Based in Orange County, CA, for over 35 years Karen worked as a high school art teacher where she had the opportunity to both guide and observe her students as they engaged in the creative process of making art. Since retiring, Karen now draws from her years of experience in the classroom to inform her own work in mixed media collage.

https://www.instagram.com/karenakashi/

Based in Orange County, CA, for over 35 years Karen worked as a high school art teacher where she had the opportunity to both guide and observe her students as they engaged in the creative process of making art. Since retiring, Karen now draws from her years of experience in the classroom to inform her own work in mixed media collage.

https://www.instagram.com/karenakashi/

In this episode Karen shares her daily routine, finding comfort in ambiguity, and the liberation of finding your voice.

Listen to more on Patreon.

Based in Orange County, CA, for over 35 years mixed media artist Karen Akashi worked as a high school art teacher where she had the opportunity to both guide and observe her students as they engaged in the creative process of making art. Since retiring, Karen now draws from her years of experience in the classroom to inform her own work in mixed media collage.

In part 1 of my chat with Karen we talk about collaborating with your work, how a change in perspective can make way for breakthroughs, and how decision making can inform your own artistic style.

https://www.instagram.com/karenakashi/

Faye Yim is a musician based in the Los Angeles area who records under the moniker, Meishi Smile. They founded the record label Zoom Lens before going on to co-found Metaphysica, a new label and art collective.  

https://linktr.ee/meishismile

https://linktr.ee/metaphysica

In our conversation Faye breaks down their three-step creative process, how looking to their past work has provided profound creative growth, and the intrinsic value of creating art and music for a community.

Aaron Valenzuela is a musician originally from The San Francisco Bay Area currently living in Los Angeles, California. He records under the moniker Harriet Brown. You can follow his work here: https://www.instagram.com/yourveryownhb/

In our conversation Aaron talks finding confidence as an artist and collaborator, losing sight of why we create, and learning to let go of precious ideas in order to write songs.

Born and raised in the San Francisco bay area, Aaron first became interested in music after singing in his churches choir, sparking a passion that followed through his adolescence. But it was after he started his studies as an architecture major at UC Berkeley that he realized it was music that he was truly determined to pursue. Without looking back Aaron changed his major to music and went on to graduate with a BA, launching the beginning of his musical journey in earnest.

After some time living and working in Oakland Aaron decided to move to Los Angeles in hopes of taking the next big step in making music his career. In the first few years living in LA, Aaron found himself taking every opportunity that popped up and in turn he began making concessions in his personal work that ultimately led him to lose sight of why he had moved in the first place. Thus began a period of self-reflection in which Aaron was able to reaffirm his passion for music and establish a way to make ends meet by releasing music under the moniker Harriet Brown as well as DJ’ing and scoring for commercials and films.

Included in the unedited version and in the second part of the episode Aaron and I talk about finding our personal fashion styles, world building when it comes to making music, how he's brought choreography into his work and his recent hobby of leather working.

Listen to more on Patreon.

Ellen Akashi is a contemporary dancer originally from Orange County, California. You can follow her work here: https://www.instagram.com/ellen.akashi/

In our conversation Ellen discusses changing lanes to pursue your dreams, distinguishing the difference between hobby and passion, and embracing discomfort to become a better artist.

Born and raised in Orange County, California contemporary dancer Ellen Akashi started studying ballet when she was just three years old, and in time dreams of becoming a professional ballerina started to materialize. However, as she grew and started taking dance more seriously Ellen was suddenly faced with the realization that her passion and determination to become a ballerina were not enough as she lacked physical attributes like height and bone structure required of most professional ballerina. And now standing at a crossroads Ellen made the difficult decision to put dance behind her.

But just as soon as she'd made the decision a new door suddenly opened in the form of Contemporary dance, a style she was previously unaware of. Quickly Ellen found herself excelling again on this new path, sustaining her toward studying at Chapman University where she went on to earn her BFA in dance performance and onto dancing and performing in several projects and companies over the next several years.

Finding various levels of success, Ellen created a stable situation both financially and creatively for herself. However, after COVID she came yet again to another crossroads having discovered that she'd become complacent in her routine, and in an effort to grow and become a better dancer she's decided to move across the country to New York where she hopes to push herself outside of her comfort zone in order to forcibly move to the next step in her career.

Included in the unedited version of our conversation Ellen details her start as a dancer as well as the ins and outs of what its like to work as a professional in the field of dance.

In the bonus episode Ellen talks about her love of KPop and Korean culture before we segue into what it was like for Ellen as a Japanese-American the first time she went to Japan.

Listen to more on Patreon.

An update for upcoming episodes between June and July of 2022. Due to several upcoming life events, weddings and the like I'll be traveling back home to the west coast between the months of June and July and therefore will not be releasing any new episodes until my return. But, I am already scheduling conversations with some great artists in California which I'll begin putting up starting in August. So please stay tuned. 

As ever, if you'd like to support the show please consider becoming a patreon supporter. And be sure to follow the Creative Bear Hug social media pages on twitter, instagram, facebook, and TikTok. All of the links are available on my wesbite creativebearhug.com. Thanks for listening and see you on the other side. 

Cathleen Clarke is an American painter born in Chicago and currently based in Brooklyn, New York. Inspired by her childhood and the enigmas that surround it, Cathleen's work explores themes of memory, mystery, and the passing of time. You can find her work at https://www.cathleenclarke.com/.

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Born and raised in and outside of Chicago Illinois, from a young age Cathleen dreamt of becoming a fine artist. But like most, in her adolescence Cathleen put those dreams aside feeling she should find more practical means of making a living.

Jumping from job to job seemingly attempting to find her place in the world the years grew on until, after finding herself lacking direction, and with the inextinguishable desire to paint nipping at her fingertips, she packed her bags for San Francisco where she entered the Academy of Art. There she would go on to receiver her BFA in painting and drawing with gusto and for the next six or so years would continue to maintain a close and nurturing relationship with that which she had put aside all those years.

Since then Cathleen’s paintings have been exhibited across the US and internationally and now living in New York she continues to paint while striving to find a healthy balance between her creative pursuits and making ends meet. 

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In this bonus episode only available on Patreon Cathleen and I talk about our mutual love of Vanderpump Rules and how I got banned from the Vanderpump Rules subreddit, as well as my neuroses of reviewing books on Goodreads. We then dive further into Cathleen’s painting influences including the film Night of the Hunter.

Listen to Part 2 on Patreon.