Jeff Whittington is the host of Anything You Ever Wanted to Know on KERA FM and the senior producer of Think. He’s also the host of State of the Arts, presented by the Dallas Museum of Arts and Art&Seek.  We asked him to share some thoughts about the series, which kicks off Thursday night.

Why does a particular work of art resonate with you? What makes you want to experience it again and again and show it to your friends? Tonight we begin the third season of State of the Arts with a conversation about why artists create work and how the resulting artworks and the dialogues they foster influence our perceptions of art, society, ourselves and each other.

Our guests will include artist Mark Bradford, whose exhibition opens this weekend at the Dallas Museum of Art, and artist, educator and South Dallas Cultural Center Director Vicki Meek.

Mark Bradford is a Los Angeles-based artist who pushes the traditional boundaries in visual arts. Know mainly as a painter, Bradford’s unique process actually involves very little paint. Instead, he works as a kind of cultural curator – mining the paper refuse of the community surrounding his studios and reflecting that social and human story it tells in his artworks. Bradford has also recently begun using multi-media formats to tell stories. We’ll discuss his process and his dedication to nurturing the arts in other communities this evening.

Since 1997, Vicki Meek has served as Director of the South Dallas Cultural Center. In that time, she has influenced the lives of countless residents of the community through hundreds of events, programs and exposure to artists at the center. A successful artist herself, Vicki, who is passionately committed to making art an important part of the Dallas community, will be our first-hand witness to the importance of art.

Our conversation takes place tonight (Thursday, October 13^th) at the Dallas Museum of Art’s Horchow Auditorium. Details and a link for reservations are here. I really hope you can make it. You’ll be glad you came to this one.