You Can't Eat Art
The title of this podcast, “You Can’t Eat Art,” comes from a conversation I had with a relative who disputes the relevance and value of art. He couldn’t see its purpose because in his mind it didn’t serve a tangible function nor did it have the ability to put food on the table.
The artists who I interview have been in residence at the Lucas Artists Program at the Montalvo Arts Center; they represent a diverse range of mediums and practices, and each has a unique approach to the relationship between art and commerce. We'll explore why artists choose to make art and offer insight into how artists navigate the commodification of their work, and shed light on what shapes their creative processes.
Ultimately,“You Can’t Eat Art” seeks to reaffirm art's role as an indispensable cultural force, one that fosters connection, introspection, and growth. You Can’t Eat Art challenges the reductive notion of art as a commodity, and invites listeners to reconsider how art can challenge, resist, redefine and shape society. The intention is for these conversations to spark an ongoing dialogue to counter prevailing misconceptions about art, and to bring about an understanding of art as what sculptor Anthony Gormley calls “an act of shared communication.”
“Syndrome” from the album Tide’s Arising Instrumentals (Mashibeats, 2024) used withpermission of LAP 2023 CA Fellow Mark de Clive-Lowe; © Mark de Clive-Lowe / Mashibeats
You Can't Eat Art
More Than Meets The Eye With Beth Krebs
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In this episode of You Can’t Eat Art, Clara Kamunde is in conversation with interdisciplinary artist Beth Krebs. Beth's work includes site responsive installations, performance videos, sculpture, and participatory projects. Her work champions work champions faith against the odds, reflecting her "precarious experience as a human, always stretched between her limits and her longing."
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About Beth Krebs:
Beth Krebs is an interdisciplinary artist whose work includes site responsive installations, performance videos, sculpture, and participatory projects. A graduate of the MFA program at Rutgers University, Beth has exhibited her work in New York City, San Francisco and abroad, at venues including Riverside Park (NYC), Station Independent Projects (NYC), Mixed Greens, Storefront Ten Eyck, Southern Exposure, Marin MoCA and the San Jose ICA. She has been awarded fellowships at the MacDowell Colony, the Bemis Center, the Montalvo Arts Center and Recology San Francisco (the dump). She is a recipient of a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA grant, and in 2012 was awarded a grant from the Buchegger Foundation to fund an installation in Germany. In 2019 and 2020, while the San Jose Institute for Contemporary Art was closed due to Covid restrictions, her interactive telephone hotline took over their phone line. She is a member of Real Time and Space, an artist studio community in Oakland, California, where she lives. For more about Beth Krebs, visit our webpage here and Beth's website. Follow @beth.krebs.studio
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About Clara Kamunde:
Clara Kamunde is an Oakland-based, Kenyan-born cultural worker practicing at the intersection of arts education and social justice. Her career began with the Department of Cultural Affairs, City of Los Angeles where, as a grantee for the Artist-In-The-Community program, she collaborated with community organizations to produce and present site-integrated programming in traditionally under-served communities throughout Greater Los Angeles. She is a Marcus Curatorial Fellow at Montalvo Arts Center.
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About the Lucas Artists Residency Program:
Established in 1939, Montalvo Arts Center is home to the third oldest residency program in the United States. In 2004, Montalvo re-committed to its support of artists by opening a new, state-of-the-art facility, relaunching as the Sally and Don Lucas Artists Residency Program. The residency is dedicated to providing artists with a flexible and expansive space in which to create, encouraging the creative process, risk taking, collaboration, and cross-disciplinary investigation of contemporary issues. The LAP is a hybrid model that supports uninterrupted time to develop new work, while offering opportunities to share ideas and projects through public programming and partnerships. For more info about the residency, visit our website. Follow the LAP @lucasartres
Credits:
“Syndrome” from the album Tide’s Arising Instrumentals (Mashibeats, 2024) used with permission of LAP 2023 CA Fellow Mark de Clive-Lowe; © Mark de Clive-Lowe/Mashibeats
Podcast cover art created by Olivia Esparza© Montalvo Arts Center, 2025