I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists

I Like Your Work supports artists! Each week artist Erika b Hess interviews artists, gallerists, and curators to cover topics that will help you in your art practice. From inspiring interviews from the lives of artists to business practices you will walk away ready to get in the studio.

Doing the Next Thing in Your Art Practice: Following What Lights You Up in the New Year 01/07/2026

Do It Afraid — Creative Planning for Artists Starting the Year Strong 12/19/2025

Sculptor Lydia Musco on Finding Clarity in Your Studio Practice 12/12/2025

Sculptor Lydia Musco on Finding Clarity in Your Studio Practice Lydia Jenkins Musco’s work has been exhibited in galleries and public spaces throughout the United States. With an MFA from Boston University and a BA from Bennington College, her artistic practice has been shaped by international experiences, including stone carving studies in Italy and participation in art symposia in Norway, South Korea, and China. Musco’s work has earned recognition through awards including two Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants, a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, and an Edward F. Albee Residency Fellowship, among others. Her work has been featured in exhibitions including the 43rd Annual Peace Exhibition in Nagasaki, Japan, the International Print Center in New York, and numerous outdoor sculpture exhibitions nationwide. Musco has contributed to the art community through academic roles, serving as a lecturer in sculpture at Boston University and a visiting assistant professor at Davidson College. Musco lives and works in Royalston, Massachusetts. "I interpret the world into a vocabulary of objects with weight and mass that can be viewed from all sides, that help me explore the connections and intersections of elements. Basic construction materials like concrete and wood — ubiquitous and often used in humble ways we take for granted — offer me a path to honesty through their fundamental simplicity. Two groups of work are currently in progress, Logarithmus and Unconformity. The Unconformity series began as an investigation into perception and place, a reflection of the landscape of the woodlands of Massachusetts. In geology, an unconformity refers to a break in time, a boundary between rocks caused by erosion or a pause in sediment accumulation. Investigating the environmental changes accumulating in the landscape over the course of a year, each sculpture is an unconformity, a break in time, capturing a moment, holding it still, and documenting the changing color, light, and forms of a single place. The Logarithmus series explores navigation, inspired by the Chip Log, an early nautical instrument for gauging speed. The form of these sculptures is derived from the geometry of a circle's quadrant. The resulting shape, somewhat vulnerable due to its accessible interior, becomes an exploration of pathfinding, with all its inherent hope and uncertainties. With the guarantee of detours and missteps, my goal is to keep moving forward with curiosity. These objects are built from the ground up, echoing the process of memory or landscape formation. Like geological strata, each layer both influences and is influenced by those adjacent to it, above and below, side by side. Bound by gravity only, they are built in movable sections that can be dismantled and reconstructed. Each reassembly tells a new story, revealing how intention and environment reshape our understanding, making the familiar strange and the static dynamic." LINKS: I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists’ tax deduction guide by going to Thank you to our Sponsor, the 2026 Canopy Program: Apply by January 14th at Pre-order our catalog: Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/39374490

What’s Happening at Miami Art Week 2025: Artist Takeaways from Art Basel, NADA, Untitled & SCOPE 12/05/2025

What’s Happening at Miami Art Week 2025: Artist Takeaways from Art Basel, NADA, Untitled & SCOPE If you’ve been watching the Miami energy from afar and wondering what it all means for your studio practice, this episode gives you the trends, themes, and takeaways that actually matter for artists.In this episode, Erika covers: • The big-picture trends shaping Miami Art Week 2025: – Institutional validation and residencies becoming more influential – The shift toward sustainable careers and long-term practice – Experiential installations dominating many fairs – Latin American and Caribbean artists in the spotlight – The ongoing market correction and what collectors are looking for • A breakdown of the key fairs: – Art Basel Miami Beach: What’s new, what curators are paying attention to, and how residencies fit into this year’s programming – NADA: Emerging artists, experimental work, and themes like climate fiction + myth/memory – Untitled Art Fair: Thoughtful curation and a special focus on reflection-based work – SCOPE Miami Beach: Where Erika is speaking this year on sustainable artist careers and the power of residencies – Additional satellite fairs: Design Miami, Aqua, Art Miami + Context, Satellite, Prizm Erika also shares: • How the fairs are highlighting conversations around artist support, sustainability, and community • A grounded takeaway for artists who aren’t in Miami: how to move your career forward from your own studio Whether you’re at the fairs, following along online, or simply curious about the current art-world landscape, this episode gives you the quick, real insights behind the images. I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Make Taxes Easier and Stash an Extra $152k in Your Savings Free Class: Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists’ tax deduction guide by going to Pre-order our catalog: Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/39277715

Italian Journey: Corot, Goethe & the Self We Discover 11/28/2025

Understanding Your Experience with Painter Gail Spaien 11/21/2025

Understanding Your Experience with Painter Gail Spaien Gail Spaien (b. 1958, Hartford, Connecticut) is an American artist and educator based in Maine. Her studio practice centers around the idea that a painting is a site of connection; an object that transmits emotion from one person to another. She is of a lineage of artists who think craft and beauty shape and build a more relational world. Spaien has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, including the Ucross Foundation (2024), Varda Artist Residency Program, Djerassi Foundation Resident Artists Program, Millay Colony for the Arts, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has received grant funding from the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation, the Maine Arts Commission, and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions, including Taymour Grahne Projects, Dubai, UAE(2025); Mrs. Gallery, NY (2025); Nancy Margolis Gallery, NY; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK; Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME; Ellen Miller Gallery, Boston, MA; and Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME. Group exhibitions include Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME; 1969 Gallery, NY; studio e, Seattle, WA; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA; University of New Hampshire Museum, Durham, NH; Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, ME; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; and the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA. Spaien received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and BFA from the University of Southern Maine. After thirty years as faculty at the Maine College of Art and Design, she is full-time in the studio. "Inspired by my geographic location and the landscape that surrounds me, the images in my paintings are of observed and imagined places where one can be in relationship with others, the world, and the self. They celebrate the beauty of everyday acts and the quiet rhythms of daily life. They are compact reductions of lived experiences and permeable arenas of contemplation. The way I make my work is a performance of slowness. Created through repetitive handcraft, marked by decorative patterning, flattened space, and subtly skewed perspectives, my paintings reflect the intimacy of their making. Blending still life with landscape, often depicting a unification between the interior and exterior, spectators of my paintings become inhabitants of a world in slower motion. Composing an idealized counterpoint, I suggest that slowness and attention to the rhythms of an ordinary day is a form of quiet resistance and renewal. My source material ranges from the animated movies of Hayao Miyazaki and Walt Disney to the symbolism of Dutch Still Life paintings. I reference quilts, samplers, mourning paintings, Japanese embroidery, early American wooden furniture, wooden boats, and the architecture of simple cottages. The meditative and precise quality of paint-by-numbers, which I did as a child, also informs my work, as well as my admiration of early American folk artists, the Pattern and Decoration movement, Intimism and the ancient artists of Ukiyo-e. My paintings are places, and I approach them as such. As a painter, I turn my back on the external world and enter the world of the painting. I hope a viewer might do that too. When people say, “I want to go there,” I feel I have hit the mark in some way." LINKS: Artist Shout out: A shout out to my colleagues who are showing with Taymour Grahne Projects: Amy Lincoln https://www.amylincoln.com/ @amyplincoln Matthew F. Fisher https://www.matthewffisher.com/ @matthewffisher Sarah Mceneaney https://taymourgrahne.com/artists/sarah-mceneaney @sarahmcinerney Samira Abbassy https://www.samiraabbassy.com/ @samira_abasy Katia Kamali https://taymourgrahne.com/artists/katia-kameli @kamelikatia Faycal Baghriche And a VERY small few of my Maine colleagues: Philip Brou Honour Mack https://honourmack.com/home.html @honourmack Tessa Greene O’Brien https://www.tessagreenobrien.com/ @tessagreeneobrien Grace Hager https://gracehager.com/ @gracemakes Hilary Irons https://hilaryirons.com/home.html @h.irons.h Brett Bigby https://www.alexandregallery.com/artists-work/brett-bigbee#tab:thumbnails @brettbigby Rose Marasco https://rosemarasco.com/ @rosemarasco I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists’ tax deduction guide by going to Thank you to our Sponsor, the 2026 Canopy Program: Join an info session with Founder and Executive Director Catherine Haggarty and apply by January 14th at Pre-order our catalog: Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/39112740

Most Overlooked Area in Open Calls 11/14/2025

The Life of Objects with Painter Gwen Strahle 11/07/2025

The Life of Objects with Painter Gwen Strahle Gwen Strahle is a painter living and working in northeast CT. She teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design. She shows her work at Nancy Devine Gallery in RI. Strahle has received several awards including the Connecticut Artist Fellowship, the Purchase Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Honorarium from the Drawing Center. Strahle earned her MFA from Yale University in 1983. "I have been making paintings of objects arranged on my studio table for over forty years. Many of the objects in my work have been with me for the entirety of that time. The objects are painted both from life and from memory: bud vases, shells, pitchers, and glasses. Each of these objects is a kind of vessel, and I often think about what is inside of an object- the fullness of something empty in appearance. The objects are personified in the paintings, and I have become emotionally invested in them; they are part of my family. Over the years, they have changed and aged with me as I paint them into each image. I have created a hierarchy of icons using these familiar objects that can grow and change depending on their arrangement from one painting to the next. That dynamic relationship between objects is important to me. The covered table under the set-up serves as the canvas, or as the painting itself. Its flat surface is raised up for the viewer, with the malleability of a blank slate that allows objects to emerge from and be pushed back into the surface of the table—like a garden bed. It represents the painted world in which my objects can exist. Twenty years ago, I began to add my own silhouette to the paintings, which has recently turned into a shadow, and it presides over the still-life, and is in turn embraced by it. It made sense for that figure to be my own body, or my own shadow, as I am the one experiencing my relationship to the still-life, with these objects. This transparent form can dissolve across the objects and the table. My process involves moving the objects around the image, eliminating and adding as I work through each painting. My paintings come together slowly, sometimes over the course of months or years before I find resolution in the composition. In the practice of painting, I seek the feeling of being present in the world. The slowness allows for this." LINKS: I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Taxes for Humans is the clearest, kindest, funniest tax book you've ever read. It’s as generous as you are. Pre-Order by Nov 11 to get a discount AND instant access to Hannah's course. Go to If you have questions about: Estimated quarterly taxes Deductions Business setup steps (making it "official") LLCs Bookkeeping Getting and staying organized Getting out of a jam (payment plans, tax-cheating spouses, etc) Getting a lot more money from tax savings This book is your answer key. Uplifting, practical, and tax-deductible. A companion to the book, the WORKBOOK covers mindset exercises, clears mental blocks, and applies the knowledge you learned in the book.It has the best tax organizer you've ever seen (for actually organizing your tax info at tax time). Apply for our Winter Exhibition: Deadline is November 15: Pre-order our catalog: Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/38940410

Mystery and Philip Guston 10/31/2025

Mystery and Philip Guston In this episode, I touch on mystery in art—the space between knowing and not knowing that drives us to create and share Philip Guston’s essay “Faith, Hope, and Impossibility”. Faith, Hope, and Impossibility- Philip Guston “There are so many things in the world—in the cities—so much to see. Does art need to represent this variety and contribute to its proliferation? Can art be that free? The difficulties begin when you understand what it is that the soul will not permit the hand to make. To paint is always to start at the beginning again, yet being unable to avoid the familiar arguments about what you see yourself painting. The canvas you are working on modifies the previous ones in an unending, baffling chain which never seems to finish. (What a sympathy is demanded of the viewer! He is asked to “see” the future links.) For me the most relevant question and perhaps the only one is, “When are you finished?” When do you stop? Or rather, why stop at all? But you have to rest somewhere. Of course you can stay on one surface all your life, like Balzac’s Frenhofer. And all your life’s work can be seen as one picture—but that is merely “true.” There are places where you pause.Thus it might be argued that when a painting is “finished,” it is a compromise. But the conditions under which the compromise is made are what matters. Decisions to settle anywhere are intolerable. But you feel as you go on working that unless painting proves its right to exist by being critical and self-judging, it has no reason to exist at all—or is not even possible. The canvas is a court where the artist is prosecutor, defendant, jury, and judge. Art without a trial disappears at a glance: it is too primitive or hopeful, or mere notions, or simply startling, or just another means to make life bearable. You cannot settle out of court. You are faced with what seems like an impossibility—fixing an image which you can tolerate. What can be Where? Erasures and destructions, criticisms and judgments of one’s acts, even as they force change in oneself, are still preparations merely reflecting the mind’s will and movement. There is a burden here, and it is the weight of the familiar. Yet this is the material of a working which from time to time needs to see itself; even though it is reluctant to appear. To will a new form is inacceptable, because will builds distortion. Desire, too, is incomplete and arbitrary. These strategies, however intimate they might become, must especially be removed to clear the way for something else—a condition somewhat unclear, but which in retrospect becomes a very precise act. This “thing” is recognized only as it comes into existence. It resists analysis—and probably this is as it should be. Possibly the moral is that art cannot and should not be made. All these troubles revolve around the irritable mutual dependence of life and art—with their need and contempt for one another. Of necessity, to create is a temporary state and cannot be possessed, because you learn and relearn that it is the lie and mask of Art and, too, its mortification, which promise a continuity. There are twenty crucial minutes in the evolution of each of my paintings. The closer I get to that time—those twenty minutes—the more intensely subjective I become—but the more objective, too. Your eye gets sharper; you become continuously more and more critical.There is no measure I can hold on to except this scant half-hour of making. One of the great mysteries about the past is that such masters as Mantegna were able to sustain this emotion for a year. The problem, of course, is far more complex that mere duration of “inspiration.” There were pre-images in the fifteenth century, foreknowledge of what was going to be brought into existence. Maybe my pre-image is unknown to me, but today it is impossible to act as if pre-imaging is possible. Many works of the past (and of the present) complete what they announce they are going to do, to our increasing boredom. Certain others plague me because I cannot follow their intentions. I can tell at a glance what Fabritius is doing, but I am spending my life trying to find out what Rembrandt was up to. I have a studio in the country—in the woods—but my paintings look more real to me than what is outdoors. You walk outside; the rocks are inert; even the clouds are inert. It makes me feel a little better. But I do have faith that it is possible to make a living thing, not a diagram of what I have been thinking: to posit with paint something living, something that changes each day. Everyone destroys marvelous paintings. Five years ago you wiped out what you are about to start tomorrow. Where do you put a form? It will move all around, bellow out and shrink, and sometimes it winds up where it was in the first place. But at the end it feels different, and it had to make the voyage. I am a moralist and cannot accept what has not been paid for, or a form that has not been lived through. Frustration is one of the great things in art; satisfaction is nothing.Two artists always fascinate me—Piero della Francesca and Rembrandt. I am fixed on those two and their insoluble opposition. Piero is the ideal painter: he pursued abstraction, some kind of fantastic, metaphysical , perfect organism. In Rembrandt, the plane of art is removed. It is not a painting, but a real person—a substitute, a golem. He is really the only painter in the world! Certain artists do something and new emotion is brought into the world; its real meaning lies outside of history and the chains of causality. Human consciousness moves, but it is not a leap: it is one inch. One inch is a small jump, but that jump is everything. You go way out and then you have to come back—to see if you can move that inch. I do not think of modern art as Modern Art. The problem started long ago, and the question is: Can there be any art at all? Maybe this is the content of modern art.” Philip Guston Originally published in Art News Annual XXXI, 1966.å Adapted from notes for a lecture at the New York Studio School in May 1965. I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Taxes for Humans is the clearest, kindest, funniest tax book you've ever read. It’s as generous as you are. Pre-Order by Nov 11 to get a discount AND instant access to Hannah's course. Go to If you have questions about: Estimated quarterly taxes Deductions Business setup steps (making it "official") LLCs Bookkeeping Getting and staying organized Getting out of a jam (payment plans, tax-cheating spouses, etc) Getting a lot more money from tax savings This book is your answer key. Uplifting, practical, and tax-deductible. A companion to the book, the WORKBOOK covers mindset exercises, clears mental blocks, and applies the knowledge you learned in the book.It has the best tax organizer you've ever seen (for actually organizing your tax info at tax time). Apply for our Winter Exhibition: Deadline is November 15 Pre-order our catalog: Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/38848035

Exploring Cyanotype Printing and Mushrooms with Madge Evers 10/24/2025

Exploring Cyanotype Printing and Mushrooms with Madge Evers Madge Evers (b. 1961, Norwalk, CT) explores the transformative cycles of dormancy, decay, and ecstatic growth in plant life. Her work combines alternative photography, mushroom spores, and painting to depict landscape details and imagined flora. Evers earned a BA from Suffolk University in Boston and an MA from the University of Rhode Island. Her work has been exhibited at the New Britain Museum of American Art (CT), Danforth Museum of Art (Framingham, MA), Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (VT), and the Zero Art Fair (New York, NY), among others. In 2024, she curated and exhibited in the group show *Biomorph* at Split Level Gallery (Northampton, MA) and presented her third solo show at ECA Gallery (Easthampton, MA). Recent artist residencies include Chautauqua Arts (2024), Cill Rialaig (Kerry, Ireland, 2023), Oak Spring Garden Foundation (Upperville, VA, 2023), Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies at UMass Amherst (2022), and Eastern Frontier Educational Foundation (Jonesport, ME, 2022). Evers was a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship Finalist in Photography (2021) and made Photolucida Critical Mass top 200 (2019). Evers currently lives and works in western Massachusetts. Her book about the cyanotype process will be published by Storey in 2026. "My work features native and introduced flora foraged from different landscapes, along with imagined botanical elements. Working primarily on paper, I use various materials and processes, including mushroom spores, cyanotype, painting, collage, and book making. I began adapting and experimenting with mushroom spore prints as an art medium in 2015. The cyanotype—an alternative photographic process pioneered by botanist Anna Atkins in 1843 —provides flexibility for revision and repair in my practice. Spore printing and cyanotype photograms connect me to the cyclical transformations of plant life: growth, decay, and dormancy. I believe nature's interdependent systems offer a restorative framework for humans, and possibly humanity." LINKS: Artist Shoutout: Michael Abrams, michaelabramsart.com, @michael.abrams.art Jean Larson, www.jeanlarson.com, @jeanlarsonartist Fritz Horstman, fritzhorstman.com, @fritzhorstman Malaika Ross, www.malaikaross.com, @malaikaross_studio Laurie Olinder, www.laurieolinder.com, laurieolindertextiledesign Stephen DiRado, stephendirado.com, @stephenphotodirado Dale Rio, www.dalerio.com, @dale.rio.photography I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Taxes for Humans is the clearest, kindest, funniest tax book you've ever read. It’s as generous as you are. Pre-Order by Nov 11 to get a discount AND instant access to Hannah's course. Go to If you have questions about: Estimated quarterly taxes Deductions Business setup steps (making it "official") LLCs Bookkeeping Getting and staying organized Getting out of a jam (payment plans, tax-cheating spouses, etc) Getting a lot more money from tax savings This book is your answer key. Uplifting, practical, and tax-deductible. A companion to the book, the WORKBOOK covers mindset exercises, clears mental blocks, and applies the knowledge you learned in the book.It has the best tax organizer you've ever seen (for actually organizing your tax info at tax time). Apply for our Winter Exhibition: Deadline is November 15 Pre-order our catalog: Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/38759645

Simplify Your Taxes as an Artist: Artist Tax Professional Hannah Cole 10/17/2025

Say Yes: Painting, Printmaking and Murals with Artist Joseph Wardwell 10/10/2025

Say Yes: Painting, Printmaking and Murals with Artist Joseph Wardwell Joe Wardwell is currently a Professor of Painting at Brandeis University (Waltham, MA) and is the founder the Brandeis-in-Siena program. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA). He received a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Boston University (Boston, MA). Currently on view, Wardwell has a large-scale wall drawing, “Hello America: 40 Hits from the 50 States,” commissioned for the renovation of building 6 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. In 2022, he completed his first large scale public art project for the Boston Public Library, Roxbury Branch. Wardwell has also completed large scale installations for the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, citizenM Hotels, Facebook Inc., and the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters in Norfolk, VA and the Cape Cod Museum of Art. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (Lincoln, MA), the Rollins Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, and Wardwell’s work is in the permanent collection of each. Wardwell has been a recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant for Painting and was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Creative Arts at Boston University. In addition to numerous group exhibitions throughout the region, Wardwell has held solo exhibitions in New York, New Haven, Boston, Seattle, and Montreal. His work has been reviewed by Art Forum, Art in America, the Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, Boston Magazine, as well as many other publications. Wardwell lives with his family in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, his studio is in Dorchester, MA, and is represented by the LaMontagne Gallery. LINKS: I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our Sponsor, Rise and Repaint. Ever wish your biggest career questions actually had answers? Like — Am I pricing my art right? or What do galleries and curators really want to see? That’s exactly what you’ll find inside the Rise and Repaint Network — built for women and non-binary artists. You’ll connect with galleries, plan exhibitions, and learn how to price your work with confidence, all while being supported by a global artist community.And because you’re a listener, you get first dibs before the public — plus a discount with code ILYW25. But hurry, doors close October 17th. Visit today. Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/38528265

Finding Stability as an Artist: Truths and Lies 10/03/2025

Susan Klein on Collaboration, Color, and Creative Process 09/26/2025

Susan Klein on Collaboration, Color, and Creative Process Susan Klein is an artist living in Charleston, SC. Recent exhibitions include I Should Have Been a Pair of Ragged Claws at the Wassaic Project, A Window Scrubbed for the Moon at Asya Geisberg Gallery, NYC, and Volcano Lovers at Frontviews, Berlin. Klein is a 2020-2021 recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Other awards include an Artist-in-Residence at the Dunedin School of Art in New Zealand, a Hambidge Center Residency, Watershed Center for Ceramics Art Residency, Wassaic Project Residency, residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program, a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, an Ox-bow Artist-in-Residence Summer Fellowship, an Otis College of Art and Design Summer Residency, and residency at Arteles Creative Research Center in Finland. Klein received her MFA in 2004 from the University of Oregon, a BFA in 2001 from the University of New Hampshire, and studied art at NYU from 1997-99. She is an Associate Professor of Art and Chair of the Art Department at the College of Charleston. LINKS: Artist Shout Out: Hannah Barnes, hannahbarnesart.com, @hannahmbarnes Kerri Ammirata, @kerri_ammirata, Sky Gilkerson, https://www.skyegilkerson.com/, @skyegilkerson Cristina Victor, @sabiaceramics, cristinavictor.com I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our Sponsor, Rise and Repaint. Ever wish your biggest career questions actually had answers? Like — Am I pricing my art right? or What do galleries and curators really want to see? That’s exactly what you’ll find inside the Rise and Repaint Network — built for women and non-binary artists. You’ll connect with galleries, plan exhibitions, and learn how to price your work with confidence, all while being supported by a global artist community.And because you’re a listener, you get first dibs before the public — plus a discount with code ILYW25. But hurry, doors close October 17th. Visit today. Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/38357080

The Super Power We Have as Artists 09/19/2025

Sam King on Painting and Process 09/12/2025

Sam King on Painting and Process Sam King has exhibited at galleries, artist-run spaces, and universities across the country, including The Painting Center (NYC), Unrequited Leisure (Nashville), Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati), Oneoneone Gallery (Chapel Hill), Laconia Gallery (Boston), The Provincial (Kaleva, MI), Living Arts of Tulsa, MIXD (Rogers, AR), the University of North Carolina Greensboro, the University of Tulsa, Lower Columbia College, and Western Connecticut State University. In 2020, King was a resident of Hambidge Center, supported by the Lee and Margaret Echols fellowship for musicians (he records and performs improvisational, microtonal guitar music under the name Untight). In 2019, he curated Shelters, Monuments, featuring the work of artists Whiting Tennis and Sarah Norsworthy, for The Provincial, an artist-run space in Kaleva, MI. With Christopher Lowrance, King co-founded MW Capacity, a website devoted primarily to painting in the Midwest. With Stephanie Pierce, he co-founded Lalaland, a DIY community projects space in Fayetteville, AR, active 2011-2019. He has also been a resident artist at Vermont Studio Center and Ox-Bow School of Art, an affiliated fellow at the American Academy in Rome, and a recipient of the Arkansas Arts Council’s Individual Artist Fellowship. His work is held in a number of public and private collections. King earned a Bachelor Fine Arts degree from the University of Tulsa (2003) and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University (2005). He resides in Fayetteville, AR, where he serves as an Associate Director of the University of Arkansas School of Art. "Much of the meaning of my work is embedded in its physicality, process, and composition. I am enamored of the material trappings of painting: not just paint and canvas, but staple-holes, tears, creases, and off-cuts, and at times, the artifacts of digital and hybrid formats. My process is improvisational, and I tend to work on a lot of paintings at once. If a painting is not going well (or it was at one point "finished," and no longer seems sufficiently resolved), I take it off its stretchers, cut it up, and use the pieces to start new works. In this way, a single, failing painting might be the germ of five or ten new ones. By alternatingly reinforcing and transgressing conventions of visual perception, I hope to engage, perhaps even implicate, the viewer in the work. I arrived at this method of making art after years of experimentation and interrogation of painting as a vehicle for communication. I rarely seek out source material, in the sense of a specific painting serving to record a particular scene, moment, or emotion, but also, I think of painting in terms of metaphor and embodiment. My work tends to exist in a suspended, liminal state, like something is there to be recognized, reassembled, or decoded. I can't quite say why I started working this way, but I've indulged a persistent, gnawing instinct to rework old paintings for many years, long before they look like they do now. There is something in them, for me, about the interconnectedness and malleability of our collective and individual experiences, tensions between structure and intuition, and the slipperiness of time, narrative, memory, and interpretation." LINKS: Artist Shout Out: Stephanie Pierce (@stephanie_lalaland, https://stephanie-pierce.com) Matt Murphy (@7mrm8, https://www.m-murphy.net), Mark Lewis (@marklewis2245, https://www.marklewispaintingstudio.com), & my colleagues at The University of Arkansas School of Art (some of whom have been past guests on ILYW - Marc, Neil) I Like Your Work Links: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/38183140

The Benefits of Artist Residencies 09/05/2025

Create Your Own Artist Residency 04/25/2025

Exploring Printmaking with Taro Takizawa 04/18/2025

Exploring Printmaking with Taro Takizawa Taro Takizawa is an artist specializing in printmaking, wall vinyl installations, drawings, and 2D designs. His work blends both Western and Eastern aesthetics, with a deep appreciation for traditional printmaking processes and the art of mark-making. Takizawa is fascinated by the fusion of contemporary studio practices with traditional methods, exploring the boundaries between printmaking and installation art. He earned his BFA with a printmaking emphasis from Central Michigan University and completed his MFA in printmaking at Syracuse University in 2017. Takizawa has exhibited his work both nationally and internationally at prominent venues such as the Fowler-Kellogg Art Center, PARADOX European Fine Art Forum in Poland, ArtPrize 10 at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, LUX Center for the Arts, the China Printmaking Museum, Tyger Tyger Gallery, and Kai Lin Art in Atlanta, GA. He has also participated in several artist residencies, including those at the Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts, Morgan Conservatory, GoggleWorks, and Lawrence Arts Center. Takizawa currently serves as the Assistant Professor of Art at the University of North Carolina (UNC) Wilmington. LINKS: Artist Shout Out: Michael Dickins (curator) @mdickins at APSU who has been so generous to me since we met. He is generous to everyone. Tyger Tyger Gallery at Asheville, NC who suffered greatly from the flooding. Wishing them luck and strengths and recovery - amazing team amazing space. I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our Sponsor, Creativity Matters Coaching: Naomi Vladeck & her signature 10-week spring course - Unstoppable! Starting April 28. Apply to our Summer Exhibition & Publication at Chautauqua Visual Arts: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/36212545

Tips for Balancing Multiple Creative Projects (Without Losing Your Mind) 04/04/2025

Interior Spaces and Crafting a Life as an Artist with Anne Buckwalter 03/28/2025

Interior Spaces and Crafting a Life as an Artist with Anne Buckwalter Anne Buckwalter is an American painter based in Maine. She was born and raised in Lancaster, PA. She received her BFA from Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia and her MFA from Maine College of Art and Design. A recipient of a 2020-2021 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, a 2020 Idea Fund Grant, and a 2016 Joan Mitchell Foundation Emerging Artist Grant, Anne has been an artist-in-residence at the Galveston Artist Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Studios at Mass MoCA, Hewnoaks Artist Colony, and Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. Her exhibition history includes the Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia, PA; Boston University Gallery, Boston, MA; The Painting Center, New York, NY, and others. Her paintings have been highlighted in New American Paintings, Juxtapoz, Hyperallergic, and The New York Times, and included in the collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami; Aishti Foundation, Lebanon; Zuzeum, Latvia; X Museum, Beijing; Art Museum of West Virginia, and Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. In 2025, she mounted her first institutional solo show, Manors, at the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland, Maine. She is represented by Rachel Uffner Gallery (New York, NY), Pentimenti Gallery (Philadelphia, PA), Micki Meng (San Francisco, CA), and Rebecca Camacho Presents (San Francisco, CA). "Anne Buckwalter’s creative practice explores female identity and the coexistence of contradictory elements. Inspired by the folk art traditions of her Pennsylvania Dutch heritage, her work arranges disparate objects in mysterious domestic interiors and ambiguous spaces. By imagining obscure narratives that embrace paradoxes, her paintings delve into questions about the body, femininity, sexuality, and desire." LINKS: I Like Your Work Links: Apply to our Summer Exhibition & Publication at Chautauqua Visual Arts: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/35891965

The Cloud of Unknowing in the Studio 03/21/2025

Level Up: Insight for Mid-Career Artists with Ceri Hand 03/14/2025

Level Up: Insight for Mid-Career Artists with Ceri Hand Ceri Hand is a creative coach, mentor, host of the Extraordinary Creatives podcast, public speaker and the founder of www.cerihand.com, supporting thousands of creatives to make an impact with their work and earn more money doing what they love. Prior to establishing Ceri Hand she was Director of Programmes for Somerset House, responsible for the exhibitions, live events, learning and skills programme across the whole historic site. She successfully helped to build its profile and brand, shaping its reputation as one of the UK’s top 10 most visited arts attractions (2.5million visitors annually). Significant highlights include landmark exhibitions such as Mushrooms: The Art, Design and Future of Funghi; Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers; Good Grief, Charlie Brown! Celebrating Snoopy and the Enduring Power of Peanuts; Hassan Hajjaj: La Caravane, in partnership with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair; commissioning filmmaker Bradford Young for the annual Film4 Summer Screen programme; Anna Meredith and GAIKA for the ice-rink and Kojey Radical and Little Simz for the outdoor concerts Summer Series. During her time there, she also successfully commissioned artists based within Somerset House Studios including Hannah Perry, Larry Achiampong and GAIKA, as well as commissioning new work for 1:54 AFrican Art Fair, Photo London, British Council International Fashion Showcase, and the London Design Biennale. Throughout her career she’s worked with and commissioned new work from thousands of artists including notably: Hans Peter Feldmann, Gary Simmons, Angela Bulloch, Vito Acconci, Pipilotti Rist, Bedwyr Williams, Toby Ziegler, Dexter Dalwood, Chen Chieh-jen, Walid Raad/The Atlas Group, Sophie Jung, Anthea Hamilton, John Akomfrah and Black Audio Film Collective, Christian Jankowski, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Sissel Tolaas, Shilpa Gupta, Salla Tykka, Candice Breitz, Yang Fudong, Jill Magid, Cory Arcangel, Jeremy Deller & Alan Kane, Naeem Mohaiemen, Ran Huang, Paulina Olowska, Claudio Parmiggiani, João Penalva, Mai-Thu Perret, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Josephine Pryde, Hugh Scott-Douglas, Jim Shaw, Clare Woods and Heimo Zobernig. Ceri’s other previous roles include: Associate Director: Institutions and Public Relations, Simon Lee Gallery, London; Associate Consultant, Contemporary Art Society, London; Director, Ceri Hand Gallery, London/Liverpool; Director of Metal, Liverpool; Director of Exhibitions, FACT, Liverpool; Deputy Director of Grizedale Arts, Cumbria and Director of Make, London. Ceri is currently Chair of Castlefield Gallery, Manchester. LINKS: I Like Your Work Links: Apply to our Summer Exhibition & Publication at Chautauqua Visual Arts: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/35672565

Mapping Trust and Confidence in Your Work 03/07/2025

Lost in the Wilderness – Why Uncertainty is Part of the Journey 02/28/2025

Artist Susan Lichtman: Painting Domestic Spaces, Light and Color 02/21/2025

Artist Susan Lichtman: Painting Domestic Spaces, Light and Color Susan Lichtman is a figurative painter of domestic spaces, working out of her home studio in southeastern Massachusetts. She received her undergraduate degree from Brown University and an MFA in Painting from Yale University School of Art. Lichtman has had solo exhibitions at Steven Harvey Fine Arts Projects, NY, NY. (2017, 2024); Rose Art Museum, Waltham, MA (2024); Fahrenheit, Madrid, (2022); Gross McCleaf Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (2018) and the Wilson Museum of Hollins University, Roanoke, VA (2017.) Recent group and two person exhibitions have been at Steven Harvey Fine Arts Project, NY ,NY; Nathalie Karg Gallery, NY, NY; Wege Center for the Arts, Fairfield, IA; Chazen Gallery, Providence, RI; Page Gallery, Camden, ME; and Crosstown Arts, Memphis, TN. A recipient of a fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, she also holds awards from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A Fine Arts professor at Brandeis University between 1980-2024, Lichtman has also been a visiting artist at numerous universities and art programs. She was the Frances Niederer Artist-in-Residence at Hollins University in 2017, Guest Artist at JSS Civita in 2018 and a faculty member at the Chautauqua Visual Art program in 2024. LINKS: Artist Shout out: Steven Harvey Fine Arts Project, NY, NY. Page Gallery, Camden ME.; Nancy Devine Gallery, Warren, RI I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsors: Naomi Vladeck with Creativity Matters Coaching: Registration for The Fear Less Creator Method Intensive is NOW LIVE This transformational experience for women artists and creators begins on February 24 runs through April 7 2025. Register on Or email her at naomi@creativitymatterscoaching.com to learn about her early-bird spots! Apply for a residency at Chautauqua Visual Arts: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/35370935

How Open Calls & Residencies Create Unexpected Opportunities 02/14/2025

How Open Calls & Residencies Create Unexpected Opportunities Have you ever hesitated to apply for an open call or residency because of self-doubt? Or maybe you’ve wondered, Is this even worth it? In this episode of I Like Your Work, we’re flipping that narrative. Open calls and residencies aren’t just about submitting your work—they’re about creating opportunities, making connections, and getting your art seen in ways you never imagined. I’ve heard from so many artists who have had real, tangible opportunities come from being featured in the I Like Your Work Open Call catalog—things like exhibitions, representation, and new collectors. And residencies? They can be game-changers for artists looking to deepen their practice, meet incredible peers, and create work in an inspiring environment. We’ll also talk about Chautauqua Visual Arts Residencies—an incredible space for artists to grow, reflect, and push their work forward. And I’m beyond excited to introduce our guest curator for this year’s Open Call, Leah Triplett, an amazing curator and writer who brings a thoughtful and engaging eye to contemporary art.If you’ve been waiting for a sign to put yourself out there—this is it. What You’ll Learn in This Episode: Why open calls and residencies are more than just applications—they’re opportunities for transformation How artists have gained career-changing connections from the I Like Your Work Open Call What makes Chautauqua Visual Arts Residencies such an exciting and valuable experience Insights from guest curator Leah Triplett, a leading curator and writer shaping contemporary art The importance of believing in your work and stepping into opportunity—despite fear Apply Today! I Like Your Work Open Call: Chautauqua Visual Arts Residency: Let’s Connect! Follow me on Instagram: Join the Artist Membership: Leave a review & share this episode with an artist friend who needs a little encouragement! Hit play and get ready to embrace new opportunities! /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/35276510

Color and Searching with Artist Neil Callander 02/07/2025

Color and Searching with Artist Neil Callander Neil Callander is an artist and an educator. Born in Louisville KY, Neil earned a BFA from Indiana University (2003) and an MFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University (2006). In 2005 he received a full fellowship to be a resident at Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. After graduate school Neil worked as a painter for the artist Jeff Koons in his New York studio. In 2007 Neil and family left New York City to pursue careers as artists and academics. This decision has offered a tour of the South with time spent in Louisville KY, Starkville MS, and Tuscaloosa AL. Neil and his wife Adrienne are currently professors of Art at the University of Arkansas and live in a household of makers, dogs, and sheep on three acres in Fayetteville AR. Neil has exhibited widely including solo exhibitions at Goose Barnacle (Brooklyn NY), Studio Break Gallery (West Chicago IL), Bowling Green State University (OH), MANIFEST Gallery and Drawing Center (Cincinnati OH), Elon University (NC) and The Kentucky School of Art (Louisville). Group exhibitions include MANIFEST Gallery and Drawing Center (Cincinnati OH), The Huntsville Museum of Art (AL), The Mississippi Museum of Art (Jackson), The New Gallery of Modern Art (Charlotte NC), First Street Gallery (NYC), Washington Art Association (CT) and many others. He has presented on his work and practice at institutes of higher learning including Boston University, UMass Dartmouth, Arkansas State University, and the University of Mississippi. He is a member of ZEUXIS (an association of still life painters based in NYC), and SECAC whose conferences he regularly attends. Recent creative endeavors include participation in Art Week (July 2022) at the fabled family home of painter Fairfield Porter on Great Spruce Head Island in Maine. Neil returned to the island in 2024 and will again in 2025 to facilitate a painting retreat he developed. "Cinema is the king of story-telling. Photography is a much more efficient form of documentation. Music is superior at catharsis. Television and the Internet own propaganda. That leaves painting the domains of materiality and ambiguity. I pack a painting with cultural and personal references and work toward an image that is provocative yet conceptually flexible. As more is added the compositions grow thicker, tighter, and more refined over time – like the tangle of a garden in late summer. The act of viewing my paintings is an unlocking of these internal relationships. Experiencing dense paintings that slowly reveal their nature can help us contend with the pervasiveness of fast-talking, slick images. In a media-riddled world, painting is a stabilizing force." LINKS: Artist Shout out: 2024 Great Spruce Head Island Painting Retreat participants: Gabbe Grodin @gabbegrodin Amanda Millis @amandacmillis Elise Schweitzer @eliseschweitzer Aaron Thompson @paintlanguage Kimberly Trowbridge @Kimberly_trowbridge I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsors: Naomi Vladeck with Creativity Matters Coaching: Registration for The Fear Less Creator Method Intensive is NOW LIVE This transformational experience for women artists and creators begins on February 24 runs through April 7 2025. Register on Or email her at naomi@creativitymatterscoaching.com to learn about her early-bird spots! Apply for a residency at Chautauqua Visual Arts: Join the Works Membership! Watch our Youtube channel: Interviews Say “hi” on /episode/index/show/ilikeyourworkpodcast/id/35180540

Dealing with Criticism as an Artist: What to Take In and What to Ignore 01/31/2025

Transforming Materials with Artist Sachiko Akiyama 01/17/2025

I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists

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