By: Mars Johnson, Reporter
OMAHA, Neb.– A local artist, Ang Bennett, created their podcast OhMahART! (reminiscent of ‘oh my God!’) to bring attention to the local art scene.
One day they woke up and asked their partner to create a logo for them. They received their logo and started making their OhMahART! podcast a reality. They go to Downtown Omaha to record and edit their podcast at Modus Coworking.
Ang said, “My partner and I–we weren’t really sure if we wanted to stay in Omaha. And then I was just like ‘I can’t keep waiting. I’m either going to do something or I’m going to keep waiting, keep waiting, keep waiting, and make excuses for why I’m not doing it. … If it sucks and nobody listens to it, at least I did it. And at least I know that nobody would listen to it, but it’s been the opposite.”
Ang considers themself someone who is full of ideas–enough to share with the people around them. In school for art history, journalism and media communication, Ang has been an artist since before they could walk. It’s always been a hobby of theirs.
They keep artists, who they want to have conversations with, in the back of their mind, and when scheduling podcasts, they try to stay timely by releasing podcasts around the time their guests are having shows. Their ideal vision for their podcast has to do with increasing awareness about Omaha’s art scene so much that it would come up in a random conversation about art.
Ang said, “I would want it to be where if I’m walking down the street, and I bump into a random stranger, and we start having a conversation and it lands on art, they’d be able to tell me about at least one artist in Omaha that they know of and that they’ve either gone to a show or heard them speak about their work.”
While traveling, they noted differences in art scenes outside of Omaha.
Ang said, “I got to see the arts culture in other cities, and being in Omaha, it’s very underground. I wanted to figure out a way to really pull that out so that the general public would be able to have access to it as well, and it’s not just like this secretive thing where artists know about it and maybe a couple of organizations ‘cause they donate money.”
They said they have the power and control over their podcast because they don’t have any grant money pushing them to do things a certain way. Still, OhMahART! is a passion project that could benefit from additional funding.
“I want BIPOC people. I want queer people. I want the marginalized artists … ‘cause for the longest time we’ve always centered elite white males in the art world, so I just wanna really use this platform to showcase emerging talent because they don’t know where to start a lot of the time,” Ang said, “They don’t know how to tap into the community, and I wanna use this kind of as a springboard for them to be able to have that access to maybe mentors, the community, galleries, and learning how to talk about their work. And having some press to put on their website is a huge one too.”
On a personal level, they keep in mind that they are a nonbinary person, but not as much as they think about what their work is doing for the community.
Ang said, “Y’know, I never think about [being nonbinary] that’s always like a hindsight for me. I know my identity, and I’ve moved in my identity for a very long time. It’s never intentionally the thing that I’m thinking about when I do something. I’m always thinking about the project. I’m always thinking about the impact of this thing that I wanna do. It just so happens to be that I’m a nonbinary person of color leading up this project which in the grand scheme of things it’s all about representation, visibility–being able to do a thing that you wanna do, and have the power to do that thing even if other people aren’t creating the space for you, you’ve created your own space to do it. I think that’s what really comes into play when I think about my identity–is just being able to allow myself to create that space and showing others that you can create the spaces that you want.”
Local artist, Patty Talbert, who was featured on the OhMahART! podcast, met Ang at the 2020 Omaha Entertainment And Arts Awards. She was proud that Ang was excited to meet her that day, and they stayed connected. Before starting the podcast, Ang asked for Patty’s opinion on their podcast idea, and eventually, she became a part of it. She was nervous and excited to participate and is proud of Ang and their podcast.
Patty said Ang is an important person in the community, and the podcast is something the community needs. She said Ang’s calming voice fits perfectly for listening.
Patty said, “One thing that we’re missing in Omaha is an art critic. And not that the podcast is an art critic thing but I think it’s a way to introduce people in the community to artists in the community. A lot of times I didn’t realize that a lot of people haven’t really heard me talk about my artwork. They just see it, but I haven’t had art talks and stuff like that, so I think the podcast was a really nice way to introduce me to the community even though I’ve been around for a while. … I’m kind of down low so to speak.”
Patty had her first show in 2009. She continued to take her art seriously from then on–13 years. She is drawn to mysteriousness and anonymity with her art.
Patty said, “It may be because at times I feel socially awkward in social settings. I think that’s why I find comfort in the anonymity aspect that art can give me.”
Further, it’s generally fun for her with a lot of problem solving–which she feels people often ignore–the thinking that goes into making art. She said not everything she creates is good, but when it is, it’s exciting.
Patty said, “My work is actually inspired by techniques used in batiking, so my work is very layered and textured. … It’s very manipulative. … I don’t draw well, but I can make portraits well because I’m looking at tones and colors.”
She was invited to apply to do murals at Metro’s Omaha Rapid Bus Transit (ORBT) stations. She got two stations–one on 90th & Dodge and another on 62nd & Dodge close-by the University of Nebraska-Omaha (UNO).
Her family as whole supports her artistic endeavors. She feels blessed to be where she is.
Patty said, “All the outside work that I’ve done so far has come to me, and I’ve found it to be very rewarding because it’s so unexpected.”
For Patty, making art is a spiritual experience.
Patty said, “I know that it’s bigger than me. I know that when I’m creating, something else is driving me other than just me. I feel very spiritually connected to–I don’t know if it’s my ancestors. I don’t know exactly what it is. But something spiritual happens I think when I’m creating. I find it very powerful to be able to create and have something in my head that I wanna do or I’m thinking about and then be able to put it on canvas. And what happens is it always turns out better than what’s in my head. And to me, that’s kind of powerful.”
After May, Patty will be a hermit in her art studio getting ready for her upcoming shows. Ang and Patty have an art collaboration coming up in January 2023 along with other artists at the College of Saint Mary.
