Just Make Art
A conversation about making art and the artist's journey with Ty Nathan Clark and Nathan Terborg, two artists trying to navigate the art world, just like you.
In each episode, the duo chooses a quote from a known artist and uses it as a springboard for discussion.
Through their conversations, Ty and Nathan explore the deeper meaning of the quote and how it can be applied to the artists studio practice. They share their own personal stories and struggles as artists, and offer practical advice and tips for overcoming obstacles and achieving artistic success.
Whether you're a seasoned artist or just starting out, "Just Make Art" provides valuable insights and inspiration to help you navigate the creative process and bring your artistic vision to life. With their engaging and conversational style, Ty and Nathan create a welcoming space for listeners to explore their own artistic passions and learn from two artists working hard to navigate the art world.
Episodes
60 episodes
De-Romanticizing Art And What It Gives Back
Art-making isn’t a vibe. It’s a practice that can feel exhausting, confusing, and sometimes flat-out miserable, yet we still wake up wanting to go back. We sit with a blunt question that every working artist eventually faces: what is making art...
Cy Twombly And The Beauty Of Contamination In Art
This is a replay from Season 1. A single line from Cy Twombly cracks open a huge question for artists: “One must desire the ultimate essence even if it is contaminated.” We sit with that tension between purity and grit and ask what “essence” re...
Make The Art No One Is Asking For with Jeff Musser
Nobody is asking you to make your art. Jeff Musser thinks that’s exactly why you have to make it anyway.Jeff is a Northern California figurative painter who builds images from collage, family photographs, sketches, and historical...
Art Friendships That Fuel The Work
Three artists. One exhibition. A decade of friendship that turned into fuel for making braver work. Ty sits down with Vy Ngo and Eric Breish to explore how creative community shapes everything—from the courage to apply, to the way we process re...
Art is Hard. What If The Hard Part Is The Point. We Are In A Fight With The Work.
What if the hardest days in the studio are not detours, but the path itself? We open up about the real fight behind the work—those sessions where flow vanishes, doubt gets loud, and the canvas refuses to cooperate—and why that tension can becom...
Jack Whitten, Gimmicks, And The Grind Of Abstraction with Jamele Wright Senior.
What if paint could hold fear, wonder, and the cosmos all at once? That question runs through this conversation with guest host Jamele Wright Sr., where we explore Jack Whitten’s radical break from gesture and the relentless search to make pain...
Perspectives on Jack Whitten and the Birth of Abstraction with Jamele Wright, Sr.
What if paint is the vehicle and you are the medium? We dive deep into Jack Whitten’s Notes from the Woodshed with guest host Jamel Wright Sr., tracing how a life shaped by the Jim Crow South, pre-med rigor, and carpentry precision produced a s...
The Fearless Experiment: Q&A on Unconventional Materials & Artist Mindset
What if the most exciting art materials aren’t on a shelf, but in a scrap bin behind the shop? We dig into the joy and rigor of working with nontraditional sources—HVAC steel, coroplast misprints, billboard tarps, even feedbags—and how renewabl...
Q&A: Answering your Questions. From Home Studios To Galleries: Real-World Art Career Advice
We are excited to answer your art questions! In this episode we will discuss: how do you keep your practice thriving while navigating space, money, and access? We dig in with honest, field-tested advice and personal stories from two working art...
Why I Make Art. Ursula Von Rydingsvard
A single question can power a lifetime of work: Why do I make art? Ty and Nathan sit with Ursula Von Rydingsvard’s stark and generous answers—woven from anxiety, labor, faith in process, and the stubborn hope that making can heal—and use it as ...
Make More, Fear Less: on Critique, Confidence, and Choosing Meaning. A Candid Studio Conversation at Poolhaus, Day 2.
Coffee, rain, and a table full of half-built ideas set the stage for a candid deep dive into how artists actually move work forward in our second conversation at Poolhaus studio. We trade the comfort of endless polishing for a stubborn rule—get...
The Art of Breakthrough: A Candid Studio Conversation at Poolhaus
Artistic breakthroughs don't happen by accident. They emerge from dedicated practice, willingness to fail, and persistence through periods of frustration and doubt. But how do you recognize when you're on the cusp of something transformative ve...
Embrace the Ugly Phase Before Beauty Emerges: Arlene Shechet
Have you ever looked at your work-in-progress and thought it was absolutely hideous? According to acclaimed sculptor Arlene Shechet, that's exactly where the magic happens.In this eye-opening exploration of artistic process, we dive dee...
Part 4. Breaking down: How to Be An Artist by Jerry Saltz.
What separates artists who give up from those who thrive despite rejection? In this fourth installment exploring Jerry Saltz's "How to Be an Artist," Ty and Nathan tackle the emotional armor required to navigate the art world's toughest challen...
Part 3. Breaking down: How to Be An Artist by Jerry Saltz.
Part 3. Diving deep into Jerry Saltz's "How to Be an Artist," we explore the transformative journey of learning to think like an artist. This episode unpacks the beautiful paradox that while art remains unchanged physically, it's never the same...
Part 2. Breaking down: How to Be An Artist by Jerry Saltz.
What transforms raw materials into meaningful art? How do artists develop their unique voice while standing on the shoulders of those who came before them? In this thought-provoking second part exploration of Jerry Saltz's "How to Be an Artist,...
Part 1. Breaking down: How to Be An Artist by Jerry Saltz.
What if the path to becoming an artist wasn't shrouded in mystery but illuminated by practical wisdom? In this deep dive into Jerry Saltz's transformative book "How to Be an Artist," we explore the Pulitzer Prize-winning critic's generous, acce...
Your Work Knows Everything—Are You Listening?
Have you ever felt like your artwork knows more than you do? In this intimate, unplanned conversation recorded during a Montana retreat, Ty and Nathan explore the vital yet often overlooked practice of soul care for artists.Surrounded b...
Leonardo Drew. Art as Physical Transformation. Part 2
Leonardo Drew invites us into the physical, philosophical, and sometimes painful world of material transformation. Unlike artists who work with found objects carrying built-in histories, Drew deliberately purchases new materials that he must pe...
Leonardo Drew. Art as Physical Transformation. Part 1
The journey from discarded material to transcendent art forms the foundation of our conversation about Leonardo Drew, one of contemporary art's most physically committed and philosophically profound creators. Drew's remarkable journey began in ...
Copy, Steal, and Become: Why Great Artists Take What They Need: Basquiat, David Bowie, Wes Anderson, Sylvia Plath and others.
From Jan 2024. Dive into the provocative world of artistic "theft" as Ty and Nathan explore how creative innovation truly emerges from our influences. This conversation challenges the myth of pure originality, arguing instead that the greatest ...
A Complete Guide to Artist Residencies.
Have you ever wondered what exactly an artist residency is and whether it might be the missing piece in your creative journey? In this comprehensive guide, Ty Nathan Clark takes you through everything you need to know about these transformative...
The Greater the Artist, The Greater the Doubt: Francis Bacon, Van Gogh, Kurt Vonnegut, JD Salinger, Maya Angelou and Charles Bukowski.
Doubt isn't the enemy of artistic greatness—it's the catalyst. Reuniting after two months apart, Ty and Nathan dive into the profound relationship between artistic excellence and uncertainty through Robert Hughes' provocative quote: "The greate...
