The Craft: Exploring the Creative Process

In this episode of The Craft, Carter and Colby sit down with multimedia artist Susan Hensel to talk about her 50-year career as an artist. The conversation begins with Susan explaining her creative process in starting new projects but quickly moves to a diverse range of topics. Susan discusses the nuanced physics of color, the embodied experience of art, and the way that beauty provides rest. She then tells the story of her important trip to the Minnesota State Fair, an event that would catalyze her work in digital embroidery. Then, the discussion turns to the subject of sharing work; Susan shares her story of professional growth and how to approach rejection in a healthy way. The conversation concludes with a discussion about working through creative roadblocks. 

Timestamps:

[00:00-3:05] Intro

[3:05-6:30] Starting new projects 

[6:30-7:24] The physics of color in fabric 

[7:24-8:37] Work with antique pipe molds

[8:37-9:25] Current subject matter: wayfinding 

[9:25-13:47 ] Art maintaining the possibility for multiple experiences 

[13:47-16:45] Beauty as a place of rest

[16:45-24:55] Minnesota State Fair and a start in digital embroidery 

[24:55-29:00] Settling on embroidery as primary medium 

[29:00-29:50] Bringing in the organic 

[29:50-40:35] Sharing work and artistic growth

[40:35-42:55] Rejection 

[42:55-46:00] Overcoming creative roadblocks 

Links mentioned:

susanhenselprojects.com

Follow Susan on Instagram @susan_hensel_multimedia_artist

Artsy.net

Artnet News

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.

In this episode of The Craft, Carter and Colby discuss Hartmut Rosa’s Resonance: A Sociology of our Relationship to the World. The discussion begins by establishing Rosa’s concepts of alienation and acceleration. As modernity compresses more into less time, we begin to approach the world as silent, mute to our experience. The alternative to alienation is resonance, which Rosa explains along sociological and philosophical lines. After exploring the theory, their discussion pivots to how these concepts are manifested in the creative life. They also explore how considerations of resonance might help develop a more holistic approach to artistic pursuits. 

Alienation and Acceleration: Towards a Critical Theory of Late-Modern Temporality 

Resonance: A Sociology of Our Relationship to the World

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.

In this special episode of The Craft, Carter and Colby sit down with Cole Isaac, a conscious creative from Kelowna, BC. Their conversation covers a wide range of topics. Cole breaks down his songwriting process and discusses what it takes to find and cultivate an authentic artistic voice, a process that involves letting go of the opinions of others. Then, the conversation turns from creative processes to creative roadblocks; they ask Cole how he overcomes writer's block and other challenges in his craft. The interview concludes by foreshadowing "what's next" for Cole Isaac.

Connect with Cole:

Pre-save "To The Sky" featuring Cole Isaac

Follow and listen to Cole Isaac on Spotify

Follow and listen to Cole Isaac on Apple Music

Follow Cole on Instagram

Watch Cole Isaac’s music video

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.

In this episode of The Craft, Colby leads a book review of Angela Duckworth's Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance. The conversation specifically explores how the book's central concepts apply to creative endeavors.

Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.

In this episode of The Craft, Carter and Colby discuss a specific creative practice. During his recent solo road trip to California, Carter adopted (with Colby’s prompting) Hemingway’s maxim “one true sentence” as a way to document his journey. He attempted to articulate an essence from each day in a single sentence, forgoing note-taking for a practice of small, dense creative acts. They discuss the process of generating new ideas, choosing which ideas to pursue, and developing small creative practices into larger, more refined work.  

Sentences:

Day 1: I wonder if Jesse James ever watched that big Missouri sky and wondered what it would look like rolled up like a scroll. 

Day 2: Above the gentle sweep of the train tracks, a red church was bivouacked against a cliff of smooth red stone - like some ancient relief carved by the hand of a Spanish sculptor. 

Day 3: Sand turns into snow as I reel toward the rough sockets of skull rock.

Day 4: A gust of Pacific wind, tinged with salt, hits my face as I watch the breakers from Hawk Tower, the same perch where Jeffers watched the sun set with his glass of red wine and cigarette. 

Day 5: The redwoods’ brawny trunks and dark green boughs, soaked in cold rain, remind me of my frailty. 

Day 6: Steinbeck’s shadow stretches long past California, but one can never quite fix where it ends. 

Day 7: The shade of a cloud passes over a green hill near San Luis, darkening the purple impressions of sage and lavender. 

Day 8: Tempered blue steel in the predawn light, the snow-covered faces of Coloradan mountains stare into my tired eyes with terrible silence. 

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.

On this episode of The Craft, Carter and Colby read a chapter from Rick Rubin's new book called The Creative Act: A Way of Being and react to it.

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.

In this episode of The Craft, Carter and Colby discuss how new innovations in artificial intelligence intersect with the creative world. They explore the theoretical underpinnings of the claim that AI can "create art," a topic that elicits Carter's phenomenological objection! Moving toward the practical, they discuss how creatives can leverage the incredible generative power of such tools. Along the way, Colby asks ChatGPT a series of questions about the nature of art and its own creative possibilities.

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.

The Craft explores the cultivation of creativity across multiple disciplines and interests. If you're a writer, music producer, photographer, filmmaker, marketer, designer, illustrator, composer, or just someone who loves to learn about the creative process, this show is for you.

Hosted by Carter Davis Johnson (Writer, PhD student) and Colby (Marketer, Music Producer).

New episodes drop every other Wednesday.

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Our cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.  

In this episode of The Craft, Carter and Colby discuss one of their favorite creative books, Austin Kleon's Steal Like an Artist. They explore the book's central concept: the importance and freedom of creating within an artistic tradition and community (i.e. stealing!). As Picasso said and Kleon notes, "Art is theft." They discuss multiple topics within the book such as exploring your craft's genealogy, acknowledging the lifestyle of a project, and developing a habit of patient work.

Steal Like an Artist

Austinkleon.com

Austin Kleon's Newsletter

The Creative Act by Rick Rubin

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.

In this episode of The Craft, Carter and Colby theorize the distinction between a craft and art. They discuss how we use these terms in conversation, exploring how the connotations (and denotations) might demarcate similar and different activities. They arrive at a tentative definition of the craft: the pursuit of artfulness in work; or, an artistic approach to work. These initial definitions continue to develop, leading to a characterization of craft as a manner-of-doing or process. Thereby, art is the fulfillment of an act of craft. They also discuss the communal aspect of art, responding to a definition from Leo Tolstoy. The latter portion of the conversation shifts, using Bill Gurley’s lecture (linked below) to explore the development of one’s craft through the pursuit of knowledge. 

Runnin' Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love - Gurley

Poetry, Language, Thought – Heidegger 

Historical Literacy Rates

Send feedback or topic ideas to [email protected].

·

·

Cover art was designed by Elizabeth Newell. Learn more about her work at elizabethnewelldesign.com or on Instagram @elizabethisadesigner.