"Art is Freedom" with Mark Loughney

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About 14 years ago, I found myself in car with my friend Mark Loughney. I picked him up randomly as he was completing a hike through Dunmore, PA, and we decided to hit a meeting. He had a backpack & supplies, but the pack wasn't filled with granola. It was unexpectedly filled with many insects, and foraged beatles collected with great care, and affection. We discuss this today, beatles being a species he puts intense focus on expressing in his art.
Our connection with each other was immediate, and also facilitated by a friend we both loved and lossed this year. Our friend Chris passed before Mark was released from prison, and their planned reunion never happened. In the atmosphere of grief Mark was released from prison with another distinct problem most newly free men don't encounter. He was famous. This fame rose from his unique, skilled and empathetic portrait art he expressed inside. This seemly started as a way in which he can combat a growing desire to take his own life in prison.
We also discuss the unlikely voice on NPR that saved him one afternoon in his cell, and propelled him into a direction of portraiture Art. In this practice of immersing himself in the details of other inmates faces he had an awakening. What can one wake up to by intensely studying other peoples faces and drawing that image?
It's funny to think our faces are essentially objects for others to experience. We

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Chapter

1. INTRO (00:00:00)

2. The first eight years of his life and how he found relief. (00:04:01)

3. How do you remember the first time you had your first buzz? (00:12:41)

4. When did you first get asked or coerced into exploring a treatment center? (00:18:44)

5. When did you first get asked or coerced into exploring a treatment center? (00:18:44)

6. Did the consequence of going to prison add another layer of alienation? (00:23:21)

7. Mark’s first three years in prison and how it changed him. (00:29:21)

8. When you’re in the moment, you can’t see the past. (00:37:15)

9. How would you describe your basic personality? (00:41:56)

10. Why does a beetle speak to you? (00:48:17)