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AART

AART

By: Chris Stafford
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About this listen

 Veteran award-winning podcaster Chris Stafford talks to women artists from across mediums and around the world to get to know the women behind their art. Conversations are intimate and free flowing as we learn about the journey these talented women have taken to become successful artists.

Instagram: @theaartpodcast
Email: hollowellstudios@gmail.com

Testimonials:

“Thank you to host Chris Stafford for making me feel relaxed and bringing out all of my thoughts and feelings about life/art! After our interview I felt euphoric and accomplished and so appreciative for that. She is a wonderful interviewer.”
Michele Byrne

"Chris is a natural host and I thoroughly enjoyed talking with her. She’s authentic, personable, and has a clear passion for supporting women. Her conversations with female artists about their artistic journeys are in depth and thoughtful. She’s getting into territory others often ignore and uncovering some gems in the process.”
Julie Davis

“Chris is a highly skilled interviewer who puts her guests at ease. She draws out the juicy bits of lived experience and contextualizes this against the grander arc of history.”
Kathryn Andrews

“I was honored to be interviewed by Chris. She has a unique perspective in the art world, and it's refreshing to see a podcast with such a wide variety of artists from all different backgrounds and disciplines.”
Erin Spencer

“Art making can be a solitary pursuit, the AART podcast gives a window into the life and vocation of the artist that informs and inspires while it entertains.”
Suzie Baker

“ The interview was a very enjoyable experience. Chris is a generous interviewer who draws out her subjects and is completely engaged in the conversation. She's a good listener and asks thoughtful questions.”
Ingrid Christensen

“As a female artist, being featured on the AART podcast has been a truly transformative experience. It's incredibly empowering to see a podcast dedicated to representing women artists and giving us a platform to share our stories and art with the world.”
Lindsay Mullen

“AART is an important and unique platform for the stories of women artists and their work. From the art making processes to the personal materials that makes the creative process. The podcast’s greatest asset is Chris’ ability to getting the artists to “open up’, by her preparation process, and the questions she asks.”
Maria Martinez-Cañas


A Hollowell Studios Production
© Copyright: Chris Stafford | Hollowell Studios
All Rights Reserved

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/aart--5814675/support.Chris Stafford Art Entertainment & Performing Arts
Episodes
  • S3E21 Sophie Kipner, Figurative Abstract Painter & Writer

    S3E21 Sophie Kipner, Figurative Abstract Painter & Writer
    Oct 14 2025
    This week the American figurative abstract painter and writer Sophie Kipner who primarily uses the blind contouring technique. Sophie was born in Santa Monica in 1982 into an artistically musical family; her English mother Lizzie was a singer and dancer, her Australian father Steve, a songwriter, musician and producer, her grandfather, a songwriter and producer, and her brother Harrison, also a songwriter, musician and producer. Sophie however was to take a different route with an early interest in art, particularly sketching and learning portraiture, which would carry her through to her professional career. Her parents emphasized self expression as a learning tool, encouraging her creativity. While attending Viewpoint High School in Calabasas she developed an interest in photography. Sophie was the first member of her family to attend college and she chose The Annenberg School at the University of Southern California to study journalism and public relations, graduating magna cum laude with a BA in 2005. Her earliest exposure to art and artists included visits to galleries in Europe with her mother, which is where the abstract work of Picasso caught her eye and subconsciously imprinted an influence that would later become apparent in her own work. After graduating Sophie spent time working for her aunt at Apogee Electronics where she learned a number of skills that would help her later in her own business. Her love of writing, especially short stories, became an important and relevant aspect of her career. From 2013-15 she worked at The Society Club in London. It was during this time that she introduced sketching games to her dinner parties, which unlocked her love of art again after many years focusing on her writing. After moving back to LA Sophie began showing her work on social media and taking commissions. This eventually led to her decision to become a full time artist and since 2015 she has had her works shown in multiple solo and group gallery exhibitions and sold into commercial and private collections globally, including the Salam Art Collection in Iraq. Her writing was also gaining momentum and in 2017, her first book, The Optimist, a satirical look at the extremity of romantic desperation, was published by Unbound in the UK and later in the US and Canada in 2021. The novel was named a “Best Summer Read” by The Daily Mail and optioned for film and television adaptation. Sophie was also the subject of the Oscar-shortlisted short documentary, “Sophie and The Baron”, which chronicles Sophie’s friendship and artistic collaboration with legendary Rolling Stone Magazine photographer Baron Wolman. The award-winning film, directed by Alexandria Jackson, premiered at SXSW Film Festival and was acquired by Disney as their first original documentary, and is now streaming worldwide on Disney Plus. Sophie lives and works in Santa Monica, CA.

    Sophie’s links:
    https://www.sophiekipner.com/
    https://www.sophiekipner.com/book
    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt13084870/
    https://www.instagram.com/skipner

    Some of Sophie’s favorite female artists:
    Paula Rego
    Alice Neel
    Katherine Bradford
    Cristina BanBan
    Hilda Palafox
    Frida Kahlo
    Robin F Williams

    Host: Chris Stafford
    Produced by Hollowell Studios
    Follow @theaartpodcast on Instagram
    AART on Facebook
    Email: theaartpodcast@gmail.com

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/aart--5814675/support.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 29 mins
  • S3E20: Ghitta Larsen, Cinematographer & Steadicam Operator

    S3E20: Ghitta Larsen, Cinematographer & Steadicam Operator
    Sep 30 2025
    This week the cinematographer and steadicam operator Ghitta Larsen whose credits include The Shop, My Kind of People, 90 Day Fiance, Meek. Ghitta was born in Sonoma, CA in 1994. She has a younger brother Anthony who is a jazz musician. Her mother Sylvia, an architect, constantly encouraged Ghitta to pursue her talents in a variety of sports. A challenge that Ghitta took seriously which resulted in her becoming a competitive swimmer at age nine. From there she discovered water polo and, in her words, became obsessed with the sport, playing for the Central Coast ODP team at Sonoma Valley High School and then Division 1 in Southern California during college at Cal State Northridge, which led to joining the Olympic Development Program. When she moved to New York Ghitta explored weightlifting and became competitive. She says she still has unfinished business in this arena but for now she is into Cross Fit, which also helps her core strength for camera work. During her sports career Ghitta studied film, graduating from the New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a Bachelor’s Degree in Film & TV. in 2016. Her first job combined her love of filming with the sport of cross fit and since then she has widened her aperture to include music videos, shorts and TV. She enjoys thought provoking genres, including horror movies and has ambitions to explore underwater photography too, which would combine her love for swimming. Currently she is spending most of her time as a camera operator and as a DP. Ghitta lives in New York with her partner Rusmaldo Faccio.

    Ghitta’s links:
    https://www.ghittalarsen.com/
    https://www.instagram.com/ghitta.larsen
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm12820074/

    Host: Chris Stafford
    Produced by Hollowell Studios
    Follow @theaartpodcast on Instagram
    AART on Facebook
    Email: theaartpodcast@gmail.com

    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/aart--5814675/support.
    Show More Show Less
    50 mins
  • S3E19 Barbara Nitke, Photographer

    S3E19 Barbara Nitke, Photographer
    Sep 16 2025
    This week the American photographer Barbara Nitke whose life has taken her from hardcore porn sets to the BDSM world and to the fashion world as her art evolves. She is as ambitious as ever expanding her many talents to currently producing her own movie American Ecstasy, which is projected to begin filming in 2026. As a vibrant septuagenarian, Barbara has widened her aperture across a career that began in the porn theaters of the 80s where she was tasked to screen more than 100 films; to the high art of the fashion industry in the reality TV show Project Runway, which she shot for 18 seasons. Barbara was born in Lynchburg, VA in 1950 the eldest of three children to Eloise “Vicky” Smiley Gregory, a meteorologist who worked for 30 years at the National Weather Service, and Paul Gervase Gregory, Jr., a WWII veteran and air traffic controller. Barbara has a younger brother, Gary Gregory, a software developer, and sister Mary Jane Gregory, a glass artist. She describes her childhood as unhappy and rebellious, constantly seeking her own independence. It was 1967 before her father disclosed an earlier marriage to the family and in 1987 she discovered that the author and sex researcher Shere Hite was her half-sister. Barbara’s family moved across the country when she was a child from Virginia to Alaska, which meant she attended a variety of schools. For college Barbara made her way to New York to study business, literature and writing at Baruch College, and photography at the International Center for Photography and School of Visual Arts. In her late 20’s she started photographing professionally and in1982, she says she found her subject on a porn set when she was given full access to be creative. Her first marriage to Herb Nitke lasted 13 years and gave her opportunities to develop her photographic skills in an unlikely world. Among her many credits are Hustlers, 2019, Monsterland, 2020, The Equalizer, 2021, The Gilded Age, 2023, Smile, 2024 and Project Runway - 225 episodes from 2004-2021. Barbara’s work has been exhibited internationally at venues including Storage APT, New York; the Hartnett Gallery at University of Rochester; One Eyed Jacks Gallery, Brighton, England; and Barristers, New Orleans. She is included in the permanent collections of the Kinsey Institute, the Finnish Museum of Photography, the Leslie-Lohman Museum, and others. Her images have been the subject of articles in numerous venues, including Office Magazine, Forbes, Dazed, Slate, Vice, Harper’s Magazine, and The New York Times. Barbara is married to Kenneth Wyban an Army Veteran and the couple divide their time between New York City and Ohio.

    Barbara’s links: https://www.barbaranitke.com/
    https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0632987/
    https://www.instagram.com/barbaranitke/

    Some of Barbara’s favorite female artists:
    Mary Ellen Mark
    Diane Arbus
    Sally Mann
    Cindy Sherman
    Marilyn Minter

    Host: Chris Stafford
    Produced by Hollowell Studios
    Follow @theaartpodcast on Instagram
    AART on Facebook
    Email: theaartpodcast@gmail.com


    Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/aart--5814675/support.
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 11 mins
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