Episode 50, ACT 1: Precious Blake - Speed of Trust

Teaching Artistry with Courtney J. Boddie

Hello, PODience. This is a big milestone for our podcast and for our team: we’ve just reached our 50th episode and we’re so excited to share it with you! Precious Blake, a guest with heart and a focus on community and togetherness through art and interpersonal connection, is featured in Episode 50: “Speed of Trust.” A visual journalist and archivist who moonlights as an illustrator and collagist, Blake is also the Senior Operations Manager at the Village of Arts and Humanities, and organization in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that strives for equitable revitalization of community through art activation. In their chat, Courtney asks Precious to talk about her creative work, her process, which, Blake states, always “begins with a burning question” and is enhanced and augmented by research and personal interviews. Precious also talks about how her personal emotions fuel her art-making and how her artist hand, which she calls the third act of every piece she makes, really affects the product, making her emotional state very present in her creative work. Blake leads with people and emotions first and makes it part of her mission to manifest a better world through compassion and art, striving to trend away from the indoctrination and absorption of white supremacist practices ingrained in our daily lives. Questions asked in this episode: What does care look like? If we were to think of building a world that leads with a care sensibility, what could we create? How do we, as artists, cultivate a sustainable existence in which we can thrive? You’ll have to listen to this thoughtful conversation to find out the answers!