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  • They Can't Take This From You: Coming Back to Your Practice, Again and Again

    They Can't Take This From You: Coming Back to Your Practice, Again and Again
    2026/07/01

    In this solo episode, Kat gets honest about a lesson she's still relearning 15 years in: protecting her own art practice. An inspiring gallery visit and a painful past experience resurfacing reminded her of what matters, how to protect it, and understand the value of our art and personal relationship to it.

    What You'll Hear
    • The artist's date that reminded Kat to get back to the pure joy of art
    • Her past solo show cancellation, and what resurfacing it taught her
    • Why not every gallery experience is a bad one, and how to find the right partners
    • How her first sloppy 100-day challenge changed her relationship to painting
    • Chasing validation vs. finding satisfaction in showing up

    Join the Challenge

    Kat's Spend More Time With Your Art Challenge starts July 15, 2026. It's a 21-day commitment to showing up for your own practice, open to any medium. It is not a painting course (though three of Kat's own painting examples are included), it's about reclaiming your relationship with your art, one small commitment at a time.

    Join Spend More Time With Your Art →

    Loved this episode? Send Kat a DM on Instagram or email info@createmagazine.com, she'd love to hear from you.
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    18 分
  • The Burnout Fix: Create Leverage, Force Multipliers, and What to Focus On to Move the Needle in Your Art Career (ft. Superfair)

    The Burnout Fix: Create Leverage, Force Multipliers, and What to Focus On to Move the Needle in Your Art Career (ft. Superfair)
    2026/06/24

    If you have ever felt like you are running a marketing agency instead of an art practice, you are not alone. In this episode, I sit down with Alex Mitow and Sharone Halevy, the dynamic duo behind Superfair, now in their 11th year as one of the most artist-forward art fairs in the country. We talk about what they are witnessing in real time across the artist community, why burnout is at an all-time high, and what actually works when you strip away the noise.

    We cover:

    • Why social media has aged and what that means for your practice
    • The concept of force multipliers and how to find yours
    • What artists are doing that is getting in their own way
    • Why in-person connection is the ultimate leverage point
    • How to come back to life creatively when you are running on empty
    • What it actually looks like to exhibit at an artist-forward art fair

    LINKS AND RESOURCES

    Book a free 15-minute discovery call with the Superfair team (mention Create! Magazine for exclusive listener discounts):
    https://calendly.com/d/cqt2-fkf-54v/15-minute-discovery-meeting

    Learn more about Superfair:
    https://www.thesuperfair.com

    Celebrate ten years of Create! Magazine with our first ever Annual Art Prize, open now through July 31:
    https://www.createmagazine.co/prize

    Submit to our current open calls and stay up to date on everything Create!:
    https://www.createmagazine.co

    Join us on Substack. Articles are free for your first seven days, and your support keeps us sharing artists, career tips, and resources with the community:
    https://createmagazine.substack.com

    CONNECT WITH SUPERFAIR

    Website: https://www.thesuperfair.com
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    39 分
  • The Art of Creative Loitering: A Permission Slip to Slow Down

    The Art of Creative Loitering: A Permission Slip to Slow Down
    2026/06/18

    What if the missing ingredient in your creative life isn't more productivity, but more loafing?

    In this solo episode, Kat shares a personal update from her summer and an honest reflection on burnout, rest, and the radical act of doing less. Drawing from the book Writing, Creativity and Soul by Sue Monk Kidd, she introduces the concept of creative loitering, and makes the case that your imagination actually requires aimless, unstructured time to do its best work.

    Kat reads from the chapter "Creative Loitering," explores why slowing down is not laziness but a prerequisite for original thinking, and shares how she has been building more space into her own life, from beach reads and Paris Review issues at the hair salon to long European-style dinners and mornings with no agenda.

    This episode is an invitation to reclaim your human mind, protect your creative energy, and trust that stepping back is sometimes the most productive thing you can do.

    In this episode:

    • Creative loitering: what it means and why it matters for artists and makers
    • Excerpts from Writing, Creativity and Soul by Sue Monk Kidd and Joie: A Parisian's Guide to Celebrating the Good Life
      by Ajiri Aki
    • The analog bag trend and other small ways to reduce scrolling and add presence

    Join the conversation on Substack: https://createmagazine.substack.com

    Share what you're reading, how you're resting, and what you'd like to hear more of on the show.

    Follow Kat:

    Instagram: @ekaterinaspopova | @createmagazine
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    21 分
  • Summer Updates from Kat + The Mundane Is the Muse: Yahel Yan on Chairs, Hot Sauce, and 100 Days of Painting

    Summer Updates from Kat + The Mundane Is the Muse: Yahel Yan on Chairs, Hot Sauce, and 100 Days of Painting
    2026/06/05
    This episode is two things in one: an honest, personal check-in from Kat as we head into summer, Q&A from our community. followed by a conversation with San Diego-based Mexican painter Yahel Yan, a Create! community member whose 100-day challenge journey ended in a full solo exhibition. Kat opens by sharing what has been on her mind lately, from the turbulence in the art world and the economy to a growing sense that artists deserve more privacy, more mystery, and more protection of the creative and intellectual work they have built over years. She reflects on the pressure to share everything online, the times that oversharing has cost her, and why she is choosing to reclaim some intentional secrecy, not as gatekeeping, but as a form of boundaries and self-respect. She also answers questions submitted by listeners through the Create! broadcast channel on Instagram, covering practical topics like what to do when you do not have a mailing list at an exhibition, how to approach interior designers as potential clients, how to identify your ideal collector when you are just starting out, and where collectors are actually discovering new artists today. Then Kat sits down with Yahel Yan, a Create! Magazine featured artist and community member, for a conversation about her winding path to painting, the deeply personal chair series that became her signature work, and what it felt like to complete and exhibit 100 paintings in 100 days. Yahel grew up in Mexico City, surrounded by color and the energy of a sprawling metropolis. After pursuing graphic design and building a family, she arrived in San Diego in 2000, pregnant with her third child, navigating a new country, a new language, and a new life. Art became her anchor. When her youngest started preschool, she returned to the studio and has been painting ever since. Her "Chairs Are People" series began in 2012, almost by accident. Yahel had always collected small chairs, filling her home with so many she joked there was nowhere left to sit. When she began painting them, something shifted. She started seeing chairs as personalities, as stand-ins for human presence, romance, grief, and memory. Many come from the street, discovered and abandoned, each one a mystery she gets to invent. Others she takes on what she calls field trips, photographing her own chairs in new environments before bringing them back to canvas. Earlier this year, Yahel participated in the Create! 100 Day Challenge, painted all 100 pieces, and turned them into a solo exhibition, presented as grids of nine that let viewers spend hours discovering objects they had not noticed at first glance. She shares why she never planned to show the work publicly until she simply had to. In this episode, you will hear: Kat's solo Q&A segment: What is weighing on her in the art world right now, and how she is choosing to respondWhy she is reclaiming privacy and mystery in her practice and her businessWhat to do when you do not have a mailing list at a show (and how to start one)How to approach interior designers as potential clients for your workHow to identify your ideal collector when you are just starting out Where collectors are actually finding emerging artists today Conversation with Yahel Yan: Growing up in Mexico City and how that shaped her palette, energy, and sense of movementWhy she chose graphic design over fine art, and how that path served her Moving to the United States with two children and one on the way, and how creativity helped her build community in a new countryThe origin of "Chairs Are People" and how chairs became characters with stories and feelings Finding chairs on the street and taking her own chairs on "field trips" to photograph in new environments Joining the Create! 100 Day Challenge and discovering unexpected joy in painting food, hot sauce, and other overlooked objects Exhibiting all 100 paintings as a grid installation and the experience of seeing them as one complete body of workWhat is next: a ceramics workshop in Maine with her daughter Links mentioned in this episode: Yahel Yan on Instagram: @yahel.yan.art Yahel's website: yahelyan.com Create! Substack (subscribe free or paid): createmagazine.substack.com Create! broadcast channel: follow @createmagazine on Instagram Join the next 100 Day Challenge cohort waitlist: www.createmagazine.myflodesk.com/challenge
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    43 分
  • Simplifying Content Creation for Makers with Brand Photographer Nicole Bedard

    Simplifying Content Creation for Makers with Brand Photographer Nicole Bedard
    2026/06/01

    Content creation burnout is real, and if you have ever hit a wall with showing up online, this episode is for you. Ekaterina sits down with Nicole Bedard, brand photographer, video storyteller, and strategist who specializes in helping makers, artists, and designers capture their authentic studio flow and process.

    Nicole shares how small, consistent commitments and intentional visual storytelling can help you attract the clients, collectors, and opportunities you actually want, without the overwhelm.

    In this episode:

    • Why content creation feels so hard for artists and how to move through it
    • How to capture your process in a way that feels natural and authentic
    • The role of brand photography and video in building trust with collectors
    • Practical strategies for showing up consistently without burning out

    Links: Nicole Bedard: www.nbphotog.com

    Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nbedardphotog

    LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/nicolebedardphotovideo

    Brand Visual Checklist: https://bit.ly/brand-visuals

    Sponsor: Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize 2026, over $77,000 in prizes including a $10,000 grand prize. Deadline July 17, 2026. Enter at https://beautifulbizarreartprize.art/

    Substack: createmagazine.substack.com
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    26 分
  • What Survives the Fire: Larry Ossei-Mensah on Clay, Curating, and Creative Excellence

    What Survives the Fire: Larry Ossei-Mensah on Clay, Curating, and Creative Excellence
    2026/05/26

    Independent curator, cultural critic, and co-founder of ARTNOIR, Larry Ossei-Mensah, joins us for a deeply reflective dialogue on his dual identity as a high-profile champion of the arts and a dedicated ceramic artist. Larry pulls back the curtain on his stunning debut ceramic solo exhibition in New York, What Survives the Fire, and shares invaluable wisdom on the patience it takes to build a practice that stands the test of time.

    Whether you are an emerging creator navigating the contemporary landscape or an established practitioner looking to protect your studio time, this conversation is a rich, peer-to-peer exploration of what it truly means to live a life dedicated to art.

    In this episode, Larry and Kat discuss the shift from photography and global curatorial projects to discovering a profound, tactile language in ceramics, how clay continually humbles you and why that is a beautiful metaphor for life, practical strategies for protecting studio time while balancing high-profile community work, making decisions driven by intuition and discernment rather than spectacle, how strategic international travel and cross-cultural dialogue shape a creative practice, and why doubling down on maker culture is one of the most important things we can do right now.

    Connect with Larry: Instagram: @larryosseimensah ARTNOIR: @artnoir.co | artnoir.co All About Clay: @allaboutclayny

    Subscribe to our Substack for exclusive behind-the-scenes articles, exhibition highlights, and digital resources: createmagazine.substack.com

    Ready to share your work with the world? View our latest open calls at createmagazine.co/call-for-art
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    47 分
  • Petite Pleasures, Big Dreams: Jo Gamel on Daily Painting, Following Every Interest, and Showing Up for Your Most Ambitious Goals

    Petite Pleasures, Big Dreams: Jo Gamel on Daily Painting, Following Every Interest, and Showing Up for Your Most Ambitious Goals
    2026/05/21
    Jo Gamel is back, and this conversation covers a lot of ground. A Philadelphia-based fine artist, gallery liaison, teaching artist, science fiction writer, and member of the music project Medal of Jupiter, Jo embodies what it looks like to follow genuine curiosity across disciplines without apology. In this episode, we get into her participation in the 100 Day Painting Challenge, how she built a consistent studio practice around a fully funded medical billing program, and what it actually takes to show up for your work when your schedule is packed. Jo shares how she used block scheduling to protect her 5 a.m. studio hours, how pre-selecting a limited palette and 300 reference photos from her phone set her up for creative flow rather than decision fatigue, and how her miniature series became a portal into memory, travel, and her great-grandmother's immigration story. We also talk about the sensory, cafe-style exhibition she mounted at the Jane Gallery, the power of immersive art presentations, and why she believes every artist should be loudly celebrating their wins so others know what is possible. Jo has shown at the Louvre during Paris+ Art Basel, Chelsea Old Town Hall during London Art Week, and the European Museum of Modern Art in Barcelona. This fall, she is directing the Arts League gallery for Collective Futures (a citywide Philadelphia collaboration, October 2 to 23, themed around Bohemia as a trans-historical state of mind), and she announces something she visualized years ago: she will be showing at the Stockholm Affordable Art Fair this September. This one is full of practical insight, ancestral warmth, and a lot of encouragement to say the big dream out loud. In this episode: What it means to be pluridisciplinary and why the old masters were too Building a block schedule that actually holds up during a demanding programHow the 100 Day Painting Challenge became a meditation on petite pleasures and personal history Creating a fully immersive, sensory gallery experience on your own termsThe role of community and mutual aid in a sustainable art careerWhy sharing your achievements is just as important as achieving themJo's upcoming exhibitions in Philadelphia and Stockholm Links and resources: Join us on Substack: https://createmagazine.substack.com Jo Gamel: www.jogamel.com Jo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jogamel/ Join the Create! Collective: https://createcollective.mykajabi.com/collective Free Studio Workbook and Workshop: https://createmagazine.myflodesk.com/studio-party 100 Day Challenge Waitlist: https://createmagazine.myflodesk.com/challenge Connect with Jo: www.jogamel.com Past episode: https://createmagazine.substack.com/p/mixed-media-magic-embracing-a-multi-245
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    33 分
  • How to Stop Being Forever Emerging and Graduate to Your Next Level with Ekaterina Popova

    How to Stop Being Forever Emerging and Graduate to Your Next Level with Ekaterina Popova
    2026/05/14
    There is a next-level version of you already waiting and this episode will help you step into it. Drawing on a decade of running Create! Magazine and watching hundreds of artists grow, Kat (Ekaterina Popova) lays out exactly how to graduate to the next stage of your career, whether you are a visual artist, a maker, or a small business owner. The identity shift that unlocks real momentum, a framework for choosing opportunities worth your time, and a clear five-step action plan you can start this week. HIGHLIGHTS The identity shift behind every real level-upWhy your behavior follows your identity, and how to update itHow the art world defines career stages, and why you get to decide what countsThe three kinds of opportunities, and which ones actually move you forwardA five-step action plan to step into your next level this month THE 5-STEP ACTION PLAN Audit where you actually are Define your next level specificallyDo the mindset and presentation work: bio, website, CVGet into a solution-oriented room Become generous and give from your experience SPONSOR This episode is brought to you by Blue Green Galleria Fine Art, specializing in Chinese and Asia-Pacific contemporary artists. Catch them at the first-ever Salt Lake Art Show, May 14 to 17 at the Mountain America Expo Center in Sandy, Utah. Find them at booth A202 with a duo presentation by Yana Hu and Long Han. https://bluegreengalleria.com | Blue Green Galleria on Artsy CREATE! COLLECTIVE Your environment shapes what you believe is possible. The Create! Collective is our membership community of artists and creative entrepreneurs winning grants, opening galleries, and building bigger tables. Join ours or build your own, but find a room that lifts you up. https://www.createmagazine.co/collective SUBSCRIBE + SUBMIT Create! Dispatch on Substack: Studio Sundays, open calls, and tips every week. Free tier available. Support independent publishing for $10 a month. https://createmagazine.substack.com Submit to Studio Sundays: our free Sunday feature spotlighting your workspace. https://airtable.com/apptRl5pIcdTzhYLt/pagcaZN4AGQpEUkjy/form CONNECT @createmagazine | https://www.createmagazine.co
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    23 分