I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists

In this mini episode of I Like Your Work, I talk about why waiting to feel "ready" or confident keeps so many artists stuck and how planning your artistic year while feeling afraid can actually be the most honest place to start. This episode is for artists who: Feel overwhelmed when thinking about the year ahead Struggle with creative fear, doubt, or perfectionism Want to plan their art practice without burning out Are ready to make work even when clarity hasn't arrived yet You don't need to eliminate fear to move forward. You can do it afraid. I share simple, grounded ways to think about creative planning, goal setting, and staying connected to your work—without pressure, hustle, or unrealistic expectations. Whether you're planning a new year, a new body of work, or just trying to show up consistently, this episode offers a steady place to begin. I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our Sponsor, the 2026 Canopy Program: Apply by January 14th at thecanopyprogram.com Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

If you've been watching the Miami energy from afar and wondering what it all means for your studio practice, this episode gives you the trends, themes, and takeaways that actually matter for artists.In this episode, Erika covers: • The big-picture trends shaping Miami Art Week 2025: – Institutional validation and residencies becoming more influential – The shift toward sustainable careers and long-term practice – Experiential installations dominating many fairs – Latin American and Caribbean artists in the spotlight – The ongoing market correction and what collectors are looking for • A breakdown of the key fairs: – Art Basel Miami Beach: What's new, what curators are paying attention to, and how residencies fit into this year's programming – NADA: Emerging artists, experimental work, and themes like climate fiction + myth/memory – Untitled Art Fair: Thoughtful curation and a special focus on reflection-based work – SCOPE Miami Beach: Where Erika is speaking this year on sustainable artist careers and the power of residencies – Additional satellite fairs: Design Miami, Aqua, Art Miami + Context, Satellite, Prizm Erika also shares: • How the fairs are highlighting conversations around artist support, sustainability, and community • A grounded takeaway for artists who aren't in Miami: how to move your career forward from your own studio Whether you're at the fairs, following along online, or simply curious about the current art-world landscape, this episode gives you the quick, real insights behind the images. I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Make Taxes Easier and Stash an Extra $152k in Your Savings Free Class: sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourwork Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists' tax deduction guide by going to sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourworkguide Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

Gail Spaien (b. 1958, Hartford, Connecticut) is an American artist and educator based in Maine. Her studio practice centers around the idea that a painting is a site of connection; an object that transmits emotion from one person to another. She is of a lineage of artists who think craft and beauty shape and build a more relational world. Spaien has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, including the Ucross Foundation (2024), Varda Artist Residency Program, Djerassi Foundation Resident Artists Program, Millay Colony for the Arts, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has received grant funding from the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation, the Maine Arts Commission, and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions, including Taymour Grahne Projects, Dubai, UAE(2025); Mrs. Gallery, NY (2025); Nancy Margolis Gallery, NY; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK; Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME; Ellen Miller Gallery, Boston, MA; and Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME. Group exhibitions include Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME; 1969 Gallery, NY; studio e, Seattle, WA; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA; University of New Hampshire Museum, Durham, NH; Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, ME; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; and the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA. Spaien received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and BFA from the University of Southern Maine. After thirty years as faculty at the Maine College of Art and Design, she is full-time in the studio. "Inspired by my geographic location and the landscape that surrounds me, the images in my paintings are of observed and imagined places where one can be in relationship with others, the world, and the self. They celebrate the beauty of everyday acts and the quiet rhythms of daily life. They are compact reductions of lived experiences and permeable arenas of contemplation. The way I make my work is a performance of slowness. Created through repetitive handcraft, marked by decorative patterning, flattened space, and subtly skewed perspectives, my paintings reflect the intimacy of their making. Blending still life with landscape, often depicting a unification between the interior and exterior, spectators of my paintings become inhabitants of a world in slower motion. Composing an idealized counterpoint, I suggest that slowness and attention to the rhythms of an ordinary day is a form of quiet resistance and renewal. My source material ranges from the animated movies of Hayao Miyazaki and Walt Disney to the symbolism of Dutch Still Life paintings. I reference quilts, samplers, mourning paintings, Japanese embroidery, early American wooden furniture, wooden boats, and the architecture of simple cottages. The meditative and precise quality of paint-by-numbers, which I did as a child, also informs my work, as well as my admiration of early American folk artists, the Pattern and Decoration movement, Intimism and the ancient artists of Ukiyo-e. My paintings are places, and I approach them as such. As a painter, I turn my back on the external world and enter the world of the painting. I hope a viewer might do that too. When people say, "I want to go there," I feel I have hit the mark in some way." LINKS: gailspaien.com @gailspaien Artist Shout out: A shout out to my colleagues who are showing with Taymour Grahne Projects: Amy Lincoln https://www.amylincoln.com/ @amyplincoln Matthew F. Fisher https://www.matthewffisher.com/ @matthewffisher Sarah Mceneaney https://taymourgrahne.com/artists/sarah-mceneaney @sarahmcinerney Samira Abbassy https://www.samiraabbassy.com/ @samira_abasy Katia Kamali https://taymourgrahne.com/artists/katia-kameli @kamelikatia Faycal Baghriche https://taymourgrahne.com/artists/faycal-baghriche And a VERY small few of my Maine colleagues: Philip Brou https://philipbrou.com/home.html Honour Mack https://honourmack.com/home.html @honourmack Tessa Greene O'Brien https://www.tessagreenobrien.com/ @tessagreeneobrien Grace Hager https://gracehager.com/ @gracemakes Hilary Irons https://hilaryirons.com/home.html @h.irons.h Brett Bigby https://www.alexandregallery.com/artists-work/brett-bigbee#tab:thumbnails @brettbigby Rose Marasco https://rosemarasco.com/ @rosemarasco I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists' tax deduction guide by going to sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourworkguide Thank you to our Sponsor, the 2026 Canopy Program: Join an info session with Founder and Executive Director Catherine Haggarty and apply by January 14th at thecanopyprogram.com Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

Gwen Strahle is a painter living and working in northeast CT. She teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design. She shows her work at Nancy Devine Gallery in RI. Strahle has received several awards including the Connecticut Artist Fellowship, the Purchase Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Honorarium from the Drawing Center. Strahle earned her MFA from Yale University in 1983. "I have been making paintings of objects arranged on my studio table for over forty years. Many of the objects in my work have been with me for the entirety of that time. The objects are painted both from life and from memory: bud vases, shells, pitchers, and glasses. Each of these objects is a kind of vessel, and I often think about what is inside of an object- the fullness of something empty in appearance. The objects are personified in the paintings, and I have become emotionally invested in them; they are part of my family. Over the years, they have changed and aged with me as I paint them into each image. I have created a hierarchy of icons using these familiar objects that can grow and change depending on their arrangement from one painting to the next. That dynamic relationship between objects is important to me. The covered table under the set-up serves as the canvas, or as the painting itself. Its flat surface is raised up for the viewer, with the malleability of a blank slate that allows objects to emerge from and be pushed back into the surface of the table—like a garden bed. It represents the painted world in which my objects can exist. Twenty years ago, I began to add my own silhouette to the paintings, which has recently turned into a shadow, and it presides over the still-life, and is in turn embraced by it. It made sense for that figure to be my own body, or my own shadow, as I am the one experiencing my relationship to the still-life, with these objects. This transparent form can dissolve across the objects and the table. My process involves moving the objects around the image, eliminating and adding as I work through each painting. My paintings come together slowly, sometimes over the course of months or years before I find resolution in the composition. In the practice of painting, I seek the feeling of being present in the world. The slowness allows for this." LINKS: gwenstrahle.com @gwenpaints I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Taxes for Humans is the clearest, kindest, funniest tax book you've ever read. It's as generous as you are. Pre-Order by Nov 11 to get a discount AND instant access to Hannah's course. Go to sunlighttax.com/bonus If you have questions about: Estimated quarterly taxes Deductions Business setup steps (making it "official") LLCs Bookkeeping Getting and staying organized Getting out of a jam (payment plans, tax-cheating spouses, etc) Getting a lot more money from tax savings This book is your answer key. Uplifting, practical, and tax-deductible. A companion to the book, the WORKBOOK covers mindset exercises, clears mental blocks, and applies the knowledge you learned in the book.It has the best tax organizer you've ever seen (for actually organizing your tax info at tax time). https://www.sunlighttax.com Apply for our Winter Exhibition: Deadline is November 15: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/submitwork Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

Madge Evers (b. 1961, Norwalk, CT) explores the transformative cycles of dormancy, decay, and ecstatic growth in plant life. Her work combines alternative photography, mushroom spores, and painting to depict landscape details and imagined flora. Evers earned a BA from Suffolk University in Boston and an MA from the University of Rhode Island. Her work has been exhibited at the New Britain Museum of American Art (CT), Danforth Museum of Art (Framingham, MA), Brattleboro Museum and Art Center (VT), and the Zero Art Fair (New York, NY), among others. In 2024, she curated and exhibited in the group show *Biomorph* at Split Level Gallery (Northampton, MA) and presented her third solo show at ECA Gallery (Easthampton, MA). Recent artist residencies include Chautauqua Arts (2024), Cill Rialaig (Kerry, Ireland, 2023), Oak Spring Garden Foundation (Upperville, VA, 2023), Kinney Center for Interdisciplinary Renaissance Studies at UMass Amherst (2022), and Eastern Frontier Educational Foundation (Jonesport, ME, 2022). Evers was a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artist Fellowship Finalist in Photography (2021) and made Photolucida Critical Mass top 200 (2019). Evers currently lives and works in western Massachusetts. Her book about the cyanotype process will be published by Storey in 2026. "My work features native and introduced flora foraged from different landscapes, along with imagined botanical elements. Working primarily on paper, I use various materials and processes, including mushroom spores, cyanotype, painting, collage, and book making. I began adapting and experimenting with mushroom spore prints as an art medium in 2015. The cyanotype—an alternative photographic process pioneered by botanist Anna Atkins in 1843 —provides flexibility for revision and repair in my practice. Spore printing and cyanotype photograms connect me to the cyclical transformations of plant life: growth, decay, and dormancy. I believe nature's interdependent systems offer a restorative framework for humans, and possibly humanity." LINKS: madgeevers.com @_sporeplay Artist Shoutout: Michael Abrams, michaelabramsart.com, @michael.abrams.art Jean Larson, www.jeanlarson.com, @jeanlarsonartist Fritz Horstman, fritzhorstman.com, @fritzhorstman Malaika Ross, www.malaikaross.com, @malaikaross_studio Laurie Olinder, www.laurieolinder.com, laurieolindertextiledesign Stephen DiRado, stephendirado.com, @stephenphotodirado Dale Rio, www.dalerio.com, @dale.rio.photography I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Taxes for Humans is the clearest, kindest, funniest tax book you've ever read. It's as generous as you are. Pre-Order by Nov 11 to get a discount AND instant access to Hannah's course. Go to sunlighttax.com/bonus If you have questions about: Estimated quarterly taxes Deductions Business setup steps (making it "official") LLCs Bookkeeping Getting and staying organized Getting out of a jam (payment plans, tax-cheating spouses, etc) Getting a lot more money from tax savings This book is your answer key. Uplifting, practical, and tax-deductible. A companion to the book, the WORKBOOK covers mindset exercises, clears mental blocks, and applies the knowledge you learned in the book.It has the best tax organizer you've ever seen (for actually organizing your tax info at tax time). https://www.sunlighttax.com Apply for our Winter Exhibition: Deadline is November 15 https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/submitwork Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

Joe Wardwell is currently a Professor of Painting at Brandeis University (Waltham, MA) and is the founder the Brandeis-in-Siena program. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Art History, and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA). He received a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Boston University (Boston, MA). Currently on view, Wardwell has a large-scale wall drawing, "Hello America: 40 Hits from the 50 States," commissioned for the renovation of building 6 at MASS MoCA in North Adams, MA. In 2022, he completed his first large scale public art project for the Boston Public Library, Roxbury Branch. Wardwell has also completed large scale installations for the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, citizenM Hotels, Facebook Inc., and the Children's Hospital of the King's Daughters in Norfolk, VA and the Cape Cod Museum of Art. His paintings and drawings have been exhibited at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the DeCordova Sculpture Park and Museum (Lincoln, MA), the Rollins Museum and the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, and Wardwell's work is in the permanent collection of each. Wardwell has been a recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council Grant for Painting and was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the School of Creative Arts at Boston University. In addition to numerous group exhibitions throughout the region, Wardwell has held solo exhibitions in New York, New Haven, Boston, Seattle, and Montreal. His work has been reviewed by Art Forum, Art in America, the Boston Globe, The Seattle Times, Boston Magazine, as well as many other publications. Wardwell lives with his family in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston, his studio is in Dorchester, MA, and is represented by the LaMontagne Gallery. LINKS: joewardwell.com @joe_wardwell I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our Sponsor, Rise and Repaint. Ever wish your biggest career questions actually had answers? Like — Am I pricing my art right? or What do galleries and curators really want to see? That's exactly what you'll find inside the Rise and Repaint Network — built for women and non-binary artists. You'll connect with galleries, plan exhibitions, and learn how to price your work with confidence, all while being supported by a global artist community.And because you're a listener, you get first dibs before the public — plus a discount with code ILYW25. But hurry, doors close October 17th. Visit riseandrepaint.com today. Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

Susan Klein is an artist living in Charleston, SC. Recent exhibitions include I Should Have Been a Pair of Ragged Claws at the Wassaic Project, A Window Scrubbed for the Moon at Asya Geisberg Gallery, NYC, and Volcano Lovers at Frontviews, Berlin. Klein is a 2020-2021 recipient of a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Other awards include an Artist-in-Residence at the Dunedin School of Art in New Zealand, a Hambidge Center Residency, Watershed Center for Ceramics Art Residency, Wassaic Project Residency, residency at the International Studio and Curatorial Program, a full fellowship to the Vermont Studio Center, an Ox-bow Artist-in-Residence Summer Fellowship, an Otis College of Art and Design Summer Residency, and residency at Arteles Creative Research Center in Finland. Klein received her MFA in 2004 from the University of Oregon, a BFA in 2001 from the University of New Hampshire, and studied art at NYU from 1997-99. She is an Associate Professor of Art and Chair of the Art Department at the College of Charleston. LINKS: susankleinart.com @sklein79 Artist Shout Out: Hannah Barnes, hannahbarnesart.com, @hannahmbarnes Kerri Ammirata, @kerri_ammirata, https://kerriammirata.com Sky Gilkerson, https://www.skyegilkerson.com/, @skyegilkerson Cristina Victor, @sabiaceramics, cristinavictor.com I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our Sponsor, Rise and Repaint. Ever wish your biggest career questions actually had answers? Like — Am I pricing my art right? or What do galleries and curators really want to see? That's exactly what you'll find inside the Rise and Repaint Network — built for women and non-binary artists. You'll connect with galleries, plan exhibitions, and learn how to price your work with confidence, all while being supported by a global artist community.And because you're a listener, you get first dibs before the public — plus a discount with code ILYW25. But hurry, doors close October 17th. Visit riseandrepaint.com today. Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to ilikeyourworkpodcast@gmail.com with the subject "mini eps" Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

Sam King has exhibited at galleries, artist-run spaces, and universities across the country, including The Painting Center (NYC), Unrequited Leisure (Nashville), Manifest Gallery (Cincinnati), Oneoneone Gallery (Chapel Hill), Laconia Gallery (Boston), The Provincial (Kaleva, MI), Living Arts of Tulsa, MIXD (Rogers, AR), the University of North Carolina Greensboro, the University of Tulsa, Lower Columbia College, and Western Connecticut State University. In 2020, King was a resident of Hambidge Center, supported by the Lee and Margaret Echols fellowship for musicians (he records and performs improvisational, microtonal guitar music under the name Untight). In 2019, he curated Shelters, Monuments, featuring the work of artists Whiting Tennis and Sarah Norsworthy, for The Provincial, an artist-run space in Kaleva, MI. With Christopher Lowrance, King co-founded MW Capacity, a website devoted primarily to painting in the Midwest. With Stephanie Pierce, he co-founded Lalaland, a DIY community projects space in Fayetteville, AR, active 2011-2019. He has also been a resident artist at Vermont Studio Center and Ox-Bow School of Art, an affiliated fellow at the American Academy in Rome, and a recipient of the Arkansas Arts Council's Individual Artist Fellowship. His work is held in a number of public and private collections. King earned a Bachelor Fine Arts degree from the University of Tulsa (2003) and a Master of Fine Arts degree from Indiana University (2005). He resides in Fayetteville, AR, where he serves as an Associate Director of the University of Arkansas School of Art. "Much of the meaning of my work is embedded in its physicality, process, and composition. I am enamored of the material trappings of painting: not just paint and canvas, but staple-holes, tears, creases, and off-cuts, and at times, the artifacts of digital and hybrid formats. My process is improvisational, and I tend to work on a lot of paintings at once. If a painting is not going well (or it was at one point "finished," and no longer seems sufficiently resolved), I take it off its stretchers, cut it up, and use the pieces to start new works. In this way, a single, failing painting might be the germ of five or ten new ones. By alternatingly reinforcing and transgressing conventions of visual perception, I hope to engage, perhaps even implicate, the viewer in the work. I arrived at this method of making art after years of experimentation and interrogation of painting as a vehicle for communication. I rarely seek out source material, in the sense of a specific painting serving to record a particular scene, moment, or emotion, but also, I think of painting in terms of metaphor and embodiment. My work tends to exist in a suspended, liminal state, like something is there to be recognized, reassembled, or decoded. I can't quite say why I started working this way, but I've indulged a persistent, gnawing instinct to rework old paintings for many years, long before they look like they do now. There is something in them, for me, about the interconnectedness and malleability of our collective and individual experiences, tensions between structure and intuition, and the slipperiness of time, narrative, memory, and interpretation." LINKS: sam-king.com @__s__a__m__k Artist Shout Out: Stephanie Pierce (@stephanie_lalaland, https://stephanie-pierce.com) Matt Murphy (@7mrm8, https://www.m-murphy.net), Mark Lewis (@marklewis2245, https://www.marklewispaintingstudio.com), & my colleagues at The University of Arkansas School of Art (some of whom have been past guests on ILYW - Marc, Neil) I Like Your Work Links: Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram