Why Make? Podcast

Welcome to Episode 53 of Why Make? On this episode we talk with Robert Lyon, a woodturner, artist and educator who lives and works in the Columbia, SC area. Literally climbing the walls with handmade ladders as a small child, the sky was the limit, as Robert explored model rockets and building theatre sets, before landing in art school for college. His lifetime in the arts started in ceramics when...

In Episode 52 of Why Make? we talk with Katie Thompson, an artist, writer, creative consultant and instructor based in the Low Country outside of Charleston, SC. Katie wears many hats including being a disabled mother of two, and wife and partner to fine furniture maker Joseph Thompson. Katie has a passion for people and sharing their stories, and pursues her inclinations as a storyteller through...

The long awaited conversation on Why Make? Podcast with artist and maker Aspen Golaan.

On this episode of Why Make? we talk with Kim Winkle, an arts administrator full time teacher and artist. Kim is a Professor of Art and the Director of the School of Art, Craft & Design at Tennessee Technological University’s Appalachian Center for Craft. A native of Oklahoma Kim holds a Bachelor of Fine Art in Ceramics from the University of Oklahoma. She then started her MFA in ceramics at San D...

Why Make Podcast, Wendy Maruyama Episode Part II Transcript Time Code 00:00 Robb Helmkamp Hello and welcome to Why Make, where we talk to makers from different disciplines about what inspires them to make. With your hosts Robb Helmkamp and.  Erik Wolken Erik Wolken. If you would like to learn more about the makers we interview on Why Make please go our website why-make.com Robb Helmkamp And p...

Why Make Podcast, Wendy Maruyama Episode Part 1 Transcript   Time Code 00:00 Robb Helmkamp Hello and welcome to Why Make, where we talk to makers from different disciplines about what inspires them to make. With your hosts Robb Helmkamp and,   Erik Wolken Erik Wolken. If you would like to learn more about the makers we interview on Why Make please go our website why-make.com Ro...

On this episode of Why Make we talk with James McNabb a woodworker and artist who grew up in Montville, NJ overlooking New York City. James grew up in a family that was very supportive of his creative endeavors, his mother being a teacher and father a carpenter. Early experiences taking woodworking classes in middle and high school led him to pursue his undergrad in woodworking, at the School for...

On this episode of Why Make? we resume our conversation with Melanie Falick an independent writer, editor, creative consultant and lifelong maker who lives in the Hudson Valley in New York. We continue talking about the creation of her book Making a Life: Working by Hand and Discovering the Life You Are Meant to Live and also find out more about work on her new book, tentatively titled The Maker’s...

Why Make Episode 46, Part 1. a podcast conversation with Melanie Falick, an independent writer, editor, creative consultant and lifelong maker . You can find out more about Melanie at melaniefalick.com and on her Instagram or pick up a copy of Making a Life at great retailers like Indiebound Portrait photo by Christine Ashburn . Making photos by Rinne Allen and excerpted from Making a Life: Workin...

In this Bonus Make with Zeke Leonard we get into the nitty gritty of the relationship between making objects and musical instruments and being a musician or just making wonderful noises.

On this episode we talk with Zeke Leonard, a Syracuse, NY based educator, designer, musician and maker. Born in Charleston, SC Zeke started out early, getting involved in community theater while growing up in Winston Salem, NC. His interest in acting and set design & construction led him to a degree in Set Design at the NC School of the Arts. Zeke moved to NYC to follow the dream of a career as a...

Episode 43 of Why Make? is a Bonus make? We talk with Tom Loeser about the time he spent with Tommy Simpson in 1981 during a 10 day chair making workshop at the now defunct Boston University Program in Artisanry. Tom talks about Tommy’s ability to tell a story through a narrative and his exceptional quality and speed as both a maker and woodworker. So loosen up, get ready to reset your brain and e...

Episode 42: Tom Loeser Why Make? Download On Episode 42 of Why Make? we talk with Tom Loeser , an educator, furniture maker, and box maker who recently retired as the head of the Furniture Design and Woodworking program at UW-Madison where he has taught since 1991. Tom designs and builds one-of-a-kind, functional and dysfunctional, objects that are often carved and painted. His work is primarily b...

On Episode 41 of Why Make? we talk with Christopher Schwarz, a furniture maker, educator, writer and publisher who lives and works from a storefront in Covington, KY. Schwarz is one of the founders and the editor of Lost Art Press, which publishes numerous, high quality books, including the Anarchists Tool Chest, on hand tool woodworking. In 2019, Schwarz triumphantly closed his commission book, a...

Building sandcastles on the beaches of Massachusetts is the perfect way to start a life long love with making which Mark Del Guidice continues to this day. In Episode 40 of Why Make? we talk with Mark about growing up in a working class family which may have been short on experiences in the arts, but, was long on nurturing and probably at the heart of this psychology student turned supermarket man...

A brief update on our progress on the Tommy project

This episode is a special edition of sorts where we actually talk about the process of making instead of getting all existential like we usually do… and although this is definitely not a “tool talk” it is more of a How Make! than a Why Make? this time around! On Episode 39 of Why Make? we talk with Karen Ernst a maker and educator, who is currently a Professor in the Art Department at Edinboro Uni...

Welcome to the 2021 holiday episode of Why Make. For the end of our third season we have something extra special in store for you… a conversation with one of the groundbreaking artists of the modern studio furniture movement, Tommy Simpson. Tommy’s work has a whimsical bent, but that belies a serious approach to making for someone who has created a universe of unique objects in every media you can...

In this episode of Bonus Make! we continue our conversation with Ellie Richards, a furniture designer, sculptor and teacher who is currently a resident artist at the Penland School of Crafts. We talk with Ellie about her project “The Highboy’s Understory: Deconstructing the Icon” in which she examines the Winterthur, Delaware Museum, Garden and Library’s collection of high chests and other related...

In Episode 36 Why Make? we talk with furniture designer, sculptor and teacher Ellie Richards who is currently a resident artist at the Penland School of Crafts in the mountains of Western North Carolina. After growing up in Pittsburgh, PA she attended the wood & furniture design programs at San Diego State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Looking to the tradition of both woodwork...

In this episode of Bonus Make we talk with Katie Hudnall, about that most important of any artists tools, the sketchbook. As a tool for organizing your thoughts, a visual expression of your daily experiences or just a place to write down a shopping list next to a cool idea for a Rube Goldberg Machine, the sketchbook is a Swiss Army Knife for most artists. Katie guides us through her sketch book ,w...

In Episode 34 of Why Make we talk with artist, woodworker and educator Katie Hudnall, currently living in Madison Wisconsin she is an assistant professor of art at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Katie began in the arts as someone who loved to draw and was able to morph her drawing language into a unique woodworking style, despite her admitted lack of finer woodworking skills. Hudnall relies...

In Episode 33 of Why Make? we talk with furniture maker, sculptor, and educator, Andy Buck. Andy is currently a full professor in the School for American Crafts in the College of Art and Design at the Rochester Institute of Technology. He has also taught at the Oregon College of Art & Craft, and given workshops at Anderson Ranch, Haystack, Penland and Peters Valley. Andy’s work has always seemed t...

Episode 32 of Why Make? is a Bonus Make! as we continue our conversation with Adam Manley and talk about his 2018 solo exhibition, Ordinary Rendition.

On Episode 31 of Why Make? we are joined by Adam Manley a San Diego, California based maker and educator. We talk with Adam about everything under the hot California sun including his large-scale sculpture and installations, his furniture and functional objects, and teaching San Diego State University as an assistant professor in their Furniture design and woodworking program.