This is How We Create

My guest Susan J Chen is an award-winning photographer whose work bridges the commercial and fine art world.  She uses a conceptual approach to fashion, portraits, things, and motion. Her work has been described as cinematic, moody and emotionally charged with color and dark humor. Susan was chosen by Saatchi Art as one of top 100 women artists in the world.  Her work has been shown in NY, LA, SF,...

Hey friends, Martine Severin.  Welcome back to This is How We Create. Lately, I've been thinking about what it means to live in your art—that place where you produce work that pushes you,  the place where you create work that thrills you and work that allows you to be the creative you want to be? Today in the chair, we're chatting with someone who proposes a different way of moving towards that go...

We have Chicago-based artist Myron Laban in the guest chair. As a self-described multi-hyphenate artist, Myron dabbles in painting, in creating music and in his full-time job as a pharmacist. Myron has one of the best bios I've come across, which I'll read to you just now: Myron is: A Young man Goofy is understated Pyramids and Sahara skinned Finger pricks, syringes, and vials full of insulin CTA...

How do you keep yourself motivated with each project you're taking on? What patterns or processes do you have to launch you into creating new work? How do you motivate yourself past by one, five, 10, 15 and even 20 false starts? How do you motivate yourself to get it done after those failed beginnings? Today, one of my favorite writer, Edwidge Danticat joins on the show to talk about how she becam...

What convictions that you have? How do you want to live your life and how you want to—if you consider yourself a creator, craft your art. It's a tender thing to have the courage of your conviction and to know when to be buck convention in order to give birth to something truly novel. For me, I love rules. Mainly to learn the rules of whatever genre I'm studying so that I can break them and attempt...

Welcome back to  the This is How We Create podcast. I'm your host, Martine Severin. A few months ago, I hosted a talk with Portland Maine Photographer, Sean Alonzo Harris where he shared his images from past exhibitions. Today I'm sharing an episode of American Photographic's Artists' Series called Scope with you. While this conversation will be slightly different than our general This is How We C...

Today, our guest Farissa Knox, who is a Chicago-based author, producer and entrepreneur. Farissa is Founder and CEO of RLM Media, an integrated marketing and communications advertising agency, and WhatRUWearing (WRUW) Productions. As will become evident through our conversation, Farissa is a visionary creative executive, passionate storyteller and tastemaker. She shares the insider journey of crea...

How you wondered how some people manage to craft a path towards their dreams and goals even when they haven't a roadmap to get to where they want to go? They don't quite know how things will go, but they take one step at at time towards their true North. This episode details Nathalie Gordon's story. Much like many of the artists we've featured on This is How We Create, Nathalie possesses the convi...

On the podcast today, we're chatting with photographer Thalia Gochez. When I first came across Thalia work, I gasped. She creates portraits of the womxn in her neighborhood in a tender yet commanding way.  She arrests your attention to convey her love and respect for her subjects. A print of Thalia's work hangs proudly in my home. Each time I pass this image of two young women sitting on a stoop,...

I'm excited to welcome architect and design tastemaker Obiora Nwazota to the show! Obiara will talk to us about how his experience in design and architecture and understanding of Igbo culture aided him in writing a successful children's book.  Through his writing and work, Obiora normalizes stories that celebrates Igbo culture and provides us with a different lens through which to view Black cultu...

Episode 32 How Ayana Ross Became a Figurative Painter Ayana Ross is an American figurative artist based in Atlanta, Georgia. She holds an MA degree in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design, a MA in Liberal Art from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and a BS in Design and Merchandising from Georgia Southern University. She has exhibited in several group shows, including The Ben...

I'm so happy to welcome Joy Dolo to the podcast today. Joy Dolo is an Actor, Writer, Educator, and Podcast Host based in Minneapolis, Minnesota! She is an avid comedienne and is the co-creator of Blackout Improv, the first all black Improv troupe in Minnesota. Joy also Hosts for American Public Media Kids podcasts "Forever Ago" - a fun podcast that explores the history of objects. By the way, Fore...

Episode: 30 We'll start Season 3 talking about a dirty word that starts with the letter F! No, not that F, silly! We're going to talk about that other F that has us cringing, second guessing ourselves and dealing with the consequences of our actions and inactions. We're going to talk about Failure! We've invited two past guests and one guest from Season 3 to talk with you about Failure.  Each pers...

Hello! Martine Severin here. The best artists create work that seems simply effortless. As an illustrator and fine artist, Raymond Bonilla's work captures beautiful fleeting moments. During our time together Ray tells us how he came to fall in love with illustration and with fine art.   We spend some time talking about how you don't have to born an artist. You can acquire the skills and later turn...

In Case You Missed It (ICYMI), take a listen to one of my favorite conversations with Chicago-based ceramicist, Danielle Chutinthranond of Monsoon Pottery. Essentialism and minimalism are always on Danielle's mind when creating. To that end, she believes that the objects in our homes should be useful, durable, and beautiful. In service to these beliefs, all of her work is microwave, dishwasher, an...

Brent Lewis is a Photo Editor based out of New York City, co-founder of  Diversify. Photo . He hails from the greatest city in the world Chicago, South Side to be exact. Brent is a photo editor at The New York Times working on the Express Desk, assigning visual coverage of breaking and viral news across the globe. Brent was a Photo Editor at The Washington Post. Formerly, he was the Senior Photo E...

Well hello there, Welcome back to This is How We Create. In the guest chair, we are welcoming Priya Shah. Priya Shah is a Chicago creative and entrepreneur, she has built a network of artists and collaborators dedicated to igniting social awareness and change through art and imagination. During our time together, Priya shares her wide-ranging career about how she has come to create her organizatio...

Hey friends, Martine Severin.  Welcome back to This is How We Create. Lately, I've been thinking about what it means to live in your art—that place where you produce work that pushes you,  the place where you create work that thrills you and work that allows you to be the creative you want to be? Today in the chair, we're chatting with someone who proposes a different way of moving towards that go...

Hi, It's Martine Severin here. Welcome back. We have social justice artist, Tonika Lewis Johnson on the show to talk about how you can use your art to spark compassion, good citizenship and to improve the lives of the people in your neighborhood. The first part of our conversation focuses on Tonika's early life and the second part focuses on how her twenties and her upbringing brought her to creat...

Welcome back to Season 2 of This is How We Create. Today, we welcome Kristyn Ivey to the chair. Kristyn Ivey, is Chicago's first platinum-certified KonMari Consultant and founder of For the Love of Tidy. She's dedicated to teaching busy families, professionals, and creative entrepreneurs how to let go of "stuff" and attract a truly abundant life. Educated in both engineering and interior design, K...

When was the last time someone delighted you? And when was the last time you practiced the art of hostmanship.  For me, this happened twice in the last few weeks when I interviewed Tamy Tiongson,  hospitality and restaurant expert who uses cooking and baking as a way to express her creativity. During this episode, Tamy shares her journey from culinary school to working in the hospitality industry...

We know that branding is a way to use symbols, colors, shapes, and words to create a deliberate association between a company's or a product's promise. When creatives present their work we are expected to go beyond just presenting the work. We must also share what we stand for and use the personal to communicate our offerings to help us stand out in the crowd. In my conversation with Darnell Scott...

When was the last time you had a conversation with someone who delighted you? Where chatting with that person is like going on a walk in a new neighborhood where with every turn, you discover something new. My conversation with Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photographer Essdras M Suarez, felt like such a walk. Essdras shares stories of how he first stumbled on photography and the journey he went on to de...

Today's episode of This is How We Create features yours truly, Martine Séverin. I am so pleased to share with you an interview in which Sony Artisan Tony Gale invited me to his podcast Sony Alpha Photographers Podcast. Tony and I talk about my work as a photographer, to share what's in my bag and the tools I use to create stories. During my talk with Tony, I'll share more information about how my...

Today we're changing things up a bit. I've invited my best friend, sister and my PIC aka Partner In Crime, Jenny Severin to the This is How We Create Podcast. Jenny and I are will chat about the art of travel and the art of escape. Jennys has been traveling since the age o 8 and has been to over 40 countries to date. With friends, with family but mostly by herself. I thought it would be cool to he...