I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists

In this mini episode of I Like Your Work, I talk about why waiting to feel "ready" or confident keeps so many artists stuck and how planning your artistic year while feeling afraid can actually be the most honest place to start. This episode is for artists who: Feel overwhelmed when thinking about the year ahead Struggle with creative fear, doubt, or perfectionism Want to plan their art practice without burning out Are ready to make work even when clarity hasn't arrived yet You don't need to eliminate fear to move forward. You can do it afraid. I share simple, grounded ways to think about creative planning, goal setting, and staying connected to your work—without pressure, hustle, or unrealistic expectations.   Whether you're planning a new year, a new body of work, or just trying to show up consistently, this episode offers a steady place to begin.   I Like Your Work Links:   Thank you to our Sponsor, the 2026 Canopy Program: Apply by January 14th at thecanopyprogram.com     Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources   Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to [email protected] with the subject "mini eps"    Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor   Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

Lydia Jenkins Musco's work has been exhibited in galleries and public spaces throughout the United States. With an MFA from Boston University and a BA from Bennington College, her artistic practice has been shaped by international experiences, including stone carving studies in Italy and participation in art symposia in Norway, South Korea, and China. Musco's work has earned recognition through awards including two Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants, a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, and an Edward F. Albee Residency Fellowship, among others. Her work has been featured in exhibitions including the 43rd Annual Peace Exhibition in Nagasaki, Japan, the International Print Center in New York, and numerous outdoor sculpture exhibitions nationwide. Musco has contributed to the art community through academic roles, serving as a lecturer in sculpture at Boston University and a visiting assistant professor at Davidson College. Musco lives and works in Royalston, Massachusetts. "I interpret the world into a vocabulary of objects with weight and mass that can be viewed from all sides, that help me explore the connections and intersections of elements. Basic construction materials like concrete and wood — ubiquitous and often used in humble ways we take for granted — offer me a path to honesty through their fundamental simplicity. Two groups of work are currently in progress, Logarithmus and Unconformity. The Unconformity series began as an investigation into perception and place, a reflection of the landscape of the woodlands of Massachusetts. In geology, an unconformity refers to a break in time, a boundary between rocks caused by erosion or a pause in sediment accumulation. Investigating the environmental changes accumulating in the landscape over the course of a year, each sculpture is an unconformity, a break in time, capturing a moment, holding it still, and documenting the changing color, light, and forms of a single place. The Logarithmus series explores navigation, inspired by the Chip Log, an early nautical instrument for gauging speed. The form of these sculptures is derived from the geometry of a circle's quadrant. The resulting shape, somewhat vulnerable due to its accessible interior, becomes an exploration of pathfinding, with all its inherent hope and uncertainties. With the guarantee of detours and missteps, my goal is to keep moving forward with curiosity. These objects are built from the ground up, echoing the process of memory or landscape formation. Like geological strata, each layer both influences and is influenced by those adjacent to it, above and below, side by side. Bound by gravity only, they are built in movable sections that can be dismantled and reconstructed. Each reassembly tells a new story, revealing how intention and environment reshape our understanding, making the familiar strange and the static dynamic."   LINKS:   lydiamusco.com   @lydia_j_musco         I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax.  Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists' tax deduction guide by going to sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourworkguide   Thank you to our Sponsor, the 2026 Canopy Program: Apply by January 14th at thecanopyprogram.com     Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources   Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to [email protected] with the subject "mini eps"    Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor   Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram  

If you've been watching the Miami energy from afar and wondering what it all means for your studio practice, this episode gives you the trends, themes, and takeaways that actually matter for artists.In this episode, Erika covers: • The big-picture trends shaping Miami Art Week 2025:  – Institutional validation and residencies becoming more influential  – The shift toward sustainable careers and long-term practice  – Experiential installations dominating many fairs  – Latin American and Caribbean artists in the spotlight  – The ongoing market correction and what collectors are looking for • A breakdown of the key fairs:  – Art Basel Miami Beach: What's new, what curators are paying attention to, and how residencies fit into this year's programming  – NADA: Emerging artists, experimental work, and themes like climate fiction + myth/memory  – Untitled Art Fair: Thoughtful curation and a special focus on reflection-based work  – SCOPE Miami Beach: Where Erika is speaking this year on sustainable artist careers and the power of residencies  – Additional satellite fairs: Design Miami, Aqua, Art Miami + Context, Satellite, Prizm Erika also shares: • How the fairs are highlighting conversations around artist support, sustainability, and community  • A grounded takeaway for artists who aren't in Miami: how to move your career forward from your own studio Whether you're at the fairs, following along online, or simply curious about the current art-world landscape, this episode gives you the quick, real insights behind the images.   I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax.  Make Taxes Easier and Stash an Extra $152k in Your Savings Free Class: sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourwork   Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists' tax deduction guide by going to sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourworkguide   Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources   Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to [email protected] with the subject "mini eps"    Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor   Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

In this episode, Erika explores how observation, travel, and memory shape artistic practice, inspired by her upcoming class in Italy, The Symbolic Landscape. Drawing from Corot's plein air studies and Goethe's Italian Journey, she reflects on how artists discover themselves through what they see—whether in a distant landscape or a simple daily moment. The episode invites listeners to make space for beauty and reflection, wherever they are, and to see art as both a return to the world and a way to transcend it.   The Symbolic Landscape- Class in Italy Dates: May 10 - May 24 Early Registration Discount: A 20% discount applies if Payment In Full is made before December 2nd, 2025.   I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax.  Make Taxes Easier and Stash an Extra $152k in Your Savings Free Class: sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourwork   Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists' tax deduction guide by going to sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourworkguide   Thank you to our Sponsor, the 2026 Canopy Program: Join an info session with Founder and Executive Director Catherine Haggarty and apply by January 14th at thecanopyprogram.com   Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources   Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to [email protected] with the subject "mini eps"    Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor   Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram

Gail Spaien (b. 1958, Hartford, Connecticut)  is an American artist and educator based in Maine. Her studio practice centers around the idea that a painting is a site of connection; an object that transmits emotion from one person to another. She is of a lineage of artists who think craft and beauty shape and build a more relational world. Spaien has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, including the Ucross Foundation (2024), Varda Artist Residency Program, Djerassi Foundation Resident Artists Program, Millay Colony for the Arts, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. She has received grant funding from the Lillian Orlowsky and William Freed Foundation, the Maine Arts Commission, and the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions, including Taymour Grahne Projects, Dubai, UAE(2025);  Mrs. Gallery, NY (2025); Nancy Margolis Gallery, NY; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK;  Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Ogunquit, ME;  Ellen Miller Gallery, Boston, MA;  and Colby College Museum of Art, Waterville, ME.  Group exhibitions include Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK; Center for Maine Contemporary Art, Rockland, ME; 1969 Gallery, NY; studio e, Seattle, WA; Provincetown Art Association and Museum, Provincetown, MA; University of New Hampshire Museum, Durham, NH; Institute of Contemporary Art, Portland, ME; Portland Museum of Art, Portland, ME; and the DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA. Spaien received her MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and BFA from the University of Southern Maine. After thirty years as faculty at the Maine College of Art and Design, she is full-time in the studio.   "Inspired by my geographic location and the landscape that surrounds me, the images in my paintings are of observed and imagined places where one can be in relationship with others, the world, and the self. They celebrate the beauty of everyday acts and the quiet rhythms of daily life. They are compact reductions of lived experiences and permeable arenas of contemplation. The way I make my work is a performance of slowness. Created through repetitive handcraft, marked by decorative patterning, flattened space, and subtly skewed perspectives, my paintings reflect the intimacy of their making. Blending still life with landscape, often depicting a unification between the interior and exterior, spectators of my paintings become inhabitants of a world in slower motion. Composing an idealized counterpoint, I suggest that slowness and attention to the rhythms of an ordinary day is a form of quiet resistance and renewal. My source material ranges from the animated movies of Hayao Miyazaki and Walt Disney to the symbolism of Dutch Still Life paintings. I reference quilts, samplers, mourning paintings, Japanese embroidery, early American wooden furniture, wooden boats, and the architecture of simple cottages. The meditative and precise quality of paint-by-numbers, which I did as a child, also informs my work, as well as my admiration of early American folk artists, the Pattern and Decoration movement, Intimism and the ancient artists of Ukiyo-e. My paintings are places, and I approach them as such. As a painter, I turn my back on the external world and enter the world of the painting. I hope a viewer might do that too. When people say, "I want to go there," I feel I have hit the mark in some way."   LINKS:   gailspaien.com   @gailspaien     Artist Shout out:  A shout out to my colleagues who are showing with Taymour Grahne Projects:  Amy Lincoln https://www.amylincoln.com/ @amyplincoln Matthew F. Fisher https://www.matthewffisher.com/ @matthewffisher Sarah Mceneaney https://taymourgrahne.com/artists/sarah-mceneaney @sarahmcinerney Samira Abbassy https://www.samiraabbassy.com/ @samira_abasy Katia Kamali https://taymourgrahne.com/artists/katia-kameli @kamelikatia Faycal Baghriche https://taymourgrahne.com/artists/faycal-baghriche And a VERY small few of my Maine colleagues: Philip Brou https://philipbrou.com/home.html Honour Mack https://honourmack.com/home.html @honourmack Tessa Greene O'Brien https://www.tessagreenobrien.com/ @tessagreeneobrien Grace Hager https://gracehager.com/ @gracemakes Hilary Irons https://hilaryirons.com/home.html @h.irons.h Brett Bigby https://www.alexandregallery.com/artists-work/brett-bigbee#tab:thumbnails @brettbigby Rose Marasco https://rosemarasco.com/ @rosemarasco     I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax.  Right now, listeners of I Like Your Work can get this free artists' tax deduction guide by going to sunlighttax.com/ilikeyourworkguide   Thank you to our Sponsor, the 2026 Canopy Program: Join an info session with Founder and Executive Director Catherine Haggarty and apply by January 14th at thecanopyprogram.com     Pre-order our catalog: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/resources   Have a question you want Erika to discuss in a mini episode? Email it to [email protected] with the subject "mini eps"    Apply to the Chautauqua School of Art Residency Program: art.chq.org Join Erika in Italy at Umbria Contemporary Arts this Summer: https://www.umbriacontemporaryarts.com/product-page/the-symbolic-landscape-instructor   Join the Works Membership! https://theworksmembership.com/ Watch our Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ilikeyourworkpodcast Submit Your Work Check out our Catalogs! Exhibitions Studio Visit Artist Interviews I Like Your Work Podcast Say "hi" on Instagram