Art Stories: The Official Podcast

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast, hosted by Sky Lilah (@skylilah), we sit down with Kaeli Yarwood... Kaeli is the gallerist at Steffich Fine Art, a gallery on Salt Spring Island founded in 1992 by her mentor Matt Steffich. Since his passing in 2020, Kaeli has carried the gallery's legacy forward, traveling to fairs like Art Vancouver in search of emerging and seasoned artists whose...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , hosted by Sky Lilah (@skylilah), we sit down with Iqra Adam , a Calgary-based mixed-media artist whose work explores the balance between joy, memory, and emotion. Through a combination of bold, vibrant paintings and deeply reflective monotone pieces, Iqra captures both the beauty of everyday moments and the quiet intensity of memory. Her intuitive proce...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast, hosted by Sky Lilah (@skylilah), we sit down with Adam Silver — photographer, Hollywood location scout, and a man who has spent his life looking at the world with rare intentionality. Largely self-taught, Adam left home as a teenager in a station wagon, honed his eye across the Hawaiian Islands and the Colorado Rockies, and eventually built a career in C...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast, hosted by Sky Lilah (@skylilah), we sit down with Tessa Haywood, a New Zealand-born, Port Coquitlam-based artist whose vibrant, slightly surreal paintings carry the memory of 22 countries and the intuitive spirit of a practice in constant evolution. Trained in Digital Media and shaped by studies at OCAD University in Toronto and the University of Leeds i...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , hosted by Sky Lilah (@skylilah), we sit down with Lara Shecter — Vancouver-based artist working in acrylic and mixed media, known for her luminous, resin-finished paintings rooted in the landscapes of the Pacific Northwest. Her canvases explore memory, solitude, and the quiet tension of place — capturing Jericho Beach at low tide, the working ships of t...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , hosted by Sky Lilah (@skylilah), we sit down with Erica Marrello , a Vancouver-based multidisciplinary artist whose work pushes the boundaries between painting, performance, and immersive experience. As the creator of GET MELTED , Erica transforms the human body into a living canvas, creating powerful, real-time works that explore identity, sensuality,...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we speak with Jonathan Gomez - Confluent Studios , a contemporary artist whose work transforms inner awareness into visual form. Working with traditional decorative techniques like verre églomisé and raised lacquer , Jonathan and his wife, Tomoki, have spent over 15 years bridging historical craftsmanship with contemporary expression. Jonathan’s art emp...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , hosted by Sky Lilah (@skylilah), we sit down with Sara Margherita (Margh) , a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto whose work explores movement, transformation, and the freedom to create without boundaries. Rooted in the idea of art as therapy, Margh uses creativity as a living language for self-expression, centering emotion as both source and subj...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we sit down with Sarah Jimenez , a videographer and photographer whose work focuses on capturing the authentic essence of the people and stories she encounters. Through both client collaborations and personal projects, Sarah approaches visual storytelling with curiosity, empathy, and an eye for the small moments that reveal who we truly are. Whether wor...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we sit down with Cathy Key, Ph. D. , a British-Canadian contemporary artist known for her large-scale mixed-media portraits that explore nature, the sacred, and our shared humanity. Cathy combines collage, acrylics, inks, and glazes to create richly layered images that feel both intimate and otherworldly. Drawing on her background in Anthropology and ov...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , hosted by Sky Lilah (@skylilah), we sit down with Lisa Wolfin (@lwolfin), founder of Art Vancouver, for Part 1 of an in-depth conversation exploring her remarkable creative journey. From working with Dior in France to building and running a fashion company across Canada, Lisa’s path has been anything but linear. Her story is one of vision, resilience, a...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we sit down with Jorge Izaza , a Mexican-Canadian wood artist whose work explores the connection between nature, form, and illumination. Inspired by waves, mountains, contemporary architecture, and the organic lines of the human body, Jorge creates asymmetrical wooden sculptures that celebrate the imperfect beauty of nature. In 2018, a pivotal moment in...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we sit down with Kelcy Timmons Chan (they/them),  a Cantonese Canadian American queer pop artist and mural painter based in Toronto whose work explores food as a love language. Through their lens as a biracial, gender-fluid immigrant, Kelcy amplifies the stories of immigrant and family-run restaurants, highlighting how cultural foods connect us to histo...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we’re joined by Brandy , the artist behind The Gayest Lil’ Gift Shop In All The Land,  a bold, joyful, and unapologetically queer creative universe celebrating LGBTQIA+ representation. Brandy’s work spans over 350 pieces and has appeared in Vogue , Vanity Fair , Art Basel Week , Netflix’s Snowpiercer , and numerous community festivals and exhibitions. W...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we’re joined by Jeryce Claude Dianingana , a Paris-born artist of Congolese heritage creating Afro-centric 3D art across gaming, fine art, and film. Jeryce shares how his cultural roots influence his visual storytelling, blending African aesthetics with digital tools to amplify African cultural diversity on a global stage. We talk about identity, repres...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we sit down with Ray Beldner,  multidisciplinary artist, educator, and co-founder of Startup Art, whose career has never followed a straight line. Ray shares stories from his winding path through printmaking studios in Belgium, construction sites, classrooms at the San Francisco Art Institute, and ultimately founding a platform designed to help artists...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we sit down with Silvina Lanusse,   painter, mixed-media collagist, and storyteller through art, for a gentle, reflective conversation about memory, belonging, and the quiet act of reassembling what has been broken. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and now living on Vancouver Island, Silvina works with torn paper, vintage letters, sheet music, old maps,...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we sit down with Angie Prime , an abstract painter based on Vancouver Island whose work is driven by an abundance of colour, texture, experimentation, and humour. Working primarily with acrylic paint and textured mediums, Angie embraces abstraction as a space for play, intuition, and curiosity. We talk about trusting the creative process, moving from cr...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we sit down with Rosemary , a multidisciplinary African-Canadian artist whose creative expression flows through painting, music, and writing , deeply rooted in her connection to the natural world. Rosemary’s work invites us to slow down, to pause, and to reconnect with the quiet beauty of life. Through sweeping landscapes and thoughtful reflection, she...

In this episode of the Art Stories Podcast , we’re joined by internationally recognised artist and presenter Daniel Taylor — known for his powerful, hyper-realistic paintings of critically endangered species and his long-running international TV series, When Paintings Come Alive . Daniel shares his creative journey, the stories behind his work, and how art can be a meaningful force for conservatio...

Join host Sky Lilah in conversation with Vancouver-based artist Elizabeth Cross, whose fascination with nature, love, and human connection fuels her vibrant, textured botanicals and expressive abstract works. With a background in Bio-Resource Engineering, Elizabeth brings a unique perspective to her art — blending science, emotion, and unconventional materials (plus a touch of sparkle). In this ep...

In this episode, host Sky Lilah sits down with Vancouver-based portrait artist Haisha Shahalimi, whose work explores themes of identity, memory, and belonging. Working primarily with acrylic on canvas, Haisha uses color, expression, and detail to tell deeply personal stories, capturing not just the face, but the emotional and cultural layers beneath. She opens up about the influences behind her wo...

In this episode, host Sky Lilah speaks with Nigerian artist Silas Onoja, whose hyperrealist portraits challenge assumptions and reflect his lived experiences growing up in a society where creative careers were discouraged. From facing cultural and financial resistance to teaching himself how to paint using limited tools, Silas shares how he carved his path as a self-taught artist — and how hyperre...