Alex Osborn | Episode #163

How A Catawba Artist Weaves History, Design, And Photography Into Living Stories

THG sits down with Alex Osborn, a talented Indigenous artist, designer,
and photographer. Alex is a proud member of the Catawba Nation and his work is deeply rooted in storytelling and personal experience. By weaving together family traditions, travel moments, and everyday encounters, he examines how people, places, and memory guide self-discovery. Through his art, Alex strives to honor his Catawba heritage, encourage thoughtful dialogue, and deepen our collective understanding of ourselves.

Chapters

• 3:30 Meet Alex Osborn
• 5:20 Early Obsession With Cameras
• 9:30 Family Roots And Creative Influences
• 14:34 History As Story In Art
• 19:50 The Snake As Symbol And Identity
• 24:43 Process Across Art, Design, Photography
• 28:35 Deadlines And Environmental Design
• 32:55 Tools, Adobe Frustrations, And Procreate
• 37:55 Style Shifts, Symbols, And Symmetry
• 42:05 Burnout, Energy, And Balance

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 1:45

Welcome to another episode of the Hilltop Globe Podcast. Today we're excited to chat with Alex Osborne, an indigenous artist, designer, and photographer whose work is rooted in storytelling. Drawn on family traditions, travel adventures, and everyday moments, Alex explores how people, places, and memories shape our sense of self. His art celebrates his Catawba heritage while inviting thoughtful conversation and deeper reflection. Starting in 2019, Alex spent several years helping to shape visual content for the Catawba Nation, creating photos, videos, graphics, and print pieces that help tell community stories. And all that stuff is dope too when I was doing research. I really like it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01: 2:23

Thank you.

SPEAKER_00: 2:24

In 2021, he was one of the first contemporary artists in residence at the University of South Carolina, Lancaster's Native American Studies Center, where he experimented with color and storytelling through his own artistic identity and style. These days, Alex works as a designer in a variety of applications, juggling a variety of projects that blend creativity, storytelling, and brand identities. This episode we'll dive into how Alex brings art and design together to catch eye to craft eye-catching, story-driven visuals, and here to hear about the inspirations that keep his work fresh and meaningful. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01: 2:57

I'm good.

SPEAKER_02: 2:58

I'm good. Good to have you here today. Thank you. Thank you. So tell us a little bit about uh how you got started in creative fields and the arts and kind of your life growing up that led you to that.

SPEAKER_01: 3:13

I feel like that's an armchair question from like therapy or something. Well I guess you could start with like kind of your earlier exposures to art. Yeah, absolutely. Um that's where I was going with that too. Um I I've given this a little thought, especially recently, having done the panel and you know, a couple of conversations like this. And um ever since I was a little kid, I was obsessed with cameras. And um I've over my journey, I feel like that that phrase is used a lot. Um I'm accurate. I there's you know I've gotten more into photography, but that photography is kind of what led me into everything else. And um I've been really lucky with that. I had this like little tiny 35mm camera that was um it had a clear body, and I need to try to find one again. But the just having a camera to take pictures, I wanted to play with my parents' camera, I wanted to, you know, learn about all of that. And um I learned how to develop film when I was in fifth grade. Oh like it started really early, you know. Oh yeah. And then um whenever I got my first like adult job, so to speak, I bought a good camera with my first paycheck. So that was uh and then it just kind of has grown over decades now. Feels weird to say, but over over the years it's just developed at you know and grown as both as a person that's helped me as a person, but also that's grown into other art forms, into design, into you know, uh more I'm quote unquote fine art, you know what I mean? Like right, it's all connected, yeah. Exactly. So like it's all very, very interconnected for me. And you know, I feel like I should be laying on a Shay's lounge somewhere. I mean, like it started when I was a kid, but it really did. You know, my parents definitely allowed me to explore those things. You know, they they encouraged the expression of what I needed to feel and what I needed to, you know, to do, and I'm really, really grateful for that.

SPEAKER_00: 5:32

So with that said, um, so do your parents like do they have arts background?

SPEAKER_01: 5:37

Um, not explicitly. Okay. Um they I would say that they're both creative people. Um my dad did art when he was younger, uh, just like you know, in high school, and that's not to minimize that by any means, but that's where we get a lot of exposure to art is that somebody's gotta tell us that we can do it as adults to get past that. And then my mom was around art a lot when she was growing up. My great-grandfather on her side was a painter and a photographer. Okay. And then my dad was always into you know cameras and photography too. Okay. And then culturally, like art and the arts have just been part of our lives generationally, you know, both on my mom's side, but also um on my dad's side. And so that I think that that kind of comes together into a culmination of what I do, you know.

SPEAKER_03: 6:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 6:30

Neat, neat. Excellent. So you have any you have any siblings or I have two brothers.

SPEAKER_01: 6:36

How was that? Um or younger? Younger. Oh, so you're I'm the bossy one. Um, I'd be curious to hear what they think now that I think about it. Um I'm really I'm the only one that's really in a creative field person. Um my dad is a mechanic and has been my entire life. Okay. And my our middle brother, we're all boys. Um, our middle brother uh inherited more of that like working with his hands thing, which I still think is creative, but it's much more mechanically minded. You know, sure, sure. Um, and then my youngest brother works in computers. So like technology. So it's we're we're all uh we're each four years apart, so we're all like our own people. Like if you saw us initially, you wouldn't guess that we're all related. Um, but it it makes her pretty cool conversation around like we're all our own individual people, and it's really neat.

SPEAKER_00: 7:41

Yeah. So um one of the questions um I have for you, and this kind of um goes back to even when um the first time I got to see you at the um State Museum at the panel, I'm back at the artist homecoming, um, art history. So um history and art have a symbolic relationship, uh, where art acts as a primary source of understanding and um it can serve as a historical context, you know, it's crucial to interpreting art. As a creative person, can you explain the importance of incorporating history into artwork to show symbolism and reverence to our ancestors?

SPEAKER_01: 8:15

I love this question. And I think tomorrow. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Um and the way that I like to think about it um may or may not be like easy to predict or predictable, that's the word I was looking for. Um I think that all art tells a story. Like every everything we do in art, at least for me, tells a story. Sure. And if you go back a thousand years when people were making something, whether it be a pot or whether it be a you know a painting or you know, a variety of different uh crafts, and I use that word carefully.

SPEAKER_00: 9:04

Right.

SPEAKER_01: 9:05

Um there was a story to go along with it.

SPEAKER_00: 9:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 9:09

And it was actually in my residency at the Native American Studies Center that I realized kind of this overarching theme in that history is about telling stories, right? Absolutely. So when I make a piece, it is to tell a story, whether it be what I feel about that day, or whether it be I really like these colors, whether it be um I'm trying to communicate a message, whether that be protest, or whether that be um, you know, this is a relevant part of my life, there's so many different aspects of ways to communicate through art. And I think that history is just looking at the stories that people have told. And that comes into art as well. So when somebody makes a pot or a painting or whatever, you know, someone was capturing a landscape, somebody was capturing a photo, someone was, you know, memorializing someone's image, you know what I mean? Like it it's all about storytelling for me. And so conversation that the past is having with us. Exactly. That's awesome. And um when I go to art museums, which I weirdly love to do, like there's something ironic about that. Um I I am grateful for the opportunity to reflect on what the stories people might be trying to tell me, or to tell us, yeah, or to um we all sometimes interpret those stories differently, which can get really complex, right? But um I think it can be neat to see what that looks like, and that is part of my fascination with it. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_02: 10:47

So tell us about uh tell us about your snakes. Can we clip that? Yes, absolutely. Um You got some recurring themes with snakes going on in some work.

SPEAKER_01: 11:01

Uh it's funny because I think when I got the interview questions list it was a reminder of how much that's become a theme in my work. Um so am I allowed to ask a question back? Absolutely. Yeah. When you see snakes in art, for instance, what do y'all think of? Oh, it's like uh it's a knowledge creature.

SPEAKER_02: 11:25

It's um it's wisdom and you know, but then there's also the whole biblical Garden of Eden thing. But uh I think I go first to like like it's a symbol of knowledge kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00: 11:37

Cool. Very cool. For me, man, I think I think about snake, I think about time. Oh good. I think about time. Because like I say, the snake is like, you know, especially um mortality. Yeah. Because you know you have the head and you have the tail, right? There's not you know, there's nothing more symbolic than that, right? Yeah. In so many ways. And so let's think about time.

SPEAKER_01: 12:00

That's look, that was inspiring. Thank you for that. Um so historically, the Catawa people have looked on snakes as a different sort of symbol. And in some ways, Native American history gets pretty complex in a lot. So I want to first you know have a disclaimer that really I share this only from my perspective. I can't speak for anybody, I can't speak for my tribe, I can't speak for anything. Um, that's a fun discussion, too, let me tell you. Um But with snakes, it kind of we became known for liking black snakes, and snow black snake became a symbol for us, um, specifically king snakes and like black garden snakes, um, because they would protect you from copperheads, they would protect you from other like vermin that were in your garden, so to speak. And so they became a very positive symbol. We also would tattoo black snakes on the backs of our warriors, um, it would go like across their shoulder blade and down their back. And so if you look at like academia, it became a symbol of power and protection and a couple other things. But for me, in my work, I've I feel like I've done a couple of things differently, and I was actually thinking about this as a result of the question, you know. Um, a couple of things you'll see is that I normally paint them as blue instead of black. And that's because I think that blue kind of shows them a little bit differently. Um, I also wanted to show the vibrancy because if you look at a black snake, there's a lot of different colors in it. It's like a crow almost, it's an iridescent. And that um became super relevant for me because as part of the LGBT community, like I wanted not only was that already a symbol of like Kataaba identity, that I wanted to like show that as a symbol of I don't want to be so bold as to say my identity, yeah, but like a collective this represents us. And I think that that just looks I wanted to show some variation in that because that can look different for everybody, you know, even within our tribe, that can look different for everybody. So so I guess all of that's to say is that historically it's been power and protection. Um, I mean, we've even sculpted them around pots. So if you see you'll see snake pots are a popular feature in Katawa pottery. Um, and the the lore, there's debate on it, but the lore is that it was protecting the contents. So that makes sense, yeah. Yeah, so like so it's become for me a symbol of like power protection, but also somewhat of identity. And whenever I paint the snake in different works, often I'm trying to allude to both the identity as a Kitaba person, but also like what that might mean within the context of the story I'm telling. Yeah. So um I did a mural in Lancaster, South Carolina. Um, and it's viewable on my website. It's uh part of their uh greenway. Okay. And there's a giant snake on one side, it's under it's on a underpass, and uh it's kind of slithering or crawling or whatever the word might be from the land into the river. Oh that's awesome. And so that mural was meant to be like how a community can move forward together and and progress, hopefully to better things, you know. And I was inspired by like the movement of like this is one piece of the environment, this is one piece of the community or the collective, and it was moving into the river, which is a huge symbol for change, you know. So um, you know, by it moving, like maybe we can move smoothly, or maybe we can move together, you know, like that's kind of where I was going with that. So awesome, awesome.

SPEAKER_02: 16:15

Tell us a little bit about your your process. Yeah, that's a hard one.

SPEAKER_01: 16:20

I know, it's always hard for everybody. A number a number of things come to mind with that. One is that like as artists, and uh you know, all of us are creators in some way in this room, right? Um there's an element of we're just doing what we're doing. Right, right. You know what I mean? So like to to really drill down on what the process looks overall, looks like overall is hard sometimes. Um I think that for me the process looks different depending on what I'm trying to do. I've gotten into kind of I've got my hands in a couple different pies. Right. Right. So when I'm doing work for myself, like something in my own sketchbook, or you know, maybe more on the uh fine art side of things, I it could be anything. It could be I'm inspired by something that I experienced. It could be um sometimes it's very therapeutic for me. So sometimes I make pieces based on the emotions that I'm feeling. When I get into design though, it's a lot more structured. Right. You know what I mean? And so you gotta do it. Yeah, yeah. And it's gotta fit a set of rules. Yeah. You know what I mean? It might need to work for print, it might need to work for web, it might need to work for a couple of different things. And then photography, it's what momentum I trying to capture. Right. You know, so like if I'm at an event, are we trying to catch specific things? If I'm um, you know, doing a photo shoot for another project. The thing that I've really coming to my process specifically, I think, is I like to think about how all of those fit together. So can I paint on a photo? Can I incorporate brush strokes into this design in a way that's not gonna be terrible? You know what I mean? Like um can I tell a story with this geometric thing, but also like maintain an element of of organic development, you know what I mean? So like it it really I like to address every process for the moment and for the project. Um and start to finish that looks different every time.

SPEAKER_00: 18:29

Okay. So um next question. Um what is that like when you're trying um because with the different like you know, you got your fine art, you got your photography. Um what is it like um finishing up pieces um when you're trying to make make deadlines?

SPEAKER_01: 18:46

Uh a challenge.

SPEAKER_00: 18:51

And is there a difference between the is there a difference between the styles?

SPEAKER_01: 18:54

Yes, absolutely. Um so for my day job, yeah, I am pretty specifically an environmental graphic designer. Okay. And what we do is we design um it usually has to do with like wayfinding and navigating through a space specifically within architectural spaces. So that looks like signage in a building. That looks like um decorations that might revolve around um specific brands or murals or things like that. And um that is one of the most regimented form forms of design that I do. Okay. You have you have clients that are meeting deadlines, you have, you know, you have to, you know, ADA comes into play. Yeah. So you have to meet certain requirements. And when people build skyscrapers or different buildings, you have to have signage that meets those requirements. So it's I'm you know, that whole phrase of like do something you love and you never work a day in your life, uh cheesily kind of comes into play a little bit because I I really, really enjoy that. I enjoy that um I'm not the only one trying to keep timetable. I also um enjoy that we're working as a team to accomplish something, you know. Okay. Outside of day job, so to speak, um that time frame can look a lot more flexible. Okay. If I'm making again, if I'm making for myself, there isn't always a timeline, you know? Yeah. Um if I'm doing things freelance, then uh learning to project manage is definitely a challenge sometimes. But um I try to be as regimented as I can to meet whatever the client needs, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 20:44

Have you have you picked up any tips or tricks along the way over the years?

SPEAKER_01: 20:48

Um I've learned that I hate paper.

unknown: 20:51

Really?

SPEAKER_01: 20:52

And I'm saying that you know, tongue in cheek a little bit. Um because something about my brain, if you hand me a sheet of paper, it folds into a bunch of different pieces and then goes into the gone forever. Yeah. So I've really learned to rely on digital tools. Yeah. Okay. Um and those like to scream at you if you are late. Exactly. You know, um, so that that helps me a lot. But um I think just relying on the team in the moment, you know, whether that be the client that I'm working with, whether whether that be um relying on the technological friends that I have. Yeah. Um I try try to keep it straight through keeping a better calendar and through, you know, setting reminders for myself, sending my emails, having a paper trail. I think paper trail is probably the biggest piece because then I can look back and see what I have and haven't done and that's really easy.

SPEAKER_00: 21:47

Yeah, proper project management. Exactly. And I'm and I'm pretty sure, like you said, and you just mentioned, at it's much easier at the nine to five because you know there's people there's folks that are actually that's their role, right? It's keeping everybody on top. Yes. As opposed to maybe outside or even maybe like independent, like commission work. It's a little more of a challenge. Yep. Okay. Absolutely. So um one of the things that we did want to ask you about, because uh so much of what you do revolves around technology. Um so what are some of like what like what type of software do you use um when you're working on your projects? I use a handful of softwares.

SPEAKER_01: 22:23

Okay. Um so I use the Adobe Suite. Um I'm gonna be real. I'm pretty frustrated with Adobe.

SPEAKER_02: 22:30

Really? Yeah. Is it because it pops up with an AI message every five minutes?

SPEAKER_01: 22:35

Uh man, I've been using Adobe for well over a decade. Yeah. And every update, hey, let's show you something new. Let's show you something new. Or like, hey, did you know? And I'm like, yes, I knew that five years ago.

SPEAKER_02: 22:49

Why did we decide that pop-ups were like the way to get information out to people? Like we, you know, like I thought we we we kind of unanimously agreed we hated pop-ups and then they started coming up everywhere. Because it was the paperclip. You remember? That's the damn paper clip.

SPEAKER_01: 23:03

So that was part of it, but let me tell you, there's a psychology thing to it too. Okay. Because like if it interrupts your thought process as you're doing something, then you're gonna pay it more attention. It catches your eye, you know? And so like being on the other side of marketing for a minute at the tribe, we had to think about like how are we gonna get people's attention? And it comes back to capitalism. Yeah, I mean, I'm not I'm not gonna say I've never made a pop-up, but I could be the same. It's just um I think seeing how the the the pudding's made sort of makes you think about like how we're inundated with that all the time. And that's maybe more frustrating than not. Sure. I think um I don't want to like hate on AI too much because that's an ongoing, very nuanced conversation. Sure. But I I think as a creator of art, um there's a lot to talk about with that right now, and I think that that's contributing to my frustration with Adobe 2 because um it's just it's hard to navigate all of it. You know what I mean? Yeah, um so who's coming for Adobe?

SPEAKER_02: 24:17

What? Who's coming for Adobe? Who do you who do you use when you're frustrated with Adobe?

SPEAKER_01: 24:22

Uh nobody right now. Yeah. Same. But I'm researching. Yeah. So uh I've got my eyes on a couple of different people, but um Adobe's still the industry standard, so Adobe don't hate me. Um so I I still use Adobe Products at my day job. Yeah. I still use Adobe Products for um freelance work and things like that. Um but outside of that, I primarily use Procreate. Oh, Procreate for the iPad is what I like to use technology-wise. Yeah if I'm doing you know, physical things that obviously doesn't apply. But um, yeah, I I use an iPad. And growing up, I I got a um a walk-em tablet.

SPEAKER_03: 25:10

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01: 25:11

I got one sitting on my desk right now. I still love it. I still love it. But I um I specifically remember I had saved up and I bought an Intuis 4 uh walk-um tablet, and that was that was like a dream, you know, it's like saving up for a car or something back then, right? And um, I used that for a few years, and then the pen broke. And in my like whatever logic that is, I was like, that's it. And so gotta buy an iPad.

unknown: 25:39

Right. So I got an iPad.

SPEAKER_01: 25:41

Or even then got the pencil which had just come out, and um that literally revolutionized how I really yes.

SPEAKER_02: 25:49

So like the time lapses and stuff on your website, that's how you get those through procreate. That's awesome. Oh yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00: 25:56

Yeah. That's awesome. That's awesome. Um, so with that said, uh what uh especially that even with technology, like which uh what style of art do you think you gravitate towards more?

SPEAKER_01: 26:06

Oh, that's a loaded question. I think that's the most loaded question. Yeah, does it like fluctuate or it does? Um I recently decided that I want to learn Japanese. Okay, and so I'm currently like exploring influences from that part of the world. Um I love I don't want to say like any and all of it, but kind of any and all of it. You know what I mean? Like I love because it comes back to the stories. Yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? It comes back to the stories that people tell, and I obviously there are things that visually I'm like attuned to or I'm attracted to, but there's something so human about different styles, you know. And um another one, speaking of the the board or the panel, was uh Keith Herring is definitely an influence for me. Maybe not visually, but like just I can see that.

SPEAKER_00: 27:02

I can see that when I think about your work, I can see that. Thank you. Especially uh with the work uh like I said, I've seen on the contamination site. I can see a lot of that with the lines.

SPEAKER_01: 27:12

I think well, and not just the line work, I think more the symbolism and how he used symbolism. He you know, uh people who have heard speak, and I can't name any names, sorry, but um talk about how he kind of developed a visual language, yeah, which is very designerly, but like he used those symbols in his work over and over and over, and uh intentionally or not, that's kind of how mine is going. Um, and I would actually like to take more influence from him. But I um I love watercolor, I love inks, so I love very like organic forms, but I also really love structure. So mixing those two is um kind of what I have become obsessed with. I also had the chance I'm wearing a t-shirt. Yeah, I was gonna ask you about that. Um this was neat because and it's kind of kicked off a whole thing for me too, because it was uh I had the opportunity to make the poster or like some of the graphics for the um arts and drafts program at the Columbia Museum of Art. Yeah, and um this one was particularly around Alexander McQueen. So they had an Alexander McQueen exhibit, and which was phenomenal. It was a really good exhibit. Yeah, when I tell you, and this is not sponsored by obviously sponsored, asked for whatever, the Columbia Museum of Art is so underrated in terms of the quality of everything that they put out, is I absolutely live for it. So um I was fortunate enough to work with them on this design, and what inspired it was not only Alexander McQueen's work because I've been obsessed with his work for a long time. Yeah. Um, but what would that look like if it was Kataba? So then I started playing with certain textures, certain like symmetries, and like making symmetrical work has been kind of an obsession of mine lately. Um that led into kind of Rorzak prints, which are like those ink blots, you know, right things like that. Um in that it it's it's it's a rabbit hole. I'm still falling in. It happens sometimes. And I'm I'm very open to it, so I'm excited to see where it goes more, hopefully. Excellent.

SPEAKER_00: 29:36

Let me see what else I wanted to ask. There was something else I wanted to ask you about. So over time, of course, we know you said like you f your you know your interests fluctuate, but um, how has overall has how is your love for creative art changed? Because I know a lot of times when people are creatives and they work and they not only and they do it for a living, yeah, it's like it less it becomes less of a love and more of a you know, more of a chore.

SPEAKER_03: 30:03

Yep.

SPEAKER_00: 30:03

And they're good at it, but it doesn't mean that they're passionate about it. Yep. Right? So how has that changed? How has that impacted you?

SPEAKER_01: 30:12

We were actually talking about this before we started recording. Um I know a lot of people, uh, close friends, best friends that uh ha experienced some level of tired, you know what I mean, uh from making art. Create a burnout. Yeah, create a burnout or um they make they put everything into it and it's just it's hard to keep that going. And I've been in places in previous day jobs and previous projects and previous all of these things where I I didn't have the energy. I didn't have the energy to make. I just I you know make with a capital M. You know what I mean? Like I couldn't I couldn't um I couldn't keep it going on the level that I wanted to. And you can always produce. Yes, it's a little different. Yes, yeah. Absolutely. And you're you're just like you're producing, you're not making things with your whole heart in it, you know? And after uh you know, working through some stuff, I kind of realized that there's different energies that you assign to different things. And so I try to be very careful now on w how much energy am I giving a specific project. You know, like I I I and many other artists put a lot of ourselves into our work. And when you put your whole self into something, you have to recover from that. Yeah, you have to give yourself my therapist would be proud of me saying you have to give yourself some grace afterwards, you know what I mean? Or you have to balance out what that looks like. So now I I'm very picky about the projects that I take. Um my day job does take a lot of creative energy, but it's different creative energy. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like that's that's work. I can I can kind of lean, I can there are projects there that I make, but then there are projects there that I also produce. You know what I mean? In in the sense of just like, that's we just have to get that one off the off the list. Right.

SPEAKER_00: 32:29

It happens. Yeah, so uh with that said, you kind of answer the next question we were gonna ask you. Um but outside of art, like so what do you do like what are some of the things that you do outside that give you a joy that bring balance?

SPEAKER_01: 32:44

Um I love music. I you know, I did I started playing instruments when I was a kid. Okay. Um I don't really anymore. Uh I have some nerve problems in my hands, so that kind of puts a damper on that in some ways. But I do love listening to music. Okay. Um I enjoy seeing other art. So I enjoy seeing uh what other people have made and spending time with friends. Love movies. My uh my partner is an actor and uh he's very into the arts as well, you know. And so like we try to participate as much as we can almost almost. And but I think that that that's a funny thing coming from what we were talking about, is that sometimes when I'm burnt out on making art, seeing other people make art can like refuel some of what that is, you know.

SPEAKER_02: 33:36

Yeah. So what's uh what's next for you? What uh projects you got in the works?

SPEAKER_01: 33:42

Um I don't I don't I was thinking about this earlier. I don't have anything specific I want to shout out, you know. Yeah, yeah. Um I I just want to take as much as I can. You know, but I also want to take my time. I think it's uh we live in a really hard time right now, and uh that's that tends to drain me. Yeah, it's drain all of us of like feeling exuberant and creative and really want to put things out there. Um but I am grateful for the opportunities that other people have given me. So I think that just looking forward to that and seeing what I can do to work with people and help people as much as I can. Yeah um but also like if I can ever operate, you know, provide those opportunities to someone else, whether that be being a mentor for somebody or something like that, then that's kind of where I'd like to go, I think. Very broad strokes there.

SPEAKER_00: 34:42

Collaboration is where it's at. Yeah, we totally believe in that. Yeah, so uh with that said, um what can we do to support you? Um I was thinking about this.

SPEAKER_01: 34:52

If you want to work with me, okay, you can reach out to me on my website. Um I think though I is that my keyboard. Shameless platform. Um if you want to work with me, you can reach out to my website. Uh but I'm gonna be honest, I'm very fortunate. Okay. I am not loaded or rich or anything, but um I have the things I need. I have a good day job that I'm really grateful for. I have um space to make art in the ways that I want to. Yeah. Um and we can always use a little more, right? But uh just given the climate of everything right now, yeah. I think that there's a lot of people that could use more support than I can. Yeah. So uh support me by supporting the communities that need it. You know, we we collectively being in minorities and being in different groups, yeah, can see some of the pain that other communities experience and are experiencing now. And I don't want to get emotional, but uh I think that that's higher on the priority than working with somebody like me. So you want to give a shout out for your socials and your sure. Um I'm everywhere I'm Tanaka Alex, T-A-N-A-K-E Alex. Um and that's Tanaka Alex.com or Tanaka Alex on Instagram.

SPEAKER_00: 36:23

Awesome, awesome. Excellent. Yes. Well, uh Alex, it was definitely a pleasure having you as a guest.

SPEAKER_01: 36:28

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00: 36:29

Yes, uh, like I said, definitely a lot. Like I said, a couple weeks ago, well, the reason this um interview came to be, um, a couple weeks ago I was invited to the artist homecoming, South Carolina State Museum, and you were um panel, obviously one of the panel members for a panel discussion on native art. Yeah, and I thought was really cool. And I think the thing that intrigued me the most was just the c the conversation that you were having, which I found out I was a good friend of yours. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, yeah. But talking about, you know, just you know, just embrace, you know, embracing the past, but also at the same time look, you know, um celebrating contemporary art and looking forward to the future.

SPEAKER_01: 37:08

Yeah. And I thought I think just to comment on that, yeah. Um perspective informs a lot of what we do.

SPEAKER_00: 37:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 37:16

And um, he's a really good friend of mine. Yeah, but we also grew up in different places, we grew up with different perspectives, and I think that that was a highlight of how those different perspectives inform our opinions. Yes. Um I I hope that it wasn't too rough of an interaction, you know. Um, but it it I enjoyed that panel a lot for that reason, you know.

SPEAKER_00: 37:38

It was awesome. Like I said, it was a great way for us to learn and connect. And one of the things we always try to do, especially with the Hilltop Glove, is we try to intentionally reach outside of our community because for us, it's so easy just to talk to people that are just in our immediate community. Even though we're geared towards talking to creatives and creative entrepreneurs, of course, people within arts. Sometimes we can sometimes just by the nature of what we do, we can just we're we're not we close our we close our eyes up certain perspectives for certain communities. And so that's one of the things that moving forward we definitely want to be more mindful about and more intentional on. And so that's why it was great for like a Sephora Daddy event and for us to be able to connect with you. Yes, thank you. So yeah, so we're definitely honored to have you as a guest. And if you know anybody who you think will be an awesome guest, let us know. Now we're connecting.

SPEAKER_01: 38:26

Yeah. I would love to introduce you to Aaron if if you're open to it. I think it'd be neat to like have him on too.

SPEAKER_00: 38:33

I have to. I have to now. I have to got to. We definitely have to. Um but with that said, one of the things I do want to do is I want to give a shout out to Oh yes. This beautiful space we're in. Yes, yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02: 38:45

Asylum Digital Recording and Mixing Studio.

SPEAKER_00: 38:49

Yes, yes. Um located at 226 Weston House Boulevard, suite 304 in Charlotte, North Carolina. Um, if you need to record, if you need to mix, master, uh, if you need to record, you need to mix master. Um, this is the place to go in the Charlotte area. Uh like I said, um Scott and team, they're um they're amazing at what they do. They do quality work. Also, this is where um we record. And you obviously if you like our stuff, yeah, you need to come here.

SPEAKER_02: 39:20

Look at this. This is a great spot for live music. There's a theremand over there in the corner. I don't know. I I'm I'm just fascinated by theremons. This is this is a great space. Yes. We love being up here.

SPEAKER_00: 39:30

Yep. So if you want to do um animal, you want to do digital, um, they do all that um here. Um as far as I'm contacting them, all you gotta do, I'm give them a call at 704-492-9289, or you can um contact um check out their website at asylumdigital.com. Um, with that said, um skip this Mike back DJ What? Tamaya. Yeah, and this is um the latest episode of Hilltop Love Podcast. Oh, and our guest, Alex Osborne. Alex Osborne. Yes. Um with that said, what does Armor usually say? He says the whole thing about Tell somebody, tell somebody you love them. And you care about them. And you care about them. And you love them. Till next time. Till next time.

SPEAKER_02: 40:12

Next time.

SPEAKER_00: 40:14

Peace.