Seen

Syd Carpenter has spent fifty years expanding what clay can hold and now she's expanding beyond clay altogether. With a major retrospective at the Woodmere Art Museum and three additional exhibitions on view, Carpenter is having the kind of moment most artists dream of. But talk to her for five minutes and you realize she's not looking back. She's still inventing.
In this episode, Syd talks about choosing art over medicine, the teacher who gave her space to become herself, why she rejects the idea that her identity gives her a special connection to clay, and how her garden has quietly shaped everything she makes. She's funny, direct, and deeply generous and her story is exactly the kind of thing you want to hear right now.
Explore Syd's recent exhibitions:
https://www.sju.edu/maguire-art-museum/exhibitions/syd-carpenter
https://www.ursinus.edu/live/profiles/10435-syd-carpenter
https://woodmereartmuseum.org/experience/exhibitions/planting-in-place-time-and-memory
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About the Have You Seen? series:
The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.
Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.

This week, Carrie is joined by Dan Webb, a Seattle-based woodcarver whose work has been astonishing her for 20 years. Dan creates sculptures that seem impossible: hands emerging from raw timber, Mylar balloons carved from wood that say "I love you" and actually mean it, gestures frozen in material older than nations.
We discuss his fifth exhibition at Greg Kucera Gallery, "Yespalier," and explore why he's dedicated himself to an ancient craft in a contemporary art world, what it means to carve through 300-year-old trees, and how he finds beauty and agency within the structures that constrain us.
Represented by Greg Kucera Gallery, Dan's work is in collections including the Smithsonian, Seattle Art Museum, and Tacoma Art Museum.
If you've ever wondered whether contemporary art can be both technically masterful and conceptually profound, both beautiful and meaningful—this conversation is for you.

Join our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠⁠⁠
If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.
About the Have You Seen? series:
The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.
Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.

Artist and LA resident Richelle Rich joins Carrie to debrief on what turned out to be a landmark week for art in Los Angeles. Fresh from days of fairs, openings, and yes, a lot of driving, Richelle gives us her honest account of Frieze LA and the constellation of events that surround it.
They talk about why this year felt so different from last year's emotionally charged, post-wildfire edition; what it means for LA to transform, however briefly, into a truly international art city; and whether the energy of one extraordinary week can carry a creative community through the other fifty-one.
Richelle shares the works that stopped her in her tracks: a quietly devastating Gillian Wearing self-portrait, a tower of broken pencil points that took real courage to show at a fair, and a series of abstract paintings that made a noisy room go still. She also makes the case for why art fairs, commerce and all, are ultimately good for artists and reveals the one thing she bought.
Plus: the new fairs shaking up the LA art week calendar, why Butter might be the most radical fair model in America right now, the impossible choices that come with navigating a city the size of LA, and what Frieze still needs to do better.
One word for Frieze LA this year? Richelle doesn't hesitate: joy.

Join our free art newsletter:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist
If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.
About the Have You Seen? series:
The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.
Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.

Shop Harold Feinstein Estate Prints: https://www.carrie-scott.com/shop?category=Harold+Feinstein
Carrie sits down with Judith Thompson as she shares the intimate story of her husband, legendary photographer Harold Feinstein - a man who didn't just capture beauty, he taught people how to see it and live it.
While his contemporaries focused on grit, Harold turned his lens toward joy. His philosophy? "When your mouth drops open, click the shutter." His teaching? "Your life is your canvas." His key word? "Yes."
From their serendipitous meeting through astrology to preserving his legacy after his death in 2015, Judith reveals the man behind iconic images of Coney Island, intimate family moments, and stunning flower portraits.
Discover why Harold's work continues finding new audiences daily, why his students call him a "life teacher," and how creativity itself can be an act of liberation.
Guest: Judith Thompson, Director of the Harold Feinstein Archive
Thanks for listening to this episode of the Seen podcast.
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About Behind The Seen
TheBehind The Seen Series brings on art world professionals of all sorts to give you insight into what the art world is really like. Curious what it’s like being a gallerist, an art critic or a curator? Then this series is for you.

Artist Laurie Frick makes portraits without faces. Instead, she transforms personal data into tactile artworks made from wool felt, leather, and sandblasted glass. A former tech executive who spent 20 years in Silicon Valley, Frick has been tracking herself obsessively—sleep patterns, location data, heart rate—since the early 2000s. In this conversation, she shares her radical vision: that surveillance could become a tool for self-knowledge, what Google executives told her when she pitched them this idea, and why medieval Sienese art holds the key to understanding our data-saturated future.

Explore Laurie's work: https://www.lauriefrick.com/

Join our free newsletter and become an art insider:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://mailchi.mp/seen/waitlist⁠⁠⁠
If you want to connect with us between episodes, follow us on Instagram:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.instagram.com/watchseenart⁠⁠⁠⁠.
About the Have You Seen? series:
The ⁠Have You Seen? Series⁠ is all about talking to emerging and mid-career artists about their journey to now.
Curious about how an artist got to where they are or indeed why they chose art in the first place? Then this series is for you. Join us as we speak to emerging and mid-career artists across the globe. Don’t worry, there’s no hiding behind art speak here, or pretending that being an artist is a bowl of cherries. We’re here to hear it all, straight from the source.