Process Driven

The recent death of Rush drummer Neil Peart hit me like a ton of bricks. While I consider myself a visual artist, I can’t think of a single painter, or sculptor, or photographer whose death has or even would affect me as dramatically as Neil’s has and I can’t really reconcile why that is. It’s just not a simple answer. I’ve been a Rush fan since 1982, but as I’ve said before, it wasn’t the music that grabbed me initially, but the lyrics. Yes, the musicianship was superb, but the themes and the language that Neil used to explore those themes was unlike anything I’d ever heard or more to the point read before. There was also the timing of it all – that time in my life when who I was or was becoming had not yet solidified and I was still malleable and curious and full of wonder. All of this has gotten me thinking about the ways and degrees that others inspire us throughout our lives and I thought it might be interesting to spend some time unpacking it a little with Jon Wilkening, who always helps take the conver

I have a question for you, and the answer depends at least partly on the primary perspective you take – either as an audience member or a maker — when you think about how to answer. It centers around effort in art-making and to what degree the visibility of that effort affects how we connect to the work, both as the artist and as a viewer. Again, the answer is entirely subjective, but it’s something I’d like to continue to explore in multiple conversations over time. But before we get to that, we’re talking about culling our creativity — letting go of some of the distractions both literal and metaphorical and keeping — and really leaning into — the things that continue to challenge and inspire us to make.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSIf you enjoy listening to In Between, please consider leaving a review or a rating on iTunes to help others discover the show.CONNECTYou can find Jon on Instagram @jonwilkening or on his website at jonwilkening.comIf you have an interesting story to sha

In the last Iteration I talked about the importance of giving yourself little victories in the work that you do — tiny wins that you can finish in a day or two that can often re-energize you or jumpstart your creative momentum on larger, more time-consuming projects. In this episode, I want to share a couple of examples of little wins that I’ve given myself in the last week. You may have noticed — or you may not have, and that’s okay too — but I’ve given the cover art for each of my three current podcasts a slight redesign. They still have a similar feel to the previous versions, but they all work together a bit better and feel more on point with my overall design aesthetic if that makes sense. I’ve also made some tweaks to my website — nothing really major, but I’ve tweaked the fonts and the color palette so there’s a bit more visual cohesion between the design of the show covers and the site.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSIf you enjoy listening to Iterations, please consider leavin

We’re getting close to the end of the year and if you’re like me, you’re already looking ahead to 2020 – maybe you have been for a while – trying to come up with some great new project or maybe multiple projects that will make the next year better than this one.I love the idea of big projects and in fact I’ve already started laying the groundwork for what’s looking more and more like the biggest solo project of my career – but while I’m more excited about it than I’ve been about anything in a while, I’m also terrified that I won’t be able to pull it off or that it will end up being less than what I think it could or should be. Big projects are great when you finish them but, man, they can be a slog. And typically the bigger the project, the more we hope or expect from it in terms of response once we actually do finish it.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSIf you enjoy listening to Iterations, please consider leaving a review or a rating where you listen to podcasts to help others discove

“So much goes into it and I’m finding even for myself the stuff I’m learning or the stuff that’s changing who I am isn’t necessarily reflected visually in the final image.”One of the first photographers I reached out to when I started recording conversations and podcasting was John Keatley. I was introduced to his work by my friend Kevin and what struck me straight away was how seamlessly John’s commercial work fit with his conceptual photographs. Though each body of work is distinct, John’s eye for detail and his love of ambiguity runs through all of it. While we don’t talk often, when we do I find that the conversations stick with me and often they inform the way I think about my own work as well as the work of others. He’s recently entered the world of fine art photography with a project called UNIFORM that centers around his personal exploration of identity and, as he puts it, “a deep need to be seen.” In addition to a series of limited edition prints, UNIFORM is available as a book, John’s first in fact,

My dad and I never really did a lot together when I was growing up. I mean, yes I spent summers with him and my stepmother Linda in Arizona but it was always with a group of people – and don’t get me wrong, it was a terrific way to spend the summer. But rarely was it ever just the two of us.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSIf you enjoy listening to Iterations, please consider leaving a review or a rating on iTunes to help others discover the show.LINKSCharmolipi: joy making sorrow – Full FIlmAn Intimate Look Inside The Art Studio Of Scott AvettColor Grading Netflix’s Mindhunter Music in this episode: The Wrong Way (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

“Because I had really poor depth perception, everything in my world flattened into two dimensions. I struggle to incorporate depth into my work because that’s not how I engage with what I see.” — Jo MackbyIf you listen to any of my other shows—particularly Iteration 52—you know that earlier this year I had surgery on my eyes to correct a condition called Strabismus. About a month ago, I got an email from a listener and a photographer who recently had a similar surgery although I’ve since learned that her condition was much more dramatic than mine. I’ve never met anyone else with the same condition, let alone had the surgery to correct it. I responded to her email and asked if she would be willing to have a conversation about how her experience compared to my own, specifically around how it shaped her approach to art, both as a viewer and as a maker.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSIf you enjoy listening to In Between, please consider leaving a review or a rating on iTunes to help other

In 2020, I’m launching a brand new show that will be my most ambitious project to date. A Day’s Work is a podcast about how we spend our time when we’re not with family and friends. Inspired by the landmark work of Studs Terkel, I’m having conversations with everyday people and going beyond the small talk to really explore the deceptively simple question: “So, what do you do?”Subscribe to A Day’s Work to get the first episode the day it drops. Or you can subscribe to Jeffery Saddoris: Everything to get everything I produce, including Process Driven, In Between, Iterations, and of course A Day’s Work when it launches next year.I hope you’ll join me for the next chapter in my podcasting journey. I can’t wait to share this with you.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS CONNECTI’d love to hear from you. Email me at talkback@jefferysaddoris.com or connect with me on Instagram or Twitter @jefferysaddoris. Music in this episode: Algorithms (Chad Crouch) / CC BY-SA 3.0

The tormented artist. You’ve heard the term — hell you may even be one yourself. I know I was. For years, I was absolutely convinced that if my art wasn’t the albatross around my neck, that I was somehow unworthy of the title. Why is that? Why do so many of us feel at one point or another that the suffering is necessary — that it’s somehow inexorably linked to the intrinsic value of what we make? That’s exactly what we’re talking about in this episode and it all begins with a Nine Inch Nails concert in 1990.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSIf you enjoy listening to In Between, please consider leaving a review or a rating on iTunes to help others discover the show. CONNECTI’d love to hear from you. Email me at talkback@jefferysaddoris.com or connect with me on Instagram or Twitter @jefferysaddoris.You can find Jon on Instagram @jonwilkening or on his website at jonwilkening.com. Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

I got an email a couple weeks ago from a listener asking if I had any advice for finding a mentor. Now, while I have been incredibly fortunate to have had – and frankly still have – some amazing people in my life who have in one way or another taken on the role of a mentor, I can’t say that it’s ever been intentional in the sense that I want to connect with this person or that person so they can be my mentor. In my experience, mentors find their way into my life at just the right moment – and it may only be for a moment. Here’s a piece of a conversation with my friend and not so occasional mentor, Jon Wilkening.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSS Music in this episode: Brain Power (Mela) / CC BY-SA 4.0

Earlier this week, Adrianne and I watched the first episode of the new season of Abstract on the Netflix . For those of you who haven’t seen it, Abstract is a fantastic show about art and design. It follows roughly the same format as something like Chef’s Table — which is also an excellent show — where each episode profiles a specific artist or designer. Last season included Tinker Hatfield, Paula Scher, and Platon among others and this season starts out with someone who I’ve never heard of by name though I have seen his work. Olafur Eliasson is an artist and architect whose large scale works are focused and really dependent on the user or viewer’s experience of them. Many of his works center around light — specifically, the effects and manipulation of light. For example, one of his earlier pieces is called “Beauty” and it was his attempt to create a rainbow by lighting a gentle waterfall of very fine mist. The effect was such that no two people experience exactly the same rainbow, since the color and intensi

“We are all unique in the way we see things — the worst thing is to copy. The best thing is to be who you are.”As I sat down to write the intro to this episode of Process Driven, I struggled a little trying to come up with words that would convey some of my thoughts and feelings about the work of photographer Olga Karlovac. I then realized that the words had already been written by Koci Hernandez in his beautiful foreword for Olga’s latest book, the disarray.“You’re about to embark on upon a fantastic journey. It’s one of boundless time and space and it’s compressed with the pages of the book you now hold. I only wish I could experience again, for the first time, the disarray — visual poetry as a master work.Let me assure you, the sign posts on your journey will be stunningly clear and mysteriously opaque, filled with blurry lines, half made worlds and the formless. Olga wouldn’t have it any other way. Don’t be fooled by what you think you see, because dancing within these pages is an unbound energy — an ener

Adrianne and I were in the car the other day — I don’t remember where we were going but I do remember that we were listening to Classic Vinyl on XM because we both really dig Meg Griffin. The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys by Traffic came on and whatever conversation we were in the middle of stopped and we just listened to this incredible song written by Steve Winwood and Jim Capaldi. If you’ve never heard the track, it’s basically a twelve minute jam that ebbs and flows in dynamics and complexity with a 24-year-old Winwood singing over the top of it. The musicianship is fantastic and listening to it got us talking about creative complexity and how looking at or listening to something that is artistically or technically just out of our reach can be wildly inspiring, both as a fan and as a maker.Subscribe: iTunes | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSIf you enjoy listening to Iterations, please consider leaving a review or a rating on iTunes to help others discover the show. LINKSThe Low Spark of High Heeled Boys (You

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about art – specifically, what really counts as art? Is the art the thing that we make? Or, is in the doing? The making itself. Or is art in the reaction to work — the results of the doing? Or, is it something else entirely that is personal to each of us? I really don’t know. Historically, I have been very hesitant to call the things I make art, regardless of the discipline or media. It just feels like that’s a label that someone else should choose to apply or not to the work that I do. I’m okay referring to myself as artistic, because in my head that’s a value that somehow that feels tied more to the process — to the making — and not the end product. Regardless, I called Jon up to see if he’d be up for wrestling with it for an hour or so.Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSIf you enjoy listening to In Between, please consider leaving a review or a rating on iTunes to help others discover the show. CONNECTI’d love to hear from you. Email me at talkback@jef

A couple weeks ago, I had a terrific conversation with an artist whose work I’ve admired for years. And while it was a treat to get to talk to someone who has inspired me for decades, the work was only a small part of the conversation. Instead, we just talked. We connected straight away and what was meant to be a quick phone call just to say hello ahead of a potential episode of Process Driven ended up being a two hour conversation about everything from family and our respective childhoods to love, loss, Studio 54, JK Rowling, and even musings on the nature of art. On more than one occasion, and typically after a particularly interesting exchange, one of us would comment, “man, we should be recording this.” But instead we chose to just keep enjoying the experience — a one-off conversation between nascent friends. Subscribe: iTunes | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSS LINKSThis month, a brand new record from John Coltrane comes out. Blue World was recorded with Coltrane’s Classic Quartet in 1964 between Crescent an

“I used to think art with a capital ‘A’ had to be about these big ideas. I started finding work that was really playful and finding that quality in myself.”Have you ever sat down to watch something on Netflix only to spend whatever time you set aside just trying to find something to watch? It’s amazing how often I find myself in that exact situation. A few months ago, Adrianne and I were scanning though the myriad of options, and a promo for a show called Blown Away popped up. If you haven’t seen it, Blown Away is a competition show that centers around glass blowing. Ten glass artists competed for a $60,000 prize package which includes a residency at the Corning Museum of Glass. We didn’t really know what to expect but both of us were hooked from the first episode and binged the entire season in less than a week. The show is shot in a way that allows the glass to be the star and while each of the artists on the show were interesting in their own ways, there were two who really stood out for us both in skill a

A week or so ago, I was talking to my friend Gareth about how frustrated I was in not feeling like I had a clear and consistent creative voice. It’s not uncommon for me to feel overwhelmed and frankly paralyzed by the number of options I have and unable to get out of my own way to take action on any of them. “You need to talk to Vari,” he said. “Like today. Don’t put it off. I’m going to tell her you’ll be calling.” Gareth’s partner Vari Longmuir wears quite a few hats – one of them being that of creative coach, helping people just like me — and maybe you — to fail forward and to overcome the obstacles we create and get back into that flow state of making. I reached out to her and asked her if she’d be willing to talk about some of this with me and I’m so glad she said yes. It’s a terrific conversation about figuring out what living a creative life looks like to you and unapologetically striving for balance, happiness and success doing what you love.Subscribe: iTunes | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSI’d love to

Are you happy? If not, why do you think that is? For a lot of people who make things and share what they make online — myself included — we have a tendency to abdicate our happiness to the fickle whim of the mob. Not enough likes, or hearts, or dollars can send us careening into a creative tailspin, questioning what we do and even who we are. If this sounds familiar to you, hopefully this conversation with Jon Wilkening will help you find your way back to making first and foremost for the joy of it, and not simply for the return.Subscribe: iTunes | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSI’d love to hear from you. Email me at talkback@jefferysaddoris.com or connect with me on Instagram @jefferysaddoris.You can catch up with Jon on Instagram @jonwilkening or on his website at jonwilkening.com.Music in this episode: Take Me Higher (Jahzzar) / CC BY-SA 4.0

Last week, I asked a deceptively simple question on Instagram: What are some of your fears around creativity? Dozens of responses came in ranging from fear of running out of creative gas, to being judged by an audience to not being seen or heard at all. Your responses reinforced how much I miss interacting with an engaged community around making art.I’ve been noodling around what to do about it for quite a while and I think I have something that may be interesting, but it doesn’t work without you. In a nutshell, I want to hear from you. I want to hear what interests you, what inspires you, even what you’re struggling with. Chances are, whatever you’re going through — the good or the bad — someone else out there is going through something similar and by sharing these things with one another, maybe we can help each other to become better artists and maybe even better people. By sharing something with me on this new endeavor you’re giving me permission to share it with everyone — and maybe even to reach out to y

Not too long ago, I was having a conversation with David duChemin about subject as it relates to photography — specifically, some of the differences between photographs of a subject, versus photographs about a subject. It can feel like a tricky distinction but moving from one to the other can really elevate the work that you produce.Subscribe: iTunes | Pocket Casts | Overcast | RSSLINKSDaniel Rozin is an artist and professor at NYU who builds incredible mechanical mirrors out of materials like metal, wood, and even trash that respond to the viewer’s movements.This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission to the moon and to mark the occasion, NASA has completely restored mission control at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas to exactly how it was in 1969, down to period coffee mugs, ashtrays, rotary phones, and carpet to recreate it as accurately as possible. Johnson Space Center director Mark Geyer said “I’m thrilled this facility will be open for the public to view. It is my hope that it w