Latest / Crafted Connections / EP 14: Floating Islands and Taking Your Whimsy Seriously with Jess Dunn

Transcript

EP 14: Floating Islands and Taking Your Whimsy Seriously with Jess Dunn · Crafted Connections

0:04
SPEAKER_01: Hello! Welcome to Crafted Connections.
0:07
SPEAKER_01: I'm Kayla Calhoun, and this is a podcast all about storytelling and building genuine community.
0:13
SPEAKER_01: Here we'll dive into the art of storytelling, unpack strategies for making meaningful connections, and hear from incredible humans who are using their story to create impact.
0:23
SPEAKER_01: So grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and let's craft some connections.
0:29
SPEAKER_01: Welcome to another episode, another week, another amazing guest here on Crafted Connections.
0:34
SPEAKER_01: I'm Caitlin Calhoun, and if you're joining me for the first time, thank you for being here.
0:39
SPEAKER_01: If you're joining me for the umpteenth time, thank you for being here.
0:43
SPEAKER_01: It's all the same to me, and it's really nice to have you.
0:46
SPEAKER_01: This is all about getting stories out there in the world, making friends, all that jazz.
0:51
SPEAKER_01: I truly believe that when we tell stories to each other, we make connections that are so impactful.
0:59
SPEAKER_01: This week I've got my friend, collaborator, Jess Dunn, on, and we talk all about her artistic experience.
1:07
SPEAKER_01: She is a multidisciplinary artist.
1:10
SPEAKER_01: She is a wonderful person to know, to collaborate with.
1:14
SPEAKER_01: She also just does these really cool residencies, and we we talk about that kind of at length.
1:19
SPEAKER_01: And at the heart of it all, she is just a nature-loving lady who wants to live her life to the fullest.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: And, you know, I am too, so I really bond with her over that.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: And you'll hear how she does that in today's episode.
1:30
SPEAKER_01: So let's dive in.
1:31
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for being here.
1:35
SPEAKER_01: Just done.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for joining us on Crafted Connections.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: So excited to have you.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: Thanks for having me.
1:41
SPEAKER_01: Yay! Uh to kick us off, can you do me a wonderful favor and kind of tell the people a little bit about yourself, maybe in a few sentences?
1:50
SPEAKER_01: I know, I know uh you are a multidisciplinary human being, both in your work and in your life.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: So uh best of luck with this few sentences.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: I always struggle with this.
2:02
SPEAKER_00: Um basically, one word.
2:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm an artist.
2:05
SPEAKER_00: I work in animation primarily, but I have a background in painting and sculpture and also performance.
2:13
SPEAKER_00: So I do a lot of music as well.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
2:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh, which is why her audio sounds so wonderful and makes me so giddy and happy about it.
2:21
SPEAKER_01: And we know each other through uh, you know, my video production background, your animation background.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: We've had such a fun time collaborating in the past.
2:29
SPEAKER_01: And we're not just gonna talk about that today.
2:31
SPEAKER_01: We're gonna talk about you today, but I just want to celebrate that and how how fun you are to work with.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: You are awesome to work with.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: I loved working on Hellbender in the blue.
2:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, the one, right?
2:42
SPEAKER_01: That's like my most recent film, the one that uh is still, I mean, just it's still holding on.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: Like people still will reach out to me.
2:49
SPEAKER_01: I know it's still showing places regularly.
2:52
SPEAKER_01: It's just really cool to like give so much love, which I know you did in the animation process along with Justin.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, you all just like did a wonderful job, and every collaborator did.
3:02
SPEAKER_01: And then it's fun when we give give something love and and the love just carries it, you know, on its own life.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: And then we're like, okay, bye, baby.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I love nature.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Nature is like one of my biggest inspirations.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: So working on a nature documentary, especially, is just like my favorite kind of genre to work on for sure.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, very cool.
3:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we'll we'll dive into that as well.
3:24
SPEAKER_01: But I want to kick us off.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: What's your perspective on community and connection?
3:29
SPEAKER_00: For me, in these days, it's so easily to isolate ourselves, right?
3:36
SPEAKER_00: We're in like this world of hyper independence, isolationist kind of perspective, just you know, because of the internet, which originally I feel like a lot of people use to connect, but it's so easy to get inside of your own little pocket, kind of creating your own world, not needing a whole lot of interaction, especially in like physical space.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, especially since COVID.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: I feel like that kind of intensified this kind of movement of people kind of keeping to themselves and not getting out.
4:11
SPEAKER_00: And for me, it's so important to connect back to the community in order to get perspective outside of yourself.
4:20
SPEAKER_00: And also you can do something so much bigger when you work with a collection of people, as opposed to doing everything yourself.
4:28
SPEAKER_00: That's something that I tend to do a lot.
4:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, I feel like I have to do everything all by myself.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: From like the writing to the artwork to the animation to the soundtrack to the voiceover, anything like that.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: For me as an artist, it's really easy to just want to do everything by myself.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: And then when you're wanting to do something so much bigger, it just really helps to where everybody can thrive and do their own thing, do what they do best, and all coming together to collectively do something that you can that's way larger than you can do by yourself.
5:03
SPEAKER_01: When you were talking about that, I was like, we just opened this conversation with talking about how fun it is to work together, how we created a film with a bunch of other collaborators.
5:15
SPEAKER_01: It created something that has its own life now, right?
5:18
SPEAKER_01: And I don't think if I was like, cool, I'm gonna try and frame by frame, like I can draw things, I cannot draw them in the capacity that you can, and I cannot animate them in the capacity or speed at which you can.
5:30
SPEAKER_01: We all have our specialized things, at things that are our genius that we get to lean into.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: And then it not only allows for us to do what we love and what lights us up, but then it creates this product that's like greater than the sum of its parts.
5:43
SPEAKER_01: And I I love how you said that because we could, we could easily I don't want to project introvertism on you, but I'm an introvert and I'm pretty sure you are as well.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm definitely an introvert, and I feel like that's why I don't have a huge social battery.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: I don't need a lot of social interactions, so it's so easy for me to just like stay at home with my cat, be very content watching a movie or drawing or whatever, and not needing to go to the outside world.
6:07
SPEAKER_00: But when I do, I always feel better, more connected.
6:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:11
SPEAKER_00: Um just it expands my perception of life.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
6:15
SPEAKER_01: Well, and there's a difference between being introverted and your social battery versus deep connection, right?
6:21
SPEAKER_01: Like I don't know about you, but if I have a cozy, warm beverage for three hours with someone and we really just have a like a deep connected conversation, that is so much different than like just a group of people with small talk.
6:35
SPEAKER_01: Like you said, social battery versus connection, two different things.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: Right.
6:40
SPEAKER_00: And getting an outside perspective is so important on a greater scheme of things, but also professionally for me.
6:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
6:48
SPEAKER_00: It's so easy when I'm working on something to like listen to it over and over and over until it's driving me crazy.
6:54
SPEAKER_00: And then I think what I've made is just crap.
6:56
unknown: Yeah.
6:57
SPEAKER_00: It's so easy to get inside of my own head.
7:00
SPEAKER_00: I tell my students all the time, I'm a part-time professor at Heron, that they need to take a literal step back away from their work to get perspective and also, you know, commune with their friends and colleagues about, you know, getting feedback and all of that.
7:14
SPEAKER_00: And it can really help refresh you, give you another perspective, and make your work better too.
7:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
7:21
SPEAKER_01: What types of experiences kind of shaped that for you?
7:24
SPEAKER_01: You talked about the importance of connection, the importance of stepping back, the importance of having friends and colleagues get you out of your head and into the experience and giving feedback, all that.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: What have you experienced that shaped these ideas for you?
7:37
SPEAKER_00: I feel like a lot of this came from school actually at my alma mater, Heron, which I now teach at.
7:43
SPEAKER_00: So everything's come full circle, which is really interesting.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: But I have the tendency to get hyper focused on detail, you know, like zoom in super far, look at all the tiny for this analogy, like pixels, right?
7:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: Oh, totally.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: It's so easy to look at that that one pixel that's out of place and obsess over it and not see the big picture.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: And that's where you literally have to take a step back and look at your project, whatever you're working on, and then all those pixels kind of combine together to create the illusion of the final picture, literally and metaphorically, right?
8:20
SPEAKER_00: So that was really big for me.
8:21
SPEAKER_00: My professor is telling me to think bigger picture, to think about the overall presence of that image for your viewer and how they're going to see something different than what you even see.
8:32
SPEAKER_00: So taking that literal step away from the piece to look at the full thing instead of hyperfixating on something so tiny that really it doesn't matter or affect the bigger impact that whatever you're making will make on your viewer or listener.
8:49
SPEAKER_01: I love that it is simultaneously it's a metaphor and it's also literally what you do with the art.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: I love those.
8:57
SPEAKER_01: We just love a double dip in the meaning.
8:59
SPEAKER_01: But very cool.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: So you were talking about having students.
9:03
SPEAKER_01: I know that you have had your own experiences where mentors have really helped you because you have been a creative business owner for a while as well.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: I I know you teach part-time now, but you haven't always, you know, had that.
9:15
SPEAKER_01: And and you also still do your your own creative business work in addition to the teaching.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: So so what does that look like when you're a creative entrepreneur, a creative person who makes a living that way and and in relation with mentorship?
9:30
SPEAKER_00: My mentors have been everything for me ever since I was a kid.
9:34
SPEAKER_00: I was a very young kid, especially my mom was a huge support in what I did.
9:38
SPEAKER_00: With art, that's something that I've always done.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: Ever since I was coordinated enough to hold a crayon and start drawing, my mom and my dad would teach me how to draw and always really nurtured that part of me.
9:50
SPEAKER_00: Of course, growing up and thinking about how to make money, the influences of capitalism, all of that.
9:58
SPEAKER_00: For a while, I kind of abandoned the idea of even going to art school or investing in that part of me.
10:04
SPEAKER_00: As a child, I've always been kind of into science as well and was kind of really big into my academic exploration, which now I'm like, oh gosh, I was worried too much about my grades and all of that.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: But I was really driven because I really wanted to, I don't know, be able to make a great life for myself.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: Because of that, I kind of forced myself into pockets.
10:26
SPEAKER_00: Like for a while, I was cons considering going to a med school.
10:30
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
10:31
SPEAKER_00: To be a trauma surgeon specifically.
10:34
SPEAKER_00: I knew my heart wasn't in it for the right reasons though.
10:37
SPEAKER_00: And actually my high school mentors, my art teachers, really encouraged me to do what I wanted, which was to go to art school, which kind of ruffled a lot of feathers with my family, especially my extended family.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: My grandpa actually called my art teachers and yelled at them.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: Oh, great.
10:56
SPEAKER_00: They're encouraging me to go to art school instead of med school.
11:00
SPEAKER_00: But they really gave me the confidence to just go for what I want in life, which is so important.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: Same thing happened in college.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: One of my biggest mentors, Greg Hall, who's now the dean at Heron, very beginnings of how to work the business side into my art, how to take care of myself on my first big commission that I did, which was actually for the Indianapolis Museum of Art, living on the island, which is a whole other story.
11:26
SPEAKER_00: But he taught me everything I know about like adding a 10% contingency in the budgets, starting an LLC.
11:32
SPEAKER_00: He encouraged me to get into that.
11:34
SPEAKER_00: So he really taught me how to protect myself and take my art seriously in regards to commissions and shooting for something bigger.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: Before you jump to your next mentor, the island project.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: It sounds so cool.
11:46
SPEAKER_00: So the island, it was a part of a project by Andrea Zattel, who is an artist.
11:52
SPEAKER_00: She's amazing.
11:53
SPEAKER_00: You should look into her.
11:54
SPEAKER_00: She really inspired me to live a more minimalist, simple life, which I think you with your boat life could really relate to a lot of her work.
12:02
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: But she fabricated this fiberglass island that floated in the middle of the lake that's at 100 Acres Park for the Indianapolis Museum of Art.
12:14
SPEAKER_00: And as a part of that project, she released this open call for artists to create something for that piece, Indianapolis Island, as the fiberglass floating white, kind of igloo-looking thing.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: It was like an open call asking for people to kind of interpret that and create their own project out of it.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: Essentially, it was like an experimental residency, a lot of people have called it.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: But my friend and classmate at that time at Heron in the sculpture department, Michael Rangi, who's known for Know No Stranger and other projects that he's worked on, he and I collaborated on this idea called give and take, where we would live on the island separately.
12:54
SPEAKER_00: That way we could experience the isolation and independence of living on this island by ourselves, but also collaborating with the public and creating this community back and forth where we didn't have anything on the island except this modular furniture that I designed, this bicycle generator that he and I designed and he ended up building, and these floating gardens.
13:18
SPEAKER_00: So we had those alone, and then we kind of relied on the public to bring us food, snacks, whatever, but we would trade with them.
13:25
SPEAKER_00: So we would create like these little drawings or sculptures from things that we'd find around 100 acres and we'd exchange them with the public.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: We'd row them out to our island on a tiny little rowboat, talk with them, and then they would trade with us.
13:38
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: So you like transported them as well.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: So like oh wow.
13:43
SPEAKER_01: That so they're so that's so cool.
13:45
SPEAKER_01: I also like were you were you undergrad students at the time?
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: We were undergrad.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: I was I was only like 20.
13:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
13:53
SPEAKER_00: What when I uh applied for it.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: I turned 21 that summer.
13:57
SPEAKER_00: I actually had my birthday on the island.
13:59
SPEAKER_00: It was very fun.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:01
SPEAKER_00: The island was like sinking on one side because there were too many people on it.
14:06
SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
14:07
SPEAKER_00: So many fun stories there.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: But yeah.
14:09
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we also had this floating message, like the message in the bottle kind of um.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: Uh I designed little miniature versions of the island that I carved out of foam, and then we coated with waterproof paints.
14:22
SPEAKER_00: But anyway, you could shove a note inside of this like tunnel inside of the island, and then people would push them out.
14:28
SPEAKER_00: And I joked around, it was like our little archipelago.
14:31
unknown: Oh, wow.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: Of these little uh faux islands that contain the messages.
14:36
SPEAKER_00: So we would go and row around the lake collecting these messages, also documenting them and talking with the public based off of the messages that they sent us on our blog.
14:46
SPEAKER_00: It was, it was, it was a wild time.
14:49
SPEAKER_00: One of the most interesting experiences I've had as an artist for sure.
14:53
SPEAKER_01: It just like emphasizes like if someone didn't believe multidisciplinary, there's so many things in there.
15:01
SPEAKER_01: And there's so many stories, too, right?
15:03
SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm all about stories and I'm all about the ways that like we connect with each other through stories and like how many connections and cool community vibes are in that grand experiment, grand art project.
15:16
SPEAKER_01: That's so cool, that's so fascinating.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'll never forget somebody rolled up their prize possession, was which was this like Y2K era magazine with the Backstreet voice on it, and they sent it in the little floating message container island thing.
15:33
SPEAKER_00: And they sent us a note.
15:34
SPEAKER_00: They're like, This is my prize possession, but I want you to have it.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: It's so funny.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: When I did have my birthday on the islands, you know, I'd posted about it on the blog, like, oh, today's my birthday.
15:44
SPEAKER_00: And there was like a group of, I think, kids maybe on a field trip or something.
15:50
SPEAKER_00: And I walked outside of the island and you could kind of see us from the shore, like from another art installation that's this really beautiful kind of like deck along the lake.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: And I just hear in unison them shout, happy birthday, Jessica.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: It was such a wild, bizarre kind of living situation for a few weeks because I did that for like three weeks straight just by myself.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and just to get like a clearer image picture.
16:17
SPEAKER_01: So a hundred acre, like how large is the lake, how large with the island, and were you kind of camping?
16:23
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
16:23
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty massive because I honestly was thinking at first I was thinking about a pond in the story, and then I was like, oh wait, Caitlin, you've been there.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: You know what the lake looks like.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's a significant size lake.
16:34
SPEAKER_01: It's not like a, you know, a lake that you'd see from space, right?
16:38
SPEAKER_01: That's like I'm trying to come up with the spectrum, right?
16:41
SPEAKER_01: There's like a man created pond, and then there's lakes you see from space, and it's like probably closer to the one end versus the other, but I'm trying to how would I how would we describe the size of that?
16:53
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it definitely took up a good portion of that 100 acres kind of plot of land, maybe like I want to say a third of it.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't know.
17:01
SPEAKER_00: It was pretty large, like rowing from one side to the other probably took me 20 to 30 minutes in my little row.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:07
SPEAKER_00: So it's not it's not huge, and I it might even be man-made.
17:11
SPEAKER_00: Um definitely bigger than like a pond.
17:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so it's like double, let's just say maybe for the sake of like double digit acres, acreage at that point with the like probably yeah.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: Don't fact check us on this.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, don't quote us on this at all.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: Don't quote us.
17:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, this is not an official number.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: But I but I think it is important to like because even an acre size lake is significant enough for you to like build a build an island and live on.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool, cool, cool.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, and the island itself was probably about 10 feet in diameter.
17:45
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
17:46
SPEAKER_00: I want to say like the main like living area.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: Um, the ceiling I could touch with my hand at the tallest point, and it looked literally like an igloo.
17:55
SPEAKER_00: Like people would call it the igloo all the time.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: They'd be like, Oh, you're the one who lives on the igloo.
18:00
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, because it was white, it was fiberglass, which is good because it reflected the sun and didn't absorb it.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: It was already super hot out there.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: I believe that over the summer.
18:10
SPEAKER_01: Right.
18:11
SPEAKER_01: It was like two college students die of heat, you know.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's no bueno.
18:16
SPEAKER_01: It was a different story.
18:17
SPEAKER_01: It was a different yeah.
18:18
SPEAKER_01: Okay, cool, okay, very cool.
18:19
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to be able to imagine it so that people could be able to imagine it because it is such a cool story, but it's like what I was picturing in my head initially, yeah, was very like little tiny space, and then you're kind of trotting through it, but it's like, no, no, no, it's a big lake, and it was a significant enough island, yeah, like a small room in the middle of a lake that was shaped like an igloo.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
18:41
SPEAKER_00: It was probably around the size of this room I'm in right now, my little tiny, like nine by ten studio, and then the there was like a seated area that was kind of like circular on our porch, if you will.
18:54
SPEAKER_00: And funny enough, thankfully, I was not living on it at the time.
18:58
SPEAKER_00: This was when Michael was living on it.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: Somebody swam up to the island and knocked on the door in the middle of the night.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: Probably like some drunk people, you know.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: I would not swim in that that body of water personally, but yeah, somebody swam out there and knocked on the door.
19:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: Like while he was sleeping?
19:17
SPEAKER_00: While he was sleeping, yeah, yeah.
19:19
SPEAKER_01: And then and then what happened?
19:21
SPEAKER_00: He just didn't answer.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, hello.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, it was just people they were like drinking and swimming out there, which I would again not recommend.
19:31
SPEAKER_00: No, no, no, no, no, no.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, like the combination of all sorts of things.
19:36
SPEAKER_01: It's just not not a good choice, but also, oh poor Michael.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: That that would be I I get very stressed when I'm woken up because of an unexpected thing in nighttime.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: So let alone being like, you know, on an art installation in the middle of like not my home.
19:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we already had spiders to deal with, which I tried to peacefully coexist with, but there was just one night where like one of them dropped down on my face and I kind of like freaked out.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: You raged.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I I raged.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: I was flailing about.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, it's over, it's over for you.
20:10
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
20:11
SPEAKER_01: Oh, cool.
20:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, and so like I think from this, right, you have expressed to me your desire to live life to the fullest.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: And I love that this story absolutely supports that.
20:25
SPEAKER_01: Hey y'all.
20:26
SPEAKER_01: You know I love telling stories, gathering stories, and finding a way to help people connect their story with the people that will get it.
20:34
SPEAKER_01: And that's what my story strategy sessions are all about.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: So over at Calhoun Creative Consulting, my strategic storytelling firm, we do one-on-one and or facilitated workshops in relation to really honing in the strategy around your story.
20:49
SPEAKER_01: It's a bit of messaging meets content creation, meets storytelling.
20:53
SPEAKER_01: And then how do we put that out in the world?
20:55
SPEAKER_01: How do we show up regularly?
20:56
SPEAKER_01: There's a bit of mindset work around it, right?
20:58
SPEAKER_01: To actually tell your story, whether you're launching something new or trying to rework your brand or just feeling a little foggy on how to communicate with your people.
21:05
SPEAKER_01: This is how to get clear.
21:06
SPEAKER_01: We'll dig into things like your narrative, how to uncover what matters most, maybe map out a few content pillars while we're at it.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: You'll also get a recording of our session so you can revisit the conversation anytime you like.
21:17
SPEAKER_01: Let's shape a story that actually feels like you.
21:19
SPEAKER_01: So book yours today.
21:20
SPEAKER_01: There is a link in the show notes.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: And hey, while you're at it, use the code podcast, all caps, podcast for 25% off your session.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: I would be honored to spend time with you and suss out your story.
21:34
SPEAKER_01: Let's dive back into the episode, shall we?
21:37
SPEAKER_00: To circle back to the mentors.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: One of my biggest mentors beyond college is Jeb Banner, who's an entrepreneur, and he actually is the one that got Justin and I started on our company Brain Twins.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: Justin's job at Smallbox is kind of reconfiguring because he started out as a web design.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Company.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: And then suddenly, because of things like WordPress, Squarespace, all that, you know, web design companies had to kind of rethink their business model and what they're going to do.
22:09
SPEAKER_00: So they became more of like a creative storytelling agency, if you will.
22:15
SPEAKER_00: And Justin's position was essentially becoming obsolete.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: So Jeb encouraged us.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: He's like, I think you two together can just make your art for a living, if you will.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: You might have to kind of tailor it in order to make some money.
22:31
SPEAKER_00: But I think you can do that full time.
22:33
SPEAKER_00: So I was kind of set on just working like a weird part-time job and then doing art on the side.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: So I wouldn't mix, you know, business and pleasure.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it really got me thinking about like, you know what?
22:46
SPEAKER_00: What does my ideal life look like?
22:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
22:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh gosh, measures will do that for you.
22:51
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
22:52
SPEAKER_00: And he was like, I believe in you guys.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: Like, I won't let you sink.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, we got like a small amount of money to help us get the confidence to get started and at least, you know, be able to pay our rent a few months as we kind of got started, which consisted of us doing like show flyers for bands or like album art for like$50 a piece.
23:13
SPEAKER_01: Well, and the show flyers were even cheaper than that, right?
23:15
SPEAKER_01: Like the covers were like$50, but I feel like, yeah, Justin's mentioned that to me that it was just like five dollars for like a flyer.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: And like or like when you consider how many hours you put into it, sometimes it'd be like you you made like a dollar an hour.
23:29
SPEAKER_00: Uh it was rough.
23:30
SPEAKER_00: We at the time, and we were also a couple at the time and we lived together, but we had no picture.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: We live, we like had a futon that we used as our couch and our bed and that and a projector, and that was essentially it.
23:43
SPEAKER_00: So we really did start from the bottom.
23:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: And then thankfully, well, we had done a stage design project for TEDx Indy when all those like TED Talks are so popular at the time.
23:56
SPEAKER_00: And somebody from Lily really liked our stage design and asked us if we could do similar for Lily.
24:04
SPEAKER_00: So we started doing some projects for them, which actually started paying us pretty well.
24:09
SPEAKER_00: And we're like, okay, if we get the right clients and the right kind of projects, we can actually do this as a living.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: Got started with that.
24:17
SPEAKER_00: And then for fun, we would make music videos.
24:20
SPEAKER_00: Again, not usually for a lot of money, especially with animation, considering how much time was put in.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:25
SPEAKER_00: But then the right director had saw one of our music videos, and he hired us on to do a project with him.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: And we started doing like storyboarding for commercials, and then we pitched a show to Netflix, which almost got uh the green light.
24:43
SPEAKER_00: But Mike Judge, you know, famous animator, beef as a butthead, King of the Hill, Daria, like all of these he's amazing.
24:51
SPEAKER_00: He pitched a very similar idea.
24:54
SPEAKER_00: And of course, like his was greenlit and history and the traction at that point.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: Right.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: We had a pilot episode that we had made, but then we're like, okay, I think we can really, you know, now instead of doing stage design and designs for you know pharmaceutical companies, yeah, they were great people.
25:14
SPEAKER_00: We really liked working with them, they were so nice.
25:16
SPEAKER_00: But then we could start working for other directors such as yourself.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
25:23
SPEAKER_00: Telling stories with our animation that are stories that we want to help tell, you know, something important to us and something that aligns with our, you know, vision and yeah and and all of that.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of how we got started.
25:37
SPEAKER_01: Well, and like the impact you want to make in the world.
25:39
SPEAKER_01: And I do want to go back to like kind of what you were just hinting at.
25:43
SPEAKER_01: It's a a formula, right?
25:44
SPEAKER_01: Or it's a recipe.
25:45
SPEAKER_01: You could be working with great people, but maybe the project's not like necessarily in your heart, right?
25:50
SPEAKER_01: And or you could be working on something that really is close to your heart, but maybe people aren't necessarily appreciating or paying you.
25:55
SPEAKER_01: And it's finding that like magic combination of like awesome people, awesome concepts, and well-funded.
26:01
SPEAKER_01: Like, you know, and that's something as as an artist, you put in so much love.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: It does have an impact.
26:06
SPEAKER_01: So yeah, I love that.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: Right.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: You have to make small sacrifices along the way.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: And for us, it was like stepping up a little bit at a time, like, oh, we got, you know, a gig of this acclaim or caliber, whatever.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: And then so we can start saying no to the lesser projects that you know we don't have time for or want to do anymore.
26:27
SPEAKER_00: So we can say yes to the projects that we do, and it gives you a little bit more control over your output.
26:33
SPEAKER_00: And then we still do brain twins, but we want to do only very specific stuff, like working for museums and exhibits and documentaries as they come along, but nothing else.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: Um, not as much like corporate stuff that we used to do.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: So then we started focusing on ourselves as individuals.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: So I have taken a deeper dive into my own personal art and working with other collaborators and really just trying to be an artist now and not like an entrepreneur, if you will.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: Even though totally, yeah.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: I have a lot of respect for that.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: I just I really want to be in control of my artistic output.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: And do what I love, love instead of trying to commodify what I love into something that I know I can sell.
27:21
SPEAKER_00: Cause to me, that's not very fun.
27:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, I love that.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: And and it goes back to like when I was like summarize yourself in a few sentences, and you're like, honestly, one word, artist.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: And I think your years like building up brain twins gave you that experience of how to pivot.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: This leads to this, leads to this.
27:38
SPEAKER_01: And then it's like now as an artist, you can be like, ooh, okay, this project could lead to that project, could lead to this, but it's less about that and more about what's the process I'm in right now, what's the thing I'm doing right now, and that matters more.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: And yes, I'm gonna do some stuff to make sure that that is prioritized and supported in in the best way possible.
27:56
SPEAKER_01: And I love that.
27:57
SPEAKER_01: I want to make sure that that is, I'm reflecting back to you that that is your truth before I so I'll let you speak to whatever you'd like to.
28:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
28:05
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I I don't like living in a capitalist society where we have to like sell ourselves to survive.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: It's it is what it is.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: I I'm gonna be as strategic as I can.
28:16
SPEAKER_00: Also, teaching part-time, even though, you know, notoriously professors, especially adjunct professors, don't make like a ton of money, you know, teaching.
28:26
SPEAKER_00: I love it so much.
28:28
SPEAKER_00: I love giving back.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: My students are amazing and inspiring.
28:32
SPEAKER_00: And if I can give them what my, you know, mentors have given me, it just makes me feel like I have so much more of a purpose in life, other than like making art, which sometimes feels a little selfish.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: If I'm just like, well, I just want to paint, I just want to do this for me.
28:51
SPEAKER_00: And it can become like a yeah, super individualist thing, kind of like what we were talking about earlier.
28:57
SPEAKER_00: So if I can think outside of myself, teaching is a great way to do that.
29:00
SPEAKER_00: And also, you know, it's enough to get me by.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: And then I really have full control now of what I say yes and no to.
29:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
29:08
SPEAKER_00: Which has been what I've been trying to do this first half of the year is knock off all my task lists, which got a little bit overloaded because of project delays and scheduling and all of that.
29:20
SPEAKER_00: Truly knocking off that task list.
29:22
SPEAKER_00: That way I can focus on the rest of the year for my residency that I'm a part of at Crown Hill Cemetery with Michael Muscaliuk.
29:31
SPEAKER_00: Oh, you and the Michaels.
29:32
SPEAKER_00: You can't be stopped.
29:33
SPEAKER_00: I I guess like I have a lot of friends that are Michaels.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, my fiance is Michael.
29:37
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, there's a there's a lot of them.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: So that I can't blame you for that.
29:43
SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of Jessica's too.
29:45
SPEAKER_01: I know, right, right.
29:46
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot of Caitlin's born, you know, in the early to mid-90s.
29:49
SPEAKER_01: So I'm out here also living that life.
29:51
SPEAKER_01: But there's 700 ways to spell Caitlin, which I don't understand personally.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: But that is not the point.
29:57
SPEAKER_01: Let's dive into your residency right now and kind of what projects you're sick in right now and what what you're enjoying and loving.
30:03
SPEAKER_00: So last year is when I started making more of my like film debut for the film that I did with Landon called Well, Symbiotic Hum.
30:13
SPEAKER_00: We got a grant from Indiana Humanities, which is what helped fund Hellbender for your project too.
30:18
SPEAKER_01: Indiana Humanities has been good to us for sure.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: We love Indiana Humanities.
30:23
SPEAKER_00: In case you all were wondering, we do seriously, they're such great supporters of artists of all kinds.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: That and just the humans there.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: I am just every single one.
30:33
SPEAKER_01: I can't I say to them all the time, I'm like, I can't pick my favorite.
30:36
SPEAKER_01: I love you all so much.
30:38
SPEAKER_01: Like they're just good, good people.
30:39
SPEAKER_01: And then they also funded so many wonderful things around the state.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
30:44
SPEAKER_00: So they helped fund that project ever since I've been a kid.
30:48
SPEAKER_00: When I think deep down, what I was super into, it was always film projects.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: Like in Spanish class, a lot of times for extra credit, we could do like a video project.
30:59
SPEAKER_00: And that was kind of like my first foray into shooting, editing, animation.
31:04
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, all of those set design, all the things that I love that I guess I didn't really perceive as art art, which is silly now.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: Now I get it.
31:13
SPEAKER_00: It's like, oh, this is why everything that I do kind of comes together and culminates for like a film or interactive projects too, which I really like.
31:22
SPEAKER_00: But I worked on that film and then physical matters, directed by Curtis Bowersock, because I've always wanted to do a fully animated short film.
31:32
SPEAKER_00: After those two projects, I'm like, I really want to start doing more of this for myself too, and working on smaller teams, creating like really independent, kind of experimental short films, because that's my favorite medium.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: So Michael Mascaliou, he and I had a proposal for a grant that we didn't get, but it was to make a short film about Crown Hill Cemetery or inspired by Crown Hill Cemetery, because it's just a place that we love a whole lot.
32:00
SPEAKER_00: And we were in talks with the Crown Hill Foundation for a bit.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: We kind of wanted their blessing on our proposal for the grant.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: They were super into it.
32:09
SPEAKER_00: So when we didn't get it, they're like, we still want to support you for your project.
32:14
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
32:15
SPEAKER_00: And then together, collectively as a group, we were like, let's turn this into an artist residency.
32:20
SPEAKER_00: So Michael's focusing more on the score and the music side of things, although he's also an animator and visual artist as well.
32:29
SPEAKER_00: We're gonna collaborate on the film.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: I'll kind of lead the visuals that we've been documenting, doing these long-form time-lapse photography experiments of Crown Hill, various like monuments, trees, etc., um, to kind of document the passage of time and seasonal shifts and all of that.
32:47
SPEAKER_00: But we're treating it as like a true artist residency all of 2025.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
32:52
SPEAKER_00: We're doing workshops as well.
32:54
SPEAKER_00: So actually for summer solstice, just June 21st.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: Saturday, June 21st.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: We're running a cyanotype workshop.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: It's sold out, unfortunately.
33:06
SPEAKER_00: So I'm not really promoting it.
33:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: But what what what is that?
33:09
SPEAKER_01: A what type workshop?
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Cyanotype.
33:11
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what is that?
33:12
SPEAKER_00: So that is like a very early form of photography.
33:15
SPEAKER_00: Ah.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: It's like a two-part solution.
33:17
SPEAKER_00: But you mix them together and you pre-coat paper.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: And you use the sun or any UV light source really, but you can use the sun to expose the image and it turns into like Prussian blue.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: Wherever there's a shadow, it's white or lighter.
33:35
SPEAKER_00: And then wherever the sun hits and exposes the paper, it turns really a dark blue.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: Cool.
33:40
SPEAKER_00: And when you think of architecture like blueprints, yeah.
33:44
SPEAKER_00: That's actually that process is used to copy blueprints.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: Cool.
33:49
SPEAKER_00: Also, a lot of biologists were using cyanotypes to document foliage, flowers, etc., you know, before photography was more accessible.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:00
SPEAKER_01: That lends to your mutual love for art, nature, and science.
34:05
SPEAKER_01: And I obviously have a a similar mutual love when it comes to especially film and nature.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: How do you make sure you like optimize those passions and optimize the time you get with those interests?
34:17
SPEAKER_00: Actually, the residency has been really helpful for this because I feel like it's really important to go outside and explore and not have a constant, you know, to-do list.
34:27
SPEAKER_00: Allow yourself to wander, go on a little adventure and make discoveries, which is so important for a lot of different fields, whether you're in science or art, music, whatever.
34:39
SPEAKER_00: So I think it's so important to just immerse yourself in nature.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: It's like my spirituality, I guess.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: Connection to nature.
34:50
SPEAKER_00: And to me, it just feels like magic and it's endlessly wondrous and inspiring.
34:57
SPEAKER_00: So I really like to incorporate that into my process.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: And funny enough, in regards to the residency and Crown Hill specifically, I used to not be a runner.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm not very good at it.
35:07
SPEAKER_00: I used to hate it.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: Like if you asked me five years ago what's your least favorite physical fitness activity, I'd be like running.
35:14
SPEAKER_00: However, Michael and I started running together and we've incorporated that into our art process.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
35:22
SPEAKER_00: In specifics to the residency, we run our various routes around Crown Hill Cemetery.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: And I have little checkpoints.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: And those checkpoints are where I take my time-lapse photos.
35:34
SPEAKER_00: So it's fun, it's satisfying.
35:35
SPEAKER_00: It's like I gotta get to my various checkpoints.
35:38
SPEAKER_00: I get to appreciate the beauty there and take the photos, and then I get to see it continuously evolve and change over the years.
35:46
SPEAKER_00: Some of which I started about three years ago for these time lapses.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: Others I only recently started in 2025 to mark, you know, the beginning of the residency in the middle of the winter.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: So I I think it's super important.
36:01
SPEAKER_01: I love how you shared a little bit of advice for other, honestly, people, but also artists.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: Do you have any other advice for folks listening who are like, oh, I'd love Jess's approach to life and I I want to live my life more fully.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: I want to be deeper in my art.
36:18
SPEAKER_01: I want to find a creative pursuit or spend more time in a creative pursuit.
36:21
SPEAKER_01: What would you advise someone who's who's kind of seeking that in their life?
36:25
SPEAKER_00: I would say just go for it.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times people kind of hold themselves back because they feel like they can't do it.
36:32
SPEAKER_00: I hear all the time, oh, I'm not an artist.
36:35
SPEAKER_00: But there's so many different kinds of art out there, whether you're a chef, whether you sew, whether you're a teacher, you know, whatever you're into, there's an art to it.
36:46
SPEAKER_00: So just kind of leaning into you and your true authentic self and your desires, and just to go for it because that I mean that's what got me going, just trying to be a full-time artist was I didn't want to live my life in regret.
37:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, there's so many quotes about people living their whole lives and they're on their deathbed, and no one's like, I wish I would have worked more.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: That whole story was super impactful for me hearing, you know, instances of that thought process.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, you know what?
37:17
SPEAKER_00: If I try and if I fail, at least I tried.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: And for me, I just kind of like fake it till I make it.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, yeah.
37:26
SPEAKER_01: Well, you know, you know, I'm out here.
37:28
SPEAKER_01: Like it's it's real, it's real, and you'll be surprised what comes along, what works, what doesn't, you know?
37:35
SPEAKER_01: And ultimately, like you'll be surprised how the regrets just aren't there when you do try.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: Right.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, the whole fake it till you make it thing is so funny, but that's kind of what I've lived by from the very beginning.
37:48
SPEAKER_00: That's like the first projects we started with.
37:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can make a show flyer.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: And then it was like, yeah, I can do a stage design.
37:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, I can create uh interactive art installation for public art.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: I can do it, kind of just committing to a project before I knew, but hey, I mean, this is where community comes back in.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: Thanks to the internet, the good parts of the internet, you can look up basically anything and learn how to do it, whether you're fixing your car window or something like that.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: Like you can pretty much learn how, maybe not everything.
38:21
SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying telling people to fake it till you make it in regards to surgery.
38:25
SPEAKER_00: Right.
38:26
SPEAKER_01: If you want to be a trauma surgeon, you should go to school.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
38:29
SPEAKER_01: And I did not.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: Right.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:31
SPEAKER_01: And she's not here telling her story of being a trauma surgeon.
38:34
SPEAKER_01: So it's fine.
38:35
SPEAKER_01: So good.
38:36
SPEAKER_01: Is there anything else you want to share with people?
38:38
SPEAKER_01: Anything that pops to mind that you're like, oh, people need to know.
38:41
SPEAKER_00: For me, I just have a million things to share always.
38:44
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of hard.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: How do you live like that with all the things?
38:48
SPEAKER_00: I mean, I ask because I do, you know.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: I make a lot of lists.
38:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna lie.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, artists, I think notoriously are known to be disorganized, kind of chaotic people.
39:00
SPEAKER_00: It's not true for everybody for sure.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
39:02
SPEAKER_00: And the way I have to keep the noise of my brain and all of my ideas and all of my various projects and all of the various moving parts of said projects organized is I have lists.
39:12
SPEAKER_00: I have so many lists, just everywhere, very detailed lists.
39:16
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes writing down the list helps me, and I don't even have to look at it again.
39:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I write it down, and that's how I keep organized.
39:24
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
39:25
SPEAKER_01: I'm curious too, because running helps the noise in my brain.
39:29
SPEAKER_01: Has running been helpful for the noise in your brain?
39:31
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
39:32
SPEAKER_00: So that's the thing.
39:33
SPEAKER_00: Like it's something that I used to, if I wasn't good at something immediately, kind of not like it because of that, which is really silly.
39:41
SPEAKER_00: I'm getting better at running, but for me, what I love about it is that I'm immersed in nature and I'm focusing, you know, a lot of times on my calves being in horrible, cramping pain because that's where I have issues.
39:53
SPEAKER_00: You know, it gets me outside of my thoughts in my head, especially my like intrusive thoughts or my never-ending to-do list.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: Going outside and running um allows me to focus on something else.
40:06
SPEAKER_00: And it's the best form of meditation for me.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: It's one thing to get strong and healthy, but for me, it's a lot of mental health that that really helps me out with for sure.
40:17
SPEAKER_01: I love it.
40:18
SPEAKER_01: Ah, Jess, thank you so much for your time today.
40:22
SPEAKER_01: Where can people find you?
40:23
SPEAKER_00: I feel like the best way to keep in touch with me, if you're into social media, is on Instagram.
40:29
SPEAKER_00: My main account that I use is at Sessica.
40:33
SPEAKER_00: It's S-E-S-S-E-K-A.
40:37
SPEAKER_00: It's a moniker I came up with when I was like a toddler before I could say my J's.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: So I said Sessica.
40:43
SPEAKER_00: That's what I called myself.
40:45
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of stuck.
40:46
SPEAKER_00: That or my website, www.sessica.com.
40:51
SPEAKER_00: I recently started a Substack because I'm trying to get away from social media and I'm trying to make more meaningful connections and read longer form writing and also write more myself and share in that way instead of just like little quick images or memes or whatever.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: So uh you can find my Substack as well.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: Love that.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: Love that.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I'm loving like this resurgent of Substacks.
41:15
SPEAKER_01: I think that's a lot of fun.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
41:16
SPEAKER_01: Not that Substack was something that needed resurge.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: I think it just like there's like this rise of Substacks these days, and I'm I'm into it.
41:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, mine, I'm just it's kind of my way of keeping people updated on what I'm doing, but we're looking to probably start a publication specifically on the Crown Hill residency and share some interesting history that we've been learning and researching, nature, happenings, all of that.
41:39
SPEAKER_00: I love that.
41:40
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
41:41
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you, and thank you for being on Crafted Connections, my friend.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: Thank you.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: I appreciate you.
41:50
SPEAKER_01: Crafted Connections is lovingly produced by Calhoun Creative Consulting, a strategic storytelling firm dedicated to helping people and brands tell their stories in a way that resonates.
42:01
SPEAKER_01: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe and connect with us on Instagram at Crafted Connections Bot.
42:08
SPEAKER_01: Keep creating, keep connecting, and telling me again.