Aaron Walker is a professional tattoo artist with a private studio in downtown Little Rock. He specializes in color tattoos, particularly watercolor.
\n\n"Whenever I first started tattooing, I did a lot of color tattoos in general. I wanted to do a style called New School, which is very cartoony, almost based off of graffiti. And, I still love that style. It's a lot of fun to tattoo. But I got asked to do a couple of watercolor tattoos. And I had a lot of fun doing them. I was probably in like my first few years of tattooing and then one day I thought to myself that I had a lot of fun doing them and just wanted to keep doing them, so I told myself that some styles aren't for everybody and there should always be somebody that wants to be good at certain styles. Like for example, there's people that started doing tribal in the 90s, and they still to this day do it. I just started thinking to myself my style isn't for everybody, and that's completely fine. I necessarily don't want to be a black and gray artist. Or, you know, any other kind of style. You could name any style, really. But, while I can do black and gray, it's not what I want to specialize in. There's people out there that definitely can do watercolor, but it's probably not what they want to do every day either, so, you might as well have somebody that's gonna want to do it and try their best to be really great at it, and that's what I sought out to do." - Aaron Walker
\n\nWatch Aaron give me the tattoo on YouTube Here: https://youtu.be/qslGcx8uHmQ
\n\nFind out more about Aaron:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/aaronwalkertattoos/
\nWebsite - https://www.instagram.com/aaronwalkertattoos/
Find out more about Elizabeth and Sustaining Craft:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
\nWebsite - https://www.sustainingcraft.com
Special Guest: Aaron Walker.
","summary":"Aaron Walker had his sights set on new school tattoos, when he first started his career as a tattoo artist. Then a few clients asked him for watercolor tattoos, and he realized how much fun he had building out the color. Nine years later, he's still pursuing his craft in a private downtown Little Rock studio.","date_published":"2023-09-05T13:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/28e366f7-f01e-4e75-8d9d-66f1ba56658d.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":38281649,"duration_in_seconds":2392}]},{"id":"811cb2bf-b24a-478e-8357-428bed1db6ac","title":"Episode 32: Katy Raines, Part 2: Relearning How To Love Art","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/32","content_text":"Katy Raines, a Little Rock creative, joins Elizabeth again on the Sustaining Craft podcast for the second time since 2018 to reveal her work with the 2nd Friday Art Night After Hours Market, how she's relearned to love art, and why she joined an all-girls Dungeons and Dragons campaign.\n\n\"I don’t need to do an all-day eight hour event where I actually get up at 6 am to prep and then get there at 7 and the event starts at 9 and then I stay until 5 and tear down at 6. It’s hit or miss if I’m going to make fifty bucks or three hundred bucks. Is that worth my energy? At this point, not really. I do still have a full-time job so I’m grateful that I’m able to be more selective about my freelance and these vendor events. And with that, like I said, I’m not posting as much on instagram about my personal art because I’m relearning how to love art. I feel like I had to take that step back. Because it was, everything needed to be, how many likes did I get, or who is sharing it? I saw my friend share somebody else’s art but they didn’t share my art. And it was becoming a shitty comparison game that nobody wants. I love all of my friends’ art and I’m like, they should be sharing because they’re amazing. It was never a, ‘I feel in competition with them’, it was just a ‘I’m being behind’ feeling. With that, I think it was, I am putting too much pressure on myself. And I think it goes back to the pandemic. I took that two years to really relearn who I was. And part of that was, what did I like about being an artist as a kid? That was: sitting in my room, listening to music and figure drawing.\" - Katy Raines\n\nListen to her previous episode here: https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/13\nRead here: https://hewandweld.com/katy-raines/\n\nJoin Katy and a group of talented artists this Friday, August 11, for the last Second Friday Art Night Afterhours of the year. To apply for next year’s events, email the Downtown Little Rock Partnership at downtownpartnership@downtownlr.com or Katy at WhatTheKaty@Gmail.Com.\n\nFind out more about Katy: \nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/whatthekaty\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/whatthekaty\n2nd Friday Art Night - https://www.facebook.com/2ndFridayArtNight\nAfter Hours - https://www.facebook.com/events/740123451446905/740123454780238/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A%5B%7B%22surface%22%3A%22home%22%7D%2C%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22search_results%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22search%22%7D%5D%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D\n\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\nWebsite - https://www.sustainingcraft.comSpecial Guest: Katy Raines.","content_html":"Katy Raines, a Little Rock creative, joins Elizabeth again on the Sustaining Craft podcast for the second time since 2018 to reveal her work with the 2nd Friday Art Night After Hours Market, how she's relearned to love art, and why she joined an all-girls Dungeons and Dragons campaign.
\n\n"I don’t need to do an all-day eight hour event where I actually get up at 6 am to prep and then get there at 7 and the event starts at 9 and then I stay until 5 and tear down at 6. It’s hit or miss if I’m going to make fifty bucks or three hundred bucks. Is that worth my energy? At this point, not really. I do still have a full-time job so I’m grateful that I’m able to be more selective about my freelance and these vendor events. And with that, like I said, I’m not posting as much on instagram about my personal art because I’m relearning how to love art. I feel like I had to take that step back. Because it was, everything needed to be, how many likes did I get, or who is sharing it? I saw my friend share somebody else’s art but they didn’t share my art. And it was becoming a shitty comparison game that nobody wants. I love all of my friends’ art and I’m like, they should be sharing because they’re amazing. It was never a, ‘I feel in competition with them’, it was just a ‘I’m being behind’ feeling. With that, I think it was, I am putting too much pressure on myself. And I think it goes back to the pandemic. I took that two years to really relearn who I was. And part of that was, what did I like about being an artist as a kid? That was: sitting in my room, listening to music and figure drawing." - Katy Raines
\n\nListen to her previous episode here: https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/13
\nRead here: https://hewandweld.com/katy-raines/
Join Katy and a group of talented artists this Friday, August 11, for the last Second Friday Art Night Afterhours of the year. To apply for next year’s events, email the Downtown Little Rock Partnership at downtownpartnership@downtownlr.com or Katy at WhatTheKaty@Gmail.Com.
\n\nFind out more about Katy:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/whatthekaty
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/whatthekaty
\n2nd Friday Art Night - https://www.facebook.com/2ndFridayArtNight
\nAfter Hours - https://www.facebook.com/events/740123451446905/740123454780238/?acontext=%7B%22event_action_history%22%3A%5B%7B%22surface%22%3A%22home%22%7D%2C%7B%22mechanism%22%3A%22search_results%22%2C%22surface%22%3A%22search%22%7D%5D%2C%22ref_notif_type%22%3Anull%7D
Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
\nWebsite - https://www.sustainingcraft.com
Special Guest: Katy Raines.
","summary":"Katy Raines is back to share what she's been up to since 2018 and how she learned to love art again.\r\n\r\nRobert Bean, a Little Rock visual storyteller, is back on the Sustaining Craft podcast for the third time to share what he's been up to, how to gain separation from your art in a healthy way and get feedback, along with how it's impossible to have expression without practice.","date_published":"2023-08-09T00:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/811cb2bf-b24a-478e-8357-428bed1db6ac.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":21362034,"duration_in_seconds":1312}]},{"id":"3866466b-8684-4373-b023-481bb2773973","title":"Episode 31: Robert Bean, Part 3: Giving the Work Space","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/31","content_text":"Robert Bean, a Little Rock visual storyteller, is back on the Sustaining Craft podcast for the third time to share what he's been up to, how to gain separation from your art in a healthy way and get feedback, along with how it's impossible to have expression without practice.\n\n\"Give the work space. I think part of the problem we have is that if you're stuck in a drawing; you're stuck in a piece you're making, you're often very involved in that peice and sometimes you're very emotionally invested in that piece, too. One of the things I think that helps is putting that piece away for awhile. That while may be a couple of days. That may be a couple of weeks. ... Put it away where you can't see it, so you stop thinking about it as much and it's not always there, consciously bothering you. After that, then pull it out, reasses it yourself, and then get someone to look at it. Because you've given yourself some space. There's a preciousness that comes with making. Right at the moment of making is when it's the most precious. ... If you can give it some space and distance, it doesn't have that kind of impact. It may not hit you as hard. The easiest thing is give it a little bit of breathing room and then come back to it.\" - Robert Bean\n\nRobert Bean Episode 1: https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/15\nRobert Bean Article 1: https://hewandweld.com/robert-bean/\nRobert Bean Episode 2: https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/27\nRobert Bean Article 2: https://hewandweld.com/robert-bean-parttwo/\n\nFind out more about Robert: \nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/rbfineart/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/RPBean\nClasses - https://www.rbfineart.com/classes\nNewsletter - https://www.rbfineart.com/contact-us\n\nBrandy Mimm's Listen with Your Eyes Dance Troupe - Resurgence Tickets for April 22, 2023: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/listen-with-your-eyes-dance-troupe-resurgence-tickets-509749684027?mibextid=Zxz2cZ.\n\nSustaining Craft provides storytelling resources and shares the tales of those pursuing their art or craft. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\nWebsite - https://www.sustainingcraft.comSpecial Guest: Robert Bean.","content_html":"Robert Bean, a Little Rock visual storyteller, is back on the Sustaining Craft podcast for the third time to share what he's been up to, how to gain separation from your art in a healthy way and get feedback, along with how it's impossible to have expression without practice.
\n\n"Give the work space. I think part of the problem we have is that if you're stuck in a drawing; you're stuck in a piece you're making, you're often very involved in that peice and sometimes you're very emotionally invested in that piece, too. One of the things I think that helps is putting that piece away for awhile. That while may be a couple of days. That may be a couple of weeks. ... Put it away where you can't see it, so you stop thinking about it as much and it's not always there, consciously bothering you. After that, then pull it out, reasses it yourself, and then get someone to look at it. Because you've given yourself some space. There's a preciousness that comes with making. Right at the moment of making is when it's the most precious. ... If you can give it some space and distance, it doesn't have that kind of impact. It may not hit you as hard. The easiest thing is give it a little bit of breathing room and then come back to it." - Robert Bean
\n\nRobert Bean Episode 1: https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/15
\nRobert Bean Article 1: https://hewandweld.com/robert-bean/
\nRobert Bean Episode 2: https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/27
\nRobert Bean Article 2: https://hewandweld.com/robert-bean-parttwo/
Find out more about Robert:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/rbfineart/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/RPBean
\nClasses - https://www.rbfineart.com/classes
\nNewsletter - https://www.rbfineart.com/contact-us
Brandy Mimm's Listen with Your Eyes Dance Troupe - Resurgence Tickets for April 22, 2023: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/listen-with-your-eyes-dance-troupe-resurgence-tickets-509749684027?mibextid=Zxz2cZ.
\n\nSustaining Craft provides storytelling resources and shares the tales of those pursuing their art or craft. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
\nWebsite - https://www.sustainingcraft.com
Special Guest: Robert Bean.
","summary":"Robert Bean, a Little Rock visual storyteller, is back on the Sustaining Craft podcast for the third time to share what he's been up to, how to gain separation from your art in a healthy way and get feedback, along with how it's impossible to have expression without practice.","date_published":"2023-04-14T14:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/3866466b-8684-4373-b023-481bb2773973.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":40385238,"duration_in_seconds":2524}]},{"id":"386dfdda-fb48-4ce9-9dba-b3c7fa6f69bd","title":"Episode 30: Hannah Allen Anderson, Part 2: Breaking the Rules","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/30","content_text":"Hannah Allen Anderson is the florist and mastermind behind Petal to the Metal Floristry, and she’s looking to shake things up one stem at a time. She returned to Sustaining Craft to discuss her wedding, how she has continued to refine her style, and what special aspects she brings to her Valentine’s Day offerings.\nI first interviewed Hannah in 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIRe3pyXR3E\nInstagram: instagram.com/petaltothemetalar\nFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/petaltothemetalar\nVenmo: @PetalToTheMetalAR\nSustaining Craft provides storytelling resources and shares the tales of those pursuing their art or craft. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\nWebsite - https://www.sustainingcraft.comSpecial Guest: Hannah Allen Anderson.","content_html":"Hannah Allen Anderson is the florist and mastermind behind Petal to the Metal Floristry, and she’s looking to shake things up one stem at a time. She returned to Sustaining Craft to discuss her wedding, how she has continued to refine her style, and what special aspects she brings to her Valentine’s Day offerings.
\nI first interviewed Hannah in 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIRe3pyXR3E
\nInstagram: instagram.com/petaltothemetalar
\nFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/petaltothemetalar
\nVenmo: @PetalToTheMetalAR
\nSustaining Craft provides storytelling resources and shares the tales of those pursuing their art or craft. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
\nWebsite - https://www.sustainingcraft.com
Special Guest: Hannah Allen Anderson.
","summary":"Hannah Allen Anderson is the florist and mastermind behind Petal to the Metal Floristry, and she’s looking to shake things up one stem at a time. She returned to Sustaining Craft to discuss her wedding, how she has continued to refine her style, and what special aspects she brings to her Valentine’s Day offerings.","date_published":"2023-02-08T13:00:00.000-05:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/386dfdda-fb48-4ce9-9dba-b3c7fa6f69bd.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":54758081,"duration_in_seconds":2251}]},{"id":"40f868fa-56d6-4d9c-9eba-e876755ccf4f","title":"Episode 29: Danielle Perrault: Singing to Pursue Joy","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/29","content_text":"Danielle Perrault is a holistic vocal coach, actor, and singer who knows the struggles of pursuing a creative career all too well. She had no intention of singing professionally when she first attended college as a psychology major. She made the switch to pursue nursing, and then stumbled into opera by way of elective courses when all of the classes she needed for nursing were full. Now, she is working through what a creative life means to her personally while helping others get the support they need.\n\nI first interviewed Danielle in 2017: https://silversteinwriterdotcom.wordpress.com/2017/07/27/danielle-perrault-studying-opera-that-stunningly-gorgeous-musical-expression-of-human-emotion-that-goes-right-to-your-soul/\nhttps://www.danielleperrault.com/\nInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielle.perrault.creative/\nTwitter: https://twitter.com/danip_vocals\nVenmo: @Danielle-Perrault-Creative \n\nPlus, join me for a podcasting event where you'll learn how to create your own podcast and how to pitch your story to existing podcasts: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/getsmart-learning-series-using-podcasting-as-a-creatives-tool-tickets-394619937857?aff=odcleoeventsincollection \n\nSustaining Craft provides storytelling resources and shares the tales of those pursuing their art or craft. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\nWebsite - https://www.sustainingcraft.comSpecial Guest: Danielle Perrault.","content_html":"Danielle Perrault is a holistic vocal coach, actor, and singer who knows the struggles of pursuing a creative career all too well. She had no intention of singing professionally when she first attended college as a psychology major. She made the switch to pursue nursing, and then stumbled into opera by way of elective courses when all of the classes she needed for nursing were full. Now, she is working through what a creative life means to her personally while helping others get the support they need.
\n\nI first interviewed Danielle in 2017: https://silversteinwriterdotcom.wordpress.com/2017/07/27/danielle-perrault-studying-opera-that-stunningly-gorgeous-musical-expression-of-human-emotion-that-goes-right-to-your-soul/
\nhttps://www.danielleperrault.com/
\nInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/danielle.perrault.creative/
\nTwitter: https://twitter.com/danip_vocals
\nVenmo: @Danielle-Perrault-Creative
Plus, join me for a podcasting event where you'll learn how to create your own podcast and how to pitch your story to existing podcasts: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/getsmart-learning-series-using-podcasting-as-a-creatives-tool-tickets-394619937857?aff=odcleoeventsincollection
\n\nSustaining Craft provides storytelling resources and shares the tales of those pursuing their art or craft. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
\nWebsite - https://www.sustainingcraft.com
Special Guest: Danielle Perrault.
","summary":"Danielle Perrault is a holistic vocal coach, actor, and singer who knows the struggles of pursuing a creative career all too well. She had no intention of singing when she first attended college as a psychology major. She made the switch to pursue nursing, and then stumbled into opera by way of elective courses when all of the classes she needed for nursing were full. Now, she is working through what a creative life means to her personally while helping others get the support they need.","date_published":"2022-08-23T01:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/40f868fa-56d6-4d9c-9eba-e876755ccf4f.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":44087146,"duration_in_seconds":3092}]},{"id":"1e8567af-dead-4a00-a70f-a6f2907f7106","title":"Episode 28: Liz Taylor-McMullen: Creating Smiles With Community Music","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/28","content_text":"Liz Taylor-McMullen earned her bachelor’s in music education and a master’s in music performance before working for two years as a band director. She’d had to learn quite a few different instruments to teach band. “I was studying to be a band director, and when you do that, you learn how to play all of the band instruments to a certain level of proficiency, because you had to be able to get sixth graders started.”\n\nAs the band director, a lot of people in a state like Arkansas are often the only music director for an entire school district at times and can be responsible for up to sixty students. “You have to be able to wear a lot of hats,” Liz said. “That’s why I can play a lot of instruments. Because I learned how to learn.”\n\nShe spent four years more as a choir director before moving into administration at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA). “I think I just always knew that I wanted to be a music teacher from the time I was a little girl,” Liz shared. “It just seemed like the natural thing to do. It never really crossed my mind to have another job. And I got the job and I did the job. And once I got to the point where I felt comfortable and knew what I was doing … It was three things. It was the red tape, it was dealing with parents who didn’t appreciate what I was doing and couldn’t see that I was trying really hard, and just feeling like I wasn’t making much of a difference. It wore me down.”\n\nFind Lieder Vox Duo on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Lieder-Vox-Duo-102621477815115/\n\nRead the rest: https://hewandweld.com/news/\n\nSustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew & Weld:\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/Special Guest: Liz Taylor-McMullen.","content_html":"Liz Taylor-McMullen earned her bachelor’s in music education and a master’s in music performance before working for two years as a band director. She’d had to learn quite a few different instruments to teach band. “I was studying to be a band director, and when you do that, you learn how to play all of the band instruments to a certain level of proficiency, because you had to be able to get sixth graders started.”
\n\nAs the band director, a lot of people in a state like Arkansas are often the only music director for an entire school district at times and can be responsible for up to sixty students. “You have to be able to wear a lot of hats,” Liz said. “That’s why I can play a lot of instruments. Because I learned how to learn.”
\n\nShe spent four years more as a choir director before moving into administration at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA). “I think I just always knew that I wanted to be a music teacher from the time I was a little girl,” Liz shared. “It just seemed like the natural thing to do. It never really crossed my mind to have another job. And I got the job and I did the job. And once I got to the point where I felt comfortable and knew what I was doing … It was three things. It was the red tape, it was dealing with parents who didn’t appreciate what I was doing and couldn’t see that I was trying really hard, and just feeling like I wasn’t making much of a difference. It wore me down.”
\n\nFind Lieder Vox Duo on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Lieder-Vox-Duo-102621477815115/
\n\nRead the rest: https://hewandweld.com/news/
\n\nSustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
Find more from Hew & Weld:
\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
Special Guest: Liz Taylor-McMullen.
","summary":"Liz Taylor-McMullen, a part-time musician in Little Rock, had to stop rehearsals and music lessons when the pandemic hit. She was still able to work her 9-5 at the university, and she's found the time to pursue another passion: arranging music.","date_published":"2020-05-21T00:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/1e8567af-dead-4a00-a70f-a6f2907f7106.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":78057056,"duration_in_seconds":1951}]},{"id":"87ec8e86-65ee-417d-ac2b-bbe8f0885522","title":"Episode 27: Robert Bean, Part 2: Investigating People Through Visual Arts","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/27","content_text":"Robert Bean has noticed how the rest of the world has realized how much they need the arts. “All of a sudden, they’re starting to draw, play music,” Robert said. “I’ve seen the stuff that says, ‘You don’t support the arts? What are you doing right now? You’re reading books. You’re coloring. You’re doing all of these things.’ And I’m 100% behind that. We should be funding and supporting the arts, not letting them go or devaluing them.”\n\nCreatives haven’t been stopped by the limitations of social distancing, either, like Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, which used Zoom, a business tool, to create a music video for their song, Phenom, by pivoting in a matter of weeks. “To me, that’s the power of the arts and the creative brain,” Rober shared. “‘Okay, we get hit with this setback, but what do we do instead?’ It doesn’t just grind to a halt. They just go, ‘Okay. I’m gonna roll up my sleeves and I’m gonna figure out a different way to do this.’ And they get in there and do it. And I think that would benefit everyone so much more if we would fund and teach that kind of thing to everybody.”\n\nRead the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/\n\nFind out more about Robert: \nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/rbfineart/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/RPBean\nClasses - https://www.arkansasartscenter.org/how-to-register\n\nSustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew & Weld:\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/Special Guest: Robert Bean.","content_html":"Robert Bean has noticed how the rest of the world has realized how much they need the arts. “All of a sudden, they’re starting to draw, play music,” Robert said. “I’ve seen the stuff that says, ‘You don’t support the arts? What are you doing right now? You’re reading books. You’re coloring. You’re doing all of these things.’ And I’m 100% behind that. We should be funding and supporting the arts, not letting them go or devaluing them.”
\n\nCreatives haven’t been stopped by the limitations of social distancing, either, like Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, which used Zoom, a business tool, to create a music video for their song, Phenom, by pivoting in a matter of weeks. “To me, that’s the power of the arts and the creative brain,” Rober shared. “‘Okay, we get hit with this setback, but what do we do instead?’ It doesn’t just grind to a halt. They just go, ‘Okay. I’m gonna roll up my sleeves and I’m gonna figure out a different way to do this.’ And they get in there and do it. And I think that would benefit everyone so much more if we would fund and teach that kind of thing to everybody.”
\n\nRead the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/
\n\nFind out more about Robert:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/rbfineart/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/RPBean
\nClasses - https://www.arkansasartscenter.org/how-to-register
Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
Find more from Hew & Weld:
\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
Special Guest: Robert Bean.
","summary":"Robert Bean, a visual storyteller focused on painting and drawing, found that life didn't change much when the pandemic hit. He hopes that others continue their creative endeavors when they return to their normal lives.","date_published":"2020-05-01T13:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/87ec8e86-65ee-417d-ac2b-bbe8f0885522.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":26762909,"duration_in_seconds":1672}]},{"id":"fb4dc1f0-ab20-45ca-b3c4-8e2a901b9545","title":"Episode 26: Chris Swasta: Hearing in 3D","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/26","content_text":"In 2016, when he came back to Little Rock, he found a job at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. “My old high school teacher was working with me and she was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been following you throughout your college years. I know you started doing pottery. Have you heard about the art center?’ And I was like, ‘No, what is that?’ And so I went there the next day.”\n\nHe signed up for classes with Kelly Edwards. “I walked into her class, and I wasn’t going to leave,” Chris shared. “I was going to make something before I left. That’s how it started, and I’ve been there ever since.”\n\nNow, Chris teaches an afterschool program for students ranging in age from 10 to 18, and he’s a part of the work-study program at the center. And after hearing a Radiohead song, he made 6,000 pieces over the past six months, crediting his creative drive to synthesia. “Anything see, anything I hear, I visually relate it to a 3D form,” Chris explained. “This installation is inspired by a song.”\n\nRead the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/\n\nFind out more about Chris: \nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/rollinghillspottery/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/rollinghillspottery/\n\nSustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew & Weld:\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/Special Guest: Chris Swasta.","content_html":"In 2016, when he came back to Little Rock, he found a job at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. “My old high school teacher was working with me and she was like, ‘Hey, I’ve been following you throughout your college years. I know you started doing pottery. Have you heard about the art center?’ And I was like, ‘No, what is that?’ And so I went there the next day.”
\n\nHe signed up for classes with Kelly Edwards. “I walked into her class, and I wasn’t going to leave,” Chris shared. “I was going to make something before I left. That’s how it started, and I’ve been there ever since.”
\n\nNow, Chris teaches an afterschool program for students ranging in age from 10 to 18, and he’s a part of the work-study program at the center. And after hearing a Radiohead song, he made 6,000 pieces over the past six months, crediting his creative drive to synthesia. “Anything see, anything I hear, I visually relate it to a 3D form,” Chris explained. “This installation is inspired by a song.”
\n\nRead the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/
\n\nFind out more about Chris:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/rollinghillspottery/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/rollinghillspottery/
Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
Find more from Hew & Weld:
\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
Special Guest: Chris Swasta.
","summary":"Chris Swasta created 6,000 pieces for a collaborative exhibit at the Thea Foundation scheduled for April 3. The show was postponed until 2021. He's been a full-time potter for the past six years and he teaches pottery at the Arkansas Arts Center.","date_published":"2020-04-22T16:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/fb4dc1f0-ab20-45ca-b3c4-8e2a901b9545.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":41047815,"duration_in_seconds":1026}]},{"id":"149e68b3-4bb5-44bb-aedf-e9f543fab888","title":"Episode 25: Morgan Allain: Discovering New Mediums and Techniques","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/25","content_text":"In the four years since we last talked, Morgan has moved on from her Muse series, which she focused on for two years. She's branched out into working on several different series, with focus ranging from Greek mythology to folklore to mushrooms. She's also teaching herself new methods and skills. \"It’s fun trying new papers and different brushes and stuff because I’ve been missing out on a lot,\" Morgan said. \"I’m kind of sad I didn’t discover this stuff sooner because it’s working on different mediums or different papers. I have to learn how to use the paint totally differently than on other stuff that I’ve worked on. It’s really interesting and keeps me from getting bored.\"\n\nRead the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/\n\nFind out more about Morgan: \nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/theinklinggirl/\nPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/TheInklingGirl\nEtsy - https://www.etsy.com/shop/theinklinggirl/\n\nSustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify).\n\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew & Weld:\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/Special Guest: Morgan Allain.","content_html":"In the four years since we last talked, Morgan has moved on from her Muse series, which she focused on for two years. She's branched out into working on several different series, with focus ranging from Greek mythology to folklore to mushrooms. She's also teaching herself new methods and skills. "It’s fun trying new papers and different brushes and stuff because I’ve been missing out on a lot," Morgan said. "I’m kind of sad I didn’t discover this stuff sooner because it’s working on different mediums or different papers. I have to learn how to use the paint totally differently than on other stuff that I’ve worked on. It’s really interesting and keeps me from getting bored."
\n\nRead the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/
\n\nFind out more about Morgan:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/theinklinggirl/
\nPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/TheInklingGirl
\nEtsy - https://www.etsy.com/shop/theinklinggirl/
Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify).
\n\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
Find more from Hew & Weld:
\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
Special Guest: Morgan Allain.
","summary":"Morgan Allain is an artist in rural Louisiana who saw conventions being cancelled early on, which helped her and her family of artists prepare. Morgan creates art on her Instagram, offers special perks through her Patreon, and sells originals and prints through her Etsy shop.","date_published":"2020-04-02T19:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/149e68b3-4bb5-44bb-aedf-e9f543fab888.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":38993546,"duration_in_seconds":974}]},{"id":"5ecf6840-236e-4b1f-99fc-55bae5cff67a","title":"Episode 24: Hannah Genevieve Lawrence: Weaving Functional Art","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/24","content_text":"And then COVID-19 hit the United States. “A few weeks beforehand, my boss was telling me, ‘No one’s gonna, with all the stuff going on, no one’s gonna go to your show,’” Hannah said. “I was like, ‘It’s not gonna be a big deal. It’s gonna be fine.’”\n\nUltimately, the exhibition was postponed until February 2021. “Then it just all gets taken away,” Hannah said. “I taught a lot of extra classes to have money to buy art supplies. I missed out on things with friends to stay home and make stuff. One of my friends recently moved away, and one of the last dinners they had before they left, I didn’t go to because I was like, ‘I really need to stay home and make stuff. I’ve already been out too much this week.’ It makes me a little bit sad that I missed stuff like that.”\n\nRead the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/\n\nFind out more about Hannah: \nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hannah.genevieve/\n\nSustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew & Weld:\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/Special Guest: Hannah Genevieve Lawrence.","content_html":"And then COVID-19 hit the United States. “A few weeks beforehand, my boss was telling me, ‘No one’s gonna, with all the stuff going on, no one’s gonna go to your show,’” Hannah said. “I was like, ‘It’s not gonna be a big deal. It’s gonna be fine.’”
\n\nUltimately, the exhibition was postponed until February 2021. “Then it just all gets taken away,” Hannah said. “I taught a lot of extra classes to have money to buy art supplies. I missed out on things with friends to stay home and make stuff. One of my friends recently moved away, and one of the last dinners they had before they left, I didn’t go to because I was like, ‘I really need to stay home and make stuff. I’ve already been out too much this week.’ It makes me a little bit sad that I missed stuff like that.”
\n\nRead the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/
\n\nFind out more about Hannah:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hannah.genevieve/
Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
Find more from Hew & Weld:
\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
Special Guest: Hannah Genevieve Lawrence.
","summary":"Hannah Genevieve Lawrence was about to have her collaborative exhibit at the Thea Foundation. Then the pandemic hit. Hannah is a macramé artist with Strands Textiles and an assistant gallery director at M2 Gallery. She moved to Little Rock in 2018. She creates and instructs others on how to make functional art using rope and wool.","date_published":"2020-03-27T11:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/5ecf6840-236e-4b1f-99fc-55bae5cff67a.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":46799978,"duration_in_seconds":1169}]},{"id":"11f88f90-a54f-4777-8ad4-dea18c713e92","title":"Episode 23: Brandy Mimms: Listening with Your Eyes","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/23","content_text":"Growing up in the hearing world, Brandy Mimms didn’t realize for years that there was an entire other community she could participate in. “I grew up mostly in the hearing world,” Brandy explained. “So we have the deaf world and we have the hearing world. I grew up in the hearing world because my family wanted me to be hearing so badly. I appreciate them, thank you, but they never really exposed me to the deaf world as a kid.”\n\nStill, she followed her interests, which included music. To listen, she simply has to feel it. “I have to feel the vibration,” she explained. “I can hear it a little bit in my hearing aids, yes, and I’m not saying it has to be rocking loud, but it has to be loud enough for me to really feel it where I can feel, okay, this is hard or this is soft. I need to feel that. If I don’t feel it, I feel like, ah I’m lost. I don’t know where I’m going. I feel very crazy. That’s how I listen to music -- feeling the beat. And I have bluetooth hearing aids, so music is always in my ears when I’m not talking to people. I’m always listening to music. The vibration is right there. I have a love for music and music helps me with my dancing and helps me to express myself.”\n\nFind more about Brandy: \nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/uniquethedeafdancer/\nUnique the Deaf Dance Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Unique-The-Deaf-Dancer-304624890492835/?ref=br_rs\nListen With Your Eyes Dance Troupe Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ListenWithYourEyesDanceTroupe/\nPersonal Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brandy.mimms.35\nWebsite - http://www.brandymimms.com/\n\nSustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew & Weld:\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/Special Guest: Brandy Mimms.","content_html":"Growing up in the hearing world, Brandy Mimms didn’t realize for years that there was an entire other community she could participate in. “I grew up mostly in the hearing world,” Brandy explained. “So we have the deaf world and we have the hearing world. I grew up in the hearing world because my family wanted me to be hearing so badly. I appreciate them, thank you, but they never really exposed me to the deaf world as a kid.”
\n\nStill, she followed her interests, which included music. To listen, she simply has to feel it. “I have to feel the vibration,” she explained. “I can hear it a little bit in my hearing aids, yes, and I’m not saying it has to be rocking loud, but it has to be loud enough for me to really feel it where I can feel, okay, this is hard or this is soft. I need to feel that. If I don’t feel it, I feel like, ah I’m lost. I don’t know where I’m going. I feel very crazy. That’s how I listen to music -- feeling the beat. And I have bluetooth hearing aids, so music is always in my ears when I’m not talking to people. I’m always listening to music. The vibration is right there. I have a love for music and music helps me with my dancing and helps me to express myself.”
\n\nFind more about Brandy:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/uniquethedeafdancer/
\nUnique the Deaf Dance Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Unique-The-Deaf-Dancer-304624890492835/?ref=br_rs
\nListen With Your Eyes Dance Troupe Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ListenWithYourEyesDanceTroupe/
\nPersonal Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brandy.mimms.35
\nWebsite - http://www.brandymimms.com/
Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
Find more from Hew & Weld:
\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
Special Guest: Brandy Mimms.
","summary":"Brandy Mimms always loved music. Wanting to perform, she became a cheerleader while attending college in New Orleans. When Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana, she left with her 10-week-old son. When she ended up in Arkansas, she decided to study dance at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Now, she's a professional deaf dancer who goes by Unique the Deaf Dancer, owns her own dance company, Listen With Your Eyes Dance Troupe, and teaches dance at Southwest Community Center in Little Rock.","date_published":"2020-02-12T18:00:00.000-05:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/11f88f90-a54f-4777-8ad4-dea18c713e92.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":58504006,"duration_in_seconds":3596}]},{"id":"1d11b6e9-1bd3-4e38-b8e0-c4cd7ef14209","title":"Episode 22: Stacey Bowers: Stamping an Edge on the Delicate ","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/22","content_text":"Stacey Bowers wanted to make her friends laugh. She used some of her previous knowledge of jewelry making and learned how to stamp metal to make delicate pieces with interesting phrases on them. \n\n“I think it has a lot to do with my own personal taste in jewelry,” Stacey said. “I typically wear things that are small and discrete, and I think a lot of other people appreciate that, too. But my attitude is not small or discrete. It's a little combination of the inner and outer me.”\n\nShe worked full-time as the communications director for the Thea Foundation while making jewelry every hour she wasn’t at work. As of February 2019, she decided to transition to jewelry design full-time with her company, Bang-Up Betty. \n\nFind more of Stacey’s work:\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/bangupbetty/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/bangupbettyjewelry\nWebsite - https://www.bangupbetty.com/\nPinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/BangUpBetty/\nStifft Station Gifts - https://www.stifftstationgifts.com/\n\nSustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew & Weld:\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/Special Guest: Stacey Bowers.","content_html":"Stacey Bowers wanted to make her friends laugh. She used some of her previous knowledge of jewelry making and learned how to stamp metal to make delicate pieces with interesting phrases on them.
\n\n“I think it has a lot to do with my own personal taste in jewelry,” Stacey said. “I typically wear things that are small and discrete, and I think a lot of other people appreciate that, too. But my attitude is not small or discrete. It's a little combination of the inner and outer me.”
\n\nShe worked full-time as the communications director for the Thea Foundation while making jewelry every hour she wasn’t at work. As of February 2019, she decided to transition to jewelry design full-time with her company, Bang-Up Betty.
\n\nFind more of Stacey’s work:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/bangupbetty/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/bangupbettyjewelry
\nWebsite - https://www.bangupbetty.com/
\nPinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/BangUpBetty/
\nStifft Station Gifts - https://www.stifftstationgifts.com/
Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew & Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
Find more from Hew & Weld:
\nWebsite - https://www.hewandweld.com/news
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
Special Guest: Stacey Bowers.
","summary":"Stacey Bowers wanted to make her friends laugh. She’d already had an understanding of jewelry making from her time as a teenager working at a bead store, then she taught herself how to stamp metal. The gifts for her friends caught the eyes of others, and she built an Etsy shop, then a website. By 2018, she had to decide if she wanted to make Bang-Up Betty her full-time gig. She booked a trade show in Vegas and quit her day job. Now, her work has been featured in Buzzfeed and other national platforms, and she makes all of her income as a jewelry designer at her home studio and Stifft Station Gifts.","date_published":"2020-01-22T17:00:00.000-05:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/1d11b6e9-1bd3-4e38-b8e0-c4cd7ef14209.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":55261786,"duration_in_seconds":1357}]},{"id":"69f038b9-2b0a-4005-8e45-e8ebd693d304","title":"Episode 21: Joshua Kurtz: Socializing through World Building","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/21","content_text":"Joshua Kurtz joins Elizabeth Silverstein of Sustaining Craft for a follow-up interview. \n\nOver the years, Joshua has found that simply asking might lead to unexpected results, like when he asked his drama teacher if the school could perform the musical he wrote at age 17. Or when he needed to raise his rates as a professional Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master. \n\n“I realized at that point, ‘Huh, I’m a very niche market, this is a very niche market, I’m not charging enough for my services,’” Joshua explained. “And it’s hard, because I’m asking people to come back over and over and over again, and I’m asking an audience and it’s mostly kids. But I did wind up raising my rates, which got very little resistence. Everyone was very supportive, especially when I said why.”\n\nAs of January 2020, Joshua is a full-time dungeon master, teaching Dungeons & Dragons and other table-top role-playing games to audiences of all ages.\n\nFind more of Joshua’s work:\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/dndforhire/ \nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/dndforhire/\nWebsite - https://dndforhire.com/\nEmail - dndforhire@gmail.com\n\nSustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld:\nWebsite - hewandweld.com/news\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/Special Guest: Joshua Kurtz.","content_html":"Joshua Kurtz joins Elizabeth Silverstein of Sustaining Craft for a follow-up interview.
\n\nOver the years, Joshua has found that simply asking might lead to unexpected results, like when he asked his drama teacher if the school could perform the musical he wrote at age 17. Or when he needed to raise his rates as a professional Dungeons and Dragons dungeon master.
\n\n“I realized at that point, ‘Huh, I’m a very niche market, this is a very niche market, I’m not charging enough for my services,’” Joshua explained. “And it’s hard, because I’m asking people to come back over and over and over again, and I’m asking an audience and it’s mostly kids. But I did wind up raising my rates, which got very little resistence. Everyone was very supportive, especially when I said why.”
\n\nAs of January 2020, Joshua is a full-time dungeon master, teaching Dungeons & Dragons and other table-top role-playing games to audiences of all ages.
\n\nFind more of Joshua’s work:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/dndforhire/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/dndforhire/
\nWebsite - https://dndforhire.com/
\nEmail - dndforhire@gmail.com
Sustaining Craft is a passion project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
Find more from Hew&Weld:
\nWebsite - hewandweld.com/news
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
Special Guest: Joshua Kurtz.
","summary":"Joshua Kurtz's journey towards professional dungeon master began years ago. He traveled the world with a theater college program, then started his own production nonprofit. He was teaching theater classes when a parent asked him if he provided childcare. He said no, but he had a tabletop game he could play with the kids. Now, he provides professional dungeon master services for Dungeons and Dragons and other role-playing table-top games to the greater Philadelphia area, while offering a positive role playing experience for all ages and occasions. Over the past year and a half, he grew his business from part-time to full-time as of January 2020.","date_published":"2020-01-03T14:00:00.000-05:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/69f038b9-2b0a-4005-8e45-e8ebd693d304.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":24171459,"duration_in_seconds":3021}]},{"id":"32d84cf7-5a7f-43a4-be1c-1aa5ab1ab42e","title":"Episode 20: Hannah Allen: Putting Petal to the Metal","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/20","content_text":"Hannah Allen stumbled into the flower industry with a customer service job. “I had no intention of touching flowers whatsoever,” Hannah said. “Only because my manager was just like, ‘This is your job. Don’t expect much.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, fine.’ I was young and dumb, so I was like, ‘I’ll just do whatever. Just give me a paycheck.’”\n\nThen the head florist, Marie, asked her for some help. “She got really overwhelmed one day and she was like, ‘Come on over,’” Hannah said. “She was drilling me on the flowers, on what’s what, I had to label them. She taught me all the basic arrangements that I needed to know.”\n\nMarie was transferred, and Hannah became head designer at the shop.\n\nShe’d always loved weddings since she was young. As the flower girl at the weddings of her mother’s friends, Hannah was determined to do the best job she could. When a bride came into the shop looking for affordable wedding flowers, Hannah remembered how much she loved weddings. “A girl came in looking for cheap wedding flowers on the fly,” Hannah said. “My manager handed me this big binder full of wedding information on all the questions you need to ask and all this stuff. And he was like, ‘Here you go. You can do it.’ I was like ‘Oh, ok.’ Having that sit down with the bride and getting excited and talking about what we’re going to do for her wedding was what ignited that, I think. I had this entire trade-style crash course on how to have a wedding consultation. That’s where it started, I think. It was the wedding stuff.”\n\nIn 2018, when she decided to “go rogue” as she described it, she started with Hannah Allen, Flower Gal. Then came Petal to the Metal Floristry. “I was just making an Instagram post one day, and I was just like, ‘Everything is going so fast, it’s petal to the metal.’ It just clicked in my head. It was the best pun of all time for a flower business.”\n\nFind more of Hannah's work:\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/petaltothemetalar/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/petaltothemetalar/\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Everything is funded through partnerships with friends. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld:\nWebsite - hewandweld.com/news\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/Special Guest: Hannah Allen Anderson.","content_html":"Hannah Allen stumbled into the flower industry with a customer service job. “I had no intention of touching flowers whatsoever,” Hannah said. “Only because my manager was just like, ‘This is your job. Don’t expect much.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, fine.’ I was young and dumb, so I was like, ‘I’ll just do whatever. Just give me a paycheck.’”
\n\nThen the head florist, Marie, asked her for some help. “She got really overwhelmed one day and she was like, ‘Come on over,’” Hannah said. “She was drilling me on the flowers, on what’s what, I had to label them. She taught me all the basic arrangements that I needed to know.”
\n\nMarie was transferred, and Hannah became head designer at the shop.
\n\nShe’d always loved weddings since she was young. As the flower girl at the weddings of her mother’s friends, Hannah was determined to do the best job she could. When a bride came into the shop looking for affordable wedding flowers, Hannah remembered how much she loved weddings. “A girl came in looking for cheap wedding flowers on the fly,” Hannah said. “My manager handed me this big binder full of wedding information on all the questions you need to ask and all this stuff. And he was like, ‘Here you go. You can do it.’ I was like ‘Oh, ok.’ Having that sit down with the bride and getting excited and talking about what we’re going to do for her wedding was what ignited that, I think. I had this entire trade-style crash course on how to have a wedding consultation. That’s where it started, I think. It was the wedding stuff.”
\n\nIn 2018, when she decided to “go rogue” as she described it, she started with Hannah Allen, Flower Gal. Then came Petal to the Metal Floristry. “I was just making an Instagram post one day, and I was just like, ‘Everything is going so fast, it’s petal to the metal.’ It just clicked in my head. It was the best pun of all time for a flower business.”
\n\nFind more of Hannah's work:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/petaltothemetalar/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/petaltothemetalar/
Sustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Everything is funded through partnerships with friends. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
\nFacebook - http://facebook.com/sustainingcraft
Find more from Hew&Weld:
\nWebsite - hewandweld.com/news
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
Special Guest: Hannah Allen Anderson.
","summary":"Hannah Allen learned a hard lesson in college, and she dropped out twice before earning her degree on the third try. Now, with Petal to the Metal Floristry, she helps brides with floral arrangements for their weddings, offering affordability without compromising quality. It's a path that has its roots in her childhood, as the flower girl at her mother's friends' weddings. But it took her a few detours to get there.","date_published":"2019-11-29T11:00:00.000-05:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/32d84cf7-5a7f-43a4-be1c-1aa5ab1ab42e.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":87100810,"duration_in_seconds":2153}]},{"id":"48514357-bf3c-4a09-8cf3-a09f2d88b15a","title":"Episode 19: Michael Eubanks: Using Art to Combat Fear","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/19","content_text":"Michael joined the military at the age of 16. By the age of 31, with a three-month-old daughter, Michael was let go from the military in what the armed forces calls a reduction in strength. He was sent back to the United States with his family, with no understanding of life as a civilian for the past 15 years.\n\n“I panic,\" Michael explained. \"I experience a lot of stress. We were trained to not recognize stress. We didn’t talk about stress. We didn’t talk about trauma. So you’re outprocessed--in other words, you come through this process of coming back to what we call ‘the block.’ And I would say you try to hold your head up, you try to be proud. You try to be an adult. You try to play the male role but you are in a nether world. Even though you’re back with the family that birthed you and raised you, you’re back with a whole different mindset, a whole different paradigm of what life’s about, and you are disconnected. You suffer from disassocation disorder. You’re out of your element, your’re out of your sphere. You don’t know what to do.”\n\nMichael graduated with honors from the UA Little Rock Masters Social Work program with a concentration on community and family therapy. He works as an education specialist in a program at UA Little Rock with an office from the Department of Education. He also plays once a month in Hot Springs and performs several times a month for veterans with dementia, VA staff, and veterans in the day health care program. \n\n—\nFind more of Michael's work:\nWebsite - www.michael-eubanks.com\nEmail - meubanks@michael-eubanks.com\nArkansas Arts Council Directory - https://www.arkansasarts.org/aie-artists/michael-eubanks\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/michael.eubanks.315\nLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-e-eubanks-71800043/\n\n—\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Each episode is only possible with the help of friends: Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends) and Joshua Kurtz.\n\nPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld: \nEach episode of Sustaining Craft comes with a companion article - hewandweld.com/news\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/\nFacebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1355556997945302/\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nPodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/Special Guest: Michael Eubanks.","content_html":"Michael joined the military at the age of 16. By the age of 31, with a three-month-old daughter, Michael was let go from the military in what the armed forces calls a reduction in strength. He was sent back to the United States with his family, with no understanding of life as a civilian for the past 15 years.
\n\n“I panic," Michael explained. "I experience a lot of stress. We were trained to not recognize stress. We didn’t talk about stress. We didn’t talk about trauma. So you’re outprocessed--in other words, you come through this process of coming back to what we call ‘the block.’ And I would say you try to hold your head up, you try to be proud. You try to be an adult. You try to play the male role but you are in a nether world. Even though you’re back with the family that birthed you and raised you, you’re back with a whole different mindset, a whole different paradigm of what life’s about, and you are disconnected. You suffer from disassocation disorder. You’re out of your element, your’re out of your sphere. You don’t know what to do.”
\n\nMichael graduated with honors from the UA Little Rock Masters Social Work program with a concentration on community and family therapy. He works as an education specialist in a program at UA Little Rock with an office from the Department of Education. He also plays once a month in Hot Springs and performs several times a month for veterans with dementia, VA staff, and veterans in the day health care program.
\n\n—
\nFind more of Michael's work:
\nWebsite - www.michael-eubanks.com
\nEmail - meubanks@michael-eubanks.com
\nArkansas Arts Council Directory - https://www.arkansasarts.org/aie-artists/michael-eubanks
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/michael.eubanks.315
\nLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-e-eubanks-71800043/
—
\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Each episode is only possible with the help of friends: Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends) and Joshua Kurtz.
\n\nPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/sustainingcraft
\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld:
\nEach episode of Sustaining Craft comes with a companion article - hewandweld.com/news
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
\nFacebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/1355556997945302/
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nPodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
Special Guest: Michael Eubanks.
","summary":"Art and music helped Michael Eubanks as a kid when he struggling to make friends and talk to others. When he sang, his stutter didn’t matter. And although he left his saxophone behind for a few years, it found him again, especially when he was unexpectedly back in the United States after fifteen years in the military, due to a reduction in strength, as they call a military downsizing.","date_published":"2019-11-06T16:00:00.000-05:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/48514357-bf3c-4a09-8cf3-a09f2d88b15a.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":29382228,"duration_in_seconds":3297}]},{"id":"8d487ac1-07f9-444b-8ec1-928e9130d7e7","title":"Episode 18: Jessica and Justin Crum: Proving That Creative Careers Are Possible (But Difficult)","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/18","content_text":"Jessica and Justin Crum decided to move to Conway in 2014, where Justin began working for PBS creating documentaries. He created educational documentaries, included one that aired nationally. But with little room to grow, he decided to take a step back into the scripts he’d written previously. “My roots are very much in narrative filmmaking,” Justin shared. “And I did grow to love documentaries there, I didn’t want to only do documentaries, and there’s no way to branch out from that there with PBS, really, unless you’re Downton Abbey. I just felt it was the right time to move into other scripts I had written before and start producing those. PBS was a bit of a training ground for me in a lot of ways and built my confidence up. I left there with the intention of making the film I’m making now, which is Papaw Land. I’ve been working on that for a year and a half. And it’ll probably be another year or so. It’s a long process.”\n\nAnd Jessica tried to continue her career as a fashion designer. She was freelancing for her contacts in LA and started saying yes to other projects. “When people locally would say, ‘What do you do?’ I would say I’m a designer,” Jessica explained. “I would tell them textile design, fabric design, graphic t-shirts, and they’d go, ‘Oh! Could you make my logo?’ I was like, ‘Probably.’ I’m a yes person, so I was like, ‘Yes, of course I can,’ and then secretly I was like, ‘I’ll figure it out.’”\n\n—\n\nFind more of Jessica's work: \nSilverlake Studio Website - https://silverlakestudio.com\nSilverlake Studio Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/teamsilverlake/\nSilverlake Studio Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/teamsilverlake\nThe Studio Downtown Website - https://www.thestudiodowntown.com/\nThe Studio Downtown Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thestudiodowntown/\nThe Studio Downtown Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thestudiodowntown\n\n—\n\nFind more of Justin's work: \nPapaw Land Movie Website - https://papawlandmovie.com/\nPapaw Land Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/papawlandmovie/\nPapaw Land Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/papawlandmovie\nPapaw Land Twitter - https://twitter.com/papawlandmovie\nPapaw Land Land Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1546893063/papaw-land-movie-filming-in-arkansas-summer-2018\n\n—\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Each episode is only possible with the help of friends: Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends) and Joshua Kurtz.\n\nPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/sustainingcraft\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld: \nEach episode of Sustaining Craft comes with a companion article - hewandweld.com/news\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/\nPodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/Special Guests: Jessica Crum and Justin Crum.","content_html":"Jessica and Justin Crum decided to move to Conway in 2014, where Justin began working for PBS creating documentaries. He created educational documentaries, included one that aired nationally. But with little room to grow, he decided to take a step back into the scripts he’d written previously. “My roots are very much in narrative filmmaking,” Justin shared. “And I did grow to love documentaries there, I didn’t want to only do documentaries, and there’s no way to branch out from that there with PBS, really, unless you’re Downton Abbey. I just felt it was the right time to move into other scripts I had written before and start producing those. PBS was a bit of a training ground for me in a lot of ways and built my confidence up. I left there with the intention of making the film I’m making now, which is Papaw Land. I’ve been working on that for a year and a half. And it’ll probably be another year or so. It’s a long process.”
\n\nAnd Jessica tried to continue her career as a fashion designer. She was freelancing for her contacts in LA and started saying yes to other projects. “When people locally would say, ‘What do you do?’ I would say I’m a designer,” Jessica explained. “I would tell them textile design, fabric design, graphic t-shirts, and they’d go, ‘Oh! Could you make my logo?’ I was like, ‘Probably.’ I’m a yes person, so I was like, ‘Yes, of course I can,’ and then secretly I was like, ‘I’ll figure it out.’”
\n\n—
\n\nFind more of Jessica's work:
\nSilverlake Studio Website - https://silverlakestudio.com
\nSilverlake Studio Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/teamsilverlake/
\nSilverlake Studio Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/teamsilverlake
\nThe Studio Downtown Website - https://www.thestudiodowntown.com/
\nThe Studio Downtown Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thestudiodowntown/
\nThe Studio Downtown Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/thestudiodowntown
—
\n\nFind more of Justin's work:
\nPapaw Land Movie Website - https://papawlandmovie.com/
\nPapaw Land Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/papawlandmovie/
\nPapaw Land Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/papawlandmovie
\nPapaw Land Twitter - https://twitter.com/papawlandmovie
\nPapaw Land Land Kickstarter - https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1546893063/papaw-land-movie-filming-in-arkansas-summer-2018
—
\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Each episode is only possible with the help of friends: Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends) and Joshua Kurtz.
\n\nPatreon - https://www.patreon.com/sustainingcraft
\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld:
\nEach episode of Sustaining Craft comes with a companion article - hewandweld.com/news
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/hewandweld/
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/hewandweld/
\nPodcast Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/
Special Guests: Jessica Crum and Justin Crum.
","summary":"She was an outgoing, young single mother. He was a shy script writer. They bonded over trips to the farmer's market after church and then experienced their first kiss in a cemetery. Now, Jessica and Justin Crum, married for ten years, are forging their careers in graphic design and film making in rural Arkansas. They want to reveal that creative careers don't need a backup plan.","date_published":"2019-09-03T15:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/8d487ac1-07f9-444b-8ec1-928e9130d7e7.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":27546058,"duration_in_seconds":2889}]},{"id":"b4756612-539f-418c-8b52-02abe5f26da5","title":"Episode 17: Matthew Castellano: Building Community Through Art","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/17","content_text":"When the gallery was in danger of closing, Castellano decided he would take on the project. He started raising money and planning pop-ups, absorbing the risk. “I didn't want to bring anybody else down,” he shared. “I wanted to do it pretty much on my own back. I did the GoFundMe for it and I had a lot better response than I thought I've ever had. So I have to do it now. Yeah, it's like yes, okay, I get to do it and have to do it. … It's really the community.”\n\nHe’s also built an educational element into the gallery, sharing the smaller details of working with galleries, like making sure a name is on the back of every art piece, resumes and portfolios are up-to-date, and that every “no” hits hard, but each “yes” makes up for it. “I've been rejected more times than I've been accepted but I was accepted a few times and that makes all the difference,” he said. “I want to be the person that I didn't have.”\n\nEach artist accepted into Gallery 360 walks away learning how to work with other galleries as well. “Everyone that gets to show here is going to learn how to be an artist by the end of their show,” Castellano said. “That way, they are stronger about going into other places and being represented. A lot of times, gallerists and people that represent don't want to have to deal with people that don't know. It's a lot of work on their end. if they come in and they're completely perfect, then they have nothing but good roads ahead of them. So even the smallest things like not putting information on the back of the piece is detrimental sometimes because you never know if that could be a sale or if you're never gonna see that piece again because it can get lost.”\n\n-- \n\nFind more of Matthew's work: \nArt Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/matthewcastellanoart/\nGallery Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lr_360/\nGallery Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/360Gallery/\nWebsite - https://manvswheel.bigcartel.com/\nGoFundMe - https://www.gofundme.com/gallery360\nUltraviolet - https://www.facebook.com/events/824094007942154/\n\n--\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Everything is funded through Hew&Weld and partnerships with friends: Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends) and Local. Magazine (http://localmag411.com/).\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld: \n\n\nEach episode of Sustaining Craft comes with a companion article, which can be found at hewandweld.com/news.\nInstagram, Facebook, Twitter: @hewandweld\nSustaining Craft is also on Instagram: @sustainingcraft\nSpecial Guest: Matthew Castellano.","content_html":"When the gallery was in danger of closing, Castellano decided he would take on the project. He started raising money and planning pop-ups, absorbing the risk. “I didn't want to bring anybody else down,” he shared. “I wanted to do it pretty much on my own back. I did the GoFundMe for it and I had a lot better response than I thought I've ever had. So I have to do it now. Yeah, it's like yes, okay, I get to do it and have to do it. … It's really the community.”
\n\nHe’s also built an educational element into the gallery, sharing the smaller details of working with galleries, like making sure a name is on the back of every art piece, resumes and portfolios are up-to-date, and that every “no” hits hard, but each “yes” makes up for it. “I've been rejected more times than I've been accepted but I was accepted a few times and that makes all the difference,” he said. “I want to be the person that I didn't have.”
\n\nEach artist accepted into Gallery 360 walks away learning how to work with other galleries as well. “Everyone that gets to show here is going to learn how to be an artist by the end of their show,” Castellano said. “That way, they are stronger about going into other places and being represented. A lot of times, gallerists and people that represent don't want to have to deal with people that don't know. It's a lot of work on their end. if they come in and they're completely perfect, then they have nothing but good roads ahead of them. So even the smallest things like not putting information on the back of the piece is detrimental sometimes because you never know if that could be a sale or if you're never gonna see that piece again because it can get lost.”
\n\n--
\n\nFind more of Matthew's work:
\nArt Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/matthewcastellanoart/
\nGallery Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/lr_360/
\nGallery Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/360Gallery/
\nWebsite - https://manvswheel.bigcartel.com/
\nGoFundMe - https://www.gofundme.com/gallery360
\nUltraviolet - https://www.facebook.com/events/824094007942154/
--
\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Everything is funded through Hew&Weld and partnerships with friends: Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends) and Local. Magazine (http://localmag411.com/).
\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld:
\n\nSpecial Guest: Matthew Castellano.
","summary":"There are some unexpected parallels between skateboarding and art -- including discipline, skill, community and the huge amounts of risk. Matthew Castellano has found both to be connected throughout his life as he grew up in Florida and then when he moved to Little Rock, where he curates Gallery 360, a space designed to bring people together.","date_published":"2019-02-27T16:00:00.000-05:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/b4756612-539f-418c-8b52-02abe5f26da5.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":27114588,"duration_in_seconds":2936}]},{"id":"2d272f83-17ad-4ddb-8cd4-44fa4454b309","title":"Episode 16: Kathryn LeMaster: Using the Unseen to Craft a Home","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/16","content_text":"And that interest had started years ago, with a family project. LeMaster’s father, gifted in construction, decided to build their family home from the ground up. The family lived in a mobile home while they first built a barn to house all of the building materials, and then started on the house a few years later. “I kind of felt like i grew up on a construction site,” LeMaster said.” I loved so much of that process of building our house and being able to be so involved in that process. Hanging doors, helping my mom pick out wall paper and paint colors.”\n\nAfter graduating with her degree and working for a year and a half at a local firm as an intern and then a junior designer, LeMaster decided to take a break. She joined her mother again, helping her flip a house as LeMaster considered what her next step might be. \n\nShe didn’t intend to start a company.\n\n-- \n\nGet more of Kathryn's work:\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/kjlemaster/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/kathrynjlemaster/\nTwitter - https://twitter.com/kjlemaster/\nWebsite - https://kathrynjlemaster.com/\n\n--\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Everything is funded through Hew&Weld and partnerships with friends: Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends) and Local. Magazine (http://localmag411.com/).\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld: \n\n\nEach episode of Sustaining Craft comes with a companion article, which can be found at hewandweld.com/news.\nInstagram, Facebook, Twitter: @hewandweld\nSustaining Craft is also on Instagram: @sustainingcraft\nSpecial Guest: Kathryn LeMaster.","content_html":"And that interest had started years ago, with a family project. LeMaster’s father, gifted in construction, decided to build their family home from the ground up. The family lived in a mobile home while they first built a barn to house all of the building materials, and then started on the house a few years later. “I kind of felt like i grew up on a construction site,” LeMaster said.” I loved so much of that process of building our house and being able to be so involved in that process. Hanging doors, helping my mom pick out wall paper and paint colors.”
\n\nAfter graduating with her degree and working for a year and a half at a local firm as an intern and then a junior designer, LeMaster decided to take a break. She joined her mother again, helping her flip a house as LeMaster considered what her next step might be.
\n\nShe didn’t intend to start a company.
\n\n--
\n\nGet more of Kathryn's work:
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/kjlemaster/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/kathrynjlemaster/
\nTwitter - https://twitter.com/kjlemaster/
\nWebsite - https://kathrynjlemaster.com/
--
\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and craftspeople to participate. Everything is funded through Hew&Weld and partnerships with friends: Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends) and Local. Magazine (http://localmag411.com/).
\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld:
\n\nSpecial Guest: Kathryn LeMaster.
","summary":"Kathryn LeMaster didn't know that interior design was an actual job until she found it in her college's catalogue. She'd grown up on a construction site, helping her parents build the family home, and loved the idea of helping others build and utilize their own space through function and storytelling.","date_published":"2019-01-21T13:00:00.000-05:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/2d272f83-17ad-4ddb-8cd4-44fa4454b309.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":31160268,"duration_in_seconds":3206}]},{"id":"dbab0c77-f562-4bb4-a67a-cc22460dc115","title":"Episode 15: Robert Bean: Reading a Painting Through Visual Vocabulary","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/15","content_text":"Robert Bean found himself stuck between needing a job that didn’t involve his craft, wanting to spend time with friends, and still being able to practice his art. “I have to practice, I have to draw, I have to create,” Bean said. “At the same time, I don’t want my life to be nothing but, I go to work, and then I come home and go to work. … I got creative and I said, ‘Well, what would happen if my friends were going out to dinner, or we’re going out to grab a beer or something--what happens I just take a sketch book with me?’ And so I started drawing on site. I started going out with friends and I would take a sketchbook and I would sketch while we were out. I do that all the time now.”\n\nBean turned the idea into a class at the Arkansas Arts Center, Urban Sketchbook, where he also serves as the Painting & Drawing Department Chair of the Museum School. “I encourage my students, if you’re sitting around in the doctor’s office, take a sketchbook,” Bean advised. “Draw in the waiting room. If you’re sitting at the DMV, draw while you’re sitting there. Waiting for your car to get fixed, sketch. You can find the time to sketch. You can find the time to keep those drawing skills alive because we have a lot more dead time in our days than we realize. It’s the idea of developing those kinds of disciplines that eventually roll around into making money. Because as soon as you start to create enough, as soon as you start to draw enough, you build body of work. Once you build that body of work, then you can show it. It took me ten years of figuring things out. I do look back at that period in my twenties and go, what if I had that mentor when I was 21 years old that would come in and say, ‘You’ve got to do this and this and this’? Maybe I would have started to make money earlier, but I was in my late twenties before I started making money somewhat consistently with my work.\" \n\n-- \n\nGet more of Robert's work:\nGallery 26 - http://www.gallery26.com/\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/rbfineart/\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/RBFineArt\nWebsite - http://www.rbfineart.com/ \n\n--\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and crafts people to participate. Everything is funded through Hew&Weld and partnerships with friends: Joshua Kurtz, Morgan Allain (The Inkling Girl), Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance & Nomad Neighbors), and Local. Magazine.\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld: \n\n\nEach episode of Sustaining Craft comes with a companion article, which can be found at hewandweld.com/news.\nInstagram, Facebook, Twitter: @hewandweld\nSustaining Craft is also on Instagram: @sustainingcraft\nSpecial Guest: Robert Bean.","content_html":"Robert Bean found himself stuck between needing a job that didn’t involve his craft, wanting to spend time with friends, and still being able to practice his art. “I have to practice, I have to draw, I have to create,” Bean said. “At the same time, I don’t want my life to be nothing but, I go to work, and then I come home and go to work. … I got creative and I said, ‘Well, what would happen if my friends were going out to dinner, or we’re going out to grab a beer or something--what happens I just take a sketch book with me?’ And so I started drawing on site. I started going out with friends and I would take a sketchbook and I would sketch while we were out. I do that all the time now.”
\n\nBean turned the idea into a class at the Arkansas Arts Center, Urban Sketchbook, where he also serves as the Painting & Drawing Department Chair of the Museum School. “I encourage my students, if you’re sitting around in the doctor’s office, take a sketchbook,” Bean advised. “Draw in the waiting room. If you’re sitting at the DMV, draw while you’re sitting there. Waiting for your car to get fixed, sketch. You can find the time to sketch. You can find the time to keep those drawing skills alive because we have a lot more dead time in our days than we realize. It’s the idea of developing those kinds of disciplines that eventually roll around into making money. Because as soon as you start to create enough, as soon as you start to draw enough, you build body of work. Once you build that body of work, then you can show it. It took me ten years of figuring things out. I do look back at that period in my twenties and go, what if I had that mentor when I was 21 years old that would come in and say, ‘You’ve got to do this and this and this’? Maybe I would have started to make money earlier, but I was in my late twenties before I started making money somewhat consistently with my work."
\n\n--
\n\nGet more of Robert's work:
\nGallery 26 - http://www.gallery26.com/
\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/rbfineart/
\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/RBFineArt
\nWebsite - http://www.rbfineart.com/
--
\n\nSustaining Craft is a project of Hew&Weld Writing. There are no fees for artists and crafts people to participate. Everything is funded through Hew&Weld and partnerships with friends: Joshua Kurtz, Morgan Allain (The Inkling Girl), Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance & Nomad Neighbors), and Local. Magazine.
\n\nFind more from Hew&Weld:
\n\nSpecial Guest: Robert Bean.
","summary":"Robert Bean first realized he could build a career with art when he was eight years old, reading stacks of comics books with friends. Bean continued to practice his craft as a visual storyteller, and after a detour on the way to earning his degree, he started showing his work and curating shows. Now, he keeps his art at the center of all that he does.","date_published":"2018-11-15T00:15:00.000-05:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/dbab0c77-f562-4bb4-a67a-cc22460dc115.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":23215607,"duration_in_seconds":2191}]},{"id":"3d9b1889-ad83-434a-b129-2a1b1e290566","title":"Episode 14: Legenia Bearden: Opening Horizons with Affordable Art Classes","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/14","content_text":"Determined to fulfill the vision she’d had as a child, Legenia Bearden began researching to make her dream, the Bearden Productions Center for the Arts, a reality. In 2006, she found the resources to file for her 501(c)(3) status and was approved three months later.\n\nBut it would be another eight years to fully get her vision off the ground. “I just stopped doing stuff, once we got our 501(c)(3) status,” Bearden explained. “It just wasn’t moving fast enough for me when I tried to actually start the business, so I kind of let it just sit there and nothing happened until 2014.\n\nShe taught drama for a bit, then worked for the city until 2014. “When I started Bearden Productions, I was still working at the city, and it would just be on my heart every day as I was driving to work,” Bearden shared. “And I’m like, I’m thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be going to work.’ I just knew I was not supposed to be doing it. I just knew in my heart, this is not something I’m supposed to be doing. So I remember, that one particular day, I was crying on my way to work. I went to work, I sat down, and I’m still crying. I’m working. During my lunch, I said, ‘Ok, if I do this, I’m going to need a building.’”\n\nShe found the space, renting a dance studio in the basement of a church for $300 a month. “And it was ours,” Bearden said. “Just that simple, just that quick. Like all within a week. I thought about it, I moved, and I did it.”\n\n--\nMore of Bearden Productions Center for the Arts: \n\nFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/beardenproductions/\n\nTwitter - https://twitter.com/bppas_\n\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/_bpca/\n\n-- \nWant the full article about Bearden? Head on over to http://hewandweld.com/news/.\nFind Hew and Weld on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as hewandweld. Special Guest: Legenia Bearden.","content_html":"Determined to fulfill the vision she’d had as a child, Legenia Bearden began researching to make her dream, the Bearden Productions Center for the Arts, a reality. In 2006, she found the resources to file for her 501(c)(3) status and was approved three months later.
\n\nBut it would be another eight years to fully get her vision off the ground. “I just stopped doing stuff, once we got our 501(c)(3) status,” Bearden explained. “It just wasn’t moving fast enough for me when I tried to actually start the business, so I kind of let it just sit there and nothing happened until 2014.
\n\nShe taught drama for a bit, then worked for the city until 2014. “When I started Bearden Productions, I was still working at the city, and it would just be on my heart every day as I was driving to work,” Bearden shared. “And I’m like, I’m thinking, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be going to work.’ I just knew I was not supposed to be doing it. I just knew in my heart, this is not something I’m supposed to be doing. So I remember, that one particular day, I was crying on my way to work. I went to work, I sat down, and I’m still crying. I’m working. During my lunch, I said, ‘Ok, if I do this, I’m going to need a building.’”
\n\nShe found the space, renting a dance studio in the basement of a church for $300 a month. “And it was ours,” Bearden said. “Just that simple, just that quick. Like all within a week. I thought about it, I moved, and I did it.”
\n\n--
\nMore of Bearden Productions Center for the Arts:
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/beardenproductions/
\n\nTwitter - https://twitter.com/bppas_
\n\nInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/_bpca/
\n\n--
\nWant the full article about Bearden? Head on over to http://hewandweld.com/news/.
\nFind Hew and Weld on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter as hewandweld.
Special Guest: Legenia Bearden.
","summary":"Legenia Bearden's dream of an arts center offering affordable classes for all began in the second grade, when she saw a live production of \"The Sound of Music\". In 2014, she started offering classes and producing plays under Bearden Productions Center for the Arts.","date_published":"2018-10-31T23:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/3d9b1889-ad83-434a-b129-2a1b1e290566.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":35188416,"duration_in_seconds":2199}]},{"id":"8a7627ac-aa17-4101-bed3-b22cbc684abe","title":"Episode 13: Katy Raines: Melding Structure and Creativity for Career and Community","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/13","content_text":"Ever the researcher, Katy Raines discovered that becoming a graphic designer meant she could create as a career without foregoing the paycheck. There was also the freedom of creating the art she loved in her spare time. “I figured I could do the graphic design full time and then do fine art on the side and still have fun with it,” Raines said.\n\nIn 2014, Raines graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a degree in graphic design and a job. The job started as an internship in 2013, over her senior year of college. A professor had emailed her about the position, suggesting she apply. “I saw it and I was like heck yeah,” Raines said. “It’s an internship, they just want part-time, this would be perfect for my senior year or over the summer, whatever. So I was actually in Hawaii when I found the email on my honeymoon. My husband was still asleep so I got up super early and luckily I had my laptop with me and I finished my portfolio and sent my resume. And I sent it to my current boss now and she emailed me back the same day.”\n\nThey scheduled an internship after her return. Jet lagged, Raines thought she’d bombed.\n\nShe began the internship at Colliers International soon after while she finished her degree, working 20 hours a week while going to classes. “They didn’t have a marketing department at all about a month before I started,” Raines explained. “And then my boss said, ‘We have to have a designer.’ And so now I’ve gotten to do everything from photography to web to social media to actual graphic design work.”\n\nRead more: http://hewandweld.com/katy-raines/Special Guest: Katy Raines.","content_html":"Ever the researcher, Katy Raines discovered that becoming a graphic designer meant she could create as a career without foregoing the paycheck. There was also the freedom of creating the art she loved in her spare time. “I figured I could do the graphic design full time and then do fine art on the side and still have fun with it,” Raines said.
\n\nIn 2014, Raines graduated from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock with a degree in graphic design and a job. The job started as an internship in 2013, over her senior year of college. A professor had emailed her about the position, suggesting she apply. “I saw it and I was like heck yeah,” Raines said. “It’s an internship, they just want part-time, this would be perfect for my senior year or over the summer, whatever. So I was actually in Hawaii when I found the email on my honeymoon. My husband was still asleep so I got up super early and luckily I had my laptop with me and I finished my portfolio and sent my resume. And I sent it to my current boss now and she emailed me back the same day.”
\n\nThey scheduled an internship after her return. Jet lagged, Raines thought she’d bombed.
\n\nShe began the internship at Colliers International soon after while she finished her degree, working 20 hours a week while going to classes. “They didn’t have a marketing department at all about a month before I started,” Raines explained. “And then my boss said, ‘We have to have a designer.’ And so now I’ve gotten to do everything from photography to web to social media to actual graphic design work.”
\n\nRead more: http://hewandweld.com/katy-raines/
Special Guest: Katy Raines.
","summary":"Katy Raines knew she wanted to combine the creative and the structured. Since she loved art, she decided to become a graphic designer. She graduated with a job in her field.","date_published":"2018-10-22T14:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/8a7627ac-aa17-4101-bed3-b22cbc684abe.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":26259840,"duration_in_seconds":2780}]},{"id":"8446fcb9-ae91-4c99-8ffc-5279a04b78e6","title":"Episode 12: Katie Childs: Problem Solving with Photographs","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/12","content_text":"Now, Katie Childs photographs over 30 weddings a year, along with family portraits. In 2018, she booked 35 weddings, but hopes to reduce to 20 yearly. That may prove challenging--she’s already booked 14 weddings for 2019. Childs also started working with the Arkansas Times this year, traveling to farms for Food and Farm, and working on family-based shoots for Savvy. Savvy has brought projects that have been familiar due to her previous work, while Food and Farm offers opportunities to learn additional photography skills. “We’ll do the farmer’s portraits and try to pull a story from their farm and situation,” Childs explained. “With the cattle and corn, I’m just doing a documentary kind of style. A lot of the time, with these shoots, I don’t get to choose what time of day or what situation the cattle or the corn is going to be in. So it might be in the middle of the day. I’m trying to make the best use of whatever’s happening. And that is its own specific challenge, but I love figuring things out like that, it’s kind of my favorite thing. If it were super easy all the time, I don’t think I’d enjoy doing it. I like being thrown into a situation and having to figure it out.”Special Guest: Katie Childs.","content_html":"Now, Katie Childs photographs over 30 weddings a year, along with family portraits. In 2018, she booked 35 weddings, but hopes to reduce to 20 yearly. That may prove challenging--she’s already booked 14 weddings for 2019. Childs also started working with the Arkansas Times this year, traveling to farms for Food and Farm, and working on family-based shoots for Savvy. Savvy has brought projects that have been familiar due to her previous work, while Food and Farm offers opportunities to learn additional photography skills. “We’ll do the farmer’s portraits and try to pull a story from their farm and situation,” Childs explained. “With the cattle and corn, I’m just doing a documentary kind of style. A lot of the time, with these shoots, I don’t get to choose what time of day or what situation the cattle or the corn is going to be in. So it might be in the middle of the day. I’m trying to make the best use of whatever’s happening. And that is its own specific challenge, but I love figuring things out like that, it’s kind of my favorite thing. If it were super easy all the time, I don’t think I’d enjoy doing it. I like being thrown into a situation and having to figure it out.”
Special Guest: Katie Childs.
","summary":"Katie Childs intended to be a graphic designer. Her first job out of college led her to a different career: photography. She started freelancing by asking her friends if anybody needed a family portrait. Now, she owns her own business, travels to photograph destination weddings, and continues to learn new things and ways to use her skill.","date_published":"2018-10-10T12:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/8446fcb9-ae91-4c99-8ffc-5279a04b78e6.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":16342272,"duration_in_seconds":1706}]},{"id":"c74b3aa3-a0b9-4a0e-b6c7-b66e902043c4","title":"Episode 11: Geovanni Leiva: Roasting Romance Back into Coffee","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/11","content_text":"Geovanni Leiva missed his family and his village, and then, after a visit five years ago, while flying back to Arkansas, he came up with an idea. “It was probably the worst three hours of my life because I would feel so defeated,” Leiva said. “And I would feel so helpless. … Why me? Why, out of all these people, I get to do this? Over one of those trips, I’m reading a magazine, and I have my little napkin for my Sprite, and I see a Chinese proverb in a magazine that says, if you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, you will feed him for a lifetime. And I realized that exactly had happened to me. I had been given that opportunity. I had been given that chance to-- not only I was fed for one day, but I was actually given that opportunity. I realized, that’s exactly what I gotta do in my village. What if? And it started with that. Why if, why not? Why do I not bring their coffee, they grow coffee already. That’s what’s they’ve been doing for 60-plus years, ever since I’ve known them. What if I can get their coffee in the hands of my friends and family in the states? And then all of a sudden, I bridge the two, and while bridging the two, we break poverty? I was like, that’s it.”\n\n--\n\nWant the full article? Head on over to www.hewandweld.com for more. Special Guest: Geovanni Leiva.","content_html":"Geovanni Leiva missed his family and his village, and then, after a visit five years ago, while flying back to Arkansas, he came up with an idea. “It was probably the worst three hours of my life because I would feel so defeated,” Leiva said. “And I would feel so helpless. … Why me? Why, out of all these people, I get to do this? Over one of those trips, I’m reading a magazine, and I have my little napkin for my Sprite, and I see a Chinese proverb in a magazine that says, if you give a man a fish, you will feed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish, you will feed him for a lifetime. And I realized that exactly had happened to me. I had been given that opportunity. I had been given that chance to-- not only I was fed for one day, but I was actually given that opportunity. I realized, that’s exactly what I gotta do in my village. What if? And it started with that. Why if, why not? Why do I not bring their coffee, they grow coffee already. That’s what’s they’ve been doing for 60-plus years, ever since I’ve known them. What if I can get their coffee in the hands of my friends and family in the states? And then all of a sudden, I bridge the two, and while bridging the two, we break poverty? I was like, that’s it.”
\n\n--
\n\nWant the full article? Head on over to www.hewandweld.com for more.
Special Guest: Geovanni Leiva.
","summary":"Geovanni Leiva came to the United States from Guatemala on a private scholarship. He had his parents' savings of $20, a little bit of English, and a dream. He learned English in eight months and became a successful computer programmer, working for the same company for 14 years until he decided to start Leiva's Coffee. He's now helping his village out of poverty and giving everyone a good cup of coffee.","date_published":"2018-10-02T16:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/c74b3aa3-a0b9-4a0e-b6c7-b66e902043c4.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":29965680,"duration_in_seconds":3227}]},{"id":"00dd78df-a818-494d-9c1c-35dbb54f18ad","title":"Episode 10: Diane Harper: Exposing Boogeymen with Ink Blots","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/10","content_text":"Harper’s parents met while her father, Hal, was stationed overseas--her mother was French. They became a military family, with Harper the middle child of three. “I was a sick kid a lot and I grew up overseas in the military,” said Harper. “Just past toddler age in Berlin, when the Berlin wall was up, and things were pretty heated for the Cold War at the time. And I think my boogeyman was born in Berlin. Everything had barbed wire. There were armed guards everywhere, and so it was just kind of a terrifying place through a five-year-old’s eyes, but you don’t really have the vocabulary to deal with that. And then to be a sick kid in a military hospital with mostly adults around you, not a children’s hospital. It was kind of an unfriendly place. And there were noises at night and things like that, and my father was a police officer. so I knew there was danger and boogeyman out there but I didn’t have a vocabulary for it, so even as an adult I have a hard time coming up with that vocabulary, but I don’t have a hard time coming up with a visual vocabulary to describe it. And by allowing them to come to surface from my subconscious, it kind of allows me to embrace them in a different way as an adult and kind of be playful with them and be grateful that I had such a vivid imagination from the way we lived and grew up. I lived in the heart of fairy tales. We traveled in Bavaria and the Black Forest was around there, and the birthplace of Hansel and Gretel. And all of these kinds of bizarre folktales that we grew up with that were basically cautionary tales to children to mind their moms, but it was kind of a wonderful place.”\n\n--\n\nThere are a few ways to find Diane's art in person: she'll be at Art on the Creeks in Rogers, Arkansas on Sept. 29; she'll have some work in the Fiber Arts Show on Nov. 2, and at the Gallery 26 Holiday Show. She also has a booth at South Main Creative.Special Guest: Diane Harper.","content_html":"Harper’s parents met while her father, Hal, was stationed overseas--her mother was French. They became a military family, with Harper the middle child of three. “I was a sick kid a lot and I grew up overseas in the military,” said Harper. “Just past toddler age in Berlin, when the Berlin wall was up, and things were pretty heated for the Cold War at the time. And I think my boogeyman was born in Berlin. Everything had barbed wire. There were armed guards everywhere, and so it was just kind of a terrifying place through a five-year-old’s eyes, but you don’t really have the vocabulary to deal with that. And then to be a sick kid in a military hospital with mostly adults around you, not a children’s hospital. It was kind of an unfriendly place. And there were noises at night and things like that, and my father was a police officer. so I knew there was danger and boogeyman out there but I didn’t have a vocabulary for it, so even as an adult I have a hard time coming up with that vocabulary, but I don’t have a hard time coming up with a visual vocabulary to describe it. And by allowing them to come to surface from my subconscious, it kind of allows me to embrace them in a different way as an adult and kind of be playful with them and be grateful that I had such a vivid imagination from the way we lived and grew up. I lived in the heart of fairy tales. We traveled in Bavaria and the Black Forest was around there, and the birthplace of Hansel and Gretel. And all of these kinds of bizarre folktales that we grew up with that were basically cautionary tales to children to mind their moms, but it was kind of a wonderful place.”
\n\n--
\n\nThere are a few ways to find Diane's art in person: she'll be at Art on the Creeks in Rogers, Arkansas on Sept. 29; she'll have some work in the Fiber Arts Show on Nov. 2, and at the Gallery 26 Holiday Show. She also has a booth at South Main Creative.
Special Guest: Diane Harper.
","summary":"Diane Harper was inspired by her military photographer father to go back to art school late in life after a successful social work career. Now, she continues social work part-time as she creates, shows, and sells her visual art.","date_published":"2018-09-26T22:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/00dd78df-a818-494d-9c1c-35dbb54f18ad.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":26016480,"duration_in_seconds":2735}]},{"id":"452cb2fd-30f9-46d7-9d16-f248fc256fa1","title":"Episode 9: Donnie Ferneau: Building Relationships with Local Food","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/9","content_text":"Ferneau is quick to point out that he has a good team. His method of management lines up with his own personal philosophy -- being able to learn from mistakes and move forward. “Competition is natural, and you always want to be the best, but I guess you have to be beaten down a bit or be born a little bit wiser to be able to take a step back and look at your failures, rather then brush them under the rug and say they never happened,” Ferneau said. “Something I’ll say to people, if they look at it through a peephole or somewhat of a closed mind, it will piss them off, but whenever I see somebody fail, and they come and tell me about it, usually complaining, I just ask them, ‘Did you learn anything? What did you learn?’ And sometimes, if they’re already aggravated, they’re quick to think I’m being condescending with them, but literally I’m asking a question. ‘What did you learn from this? Okay, it might have cost you x amount of dollars, but what did you learn from it?’ When my cooks burn something or they mess up a stock, or just little weird things that cost me money, I’m investing in that person right there. ‘What did you learn from this? It was an expensive mistake, so tell me you learned something. ‘Cause I just don’t want to just fire you.’ It took me a long time to get there. You have to put your ego in your pocket sometimes.”Special Guest: Donnie Ferneau.","content_html":"Ferneau is quick to point out that he has a good team. His method of management lines up with his own personal philosophy -- being able to learn from mistakes and move forward. “Competition is natural, and you always want to be the best, but I guess you have to be beaten down a bit or be born a little bit wiser to be able to take a step back and look at your failures, rather then brush them under the rug and say they never happened,” Ferneau said. “Something I’ll say to people, if they look at it through a peephole or somewhat of a closed mind, it will piss them off, but whenever I see somebody fail, and they come and tell me about it, usually complaining, I just ask them, ‘Did you learn anything? What did you learn?’ And sometimes, if they’re already aggravated, they’re quick to think I’m being condescending with them, but literally I’m asking a question. ‘What did you learn from this? Okay, it might have cost you x amount of dollars, but what did you learn from it?’ When my cooks burn something or they mess up a stock, or just little weird things that cost me money, I’m investing in that person right there. ‘What did you learn from this? It was an expensive mistake, so tell me you learned something. ‘Cause I just don’t want to just fire you.’ It took me a long time to get there. You have to put your ego in your pocket sometimes.”
Special Guest: Donnie Ferneau.
","summary":"Chef Donnie Ferneau has learned a few things over the years. He shares some of his failures, his successes, and how he's adjusted his teaching methods after a move from Chicago to Little Rock.","date_published":"2018-09-19T14:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/452cb2fd-30f9-46d7-9d16-f248fc256fa1.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":34138824,"duration_in_seconds":2147}]},{"id":"d02921bc-ede5-41a6-95d5-9e315ccd53c4","title":"Episode 8: Tabatha Reeves: Storytelling with Candle Scents","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/8","content_text":"And they keep their product lines interesting, even taking special orders. “We have these really unique niche scents in some of our candles, so they work really well for historical reenactors, but they’re not going to sell to somebody else,” Reeves said. “We have a state park that we contract to that deals with historical reenactors all the time, and one of their properties on the park is a jail. We designed an entire line of candles just for their jail, scents that would have been in a jailhouse in the mid-1800s to early 1900s when it was operational.”\n\nOne of those specialty scents is called The Sheriff. “It kind of smells like this dirty man that’s been smoking a pipe,” Reeves explained. “When I smell it, I get the thought of the cowboy with his feet up on the desk, and the big sheriff badge and a hat over his face, sleeping while his prisoners are in the cells behind him. That’s what it conjures for me. Many of our scents are like that. You can smell it and you can conjure this idea of what it is supposed to be in your head.”\n\nBut not everyone can smell the candles. “A lot of men can’t smell,” Reeves explained. “I didn’t realize this until I started dealing with men on a regular basis. Men, blue-collar workers, a lot of them can’t smell because they’ve worked around chemicals their whole life. Or they’ve worked around major smells their whole life. My dad is a maintenance man at a roofing plant. My dad can’t smell anything. Asphalt’s burned the inside of his nose. So he can’t smell candles. My dad can’t smell when something is cooking. And he’s not the only one.”Special Guest: Tabatha Reeves.","content_html":"And they keep their product lines interesting, even taking special orders. “We have these really unique niche scents in some of our candles, so they work really well for historical reenactors, but they’re not going to sell to somebody else,” Reeves said. “We have a state park that we contract to that deals with historical reenactors all the time, and one of their properties on the park is a jail. We designed an entire line of candles just for their jail, scents that would have been in a jailhouse in the mid-1800s to early 1900s when it was operational.”
\n\nOne of those specialty scents is called The Sheriff. “It kind of smells like this dirty man that’s been smoking a pipe,” Reeves explained. “When I smell it, I get the thought of the cowboy with his feet up on the desk, and the big sheriff badge and a hat over his face, sleeping while his prisoners are in the cells behind him. That’s what it conjures for me. Many of our scents are like that. You can smell it and you can conjure this idea of what it is supposed to be in your head.”
\n\nBut not everyone can smell the candles. “A lot of men can’t smell,” Reeves explained. “I didn’t realize this until I started dealing with men on a regular basis. Men, blue-collar workers, a lot of them can’t smell because they’ve worked around chemicals their whole life. Or they’ve worked around major smells their whole life. My dad is a maintenance man at a roofing plant. My dad can’t smell anything. Asphalt’s burned the inside of his nose. So he can’t smell candles. My dad can’t smell when something is cooking. And he’s not the only one.”
Special Guest: Tabatha Reeves.
","summary":"Tabatha Reeves started candle making as a hobby. The hobby became a family business when other people wanted to buy their no frill candles that focus on masculine scents, historical elements, and memories.","date_published":"2018-09-10T13:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/d02921bc-ede5-41a6-95d5-9e315ccd53c4.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":28902270,"duration_in_seconds":2028}]},{"id":"84e9a617-37ec-4fcb-9890-dd9fefdc8fba","title":"Episode 7: Adrian Quintanar: Throwing Colorful, Functional Pottery","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/7","content_text":"Crafting a single piece of pottery can take up to three weeks. There’s the design stage, then the piece is created on the pottery wheel and must dry completely before it goes into the kiln. “If that moisture, as it leaves the clay, if it is rushed, it will crack in the kiln,” Quintanar explained. “It has to be bone dry, that’s what we call it when all the moisture is out of the pot. That takes days.”\n\nThe firing takes a few days, and then the pot is glazed and fired again. The kilns at the arts center are massive and can fit a couple of thousand pieces. With about 200 students and teachers creating throughout the week, it still takes time to fill the kilns.\n\nNow, Quintanar is working on his end-of-residency show and experimenting with colored clay and colorful slips. “I want the show to be really bright and colorful,” Quintanar shared. “I’ve been making my own clay and mixing up my own slips, which are colorful slips that are applied on the surface.”\n\nSlips consist of clay with water added and can be painted on a piece of pottery. Quintanar has been focused on experimenting for four months and has found some trial and error in the process. “I’ve had a lot of failures recently, after the firings, losing the colors,” he explained. “I could show you tons of tests of little white cups that are supposed to be purple and pink and blue. … I really finally think I’ve come upon a direction that might work. I haven’t so much thought about the forms yet. Like I said, I want it to be functional. So, of course, there will be bottles, jars and cups and possibly bowls. But there’s so many design elements to choose from, so I need to do a lot of brainstorming and drawing and sketching for those things, but I think it’s going to be really exciting. It’s going to be really colorful if it all goes well.”Special Guest: Adrian Quintanar.","content_html":"Crafting a single piece of pottery can take up to three weeks. There’s the design stage, then the piece is created on the pottery wheel and must dry completely before it goes into the kiln. “If that moisture, as it leaves the clay, if it is rushed, it will crack in the kiln,” Quintanar explained. “It has to be bone dry, that’s what we call it when all the moisture is out of the pot. That takes days.”
\n\nThe firing takes a few days, and then the pot is glazed and fired again. The kilns at the arts center are massive and can fit a couple of thousand pieces. With about 200 students and teachers creating throughout the week, it still takes time to fill the kilns.
\n\nNow, Quintanar is working on his end-of-residency show and experimenting with colored clay and colorful slips. “I want the show to be really bright and colorful,” Quintanar shared. “I’ve been making my own clay and mixing up my own slips, which are colorful slips that are applied on the surface.”
\n\nSlips consist of clay with water added and can be painted on a piece of pottery. Quintanar has been focused on experimenting for four months and has found some trial and error in the process. “I’ve had a lot of failures recently, after the firings, losing the colors,” he explained. “I could show you tons of tests of little white cups that are supposed to be purple and pink and blue. … I really finally think I’ve come upon a direction that might work. I haven’t so much thought about the forms yet. Like I said, I want it to be functional. So, of course, there will be bottles, jars and cups and possibly bowls. But there’s so many design elements to choose from, so I need to do a lot of brainstorming and drawing and sketching for those things, but I think it’s going to be really exciting. It’s going to be really colorful if it all goes well.”
Special Guest: Adrian Quintanar.
","summary":"Adrian Quintanar had always wanted to pursue some sort of creative career. He earned a music scholarship, then worked as a ceramicist in a dental lab for twelve years. After a move to Louisiana from Fort Worth, Texas, to support his wife while she earned her PhD, then a move to Arkansas, Quintanar earned his BFA in Photography and became the artist in residence at the Arkansas Arts Center for 2018. He's now experimenting with colorful clay to create unique pieces for his 2019 show.","date_published":"2018-09-04T16:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/84e9a617-37ec-4fcb-9890-dd9fefdc8fba.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":27802995,"duration_in_seconds":1565}]},{"id":"bc26af18-98bd-49a6-af83-8ae31f0f9a89","title":"Episode 6: Logan Duvall: Taking Local to Market","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/6","content_text":"Collier started reaching out to local businesses, starting with Geri’s Jams and Jellies. Today, the market carries produce and products from businesses such as Fennel and Fire, Teaberry Kombucha Co., and the Farm at Barefoot Bend. “It’s a lot of local people that are really, really good at what they do,” said Duvall. “We’re able to bring it all together. Our big draw is definitely produce. People come out for tomatoes more than anything else, but it’s a way to showcase some of these other people that don’t have storefronts.”\n\nWhile the market no longer sells produce from the McGee garden, the family has found creative ways to create other Me and McGee products. “In produce, inevitably, there’s a ton of waste,” Duvall explained. “So, my mom and grandma decided that they wanted to try to do pickles and salsa just because we go through so many tomatoes. It just took off.”\n\nThe market is open all year, except for January, which distinguishes it from a farmer’s market. Vendors also aren’t required to be on the premises -- Me and McGee staff explains products and handles all transactions. As the market continues to grow, Duvall works to refine the focus of the market, which was a business tool he learned while working in real estate. “Really looking at what’s working and what’s not and making sure that we’re doubling down on what’s working,” Duvall explained. “The creativity and the hardwork and the sacrifice was my family. I didn’t do any of that. But just making sure we’re on the right path and we’re treating everything like a real business--that’s been the change in the past year.”Special Guest: Logan Duvall.","content_html":"Collier started reaching out to local businesses, starting with Geri’s Jams and Jellies. Today, the market carries produce and products from businesses such as Fennel and Fire, Teaberry Kombucha Co., and the Farm at Barefoot Bend. “It’s a lot of local people that are really, really good at what they do,” said Duvall. “We’re able to bring it all together. Our big draw is definitely produce. People come out for tomatoes more than anything else, but it’s a way to showcase some of these other people that don’t have storefronts.”
\n\nWhile the market no longer sells produce from the McGee garden, the family has found creative ways to create other Me and McGee products. “In produce, inevitably, there’s a ton of waste,” Duvall explained. “So, my mom and grandma decided that they wanted to try to do pickles and salsa just because we go through so many tomatoes. It just took off.”
\n\nThe market is open all year, except for January, which distinguishes it from a farmer’s market. Vendors also aren’t required to be on the premises -- Me and McGee staff explains products and handles all transactions. As the market continues to grow, Duvall works to refine the focus of the market, which was a business tool he learned while working in real estate. “Really looking at what’s working and what’s not and making sure that we’re doubling down on what’s working,” Duvall explained. “The creativity and the hardwork and the sacrifice was my family. I didn’t do any of that. But just making sure we’re on the right path and we’re treating everything like a real business--that’s been the change in the past year.”
Special Guest: Logan Duvall.
","summary":"Larry and Debbie McGee wanted something to do during retirement. Some pecans (nine trees' worth), a small garden, and seven years later, Me and McGee has become a family business that supports local businesses.","date_published":"2018-08-29T17:15:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/bc26af18-98bd-49a6-af83-8ae31f0f9a89.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":24223717,"duration_in_seconds":1747}]},{"id":"d0646cde-b0bf-42fe-940e-6af39b18a010","title":"Episode 5: Suzanne Godbold: Baking the Perfect Sugar Cookie","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/5","content_text":"When Long moved to Florida, Godbold and Cook divided the remaining responsibilities. While they at first tried splitting the baking and the decorating, they found the workflow wasn’t efficient. Cook, who has a degree in business, took over the finances, taxes, and practical business needs. Godbold took on all of the baking, decorating, social media, and marketing.\nAlong with refining her baking skills, Godbold learned that her customers weren’t on Instagram or Facebook. “At the beginning, I was trying to do paid ads and do all these things and market on Facebook but that really doesn’t sell for this market,” she explained. “Most of my customers didn’t find me on Facebook. It was word of mouth or they tried our cookies at someone’s event. Once I figured that out, it took a lot of stress off of social media. Social media is just fun. It’s a fun case to showcase our art and product and meet people.”\nReferrals turned into regular customers, and they also started selling cookies at the Me and McGee Market, a stand dedicated to local produce, meats, cheese, products, and crafts.\n“When we first started marketing, it was a little bit of a struggle trying to find who our customer is,” shared Godbold. “Who would appreciate what we do and who is looking for what we were offering because we’re not trying to compete with Walmart. We’re not even trying to compete with some of the other local storefront bakeries. You can’t call me up on a Tuesday morning and say, ‘Hey, can I have three dozen decorated cookies by this afternoon?’ It’s not going to happen because I need at least three days. It took a little bit, but once we really found our customer base, who understands us, they understand what we put into it. They know that I’m a stay-at-home mom and that I do this from 8 pm until midnight or sometimes later during the week. They appreciate our work and are willing to pay for what we’re offering.”Special Guest: Suzanne Godbold.","content_html":"When Long moved to Florida, Godbold and Cook divided the remaining responsibilities. While they at first tried splitting the baking and the decorating, they found the workflow wasn’t efficient. Cook, who has a degree in business, took over the finances, taxes, and practical business needs. Godbold took on all of the baking, decorating, social media, and marketing.
\nAlong with refining her baking skills, Godbold learned that her customers weren’t on Instagram or Facebook. “At the beginning, I was trying to do paid ads and do all these things and market on Facebook but that really doesn’t sell for this market,” she explained. “Most of my customers didn’t find me on Facebook. It was word of mouth or they tried our cookies at someone’s event. Once I figured that out, it took a lot of stress off of social media. Social media is just fun. It’s a fun case to showcase our art and product and meet people.”
\nReferrals turned into regular customers, and they also started selling cookies at the Me and McGee Market, a stand dedicated to local produce, meats, cheese, products, and crafts.
\n“When we first started marketing, it was a little bit of a struggle trying to find who our customer is,” shared Godbold. “Who would appreciate what we do and who is looking for what we were offering because we’re not trying to compete with Walmart. We’re not even trying to compete with some of the other local storefront bakeries. You can’t call me up on a Tuesday morning and say, ‘Hey, can I have three dozen decorated cookies by this afternoon?’ It’s not going to happen because I need at least three days. It took a little bit, but once we really found our customer base, who understands us, they understand what we put into it. They know that I’m a stay-at-home mom and that I do this from 8 pm until midnight or sometimes later during the week. They appreciate our work and are willing to pay for what we’re offering.”
Special Guest: Suzanne Godbold.
","summary":"In 2016, Suzanne Godbold, Chelsea Cook, and Sara Long were all busy with families and full-time jobs. Wanting to spend more time together, they created Three Best Bakery, a home-based bakery that provides cookies, cakes, and cupcakes. They divided up the responsibilities and got to work developing the perfect sugar cookie recipe.","date_published":"2018-08-20T11:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/d0646cde-b0bf-42fe-940e-6af39b18a010.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":26823811,"duration_in_seconds":1901}]},{"id":"62ed4a46-4c8c-41ce-b98c-84f7bc2e4471","title":"Episode 4: Brittany Oaks: Painting the Miracle of Birth with Light","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/4","content_text":"Brittany Oaks made a few friends in Conway while a single mother and was invited to a home birth. “It was really, really incredible to see,” Oaks said. “And I’d given birth by that point myself. But this was an unmedicated home birth. She started out in the water and ended up going to her bed. And just the raw power and just the fact that she invited only those people she wanted there was really, really interesting to me. That’s who was in that house and I was invited. And someone threw me a camera while she was pushing and the rest is history. I was just in love with it. This is a story, and I want to tell this story. I want to capture these sacred moments because there are a lot of things worth capturing in life - momentous moments, but to me in that time, it made it really clear to me. I spent a lot of money on my wedding photography. The wedding was annulled. I can’t show those photos or care about them because you know. But it doesn’t matter what happened with that child. When you take photos of that new human being born, that’s always your child, no matter what happens. There’s nothing that’s going to annul that.”\n\nOaks soon remarried into the military and was stationed overseas. Unable to work, Oaks practiced her photography skills, homeschooled her three sons, and traveled with her family. “But I knew when we got back to the states, I wanted to hit the ground running,” Oaks explained. “I knew what I wanted to do. So I did. We got back in August last year and I immediately filed for my business, got insurance and all the stuff that makes a business. … I knew what I wanted and I’ve been hustling ever since to make it happen.”Special Guest: Brittany Oaks.","content_html":"Brittany Oaks made a few friends in Conway while a single mother and was invited to a home birth. “It was really, really incredible to see,” Oaks said. “And I’d given birth by that point myself. But this was an unmedicated home birth. She started out in the water and ended up going to her bed. And just the raw power and just the fact that she invited only those people she wanted there was really, really interesting to me. That’s who was in that house and I was invited. And someone threw me a camera while she was pushing and the rest is history. I was just in love with it. This is a story, and I want to tell this story. I want to capture these sacred moments because there are a lot of things worth capturing in life - momentous moments, but to me in that time, it made it really clear to me. I spent a lot of money on my wedding photography. The wedding was annulled. I can’t show those photos or care about them because you know. But it doesn’t matter what happened with that child. When you take photos of that new human being born, that’s always your child, no matter what happens. There’s nothing that’s going to annul that.”
\n\nOaks soon remarried into the military and was stationed overseas. Unable to work, Oaks practiced her photography skills, homeschooled her three sons, and traveled with her family. “But I knew when we got back to the states, I wanted to hit the ground running,” Oaks explained. “I knew what I wanted to do. So I did. We got back in August last year and I immediately filed for my business, got insurance and all the stuff that makes a business. … I knew what I wanted and I’ve been hustling ever since to make it happen.”
Special Guest: Brittany Oaks.
","summary":"Brittany Oaks had always loved the history of birth, reading midwifery books as a teenager and hoping to get a nursing degree. When she realized organic chemistry wasn't for her, she switched to a history degree. Then, while at a friend's home birth, someone stuck a camera in her hands. She launched her birth photography business, Wandering Oaks Photography, in 2017. ","date_published":"2018-08-13T13:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/62ed4a46-4c8c-41ce-b98c-84f7bc2e4471.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":27413957,"duration_in_seconds":1974}]},{"id":"d462282b-bf39-4b0c-a6a5-1c396ba7e4f6","title":"Episode 3: Melissa Diller: Using Drama to Build Confidence","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/3","content_text":"Melissa Diller at first transferred her Verizon job and then quit and started Drama Kids, a franchise that has existed for the past 30 years. “We teach educationally-based drama to all school-aged kids,” Diller explained. “Basically all we’re doing is building confidence in public speaking through fun drama activities so that kids have the confidence to be whatever they end up being, whether it’s a doctor, or stage performer, actress.”\n\nWorking with a franchise framework still meant that Diller had to develop her business from the ground up, building relationships, growing her outreach, and finding business mentors. “As a business owner, you have to think outside the box, and my mentors were the ones who really taught me that,” Diller shared. “[It’s] thinking outside the box, [and] not listening to the voice inside your head that says ‘really?’”Special Guest: Melissa Diller.","content_html":"Melissa Diller at first transferred her Verizon job and then quit and started Drama Kids, a franchise that has existed for the past 30 years. “We teach educationally-based drama to all school-aged kids,” Diller explained. “Basically all we’re doing is building confidence in public speaking through fun drama activities so that kids have the confidence to be whatever they end up being, whether it’s a doctor, or stage performer, actress.”
\n\nWorking with a franchise framework still meant that Diller had to develop her business from the ground up, building relationships, growing her outreach, and finding business mentors. “As a business owner, you have to think outside the box, and my mentors were the ones who really taught me that,” Diller shared. “[It’s] thinking outside the box, [and] not listening to the voice inside your head that says ‘really?’”
Special Guest: Melissa Diller.
","summary":"Owning her own business was a ten-year process for Melissa Diller, who started Drama Kids three years ago in central Arkansas. She started pursuing her love of acting and modeling while working in corporate America. She also began teaching students theater and drama. After a move to the Little Rock area, she continued her quest to help others find confidence in public speaking through engaging drama exercises.","date_published":"2018-08-06T08:45:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/d462282b-bf39-4b0c-a6a5-1c396ba7e4f6.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":37986614,"duration_in_seconds":2132}]},{"id":"979fd178-0e1b-470a-b890-22631866fdfc","title":"Episode 2: Joshua Kurtz: Bringing Dungeons and Dragons to the People","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/2","content_text":"Kurtz formalized his efforts into D&D For Hire this summer. “The idea of D&D For Hire is to bring Dungeons and Dragons to people who don’t otherwise have the opportunity,” Kurtz explained. “And usually that winds up being children who would want to play but don’t know how or even some adults who just don’t have people to play with. The idea is you can bring them a game and it could be a one-time off, once a week recurring thing. It’s a fun experience for anyone and if you’re a kid and you want to this extracurricular thing, it can be fun and educational at the same time.”\n\nAs for what a Dungeon Master does, well--Kurtz guides the journey. “I set the questions that they have to answer,” said Kurtz.\n\nHe knows the rules of the world, the enemies, the setbacks, and the allies. “All I know is how the world is going to respond to them, and all the problems they’re going to face is something that they have to have to deal with,” Kurtz shared. “Everyone handles that in a different way. Some groups of people will just attack every problem head-on and that works for them, and some people want to sit back and think about it first. It’s a world without limits that we are creating together.”Special Guest: Joshua Kurtz.","content_html":"Kurtz formalized his efforts into D&D For Hire this summer. “The idea of D&D For Hire is to bring Dungeons and Dragons to people who don’t otherwise have the opportunity,” Kurtz explained. “And usually that winds up being children who would want to play but don’t know how or even some adults who just don’t have people to play with. The idea is you can bring them a game and it could be a one-time off, once a week recurring thing. It’s a fun experience for anyone and if you’re a kid and you want to this extracurricular thing, it can be fun and educational at the same time.”
\n\nAs for what a Dungeon Master does, well--Kurtz guides the journey. “I set the questions that they have to answer,” said Kurtz.
\n\nHe knows the rules of the world, the enemies, the setbacks, and the allies. “All I know is how the world is going to respond to them, and all the problems they’re going to face is something that they have to have to deal with,” Kurtz shared. “Everyone handles that in a different way. Some groups of people will just attack every problem head-on and that works for them, and some people want to sit back and think about it first. It’s a world without limits that we are creating together.”
Special Guest: Joshua Kurtz.
","summary":"Joshua Kurtz started building his Dungeon Master skills when he was a homeschooled young Jewish boy in southern New Jersey. After touring all over the world teaching kids how to sing and act with a college group called the Young Americans, he returned to his hometown and started getting paid to play Dungeons and Dragons. He also runs a theater nonprofit called Aftershock Entertainment, works part-time at a comic book store, and teaches people how to throw axes.","date_published":"2018-07-31T20:00:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/979fd178-0e1b-470a-b890-22631866fdfc.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":30898576,"duration_in_seconds":1713}]},{"id":"0f2032ef-f2b0-46f7-82f1-08c9ac408caa","title":"Episode 1: Tom Brown Creates: Feeding the Masses with a Miniature Kitchen","url":"https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/1","content_text":"Brown's first performance was for friends, and he called himself Pizza Tom. “I gave myself the moniker Pizza Tom because pizzas were a recognizable object,” Brown explained. “It’s difficult to serve a miniature soup that’s kind of formless. Pizzas have this really wonderful aesthetic side to them. A pizza is visually quite beautiful. And a pizza is recognizable. I can also just give you a slice of pizza in your hand and you can eat it.”\n\nAnd they loved it. “The reception was absolutely wonderful,” Brown shared. “People were thrilled to see me invest so much time and energy into a project.”\n\nBrown changed his identifying name from Pizza Tom to Tom Brown Creates, calling his performance on the streets Feeding the Masses, and giving away the food for free. Strangers were just about as receptive as his peers. “It does really produce a sense of comfort with people when I have the kitchen out on the street and I’m doing the performance,” Brown said. “People are willing to try the food and sit with me and have a conversation and share a little bit about their own creative journey with me.”\n\nBut he’s doing more than just Feeding the Masses–he’s building community in another way with his second project, Finders Keepers.Special Guest: Tom Brown.","content_html":"Brown's first performance was for friends, and he called himself Pizza Tom. “I gave myself the moniker Pizza Tom because pizzas were a recognizable object,” Brown explained. “It’s difficult to serve a miniature soup that’s kind of formless. Pizzas have this really wonderful aesthetic side to them. A pizza is visually quite beautiful. And a pizza is recognizable. I can also just give you a slice of pizza in your hand and you can eat it.”
\n\nAnd they loved it. “The reception was absolutely wonderful,” Brown shared. “People were thrilled to see me invest so much time and energy into a project.”
\n\nBrown changed his identifying name from Pizza Tom to Tom Brown Creates, calling his performance on the streets Feeding the Masses, and giving away the food for free. Strangers were just about as receptive as his peers. “It does really produce a sense of comfort with people when I have the kitchen out on the street and I’m doing the performance,” Brown said. “People are willing to try the food and sit with me and have a conversation and share a little bit about their own creative journey with me.”
\n\nBut he’s doing more than just Feeding the Masses–he’s building community in another way with his second project, Finders Keepers.
Special Guest: Tom Brown.
","summary":"Tom Brown started making tiny functional items as a kid, whittling objects out of twigs he found. When he went to college, he made a small working kitchen, and started Feeding the Masses. Giving away food to strangers, he began to build a sense of wonder and community, all based around tiny meals. Now, he continues to cook while making tiny functional items like knives, tongs, ceramic cups, and snow shoes and hide them around Calgary for his other project, Finders Keepers.","date_published":"2018-07-12T18:30:00.000-04:00","attachments":[{"url":"https://aphid.fireside.fm/d/1437767933/846094f8-0d03-4990-84be-c4187d15a8d5/0f2032ef-f2b0-46f7-82f1-08c9ac408caa.mp3","mime_type":"audio/mpeg","size_in_bytes":27252781,"duration_in_seconds":1596}]}]}