Painting the Unspeakable: Art, War, and Remembering with Claudia Bernardi I sit down with artist Claudia Bernardi to talk about her new book, Art Against Brutality: Community and Collaborative Art Projects with Survivors of Political Violence. Claudia lived through the military dictatorship in Argentina. In 1992, she was asked to work as a cartographer with the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team on the exhumation of the site of the El Mozoté massacre in El Salvador — an experience that led ...
Jun 25
1 hr 6 min
Holly Ringland on Overcoming Creative Fear and Finding Joy as a Writer In this episode, I sit down with Holly Ringland — bestselling author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart and The Seven Skins of Esther Wilding — to talk about her first work of nonfiction, The House That Joy Built. If you've ever struggled with creative block, self-doubt, or the fear that you're just not good enough to create, this conversation is for you. Holly spent 20 years disconnected from her writing — not because the ...
Jun 18
1 hr 5 min
What was it like to grow up American in 1968 Bangkok, living in the shadow of the Vietnam War? In this episode, I sit down with author Daria Sommers to discuss her debut historical fiction novel, Sawadika American Girl — a coming-of-age story set against one of history's most turbulent eras. Daria shares the little known story of the vast American community in Thailand during the Vietnam War, the experience of being a "third culture kid," and how storytelling and art can heal even the d...
Jun 11
52 min
What if you could paint your deepest emotions — without anyone judging whether the painting is beautiful, and without needing to analyze what it means? In this episode, I talk with Bahar Amanzadeh, an intuitive painting guide whose trauma-informed workshops create a safe, somatic space for emotional healing through art. Bahar explains how intuitive painting differs from art therapy, why healing happens in the body before it happens in the mind, and how community and creativity can help us fin...
Jun 4
40 min
Suga' with Bundle of Sticks: Black Queer Identity, Gender Freedom, and Healing Through Art I'm so glad to welcome back Dazié Grego-Sykes and Derrick Miller-Handley of Bundle of Sticks Art Collective for a conversation about their upcoming performance ritual, Suga'. This art collective has spent over 25 years exploring the intersection of Blackness and queerness through performance art, visual art, and community building — and their newest work may be their most personal yet. Suga' is an immer...
May 7
1 hr 3 min
Do You Want to Die Not Knowing? One Artist's Leap Into Art as Service and Healing Have you ever had someone ask you a question that completely changed the direction of your life? In this episode, I talk with commission artist Shawn B. Standley, whose wife asked him exactly that kind of question — and it launched him into a new chapter as a full-time artist dedicated to healing and community service. Shawn's journey is anything but a straight line — from aerospace engineering student to carpen...
Apr 30
41 min
Water Mamas: Climate Fiction That Challenges Everything | Mona Shomali on Geoengineering, Indigenous Rights, and the Amazon In this episode, I sit down with author and visual artist Mona Shomali to discuss her debut novel Water Mamas — a gripping work of climate fiction that explores the collision of indigenous human rights, environmental justice, and geoengineering in a near-future Amazon on the brink of collapse. Mona's background is as rich as her storytelling. Before writing Water Mamas, ...
Apr 23
43 min
What happens when artists are brought in at the beginning of public space design — not as an afterthought, but as essential problem solvers? In this episode I sit down with Nikko Kimzin, founder of Kimzin Creative, an arts and equity consulting firm based in Petaluma, California. Nikko shares how his team uses the power of art to unlock community imagination, inform city planning, and build public spaces that truly reflect the people who use them. Plus, Nikko makes a passionate case for radic...
Apr 16
54 min
I sit down with Evan Raskin, National Campaign Manager for Earthday.org, to explore the powerful relationship between art and environmental activism. Evan shares how artists have been central to the Earth Day movement since its very first gathering in 1970 and how creative expression continues to drive climate action today. Evan shares his own life as an artist and how art helps him find harmony in a world full of dissonance. We discuss why collective action — starting at the local level — ma...
Apr 2
40 min
In this episode, I sit down with Clarissa Castillo-Ramsey, abstract painter, life coach, and host of the Painting Your Path podcast — for a rich conversation about how she reclaimed her own creative identity and how she coaches her clients, usually women in midlife, to do the same. We talk about overcoming self-doubt, and building resilience in the face of unexpected challenges. Clarissa shares her winding journey from retail management to graphic design to finding her true calling as a...
Mar 19
41 min
Load more