Makers & Mystics

Amy Orazio is a poet, teacher and writer from the Pacific Northwest. She received her MFA in Creative Writing at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles California. Her work has appeared in publications such as Bitterzoet, Gap Tooth, Pidgeonholes, Synasesthesia, and The Curator magazine. Amy’s latest collection of poems, titled Quench, is a meditation on exile and coming home. In this episode, Stephen talks with Amy about sitting with mystery and overcoming the need for resolve in her poetry. This episode features musical interludes by Colorado-based recording artist VNE. Patrons of the podcast can join us for an additional interview segment with Amy as we talk on Wendell Berry, Mary Oliver and the influence of nature within her writings.Connect with Amy OrazioFeatured Music: VNESupport The Podcast!Mentions in this episode: Thomas Merton, Mary Oliver, Wendell Berry, Send us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Austin Kleon is the New York Times bestselling author of Steal Like an Artist, Show Your Work!, and The Steal Like an Artist Journal: A Notebook for Creative Kleptomaniacs. His work has been translated into over twenty languages and featured on NPR’s Morning Edition, PBS NewsHour, and in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.The New Yorker said his poems “resurrect the newspaper when everybody else is declaring it dead.” He speaks about creativity in the digital age for organizations such as Pixar, Google, SXSW, TEDx, and the Economist. In this episode, Stephen talks with Austin about his thoughts on creativity, originality and his brand new, follow up release titled Keep Going, Ten Ways to Stay Creative in Good Times and Bad.  **Patrons of the podcast can access an additional interview segment with Austin on Creativity as subtraction and how the deconstruction process of his blackout poetry creates a new art form.Join Our Creative Collective today!Connect with Austin KleonJoin The Makers and Mystics CollectiveSupport The Podcast!Visit our websiteLorien Academy of the ArtsSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Sister Corita Kent was an artist, printmaker, educator and an advocate for social justice. She broke through religious norms in the art world of her day by incorporating popular song lyrics, advertising images and slogans into her work. Her pop-art style is reminiscent of the works of graphic artist, Andy Warhol. When Corita viewed Andy’s artwork in the Los Angeles Ferus Gallery, in 1962 she soon began producing her own pop-culture inspired prints. Connect with Corita’s workJoin The Makers and Mystics Creative CollectiveAaron Strumpel’s Music Send us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Kelly Archer is the founder and artistic director of the Chadash Contemporary Dance Movement. The vision and mission of Chadash is to cultivate renewal, reparation, and restoration in a broken world. Combining dance with film, poetry, multi-media, visual art and spoken word performances, Chadash Dance tells stories in an effort to honestly acknowledge the world as it is, but then seeks to engage in the conversation about what the world can be. In this episode, Stephen talks with Kelly about the language of movement and what it means to “stand in the ashes of the barn burned down and point to the moon. One half in suffering and one half in hope.” Chadash Contemporary Dance MovementSongs of WaterSupport The Podcast!Join The Creative CollectiveSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Rainer Maria Rilke was a Prague-born poet and novelist. His verses embody the human heart’s yearning to commune with God in an age of disbelief. His transcendent themes are deeply existential and contemplative in nature. Research by Morgan Chin YeeMusic By Aaron StrumpelSupport The PodcastSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Graham Cooke is an internationally recognized author, public speaker and strategist. He is known for a radical faith and friendship with God. Graham's books have helped organizations and individuals overcome negative, limited thinking and transition toward a higher level of corporate and spiritual life. An integral part of Graham's work involves producing resources for helping the poor and for eradicating human trafficking through supporting the organization, NOT FOR SALE.In this episode, Stephen talks with Graham about cultivating environments to serve his creative and spiritual disciplines.*Patrons can enjoy additional interview segments on how to deal with rejection and establishing healthy rhythms.Graham CookeMusic By: Aaron StrumpelNOT FOR SALESupport The Podcast!Send us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Teilhard de Chardin was a French Catholic priest, philosopher, paleontologist, geologist and World War I veteran who earned the Legion of Honor citation. He wrote extensively on science, on his scientific discoveries, and on his most intimate thoughts of Christ as the consummate culmination of spiritual and material realities. Marie TeilhardThis episode features music by:Aaron StrumpelSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Lonnie Holley is an African American artist who has devoted his life to the practice of improvisational creativity. His art and music, born out of struggle, hardship, but perhaps more importantly, out of furious curiosity and biological necessity, manifests itself in drawing, painting, narrative sculpture, photography, performance, and sound. Holley’s sculptures are constructed from found materials in the oldest tradition of African American sculpture. Objects, already imbued with cultural and artistic metaphor, are combined into narrative sculptures that commemorate places, people, and events. In this episode, Stephen talks with Lonnie and manager, Matt Arnett live from the Elsewhere Living Art Museum.Become A PatronLonnie HolleyMentioned in this episode:Elsewhere Living Art MuseumGee’s Bend Quilt MakersSundance Film Fest: I Snuck Off The Slave ShipSponsor Link:Kilns CollegeSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Guest host Marie Teilhard of Kilns College explores the spiritual and artistic views of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel. Marie TeilhardDownload Our Free E-Book: Five Creativity KillersMusic By: Aaron StrumpelSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.

Harris “The Third” is an award-winning illusionist and communicator. In recent years his career has grown to become one of America’s most sought-out speakers, storytellers, creative consultants and event curators. In 2015, Harris founded the Istoria Collective, a production company that creates meaningful and transformative experiences for people and brands through events, films, and digital media.In this episode, Stephen talks with Harris about his work as an Illusionist and what it means to create moments of wonder that inspire and move people to a place of transformation. Connect with HarrisJoin our Creative CollectiveSend us a textSupport the show Get Tickets to The Breath and The Clay 2026 featuring Malcolm Guite, Jon Guerra, and Jonathan Pageau! March 20-22 in Winston-Salem, NC.