SPEAK Season 3 Episode 2: Stardom in the Arts
SPEAK Season 3, Episode 2: Stardom in the Arts featuring Elizabeth Langan.
Debbie Ratcliffe: [00:00:00] Hi, I’m Debbie the Dragon, co hosting with fin today, and this is episode 2 of Speak Season 3. Welcome!
fin-xuan: Welcome everyone, this is fin. We are excited to share that this episode features Elizabeth Langan. And Elizabeth invites us into creative joy and reflection through art and stories.
Elizabeth Langan: Hi, I am Elizabeth. I’m also known as Lizzie. This episode is called Stardom in the Arts.
fin-xuan: Stardom in the Arts. That was perfect.
Debbie Ratcliffe: What kind of art do you like to do?
Elizabeth Langan: Well, I [00:01:00] really wanted to be a photographer someday. Photographer and actress.
fin-xuan: I feel like I could imagine you being an actress. You really like TV shows and film.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah. I’m also an advocate for all abilities and human rights. I like doing art that actually inspires me.
Elizabeth Langan: Drawing and painting. I have been doing a lot more of my photography.
Debbie Ratcliffe: What kind of photography do you do?
Elizabeth Langan: I do a lot of nature photography. Flowers and grass. And I like taking pictures of landscapes.
Debbie Ratcliffe: What about animals, like dogs or cats? Cats.
Elizabeth Langan: I actually take pictures of geese. I also [00:02:00] have been doing felting.
fin-xuan: When was the first time that you ever tried felting?
Elizabeth Langan: I did my moose… It was a felting canvas of my moose.
Debbie Ratcliffe: You know what, lizzie? I have seen a moose.
Debbie Ratcliffe: Big, big.
fin-xuan: I first met many of the artists at Being Studio, like Elizabeth, while programming was entirely virtual. When I was brainstorming for this episode, I was having reflections of this and that time. During this time, I remember feeling very grateful for the opportunity to still have a virtual space to connect and to share alongside other artists.[00:03:00]
fin-xuan: This was a time of transition, transformation, and being. I feel very lucky for the many moments of joy and also of imagination during this time. I shared some of my reflections to Debbie and Lizzie. When we were working on this episode, and I asked them if they have any thoughts or memories about the beginning days of virtual programming.
Elizabeth Langan: I remember doing art online virtually.
fin-xuan: Some of the first artworks that I’ve seen by you, I only saw them online.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah.
fin-xuan: And so it was really exciting to come back and see everything in person.
Debbie Ratcliffe: I was so happy to see [00:04:00] everybody online. I felt really lost without my pals being around. It’s like, great, let’s get back to it again.
Debbie Ratcliffe: It’s too quiet at home. To me, friendship means a lot. It means love. It means Caring means working together, staying in harmony, and just being around the people you love.
fin-xuan: What do you enjoy about making art and being around other artists?
Debbie Ratcliffe: I love it. It’s a lot of fun. We bounce our ideas off of each other sometimes.
fin-xuan: Speaking of bouncing, I noticed the other day when you and Lizzie were connecting, you kept bouncing jokes off of each other. She’s so funny, and I think it’s [00:05:00] like, something that you both share in a way.
Debbie Ratcliffe: Yeah, Lizzie is one of my, one of my good friends. And I love her to pieces. Her nickname for me is Debbie the Bouncing Ball.
fin-xuan: You make so many of your friends laugh.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah.
fin-xuan: Would you say that you like to make people laugh?
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah. Because of my dad, he has a very quick dry sense of humor; my sister, my grandma and my dad.
fin-xuan: Ok!
fin-xuan: How would you describe Lizzie?
Debbie Ratcliffe: Bubbly. Bubbly. She loves mooses. Yeah.
fin-xuan: Lizzie’s laugh makes me want to laugh.
Debbie Ratcliffe: Yeah. I love her laugh. Her laugh is very contagious. [00:06:00]
fin-xuan: It fills the room.
Debbie Ratcliffe: Yes, it does.
fin-xuan: Do you think that it was important for you to stay connected with everyone at being?
Elizabeth Langan: Yes.
fin-xuan: I remember you brought so much fun energy.
fin-xuan: One of my early memories of Lizzie, when joining those virtual calls, was that her laughter and passion was infectious. It brought energy and excitement and so much space for possibility. Lizzie is an artist and community member of many. She loves to dance, draw, paint, and write. She also has a great passion for fan art, photography, performance, nature, and friendship.
Elizabeth Langan: I am a loving, [00:07:00] friendly, and gifted artist. In my future, I’d like to be a scriptwriter. In my future, I’d also love to live in New York City, become an author, artist, and body actress. I like doing fan art, like for Riverdale.
Elizabeth Langan: Riverdale is a teen dark series that are based by the Archie comic. And the characters are also from the Archie comic. Betty, Veronica, Jughead, and Archie.
fin-xuan: When I was younger, I used to have A lot of Archie comics. Have you ever made your own kind of stories or like movie ideas?
Elizabeth Langan: I know I’ve done a comic scene based by the people [00:08:00] that I love and the people I love to watch.
fin-xuan: Hmm. I wanted to take some time to talk more about Lizzie’s drawing and photography.
Elizabeth Langan: So I took pictures of nature landscapes, trees, geese, and I took a picture of the waterfall and it got really so popular because I did a photography contest.
fin-xuan: Wow.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah. I entered a photo contest and I was one of the runner ups.
fin-xuan: Oh, runner up. That’s so cool.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah.
fin-xuan: Do you like being in the nature?
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah. It’s so very kind of nice.
fin-xuan: Hmm.
Elizabeth Langan: Whenever [00:09:00] I go camping, I actually take pictures of nature, like the beauty of it.
fin-xuan: I think I’ve seen paintings of yours and drawings of mooses…
Elizabeth Langan: Because it’s my camp mascot.
fin-xuan: Your camp mascot?
Elizabeth Langan: Yes. I actually designed a t-shirt for my camp.
fin-xuan: Wow.
Elizabeth Langan: Yes.
fin-xuan: Can you tell me about some of the artists in your life?
Elizabeth Langan: Yes. I have. A best friend that I really admire to the most. She’s a Riverdale creature; It is Alyssa, and she is like the biggest role model to me. She’s an artist at BEING and I’m very grateful that I get to share things [00:10:00] with her.
fin-xuan: Hmm… What do you think Alyssa would say if someone asked her who is Lizzie?
Elizabeth Langan: I know she would say how loving and sweet I am and how funny I am.
Elizabeth Langan: I really love coming to her studio because I love to connect with friends and to do art with them. And I love doing all the artwork that I’ve done.
fin-xuan: Yeah,
fin-xuan: I think that making artwork around people is always a different kind of experience. Are there any photographers that you really admire?
Elizabeth Langan: I do know someone who really inspired me to do it and it’s my favorite actor, [00:11:00] Cole Sprouse.
fin-xuan: Cole sprouse?
Elizabeth Langan: Yes, he’s a professional photographer.
fin-xuan: Cool.
Elizabeth Langan: And he’s been taking pictures on every trip he goes to.
fin-xuan: That’s amazing. Do you ever go on trips and take pictures?
Elizabeth Langan: Yes, like when I went to the cottage, I want to just take pictures of everything. I want to just take pictures of nature.
fin-xuan: Wow, that’s so beautiful.
fin-xuan: Do you remember this drawing?
Elizabeth Langan: Yes.
fin-xuan: You talk about mooses….
Elizabeth Langan: Oh yes. I actually did it for someone. Oh. I used black paper with a white gel pen and I color the moose and with a light brown.
fin-xuan: Mm.
fin-xuan: I think the white gel pen is [00:12:00] super bright and I love these two flowers that stand on each side of the moose. The moose is big.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah.
fin-xuan: and there’s a sun in the corner, the top corner, with some clouds.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah, the other neat thing about my black papers, my sister actually gave me these nice colors that I can use on my black papers.
fin-xuan: Wow.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah.
fin-xuan: Yeah, I feel like mooses are a really big theme.
Elizabeth Langan: Yes.
fin-xuan: What do you like about fan art? Archie and Riverdale comes up a lot. Have you ever shared your fan art to communities that also like Archie and Riverdale?
Elizabeth Langan: Oh yes! Here’s the fun part of it… So one of my [00:13:00] favorite villains, he’s an actor from Riverdale and his name is Lochlyn Munro, and I did this fan art of him as the villain.
Elizabeth Langan: I did this fan art of him as the villain. Of the villain, the Black Hood, and he posted my artwork to his story.
fin-xuan: Wow, that’s so cool. Yeah, I feel like that’s one of the really exciting things about fanart, is that you can connect with other people that really like it too. Yeah. Wow. So the villain from Riverdale TV show. shared your artwork about Riverdale.
Elizabeth Langan: Yes.
fin-xuan: Are there any other people that you really admire?
fin-xuan: I did the one of Jughead [00:14:00] Jones, who’s played by Carl Sprouse. He’s the one who got me into photography and Riverdale books. And he does landscaping. He does fashion, and he does campaigns and causes for his photography.
Elizabeth Langan: He actually did Canada goose, which is pretty fascinating for his photography. He also has done a lot of trips, too, to take his photography photos.
fin-xuan: Wow, that’s so cool. Did you ever make any fan art to Cole Sprouse?
Elizabeth Langan: I actually did one for his new movie based on Frankenstein. Okay. And then an artwork of him as the creature, like [00:15:00] as the Frankenstein.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah, Frankenstein.
fin-xuan: Wow,
fin-xuan: that’s so cool.
Elizabeth Langan: I actually did a few of them. And they really actually inspired me.
fin-xuan: That’s great. That’s so interesting to know about your artwork. Do you think you would enjoy drawing one of his photos?
Elizabeth Langan: Oh my god, that would be so cool. Yeah, well I have a favorite one and it’s one of his mountain ones.
fin-xuan: Hmm.
fin-xuan: We took a look at some photography images that Lizzie took and I ask if there are any memories or thoughts that come to mind when we look at the photos. We’re looking at tall trees and it’s almost like we’re looking up. Have you ever laid on the ground and look, [00:16:00] like look up at the trees or the sky?
Debbie Ratcliffe: Mm hmm.
Debbie Ratcliffe: Long time ago.
fin-xuan: That’s what this photograph makes me think about, is laying on the ground outside and looking up and thinking about how tall everything is and how, yeah, how peaceful it is to see it in this way.
Elizabeth Langan: So I took that one and I thought to myself, Oh, maybe I should just take it because it’s so pretty.
fin-xuan: What made you look up to the sky?
Elizabeth Langan: Well, it’s
Elizabeth Langan: the lightning, I guess.
Elizabeth Langan: Yeah,
fin-xuan: I see the light coming through the trees.
fin-xuan: The next photo is beautiful tulips. These tulips remind me of May.
Debbie Ratcliffe: Oh, I love those. Yeah, when I was a kid, my mom and dad used to plant flowers in the garden. [00:17:00] We lived on a hill, so, half of the hill was all full of flowers.
fin-xuan: Yeah, I think this photo reminds me of like, endless amounts of tulips. So the last photograph of Lizzie’s.
Debbie Ratcliffe: It’s very beautiful and I love the water though. So calm it looks like.
fin-xuan: Yeah, I think her photography is very calming, peaceful. Yes.
fin-xuan: As we wrap up Lizzie’s episode, we reflect on all the different stories of connection that she has reminded us of.
Debbie Ratcliffe: I asked Lizzie, what would you like your listeners to know about your artwork?
Elizabeth Langan: I want them to know about How much I love doing the artworks I’ve done, past and present. I [00:18:00] want them to know that how much I enjoy art.
fin-xuan: Like a long time ago when you first started, you did a lot of painting. And then it seems like what you’re talking about is how your interest now in the present It shifted to more photography, drawing, and writing. So, the old stuff and the new stuff. Past and present.
Debbie Ratcliffe: And future.
fin-xuan: And future.
Debbie Ratcliffe: Thank you for sharing your artwork, your ideas with us.
Debbie Ratcliffe: We’d really love to hear from you again. Yes. Season 3, Speak 2.
fin-xuan: It has been a great pleasure working on this episode. It has been so much fun hearing about art practices, passions, and connections. [00:19:00]
Elizabeth Langan: Well, thank you. I really enjoy doing this with you. It’s really great.
fin-xuan: Yay! Thank
fin-xuan: you for listening. Speak is hosted by
Debbie Ratcliffe: Debbie the Dragon Ratcliffe.
fin-xuan: Myself, Fin.
Debbie Ratcliffe: Produced and co hosted by Rachel Gray and Fin
fin-xuan: special thanks to Christina Bell for music composition in this episode. Being Studio also gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the City of Ottawa for this season.
