Reflections with Read Brown

In this episode of Lattes & Art, host James William Moore sits down with emerging artist Read Brown as she prepares for her debut exhibition, Saturation, at Impell Gallery.

Read’s journey into art is as unexpected as it is inspiring. She discovered photography as both a healing practice and a way of seeing the world anew. From decisive moments like her striking portrait Maria, to abstractions that transform everyday objects into painterly images, her work invites us to pause, look closer, and find beauty in the overlooked.

Together, James and Read discuss creativity born from life’s upheavals, the vulnerability of stepping into the identity of “artist” for the first time, and how art can reflect both the inner self and the outside world.

Images discussed during the episode:

Maria: https://readbrownart.com/humans

Images from upcoming show: https://readbrownart.com/the-bloom

✨ Be sure to catch Saturation at Impell Gallery

Saturation

October 9, 11, 12, 18

Impell Gallery

610 S Belardo Rd Suite 1000, 

Palm Springs, CA 92264

🌐 Website: https://readbrownart.com

🌐 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/readbrown/

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Transcript

00;00;04;12 - 00;00;34;28
James
Hello and welcome back to Lattes & Art and are presented by J-Squared Atelier. I'm your host, James William Moore, artist, curator and fellow explorer of where creativity takes us. Today, I'm thrilled to be joined by someone who is stepping into a remarkable moment in her creative journey. Read Brown is having her very first exhibition, Saturation at Impell Gallery, and what makes this debut so exciting is not just that it's her first show.

00;00;35;01 - 00;01;17;03
James
It's that her artistic journey with photography is so deeply personal. Read's path into art grew out of life's twists, illness, emotional upheaval, moments of reflection, and the simple, powerful act of slowing down enough to notice the world differently. For her, photography is not just about capturing. It's about seeing. She transforms ordinary things and fallen flower reflections in water, even an avocado pit, into images that shift our perspective, asking us to look closer, linger longer and find beauty in the overlooked.

00;01;17;06 - 00;01;56;08
James
What strikes me most about Read's work is how it balances spontaneity with transformation. A decisive moment like the portrait she calls Maria, can feel raw and immediate. Yet in other pieces, she leans into saturation, contrast and abstraction until her photographs feel like paintings layered with story and emotion. In our conversation, we'll explore how creativity became a healing practice for what it feels like to embrace the word artist for the first time, and how art can be both personal expression and a mirror for others.

00;01;56;10 - 00;02;15;13
James
So grab your latte, settle in, and join me in welcoming Read Brown to Lattes and Art. Read, thank you so much for joining me today. I'm so excited to get this opportunity. Can you kind of tell us a little bit of what sparked this turn to creativity for you?

00;02;15;16 - 00;02;59;23
Read
Yes I can. It creativity for me tends to come from turmoil of some kind. Sometimes it's been physical turmoil, like when I had Covid. My creative spark just ignited and emotional turmoil. This last year of a lot of different changes in my life and the demand to be introspective. I've always loved taking photographs of interesting things, but this this time it turned into more of a healing process for me and a way to kind of externally look at what was happening in my mind, if that makes sense.

00;02;59;25 - 00;03;07;12
James
It's crazy how art can heal. It can give us a salve for our soul sometimes.

00;03;07;12 - 00;03;34;10
Read
Yeah. Yes, yes. I mean, in this period of time, I mean, I've always been into art in some way or the other. I think that, a lot of my art has been craft. You know, I can do that kind of perspective. But photography isn't a craft. It's to me, it's capturing of images that just so intrigued me.

00;03;34;10 - 00;03;49;06
Read
And, I know that the perspective or the objects that I picked are times super simple, but the way that I look at them is complex.

00;03;49;08 - 00;03;56;29
James
Was photography always there for you, or is it something new that you've discovered?

00;03;57;01 - 00;04;23;18
Read
No, I have always. I've always had some kind of camera. I've always been the person in my family that's like, take the pictures, you know? And, And they've always been a little bit different than your average family picture events. You know, and again, that perspective has always been a little bit different. So than the means of being able to capture things have always and triggered me.

00;04;23;21 - 00;04;29;02
Read
Capturing just seems so like I got you. But it's like I see you.

00;04;29;02 - 00;04;35;05
James
It's holding on to memories. Yeah, it's it's making a permanency to a memory.

00;04;35;09 - 00;04;58;19
Read
Yeah. Yeah. So. So photography. I mean, I took a photography class, and, I went to San Francisco's community college and took a photography class, and we had dark rooms and that, I mean, it was a really amazing time, but then that I moved and that all went away. But still, capturing images stayed with me.

00;04;58;22 - 00;05;06;07
James
So what photograph was the one that you took that you said, this is art.

00;05;06;09 - 00;05;32;15
Read
To me, reflective work was the things that I felt like were art to other people. The image of what I called Maria is the one that a lot of people call kind of a turning point in my art. That one made me giddy only because of how I captured it. Decisive moments I love decisive moments. Just like.

00;05;32;18 - 00;05;57;22
Read
Like I remember taking that picture. I just remember seeing her and just grabbing my phone and taking the picture and just capturing this moment. That was like, I iconic. And in that way, that felt like an incredible piece of work for me. But it's very different from a lot of the work that I'm doing right now.

00;05;57;25 - 00;06;07;13
James
Well, we'll jump into that because you said the word perspective a little bit ago, and I think that the new stuff that you're doing, perspective, is a big piece of it.

00;06;07;15 - 00;06;08;08
Read
Totally.

00;06;08;10 - 00;06;34;18
James
So for those of you listening, check out the show notes, because Maria is an amazing capture that Read has. That will be featured in an upcoming show, but there'll be links there for you to be able to actually pull the piece up and see what we're talking about on these references. Can you walk us through one of the images in this upcoming show, and why it's especially meaningful for you?

00;06;34;25 - 00;06;37;03
James
Not necessarily the show, because that's exciting.

00;06;37;06 - 00;06;37;22
Read
Yeah.

00;06;37;24 - 00;06;42;15
James
But what image is especially meaningful?

00;06;42;18 - 00;06;59;06
Read
So the show is called saturation. And actually there's it is actually the this show. I mean, I have to say that you're responsible for a lot of how my style has changed.

00;06;59;08 - 00;07;00;08
James
That's flattering.

00;07;00;09 - 00;07;25;11
Read
Well, it's true. It's true because you gave me some tools that I didn't even know that were there, that actually, I think the images. I don't have one. I can't I can't answer that question, but I can say the work that I have turned into something different than a photograph, the base of it is a photograph. But now if you look at a lot of it, they look like paintings.

00;07;25;13 - 00;07;45;27
Read
So the composition is still there, it's still real. It's still what I took that. But I just was able to shift things like contrast and saturation, and that changed my work incredibly. It changed the perspective of it all, and I love that it's so tactile.

00;07;45;27 - 00;08;02;19
James
With your photography that you're doing now. Do you see it as storytelling? Do you see it as documentary, like you're documenting a moment? I know it comes off being very abstract. Yeah. So is it about expressing yourself through these abstractions?

00;08;02;21 - 00;08;34;05
Read
Oh, dear. Well, here's the thing is that I. The photographs themselves demand storytelling. There's there's always a story behind the object, and, and maybe the they stand on their own as a image, but they also there's a story behind them, each one of them. And sometimes when you look at it, if you're newly looking at the piece, you're not even sure what you're looking at.

00;08;34;07 - 00;08;36;19
Read
And then it becomes really clear.

00;08;36;22 - 00;09;02;28
James
Well, and that's where I think, you know, the abstract expressionism really does come through. Like, you know, we think of Jackson Pollock and drip paintings, or we think of Rothko with color studies and these sorts of things. And there's something that feels to me when I'm looking at these newest pieces, that there is that story I'm being drawn into as I'm trying to get a grasp on the reality I've been presented.

00;09;03;01 - 00;09;05;04
Read
Right. Yeah. It's tricky.

00;09;05;07 - 00;09;06;18
James
It is very tricky.

00;09;06;18 - 00;09;11;02
Read
Yeah. But there's a there's always a real image behind it.

00;09;11;04 - 00;09;11;20
James
Yes.

00;09;11;21 - 00;09;46;29
Read
Yeah. So and I thoroughly enjoy the different perspective that you get. Only because it's really what is in my mind all the time different perspectives. And you and I talk about David Hockney all the time and I just am like, so connect with him because of his ability to share his different perspectives and have it make sense, even though you might have to tilt your head a little, or it or be drawn in, I want you to be drawn into the piece.

00;09;47;07 - 00;09;59;20
James
Well, and I loved you showed me before we started recording a new photograph that you had shared with your mom. And and it's what? And when I'm teaching photography, I call it the worms eye view. Right?

00;09;59;22 - 00;10;00;07
Read
Yeah.

00;10;00;09 - 00;10;01;26
James
Tell me about that.

00;10;01;28 - 00;10;34;04
Read
Well, it's, I mean, it was a really simple piece, and, it was. It's a just a flower of a white orchid. Was it a white orchid? No, I can't remember what color it was, but it was just laying on the sidewalk. It could have been rather pedestrian, but I saw it from the view it was laying on, and I wanted to capture it how it was laying not from above where I was seeing it, but from the worms eye view, which created a whole different image.

00;10;34;06 - 00;10;52;15
James
And it's so amazing that when we talk about perspective, we can talk about our own human perspective, how we see life. Yes. But then when we add a camera into it, cameras have different perspectives, right? They force us to move.

00;10;52;17 - 00;11;00;02
Read
They do? Yeah. I mean, they force us to move. If you want the camera to express what's actually happening in your mind, too.

00;11;00;10 - 00;11;01;08
James
Yeah.

00;11;01;10 - 00;11;28;11
Read
That is been the thing that I'm enjoying learning about because I think you correctly said, in your and intro that I don't have any advanced training in this. I have a camera. I have a nice camera. All the pieces that you're going to be seeing in the show come from my phone. I love learning about how I can make you see what's in my mind.

00;11;28;14 - 00;11;34;20
James
So tell us a little bit about you've got your first show. How crazy is.

00;11;34;20 - 00;11;41;18
Read
That? I'm, like, blown away. I'm blown away. It's coming up. I didn't see it coming.

00;11;41;20 - 00;11;42;25
James
It's flattering.

00;11;43;00 - 00;12;11;06
Read
It's. It's humbling. It's humbling. I and how the show came about in the first place is that I was at another exhibit, and I was introduced as an artist. And I'd never been introduced as an artist before. And I just was like looking over my shoulder, like you talking. Yeah. And and the and the person that I was introduced to asked what kind of work I was doing.

00;12;11;09 - 00;12;40;01
Read
You know, photography. And at that time, I was really deep into reflective work because I was really being reflective on my own life. So it just always reflections were constantly catching my particularly in water. And, so I was showing him that work and he asked me where I was showing my work, and I said I was showing it to him on my phone right then.

00;12;40;03 - 00;13;05;09
Read
And it turned out that he was is a gallery owner. And he said I should be showing my work. And I just giggled a little and thanked him for the compliment and not knowing that he was a gallery owner at the time. And, and he pursued that with me. And here we are like, I don't like eight months later, something like that.

00;13;05;09 - 00;13;07;06
Read
And and it's hard work.

00;13;07;09 - 00;13;11;07
James
It's hard work. It is very hard work. And as you've discovered.

00;13;11;08 - 00;13;11;23
Read
It's hard.

00;13;11;23 - 00;13;26;06
James
Work. Yes. But I want to go back for just a second. You're not classically trained, and there's nothing wrong with that, because we all, as humans, have creativity inside of us, don't we?

00;13;26;08 - 00;13;27;09
Read
We sure do.

00;13;27;11 - 00;13;31;20
James
And it's all accessible when we allow ourselves to go there.

00;13;31;25 - 00;13;51;08
Read
Yes. I mean, we were just talking about, like, you didn't know you could play the piano until you just sat down and plucked out a few notes, and all of a sudden you were a piano player. I didn't know that I could actually draw until I had Covid a couple of years ago, and was stuck up in my bedroom and like, trying to figure out what to do with my creative mind on fire.

00;13;51;10 - 00;14;04;04
Read
And so I thought I would just give drawing it. And I actually not that out of a jar. I mean, but photography is almost instantaneous of what's in my mind, right?

00;14;04;05 - 00;14;21;24
James
It's cool when we have that, like natural extension of who we are, what goes on inside of our head. And it's something that we can capture from a cell phone or a camera. And in that decisive moment.

00;14;21;25 - 00;14;46;01
Read
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah I think that the, the phones and now, you know, phones are becoming amazingly clear photos that you can blow things up to a whole size of a wall and make movies, all those kinds of things. And for me, my phone, which is at my office for, I'm a real estate agent, too, and it's for all those things, but I actually end up I call my camera all the time.

00;14;46;01 - 00;15;00;16
Read
Where's my camera? Where's my camera? Where's the camera? And and it catches things so impeccably that my mind is always accessible to my phone. Does that make sense at all? You know, it's just like.

00;15;00;16 - 00;15;06;29
James
It's second nature. It's there. It's that instant that we can be creative.

00;15;07;02 - 00;15;11;29
Read
Right. And I think that I have that need all the time.

00;15;12;01 - 00;15;34;26
James
You know, I think too many times people we know find themselves sort of lost because they've stopped feeling that they can be creative, that they can do something more. Like you mentioned, you're a real estate agent. Okay, great. But that doesn't mean that that stops the creativity.

00;15;34;29 - 00;15;56;18
Read
No, I and I've become a very big fan of the word. And yeah, I love that word instead of. But I am a real estate agent and I am a photographer. I'm an art and I'm an artist. Like, did you hear me? Just, like, stumble over that stuff. You know, but those are really. It's okay to have that complexity, you know?

00;15;56;18 - 00;16;04;27
Read
And what what's a little hard is making time for both of those, especially when you're running up against, like, putting a show on. But,

00;16;04;29 - 00;16;07;02
James
I yeah, I battle this all the time.

00;16;07;03 - 00;16;15;05
Read
Yeah, I'm sure you do. I mean, you're a teacher, you know, and trying to find the time for your own creative self. Yeah, too.

00;16;15;08 - 00;16;25;17
James
Yeah. I'm grateful that I know how to use a calendar. And I literally, over the summer, blocked out. It's like I will make more tarot cards. That's all there is to it.

00;16;25;18 - 00;16;25;27
Read
Right.

00;16;25;27 - 00;16;27;07
James
It's got to happen. Yeah.

00;16;27;09 - 00;16;28;00
Read
Yes.

00;16;28;04 - 00;16;39;25
James
So process what does your process look like? Like you take a picture like right now. Like what you're creating now you take that picture. But then where does it go?

00;16;39;27 - 00;17;05;28
Read
Sometimes I can't help but just stop and edit it right after I take it. You know, like, it all sits on my phone, and then, I just built a website. The best thing about that for me is it helped me organize my the categories of what I, the things I see along the way. And I think that's generally my hashtag anyway.

00;17;05;28 - 00;17;26;24
Read
But sometimes I'm obsessed with water. Sometimes I'm obsessed with clouds. Sometimes I'm obsessed with human connection. And, my website is giving me a place to, like, land those things for me. And then I don't know what else I mean, like, now it's landing in a show.

00;17;26;27 - 00;17;32;24
James
So in this show, it's not your entire body of work. It's kind of specific.

00;17;32;25 - 00;17;52;19
Read
Very specific. I am fluid in the things that I see along the way. And so it's hard sometimes to capture in a show what I've done when I've alReady moved on to sidewalks.

00;17;52;22 - 00;18;02;06
James
That's where you have to rely on that gallery owner or that curator that has a vision that pulls in those pieces. Right?

00;18;02;13 - 00;18;15;12
Read
I mean, Maria is complete different than any other piece that you'll see. I don't there's not another human being in my pieces. They're they're they're a lot of floral work.

00;18;15;12 - 00;18;23;19
James
When this was first coming together and you were concerned because it's like, I need this and that, and you were, you were like.

00;18;23;21 - 00;18;24;14
Read
All over the place.

00;18;24;15 - 00;18;33;16
James
Yes. But then Maria was one that you were passionate about not to leave out of the show.

00;18;33;18 - 00;18;36;04
Read
And the gallery owner was passionate about that, too.

00;18;36;08 - 00;18;53;13
James
And it took me right, because I mull a lot and I think and I'm like, okay. Came to me with the Maria piece. She is the flower amongst the weeds. It's a style different than everything else that's in the show.

00;18;53;15 - 00;18;55;08
Read
Completely different.

00;18;55;11 - 00;18;59;12
James
But it still has that same soul perspective.

00;18;59;13 - 00;19;27;27
Read
Yeah. Perspective. I mean, she and decisive moments like you just. I just catch it. I just see it and catch it. So, Maria, I mean, Maria, like, I hardly touched that piece. I, I took that piece. I cropped it into a square. I'm kind of obsessed with squares. Most of the pieces in the show are squares. There are some ring rectangles.

00;19;27;27 - 00;19;55;12
Read
There's 26 pieces in that. So she got cropped into a square, and I made sure that the focus was on her. So the people that are behind her, well, they're not they're Baxter to her anyway. And so the relevance of them didn't need to be sharp. So they're a little bit blurred but that's it. That's it. The rest of the pieces they've been manipulated.

00;19;55;15 - 00;20;21;14
Read
The concept is still there. The composition is still there. But they've been manipulated in any way that you can sometimes back and forth saturation way too much saturation. Sometimes I'll bring it back or the vibrance of it or detail of it. They're all like, I'm I, I'm moving those bars back and forth many times to see where I wanted to land.

00;20;21;16 - 00;20;26;06
Read
So the base is there and then the painting starts.

00;20;26;08 - 00;20;47;10
James
It's interesting because you talked about that. These are sort of things you see in your mind, like how you're seeing the world and when you now have these prints and you're looking at those prints. Do you still think it's what you see in your mind or has it.

00;20;47;10 - 00;21;05;20
Read
Gone somewhere else? Oh, definitely. My mind has gone someplace else. But that. But it was there. It was real. It was in my mind when it was printed. It's definitely what I saw. It's still what I saw. I look at it, I'm like, yep, that's. That's what it was. My mind is gone way beyond that now. Like, I, I'm on sidewalks.

00;21;05;25 - 00;21;34;13
Read
Yeah. I mean, I had a, I had a really bad, flu in April and I had a temperature of 104, and I have a little dog that had to be walk no matter what, and I could barely look up. And so I was looking at sidewalks, holding my head, you know, and thinking it might be hallucinating, you know, are these, like, weird things in the sidewalks, these visions that I was seeing in the foot?

00;21;34;18 - 00;21;49;15
Read
So I started taking pictures of them. And then when I started manipulating those pictures and bringing out the shadow, well, there is, like, some creepy stuff going on below my feet. The interesting stuff like rosacea, you know, that kinds of things.

00;21;49;16 - 00;21;56;22
James
Well, and when you find that, is that helping you process other stuff that's going on?

00;21;56;24 - 00;22;00;16
Read
Oh, you mean like my brain? What's going to process? Yeah.

00;22;00;18 - 00;22;01;27
James
Or does it open up for me?

00;22;02;02 - 00;22;03;05
Read
It's just calming.

00;22;03;10 - 00;22;04;08
James
That's interesting.

00;22;04;09 - 00;22;31;09
Read
Yeah, it's just like I kind of get it in, and I got to get it out. The picture and the ticking of the capturing the picture is getting it in what I saw in my mind. And it's now on my phone or printed or whatever. So yeah, it's like it's a need. It's a need to and and it's not just about objects.

00;22;31;09 - 00;22;45;05
Read
Human connection is huge for me too. Families like families connecting with each other, playing people, playing emotions. When you see like a little kid on the side, on the curb like, well, and it's said.

00;22;45;06 - 00;23;17;25
James
It's I got the privilege of seeing the website and seeing your whole home for, I mean, all of these connected humans that are in that section of the website I just found fascinating because again, you're using that decisive moment idea and you're capturing these times that no longer exist. But that story is there and that memory is there, and that human connection is there.

00;23;17;28 - 00;23;22;25
James
I just loved it. I love digging through and seeing all of that.

00;23;22;27 - 00;23;54;03
Read
Yeah. Capturing human beings candidly, not at a party, but in life. You really capture, you know what people, what, like Indians, sometimes believed if you took their picture that you were capturing their soul. Yes. Yeah. So I believe that. I mean, I don't I don't think I'm taking their soul. They still have it tonight in my camera. But, I believe that there's soul somehow in that image.

00;23;54;10 - 00;23;58;23
James
I feel that when I can see into their eyes.

00;23;58;25 - 00;24;03;06
Read
Well, that's true, but there's also body language.

00;24;03;08 - 00;24;05;05
James
Oh, yeah. Big time.

00;24;05;08 - 00;24;05;28
Read
Yeah.

00;24;06;00 - 00;24;12;15
James
Big time. Yeah. So this shows coming up. It's the first one. How are your nerves right now?

00;24;12;17 - 00;24;29;05
Read
They're okay right now. Right now they are. Because I've been, like, obsessively working on it. So it's in the it's all the back end stuff that has kept me really busy. Now, when I run out of things to do and have to wait.

00;24;29;08 - 00;24;30;23
James
You're like me. You don't wait. Well.

00;24;30;26 - 00;24;54;03
Read
I'm not. Yeah, that's going to be really hard. And and I'm also moving on in my photography, too. Right. So now I'm like, well, where how's this going to land? What am I going to do with this? And, how do I get that out there? And it's not because it it's just I guess I really have to think about it, because getting it out there for me isn't like a bragging right thing.

00;24;54;05 - 00;25;11;14
Read
It's. It sounds like it, but it's just like, oh, I want you. I want you all to see what I just saw. Like, I just took a picture of a hummingbird and a butterfly on a mobile at the same time, and I just was like, you can't look at what I just saw.

00;25;11;16 - 00;25;15;09
James
That whole idea leads me to my next question.

00;25;15;16 - 00;25;16;06
Read
Oh, good.

00;25;16;09 - 00;25;30;03
James
There's going to be people that know you are not that come to this show. What do you want them to see through this art when they step into the gallery?

00;25;30;05 - 00;25;48;17
Read
Well, I just want them to see the kind of the beauty of simple things. Maybe, you know, they're. No, no, no, no, that's none of the things that I'm showing are really complicated. Right. But the way I'm showing them, I'm trying to pull out the beauty of it.

00;25;48;20 - 00;26;02;05
James
Well, those are often overlooked moments, right? You're looking at you're you're zooming in on something of the flower. You're zooming in on reflections in water.

00;26;02;05 - 00;26;31;14
Read
Or like at the end in this show is actually, an avocado pit, a very simple, overlooked object that tends to either get thrown away or put toothpicks in and put it in a glass for a couple of weeks. I personally dry my avocado pits. A whole nother story. Maybe another podcast, but but that hit on that 30 by 20 print now is gorgeous.

00;26;31;17 - 00;26;52;25
Read
It's like you look at it and the the question is what is that? And then I mean, you know, it's a seed of some kind, but then like the intricacy of that seed, it blew my mind away, you know. And then to see it that big and clear was just those little simple things that I see along I.

00;26;52;29 - 00;27;11;10
Read
There you go again. The things I see along the way. Maybe I'll do a show called that sometime. But I want people to start, like looking at things that they see along the way with a little bit more. We're so busy all the time. We don't see those things. And maybe just stop and and look at those.

00;27;11;13 - 00;27;29;02
James
Well, and I think with abstraction art that's abstract, it forces us to wait a moment and look at it right and not pick it apart so much as dive into it to see what it's telling me.

00;27;29;05 - 00;27;29;26
Read
Right.

00;27;29;28 - 00;27;34;26
James
And so, yeah, I think you've given us these moments with this work that's going to be in the show.

00;27;34;28 - 00;28;02;05
Read
Yeah. I mean, like, there's one print that comes to mind as I was driving down my street. So it was spring and like everything was blooming and dropping at the same time, like the palo verde, the bougainvillea. So these like, brilliant colors, we're like, on the trees, in the bushes and landing on the ground and all together. And I just immediately pulled over and took that photo.

00;28;02;05 - 00;28;19;09
Read
And then but then I played with the saturation of it and, and it's become a tapestry. But it was like a moment, you know, and it and that kind of saturation really like accentuated the beauty of what was happening.

00;28;19;11 - 00;28;35;19
James
You've looked at reflections, you've looked, flowers. You've looked at these moments with humans. You're starting to look at sidewalks earlier this year. Where are you going next?

00;28;35;23 - 00;28;52;21
Read
Whatever catches my eye next, I don't know because I do not know. None of it. None of those obsessions are contrived, right? So I don't know what my eye will catch. I mean, I'm always into clouds, but not your average cloud.

00;28;52;24 - 00;28;57;24
James
Well, how interesting is that one? You were looking down at sidewalk. So now you're going to be looking up at clouds.

00;28;57;25 - 00;29;14;16
Read
Well, I mean, I am alReady looking at the clouds. I've alReady I mean, there's a whole section on my website called Not Your Average cloud. I think it's called not your typical cloud, something like that. But. Well, it goes to my eye, goes everywhere. Everywhere. You know.

00;29;14;21 - 00;29;24;16
James
But how fascinating might it be to have a show that your sidewalks with your clouds and have them stacked.

00;29;24;19 - 00;29;40;23
Read
Oh yeah. Right. You could do like a whole thing. I mean I've got. Yeah. The tapestry print is like I'm looking right on at it. Right. But. I don't know what'll happen next. I got a tree outside that I'm really obsessed with.

00;29;40;25 - 00;29;49;20
Read
How many different ways can I photograph that tree. Crows like it. I like crows, I like birds spend a lot of time with them.

00;29;49;22 - 00;29;52;01
James
I look forward to what's next.

00;29;52;03 - 00;29;54;09
Read
Yeah. Me too.

00;29;54;11 - 00;29;59;04
James
In relative terms, you're kind of new to this whole art thing.

00;29;59;06 - 00;30;01;01
Read
Yes.

00;30;01;04 - 00;30;11;04
James
What kind of advice might you have for someone that might be struggling? Finding creativity.

00;30;11;07 - 00;30;33;26
Read
Slow down. I mean, if you're really struggling to find creativity, I don't know. I don't know what advice to give that maybe a therapy. But if you have creativity and you're struggling to figure out how to get it out, I would just play with every medium that you have available to you. You're not a writer until you write.

00;30;33;26 - 00;30;56;21
Read
You're not a painter until you paint. You're not sure until you take the photo. Yeah, you're not a musician until you play something. I don't play anything on the audience like we talked about before. And I'm. Everybody needs an audience, but I, I think you you have to do it. You and then fine. And then see if it brings you joy, if it doesn't bring you joy.

00;30;56;23 - 00;31;24;06
Read
My creativity is same as my life, my mental health. It is. It allows me to use reflection and to look at myself. It allows me to not look at myself and to look at other things. So I think anybody that's I don't know what to say about struggling to find creativity, but I know if you're trying to figure out how to get it out of you, you have to do it.

00;31;24;08 - 00;31;27;02
James
Impel Gallery is where your show is going to be at.

00;31;27;03 - 00;31;27;15
Read
Yes.

00;31;27;21 - 00;31;30;14
James
It's opening up the first part of October. Correct.

00;31;30;14 - 00;31;31;14
Read
October 8th.

00;31;31;17 - 00;31;34;05
James
October 8th. It's on a Wednesday.

00;31;34;08 - 00;31;35;12
Read
It is.

00;31;35;14 - 00;31;37;29
James
Wow. Amazing.

00;31;38;02 - 00;31;55;12
Read
I know you know how exciting. Yeah. It's, October 8th through the 12th, and then we're actually keeping the pieces up through. Palm Springs have has a preview modernism week that following week. So it's staying up through the following week 7 to 18. It's very exciting.

00;31;55;13 - 00;31;59;02
James
Congratulations on that because that is something new.

00;31;59;02 - 00;32;20;15
Read
I just yeah. Yeah. Just and I couldn't have done it without you James I honestly. Oh yeah. No I couldn't have I didn't I mean I can take the picture but it just landed in my phone and or on social media, you know, but that's it. And and I never would have even known how to pursue any of this without your help along the way.

00;32;20;15 - 00;32;21;27
Read
So take.

00;32;21;27 - 00;32;25;07
James
Thank you. Thank you. I've enjoyed our conversations.

00;32;25;09 - 00;32;30;06
Read
It's been. Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. I keep you a little busy sometimes.

00;32;30;08 - 00;32;33;24
James
Hey, that's what friends do. That's. You know, that is what friends do.

00;32;33;25 - 00;32;37;25
Read
So honored to have you as my friend and my mentor. You're my mentor.

00;32;37;29 - 00;32;38;17
James
Thank you.

00;32;38;21 - 00;32;49;23
Read
Yeah. And and I would say that anybody that's like, like, has found their creativity and wants to take it to the next level. And and that you find a mentor.

00;32;49;25 - 00;32;53;21
James
Yeah. I, I absolutely promote that idea.

00;32;53;21 - 00;32;55;04
Read
Yes. Absolutely. I mean, it's.

00;32;55;04 - 00;32;56;15
James
You can't do this in a vacuum.

00;32;56;16 - 00;33;10;10
Read
You can because even I mean, like I said, you change the style of how I've done some of my photography, you know, by giving me the tools. Not like saying you should do it this way, but look what else you can do.

00;33;10;12 - 00;33;20;28
James
Well, it's amazing. We have a tool kit. Like, you know, we're fixing something. We go get the tool kit, we get the hammer, we get the screwdriver, we get whatever we need. Duct tape arts. No. Different.

00;33;20;28 - 00;33;43;17
Read
No. And I also the one thing that I wouldn't, I just watch this, documentary on David Hockney. And I would have liked to have debated him. Know this, that the difference between photography and painting is that, you know, photography so instant and painting is a a long process. I totally I totally get paintings. I have dear friends that are amazing artists.

00;33;43;17 - 00;34;03;28
Read
They see how they struggle. I see what they do. But taking the image is instant. What you do after that is a process that is just can be just as creative and time consuming and changing as a painting. So I, I would have debated that with David Hockney. Sorry.

00;34;04;04 - 00;34;17;00
James
Well, and I find it fascinating, like you, that he sees it, that it's like almost there's no process. But the reality, his process is immense.

00;34;17;00 - 00;34;42;07
Read
Yes. Immense. Yes. Yeah. I have a whole new respect for him. And like I said, I connect to the way that he chooses to do things in a different perspective. Yeah, I just it amazes me and the, cool when you see that. And I think that's what I want people to see when they. Oh, I get it.

00;34;42;09 - 00;34;57;01
Read
And if I happen to be there to tell the the story behind the image, that's great. But I want them to be able to, like, dive deep enough and spend enough time with it that they can. Maybe it's not the story that I have, but it's a story that they come up with. That's okay.

00;34;57;03 - 00;35;10;17
James
Well, and I think that your work, especially this that's going to be at Empower Gallery Challenge, shows us on our own perspective. Yes. And I think that's a good thing. I think sometimes we need to be challenged.

00;35;10;18 - 00;35;11;27
Read
Yes. In a fun way.

00;35;11;29 - 00;35;13;01
James
Always in a fun way.

00;35;13;02 - 00;35;14;01
Read
Definitely. And if I.

00;35;14;07 - 00;35;14;24
James
Read.

00;35;14;24 - 00;35;15;06
Read
Yeah.

00;35;15;07 - 00;35;18;29
James
Thank you so much for joining me today. This has been such a treat.

00;35;19;00 - 00;35;33;10
Read
It's such a treat. I just had so much fun. And it's so easy to talk to you. And I love I love talking to you. And your knowledge is so immense that I just, I hope you will always in my life. And I can't tell you how much I appreciate.

00;35;33;10 - 00;35;48;26
James
I enjoy our friendship, I cherish it, and you know, I appreciate because what some of you may not know is that one of my first solo shows here in Palm Springs was at Read's Salon.

00;35;48;28 - 00;35;52;20
Read
Oh, yeah. And that was I love that show.

00;35;52;20 - 00;36;03;22
James
And, you know, it's these types of things that we have the circle. And I've been thrilled that for a number of years, you and I have been in that circle.

00;36;03;24 - 00;36;34;12
Read
And you've expanded my circle of art. You know, you really have. And I've lived in Palm Springs since 1997. And when I started dabbling is not when I started stepping into the art world. I'm like, who are you people? I thought I knew everybody in town and I didn't like it ego sort of way, but I, I did think I knew a lot of people in town, and now I've met like this whole amazing group of creative people that is, again, just changing my world all the time.

00;36;34;15 - 00;36;48;09
James
That is what I have always felt about Palm Springs being a gift. Yes, it is an artist colony that I don't think we realize how deep that colony is. And growing. Yeah, it never stops is no.

00;36;48;09 - 00;36;53;20
Read
It's fascinating. It's fascinating how much this town is becoming an artist community.

00;36;53;20 - 00;36;56;18
James
Yeah. I'm so happy. It's a great place to be.

00;36;56;19 - 00;36;57;17
Read
A great place to be.

00;36;57;23 - 00;37;03;00
James
Thank you again, Read, I appreciate it. I appreciate you, too.

00;37;03;03 - 00;37;24;29
James
Thanks so much for joining us today on Lattes & Art, presented by J-Squared Atelier. I'm your host, James William Moore. A huge thank you to Read Brown for sharing her story and opening up about the journey into photography and creativity. It's a rare gift to witness an artist at the very start of their path. And I'm so glad we could be a part of it.

00;37;25;02 - 00;37;51;21
James
Be sure to check the show notes for links to Read's work, and to see some of the pieces we discussed today, including Maria and her new abstractions. And if you're in Palm Springs, don't miss her debut exhibition, saturation, at Impel Gallery, running October 9th, 11th, 12th and 18th, which coincides with Palm Springs preview Modernism Week. As always, thank you for listening.

00;37;51;24 - 00;38;06;21
James
If you've enjoyed this conversation, please share the episode and help us spRead the word about the incredible artists shaping today's creative world. Until next time, keep sipping, keep creating, and keep finding inspiration in the everyday.