Welcome to The Independent Artist Podcast with your hosts Douglas and Will — the show where we pull back the curtain on the real life of working artists.

Fresh off winning Best in Show at the Coconut Grove Arts Festival, Ecuadorian artist Nathalia Toledo Barcia joins us for a deeply moving conversation about culture, soul, and the stories embedded in her work.

Nathalia’s art lives at the intersection of painting and porcelain—where delicate surfaces become artifacts of memory and identity. Drawing from her Ecuadorian heritage, her paintings carry the visual language of her culture while her porcelain forms feel like relics of something timeless, as if they’ve been unearthed from a personal mythology.

In this conversation, Nathalia shares a belief that resonates with many artists: every piece of art carries a piece of the maker’s soul. For her, art isn’t just an object—it’s a manifestation of spirit, a form of nourishment for both the creator and the viewer.

We talk about what it means to create outside the corporate system, to live with the courage—and sometimes the naïveté—of believing that art can sustain a life. Natalia reminds us that artists are constantly evolving, constantly transforming, and that staying open to change is essential to a creative life.

In a world that often measures value in productivity and profit, artists quietly become something else entirely: a form of resistance.

This episode is a reminder that making art is more than a profession—it’s a way of keeping the soul alive.

Episode tags:

Art Worth: A Festival at Clearfork- https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=14014

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Sponsors
The National Association of Independent Artists (NAIA). http://www.naiaartists.org/membership-account/membership-levels/

ZAPPlication https://www.zapplication.org

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Welcome to The Independent Artist Podcast with your hosts Douglas and Will — the show where we pull back the curtain on the real life of working artists.

Visual artists Douglas Sigwarth (https://www.sigwarthglass.com/) and Will Armstrong (http://www.willarmstrongart.com/) co-host and discuss topics affecting working artists.

In this episode, we sit down with Erin Curry (https://erincurryart.storenvy.com/), an artist whose work is deeply informed by both science and lived experience. With a background in biology and a childhood shaped by parents who collected fine art and brought her to art fairs from an early age, Erin’s creative language is grounded in observation, systems, and an intimate understanding of how form, pattern, and meaning emerge over time.

Our conversation moves squarely into the present moment—one marked by political tension, the rise of fascist ideologies, and the ever-present weight of ICE and state power pressing into daily life. Erin speaks candidly about how these forces inevitably seep into the studio, and why making art that responds to now is not only unavoidable, but necessary. This episode is a thoughtful reflection on inherited art worlds, scientific ways of seeing, and the responsibility—and risk—of creating work that bears witness to the time we’re living in.

Episode tags:

Art Worth: A Festival at Clearfork- https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=14014

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/independentartistpodcast/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/independentartistpodcast
Website https://independentartistpodcast.buzzsprout.com/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@theindependentartistpodcast
Email independentartistpodcast@gmail.com (contact us here about advertising on our show)

PLEASE RATE US AND REVIEW US.......... and SUBSCRIBE to the pod on your favorite streaming app.

SUPPORT THE SHOW
VENMO/ username @independentartistpodcast or through PAYPAL.ME by clicking on this link https://paypal.me/independentartistpod?locale.x=en_US

Sponsors
The National Association of Independent Artists (NAIA). http://www.naiaartists.org/membership-account/membership-levels/

ZAPPlication https://www.zapplication.org

Support the show

Welcome to The Independent Artist Podcast with your hosts Douglas and Will — the show where we pull back the curtain on the real life of working artists.

Visual artists Douglas Sigwarth (https://www.sigwarthglass.com/) and Will Armstrong (http://www.willarmstrongart.com/) co-host and discuss topics affecting working artists.

Switching Gears in '26 is a candid conversation about what it means to keep making work when the ground feels uncertain.

We talk about the influence of legendary glassblowing artist Lino Tagliapietra, the pressure of staying creative during difficult economic and political times, and the strange in-between of waiting for application results for the 2026 season. We also dig into the ongoing tension between making work about something versus creating decorative work—and which of those paths is actually harder to sell. From making the work to finding the audience for it, this episode sits in the space between patience, persistence, and adaptation.

We also look at how tools like ChatGPT and emerging AI technologies are beginning to shape creative thinking, workflow, and decision-making. This is a conversation about recalibration, resilience, and choosing to move forward even when the path isn’t fully visible.

Episode tags:

Sono Lino- documentary about Glass Maestro Lino Tagliapietra https://www.sonolino.com/

Kimball Arts Festival-https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=13821

Sun Valley Arts & Crafts Festival-https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=14057

Art in the High Desert-https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=14073

Art in the Pearl- https://www.zapplication.org/event-info.php?ID=13832

Cat Tesla Business of Art- https://www.catteslaworkshops.com/

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/independentartistpodcast/
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/independentartistpodcast
Website https://independentartistpodcast.buzzsprout.com/
YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@theindependentartistpodcast
Email independentartistpodcast@gmail.com (contact us here about advertising on our show)

PLEASE RATE US AND REVIEW US.......... and SUBSCRIBE to the pod on your favorite streaming app.

SUPPORT THE SHOW
VENMO/ username @independentartistpodcast or through PAYPAL.ME by clicking on this link https://paypal.me/independentartistpod?locale.x=en_US

Sponsors
The National Association of Independent Artists (NAIA). http://www.naiaartists.org/membership-account/membership-levels/

ZAPPlication https://www.zapplication.org

Support the show