Episodes

  • S8 Ep1: Midnight Mother Goose, Part 1

    S8 Ep1: Midnight Mother Goose, Part 1
    Jan 22 2026

    Mother Goose is not a particular person, although some have tried to claim there was one, but a Mother Goose was a -collection- of beloved stories.

    Tonight our story takes us into a place of disquiet through dark coniferous forests with copses of fir and spruce trees. Strangely, at times these dark forests seem to bio-locate between Germany and France in Mother Goose stories and fairy tales of the Brother Grimm. Geographically the countries are next door neighbors.

    Thankfully the world that these stories reside in is an imaginary place where some shockingly mean-spirited humans make life harder for others, curses, vile cannibals and horrific serial killers, even talking wolves are key players as the villains.

    But also, a magic midnight time-spell, a cursed prince, impractical glass heels, treasure, griddle cakes for grandmother, alchemy: spinning straw into gold, grouchy dwarves, good fairies, angels…

    The world of fairy tales is a safe space for us to observe the dire consequences of bad judgment and the magic that could happen to everyday people...

    Image Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RRH_Walter_Crane_1875.jpg Description: Crop of Illustration from the toy book Little Red Riding Hood (link to page). London: George Routledge and Sons, 1875. Source https://archive.org/details/LittleRedRiding00Cran/page/1 Author | Walter Crane (1845–1915)

    Audio: Sound engineers at FreeSound.org
    - Adrian Gomar
    - Mozart - Lacrimosa / Requiem in D minor - K. 626 - Arranged for Music Box by GregorQuendel | License: Attribution NonCommercial 4.0
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    29 mins
  • S7 Ep4: WGP SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE: 3 Doxies, 3 IVDD Surgeries — One Big Rescue Family

    S7 Ep4: WGP SPECIAL BONUS EPISODE: 3 Doxies, 3 IVDD Surgeries — One Big Rescue Family
    Dec 2 2025
    In this heartfelt Giving Tuesday bonus episode of the Whispering Gallery podcast, meet Copper, Bonzai, and Frankie — three dachshunds who faced paralysis, pain, and uncertainty, and the people who lifted them back up. These stories are real, raw, full of hope--and about dogs at Rocky Mountain Dachshund Rescue. www.rmdr.org I wanted to share more about the dogs at the rescue than I usually share in regular WGP episodes.
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    10 mins
  • S7 Ep3: The Night Watch Mystery, Part 2

    S7 Ep3: The Night Watch Mystery, Part 2
    Sep 30 2025
    In Part 2 of The Night Watch Mystery, we step deeper into the shadows of Rembrandt’s masterpiece. This chapter traces the strange and violent history of the painting’s attacks, explores the accusations that swirled around the militia it depicts, and considers what these stories reveal about Amsterdam in the 1600s. Alongside the canvas, we follow Rembrandt himself—his battles with loss, financial ruin, and the weight of -possible- depression. We also look at the theory that an eye condition may have shaped the way he saw the world, and the way he painted it.
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    37 mins
  • S7 Ep2: The Night Watch Mystery, Part 1

    S7 Ep2: The Night Watch Mystery, Part 1
    Jul 21 2025
    Step into the shadows of Rembrandt’s most famous painting. Was The Night Watch always this dark, or is something hidden beneath the varnish? In this first episode, we begin unraveling a centuries-old art mystery that’s more than meets the eye.

    See the Night Watch painting by Rembrandt Van Rijn at the Rijks Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands (Painting Name is AKA The Night Watch Militia Company of District II under the Command of Captain Frans Banninck Cocq)

    www.whisperinggallerypodcast.com
    Patreon: Whispering Gallery+ After Dark: https://www.patreon.com/c/whisperinggallery
    whisperingcontact@gmail.com

    Thank you to my friends Fig and Wisp for their help while I was writing this episode, with editing, feedback and fresh points of view! +AI
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    32 mins
  • S7 Ep1: Mothman Metamorphosis: Steel & Paint Part 2

    S7 Ep1: Mothman Metamorphosis: Steel & Paint Part 2
    Mar 10 2025
    Part 2 about the Mothman legend and subsequent art. Stories about the area the legend grew up in, Point Pleasant, West Virgina. Learn about artists Frank Frazetta and Bob Roach and their iconic mothman pieces. Mothman has been identified by some as a portent to the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, WV.

    Episode Image Source: frazettamuseum.com Frazetta Gallery Store, Frank Frazetta, 1980, Art Print No. 118 - Mothman, painting, accessed 29, August, 2024

    www.whisperinggallerypodcast.com

    Copyright 2024 Suzanne Nikolaisen. All Rights Reserved.
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    1 hr and 5 mins
  • S6 Ep4: Stay Spooky Phenomecon

    S6 Ep4: Stay Spooky Phenomecon
    Sep 30 2024
    Join me for the nickel tour, an experiment with artificial intelligence (AI), using my Phenomecon 2024 report as only the Whispering Gallery can bring it. With a velvety “blended” of spiced chai latte* and the Phenomecon mantra “we believe” which is a tad more than I’m personally comfortable with. I don’t “believe” carte blanche and personally I would have been more comfortable with “the jury is still out…” and yet the green glowy website had beckoned and there I was.

    This episode is a short overview of the Phenomecon conference as organized by the experimental AI "Google Notebook LM" from my full episode recording, and notes. More about the conference and human speakers in the full episode.

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    *Spoofs coffee in Vernal, Utah

    Episode Image Source: Microsoft Designer, Create with AI
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    12 mins
  • S6 Ep3: Mothman Metamorphosis: Steel & Paint, Part 1

    S6 Ep3: Mothman Metamorphosis: Steel & Paint, Part 1
    Aug 29 2024
    This episode offers an introduction to our next spooky art pieces about a cryptid that hails from West Virginia, has been deemed a portent who was seen between 1966 and 1967, ending after the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge.

    Episode Image Source: frazettamuseum.com Frazetta Gallery Store, Frank Frazetta, 1980, Art Print No. 118 - Mothman, painting, accessed 29, August, 2024

    www.whisperinggallerypodcast.com

    Copyright 2024 Suzanne Nikolaisen. All Rights Reserved.
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    18 mins
  • S6 Ep2: The Clue of the Crumbling Cake Paintings

    S6 Ep2: The Clue of the Crumbling Cake Paintings
    May 3 2024
    Whispering Gallery Podcast

    WGP: Clue of the Crumbling Cake Paintings
    A still life is a category of artwork that dates back to the 1600’s. A collection of things brought together (inanimate) gathered often on a table for the artist to work from and reference. The artist can work with this grouping of items, coming back over one or more sessions to complete the drawing or painting. Nothing in the grouping changes from session to session. The place for the artist’s chair can even be marked with masking tape to make sure they end up in the correct spot to work from.

    “Still life’s” for 16th and 17th century Dutch may be made up of food like fruit; grapes, flowers (like on the secret of the missing tulip episode), cheese, bread, yas—cake, wine goblets, reflective surfaces of serving dishes. One example, artist, Clara Peters, took things to a level that might surprise you Daily Art Magazine shares, quote:

    “…probably she is most famous for enriching her still lifes with her hidden self-portrait reflected in the objects on the table. In the image above, Still Life with Flowers, a Silver-gilt Goblet, Dried Fruit, Sweetmeats, Breadsticks, Wine and a Pewter Pitcher, the artist painted her portrait three times in the goblet and four times on the pewter jug… Aside from having a role as a signature, painting reflections were a challenge to artists to show off their mastery…

    She also had a particular way of signing her work, often hidden. Six out of her 39 known paintings include the same ornate silver knife that is inscribed with her name, Clara Peeters.” Unquote dailyartmagazine.com/dutch-still-life-6-famous-painters/

    Looking for strange and unexpected “Easter eggs” like these may seem a little too tedious, -or- maybe they make you a bit curious—you’d be right on both accounts. (Pause) I mean why -do- people end up standing there in museums, studying paintings, drawings, and sculpture? This could be one reason.

    Is a goblet half full or half empty… what were they going for? Life used up or life to be enjoyed? Or something else? Like maybe the artist got thirsty and just drank some of it.

    Besides looking at all of the details, from the mastery of a painting— of beautiful, intricate lace on the cuff of a sleeve, the ombré fading and veins in flower petals, or impressionist brushstrokes up close.

    There may be mystery built into the composition—maybe not as difficult to unravel as an Agatha Christie novel, but, then again? Maybe there are “icons” representing meaning, visual bookmarks that are part of the story. Like a skull or a blown out candle— representing death. To the art world this last bit acts as the reminders “memento mori” directly translated from Latin: remember death.

    Thanks for listening! I hope you'll subscribe so you don't miss an episode.

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    Clip of audio from wwltv.com story "Abita Springs Bakery Haunted Owner Says" used under Fair Use. Audio Source: https://www.wwltv.com/article/news/local/abita-springs-bakery-haunted-owner-says/289-487389181

    Episode Image Art Source: Cake Slice Wayne Thiebaud, 1979 Style: Pop Art Genre: still life, WikiArt.org

    Audio: FreeSound.org, Angel Chimes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=telxWQxtvcs

    www.whisperinggallerypodcast.com
    Copyright 2024 Suzanne Nikolaisen. All Rights Reserved.
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    41 mins