Makers & Mystics

Vanessa Brantley Newton was born during the Civil Rights movement and attended school in Newark, New Jersey. She was part of a diverse, tight-knit community and learned the importance of acceptance a…

Have you ever wondered what distinguishes art from non-art? What are the distinctions and who gets to decide? What makes something a work of art? Is it the result of a conscious act? Does it require …

Does commerce feed or take away from your artwork? Does getting paid to do it validate your work? How do you make the leap from hobby to vocation in your work and more importantly, should you?

These a…

Jason “Jay” King is the founder and owner of World Citizen Media and a twenty-year veteran of the music industry. He manages Los Angeles based duo JOHNNYSWIM, Propaganda, and Pop writer/artist TRELLA…

David Chang is an NYC based artist merging the traditions of Western calligraphy and Eastern philosophy that is shaped by immediacy of his urban environment. Chang’s art is a sustained exploration in…

Shara Nova is a classically trained vocalist and self-taught multi-instrumentalist. She records dazzling, shapeshifting music under the moniker My Brightest Diamond.

Her music resists the conventions …

We may not care to be famous or even desire to make art as a full time vocation, but we each carry a need for our work to matter.  We want to know that what means something to us may also mean someth…

Temi Coker is a Multidisciplinary artist based in Dallas, Texas. He creates visually compelling artwork for campaigns, products, activations & more.

Temi’s use of vibrant colors and textures come fro…

J.F. Martel is a Canadian writer, filmmaker, and podcaster. He has directed a number of French and English documentaries for Canadian television as well as created several dramatic short films. His w…

Amy-Jill Levine (“AJ”) is University Professor of New Testament and Jewish Studies and Mary Jane Werthan Professor of Jewish Studies at Vanderbilt. Her books include The Misunderstood Jew: The Church…

In this episode, I share highlights from some of my favorite conversations from the year. Highlights include my interviews with Kimbra, Elephant Heart, Padraig O’ Tuama, John Eldredge and others.

Sup…

Sarah Hempel Irani has been sculpting expressive figures in clay and stone for nearly twenty years. Originally from Michigan, she moved to Maryland to apprentice with Jay Hall Carpenter, former Artis…

One of the growing problems of our society that started long before but has been agitated by the COVID-19 pandemic is isolationism or the sense of loneliness and lack of meaningful social connections…

Thea Matthews is a San Francisco born poet, orator and activist whose work centers on the complexities of humanity, grief, and resiliency. In this episode, Stephen Roach to talks with Thea about her …

Julian of Norwich was a Medieval English mystic born around year 1342 and who died around year 1420. Much of Julian’s life remains unknown to us but what we do know of Julian comes from biographical …

Rivers & Robots is an independent band from Manchester, UK whose sound explores acoustic and electronic elements beneath layers of devotional lyrics and worship themed motifs.

In this episode, Steph…

In this live, keynote talk, Makers & Mystics host, Stephen Roach shares with The Well Collab in Frederick, Maryland. This talk discusses what sociologist, Max Weber coined as “disenchantment” and the…

JUURI is a Tokyo-born muralist currently working from Oklahoma City. Her vibrant, figure-driven work fuses traditional Japanese imagery with modern, pop motifs.

Juuri’s large scale murals frequently s…

Jennifer Dasal is the curator of modern and contemporary art at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh, North Carolina, and she is the host of the independent podcast ArtCurious, which she start…

Pádraig Ó Tuama is an Irish poet and theologian whose work centers around themes of language, power, conflict and religion. His poetry and prose has been published widely across Ireland, the US and t…