Tom Ray's Art Podcast

In this season of the podcast, I decided to try and start my own business. It's going to be a multimedia podcast studio and retail space. And I'm doing it in an old 1930's train car! One of the things I need to figure out is what I'm going to sell and what online shopping cart I want to use. So I meet with two artists here in Madison, WI to talk about the different cart options out there and ask w...

Today I get to meet Emily Balsley . She's a full-time self-employed artist whose illustration work I really admire. We've tried to get together to talk a few times. When she started working on a mural here at the University of Wisconsin , I stopped by and we were finally able to get together and talk. Links https://www.emilybalsley.com Instagram: @emilybluestar

Grant Baciocco is a puppeteer, comedian, writer and professional wrestling host from time to time. He also is the creator of the podcast series The Radio Adventures of Dr. Floyd which I happened to make an animated cartoon pilot for . He is known for his work on Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return (2017), Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017) and  The Happytime Murders  to...

Ben Walker Storey had listened to the podcast and contacted me on Instagram. The funny thing is I had actually been looking at his work online earlier that day. So I asked him if he wanted to meet with me on the show. He runs a podcast of his own called The Cheap Chills Show where he and his wife watch trailers of old horror movies and talk about them. His artwork also lends itself to that st...

Peter Krsko had been listening to the podcast and contacted me. And meeting him was a delight! I had checked out some of his stuff on his website and one thing that caught my eye was these large sculptures that he did. They were these giant wooden things sprouting out of the ground. It also said that he discovered a way to use a traditional scanning electron microscope as a focused electron b...

Spencer Blesi and Rob Griffen are two guys I used to work with at a corporate job. They were in the video department. Spencer even recorded a video for my band Lorenzo's Music. After I left that company I later heard that they also left and started their own video production company, Tack Video. I met with them at a coffee shop to talk about running their own business. I also have kind of a revela...

Steev Baker & Shauna Koszegi work at the library. They spend their whole day trying to get people to think about it as a place that has tons of resources for creative people. So how do you get people to come to a place that has just always been there? One of the things they did is start a podcast about it. Tallest Building In Town https://tallestbuildingintown.com  Music for the show...

There was an art installation at a local coffee shop in the fall and the artist, Bradley Flora heard my podcast and asked if I wanted to stop by and check it out. We ended up sitting down to talk, and he told me about how he’s been expanding on what he wants to do, going from photography to painting. Listen to the episode Listen on: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Po...

My wife and I were taking a weekend trip to Minnesota. I took that opportunity to meet someone that lives there that I'm friends with on Instagram, Emily Mehr. Listen to the episode Listen on: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube Like me, Emily also draws a personal daily comic and you can check out her work on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/ejoymehr

What cool way to start off the new season of the show, I got the opportunity to meet Jessica Abel!! Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube She is the comic book writer and artist who has made so many books, ranging from stories to instructional including the books Life Sucks, Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, La Perdida, Growing Gills and Radio: An Illustrated Gu...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube Previously on American Bandito, I spoke with artist Rachal Duggan and I discovered we had a mutual person that inspired us both. After I posted that interview, I got a silly idea in my head. I figured it would never work but it was worth a try. I sent Ivan Brunetti a link to that episode and just told him I would love to talk with hi...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube Back in the first season of the show, I talked to a young artist named Salma Carreon. During the interview, she told me about how she briefly apprenticed at a tattoo shop. And it occurred to me I didn’t really know much about tattoo artists. How they start out, what it takes to become one, anything really. And since then I thought I...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube The person that I meet today I read about in the Isthmus. He was creating a stop-motion film with the students he teaches in his art class at Crestwood Elementary school. And the film they made was screened at this year’s Wisconsin Film Festival. After reading that article I kind of had to talk to him. How could I not? And he’s a mus...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube The first thing I saw by Heather Boggs of Stitch Boom Bang, was a portrait of Hall & Oates she embroidered on a doily. After seeing that, I kinda needed to meet this person. And it turned out she was also a fan of zines. So we met each other at a zine event that was happening in the downtown Madison library. And in another o...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube The person I asked to meet with me today I contacted out of pure curiosity. I’ve driven past the lakeside press on Willy street like a million times and have never known a thing about it. And I always turn and look at it when I drive by. So I decided to contact them see if I could just come by and ask about the place. The story took...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube I met Rachal Duggan at the Tone Madison anniversary party. She had a table set up to do butt portraits. People would turn around and she would draw a picture of their butt. Afterward, I sent her a message and asked if she would want to meet and talk. We decided to get together at Madison Sourdough in her neighborhood. During the inte...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube I found American Trash while looking at stories located in the Madison area on Instagram. I liked the style. It reminded me of the type of skateboard art that has always appealed to me. I sent him a message and we ended up meeting each other at the Johnson Public House. American Trash on Instagram - instagram.com/ameri...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube Eli had contacted me through the American Bandito Facebook page. He's an illustrator and also tells me about work he's done as a 3D artist for game design. And it turns out he created the artwork for the Madison band Droids Attack as well as the artwork for their new microbrew from Ale Asylum. I got a chance to sit down with Eli in h...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube I went to a local animation meet up in February and afterward Gavin had posted a stop-motion short he made on the meet up's Facebook event page. I've only made 2D animation and have always wanted to try stop-motion. So, I reached out to Gavin to learn more about what he does. He met with me at the Colectivo Coffee Shop on Monroe...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube I saw Hailee's work on Instagram while searching for local artists. She is a fashion designer turned embroidery artist who recently graduated with a B.S. in Textile and Fashion Design from the University of Wisconsin. After a chance meeting at a gallery showing she was involved in, I asked if she wanted to tell me more about how...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube James Kreul has been very involved with films in Madison, he runs programs like The Rooftop Cinema at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art and the upcoming Mills Folly Microcinema at the Arts + Literature Laboratory to name a few. The first time I went to one of his underground film screenings was last year at Coney Island Stu...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube Linda is a writer and blogger. She has a site called "Mixed Metaphors, Oh My!" that she has been doing since 2013. She joined a Facebook group called Madison Indie Filmmakers and after going to some of the meet-ups they encouraged her to start a new web series for one of the ideas she had. So she did. With the help of the p...

Listen: Apple Podcasts | RadioPublic | Google Podcasts | YouTube Kelly is a writer who contacted me through the American Bandito Facebook page. She's written a book called "Om Namah..." available on Amazon. As she explains it's a story of healing from betrayal, discovering spiritual discernment, and the best ribs on the east side of Madison. We talk about the book while walking around the Atw...

The shop owners this season should have some wisdom they can pass along to those of us trying to make it in the world creatively. So this week I ask the question: What mistakes do you wish you would have known when you started? Listen to the episode Subscribe to the show Apple Podcasts (iPhone), Google Play (Android) and YouTube. This episode brought to you by Sticker Mule. Get $10 towards your fi...

If you do create your own things it's really easy to let it take up all of your free time. But you don't want to do it at the expense of enjoying life, family or friends. There has to be a balance, but when you're in charge of yourself how do you manage that? So my question this week is: How do you make time for your personal life? Listen to the episode  Subscribe to the show on the go Apple...