Growing up artsy in an Asian household

This week on Willful, photographer Connie Tsang talks about:
• Growing up artsy in an Asian household
• The roots of her documenting, starting with her teen obsession with typing out Casey Kasem’s Top 40 countdown from the radio
• Creatives who make from scratch vs. those who document. Can they both be artists? 
Connie Tsang (@ConnieMTsang) is a Toronto-based artist and documentary photographer whose alternately quirky and deeply nostalgic take on life that has landed her photos in galleries in Toronto, Vancouver and New York, as well as books like, Sweet & Sour: Life in Chinese Family Restaurants and Neil Pasricha’s The Book of (Even More) Awesome. You can see her work at connietsangphotos.com.

Huge thanks to The Merchant Taps & Tavern and Mr. Greg Garson for hosting our series.

#DocumentaryPhotography #photography #Toronto #The6ix #TIFF #Urban#Cityscapes #TorontoArt #TorontoArtists #TorontoEvents#TorontoEventsPhotographer #ConnieInvadesTheWorld #ExploreTheWorld

Why artists should ditch their smart phones

Today on Willful, Toronto portrait artist Malinda Prud'homme shares:
• Her best advice for young artists
• Her thoughts on a beauty industry that profits from women’s low self-esteem
• Ditching her smart phone to increase her productivity

Prud’homme is a mixed media artist who believes in a broader definition of female beauty, regardless of age, size, ethnicity, or personal style. Check out her work at Malinda Prud'homme Art and malindaprudhomme.com

Jumpstart your day and get inspired by all of our Willful guests at WillfulProject.com. You'll make our day if you follow us here on Facebook. 

Our heartfelt thanks to Greg Garson for offering us our stage at The Merchant Taps & Tavern (181 University Ave. at Adelaide). If you drop by, Greg will hand-deliver to you his famous meat loaf. The guy does everything!

#Beauty #PortraitPainting #diversity #The6ix 
#WomenAndBeauty #RealBeauty #HyperRealism #SelfEsteem

Malinda Prud'homme's portrait art

Today on Willful, Toronto portrait artist Malinda Prud'homme on:
• how the flooded teaching market forced her to chase her real dream
• whether she believes “the staple of our generation: if you work really hard, get good grades and volunteer you can achieve whatever you want”
• Female beauty that goes against the “Disney princess ideal” (we have freckles, gap teeth, fros and more)

Prud’homme is a mixed media artist who believes in a broader definition of female beauty, regardless of age, size, ethnicity, or personal style. Check out her work at Malinda Prud'homme Art and malindaprudhomme.com

Jumpstart your day and get inspired by all of our Willful guests at WillfulProject.com.

Ethnic Diversity in Opera

Today on Willful, it's high time we talked about:
• Not being burdened by, “But that’s the way it’s always been done”
• How naivété is the creative entrepreneur’s friend
• Pushing for ethnic diversity in opera: “That’s a really white cast. Let’s fix that!”

Guests Rachel Krehm and Aria Umezawa are the founders and directors of Opera 5 (opera5.ca), an independent opera company in Toronto that’s hooking a #diverse 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.

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

Thank you, Greg Garson, for your enthusiasm and #CanDo attitude and for allowing us to shoot at The Merchant Taps & Tavern.

Interactive opera

In episode 4, Rachel Krehm and Aria Umezawa talk about:
• Opera Cheats: deconstructing opera plots in 3-minute YouTube videos
• Operas that bring in the dancers, pull gags, get laughs, and cast audience members
• What to do when your measure of success is blown out of the water

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.

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

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

Emo confessions

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.

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

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

Opera that ignites all 5 senses

Everyone has an opinion of opera. You're either yay or nay. See if this week's Willful guests change your mind. In Ep. 1,  Rachel Krehm and Aria Umezawa describe:

• Opera that ignites all 5 senses
• Why no one should have to sit motionless and silent through a show
• The origins of opera in the courts, and the surprising role of audiences

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.

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

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

Working her circular saw

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.

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 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

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.

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 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!

Hunting for inspiration

Today on Willful, artist Heather Kocsis describes how tearing down a historical building scatters its stories. Kocsis makes wood assemblages of old buildings and back alleys that make us rethink our past and present. In Video 2, Heather describes: 

• Hunting for inspiration in the urban landscapes of New York and Chicago.
• Deciding on a composition and building it, using layers of wood like a paintbrush.
• How buildings change our sense of community and our sense of self.

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.

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

#CreativeEntrepreneur #Interview #Willful #Mentors #Inspiration #Motivation #ArtMaking #Innovation #Leadership #FindItLiveIt #LeadFromWithin #SmallBusiness #Solopreneur #Interview #Freelancer #Painter #Sculptor #Architecture #ArchitecturalHistory #UrbanActivism, #JaneJacobs

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

Taking control of your digital marketing

Her years spent working on digital strategy for the CBC has made mystery writer, Angela Misri, a crackerjack digital marketer. In Ep. 6 of Willful, Misri shares tips on:

• How you can take control of your digital marketing.
• Showing what you want to be known for.
• Researching plot details on the internet

Angela Misri (@karmicangel) is a Toronto-based journalist and former CBC’er, now a co-host of the podcast, Ada’s Sisters (with Eden Spodek), and the author of  A Portia Adams Adventure Series.

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. Sometimes we post 6 or 7 interviews a week if the material blows us away. 

Follow us here or on our Facebook Page for our entire archive of inspiring interviews.

Thank you, Greg Garson and the staff at the beautiful The Merchant Taps & Tavern for your generous hospitality. #CraftBeer