About the Host
Gregg LeFevre is a longtime New Yorker with a passion for storytelling. Through writing, art, and conversations with friends and strangers he has always practiced the art of a good story. In his public art commissions, he has found ways to celebrate the collective stories of others, as well as sharing the personal stories he has lived.
For him, being a storyteller isn’t a choice. Just spend fifteen minutes in his company and you’ll understand his passion for telling a good story. His therapist once made a keen observation: Gregg’s storytelling is more than an interest to share, it’s a compulsion, a compulsion to connect with people through stories. Gregg took this observation to heart and developed The Compulsive Storyteller Podcast as a way of integrating his personal stories into his practice of telling other people’s stories through his public artwork.
On the podcast, Gregg selects the best of his stories from decades of storytelling and brings them to life with the same care and attention he has brought to all his artwork. In his public art commissions, he has found ways to celebrate the stories of native peoples, women’s history, black America, and natural history in a variety of media. His favorite medium has been bronze relief work. His storytelling often takes the form of text and images incorporated into illustrated bronze historical and cultural maps that are set in the paving of parks and plazas. Other times he creates illustrated bronze panels that are set in a series, leading the viewer along a pathway of stories about the place where they are set.
In total, he has completed over 200 different permanently installed public art projects all over the world. His expansive Library Walk New York City series by the 42nd Street Library is NYC’s largest public art project. Other pieces in NYC tell of forgotten events that took place in public spaces, including his Foley Square Medallions New York City in the pavement of the square that mark the massive African American burial ground there among other landmarks, and his Union Square Timeline New York City that references events like the vigil for the Rosenberg’s the night they were executed. His Boston Bricks in downtown Boston picture countless lost stories and events, as do his Bronzeville History Map Chicago, his Salt Lake City Library Station, the Las Vegas Airport Flight Map, Apollo Theater Walk of Fame Harlem, the Philadelphia Chinese Zodiac and his Iowa City Literary Walk.
Yet, the storytelling that Gregg brings to his newest project - The Compulsive Storyteller Podcast - is of a much more personal nature. He grew up in a family of storytellers where every gathering was an informal competition to tell the best story. From these early experiences he learned the power of telling a good story: it not only entertains people, but it brings people together, connecting them to one another. Over the years, Gregg turned his experiences into a repertoire of hundreds of stories that he shares with everyone in his life. It is his way of finding commonality in a diverse world.
Tune in to The Compulsive Storyteller Podcast every Wednesday on Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. To find out about Gregg’s public art and photography projects visit www.gregglefevre.com.
“The universe is made of stories not atoms”