Windowsill Chats

Joining Margo in her windowsill is published illustrator, product designer, and artist, Jamie Kalvestran. Jamie brings her inspiring artwork to life making "creativity" a daily practice. A graduate of the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Jamie is known for her skillful use of color and pattern, authentic design, and integrity of materials. Her expansive portfolio includes 3 design patents and original products spanning many industries, equestrian accessories, textiles, quilting, home fashions, toys, sporting goods, children's products to name a few.

They discuss:

• Jamie's career path that took her from bank teller to creative artist
• Going by feel and following intuition versus look (and the many ways she was taught this skill)
• Three f's and an h
• Jamie's 'Gratitude up and gratitude out' ritual
• Chinese medicine
• What Jamie learned from the quilting industry
• How staying in your lane or bubble can allow growth
• Going from 3D design to 2D design
• Licensing and more!

Jamie lives and works at her scenic lakeside Engelwood Studios in Tomahawk, Wisconsin where she creates, runs an Airbnb, and shares her extraordinary works of art worldwide.

Connect with Jamie:

https://www.jamiekalvestrandesign.com/

https://www.patreon.com/jamie_kalvestran_creative_daily

https://www.instagram.com/jamiekalvestran/

This week Margo is joined once again by her neighborhood friend, Shauna Ahern to discuss finding joy in enough and the things that really matter. Shauna has won a James Beard award for one of her three cookbooks as well as awards for teaching. She currently runs her own teaching, coaching, and editing business on Vashon Island. The best of all her experiences is the joy of creating and being in community.

Margo and Shauna discuss:

• Why there is no room for joy if there is fear in the mind
• Swapping your to-do list for a joy list
• How Shauna practices joy and sticks to her joy list
• Starting with your why (before the what or the how)
• The many systems of society and how none are built for joy
• Inspiring people to find joy in enough
• That each of us are the heroes of our own lives
• Why trauma can't be released without movement

These days, Shauna is continuing the work she started with ENOUGH through her subscription newsletter, where she writes and talks with people about prioritizing joy to heal from trauma. Focusing on joy gives us enough energy and compassion to help others heal as well. Through joy, we can change our culture.

Connect with Shauna:

Shauna's Newsletter- Finding Joy in Enough

Dan Ahern's Fab Food Newsletter

Margo is joined by artist, designer, and creative coach, Melanie Stimmel. Melanie spent 20 years as a freelance street painter and muralist and has been awarded top prizes in some of Europe's most prestigious competitions, including the title of Maestra Madonnara (Master Street Painter) in both Italy and Germany. In 2012, Melanie and her husband founded We Talk Chalk, a 3D street painting company. Since its inception, they have created over 900 paintings throughout the world. Melanie more recently discovered Surface Design and just landed her first licensing deal.

Margo and Melanie discuss:

• Melanie's first post-college career as a Technical Director for South Park (yes, the show!)
• How she discovered and fell in love with street painting
• Finding representation
• Being intentional and having a sound business mind in the world of art
• How Melanie works with other artists to find balance, productivity, paid work, and more
• How to create whimsical imagery for any surface
• And more

Melanie can usually be found in her studio painting at her easel, illustrating on her iPad, or in illustrator creating a new pattern collection. She believes you can create what you love, spread positivity, and inspire beauty in the world.

Connect with Melanie:

https://melaniestimmell.com/

https://www.instagram.com/melaniesvl/

https://www.facebook.com/ArtistMelanieStimmellVanLatum/

This week Margo is joined by Michael Schultz. Michael is the co-owner and creative eye of Cursive New York, a retail shop based in New York City. Cursive is a tightly focused concept with the simple mission to Cultivate Joy. Michael along with his partner and husband Douglas Duncan have established Cursive as a strong and forward voice in the industry. Cursive offers gift and lifestyle products of all types and is known for its eclectic stationery selection. With former locations inside ABC Carpet & Home and Grand Central Terminal, Cursive has a large and diverse audience for their newest addition in Manhattan's West Village.

Margo and Michael discuss:

• Opening and running a store during the pandemic
• The cultural shift and human connection that Michael has witnessed over the last year
• Unique ways to make yourself visible and get your art noticed
• The many ways Michael cultivates joy
• Inevitable struggles that have made them stronger
• Their love and appreciation for supportive and creative mothers
• The perfection trap
• Lessons learned and the importance of living life to your own standards

In addition to Cursive, Michael and Douglas, operated a wholesale company, Motel Deluxe, for 16 years. Motel Deluxe was born as a maker of handmade goods including lighting, pillows and greeting cards; and evolved into a distributor of both European and domestic products. With over 30 years of experience in the design and gift industry, working in wholesale production and sales, as well as retail, Michael has vast knowledge of the industry as a whole.

Connect with Michael:

https://cursivenewyork.com/

https://www.instagram.com/cursivenewyork/

This week Margo is joined by artist, illustrator, and teacher, Sarah Hand. Sarah teaches at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond, art retreats, and online. Her work has been featured in Somerset Studio magazine, and she has had many solo exhibits of her art. She is the author and illustrator of the book, Art Makers - Papier Mache: A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating More Than a Dozen Adorable Projects!, from Quarto Creates.

Margo and Sarah discuss:

• How Sarah got into papier mache
• Why she finds paper mache to be a soothing art & craft
• The difference between the children and adults she teaches paper mache to
• Letting go of perfectionism
• Things that have kept her going throughout the pandemic
• Not being afraid to take time off or away
• And much more!

When she's not elbows deep in paste and paper, you can find Sarah painting, drawing, and dreaming up stories and images for picture books. Sarah lives and creates in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and their three-legged cat, Roger.

Connect with Sarah:

http://www.sarah-hand.com/

https://www.instagram.com/sarah.hand_art.and.wonder/

Margo is joined by Toronto based painter, illustrator, and designer Carolyn Gavin. A flower child of the 60's, Carolyn grew up in South Africa, left to travel and relocated to Canada where she currently lives with her family. She is a principal designer for Ecojot. A family run eco-friendly paper business. She also freelances and licenses her work for fabric, house-wares, packaging, bedding and books. Carolyn works in Gouache, water-colour, pen and ink and her style can be described as vibrant, playful and happy.

Margo and Carolyn discuss:

• Becoming introspective
• Why licensing doesn't solve all problems
• How Carolyn works through creative blocks
• Why 'play' is so important in life and work
• Painting bigger
• Some of Carolyn's favorite and standout project
• And more!

Carolyn finds inspiration in travel, flowers, exotic color and pattern, and makes sure her life is filled with beauty and creativity every day.

Connect with Carolyn:

https://www.carolyngavin.com/

https://www.instagram.com/carolynj/

Learn more about Carolyn's Upcoming Retreats:

https://www.carolyngavin.com/retreats

Margo is joined by Emily McDowell to discuss the less glamorous side of running a creative business. Emily is a writer, illustrator, speaker, and entrepreneur who is fiercely committed to NOT doing all of those things at the same time. In 2012, after a decade working in advertising, Emily founded the stationery and gift brand, Emily McDowell Studio. In January of 2021, the brand changed its name to Em & Friends, to reflect its expansion into partnerships with additional artists and writers. She currently serves as the brands creative director.

Emily and Margo chat about:

• Taking stock of what you want your life to look like
• Entrepreneurship and burnout
• Taking self-care into your own hands (because no one else is going to do it for you)
• How Emily began to separate her self-worth from her productivity, success, and business
• Why she rebranded and changed her business name
• Things she would do differently if she could go back in time
• Taking a holistic approach to 'work-life balance'
• Some tough lessons she's learned over the last 10 years as a creative entrepreneur

Emily's work has been featured by The New York Times, Good Morning America, BBC News, and NPR's All Things Considered, among many others, and in 2015, she was named one of Slate's 10 Designers Who Are Changing the World.

Connect with Emily:

www.emandfriends.com

https://www.instagram.com/emandfriends/

Margo is joined by Katherine Quinn of New Zealand. For as long as she can remember she has loved drawing and making things and was lucky to grow up with parents who said she could do whatever she wanted as long as she cleaned up when I was finished. Through years of working a full time job outside of being an artist she always found time and energy to also focus on her art daily and put one foot in front of the other.

Margo and Katherine chat about:

• Katherine's drive to always keep going and progressing
• How taking classes opened doors and allowed her to experiment with her art
• Finding success and an agent
• Her upcoming projects
• Why you should always be experimenting as well as putting yourself out there
• Connecting with other artists
• And more

​Katherine is represented by Jehane Ltd and lives in Pakipaki on a little hill in the New Zealand countryside.

Connect with Katherine:

https://www.katherinequinn.nz/

https://www.instagram.com/katherinequinnillustration/

https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/katherine_quinn

Margo is Joined by jewelry designer Jill Schwartz of Elements Jill Schwartz. Jill's career as a jewelry designer began when she was just 3 years old. Forbidden to have pierced ears, she craftily resorted to gluing beads to her ears. While her design education from Cornell and Pratt gave her discipline, it was her travels through Europe in her early 20s that ignited her passion. Her love for shopping led her to bead stores, and her talent for putting them together in unique ways found her first admirers as she travelled on trains. It was then she realized that she could be making money to buy her an extra day in Europe. That extra day turned into a year, and a business.

Margo & Jill discuss:

• How having pierced ears changed her personality
• Her european travels and getting her start
• Licensing
• Creating unique, unmistakably Jill jewelry
• How her career and designs have evolved
• Silver linings in life
• What she sees for her business in the future
• And more!

Although her jewelry is no longer sold on the beaches of Mykonos or hawked at cafés in Amsterdam, Elements can now be found in boutiques and major chains around the world. And while her mixture of unusual vintage and modern materials has evolved over the years, each piece is still unmistakably, inimitably "Jill."

Connect with Jill:

https://elementsjillschwartz.com

https://www.instagram.com/elementsjillschwartz/

Faire Wholesale

Margo is once again joined by Lisa Congdon to kick off a series of interviews to discuss different topics surrounding creativity, business, and life. In this episode they discuss how to get yourself in front of the right people as a creative and what that even means!

Margo and Lisa chat about:

• Exercises Lisa gives to her creative entrepreneur students
• The difference between dreams and goals
• Having intermediary goals
• Lisa's belief in two parts of self-promotion and why you need to do both
• Several approaches to go about finding contacts
• Authentic engagement and using social media strategically
• The difference between audience and customers (and why they're both important!)
• Self-advocacy and community
• And more!

If you have a topic of conversation you'd like to hear Lisa and Margo discuss, be sure to send a DM on Instagram to @windowsillchats or @tantaustudio!

Connect with Lisa Condon:

https://lisacongdon.com/

https://www.instagram.com/

https://www.pinterest.com/lisacongdon/