Vulnerability in life and art

Colin Douglas lives in Las Vegas, a data analyst by training and a philosopher by nature. He's driven by ideas and a great curiosity about how people choose to live their lives in the general pursuit of happiness, or better yet, enduring peace, fulfillment, or purpose. Working a full-time job, he finds the time to share his insights and invites others to engage in the conversation.

Colin shares a great line: 'Thoughts disentangle themselves through the lips and the fingertips' (commonly attributed to Dawson Trotman). That's how I feel about this podcast.

Be sure to check out Colin's writing on substack @personalpeace

"Books transform and shape us," says Winnipeg-based book artist Debra Frances. What makes a book a book? And how are we shaped by what we experience through books?

Inspired after making a book to showcase her daughter's artwork, Debra now creates stunning pieces from natural materials like milkweed seedpods and driftwood, as well as her own handmade papers and dyes.

She teaches bookbinding classes and also leads a one-week retreat every summer on Malcolm Island, British Columbia (for which I'm on the list in August 2027 :-) And the project where she collaborated with a climate scientist to create a book to represent key aspects of the work, centering on storytelling, was fascinating to me.

Learn more about Debra and her work on instagram @debra_frances and online at debrafrances.com

Based in Kitchener-Waterloo Ontario, Bryn Gladding is a commercial photographer who works with developers, researchers, inventors, artists, and manufacturers, alongside pursuing his own personal projects. I found his insights and reflections into his personal projects in particular, from the perspective of his own vulnerability, very moving.

Bryn is as passionate about nurturing connections with people as making photographs of and for them. He embraces the opportunities that come with new technologies as they emerge, and at the same time he looks forward to a resurgence in our general appreciation and valuing of art and artists, maybe even especially handcrafted or at least human-directed work.

Check out Bryn's work on instagram @bryngladding as well as online at bryngladdingphotography.com

Photograph © Bryn Gladding Photography Sculpture "Stratford War Memorial" Walter Seymour Allward (1919-1922)

This is a quick ramble about the learning field - designing courses and workshops - and sustaining dramatic tension in long-form fiction.

This was a fun coversation from a personal perspective, because I went to high school with Jackie Reeves, a painter who also does collage, installations, film, and animations.

Jackie grew up making art and exudes a lovely sense of calm confidence not only in her talent, but also in her choices to make art as child, teen, and adult. She has faith in her drawing hand, her painting hand. I did envy that a little, and I told her so. Did I follow through the right pigeonhole?

My mother, as she has listened to these conversations over time, has noticed when artists have grown up in families who've supported, or at least understood, artistic practice versus when they did not. It's in no sense a requirement, but may be a factor that influences the effort to invest in that practice.

We connected on the work one does for oneself compared to commercial work to meet the design needs of clients. Figuring out what we want to share from our own voice can be tricky. Jackie asks the question - beyond skill, what do we choose to create and why? It's not about knowing how, but knowing what.

Jackie shares that when she looks over her body of work, it's about claiming space, and female identity more broadly, of building up and breaking down. It's your "own past flooding in through you." And then we can let it be what it is. Let it sit and cook for a while.

For those really attentive to detail, near the beginning of our conversation Jackie refers to university and "CEGEP." In case you wondered, that's the Québec equivalent of junior college.

Check out @jackiereevesart on instagram and jackiereeves.com to learn more about her work.

I had the opportunity to speak with Laura Tafe about her collage work, which I find bright and bold. She also works as a pathologist and has been able to reintegrate artistic practice into her life as an adult, with a spirit of intentionality and a desire to express different aspects of herself, both to herself and to others.

Laura talks about the role of art, creativity, and self-expression in her leading a fully realized life. Paper - through its textures as well as acts of cutting out pieces - is her preferred medium for showing physical bodies and parts in motion and expressing a range of emotions.

She shows courage not only in putting her work out in the world, but in exploring language for speaking about what her practice and pieces might mean, as she builds communities with others.

When you have a chance, go take a look through Laura's work on instagram @imogene.awe

This is my second conversation with Stefan Lorenzutti, a poet who runs the independent press Bored Wolves in collaboration with his partner Joanna Osiewicz-Lorenzutti.

Stefan and I were messaging a few months back and he shared that it had been a challenging year, and how responses from when we last talked would no longer be quite the same.

So in a way we talked about many of the same big picture questions, but this time with a focus on what it means to publish 50 books in 50 months; interacting with respect, trust, grace, and forgiveness; and appreciation of the details and stories behind process.

To learn more about Stefan and his journeys through poetry and publishing, check out episode 83 of this podcast as well as boredwolves.com and @boredwolves on instagram.

One might think that by my fifth year of doing this podcast, I'd remember to introduce the guest at the beginning of the episode! Sadly, I did not in this case.

So, this is my conversation with Liv Wickedly, a multidimensional artist and creative who loves jumping in to try new things, a woman after my own heart.

We talk about art as intentional self-expression, through whatever medium feels right, which has personal value regardless of how it may be 'liked.' Reaction and feedback from others, however it may align with your own feelings and intentions, are always better than ambivalence.

And we talk about vulnerability as raw or tender moments of being seen, or even seeing oneself, when we aren't feeling so certain or clear about what we're sharing of ourselves.

To learn more about Liv and her work, you can explore livwickedly.com as well as her profile on instagram @livwickedly

For more information about the Gene Keys, you can listen to episodes 115 and 117, my conversations with Elijah Parker, or visit genekeys.com

And check out Babe Philosophy, the podcast Liv hosts with best friend Meli Wolf, which is 'a podcast where questions matter more than answers, where liminal spaces are revered, and where magic is practical.'

In this episode, I talk about what surfing means to me. It's a challenge on many different levels. Most importantly, it is teaching me what the real challenge is, in my relationship to the ocean, control, and lessons still to learn.

Be sure to check out the book Nature of Surf Women @nature_of_surfwomen written by Ivana Bajic @ivanabajic with photography by Gabriela Tellez and audio recordings by Martyn Stewart. I also highly recommend the podcast of the same name.

And if you find yourself in LA and want to learn to surf, you can get in touch with Heather Alley of Soul Surf Sessions @soulsurfsessionsla

This is my first episode - and probably my first conversation ever - with an action actor (which is today's term for the profession I would've referred to as stuntman). Jon Schmidt fell into the work after time in the Peace Corps and then completing his MBA, when the job overseas that he had accepted fell through.

Jon explains how in the beginning of his career, he worried that saying no to a role might mean he'd never work again. I connected with that, though I work in a completely different field. Overpromising on performance is actually the greater risk; learning to undersell (or at least, promise from a realistic perspective) leads to trust, more opportunity, and a stronger network.

He also shares some of his insights into education, writing, and AI - again, points that fall close to home for me as a learning designer and writer.

And then in the final moments of our conversation, we talk about about the purpose in making yourself vulnerable, throwing yourself out into the world in front of others, and giving something your all. Are you striving for failure or for success?

I'll leave you with a question. What's your no-go fly zone? I don't know why, but that image really caught at my heart as a metaphor for discovering and accepting our limits, of any kind. Because it's doesn't always have to be about pushing beyond limits; sometimes, it's about working creatively within them.

You can follow Jon Schmidt on instagram @thejingleheimer and check out his past work on IMDB at https://www.imdb.com/name/nm6869567/