Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! John Sievers is not one to toot his own horn, but he does let it slide. John is a trombonist who plays in many bands, a poet who writes a haiku a day, an English professor, and Rochester's most enthusiastic music booster. In this episode, learn how John developed his lifelong partnership with the trombone, how he juggles his busy creative life, and what makes him most proud. This episode of A Brush With Life closes with 'Trombot," a joyful t...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Amy Johnson is an enamel artist who creates copper and silver jewelry with gorgeous, colorful glass designs fused to the surface. Amy tells us how she discovered this art form, her process, and how making art helped her survive and heal from tragic life events. View Amy's work: Website: https://www.amyjohnsonenamels.com FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/amyjohnsonenamels Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amyjohnsonenamels/

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! As a young girl, Heidi Kern was inspired by "Little House on the Prairie" and dreamed of creating a self-sufficient life where she grew all her own food and sewed her own clothing. As an adult, she wound up living in the city but she and her husband Chris have transformed their cul-de-sac lot into an urban farmstead. Growing vegetables, fruits, herbs and chickens, Heidi produces most of the food for her family and generousl...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Jean Prokott is Rochester, MInesota's Poet Laureate! As the community's official artistic wordsmith, she writes poems for community events and creates an annual poetry event for the public. She is also a teacher of English and Philosophy at Century High School. Her book of published poems is titled "The Second Longest Day of the Year." American Couplets (4th Fest) Claiming Light (4th Fest) The Second Longest Day of the Year

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Oliver Books is passionate about all things sound. He is a singer-songwriter who performs solo and in a 7-member band called Oliver Books and The Big, Big, World. He has worked in music production and movie production. in the past year, he and colleague Alex Ortberg produced The Rochester Mash-Up, a compilation music album of 20 diverse local musicians. Currently, Books and Oliver are launching a new recording studio. ...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! LeAnn Eriksson speaks softly but carries a big voice. Music has always been a huge part of her life, beginning with growing up on an Iowa farm, playing the flute in school and singing in the Lutheran church choir. Since then she has become a citizen of the world and lived, worked and sung in many countries. She discovered crystal singing bowls and learning "toning" and polyphonic singing - singing in more than one tone at the same tim...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Susan M. Davies Sue Davies is a painter who approaches her work from many directions - abstract, animals, landscape, sumi-e,meditative, whimsical...but the constant is color: rich, vibrant, exuberant color. You sense that she lives her entire life with that same exuberance. Sue's other art is music; currently, she plays the tin whistle in a Celtic band called Hurkle-Durkle. You are invited to a special project Sue is bringing to ...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Darin Podulke-Smith is an artist, improv actor, stained-glass creator, banjo-player and Buddhist priest. In this episode, we talk to Darin about banjo practice and the practice of Buddhism, and what it takes to become a Zen priest. He also describes his most recent adventure, a 500-mile hike on the Camino Frances with his wife, Laurel.

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Artist Deb D'Souza is devoted to the ancient art of mosaic and has traveled the world to study it, but she also incorporates innovative techniques. Mosaic is a patience-testing process than can take 40 hours to assemble thousands of tiny bits into 1 square foot of design. Deb magically creates landscapes and botanical images with amazing details, shadows and reflections and herlandscape mosaics sometimes incorporate materials act...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Eva Barr puts the culture in agriculture! Eva and her partner Todd started Dream Acres Farm, near Wykoff, Minnesota, as a land collective where they built all the timber-framed farm buildings, taught heritage farming techniques, farmed with horses and oxen and raised organic veggies for a 40-family CSA. With Eva's theater expertise, the farm launched Flourish, a summer Theater + Agriculture camp for youth. On Friday evenings during the summe...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Lynette Yencho has a lifetime of experience as a commercial artist, from drawing school buildings and class ring designs at age 16 and for Jostens, to designing collectible figurines, to being agraphic designer for the Minneapolis Star newspaper...to creating fantastical murals and other very fine art. https://gardenstudio.biz https://lynettestudio.com/ To follow Lynette in Art 64 , an Art Tournment in Wauwatosa, WI June 6 &7, 2025...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Kevin Ian Reid was the Orofacial Pain Specialist at Rochester's Mayo Clinic for 26 years. He had never studied art, but in order to cope with the strain of working with so many people in pain, he began painting, especially abstract faces that often evoked pain. When Reid retired, he decided to return to school to study art at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, immersing himself in painting and metal sculpture and earning ...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Becky Schlegel grew up in South Dakota singing classic country music. When she moved to Minnesota, she fell in love with bluegrass music and with her banjo-pickin' husband, Heath Loy. Now Becky is a singer with a voice as sweet as nectar writing songs that tug at your heart or lull you to peace, a painter of gestural flowers, and the grateful steward of a 100+-year-old farmstead. Learn more about Becky Schlegel's music and art, and a ...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Judy Onofrio's work has spanned from firing ceramics to burning huge structures in fiery performances, elaborate, quirky brooches to elegant sculptures assembled from bones, celebrations of nature to divas, acrobats and other colorful characters. She is renowned for creating monumental sculptures from the tiniest bits, baubles, beads, buttons and shells, collected over her lifetime. For the past 50 years, Judy has been a creative force in the Roch...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! The first time I met Suzanne Szucs, she was dressed in the most sumptuous, colorful, exotic clothing you can imagine, dancing at Squash Blossom farm during our Cow Puja festival. That is just one facet of Suzanne's life - she also teaches Photography at Rochester Community & Technical College. Her own photographic art is inspired by nature and the native plants in her garden.

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Kevin Ewing recently retired from his career as a teacher and is now devoting himself to his favorite pastime - woodcarving. He is not just whittling away his time - he creates elaborate, elegant pieces inspired by architectural and historic masterpieces. Plus, he generously shares his craft by teaching woodcarving to aspiring carvers of all ages. For photos of his work and details on upcoming classes check out KevinKEwing ...

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Brooke Burch is all about textile design. She is a fashion designer, seamstress, sewing instructor, and has a vintage clothing boutique in her Rochester studio. Her original clothing designs have been featured on the runway at Minnesota Fashion Week.

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! Stephanie Podulke is a woman with a huge heart and great wit, who has created scores of spectacular stained glass windows throughout Southeast Minnesota. She is one of the inspiring leaders of our Rochester community.

Please leave me your feedback and ideas here! In this premier episode of A Brush With Life, you will learn how my husband, Roger Nelson, and I met and how 60 years of friendship and shared dreams ultimately landed us at Squash Blossom Farm where learned to be real farmers with chickens, a milk cow and everything. At Squash Blossom Farm we celebrate Local Food, Local Art and Local Music, and invite the community in to feast upon wood-fired sourdough pizza, mead and bean-to-bar chocolate....