Creative Living with Jamie Episode 290:
When Everything’s about to Change
I am so excited to move forward with a vision I have had for a long time: a video version of the Creative Living with Jamie Podcast. It’s a work in progress and there’s a lot to learn but it is such a joy to make a start. Here’s the very first episode, which features an interview with artist Sam Tucker, who uses words and images to tell the stories of her life.
About Sam Tucker
Sam Tucker is a storyteller in words and images. She is currently immersed in a long-term project, an illustrated memoir and storybook chronicling her journey through the grief of losing her partner while wandering the country on an epic road trip.
For years, Sam kept her creative dreams hidden in the shadows of her vibrant business consulting practice. The journey to embracing her artistry, the essence of who she is, was a long and meaningful one that included journaling, visual journaling, book binding, collage and various forms of writing.
The turning point for Sam, that point where she finally stepped in and claimed her artistry was nearly two years ago. Sam was part of the initial offering of the artist residency program, Devotion with Jamie Ridler. That was a game changer! Today, Sam divides her time between traveling the U.S. and finishing her memoir, Lost in Bentonia.
Connect with Sam at her website www.sam-tucker.com
Resources & Mentions
BONUS Content
I’ve put together a PDF of the transcripts in a magazine style. It even includes a little creative assignment for you to keep the inspiration going and the creativity flowing. Download the full transcript magazine here.
Transcript Excerpt
Jamie Ridler: Hey, there. It is Jamie Ridler and I am so excited to be here with you today. I am starting something new and I’m so excited about it and I hope you’re going to be excited about it too. For years, I have hosted the Creative Living with Jamie podcast and it has been a joy. I have interviewed some amazing people, including Julia Cameron, Natalie Goldberg, Brené Brown, people that are lights on the creative path that really have inspired us all.
I’ve also always paid attention to artists at every stage of the journey, whether it was people starting their own creative business at home, people who are creative with their kids, people who are writing and publishing their own eBooks. Because one of the things I believe deeply is that we artists benefit so deeply from showing up for one another as artists, by engaging in creative conversation, by sharing strategies and tools. And so, I’m going to continue this process, but with a bit of a shift-a-roo. And that is I am making the show video and I am expanding its scope.
Now Creatively Living with Jamie is going to draw in other shows that I’ve done. The Creative Living Bookshelf, the Behind the Scenes, as well as these interviews and so much more are going to become segments of this show. I’m going to share it with you on video, and I’m going to share it with you as a podcast. Most importantly, I’m going to share it from my creative heart to yours.
This is new and there’s going to be a lot of growth involved, and that will mean crunchy bits and exciting bits and change and wonder and adventure, and that is what living a creative life is all about. So, I hope you’ll join me on this journey.
Today I’m going to share with you my very first interview in this format with the marvelous Sam Tucker…
Sam Tucker: Well, hi everyone. I’m so excited to be here with Jamie. I’m Sam Tucker. I have landed on the descriptor that I am a storyteller, and right now that’s in words and images. And who knows? It’s an ever-evolving thing for me.
My creative life right now is completely (and has been for a couple of years) immersed in a book, and that book is a memoir. It’s illustrated and it’s also a storybook. It’s from a, a very special time in my life where I was wandering the country for a year, effectively just landing in a spot for 30 days, moving on and collecting people’s stories, moving through the grief of losing my wonderful husband and working remotely and exploring.
It was an outer exploration and an inner exploration. I think that’s why this current creative project is taking a while because it’s tender. You know, it’s a tender time. It’s my story. And it’s trying to honor the stories of the people I met on the road who I fell in love with. So that’s kind of what’s happening with me.
Jamie Ridler: I know that, too, this year you have been doing some adventuring and moving through the world. I wonder for you, what’s the relationship between– I’m going to come back and ask you more because I know everybody wants to hear about what it was like doing that. What do you think for you is the relationship between that sense of movement or that sense of place and your artistic self?
Sam Tucker: Beautiful question. I’m a Sag too.
Jamie Ridler: Me too.
Sam Tucker: We have that horse energy. You know, for years I was stuck behind a desk and felt a piece of myself kind of dying inside and that was doing non-creative work. Movement for me– I don’t know where it came from, Jamie, but I intuitively knew I had to leave Los Angeles after Freddie died. When I have things that need to move through me that are so deep that go to the core of my being, I need physical movement too. And I’m quite aware it’s not about running away from anything. I take myself where I go. I’m very, very self-aware. But there’s something about new expansion, pushing boundaries.
I knew if I stayed. I could, I could really pretend that everything was okay and I could keep going with the things that weren’t working for me, and I just didn’t know where this was going to lead me. So physical movement in a strange way, it does ground me by uprooting me. It’s an enigma.
Jamie Ridler: Yeah, I get it. And I can see it. I can see it in your body too. When you express yourself, it’s through that whole body movement. And that’s what they talk about when we’re talking about embodiment. It’s like you’re embodying your journey, your feelings, your truth. I wonder, I get that piece of both that it was expansive and I imagine challenging at the same time as it was nourishing
Sam Tucker: Every day.
Jamie Ridler: Yeah, tell us about that because I think a lot of people are like, “Wow, what would it be like to just get up and go for a year? To process my own experience for a year? To be in my own self for a year?” What was that like? Tell us.
Sam Tucker: I just read a chapter about one aspect that shocked me in here. You think it’s like freedom, you know? You think you’re a free spirit and you’re going off, like, I choose a city across the country and book an Airbnb for a month and immerse myself in it. But getting there, I wanted to control. I wanted to know where I was going. I wanted to know the end. And the whole purpose of this is to unfurl from that! (Thank you Meghan Genge for the word I use all the time!) And so that, that was at odds.
I don’t think I realized it until I was writing the book. It didn’t dawn on me that I was still trying to hang on to some semblance of who am I. What is my world? I purposefully ripped it all apart and started over in a totally new way, while holding the memories, the love, all of that with me. But I needed something new, absolutely.
Jamie Ridler: What do you think– I think that sense of control is a part of the way we manage that. We know that transformation is coming and there’s a part of us that wants to embrace it, but… Right?
What would you say to somebody who can feel they’re on that cusp of a whole body transformation, whole life transformation. What would you want to say to that person?
Sam Tucker: Oh, I’m so excited for you. Breathe. Please breathe. And truly know– I’ve been on this planet a few decades and I know at this point it’s all going to be okay. You know, we think the world is ending. We think that we can’t push one more boundary, open one more door to the unknown. We can and it’s beautiful and expansive. You will never have those experiences, that growth, those relationships, sometimes even that careers, you know, life-altering experiences, unless we keep moving. It doesn’t have to be big and grandiose. It can be one baby step at a time, but don’t give up. Don’t give up, just keep moving. If I can do it, you can do it. Trust me.
Download BONUS CONTENT complete transcript magazine here.