We lost a legend this week as one of our favorite artists Ursula Von Rydingsvard moved into the cosmos on October 27, 2026 (age 84 years), New York, NY. Nathan and I both wanted to share our Ursula episode from last year that we did. As a way to honor our love for her, her work and what she passed on to each of us as students and admirers of her work and dedication to art.

A single question can power a lifetime of work: Why do I make art? Ty and Nathan sit with Ursula Von Rydingsvard’s stark and generous answers woven from anxiety, labor, faith in process, and the stubborn hope that making can heal and use it as a mirror for our own practices. From the first splinter to the last pass of the saw, we look at how big work invites big stakes, why the best days feel like discovery, and how the studio becomes a container strong enough to hold whatever we bring into it.

We dig into the creative toggle between object and process: when materials feel right but the method frays, and when the method sings but the object won’t land. That friction is feedback, not failure. Ursula’s line about having confidence in the possibility of seeing the work through reframes ambition without guarantees as an artist’s version of resilience. We also talk about self-doubt as a companion rather than an enemy, and how studying our heroes deeply: films, books, museum visits, feeds our own artistic DNA without imitation.

There’s a human infrastructure behind monumental art. Ursula’s assistants form another kind of family, proof that leadership in the studio is its own craft. We reflect on our daily rhythm, showing up without perfect conditions, and making pieces that may outlive us, which is how work reaches into the future. The conversation edges into generational pain and the unanswerable questions art dares to hold. Answers are rare; presence is everything. If you’ve ever needed permission to trust the process and keep going, consider this your sign.

If this resonated, follow the show, share it with a friend who needs a creative nudge, and leave a quick review, tell us your “why” so we can feature it in a future Q&A.

Make sure to check out "Art from the Outside" and the amazing interview they had with Ursula: Spotify Apple

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The first brushstroke can be the scariest moment in the whole studio. Sitting with Jamele Wright, Sr in Atlanta (@artthenewreligion), we talk about that pause right before you commit to the surface the fear of ruining it, the excitement of stepping into unknown territory, and why the next mark can feel like the farthest you’ve ever been from home.

From there we get deep into abstract art and contemporary painting: why abstraction can hold multiple conversations at once, why it asks more of the viewer, and how a painting can reward five to ten minutes of real attention before you ever read the label. We also explore how our hyper-fast culture trains us to miss nuance, and how art can be a practical tool for mindfulness, presence, and slowing down.

We connect the dots between composition, regional materials, and lived experience from Cy Twombly to Sam Gilliam to Al Loving. Jamel shares how he thinks about color theory versus what feels honest right now, why he’s drawn to silence and quiet in the studio, and how Georgia red clay becomes both pigment and history when it’s embedded into the work. We close with a candid definition of success as an artist: less about fame, more about practice, gratitude, and the simple truth that forward is a pace.

About Jamele Wright Sr.:

Jamele Wright Sr. is an Atlanta-based visual artist and professor whose work investigates the intersections of landscape, memory, and diasporic abstraction. Born and raised in Ohio, Wright moved to Atlanta at age 22, where he became an important organizer of art, jazz, and poetry events throughout the city. Seeing that many young artists lacked meaningful platforms, he founded the Neo Renaissance Art House, a grassroots gallery that nurtured and elevated a new generation of emerging creatives. This experience led him toward his own artistic path. Wright earned a B.A. in Art History from Georgia State University, focusing on African and African
American contemporary art, and later completed an MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

Wright’s studio practice spans Georgia red clay, Dutch wax cloth, gesture drawing, and large-scale textile installations. His work explores presence, duration, and the in-between as active structures within Black experience, often merging material experimentation with ecological and historical inquiry.

He has exhibited widely, including solo exhibitions at the Gibbes Museum of
Art in Charleston and the Albany Museum of Art, and his work is held in collections across the region. Wright has participated in residencies at Surf Point Foundation, the Vermont Studio Center, and MASS MoCA, and he received the Windgate Artist Fellowship at the Zuckerman Museum of Art. His public commissions include major works for the Montgomery Museum of
Art and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As a faculty member at Clark Atlanta University, Wright teaches studio practice, African American art history, writing, and professional development. He recently co-curated
Innervisions, an exhibition on Black abstraction at the Clark Atlanta University Art Museum.

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Grief has a way of erasing your map. One day you’re moving with confidence, and the next you’re standing in front of your work thinking, is this the first time I’ve ever done this? I’m recording solo while Nathan’s away, partly because I need to hang out, and partly because the last few weeks have been heavy with loss. When your mind goes quiet and your body goes numb, the usual creative routines don’t always work, so I lean into the simplest thing I can do: tell the truth, read, write, and keep showing up.

From there, I pull a single thread through four very different voices, all pointing to the same idea: not knowing is worth protecting. The Delphian Gallery’s guidance on building an art career, Orson Welles talking about the freedom of ignorance, Peter Hook’s line about “wonderful mistakes,” and Austin Kleon’s warning that knowing can make you boring all land in the same place. Mastery isn’t the enemy, but comfort can be. If you want real artistic growth, you have to experiment, take creative risks, and accept that making bad work is often the cover charge for discovering something true.

William Kentridge takes it even deeper, describing the studio as a kind of machine that turns the outside world into visible form, a collage under construction made of memories, fragments, conversations, and pain. A story from Edith Schloss about a 1943 loft makes the metaphor physical: the artist in the storm, steering what they can while admitting they can’t control the weather. We end with a question I can’t stop thinking about: where do you end and the world begins?

If this resonates, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s stuck, and leave a review so more artists can find us. What’s one “wonderful mistake” you’re willing to make this week?

Send us a message - we would love to hear from you!

Make sure to follow us on Instagram here:
@justmakeartpodcast @tynathanclark @nathanterborg

Watch the Video Episode on Youtube or Spotify,

https://www.youtube.com/@JustMakeArtPodcast