Conversation With Book Artist Robyn McClendon

In this episode, we cover:

1:55- The way travel informs and changes your visual vocabulary

8:15- The value of keeping a journal, particularly while traveling

9:45- The materials Robyn uses when journaling and making her own journals

14:45- Robyn's journey to making art full time and how she has found ways to support herself

22:10- Visual artists often find themselves pigeonholed into one form of art, but with a common thematic thread you can diversify and create whatever kind of art you wish

23:30- The old gallery system intentionally controls artists in order to control their product. Recognizing this and realizing that you don't have to be confined by it can be very freeing for visual artists

25:25- Strategies for managing, creating, and selling art across different mediums

27:45- How Robyn got into the surface design industry and how it can be a very lucrative sales channel for artists

29:50- Robyn's work early in her career on the Middle Passage, how she came to create that work and its place in her career

33:55- Navigating the norms of the art industry and how modern technology allows more marginalized artists to take greater control of their own work and broadcast it the way they want to

36:00- You don't need formal training as an artist! View your art as a business and don't get mired in the lack of a BFA

36:56- How the Arizona Artisans Guild came into being and how it's helping artists and artisans share their work