Guest Artist: Rebecca Chaperon www.thechaperon.ca

Host Artist: Carol McQuaid www.carolmcquaidart.com

Bar: The Shameful Tiki Room www.shamefultikiroom.com

Today’s guest is visual artist and author of my new favourite book “Eerie Dearies – 26 Ways to Miss School”, Rebecca Chaperon!

Forgive the erupting volcanoes and come join the fun as Rebecca and I share a ‘Mystery Bowl’ and swap stories about books, art shows, and what happens when celebrities like and buy your paintings. 

 In this episode you’ll hear about:

* Mr. Beach and discover the wonder that is the Shameful Tiki Lounge

* Rove Studio Tour in Vancouver

* Rebecca’s charming ABC book “Eerie Dearies – 26 Ways to Miss School” and how it came to be. You can buy them online, in gallery book stores, or in the show notes of this episode!

* Going to Art School; what she got from Emily Carr vs. Langara College, and the difference between schools that focus on concept vs. technique

* Starting out at craft shows, and how she moved quickly into the gallery world

* Her show “Fables” at the Reach Gallery (May-September 2018) – “I’ve always been interested in storytelling, and then I stumbled on Joseph Campbell’s writing.  He writes about comparative mythology sort of taking all these different stories across cultures and boiling them down to the individual points in the hero’s journey, like different transformation phases.  It’s been fun to read that and look at how I want to illustrate those points myself.

* Working with Art Rental and Sales at the Vancouver Art Gallery and Parks Gallery in Toronto

* Strategies for finding the right gallery for your work

* Her Toronto show with Julie Gladstone and how they connected (spoiler alert – Instagram!)

* Carol and Two Artist’s upcoming European tour and the podcast guests she’ll meet along the way

* Rebecca’s Instagram moment with Amy Sedaris

* Deciding between design and fine art at the start of her education and the pro’s and con’s of a pro’s and con’s list

* An awesome mom faerie story from Rebecca’s childhood

You Can Get Rebecca’s Book Here!

* Eerie Dearies by Rebecca Chaperon https://amzn.to/2HYX5pp

Follow our Podcast on

*  instagram, twitter and facebook @2artistspodcast

Follow our Host on

*  instagram, twitter and facebook @carolmcquaidart

Join the Conversation!

One of my favorite parts of recording a podcast each week is participating in the great conversations they spark.  Share your feedback and favourite moments on social media, and in the comments section of each episode page.

And remember, if you love the episode, head to the webpage where you can bit.ly/buyusaround

Explore these Resources

In this episode, we mentioned the following resources:

* Reach Gallery www.thereach.ca

* Parts Gallery www.partsgallery.ca

* Little Mountain Gallery www.littlemountaingallery.ca

* Vancouver Art Gallery Art Rental and Sales www.vanartgallery.bc.ca/visit_the_gallery/art_rental_sales.html

* Eerie Dearies by Rebecca Chaperon  

Our Host Artist: Carol McQuaid www.carolmcquaidart.com

Our Guest Artist: Sherri Rogers www.sherrirogers.com

Our Bar: Off The Rail Brewery www.offtherailbrewing.com

We’ll talk about her artistic trajectory from tiny town to urban centre that is so central to her work, her success with movie art, and her empowering relationship… with a bicycle.

Now let’s head to Off the Rail, where Sherri shares all, including at the end a new punchline for the show.

We talk about the Bechdel Test in this episode.

Here’s the criteria:

* it has to have at least two women in it, who

* who talk to each other, about

* something besides a man.

Thanks Alison Bechdel.

My favourite Sherri quotes from this episode:

On balancing her studio practice with her career as in FX: “After working in film and being told all the time ‘Make it more red, make it more blue, make it bigger’, its important for an artist to be self directed”

On riding her bike through the dark alleys of the city’s darker side: “It’s like claiming my place in the public sphere.  I have a right to be in that alley…I have a right to be out at night”.

The cityscapes of street art and bicycles are well worth the risk.  Check out Sherri’s website and instagram feed and see for yourself.

Enjoy the episode?  Click subscribe, share with a friend, or click on the martini glass icon to send us a round.

 

Links:

Sherri’s website:

https://www.sherrirogers.com/

Sherri’ instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/sherrirogers/

Two Artists Walk into a Bar Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/2artistspodcast/

The Bechdel Test:

https://bechdeltest.com/

William Clark Studio and the East Side Culture Crawl:

https://culturecrawl.ca/buildings/william-clark-studios

Gallery 1988 in Los Angeles:

https://nineteeneightyeight.com/

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition:

https://torontooutdoor.art/

Buy us a round:

Buy Us A Round

Our Guest Artist: Audra Ricketts 

Our Host Artist: Carol McQuaid

Our Bar:  The Pemberton Station Pub in West Vancouver

Our guest artist today is visual artist, actor and the mind behind the hilarious Rabbit Rabbit Greeting Card line, Audra Ricketts

Listen in at the Pemberton Station Pub while Audra and I swap notes on some shared art residencies and life experiences, and I even get her to divulge some juicy details from her life on set with the likes of Al Pacino and Sam Elliott.

 In this episode you’ll hear about:

* Painting figures in oil on velum

* Her greeting card line Rabbit Rabbit and the little fella who inspired it

* Art school days and acting jobs

* Kissing Sam Elliott and other celeb stories

* Our almost shared residency experience (I inhabited a residency in Tuscany as she was vacating it, and we both have a civilized art crush on Frank Arnold in San Jose del Cabo. He’s the artist in episode 2 of this show

* The residency we almost shared: Chianti Arts at Rignana

* My “Fake Flu Room With a View” story

* Audra’s next Mexican adventure

* Rabbit Rabbit’s upcoming market season

* Upcoming writing projects, including a self-help book Rabbit Rabbit style

* What’s next? Some big paintings, the Horseshoe Bay Art Crawl

Follow Audra and Rabbit Rabbit on

*  instagram and facebook @rabbitrabbitcards

 

Follow our Podcast on

*  instagram, twitter and facebook @2artistspodcast

Follow our Host on

*  instagram, twitter and facebook @carolmcquaidart

Join the Conversation!

One of my favorite parts of recording a podcast each week is participating in the great conversations they spark.  Share your feedback and favourite moments on social media, and in the comments section of each episode page.

And remember, if you love the episode, head to the webpage where you can bit.ly/buyusaround

Explore these Resources

In this episode, we mentioned the following resources:

* Rabbit Rabbit Greeting Cards www.rabbitrabbitcards.com

* Chianti Arts Artist Residency in  Tuscany www.chiantiarts.com

* Horseshoe Bay Art Walk www.horseshoebayartwalk.com

* MakeIt! Show Holiday Markets www.makeitshow.ca/vancouver

* Shipyards Market in North Vancouver www.vancouversnorthshore.com/events-festivals/shipyards-night-market

Join us at The Bar

 

Are you enjoying Two Artists Walk into a Bar?  Sign up for monthly updates and special features on our newsletter at http://bit.ly/2artistsnews

Where to find Two Artists Podcast

* Website: www.twoartistswalkintoabar.com

* iTunes: http://bit.ly/2artistspodcast

* Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @2artistpodcast

* YouTube: http://bit.ly/2artistsyoutube

* email:

Guest Artist: Lori Goldberg www.lorigoldberg.ca 

Our Host Artist: Carol McQuaid www.carolmcquaidart.com

Our Bar:  Lori’s Magical Studio Garden in Vancouver

Today’s guest is visual artist and instructor Lori Goldberg.  Her big gorgeous canvases hang in galleries and collections worldwide, she’s been a Canada Council Grant Recipient and has Painted over 100 commissions for Intrawest Resorts.

Now lets head to lori’s garden hideaway and Listen in as we talk about studios, commission work, residencies, and, spoiler alert, where all those socks go when they leave the dryer.

 In this episode you’ll hear about:

* Her magical garden studio and how she came to inhabit it

* Early days of Granville island and Yaletown

* The plight of the artist and finding studio space in Vancouver

* On arranging her first big show: “It was about stepping outside of the norm”

* On Grant writing vs self-funding shows and bodies of work

* Deciding to have a family and how that fits with the path of a professional artist

* Yoga and art retreats on Hornby island

* What Carfac is, and how Lori was instrumental in bringing it to British Columbia

* Her group show ‘Fences’. Lori: “If you look at nature there’s always structure and there’s always chaos and there’s always happen chance and circumstance that happens.  It’s random. I’m just basically mimicking what’s happening in nature”

* Her canoe series, and a favourite Pierre Burton quote: “A true Canadian is one who can make love in a canoe without tipping. “

* Painting under a ‘nom de plume’ for big retailers

* Her experience being a certified educator for Golden Paints

* Creating Beauty Spots workshops for locations like Italy and Bali (yes please)

* How she landed a massive commission project for Intrawest.

* We both share our experiences at the Toni Onley Artist Project in Wells BC

* Her ‘Lost Socks’ project on Governor’s Island in New York.

* Loss and memory and a very interesting series on dryer lint

* The romantic concept of being an artist that we hold as kids compared to the actual journey

* Rove Studio Tour in Vancouver

Follow Lori on

*  instagram and facebook @lorigoldberg.art

 

Follow our Podcast on

*  instagram, twitter and facebook @2artistspodcast

Follow our Host on

*  instagram, twitter and facebook @carolmcquaidart

Join the Conversation!

One of my favorite parts of recording a podcast each week is participating in the great conversations they spark.  Share your feedback and favourite moments on social media, and in the comments section of each episode page.

And remember, if you love the episode, head to the webpage where you can bit.ly/buyusaround

Explore these Resources

In this episode, we mentioned the following resources:

* 1000 Parker Street Studios www.parkerartsalon.com/about-parker-street-studios/

* Rove Studio Tour www.roveyvr.com

* CARFAC www.carfac.ca

* Golden Paints www.goldenpaints.com

* South Main Gallery

Our Guest Artist: Jenn Brisson

Our Host Artist: Carol McQuaid

Our Bar: The Whip

I’m talking with muralist, animator and lead singer of the music group The Damps, Jenn Brisson.  She was part of the 13’ Off the Ground collective we traveled to Sicily with to paint murals, and she has seriously caught the mural bug.

Our Bar is the Whip, a very cool spot in Vancouver’s trendy south Main area.  We’re on the deck, with all the accompanying neighbourhood sounds.

In this episode Jenn and I talk about animation from Space Jam to Spirit, and balancing a whole spectrum of creative passions. Hang in to the end and Jenn shares 2 adorable little art jokes.

We cover:

* mural painting in Sicily at the Graniti Murales Artist in  Residence Program with the Vancouver collective 13 Feet Off the Ground

* indoor mural collaboration in New York with artist artist Phresha

* the impact of music and the meditative mindstate one gets into while painting something big

* the early days of Jenn’s animation career, working with pencils, doing clean up or final line animation

* a few of the films she’s worked on: Space Jam, El Dorado, Sinbad, Spirit, Curious George, 8 Crazy Nights

* working on animation projects in Korea and China

* working at Titmouse, and their annual animation staff film festival

* a fundraiser to Save to Rio, an awesome classic theatre in Vancouver

* making music with her band.  Jenn sings lead and plays guitar with the Vancouver based band The Damps

I couldn’t find the cover Jenn talks about, but here’s the original Little Dragon by Twice Video on YouTube

Follow our Podcast on

*  instagram, twitter and facebook @2artistspodcast

Follow our Host on

*  instagram, twitter and facebook @carolmcquaidart

Join the Conversation!

One of my favorite parts of recording a podcast each week is participating in the great conversations they spark.  Share your feedback and favourite moments on social media, and in the comments section of each episode page.

And remember, if you love the episode, head to the webpage where you can bit.ly/buyusaround

Explore These Resources

Jenn’s Website: www.jennbrisson.com

artist Phresha on instagram @phresha

Jenn’s Instagram: @jennbrissonart

The Damps Instagram @thedampsmusic

Aurum “Never Again”  cover of Little Dragon’s “Twice” on SoundCloud  https://m.soundcloud.com/auram/never-again

13′ Off the Ground Instagram @13feetofftheground

Graniti Murales Instagram @granitimurales

Join us at The Bar

Are you enjoying Two Artists Walk into a Bar?  Sign up for monthly updates and special features on our

Our Guest Artists: Jamie Smith and Tara Galuska from Thrive Mastermind

Our Host Artist: Carol McQuaid

Our Bar: Melu Juice and Health Bar www.melujuice.com

Listen in as Jamie, Tara and I talk about how Thrive Mastermind began in this “Three Artists Walk into a Bar” episode.

You’ll hear how it grew from a group of friends gathering for a one-time collage night to hundreds of artists in a growing number of cities.

Thrive was started in July of 2015 by Jamie Smith.  She’d been part of an entrepreneur mastermind group, but found that the art world was so different and didn’t abide by any rules.  With Tara’s support and encouragement, she decided to start something that would serve the community of women artists in Vancouver looking for support and connections.

Together they’ve grown Thrive into an international movement, with online groups, a podcast, a speaker series, an art school and more.

It’s a fun episode.  The first tears come at about [7:40], but there’s lots of laughter too.

Jamie shares how they make their business decisions.

Tara talks systems and how that leads to sustainable growth.

We’ll also talk about each of their individual paths as artists and what brought them to this point.

Tara shares about her beautiful paper works, and of course the ever popular The Cat Report: “The worlds leading news source on my cats Daisy & Bijou. Follow for breaking news, special reports & more as told to me, Tara Galuska by my husband Bill”

Jamie and I swap notes about being business junkies, and learning to balance that with our art practices.  She shares how Thrive has given her a great balance between the two.

Hear about how and when they first knew they were destined for careers in visual arts.  Spoiler alert, both Santa and a fabulous high school art teacher had a hand in it.

They’ll talk too about taking Thrive online, starting their podcast, what that’s been like and where it all is going.

Listen to the end and you’ll hear a great story about confessions, and you’ll even hear them surprise each other!

Cheers

Links:

Jamie’s website: www.jamiesmithstudio.com  instagram: @jamiesmithstudio.com

Tara’s website: www.taragaluska.com  instagram: @taragaluska

Carol’s website: www.carolmcquaidart.com instagram: @carolmcquaidart

Thrive Art Studio: www.thriveartstudio.com

Thrive Mastermind: www.thriveartstudio.com/mastermind

The Thrive Podcast on iTunes: thrive-talks-podcast

The Cat Report : www.thecatreport.online

ROVE: www.roveyvr.com instagram: @roveyvr

 

 

Our Guest Artist: Joanne Hastie 

Our Host Artist: Carol McQuaid

Our Bar: Milano on Fairview Slopes, Vancouver

Our guest artist today is Joanne Hastie. You’ve probably seen her lively cityscapes with their bright red signature.  They are held in collections all over the world.  She’s part artist, part engineer, and is having lots of fun programming a mechanical arm to paint like a human. She’s also the instigator of the Internationally traveling Canadian Art Collective 13 Feet Off the Ground, of which I’m a happy member.

 

Now let’s head to Milano and listen in as Joanne and I talk hacks for dealing with a tight painting space, whether a robotic painting arm is a tool or a creator, and what it feels like to paint on a scaffold 40’ in the air.

We’ll cover:

* wanting to incorporate her engineering background into her work

* her robotic arm project “I got a robotic arm in my studio and I’ve been getting it to paint for me.  I call the project Painting Variables because when you’re programming a variable is like a noun… It’s breaking down the process of painting”

* the debate about what art is, and whether a robot is the artist or the tool when it paints

* the forming of the collection 13 Feet Off the Ground, and how she organized a mural painting adventure for a group of Canadian artists in Sicily

* what it’s like to paint a mural 40′ off the ground (hint: it gets easier as you go)

* finding residencies through sites like Resartis

Links (through the episode webpage)

Vote for Joanne at the Robotart: www.robotart.org/team/profile/joanne-hastie

Joanne’s instagram account www.instagram.com/joannehastie

Painting Variables – the instagram account for Joanne’s robotic arm www.instagram.com/paintingvariables

13′ Off the Ground www.13feetofftheground.com

Graniti Murales Art Residency www.granitimurales.org

 

Our Guest Artist: Danny McBride

Our Host Artist: Carol McQuaid

Our Bar: The Canadian Brewhouse

If you’ve ever slow danced to Lady in Red you’ve heard him play guitar.  You’ve known him as a musician, but now he’s taking the art world by storm with big beautiful paintings of ladies in hats.  He can’t paint fast enough to keep up with the demand for these beautiful creations, but we get him to take some time out of his busy schedule to sit down over beers and share stories from the studio and from the road.

Now let’s head to the Canadian Brewhouse and listen in as Danny and I talk about his art start as the poisoned pencil,  almost auditioning for the Rolling Stones, and the best Trump/David Hasselhoff/OJ Simpson story you’ll ever hear.

We talk about:

* His musical start

* Brother Bob McBride and Lighthouse

* Overcoming stage fright

* Meeting Mick Jagger

* What he thought of Chris DeBurgh’s “Lady in Red” as it was being written “It’s a nice melody Chris, but I don’t know if it’s ever going to be a hit”.  (It’s one of the top 5 love songs ever recorded)

* Growing up drawing caricatures,as did his dad, and amusing his band mates on the road with his “poisoned pencil”

* How he switched to canvas and began drawing his hatted ladies (listen until the end and you’ll find out who that lady in the hat really is)

* The biggest sale of his art career

* Visiting the home of Lady Di, and what her mother Frances Shand Kydd had to say about his offer to hand a few of his paintings between  her Gainsboroughs: “Darling, the spaces between are owned by the paintings themselves”.  Great line Frances!

* Writing his new sitcom pilot and other bucket list items

* The crossover from one creative genre to another

* The amazing outcome of a chance meeting with a young Allan Doyle of Great Big Sea

* On meeting Jimi Hendrix backstage when Danny was 16-17: “I was standing there in my little Nehru jacket, Sargent Peppers, and he looked over and said “Stay cool.”

Enjoy the episode?  Click subscribe, share with a friend, or click on the martini glass icon to send us a round.

Artists and Musicians we talk about (links are live through the show website)

Led Zeppelin

The Who

">Moby Grape

Rick James (Super Freak Video)

U2

Supertramp

Depeche Mode

Chris DeBurgh (Lady in Red Video)

Modigliani

Danny’s Instagram:

https://www.instagram.

Episode 007

The Guest: Staging Diva Debra Gould

The Host Artist: Carol McQuaid

The Bar – The New Oxford, Yaletown

From Decorative Artist to Staging Diva, Debra Gould

This week’s episode features Marketing Guru, Decorative Artist and Staging Diva Debra Gould

We’ll hear about what drove her to step away from a thriving career in marketing and communications in the heart of Toronto to explore her creative yearnings in a tiny town the gulf islands, and how those well honed business skills refused to lie dormant for very long.  She’s the home staging expert that CNN and the Wall Street Journal call on when they want to know what’s happening in the industry, and she’s taught over 30,000 students how to grow their own successful staging careers.

Let’s head to the New Oxford and listen in as Debra and I talk about developing a home décor line, raising a child and building an online empire, all at the same time.  We’ll talk about:

* how Staging Diva began

* Debra’s first art commission: “My 15 year old self was bribing the vice principle with art so I could take more art classes!

* On single parenting and running a business: While running a thriving business a colleague asked what was the most important thing she would teach her daughter.  It was that moment that she realized her life was about to completely change.  “It was really clear to me our kids don’t learn from what we tell them; they learn from watching us.”

* packing up her business and her Toronto life and moving herself and her daughter to Salt Spring Island

* creating a line of beautiful floor cloths and custom home accessories

* journeys of self-reinvention: the moments where we doubt, almost run back to old lives and old ways, and how to power through them

* creating an annual studio tour in Victoria that still runs today

* building websites and smart art marketing ideas

* arranging media opportunities for herself and other artists. “I always leveraged these things, but they came about because I always put myself out there.”

The Staging Diva: www.stagingdiva.com

Debra’s Website: www.debragould.com

Debra’s latest creative project, Surface and textile pattern design Instagram: www.instagram.com/debragould

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episode 006

The Guest Artist: Painter David Tycho 

The Host Artist: Carol McQuaid

The Bar: Milano Café  

Current Gallery: South Main Gallery

Fire and Rain; A Journey to Extremes with Painter David Tycho

Listen in as David and I talk about:

-Studio spaces; his is a 1500 square foot artists dream in the coveted Parker Street Studios in Vancouver

-His current show Fire and Rain at the South Main Gallery featuring 19 of the 44 paintings from his current series

-Road tripping for artistic inspiration; David travels from Tofino to Death Valley to gather reference for the landscapes of Fire and Rain

-On his current work; I think I probably learned more about painting doing this series than I have learned in any other series Ive ever done

-Blending representational and abstract, the difference between figurative and figural, and how to know when a body of work is show ready

-His years in Japan; being inspired by calligraphic paintings and experimenting with a huge, mop-like brush

-The  connection between painting and other creative ventures, and his 2001 Canadian Literary Award for an essay on Nevadaès Great Basin Desert.

-University years with instructors Jack Darcus and the legendary Gordon Smith

He shares great stories of his 25 years as a gallery artist, as well as one of my all time favourite quotes, from Japanese Printmaker Hokusai.  Here it is in its entirety:

“From the age of 6 I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things. When I was 50 I had published a universe of designs. But all I have done before the the age of 70 is not worth bothering with. At 75 I’ll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects. When I am 80 you will see real progress. At 90 I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself. At 100, I shall be a marvelous artist. At 110, everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before. To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word. I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokusai, but today I sign my self ‘The Old Man Mad About Drawing.” – Hokusai Katsushika

The inspiration artists mentioned in this episode: (links through the show website)

Jack Darcus

Gordon Smith

Willem de Kooning

Franz Kline

Robert Motherwell

Richard Diebenkorn

Hokusai

David Bowie’s Station to Station

And The Gordon Smith Gallery in North Vancouver