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pencilpress – Susan Shoemaker – artist

September 9, 2017 By Sheree Martin

This week we’re rewinding episode 27 of the Birmingham Shines podcast featuring Birmingham mixed media artist Susan Shoemaker, who works under the name pencilpress.

As it happens, Susan / @pencilpress / is the featured artist for this month’s Birmingham Artwalk downtown.

Susan markets her work under the pencilpress brand, which connects to her college art studies in printmaking and her love of drawing. And she also presses hard with her pencil. Hence, pencilpress.

Susan is known for her animal-focused art and she explains how she conceives and creates animal drawings, paintings and other works.

pencilpress - Susan Shoemaker - mixed media artist - is the guest on episode 27 of Birmingham Shines podcast

Art as Calling, Art as Career

We get into art-as-calling (a little bit) the creative process, art in schools and what it’s like to pursue art while working a full-time day job.

Susan also explains how she gave up art for some years after college, while she worked full time, and then returned when she found that art was something that she could not let go.

Susan also talks about some of the challenges that artists are facing—and they might surprise you. One is the challenge of dealing with bad weather during an outdoor art show. Another stems from the frequent requests that artists receive to donate their work for fundraising campaigns. This is something that the artist community, overall, is facing and working to address.

We also talk about the challenge of pricing and value and perceptions of price, time, value and quality in the context of art AND food.

PencilPress.org (not .com)

Thanks to Chris and Ana Newsome for letting me commandeer a corner table at [the original location of Ollie Irene] at 4 p.m. one November Friday afternoon to record the interview and thanks to the house staff for being so accommodating with the request to turn down the background music a bit. Excited that Ollie Irene will soon be reopening in their new location in Crestline Village.

 

 

Filed Under: Art, Birmingham Shines Podcast Tagged With: artists, Birmingham, Birmingham Art Walk, pencilpress, Podcasts

Birmingham Shines Podcast Rewind: Javacia Harris Bowser

August 27, 2017 By Sheree Martin

This week’s edition of the Birmingham Shines podcast retrospective series is a rewind of episode 3 featuring Sheree’s conversation with Javacia Harris Bowser. This episode was released on May 13, 2015.

Javacia Harris Bowser talks about founding SeeJaneWrite-Birmingham when she couldn’t find the writing group she was looking for.

Javacia Harris Bowser, my guest for Week 3 of the Birmingham Shines
podcast, is a writer, teacher and entrepreneur. She’s also a successful blogger and founder of See Jane Write Birmingham—networking group for
women writers that has turned into a business.

Javacia moved to Birmingham several years ago from Louisville, Kentucky to teach English at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Before embarking on her teaching career, Javacia worked professionally as a journalist and she continues to do freelance writing work today.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Eleanor Roosevelt

That’s the inspirational quote that Javacia shared with me when I asked her for something to inspire others to Discover. Grow. Shine.™

If you want to grow, you must be willing to get out of your comfort zone, even
just a little bit. When you do, you usually find that it wasn’t so bad after all—especially if you’re taking little steps. No need to take up hang-gliding. Just send an email to someone you admire and don’t know and invite them to coffee. Take a different route home from work. Or maybe do your grocery shopping in reverse order from your usual routine.

It’s pretty clear that Javacia is willing to take her own advice.

When Javacia couldn’t find the type of writing group she was looking for, she decided to start one. The first “official” meeting of See Jane Write Birmingham was a simple dinner meet-up on March 24, 2011 at a Mexican restaurant in Birmingham.

That meet-up led to a “next event,” which was all about using Twitter to network, connect with others and build a blogging audience. The successful Twitter event led to a blogging workshop and into one-on-one consulting and even bigger events.

See Jane Write Birmingham has grown immensely in the four [now 6] years since that first informal meet-up and today Javacia offers consulting and online courses for women who aspiring writers and entrepreneurs. Find out more about the See Jane Write Birmingham story by listening to episode 3 of Birmingham Shines—if you haven’t already!

Javacia Recommends

What to Read

Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg

#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso

Where to eat in Birmingham….

Carrigan’s

Where to caffeinate in Birmingham….

Urban Standard
Church Street Coffee & Books

Listen

Goddess by Banks

Anything by Beyoncé

Where to get fit….

Lakeshore Trail

Birmingham Blogger…..

Jennifer Dome King: Stellar Fashion and Fitness

I love Jennifer Dome King’s blog Stellar Fashion and Fitness. It has such a great message about body positivity.

Life Hack

Get up early.

I’ll echo this one—I got up before 5 a.m. to start writing this blog post [in 2015]. I’m a big believer in “early to bed, early to rise.” If you know me at all, you probably know how I go on all the time about Ben Franklin!

What makes Birmingham Shine……

The Creative Class

I hope you are inspired by Javacia as I am!

Filed Under: Birmingham Shines Podcast Tagged With: Birmingham, Podcasts, Writers & Writing

Interstellar with David Weigel, Director of Christenberry Planetarium

August 18, 2017 By Sheree Martin

To celebrate the upcoming total solar eclipse we bring you a Rewind of Birmingham Shines podcast episode 8, featuring David Weigel, Director of Christenberry Planetarium at Samford University, and an avid outdoors guy who loves rock climbing all around Birmingham and the South.

David Weigel, Director of Christenberry Planetarium, was the guest on Episode 8 of the Birmingham Shines podcast, released June 15, 2015. We rewind it here in this Retrospective series to tie in with the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. Enjoy!

This episode was released as a bonus episode of Birmingham Shines on June 15, 2015. In it, David and I (Sheree) talk about recent discoveries, a bit of astrophysics, and what Birmingham has to offer those who love to spend time in outdoor recreation.

The Christenberry Planetarium recently published this short video on the upcoming solar eclipse:

Read more about David Weigel in this profile from Samford University.

David Weigel, Director of Christenberry Planetarium, was the guest on Episode 8 of the Birmingham Shines podcast, released June 15, 2015. We rewind it here in this Retrospective series to tie in with the solar eclipse on August 21, 2017. Enjoy!

 

Filed Under: Birmingham Shines Podcast, Life Tagged With: Alabama, Birmingham, Outdoors, Planetarium, Podcasts, Solar Eclipse, Things to Do

Wade Kwon on Founding Y’all Connect

August 10, 2017 By Sheree Martin

Birmingham Shines Podcast Rewind on InspiredSoutherner.com - Episode One with Y'all Connect Founder Wade Kwon - Twitter

In installment 2 of the Birmingham Shines retrospective series, we bring you the first “guest” episode of Birmingham Shines featuring Wade Kwon, a communications consultant, award winning blogger and speaker at Birmingham Blogging Academy, and founder of Y’all Connect, a digital marketing conference in Birmingham.

By the way, y’all….The 2017 edition of Y’all Connect takes place at Rosewood Hall on August 11, 2017. Sending great wishes to everyone attending this year!

A few of the people, places and things mentioned in this episode:

Y’all Connect Digital Marketing Conference

Wade Kwon: Wade Kwon and Wade on Birmingham

Birmingham Blogging Academy

Birmingham Shines Podcast Rewind on InspiredSoutherner.com - Episode One with Y'all Connect Founder Wade Kwon - Instagram

Filed Under: Birmingham Shines Podcast Tagged With: Birmingham, Conferences and Workshops, Podcasts, Wade Kwon

Birmingham Shines Retrospective – Preview Episode

August 3, 2017 By Kara Kennedy

The Birmingham Shines podcast was officially launched by Sheree Martin May 1, 2015, but the preview episode explaining the genesis of the podcast was released the night before (April 30, 2015).

We thought it would be fun to re-publish the episodes and portions of the show notes here to spotlight some of the Inspired Southerners in Birmingham who have been guests on the podcast.

In this installment, we bring you the preview episode, which explains the origins of Birmingham Shines and Sheree’s love for podcasts and audio content.

Sheree Martin - Birmingham Shines Podcast Rewind on InspiredSoutherner.com - Twitter graphic for Preview Episode

Birmingham Shines is one of 4 podcasts hosted and produced (so far) by Sheree Martin, a Birmingham-based entrepreneur, lawyer and writer. All 4 podcasts are published through iTunes (with media files hosted on Libsyn) and should be findable through just about any podcast app you might use. You can also download directly via the media player above, for offline listening. Choose the square icon with arrow pointing down to download to your computer.

  • Shine Springs Farm Shinecast: The original Shinecast® show, debuted in September 2012
    • Most of these episodes are currently found on The Ben Franklin Follies blog, but soon will be added to the Shine Springs Farm website. Link will be added when ready.
  • Birmingham Shines: Spotlighting the Creators, Innovators and Entrepreneurs in the Magic City
    • The original Birmingham Shines website was taken down to trouble-shoot a problem that developed and will be re-published soon.
  • Ignite Alabama: Sparking Innovation and Entrepreneurship Across Alabama
  • Discover Grow Shinecast: Helping You Along Your Path to Health, Wealth, Wisdom and Happiness

Sheree Martin - Birmingham Shines Podcast Rewind on InspiredSoutherner.com - Instagram graphic for Preview Episode

Filed Under: Birmingham Shines Podcast Tagged With: Birmingham, Podcasts

We tell real stories about the south. ~Kara Kennedy, Publisher

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