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The Pratfalls podcast

Hosted by Levi Weinhagen, The Pratfalls Podcast features conversations with artists and creative folks of all kinds about the relationship between making cool things and being a person in the world. It features funny, insightful and weird conversations with artists and creatives of all kinds.
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Now displaying: February, 2016
Feb 23, 2016

"When life gives you rain, puke a rainbow."

Erica Hanna is the creative force behind the content strategy and video production company Puke Rainbows. Erica is also an Emmy-winning television producer, a public speaker, a hyper Twitter user, and someone who gets excited about helping other people do good work. She's also raised over $30,000 for the New York-based organization Charity: Water.

In this conversation, Erica talks about how she started Puke Rainbows, how and why she uses social media to create genuine relationships, and how her personal life and professional life doesn't cleanly divide. She also talks about why raising money for Charity: Water means so much to her and how she works with clients to bring the best out of them and their work.

Feb 16, 2016

“I don’t like to think about things being good or negative.”

J. M. Culver is a visual artist drawing and painting work that digs into themes like how memories shift and change, he human psyche, and the fragile nature of being alive. In describing her work Culver says, "I create paintings that have personal significance and create social consciousness to connect and emotionally resonate with the viewer. "

In this conversation, J.M. Culver talks about starting out with a Bob Ross art kit and the evolution of thinking in black and white terms to more nuanced points of view. She talks about making the personal universal by initially creating the work for yourself as the artist and then stepping back and thinking about the audiences experience. And she shares stories of how she physically makes her work and why she does it that way.

Follow J.M. on Instagram or Facebook or Twitter

Feb 9, 2016

Ali Lozoff isn't just the Senior Marketing Manager at Minnesota Public Radio and American Public Media, she's also a music obsessive who grew up on John Prine and Bob Dylan and was an 80s punk. In this conversation, Ali talks about strategic thinking and brand development when considering all the various content channels she's a part of working on. She also shares how being raised by artists led to her love of words and her lifelong obsession with music.

Plus, Ali talks about the 80s punk scene in Northern Michigan, her relationship to the band Soul Asylum, how she became a band manager and why she's so comfortable communicating on twitter even though or maybe because she's an introvert. 

Feb 1, 2016

Kate Renee is an acrylic painter based in Minneapolis. She paints edgy works with a cute veneer on wood panel. Kate received honorable mention at the 2010 Arrowhead Biennial at the Duluth Art Institute and was Featured Artist for the Altered Esthetics' Level_13: Cheat Codes exhibition. She was A-listed in City Pages for her exhibition at Gamut Gallery, Imaginarium, and was awarded a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant

Kate Renee's new work GlutHoney was featured in Minnesota Monthly's "Best New Art of 2016." Kate currently has a studio at the Marshall Street River Lofts in Northeast Minneapolis which is open to tours and visits upon request. She also offers prints and original work on her Etsy shop.

In this conversation, Kate talks about how she came to the process she currently uses to make work, what it's like to be a protege and how much energy she puts into the business side of her work in addition to the creative side of her work.

Feb 1, 2016

“We don’t know how to do it. But, yes, we can do it.”

Out Solutions, serves on the Schubert Club Board of Directors, co-founded Smart Factory, has spoken at Ignite Minneapolis and Giant Steps and was named one of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s 40 under 40.

“My parents left their country when they were in their 20s.”

Jeff talks about his proclivity to get in over his head and how that’s led to him running his own business. He talks about his openness and desire to try things he’s never done before. And Jeff connects his willingness to take risks to the fact that his parents immigrated to the US from Taiwan in their 20s. Jeff also talks about how he got into making and working with technology, how he uses scientific thinking to solve creative problems, and how he balances running a company and being a father.

Feb 1, 2016

gregory parksGreg Parks is an improviser, educator, writer, actor, yogi, professional clown and so much more. Greg has worked with the Kinoshita Circus, the National Theatre for Children, the Science Museum of Minnesota, Solcana Crossfit, HUGE improv theater, and numerous other organizations large and small. In this conversation, Greg talks about his love of animation and discovering the work that went into cartoon making. He talks about his unlikely path to the circus. Greg also talks honestly about the ways his creative practice has been influenced by his personal life and speaks frankly about often being the only person of color in a lot of rooms and conversations.

Feb 1, 2016

John HeimbuchPlaywright and musician John Heimbuch sits down with Levi to talk about running Walking Shadow theater company with his wife, Amy Rummenie. John talks about his taking theater classes while in elementary school, staging improvised shows in a friends basement in adolescence, and his first experience with building worlds through LEGOS.

John talks about the inception and creation of his stage play “William Shakespeare’s Land of the Dead.” He also talks about starting a steam punk, art rock band and intentionally not being a singularly focused artist, but instead diversifying his creative output. And John talks about how introversion may not serve him well as a performer but has been greatly helpful for his work as a writer and director.

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