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You And I Make A Thing

By: Thomas Beutel
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  • Summary

  • Tune into You And I Make A Thing, where host Thomas Beutel and a guest make something they have never made before. Each episode starts with Thomas and his guest hashing out what they’ll create—be it a collaboration or each working solo toward the same artistic goal. In the latter half, they reflect on their experience of trying something new and conquering the unknown. Experience the power of starting from scratch, overcoming self-doubt, and embarking on a new creative journey. You can reach Thomas on Instagram at @beutelevision.
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Episodes
  • Laffing Sal Marionette with Alison Cowell

    Laffing Sal Marionette with Alison Cowell
    Mar 19 2024
    Are you old enough to remember Laffing Sal at Playland? In this episode, my guest Alison and I set out to make a marionette based on Laffing Sal, and it was something that neither of us had ever done before. Photos Links mentioned in this episode alisoncowellish Alison's Instagram Josh Bayer website Inking class online with Josh Bayer Musée Mécanique in San Francisco Playland at the Beach Wikipedia page Laffing Sal Wikipedia page The Lonely Goatherd marionette show in The Sound Of Music Altoid boxes into wallets YouTube video Barbapapas YouTube video Boudica Wikipedia page Sculpey Amazon link The Icarus Deception by Seth Godin Jonni Good website Jonni Good YouTube video Many Faces of Laffing Sal website by M. Winslow Playland at the Beach website by M. Winslow Tillie’s Punctured Romance Wikipedia page Pseudobulbar affect Wikipedia page Some of the above links are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission from them Transcript Thomas: Welcome to You And I Make a Thing. Joining us in this episode is the multi-talented Alison Cowell, a passionate urban sketcher, zine maker, and sometimes spooky storyteller. A familiar face at local zine fests, Alice is deeply immersed in the art community, constantly exploring and sharing her passion with others. Alison’s work has graced several local galleries, and her unique art style is a blend of mediums, including ink, watercolor, and colored pencils, each adding a distinct texture and depth to her creations. Alison’s ability to transform ordinary scenes into extraordinary pieces of art is truly remarkable. And you can find her on Instagram at alisoncowellish. Welcome to the podcast, Alison. Alison: Thank you, Tom. Thomas: Alison, before we get started on our You And I Make A Thing quest, I'm curious to know if you are working on a creative project at the moment, or you're looking forward to working on one? Alison: I am. So right now I have a few projects going on. So my main medium is comics and I’m taking an inking class online, with an artist. A comic artist. His name is Josh Bayer. And so I'm doing some projects for that class, but they're also sort of my projects and they're really like short format comics, where when I'm working on comics, it's usually I'm doing a story about something that's, kind of an idea that's really kind of out there and wacky. Thomas: I like that. Alison: And possibly also slightly tragic. One of the more wacky ones is I sort of have this idea about failed businesses, and that's something that amuses me. And one of the ideas I came up with was, what if you didn't have enough gravy in a meal, and do you remember those old Fotomat drive throughs where you could drop off your film? Thomas: I remember. Alison: So what if there was something like that where you could drive up with your plate and get gravy and it was called Gravymat? So I usually do things that are sort of like these ideas that are a little out there with made up characters, you know, just sort of like these wacky little characters that I create, but I'm doing some more personal stories in this class as well. And all this work I'm applying the different techniques that Josh Bayer, this teacher is breaking down for us. Then the other project that I have that is really a little bit of a rabbit hole and you can really kind of spend hours and hours and hours is like, I bought myself a button maker, and I collect paper ephemera, vintage paper, vintage books. If I see people have cleaned out their kitchen and put all of their old weird pamphlets from, you know, different companies and whatnot from the 60s and 70s, the 50s, those are priceless. and I love the way paper ages. Like it has this yellowishness to it. Thomas: Mm hmm. Alison: Really beautiful. It's so hard to buy paper like I've bought paper like that. It's hard to find in a sketchbook. It's usually really expensive. But anyway, so I have been making buttons out of vintage ephemera and weird, like old comics. And I feel bad I'm cutting things up, right? But, in a way, I guess like I'm giving it new life. And I'm trying to think of ways to display buttons, you know, people put them on their backpacks and whatnot, but I'm trying to find different ways to present them as sort of like assemblages, like an assemblage of buttons, like on a tote bag or something. Thomas: Now these buttons, they're the type with the pin on the back? Alison: Correct. Thomas: Okay. Got it. Alison: It's infinitely fun. It's just such instant gratification. I highly recommend a button machine. Thomas: Well, that's great. Wow. You are doing quite a bit then. With the, exploration of doing comics and stories and buttons. That's fabulous. Alison: Never enough time, but always trying to, you know, I need that creative outlet. How about you? What are you working on? Thomas: Well, I, of course, this podcast, I'm having a lot of fun with this podcast. I'm also right now working and learning block printing. Alison: Whoa, that...
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    52 mins
  • Embellished Photography with Carissa and Aaron

    Embellished Photography with Carissa and Aaron
    Feb 18 2024
    In this episode, I've invited my good friend Carissa to take the reins as guest host. She's brought along her friend, Aaron to embark on a fresh creative project, making something that neither of them has made before. Links mentioned in this episode Aaron Chen’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/journomadic/ Carissa Ferdinand’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/3cloudsstudio/ Air and Space Forces Magazine Minot State University Athletics Minot Daily News Carissa's Mad Hatter Carissa’s Cloud Guy Oklahoma City Asian district Textile artist Victoria Villasana Lao Gan Ma chili sauce KattGrass Studios Homestead Center for the Arts Photos Carissa's embellished print, photo by Aaron Chen Aaron's embellished print, photo by Carissa Ferdinand Transcript Carissa: Hi everyone, this is Carissa from Three Cloud Studios, formerly Koi the Creatrix, here with Aaron Chen on You and I Make a Thing Hi, Aaron. How are you? Aaron: Good, good. How are you, Carissa? Carissa: Good. Thank you so much for asking. Aaron is a passionate and accomplished traveler, lifestyle, and commercial content creator. He's known for crafting compelling visual stories that resonate with his audience and best reflect his clients’ values. Some of his work has been featured in publications such as Air and Space Forces Magazine, Minot State University Athletics newsletter, Reveille Music Publishing, and Minot Daily News. Aaron: That's a good intro! Carissa: Yeah. Okay. I wanted to keep it brief. Does that sound okay with you? Aaron: Yeah. That was awesome. Carissa: Thank you! So Aaron, I know that you have been on this bit of cross country photography experience. What have been some of the most memorable stops that you've made along your journey? Aaron: Yeah, thanks for asking that. It's interesting because the cross-country journey kind of ended up when I visited you guys. You guys are at the tip of Florida and that was the end of the journey there. Carissa: Yeah, so you went all the way from North Dakota down to the very end of Florida. Aaron: Yes. So North Dakota is where my journey started. And so same thing kind of as you, you know, North Dakota is kind of like our artistic, big breakthrough era. And I know we supported each other a lot in North Dakota. So I was very excited to go see you in Florida. Carissa: Yeah, in my hometown in like my natural setting here. Aaron: Yeah. Carissa: And Aaron was kind enough, he has done a couple photo shoots for various products that I have created, t-shirts and the like. He also was kind enough to stop by and take photos of my first art exhibit last year. And so I was incredibly grateful. And of course, the photos come out absolutely amazing every single time. Aaron: Oh, thank you. Thank you. Carissa: So any plans moving forward on your adventures? Aaron: Yeah. I have Hawaii coming up pretty soon, and then after that with Japan, and pretty much my plan is to travel all across Asia, capturing stories of people and culture, and then bring them back to the American audience. Carissa: Oh, I'm so excited hearing that. And I think that actually ties into one of the projects that I want to talk about here today. So leading up to this meeting, I've asked you to come with three ideas. I myself have come up with three ideas of projects that we can work on. We come from very different media backgrounds. And so I'm really curious to see where this goes and to see what we can come up with. T The idea is that we find a project that's a little bit anxiety inducing and maybe one that's feasible to accomplish within a month. So, typically what we do is a bit of a back and forth. You share one, I share one idea here. Would you like to start or would you like me to? Aaron: I think you can start. I'm very excited to hear what you come up with. I think you always have amazing ideas and it inspired me to keep spiraling and come up with more ideas. Carissa: Oh, yay! Okay. So as I mentioned, your upcoming journey throughout Asia reminded me of a project idea that I have here when we first started kind of arranging this meeting. It was right after New Year's. And so thinking about some of our past conversations, I thought about how important culture has been to the both of us. And I was interested in doing a project about the Lunar New Year, the Chinese New Year, because outside of calling it the Chinese New Year and knowing the animal associated with my year of birth, I really don't know much about the Lunar New Year. And so I thought it was a great opportunity to learn a bit more and to celebrate something that I know is important to you. Aaron: Yeah. I really appreciate that. That sounds really cool. Okay. Carissa: Well, go ahead. What is one of the ideas that you came up with? Aaron: So pretty much I just wanted to see which direction I wanted to take it in. Like I have kind of the Asian culture direction. Or even like a mental health direction. Or we can do a combination of both. But I really like ...
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    41 mins
  • Tunnel Books with Mel Anie

    Tunnel Books with Mel Anie
    Dec 11 2023
    Have you ever seen a tunnel book? I hadn't either, so in this episode my guest Mel Anie and I set out to create one. Listen in to hear how we did. Links Mentioned How to Make Raspberry Jam by Mel Anie Mel Anie's Instagram: @tumblingfumbling The B0ardside Stoke Fest Laura Quinn Bending the glass with a tea light YouTube by Laura Quinn Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures & Forms by Alisa Golden Some of the above are affiliate links and I may earn a small commission Photos of Tunnel Books Mel's Book Thomas' book Transcript Thomas: My guest today is Melanie. Mel is an artist and author living in the UK. She's active in the mail art community and runs the Society of Letters. Her correspondents are from all over the globe. Mel has also published Five Foot Story House's debut book called How to Make Raspberry Jam, a lyrical journey of anguish and joy. You may reach her on Instagram @tumblingfumbling. Hello, Mel. Welcome to the podcast. Mel: Hi, Thomas. Thank you so much for inviting me. I'm so excited to do this with you. Thomas: Oh, I'm excited too. This is wonderful. Before we get started on our ideas for You and I Make a Thing, I'm curious, do you have a current art project that you're working on or something that you're excited about? Mel: Well, I think at the moment I'm focusing on writing my big piece. That's like the core, most constant aspect of my creative practice. I've been working on something for about two years and now it's starting to take shape, but I have lots of little side projects. which a lot of those are participative. So for example, mail art correspondence in the past has been a big part of that. Yes, like you pointed out, it's mostly international. Whatever my project is, it's usually conversations. So at the moment there's a walking project going on. I do a lot of walking and I've started up a small online salon, but that's a really new thing. We've only done that once. And then sometimes these side projects, they turn into bigger things, more ongoing things. And I'm also joining a poetry writing group this month. But I've never really intentionally written to a form, so I don't think I've actually properly ever written poetry, so that will be a whole challenge for me. So yeah, those are some of the things I'm doing. Thomas: You are busy. Mel: How about you? Thomas: Well, I participate in a local art collective called The B0ardside. And we hold backyard art shows with music and whatnot. But there's gonna be a local community festival here in the neighborhood called Stoke Fest. And The B0ardside are going to have a booth at that festival. And I'm going to be leading some sort of do it yourself activity. Stoke Fest is all about surfing and the ocean and whatnot, so I'm kind of thinking of doing something with surfboards and surfers and like a little kinetic art project or something like that. So, you know, bring a bunch of materials and then invite people to build little kinetic art pieces with me. So that's, that's what I'm focused on right now. That's coming up on November 11th. And… Mel: I wish I was closer. Thomas: …you know, whenever there's a date coming up, it's always sooner than you think it is. Mel: Yes. Thomas: So, I'll be focused on that here pretty quickly. Mel: Yeah, that sounds good. You've sent me some of the B0ardside zines in the past. They're really neat. Thomas: Yeah, I enjoy contributing to them. Thank you for asking. Mel: You're welcome. It's always nice to know what people are doing. Thomas: Mel, I ask you to come up with three ideas of things that you might want to do that you've never done before, and I've done the same. How about we talk about them. Do you want to tell me what one of the things might be? Mel: Okay, yes. So one of the things I was thinking of is making some sort of food art assemblage. So they are maybe something like a croquembouche, which is an assemblage of profiteroles. Thomas: Right, right. Mel: Some kind of assembled piece of decorative confectionary in the sculptural form, or some sort of dish that is given to you between courses, something that entertains and also serves as a conversation piece. Thomas: Wow, I've never even considered making food as art. I mean, people do it all the time, I know that, but I've never thought about doing it myself. That's a wonderful idea, that's so out of left field for me. Mel: Ha Thomas: I'm loving it, it's like, make a croquembouche, and each little thing might be a different color or a different shape or something. Mel: You could do so much. I mean croquembouche has been on my bucket list as such for quite a few years. I don't make food art or anything like that. I'm not a baker. I have made profiteroles many, many, many years ago. But yeah, so that's something that I really like to do. And for me, I thought I would like to be able to finish something in a short time frame. You were talking about a month, and so I was thinking, let's see if I can ...
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    50 mins
Art
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