Riley Harmon and I went through the foundation art classes at the University of Oklahoma. He is someone who I am excited to see where his creative works take him. I will one day be able to tell my kids I knew Riley Harmon.

Where are you from?
The threshold of city and country in Shawnee, Oklahoma, transmitted to
Pittsburgh, PA

What do you do?
I make and break things. Sometimes I mash potatoes and jello 2gether.

Who or what do you use for inspiration?
Dreams, Theories, Books, Music, Movies, People I meet, and the stories
they tell me. Personal experiences to be shared for others to consume.

What artists do you respect right now?
Cory Archangel
Levi van Veluw
Olafur Eliasson

What are you sick of?
Lag

What music are you listening to recently?
Sasha – Invol2ver
Prefuse 73
NIN – Ghosts I – IV
Telefon Tel Aviv

What is your first creative memory?
Contraptions of paper towel rolls and duct tape.

What is your favorite food/drank spot in Norman/Pittsburgh?
Norman: The Library, The Earth, Tom’s Kitchen
Pittsburgh: Greek Gourmet, Brillobox, New Amsterdam, Kazansky’s

Anything else?
If / Else

Thomas Shahan has recently become somewhat of a local celebrity around Norman. He was featured in the October issue of Popular Photography Magazine and interviewed on the Today Show a few weeks back for his macro bug photography. Not only is he a great photographer, but he is a spectacular printmaker and all around artist. Check out his vintage guitar website here, and his Youtube page here.

Where are you from?
Tulsa, more or less.

What do you do?
Macrophotography, Astrophotography, draw/paint, buy/sell/collect vintage electric guitars, make music… I have no job.

Who or what do you use for inspiration?
I’m not sure if I can answer this one – everything is worthwhile and equally inspiring.

What artists do you respect right now?
Most people I respect are not artists. Wayne Maddison, a Zoologist who specializes in salticids, has done some amazing work with documenting and studying the jumping spiders of the world.

What are you sick of?
Many more things than I will tell anyone – there’s no benefit to complaining.

What music are you listening to recently?
Exuma, The Shangri-Las, The Band, Del Shannon, The Chocolate Watchband, Bee Gees, The Ronettes, The Kinks, Bo Diddley, The Carpenters, The Seeds, The Small Faces, The Zombies, Wilbert Harrison, The Move, T-Rex, Procol Harum, Gary Glitter, Cat Stevens, The Sonics, The Gants, Paul Revere & The Raiders, The Music Machine, Fairport Convention, Love, Family, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Los Saicos, Hank Williams, Cliff Carlisle, Son House, Charley Patton, Johnny Horton, Tammy Wynette, Canned Heat, Sonic Youth, Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band, Little Richard, Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, Slim Whitman, The Troggs, Shirley Collins, Beach Boys, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Stooges.

What is your first creative memory?
Maybe not a “creative memory”, but my earliest memories are some dreams I had about the animals in my backyard when I was about 4 or so. I wasn’t afraid of them – I just felt they were more intelligent than me.

What is your favorite food/drank spot in Norman?
I don’t really go out at all – so I can honestly say I don’t have an answer to this one.

Anything else?
Forget The Beatles – The Kinks were the greatest group of the 60’s (next to the Beach Boys of course)

Penny Hill is the stage name of one of Norman’s beloved singer/songwriters Hilary Pitchlynn. By herself or teamed up with some wonderfully talented friends, Hilary bends hearts with her beautiful, willowy voice. That’s the best way I know how to describe it.

Where are you from?
I’m from Norman town, born and raised.

What do you do?
I do the bulk herb inventory and stocking, transport recyclables to the center and work a couple of shifts every week at the Earth Natural Foods Store. I also pick up two kids from school everyday and hang with them until their parents finish work. I pretty much work in a barter system… trade for rent, trade for car, trade for food pretty much. I like to keep things as simple as possible.

Who or what do you use for inspiration?
I use anything and everything for inspiration. Often I find myself writing songs about other people’s lives: their joy, pain, trials and triumphs. When I do that I usually end up writing the song about me and my life (I’m kinda vain like that I guess). Mainly people inspire me though. Life is really really hard sometimes, but everyone has to live… no one is a victim, or we’re all victims of the same tragedies. I believe what we see in others is always a reflection of ourselves. Plus it’s easy to be inspired by people when I know so many cool ones.

What artists do you respect right now?
I really respect independent artists who work day jobs and just make music and art because they have to or they’d die. I feel that way about my music, but sometimes when I’m not so productive in my work I want to stop. I can tell myself I’m awful at what I do and I’ll never get anywhere. Then I realize I am here right now. Where else would I go? What else would I do? I respect artists who just do it no matter what.

What are you sick of?
I’m really sick of perfectionism – my own mainly. I’m sick of overanalyzing my performance. I’m SUPER sick of being compared to any other female singer songwriter just because I’m a woman. I’d like to think we’re all different enough to stand alone. I mean how many times have I gone to a bar to watch a band and it’s all the same skinny white boys from the night before and the night before that. For some reason no one connects them together because it’s either reggae or rock or drum and bass or whatever. They get a genre but for some reason we women have to be in our own genre.

What music are you listening to recently?
Shit. Music? I hate the stuff. No, but really I don’t listen to nearly as much music as I could. I spend quite a bit of time sitting on my bed staring at the wall before I turn my head and realize I have an ipod full of songs and a player to hear them through. I mainly listen to music at the store, but if I choose to put on the tunes it will generally be some folk. Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, all the greats. I like to use music to manipulate my moods. If I’m sad I always put on subdued rainy weather stuff. When I’m happy I put on something bigger, sometimes even something made within the last ten years. If you’re looking for musical influences I would name Ani Difranco and Kaki King (shame on me, those are both women). These women set me free from my expectations of what the guitar should sound like when I play. I am forever grateful for these musicians and have even been blessed enough to see both of them live.

What is your first creative memory?
I used to draw carrots a lot. I suppose I thought that I drew really good carrots so I just always drew bright orange carrots popping out of the ground. I remember making up songs all the time for sure, belting it out at the top of my lungs while jumping over cracks or weaving through parking meters. I also made frequent appearances in my sister’s home made movies. She would write the script and I’d act it out. I adored her (adore her) and would do anything she wanted. I think it was called “the Ashley and Hilary Show.”

What is your favorite food/drank spot in Norman?
The Earth Cafe and Deli, for sure. I’ve probably eaten there more than anyone. Seriously, I challenge you to find someone who goes there more than I do.

Anything else?
I think I might have overextended my middle finger typing all of this and I can’t think of a single other thing to say. I don’t do well without prompts.

Curtis pretty much taught me everything I know about printmaking and being unbelievably tedious. His obsession with repetition is something I find incredibly inspirational. When he is not too busy teaching people to be creative he works with printmaking, though his prints often end up as some sort of sculpture or installation. Check out more at his portfolio site.

Where are you from?
Renton, Washington.

What do you do?
I make art and teach.

Who or what do you use for inspiration?
At various times I’ve looked to music, hedonism, reading, drugs, and comedy for inspiration. Now, I generally try to keep my eyes open and hope that something interesting sticks.

What artists do you respect right now?
Anyone who makes art these days has my respect. There are so many (bogus) reasons not to.
Here’s a list of contemporary artists, each of whom bring me joy:
Tom Friedman
Vim DelVoye
Nina Katchadourian
Will Rogan
Fred Tomaselli
Jeffry Mitchell
Lesley Dill
Lari Pittman

What are you sick of?
everyone’s iphone

What music are you listening to recently?
Since I discovered youtube (yeah, that was me who discovered it) I’ve been traveling backward in time musically and looking at stuff I remember from way back when.
Here are some examples:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-GueNOKolo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oskM5XD_Yc4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8dC9M6OCkE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HTI76H0Ojc

What is your first creative memory?
Probably drawing Muhammed Ali in kindergarten. I remember seeing pictures of him and Joe Frazier after one of their fights and being freaked out/ fascinated by what a pummeled face looks like. I was probably five years old or so.

What is your favorite food/drank spot in Norman?
Home, The Earth, Sweet Basil when I can afford it

Anything else?
Breakfast burritos.

Photo by Tammy Tso

Calvin Son is a shockingly talented breakdancer and journalist, as well as a self-proclaimed Miley Cyrus fan and an SAT tutor. He runs the b-boy site More Than a Stance, and it wouldn’t surprise me if he came out with a hip-hop album or wrote a book in the near future. Probably a children’s book.

Where are you from?
I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama, went to school in Norman, Oklahoma and currently reside near Atlanta, Georgia. Unless you mean where I’m “from,” in which case my parents are “from” Korea.

South Korea.

What do you do?
I’m an SAT tutor. I do journalism-related things. I spend a lot of time wishing for back massages and phở.

Who or what do you use for inspiration?
The same lame stuff as everyone else. The way the beat drops in this. Cool-looking Japanese people. Good writing. The fact that some kid scribbled “Girls are Fags” on the ruler I use at work. Diaphragmatic breathing. Anything.

I have a huge folder of bookmarked sites and blogs for inspiration. This one is good. So are this and this.

What artists do you respect right now?
This is a difficult question. I don’t feel qualified to determine who is or is not an artist.

I will say that sometimes I wonder how stressful it must be to be Miley Cyrus, and it makes me break out into a nervous sweat just thinking about it.

What are you sick of?
The general feeling of helplessness; Demonoid being down; the fact that no matter how much money I spend, there will never be a day when I’ll go to a mechanic and ask, “What do I need to get fixed?” and have him or her reply, “Nothing. Your car is fine.”

What music are you listening to recently?
Instrumental hip-hop. Jacob Abello.

What is your first creative memory?
Once, when I was a little kid, I delivered a prayer in rhyme at church. I think everyone just shifted uncomfortably. Including God.

What is your favorite food/drank spot in Norman?
Little Caesar’s. Cici’s Pizza. That other pizza buffet that used to be on campus.

For some reason Phở Sooner comes to mind, but I think it’s just because I like the name.

Anything else?
It took me a really long time to fill this out because I kept trying to imagine what potential employers would think of me if they read this.

Thanks to Tate and Seth for the interview!

Photos by Evan James French

Sethy is one of those people who somehow seem to be able to shape the creative atmosphere of Norman. Maybe that’s because he’s involved with just about everything. You can find his music work here, here, here, and here. And some of his printmaking here. Oh yeah, and one of his bands is playing HallOPOLIS on Halloween. You should go.

Where are you from?
Norman, currently.

What do you do?
Um, a little bit of a lot of things and probably not enough of one single thing. I’ve been working on fixing that lately. I play music. Bass in Student Film, bass in Umbrellas, drums in Toil and Trouble, as well as sing and play guitar in Gentle Ghost. I also have been known to go on tour playing with bands that hire me. I do freelance design work and collaborative art endeavors with my lifelong friend Timothy Ryan Elliott. We do a lot of screen printing. I also enjoy cooking and baking with a sweet girl named Becky.

Who or what do you use for inspiration?
I wish I had some sort of control over that. Mostly it’s derived from dreams. I often have dream experience where I accept them as reality until a bear or a tornado shows up. I am also quite inspired by my loved ones. I know I would be in a much darker place without the light of their love illuminating my path.

What artists do you respect right now?
Right now and forever more: Jared Flaming. Chase Pagan. Charlie Hall. Beau Jennings. Timothy Ryan Elliott.

What are you sick of?
I’m sick of not being the patient man I want to be.

What music are you listening to recently?
Phoenix, Grizzly Bear, David Bazan, Big Star, Camera Obscura.

What is your first creative memory?
Wow, what a fun question. I remember drawing pictures of dinosaurs and water-coloring them with my mom. I was so amazed at how legitimate her Brontosaurus looked. I was probably four. She still amazes me to this day.

What is your favorite food/drank spot in Norman?
Pad Thai on Boyd, spicy basil noodles with tofu. For drinks, at home with friends.

Anything else?
Thanks to you Tate, for so successfully starting and maintaining this great blog.