Show Up or Shut Up with Wendy Solganik

Host Wendy Solganik welcomes longtime Fodder Schoolparticipant Cathy Watson, an artist in Christchurch, New Zealand, to discuss Cathy’s creative journey and how the global Fodder School community supports sustained making. Cathy describes growing up with creativity, learning to sew at age 10,loving art at school, and later becoming deeply involved in scrapbooking—working in stores, teaching classes, and navigating limited product access in New Zealand, including reliance on imported supplies and delayed magazines. She explains her transition into mixed media through influences, local classes, and conventions, and shares how Fodder Schoollessons—especially Angela Kennedy’s drawing and Karen Elaine’s Wild Watercolor—build her skills through step-by-step learning. Cathy talks about retirement routines, making art in focused windows, and running a monthly “crop and craft” gathering that supports creative wellbeing. 00:00 Meet Cathy Watson01:24 Podcast Premise02:46 Zooming From New Zealand03:50 Fearless With Art06:15 Sewing And Scrapbooking Roots09:31 Life In Christchurch14:50 Supplies And Access Limits25:00 Mixed Media Enters Scrapbooking29:32 Travel Albums And Memory Keeping32:12 Trips Abroad And Family37:45 Back To Art Skills40:10 Wild Watercolor Breakdown41:53 Watercolor Control Struggles42:28 Learning Curve and Confidence42:57 Memory and School Stories44:23 What Creativity Feels Like45:49 Retail Career and Retirement50:55 Morning Routine and Cats55:50 Fodder School Habits56:37 Supply Hunting in NZ58:02 The Pen That Worked01:01:16 When Art Time Happens01:04:38 Family Reactions to Art01:06:56 NZ Friends and Immigration01:10:21 Crop and Craft Community01:15:59 Wrapping Up and Goodbye

Host Wendy Solganik interviews UK mixed media artist andlongtime Fodder School member Emma Hudson, first discussing the mixed feelings around AI art as a tool that won’t replace human making. Emma shares her path from studying textiles/fashion and working in London—teaching for years in a special needs school and later in a creative nursery team—to focusing on art after medical retirement, rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune issues, caregiving for her mother-in-law with Alzheimer’s, and her daughter leaving for university. She describes lifelong sketchbooks, making cards and projects, anda childhood of “make do and mend,” plus early inspiration from the TV show Take Hart. After starting Instagram in March 2022, she joined Fodder School, posted daily, embraced process over perfection, found community, and now identifies as an artist, exploring collage, gel printing, embroidery on paper, watercolor, pattern, and an earthy sea-and-rust palette. 00:00 Meet Emma Hudson03:28 AI Art Debate13:48 Emma In England14:16 From Seaside To London17:25 Teaching And Family20:29 Rheumatoid Arthritis Shift22:21 Sketchbooks And Projects26:26 Instagram To Fodder School30:27 Finding Her Tribe34:12 Early Art Roots34:53 Scrap Collage Roots36:10 Childhood Materials Memory38:28 Take Hart Felt Tips39:57 Sketchbooks Without Notes43:58 Art Through Life Shifts45:22 Finding Purpose as Artist49:56 Online Community Connection52:28 Art Shops and Access58:49 Always Making Projects59:39 Originality and Inspiration01:04:03 Aging Into Freedom01:06:21 Detaching From Doomscrolling01:07:28 Workday Without News01:09:34 Kids In The Rage Machine01:10:31 Personal Art Practices01:12:34 Learning Styles And Teaching01:16:44 Altering Clothes For Comfort01:21:44 Ancestors And Showing Up01:24:44 Freedom Without Judgment01:27:41 Finding Your Color Palette01:29:51 Why We Love Decay01:33:27 Final Push To Make Art

Host Wendy Solganik interviews longtime Fodder School participant Tina Lee-Cronkhite, an artist in Grand Rapids, Michigan, about her creative path and community. Tina grew up around her mother’s fine art (portraits, oils, landscapes) and shifted from mechanical engineering after a GM supervisor encouraged her to apply to the Center for Creative Studies, where she studied graphic design and later worked at ad agencies doing print design before the digital era. She became deeply involved in calligraphy—helping start a Kalamazoo guild, attending in-person workshops and conferences, exploring bookmaking, and valuing traditional tools—while also embracing looser, mixed-media approaches over time. Tina joined Fodder School in its first year during COVID, credits it as a lifesaver, works from a basement studio, displays art throughout her home, gives pieces away, and typically completes most monthly projects while adapting teachers’ processes to her own style.00:00 Meet Tina Lee-Cronkhite01:46 Show Intro Theme03:07 Tina Background04:46 Mom Artist Roots08:02 Engineering to Art11:44 Graphic Design Career13:42 Calligraphy Discovery15:41 Guild Workshops23:42 Online Classes and Fodder24:58 Studio Space Reality28:16 Displaying Finished Work29:40 Selling vs Making Joy31:09 Gifting Art Without Fear31:58 Keeping Up With Fodder School34:16 UFOs From Loving Projects36:34 Art Outside The Lessons37:58 Pickleball And Productivity39:37 Following Teachers Your Way43:10 Master Boards And Style46:20 Traditional Calligraphy Vs Trends49:44 Guilds Aging And Craft Magic53:06 Lefty Struggles And Imperfection55:50 Calligraphy Guild Nostalgia57:41 Postcards And Wrap Up

Host Wendy Solganik interviews mixed media and collage artistCrystal Marie (formerly Crystal Neubauer), author of The Art of Expressive Collage and a 2018 Racine Art Museum Artist Fellowship recipient, about her life, art, and teaching. Crystal describes moving into a Chicago Little Village live/work storefront to stay near the art scene on an artist’s budget andtraces her maker roots to a craft-filled childhood. She recounts attending a university-affiliated high school, becoming a teen parent, working up through printing-industry project management, and later burning out while raising sevenkids in a blended family. Her professional art career began in the early 2000s through eBay paper packs, Somerset Studio, blog/Flickr communities, early publications and the book A Charming Exchange, then teaching at Art & Soul. Crystal explains evolving from whimsical collage to more restrained work, discovering encaustic to preserve ephemera, coping with mold-related illness that forced her to discard her paper collection, shifting to online teaching during the pandemic, and planning Fodder School projects including a handmade hair calligraphy brush challenge and texture-based collage lessons. 00:00 Meet Crystal Marie02:26 Podcast Premise and Subscribe03:49 Crystal’s Chicago Studio Life08:26 Finding the Perfect Live Work Space13:10 Early Making Roots15:35 Scholarship to University High22:04 Teen Parenthood and Survival30:06 Creativity Through Beads and Sewing31:50 Printing Career and Moving to Chicago36:51 Brady Bunch Burnout39:36 eBay Paper Hustle to Collage41:57 Somerset Studio Spark46:59 Blog Era and First Teaching Gig49:54 Discovering Encaustic Wax53:59 Basement Studio Beginnings55:29 Shifting to Abstract Collage59:24 Selling Art Online Early01:01:12 Finding the Old Work01:04:00 Book and Name Change01:06:15 Intuition and Altering Papers01:10:45 Mold Loss and Rebuilding01:16:25 Pandemic Online Teaching Boom01:19:51 Where to Buy and Follow01:28:11 Illness and Career Upside Down01:38:30 Fodder Challenge Hair Brush01:43:05 Texture Fodder Classes Wrap

Wendy Solganik introduces season six, episode six of theShow Up or Shut Up podcast with guest Connie Fong, a longtime Fodder School member now teaching in Fodder School six. Connie, a Bay Area native and retired computer science professional who worked at IBM and in e-commerce at WilliamsSonoma, shares her lifelong crafting journey through knitting, scrapbooking, bookmaking, and mixed media, plus her love of bold black-and-white contrast, typography, and grungy pops of color influenced by artists like Robin Marie Smith. They discuss how Fodder School’s variety, pacing, and supportive community helped Connie develop her distinctive style, and her surprise atbecoming a teacher. Connie previews her Fodder Challenge whimsical paper dolls (inspired by Mindy Lacefield) and her Fodder School project: a collage-style monthly calendar using ransom letters. She also talks about learning to film online classes with help from her daughter’s former YouTube setup, selling journals on Etsy (Artful Play), daily pickleball, and her shyness about posting publicly on Instagram (@myartfulplay). 00:00 Meet Connie Fong02:01 Podcast Premise03:23 Bay Area Roots06:03 Early Crafting Life07:39 Supplies And Shopping10:25 Tech Career Path13:57 From Crafts To Mixed Media18:31 Finding Her Style25:03 Becoming A Teacher27:41 Why Fodder School Works33:00 Her Fodder Challenge Dolls35:07 Finding Your Own Style36:03 Paper Dolls Project36:30 Calendar Collage Plan37:21 Ransom Letters Method39:38 Why Make Art Calendars43:54 Storing Cutout Letters45:51 How Style Evolves50:44 Teaching Online Leap51:52 Daughter’s YouTube Journey55:15 Etsy Shop and Instagram58:49 Pickleball and Family Life01:00:17 Confidence and Closing