Quilting as Storytelling with Amanda Schoonover

In this episode, guest Nhut Le joins Jocelyn Hallman in conversation about pottery and many other forms of creative expression - including acting. Nhut is an actor whom you may know for his portrayal of Judomaster in HBO Max's Peacemaker. He is also a visual artist who has experimented with many art forms, from painting to woodworking, sewing and more.

We talk about what Nhut makes, his inspirations, and the materials he loves to work with. Nhut loves to learn new things, especially about ancient art forms, and is constantly challenging himself to grow. He speaks a lot about pottery as meditation and the experience of being in community in the studio. We also discuss perfectionism, embracing mistakes, and feeling okay about not knowing what exactly is going to happen in the kiln. Nhut shares how working with his hands translates into the sensory, immersive experience of working as an actor. 

After the episode, head over to my Instagram @sidecraftspodcast to see photos of some of Nhut’s work. While you’re there, please follow the show! 

Follow Nhut on Instagram @itsnhutle or on his pottery page @3circlepottery. 

His Etsy shop is at https://www.etsy.com/shop/3CirclePottery. 

In this episode, Jocelyn is joined by Anna Lambe, an actor and beadwork artist from Iqaluit, Nunavut. Anna has appeared in Three Pines on Amazon Prime, Trickster on CBC, True Detective, Alaska Daily, Diggstown, and more. She started beading during the pandemic and has become a skilled artist and designer of jewelry, primarily making beaded earrings in two-needle flat stitch and brick stitch.  

Anna and Jocelyn discuss how Anna got started with beading, her design process, how she shows love to family, friends, and community through beading, and her love for the Indigenous beadwork community online. She also explains how her practice as a beadwork artist compares to her practice as an actor, and Anna and Jocelyn discover that they each performed in only one play in high school - and it was the same one!

After the episode, go to @sidecraftspodcast on Instagram to see photos of Anna’s work!

Follow Anna on Instagram @anna.r.b.lambe. 

The beadwork artists we talked about include: 

Only Child Handicrafts - https://www.onlychildhandicrafts.com/ - Instagram: @onlychildhandicrafts

White Otter Design Co (Jaymie Campbell) - https://whiteotterdesignco.com/ - Instagram: @whiteotterdesignco

Astro-Knot (Krystal Cox) - https://astro-knot.co/ - Instagram: @astroknotco

Blu Hummingbird - https://bluhummingbird.ca/ - Instagram: @blu_hummingbird

Lisa.Beading (Lisa Walker) - https://www.lisabeading.com/ - Instagram: @lisa.beading 

City NDN Beadwork (Jana Schmieding) - https://www.cityndnbeadwork.com/ - Instagram: @cityndn.beadwork 

In this episode, Jocelyn Hallman talks to actor Aya Cash (The Boys, Welcome to Flatch, You’re the Worst) about her newfound love of ceramics. We talk about the rituals of working in the studio, embracing imperfections, accepting the loss of control that comes with the unpredictability of clay and glaze, making body parts, trimming as editing, and the narratives of ceramic pieces. Aya is an avid crafter, and in this episode we also talk about her other adventures in crafting - many of which she describes as failures - including decoupage, felting, painting, knitting, jewelry making, and on and on. We talk about making a lot of “bad art” and how Aya feels like she’s now found the visual art practice she’s going to stick with for life. 

After the show, go to @sidecraftspodcast on Instagram to see pictures of some of Aya’s work! You can also follow Aya on Instagram @maybeayacash.

Some of the things Aya mentions in this episode include Fat Cat Pottery in North Carolina, her friend Galen Djuna’s (@galendjuna) Etsy shop Knitty Titties, and the Playwrights Horizons (@phnyc) craft fair in New York City.  

Jocelyn is joined in this episode by Chasten Harmon, a deeply intuitive knitter and knitwear designer. Chasten is an actor who has appeared on Broadway in Mr. Saturday Night and Hair, has toured nationally with Les Miserables, and has appeared on many television series and films, including The Good Fight, Damnation, and Paterson. 

In this conversation we discuss knitting as sacred work, embodiment, her coaching practice, the creative force of Black womxn, and her work as a knitter and knitwear designer - including her collaboration with Free People. Knitting is also my primary craft, and it was a real joy to talk fibre, colour, and the creative process in knitting with Chasten. 

After the episode, go to @sidecraftspodcast on Instagram to see images of some of Chasten's work. You can also find her on Instagram @chastenharmon and @plusharmour. Her knitting can be found in her Etsy shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/PlushArmour. 

In this episode, Jocelyn Hallman talks to actors Pablo Azar and Ana Carolina Grajales, both of whom have appeared in many television series and films, including over 600 episodes between them of Spanish-language telenovelas. Pablo and Ana are engaged in a range of artistic projects that include paintings, murals, art classes, comedy videos, and NFT collections. 

We discuss how the arts showed up in their childhoods, how Toonymania (the painting style and then the business) came to be, their approach to creating large scale public art and to teaching art classes, the role of their comedy videos as part of their artistic practice, their venture into the world of digital art and NFTs, and the impacts of social media, online communities, and going viral. 

After the show, go to @sidecraftspodcast on Instagram to see pictures of some of their art!

Follow Pablo and Ana online: 

Instagram 

@toonymaniacs

@anacarolinasway

@azarpablo

TikTok

@toonymaniacs

@azarpablo 

You can also find them on Facebook and at http://www.toonymania.com. 

In this episode, Jocelyn Hallman talks to actor Michael Chernus (Severance, The Accidental Wolf, Orange is the New Black, Easy) about tie dyeing, music, gardening, art as community practice, and the act of caring for others through art.

After the show, go to @sidecraftspodcast on Instagram to see pictures of some of Michael's dye work! 

Follow Michael on Instagram @mchernus and on Twitter @MichaelChernus. You can also check out more about the Tie Dyen' 4 Biden project on Instagram @tiedyen4biden. 

Michael expressed huge gratitude to Jacquard Products for their support during the tie dye fundraiser for the Biden-Harris campaign. He and the rest of the team used Jacquard's cold water procion MX dyes for their shirts. Check it out at https://www.jacquardproducts.com/ or on Instagram @jacquardproducts. 

In this episode, Jocelyn Hallman talks to Jeremy Palko (The Walking Dead, Ruthless, Bloodline) about his work as a painter. Jeremy works with acrylic paints on canvas, painting daily and working on multiple pieces at once. His works are characterized by vibrant colours - landscapes and night skies are common themes - often accompanied by stark silhouettes and other shapes. Jeremy's work has a joyful energy, and listening to him talk about his creative process, you can really hear how much passion and discovery he brings to each piece. We discuss how he got into painting, the unique tools he uses for painting (candles! boxes! a barbecue grill!), how painting has informed his acting, and some of his other creative pursuits (did you know he plays the guitar and did pottery in high school?). 

After the show, go to @sidecraftspodcast on Instagram to see pictures of some of the pieces we talked about! 

Follow Jeremy on Instagram @artbypalko and on Twitter @JeremyPalko. He can also be found on Facebook. 

Jeremy's art is available to view and purchase at https://artbypalko.square.site. Check it out! 

In this episode, Jocelyn talks to comedian and writer Sara Schaefer about her work as a miniaturist and cross-stitcher. Sara creates incredible miniatures in one-inch scale, which range from dollhouses to dioramas and even a miniature comedy club, the Haha Hole. We discuss how Sara got into miniatures, how working as a miniaturist has changed her perspective on the world, her love of vintage cross-stitch patterns, and what she describes as the “auntiecore” lifestyle. We also talk about how our society genders handcrafting as female and the visual arts as male - and the implications of this framing. Sara is a brilliant maker with insightful perspectives on art and crafting. 

After the episode, head over to my Instagram, @sidecraftspodcast, to check out photos of some of the pieces we talk about in this episode, and click to follow!

Follow Sara on Instagram and Twitter @saraschaefer1,  and check out her podcast The Schaefer Shakedown @theschaefershakedown and wherever you get your podcasts.

You can view and purchase Sara's embroidered ornaments (and she even recently offered a miniature for sale!) seasonally on Etsy at https://www.etsy.com/shop/BoBosNook. 

Fun things mentioned in this episode:

Zjakazumi Dolls on Etsy and on Instagram @zjakazumi_dolls
Miniatures.com
Thorne Miniature Rooms in Chicago

In this episode, Jocelyn is joined by actor Merritt Glover, who is also a collage artist, photographer, painter, and poet. Merritt has worked on shows such as Get Shorty, Breaking Bad, Interrogation, and The Cleaning Lady, among others, and she also creates stunning mixed media art - namely multi-layered collages inspired often by the lyrics of Tori Amos. We talk about Merritt's family’s artistic legacies, how she got started in film, her creation processes, and art’s many roles in her life - as therapy, as community, and as politics.

After the show, go to @sidecraftspodcast on Instagram to see photos of some of the art pieces that Merritt shared during this conversation - and some examples of the handmade pies we talked about!

Follow Merritt on Instagram as well @merrittcglover. 

Merritt's art is available to view and purchase on Fine Art America. 

In this special Halloween episode, Jocelyn Hallman talks to Jorge Garcia (LOST, Hawaii Five-0, Alcatraz, The Munsters) about his passion for Halloween crafting and building. We discuss Jorge's early memories of drawing, creating, and dressing up for Halloween, and how he got into creating yard displays and hosting pumpkin carving parties. We also talk about some of the props he built for the Skeleton Key haunted maze in Hawaii, specific techniques he uses for "corpsing" and other Halloween crafting, and the Halloween traditions he shares with his friend community - and now, with his partner and young child.

This episode also includes a bonus tangent on Christmas crafting and baking, and Jorge shares his process for screenprinting t-shirts by hand.

Photos of some of the projects discussed may be found on the Side Crafts Instagram @sidecraftspodcast!

Follow Jorge on Instagram @pronouncedhorhay and on Twitter @jorgegarcia.

Places and fun things  mentioned in this episode:

Spirit Halloween
The Skeleton Key haunt, presented by the KOA Theater in Hawaii
Werewolves of Miller's Hollow