49: Creating Visual Art in Your Local Community with April Bey

Are you dedicated to creating wonderful art? If so you are really in for a treat! Today's guest is April Bey, an exciting visual artist, and teacher. April teaches art at a community college in California. She loves drawing and using her art to explore contemporary themes about current events. In today's episode, April talks to us about her life, her studies, her art, and her career. Tune in now to find out more.
April grew up in the Bahamas, and for all her life she's been passionately creating. Art is a very prominent subject in schools in the Bahamas, yet April realized during high school that there were no careers in art to be had there. So she moved to the United States. She did her undergrad in the Midwest, obtaining a BFA in drawing from Ball State University. She then went to LA, to do her master's in interdisciplinary painting at California State University in Northridge, Los Angeles. Listen in today, to find out about April's creative approach to her art and teaching.
Show highlights:

• At the moment, April is doing a lot of sewing that's acting as drawing.
• April explains how she got to where she is right now with her art.
• She is currently making art about West Africa and textiles, how women run the trade there, and how their labor is often exploited.
• The materials and techniques that she uses.
• Why April loved the freedom of teaching at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena so much.
• Having overbearing foreign parents is something that April has in common with many of the students at the community colleges.
• What led April to explore the textiles of Africa.
• A lot of the fabric in Ghana is imported.
• All the places in Africa that April went to on her research trip.
• April's textile works also act as portraits.
• You can go to April's website to take a look at her awesome art. Go to April Bey.
• What you can expect to find on April's website.
• She does a lot of work with feminist themes.
• Some of the advice that April gives to her art students.
• April had some really wonderful mentors.
• Some of the shows that are coming up for April.

Links:
April's website:  April Bey.

Check out this episode!