NOVEMBER 2023

This month, we profile contemporary artist Amanda Church, explore the Salvadoran surf town of El Zonte, interview the curator of What I Listen To When Running, and share our favorite Tomatillo Salsa recipe.

El Zonte, a Soul Song

Ceviche. Ocean. Cockles. Oysters. Tequila. Pupusas. Repeat.

In a fit of rebellion, I booked a ticket to El Salvador for the next day. I texted my friend Essential. Is it ok for me to go to El Salvador on my own?

Prob not a good idea
Im on road next couple hrs
Ring me (kiss emoji)

There are options though

I was expecting carefree enthusiasm, not this. I rang Essential. He was driving to his grandfather’s grave in Middle of Nowhere, California. It would have been his grandpa’s 100th birthday, and his dad was bringing a keg.

He admonished, When you land, go immediately to the surf town El Zonte and stay put! Don’t ride a chicken bus! No Uber! What cell phone plan do you have?

So bossy.

When I arrived safely at my hotel in El Zonte, I checked in, put on my swimsuit, and texted Essential that I had arrived safely (via taxi).

He said, Let the adventure begin! I looked around. What adventure? I saw several sleepy buildings and a few surfers heading to the water.

What was I going to do for three days? I don’t surf. I daydreamed of all the places chicken buses could take me.

I swam and then worked with beer, ceviche, and great views. A few hours later, the owner of my hotel (a surfer, of course) told me to put away my laptop and walk on the beach for sunset. He said it with love. He also said he was turning the internet off in 10 minutes.

A river demarcates the professional surfing beach from the calmer, meandering beach. The beaches have two distinct personalities. All walks between El Zonte Point and Olas Permanentes begin with forging the river which changes continuously with the tides.

I walked along, enchanted with each new beach feature as it revealed itself. A deep tide pool. Cliffs! Beautiful rock staircases. And finally, a gorgeous cave. My whole body exhaled as I watched the sun drop into the ocean. I had a newfound appreciation for bossy surfers.

On my way back, I was slipping on the rocks in the tide-elevated river when a beam of chivalrynamed Meme took my hand (pronounced may-MAY). Meme offered his friendship. I went with him and his friends to the only bar in town. I didn’t do any work the rest of the trip. But I did get my groove back.

Meme asked, When are you moving here? I looked at him and asked. How do you know I am moving here? He said, I can see it in your eyes. We swapped stories. He recently moved back to El Zonte from Belgium. His daughter speaks five languages. His ex-wife is anti-fun.

The truth is, I was already picturing myself living in El Zonte with my husband, my two kids, and our dog. I saw the idyllic life vividly. We’re all barefoot and salty. My kids are happy, grounded, bilingual surfers. My dog has boundless freedom. My husband and I work oceanfront and eat ceviche and papusas. And we spend more time being.

Being part of nature. Being part of a community. Being ourselves.

Artist Amanda Church Redefines Boundaries in Contemporary Art with Ambiguous and Sensual Canvases

In the vibrant world of contemporary art, Amanda Church emerges as a guiding light, bridging the gap between the tangible and the abstract. Her brush conjures a symphony of surreal narratives and enigmatic geometries that challenge convention and beckons viewers into a labyrinth of emotional ambiguity. Her works are a testament to the audacity of crossing the boundaries between representational and formalist art, defying traditional categorizations.

Church’s artistic journey has been one of purpose and recognition. Her talent earned her a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2015 and a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant in 2017. Critics have lauded her work, and her name graces the pages of prestigious publications like The New York Times, The Boston Globe, ARTnews, Hyperallergic, and Forbes Magazine. Her canvases adorn galleries and museums in major U.S. cities and across international borders, from the Brooklyn Museum of Art to global venues.

Born in the picturesque town of Poughkeepsie, Church’s artistic pilgrimage was nurtured in the heart of New York City. She honed her craft at Bennington College in Vermont, with a year of study at the New York Studio School in Manhattan. Her artistic journey began in 1995 with her first group exhibition, “Ooze,” at Black and Herron in Soho.

Church’s artistic vision has transcended her canvases into the world of curation. She co-curated exhibitions at Smack Mellon, Cuchifritos Gallery, and Plus Ultra Gallery, garnering attention from The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Time Out. In 2003, she collaborated uniquely with the Italian luxury fashion house Fendi and the New Museum, transcending the boundaries of art and fashion.

Amanda Church is best known for her mesmerizing abstract oil-on-canvas paintings, a delicate balance between the real and the abstract. Her artistic language weaves elements from art movements like Pop and Surrealism, creating a dialectical tapestry juxtaposing biomorphic forms against angular, abstract shapes and lines. Her canvases are a visual symphony, with flat colors, lines that cut sharp, and outlines that beckon exploration.

Ambiguity reigns supreme in Church’s art, a blend of the distinct and the universal, the distant yet familiar. Her canvases evoke emotional tension, with seemingly light-hearted elements portraying unsettling scenes of distorted and disembodied limbs. Critics have described her work as “disarming and disturbing,” an intriguing paradox that challenges the viewer. Simultaneously, her art exudes eroticism, with lines, colors, and narratives hinting at sensuality.

In her own words, Church labels her art as “anthropomorphized pop extractions.” In her early works, protozoan subjects graced monochrome backdrops, hinting at humanity and delighting observers with abstracted confections. As time unfurled, her canvases embraced complexity, with multicolored backdrops and an interplay of shapes and protuberances. Her later works masterfully blend curvy, disembodied limbs with geometric abstractions, offering an intimate view that is both intimate and abstract. Her solo exhibition “Recliners” (High Noon Gallery, 2019) featured magnified views of humanoid curves in geometric settings, evoking subtle erotic scenarios. Church’s art invites exploring the intimate, the sublime, and the unexpected.

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Tomatillo Salsa

The Ultimate Playlist Interview:
What I Listen To When Running 

Herdthinner sat down with Eric Fate for an in-depth interview about the game-changing playlist What I Listen To When Running.

“What I Listen to When Running” sounds like an exciting playlist for fitness enthusiasts. Could you tell us more about your inspiration for creating a playlist geared explicitly toward runners and how it aligns with their workout experience?

One of my favorite authors is Haruki Murakami. He is an avid runner, and his running memoir “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running” resonated with me deeply. The title influenced me, and when I created the playlist, I wanted to pay homage to a great writer and an avid runner.

I have learned to love running, and it has, over time, impacted my life in a very positive way. Music is a big part of that, and getting lost in a collection of tracks while running for a prolonged period is highly meditative. I rarely run without music, so fresh tracks every week are something I look forward to.

For me, the music uplifts the overall running experience. If I do my job right, I get into a collaborative flow between cardiovascular exertion and euphoria.

How do you keep the playlist fresh while ensuring it continues to resonate with your target audience of runners?

I update the playlist weekly and spend 30-40 minutes curating the music. Ultimately I’m curating totally different each week, so some people may not resonate with every playlist.

Variety is vital in fitness playlists. Could you share some genres or artists frequently appearing in “What I Listen to When Running” and why you believe they resonate so well with runners?

This varies wildly and depends on my mood when I sit to curate the following playlist. Nothing is off the table from Ween to Honey Dijon. Some playlists incorporate both of those artists, and no matter what genre it ends up being, I’m always picturing myself running and trying to choose music that will uplift that experience.

The rhythm and tempo of a song can significantly impact a runner’s performance. How do you ensure that the songs in your playlist synchronize with the different paces and strides of your audience?

This is almost impossible because everyone runs at a different pace and distance. I can only put myself in my run when I’m curating and base the playlist on my pace. I like to run a 10k in less than an hour. It varies from my peak performance of around 46 minutes but can go up to an hour when moving slowly. So, I focus on about 125-128 bpm to keep a good flow.

Sequencing is vital in playlists, especially for runners. How do you structure the playlist to provide a seamless listening experience that enhances a runner’s workout journey from start to finish?

I use the crossover feature within Spotify to remove the gap between songs. I have this set to cross over from track to track, so playing the music seamlessly is possible. Then there’s the flow from one song to the next, the story it tells, and the feeling it delivers. This is based on the playlist as a whole. It creates a distinct beginning, middle, and end, sonically speaking.

With “What I Listen To When Running” serving as a resource for fitness enthusiasts, what advice do you have for fellow runners who want to create their own playlists for their workouts, and how do you envision the playlist evolving in the future to meet the needs of the running community even better?

It’s time-consuming to create a playlist and have it work for you how you want it to. I don’t get it right every time, but with practice and an understanding of how the flow of music works over time, things get easier. I encourage anyone looking to create a playlist for themselves to build multiple playlists at a time and test out track combinations they resonate with. Over time, I see this playlist growing as a community and possibly even opening up another playlist for collaboration. Ultimately, the goal is to uplift the training experience by adding an emotional aspect beyond the physical.