Radio Maine Episode 41: Carol Bass
12/19/2021
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Hello. I'm Dr. Lisa Belisle and you're listening to, or watching, Radio Maine. Today I am with artist, and one of my favorite people in the world, Carol Bass. Thank you for coming in today.
Carol Bass:
Lisa, I'm happy to be here.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Carol, you just got back to Maine not too long ago.
Carol Bass:
I am so excited to be back in Maine. It is where I'm supposed to be. And I'm just loving it. As E. B. White said, “I'd rather have a bad day in Maine than a good day anywhere else.” Oh, I just love it.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yes, that's true. Beautiful. So where did you detour to while you were waiting to come back to Maine?
Carol Bass:
Well, I had a cousin in South Carolina, that's where I grew up and where I was born, and she came up to Maine and she said, “Carol, you need to come back home. We miss you. And we all love you.” And so I said, “okay, I'll come back home.” But it didn't work. So we came back after we were there for almost 13 years. That was way too long to be away from Maine. For the first few years, it was all new and I made a pile of friends and I loved it. I had my old family friends there and it was great, but not home. It's not home. So we came back.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
What did you learn about home? How would you define Maine, about being home?
Carol Bass:
Well, your heart, your heart really feels like it's in the right place. Your heart will tell you and your soul will tell you where you're supposed to be if you listen, really listen. So yes, I had a lot of women friends who were into yoga and meditation and we met twice a week, sometimes three times a week. And we did that for, I don't know, three or four years, but then something was missing. So we needed to come home.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
How did you give yourself the space to listen to that request from your soul?
Carol Bass:
I did a lot of meditation, a lot of sitting still and looking at the marsh; we were right on the marsh. I was just really listening, listening, listening, and watching the trees and the birds. I'm trying to think if there was one particular thing that said, “okay, we're out of here, we're back to Maine.” I think it was a lot of little things. I think it was mostly the people that I was missing; the Maine people. And I know people are the same everywhere, but there's something about special about Maine people that I can't put my finger on. It's magical. So I know that in South Carolina where we were, we were on a place called Edisto Island. And there were only two places to go. You could go to the outdoor market, that's one place.
Carol Bass:
And then you could go to the old post office for dinner. There was no place to go. There was Botany Bay. We went to Botany Bay. But Maine is just a constant adventure everywhere. I mean, everybody knows this, right? This is nothing new.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So when did you first come to Maine?
Carol Bass:
When? Well, I went to the University of Georgia and I had a friend, Becky Dillard, whose father was a doctor in Columbia, South Carolina. And when we graduated, he said, you girls need to get in the car and drive to Maine. He said that he had gone to Boothbay Harbor one time and that you've got to go see it. So four of us got in the car, drove to Boothbay Harbor, and got out and went up and down the streets. And we went into a gift shop there.
Carol Bass:
The person said, oh, you've got to go to Northeast Harbor. You've got to go up there. You'll all get jobs. This was in 1970. So we all drove up to Northeast Harbor. All of us got jobs. We stayed that summer. Then we came back the next summer. I went to Charleston and taught art and then came back to Maine. So I kept going back and forth for a while until I realized that I had the same vein. So yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
You've lived in different parts of Maine as well?
Carol Bass:
Yes. I've lived in West Central Maine and Northeast Harbor and in Falmouth, in Yarmouth. And now I'm living in Pownal and it's just so beautiful. I just feel like I'm walking through miracles all the time. It's really hard to function to actually get any work done.
Carol Bass:
I'm so lucky that I can paint because I'm always in awe and wonder about at how beautiful it is. And I've decided that there's nothing wrong with being joyous all the time. And so that's it, that's just the way I feel. I'm just lucky to be here. Thank you.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
You are a very joyous person.
Carol Bass:
Yes. I always have been.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Yes, you have.
Carol Bass:
They used to call me Pollyanna even when I was in grade school, but it's true. It's just the way I've always been. So yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Tell me about this piece behind us.
Carol Bass:
Well, you know I was thinking that maybe you might ask me some questions like that. And so it's like jazz. I think of my painting as like jazz. I don't think about it. I don't plan it. I just do it. There's a paintbrush and lots of paint over here and I get the paint. I don't even look at the paint sometimes I just will pick a color out and put it there and just start painting. And then the next thing and the next thing. So it's not a planned thing. And I think the immediacy of it is kind of what I'm after. I think that one thing that's always turned me on. I know something. I know a little story. I want to tell you this story.
Carol Bass:
When I was living here on Littlejohn Island many years ago, I would ride my bike down to the end of the island. And I went off on a dirt road and I laid down. I just stopped and laid down in the grass and watched the Blue Jays flying up above me. And then I walked out and as I walked down this road, there was a fox that came up over the ditch with a Blue Bird in his mouth and the fox stared at me. And we stared at each other for a few moments. And that has stayed with me all along - that instant right there. And I think that's what I'm trying to get is that, that point right there. So, and I think that if, if it was planned, if I had to plan something the immediacy would be taken out of it. The spontaneity. I think that's what I'm trying to do. And I'm trying to make the shapes speak.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So looking at the shapes on this piece, what are they saying?
Carol Bass:
I don't know. I don't know. I don't know. It's kinda hard to, well, it's very easy actually to come up with a name for things like I look at this and I mean, it's obviously a heart, a lot of people will think it's a heart, but it's the heart is a lake, a pond in the middle of a river. So I think I named it that “The Pond in the Middle of the River.” But I also like to use art paper collage, and then the oil pastel. I have the art paper over here, the oil pastels, and I just reach for them. I don't really think. I do think it’s a lot like jazz, and I always have music on, I have jazz on. One of my favorite artists is Keb’ Mo’. Oh my gosh, I love it. So that really turns me on and gets me going.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
I've seen, over the years, your style evolve. The pieces that I've seen previously haven't had as much of this paper in them, this additional texture added to it.
Carol Bass:
I think if you're an artist and you are having trouble getting going, or getting inspired, you can go to Artists and Craftsmen and go to the paper aisle. Pick out your favorite papers, take them home and start tearing them up and throwing them on the canvas. And that will get you going. You're going to see those colors and shapes. And then you just play with those. And now I'm even getting simpler than this. Just a few shapes. Now I'm going toward just a few shapes because they say so much.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
I should say that you actually had me come to your house when you lived on Littlejohn and you were teaching me how to paint.
Carol Bass:
And you did some abstract painting,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And I did some abstract paintings. It was interesting to me because the process was a layering and subtracting process. We would add color, and then we would sand some of it away. And then we'd add more. But for you, you were always encouraging me to, well, you’d say that you're not done. Keep adding, keep adding. I've asked this question before of artists about when you know, how or when to stop. How do you know?
Carol Bass:
I think that there's a voice inside you that says that's it no more or a little more. And now it's telling me to the color and the shapes say, so you don't need to do much more. And so I have evolved, and I know I always used to, in my younger years, think about, oh, they would say mature artists, you know? And I thought, what does that mean? And I think maybe I'm approaching that it's taken a long time, second, 50 years to kind of get that way. But I think maybe I'm seeing something or maybe not. I don't know. I, I think I know some things and then I think I know nothing. And I'm, I'm thinking now that the, nothing, this is kind of a wonderful thing. I know nothing. And that's really great when you think, you know, nothing from when you thought you knew everything. So I don't know if that makes sense, but,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, it's very Zen. That's a very Zen idea.
Carol Bass:
Yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And that does come back to the almost peeling, a way of ideas of experiences of acknowledging that you've lived a life, but also that you don't have to be locked into what you've seen or what you've learned.
Carol Bass:
I think some of the most wonderful things that I've seen are from people that have, that I've worked with, that don't, haven't taken any art courses or anything, and they have an immediacy in their work and they, and they don't think they can not think and just paint. And it's wonderful. I think it gets back to wanting to paint like a child wanting to be like a child, but with the wisdom that hopefully you've gained a little bit of wisdom now. So that's what I think I want to keep doing is painting like a child. Like my, I think I mentioned [inaudible] to you. I just adore his work. And, and because it's very childlike and there's just so much to be said for that that innocence, but yes,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And that, again goes back to something very philosophical that, that idea of the beginner's mind and always having that beginner's mind, even as you progress. So could it be that being someone who is mature actually as someone who has reached that state of understanding the importance of that,
Carol Bass:
Maybe I think you're right. I think, I think we were trying to create a story, our life story. We were trying to create some kind of story about us. And then you, I think I'm at the point now where I want to get rid of all the stories, all those stories and he just don't need the stories. All you need to do is just be, is just be, yes, I think you're right about the Zen thing.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, that's an important thing that you're bringing up this idea that narratives can be very useful for a time if they help us to get us going to get us going through life. Yes. But then at some point a narrative can lock us into a place that we don't belong anymore.
Carol Bass:
Deepak Chopra is one of my people I listened to, I listened to many gurus and and he says, yes, we've all created the story since time began. And I remember some point that said, we should forget everything, everything that we have ever known, even the Egyptians what's the Egyptians taught us. Just forget it and just start, start where you are. So I'm really happy to be here. I have this I'm just happy to be here. Thank you.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, I'm happy to have you here because I think you and I have actually, our lives have touched a very interesting and important points along many years. And I think that's one of the reasons you're one of my favorite people because the th those touch points. So Ben important places for me, and you remind me of different aspects of myself from along the way. Do you have people like that in your life?
Carol Bass:
Sure. I have so many, but you're going to ask me and now I can't think of any.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, I was kind of helping you to say Bob, but I guess he's with you all the time, right?
Carol Bass:
Yes. We, we, we have a good time working together. Yes. yes, I, well, I, I have a wonderful friend that I first knew when I came to Maine, Peggy Hodgkins up in Wilton. And we actually drove up to see the leaves up there the other day. And Peggy was at her old house. And so we stopped in and we just had a marvelous time. And it was like we had always been together or we don't. And so she's definitely one. Then I have Sue, Gary, who has always been there and just so many people. Yes. So maybe, oh, Tom Higgins, who's an incredible artist from, well, he was at Farmington university of Maine at Farmington, and he was very special in my life. And oh, there was a professor at USM that I can't remember his name. But yes many people have been my mentors in Maine mostly. I think.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So. I wonder if if it's almost like when you listen to a piece of music and it reminds you of a place in your life that you once were. I wonder sometimes if we get together with some of these important people, if it reminds us of a place in our lives that we once were in and simultaneously who we once were and now who we are.
Carol Bass:
Yes. It's, it's, it does it. And it used to do that more say 10, 10 years ago when I was in my, maybe sixties right now I'm feel like I just want to be here. I don't really kind of want to remember anything because I want to start today, today right today. And I've always I was never a history buff or interested in history. It was always contemporary English, whatever. I'm reading a contemporary story because I want to be right here right now. So I'm sure that I will leave here and think about millions of things that of say, but yes. So
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Tell me about your children.
Carol Bass:
My children. My children are simply incredible. I am in awe of them. My son, Sam is in Boulder and he's the funniest person in the world. And he has a beautiful family. And then my daughter, Hannah is in Brunswick. I'm lucky that she's right here in Maine and she's wonderful. She works for Cianbro. Then I have Molly who's in Connecticut who married a sculptor and teaches at Choate. And then I have a granddaughter Ruby, but I have just incredible family members. So I'm really lucky, very lucky.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Do you think that having a parent who is an artist in any way influenced your children as they were growing up to approach life differently than perhaps having a parent who does something more traditional?
Carol Bass:
I think they have a lot of fun. And I think they have a great sense of humor and a great love of life. And I think that we did a lot of things. We climbed mountains and we skied every week. We were always out in the open and I think that makes a difference. I think we were very, very lucky to be in the beauty of Maine. So, and I thought, I thought when I had children in Maine, I thought this is great. They'll never leave Maine, you know, but, and then, so Samson, Colorado, I think a lot of people go back and forth from Maine to Colorado and whatever, but but yes, I think they, they might end up in Maine. It's just got this beautiful pull on you.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
What does Ruby think of Maine?
Carol Bass:
Oh, she loves it. She loves it. She loves Boothbay.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
As, as you've come back to Maine and you, you left and you left Littlejohn that's where you had been you're on this island and now you're inland in Pownall. Was that a conscious decision to go away from the coast?
Carol Bass:
No, it was not nothing I do as a car is the conscious decision. And Bob can tell you that no, we would had moved, has sold our house on Edisto island and it was the end of may and we're packed up and we're driving to Maine and I'm looking for places to buy in Maine. And Bob is driving. I'm looking on the phone and I see this land out in Powell, never. I never been to Pownall. And it was in a pasture and I said, we need to buy sweet to play this. So I called Brenda Whitney who's here on the island and she got in touch with the realtor there. And I said, you need to go see this, Brenda, please. She went to see it just beautiful, Carol, let's get it. You need to get it.
Carol Bass:
So and I think thinking about this in retrospect, the traffic that is on the coast of Maine now is very impressive and there's not that much traffic in Pownal, it's pretty quiet and I'm in a pasture and I can see the entire sky. I can see the moon rise in the sunset and the sunrise and the, and it's just I'm just floored. That's so beautiful. And so no, I am not sorry to not be on the coast and now we get to, to the coast in the off season. So yes, I think it's okay. It's all right. I think I could be almost anywhere in Maine and it would be all right. I think so.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, I think what you're describing is very true it's that their main is so varied in its typography that you can be in one place and it's beautiful for one reason and be in a different place, not too long after that. And it's beautiful for a different reason. I love this.
Carol Bass:
I love this, the stories of the people driving around through small towns and we were driving yesterday and there's a, just a cute little tiny house. And it's sitting it's this far from the road and it has the chairs on the front porch and they're just, you know, it doesn't matter. It's the people, it's the people,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
You mentioned the people before and yet you weren't able to quite put a descriptor.
Carol Bass:
I don't think I can do it. And I think it's okay. And that's a mystery. And that's I think that's all right. That's what turns me on and is the mystery. And that's why I have to paint. I think that's why I had to paint because it, it bubbles up inside of you, you have so much emotion that it has to come out some where. And so it comes out in, in painting and I could do, if I had known all this, I could have worked on giant sculptures and huge things. I love sculpture and I love chainsawing wood and things like that. But, but now I'm just, I'm thinking that I'm doing my small paintings. And as soon as things settle down with this house that we built, that maybe I'll get back to my large paintings. And I hope to do that because I hope to have them at the Portland art gallery, some big paintings. So anyway, but I'm so excited to be a part of the Portland art gallery. It really is inspirational. Oh, it turns me on. Thank you.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, tell me about that. Why the Portland Art Gallery, you could have chosen any gallery in Maine?
Carol Bass:
Well, because Kevin Thomas called me and said, “okay.” And I said, well, why not? It's time. We had been renting a place in Harpswell for a year while our house was being built. And I had painted there and I had so many paintings that I couldn't even walk around the house. And Kevin called at that time. And I, I thought, wow, this is great, great timing. I have a ton of paintings. Let's get something going here. So,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So you had a lot of paintings that you had created up in Harpswell and you decided to affiliate yourself with a Portland art gallery. And it makes me wonder, was there something that at that moment caused you to want to touch base against again, with this, with this artist community in Maine?
Carol Bass:
Well I know several people at the Portland Art Gallery or people that I, my friends and that I admire and I thought, well, this is a, this would be a good place. This would be a good home because I would like to be around these people because I, I think the connections of the people also turn me on, I think it's so important to have connection and whatever, and a family. And that was very important. And we're just coming home to these people was very nice. It was very welcoming. And I was kind of worried. I was kind of worried about coming back to Maine you know, what am I going to do? Or, but I think that's the adventure life is an adventure. So anyway,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
You and I had a mutual acquaintance many years ago, Laurie Hadlock, the artist.
Carol Bass:
I want to start crying.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
I was always really impressed with Laurie because she had an illness that she pushed through and she kept painting and she kept painting and creating beauty in a time that obviously was very difficult for her and for her family. Do you see that this is something that artists often do is create a space of beauty and a life that might not be feeling so beautiful?
Carol Bass:
Oh, I think so. I think that, well, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2002, and I know Parker Hadlock, Laurie's husband call me, I don't know, this is about maybe 10 years after our five years after. And, and he was so distraught that Laurie had this and so I kept in close touch with Laurie. And she, yes, she just plugged on through. And I, and I, I, I talked to her a lot all the time and telling her that what I'm doing and can she help me? Can she be with me? Like I'm plugging through this Ms. And I'm stomping through it, and I'm thinking that, okay, I'm taking back this power, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. And I don't know, I don't know what the is, but I know that if I can keep on painting, I can keep ongoing. So yes, I know it was a struggle for her. I know it was a very much a struggle. We used to talk all the time on the phone when I was in South Carolina and draw for each other back and forth. So we really inspired each other all along all along. She was a great Gail, such a great smile and presence. Yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Does having had that diagnosis given to you, does that create this need or want to remain in the present?
Carol Bass:
Yes, I think so. I think definitely, I think that, I feel like I'm I'll tell Bob sometimes that I'm Bob, I feel like I'm going to die. I know I'm going to die tomorrow. He said, Carol, we're all going to die, but I think I'm going to die tomorrow because my body is feeling so horrible. I can't function. And and then I start painting and I forget it. I forget about how I feel I started painting. And I know when I start painting that I think I mentioned there's a, it's a spiritual thing. When you paint, it's a connection, it's an outright connection to God when you're painting. And I think people don't talk about that all the time. And I think we need to talk about that more actually. Because it's exactly a connection to God. I cook because there's something inside of me. I don't know what it is, but there's, there's some light and it's a godlike. It's, I'm not a religious person. People say this, I'm not a religious person, I'm a spiritual person, but painting is a spiritual phenomenon. It is, it's a, it's a real gift to their own gift. And I'm so lucky. And I think the EMS actually made me study my painting more deeply. Yes, I think so.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Do you think that you were connected to this godlike energy that you've been describing before you received the diagnosis?
Carol Bass:
Lisa, I think that's wonderful that you asked me that because I know when I was. I think I was five years old, I was five years old and my mother had just built a house in Bamberg, South Carolina. I'm on the floor, I'm looking out the window and there's a man walking by with a cane and I had as much empathy and compassion. And I knew it as a five-year old that I was made of empathy and compassion. I felt it. And my whole body shook all over with that empathy. And I, I didn't quite know what it was, but over the years I think I had the energy, like it, and I would actually shiver and I don't know if anybody else has, I've never talked to anybody about that actually shiver, like I was cold and it was because I was so excited about the beauty of life.
Carol Bass:
I couldn't believe it. And yes, it started, I think at an early age and I know I used to drive home from Georgia and I would I would surprise my mother at the, I would bring the doorbell and I would surprise her on the porch, like with a cutoff of pumping on my head at Halloween, you know, just to, I would do things like that kind of crazy things. And yes, I was kind of a gut up kind of what got up. So, but I think there's some energy. And I think in the past years I'll always talked about what I was doing and I was painting the vibrations. I know that van Morrison has a song into the mystic. I think that the mystical experience is very well and alive in me. So I'm not worried about that. I'm not worried about that. So yes,
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
You and Bob are very different. And I should say, I'm talking about Bob Newton. You've been with Bob for a long time, long time now.
Carol Bass:
Almost thirty years. Yes. Yes.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And you have very different approaches to your art. I also think to your life in general, but specifically to art and he works in wood and things that are more concrete and tangible, obviously paint is very concrete and tangible, but there is definitely an abstract nature to the work that you do. Do you think that's a yin yang effect that you've experienced with one another as artists?
Carol Bass:
I think it's, and I think you immediately could tell if you see the writing, if he signs his name and I sign my name, you can right away, you can see our personalities and you know, we very rarely get upset with each other. And we work well together. And I think we're, we've been very fortunate that way. We're excited about being in Maine, driving around, seeing the beauty and we have the, the same kind of interest, the kids, the family. So yes, been very nice being with, with him, finding him.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And you also, each you have an experience in business and as a small business owner, Bob has an experience as an attorney. So you both have lived fully in, low in the world and then created your own worlds that you kind of have, have meshed at this point.
Carol Bass:
Well, yes, except right now we're trying to figure out what to do next because he actually sold his whole shop. He sold his whole shop, which was beautiful. And my studio, it was a beautiful down in South Carolina. And he has no, no shop, no, he sold all his tools. So we're trying to think of, well, okay, what do we do next? And I think that's a good thing to say, what do we do next time? I think I've always wanted to gather people together and talk about ideas. I've wanted that all my life. And we did that a little while with bill Gregory and a few friends there. And I kind of want to get that going again. It's just talking about what's important in this life and and laughing and just being together. So we, I don't know. I don't know what we'll do. I, right now I have, he's gotten to two or three huge paintings out of the shed and put them in the back porch ready for me to start painting. So I, I can paint there until the snow flies. And then there are a lot of people that round around that have barns that I can rent rent space in for the winter. So we'll see how it goes. We'll see how those, yes. So we do, we work very well together.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Do you yourself, miss having the business that you once made very successful and then we're able to,
Carol Bass:
And that was never, it was E yes, it was never my business. And it was I remember I was renting a studio when my former partner came into the studio. The first time I had finally gotten my studio and he said, you can't do this when you just start a business. We started this business. And and I think now I'm finally getting back to that studio that I always had a long time ago. And I'm just trying to paint a painting where you feel in your heart that you get it right. It's just finally getting it right. We're weird people, all these, all of us humans are very weird. The things that make us tick and keep us going.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
So for you, main cottage was more of a detour than anything else.
Carol Bass:
It was the detour. Yes. I mean, I definitely the colors. I know also when I was five years old, I had the color red. I press down. My mother had kindergarten and I press down on the color red and I saw how deep and beautiful it was. And I knew that was my favorite color at five. And so I knew that color meant a lot to me and color right out of the jar, not mixed up with anything right out of the jar. So I always knew that I always knew that I had compassion and empathy. And it amazing that, that you, you know, you have this, that you're, that you're a good person. You're a really good person. I don't know how, but we're reading Marcus really us right now. And we have been off and on for a long time about everybody's born the same way, but it's the decisions that you make along the way that make the difference, the decisions, and there's sometimes tough decisions, but it got to make them, you got to make them make them because it's your life. So enough of that, Lisa?
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Well, I'm learning a lot. I mean, it think it's a, what you're describing is something that many people work through in their lives is detouring and realizing they've come to a place that doesn't feel comfortable and then finding their way back, which is not always easy.
Carol Bass:
And and realizing that you can't stay in that you can't stay in, you can't stay in the same place. You've got to, you've got to fly, you gotta fly.
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
And that's all part of that conversation we were having earlier around narratives. And if you decide that you are going to latch onto a narrative in a way that no longer suits you, then you can't fly.
Carol Bass:
True. Definitely
Dr. Lisa Belisle:
Carol, I'm very excited about the opportunity to have, spend time with you today, but also continue to work with you now as an artist at the Portland art gallery, I'm very excited to having, have you join the Portland art gallery group of artists. They are really wonderful people. They you can feel the energy you can, you can really can, you can yes. Yes. Thank you. It was wonderful to be here. Well, thank you for continuing to paint and for continuing to be my teacher. And I'm sure that you teach many people who have conversations with you in your way. So I am, I encourage people who are interested in learning more about you to go to the Portland art gallery, to at least see your art. I guess they'll have to learn more about you by maybe connecting with you in other ways, but great. They can certainly see your art and learn about you in that way. That's great. I've been speaking with artists, Carol Bass. You can see her work at the Portland art gallery. We are thrilled that she is back in Maine and more to come and in this next iteration of Carol Bass in Maine. Thank you, Carol.
Carol Bass:
Thank you.
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