Rebecca Crowell
Co-Host of The Messy Studio with Rebecca Crowell
Rebecca Crowell has been a professional artist for thirty years, and is widely known for her innovative painting techniques involving cold wax medium and oils. She has taught these methods both in the US and internationally, and is the author (with Jerry McLaughlin) of the most comprehensive guide to atists using cold wax medium, Cold Wax Medium: Techniques, Concepts & Conversations (Squeegee press, Dec. 2016). She currently is co-owner of the online learning platform, Cold Wax Academy.
Rebecca Crowell is represented by fine art galleries in numerous US cities, including Santa Fe, Chicago, Atlanta, and Telluride, Colorado as well as in Dublin, Ireland. Her paintings are included in thousands of private, public and corporate collections. She has been awarded 13 artist residencies since 2001, in the US, Spain, Sweden and Ireland, and has been commissioned by the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, for six large paintings. In 2014 she was recognized by John Seed of the Huffington Post in his article, Ten Memorable Paintings of 2014. She holds an MFA in Painting (Arizona State University, 1985.) Rebecca and her husband, Don Ticknor, have recently moved to a 100 year-old adobe home in northern New Mexico, where her new studio is gradually becoming messy. Please visit her website to view her work.
Rebecca Crowell has hosted 270 Episodes.
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Episode 126: Handling Critique
May 23rd, 2020 | 39 mins 36 secs
art, creativity, critique, rebecca crowell, teaching
It can be very unsettling to put your work in front of someone else for a critique. We may fear harsh, judgmental comments. Yet the value of critique is exactly that, the chance to gain an outside perspective and insight, and very often criticism can be given and received in a supportive way. Today we’ll talk about the positive aspects of critique as well as handling negative criticism with regards to our work.
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Episode 125: Art As Therapy
May 15th, 2020 | 29 mins 10 secs
art, quarantine, rebecca crowell, therapy
As we record this episode, a few months into the COVID-19 pandemic, there is so much we don’t know—what the situation means in our own lives and in the world at large, how long it will last and what we will endure before it is over. How can our art practices help us through this difficult and anxious time? Today our podcast includes thoughts from two art therapists, Mimma Della Cagnoletta and Barbara Bagan, who generously shared their ideas about this topic via email.
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Episode 124: Voices Of Experience
May 9th, 2020 | 37 mins 16 secs
art, experience, rebecca crowell, teaching, wisdom
If you have ever had a really good art class, whether, in school or a workshop, you probably retained some real gems of wisdom from the instructor. These may be specific things that were emphasized or their overall teaching philosophy. These positive ideas and words have the power to shape our studio practices for our entire creative lives. We reached out to some art instructors, all friends of the Messy Studio Podcast, to ask them to share their insights and approaches to teaching, as well as how they motivate and inspire students to find their own direction.
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Episode 123: A Call For Change
May 2nd, 2020 | 35 mins 2 secs
art, change, creativity, quarantine, rebecca crowell
Many artists are feeling stuck right now--not only in their homes in the midst of the COVID-19 stay-at-home orders but stuck in their work as well. We not only contend with our own worries and struggles but the constant drumbeat of bad news from the media. Our usual ways of working may no longer seem suited to what our lives have become.
Historically, art reflects the times in which it is made. Today, we are considering this aspect of creativity in light of what we are all experiencing. The way in which we handle the current situation creatively can also be applied to other traumas that we experience in life. -
Episode 122: Sell More Art Online, Interview With Dave Geada
April 25th, 2020 | 1 hr 8 secs
art, business, dave geada, marketing, rebecca crowell, sales, social media
Dave Geada, CMO at BoldBrush, teaches us how to generate more sales online by telling stories.
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Episode 121: Working with Place...While Sheltering in Place
April 18th, 2020 | 35 mins 22 secs
abstraction, art, places, quarantine, rebecca crowell
Many artists working in both realism and abstraction explore ideas or emotions through the lens of unique or moving aspects of a particular place. This place may be as close as the artist’s own backyard, but it is often more distant. At this time we are encountering many challenges in our daily lives due to the COVID-19 pandemic, including being unable to visit the places that motivate our creative practices. In this episode, we talk about how to continue accessing special places through memory and other references.
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Episode 120: The Creative Urge
April 12th, 2020 | 31 mins 4 secs
art, creativity, rebecca crowell
Even under difficult circumstances, humans have always had a strong urge to create, to make things that embody thought, emotion, spiritual and cultural beliefs. Those of us who work in fine art media have a drive to create even when there is no practical purpose for what we make. This urge can range from an occasional desire, to a very strong passion, an almost uncontrollable compulsion. Today we are going to explore the creative urge along with some inspiring quotes from artists of the past.
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Episode 119: Staying Focused
April 4th, 2020 | 28 mins 44 secs
art, focus, rebecca crowell, self improvement
One of the challenges of maintaining a creative practice is keeping focused in the studio; it can seem like daily life is constantly pulling us in other directions. This podcast was recorded before the COVID 19 pandemic, and for many artists, focus has become more important than ever as a way to lose ourselves in our work. Yet even if we have time to work, it can still be difficult to find a rhythm and path to follow.
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Episode 118: The Life and Work of Agnes Martin - Interview With Henry Martin
March 28th, 2020 | 39 mins 5 secs
agnes martin, art, henry martin, ireland, rebecca crowell, travel, writing
Rebecca interviews Irish writer Henry Martin about his book, Agnes Martin: Pioneer, Painter, Icon, discussing her life, character, and work. About this biography, museum curator Jina Brenneman wrote “No other book on Agnes Martin has been researched as thoroughly and honestly as Agnes Martin: Pioneer, Painter, Icon. Its sensitive and poetic nature makes it a must read for those truly interested in understanding the artist.”
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Episode 117: COVID-19 Outbreak: Coping With Isolation
March 21st, 2020 | 53 mins 35 secs
art, covid-19, isolation, learning, new mexico, personal development, quarantine, rebecca crowell, travel
When the news media first mentioned the coronavirus spreading through China, few of us in the rest of the world realized the huge impact it would have. A few months later we face quarantines and severe economic consequences, and many of us are facing isolation, boredom, and anxiety, as well as financial stress. In this episode we address how the current measures implemented to contain COVID-19 have affected our lives as artists, as well as ideas for coping in this time of uncertainty and change.
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Episode 116: The Writing Process: Interview With Henry Martin
March 14th, 2020 | 32 mins 39 secs
Rebecca sits down with writer Henry Martin in Dublin, Ireland to talk about his writing process in general, and his research for his book, Agnes Martin: Pioneer, Painter, Icon.
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Episode 115: Art: A Conversation With Your Viewers
March 6th, 2020 | 29 mins
art, audience, conversation, rebecca crowell, voice
Most artists would agree that their work is an attempt at communication, even if a non-verbal one. The idea of a conversation with viewers is a helpful perspective because it implies that this communication does not exist in a vacuum, going in one direction only. We use the term “personal voice” in reference to what we are trying to communicate, but we should grant a “voice” of sorts to our audience as well.
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Episode 114: Art Conservation
February 29th, 2020 | 36 mins 52 secs
art, art conservation, conservators, museums, new mexico, rebecca crowell, restoration, travel
Rebecca interviews Jill Whitten and Robert Proctor of Whitten & Proctor Fine Art Conservation. They discuss the process of art conservation and restoration, as well as their paths into the field and some of their projects with museums around the world.
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Episode 113: Inner Voices
February 22nd, 2020 | 28 mins 8 secs
advice, art, inner voices, rebecca crowell
When sorting through advice and opinions, not all of the voices influencing us are spoken by others. We also have inner voices that comment on our work. They may be insecurities that originate in past negative experiences and these can sap our creative energy. Others are rules and formulas that we've accepted without question but don't serve us well. But we can also cultivate positive inner commentary and learn to control what we tell ourselves.
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Episode 112: Surrounded By Advice
February 15th, 2020 | 29 mins 28 secs
advice, art, learning, rebecca crowell, teaching
As artists, we all want to grow and improve our own work, and we are often surrounded by the advice and opinions of other people. While some advice is helpful, it can sometimes undermine our unique, personal voice. It can be hard to sort the good advice from the bad. It is also important to realize that our own accepted opinions may need to be challenged in order for our work to advance. Unfortunately there is a lot more bad advice than good advice out there. A mentor of Ross’s once told him “if you follow the advice of 90% of the people you meet, you will end up where 90% of people end up”.
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Episode 111: BONUS EPISODE: Statement of Intentions for 2020
February 14th, 2020 | 2 mins 18 secs
Here's what we want to do with the podcast going forward...