Jodi Hays: Visual Quitter

Episode 44: Mike Mitchell

jodi hays — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 14:06:37 GMT

I can’t remember a time I didn’t know Mike Mitchell. But I think our paths crossed first in early Red Arrow days, east side when no one in our larger community cared what happened off Gallatin Road. He is an educator, a cheer leader, parent. He cares. Thanks for taking time to share your quitter story, Mike. Hear him on Drawing South Podcast.

43: Dan Devening

jodi hays — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 13:14:58 GMT

I have been lucky enough to get to know Dan Devening via a studio visit turned to a show at his epimonious (and 20 years strong) project, Devening Projects in Chicago. He has introduced me and so many to artists whose work we admire. And he is a gifted teacher, writer, servant to generosity, and excellent painter. This episode drops as I head this week to Chicago with David Lusk Gallery for Art Expo.

Thank you, Dan!

Episode 42: Christina Massey

jodi hays — Wed, 01 Apr 2026 20:59:13 GMT

I think I first knew of Christina via her blog, but we have become close over the years as we navigate the art worlds we inhabit. Her reclaimed material work is evocative and accessible. And her career trajectory from arrt school in California straight to NYC at 9/11 is a story so particular to her, yet relevant to many of us. Thank you for sharing, Christina! Check out her work at MacKensie and her site.

Episode 41: Sonja Thomsen

jodi hays — Tue, 24 Mar 2026 20:17:54 GMT

Rilke “living with the questions” is what Sonja Thomsen models. The calls teaching “forwarding curiosity” and I see that in her work. This conversation was long and nuanced, and the edit makes it sound more brutal than was the reality. But, so goes a life in the arts. We talk about physical resilience, Sonja’s background in dance, and what makes a good teacher.

Episode 40: Navin Norling

jodi hays — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 14:45:24 GMT

I have had the luxury to get to know Navin via our both being represented by Johnson Lowe Gallery in Atlanta. The first night I met him I said “he is giving Bob Dylan,” part train hopper, vagabond, poet. His found object work is indebted much to his mentor and teacher, the late, great Raymond Saunders. Plus he was photographed by Bill Cunningham! Thanks Navin! See our interview/ conversation from May 2025 here.

Episode 39: William Downs

jodi hays — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 14:45:41 GMT

I got to spend time with William when we both taught at Shakerag one summer. But I knew of his via a fe close friends, and all have a lot of respect for him and his practice. He talks to me about teaching a more-than-full-load, art making, and how a death in his family recalibrated his sense of making art.

Episode 38: Kirstin Lamb

jodi hays — Wed, 04 Mar 2026 17:28:59 GMT

Kirstin Lamb makes perceptual paintings, and started out in writing. She shares her story that intertwines school (for writing), social circles, more school (mfa, risd), and more school (teaching), and making no full time. Thank you, Kirstin!

Episode 37: Coulter Fuzzell

jodi hays — Wed, 25 Feb 2026 17:51:22 GMT

Short and sweet with everyone’s southern cousin, Coulter Fuzzell. We talk visibility and “want to” versus “need to”. See her work at Sheetcake in Memphis and if you are in Oxford, Mississippi. Thank you Coulter! We talked about a lot more, but this nugget is good.

Episode 36: Briena Harmening

jodi hays — Tue, 17 Feb 2026 16:00:42 GMT

Briena and I had a meandering conversation and also very off task. Here is a look at what has informed her career and art making. Her work is fun and fiber-rich. We share a mentor in Marcia Goldenstein. Her materials are myriad and brilliant.

Episode 35: Amy Sacksteder

jodi hays — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 11:44:01 GMT

I love Amy Sacksteder’s work. Full stop. I love that her work is a big ole combine, marrying stained glass and ceramics and painting and sculpture. I love her Victorian-like interests, her professorial side, her mother side. I love all of it and Amy too. Her work is featured in a current show I curated called Painting and Her Woman at David Lusk Gallery.

Episode 34: Sharon Butler

jodi hays — Tue, 03 Feb 2026 14:30:25 GMT

Sharon Butler leads an open survey of her many times of thinking of giving up art. She sits at the helm of her work and gave us Two Coats of Paint. I have followed her since her days showing at Pocket Utopia, and even had a (Nashville!) studio visit with her in 2012. I love her stages (1-4) of an artists’s work and life, and her openness in talking about how hard it is to remain “non-suffering” in her practice. She’s got projects coming up at 195 Henry St, NYC, Clear Sky (Insomnia Project), 68 Prince St Gallery (Kingston).

Upcoming Shows:

“Street Corner Conversations“ at McBride/Dillman in NYC,with Sharon Butler, Wendy Fulenwider Liszt, and Ariel Mitchell. Jan 16- March 1, 2026

“Insomnia Project“ solo at CLEA RSKY NYC, Feb 18 - March 6, 2026

“Spot On,“ at 68 Prince Street Gallery, Kingston, NY. 2-person show with Sharon Butler and Jason Travers, Feb 7 - March 8, 2026

Episode 33: Joanne Greenbaum

jodi hays — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 17:17:21 GMT

I am not sure there is another living artist whom I have not met in person who has been more influential to me than Joanne Greenbaum. When I saw her solo at Uffner on the LES, it was ballsy and mature. I loved that the art ecosystem was amplifying her work, and artists like her (not young). Endless thanks to Robert Grand who gave me the courage to ask JG.Her notebooks slay. Glad they are back on her site.

For Paid Subscribers only

jodi hays — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 17:17:07 GMT

You, thanks for being a PAID subscriber to my Substack and/or Visual Quitter.

This is always a bit cringe to send, but here we are. Twenty years later, we are all still here. And I am grateful for that.

Thanks for following along. Take a break. Hug a neck. Fill a stocking. Make a Christmas Scavenger Hunt. Light a candle for Hanukkah.

-Jodi

Episode 32: Holiday Break-My Mom and Dad!

jodi hays — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 16:23:35 GMT

These two are endlessly supportive and sacrificial. Hear Curt and Sandy Hays talk a bit with me about parenting (me, yikes) and their work lives. Plus the best parents I could ever ask for, even if they weren’t big on planning, well, anything. They have always supported and loved me and my family.

Image is a recent work, The Mountain Valley (2025, for Mom and Dad). They live in a little valley of Molly Creek nestled in the Ozark foothills in Hot Springs, Arkansas (where Mountain Valley water runs freely). This work was most recently shown at Real Tinsel (Street Berzerkers, curated by Tanner MacArthur, Milwaukee) and The Show of Delights (curated by Anne Marie Waugh at Lyceum Gallery, New York).

Episode 31: Courtney Puckett

jodi hays — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 12:17:02 GMT

I can’t recall when I first saw Courtney’s work, but she reached out to me in the pandemic and we got to know each other a bit. Courtney is what my friend Laura calls '“secret southern.” This means that you would not know it by their biography or current work, but they have some deep roots down here. It’s a dubious honor. I love the way Courtney sets up her studio (has three rooms for sourcing, making, and editing). Her sculptural textile-based work had been shown at the influential Bravin Lee textile shows and a ton of other places. Thank you for your story, CP!

Episode 30: Hamlett Dobbins

jodi hays — Wed, 03 Dec 2025 12:02:06 GMT

Hamlett Dobbins is legend as an artist, educator, and curator. I first knew his name from a studio visit blog he began in the 2000s. I was living in Boston at the time and had a lot of time at my admin temp job to comb the early internet. I could live in the south and get to know its artists through Hamlett’s wanderings. Once I moved back to Tennessee, he was curating at Rhodes College and showing at David Lusk Gallery, among other places, I wanted H to come to my DPC studio. He was just always around, and always painting. And curious. When I was curating and teaching full time, he drove 3 hours to a Pope.L lecture I had arranged. There were *maybe* fifteen people there. I will never forget him for that. Hamlett is curious, which comes through in this interview. He is tender, evergreen, and decent. And he got the Rome Prize! And he has his own podcast. And he reminds us to meditate. And please check out his chronology, the best, most poetic and researched “Artist Statement” out there. Thank you, Memphis. Thank you, Hamlett.

Episode 29: Kariann Fuqua

jodi hays — Wed, 19 Nov 2025 11:51:35 GMT

Kariann’ Fuqua’s work has evolved through work, hybrid practices, chronic illness, moves, and parenting. I love her work and you should too. I also count her as a solid friend and confidant, and hope the warm tenor of our conversations over the years comes through here. I also love this Art Spiel essay on her work from another guest on Visual Quitter, John Ros.

Episode 27: Allison Reimus

jodi hays — Wed, 05 Nov 2025 12:03:14 GMT

I have never told anyone this, but when I was a kid, I would write “secret” notes to myself by layering a whole sentence on itself, leaving the secret illegible, with less power, as a jumble of letters written on top of the next.

When I saw Allison’s word paintings some if it felt like home, like those layers, typological secrets. Living a life in art is remarkable in many ways, and one of those, personally, is that I have gotten to know AND SHOW with Allison Reimus. She is boss, she is kind, she is frank. Her Insta is here, and she shows everywhere. Her confidence is refreshing, and so was talking with her. We talk about teeth.

Episode 26: Laurie Frick

jodi hays — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 18:51:33 GMT

Laurie’s a story that I wanted others to hear. She is a thinker and tech-lover, ran giant tech companies and quit to become an artist. Full stop. Her work is measured (literally) and builds on, is made from, material of personal data. She is generous and fierce. I have loved that our paths have met. Thank you, Laurie!

Episode 25: Mary Addison Hackett

jodi hays — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 12:29:22 GMT

Mary Addison Hacket’s work ranges the decades and media, but is all rooted in documentary practice. I highly reccommend spending time with her work, and her substack.