Authentic Obsessions

You're going to hear about fighting for the underdog, discernment, editing, celebrating differences, and relinquishing control through your tools in today's episode with Debbie Taylor-Kerman.Debbie is a Scottish artist who came to New York City to work as a textile designer in 1991. She fell in love with the city and her husband Elliott, and they moved to Harlem where they raised their two sons and still reside. Her path included the Foundation Course at St Martins School of Art in London, a Printed Textiles degree from Liverpool School of art and 4 consecutive years of Nicholas Wilton’s Creative Visionary Program. During the pandemic Debbie left her successful commercial art career of more than three decades and finally decided to paint fine art full time.We had a great conversation about her obsession which we ended up calling “equality” – but that doesn’t do it really justice –it’s about fighting for the underdog, for racism and inequality, celebrating diversity and how much we can learn from each other. Debbie strives to normalize the fact that we're all different and we all celebrate different things. She writes: “I need to find hope in this fragile and divided world by creating the beauty of diversity. I believe it's critical for everyone to feel seen and to feel that we can coexist in peace.”TakeawaysThe mundane things unite us.We all come from somewhere. We are all a part of the people we have in our lives. When the desire to do it becomes bigger than the fear, take the leap!Find the most important thing and give it room to breathe.Ask yourself: “where is my heart and what do I want to explore and paint?”Debbie Taylor-KermanDebbie Taylor-Kerman on InstagramDebbie Taylor-Kerman on FacebookArt Juice Podcast: Finding purpose in your art with Debbie Taylor-KermanTap Into Your Creativity with Sandra FelemoviciusJillian SuzanneSue ZipkinNicholas Wilton’s Creative Visionary ProgramCheeky Wee Pumpkins quilting fabricWiser Than Me, Julia Louis-DreyfusMark RothkoEgon SchieleBird by Bird, Some Instructions on Writing and Life, Anne LamottRachel DavisPrinceton Catalyst wedges and contours 

Siara Berry creates multi-medium sculptures influenced by neighborships, housing systems, and American domestic landscapes. Deeply influenced by her upbringing in the suburban Midwest, her work contends with cultural narratives about place and purpose, property and people. Using a combination of found object and traditional craft processes, Berry deploys a visual language that is equally quotidian and absurd.Listen in as we chat about neighborships, domestic landscapes, construction sites, the lawn, yard signs, and control over nature.TakeawaysArtists should feel creative, comfy, and cared for.Every artist is working in their best interest in what feels right to them, and when it doesn’t feel right it’s a negotiation between the artist and the work.Acknowledge that social media is not the full picture.Neighborships are a collective effort in living a private life.Siara BerrySiara Berry on InstagramJohn Michael Kohler Arts Center Arts/Industry Residency ProgramMary L. Nohl Fund Fellowships for Individual ArtistsThe Curious History of Your Home podcastall photos courtesy of Michael Lagerman. 

Rainer is a queer creator, collector, and tinkerer raised in lederhosen with a pet buffalo on a floral farm in rural Pennsylvania by an eccentric immigrant father and a defiantly strong mother. Rainer is a designer leveraging art to explore and document encounters of the human condition. He is a sculptor and a painter who creates interactive installations and experiences that help people feel seen and heard.During our conversation we talk about documenting the human process, what helps and what hurts, machines, control and letting go, procrastination, and seeing time in yearly spirals.TakeawaysStand up for what’s right. Don’t be afraid to try new things.Sometimes when you start a project you have no idea how much of an impact you will have.Self-doubt can push you into problem-solving and exploration.Not knowing the rules can give you confidence.Don't forget to keep the other burners of your life alive.We’re so much more similar than we are different.Rainer WolterRainer Wolter on InstagramRainer Wolter on LinkedInThe Accounting, by EJ Trask (Rainer’s debur in short horror story)Art PrizeKhadi PapersKrista Allenstein, Authentic Obsessions Episode 2

Mixed media artist and painter Erica Jane Huntzinger was raised in the western suburbs of Chicago. Her parents hail from Maine and Pennsylvania and they drove back there each year to see family and friends all while absorbing and exploring the landscapes and ground they missed. Her immediate family was centered in questioning, learning and growing. Her mother was a psychologist, her father, a minister and Erica was the sister to an adventurous brother. Erica made her way through creative explorations from hundreds of coloring books, mud, rock and stick scapes into multi-media work through the lens of a painter.We talk about flow, the importance of play, and demystifying the creative process, including how people make creative decisions in their life and how and where people can affect dynamic change for themselves through creative actions.TakeawaysYou can affect dynamic change for yourself through creative actions.Be open to asking yourself: why DON’T you do some of the things you aren’t doing?Play helps get you through difficult feelings, which in turn drives your curiosity.Whatever you make, and it doesn’t matter what kind of artist you are, there's somebody out there that's going to like it.Erica Jane HuntzingerErica Jane Huntzinger on InstagramErica Jane Huntzinger’s podcast, In The ActErica Jane Huntzinger on YouTubeCreative Quest, QuestloveMihaly CsikszentmihalyiSara WilladsenArt as Medicine, Creating a Therapy of the Imagination, Shaun McNiffMarco PoloLois KellerRachel Weaver RiveraWhitney MoralesOn Writing: A Memoir of Craft, Steven KingCooper Diers