Aaron Walker is a professional tattoo artist with a private studio in downtown Little Rock. He specializes in color tattoos, particularly watercolor.

"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

Watch Aaron give me the tattoo on YouTube Here: https://youtu.be/qslGcx8uHmQ

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Find out more about Elizabeth and Sustaining Craft:

Special Guest: Aaron Walker.

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.

"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

Listen to her previous episode here: https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/13

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 [email protected] or Katy at [email protected].

Find out more about Katy:

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/

Special Guest: Katy Raines.

Ti King is the CEO of American Business Engine and the co-founder of the nonprofit Arkansas Podcast Collaborative. He shared his creative journey, how he discovered podcasts, and what's next for Arkast, the only Arkansas podcast convention.

“Anyone can get started with any type of equipment. Everybody has at least a cell phone. That’s how I started way back in the day. And people aren’t worried so much about audio quality more than they are about your content. We’ll help you refine your content, what it is that you’re trying to say, and get your episodes lined up in a way that you can record them and release them and get them out to the public.” - Ti King

Watch the YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/GFBXubk81Vs

Learn more about Ti:

Sustaining Craft provides storytelling resources and shares the tales of those pursuing their art or craft. Music provided by Jim Ciago (Seven Second Chance on iTunes and Spotify & Nomad Neighbors in the Denver area most weekends).

Special Guest: Ti King.

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.

"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

Robert Bean Episode 1: https://sustainingcraft.fireside.fm/15

Find out more about Robert:

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.

Sustaining 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).

Special Guest: Robert Bean.

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.

Special Guest: Hannah Allen Anderson.

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.

I 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/

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

Sustaining 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).

Special Guest: Danielle Perrault.

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.”

As 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.”

She 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.”

Find Lieder Vox Duo on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Lieder-Vox-Duo-102621477815115/

Read the rest: https://hewandweld.com/news/

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).

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Special Guest: Liz Taylor-McMullen.

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.”

Creatives 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.”

Read the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/

Find out more about Robert:

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).

Find more from Hew & Weld:

Special Guest: Robert Bean.

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.”

He 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.”

Now, 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.”

Read the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/

Find out more about Chris:

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).

Find more from Hew & Weld:

Special Guest: Chris Swasta.

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."

Read the rest at: https://hewandweld.com/news/

Find out more about Morgan:

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).

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/sustainingcraft/

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Special Guest: Morgan Allain.