Pep Talks for Artists

Louise Bourgeois Part 2! Mandolyn Wilson Rosen is back in her Book Talks seat to help me dissect a new delicious art book: Drawings & Observations by Louise Bourgeois with Lawrence Rinder . Bourgeois referred to these sketches as her "thought feathers" and revealed her thinking behind the reproduced works in recordings transcribed by curator Lawrence Rinder. It was so cool to get the...

Beka Goedde and Mandolyn Wilson Rosen join me this episode to unpack our experience visiting renowned artist, Louise Bourgeois' home in NYC. We entered her historic brownstone and were immediately transported to another world and time. Louise lived a full life but was very much an artistic homebody. She made her home her studio in every sense of the word, stuffing each room full of materials t...

In this new Book Talks episode, Mandolyn Wilson Rosen is back to help me review a new art book: Jack Whitten: Notes From the Woodshed , Edited by Katy Siegel for Hauser & Wirth. Equal parts profound, strident and hilarious, Jack Whitten's (1939-2018) 50 year studio log packs a wallop. And it's meaty at 581 pages, so we had lots to discuss! Stick around to hear some sage advice, inspiring tales...

Artist, Judy Glantzman, is back on the pod this week to discuss her friend and incredible artist, Dawn Clements (1958-2018). Come along with me as I hear more about this brave, innovative artist who celebrated the idea of the ungovernable doodle. Her ink and gouache drawings span walls and rooms, yet she often made them folded up on trains and while lying in bed. It was wonderful to hear Judy's re...

We're back for Part 2! Artist, Jennifer Coates joins me again to discuss 2 modern-day women mystic artists: Cornish Visionary, Ithell Colquhoun and Desert Transcendentalist, Agnes Pelton. Ithell Colquhoun links and mentions: "Papers of Ithell Colquhoun (1906-1988)" archive at Tate Modern The Living Stones: Cornwall book by Ithell Colquhoun "The Mantic Stain" 1949 essay by Ithell Colquhoun "Dance o...

In this episode, Jennifer Coates returns to help me explore the spookily wonderful topic of Women Mystics and their connection to art and artists. In Part 1, we cover mystics from the Pythia of Ancient Greece to ecstatic visionaries like Hildegard von Bingen of the late Medieval era. P.S.: Keep an eye out for Part 2 where we dip into our fave 20th-century mystical artists. Ancient Mystics mentione...

Artists, Jennifer Coates, David Humphrey and Catherine Haggarty and are back for Part 3 of our series on Drawing. This time we switched things up and each artist brought both an artwork from art history and a related work of their own to discuss. Get ready to hear some vivid "ekphrasis" on our drawing picks (new vocab word unlocked-thanks, David!). Jennifer brought “ The Castle with the Angel ” 18...

This is an episode about how acting on dumb ideas in the studio can be just the thing to get you out of artist's block or help you make a big change. Get ready for some choice bon mots from the likes of Weird Al Yankovic, Laurie Anderson, William Kentridge and others on the sage subject of being open to studio stupidity. Mentions: Weird Al Yankovic, Laurie Anderson, William Kentridge, Jack Whitten...

*Disclaimer: This episode is meant to be funny and Amy would love to attend any of the aforementioned residencies. Please accept her if you find yourself on a panel. End disclaimer.* Just got rejected from an artists' residency? Well, this is the mini-episode for you because I am going to let you in on a little technique I use to feel better. There's a curse word abundantly used throughout, so lis...

This is a little episode about how I think a one-of-a-kind whale is kind of like the 16th -17th century Mannerist artist El Greco, and also like us. It sounds a little far fetched but admit it, you like me when I’m weird, you weirdo’s El Greco: Artworks mentioned: “The Vision of St John” 1608-14 and "View of Toledo" 1599-1600 (El Greco), “Les Desmoiselles D’Avignon" 1907 (Picasso), "Rocks at Fonta...

::CW: during the Kathe Kollwitz section, we discuss a print dealing with sexual assault:: Jennifer and I are back with our bushel baskets of researched artists of the past to soothe our shattered nerves. Tune in to hear about 6 artists that made exceptional work under strained circumstances: Käthe Kollwitz, John of Arderne - medieval surgeon and margin doodler, Gustav Metzger, William Gropper, Dav...

Today's episode is a special conversation and recap of Elisabeth Condon and my experiences collaborating as visual artists in the ballet project CounterPointe (now in its 12th year) produced by Norte Maar and staged at the Mark O'Donnell Theater (Brooklyn) in March 2025. Jennifer Coates kindly came on to ask us questions about making props and what it was like for 2 newbies to enter the world of d...

In this audio essay, I roam from post-war France to the abstract expressionists to the artists of the East Village and even to outer space to consider times in art history when art was forced to bloom in the dark. These under-the-radar moments yielded deeply experimental work, and I wonder how we might channel some of that spirit in our own time. Artists mentioned: Laurie Anderson, Joan Miro, Jean...

I'm offering for you here a new mini ep about what I've been thinking about lately: the wackiness of Meret Oppenheim's titles - and how they expand the mystery of her images rather than explain them.  I recently snagged the catalog from the Moma retrospective show from last year and highly recommend it if you don't have it yet. It's full of lovely color plates: https://store.moma.org/products/mere...

This is Part 2 of Mandolyn Wilson Rosen and my review of "Lifeline: Clyfford Still" 2019 directed by Dennis Scholl. It's a juicy art bio tell-all with a crusty curmudgeon as its talented but embittered subject. Don't forget to listen to Part 1 too! Find the film on Amazon ($2.99 SD) or for free on ⁠Kanopy⁠ Find Mandolyn online at: ⁠https://mandolynwilsonrosen.com⁠ and on IG at ⁠@mandolyn_rosen⁠ Ar...

Mandolyn Wilson Rosen is back on the podcast! This time, instead of a book we are talking about an artist documentary. The film is called "Lifeline: Clyfford Still" 2019 directed by Dennis Scholl. It's a juicy art bio tell-all with a crusty curmudgeon as its talented but embittered subject. Come along with us as we enter a turbulently Still world. Find the film on Amazon ($2.99 SD) or for free on...

Jennifer Coates is back with me this week to cohost Part 4 of our series about researching our way to feeling better as artists. This time we go all the way back to 1306 to the Mongol empire and then zoom forward to the 1970's in the USSR and with a few more stops in between. We studied hard (and maybe got C minuses) but we ended up feeling inspired and hope you will too. The artists we spoke abou...

Welcome back, Elisabeth! This time I am very excited to be speaking to Artist, Elisabeth Condon, about one of my favorite Chicago Imagists: Christina Ramberg. The Art Institute of Chicago recently mounted a retrospective of Ramberg's work and Elisabeth travelled to see the show this past summer. She spent time telling me about her favorite works, but also offered insight into Ramberg's personality...

Artist, Jennifer Coates is back for Part 3 in our series about finding artistic resilience through research! This time we look at these artists and how they adapted to their own gloomy times of foreboding: Kay Sage: Found a way to paint even though she was a victim of domestic violence and ignored by the art world, and used her money to help Surrealist artists flee Germany and France before WWII G...

Visit glögg glögg, a POP up ART sale, Dec 13-14 in Woodstock NY: website or IG --------------- What can an artist do during times of political unrest and instability? In this episode (Part 2 of our series), we aim to find out. Jennifer Coates joins me again to share some stories from the past of how artists coped throughout history, because somehow research is very reassuring right now! We looked...

Jennifer Coates, friend of the pod, is back to help me consider a new way forward (artwise) after the destabilizing event of the US election. She, herself, is finding comfort in the long history of rocks, geology and the cosmos, while I find myself turning to a book about how Matisse and his daughter, Marguerite, both reacted to the trauma of WWII in opposite yet valid ways. It's a bit of a potpou...

This bonus episode is a promotion for NYC Crit Club's "The Canopy Program" 2025, a year-long mentorship community for artists. Founder and artist, Catherine Haggarty, stopped by the pod to tell me more about what the program offers, who it's for, and which artists she has on deck to lead the cohorts next year. Applications for The Canopy Program are open Monday, December 9th - January 12, 2025 Qui...

I'm back in the interview seat with Kristen Mills, an artist working in video, sculpture and installation. We discussed her latest show at Turley Gallery where she covered an entire room with cardboard and made it into a spaceship cockpit. Her video work features clones of herself, multiplied, and combines humor and old school editing techniques to create surreal worlds of play and exploration. Th...

Dear Listeners, it's spooky season. In that spirit, I offer you this mini episode about taking a mini break from the career grind. Why not instead light a spell candle while getting clear on what we really want? Shelve the "should's" for a bit and get witchy with me. The ending "Goodbye!" (with cacophonous lighting zaps) is Bette Midler from the movie, Hocus Pocus - Ico...

Charles Burchfield (Chas to his friends) once noted how an oak leaf had fluttered down and stuck upright in the snow in his neighbors yard, like a flag, for the entire winter. It weathered many Buffalo "gales" and storms and thereafter Burchfield used it as a personal symbol of steadfastness. In fact its alternate title is "Steadfast Leaf."  The painting he made of it is attach...