SPEAKER_02 1:45

Welcome to another episode of the Hilltop Glove Podcast, where we bring to you expiring stories of people from different walks of life. Today we're excited to have Monique Luck with us, an international award-winning artist and muralist. Monique's artwork is a beautiful blend of soulful, textured, and emotional figures that tell lyrical stories across the canvas. Her unique technique involves modeling figures, features of figures in natural forms using fragments of found paper in a collage style with many layers. Monique has exhibited her work on several prestigious galleries and museums across the USA, including the African American Museum of Dallas, the South Carolina State Museum, and the Heinz History Center Museum in Pittsburgh. Her work as a public muralist with the Sprout Fund is featured in the PBS documentary, It's the Neighborhoods. Her most recent project, Hope Springs Forth Brightly, is a large public art installation for the city of Asheville, North Carolina, in collaboration with local artists and community members for the Celebrating African Americans through Public Art project. Monique's public art installation, Welcoming Dreams, in Charlotte, can be viewed at the Renaissance West Community Initiative. Her artwork can also be found at the Harvey B. Gantt Center Museum in Charlotte. She is truly an exceptional artist whose work is both inspiring and thought-provoking. We are honored to have her on our podcast today to share her journey and insights with our listeners. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 3:18

Hey, hello. Thank you for having me. I'm really excited to be here. Yeah, thank you for being here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

Do you like how your bio sounded?

SPEAKER_00 3:26

It was going on for a long time. I was like, wow. Yeah, you didn't realize you did all that, did you? You forget, I forget it sometimes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

Man, because like you're in the midst of it, you're experiencing it. You don't think about it like that. And I was just like, I know when we got to speak with you today, I was like, wow, we get to speak with her. She wants to come talk to us. Does she know that who we are and what we do? And I was just hoping that you know we wouldn't be beneath you. And it's weird to think about it like that. But sometimes I do always tell my brother that. I'm like, these people really want to speak with us. Not that we're bad folks, but I'm honored.

SPEAKER_00 3:55

This is I this is my very first podcast. So I hope I don't mess anything up.

SPEAKER_02 4:00

After all the work you've done, this is the first time you've been on the street.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Seriously, I've been a lot of different other things, but not nothing, not like a podcast. So I'm honored.

SPEAKER_02 4:06

Excellent. Well, this is a pretty free space. You're allowed to speak how you want to speak. Okay. We don't have any filter on this, but we are not going to be extremely demonstrative in any negative ways. I will tell you that. We do hold ourselves to standard. But like I always like to tell people to start, huh?

unknown 4:20

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_03 4:21

I know the point. I tried to tell her.

SPEAKER_02 4:24

Okay. We're going to do a good job. But one of the things we always like to tell, or start off with our guest, just for our audience. Our show is for millennials who are attempting to learn how to be themselves and how to be professionals and whatever world they're in, the in-rows and the back rows of what's going on. And it always starts with this question: Who are you and what influenced you as a child to choose this career path? Where are you from?

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Wow, that's a great question. So I'm from a lot of places. I was born in California. So it's something you may not know about me. So have I got my art start and I started just always coloring and drawing and doing all kinds of things. And my mom, one day, she when I was in kindergarten, she saw like all this art from all the kids. And we had a little book put together. And so she started kind of flipping through. And then she saw my work and she's like, I think she's going to be an artist. So from that moment on, you look a little different. Yeah. So I love that story. So yeah, ever since then. So I I don't know if there ever was a specific moment that I said, wow, this is going to be my career. I think I've always dreamt that I was gonna was going to get to do it. But sometimes you don't believe that you can actually do it. So I'm literally pinching myself all the time now, just to be like this is really happening. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:46

We're from in California.

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Pastina.

SPEAKER_02 5:48

Be quiet. Again, is that where most of your family's from?

SPEAKER_00 5:51

So a lot of them have migrated outside of West Coast, kind of moving over to like Arizona. And but yeah, so family there, and I have family in Ohio, Midwest. So I also have some Midwest background. Okay. And Pittsburgh, I am a Steeler fan.

SPEAKER_02 6:03

No, I saw that in there, and I didn't want to say anything.

SPEAKER_00 6:06

Yes, I am a Steeler fan.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

And we may have to speak to send it view up a little bit. But no, teasing, you're good all day. You're good at me.

SPEAKER_00 6:13

But yeah, so Pittsburgh, and so Pittsburgh is really where I really began the actual art career part when I started working in public art.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

So that's where you were building your chops as a professional, making a check. That's a beautiful city too. That's it. People don't understand how not, yeah. That's it. Oh, could you expound on that? How the your love for the city and what what makes Pittsburgh beautiful to you? Because that's a weird thing to say to some people. They're like, what, Pittsburgh beautiful? Because it used to be horrible in the like 60s and 70s, but nasty. This is why I'm saying like they don't, I I you wouldn't think that is a city that you would call beautiful. Could you explain what, in your opinion or in your mind, makes Pittsburgh a beautiful city?

SPEAKER_00 6:51

I think, well, I think if you've if you've never actually entered the city, there's a special place you can come in from and it's a tunnel. And you come through this tunnel, and all of a sudden the city just like is right in front of you. It's just so impressive. So I always tell people you've got to enter or go visit Pittsburgh kind of through the tunnel, and then you're gonna see it. But it just the city has a lot of heart. And like I said, when I first got started, I was just a nobody, I had no knowledge of anything. I'm like, I just want to learn how to, you know, do some murals or, you know, let me hang out and meet some people. And one day I saw something in the creative loafing paper that they had there in Charlotte, and it said something about the sprout fund, and it said something about murals. And I was like, you know, maybe I can be like an assistant and help somebody out.

SPEAKER_02 7:35

And I was like, humbleness. I was like, let me just give your humble vibe.

SPEAKER_00 7:41

Yeah, I was like, let me be an assistant so I can, you know, learn how to do murals. And then my friends and I together applied and we ended up winning. And I was like, oh no, what are we gonna do? Like, I don't know how to do this. So, but we just we figured it out, and we we were up there painting, and that's when I very got my first start into public artwork. And from that moment, I would say has led me to something else. So there's never been one thing, it's been each one is something else. So that's how I have that's why Pittsburgh has a little soft part. And and in fact, believe it or not, those murals are still there.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

I was about to ask, but I see that you have permanent installation.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

Yep, they're still there.

SPEAKER_02 8:22

You gotta be pretty badass for them to let you make because imagine, because you know, I'm I'm gonna put it like this: like as children, we learn you cannot draw on the wall, you cannot do this, you don't do that. I'm gonna wipe it off, I'm gonna get my Google on, and I'm gonna wipe it off. But they'd be given the okay that what you're doing can stay on that wall. Please legally tag ourselves. Yeah. How is I had to ask you this question because that was one thing that called me because you do like large murals. What made you want to do large murals? Because you don't seem like a tagger.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

No, I don't, you know, like I said, I didn't, I just wanted to learn how to do them. I didn't know that I was gonna end up doing it. Wow. So that's why it was it's a pretty scary thing when you're entrusted with, you know, a wall or a space to create. And so I think each time I'm still a little nervous, you know, how people like performance anxiety. Yeah, well, when you're out there painting, people are just, you know, have conversations with you. They're a lot of them are very like intrigued by you know what's happening. But now a lot of the work I do is just in my studio space. So I'm not always out in public as much doing the work. It's a lot of it is very, you know, it's fragile because I'm using little pieces of paper and little wings and little things, objects I find and things like that. So it's a little bit of a different process.

SPEAKER_02 9:36

Explain a little bit of the process of your studio art because I would assume then, of course, with murals being your something that you fell into, that wasn't your first passion. Of course, if you could just explain some of your first um passions and modes or mediums of art that you're created and how you got into your layering and your collage work.

SPEAKER_00 9:56

The collaging. What I find, what I found is kind of fell into collage. And I always tell people I fell in love with collage. And what happened is I was teaching in Pittsburgh and we were working with several different groups of students, and I was working with them in a collage. And I was having they were having so much fun. And I was just wrapping up a one of the big murals, and I was like actually really tired of painting. Like I was like, I need a break from painting, I need to do something else. And so because they were having so much fun with their collage, I said, you know, let me just play around with this, just do this for myself, just for fun. And then I just like I can't explain what happened. Yeah, like it's I don't know. Like I said, I fell in love with collage. And so from that moment on, I will look for, you know, found paper images I find, a lot of images I do take myself. I'll yeah, I'll take the photos and kind of cross them in there. Yeah. Just a little bit every little bit of everything, anything I can get my hands on when I stick in those collages.

SPEAKER_01 10:50

So it does feel like the art space right now is like like mixed medium is like like that's the happening thing. Yeah, like I don't know why, but maybe it's just kind of like we're a consumer junk culture.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

That's what I was about to say.

SPEAKER_01 11:03

We're recycling the stuff that we have thrown away. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:06

And it's cool.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

Finding like meaning in something that somebody put meaning in, and then it's been, you know, it was about to be discarded. Now you grabbed it and saved that mean and then brought it back.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

I don't know. Do you feel like you're resurrecting things when you do that type of work?

SPEAKER_00 11:22

I don't know if I thought of it in that way before. I think it's just finding a new use for something. And it's also it's when I have all these little pieces of paper and I have things everywhere, it's interesting because it's like a giant puzzle, right? Yeah. And I have like stuff where I know exactly where that one little piece where it goes. And so you might walk into my studio and you're gonna look at it and you're gonna be like, it looks like a bomb went off in here. With my wing up, yeah. No, for real. That's exactly how it is. So, in that sense, maybe I am resurrecting it a little bit because it's otherwise it would just be in the trash.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

That's how that's how I look at it when I when I see that stuff. I'm like, okay, I wouldn't have done that, I would have thrown that away. I'm bad. I was like, ooh, we trashed that get that out of here real quick. But to find somebody who can take and turn that into an expression, that's amazing, man. And I guess this is a Tamai question. I wish Tamaya was here to ask this.

SPEAKER_00 12:12

Oh, okay. All right.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

This is what she does. She loves this stuff. And I know I wouldn't be able to ask this question without her understanding, but what is your design process and how do you determine how many layers to include within each piece?

SPEAKER_00 12:26

Oh, yeah, that's a great question. So it depends on the project. You know, so if I'm working on, I always start with a concept, and a lot of times the idea will be living in my brain or my head for a long time, and then I'll might write a little note about it. So a lot of times I have these ideas already kind of going. But once I get the concept down, then I will at that point start with the sketch, you know, kind of sketch it out a little bit, and then I start looking for pieces of paper and I start looking for or I start painting textural textures on on paper and canvas and cutting them up. And then I, or I'll look for some fabric or something, or take or get those photographs going. And then a lot of times what's really important is the words that I also put into the artwork. That's something that's very inspiring to me. And I feel like it gives you gives the piece energy that's especially depending on which which piece I'm doing. I, you know, have I work on so many different projects. So it just depends. You know, it depends on which which word happens to inspire that piece.

SPEAKER_02 13:25

So it reminds me of like whenever I see um folks who do mixed media and they use like words or letters on their art. It reminds me like a good DJ who wants to pet something. And so they look listen through all these records and find a phrase where somebody says something like, get up on a good foot, or whatever it is, right? And they put it into the art, and you don't realize how much of an effect it makes in the production. There's this gentleman, he recently moved to Charlotte. His name is I Am Lakeham. And uh he's a great DJ in the sense, just almost like Mad Liv, and taking things and and chopping them up and finding the parts to make a song out of disparate pieces. And that's what you do, in my opinion. When I was looking at your work, it's like, oh, she's a great DJ. She takes disparate words and she chops it up and she puts it together in a way that I can consume it and also get my own um understanding from it. And that is so dope. And I don't know if you think about yourself in that manner, but because when those people put together those projects, I was thinking about with you, I was like, I know she doesn't do it in two hours.

SPEAKER_00 14:29

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

I'm like, there has to be, and like, so you're creating a life force and almost like your baby's being created, you're doing all this work and putting the stuff together to put out those pieces. So always recognize, and I almost it's almost in a way like I appreciate that work more because I understand the work and the depth that takes to do that. Because my brother Skip and I, we used to go create all the time, right? And I'm telling you, you'll buy 20, 30 records and probably only use four of them.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Wow. One tracking album if you lucky. Say it, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Well, yeah, it's probably like, oh, I like that snare, I like that hat, or I like what they said here. And you realize how important it is to get that in your process of creation. And so for you, visually trying to grab those same things to get across, like you said, your concept that you designed before you went into the design, that stuff's amazing. So, with that being said, do you place hidden messages in your artwork? Yes, oh yes, totally. Do you have any particular hidden messages that stand out or things that you remember? Like, yeah, I know why I was doing that, and I made sure that it got it in there.

SPEAKER_00 15:34

Yeah. Could you share some of them? It's so kind of. No, okay. So here's one I would do often, and I will always hide a little butterfly in my work. There's always a butterfly wing when I mentioned the wings before. Uh oh, it'll either be an image of a butterfly. My dad gave me a bunch of butterfly wings, and I use them in the artwork too. So I always hide a little butterfly in there. So that's something I can share. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:00

So that's the we're wall, where's Waldo? Yeah, exactly. So good. Yeah. And Miss Lux find it. Find that butterfly. Ooh, this is a game now. That's a game. Let's check this out. Okay, all right. That's cool to know. And of course, do you have, I'm not going to say that you have to choose or that you should have a favorite or anything like this, but with the amount of work that you've done with installations, some of them being murals and other things, of course, being stuff that comes out of your studio, do you have a favorite to do? Do you like to do the mural? Like, do you have a season where it's like, yo, this is mural season. I want to do murals. And then your studio season, where you're like, I want to be in my studio producing art. And how is that affected by the weather and the season?

SPEAKER_00 16:40

Yeah. Well, I would say since I've been mostly I haven't been doing as many outdoor. Well, I guess last year I did a major outdoor mural. And so that it was pretty hot. So yeah, it wasn't. That's what I'm asking.

SPEAKER_02 16:51

Yeah, because it's very hot. You live in the south now.

SPEAKER_00 16:53

Yeah, yeah. It was there were some moments there you were like, wow, it's really hot. So I would say, you know, just hoping it doesn't rain on you, that kind of stuff, you know. Just some obvious stuff. But for my studio work, I'm always working in the studio. So I'm like I said, I'm constantly designing. So I would just say, I'm just always in there. I hope I answer the question properly. But you did okay.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

It makes me ask another question. It makes me perfect. Most of the time, like when we talk to artists, part of what artists like the thing of being an artist is that there's like there's these concepts or whatever that like are difficult to understand or manage or communicate to people. Yeah. So everybody's usually like, there's always something that they're taking apart right now. What are you taking apart right now? What are you playing with?

SPEAKER_00 17:36

Well, I guess that's a to think about that. I'm well, I'm working on, I'm working, I just finished up a residency at the McCall Center with Jackie Shelton Green and I. And we are kind of taking apart her poem, Communion of White Dresses. And so we're kind of playing with it, kind of finding, kind of found each other in the words. And so we're doing a can't speak collaboration together. And so I'm gonna be doing a series of paintings based on that poem. So that's kind of that we're doing right now.

SPEAKER_01 18:09

Oh, I love that crossover, especially if you got people from different mediums working. Because it's like for y'all to actually do a piece together, like you say, you gotta find each other in the words and the void, whatever, you gotta find each other. And then so now you've already made a connection of two before you try to reach anybody else. It's just fun stuff. Yeah, that sounds awesome. That's gonna be good.

SPEAKER_02 18:28

I have a real regular questionnaire. Okay. When you're out there, like in a mural doing a mural outside, being thirsty.

SPEAKER_00 18:35

People bring you water. You know what? This is a group for something. So sometimes, yes, I would get people bringing me water. The one mural I did, I was right by Starbucks. So they basically gave us like free coffee the whole time, which was great. And then I had one lady, she would come up and bring me apples. She'd be like, Oh, here's a green apple for you. Oh, and I'm like, Thank you. And it was just very so, yeah, bring me stuff.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

You know, I asked I asked that mic, because like she's making public good.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:04

Because you're in you're beautifying the environment. And so, like, I would see that personal, here man, have something to drink. I've been working hard. It's like when you see somebody out mowing a lawn or something like that, and you're like, You want some lemonade or something? That's what I was wondering if people ever come up and they show their gratitude to you. That's like showing gratitude.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Yeah, they do, yeah. There's been some really interesting things out there.

SPEAKER_02 19:23

What kind of um interactions do you have with the humans?

SPEAKER_00 19:26

Oh, it's just it's fun. We I'll tell you this. This is one, this was kind of a tough one. I remember we had my friend and I had worked on the second mural together and it was giant. It was like 2,000 square feet or whatever. It was huge. We and we were this was back. I was doing old school like painting, and I wasn't like I wasn't doing the spray painting. I was just we're just out there doing it. Yeah. Anyway, we had wrapped, we had finished it, and then their people kept coming up saying, Oh, who designed this? Who drew it? And we're like, uh, we're literally doing it drawing it. Like it was almost as if they couldn't believe that we did it.

SPEAKER_01 20:01

I think sometimes that happens now in public art space. It's like like people will just reproduce something that's given to them, you know? And then it's like art students doing it almost, you know. Like it's not really but I mean, I don't think you get so much funding for those type of things. It's more like a cheap little yeah, yeah, but this is the better way to do it. So you actually got real artists, you know.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

So they were questioning your ability to draw and paint just thought it was a color by numbers.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

Yeah, it's kind of interesting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Whoa, that's weird. And another question based on off of that line of reasoning. And this is just break this down for me because I'm a simpleton when it comes to this. Okay. How do you draw something at such a scale and not make mistakes?

SPEAKER_00 20:45

There's always mistakes in there. You just can't you just don't notice them, maybe. Like, yeah, yeah, there's always mistakes.

SPEAKER_02 20:51

So there's like, all right, we can and you know why I asked that because when you step back and we look at it, it looks like you did everything perfect, all the lines in place where they need to be, everything ought to be where it should be. And for us, I never knew that there would be mistakes. Do you all ever say that there's mistakes?

SPEAKER_00 21:09

I don't tell it myself, no.

SPEAKER_02 21:11

Why gotta let you know? I mean it works to me.

SPEAKER_00 21:13

No, but I think well, with collage, I really don't think you can mess it up, really. I mean, I tell that's what I tell my students whenever I'm teaching, is like, you can't mess it up. No, this is art. You can't. But I know for me, I'm also kind of a perfectionist on certain things. So that's why I'm asking. Yeah, so I'll be like, look at that one little piece of paper I'm missing. Not the way you wanted it. Right. Right. Yeah. So there's still looks great. There's stuff I can go back and work on right now and just try to fix if I wanted to.

SPEAKER_02 21:39

You really think about like I blow my mind on this. Blew my mind. All right, because I don't work with visual art or anything like that. And but I do, I have work with music. And so I always think about music. Yeah, I'm gonna go back. I want to switch this out. I want to change this phrasing, I want to make sure that this section is different, transition or whatnot. Never think about that with art. Can you like so with your art, you think about things you can go back and fix or change? And do you change them?

SPEAKER_00 22:06

Sometimes I've gone into pieces and kind of redone, rework them a little bit. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:12

Do you think about like you know how you get to save something on a hard drive? Do you think about okay, I'll save this on a hard drive. Let me go back and edit this a little real quick. Go back and save again.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Do you sign when you finished? Yeah. Good question. Some people use that as like their like now that I've signed it, I'm not allowed to change it. Because, like, for me, like I'll like it'll be 20 years later, and I'll drive past a logo on a build and I'll be like, shit, that could. I really I really need to fix that bird.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

Like so, I do sign it and then I go back and work on it a little bit. I have done that. But I also haven't, I don't sign it obviously. It's not like sign it in the back or something. So yeah. I used to sign on the front, but now I sign on the back.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

Now, when you're teaching students, right? Like, what's like I guess three things or ideals that you teach them around art that you can explain to our audience so that they can understand a little bit of your teaching path when it comes to art. Because this is one that's like an art teacher, right? You're an art teacher, right? You're teaching people art how to do art, but you really can't teach them to do art.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

Yeah, I would say it's more I spend a lot of time with the community engagements and we do a lot of workshops. So I in that sense I'm teaching. I don't know if I'm actually like teaching, but I'm kind of kind of leading and guiding through like a workshop. And I always want people to kind of be intuitive with it, you know, because I could like you have to kind of be pick the colors you like or the images that you like or the words that you like. So I usually have them start off with like, you know, pick three colors, pick three words and three images, just to make it simple, just to get started as a building block. And then from there. You know, it's so much fun when you're sitting around doing collage together, and especially in the community, and you're just people just start talking, you start having these really interesting conversations that come up, and you're just nobody really wants to end it. They want to keep going on it.

SPEAKER_02 24:01

I think that's how you know you're doing your job. Right. That's how you you're engaging the person that you are in pedagogy with and they're allowing to explore themselves. And do you are there like in those situations, right? Do you notice or can you tell when you've hit that proper vibe when you're like, yo, everything's right. Do you just walk away and watch them and observe, or do you just participate?

SPEAKER_00 24:20

I I think I I yeah, I let them roll with it. And then I just kind of pop in and be like, hey, what's going on over here? You know, what does it look like? Or and they get really into it. So I might give a suggestion or something, but yeah. See, that's why I asked.

SPEAKER_02 24:32

Yeah. Because like as a team, like as somebody who is doing this professionally, like when you see folks working on things and you see that there's things that they could do better, do you care about letting them know, or do you think it's not necessary for you to bother their flow?

SPEAKER_00 24:47

Yeah, I let them just go with it. Like, especially for this kind of these kind of projects.

SPEAKER_02 24:51

You know, there's no reason to.

SPEAKER_00 24:53

Yeah. I want them, I want to see what their expression is. And then that's how what helps to inspire me for a lot of the work that I end up doing. So by having these conversations and little fun working workshops, I get inspiration from them. And then their artwork a lot oftentimes ends up into the collages that I do. Be quiet. Uh huh. Yeah. Stop the front door.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

So you take a piece and just include it whole, or you slice it up and sacrifice it.

SPEAKER_00 25:21

Slice it up and sacrifice it.

SPEAKER_01 25:24

I love that about the collage collagen. Because like you, you could use energy into this thing.

SPEAKER_02 25:32

And it's literally sacrifice that you're is there, especially the community coming from, etc., could you just explain to our audience the importance of a visual artist in our community and how you all contribute to society in your words?

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Let me think about that. I just think that looking at art or an engage, being able to engage with art in a public way is really important, just because I've talked about this before, but it's you know, people oftentimes don't always get to go to the gallery necessarily. Very true. So then they can actually engage with something, you know, outside, outdoors, or maybe you're just driving along and you see something and it kind of lifts your spirits, and you don't even you don't even notice, you know, you didn't realize that you needed that day. So so art and it also has a lot of um messages in there, you know. So I think it's very impactful and it's very important to have art seen visually publicly. And I think there's so many fantastic artists here in the city of Charlotte. And I love seeing all the artwork that's going up, and it's just it's really cool.

SPEAKER_02 26:36

How do you think the community has grown since you've joined the community here in Charlotte? And do you think there are ways in which it could be improved?

SPEAKER_00 26:45

I don't I think you can always have more. That's as long as you can do it.

SPEAKER_03 26:49

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:51

I don't think there's a pretty trash can. Yeah, there's no limit. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

Now, if you had it your way.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

And you could put and you could put as much money into it or whatever it was, what kind of program would you create for art in Charlotte?

SPEAKER_00 27:08

Oh, I don't know. I think what I would do is I would want to put together like maybe I could do like a little team, you know, where we get with the graphic designer and get with just to some local artists, and we can work together to show people how you can become do work. I'm sorry, how you can get into the public art. Because I think a lot of things know, like they get kind of intimidated, like, oh, I how can I apply? What can I do? So I think it might be kind of a nice way to show how a graphic designer is important to get the scaling right in the right imagery and and how you can collaborate with them and kind of show people how you can do that. So then I would have a studio of the town, and then you said I can do whatever. So whatever. And then and then yeah, and then so then we'll be a gallery where I'll have like other artists that come through, and then we'll have like the whole public art team. I don't know. Now you've got me thinking.

SPEAKER_02 28:03

That's what I wanted to do. I need to start coming up with some more things.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

You know, you go into a spot and just clean it up all of a sudden.

SPEAKER_02 28:11

That's that was my point in this because what the stuff that you do, especially if you're talking about public art, one reason why we want to have you on here is because what it does for a community.

unknown 28:20

Right.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

You can take a community that is is being poorly used, poorly situated, and you can take it and literally turn it around and make it into something beautiful where, like I said, people want to live, they're gonna want to be there, and et cetera. And artists are are extremely dynamic in this. And you know what I always think is funny? You all are never consulted when it comes in time to make decisions and how a community is being designed or where things are going or how we're setting stuff up or zoning or anything, they never go and say, Hey, let's go talk to the artists. I'm like, you know, those are the people they design stuff. An architect is an artist, like you should always consult them, in my opinion. And so to have an artist in front of me that does public art, I'm asking you questions that I would wouldn't get to normally ask somebody.

SPEAKER_03 29:01

All right.

SPEAKER_02 29:01

So it makes me feel good to ask these questions because I want to see what you think about it. And I guess another question I do have, because we actually in Colombia, we have this weird situation of the inability to have proper galleries. How would you explain it? Proper galleries and funding?

SPEAKER_01 29:20

I think the art scene in Colombia is bigger than the art venues in Colombia.

SPEAKER_03 29:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:25

And that's just like, and maybe it's part of that growth from up north, and maybe it's part of like that. There's a lot of people that want to see Columbia more like Greenville or Asheville or whatever. But and then, you know, like Columbia's doing a lot in public art too, but sometimes I feel like like and we know some mural artists out there in the community really good. And so like you walk past these pieces and they're thought-provoking, and the community is talking about them, and people are like, yo, did you see that one? But then I see a lot of public art, especially in the statue sculpture world right now in Columbia and other places, that like they just generically pick some something out of a catalog and talk about earlier. Like we and I'm not, you know, I don't want to talk about it because maybe it really is, and I just don't get it, but it also just kind of feels to me like like, shoot, let's just like really grab people that are doing stuff because that's what we're trying to. But I it's like if you're always wanting to beautify and raise the property values and make people happy, go lucky when they drive past, that's that's not the thought-provoking pieces. Nah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:27

Some of the other ones make you feel make you think internally about certain things, even inequalities. I know in in Charleston they have great public art pieces that make you think about slavery, or et cetera. And it's necessary to have them, right? And I guess the reason why I wanted to chime in on this is or or to hone on this point, is because what is the importance for to you, and I and even you too, Mike, on this one. This is a question for y'all about galleries, actual art galleries and access to art galleries as opposed to just public spaces. Because yes, we can have the public art and that's there, and it's a great thing, but being able to have galleries is important too, because in galleries you can also have those thought-provoking art pieces and those things that do bring out great spirit in people. But for a lot of us, we don't have access to galleries. We can't, it's either not in our neighborhood or we can't pay to access it. And those things to not have that in your life, it kind of takes a little bit of it takes the quality of life away from you. Because people don't really, I think art is important. My father, he always expressed to us that it's important to have art. He would like to take photography and et cetera. And he always expressed that to us. So in our minds, we always went, we'll go to an art gallery, we'll go look at this. It was something that was taught in our culture and our community to go do. But if it's not available or accessible, then people will forget about it. And this is an issue we have in Columbia. That's why I bought it up. I'm not sure if you see that here in Charlotte, but as somebody who works in both areas, what is your idea of the importance of those galleries?

SPEAKER_00 31:54

I think they're important too. I think it's a different way to kind of speak on a subject, you know, especially if the curator is choosing like a really interesting theme for the exhibition. I think it's important to have a space to be able to have conversations. So I don't know. I think here in Charlotte, there what we see a lot. We do have a wonderful galleries here too, which is great. Just going back to the public art part of it is just it's there for people to see it, you know. So don't have to they can just go see it at any time, any place, you know. So that's what I think I just lean to public art just because of that reason. Yeah, it's more accessible for everybody.

SPEAKER_01 32:29

And to me, gallery spaces, I mean, they are about selling the art. Yeah, and yeah, I love art. At no point do I have the liquid available assets to purchase any of the artists that I am impressed by.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

I can't afford my own art.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

As an artist, yeah. Can you afford your own art?

SPEAKER_00 32:49

I can't afford my own art. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:52

That's why I was asking this question because I know like the galleries are important because we have to let you all live, need you to eat, and your public garden ain't paying you most of the time unless it's usually a one-time thing. It's not something that you get to keep repetitively selling.

SPEAKER_01 33:05

But Charlotte is bank money.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:07

Columbia is university and government. And so that, you know, like we do have industry and some corporate stuff there, but like it's it's it's a different pool of money in Charlotte. And it's people that like would invest in art. Whereas I feel like Columbia atmosphere is more people that appreciate art and might be justifying it because it's an investment.

SPEAKER_03 33:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:28

But the reason that I am not an artist is because that whole making money off of your art thing has always been like cringy to me. I just I never wanted to learn that gallery game, which is weird now because it's looking like the gallery game needs to happen, but it's like I'm not the one to help you.

SPEAKER_02 33:48

Yeah. Do you think that's an important thing? Like, I mean, you have to survive.

SPEAKER_00 33:51

Like, yeah, you know, it's I think if you have to get into the right gallery, the right fit too.

SPEAKER_02 33:57

Have you found one?

SPEAKER_00 33:58

You know, I'm not directly represented by a specific gallery, like in the sense where I have my work in different places in different galleries, but I was represented at one point and then I had like a weird experience where we just kind of just it just ended up not working. And so from that point on, I always kind of represented myself. So I am in different galleries for different exhibitions sometimes and different things, but not like like for example, you can go to the Harvey Gantt Center and like in the museum store, have work done work there.

SPEAKER_01 34:29

Do you have somebody that manages that stuff or you just kind of do it yourself?

SPEAKER_00 34:32

I'm my own manager.

SPEAKER_01 34:34

Some of the people outsource because that's a lot to have to like, you know, keep track of what's where and who's got it and how long.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

And yeah, you do, yeah. But I have had great experiences working with curators and galleries too. So I don't so I can I don't know. I think that's why when I said you have to have the right fit. I just think you have to you and your the curator or the gallery has to have a good fit and have a good make have it make sense for you.

SPEAKER_02 34:57

You know, but do you enjoy managing your yourself?

SPEAKER_00 35:00

No, just kidding. Oh no, please. Sometimes it would be nice to not have to do it all, but at the same time, I'm also I mentioned before a little bit of a perfectionist, so then I would probably end up micromanaging so the manager. So I just then the manager would run away, they'd be afraid. Oh, they're telling me to do stuff again. Exactly. But it has a lot of moving parts, especially with a lot of project deadlines they have, and all you know, you want to make sure you hit those, hit those dates and all that stuff. So you have to have a I have to like hold myself accountable to make sure I can get the work done in time and hit the deadlines and create.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna throw out hard on deadline. Hard on deadline. Look, no, then seriously, I'm gonna ask you. Seriously, I'm gonna ask you one of our old questions because the reason why is because I think you're it actually feeds right into what you're talking about. Time management. How important is time management to you specifically since you're your own manager? And do you have a lot to do today?

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Well, I will be going to my studio after this. Yeah, I would say time management is extremely important. And it's difficult because as a creative, I also like to do things in my own timing as well. Because I you can't just be like, oh, let me start painting now, you know, like you can't. So I have to have the right vibe and the right be in the right space. So it's just a balancing act. I have to be, I have to really manage that. But yeah, I will be will see me, I'll be up all night painting or often I'm I usually hit those deadlines like right, right, right on time, like right before there's something, there's this crazy like deadline mode that you go through. And then you just and then I'll and then it somehow it happens and you and I get the art done. I'm done.

SPEAKER_01 36:33

I know, but it worked out. Oh my god, it's so great. Why did I ever not want to do this? Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:38

And you're like, okay, it came out, it came out great. Yay. And then you start over in the next one, and you're then then you have to remind myself, like, how did I do that again? I don't remember.

SPEAKER_02 36:47

So is it like, is it uh what do they call it? Is it a muse thing? Is it something that just takes over you?

SPEAKER_00 36:53

I don't know. It's hard to explain it. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 36:55

Do you ever record yourself while you work?

SPEAKER_00 36:57

I do sometimes. I do some time lapse. I'll I I'll post time lapse on my social media sometimes.

SPEAKER_02 37:01

So I just like to do that. Is that like out of choice or is it because you need content?

SPEAKER_00 37:09

You know, I'm not doing it for content, but then at the same time, I guess I do need content. So I guess it's both, right? You know, like it is fun to document that sometimes. So it's cool. I I like to see how it progresses, and then I'm like, oh wow, I did it I've been sitting here for you know eight hours and I did just I did get somewhere. True. It's it's so time consuming.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

I think sometimes to film stuff and not worry about it being caught. Yeah, it's just like, oh, did you see it's a cool thing I did?

SPEAKER_02 37:36

Let's watch it. Look, because you know I was like to say, sometimes the Holy Ghost hits you. Right. And I want to see what I look like when the Holy Ghost hit me. Like, what am I doing? What is this looking like? So that's why I asked that question. Man, it's been very interesting speaking with you today. The one what another thing I wanted to point out, because I thought this is interesting, is I see that because no one knows about this place. So I want to know. Yeah, I gotta tell me how you got here. You ready? Yeah. You have a selected exhibit per your page in Lake City, South Carolina. Who, what, where, and how?

SPEAKER_00 38:08

Well, that was with art fields. Yeah, that's a big place for it. Yeah, yeah. Big city. It's amazing when you get to be part of that experience. It's it's just blows your mind when you go down there.

SPEAKER_02 38:19

Because people don't know about Lake City.

SPEAKER_00 38:20

Yeah, it's it's adorable with all the art.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Oh, because I mean we grew up, we lived in Marion and in Mullins. And so when people talk about little places like that, I'm like, oh, how did it get there?

SPEAKER_01 38:29

That was kind of like an invented thing, right? Like we just kind of developed it, and they were like, We're gonna we're gonna make nice houses and we're gonna make it an art place, and we're gonna do this festival, and then it just kind of happened.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

It was it became a big marketing thing, and that also helped with tourism so that they can bring economy there. Because you imagine that economy was based off of tobacco planning. It is that old money saves and so in trains. And so when that stuff went away, they had to find a new way to do it. They didn't. And what saved them? Art.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Art saves.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

So is that what it is? Is that art saves? The money in South Carolina is just not necessarily in the capital city, yes, it's just out in the countryside where people have acreage. Yep. That makes sense.

SPEAKER_02 39:08

Don't come back to the city, yeah. But that was an awesome way to end it. And that's why I wanted to hear because art does save. I can that's why I want to keep pressing on this whole thing of the importance of art in our communities and how it can literally make the community a better place. But before before we it does, seriously. Feels better, yeah. But before we close up, I do want you to uh let us know what you're working on, what's coming up, and then of course to drop all your social medias and let people know how they can get in contact with you if they if you would like them to.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

Okay. Well, thank you again for having me. This has been amazing. Yeah, I mean, I you know, this is good. I can I can check this off my list now. Like now. So yeah, I'm working on I've got some I've got some things cooking. I've got some public art coming soon. Hey, because we know it does save and we gotta keep it going. Yeah, and then I have my uncommunion of white dresses with Jackie Shelton Green exhibition coming up. That will be in the fall at the Mint Museum. So that's gonna be pretty fun. Fun to it'll be a little bit different from what you from yeah, it's specifically gonna be for that project. Yeah. Cool. Instagram, Monique LuckArt.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

I also have a website, Monique LuckArt.com.

SPEAKER_02 40:19

Because what do you got there on the website? Things to purchase. Please pay this young lady. I'll get her some money. She's worth it. She's worth it.

SPEAKER_01 40:26

Support luck artists. Yeah, man.

SPEAKER_02 40:28

Certainly, certainly. But from the Hilltop Glove podcast, this is DJing what? Mike. Yep. There he is. And of course, our Steam guest, Lonine Luck. Thank you so much for joining us today. We are so happy that you came on to our podcast for the first time to be on the podcast. Makes us feel good about ourselves that you even wanted to be here. That sounds horrible. Like I'm taught, like I'm being pejorative to ourselves, but at the same time, you're excellent, man. And the things that you're doing here in the community and the fact that you're here on our community, thank you so much. You're blessing our area to make sure our region is getting some good, uplifting spirit feeling here, man. I mean, it's something that we need. So I always like the people that come here and stay here and ingratiate themselves with us. So anytime you want to come on our podcast, you're definitely welcome. If you want to come and share things that you have going on, et cetera, please do also use us as a as a horn to get out your information. Send us whatever you got coming up. We're going to make sure that we post it, get out to our folks so that way they can come and visit. We do have a lot of folks that listen to us here in Charlotte. And we'd love to be of assistance to you if we can.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

Thank you guys.

SPEAKER_02 41:28

Thank you. Thank you. So sign it off. Please tell somebody next to you that you love them, that you care for them, that you cherish them. And we will see you on the next episode of the Hill Top Globe Podcast.