Making Problems to Solve

This week I chat with Ryan Smith and Shane Mooney about the shenanigans we are going to get up to this year at the Catskill Mountain Maker Camp in the "Diresta" print tent! This year we are back with a new poster, even more block printing and new for this year, tree ring printing! Come check us out this weekend! Ryan is at @smith_makes and Shane is at @mooney_woodworks

This week we go through the maker history of Wes Swain of Geeksmithing, from his discovery of video game art with Mario Paint to school for game development to working in games and beyond to the online maker community and YouTube. We chat about his Mario Kart themed nursery and block printing techniques from the traditional to CNC router and lasers! Check out Wes on Instagram and YouTube.

A freeform chat with the creative team behind the new photography book "Five Years - Maker Camp Portraits" by Mark Adams! Mark Adams took the pictures, Jason Nix did the layout, Nick provided critical feedback, I pressed the record button, and the maker community provided the inspiring people! We learn about the challenges of picking out some of the best photos from approximately 30 thousand taken over the last five Maker Camps and the process of self-publishing an art book with Amazon. Check out Mark on Instagram Check out Jason on Instagram Check out Nick on Instagram

Annika is an entomologist who loves talking with anyone and everyone about the fascinating, beautiful, and bizarre world of arthropods! She has painted murals around Ithaca, NY and makes block printed art featuring bugs, the plants they live with, and occasionally sharp objects. We talked about the importance of curiosity and communication in her work, including acting techniques for science communication and insect body language. Follow Annika's work on Instagram. Shoutout to Gabriel and Silas

On this round of "Mark and Nick, Art, Life, the Universe, and Everything" we talk about Mark's maker portrait book, Nick's outdoor kitchen, and the most recent strike of creative workers, We also respond to Woodworking is Bullshit Podcast on perfectionism. If you are interesting in supporting the show you can help out on Patreon at patreon.com/makingproblemstosolve. Follow Mark on Instagram at @markadamspictures and follow Nick on Instagram at @designisblank.

Tina has a creative family, and after an early retirement went to school for carpentry. These days she loves the scroll saw, even for unauthorized uses and makes and sells cool sewing projects. She loves music and has even taken a guitar building class at the Nazareth Guitar Institute. Of course we talked about the Catskill Mountain Maker Camp and the wonderful instructors. Check out Tina's work on @bromleywoodworking and @bromleycreative

This week my guest is Shawn from Geek Builders. Shawn has been around the online making scene for a while now, sharing projects and co-hosting the Making Geeks podcast for 300 episodes. We chat about his path to becoming an animation art teacher, and learning maker skills from woodworking around the house to digital fabrication. Check out Geek Builders on Instagram and YouTube.

Liz Melchor focuses on exploration and discovery in the creative process, whether it's drawing freeform monkeys or instructing a robot to create something just a little bit unexpected. We discuss the maker community and getting over the need to get perfect in the pursuit of making something new and interesting. Check out Liz's work on Instagram and her web site.

Donovan creates maker content with an emphasis on family and storytelling. We discuss his history of building things, background in filmmaking, and his journey as a geek, a dad, and a DIY content creator. His tagline is "Build a Good Story" and his goal is to inspire people to try to make their own stuff with a story. Check out Donovan's work on Instagram and Youtube.

Aaron Dietzen's Instagram and Substack mailing list have the perfect title, so I re-used it for the show! Aaron is a Sketchup guy by day, and an abstract painter. 3d printer, and all-around maker the rest of the time. We chat about his artistic journey, and his goal of starting a creative conversation about inspiration. Check out Aaron on Instagram and Substack to follow along and join the conversation.