Iterations

The tormented artist. You’ve heard the term — hell you may even be one yourself. I know I was. For years, I was absolutely convinced that if my art wasn’t the albatross around my neck, that I was somehow unworthy of the title. Why is that? Why do so many of us feel at one point or another that the suffering is necessary — that it’s somehow inexorably linked to the intrinsic value of what we make? That’s exactly what we’re talking about in this episode and it all begins with a Nine Inch Nails concert in 1990.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSS

If you enjoy listening to In Between, please consider leaving a review or a rating on iTunes to help others discover the show.

I’d love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on Instagram or Twitter @jefferysaddoris.

You can find Jon on Instagram @jonwilkening or on his website at jonwilkening.com.

Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

I got an email a couple weeks ago from a listener asking if I had any advice for finding a mentor. Now, while I have been incredibly fortunate to have had – and frankly still have – some amazing people in my life who have in one way or another taken on the role of a mentor, I can’t say that it’s ever been intentional in the sense that I want to connect with this person or that person so they can be my mentor. In my experience, mentors find their way into my life at just the right moment – and it may only be for a moment. Here’s a piece of a conversation with my friend and not so occasional mentor, Jon Wilkening.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSS

Music in this episode: Brain Power (Mela) / CC BY-SA 4.0

Earlier this week, Adrianne and I watched the first episode of the new season of Abstract on the Netflix . For those of you who haven’t seen it, Abstract is a fantastic show about art and design. It follows roughly the same format as something like Chef’s Table — which is also an excellent show — where each episode profiles a specific artist or designer. Last season included Tinker Hatfield, Paula Scher, and Platon among others and this season starts out with someone who I’ve never heard of by name though I have seen his work. Olafur Eliasson is an artist and architect whose large scale works are focused and really dependent on the user or viewer’s experience of them. Many of his works center around light — specifically, the effects and manipulation of light. For example, one of his earlier pieces is called “Beauty” and it was his attempt to create a rainbow by lighting a gentle waterfall of very fine mist. The effect was such that no two people experience exactly the same rainbow, since the color and intensity are based entirely on your viewing angle relative to the mist.

“This is a space totally dependent on you being there,” Olafur says. “When you leave the exhibition, and there’s no-one in the room, there’s also no art.” This idea is really core to Olafur’s art — the Why of his art, if you will. Each piece he makes is a sort of challenge. As he puts it, “do I trust my own eyes and my own capacity to engage in the world?” His work is completely dependent on the spectator. It’s a collaboration –maybe even a conversation – between him as the artist and us as the viewer. Even his episode of Abstract is a collaboration, beginning with Olafur breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the camera — to us — as he presents the conditions of our collaboration.

Abstract: The Art of Design

https://olafureliasson.net

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

As I sat down to write the intro to this episode of
Process Driven
, I struggled a little trying to come up with words that would convey some of my thoughts and feelings about the work of photographer Olga Karlovac. I then realized that the words had already been written by Koci Hernandez in his beautiful foreword for Olga’s latest book, 
the disarray
.

“You’re about to embark on upon a fantastic journey. It’s one of boundless time and space and it’s compressed with the pages of the book you now hold. I only wish I could experience again, for the first time, the disarray — visual poetry as a master work.

Let me assure you, the sign posts on your journey will be stunningly clear and mysteriously opaque, filled with blurry lines, half made worlds and the formless. Olga wouldn’t have it any other way. Don’t be fooled by what you think you see, because dancing within these pages is an unbound energy — an energy that at once can overwhelm the spirit and set eyes ablaze in wonder. You have been warned.”

That’s an excerpt of the foreword from 
the disarray
.

CONNECT WITH OLGA
Website: https://www.olga-karlovac-photography.com/
Instagram: @olga.karlovac
Facebook: @olga.karlovac

MUSIC
Please Listen Carefully
 (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

Adrianne and I were in the car the other day — I don’t remember where we were going but I do remember that we were listening to Classic Vinyl on XM because we both really dig Meg Griffin. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys by Traffic came on and whatever conversation we were in the middle of stopped and we just listened to this incredible song written by Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi. If you’ve never heard the track, it’s basically a twelve minute jam that ebbs and flows in dynamics and complexity with a 24-year-old Winwood singing over the top of it. The musicianship is fantastic and listening to it got us talking about creative complexity and how looking at or listening to something that is artistically or technically just out of our reach can be wildly inspiring, both as a fan and as a maker.

The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (YouTube)

Robert Rauschenberg

Mark Rothko

Cy Twombly

Echo in the Canyon

Brian Eno

Pet Sounds

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about art – specifically, what really counts as art? Is the art the thing that we make? Or, is in the doing? The making itself. Or is art in the reaction to work — the results of the doing? Or, is it something else entirely that is personal to each of us? I really don’t know. Historically, I have been very hesitant to call the things I make art, regardless of the discipline or media. It just feels like that’s a label that someone else should choose to apply or not to the work that I do. I’m okay referring to myself as artistic, because in my head that’s a value that somehow that feels tied more to the process — to the making — and not the end product. Regardless, I called Jon up to see if he’d be up for wrestling with it for an hour or so.

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSS

If you enjoy listening to In Between, please consider leaving a review or a rating on iTunes to help others discover the show.

I’d love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on Instagram @jefferysaddoris.

You can find Jon on Instagram @jonwilkening or on his website at jonwilkening.com.

Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

A couple weeks ago, I had a terrific conversation with an artist whose work I’ve admired for years. And while it was a treat to get to talk to someone who has inspired me for decades, the work was only a small part of the conversation. Instead, we just talked. We connected straight away and what was meant to be a quick phone call just to say hello ahead of a potential episode of Process Driven ended up being a two hour conversation about everything from family and our respective childhoods to love, loss, Studio 54, JK Rowling, and even musings on the nature of art. On more than one occasion, and typically after a particularly interesting exchange, one of us would comment, “man, we should be recording this.” But instead we chose to just keep enjoying the experience — a one-off conversation between nascent friends.

This month, a brand new record from John Coltrane comes out. Blue World was recorded with Coltrane’s Classic Quartet in 1964 between Crescent and A Love Supreme. Ahead of the September 27th launch, Universal has released a gorgeous video that really captures the look and feel of some of the iconic Reid Miles covers.

One of my favorite recent television shows is called The Boys, which is adapted from the comic by Garth Ennis, a monster in comics who also created Preacher and wrote The Punisher, Hellblazer and a bunch of other books. His latest project is a six-issue series called SARA, which tells the story of seven female snipers who find themselves caught up in a deadly struggle against an evil German invader. The series has been called a masterclass in comics storytelling and one of the finest works of his career.

Robert Frank died Monday at the age of 94. He was one of the most influential photographers in the game and his book The Americans inspired almost every other famous photographer you could think of. If you’ve ever considered pursuing photography he’s a photographer whose work you’ll definitely want to know.

Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

Have you ever sat down to watch something on Netflix only to spend whatever time you set aside just trying to find something to watch? It’s amazing how often I find myself in that exact situation. A few months ago, Adrianne and I were scanning though the myriad of options, and a promo for a show called Blown Away popped up. If you haven’t seen it, Blown Away is a competition show that centers around glass blowing. Ten glass artists competed for a $60,000 prize package which includes a residency at the Corning Museum of Glass. We didn’t really know what to expect but both of us were hooked from the first episode and binged the entire season in less than a week. The show is shot in a way that allows the glass to be the star and while each of the artists on the show were interesting in their own ways, there were two who really stood out for us both in skill and technique and in how they approached their craft, one of whom is a visual artist and glass blowing instructor from Philadelphia named Alexander Rosenberg.

One of the reasons I reached out to Alex was that I loved the way he interpreted each of the challenges on the show. In the few times we’ve talked on the phone, I’ve learned what incredible passion he has for the material, the respect he has for those who have come before him, and the profound sense of joy he gets from sharing his love of glass with his students.

CONNECT WITH ALEX
Website: https://www.alexanderrosenberg.net/
Instagram: @rosenbergalexander
Twitter: @Thetoast77

MUSIC
Please Listen Carefully
 (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

A week or so ago, I was talking to my friend Gareth about how frustrated I was in not feeling like I had a clear and consistent creative voice. It’s not uncommon for me to feel overwhelmed and frankly paralyzed by the number of options I have and unable to get out of my own way to take action on any of them. “You need to talk to Vari,” he said. “Like today. Don’t put it off. I’m going to tell her you’ll be calling.” Gareth’s partner Vari Longmuir wears quite a few hats – one of them being that of creative coach, helping people just like me — and maybe you — to fail forward and to overcome the obstacles we create and get back into that flow state of making. I reached out to her and asked her if she’d be willing to talk about some of this with me and I’m so glad she said yes. It’s a terrific conversation about figuring out what living a creative life looks like to you and unapologetically striving for balance, happiness and success doing what you love.

Subscribe: iTunes | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSS

I’d love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on Instagram @jefferysaddoris.

You can catch up with Vari on Instagram @varilongmuir or on her website at varilongmuir.com

Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

Are you happy? If not, why do you think that is? For a lot of people who make things and share what they make online — myself included — we have a tendency to abdicate our happiness to the fickle whim of the mob. Not enough likes, or hearts, or dollars can send us careening into a creative tailspin, questioning what we do and even who we are. If this sounds familiar to you, hopefully this conversation with Jon Wilkening will help you find your way back to making first and foremost for the joy of it, and not simply for the return.

Subscribe: iTunes | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSS

I’d love to hear from you. Email me at [email protected] or connect with me on Instagram @jefferysaddoris.

You can catch up with Jon on Instagram @jonwilkening or on his website at jonwilkening.com.

Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0