BEYOND + BACK PODCAST is an interview-based podcast about creativity. Producer & host Krissy Teegerstrom talks with musicians, artists, writers & creatives in person about the creative process, where inspiration comes from & why they do what they do.
Ep. 3: Following the Thread with WK Binger
Sep 01, 2018
Show notes
Thanks for listening. I'm your host, Krissy Teegerstrom, and I'm an artist and a designer. Please find me and support my art at www.FeatherweightStudio.com.
Episode notes:
In this episode, we go beyond & back with WK Binger.
He's owned a tree removal service for over 30 years but recently he opened the Vintage Sewing Center & Museum in Tulsa Oklahoma.
Sewing is very dear to my heart, in fact I named my company Featherweight Studio after my 1948 Singer Featherweight sewing machine. But this episode is not just for sewing enthusiasts. I invite you to slow down and listen and open your mind. This episode may inspire you to take a left turn creatively and remind you it's never too late to learn something new. In fact, if you don't try new things you might miss out on part of your calling.
It's about falling in love with a machine and giving back to a community.
It's about creating without fear and being open to following the thread to see where it takes you.
I hope that listening to this episode inspires you to open your mind or to open a new door — listen to someone or something you might not normally listen to, learn a completely new skill, maybe give something away, or somehow challenge yourself to find that edge of failure and see how it opens up your creativity.
Ep. 2: Taking Creative Risks with Allison Anders
Aug 18, 2018
Show notes
Thanks for listening. I'm your host, Krissy Teegerstrom, and I'm an artist and a designer. Please find me and support my art at www.FeatherweightStudio.com.
Episode notes:
In this episode we go Beyond + Back with award-winning independent filmmaker Allison Anders.
How do I introduce Allison Anders? I will give you the highlight reel:
Her films include Border Radio, Mi Vida Loca, Gas Food Lodging, Sugartown, Grace of My Heart
She's received a Peabody Award and a MacArthur Genius Grant
She's a loving mother and friend, a multi-faceted survivor
And she's kind of a badass in my opinion
I interviewed Allison at her home in Pasadena, California. Before I finished setting up the microphones in her cozy kitchen, we were already having a great conversation. I gotta tell you, we get real right away — In the first few minutes, we discuss her film Things Behind the Sun, which deals with the subject of sexual abuse similar to what Allison experienced in her own life, so be advised if that's a sensitive or triggering subject for you.
Other topics we discuss include the state of the DIY ethic, how mentorships should come about, how to connect with actors, and how she often starts a project with a question.
Ep. 1: Letting it Rip with Nathan Carter in Brooklyn NY
Aug 16, 2018
Show notes
Thanks for listening. I'm your host, Krissy Teegerstrom, and I'm an artist and a designer. Please find me and support my art at www.FeatherweightStudio.com.
Episode notes:
In this debut episode of the Beyond and Back podcast, I speak with my friend fine artist and musician Nathan Carter in his Brooklyn art studio.
We're hearing from Nathan at a time when he's just spent about three years working on an entirely new project, a real departure from his previous work, and fortunately it's proving to be a success for him.
Nathan shares some formative memories he has about being a creative child. We talk about what it's like to have two parents who supported his creativity and believed that being an artist is a legitimate life choice. These types of experiences color our attitudes about creativity and whether or not we believe that we're allowed to be creative.
We also discuss Nathan's approach to creating, which invites some vulnerability, a healthy feeling of fear and an element of risk and recklessness.
This conversation is free form and we use words that some people find offensive. You'll also hear two songs from The Dramastics that might whip you into a frenzy. So listen with caution.
Beyond + Back Podcast Trailer
Aug 16, 2018
Show notes
Thanks for listening. I'm your host, Krissy Teegerstrom, and I'm an artist and a designer. Please find me and support my art at www.FeatherweightStudio.com.
Episode notes:
Find out what to expect from the Beyond + Back podcast, and why artist and creative consultant Krissy Teegerstrom of Featherweight Studio created it.
I'm teaching my first class!
Mar 07, 2018
Show notes
ON INTUITION + GROWTH: For the better part of a year, my intuition has been telling me I need to expand into teaching. Easy, right? People teach all the time. Unfortunately, speaking up & sharing what I know in a group setting is particularly terrifying to me. I'm very comfortable speaking one-on-one, but the few times I've stood in front of a large group I've actually left my body. I’ve known I need to try teaching but I wasn’t sure where to begin, so I felt stuck. About a month ago I got an email invitation to join one of five Field Trips presented by our local chapter of Creative Mornings. These are small gatherings where you meet up to hear a creative leader speak about their expertise. When I read through the topics, I heard "Go to the architecture talk," which is the last one I would normally choose. But I followed my intuition & signed up for it. On the morning of the Field Trip I arrived early & started saying hello to strangers. I met Nadine & we quickly realized we both sew. She mentioned the fabric store where she'd recently taken a class with just three other students. I told her I had offered alterations there for a short time a few months ago, & she said to me, "You should teach an alterations class at The Cloth Pocket." That sentence hung in the air for me as though it were written in bold type. Nadine had given me a key. Here was a chance to dip my toes in the waters of teaching, in a place I felt comfortable in, on a topic I love, for a handful of students. Fast forward: my first alterations class is March 25th! I'm ready with my agenda, my method, my message, & hell yes I am nervous. Should I have written a different more confident caption? Probably! But this is the truth. I’m not a seasoned teacher but I’m pretty damn good at alterations so here I go.
I share this story for many reasons, but here are two truths that always serve me: (1) When your soul calls you to grow, accept the call in spite of the fear you feel. (2) Tune to the quiet voice of your intuition. "Go to the architecture talk," was something I could have easily blown off or rationalized away, but look at what it led to so quickly!
Interview by The Creative Admirer
Mar 01, 2018
Show notes
A huge thanks to The Creative Admirer for featuring me in their Maker Monday Series!
"Keeping Featherweight going for this many years has involved getting over a lot of my fears & terrors, learning to accept failures and continually growing my belief in myself. Being an artist and being self-employed is not easy. It’s like an iceberg; you can only see 10% of it on the surface, and the 90% that’s hidden underwater has been a rollercoaster. Working for yourself can require you to do a lot of work ON your SELF. It takes so much courage."
VIDEO: Reward Yourself for Being Courageous
Jan 31, 2018
Show notes
Reward yourself for doing courageous things! Seriously. No one else knows how much courage it took you to do the thing. Acknowledge & reward your own bravery.
VIDEO: I Made a Sock Puppet to Represent the Negative Voice in my Head
Jan 31, 2018
Show notes
How I Would Wear It: Embellished Black Wool Blazer
Dec 19, 2017
Show notes
Creating Custom Rocknroll Capes for The DRAMASTICS
Nov 06, 2017
Show notes
Last month marked the third installment of my creative collaboration with multimedia artist Nathan Carter.
This time Nathan brought his multimedia exhibition of The DRAMASTICS: A Punk Rock Victory Twister in Texas to the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas. If you've been following along, you'll remember we first collaborated on a T-shirt and tote bag for his exhibition at the MOCA in Denver, then we made more tees & totes for the Casey Kaplan Gallery in NYC.
For the tees & totes, Nathan sent me scans and cutouts of his individual motifs and figures, and I laid them out into designs and oversaw the production and printing. It was a true design collaboration, a lot of fun, and they resulted in successful sales for the museum shops!
For the exhibition at the Nasher, we printed up more tees & totes like before, but Nathan had a more ambitious idea for The DRAMASTICS' live performance. Since the band would be playing live at the opening, he had a vision for making custom rocknroll capes for each member. And he wanted them in pink satin.
I started brainstorming what kind of pink satin cape silhouette could look cool and still function while people were singing and playing instruments. I wanted the capes to be lined, so that they looked punk but polished. I have a giant full length wool cape from the 1960s that has a front panel and two long slits for arms to come through. I sketched a shortened version of that and Nathan approved it. I traced off a pattern based on the wool cape and quickly stitched up a sample out of cheap satin that I could take on a trip to New York with me. I also created a little sampler to show how the applique and paint would look.
Cape plans. We ended up nixing the collar.
Since Nathan's studio is in Brooklyn, we set aside a few hours to hash out the final cape design together in person. Again, he had a collection of shapes, words & motifs that we could choose from, so I guided him through what was possible via paint and applique with satin, and together we chose what should go where. We worked quickly and decisively, and he had the resized and recut stencils ready for me before I left town. Easy & fun!
Figuring out yardage & yield
Once I got back to my studio, I needed to make 3 smaller capes and 3 larger capes. I revised the original cape pattern into a larger version based on measurements I took from Nathan's shoulders. I don't have any formal patternmaking education, so I was really winging it. Then I had to figure out how much yardage of pink and black satin I needed. You have to place pattern pieces in order to get the best yield, which basically means you're wasting the least amount of fabric. I gave it a good guess and when it was all done I only had a little left over.
After buying the fabrics, my next step was to determine which shapes got painted, and which got cut out and sewn down. Here are all the pieces I had to cut out:
24 cape pieces out of pink satin
24 cape pieces out of black satin
36 silver glitter lightning bolts
24 hearts
6 guitars
6 giant lips
12 glitter eyeballs
Each cape was a little different (with custom names & guitar shapes on each "sleeve") so keeping track of all the pattern pieces was a huge challenge. I embellished each individual pattern piece first, whether it was appliqueing the motifs with my sewing machine, or painting letters or designs using the stencils Nathan gave me. I used an assembly line technique, and had to time everything correctly so that the paint could dry before I started constructing the capes. It was about 5 straight days of being immersed in capes. But it all came together! For the cape closure, I decided buttons or snaps wouldn't hold up to a punk rock performance, so I used giant silver safety pins. Appropriate for the overall look and function.
I wasn't going to miss the opportunity to see our capes in action, so we took a road trip from Austin to Dallas for the opening event. This was the most fun I've had on a design collaboration yet. I'm still high from the experience and I can't wait for an excuse to make some more capes.
Here's a great video montage of the capes and the opening event by Native Process Films:
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