AART

Veteran award-winning podcaster Chris Stafford talks to women artists from across mediums and around the world to get to know the women behind their art. Conversations are intimate and free flowing as we learn about the journey these talented women have taken to become successful artists.

Instagram: @theaartpodcast
Email: hollowellstudios@gmail.com

Testimonials:

“Thank you to host Chris Stafford for making me feel relaxed and bringing out all of my thoughts and feelings about life/art! After our interview I felt euphoric and accomplished and so appreciative for that. She is a wonderful interviewer.”
Michele Byrne

"Chris is a natural host and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with her. She’s authentic, personable, and has a clear passion for supporting women. Her conversations with female artists about their artistic journeys are in depth and thoughtful. She’s getting into territory others often ignore and uncovering some gems in the process.”
Julie Davis

“Chris is a highly skilled interviewer who puts her guests at ease. She draws out the juicy bits of lived experience and contextualizes this against the grander arc of history.”
Kathryn Andrews

“I was honored to be interviewed by Chris. She has a unique perspective in the art world, and it's refreshing to see a podcast with such a wide variety of artists from all different backgrounds and disciplines.”
Erin Spencer

“Art making can be a solitary pursuit, the AART podcast gives a window into the life and vocation of the artist that informs and inspires while it entertains.”
Suzie Baker

“ The interview was a very enjoyable experience. Chris is a generous interviewer who draws out her subjects and is completely engaged in the conversation. She's a good listener and asks thoughtful questions.”
Ingrid Christensen

“As a female artist, being featured on the AART podcast has been a truly transformative experience. It's incredibly empowering to see a podcast dedicated to representing women artists and giving us a platform to share our stories and art with the world.”
Lindsay Mullen

“AART is an important and unique platform for the stories of women artists and their work. From the art making processes to the personal materials that makes the creative process. The podcast’s greatest asset is Chris’ ability to getting the artists to “open up’, by her preparation process, and the questions she asks.”
Maria Martinez-Cañas

A Hollowell Studios Production
© Copyright: Chris Stafford | Hollowell Studios
All Rights Reserved

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Episodes

S1E15: Carol Woodin

This week's guest is Botanical Artist, teacher and exhibition organizer, Carol Woodin. Carol was born in 1956 in Salamanca, Upstate New York inside the Allegany Indian Reservation, one of two governed by the Seneca Nation of New York. Her father James was a construction worker and her mother June, a library clerk who also enjoyed oil painting and playing the piano. Carol is the middle of six children with four brothers and one sister. Her childhood was one of making her own fun outdoors and with...

Jul 08, 2023•50 min•Season 1Ep. 15

S1E14: Carmen Mardonez

Textile artist Carmen Mardonez was born in Santiago, Chile in 1988. She is the oldest of nine children with seven sisters and one brother. Her father Joaquim is an engineer and her mother, also Carmen, was a psychologist until raising her family took over. As a child, Carmen was into crafts and soon learned to sew, knit, and embroider. She studied History and Arts at the University of Chile, and earned a master’s degree in Community Psychology, also at the University of Chile. Whilst in school, ...

Jul 01, 2023•57 min•Season 1Ep. 14

S1E13: Rebecca Youssef

This week mixed media artist Rebecca Youssef. Rebecca was born in Lebanon, PA in 1973. The daughter of teachers Chic & Linda Hess, she was the middle of three children; she has an older brother and younger sister. Art runs in her family in different mediums; her sister and a cousin are graphic artists, an aunt was a fashion designer, and her paternal grandmother was a hobby painter. At the age of 9, her family moved to Hawaii where Rebecca began to appreciate the connection between nature an...

Jun 24, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 13

S1E12: Kristin Calabrese

This week the painter and curator Kristin Calabrese. Kristin was born in 1968 in Mountain View, a suburb of San Jose, CA and spent her childhood moving back and forth between Massachusetts and Arizona. Her father, Bill, was an engineer and her mother, Karen, a housewife. Kristin has a younger brother Greg and they grew up in the 70s in a middle-class white American suburb with an abundance of children in the neighborhood. However, Kristin’s childhood was not easy; her father was an authoritarian...

Jun 17, 2023•1 hr 12 min•Season 1Ep. 12

S1E11: Erin Spencer

Finding poetry in the landscape is how Erin Spencer portrays her work as she connects with nature. Born in Northern California, the second of seven children, Erin moved to Maryland as a toddler. She showed an early interest in writing, dancing and archeology and would later study archeology and history at Brigham Young University in Utah. Her father, Boyd, was a chemistry professor, as well as a pianist and composer, and her mother Janine, a teacher who encouraged all her children to be creative...

Jun 10, 2023•56 min•Season 1Ep. 11

S1E10: Maria Martinez-Canas

Cuban-born photo-based artist, María Martínez-Cañas, first came to the US at the tender age of three months with her parents, and four years later, in 1964, they relocated to Puerto Rico. Maria recalls her earliest fascination for photography as an eight year old when she started working with a Polaroid Swinger camera that her parents gave her. Her mother also gave her an old Twin-Lens Rolleiflex that she brought out of Cuba, which Maria still has today. It wasn’t long before she asked her paren...

Jun 03, 2023•1 hr 15 min•Season 1Ep. 10

S1E9: Emma Gray

British born Emma Gray is a contemporary artist, art advisor, curator and gallerist based in Santa Monica, California. She is passionate about fostering and mentoring female artists by building private collections. A former editor of ArtReview who had studied at University College London as well as portraiture at Heatherley Art School, London, Emma has been what she describes as a secret painter for the past decade. A student of Reiki, and of breath work having studied healing and spirituality i...

May 27, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 9

S1E8: Sarah Sedwick

Sarah Sedwick was born and raised in Cleveland, OH where her father was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra. She graduated with a BFA from The Maryland Institute, College of Art. After school, Sarah worked as a waitress and watered plants to make ends meet and took a break from art. In 2007, she moved to Oregon where she has her studio and runs an Online Art Mentorship Program and now divides her time with traveling to teach workshops on still life painting in oils. Sarah describes her style of ...

May 20, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 8

S1E7: Claudia Concha

Claudia Concha describes herself as a Gestural Expressionist, painting with both hands at the same time, sometimes just with sticks and mostly with her eyes closed. Claudia was born and raised in Bogatá, Colombia and moved with her husband to Santa Monica in 2003 where they live with their two children. Her studio is every artists dream in an aircraft hanger at Santa Monica airport where she holds exhibitions. While she was not artistic as a child, she was always creative. Subsequently her colle...

May 13, 2023•55 min•Season 1Ep. 7

S1E6: Suzie Baker

This week's guest is professional artist and plein air teacher Suzie Baker from Shenandoah, Texas. Growing up Suzie was the child who was always drawing, although she began her career in advertising. While Suzie’s adopted parents were not artistic, her birth father and grandmother were. In 2008, when she was in the Middle East with her husband she started painting full-time, eventually establishing herself as a representational artist. Nowadays Suzie divides her time between painting and teachin...

May 06, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 6

S1E5: Jess Firshein

Jess Firshein is an amateur artist from Rockville, Maryland. A parent of two young children, Jess is an executive with the global tech consulting company Accenture. While her artwork is often a meditative exercise, she does not have the luxury of a studio in which to paint. Instead she uses a corner of the kitchen counter and finds a few moments here and there to paint or sketch. Her preferred mediums are acrylic, charcoal, and gouache, in which she captures beautiful still life impressions and ...

Apr 29, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 5

S1E4: Julie Davis

My guest this week is a landscape artist who has a special relationship with trees. Some call her the tree lady. A Texan through and through, Austin-based Julie Davis came to art following a law degree and three children. She had an early interest in 35mm photography but it wasn’t until 2008 when she began taking art classes and meeting artists with whom she developed friendships, that she began to develop her own artistic pathway. Julie is now a full-time artist, attending workshops, showing he...

Apr 22, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 4

S1E3: Lindsay Mullen

English artist Lindsay Mullen spends her time either in her studio on the island of Menorca or in Washington, DC. A lifelong artist, Lindsay was born in Hertfordshire and graduated with a B.A. from West Surrey College of Art and Design. An opportunity in her teens led her to the Spanish island of Menorca where she worked diligently and in relative isolation to establish herself as an artist. Painting on hemp sacks and surviving on a diet of chicken wings were just some of the sacrifices she made...

Apr 15, 2023•39 min•Season 1Ep. 3

S1E2: Debbie Mueller

Debbie Mueller is a self professed late-bloomer who is making art her second career. When she is not painting, Debbie is an OB GYN physician and surgeon who considers herself an accidental artist. As a New Englander, Debbie went to medical school in Connecticut and later settled in New Hampshire with her husband and children. Her mother was a hobby painter and she grew up with musical influences, which extended to an interest in dancing. But aside from regular creative outlets as a child she had...

Apr 08, 2023•42 min•Season 1Ep. 2

S1E1: Alexa King

Alexa King has been a lifelong artist whose passion and talent combined to achieve success from the start of her career. Since early childhood, she became absorbed in drawing, combining her love of horses with a fascination for art. She has always owned horses and ponies so her intimate knowledge of anatomy and understanding of a horse’s gait gave her a unique perspective from which to create her sculptures. Her mother’s artistic eye and her father’s skills in construction provided the spring bo...

Apr 01, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Season 1Ep. 1

Introducing The AART Podcast

Hello I’m your host Chris Stafford and welcome to The AART Podcast where we will be sharing the stories of female artists from across the country and around the world. I’ve been a podcaster since 2009 in the world of women’s sport. Now, as an amateur artist I want to focus on the talented women whose art has made them stand out. We will dig deep into their background, how they got started, their inspiration and aspirations, mediums and muses. The purpose is to shine the spotlight on women who ha...

Mar 29, 2023•3 min

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