We Are Art People is an independent conversation series with artists and people — exploring possibilities for making and being in the world as a creative person.
Bringing together diverse narratives and complex perspectives, our commitment is to facilitate a space of autonomy and resiliency for the artists’ voice. A goal is these conversations will bolster community and provide an open-resource for other creative people, navigating their journey and in relationship with the world.
Located in Brooklyn, New York — our conversation series is facilitated by New York-based artist, Emily Nam.
Say hello 👋 @weareartpeople
Sign up to our newsletter www.weareartpeople.com
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We Are Art People is an independent conversation series with artists and people — exploring possibilities for making and being in the world as a creative person.
Bringing together diverse narratives and complex perspectives, our commitment is to facilitate a space of autonomy and resiliency for the artists’ voice. A goal is these conversations will bolster community and provide an open-resource for other creative people, navigating their journey and in relationship with the world.
Located in Brooklyn, New York — our conversation series is facilitated by New York-based artist, Emily Nam.
Say hello 👋 @weareartpeople
Sign up to our newsletter www.weareartpeople.com
Support 💸 https://donate.stripe.com/6oE5mZa0KbDJa4g144
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Musa Guston Mayer is a writer, curator, breast cancer advocate and President of The Guston Foundation, living in Woodstock, NY. She is the daughter of the formidable painter, Philip Guston (1913-1980) and her Mother is, painter and poet Musa McKim Guston (1908-1992). Since his passing in 1980, alongside a team of committed champions of Guston’s work, Musa has been involved in shaping her Father’s legacy, who is recognized today as a Modern Master. Not bad, sonny. Pas mal
While pursing an MFA in writing at Columbia university, Musa published her first title — an intimate memoir, Night Studio (1988) — grounded in a personal account of being the daughter of Philip Guston. Musa’s process of writing as a way of self discovery and to deepen her understanding of who her father was, evokes an awareness of the fragility and beauty of life, through what feels to be a natural inclination for storytelling. Originally trained as a mental health counselor, Musa authored several books reflecting her journey and diagnosis with breast cancer; Examining Myself: One Woman's Story of Breast Cancer Treatment (1994) Recovery, Advanced Breast Cancer: A Guide to Living with Metastatic Disease (1998) and After Breast Cancer: Answers to the Questions You're Afraid to Ask(2003). She has curated exhibitions, and published amongst others, the award winning catalogue ‘Philip Guston: Nixon Drawings, 1971 & 1975’. Night Studio remains in print after 37 years.
We discuss the fragility and nature of living closely to an inner life, storytelling as an act towards activism and social-political commentary, and the value of Musa’s promised gift of 220 ‘Not.For.Sale’ paintings to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, for scholarship and in support of her fathers legacy. The Guston Foundation continue to further the legacy of Philip Guston. Upcoming projects include an audiobook of Night Studio, narrated by Musa Guston Mayer (2027) and publishing the Journals of Musa McKim Guston, A Life with P. (2026).
Links:
https://www.youtube.com/@TheGustonFoundation
Show notes:
Restoration of "The Struggle Against Terrorism", by Philip Guston and Reuben Kadish, Morelia, MX.
Musée Picasso — Philip Guston: The Irony of History [opens October 14 2025]
Scottsboro Boys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scottsboro_Boys
Ira Progoff "Intensive Journal Method"
Giorgio de Chirico, The Gladiators' School: the Combat [1928]
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Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.