With its just-released December issue, Dallas ArtCast.net celebrates one year of  monthly pod/videocast of interviews with artists currently showing in city galleries. ArtCast offers the one thing I often  miss at galleries and openings: a chance to hear the artists explain their work.

This month, DIY philosophy permeates the Cast. “I make things because I want to see them in the world,” says Brian Gibb, at The Public Trust. Usually he’s showing others’  work, but this month, he put up his own.  

Co-founder Lauren Gray says she happened upon the space for And/Or Gallery when she stopped there for a haircut a little over a year ago.

Other revelations: It wasn’t just “fancy business” that Elliott Johnson was thinking of when he began combining baroque ornamentation with words in  cartoon-style bubbles (see them at Road Agent). He had in mind failed love and Stendhal Syndrome (dizzy and overwhelmed in the presence of beautiful or abundant art).

More poignant – and surprising -is Janet Chaffee, who slowly reveals that her works in wax and antique lace patterns were actually inspired by lung cells, specifically, those of her mother, who was being treated for cancer.  She was thinking of mending, creating a new skin and painting healthy cells when she created some of  the pieces. (Mighty Fine  Arts Gallery)

Most of the shows are up for another week or two, a nice opportunity for a post-holiday breather.