Emo confessions

Alison Garwood-Jones February 21, 2017

In episode 2 of Willful, Opera 5s Rachel Krehm and Aria Umezawa talk about:
• Growing up immersed in the arts
• Opera bragging rights in grade school
• Feeding their teenage souls with Stevie Nicks ballads, Emo confessions, and harpsichord scales

Rachel and Aria are the founders and directors of Opera5, an independent opera company in Toronto that’s hooking a new generation with its immersive live productions and YouTube high jinks.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Thank you, Greg Garson, for your hospitality at The Merchant Taps & Tavern.

Working her circular saw

Alison Garwood-Jones February 9, 2017

Today on Willful, artist Heather Kocsis (@HKocsis) describes:
• If being a woman who works with blades, rip fences and sawdust ejection chutes still cocks a few eyebrows.
• Pricing her work, and why putting a value on her art gets easier with experience.
• Seeing yourself as a business person.

Learn more about Heather’s study of architecture and the effects of time at HeatherKocsis.com. Her multidimensional wood assemblages are in public, private and corporate collections across North America, including the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto and The City Reliquary in Brooklyn, New York.

Follow us on our YouTube Channel and Facebook Page, or here on our website WillfulProject.com for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you to Greg Garson and The Merchant Taps & Tavern for your tremendous hospitality!

Photo credit: StanSwitalski.com

Establishing good client relations

Alison Garwood-Jones February 8, 2017

Today on Willful, artist Heather Kocsis describes:

• How her work invites viewers to be present with their emotions.
• How everything goes away, but art has a permanence.
• Tips on developing good client relations.

Learn more about Heather’s study of architecture and the effects of time at HeatherKocsis.com. Her multidimensional pieces are in public, private and corporate collections across North America, including the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto and The City Reliquary in Brooklyn, New York.

Follow us on our YouTube Channel and Facebook Page, or here on our website WillfulProject.com for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you to Greg Garson and The Merchant Taps & Tavern for your tremendous hospitality!

When to ignore your client

Alison Garwood-Jones January 27, 2017

Today on Willful, Ricardo McRae explains why he and his partner, Gloria Roheim McRae, won’t let their clients lead a project. “We don’t do mock-ups for feedback, we don’t do surveys, and we don’t do rounds of changes. We have conversations.” He also describes:
• Promising clients things you have no idea how to deliver (to create pressure and force growth).
• Blending project management, business, and art.
• Knowing when to listen to your client, and when to ignore them.

McRae is a painter, TEDx speaker, and vision activator for Wedge15, the branding agency he co-founded with Gloria Roheim McRae. He is also the founder of Black In Canada the host of TheFramingPodcast.com.

Thanks, Greg Garson, for inviting us into your beautiful restaurant, The Merchant Taps & Tavern, and for also always believing in delivering the best you've got.

When to listen to your parents

Alison Garwood-Jones January 24, 2017

Today on Willful, Ricardo McRae describes:

• Turning down a placement in business school … for art school.
• When to listen to your parents’ advice, and when to say, “I got this!’
• Combining practical and analytical skills with emotional intelligence.

McRae is a painter, TEDx speaker, and vision activator for Wedge15, the branding agency he co-founded with Gloria Roheim McRae. He is also the founder of Black In Canada and the host of TheFramingPodcast.com.

Thanks, Greg Garson, for inviting us into your beautiful restaurant, The Merchant Taps & Tavern.

The starving artist scenario

Alison Garwood-Jones January 23, 2017

Today on Willful, Ricardo McRae (@RicardoMcRae) describes:

• Growing up in Trinidad, a hotbed of colour and creativity.
• How fear of being a starving artist pushed him into the tech sector.
• What racism feels like: “It’s like facing waves in the ocean. You can’t win against the ocean, you have to ride the waves.”

McRae is a painter, TEDx speaker, and vision activator for Wedge15, the branding agency he co-founded with Gloria Roheim McRae. He is also the founder of Black In Canada, and host of TheFramingPodcast.com.

Thank you, Greg Garson and the staff at The Merchant Tavern for your hospitality!

Monetizing your blog posts the DobberNation way

Alison Garwood-Jones January 10, 2017

This week on Willful, I sat down with Andrew Dobson (@DobberNation), the editor in chief of DobberNationLoves.com, a food, luxury travel, arts and entertainment blog now in its 9th year. In Ep. 2, Andrew talks about:

• The social media landscape after he graduated in 2007. Twitter was a year old!
• Monetizing your writing and videos.
• The mistakes he's made/lessons learned in the push to get paid for his creativity.
• Setting expectations with clients.

Willful is the web series that tracks how artists and creative entrepreneurs work, thrive and survive. We interview one artist a week, then post five three-minute snack films from that interview on YouTube every day.

Follow us here and on our YouTube Channel for more inspiring interviews.