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What are the lessons from the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s 84 page report, Creating Future Memory: Building the field of Artist Legacy Stewardship? This week, I sit down with Solana Chehtman to discuss the stakes of artist legacy. As Director of Artist Programs at the Joan Mitchell Foundation, she has spent years connecting with archivists, curators, conservators, and artists’ families to learn what happens to an artist’s work once they’re gone. In this episode, we talk about why legacy planning belongs in a working artist’s practice, who should help carry the load, and what we lose when the market decides which artists get remembered. Chehtman’s case for starting now is practical: someone is always talking about your work, and the more you’ve documented, the more say you have in what they say. About Solana Chehtman: Chehtman led Creating Future Memory, a 2025 convening that brought 145 legacy professionals together in Brooklyn, and co-authored the foundation’s report of the same name with Sharon Mizota. Before joining the foundation, she worked with artists at The High Line and The Shed. Resources and Names From the Joan Mitchell Foundation Creating Future Memory: Building the Field of Artist Legacy Stewardship (free report): https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/creating-future-memory-report Legacy Field Map: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/legacy-field-map Creating Future Memory convening (May 2025, BRIC): https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/journal/creating-future-memory-convening-2025 Creating a Living Legacy (CALL): Legacy Planning Tools: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/legacy-planning-tools Career Documentation for the Visual Artist (this episode’s assignment): https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/career-documentation-for-the-visual-artist Estate Planning for Visual Artists: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/estate-planning-for-visual-artists Estate Planning for Visual Artists: A Workbook for Attorneys & Executors: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/estate-planning-for-visual-artists-a-workbook-for-attorneys-executors Artist Legacy Initiatives: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/artist-legacy-initiatives Joan Mitchell Fellowship: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/joan-mitchell-fellowship Joan Mitchell (biography): https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/joan-mitchell/biography Report Authors Sharon Mizota, co-writer of the report: https://hyperallergic.com/author/sharon-mizota/ Solana Chehtman, Director of Artist Programs, Joan Mitchell Foundation: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/solana-chehtman Foundation Staff and Board Mentioned Christa Blatchford, Executive Director: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/christa-blatchford Josh T Franco, Board Member; Executive Director, US Latinx Art Forum; Collector at Large, Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art: https://www.joanmitchellfoundation.org/josh-t-franco | https://uslaf.org Shervone Neckles, artist and former Artist Programs Manager (CALL): https://shervoneneckles.com Kay Takeda, former Deputy Director, Artist Programs, and co-editor of Career Documentation for the Visual Artist Creating Future Memory Advisory Council Lisa Darms, Hauser & Wirth Institute: https://hauserwirthinstitute.org Ryan S. Flahive, Archivist, Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA): https://iaia.edu/archives Josh T Franco (see above) Tempestt Hazel, Sixty Inches From Center: https://sixtyinchesfromcenter.org Seitu Ken Jones, artist: https://seitujonesstudio.com Shannon Brunette, Office of Cultural Work: https://officeofculturalwork.org Chelsea Spengemann, Soft Network: https://www.softnetwork.art People Mentioned Daisy Murray Holman, Executive Director, Artists’ Legacy Foundation, and steward of the Estate of Elizabeth Murray: https://artistslegacyfoundation.org/about-us/ Elizabeth Murray: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Murray_(artist) Teresita Fernández: https://www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/teresita-fernandez Amalia Mesa-Bains: https://amaliamesabains.com Luis Camnitzer: https://www.unitedstatesartists.org/fellow/luis-camnitzer/ Valerie J. Maynard: https://valeriejmaynardfoundation.org Organizations and Resources Artists’ Kids: https://www.artistskids.com AFELL (Artist Foundations and Estate Leaders List): https://groups.google.com/g/AFELL/about Aspen Institute Artist-Endowed Foundations Initiative: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/aefi Valerie J. Maynard Foundation: https://valeriejmaynardfoundation.org Baltimore Museum of Art: https://artbma.org Smithsonian Archives of American Art Oral History Program: https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/about-the-oral-history-program Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel: https://chaucersbooks.com/book/9780316226172 Artist Relief: https://www.artistrelief.org Coalition of Small Arts NYC (CoSA NYC): https://anthologyfilmarchives.org/support/about-cosa Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund: https://www.legacy.mn.gov/arts-cultural-heritage-fund United States Artists: https://www.unitedstatesartists.org Artadia: https://artadia.org Creative Capital: https://creative-capital.org BRIC: https://www.bricartsmedia.org The High Line: https://www.thehighline.org The Shed: https://theshed.org

Andrew Russeth knows art. As Editor-in-Chief at Artnet News and a critic for nearly two decades, he sees more art than almost anyone in the art world. In this episode, he and Paddy Johnson dig into what keeps a career going over the long haul and why even artists with name recognition still have career gaps to fill. His most repeated advice may also be the most commonly dismissed: you have to have fun. Andrew Russeth won the Rabkin Prize for visual arts journalism in 2019 and was previously executive editor of ARTnews. Links and resources mentioned in the podcast Free Info Session How to Grow Your Career Beyond Your Region. Saturday, October 17 at 1 PM Eastern Sign up here Additional Reading Andrew Russeth, “Jordan Wolfson Is Opening a Major Show at Gagosian. He Does Not Want to Talk About It,” Artnet News, 2026 Jason Farago, After a Career Reshaping the Museum of Modern Art, its Influential Curator Steps Down, New York Times, 2026  Artnet News, “The Best Artworks We Saw in 2025,” Artnet News, 2025 Andrew Russeth, “Maverick Painter and Critic Walter Robinson, Who Helmed Artnet Magazine, Is Dead at 74,” Artnet News, 2025 Andrew Russeth, Massimiliano Gioni will Lead the New Museum, Artnet News, 2026 Andrew Russeth, “How Anicka Yi’s Science Experiments Are Expanding the Boundaries of Art,” W Magazine, 2018 Beeple and Jordan Wolfson, Dialogues: The David Zwirner Podcast, Episode 32 Rozalia Jovanovic, Say Hello to Jordan Wolfson’s Terrifying Animatronic Dancer at David Zwirner, 2014 Chris Wiley, The History of Zombie Formalism, Artnet News, 2018 Frank Benson, Wolfson, Animation, Masks, DisMagazine, 2012 Artists Jordan Wolfson Korakrit Arunanondchai  B. Wurtz Louise Lawler  Anicka Yi Faith Ringgold, Tar Beach Simon Dinnerstein, The Fulbright Triptych Galleries, institutions and publications Clearing Feature Inc. (Hudson) Colab and the Times Square Show Art-Rite reprint, Primary Information New Museum MoMA Writers Ben Davis Annie Armstrong Andrew Russeth Desserts Il Laboratorio del Gelato Morgenstern’s Chim Chim The Little One Marcel at Sotheby’s Sugar Sweet Sunshine Billy’s Bakery Fortunes Ice Cream Chefs Natasha Pickowicz Other names mentioned Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Richard Serra, Sadie Coles HQ, Richard Prince, Damien Hirst, Cindy Sherman, Robert Longo, Jasper Johns, Peter Halley, John Currin, Jordan Casteel, Amy Sherald, Pace, Esther Schipper, Jeffrey Deitch, Carlo McCormick, Charlie Finch, Jerry Saltz, Howard Halle, Bill Arning, Dave Hickey, Sarah Douglas, Jared Kushner, Will Heinrich, Magnolia Bakery

What makes an art fair successful? Sales. Crowds. Fairs that give people a reason to come back. This fall, artist William Powhida, Netvvrk Director of Operations Penny Retica, and I walked New York's fair week to see which ones do that job. We went to the Spring Break in the old CBS News offices, Independent 20th Century, The Armory, and Printed Matter's New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1. One of them left us with some serious FOMO.  Guest credits Artist William Powhida Netvvrk Director of Operations, Penny Retica Artists/Projects Mentioned: Spring Break https://www.springbreakartshow.com/ Kara Sheffler & Joanna Herr, Tiki Bar David Molesky, Prone to Bruise Christopher Chan & Lindaluz Carillo, Soft Bruise Kutay Tufekci, Roselynn Sadaghiani, & Richard Medina in Fool Me Can’t Get Fooled Again Alice Herbert, HOUSE ARREST Matthew Cronin, Catalina Tuca, & Joseph Wilcox, Afterimage, curated by Elisa Gutiérrez Eriksen Independent 20th Century https://www.independenthq.com/ General Idea David Hammons Jenny Holzer Armory https://www.thearmoryshow.com/ Dorian Langberg Michelle Grabner Darvish Fakhr Embajada Gallery Katarina Riseing Alba Triana NY Art Book Fair https://nyabf2026.printedmatterartbookfairs.org/ African Art Book Fair, The Pan African Library Will Not Be Colonized Book Arts Solidarity Network, MAKEREADY A, Lukas, Stop Hiding Behind Masks Precious Okoyomon, The Pleasure Principle Black Sheep, Riso Lantern Additional Reading Valentina Di Liscia, "Independent 20th Century, the Mise en Abyme of Art Fairs," Hyperallergic, 2026 Anna Kornbluh, Immediacy, or The Style of Too Late Capitalism, Verso, 2024 Activating the Transformative Potential of Commons in the Arts Free class If you want shows beyond your home city, join my free class, How to Get Shows Beyond Your Region, on October 14 at 7 PM EDT. Register here.

Mike Ryczek flew to New Orleans to see his work hanging in the kind of gallery he'd always aspired to. Dinner with the other artists went fine. Then came the gallery crawl the next day, and he froze: four galleries deep without talking to anyone, thirty minutes standing beside his own paintings waiting for someone to approach, and finally the Irish goodbye and some consolation fried chicken.  In this episode, the two of us talk about the moments an art career makes you feel like an imposter, and I share my own recent version of his story, because these feelings don't retire with experience. What changes is how you recover. Mike is a painter in Dedham, Massachusetts who has held gallery representation for over a decade, won a $15,000 Mass Cultural Council grant, and still interrogates every achievement for the trick behind it. Our conversation stays close to what an art career feels like: from the whiplash of rejection and reward arriving back to back to the self-belief it takes to keep assigning yourself work few people see. There’s no strategy in this episode, just the facts of the profession.  Relevant Links:  Mike Ryczek Creative Capital Mass Cultural Council

Have you ever struggled to figure out exactly where your art fits? Or maybe you’ve tried to write an artist statement only to find it one of the hardest tasks you’ve ever had to do. Today’s guest, Jennifer Sharpe, a multimedia artist and experimental filmmaker, has a way of making those problems vivid and infinitely relatable.  In this episode, we talk about how a continuously shifting cultural landscape affects artistic practice. Over the last twenty years, we’ve seen multiple online communities collapse and rebuild. Jennifer came away convinced that while platforms vanish and institutions wobble, the relationships you build are the only durable asset an artist has.  This conversation wanders in the best way. Racehorses, vagabonds, cave paintings, jobs, and a whole bunch of other ideas you wouldn’t think have anything to do with artists, but really do. RELATED LINKS Free Info Session, How to Get on a Museum’s Radar, Tuesday, July 21, 7:00 PM EST Jennifer Sharpe

The art world tells artists that if you just keep going, eventually something will break for you. But persistence can also keep you stuck. If you don’t know something’s broken so you keep doing the same thing, you won’t grow. That's what happened to Gin Stone. Gin is a Cape Cod artist who did what she was supposed to do. She kept going. And she stayed stuck because she didn't have the right help. In this episode, she talks about the gallery show that made her realize she had nothing to say about her own work, the overhaul that followed, and the grant she landed just last week for a sonification project built on 2,000 years of geological data.   RELEVANT LINKS: Free Info Session, How to Get on a Museum’s Radar, Tuesday July 21, 7:00 PM EST Gin Stone

After years of producing social practice art, Peter Walsh wanted to get back in the studio. So he rented a space and started painting. But when he started reaching out to his old painting friends, he found most had moved on to other things. He needed community.  He joined Netvvrk, along with many of the artists in his Brooklyn studio building. Then he practiced patience: he went to other people’s shows, built relationships, and let the work lead. That led to his first solo show in New York.  In this episode, we talk about restarting a practice mid-career, the self-doubt that shows up even with a long CV, and why the artwork always has to come first. Peter lost a painting the day before we recorded. He painted over it and kept working. As he puts it, he's not done. RELEVANT LINKS Free Info Session, How to Get on a Museum’s Radar, Tuesday July 21, 7:00 PM EST Peter Walsh

Guest: Mark Witzling, abstract painter In this episode of Art Problems, I speak with Mark Witzling about his career path as a painter. Witzling continues our series on artists who are building careers regionally, and his story takes on a second challenge that artists ask me about all the time. Witzling doesn’t have an MFA or a BFA in art.    And he works full time on his art. Want to know how he got his studio paid for and work placed without institutional bona fides, while living in St Louis, MO? Tune into this episode and find out!    RELEVANT LINKS    How to Get on a Museum’s Radar, (Free info session) Tuesday July 21, 2026 Mark Witzling Craft Alliance (St. Louis)  Southern Vermont Art Center — site of his solo show last year

Meg Lagodzki paints from a studio in the woods just outside Bloomington, Indiana, five hours from the nearest major art center. In this conversation, part of an ongoing series on artists building careers outside NYC and LA, she talks with Paddy about what it took to grow beyond her local market: the critique group that pushed her work in a new direction, the cold DM from a gallery that turned into a five-year relationship, and the shift from applying to open calls alone to finding opportunities through other artists. Meg also talks candidly about what changed once she started applying to harder, more selective opportunities instead of easier ones, and why the collectives inside Netvvrk, the smaller groups built around a shared thread like medium or geography, became one of the most valuable parts of her membership. Meg Lagodzki is a painter based in Bloomington, Indiana, and a member of Netvvrk's Woods and Forest Collective. Relevant links: Join the Free Live Webinar: How to Get on a Museum's Radar, July 21, 7:00 PM EST Meg Lagodzki https://www.meglagodzki.com/ Momentum Gallery https://momentumgallery.com/

In this episode, Paddy gives you the skinny on the Guggenheim Fellowship, one of the most prestigious awards for mid-career artists. The talk contains tips and strategies you won't find on their website, including knowing when to apply and how often. You won't find this information anywhere else, so have a listen. Even if you're not planning to apply, this episode will give you strategies for ALL grant applications. Relevant links: https://www.gf.org/

Katie Hargrave is a visual artist and associate professor at the University of Tennessee Chattanooga, where she's lived and worked for twelve years. This is the second episode in a series on artists building careers outside city centers. Katie talks about what that has required: virtual studio visits that now feel more natural to her than in-person ones, a social media presence built on sharing other people's work without an obvious ask, and getting really good at logistics. She and her longtime collaborator Meredith Laura Lynn work six hours apart by car, and Katie explains how that distance has shaped their partnership for the better. She also talks about why being direct early in a relationship makes everything that follows easier. Katie Hargrave is represented in exhibitions across the Southeast and beyond, including recent shows at the Hunter Museum of American Art, the Knoxville Museum of Art, and Granary Arts. She often collaborates with artist Meredith Laura Lynn. Relevant links: Katie Hargrave: katiehargrave.com Meredith Laura Lynn: meredithlauralynn.com

Ever wondered how to build a growing art career without moving to New York or L.A? Today, I speak with Jodi Hays, an artist who has done just that.  In this episode, Jodi talks about deciding early on not to bend to the art world’s preference for artists located in major cities, and to build something sustainable on her own terms. This meant investing in Nashville as her home and part of her practice, taking the long view on relationship-building, and using follow-up, not just outreach, to open doors. She also gets into the financial realities of working outside the major markets, and what it looks like to finally have gallery representation she trusts. About Jodi Hays: Jodi is a visual artist based in Nashville, Tennessee. Her work is held in public and private collections, and she is represented by David Lusk Gallery.  Relevant Links  Jodi Hays David Lusk Gallery

with Constance McBride, figurative ceramic sculptor, curator, and co-founder of The Hook Experiment Constance McBride came back to art at 47 after 25 years in the corporate world, eventually joining Netvvrk in 2021. Four years later, health reasons pulled her away from the membership. What happened next is the kind of story Paddy doesn't always get to tell: a former member building something real. Now based in Chester County, Pennsylvania, Constance is co-running The Hook Experiment, a nonprofit gallery and performance space in Oxford, PA, where artists can show large-scale installation and experimental work free from commercial pressure. The space hosts group shows and open calls, rents to outside organizations, and recently completed its first international juried exhibition. It's a 501(c)(3) now, with a board, an executive director, and a calendar that includes performance, sound events, and more. In this conversation, Constance and Paddy talk about how the skills she built inside Netvvrk showed up when she wasn't even looking for them, how artist-run organizations can be structured to protect studio time, and what it looks like to build infrastructure for your own community when the existing options don't fit. Constance McBride is a figurative ceramic sculptor and installation artist based in Chester County, Pennsylvania. She is a co-founder and board member of The Hook Experiment. Find Constance's work at constancemcbride.com or follow her on Instagram at @constancemcbride_art. Find The Hook Experiment at thehookexperiment.org or on Instagram at @hookexperiment. Questions? Email [email protected]. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Do you feel like an imposter? Most artists do, at least sometimes. But artist anxiety can take on a life of its own -- the voice that says your work doesn't matter, that you don't belong, that it's only a matter of time before everyone figures it out. This week's guest, Holly Wong, has thought hard about why the art world breeds this so reliably. When even objective markers of success can be questioned, the goalposts never stop moving. In this episode, we talk about how negative self-talk shapes outcomes, why grant writing can be a path to self-acceptance, and how to stay generous without losing yourself in the process. Resources:  https://hollywongart.com/ Biography Holly Wong creates fiber and drawing-based installations and collaged paintings that explore healing and resilience. She was educated at the San Francisco Art Institute where she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts. Holly has participated in over 100 exhibitions including group shows at the de Young Museum, the Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, and the Contemporary Jewish Museum. A Presidential Scholar in the Arts, she has received grants from the California Arts Council (Established Artist category), the Puffin Foundation, the George Sugarman Foundation, and the Barbara Deming Memorial Fund. She is represented by SLATE Contemporary Gallery in Oakland, CA, Bridgette Mayer Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, ELLIO Fine Art in Houston, TX, and Walker Fine Art in Denver, CO. Holly lives and works in San Francisco.

Crystal Hartman has been a Netvvrk member since we launched in 2021 — long enough to know exactly how she uses it, and what it's actually done for her practice. She joins me today to talk about what it looks like to run a studio with your values front and center: finding community after relocating to a new city, using Netvvrk as a resource library rather than a fixed routine, and how learning to articulate what she needed led directly to getting the keys to an experimental exhibition space in her town. Crystal Hartman (b. 1983, Durango, Colorado, USA) is a multimedia artist based in Urbana, Illinois. Her work has been exhibited at the CCCB, Barcelona; National Palace of Culture, Sofia; BMOCA, Boulder; Arvada Center for the Arts; and Denver International Airport. Her work appears globally in arts and literary publications, as album art through independent labels, and on book covers published by Oxford University Press and A5 Publishing, Madrid. In addition to her studio and curatorial practices, she teaches workshops on Light and Alternative Photographic Processes each spring through the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign at The Farms: An Allerton Folk School. Free Info Session: How to Get on a Museum's Radar - Tuesday, April 28th at 7pm EST. Register here. Website: https://www.crystalhartman.com/