, was commissioned by the Roswell Artists in Residence Foundation for the Montage Music Society in celebration of the Roswell Artist-in-Residence Program's 50th Anniversary. “The Loom”, inspired by the watercolors of Eric Fischl, was commissioned by the Eroica Trio and premiered at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. “for April” a work for cello and piano inspired by the charcoal drawings of April Gornik was recorded by Wolosoff with cellist Sara Sant'Ambrogio and released as part of a book of Gornik’s drawings.In July 2018, Bruce Wolosoff’s “Concerto for Cello and Orchestra” was recorded in London by Sara Sant’Ambrogio and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Grzegorz Nowak. A frequent collaborator in the field of dance, Wolosoff has collaborated with choreographer Ann Reinking on two ballets for Thodos Dance Chicago. “The White City” was named "Best Dance of 2011" by the Chicago Sun-Times, and a film version of “A Light in the Dark”, based on the story of Helen Keller and Ann Sullivan, received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Achievement for Arts Programming. Wolosoff’s recording “Darkling, I Listen” is being used for a new Ann Reinking ballet based on the life of John Keats. An accomplished pianist as well, Bruce Wolosoff received early acclaim for a recording of piano music by Busoni. More recently, he has performed and recorded his own compositions, including "Shenandoah Variations", “Many Worlds", "Four Blues", and "Darkling, I Listen”. Wolosoff’s discography also includes “Songs without Words” on Naxos American Classics. Mia sat down with Bruce in his home on Shelter Island to discuss his creative life and music.
Director of FIAC · Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain
If you create the conditions in which people feel comfortable interacting with art, there are some really beautiful things that can emerge from that encounter. Things that I think are life changing.
Director of FIAC · Foire Internationale d’Art Contemporain
If you create the conditions in which people feel comfortable interacting with art, there are some really beautiful things that can emerge from that encounter. Things that I think are life changing.
What kind of world do you want to live in? What kind of world are we leaving the next generation? One Wish for the Future is a series of podcasts where students come together to discuss their wishes for the future and what we can do to achieve those dreams. Co-hosted by Johns Hopkins student Yujin Lee and The Creative Process founder Mia Funk, One Wish takes a practical approach of listening to students and learning from our notable interviewees across the arts and sciences. The goal is that together, one generation inspiring another, we can collectively explore ways to work towards a better tomorrow.
What kind of world do you want to live in? What kind of world are we leaving the next generation? One Wish for the Future is a series of podcasts where students come together to discuss their wishes for the future and what we can do to achieve those dreams. Co-hosted by Johns Hopkins student Yujin Lee and The Creative Process founder Mia Funk, One Wish takes a practical approach of listening to students and learning from our notable interviewees across the arts and sciences. The goal is that together, one generation inspiring another, we can collectively explore ways to work towards a better tomorrow.
What you say is very interesting. How do we make the readers of tomorrow?Because it’s true there are many children growing up who do not have the same relationship to books that we did. And so we have to reach them with social and educational initiatives like yours. We need libraries which are social spaces.One of my children, he was not so fond of books. He likes fashion. If it relates to fashion, he will find out everything about it. And so I believe if you reach them through their interests they will understand the importance of reading.
Director of Greek Operations for The Heritage Management Organization
Fmr. Director for Veria Central Public Library
Fmr. CEO, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
Director UNESCO World Book Capital 2018-2019
Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process.
What you say is very interesting. How do we make the readers of tomorrow?Because it’s true there are many children growing up who do not have the same relationship to books that we did. And so we have to reach them with social and educational initiatives like yours. We need libraries which are social spaces.One of my children, he was not so fond of books. He likes fashion. If it relates to fashion, he will find out everything about it. And so I believe if you reach them through their interests they will understand the importance of reading.
Director of Greek Operations for The Heritage Management Organization
Fmr. Director for Veria Central Public Library
Fmr. CEO, Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center
Director UNESCO World Book Capital 2018-2019
Mia Funk is an artist, interviewer and founder of The Creative Process.
Interview with Tracy Mitchell & Allen O’Reilly
So our role, we feel it's part of our mission, is to bring along the new voices as well as taking some of the older works and recreating them in a new way for a new audience.
Interview with Tracy Mitchell & Allen O’Reilly
So our role, we feel it's part of our mission, is to bring along the new voices as well as taking some of the older works and recreating them in a new way for a new audience.
Krys Lee is the author of the short story collection Drifting House and the recent debut novel How I Became a North Korean, both published by Viking, Penguin Random House. She is a recipient of the Rome Prize and the Story Prize Spotlight Award, the Honor Title in Adult Fiction Literature from the Asian/Pacific American Libraries Association, and finalist for Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the BBC International Story Prize. Her fiction, journalism, and literary translations have appeared inGranta, The Kenyon Review, Narrative, San Francisco Chronicle, Corriere della Sera, and The Guardian, among others. She is an assistant professor of creative writing and literature at Yonsei University, Underwood International College, in South Korea.
Krys Lee is the author of the short story collection Drifting House and the recent debut novel How I Became a North Korean, both published by Viking, Penguin Random House. She is a recipient of the Rome Prize and the Story Prize Spotlight Award, the Honor Title in Adult Fiction Literature from the Asian/Pacific American Libraries Association, and finalist for Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the BBC International Story Prize. Her fiction, journalism, and literary translations have appeared inGranta, The Kenyon Review, Narrative, San Francisco Chronicle, Corriere della Sera, and The Guardian, among others. She is an assistant professor of creative writing and literature at Yonsei University, Underwood International College, in South Korea.
Children's Book Author · Editor · Producer · Arts Educator
Katherine Anne Porter, essentially what she says is that the arts are what we find when the rubble is cleared away. In other words, they are the sum and substance of our lives, and we can go through wars and changes and all kinds of challenges in the world, but in the end, the arts tell us who we are and they are what remain no matter what. And when we look back and understand other civilizations that went before us, and when we think ahead to how people will view us in future civilizations, it will be our art and the arts that inform that story and tell people who we are and who we were, just as they do now from history.
Children's Book Author · Editor · Producer · Arts Educator
Katherine Anne Porter, essentially what she says is that the arts are what we find when the rubble is cleared away. In other words, they are the sum and substance of our lives, and we can go through wars and changes and all kinds of challenges in the world, but in the end, the arts tell us who we are and they are what remain no matter what. And when we look back and understand other civilizations that went before us, and when we think ahead to how people will view us in future civilizations, it will be our art and the arts that inform that story and tell people who we are and who we were, just as they do now from history.
The Creative Process: Podcast Interviews & Portraits of the World’s Leading Authors & Creative Thinkers
Inspiring Students – Encouraging Reading - Connecting through Stories
The Creative Process exhibition is traveling to universities and museums. The Creative Process exhibition consists of interviews with over 100 esteemed writers, including Joyce Carol Oates, Hilary Mantel, Neil Gaiman, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Tobias Wolff, Richard Ford, Junot Díaz, Marie Darrieussecq, Michel Faber, T.C. Boyle, Jay McInerney, George Saunders, Geoff Dyer, Etgar Keret, Douglas Kennedy, Sam Lipsyte, and Yiyun Li, among others. Artist and interviewer: Mia Funk.
