Episode 112 Carolina Modena
Vulnerability in life and art
The last time I went out this far out on a limb in terms of topic on this podcast was my conversation with gardener Andi Strachan. But there's something about the interactions between human cultures and the natural environment that I find fascinating, and there's also a thread related not just to vulnerabilities of agrobiodiversity and food sovereignty, but also how our individual lives are entwined with the food that sustains, nourishes, and can hurt us and our environment. Carolina Modena is Director of the Biodiversity Office at Slow Food, which is an organization headquartered in Bra,...
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Episode 111 John Avilla
Vulnerability in life and art
John Avilla is the founder of Sound Union, a creative studio and cultural hub designed for people who see music in terms of well-being, inspiration, and connection. With a background in brand strategy and creative direction, John built Sound Union as a new kind of social club for creatives, entrepreneurs, and thinkers who prioritize music as a vital part of their daily lives and identities. John shared a deep understanding and appreciation for the nature and benefits of music - so persuasive I bought a bass guitar and signed up for lessons the day after we spoke. I'm really hoping I can visit...
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Episode 110 Listening to my inner bass player
Vulnerability in life and art
This episode is about listening to our inner bass players and some of the different things that might mean.
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Episode 109 Lance Johnson
Vulnerability in life and art
Lance Johnson has a decade of experience working as a freelance video editor. Based in New York City, he delivers work to clients like Tom Ford, MTV, and Showtime. He is also the founder and host of the podcast See-Through. Lance has an incurable eye disease called retinitis pigmentosa, which typically causes legal blindness by age 40. Today, at 34 years old, Lance has already spent five years having transparent conversations with people living with blindness and other disabilities, as a way of exploring his own inevitable future. His whole outlook can probably be summed up in this way:...
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Episode 108 Jenn Seniuk
Vulnerability in life and art
Jenn Seniuk works as an art therapist in Calgary, Alberta. We talked not just about art therapy - working with a professionally trained therapist to use art as another language for accessing and processing our feelings and sensations - but also 'art as therapy,' which is about engaging in the process of making art for creative self-expression, in the in-between spaces, and calming the nervous system. Everyone is innately creative and everyone can make art, if only we can let go of the judgments we might hold about what we create. Creativity is encoded directly in our DNA, just like our need...
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Episode 107 Clementine Morrigan
Vulnerability in life and art
Clementine Morrigan is a writer and literary punk who has published six books and made 1000s of zines by hand over the last 25 years. Clementine explores complex and challenging human experiences - including incest and other forms of trauma, polyamory, and queer sexuality - with passion and integrity, as a responsibility and a calling. We talked about the constructed nature of confessional writing, cancel culture, and a sense of vulnerability that requires us to be aware and responsible about engaging in the right kinds of vulnerability given the context and our ability to deal with the...
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Episode 106 Devil's in the Details
Vulnerability in life and art
This is a brief story about something that really caught my attention. I'm not sure if it caught for the right reasons, or that I understand what those reasons are. But it's a story about what happened when I bumped into something that made me question the whole process of reading and writing stories (and sharing stories on this podcast).
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Episode 105 Fluke
Vulnerability in life and art
Urban artist Fluke got his start with graffiti sketchbook sessions, sitting around a picnic table in the park, a community of kids drawing essais together. He has moved on to creating and leading the production of art murals in Canada, the US, France, Hong Kong, and New Zealand. Fluke talks about the challenge of toning down his work and communicating core ideas more simply, what it means to him to be self-taught, measuring up to family expectations, hustling, and creating art for public spaces. What are the 'right' reasons for creating art? And if someone were to publish a small book of your...
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Episode 104 Jaime Hjelm
Vulnerability in life and art
Jaime Hjelm is a custom automotive expert and shop boss in the Netflix reality series TexMex Motors. She is also co-owner, with her sister, of Wicked Wrench, a car shop just outside Chicago. Jaime is a highly accomplished professional in a heavily male-dominated industry who knows car restoration is an art and she approaches it that way. Check out season 2 of TexMex Motors to watch how she designs a '52 Chevy after her purse. As shop boss, Jaime directs but also cares deeply for core cast members, including larger than life Rabbit, the man with a voice like honey on gravel. You can find out...
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Episode 103 Molly Roškar
Vulnerability in life and art
Molly Roškar works with a constellation of objects, materials, and processes, from restoring heirloom cabinets to making natural dyes to whittling spoons, knives, and creatures, all within a core theme of tradition, sustainability, and great curiosity and care. Because I can get obsessed with details, we got into a bit of a conversation about shellac, which I now know is bug-processed resin. It has been used for thousands of years as a natural primer, stain, and varnish and it offers a deep lens into the structure of the wood. We also talked about art and craft; as Molly explains, 'it would...
info_outlineJohn Avilla is the founder of Sound Union, a creative studio and cultural hub designed for people who see music in terms of well-being, inspiration, and connection. With a background in brand strategy and creative direction, John built Sound Union as a new kind of social club for creatives, entrepreneurs, and thinkers who prioritize music as a vital part of their daily lives and identities.
John shared a deep understanding and appreciation for the nature and benefits of music - so persuasive I bought a bass guitar and signed up for lessons the day after we spoke. I'm really hoping I can visit Sound Union one day, in Redwood City California, and they might even let me play.
Learn more at soundunion.com https://www.linkedin.com/