Vulnerability in life and art

Jo Ann Chaus is a New York-based photographer who explores identity, memory, aging, and expectations of women through deeply rich and personal self-portraits, still lifes, and landscapes. Drawing from a background in retail fashion, she uses garments that had belonged to women from previous generations of her family, including her mother, along with props, lighting, and reflections, to create imag...

One of the things that really struck me during my conversation with Steven was when he said: "People don't want work that is difficult." In anticipation of speaking with artist, poet, and philosopher Steven Seidenberg, I explored two of his pieces in particular, one literary and one visual: Coda and Kanazawa Vacancy. My experiences with these two works inspired a lot of our conversation, as well a...

This is a reflection on Quality in this podcast and how it relates to video and audio conversations.

Entrepreneur, consultant, writer, and founder of Serapex, Philipp explains that our existential fears of life and fear of death are our primary drivers. He helps people uncover the deeper meaning and purpose that underlie their fears, so they can reframe those fears and determine the best ways to work through them. Through his experience in design, branding, and strategy as well as study of existe...

Photographer and wild horse advocate Carol Walker talks about how she first started in photography and what led her to capturing images of families - the stallions, mares, and foals living in the wild in Wyoming. Carol's passion and commitment to raising awareness of the precarious plight of wild horses today come through not just her words, but the images she captures of horses as individuals, fr...

David Deane Haskell is a musician as well as the author of several books, including Wounded Angels and The Solarian Deep. We talk about how drumming led him to writing a personal memoir about trauma and inner child healing, essays capturing daily slices of life, and speculative science fiction. Ulimately he sees all the pieces he creates as opportunities to communicate with others in a meaningful...

Ivana Bajic is a multimedia producer drawn to stories where nature, emotion, and human transformation intersect. Through surfing, she discovered the ocean not just as a place, but as a force of healing, grounding, and deep connection among women. Author of Nature of Surf Women,   creator of the podcast Nature of Surf Women - Waves of Women, and curator of surf and wellness retreats, Ivana is curre...

Mark Connor is a boxing trainer and writer from Saint Paul, Minnesota. Hearing Mark read from his book, 'It's About Time (Millions of Copies Sold for Dad),' reminded me how precious it is to have the opportunity to listen to a writer read their words aloud. As Mark says, 'God breaks my nose; I'll break his nose.' In other words, fight for what feels right. And the idea that once your feet hit the...

I've called at least one other episode in this podcast an odd duck.  I think this may be a much even odder duck. The theme is ruminations I guess on the fifth birthday of the Vulnerability in life and art podcast.

Colin Douglas lives in Las Vegas, a data analyst by training and a philosopher by nature. He's driven by ideas and a great curiosity about how people choose to live their lives in the general pursuit of happiness, or better yet, enduring peace, fulfillment, or purpose. Working a full-time job, he finds the time to share his insights and invites others to engage in the conversation. Colin shares a...

"Books transform and shape us," says Winnipeg-based book artist Debra Frances. What makes a book a book? And how are we shaped by what we experience through books? Inspired after making a book to showcase her daughter's artwork, Debra now creates stunning pieces from natural materials like milkweed seedpods and driftwood, as well as her own handmade papers and dyes. She teaches bookbinding classes...

Based in Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario, Bryn Gladding is a commercial photographer who works with developers, researchers, inventors, artists, and manufacturers, alongside pursuing his own personal projects. I found his insights and reflections into his personal projects in particular, from the perspective of his own vulnerability, very moving. Bryn is as passionate about nurturing connections with p...

This is a quick ramble about the learning field - designing courses and workshops - and sustaining dramatic tension in long-form fiction.

This was a fun coversation from a personal perspective, because I went to high school with Jackie Reeves, a painter who also does collage, installations, film, and animations. Jackie grew up making art and exudes a lovely sense of calm confidence not only in her talent, but also in her choices to make art as child, teen, and adult. She has faith in her drawing hand, her painting hand. I did envy t...

I had the opportunity to speak with Laura Tafe about her collage work, which I find bright and bold. She also works as a pathologist and has been able to reintegrate artistic practice into her life as an adult, with a spirit of intentionality and a desire to express different aspects of herself, both to herself and to others. Laura talks about the role of art, creativity, and self-expression in he...

This is my second conversation with Stefan Lorenzutti, a poet who runs the independent press Bored Wolves in collaboration with his partner Joanna Osiewicz-Lorenzutti. Stefan and I were messaging a few months back and he shared that it had been a challenging year, and how responses from when we last talked would no longer be quite the same. So in a way we talked about many of the same big picture...

One might think that by my fifth year of doing this podcast, I'd remember to introduce the guest at the beginning of the episode! Sadly, I did not in this case. So, this is my conversation with Liv Wickedly, a multidimensional artist and creative who loves jumping in to try new things, a woman after my own heart. We talk about art as intentional self-expression, through whatever medium feels right...

In this episode, I talk about what surfing means to me. It's a challenge on many different levels. Most importantly, it is teaching me what the real challenge is, in my relationship to the ocean, control, and lessons still to learn. Be sure to check out the book Nature of Surf Women @nature_of_surfwomen written by Ivana Bajic @ivanabajic with photography by Gabriela Tellez and audio recordings by...

This is my first episode - and probably my first conversation ever - with an action actor (which is today's term for the profession I would've referred to as stuntman). Jon Schmidt fell into the work after time in the Peace Corps and then completing his MBA, when the job overseas that he had accepted fell through. Jon explains how in the beginning of his career, he worried that saying no to a role...

Amy Horowitz is a freelance photographer based in New York City who takes portraits of young adults in and around Washington Square Park, looking for the softness under the shell and documenting today's generation in tumultuous times, in moments of connection. Here's the core message of her work - and I really like how she says it: I was brought up in a different way...but people are how they are....

This is another one of those odd duck little episodes. I pulled a snippet out of my conversation with Tim Tamashiro where he walked me through the process of identifying my ikigai. I felt a bit awkward when I became the subject of our discussion, and that feeling encouraged me to look more closely at what we talked about. So, there are two parts to this episode. First, Tim is helping me figure out...

Tim Tamashiro is a speaker, singer, radio and podcast host, and author of  How To Ikigai , a book that helps people discover their ikigai, or life's purpose. His own ikigai is "to delight." Tim talks about how mental health crises during the covid pandemic led him to therapy and Buddhist practice, the role of manifestation in his life, and his passion for ikigai which is a combination of four fact...

In this episode, I talk about what it means to me to make choices about where to put my time and energy - and really trying to feel into those choices, as well as think logically about pros and cons, so I can open space in my life for doing what matters most to me.

Doug Breault is a Boston-based interdisciplinary artist who works with photography, painting, sculpture, and video. In addition to his art practice, he curates exhibitions at Gallery 263, teaches art students at Babson College and Bridgewater State University, and contributes articles to Boston Art Review, Lenscratch, the Harvard Art Museum, and the Bridgewater Review. Doug talks about his evoluti...

Having inadvertently introduced Barbara Steinhaus - Chair of the Department of Music at Brenau University - as a music therapist, she not only set me straight with gentleness, but then walked me through her career as singer and educator, the value of music for healing, and how visiting art museums improves our wellbeing. I was taken by the four elements of singing in a healthcare setting that alig...