During this quarantine, Michael Kunz and Tom Sena, two art teachers at LHS, created their own podcast: The Drop. Shorthand for “dropping knowledge,” their podcast features personal interviews with artists from around the world. In these interviews, Sena and Kunz ask a range of questions and hold in-depth conversations. For example, in Jessica Brilli’s interview, they discussed the wide use of social media as a selling point and how quickly pieces sell out.

Kunz teaches Advanced Placement Studio Art and Graphic Design, and Sena teaches a senior portfolio class as well as an advanced drawing and painting class at LHS. The Drop is a continuation of Sena’s in-class Skype program, “The Visiting Professional Artist Series,” where students got a chance to connect with and question professional artists and be more immersed in professional fields regarding art. They are excited to share and further their knowledge about artists and the art industry.

Thus far, The Drop has featured interviews with many successful and established artists. Their first was a London-based artist named Vic Lee who specializes in his black and white signature style. The next podcast featured Frank Oriti, a successful painter from Cleveland, Ohio. Other professionals interviewed were Washington, D.C.-based and Emmy-nominated filmmaker and photographer Miguel “Mig” Martinez, as well as stencil artist and environmentalist from Vancouver, B.C, Alex Stewart. Their latest podcast was with Jessica Brilli, who specializes in oil paintings of vintage scenes.

Using the Zoom platform, every Friday, the duo interviews a new artist live, and later uploads the segment to YouTube and Apple Podcasts. Updates are posted to the podcast’s personal Instagram page: @thedropinterviews.

When asked how the idea came about, Kunz stated, “The idea of doing a podcast/YouTube channel actually came to us at portfolio day in 2018. We had the idea of building on the program that Mr. Sena implemented four years ago in his senior portfolio art classes called, ‘The Visiting Professional Artist Series.’” National Art Honor Society President and Senior Madelyn Colonna spoke about the importance of connecting with professional artists: “Well, I think that it’s important to listen to professional artists, so you know how to get around in the art world. Mr. Sena used to do ‘visiting artist’ meetings with our portfolio class, where a professional artist would connect with us in class, and it was super cool to see their work ethic and how they get in touch with galleries and promote their work.”

The Drop is being met with much positivity at LHS. “That is a really awesome idea, especially with quarantine happening,” said junior Marianne Lombardo. Already gaining recognition on county-wide newspapers, The Drop is an exciting, new project created by two inventive art teachers.