In Spring 2007, we launched the Arts & Healing Podcast in order to share the actual voices of artists and organizations who are doing inspiring work using art to heal themselves, their community, and/or the planet. Our podcast is published several times a year and is produced by Britt Bravo.
You can subscribe to the Arts & Healing Podcast via iTunes by clicking here. Otherwise, please use the "click here to listen online" links below. If you would like to be notified about new podcasts, please sign up for our e-newsletter.
If you enjoy our podcast, please give us a rating on iTunes. If you have suggestions for people to interview, please send those to ahn@artheals.org.
Ricky Lee Gordon is a South African muralist and community artist who goes by the name of Freddy Sam. He is the founder of Write on Africa, a community art and inspiration project that creates murals and workshops in poor communities to uplift and inspire social change. He also founded and directs A Word of Art, which includes an art space, art projects, and an international art residency program dedicated to celebrating new art and emerging young artists. He also founded the Woodstock Industrial Center, a derelict industrial building in the heart of Woodstock, a suburb of Cape Town, where together with a willing landlord he has now brought in over 75 creative tenants. The building now has a coffee shop, skate park and bookshop, and hosts talks, exhibitions, movie nights, dinners and drawing evenings.
As Ricky Lee says, "I believe color creates energy, and I believe energy creates inspiration, and then I think inspiration creates the change. If you can create color, which murals do, then you're making a massive impact." The Arts & Healing Network is so impressed by Ricky Lee's incredible creative vision and use of art to revitalize and transform his neighborhood that we awarded him one of the 2011 AHN Awards.
Quinn McDonald is the author of Raw Art Journaling: Making Meaning, Making Art. Quinn is also a business and creativity coach, who helps people find or develop their careers, and incorporate creativity in their lives. She believes that communicating is an art form. She writes the "Business of Art" column for Somerset Studio magazine and "The Raw Edge" coaching column for Art Quilting Studio. She's also a regular contributor to Create Mixed Media. In this podcast she shares why she believes writing and journaling are healing practices as well as exercises to engage your creative self.
Susannah Conway is a photographer, writer and the creator of the Unravelling e-courses. A Polaroid addict and very proud aunt, she is currently editing her first book, This I Know: Notes on Unravelling the Heart, which will be available in spring of 2012. You can read more about Susannah and her shenanigans on her blog at www.susannahconway.com and connect with her on Twitter at @photobird.
March 2011 Liz Lamoreux believes in the importance of unearthing our stories so that we can see where we stand on our paths and where we want to go. She is currently sharing this inward journey through her new book, Inner Excavations: Explore Your Self Through Photography, Poetry and Mixed Media, the Be Present Retreats, and the stories she shares in her Etsy store, The Little Room. She lives in a little house in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, daughter Ellie Jane, and a golden retriever named Millie. In this interview by Britt Bravo, she speaks about the healing possibilities in art making, writing, group process, and the importance of being present.
Jamie Ridler is a professional creative self-development coach who is passionate about authentic living and creativity. She is a certified coach who has a certificate in the Foundations of Expressive Arts Therapy from ISIS in Toronto. She also completed training in Body-Centered Coaching with Marlena Field, has a Blue Belt in Nia, and has an M.A. in Drama from the Drama Centre of the University of Toronto. You can found out more about Jamie at jamieridlerstudios.ca, and be sure to check out her fabulous podcast, Creative Living with Jamie. You can follow her on Twitter at @starshyne.
Since 2001, greenmuseum.org has been helping people create, present and appreciate art that heals our relationship with the natural world. This online museum offers a wealth of information about artists who are doing exciting and innovative work that directly speaks to the environmental issues of our time. In this podcast, Arts & Healing Network Director Mary Daniel Hobson interviews Sam & Anne, core team members of greenmuseum.org about the environmental art movement, giftivism, generosity and advice for artists wanting to engage the natural world. Recently, greenmuseum.org has begun pioneering a new approach to sustainability as an organization by adopting a gift economy model, and so their entire organization is now run by volunteers.
Leah Piken Kolidas is a mixed-media artist and creativity guide living near Boston, MA with her husband and their four fuzzy cats. She loves sipping hot chocolate, wearing silly socks, and everything turquoise. Leah blogs about creativity and art at CreativeEveryDay.com, where she also leads Art Every Day Month (every November) and the year-long Creative Every Day Challenge. You can view more of her art at BlueTreeArtGallery.com and follow her on Twitter at leah_art.
For over ten years, artists Richard Lang and Judith Selby Lang have been collecting trash together on Kehoe Beach in Point Reyes National Seashore in Northern California, and turning it into playful and powerful works of art that raise awareness about ocean pollution. In June 2010, the Arts and Healing Network's Director, Mary Daniel Hobson, interviewed them at their home and studio in Forest Knolls, CA about art, passion, collaboration, collecting, the importance of place, and the tragedy of plastic polluting our oceans. Judith and Richard were also one of the 2009 recipients of the AHN Award. You can learn more about their work at BeachPlastic.com and read anecdotes about their plastic collecting and artmaking on their blog, Plastic Forever.
Since 2001, greenmuseum.org has been helping people create, present and appreciate art that heals our relationship with the natural world. This online museum offers a wealth of information about artists who are doing exciting and innovative work that directly speaks to the environmental issues of our time. In this podcast, Arts & Healing Network Director Mary Daniel Hobson interviews Sam & Anne, core team members of greenmuseum.org about the environmental art movement, giftivism, generosity and advice for artists wanting to engage the natural world. Recently, greenmuseum.org has begun pioneering a new approach to sustainability as an organization by adopting a gift economy model, and so their entire organization is now run by volunteers.
