Just Make Art

One song can pull you back to a room you haven’t seen in 30 years, and that same song can push you into the studio with a totally different kind of courage. Nathan Terborg and Ty Nathan Clark go all-in on the music that formed their taste and still shapes their creative process, from early mixtapes and older-sibling tape raids to the ritual of Tower Records, used CD bins, and the album art that ta...

Cameron Crowe wrote for Rolling Stone as a teenager, rode alongside the biggest bands of the era, and somehow stayed human enough to turn those years into art. We use his memoir The Uncool as a springboard to talk about the real creative process: the awkward beginnings, the brutal winters, and the small daily choices that keep an artist moving when nobody is clapping yet. We pull quotes and storie...

Art-making isn’t a vibe. It’s a practice that can feel exhausting, confusing, and sometimes flat-out miserable, yet we still wake up wanting to go back. We sit with a blunt question that every working artist eventually faces: what is making art giving us even when it doesn’t feel good? We start by de-romanticizing the work through Hugo Winder-Lind’s reminder that painting doesn’t always feel good,...

This is a replay from Season 1. A single line from Cy Twombly cracks open a huge question for artists: “One must desire the ultimate essence even if it is contaminated.” We sit with that tension between purity and grit and ask what “essence” really means in abstract expressionism, mark making, and the real studio process where rust, dust, scraps, and revisions refuse to stay out of the frame. From...

Nobody is asking you to make your art. Jeff Musser thinks that’s exactly why you have to make it anyway. Jeff is a Northern California figurative painter who builds images from collage, family photographs, sketches, and historical source material. We talk about painting as a primal need to make marks, why the studio can feel like a scratch-off ticket you keep buying with your time, and how the bes...

Three artists. One exhibition. A decade of friendship that turned into fuel for making braver work. Ty sits down with Vy Ngo and Eric Breish to explore how creative community shapes everything—from the courage to apply, to the way we process rejection, to the rituals that help us recover after the lights go down. We start with origin stories and the rush of seeing our pieces hang together at Art C...

What if the hardest days in the studio are not detours, but the path itself? We open up about the real fight behind the work—those sessions where flow vanishes, doubt gets loud, and the canvas refuses to cooperate—and why that tension can become your most reliable teacher. Drawing from Rashid Johnson’s candid reflection with Carrie Scott on battling the work, we unpack the difference between inspi...

What if paint could hold fear, wonder, and the cosmos all at once? That question runs through this conversation with guest host Jamele Wright Sr., where we explore Jack Whitten’s radical break from gesture and the relentless search to make painting enough on its own terms. From turning acrylic into “glass” to trapping forms on a truly flat plane, we trace how Whitten rebuilt painting through mecha...

What if paint is the vehicle and you are the medium? We dive deep into Jack Whitten’s Notes from the Woodshed with guest host Jamel Wright Sr., tracing how a life shaped by the Jim Crow South, pre-med rigor, and carpentry precision produced a studio practice built on invention. From the famed developer tool to a crow’s nest for high vantage points, Whitten redesigned the act of making—choosing sys...

What if the most exciting art materials aren’t on a shelf, but in a scrap bin behind the shop? We dig into the joy and rigor of working with nontraditional sources—HVAC steel, coroplast misprints, billboard tarps, even feedbags—and how renewable streams of “improper” materials unlock fearless experimentation. That freedom matters because it fuels the process-first mindset we lean on when the work...

We are excited to answer your art questions! In this episode we will discuss: how do you keep your practice thriving while navigating space, money, and access? We dig in with honest, field-tested advice and personal stories from two working artists who’ve built momentum in imperfect conditions. We start with the studio question everyone wrestles with: home vs separate space. You’ll hear why a “set...

A single question can power a lifetime of work: Why do I make art? Ty and Nathan sit with Ursula Von Rydingsvard’s stark and generous answers—woven from anxiety, labor, faith in process, and the stubborn hope that making can heal—and use it as a mirror for our own practices. From the first splinter to the last pass of the saw, we look at how big work invites big stakes, why the best days feel like...

Coffee, rain, and a table full of half-built ideas set the stage for a candid deep dive into how artists actually move work forward in our second conversation at Poolhaus studio. We trade the comfort of endless polishing for a stubborn rule—get to the next step sooner—and unpack how that one shift stops overworking, preserves strong moments, and helps a real body of work take shape. Along the way,...

Artistic breakthroughs don't happen by accident. They emerge from dedicated practice, willingness to fail, and persistence through periods of frustration and doubt. But how do you recognize when you're on the cusp of something transformative versus simply taking another step in your creative journey? Recorded face-to-face at Poolhaus Art Studio in Waco, Texas, this intimate conversation...

Have you ever looked at your work-in-progress and thought it was absolutely hideous? According to acclaimed sculptor Arlene Shechet, that's exactly where the magic happens. In this eye-opening exploration of artistic process, we dive deep into Shechet,'s philosophy of creation, where listening to your work becomes just as important as making it. The American sculptor, whose gravity-defyi...

What separates artists who give up from those who thrive despite rejection? In this fourth installment exploring Jerry Saltz's "How to Be an Artist," Ty and Nathan tackle the emotional armor required to navigate the art world's toughest challenges. When a Pulitzer Prize-winning critic featured Nathan's early work as an example of what not to do, he was devastated. "I...

Part 3. Diving deep into Jerry Saltz's "How to Be an Artist," we explore the transformative journey of learning to think like an artist. This episode unpacks the beautiful paradox that while art remains unchanged physically, it's never the same when we experience it – as Saltz writes, "an unchanging thing that is never the same." We discuss how becoming a "seeing...

What transforms raw materials into meaningful art? How do artists develop their unique voice while standing on the shoulders of those who came before them? In this thought-provoking second part exploration of Jerry Saltz's "How to Be an Artist," we unpack the practical realities of the creative journey and the mindsets that sustain artistic growth. The conversation begins with the c...

What if the path to becoming an artist wasn't shrouded in mystery but illuminated by practical wisdom? In this deep dive into Jerry Saltz's transformative book "How to Be an Artist," we explore the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic's generous, accessible, and remarkably grounded advice for creative souls at any stage of their journey. "Art is for everyone," Saltz dec...

Have you ever felt like your artwork knows more than you do? In this intimate, unplanned conversation recorded during a Montana retreat, Ty and Nathan explore the vital yet often overlooked practice of soul care for artists. Surrounded by the sounds of birdsong and nestled in Montana's rolling landscape, we dive into what happens when artists intentionally step away from their studios. More t...

Leonardo Drew invites us into the physical, philosophical, and sometimes painful world of material transformation. Unlike artists who work with found objects carrying built-in histories, Drew deliberately purchases new materials that he must personally weather and transform. "I need to become the weather," he explains, describing a process where he subjects materials to rigorous physical...

The journey from discarded material to transcendent art forms the foundation of our conversation about Leonardo Drew, one of contemporary art's most physically committed and philosophically profound creators. Drew's remarkable journey began in the most unlikely of places—playing in a dump as a child in Tallahassee, Florida—a formative experience that would later inform his artistic sensi...

From Jan 2024. Dive into the provocative world of artistic "theft" as Ty and Nathan explore how creative innovation truly emerges from our influences. This conversation challenges the myth of pure originality, arguing instead that the greatest artists throughout history have been masterful collectors and transformers of ideas. Beginning with Japanese fashion designer Yohji Yamamoto'...

Have you ever wondered what exactly an artist residency is and whether it might be the missing piece in your creative journey? In this comprehensive guide, Ty Nathan Clark takes you through everything you need to know about these transformative opportunities. Artist residencies aren't just retreats—they're powerful creative accelerators that provide dedicated time, space, and freedom to...

Doubt isn't the enemy of artistic greatness—it's the catalyst. Reuniting after two months apart, Ty and Nathan dive into the profound relationship between artistic excellence and uncertainty through Robert Hughes' provocative quote: "The greater the artist, the greater the doubt." Ty shares his exciting news about being accepted to the Marfa Invitational after years of per...