Art Pays Me

Visual Artist, Kristina Elise Søbstad and I talk about leaning into what feels natural for you as an artist and balancing that with what sells. We also talk about the importance of having real life experiences to feed the work that we create.

Kristina Online

• Website
• Instagram

Ally Thatcher is one of my favourite designers. I love how she skillfully makes hilarious subversive statements about culture that appeal to design nerds and regular folk alike. We talk about her brand Fallen Cargo, Black culture, satire in design and making work that functions as activism. We even discuss NFTs and what they mean for artists.

Follow Ally on Instagram
Listen to Ally's beats
Cover photo by Yamiche

On this special episode I chat with artist Boma Nnaji. I've followed Boma on Instagram for a while but never had a chance to talk to him until we were paired up in the Visual Arts Nova Scotia Mentorship Program. We talk about his paintings, the motivation behind his work and the role gallery representation plays in his career.

Boma Online

• Instagram
• Website

Presented by Glitterati

I spoke with fashion stylist and digital artist Emily Chase about shifting the direction of an art career, influencer marketing and why it’s important to set professional boundaries.

Emily Online

• Instagram
• TikTok

For the first time on Art Pays Me, I speak with a tattoo artist. Nadia Katherine and I talk about how to get into the tattoo industry, her influences and the diverse skillset needed to be successful as a tattoo artist.

Nadia on Instagram

Interdisciplinary Artist, Letitia Fraser discusses her roots as an artist, her experience in art school and why Black portrait artists are important right now. We also talk about why staying independent of galleries can be a good thing for artists.

Letitia Online

• Website
• Instagram
• Facebook

Musician and writer Cadence Weapon discusses his approach to making songs and how his obsession with rap guided him early on. We also talked about becoming more politically engaged to influence change in society, why Houston is the Edmonton of the South and Dave Chappelle’s The Closer.

Cadence Weapon Online

• Website
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Twitter
• Newsletter

KTheChosen is a Zimbabwe born hip-hop artist and activist based in Calgary Alberta. We talked about his music, activism, the importance of knowing what you care about most in the creative process and crediting collaborators for their roles.

KTheChosen Online

• Spotify
• Instagram
• Twitter
• KTheChosen
• Facebook

Rapid fire conversations with new Craft Nova Scotia members, Adam McNamara of Acadian Mushrooms, Jessie Marshall of Jessie Louise Design, Jennifer McDonald of Vivid Vision Bags, Funmi Odeniyi of Michnat Fashion and Peter and Luci Wile of LuPe Leather who will all be participating in the Craft Nova Scotia Winter Craft Show.

Links

• Craft Nova Scotia
• Acadian Mushrooms
• Jessie Louise Design
• Vivid Vision Bags
• Micnhat Fashion
• Lupe Leather

Husband and Wife creative duo, Mike and Kristen talk about collaboration, the process of making their new travel book, You and Me, and their respective approaches to making art. We also talk about the unsexy parts of making and releasing a creativity based commercial product and what’s scary about making the leap to full-time creative.

Mike and Kristen Online

• Website
• Mike and Kristen on Instagram
• Mike on Instagram
• Kristen on Instagram
• The Town Heroes on Instagram