Podcast Episode 02: The Art Collector’s Daughter Interviews Her Dad

artculturepaintingAfrican AmericanAfrican DiasporaBlackhistorymemoircontemporary artart collectionart collectingurbanBlack Lives MatterNewarkNewark NJcollecting art

May 29

Written By Roger C. Tucker III

Ara Tucker, writer, observer and traveler, gifted me, Roger C. Tucker III, with taking on the hosting duties for this podcast by interviewing me. My oldest daughter, she’s accompanied me on many art museum and other culture adventures beginning at the age of four. She continues to hang out with me, and me with her, on art jaunts across this continent and across the pond in Italy, most memorably. Whether traveling to Martha’s Vineyard to mount a solo exhibition for one of Tucker Contemporary Art’s artist and Bishop, Donald Hilliard, also known as the “Preacher Who Paints”. Or launching the fine art practice of artist, author and scholar, Margaret Rose Vendryes, including writing and editing two of her catalogs. Collaborating with her wife, Hilary Harkness, on the infamous and critically heralded, Arabella Freeman painting series, which debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach, Ara made the time to have me share my art collecting journey and the life of art that informs it. I think you’ll find her questions intriguing in how they are able to wrest surprising answers from me.

I’m a proud native of Newark, NJ and founder of Tucker Contemporary Art. TCA works with collectors and institutions interested in acquiring, exhibiting and promoting the work of emerging contemporary artists. Leveraging extensive experience in fine art, marketing and education, TCA advances the careers of African American and other underrepresented artists – academically trained or outside the mainstream. Check out our art advisory website: Tucker Contemporary Art

Education: MS, Pratt Institute, New York • BFA, Cooper Union, New York • Arts High School, Newark, NJ

Co-Host, Ara Tucker: She writes about art, culture, and identity. Her latest novel, How to Raise an Art Star, is the first in a series about the Gregson Bennett Family. In addition to the spin-off animal characters featured in Tails from the Alley, she’s currently curating and contributing to I'm Here Too, a website dedicated to learning, sharing and inspiring others through our diverse life journeys.

An alumna of the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference in Fiction, Poetry and Non-Fiction, Ara majored in Art History and Visual Arts at Princeton University and studied creative writing with Jeffrey Eugenides, Edmund White, and A.J. Verdelle. https://aratucker.com

Check out the images in this episode on: What’s Newark To Do With It?