Creatives on Camera: Artists and Crafters Using Video to Teach, Sell and Inspire Online

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? What if good marketing isn't about being clever — it's about listening? Dawn Prickett started Twice Sheared Sheep at her kitchen table, unraveling thrift-store sweaters to recycle the yarn because she couldn't afford new skeins. Today it's a multi-million-dollar knitting-notions company with around fifty employees — most of them stay-at-home mom...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? Graphics are one of my favorite things, and also one of the biggest time traps I see creative teachers fall into.  In this episode of the Creatives on Camera podcast, I'm breaking down the one question that changed everything about how I approach making images: what is the single job this image needs to do? Once you know that, the font tweaking, color obsessin...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? What frustrated you as a beginner? That might be your most valuable teaching asset. Sonia Pal spent a year trying to learn modern brush pen calligraphy and couldn't find anything structured enough, sequenced enough, or beginner-friendly enough to get her from point A to point C. So she built it herself. Now, through ASquareWatermelon, she teaches calligraphy t...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? You don't need a finished course, a big following, or a perfect plan; you just need to start. That's the quiet truth running through this whole conversation with Lynn Christiansen, quilt pattern designer, former school librarian, and founder of the Wanderlust Quilt Society. Lynn launched her first travel-themed block-of-the-month program with 11 students...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? What if you stopped trying to reach everyone and started building something real for the people who actually need you? In this episode, I'm talking with Maddie Kertay, founder of the Badass Quilter Society, a values-driven creative community for progressive quilters, crafters, and makers. Maddie built her Patreon from a simple sticker subscription into a prote...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? In this episode, I sit down with Michele Muska, a textile artist, craft industry connector, and the face of the iron brand Oliso. Michele has spent decades doing many things at once: painting, art therapy, product development, publishing, hand stitching, and now custom stitching on clothing. Her career has always been shaped more by curiosity and connection than by...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? If social media has been feeling like a constant pressure… like you’re always behind, always needing to post more, but not really seeing the results you hoped for, you’re not alone. I’ve been feeling that too. In this episode, I wanted to have a real conversation about a different way to approach content as a creator. Not doing more, not being everywhere, but choos...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? What happens when a 3D artist from Lucasfilm sells out at Comic-Con and realizes he might have a business? In this episode, Jackie Huang, founder of Woolbuddy, shares how a handmade toy for his daughter grew into an international needle felting brand sold in museums and online worldwide. We talk about failing faster, breaking the “invisible wall” between buying and...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? What if you don’t have to eliminate fear before you start teaching? In today’s episode on Creatives on Camera with MJ Kinman, we talk about acting “as if,” pivoting boldly, and choosing joy in your creative business. MJ shares how she left a corporate IT career to build a thriving art practice, how coaching helped her move through imposter syndrome, and why flexibi...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? In this episode, Lyric Kinard talks with watercolor artist and educator Madhu Srinivasan about what happens when we stop trying to control our creativity. Once driven by perfectionism, Madhu shares how watercolor taught her to slow down, trust the process, and create from a place of presence rather than pressure. This conversation explores how art can become a heal...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? In this episode, Lyric Kinard talks with Kelly Feltault, an artist, social scientist, and certified therapeutic arts facilitator, about building a creative business that honors the realities of chronic illness rather than pushing against them. Kelly shares how living with Mast Cell Activation Syndrome and sarcoidosis reshaped her identity, her relationship with art...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? What if growing your creative business didn’t mean doing more, scaling bigger, or teaching everything you know? In this episode, Lucy Jennings shares how she built a calm, sustainable online teaching business by simplifying her offers, focusing on beginner wins, and letting her content work smarter, not harder. From weaving kits paired with mini courses to using Yo...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? In this solo episode, I walk you through the real results of our first Workshop Pre-Sell Challenge at the Academy for Virtual Teaching. If you have ever delayed teaching because your course “isn’t ready yet,” this is your invitation to do things differently. I share what actually happened when a group of creative teachers launched their workshops before building a...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? This episode brings back the radiant and powerful Lisa Woolfork, founder of Black Women Stitch and host of Stitch Please Podcast. We move beyond her origin story ( go listen to Part 1! ) and step into the how, the structure behind her community-centered creative business. Lisa shares how she built a mission-driven model using Patreon, why she intentionally rejects...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? In this week’s episode, I sit down with Anastasia Williams, founder of the Fiber Business Collective, to talk about what really sustains creative entrepreneurs: community, collaboration, and connection. Anastasia shares how her membership grew from a simple Slack group into a thriving hub for fiber artists, makers, and small business owners. We talk honestly about...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? In this episode, I sit down with quilting educator and YouTuber Beth Ann Williams, who has built a thriving online teaching business by doing something many creatives are afraid to do: learn in public. When chronic illness made travel impossible, Beth Ann shifted from in-person workshops to Zoom classes… and eventually discovered that YouTube was the most sustainab...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? Some artists teach. Some artists build community. But Kimberley Pierce Cartwright does both with a depth of soul that you can feel the moment she starts speaking. In this episode, Kimberley shares her remarkable journey, from sewing childhood dolls on a treadle machine with no electricity to becoming a textile artist, teacher, ceramic artist, conference founder, an...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? This week, I’m talking with Alicia Díaz-Blevins, a fluid-art instructor, creative wellness mentor, and business consultant who turned her decades of corporate leadership experience into something beautiful, helping busy professionals decompress and reconnect with joy through art. Alicia shares how painting became her sanctuary during years of high-pressure corporat...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? Some conversations stay with you long after the recording stops, and this one with Claudia Squio is absolutely that kind of episode. Claudia is the founder of ColorWay Arts, an online school and creative business built around Cartonnage, the beautiful art of crafting fabric-covered boxes, books, and heirloom pieces that hold memory, meaning, and love. But the real...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? What happens when living your truth means losing the community you thought was yours? In this powerful and deeply personal episode, I sit down with Lisa Woolfork, founder of Black Women Stitch and host of the Stitch Please podcast, to discuss courage, integrity, and the cost of standing firmly by your values. Lisa shares her story of navigating racism in creative s...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? This week on Creatives on Camera, I talk with Marcela Strasdas, a vibrant painter and art educator from Victoria, BC, whose creative journey proves that you don’t need perfection, you just need to start. Marcela shares how she built her first online course “one sticky note at a time,” testing her ideas in a backyard class before moving online. We discuss how to ove...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? Sometimes, life delivers the most powerful lessons in unexpected ways. My guest, Marianne Gargour, knows this intimately. A professional artist and certified life coach, Marianne transformed her cancer journey into a creative calling, helping others use art, mindfulness, and conversation to move from stress and overwhelm into joy and connection. In this episode, Ma...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? I love conversations that remind us how creativity thrives not just in big cities or fancy studios, but in small towns, small spaces, and close-knit communities. In this episode, I talk with Beth Bluestein, owner of Sparrow Art Supply in Middlebury, Vermont. Beth shares how she turned a 750-square-foot art store into a vibrant creative hub, one that serves artists...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? Let’s be honest, building a creative business isn’t always easy. There are days when the tech breaks, the sign-ups don’t come, or you just feel tired and overwhelmed. I’ve been there too. In this episode, I talk about what keeps us going when it feels hard, the deeper why behind what we do, and how reconnecting with your core values can help you find steadiness aga...

Fan Mail? Feedback? Suggestions? If you’ve ever wondered how to turn your craft into a sustainable business without losing your soul, this conversation is for you. I sat down with Anne Fjeld, a Norwegian knitting designer who transformed burnout and struggle into a thriving teaching business rooted in tradition, culture, and community. Anne shares how she found her “niche inside a niche” by focusi...