Jeffery Saddoris Podcast Archive

I don’t remember how it came up but I was talking to Sean Tucker a while back and we ended up talking about different photographers that we had found recently and he asked me whether I’d seen the work of Maria Lax. Maria is a Finnish photographer based in London who had published a book called Some Kind of Heavenly Fire . Honestly the title alone was enough to pique my interest but what I found be...

The third episode of my livestream call-in show. As I try to solidify the direction of a some new projects (including this one), a couple of terrific books are really helping me to think about where those "aha!" moments come from and how creativity works. LINKS Organizing Genius by Warren Bennis and Patricia Ward Biederman http://bit.ly/OrganizingGeniusAbeBooks Where Good Ideas Come From by Steven...

In this episode, we continue to talk about music — how we relate to bands and how we listen to them. Adrianne shares a powerful story around how her father's "come to Jesus moment" affected his relationship with music and with her. We also talk about experiences around live music both from an audience perspective and as a member of the crew. Thank you to everyone who called in. I appreciate your t...

I spend a lot of time thinking about materials and objects as they relate to art and art making and I spend a fair bit of time talking about it with Jon. In this conversation, we’re talking about some of our first memories of art and of objects that we somehow recognized as “special.” We also talk about the how the contrast between the refinement of Europe and the chaos of India in Jon’s childhood...

Growing up, I can’t remember not having a radio in one form or another. The first one I remember was a big walnut console with a turn table and a television that we had in our house in either San Dimas or Azusa — that part’s a little fuzzy but it had to be the early 70s. I also remember a little Panasonic clock radio my mom had on her night stand — and this was probably when I was in third or four...

When I was a kid, my mom used to say that if the house ever caught fire, the one thing she would grab before anything else was the box of family photos that she kept in her closet, which I’m sure was common for many of us before analog became digital. For my mom, those photos were the things — the objects —that she held most dear, more than jewelry or money or a favorite piece of clothing. They an...

At the end of May, I decided to take a break from social media so I could focus on making without the constant background noise that seemed to be sucking the life out the urge to create anything. It was a self-imposed blackout that I hoped would allow at least some of the creative light back in. Inspired by a recent documentary, I decided to work on a series of 12 paintings simultaneously rather t...

There’s something about wet plate photography that I can’t get out of my head. Maybe it’s the process, maybe it’s the unpredictable nature of it—Sally Mann calls it “the angel of uncertainty.” Or maybe it’s the permanence of the objects themselves. When you look at an image by Matthew Brady or Timothy O’Sullivan, for a moment you’re no longer part of the present. And I would argue that that sense...

Last week, I decided to take a much needed break from social media. There’s just too much going on in the world that pulls my focus away from the areas of my life that really warrant - and frankly need - that focus - specifically my family and my art. In my final Instagram post before the break, I wrote that I wasn’t who I wanted to be lately followed by a list of distractions that to a lesser or...

As much as I love working with acrylics in my paintings, because many of them are literally dozens of layers of pigment, collage, found objects, and thick layers of acrylic medium, it can take weeks to finish a single piece just waiting for layers to dry. A few years ago, I began looking into using encaustic, which offers the ability to create work with a similar aesthetic to my acrylic work in a...

I first interviewed photographer and author David duChemin in 2013 as one of a series of conversations I hosted for Faded & Blurred, a website and photo community that I helped build while I was teaching Photoshop at a photography school in Southern California. What followed over the next decade-plus was something I couldn’t have scripted — a friendship, a creative partnership, and more conver...

Back in January, I came across a terrific piece of writing by author Paul Jarvis. One part of it in particular really spoke to some of the things I’ve wrestled with over the years — loving what you do, following your passion, and the costly obsession that often goes along with each of those things. I ended up subscribing to Paul’s newsletter and regardless of whether you’re a full-time creative, a...

Several years ago when I wasn’t really sure what direction my life was taking, one of the ideas I kept coming back to was getting a Volkswagen Westfalia van and just driving around the country, allowing the universe to put interesting people and experiences in my path rather than trying to follow a specific plan. I hadn’t started podcasting yet, nor had I picked up my paint brushes again, so the “...

This might be one of the most process driven episodes of Process Driven yet. I’ve known Karl Taylor for more than a decade. I was introduced to his work by my friend Patrick in the form of a DVD of Karl‘s Photography Master Class. What struck me straight away was Karl‘s enthusiasm for photography – that and his encyclopedic knowledge of the medium. 12 years after its initial release, Karl has crea...

I first interviewed photographer and author David duChemin in 2013 as one of a series of conversations I hosted for Faded & Blurred, a website and photo community that I helped build while I was teaching Photoshop at a photography school in Southern California. What followed over the next decade-plus was something I couldn’t have scripted — a friendship, a creative partnership, and more conver...

When I saw the work of photographer Ryan Struck, particularly his surf and lifestyle photography, I knew I wanted to talk to him. From the first photo, it was obvious that Ryan wasn’t just an outsider simply documenting this lifestyle, he was living it and I bet he had an interesting story to tell. Turns out, whether he’s self-funding a documentary about the community surrounding an all-female sur...

A couple weeks ago, I got a text from my friend Sean who had just gotten out of the cinema seeing 1917 , the new World War I epic from director Sam Mendes. The text simply read “so good.” I remember seeing the trailer for the film months ago and thinking that it looked incredible. But most of recent the buzz about the film seemed to center around the idea that it was all shot in one continuous tak...

The recent death of Rush drummer Neil Peart hit me like a ton of bricks. While I consider myself a visual artist, I can’t think of a single painter, or sculptor, or photographer whose death has or even would affect me as dramatically as Neil’s has and I can’t really reconcile why that is. It’s just not a simple answer. I’ve been a Rush fan since 1982, but as I’ve said before, it wasn’t the music t...

I have a question for you, and the answer depends at least partly on the primary perspective you take – either as an audience member or a maker — when you think about how to answer. It centers around effort in art-making and to what degree the visibility of that effort affects how we connect to the work, both as the artist and as a viewer. Again, the answer is entirely subjective, but it’s somethi...

“So much goes into it and I’m finding even for myself the stuff I’m learning or the stuff that’s changing who I am isn’t necessarily reflected visually in the final image.” One of the first photographers I reached out to when I started recording conversations and podcasting was John Keatley. I was introduced to his work by my friend Kevin and what struck me straight away was how seamlessly John’s...

“Because I had really poor depth perception, everything in my world flattened into two dimensions. I struggle to incorporate depth into my work because that’s not how I engage with what I see.” — Jo Mackby If you listen to any of my other shows—particularly Iteration 52 —you know that earlier this year I had surgery on my eyes to correct a condition called Strabismus. About a month ago, I got an e...

I first interviewed photographer and author David duChemin in 2013 as one of a series of conversations I hosted for Faded & Blurred, a website and photo community that I helped build while I was teaching Photoshop at a photography school in Southern California. What followed over the next decade-plus was something I couldn’t have scripted — a friendship, a creative partnership, and more conver...

The tormented artist. You’ve heard the term — hell you may even be one yourself. I know I was. For years, I was absolutely convinced that if my art wasn’t the albatross around my neck, that I was somehow unworthy of the title. Why is that? Why do so many of us feel at one point or another that the suffering is necessary — that it’s somehow inexorably linked to the intrinsic value of what we make?...

I got an email a couple weeks ago from a listener asking if I had any advice for finding a mentor. Now, while I have been incredibly fortunate to have had – and frankly still have – some amazing people in my life who have in one way or another taken on the role of a mentor, I can’t say that it’s ever been intentional in the sense that I want to connect with this person or that person so they can b...

I first interviewed photographer and author David duChemin in 2013 as one of a series of conversations I hosted for Faded & Blurred, a website and photo community that I helped build while I was teaching Photoshop at a photography school in Southern California. What followed over the next decade-plus was something I couldn’t have scripted — a friendship, a creative partnership, and more conver...