Sus Art Club

Welcome back to Sus Art Club —

This week, Steph is solo (and on video!) bringing back a lowkey favorite: Anonymous Book Club, featuring The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron.

We’re diving into Week 1: blocking, resistance, creative recovery, and how it all hits different depending on where you’re at in life.

We talk about:

• How the pod actually started during the pandemic

• Why The Artist’s Way keeps showing up again and again

• What Morning Pages and Artist Dates do to your nervous system

• Shame, myths, and the junk that clogs the creative channel

• Rebuilding your own rhythm — not someone else’s idea of “productive”

Plus: updates on Studio 5, the August group show, and how to get involved.

Follow along: @susartclub

Welcome back to Sus Art Club — where creativity gets to grow slow, weird, and real. This week we sit down with Cristina Victor, a Cuban-American multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans ceramics, performance, writing, community building, and radical caretaking.

We talk art school, studio scraps, dog love, and how mentorship, migration, and Miami shaped her creative voice. Cristina shares how slowing down, nurturing home, and tending plants all connect to her artistic evolution — and why being a creative sometimes means walking away from the work that no longer serves you.

We get into:
🌿 Drawing as a portal & doodling as resistance
🧠 When performance stopped performing & she needed to pause
📚 Books that stay with us — and making art in response
🎓 The art school paradox: pressure + permission
🏡 Studio spaces, studio dogs & building creative homes
🪴 Plants, family, land, and the echo of ancestors in everything
💬 Why we need more support, more visibility, and way less shame

If you’re deep in the process of becoming — or re-becoming — this one is for you.

🖼️ Cristina’s ceramics: Sabia Ceramics
🌐 Website: cristinavictor.com
📸 Instagram: @sabiaceramics

📍Recorded in Studio 5- inside Redux Contemporary Art Center, SC
🛋️ Studio dog guest appearance: Indy 🐾

🎧 Listen to all episodes wherever you get your podcasts
💌 Join the club: susart.club
📲 @susartclub

This week on Sus Art Club, we sit down with Abby Duran — award-winning spoken word artist, storyteller, and founder of VeraNation Writing. Known for her rich, rhythmic language and rooted presence, Abby’s work explores identity, advocacy, and what it means to speak your truth out loud.

From page to performance, from prayer to poetry — Abby walks us through her creative journey and the way words can build bridges, create belonging, and change the narrative.

We get into it:
🎤 The layers of spoken word, rhythm, and finding your voice
📚 The making of her books Between Words and A Soul’s Tree Speaks
🌱 What community means in Charleston’s creative scene
🌀 Mentorship, lineage & creating space for others to be heard
🔥 Why poetry is a spiritual technology for healing, power, and joy

This episode is for the writers, the feelers, the bridge-builders — and anyone learning to trust the sound of their own voice.

🎧 Hosted by @susartclub | susart.club
🎤 Follow Abby: @veranationgirl / @veranationwriting
📖 Books: Between Words (2023) + A Soul’s Tree Speaks (2025)

This week, we sit down with Will Davis — a poet, educator, and bilingual parent advocate whose journey stretches from graffiti-tagged notebooks in Brooklyn to open mic stages and international humanitarian work. His story is one of layering — art, advocacy, faith, family, and the hard-won courage to say: “Yes, I am a poet.”

We get into it:
🧠 The power of doodling & where creativity begins
✍🏽 How graffiti shaped Will’s poetic voice
📚 Education as a form of healing and liberation
🗣 Why advocacy, community & storytelling go hand in hand
📖 Self-publishing two poetry books from lived experience
🌎 Processing global humanitarian work through the lens of poetry
🌬 The truth about permission, identity & showing up with heart

Whether you’re a writer, teacher, dreamer, or community builder — this one’s for anyone holding creative tension and wondering if it’s time to take the risk.

📍 Recorded live at Odd Duck Coffee in Charleston, SC
🎧 Hosted by @susartclub | @rabidlegion
🪶 Follow Will: @tetheredwrdspoetry
🌐 Website: tetheredwrds.com

🛒 Books by Will:
📘 Threads of Resilience
📗 Upon the Jet Stream: Hope and How Beauty Heals
(Both available via  tetheredwrds.com)

Chapters & Highlights

• Doodles, Desks & the Birth of Creativity – 00:00:20

• Graffiti, Layers & the Language of Visual Art – 00:03:15

• Poetry as a Spiritual & Emotional Practice – 00:10:40

• Education, Language & Belonging in Immigrant Communities – 00:18:05

• Community as Healing: How Art Holds Space – 00:26:30

• Publishing Threads of Resilience & Immigration Work – 00:36:40

• Launching the Second Book: Upon the Jet Stream – 00:45:00

• Advice to Creatives: Take the Risk – 00:52:10

🎧 Listen now on Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get your pods
💌 Join the club: susart.club
@SUSARTCLUB

This week on Sus Art Club, we sit down with Wes Pickell — DJ, designer, screenprinter, and founder of Eyeland Graphics, a Charleston-based print studio with deep roots in skate culture and DIY ethos.

From suburban skate spots to art shows in Philly, and a garage-press turned full-blown print studio — Wes has done it all. We dive into what it takes to build a life in art, the curveballs along the way (hello, unexpected twins + 2008 recession), and why staying connected to community is the heart of it all.

We get into it:
🛹 How skateboarding, mixtapes & graffiti shaped his creative voice
🎧 Wes's roots in hip-hop, DJing under the name Mosaic, and throwing parties in Richmond
💸 The rise and fall of his first print biz (RIP $50K client invoice)
👶🏽 Twins, bankruptcy, and starting over during the recession
📦 From working with Beyoncé merch to going full-time local in Charleston
🎨 Building Eyeland Graphics into a hub for artists, brands & community
🌱 The next chapter: fine art printing, in-house shows, and recorded live performances

Whether you’re slinging band tees, dreaming of quitting your day job, or just love a good creative comeback story — this one’s for you.

📍 Recorded in Charleston, SC
🛠 Wes runs @eyelandgraphics & @eyelandvibes — a full-service print studio rooted in love for art, music, and DIY culture
🎧 Web: eyelandgraphics.com
📨 Contact: [email protected]

Chapters & Highlights

• Skateboarding as Creative Foundation – 00:00:20

• Pre-Internet Hustle: Mixtapes & Zines – 00:01:24

• Money Skateboards, Desktop Publishing & DJ Mosaic – 00:04:45

• Starting 10th Floor Productions & Art School in Philly – 00:20:00

• Recession Hit: Bankruptcy, Twins, and Starting Over – 00:37:11

• Moving to Charleston & Rebuilding Eyeland Graphics – 00:43:59

• Looking Ahead: Fine Art Printing & New Creative Space – 00:49:19

Action Moves:

• Hosting events & art shows in the Eyeland warehouse – 00:51:32

• Live printing at Melt Festival, North Charleston – 00:52:02

• Expanding into museum-quality fine art prints – 00:49:19

• Teaming up with local framers for full-service offerings – 00:50:03

  
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  Follow us @susartclub

Welcome back to Sus Art Club — where we make creativity sustainable again. This week we sit down with Savannah Strickroth (@savannah.strickroth / @shop.studiojane), the ceramic artist and painter behind Studio Jane. From sewing puppets in kindergarten to launching her full-time art practice inside Studio Union, Savannah takes us through the winding path of creativity, motherhood, grief, and gut-trusting.

We get into it:
🧶 Growing up creative
✂️ Leaving the hair industry to return to art full-time
🥣 Discovering clay as a healing, grounding medium
👩‍👧‍👦 Balancing life as a working artist & mother
🔥 What to do when the kiln gods say “nah”
🤬 Why the myth of the full-time artist is lowkey BS
🤝 Building community while still needing solitude

We also talk ADHD, storytelling, burnout, creative identity, and finding your voice (with or without a broken front tooth).

📍Recorded at Studio Union in North Charleston, SC.
🛋️ Special thanks to Chris & Natalie for the cozy set-up.

👀 Follow Savannah:
Instagram: @savannah.strickroth / @shop.studiojane
Website: shop-jane.com

🎧 Listen to all episodes of Sus Art Club wherever you get your podcasts.
💌 Join the club: www.susart.club | @susartclub

Welcome back to Sus Art Club — where we make creativity sustainable again. This week, we sit down with painter, organizer, and low-key logistics wizard Morgan S. East, who’s been quietly shaping Charleston’s creative scene through both her art and her action.

We get into it:
✏️ Drawing unicorns, eyeballs, and rebellion in calculus class
🧠 Balancing a math/science brain with deep creative impulse
📦 What 13 years at Amazon taught her about building a creative business
🗺️ Why she started the Park Circle Art Walk — and how it almost ended
⚡ Leaving corporate life and learning to trust her inner compass
⏰ Time-blocking, burnout, and getting Morgorganized™

We also talk about being an introvert with a mission, making your own lane when the gatekeepers aren’t vibing, and how to make space for your art even when your to-do list is stacked.

Whether you're sketching at 2am or trying to carve out space between your day job and your dream life, this one’s for the artists who build while they bloom.

📍Recorded at Odd duck Market in North Charleston, SC

🧠 About the Guest:

Morgan S. East is a painter based in North Charleston, SC, and the founder of the Park Circle Art Walk, an event born in the early days of the pandemic to reconnect artists and neighbors through creativity and community. Her work explores figures, landscapes, and conceptual moments blending the human form and nature.

Morgan’s art has been featured in Charleston Magazine, Charleston Style & Design, and Art on the Beach. Her work has been shown internationally, including at the Metamorphosis Gallery in Australia. In 2025, her painting Inhale won “Best in Show” at the Beyond the Surface group exhibition at Tiger Strikes Asteroid in Greenville, SC.

She holds a BS in Graphic Communications with a minor in Advertising from Clemson, and studied illustration through the Visual Arts Passage and the Illustration Academy. She brings that same thoughtful mix of logic, emotion, and intuition into every brushstroke.

IG: @morgan_s_east

• Park Circle Art Walk

• And of course, shoutout to neighbors, unicorns, and organized chaos.

Host: Steph Frx (@rabidlegion)
Club: Sus Art Club | @susartclub
Subscribe + review wherever you listen — it makes a huge difference!

🔗 Links + Mentions:💌 Stay Connected:

This week, we sit down with Estonian-American painter and muralist Riivo Kruuk, whose work fuses folklore, graffiti, street culture, and personal heritage into one bold visual language.

We get into:
🌀 How Riivo went from soccer to street art
🎭 The pressure (and freedom) of finding your “style”
🛠 Building creative systems that actually support the grind
🌲 Estonian gnomes, family traditions & why he paints what he paints
🚧 Why waiting for “the right time” is a trap
👊 And what it really means to do this art life your own damn way

We also talk burnout, commissions, neurodivergence, creative community—and how staying true to yourself takes a whole lot of unlearning.

Whether you're painting walls, writing poems, or just trying to live with more intention—this one’s for the artists who know the work goes way deeper than the canvas.

📍Recorded at Studio Union in North Charleston, SC
🛋️ Special thanks to Kris Hanson [@kriswhanson] & Natalie Hanson [@nataliehansonart] for the cozy setup

👇 Follow Riivo:
Instagram → @riivosuave
Website → riivokruuk.com
YouTube → @riivosuave

🎧 Listen to all episodes of Sus Art Club wherever you get your podcasts
💌 Join the club → www.susart.club
Instagram → @susartclub

#susartclub #riivokruuk #murals #artistinterview #folklore #creativeprocess #streetart #creativity #neurodivergentartists #muralist

In this episode, I sit down with Kim Thomas, a powerful multimedia artist whose work bridges climate change, nature, and consumer culture—literally turning single-use plastics into thought-provoking sculptures, installations, and prints. Kim shares her journey from biochemistry major to artist, her creative practice rooted in reclaiming materials, and how art becomes a tool for sustainability, healing, and empowerment.

We explore what it means to carve your own damn path—especially as a working artist, parent, and teacher—and how setting boundaries, embracing flexibility, and honoring your creative voice is essential. Kim’s work challenges us to rethink what we consume, how we live, and how we care for ourselves and the planet.

Links & Resources

🔗 Follow Kim: [Insert Kim’s social link]
📍 Current Shows:
• Beyond the Surface – Tigerstikes Asteroid, Greenville, SC (with Clemson)
• Pink Silo – Wavelength Art Space, Chattanooga, TN (also on Artsy)
📅 Upcoming:
• May–June: Two-person show in Rock Hill/Charlotte area – “The Courtyard”

📚 Book Mentioned: Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

🎙 Guest: Kela @keladreams

In this episode, I sit down with Kela, a fine art, nature-based multimedia artist whose work integrates analogue photography, woodworking, and functional art. Inspired by the natural world, Kela creates custom, one-of-a-kind pieces—framed photography, picture frames, shadow boxes, and furniture-style works—designed to be experienced in person and engage multiple senses.

We talk about:

• Slowing down as an art form and how intentional time in nature helps us reset.
• Trusting intuition in creative practice and making work that’s deeply personal.
• Artist residencies & grants, and how they provide space to explore, build confidence, and sustain creative work.
• Vulnerability & confidence in artistry, embracing audacity, and learning to accept compliments without deflection.
• The power of community & storytelling, and how conversations lead to unexpected inspiration.
• How Kela’s background in analogue photography & woodworking evolved into her signature style.
• 
  

This is a deep and thoughtful conversation on trusting your creative path, honoring your process, and building a practice that feels true to you.

📌 Follow Kela on IG
The Warm Juice – Kela’s creative community initiative
📖 Book Mentioned: Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
💬 Join the conversation: Share your thoughts & tag us when you listen! @SusArtClub⁠ 
📢 WWW.susart.CLUB