When Art Meets Craft: Color, Creativity, and Calling Yourself an Artist with Lisa Solomon

What does it mean to call yourself an artist - and who gets to decide? In this episode, I sit down with multidisciplinary artist, educator, and author Lisa Solomon for a wide-ranging conversation about the blurry line between art and craft, creative experimentation, and the practical realities of building a sustainable creative life. Lisa's work spans embroidery, fiber, painting, and installation, and her new book is an absolute feast for the eyes - organized by color, featuring 20 artists working in 20 different mediums, with projects for all skill levels. We talk about: When you can (and should) start calling yourself an artist The art vs. craft debate - why it's still happening and whether it even matters How Lisa's grandmother's knitting and crocheting shaped her artistic identity The pioneers who were excluded from art history because of their mediums - and why that's finally changing Creative ADHD: how to balance experimentation with actually completing a body of work What to do when you have a vision but not yet the skills to execute it (hint: lean in and trust your gut) The Thousand Doily Project - a massive community collaboration How parameters and limitations can actually unlock more creative freedom Funding your creative projects, budgeting for big ideas, and why having a day job isn't a compromise - it can be a gift Why color is hard (especially purple) and what a Joni Mitchell retrospective taught Lisa about unexpected palettes Lisa's new book is available at bookstores everywhere - or request it at your local library! You can also find her on Instagram at @lisasolomon and at lisasolomon.com. She's also running a watercolor retreat in California through City College Extension in late May. Grab Lisa's new book: Links mentioned: Submit to a Create! Magazine Call for Art: createmagazine.co/call-for-art Join Create! Collective: createmagazine.co/collective

You can listen to When Art Meets Craft: Color, Creativity, and Calling Yourself an Artist with Lisa Solomon online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

When Art Meets Craft: Color, Creativity, and Calling Yourself an Artist with Lisa Solomon is an episode from The Create! Podcast by Ekaterina Popova.

This episode is 37:16 long.

This episode was published on Mar 9, 2026.

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