Best Center For Latter Day Saint Arts Podcasts (2025)

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Walter Rane: A Life of Painting 59:59

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6d ago59:59

59:59

His paintings are in nearly every Latter-day Saint meetinghouse and in many temples in the world. The beloved artist Walter Rane discusses in this podcast his life as a painter, insights he has discovered about himself through the freedom of creating, and why he loves painting now more than ever. Music: "Please Only Tell Me Good News” by Stephen An…

1
The Bizarre, Unbelievable, and Miraculous Story of The Salt Lake City 14th Ward Album Quilt, 1857 55:15

1M ago55:15

55:15

It’s like a true crime podcast, but it’s about art. An heirloom masterpiece is created, mutilated, inherited, then lost--one of the most important objects in a rich culture’s history. Over a century later, a frantic search ensues, not unlike a manhunt, with a deadline fast approaching and a forthcoming, major exhibition hanging in the balance. Can …

1
Car Chases and Curses in Taiwan from Filmmaker Daniel Yen Tu 1:18:38

2M ago1:18:38

1:18:38

Taiwanese Australian filmmaker Daniel Yen Tu tells about a new book project and screenplay, '93 Castrol which is the fast-paced story of siblings, a stolen race car, and a search for redemption from self-described low-lifery. The discussion of this limited edition artists book contains something even bigger--an emerging artist discovering identity,…

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The New York City Ballet, Balanchine and Robbins: Dance Memories of Lisa Hess Jones 1:20:40

3M ago1:20:40

1:20:40

Lisa Hess moved to New York at the age of 16 and a year later was asked to join the company of the New York City Ballet. That began an adventure with some of the great choreographers and dancers of the century, in a golden age of dance in America. Hess worked with the legendary George Balanchine in his final decade of life, frequently with Jerome R…

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Valerie Atkisson de Moura and Art from Ancestry 52:57

4M ago52:57

52:57

After an emerging-artist blitz of 26 New York exhibitions in just 7 years, the award-winning visual artist Valerie Atkisson de Moura hit a wall. Adrift and depressed in a new home, she received a medical diagnosis of an incurable disease and discovered that her mother had the same disease but had kept it secret from the family. Then, in a horrible …

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Ben Behunin and the Hunt for Creativity 1:09:34

5M ago1:09:34

1:09:34

Potter Ben Behunin has created a body of work that includes message-driven ceramics exhibited in museums and galleries. He is also an author, and the subject of this interview is his field guide, “How to Seduce a Sasquatch,” which includes tips to jumpstart creativity and related theories. Send us a text about the podcast.…

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Kate Monson on Dancing, Aging, and Connecting 55:55

6M ago55:55

55:55

Dancer, choreographer, and teacher Kate Monson describes her work at Brigham Young University, where approximately 5,000 students each semester take dance classes. She describes the dance-friendly LDS culture, how all of us are dancers, and how, as a dancer's career progresses, it is impacted by ageism. Finally, Monson draws connections between her…

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The Art of Collaboration with Jackie Leishman and Steven L. Peck 57:57

7M ago57:57

57:57

This interview with visual artist Jackie Leishman and poet Steven L. Peck unwinds the process of creative minds meeting, finding common passions, and then making inter-disciplinary art together. The podcast celebrates the artists' latest published work, a chine-collé print, Sound of a broken wing. Send us a text about the podcast.…

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Mia Meredith and The New York Times for Kids 33:29

8M ago33:29

33:29

In this episode, Mia Meredith describes her work as a graphic designer for the very popular, monthly pull-out section of The New York Times created exclusively for kids. The graduate of Brigham Young University's design program talks about her career path in New York that landed her in her dream job, its challenges, rewards, and purpose, which is t…

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The Delicate Ties That Bind with Megan Knobloch Geilman 34:13

9M ago34:13

34:13

The exhibition The Delicate Ties That Bind explores the precariousness of post-pandemic existence and assesses the complex and often fragile relationships that shape our lives now. Curated by Megan Knobloch Geilman, these threads make up the nature of our reality and serve as metaphors for both a tattered society and the essential connections betwe…

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Work and Wonder: The Curators' Interview 1:05:15

10M ago1:05:15

1:05:15

A landmark exhibition spanning the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints marks a milestone in the culture's artistic output and appreciation. The 121-work exhibition, Work and Wonder: 200 Years of Latter-day Saint Art, is curated by Heather Belnap, Ashlee Whitaker Evans, and Brontë Hebdon. They join in this wide-ranging convers…

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Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader with editors Mason Kamana Allred and Amanda Beardsley - Part 2 1:07:31

11M ago1:07:31

1:07:31

The publication of Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader is a landmark event, the first comprehensive critical examination of Mormon Art. In this interview, co-editors Mason Kamana Allred and Amanda Beardsley introduce the chapters with insights into the reasons why each is indispensable. Then, the authors of this 664-page book from Oxford Univer…

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Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader with editors Mason Kamana Allred and Amanda Beardsley - Part 1 1:07:56

11M ago1:07:56

1:07:56

The publication of Latter-day Saint Art: A Critical Reader is a landmark event, the first comprehensive critical examination of Mormon Art. In this interview, co-editors Mason Kamana Allred and Amanda Beardsley introduce the chapters with insights into the reasons why each is indispensable. Then, the authors of this 664-page book from Oxford Univer…

1
Inspired Arts League with Brittany Scott and Ellen Wheeler 52:42

11M ago52:42

52:42

The young nonprofit organization, Inspired Arts League, is the focus of this interview with its founder Brittany Scott and executive producer Ellen Wheeler. It’s a fascinating model: invite global artists who are already accomplished to be members and give them as a group, through workshops and collaboration, tools to more effectively tell stories …

1
Wikipedian-in-Residence: Rachel Helps 52:45

1y ago52:45

52:45

In this interview with Rachel Helps, Wikipedian-in-Residence at the BYU Library, researcher and author Helps explains her work refining, creating, correcting, and researching Wikipedia pages that relate to the unrivaled collection of Mormon Studies volumes at the Harold B Lee Library at Brigham Young University. The conversation includes interestin…

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Museums Coming to Life: Brett Peterson and Exhibition Interactivity 48:16

1y ago48:16

48:16

Brett Peterson is Director, Exhibition Media and Interactives at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, which is at the forefront of engaging audiences and making exhibitions memorable by the creation of accompanying original, responsive digital media. In this episode Peterson describes the shifting expectation of visitors regarding te…

1
The Burning Hope of Artist Collin Bradford 42:46

1y ago42:46

42:46

Artist Collin Bradford makes video, sound, photography, sculpture, and other media. In this interview, the incoming art department chair at Brigham Young University discusses his work, how art speaks directly to the brain through the senses, and his work as a reflection of concerns about the future. His video installation, A Burning Hope (2021) is …

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The World Premiere of S. Andrew Lloyd's Amaranthine 54:44

1+ y ago54:44

54:44

This episode with composer S. Andrew Lloyd celebrates the world premiere of his song cycle, Amaranthine, which was written for and performed by international opera star Rachel Willis-Sørensen at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall, April 9, 2024. The composer discusses how he came to write the prize-winning work and his emotional response to hearing it for…

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American Folk Music with Mia Black 51:22

1+ y ago51:22

51:22

The winner of the 2024 Prize of The Ariel Bybee Endowment at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts is Mia Black. In this interview, Black introduces herself and her winning project, which will be a collection of American Folk Music aimed at elementary school-age classrooms. The breakthrough idea here is Black's plan to organize the collection using …

1
The Chosen's Global Languages, with Brad Pelo 37:37

1+ y ago37:37

37:37

Brad Pelo, President and Executive Producer of The Chosen discusses the series' global ambition to provide all episodes in 600 languages. The vast challenges of dubbing and subtitling the series about Jesus while maintaining the writer's unique contemporary dialogue and tone are discussed in this interview alongside the powerful experiences Pelo ha…

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Succession: The Center Announces a New Chairman 35:46

1+ y ago35:46

35:46

Many arts audiences go to performances and exhibitions without thinking much about the institutional leadership that makes these events possible. In this episode, Richard Bushman, chairman of the board of the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts and Mykal Urbina, the Center's executive director, announce a chairman-elect, Stanley Hainsworth. The trio t…

1
The 2024 Prize: On Music Education with Jamie Peterson and Patrick Perkins 55:49

1+ y ago55:49

55:49

In preparation for the 2024 Prize of The Ariel Bybee Endowment at the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts that will sponsor a new music program, singer and music education Jamie Peterson and intellectual property attorney Patrick Perkins discuss with passion the urgency for more music education in public schools. With the deadline for submissions fast…

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Inside the Center's Christmas Gift Guide 59:01

1+ y ago59:01

59:01

This show-and-tell episode features Erin Eastmond and Glen Nelson discussing holiday gift ideas by LDS creatives that are featured in the Center's Christmas Gift Guide. They include children's books, music, art, religious books, scholarly works, food, poetry, family activities, and a few items offered as benefit art works for the Center. Erin and G…

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Steven Ricks Writes an Opera 48:49

2y ago48:49

48:49

In this episode, the Center celebrates with composer Steven L. Ricks the upcoming premiere of his multimedia chamber opera, Baucis and Philemon (BAH-sis and Phi-LEE-mon), which was commissioned by the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts in 2019. The story comes from Ovid's Metamorphosis. It is a fable about a couple who ask the gods to be turned into …

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The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction - Editors' Panel 1:09:48

2y ago1:09:48

1:09:48

Robert Raleigh and Andrew Hall, the two editors of the book, The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction, gather to talk about the process of creating a new collection of fiction in this panel discussion that also includes Jennifer Quist, one of the book's authors and the fiction editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought. The chat includes ob…

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The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction - Authors' Panel 59:38

2y ago59:38

59:38

Three authors from the new collection, The Path and the Gate: Mormon Short Fiction, gather to talk about their stories, lives, and works in this lively panel discussion. The authors are Todd Robert Peterson, Ryan McIlvain, and Heidi Naylor. All three authors are also university teachers, and a question about responses to each other's stories turns …

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Madeline Rupard, the Mundane, and the Sublime 37:46

2y ago37:46

37:46

Emerging painter Madeline Rupard discusses her paintings of the American landscape that include truck stops, gas stations, fast food, and stores that connect the suburban and the sublime. In atmospheric works that recall the stylistic approach of the Ashcan painters Henri, Sloan, Glackens, and Shinn of the turn of the 20th century, Rupard finds kin…

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Claudia Lauper Bushman: A Record Shall Be Kept 36:43

2y ago36:43

36:43

Historian and author Claudia Lauper Bushman discusses in this episode the writing of her autobiography in progress, I, Claudia, and the value of keeping records. In her frequent letters to family, Wellesley College newsletters, and her own daily journaling, she celebrates written communications, the foundation of civilization. She is joined in the …

1
Stephen Anderson and The Dominican Jazz Project 51:46

2y ago51:46

51:46

The Dominican Jazz Project is a group of elite Caribbean musical artists whose band leader is Stephen Anderson, Professor of Composition and Jazz Studies at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. In this interview, Anderson reminisces about his tender relationship with the musicians of the Dominican Republic, Cuba, and Puerto Rico, their muc…

1
Fear and Trembling: A Discussion about Mormon Horror with Filmmaker Barrett Burgin 49:29

2y ago49:29

49:29

It was a dark and stormy night.... Barrett Burgin discusses his first feature film, Cryo, and then makes compelling connections between LDS lore, history, and belief within the context of the genre of horror films and fiction. Mormon Horror is a trending thing--LDS artists are increasingly drawn to explore elements of horror in their work. Send us …

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Can Music Change the World? with Pianist Jihea Hong-Park 45:14

2y ago45:14

45:14

Pianist, BYU associate professor, scholar, and social advocate Jihea Hong-Park speaks about her experience as a Korean American female pianist of faith and how anti-racism efforts extend into the world of classical music. Music for the episode is by Steven Ricks, including an excerpt from the premiere performance of Overlapping Voices with Jihea Ho…

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The Artists Residency at the Center hosted by Stanley Hainsworth 48:31

2+ y ago48:31

48:31

In this episode, The Center for Latter-day Saint Arts announces an inaugural program, The Artists Residency at the Center. It will bring 6-8 LDS artists to New York City to reside together and work for a week in October 2023. The Residency is hosted by Stanley Hainsworth, who joins us on this podcast and discusses his own journey from a fledgling a…

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The Brilliant Darkness of Aaron Toronto and Nha Uyen Ly Nguyen 51:23

2+ y ago51:23

51:23

Director/screenwriter Aaron Toronto and screenwriter/actress Nha Uyen Ly Nguyen discuss their film, The Brilliant Darkness!, which won the highest award, The Golden Kite (the Vietnamese equivalent of an Oscar) this year, for best film, best screenplay, and best actress. The dramatic film is about a family imploding, precipitated by the death of a w…

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A New Voice in Film: Luis Fernando Puente 46:04

2+ y ago46:04

46:04

Young LDS filmmaker Luis Fernando Puente discusses the premiere of his short film, I Have No Tears, and I Must Cry, at the Sundance Film Festival 2023. It is a personal film based on his own experience as an immigrant to the U.S. from Mexico. Music for the episode is taken from the short film score, composed by Jorge Murcia. Send us a text about th…

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The Strangeness of Fiction with William Morris 49:00

2+ y ago49:00

49:00

Author and Mormon literature influencer William Morris talks about his new book, The Darkest Abyss: Strange Mormon Stories, and describes his approach to writing fiction with examples from his collection of short stories published by By Common Consent Press. Morris is also the incoming president of The Association for Mormon Letters. In the podcast…

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The Making of the Animated Series, Saving Me 50:53

2+ y ago50:53

50:53

Aaron Johnston and Kelly Loosli, creators of the new animated series, Saving Me, describe the sci-fi show--an old man who manages to return to his 11-year-old self and redeem him. This is the first animated series for BYUtv, and the bestselling author and award-winning animator discuss the process of translating words on a page to animation on a sc…

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Joël René Scoville on Writing Musicals Today 49:24

3y ago49:24

49:24

Joël René Scoville is a current participant in the legendary training ground for musical theater writing, the BMI Lehman Engel Musical Theatre Workshop in New York. In this episode, Scoville discusses the craft of writing for the theater, her journey from actor to writer, her experience as a Black artist, and she describes why new voices and new st…

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Rachel Rueckert's Wandering Spirit 24:11

3y ago24:11

24:11

On the eve of the publication of her first book, Rachel Rueckert, the current editor-in-chief of Exponent II magazine, describes the events that led to her memoir, East Winds that will appear in mid-November, published by By Common Consent Press. It is a chronicle of her one-year honeymoon traveling around the globe and questioning what the institu…

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John Held, Jr.'s Fiction 27:40

3+ y ago27:40

27:40

Author Glen Nelson discusses his discovery of an important body of 1930s fiction by one of the era's most famous cartoonists, John Held, Jr. Today he's known for his magazine and newspaper illustrations of flappers and other 1920s characters, but in a flurry of activity from 1930 to 1937, John Held, Jr. published four novels and four collections of…

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The Sacred Feminine: A Panel Discussion 55:28

3+ y ago55:28

55:28

Curator Margaret Olsen Hemming, artist Kwani Povi Winder, and scholar Vinna Chintaram gather to talk about different approaches to and perspectives on Heavenly Mother as they react to the exhibition at the Center Gallery, The Sacred Feminine in LDS Art & Theology. Olsen Hemming is the curator of the exhibition. Povi Winder is one of the artists who…

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Margaret Olsen Hemming and Picturing the Sacred Feminine 48:23

3+ y ago48:23

48:23

To mark the exhibition opening, The Sacred Feminine in LDS Art & Theology, at the Center Gallery in New York, its curator Margaret Olsen Hemming speaks about global artworks that imagine what Heavenly Mother is like. The LDS doctrine that we are from heavenly parents is not new, but recent LDS artists from around the world are building on the artis…

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Painting Toilet Paper and the Art of Kirsten Holt Beitler 34:31

3+ y ago34:31

34:31

The self portrait, Wrapped Up in a False Sense of Security, by Kirsten Holt Beitler, is the subject of this artist's interview. The work which is part of the exhibition, Siloed: Art for Uncertain Times, at the Center Gallery shows the artist wrapped in toilet paper, painted during the first months of the pandemic when hoarding and bouts of consumer…

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Maggie Golightly Haslam's Wasteless Art 38:55

3+ y ago38:55

38:55

A new body of art work by Maggie Golightly Haslam is explored in this episode. The artist, whose works are featured in the current exhibition at the Center Gallery in New York City, embodies the 21st century zero-waste ethos and turns it into a process of art making. How can materials be recycled, upcycled, and reenvisioned, she asks. Her inventive…

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Jeffrey Lee Butler and The Lost Months of Brooklyn 53:30

3+ y ago53:30

53:30

Photographer Jeffrey Lee Butler chronicled the streets of Brooklyn in the early months of the pandemic. Part of the Center Gallery exhibition curated by Emily Larsen Doxford, Siloed: Art for Uncertain Times, Butler describes life in early 2020 and what he encountered as he ventured out of his Crown Heights apartment into the borough, resulting in a…

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Marin Leggat Roper's Vision of Dance 46:36

4y ago46:36

46:36

Dancer, choreographer, and educator Marin Leggat Roper discusses her lifelong pursuit of dance as merging point of physicality and faith in this podcast interview that also previews a historic, upcoming event in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is Vision, an evening of dance, to be presented September 24, 2021 at the Capitol Theatre. She describes how the …

1
James R. Swensen on Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, and the WPA Photographers in Utah 1:03:33

4y ago1:03:33

1:03:33

Award-winning author and scholar of WPA-era photography, James R. Swensen discusses his new exhibition, Fields of Labor and Recovery: A Photographic Portrait of Utah from the Great Depression to WWII, 1936-1942. The show at the BYU Museum of Art provides an opportunity to discuss Dorothea Lange, Russell Lee, and other photographers who were sent ac…

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The Making of a Scholar: Elisabeth Hunt 21:52

4y ago21:52

21:52

How does someone decide to become an art historian, a curator, or an art conservator? What kind of training and exposure do they need? In this episode, university senior Elisabeth Hunt discusses her background at Brigham Young University as an art history and curatorial studies major and her time in New York this summer working as the gallery assis…

1
The Center Gallery Opens: A Conversation with Curator Chase Westfall 1:10:53

4y ago1:10:53

1:10:53

To mark the inaugural exhibition of the Center Gallery, Great Awakening: Vision and Synthesis in Latter-day Saint Contemporary Art, this podcast interview speaks with artist and curator Chase Westfall about what goes into making an exhibition, how to get people to slow down and look more carefully at contemporary art, and what he has learned throug…

1
Jennifer Reeder’s Newest Friend: Emma Smith 1:04:22

4y ago1:04:22

1:04:22

On the occasion of the publication of her latest book, First: The Life and Faith of Emma Smith, historian Jennifer Reeder talks about a complex 19th century figure in LDS history, an Elect Lady, Presidentress, and key participant in the restoration of the gospel. The discussion includes surprising finds by Reeder including Emma’s bi-racial family, …

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Convergence: The Art of Fidalis Buehler 1:12:41

4+ y ago1:12:41

1:12:41

On the occasion of his solo exhibition, “Secret Camp—Are we there yet?,” Fidalis David Kanoanikie Buehler discusses how his worldview, which draws from his multi-cultural family, informs his artmaking practice. The conflicts of straddling his Euro-American and Pacific Island heritage include Kiribati traditions, his Catholic upbringing, and his con…