50th Episode Celebration: The Eras of Gaston Lacombe with Joe Wolley

In episode 50 of The Art Colony podcast, former journalist Joe Woolley interviews our host, Gaston Lacombe. Gaston, a Canadian-born artist and American citizen, recounts earning history degrees in Ottawa, living 16 years in Latvia in roles from teacher and newscaster to embassy cultural work, becoming the first head of Latvia’s national LGBT organization, and leaving amid threats. In Washington, DC he earned a photography degree, worked as a photojournalist, and created the globally published Captive Project documenting animal welfare in zoos. After first visiting Provincetown in 2016, he left his marriage, moved there, and opened a Whaler’s Wharf studio in 2018. He describes evolving from mixed-media photography to hard-edge painting, his tape-and-color-code construction process, and how the podcast deepened his community ties, spotlit a thriving, largely queer-driven art colony, and led to plans for a July 21 live anniversary event.