Windowsill Chats

Margo is joined by Sophia Cosmas to discuss the subject of artmaking as a response to grief stemming from her own personal experiences. Sophia observed that over the last 20 years, with five significant losses, her grief has been compounded, but her response has, each time, been to immerse herself in intensive art making. In her experience grief takes innumerable forms and is not something that is "gotten over", "worked through" or necessarily ever resolved. She aims to create and to celebrate the perfect imperfection of life by being fully immersed in process learning and problem solving. Artmaking as a metaphor for life living itself. She finds inspiration everywhere but is heavily influenced by her Hellenic ancestry.

Margo and Sophia discuss:

• The complicated relationship between grief and loss
• Her experience with significant loss and why she doesn't fear death
• The importance in allowing people to have their own process in creativity and grief and finding active ways to mourn
• How she holds boundaries within her work and honors the people she's lost
• The evolution of practice and getting past "I can't"
• Art Making as a Response to Grief: Sophia's formal exploration of the relationship between creation and loss
• The value of being in control of our own perceptions

With an artistic voice heavily accented by her heritage, Sophia is self-taught and self-directed. She is happily rejecting the concept of "perfection" and says "life is a quality I always seek to capture in my artwork." Her practice now encompasses painting, drawing, collage, digital design and ceramics (hand building). Sophia works from a home studio and one of her greatest achievements has been learning to adapt her endeavors to accommodate her physical limitations.

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Mentioned in this episode:

Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China by Jung Chang

Drawing with your non-dominant hand

Connect with Sophia:

www.sophandson.com

www.instagram.com/sophcosmas_art

Margo is joined by friend and creative whom she met while working at Hallmark in Kansas City, Abby Campbell. Abby has always had a passion for photos of all kinds and the love of visual art took her to the University of Central Missouri where she received a BS in Broadcasting and Film. This is where she began to really learn the art of storytelling through photos and video. Fast forward, she spent time working on an outdoor television show, producing national and regional television commercials, and informational/how-to videos before moving on to other projects that continued to hone her craft in visual storytelling.

Margo and Abby discuss:

• Her creative journey, why she may be considered a generalist, and her experience working within an agency/corporate model and freelancing
• The direct to consumer and social selling business models and what she finds most interesting about each
• Retail casualties and how the standard consumer shopping experience has changed
• Finding the true cost of your time as an artist
• The double edged sword of social media
• Being authentic to yourself and finding balance as a creative
• Breaking the rules in creativity
• Their joint passion for helping others succeed

Mentioned in this episode:

Demdaco

Willowtree

Connect with Abby:

https://www.abbyjcampbell.com/

www.instagram.com/ajcampkc

Margo and Beth discuss:

• Trusting your own expertise and being an expert of your own experience
• How to get really clear on your messaging without getting caught up in the wording
• What it means to create warm leads and why it's easier than you think
• The importance of sharing vulnerabilities
• Removing some of the mystique and confusion around PR
• Quick, simple tips for creating opportunities for yourself
• The "7 layers deep" exercise to help you understand your why
• Why she likes to focusing on making an impact on one person versus the whole world

Beth is a big believer in the power of potential to catapult your business forward. She shows her clients how to intentionally prepare their business and leverage exposure through collaboration and media so they can make their potential possible, increase credibility, and make their mark on the world.

Connect with Beth:

www.bethnydick.com

www.instagram.com/bethnydick

https://www.facebook.com/Bethnydick/

Margo is joined by Hannah Curtis and Bev Cunningham, together known as the Creative Card Collective. Founded in 2019 and then re-launched in 2021, they teamed up to take the collective to a new level. The Creative Card Collective is an online membership for any creative working or wishing to work in the greeting card industry. The membership not only offers invaluable information, advice, inspiration and insights about the card industry but also provides a community of supportive, like minded creatives.

Margo, Bev and Hannah discuss:

• Their respective backgrounds and why they decided to team up
• The original collective and how it's evolved in the last year

• The vision behind the Creative Card Collective
• The three key things they aim to do within the collective: support, inform, inspire
• Power in numbers and community
• How they support members in increasing industry knowledge
• Finding inspiration in collaboration and partnership

Bev's background in photography and working as a Creative Director for a greeting card publisher matched with Hannah's expertise as an art licensing agent and agency founder makes them the perfect pairing with a wealth of knowledge that they bring in supporting the creative masses.

Use code WINDOWSILLCHATS25 for 25% off a 12-month membership with the Creative Card Collective (code active through June 31st, 2022)!

Connect with Hannah & Bev:

https://creativecardcollective.com/

https://www.instagram.com/creative_card_collective/

https://creativesparrow.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/creativesparrowart/

https://gingerbeestudios.com/

https://www.instagram.com/gingerbeestudiosuk/

This week, Margo chats with Minneapolis-based mixed media artist Amy Rice. Amy's nostalgic, subtly street-art influenced works are deeply defined by her Midwestern roots and growing up in a rural area, she found inspiration in the surrounding flora and fauna. Over the course of her career she has developed an appreciation for the simplistic yet beautiful things in life. While exhibiting her work extensively at galleries in the US and beyond she has received multiple grants and commissions.

Margo and Amy discuss:

• How 4-H and the family farm has impacted her creative path and influenced her work and life

• Why she doesn't have a lot of rules within her process
• How etsy and a printing press she paid $200 for helped her quit her job
• How her goals are displayed in the form of her artwork
• Art constipation and how she finds time to manage different projects
• Her love for gardening, hiking, and exploring nature
• Thinking creatively and being creative when you have limited resources
• What she learned from working with artists with disabilities

Amy's artwork has really become a manifestation of her stretch goals which can be seen in her work presented in Root Down. She says "I'm not satisfied anymore with a big garden; I want acres of stripes of living colors. I want my fields to be my canvas and flowers to be my paint. Slowly, year by hard-working year, it's happening. My paintings are just a few steps ahead of my reality."

Connect with Amy:

http://grovelandgallery.com/artist/amy-rice/

http://amy-rice-qvit.squarespace.com/

https://lanesboroarts.org/calendar/a-few-steps-ahead-exhibition/

https://www.instagram.com/amyriceart/

https://www.instagram.com/countylinegardens

Margo is joined by Holly Thomas Stein, the artist behind HTS Studios. Holly has been an artist for as long as she can remember, from crayons to computers and everywhere in between. In 30+ years as a self-employed artist, Holly has been a graphic designer, illustrator, metalsmith and mixed media artist as well as owned an art gallery and taught jewelry making. She's been fortunate to work with amazing international companies creating marketing and advertising campaigns, products and packaging. Her work has been featured in books and magazines and won numerous awards.

Margo and Holly discuss:

• Feeding interests, trying new things and adding depth to your portfolio
• Continuing education and always "doing", never becoming sedentary
• The original art class her mom took pre-computer days (and getting feedback from artists like Norman Rockwell!)
• Where she got the idea to license her artwork
• Pursuing interests even if they're challenging
• Creating across a variety of mediums
• Understanding client needs and expectations
• Stretching creativity and fueling artistic passions
• And more!

Currently Holly licenses her art to a variety of manufacturers in the decor, paper, gift and textile markets. She also makes and sells handcrafted jewelry and dabbles in ceramics.

Connect with Holly:

https://htsstudios.net

ttps://www.instagram.com/htsstudios/

Patternfield App: Holly Thomas Stein

I'm sharing a special preview of a podcast I've been enjoying, Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso, from Pushkin Industries. Talk Easy is a weekly interview podcast, where writer Sam Fragoso invites actors, writers, activists, and politicians to come to the table and speak from the heart in ways you probably haven't heard from them before. Driven by curiosity, he has revealing conversations with guests like Margaret Atwood, David Byrne, Holland Taylor, and more. In this preview, Sam talks to Rupi Kaur ahead of her international tour. Rupi talks about processing trauma through writing, her very successful self-published poetry collection, milk & honey, and reckoning with her critics. You can hear the full episode, and more from Talk Easy with Sam Fragoso, at https://podcasts.pushkin.fm/tewindowsillrupi.

In this episode, Margo chats with art director, writer, and editor in chief of The New Maturity, Heath Brockwell. Heath's work synthesizes motivational and accessible ideas on how to create a life you love sharing a range of ideas from making a great meal for your family to ways you can have a fantastic day. When Heath was young he was obsessed with magazines. He would devour them, tear them apart, and make giant collages on his bedroom walls. As a young undiagnosed dyslexic, he had a hard time with reading comprehension. However the images and words in magazines kept Heath engaged for hours. It was this passion that led him to a career art directing some of the top magazines of the late 90's and early aughts. Then the internet killed the magazine star in 2008. With a quick pivot, a digital designer rose from the ashes. The solid design foundation heath had established back in his childhood bedroom was put to new use building tablet apps and websites.

Margo and Heath discuss:

• His creative path, how The New Maturity came to be, pros and cons of corporate clients versus self-employment
• How age has played a role in "the new maturity"
• Being multi-passionate and how he continues to advance his skillset
• Advice for creatives and artists who want to advance their own skill sets
• The importance of owning your time and how he manages his
• Why he considers his dyslexia a superpower
• Creating a live well lived
• And more

Heath shows you how kindness wins and takes you on a journey to discover simple ways to shift your point of view, improve your mood, make yourself a great meal, get better with age, and more. The New Maturity is a toolkit and a resource of ideas that excites him and he wants to share those resources with you. He takes most of the pictures, does the illustrations, concepts and writes the stories. Heath believes that together we can create a better world where people are kinder to each other.

Connect with Heath:

https://www.thenewmaturity.com

https://www.instagram.com/thenewmaturity

Download the free book: 10 Ways to Improve Your World

https://www.thenewmaturity.com/newsletter

https://www.thenewmaturity.com/magazine

Episode Highlights:

• Katie & Ilana's connection: how they met and how working together has given them the opportunity to figure out what they're good at, where their strengths lie, and leaning into the things they're passionate about
• Brand perception, teaching challenges, and meeting people where they're at
• Why you have to have touchpoints as a creative
• Their first licensing deals and how art licensing has changed the way they run their businesses
• Their licensing course
• How to get the most out of your creative process
• Being productive and efficient with your time
• Community, connection, and how they're utilizing community based resources to grow theirs

Katie and Ilana have made it their mission to help other artists pursue their creative passions and build a business around their work. They strive to be honest, share struggles and build a community where we can all lift each other up.

**This episode is sponsored by Relish Your Creativity. Visit https://www.relishyourcreativity.com/ to join the RYC Membership and access resources today**

Connect with Katie and Ilana:

https://goodtype.us/

https://www.instagram.com/goodtype/

https://www.tiktok.com/@lovegoodtype

https://www.facebook.com/lovegoodtype

https://www.pinterest.com/lovegoodtype/

Connect with Margo:

www.tantaustudio.com

https://www.instagram.com/mtantau/

www.instagram.com/windowsillchats

https://www.instagram.com/relishyourcreativity/

https://www.relishyourcreativity.com/

Margo is joined by English artist, Lucinda Kidney. Lucinda is from Surrey, UK but was born in Kenya which has shaped much of her life today. Her work is inspired by nature, the history of found objects and family heirlooms and she carries on a rich family legacy of exploration and discovery. Lucinda's art conveys a nostalgic yet modern charm giving the viewer a certain comfort, belonging and stillness.

Margo and Lucinda discuss:

• Her path from monotonous, digital work to drawing and painting by hand
• What her ideal creative work day looks like
• Imposter syndrome and perseverance
• Her childhood and life in Kenya and how it contributes to her artwork
• Family history: her great grandfather as a renowned botanist and great, great grandfather as a linen dealer
• How our experiences inform us
• Bringing awareness to causes that are important to her while still keeping her work positive and light

Lucinda says "I see my art as heirlooms, exuding a sense of mystery and belonging. Every piece tells a story which I hope reminds people of their own special memories and treasured keepsakes."

**This episode is sponsored by Windowsill Workshops. Sign up for the next workshop or learn more about Windowsill Workshops here**

Connect with Lucinda:

https://www.lucinda-kidney.com/

https://www.instagram.com/luckidney

Connect with Margo:

www.tantaustudio.com

https://www.instagram.com/mtantau/

www.instagram.com/windowsillchats

https://www.instagram.com/relishyourcreativity/

https://www.relishyourcreativity.com/