Art Problems

EP 118: Patience Pays off with Peter Walsh

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 ESTPeter Walsh

EP 117: Building an Art Career Without Art School

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

EP 116: From Open Calls to Gallery Representation with Meg Lagodzki

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 ESTMeg Lagodzkihttps://www.meglagodzki.com/
Momentum Galleryhttps://momentumgallery.com/
 

EP 115: Three Mistakes to Avoid when Applying for a Guggenheim Fellowship [Re-air]

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/
 

EP 114: Katie Hargrave on Building a Career from Chattanooga

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.comMeredith Laura Lynn: meredithlauralynn.com

EP 113: How to Build a Thriving Art Career from Outside a Major City Center

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 HaysDavid Lusk Gallery

EPS 112: Four Years In, Two Years Out: How Three Artists Built an Art Space

with Constance McBride, figurative ceramic sculptor, curator, and co-founder of The Hook ExperimentConstance 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 support@netvvrk.com.
Subscribe on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

EPS 111: Your brain is listening. Holly Wong on Imposter Syndrome

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/
BiographyHolly 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.

EP 110: Building a Practice Around Your Values with Crystal Hartman

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/

EP109: Less Human: Reviewing the New Museum’s Inaugural Show

Artists Tommy Riefe and Lexa Walsh join me to discuss the New Museum expansion and show, New Humans: Memories of the Future curated by Massimiliano Gioni and Gary Carrion-Murayari. We discuss the success of the building itself and then move onto the show’s major themes—the history of the human body as mediated by technology. 
 
Additional Resources: 
Tommy RiefeLexa Walsh 
The New Museum, New Humans: Memories of the Future
Jeffrey Deitch, Post Human, 1992  
Boris Groys, Art Power, 2008
Jason Farago, The New Museum Reopens Asking: “What is Human?”, 2026, The New York Times
 
Artist guests: 
Tommy Riefe 
Riefe earned his BFA in Art History and Sculpture from the University of Northern Iowa in 2014, and later received his MFA from the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis in 2017. He has been in numerous group exhibitions and has public sculptures in the collections of Howard Hughes Medical Institute in Ashburn, VA (2022) Fort Dodge, IA (2021) Lakewood, MN (2019), Iowa State University (2018), Minnesota State University (2018), Laneken, Belgium (2018), Cedar Falls, IA (2017) Rock Island, IL (2016), and Sioux City, IA (2016).
 
Lexa Walsh
Lexa Walsh is an artist, cultural worker and experience maker.  With a background in both sculpture and social practice, Walsh makes site specific projects, exhibitions, publications and objects, using an array of materials including ceramics and textiles, employing social engagement, institutional critique, and radical hospitality to question hierarchies, power and value.  
Walsh founded the experimental music and performance venue the Heinz Afterworld Lounge, and co-founded and conceived of the all women, all toy instrument ensemble Toychestra.  Walsh worked for many years as a curator and administrator at CESTA, an international art center in Czech republic, whose team created radical curatorial projects to foster cross-cultural understanding. She founded Oakland Stock & Soup for Social & Racial Justice, and the Bay Area Contemporary Art Archive. She is a graduate of Portland State Universitys Art & Social Practice MFA program and was Social Practice Artist in Residence in Portland Art Museums Education department. She was a recipient of Southern Exposures Alternative Exposure Award, the CEC Artslink Award, the Gunk Grant and was a de Young Artist Fellow. Walsh has participated in projects, exhibitions and performances at Apexart, di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art, FOR-SITE, Grand Central Art Center, Kala Art Institute, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, NIAD, Oakland Museum of California, SFMOMA, Smack Mellon, Walker Art Center, Williams College Museum of Art, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and has done several international artist residencies, tours and projects in Europe and Asia.