Art Heroes Radio

Creativity and the future of thought, a conversation with Clive Thompson

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Clive Thompson is a writer who covers science and technology. He's a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine and Wired, and has published the blog CollisionDetection.net for eight years. His journalism has been widely anthologized, and he's received several awards for his writing, including an Overseas Press Council award and two Mirror Awards. Clive has been a performing musician for 25 years, and is currently working on a book about the future of thought.

Clive and I have had some great discussions over the years about the science behind thought and creativity, attention deficit as an evolutionary adaptation to a complex world, improvisation, and the DIY movement in art.

The future of selling art online, a conversation with Matt Trifiro CEO of 1000markets.com

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Matthew G. Trifiro is a co-founder and CEO of 1,000 Markets, Inc., a Seattle-based technology company that builds e-commerce platforms for "very small" businesses. 1,000 Markets' mission is to provide community-driven retailing opportunities to artisanal businesses and a unique shopping experience for consumers. Their Public Market Platform™ provides a marketplace construction kit where specialty merchants open branded shops and then self-organize into thematic marketplaces.

When I first discovered 1000markets.com I was totally blown away by their design and implementation of an online marketplace… 1KM is beautiful, functional and focused.

Of all the sites I've tried for selling my work online, 1000 Markets has the simplest, fastest and most powerful user interface for creating listings. I love it. I also love the fact that as good as it is, when I made a few suggestions to CEO Matt Trifiro early in the development of 1KM, he saw the value of the ideas and was able to implement them nearly instantly on the system.

This led to a great friendship and some very interesting conversations about how to implement the best possible e-commerce platform for artists and entrepreneurs. The integration of blogs and e-commerce is a subject I've studied exhaustively (see my post on TypePad Hacks: Blogs as Stores: A Comprehensive Overview of Ecommerce Solutions for Bloggers). After years of testing, consulting and advocacy in this field, Matt is probably the smartest and most effective person I've worked with.

How to be a famous artist without quitting your day job, a conversation with Lisa Call

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For most artists, quitting the day job and making art full time is the dream… and it often feels like the only way to make a serious name for yourself in the art world. But renowned textile artist Lisa Call has built an extremely successful arts career while keeping the job, raising children and finding time to share her knowledge with other artists. We'll talk about why she's chosen to keep her job, how she balances her art career with work and family life, how getting organized helps her create and how she sets prices for her work. We'll also take a look at her plans for MakeBigArt – a website and blog to empower artists to think big about their art, their marketing and their lives.

Licensing your art, A Conversation with Maria Brophy

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Maria Brophy has successfully represented lifestyle artists for the past decade.  She specializes in art marketing and licensing and gives seminars at various venues to share her experiences.  A fierce advocate for artists, she writes a blog at www.mariabrophy.com that helps creative people to design the life and career of their dreams.

Ten years ago, Maria Brophy became the Brand Manager for her husband Drew Brophy's artwork. Since then, Drew has become known as the top licensed surf artist in history, he has over 30 licensees that pay him to use his art on their products, and he is well respected in the art world.

Maria's vision is "that all creative people get to do what they love for a living (and get paid well for doing it)".

We'll discuss the opportunities and the potential perils of licensing your artwork, including negotiating control of how and when your work is used. We'll also discuss working with art agents— what they can do for your career and what you need to bring to the table.

Life is Art, A Conversation with Chris Guillebeau

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Chris Guillebeau's mission is to help people live unconventional lives, make their own choices, and change the world. He writes for a small army of remarkable people at chrisguillebeau.com.

"My writing offers unconventional ideas for remarkable people. I write through personal experience, including both failures and successes. Among other projects, I am on a five-year personal quest to visit every country in the world." You can follow his live updates from every country in the world on twitter here.

On this show, we'll be talking about living life on a mythic scale, adventure, how life can be art, what heroes are and what they do. We'll also talk about how to conquer the "impossible" and ignore those who tell you that something can't be done.

Artists' Rights and the Law, a Conversation with Attorney Stephen Zralek

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In this week's Art Heroes conversation with Stephen Zralek, we'll examine why artists' rights are important; what protections exist for artists; the difference between copyright, trade dress and design patents; when you should seek an attorney's assistance and what you can do on your own.

Protecting your work as an artist is important for reasons far more compelling than pure financial issues. As an artist, your reputation is closely tied to your work. We'll also discuss how intellectual property rights protect your name, reputation and legacy and why that may be even more important than protecting your immediate livelihood.

Stephen Zralek is an attorney who helps clients resolve disputes over their intellectual property: copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets and rights to publicity. His clients range from individuals, such as visual artist John Unger and performing artist Sam Moore, to businesses ranging in size from small entrepreneurs to Warner Bros. His cases cover everything from music, film, furniture and software to shapes of water bottles and packaging of dog breath mints.

Promote your art on the radio like a pro, a conversation with Brad Aspey, Public Radio Arts Reporter

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Is radio really a venue for visual art? How can audio help expand your audience, if your medium is something people need to see to appreciate? Simply, it's about the stories.

Many artists are shy when it comes to speaking about their art, whether in person, in print or on the air. But most art purchases are about more than whether the painting matches the sofa. Your buyers want to know about you as an artist— who you are, where you came from, why you make the work, what your ideas and influences are. Radio is a great way to tell a story that resonates, and inspires your audience to identify with your work.

Online radio and podcasts make it possible to include images and text as support for the spoken word. Bringing all these tools together can make your presentation even stronger than a simple portfolio site.

This week's Art Heroes conversation is with Brad Aspey, veteran public radio announcer and producer. He is currently Interlochen Public Radio's Arts Reporter. He has interviewed thousands of people, from opera stars to jazz musicians to movie stars and even dozens of stand-up comedians. His list of guests include Jessye Norman, Bob Newhart, Bill Maher, Christopher Parkening, Dudley Moore, Cleo Laine, Martin Short and many others.

Brad has won multiple awards for his work in radio, including an Associated Press Award for Best Feature of 2008 and several awards from the Michigan Association of Public Broadcasters. His show, "ArtForms," won both first and second place in the Best Cultural Program category in 2008.

Conversation With Hugh MacLeod, Artist, Cartoonist, Evil Genius

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Hugh MacLeod is an artist who first made his name with "cartoons drawn on the back of business cards". Although originally resistant to the idea of selling his art, Hugh found that his ideas and his engagement with his audience have created a strong market for his work. He now makes his living mostly drawing "Cube Grenades" for clients and publishing fine art prints via the internet. Hugh started blogging at gapingvoid.com in 2001. He started off just publishing his cartoons, but as time wore on he started blogging about his other main interest, marketing. In 2005 he scored his first major blog marketing success with EnglishCut.com, a blog he started with Savile Row tailor, Thomas Mahon. It tripled Thomas' sales within six months.

His recent book Ignore Everybody: and 39 Other Keys to Creativity was a best seller on Amazon and the Wall Street Journal.

Conversation With Austin Kleon, A Writer Who Draws

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Austin Kleon is a writer, cartoonist, and web designer. He's best known for his Newspaper Blackout Poems—poetry made by redacting words from newspaper articles with a permanent marker. His first book, Newspaper Blackout, is forthcoming from Harper Perennial in April 2010. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife, Meghan, and their dog, Milo.

First person bio: "I'm a visual thinker who is obsessed with the art of communicating with pictures and words, together. I love to write about the subject and teach it. I draw cartoons and take visual notes at live events for folks such as Austin City Limits and South By Southwest. I also doodle a lot in my sketchbook. If you like my Newspaper Blackout Poems, check out my de-Signs: iPhone snapshots of signs redacted into one-liners.

My day job is designing websites for the University of Texas School of Law."