MINDFULLY CREATIVE PODCAST EPISODE 13: ARTIST CITIZEN

This edition of the Mindfully Creative podcast focuses on the concept of the “Artist Citizen” and how one artist shows up to serve her community. Amy Jackson, a multi-media artist and creative based in Nashville, Tennessee is our guest.

Amy creates in the following art media: painting, photography, writing, and music. Her painting began in 1993, as a way to express herself, because she was experiencing chronic facial and jaw pain at the time. As the physical pain healed, her paintings became a way to explore emotions over the years, both the sublime and excruciating. Amy also holds a Bachelor of Arts, Spanish from Agnes Scott College, in Decatur, Georgia,

Jackson knows that all artists seek to respond to the way they feel about the world around them. Amy was hugely inspired and intrigued by the subtropical natural world around her growing up in northwest Georgia. However, she also saw the blight of increasing development before she left home for college, and then in college learned of worldwide environmental threats as part of her studies in International Relations. For these reasons, she relates strongly to wild places on the Earth and seeks them out in her paintings and photographs, in the abstract and the representational.

She believes that all forms of matter contain some form of life, a typical perspective for a Buddhist such as herself. Her studies of Buddhism, creative visualization and meditation deepen this exploration of wonder and fascination, and she seeks a contemplative arts approach to all of her work, as a way of centering, editing, and transforming herself and her art.

It is these beliefs that guides her work in her Nashville communitiy by volunteering to bring art and creativity to local schools and community based organizations. We talk about her involvement in various endeavors to improve her neighborhood and her advice about how other artists and creatives can make a difference in their communities with their gifts as well.

You can learn more about Amy at http://www.amyjackson.cc. You can follow her on Instagram and Twitter at @amyjacksoncc. Listen to this episode below.  The Mindfully Creative podcast can be heard on Google Play, Sound Cloud and Stitcher.

MINDFULLY CREATIVE PODCAST EPISODE 11: PLANNING & PREPARING FOR CREATIVE CAREER TRANSITIONS

The Mindfully Creative Podcast is back with the latest episode and the first one for 2018.  This time we are talking about making career changes into a creative career later in life.  Lisa Vogt and I had a great discussion about how those of us over 40 can make some career changes to fuel our creative interests.

Lisa Conners Vogt, MBA, APR helps others to see their experiences as stepping stones to an exhilarating future. Lisa is a life coach, speaker, podcast producer, author, and corporate marketing professional whose mission is to help people realize their talents and skills and take action to use them for a larger purpose.

Through her Ever Better Podcast, she shares inspiring discussions with people who are living extraordinary lives and making a difference in their communities. Ever Better is a highly-rated iTunes podcast that debuted in the New and Noteworthy Top 10 and was featured on NPR’s The Big Listen. Lisa has been a guest on podcasts such as Maturepreneurial, Working Women Entrepreneur, Simple Change, and Financial Karma.

Lisa has ridden the roller-coaster of multiple professional and personal transitions and her speaking is infused with stories of these experiences. She also draws on wisdom that dozens of innovative entrepreneurs, coaches, and authors have shared with her through in-depth podcast interviews. Through using humor to share these lessons, she opens a path for others to see possibilities.

Her career has included roles as corporate communications professional, business owner, consultant, non-profit executive, and digital expert. She is a wife, mother, sister, daughter, breast cancer survivor, and volunteer who is deeply involved with multiple communities.

Her formal education and training includes an M.B.A. from University of Rochester’s Simon School of Business and a B.A. from Colgate University. She holds the Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) from Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Lisa lives in Bethesda, MD with her husband and teenage son and enjoys spending time with her extended family, preferably near a beach or lake.

During this discussion, we talk about how to plan and prepare for making a career change into a creative field, including networking, unique ways to get experience, education and training, and other cool stuff.

Where to find Lisa:

Website:  http://www.everbetteru.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/EverBetterU

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EverBetterU

You can find the podcast on Stitcher,  Google Play or Sound Cloud.

Listen to the episode here: