Windowsill Chats
Margo Tantau
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Top 10 Windowsill Chats Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Windowsill Chats episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Windowsill Chats for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Windowsill Chats episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Creative Courage...Coming back to who you are with Maria Over
Windowsill Chats
12/23/20 • 49 min
Margo is meeting Maria Over in her windowsill. Maria is an artist, children's books and surface illustrator. Part Dutch, part Greek, she is now based in Munich, Germany. She comes from a Fine Arts background with studies in painting, sculpture and digital art, and her journey has taken her from the Netherlands and Sweden for her BFA to New York City, where she earned a Master of Arts degree at NYU. She then spent a couple of years working as a designer and art director in NYC, mostly doing web design and ID for big name agencies. After a move back to Europe and more years of digital agency work, her desire to combine on-screen with off-screen work grew, and she created her one-of-a-kind jewelry label indígena that has grown to sell online and in several boutiques across Germany.
Margo and Maria discuss:
- How many moves and cultures has shaped Maria’s art
- How she got inspired to start children’s illustrating
- How Maria finds daily inspiration
- Finding balance between digital and hand drawn art
- Legendary artist, Georgia O’Keeffe
- The power of marching to the beat of your own drum
- Creating connections throughout COVID
In the past 4 years, Maria has immersed herself in illustrating and returned to the kind of work that she had always been most passionate about, enriched by the wealth of knowledge and experience that she gathered across the fields of art and design over the years. Today, she loves illustrating with watercolors, inks and gouache, with a keen eye for the smallest details, colors and a good composition. She enjoys exploring surface patterns with lush watercolor florals and cherishes the challenge of working large scale on shop windows and murals.
Maria recently finished work on her first fully illustrated children's book for cbj (an imprint of Random House) blending in her favorite motifs of flowers, birds and people to tell a story about why happiness lives in our hearts.
Connect with Maria:
The Creative Journey to Inner Freedom: Using Art Making as a Portal for Personal Discovery and Self Expression with Jessica Swift
Windowsill Chats
04/03/24 • 68 min
Margo is joined once again by surface pattern designer, intuitive art maker, and course creator Jessica Swift. As a child, Jessica sported a nearly-permanent Crayola marker stain on her left arm, from pinky to elbows so, naturally, she became an artist. She creates colorful, uplifting artwork and manufactures her own products in her studio in Portland, Oregon. She also collaborates with inspiring companies and publishers to create branded products such as fabric, stationery, puzzles, books, and more. She's the author of 3 books and teaches online classes on topics including pattern design, color, and intuitive art-making.
Margo and Jessica discuss:
- The pivotal moment that changed the trajectory of Jessica’s career as an artist
- How she combines outer art mediums with an inner focus for healing
- Using art making as a portal for personal discovery and self expression
- How to tune out external noise in order to trust your inner voice better
- How engaging with art can impact decision-making
- Jessica’s approach in how she uses art as a vehicle for personal growth and insight rather than just an aesthetic outcome
- Authentic expression online
- Her upcoming course, Unleashed: A Creative Journey to Inner Freedom
Connect with Jessica:
www.instagram.com/jessicaswift
https://www.artforselfcare.com/unleashed
Connect with Margo:
Terry Runyan on a Lifetime of Balancing a Fierce Inner Critic While Embracing a Successful Creative Career
Windowsill Chats
03/16/22 • 47 min
Margo has a wonderful conversation with visual artist and cat lover Terry Runyan where they dig into the inner critic conversation that comes up no matter how experienced you are and granting yourself permission. For many years, Terry has lived with a very strong inner critic and tied her personal value to the art that she created but deep into her career at Hallmark she realized how greatly this affected her own well-being and her art. Today, she still has an inner critic (as we all do) but she’s learned how to navigate those negative thoughts gracefully and disassociate herself from her work, allowing her to live more joyfully.
Margo and Terry discuss:
- Terry’s creative career path and what having a creative mother instilled in her
- Her time at Hallmark and how it allowed her to see the value in diversification
- Letting go of self-judgment and the moment she realized her work doesn’t correlate with her personal value
- Conditioned and programmed thinking
- How she’s expanding her skill and broadening her comfort zone
- Leaning into the play aspect of creating and not treating everything as though it’s an assignment
- Stepping into joy
Terry is a creative encourager and loves sharing with others about creativity and being an artist. She sees creativity as the means to connect, communicate and share with each other! In addition to her YouTube channel, she has several classes available on Skillshare from discovering your art style to learning the Procreate app. She lives in Kansas City with her two sweet kitties Rylee & Tucker, who are a huge inspiration in my work.
Mentioned in this episode:
Connect with Terry:
https://www.instagram.com/terryrunyan/
https://www.facebook.com/terryrunyancreative/
Connect with Margo:
https://www.instagram.com/mtantau/
www.instagram.com/windowsillchats
Previous guest, Bethany Andrews-Nichols joins Margo once again to discuss their upcoming Windowsill Workshop event! In 2017, Bethany took a trip to Jaipur, India to learn about the ancient art of block-printing in which she was immediately hooked. Now, she’s a pattern designer and block-print artist and will be teaching others how to block print during the workshop.
Windowsill Workshops has been a long time goal of Margo’s as a way for listeners to be able to interact, learn, and be in community with her and her guests so join her as Bethany walks you through the basics of block printing and leave with your very own pair of ‘Big Girl Pants’ (or other item of choice). The first workshop will take place on January 29th at 11am PST and will run for approximately 2.5 hours and you do not need any experience to join in on the fun!
Bethany often block-prints her highly graphic repeats to embrace the uniqueness inherent in the process. Whether the design stays a graphic repeat or becomes a block-printed mural, a hand-printed pattern on leather, fabric or paper, or a washi-tape repeat in her sketchbook, she believes the addition of pattern anywhere & everywhere helps add an element of humanity.
Get creative with Margo and Bethany - sign up for Windowsill Workshops
Connect with Bethany:
Margo chats with self-taught graphic designer/illustrator, Bron Alexander. Bron has over 20 years of experience along with a never-ending passion for her craft and a curiosity that never rests, dubbing herself the Curious Illustrator. Over the years she has struck a happy relationship between her illustration and design work where her design background influences her illustrations and vice versa. This has manifested in being able to become an effective editorial designer for magazines, create her own range of limited edition prints, greeting cards and stationery and most recently the creation of digital resources for designers and product developers. She describes her style as being eclectic and ever evolving and she is inspired by artists both historic and contemporary.
Margo and Bron discuss:
- How young pregnancy and marriage shaped her early life
- Blurring the lines between traditional and digital mediums
- Making money via affiliates
- Trusting the timing and full circle moments in her career
- Giving yourself the opportunity to pivot and change
- Why she loves Rebelle for surface pattern design
- Appropriation versus inspiration
- Her equal love for minimalism and maximalism
Join the Relish Your Creativity Community Today!
Sign up for award-winning, hyper-realistic painting software, Rebelle
Connect with Bron:
Positivity, kindness, and the power of words. Bringing messages to life through lettering with Lynn Giunta
Windowsill Chats
12/15/21 • 46 min
This week Margo sits down with lettering artist Lynn Giunta. Lynn has been with Hallmark Cards for 37 years and discovered her fascination for cutting letters by hand during her tenured journey. She has always been drawn to positive phrases and never tires of seeing kind messages come to life. Lynn is also a graphic designer and children’s book illustrator and she and Margo discuss finding inspiration, stepping out of comfort zones when called to, and finding joy in opportunities you maybe didn’t see for yourself.
Margo and Lynn also share in:
- Lynn’s family history of creating things by hand
- The art teacher that changed things for her and the lightbulb moment that began her career path
- Calligraphy and the art of making words
- How she lost her creative practice because she wasn’t doing creative work outside of work (and then found it again)
- The importance of getting good at listening and understanding the voice inside your head
- How she got the opportunity to illustrate a children's book
- Building confidence through repetition
- And more
Lynn is a maker of things, creating happy art and positive words with scissors and cut paper. She is always looking for the magic in the scraps and unexpected pieces left behind and she hopes her art inspires and encourages you.
Mentioned in this episode:
Connect with Lynn:
11/24/21 • 24 min
On the eve of Thanksgiving Margo goes solo to talk about her thoughts on gratitude and how they play a role in creativity. She shares some tips to help you step into gratitude such as writing a gratitude letter, shifting perspective, and avoiding comparison (aka the thief of joy) as well as some quotes and poems that are relevant to gratitude and the American holiday of Thanksgiving. Do you have a gratitude practice that’s aided in your creativity? Let Margo know by sending her a DM at @windowsillchats!
Mentioned in this episode:
https://morganharpernichols.com/
https://chopra.com/articles/cultivate-the-healing-power-of-gratitude
Connect with Margo:
This week Margo sits down with dear friend Paula Joerling. Paula is an illustration and product designer whose art has been used for fabric, calendars and all kinds of home decor. To put it simply, Paula just likes making things; sometimes for profit but more often, just for the joy of it. For that reason, She thinks of herself as more of a maker than an artist or illustrator. Her inspiration most often comes from childhood memories and life experience.
Margo and Paula discuss:
- The intricacies of licensing
- Tapping into your own memories and experiences when creating
- Rules of life such as don’t over complicate things
- What to consider when it comes to building your portfolio
- Tips for getting out of frustration when you feel stuck in a project
- Finding positioning as an artist
- Creating for your own joy and happiness
- And so much more!
Paula loves problem solving and brainstorming. Much like life, her artwork is constantly changing. When she tries to take control, chaos will ensue, so she tries to go with the flow and follow the path as best she can. Life is more interesting this way. You can discover her work on a wide variety of products from fabric and garden flags to calendars and ceramics; sold throughout the world.
Mentioned in this episode:
Connect with Paula:
This week Margo is sitting down with her lovely mother, Sally Tantau. Sally is a former interior designer and all around creative being and instilled so much of her talents in Margo as well as many others. Sally and Margo have a fun and lighthearted conversation around sourcing creativity, how she got her start in interior design, what it was like to be an interior designer during that era (sourcing wasn’t as easy and there wasn’t a home goods right around the corner!), and the many fabulous clients she was able to work with. Sally’s big dream mentality and ability to trust in her path is truly an inspiration.
Mentioned in this episode:
The Nature of Home: Creating Timeless Houses by Jeffrey Dungan
Connect with Sally:
Infusing Identity into Art and the Power of Personal Beliefs in Professional Projects with Suzy Ultman (Part 2)
Windowsill Chats
02/14/24 • 54 min
In part two of this two-part episode, Margo is joined by illustrator, product designer, toy creator, and bookmaker of sophisticated and simple objects that inspire and delight young and old alike, Suzy Ultman. from graphic design to creating educational content for children, Suzy emphasizes the importance of infusing personal beliefs into professional projects and how hardships in her life such as her divorce and the loss of her sister played a role in her own creativity and imparting it on children. Make Time for Play is the main philosophy behind everything that she does as an artist and her signature products celebrate play, creativity, connection, and community in the world around us.
Margo and Suzy discuss:
- Her desire to create more Jewish products to represent her culture and heritage
- How personal struggles influenced her creative process and approach to life
- The self-growth and happiness that comes alive through creativity
- Using social media as a creative tool
- Rediscovering the joy of Shabbat and what it brought back in to her life
- The importance in finding time for creativity, self-reflection, and relationships
- Her new kids stationery collaboration
- And more
Connect with Suzy:
Connect with Margo:
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FAQ
How many episodes does Windowsill Chats have?
Windowsill Chats currently has 231 episodes available.
What topics does Windowsill Chats cover?
The podcast is about Artist, Art, Entrepreneurship, Design, Creative, Podcasts, Arts and Business.
What is the most popular episode on Windowsill Chats?
The episode title 'Follow your own instinct and interests and your story will write itself, beautifully. Creative insights with artist and agent Jehane Boden Spiers' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Windowsill Chats?
The average episode length on Windowsill Chats is 60 minutes.
How often are episodes of Windowsill Chats released?
Episodes of Windowsill Chats are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Windowsill Chats?
The first episode of Windowsill Chats was released on Aug 30, 2020.
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