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 Watson 01:24 Podcast Premise 02:46 Zooming From New Zealand 03:50 Fearless With Art 06:15 Sewing And Scrapbooking Roots 09:31 Life In Christchurch 14:50 Supplies And Access Limits 25:00 Mixed Media Enters Scrapbooking 29:32 Travel Albums And Memory Keeping 32:12 Trips Abroad And Family 37:45 Back To Art Skills 40:10 Wild Watercolor Breakdown 41:53 Watercolor Control Struggles 42:28 Learning Curve and Confidence 42:57 Memory and School Stories 44:23 What Creativity Feels Like 45:49 Retail Career and Retirement 50:55 Morning Routine and Cats 55:50 Fodder School Habits 56:37 Supply Hunting in NZ 58:02 The Pen That Worked 01:01:16 When Art Time Happens 01:04:38 Family Reactions to Art 01:06:56 NZ Friends and Immigration 01:10:21 Crop and Craft Community 01:15:59 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 Hudson 03:28 AI Art Debate 13:48 Emma In England 14:16 From Seaside To London 17:25 Teaching And Family 20:29 Rheumatoid Arthritis Shift 22:21 Sketchbooks And Projects 26:26 Instagram To Fodder School 30:27 Finding Her Tribe 34:12 Early Art Roots 34:53 Scrap Collage Roots 36:10 Childhood Materials Memory 38:28 Take Hart Felt Tips 39:57 Sketchbooks Without Notes 43:58 Art Through Life Shifts 45:22 Finding Purpose as Artist 49:56 Online Community Connection 52:28 Art Shops and Access 58:49 Always Making Projects 59:39 Originality and Inspiration 01:04:03 Aging Into Freedom 01:06:21 Detaching From Doomscrolling 01:07:28 Workday Without News 01:09:34 Kids In The Rage Machine 01:10:31 Personal Art Practices 01:12:34 Learning Styles And Teaching 01:16:44 Altering Clothes For Comfort 01:21:44 Ancestors And Showing Up 01:24:44 Freedom Without Judgment 01:27:41 Finding Your Color Palette 01:29:51 Why We Love Decay 01:33:27 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-Cronkhite 01:46 Show Intro Theme 03:07 Tina Background 04:46 Mom Artist Roots 08:02 Engineering to Art 11:44 Graphic Design Career 13:42 Calligraphy Discovery 15:41 Guild Workshops 23:42 Online Classes and Fodder 24:58 Studio Space Reality 28:16 Displaying Finished Work 29:40 Selling vs Making Joy 31:09 Gifting Art Without Fear 31:58 Keeping Up With Fodder School 34:16 UFOs From Loving Projects 36:34 Art Outside The Lessons 37:58 Pickleball And Productivity 39:37 Following Teachers Your Way 43:10 Master Boards And Style 46:20 Traditional Calligraphy Vs Trends 49:44 Guilds Aging And Craft Magic 53:06 Lefty Struggles And Imperfection 55:50 Calligraphy Guild Nostalgia 57:41 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 Marie 02:26 Podcast Premise and Subscribe 03:49 Crystal’s Chicago Studio Life 08:26 Finding the Perfect Live Work Space 13:10 Early Making Roots 15:35 Scholarship to University High 22:04 Teen Parenthood and Survival 30:06 Creativity Through Beads and Sewing 31:50 Printing Career and Moving to Chicago 36:51 Brady Bunch Burnout 39:36 eBay Paper Hustle to Collage 41:57 Somerset Studio Spark 46:59 Blog Era and First Teaching Gig 49:54 Discovering Encaustic Wax 53:59 Basement Studio Beginnings 55:29 Shifting to Abstract Collage 59:24 Selling Art Online Early 01:01:12 Finding the Old Work 01:04:00 Book and Name Change 01:06:15 Intuition and Altering Papers 01:10:45 Mold Loss and Rebuilding 01:16:25 Pandemic Online Teaching Boom 01:19:51 Where to Buy and Follow 01:28:11 Illness and Career Upside Down 01:38:30 Fodder Challenge Hair Brush 01:43:05 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 Fong 02:01 Podcast Premise 03:23 Bay Area Roots 06:03 Early Crafting Life 07:39 Supplies And Shopping 10:25 Tech Career Path 13:57 From Crafts To Mixed Media 18:31 Finding Her Style 25:03 Becoming A Teacher 27:41 Why Fodder School Works 33:00 Her Fodder Challenge Dolls 35:07 Finding Your Own Style 36:03 Paper Dolls Project 36:30 Calendar Collage Plan 37:21 Ransom Letters Method 39:38 Why Make Art Calendars 43:54 Storing Cutout Letters 45:51 How Style Evolves 50:44 Teaching Online Leap 51:52 Daughter’s YouTube Journey 55:15 Etsy Shop and Instagram 58:49 Pickleball and Family Life 01:00:17 Confidence and Closing