5 Questions- Kalaija Mallery

Hosted by Joe Kohlburn, #podcast-Critical Mass for the Visual Arts is a series of concise conversations that pull back the curtain on creative life in St. Louis. Each episode presents an interview with an artist, designer, or other visual thinker connected to the city, but the approach is intentionally unconventional. Instead of standard career retrospectives, the host employs a fixed set of five peculiar, thoughtfully crafted questions designed to bypass rehearsed answers. This format aims to uncover the idiosyncratic processes, unexpected inspirations, and quietly strange moments that fuel artistic practice. Listeners will hear genuine, often surprising reflections that rarely surface in typical discussions about art. New episodes of this podcast arrive in an organic, irregular rhythm, mirroring the creative flow of the subjects themselves. The result is a collection of intimate, offbeat portraits that collectively map the vibrant and sometimes uncanny energy of the St. Louis visual arts scene, one revealing conversation at a time. It’s for anyone curious about the real stories behind the work, where the focus is less on finished products and more on the fascinating, human terrain of the creative mind.