Soulful Artistry: Jenenne Whitfield's Creative Vision

00;00;10;09 - 00;00;24;11
Rob Lee
Welcome to the truth in this art. I am your host, Rob Lee. And today I have the privilege of being in conversation with the new director of the American Visionary Art Museum, the atrium here in Baltimore. Please welcome Jenenne Whitfield

00;00;24;28 - 00;00;27;19
Jenenne Whitfield
Thank you so much, Rob. I'm happy to be here.

00;00;28;05 - 00;00;46;04
Rob Lee
Happy to have you on here. This is this is going to be great. And almost it's a testament of how long that I've been doing this that I've done. I've done interviews with the inaugural, the introductory director and founder and all, and now with the the new founder. So it's like this bridging this bridging period, this feels really great.

00;00;46;05 - 00;00;46;28
Rob Lee
It's really a privilege.

00;00;47;11 - 00;00;50;05
Jenenne Whitfield
Yeah, it's exciting for me, too, I have to say.

00;00;51;08 - 00;01;03;10
Rob Lee
So before we get to Deep In, I'd like to start with the thing that some people may find frightening, but some people will tell me more. I can do the whole podcast this way. Tell me the Dr. Janine Whitfield story.

00;01;03;26 - 00;01;33;04
Jenenne Whitfield
Oh, my gosh. Well, so I am a doctor of Medicine six. And that is not a Ph.D. That is a D.D., which is Doctor of Divinity. And in essence, first of all, let's just completely take the eraser and erase the whole religious aspect of that. And let's focus more on the whole idea of spirituality and it not being as common as most people think.

00;01;33;20 - 00;01;49;21
Jenenne Whitfield
I mean, because I'll give you two little examples that I think would be helpful if we think about the human anatomy or the human being, we know that we are, in fact, spirit, soul and body.

00;01;50;05 - 00;01;50;13
Rob Lee
Yeah.

00;01;51;14 - 00;02;19;26
Jenenne Whitfield
Now the spirit is first, the soul is second, and the body is third. As human beings, we tend to focus only on the latter lowest rung on that ladder, which is the physical aspect. But we are a whole human being. And so my work in metaphysics just basically deals with those things that are not physical, such as love.

00;02;21;03 - 00;03;01;23
Jenenne Whitfield
What color is such as beauty and within whose eyes, such as justice? We're fighting for it right now. How about equity? What does that look like? These are attributes of powerful, powerful dynamics that we work in every day but don't really give the thought to as it being a part of spirituality. So there in the work that I have been doing in the arts, I could not do the way that I have done it if it were not for my immense study.

00;03;03;05 - 00;03;30;22
Rob Lee
And I read that that league and I have like an interest in that area, so maybe that's a continuing conversation. We'll have another time because I feel like there may be a book in my studio that says Metaphysics for Dummies. So I, you know, so in connecting and bridging that to your work, tell me about like you could you describe like your fascination with art, hopefully see a fascination with art?

00;03;31;12 - 00;04;05;22
Jenenne Whitfield
Well, actually, you know, hearing again lines tipping into the study of metaphysics. Listen, as far as natural and physical is concerned, I was just doing the everyday go to work, climb the corporate ladder thing that everybody in my family thought I should be doing until I took a wrong turn or seemingly wrong turn down this street called Heidelberg in Detroit and entered into this explosive world of color and something like I had never seen before.

00;04;06;00 - 00;04;34;29
Jenenne Whitfield
And that literally changed my life. So now at this point, when I entered or met my well, he's my husband now, but at that time when I met the artist Tyree Guyton, and turned on Heidelberg Street, I was completely thrown off of my trajectory and I was thrust into a new way of thinking, a new way of functioning and focusing and will allow me.

00;04;35;08 - 00;05;24;21
Jenenne Whitfield
I just thought, well, I can I can I can do something here. And a year later, I gave up. Corporate America, 14 years profit sharing benefits to help a man build his vision and his dream. And that has been my work for the last 29 years. And my my next move was a man. So now you can kind of get an indication that I literally the work found me and because it was so dynamic, because it was so challenging, because it was so rich, it gave me an opportunity to really put into practice the things that I had been learning.

00;05;25;15 - 00;05;47;07
Rob Lee
And that's wonderful. And thank you for for sharing that and showing those those connections. So in this this period of, you know, you know, 20 plus years at this point, tell me about some of those proudest moments that come to mind and being that in the art world or what have you and being in these like president and CEO roles.

00;05;48;05 - 00;06;15;16
Jenenne Whitfield
Well, you know, I'm the founding director and president of the Heidelberg Project in Detroit. So, first of all, I want to say I completely relate to Rebecca Hoff Burger and giving birth, incubating something through innovation. You know what I'm saying? So what allowed me to finally move away after 29 years? That's a long time.

00;06;15;21 - 00;06;16;01
Rob Lee
Yes.

00;06;16;28 - 00;06;40;27
Jenenne Whitfield
Most people don't spend that much time in a career. But this is because we're giving birth to something that had never been done before. There was no precedence for it. And number one, number two, we're doing it in a world that is not always receptive to innovation by people of color. And number three, we did it in one of the most broken down, beat down areas in Detroit.

00;06;40;27 - 00;07;13;07
Jenenne Whitfield
So we had a lot of cards stacked against us. And so the journey was really about what it would take to get this particular art environment that was attracting people from around the world that is responsible for what is known as Detroit's arts renaissance today. What would it take to get the powers that be in the city to accept it and it become part of the cultural fabric of Detroit?

00;07;14;00 - 00;07;48;29
Jenenne Whitfield
And that happened in November of 2021, where I and myself had been finally after the project is 36 years old. 29 of those years are mine. But after that length of time, we were granted a lifetime achievement award for that work. Well, is Ballard not happen? I'm not sure that I would have loved. So now it's time to pass the reins.

00;07;48;29 - 00;07;59;18
Jenenne Whitfield
And it was time to give him the reins over to the next generation and step into my next new, if you will, trajectory.

00;08;00;17 - 00;08;17;21
Rob Lee
So. So with that, it feels like a natural segue to this next question. Tell us about the feeling in coming into the album and, you know, as the second director in its history, you know. Tell us about that feeling. And I have some secondary and tertiary bullet points here, but I at least want to start there.

00;08;18;06 - 00;08;41;26
Jenenne Whitfield
Okay. Well, you know, I did not apply for this job. Someone else put my hat in the ring. So I was not looking for a change or a career change. I wasn't. I felt like the Heidelberg Project would pretty much take me to my grave as my mother said so. But someone put my hat in the ring and I thought, Oh, no, I don't think so.

00;08;41;26 - 00;09;06;03
Jenenne Whitfield
And she said, Well, can you just put this is my hair. She said, Can you just send me your credentials and acting? And and then she said to me, Would you just do me a favor? And I said, What? She said, Would you just visit the museum? And I did. And I spent 3 hours in that museum alone because it was closed and I fell in love.

00;09;06;27 - 00;09;39;24
Jenenne Whitfield
And I'm looking and I'm paying attention to the energy. But what I think was really powerful to me was, again, going back to the metaphysics, paying attention to the serendipitous energy that took place. The design of the American Visionary Art Museum was so similar to a concept that we had in Detroit to build our art center that even Rebecca was blown away.

00;09;40;28 - 00;10;16;15
Jenenne Whitfield
The circular design of anything. I have a blueprint of a circular design for our art center that was to happen in Detroit. So that was the first thing. The other thing that was really amazing for me was I stayed in the world semester and I was awakened at 5 a.m. in the morning and there was a storm that was so bright, I thought it was a straight line and I was awakened to look and give respect to this bright star that was in the sky of the harbor.

00;10;16;22 - 00;10;30;23
Jenenne Whitfield
And that was the second thing. But then when Rebecca said to me, she said, I knew before she met me that she said, I knew you were the person for this job from the vibrations of your coverlet.

00;10;31;18 - 00;10;32;03
Rob Lee
Wow.

00;10;33;04 - 00;11;01;29
Jenenne Whitfield
So now all of a sudden, I'm thinking, am I going to have a career change? Is this really happening? So it was more of me stepping into and being open to step into change. When you're not expecting it or when you're not pushing for it, you're allowing what is natural to happen, like slowing with the current. So that's how it happened.

00;11;02;16 - 00;11;21;15
Rob Lee
That's great. I want to say, I always look back at that interview that I did with Rebecca more than a year ago. At this point, almost to this point. And just I was kind of looking for footing, right, as to how I was going to do these interviews. And in that, that's the one that was just really a conversation.

00;11;21;15 - 00;11;43;29
Rob Lee
It just I think it wasn't even any real questions that I had. Or maybe the questions became secondary to just having the conversation and trying to pepper it in. And it was funny because she looked at like me. She research me beforehand, which people rarely do, and she was like, So I read this in your bio and I was like, Wow, that's a that's a whole bio.

00;11;44;00 - 00;12;00;17
Rob Lee
Thank you. She was like, I looked it up. But it was really funny because I referenced different comedians that I liked and just different things about me. And, you know, it felt more like a conversation in and I saw her recently and getting the whole best of Baltimore and the party there at the event, I was able to see her recently.

00;12;00;17 - 00;12;22;12
Rob Lee
And you know, sometimes people don't remember being a very noticeable, but sometimes people don't remember me. And she happened to see me and my partner in the line and she's like, you two have the greatest smiles. And I was like, Oh, hey, it's Rebecca. And it was really is really cool. It was really cool. And I'm glad that that's part of that experience that, that you had coming into this this really like great situation, I would imagine.

00;12;23;21 - 00;12;49;15
Rob Lee
So tell me about coming into a role in Baltimore. And I think different cities have this sort of when change happens, it's like, all right, what's this change you to look like? And things of that nature. How will you make your mark in such a beloved destination while keeping this history and culture? Like like they're like how we move forward and innovate while being familiar and staying with the ethos of the event.

00;12;50;09 - 00;13;14;22
Jenenne Whitfield
That's a really good question, Rob. And I'm going to say this to you. I want to just say that, first of all, people will say things like, well, Baltimore has a lot in common with Detroit. Detroit has a lot in common with Oakland. And I think about these kinds of comments and I think about them from the perspective of what people are really saying is that we have a high population of African-American people.

00;13;15;04 - 00;13;43;14
Jenenne Whitfield
Yeah. And so does the landscape of Baltimore than anything like the landscape of Detroit. And I think, you know, the saying goes that you can put Baltimore or not Baltimore maybe, I don't know. But Boston, San Francisco and one other city in Detroit, it's so big. Wow. It's huge. So the the culture is very rich in 2022. Now, this is very interesting.

00;13;43;15 - 00;14;15;19
Jenenne Whitfield
This is dynamic. And I'm not going to go into too much detail. But I will say this. If we research further back than just the last four or 500 years, we're going to find that all races of men, colors of men, have had an opportunity to dominate in this world. Right. And so right now we're seeing a major shift happening 2022, where what is really starting to dominate is what touches people.

00;14;15;20 - 00;14;50;03
Jenenne Whitfield
So and I want you to think about the hip hop culture and the way and how that grew out. Now, herein lies more metaphysical principles that grew out of chaos, and it grew out of friendship. It's like a diamond and polishing that diamond. And so now you've got a hip hop culture that has affected the whole world. Somebody I don't care what their race is, but find something in hip hop culture that they can relate to.

00;14;50;17 - 00;15;17;09
Jenenne Whitfield
So what is that telling us? That's telling us? There's somebody from a culture that touches a soul. Yeah, we move in, moving away from that physical aspect of just being about things, just being about the physical, just being about, you know, buildings and hard things. And we're starting to tap into that. So that's what hip hop did. And it grew up out of hardship.

00;15;17;21 - 00;15;32;29
Jenenne Whitfield
Yeah. So that culture is what is permeating all major cities where you find the richness and where you find and others are attracted to. Because you know why? Because everybody has a soul.

00;15;33;09 - 00;15;33;19
Rob Lee
Right.

00;15;34;14 - 00;15;56;10
Jenenne Whitfield
So now you see that in starting to dominate and we're seeing a shift, a pattern. And when that that kind of thing starts to happen, we're going to see a lot of chaos and a lot of fallout from that. Inside our young men being chased and beat down by the police, you know, it's a civil war, so to speak.

00;15;56;25 - 00;15;57;03
Rob Lee
Right.

00;15;57;18 - 00;16;33;28
Jenenne Whitfield
As we move into our next evolution of change. That's what this is really about. So that to answer your question about keeping the culture and others going, it is how I was able to leave Detroit. I don't owe anything or, you know, like I am really a part of this change and geography is irrelevant. It's a movement and it's a movement that's happening out the African American culture.

00;16;34;08 - 00;16;37;25
Jenenne Whitfield
What is a movement that is touching all cultures?

00;16;38;12 - 00;16;58;05
Rob Lee
Thank you. I'm over here. Kind of like I had to turn the camera off because I'm over here getting, like, the chill logo. I was like, okay, I'm feeling a feeling you in a and I think I have a sense of where this next question kind of looks, but because I have a take on it that I read recently and I was like, Oh, race is a piece of this, but I want to get your take on it.

00;16;59;29 - 00;17;07;11
Rob Lee
What are your thoughts on the term outsider art? Like how that's like dealt with, how it's presented. What are your thoughts on that?

00;17;08;01 - 00;17;47;29
Jenenne Whitfield
Well, you know, first of all, Rob, I don't really subscribe to outsider ah, as much as I do intuitive or visionary art, because, you know, there's many terms that people have scholars or critics have ascribed to this particular art in this manner of creativity through. So the way I see it, though, is that it always starts with the premise that what you're doing is so powerful and so dynamic that you just have to do it.

00;17;48;11 - 00;18;15;22
Jenenne Whitfield
Yeah. Now there can be artists that are trained that feel that strongly about what they do, and there can be artists that are untrained. And when I say train and untrained, I'm talking about the academic institutions. And there can be another artist or another creative person that can do that work and feel just as strongly and rich about it.

00;18;16;23 - 00;18;28;15
Jenenne Whitfield
Now, who are the people that draw the lines of demarcation? I'm going to tell you a joke. My and my husband said they're failed artists. It's just not necessary.

00;18;28;18 - 00;18;29;25
Rob Lee
Everyone's a critic. Writers kind of.

00;18;30;05 - 00;19;03;08
Jenenne Whitfield
Justify their existence in some kind of way. But I mean, that's funny. But, you know, I think people are sincere in the fact that they are trying to make. For me, it's it's really just making lines of demarcation that all boils down to the narrow the mind and what we're talking about. Let's go back to the saw. We're talking about something that was so rich when I walked in a van and saw the richness of that work and read some of those stories.

00;19;03;16 - 00;19;26;08
Jenenne Whitfield
Yeah, you don't want to say it, but I could probably do that too, with an artist who's trying. So in other words, you know, the work the the wheel that I'm rolling with right now is the visionary are those that are called the visionary, the outsiders. That's the wheel I roll with, mostly because my husband was an artist in Detroit.

00;19;26;08 - 00;19;39;09
Jenenne Whitfield
He was trained, but he said he wanted to get everything he learned in exchange for the richness of the lessons his grandfather taught him. So there you have it. That's how those are my views. I hope that makes sense to you.

00;19;39;12 - 00;20;02;29
Rob Lee
No, it does. And, you know, I always look at kind of what I'm doing in this space, like, you know, there are some people say, oh, well, this is an art and this is in this this is. And then I'm like, why isn't it? Doesn't it meet this? And having that that courage or that desire to create and to help facilitate in storytelling or do this with a more artistic mentality.

00;20;02;29 - 00;20;21;20
Rob Lee
Like, you know, there is a lot of racing, if you will, and those imperfections and all of these different things that I in all of these interviews that I do with artists that I'm hearing that overlap or and there's a curatorial component to I'm not talking to everyone. I'm very intentional of who I talk to and in how I want to talk to them.

00;20;21;20 - 00;20;44;28
Rob Lee
But definitely feeling like an outsider and not going to like a media school or something like that. And my my degree is in business and, you know, really trying to pursue this out of my own like interests and desire. And then as I was sharing with you before we got started that this was something that I was like, this needs to be heard, and I don't really care what comes out of it, but this needs to be heard.

00;20;44;28 - 00;20;58;16
Rob Lee
That's what was driving it, you know, and having that desire to to share a story and talk with interesting people, I think, you know, we talk about interesting people. Makes me feel a little bit more interesting. It's like, oh, yeah, yeah. Ask you some interesting questions.

00;20;59;04 - 00;21;23;19
Jenenne Whitfield
Yeah, that's that's that's powerful. And I think that that's what's true for me. I mean, I was going through the humdrum every day, going to work at the bay in the banking industry. I was so bored I would move from position to position. I think I had like seven or eight positions in that 14 years and but then when I didn't know how to work straight, met Tyree and got into this world of art.

00;21;24;00 - 00;21;45;21
Jenenne Whitfield
When I would stand on stages and give or give talks of lectures. I would say I've had butterflies in my stomach for 20 years, 25 years, or however many years. And that is a place of magic, you see. Yeah. And if we deny that, then we are not. We are only existing. We're not living.

00;21;46;20 - 00;22;15;08
Rob Lee
100%. And I had an interview earlier today where I told the guest I was like, you know, I'm just shy right? And he was just like, no, you're not. Or and I was like, Oh, in this capacity, I, I'm very confident in what I do. But if it's like, hey, get on stage and do a speech or do a presentation for like businesses are saying, I got another, I got another for you, but my energy kind of pops, you know what I'm doing this thing that I'm so invested in and so comfortable with.

00;22;15;08 - 00;22;16;23
Rob Lee
So, yeah, 100%.

00;22;16;23 - 00;22;40;16
Jenenne Whitfield
I'm mortarboard and rabbi at the time said that I'm looking right at you and I feel that soulfulness in what you do. So I mean, and you can also tell when a person is stoic and they are just frozen in something that they do where there's no passion, there's really no real love. They're just existing. They're just going through the motions.

00;22;40;29 - 00;22;53;23
Jenenne Whitfield
Now, what concerns me is now how we reach our young people and help them to discover their real their voices in a world that seems to have gone mad, you know?

00;22;54;05 - 00;23;12;25
Rob Lee
Yeah, that's, you know, there are few opportunities. And I'll say a few months ago I had the opportunity to go back to my high school and I hadn't been there like 20 years. So and I realized that in the middle of speaking with some of the students there, I was like, I haven't been here since, you know, 23.

00;23;12;25 - 00;23;48;27
Rob Lee
And I thought about I was like, most of you were born after 2004. I am old as literally what popped in my head and you know, just really trying to get across a point, but also not, you know, being Old Man podcast and like, you know, hey, your creativity matters in this way, but really impressing upon them that it's important for you just to have the courage and the desire to create and then make those make those mistakes, do that playbook, figure out what that path might look like for you and avoid those avoid those trends or what have you unless is really interesting to you and trying to make your own lane have the

00;23;48;27 - 00;24;06;15
Rob Lee
courage to do that because, you know, when I look at starting this, I used to hear some of the goofiest things of, Oh, you're a podcaster, you do what? Fake radio, you talk to yourself on a microphone. You live in your mom's basement. And now it's a huge industry. So it's, it's really weird. It's like it's like Bo Derek and cornrows.

00;24;06;15 - 00;24;07;09
Rob Lee
But, hey, what do I know?

00;24;08;27 - 00;24;10;26
Jenenne Whitfield
It's funny.

00;24;10;26 - 00;24;34;21
Rob Lee
So, yeah, I got I got two more real questions for you before before I hit you with these rapid fire questions, I want to talk about creative perfectionism, like in, in, in the time you spent in the art world or what have you and observing and being married to an artist. Tell me about like how like that perfectionism like impacts their work, whether for better or for worse.

00;24;34;21 - 00;24;52;28
Rob Lee
I hear about painters all the time that they aren't really done with the painting. They kind of just stop. They're always painting. And I used to be that way with doing a podcast, doing the soundscape and such. Let me remove every arm and I would realize I'm losing something of the energy of that conversation. So sometimes about that.

00;24;53;22 - 00;25;13;14
Jenenne Whitfield
Well, I think that has to do with control. We're control freaks. We need to learn how seriously we need to learn how to let go. And I'm just telling you now about it, because at this particular stage of my life, I'm just now starting to catch on to it. So but I do think that there was something the two things that come to mind.

00;25;13;15 - 00;25;38;29
Jenenne Whitfield
One is my husband was awesome. Well, Picasso, who talked about we have to win, we lose our childlike quality, we lose the magic. That's the first thing. The second thing is, when I was first introduced to the Heidelberg Project, my aunt and my husband said, Will you help me? And I said, No, because I don't understand what you doing.

00;25;39;15 - 00;26;07;06
Jenenne Whitfield
And he said, Can I perform an experiment? So he gave me paint, paper, pencils and sat me on the floor like a child. And then he blinds folded me and said, Now paint what you see. Okay? That painting that I created from that experiment follows me wherever I go because and I called it courage because in that I had I had no physical eyes to see.

00;26;07;11 - 00;26;10;26
Jenenne Whitfield
And so I had to come from here we go again. A place of the soul.

00;26;11;03 - 00;26;11;11
Rob Lee
Yeah.

00;26;11;29 - 00;26;37;21
Jenenne Whitfield
And that was so dynamic. But in essence, women artists to me when they say a painting is never done, is striving for something that they will really never achieve, because it's not about real perfection. It's about their control. Yeah, I know. Perfect. Nothing. You. It's just is just. It just ends and we just move in it.

00;26;38;14 - 00;26;38;21
Rob Lee
Yeah.

00;26;39;12 - 00;26;42;07
Jenenne Whitfield
Yeah, it's a perception. It's my point. It's a perception.

00;26;42;18 - 00;27;11;17
Rob Lee
Yeah, totally. I agree with that. I'm so let last question I have here in in in I think we're speaking in general terms here. Do you think creativity is something that people are innately born with because that that notion of children of creating and and things of that nature, or is it something that it's generally just curated in a cultivated rather through through education, through experience, or is it somewhere in between?

00;27;11;28 - 00;27;34;04
Jenenne Whitfield
You know, for me, it's to me it's a mere case in point when I was in Heidelberg, not so much. And it really just blew up my metaphysics. You know, when I graduated high school, the role my sister and I had a plan. We'd go into the Air Force together on the buddy buddy system and it blew up.

00;27;34;12 - 00;27;55;00
Jenenne Whitfield
So I had to come back home and she went ahead to do four years. And that was my first poem I wrote called Fright because all of a sudden our plan and I'm just young girl, just 18 years old plan blew up. And so I wrote this poem. But then I listen to people and this will just go on, get going in school, get you a good job.

00;27;55;00 - 00;28;29;13
Jenenne Whitfield
I did all those things. So I wrote my first poem at 18 and my next 300. After I met I we got and turned down Heidelberg Street as the proof. So I am living proof of the transformative power of authentic creativity that comes from a place of the soul. And it's in every one of us going back to Picasso's statement, when we lose that childlike quality and we start becoming scripted, we start becoming curated, you know, we lose some of the magic.

00;28;29;19 - 00;28;40;16
Jenenne Whitfield
Now, one can get by what is their real, real love and happiness out of that? Or is it you just existing?

00;28;40;29 - 00;29;02;28
Rob Lee
We're really good at faking it at times. So I like to ask that question of how does one tap back into that like childhood, like that childlike energy to create and that sensibility because there are so many different things that happened of I wanted to be when I was younger. This is ridiculous. I wanted to be a comic book artist and an astronaut at the same time.

00;29;02;28 - 00;29;18;07
Rob Lee
Like, I don't know how it's going to happen. It's just like a lot of a lot of drawing to the moon is fine. And, you know, but that's that's what I was into and that's what my interests were. And I think, however grand it might be of there is no nose when you're younger, you know, like at least in your own head.

00;29;18;13 - 00;29;38;08
Rob Lee
And as you get older, there's, I think all of this sort of chatter and noise around you, Oh, you shouldn't do that, or you got to do something that's sensible and that the died at the time. And I think that there is a fair amount of courage. It may be coupled with some fear when it comes to pursuing art as a is a lifestyle as a career.

00;29;38;19 - 00;29;49;00
Rob Lee
Because I think the courage is to create and the fear is what if this doesn't go well? What if I can't make rent? Or what if people don't like my work? Or what if I start living like in my work?

00;29;49;20 - 00;30;09;07
Jenenne Whitfield
That's very true. Robin, I'll tell you something, though. There's a group of people, a group of young people that are already stepping into that. They're fumbling along the way. But that's what's happening, is that ship that I was talking about where people are saying like, look at what happened to colored people and go back to their regular jobs.

00;30;09;07 - 00;30;28;18
Jenenne Whitfield
A lot of people started to do their own thing and they like us and think cupcakes and seminal action, you know? And then so now we've got this shortage in the workforce. So just pay attention. See, we see what's happening. And what I'm telling you now is that people are starting to live more from the level of the soul.

00;30;28;26 - 00;30;42;24
Jenenne Whitfield
Well, what's happening is there's a lot of fallout as a result of that. But we're moved and we get ready to do some real dynamic humanity, humanitarian types of shifts. Yeah. And it's it's very powerful.

00;30;43;11 - 00;31;03;29
Rob Lee
It's wonderful. And I think I think that's the spot where we'll stop on the real questions. I think that's I think that's a really good and I want to dove into a couple of these rapid fire questions there. They're brief questions. Brevity is key here. Don't overthink them. Don't overthink them. People get caught on peanut butter sometimes. Is the peanut butter question in here that'll knock your socks off.

00;31;05;11 - 00;31;20;22
Rob Lee
I'm moving here. Translate into Baltimore. So Baltimore isn't necessarily home for you. But you did touch on this idea of locality. You're you're irrespective of that. How do you bring the concept of of home with you? Like, how do you describe home and how do you bring that concept of home with you?

00;31;21;06 - 00;31;30;19
Jenenne Whitfield
I got to tell you, it goes straight to the heart. The things that I have accomplished, have done are with me in my in my soul. And then I can take that anywhere.

00;31;31;05 - 00;31;35;01
Rob Lee
That's great. What is your favorite Lazy Night dinner?

00;31;36;07 - 00;31;38;18
Jenenne Whitfield
Oh, so favorite lazy night dinner.

00;31;39;17 - 00;31;52;00
Rob Lee
Some people like I Want Ramen and you know, other people are like, hey, I got these microwaveable burritos and it's just like, I'm not going to. It's been a long day. I need to eat something, but I don't have like a couple of hours to roast a chicken.

00;31;52;09 - 00;32;04;01
Jenenne Whitfield
It's probably going to be a kind by hour, I'm going to be honest, because if I get I got to even cook it. It's a problem. It's got to be something I can open and pop in my mouth and feel a little satisfaction. There it is a high bar.

00;32;04;12 - 00;32;12;25
Rob Lee
I like high bars. I'm a big fan of that. What is it? The dark chocolate in a seasonal one. Yeah, it's not. It's less. What's your favorite color?

00;32;14;14 - 00;32;27;17
Jenenne Whitfield
I hear? Why don't I love peacocks? All those colors in the peacocks. Feathers just turn me on. But, you know, like I'm more color in general. I don't have a favorite. It's I just don't.

00;32;28;01 - 00;32;37;04
Rob Lee
I dig in my eyes, usually gray. And I have always I was like, yeah, you know, it's just neutrality right there in front of you. What is the last movie you watched?

00;32;37;26 - 00;32;47;16
Jenenne Whitfield
Oh, the last movie I watched again was Boris, the classic. It is the message that was profound.

00;32;47;29 - 00;32;48;09
Rob Lee
Yes.

00;32;49;00 - 00;32;52;12
Jenenne Whitfield
Yeah. There is that childlike quality.

00;32;52;20 - 00;33;11;07
Rob Lee
Yes. Right. So this is the last one. And it's I always get interesting answers on this one. What is your if if you're at like, you know, Evan, there's there's this thing, it's like, hey, we need to get Dr. Janine on here. We need her to do a karaoke song. What song are you performing?

00;33;11;22 - 00;33;31;23
Jenenne Whitfield
Oh, my gosh. I'm going to probably perform this stupid, crazy song by Marlena Chavez, ancient in the seventies called Go My Little Boy, because. Because I still know all the words. You know, I have a wicked sense of humor, but I still know all the words to that crazy song. That's it.

00;33;31;23 - 00;33;50;28
Rob Lee
That's good. Yeah, that's great. It's always those ones that you're like. I remember all these lyrics. Like, Why do I remember each one of those? Like, this morning? What was it? I was walking back from getting coffee and it is suddenly started singing the lyrics from Whitney Houston. So emotional. I was like, Wow, why do I know all of these lyrics?

00;33;50;28 - 00;34;02;19
Rob Lee
I was like, I just learned this song like last year, even though it's been forever, obviously. But, you know, it's just certain things that are knowledge gaps for me. And I was like, Wow, I remember these lyrics. I mean, I must listen to this song a lot.

00;34;03;00 - 00;34;12;14
Jenenne Whitfield
Yeah, well, you know, you going to have to look that one up. Young Go Away, Little Boy by Marlena Shaw because she's doing rap in the first part of the song. She's running your mouth.

00;34;13;01 - 00;34;14;23
Rob Lee
It's a nice talking bird.

00;34;14;23 - 00;34;19;25
Jenenne Whitfield
So it was before rap was even. I'm telling you, it's crazy.

00;34;19;25 - 00;34;37;27
Rob Lee
I don't look it up. Yeah. So with that, that's pretty much all of the questions that I had for this as well. Yeah. This afternoon and I want to invite and encourage you to tell the listeners where they can check out the album to social media in person. All of that good stuff. The floor is yours.

00;34;37;27 - 00;35;07;29
Jenenne Whitfield
Oh, well, thank you so much for that, Rob. I want to first off say that we just mounted our newest exhibition called Abundance Too Much, Too Little, Just Right. And that opened last Friday. So I'm hoping that people come out and see this wonderful exhibition that was curated by really this is really Rebecca's protege, mentee Gage, and I'm going to blow his last name.

00;35;08;14 - 00;35;28;08
Jenenne Whitfield
And though, you know, it starts with a B and I'm not sure how to pronounce it, but anyway, come and see that show. It's amazing. And then on the 19th, that's our gala where November 19th there we're going to have a celebration, an annual celebration that is really to introduce me to the Baltimore community, which I really appreciate.

00;35;28;17 - 00;35;36;11
Jenenne Whitfield
But we're also going to have music and dancing and we're honoring the honorable Jamie Raskin.

00;35;36;21 - 00;35;37;05
Rob Lee
Gotcha.

00;35;37;05 - 00;36;03;06
Jenenne Whitfield
Oh, yeah. That's our grand visionary honoree, the honorable Jamie Raskin. And yes, Gage that say that name again for me, Brenda Branda. Yeah, that's who is a wonderful man because I spent time with him. But I have a little bit of a problem sometimes in pronouncing things among certain, but it is actually. Brenda That's right. So, so thank you for that.

00;36;03;06 - 00;36;04;20
Jenenne Whitfield
And I hope you clean that up for me.

00;36;05;13 - 00;36;06;12
Rob Lee
Absolutely, I will.

00;36;06;28 - 00;36;10;01
Jenenne Whitfield
All right. So but yeah, it's been fun.

00;36;10;15 - 00;36;30;25
Rob Lee
Thank you. So I guess I'll wrap up there. That was that's great. And thank you for sharing those details of what's on the the forefront and what's on the horizon. And I'm Rob Lee for Jenenne Whitfield of the AVAM, the American Visionary Art Museum, the new director of the American Visionary Art Museum. And we're saying that there's art in and around Baltimore.

00;36;31;01 - 00;36;39;22
Rob Lee
You've just got to look for it.