VESPERISMS: The Art of Thinking for Yourself

Politics is the most LOW-resolution way to see other people and the world. Everywhere we see evidence of dehumanization. This kind of rhetoric doesn’t just polarize, it drives people underground. We must, as artists and citizens, resist this dehumanization with all our might. We must intentionally and proactively rehumanize.

This summer, when I was getting ready to release my latest novel, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, I began to notice some really uncanny parallels between what was going on socially as a result of the pandemic and lockdown, and the dynamics of the Great Plague of 1348, which the novel is about. Most notably, the epidemic of fear and shame which are tearing us apart. This is nothing new—and artists MUST get their heads screwed back on straight if we're to live up to what life is demanding of us right now: to be a prophetic voice to our world.

With my last novel, What the Night Sings, I heard from a lot of readers and parents that the audiobook was particularly impactful for reluctant readers or those with learning challenges, especially when read alongside the physical copy. And because of the sheer volume of sources in my research process, I can’t possibly read all the physical that I need to—so I listen to a lot of audiobooks, and I know the importance of a great narrator. Now, I’m very fortunate to have a part in the audition process of my audiobooks, and when I heard the audition tapes for A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, I knew right away that it was this woman, Ell Potter, who I would choose to narrate. She is a lovely reader, and a lovely person with an interesting background in both literature and theater. In this interview, we talk some classic Vesperisms values, just one artist talking to another about the creation of a work we participated in, in a sense, together. Interspersed here are excerpts from the audiobook of A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, narrated by Ell Potter.

I asked my friend Jonathan Pageau to come and chat with me about our current movement of iconoclasm—the teardown and curtailment of art—because who better to talk about iconoclasm than a creator of icons? Jonathan is an Eastern Orthodox icon carver, and host of “The Symbolic World,” a podcast where he shows how ancient archetypal and metaphysical patterns reveal themselves in culture. Stay through to the end, where Jonathan gives an important exhortation to artists, and how they can make a difference in our culture right now.

We're talking this week about some of the considerations that go into arriving at a "final" artwork. It's not meant to be exhaustive or prescriptive, but to explore how we get there. How about you? What's your process? How do you know when a work is "finished" and not just "completed"? *When* do you know—when the work is in progress, or when you're done? Leave me a comment below about your experience. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself is the podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration, http://instagram.com/vesperillustration , and sign up for my newsletter at http://vesperillustration.com. I'm also now a Featured Contributor on Thinkspot.com. Thanks for joining me! * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper.

In light of the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Brianna Taylor and George Floyd, and our national conversation about race, I felt it was appropriate to pause my series on artistic process in order to speak with my friend, storyteller and leader Will Ford III. He tells the story of his family's extraordinary history from slavery to the present, his work in racial reconciliation, and the importance of paying attention to your (literal) dreams. This is a longer episode which I think will really help all of us think toward what's possible. * This week's Recommended Read: The Dream King, written by Will Ford and Matt Lockett. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself is the podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * My newest book, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, can be pre-ordered NOW at any bookseller—I recommend your local indie bookstore, who would love your support right now. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524700416 * Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration, http://instagram.com/vesperillustration , and sign up for my newsletter at http://vesperillustration.com. Thanks for joining me! * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper.

In light of the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, Brianna Taylor and George Floyd, and our national conversation about race, I felt it was appropriate to pause my series on artistic process in order to speak with my friend, storyteller and leader Will Ford III. He tells the story of his family's extraordinary history from slavery to the present, his work in racial reconciliation, and the importance of paying attention to your (literal) dreams. This is a longer episode which I think will really help all of us think toward what's possible. * This week's Recommended Read: The Dream King, written by Will Ford and Matt Lockett. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself is the podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * My newest book, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, can be pre-ordered NOW at any bookseller—I recommend your local indie bookstore, who would love your support right now. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524700416 * Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration, http://instagram.com/vesperillustration , and sign up for my newsletter at http://vesperillustration.com. Thanks for joining me! * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper.

This episode of Vesperisms is step 3 in my 4-part series on the *basic* artistic process I'm calling "The Pathway." We've been exploring how Perception becomes Thought, which becomes Speech, which manifests in an artistic Action. Freedom of Speech is vital to the artist. You cannot predict or prescribe what an artist is going to *need* to say about the time in which he or she lives. Far from being a political consideration, freedom of speech is an artistic value that we must extend to all. This week's Recommended Read: The Power of the Powerless, by Czech playwright, political dissident and eventual President, Vàclav Havel. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself is the podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * My newest book, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, can be pre-ordered NOW at any bookseller—I recommend your local indie bookstore, who would love your support right now. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524700416 * Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration, http://instagram.com/vesperillustration , and sign up for my newsletter at http://vesperillustration.com. Thanks for joining me! * Leave me a voice message at http://anchor.fm/vesperisms and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to. * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper.

This episode of Vesperisms is step 3 in my 4-part series on the *basic* artistic process I'm calling "The Pathway." We've been exploring how Perception becomes Thought, which becomes Speech, which manifests in an artistic Action. Freedom of Speech is vital to the artist. You cannot predict or prescribe what an artist is going to *need* to say about the time in which he or she lives. Far from being a political consideration, freedom of speech is an artistic value that we must extend to all. This week's Recommended Read: The Power of the Powerless, by Czech playwright, political dissident and eventual President, Vàclav Havel. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself is the podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * My newest book, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, can be pre-ordered NOW at any bookseller—I recommend your local indie bookstore, who would love your support right now. https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524700416 * Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration, http://instagram.com/vesperillustration , and sign up for my newsletter at http://vesperillustration.com. Thanks for joining me! * Leave me a voice message at http://anchor.fm/vesperisms and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to. * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper.

As part of our focus on the first principle: ARTISTS SEE, we're going down the pathway of artistic process: Perception, Thought, Speech and Action. This week we're focusing on Thought: what forms it takes, why it's so important to think for yourself, and how to restore your inner dialogue without outside voices telling you what to think. * This week's Recommended Read is...nothing. I'm encouraging you to read nothing this week, and set aside 20 minutes a day to do stream of consciousness writing, in an effort to reconnect with your own thoughts. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself, with host, author-illustrator Vesper Stamper, is your weekly 20 minute recalibration of your artistic worldview. It's a podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * Follow me on available for pre-order now (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524700416) ! * Leave me a voice message here (http://anchor.fm/vesperisms) , and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to. * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper (https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Qq4Kw1pec9GFrfuImHO86?si=psMcaDB3SzKhkZTpBs_dBg) . --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app (https://anchor.fm/s/13e82c50/podcast/sponsor/acugj9/url/https%3A%2F%2Fanchor.fm%2Fapp) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message

As part of our focus on the first principle: ARTISTS SEE, we're going down the pathway of artistic process: Perception, Thought, Speech and Action. This week we're focusing on Thought: what forms it takes, why it's so important to think for yourself, and how to restore your inner dialogue without outside voices telling you what to think. * This week's Recommended Read is...nothing. I'm encouraging you to read nothing this week, and set aside 20 minutes a day to do stream of consciousness writing, in an effort to reconnect with your own thoughts. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself, with host, author-illustrator Vesper Stamper, is your weekly 20 minute recalibration of your artistic worldview. It's a podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration , and sign up for my newsletter to receive a free outtake chapter from my new novel, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, available for pre-order now! * Leave me a voice message here, and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to. * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message

This week, we’re going to do a deep dive into each of those principles, and for these next several episodes, we’re going to focus on the first principle: ARTISTS SEE. I lay out a pathway of artistic process that we need to understand fully. Originally, I was going to do episode 4 on the topic of Freedom of Speech and Censorship. I’m deeply concerned about artists increasingly engaging in censorship, whether that’s self-censorship or calling for curtailments on others’ free speech. For me, it’s not a political question, even though that’s the realm through which most of us are encountering the issue right now in media. No—it’s a question of cutting the artist off at the knees, at the very time we are most needed by our culture. * This week's Recommended Read is My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok. It's one of my top 5 favorite novels, and it has everything to do with perception and timing. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself, with host, author-illustrator Vesper Stamper, is your weekly 20 minute recalibration of your artistic worldview. It's a podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * Follow me on available for pre-order now (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524700416) ! * Leave me a voice message here (http://anchor.fm/vesperisms) , and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to. * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper (https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Qq4Kw1pec9GFrfuImHO86?si=psMcaDB3SzKhkZTpBs_dBg) . --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app (https://anchor.fm/s/13e82c50/podcast/sponsor/acugj9/url/https%3A%2F%2Fanchor.fm%2Fapp) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message

This week, we’re going to do a deep dive into each of those principles, and for these next several episodes, we’re going to focus on the first principle: ARTISTS SEE. I lay out a pathway of artistic process that we need to understand fully. Originally, I was going to do episode 4 on the topic of Freedom of Speech and Censorship. I’m deeply concerned about artists increasingly engaging in censorship, whether that’s self-censorship or calling for curtailments on others’ free speech. For me, it’s not a political question, even though that’s the realm through which most of us are encountering the issue right now in media. No—it’s a question of cutting the artist off at the knees, at the very time we are most needed by our culture. * This week's Recommended Read is My Name is Asher Lev, by Chaim Potok. It's one of my top 5 favorite novels, and it has everything to do with perception and timing. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself, with host, author-illustrator Vesper Stamper, is your weekly 20 minute recalibration of your artistic worldview. It's a podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration , and sign up for my newsletter to receive a free outtake chapter from my new novel, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, available for pre-order now! * Leave me a voice message here, and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to. * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message

This is the full interview with Troy Bronsink, as heard in Vesperisms Episode 3: Embodiment. The interview ends with a guided meditation to help us become more aware of our physical selves in our all-too-familiar spaces as we shelter in place. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app (https://anchor.fm/s/13e82c50/podcast/sponsor/acugj9/url/https%3A%2F%2Fanchor.fm%2Fapp) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message

This is the full interview with Troy Bronsink, as heard in Vesperisms Episode 3: Embodiment. The interview ends with a guided meditation to help us become more aware of our physical selves in our all-too-familiar spaces as we shelter in place. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message

One of the foundational principles of Vesperisms is that an artistic worldview is human-centered, and that this takes place both inwardly, in our relationship to our own bodies, and outwardly, in our relationship to others. Today, I want to explore the first part of that idea further, namely, understanding our relationship to our own bodies. This is Vesperisms Episode 3: Embodiment. * This week's Recommended Read isn't a book, but a practice. Follow my guest Troy Bronsink's guided meditation to help center your physical body in its surrounding space. He's an author and the director of The Hive, A Center for Contemplation, Art and Action (http://www.cincyhive.org/) in Cincinnati, OH. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself, with host, author-illustrator Vesper Stamper, is your weekly 20 minute recalibration of your artistic worldview. It's a podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * Follow me on available for pre-order now (https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781524700416) ! * Leave me a voice message here (http://anchor.fm/vesperisms) , and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to. * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper (https://open.spotify.com/artist/5Qq4Kw1pec9GFrfuImHO86?si=psMcaDB3SzKhkZTpBs_dBg) . --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app (https://anchor.fm/s/13e82c50/podcast/sponsor/acugj9/url/https%3A%2F%2Fanchor.fm%2Fapp) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message

One of the foundational principles of Vesperisms is that an artistic worldview is human-centered, and that this takes place both inwardly, in our relationship to our own bodies, and outwardly, in our relationship to others. Today, I want to explore the first part of that idea further, namely, understanding our relationship to our own bodies. This is Vesperisms Episode 3: Embodiment. * This week's Recommended Read isn't a book, but a practice. Follow my guest Troy Bronsink's guided meditation to help center your physical body in its surrounding space. He's an author and the director of The Hive, A Center for Contemplation, Art and Action in Cincinnati, OH. * Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself, with host, author-illustrator Vesper Stamper, is your weekly 20 minute recalibration of your artistic worldview. It's a podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. * Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration , and sign up for my newsletter to receive a free outtake chapter from my new novel, A Cloud of Outrageous Blue, available for pre-order now! * Leave me a voice message here, and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to. * Music for Vesperisms is provided by Ben + Vesper. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message

Who could have predicted this global pandemic? How can artists respond to the paralysis and shock that come from crisis? This week's Recommended Read: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself is the podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration, and sign up for my newsletter at vesperillustration.com. Thanks for joining me! Leave me a voice message and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message Music is provided by Ben + Vesper. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app (https://anchor.fm/s/13e82c50/podcast/sponsor/acugj9/url/https%3A%2F%2Fanchor.fm%2Fapp) --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message

In our first episode of Vesperisms, let's lay some foundations about what this podcast is and is not, and what we mean by an "Artistic Worldview." Artists SEE. An artistic worldview is EXPANSIVE. An artistic worldview is HUMAN-CENTERED. An artistic worldview allows for GROWTH & CHANGE. This week's Recommended Read: Art & Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking, by David Bayles & Ted Orland. Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself is the podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration, and sign up for my newsletter at vesperillustration.com. Thanks for joining me! Music is provided by Ben + Vesper.

Who could have predicted this global pandemic? How can artists respond to the paralysis and shock that come from crisis? This week's Recommended Read: The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron Vesperisms: The Art of Thinking for Yourself is the podcast to help you make sense of your place in this crazy world by reclaiming an artistic worldview. Everything around us is trying to push us into boxes, but that's not how artists' minds work. Let's get off that detour and back on the main road to thinking for ourselves: as artists. Follow me on Instagram @vesperillustration, and sign up for my newsletter at vesperillustration.com. Thanks for joining me! Leave me a voice message and let me know what you'd like me to talk about, or who you'd like me to talk to: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message Music is provided by Ben + Vesper. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/vesperisms/message