And welcome back to the Truth in His Art. Thank you for joining me for my conversations bridging arts, culture, and community. I am your host, Rob Lee. And before we start, I'd like to remind you to visit my website, the truth in his art.com, for more episodes, our full archive, and to subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates. Thank you in advance.
Rob Lee:Today, I have a special guest for a special conversation. My guest is a Los Angeles based artist whose vibrant, tuft rug art pieces are a new form of folk art. These large scale pieces simultaneously explore 2 realms of the female experience, joy and pain, and are packed with instinctual color choices that make them visually arresting. Please welcome, Lee Van Root. Welcome to the podcast.
Liv Aanrud:Hi. Thank you. Thanks for having me.
Rob Lee:Thank you for coming on. Thank you for making the time. As you could probably tell in my less than professional attire right now, wearing a tank top because I'm spitting over. I'm sweating my my existence away. So, yeah, we're recording The Stone of Summer.
Rob Lee:Good times.
Liv Aanrud:It's hot. It's July. It's hot. Oh, yes.
Rob Lee:Absolutely. So so as we we we start, one of the things I always like to do, and it it it rolls, it makes sense, I'd like to invite you to introduce yourself, tell us a bit about your work and I I read a bit about your grandmother, you know, as far as an influence when it comes to your art in your early life. So I wanna open it up right there if we can start off with a few of those items.
Liv Aanrud:Okay. Yeah. So my name is Liv Enrude, and I live in Los Angeles. I'm a textile artist. I, basically making figurative work that is really maximalist and there's a lot of, like, language symbolism, things within the within the figure that kinda build out this specific kind of world that they all exist in.
Liv Aanrud:And, I guess I think they sit somewhere in between painting and and textile in terms of how they're interpreted and and where they sit in context with other art, that I'm looking at. And, but, yeah, my grandmother, when I was very young, you know, I grew up on a farm and my dad would always we were about 5 miles away from her house. So I grew up spending a lot of time there while my mom was teaching. And then also while my dad was working in the field, he would, you know, leave me there a lot of the time. And so I spent a lot of time with her just, she would draw with me and I that was, like, the first person that kind of really showed me a little bit more about drawing and kind of was really looking at it in a way.
Liv Aanrud:And so I, you you know, that always has a place in my in my identity or sense of, like, upbringing. She's a big part of that. And even I just remember one time I was drawing something where I I think it was the you know, it was water, and then she thought it was a sky. And I remember thinking I'm not gonna correct her because I would never do that. But then it made me look at it again and think, oh, maybe she sees something I don't.
Liv Aanrud:And so there were these little moments of even just being very young and and thinking changing how, the idea that you could see something in multiple ways and, like, what is what is something like art? But then later when, she died when I was 12, but then later when I was in grad school, so I had done my undergrad and grad work graduate work in in painting. So I really come from this textiles through painting. But I did find a piece that she had made, and I'm not exactly sure when. I guess probably the forties.
Liv Aanrud:And so by finding this piece that to me, I was working I was making abstract paintings. And so this was this abstract textile piece, and it's basically the very simple setup. It's, you know, like a potato sack, and then everything's cut up and it's all, fabric that would have been in her life. I mean, she grew up in the great depression, and then, you know, you have the dust bowl and they're farmers. So, like, those were not easy years.
Liv Aanrud:And so they after that, I think, you know, pretty traumatized honestly and never threw anything out. So that was one of the things about growing up is you just there was always these history of things, and it wasn't people didn't have money in it. They weren't things that were expensive, but it was like things that meant something and and also maybe you need them again. So finding this piece, it was like a portrait of a of a self sufficiency of of kind of like how somebody operated in the world by taking things and reusing them. But also maybe this desire to make something that was a little bit, you know, changed it.
Liv Aanrud:You know? So it's like it was started off as as maybe a dish towel and a and a dress you liked, and now it's this piece that is functional. So it's kind of that that thinking and also something beautiful. Yeah. So finding that, it was like this way of connecting to the place where I'm from.
Liv Aanrud:And I think when I was in grad school, it was hard to find my voice because I was in a lot of other artists and they knew, I guess, maybe more contemporary art. You know, they knew who owned which gallery. And this all these different things that in the New York art scene where I was thinking, man, I don't I don't know all of these things and it so I'm kind of lay lay low, you know, doing my own thing, trying to figure out how to what to say in these conversations and what what I know and what I don't know. But finding that, it kinda gave me this link and it gave me this way of kind of thinking like, okay, II do have a little bit of an unusual background. Not that farming would be, but these days, I think it's not as easy to it's everything's corporate.
Liv Aanrud:It's very hard to to survive and and that way of living is probably, you know, I wouldn't say it's it's gone, but it's much more rare. So
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. I I think it was like a way of connecting with her. Also a way of, yeah, connecting with, like, a lineage of women in my family, and then also just the labor of it. When I started making paintings of it, I was really looking at it as, like, doing a portrait of what I perceive as a portrait of her. You know, it's it's like it's her thinking.
Liv Aanrud:Right? It's this abstract piece, so it's it doesn't look like anything particularly. But what it could be is a map of thinking. It could be, a a moment where she's maybe letting her mind wander. And, you know, if you had the time to do it back then with everyone in your house always wanting something, because it was packed and there there are a lot of people there.
Liv Aanrud:So I I thought of it as, like, a different kind of portrait of a person that I wish I could talk to, you know, as an artist or as an adult. And so it kinda started there and then I started just making, my like, I looked it up and I figured out how to do this kind of hooking technique. And once I started doing it, it really clicked back into, like, I guess the logic of growing up on a farm where where you're expected to work and where work, you know, for better or for worse was a defining it was like part of your identity, you know, to, like, to be perceived as lazy would be a really big, problem. And so for me, it's just I don't know. I get nervous about that.
Liv Aanrud:Like, if somebody thinks I'm lazy, I'm like, oh god. No. And I don't know if some people would think, oh, who cares? Or or maybe I am or I don't know. But, I even the other day, I was just talking about my niece, and she's 16, and I was talking about things she's good at.
Liv Aanrud:I'm like, she's she really knows she knows how to work. She can do this. She's like, the the ability to work and help people and and kind of be self sufficient and that that's always kind of, I think, important. So when I started doing the actual physical hooking, it it made it easier to sit down and make something that maybe doesn't have like, it feels luxurious to work on art. Right?
Liv Aanrud:It feels like I'm you know? So it's like, how do you sit and watch paint dry? I mean, I would I would have methods. I would have a hairdryer. I was racing around, but it it connected to, like, my probably a little bit hyperactive, personality and kinda calming that down maybe or focusing it.
Liv Aanrud:And then also, just gave me something to do, and also a way of it's meditative. It's therapeutic to to do something like that. So it once I started doing that, I pretty much it kinda really dialed in, kind of a philosophy and in a way of of working and living. And so that was 13 years ago that I started doing text it was really right after grad school kinda stuff. And then I'd I've been doing it ever since release.
Rob Lee:Thank you. Thank you. And, see see the cool thing. And I I tell this to people. I tell this to because this is a collaborative thing.
Rob Lee:Right? Like, you know, with that that answer, that that piece there kind of answered 2 other questions, so I could just remove those off the checklist. So shout out to you.
Liv Aanrud:Cross them out.
Rob Lee:And the other thing is I like when, you know, it's 2 things. When I read the piece about your grandmother and seeing that as one of those early points of perhaps where one of the sparks or the spark or what have you was initially ignited, I start thinking of my own, you know, my own grandmother where, I have a sense of humor. I am always I have too many, you know, it's just teeth all the time over here. I'm just always smiling about something, and she would call me her her laughing baby or this other thing where I wanted to be an illustrator before starting this, and it was always her kind of like, let me see what you drew. What's that?
Rob Lee:And to be really on it and just, like, supportive of it in that way and not, like, hey, you know, really, you know, focus on the book, hits the hit the books and all of that. I was smart. I I, you know, I hit the books. I was good in that regard, but, actually, you know, pushing and giving me sort of that that feedback that one needs, to be an individual. I'm in the weird stuff.
Rob Lee:I'm a, you know, for context, since this is visual, I've always been big. I'm I'm 64, so I'm like a giant dude. Right? And it's like, hey, play with this basketball. She's like, no.
Rob Lee:Go in and draw. Keep drawing. Be an artist.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. Yeah. That's interesting. Yeah. You can't be tall without somebody, forcing you into some of, like, idea of a sport that's fun.
Liv Aanrud:But yeah. No. I I think the that idea of having a person who in your life that maybe it is because they're older and they just have a little bit time to focus on you and and and to be positive. I mean, I see that with my mom and and my nieces, you know, she's she's that person. And I think that that was so important, to have those afternoons where, you know, we could just slow down, spend some time working on these things, and she would you know, that's there was no I mean, we had there was a TV, but it wasn't like you weren't set up in front of it.
Liv Aanrud:Like, that wasn't an option. So it was making some food or or cooking or taking walks or she would show me around. You know, you're out in the country, so you're looking at things. And I think all that observational time growing up in the country was really informs my, like, my art and how, yeah, how I how I work and may that maybe wanting that desire to slow down again too because it's definitely not just a city. I mean, Los Angeles is is fast, but even just, like, technology in the way that we are, you know, visually kind of constantly inundated.
Liv Aanrud:I think that doing something that is a little tedious and slow, is is a little bit a conscious decision against that. Just a way to take back some some amount of my brain, I guess, as much as I can or, you know, my piece a little bit.
Rob Lee:Certainly. And and I think because because you're, originally from Wisconsin. No?
Liv Aanrud:Yeah.
Rob Lee:Yeah. It's like because I was like, farms. I was like, I heard LA, and I was just like, where?
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm I'm not on the farm anymore. That's for sure. Right now, I'm in, like, you know, downtown Los Angeles, so I'm looking out the window at a totally different, situation. But, yeah, I grew up, like, on a dairy farm in Wisconsin as as you do in the eighties.
Liv Aanrud:So I feel like it was a different place in a totally different time. And it is a lot about I think a lot of as an artist. I think most people do have some connection to a
Rob Lee:very
Liv Aanrud:a very specific place because there wasn't like we didn't have a lot of money and we weren't traveling all over the place. We didn't go. You know we you're on. We lived on a lake. You spent your days kind of like in different areas.
Liv Aanrud:You go into the woods and read a book. You go it was like you go sit and draw, and it wasn't like, we never really no. We never went anywhere, but it we weren't just getting driven around from, like, activity to activity kinda thing. It was like we were just we go swimming then, like, sit somewhere else and and kind of talk and read and think and say, you know, it was a little bit, lower key upbringing. Yeah.
Rob Lee:I I dig the I dig the low key. And, you know, as I was sharing, you know, with you before we got started, like, that that trip I was on, it was a lot of activities. I was like, I'm gonna opt out of as many of these as possible because I prefer so that the low key being able to literally turn this off, turn off this brain of minds to maybe shift gears and and do something else. And, you know, the sort of the the notion and and before I move into this next question, I definitely, you know, felt that. And you mentioned this notion of being being called lazy or something like that.
Rob Lee:It definitely hits for me as well. I'm a I'm always a person who finds different ways, alternative ways to do things, get to the same, like, answer, but I got a multitude of ways to get there. And sometimes it's the path of least resistance. Sometimes it's the way to turn it into a system or what have you. My day job, I'm a data analyst.
Rob Lee:I'm always problem solving, And I always take it as a strike when someone was like, you could have took 5 hours to do this and you did it in an hour. That seems a little lazy. I was like, it feels efficient, and I'm always on task.
Liv Aanrud:Oh, yeah.
Rob Lee:So definitely, it it it keys me. And even in in doing this, like, I get a lot of, you know, a lot of content done, and I and I think well, not even content. That's not the right term. That's that's that's a social media brain rot. I think I get a lot of conversations done.
Rob Lee:I think I'd have a lot of interesting conversations with folks such as yourself. And in 5 years, coming up on 800 of these well crafted research, all of that stuff sort of interviews, and have all of the other things that one needs. It's like you can get a lot done, and part of that comes from that that upbringing of find ways to do things, find ways to solve those problems.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. Yeah. I mean and I'm sure I think there's different ways of of working and, like, you know, the the mental work of being an artist and the physical work of doing it and like you find different, you know, sometimes I think it's always hard to you're talking about taking breaks and and you know, getting out of your head and doing different things, but you're always kinda working out these issues and these problems. And I'm sure when you're not, like, in the studio talking to people, it's still like you're thinking about how Mhmm. What a question would be or, you know, everything kind of relates back.
Liv Aanrud:I'm sure you're reflecting on conversations you've had, and then it kind of and you're talking to people all the time, I bet, you know, out in the world. So it's you're working on it even yeah. You're not lazy.
Rob Lee:I keep a notepad next to the bags. I'll wake up at a minute. That's a question. That's a good insight.
Liv Aanrud:All good.
Rob Lee:And, yeah, it's it's definitely, you don't turn it off. It's like that Miles Davis thing. It's like, yeah. You know, when do you even stop hearing music? I never stop hearing music.
Rob Lee:It's always on. And it's like I I felt that in that way. So we're we're we're touching on it. Maybe or you've already covered this, but I'd be remiss if I didn't ask. When did you realize sort of that that that level of interest of, like, art being sort of a calling, a vocation, something you wanted to spend that non lazy time time on, that, you know, putting your interest and your effort into it.
Rob Lee:Because we we we all come to that point where, yeah, I'm interested in this. This could be a hobby. This could be an activity that I do. But when it's something that's a vocation note, that thing that you can't really turn off, when did you come to that point?
Liv Aanrud:I I probably in college. I mean, I had, a really great professor who, you know, really brought me into the sort of, like, the actual art world in terms of, you know, going we'd go to New York every year and, take a a bus out there in on spring break. And so it was like, you know, going from I like to do this to this is what this looks like in the world, which I didn't really have access to. I mean, it was the nearest museum from my parents' house. It was, like, 3 and a half hours maybe, and we weren't doing it.
Liv Aanrud:So that, I think, like, this, professor's name is Steven Petrositz. He died a few years ago, but, like, his his kind of taking me as a student and this group of painters that I was hanging out with. They were you know, I think it's a group of people that you're with too. They're serious, and it wasn't always easy to be in that group. It was a lot of, like, really strong personalities, and sometimes I get a little lost in the in the fray.
Liv Aanrud:You know? They like to argue about art. I don't I don't really like to argue about art. But then finally when there was a point where I don't know. I made some comment and then about, oh, I don't know.
Liv Aanrud:You know, I kinda like, I don't know what I'm doing at this thing. And he's like, you're one of the best painters I I know. Like, you got this. And and I just like having that thing where he didn't it wasn't about all these other dudes that I was hanging out with and and their personalities, and I always thought, oh, they'll be fine. They'll you know, they know they know who they are as artists, and I'm not really sure.
Liv Aanrud:But, like, having him, you know, having my professor kind of lead me along and and make it so that it it's like you know what you're doing and and showing me how to, I guess, play the long game of not, you know, not not necessarily basing everything on, like, an instant success. And, actually, actually, some of those people I was hanging out with did have a little bit early success, you know, where they were 23 and stuff was happening. And that's not the thing for me. So just learning how to from him how how to live as an artist, it made it more realistic. It wasn't like, oh, well, if you don't give a solo show as soon as you're it wasn't like that.
Liv Aanrud:It was more like surround yourself with people. I was like, I can do that. It's like, keep working. Okay. And then I would always send pictures and just keeping correspondence even if I was living overseas or wherever I was.
Liv Aanrud:I think having that accountability of of, like, other people paying attention and just, supporting, you know, your own interest in each other's work was kind of when I realized, oh, yeah. I can like, being an artist isn't about all these things that you think it is. I mean, it can be, but it's it's also just about finding that place where you can continue and not beat yourself up every day if it's not working out because it's it's a long it's generally, you know, it's a long game. Yeah. And so just expect that in some ways and then you can survive it and not get all into your head.
Liv Aanrud:So, yeah, I think it was, like, from basically my twenties and then, you know, now it's just kind of a way of life. I think grad school really solidified it where I was like, okay. This is this is you know, it's I'm in it. But just early on, I'm no matter what I was doing, no matter what job I had, I would've I was always making something. And sometimes selling it, sometimes not, but just just realizing that was kinda, like, part of how I need to, stay in check or whatever.
Rob Lee:Yeah. No. No. I I I feel that. And and, you know, in in doing this, and this is a sort of always my my comparison point.
Rob Lee:This is the thing that that I do and always trying to, you know, get it over ultimately. And it is definitely one of those things where it's not just something I turn off. Like, we someone is like, oh, yeah. I just don't think like an artist. You might look at something like, how do they get that color?
Rob Lee:You know, you start thinking about things in those contexts, and it's because it's it's a lifestyle. It's not just something that you do forbid and just turn off and move to another thing. It might be broader. It might it might be I'm not just doing this medium or this style of work. It's just like I'm an artist.
Rob Lee:How however that might look, it might be I'm exploring this area right now in my work or exploring that, but still the sensibility is there.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. I mean, it's a it's a kind of a it's definitely a philosophy because it's essentially goes against what we're raised to believe, which is, like, you have to make stuff for you make money. So if you're not making something to make money off it or if it doesn't have function this way, then it's not, then you're, you know, you're a fool or it's not, like, wasting your time. But I think that, like, maybe that's, like, growing up on a farm where you're like, we didn't really make any money, but we were working all the time. You know, my dad was working all the time.
Liv Aanrud:So, like, I think I just my mom is a hippie. It was like there's this idea that, like, those constructs of of, like, what it means to be successful or what it mean you know, this we're talking through this idea that this is how it'll work if you do this and this and this. And it's like just knowing that that wasn't actually a thing. You know? And I had I mean, having a mom who's a teacher and, you know, part of these systems and then watching it all, like, yeah.
Liv Aanrud:It doesn't mean you get a good retirement or that you get good health care or all of these things that are you know? So I think I always, knew that, like, being an artist was it wasn't a problem for them. It wasn't a problem for me, and it was just kind of, like, once I, then then it is. It's about fighting against maybe a little bit of a system that you're like, I don't have to participate in this way. I can do this.
Liv Aanrud:I can make it work, and I can hustle this way or this way, different jobs, and I can still pull it altogether. And then and, you have to keep reminding yourself that. Because even now, I think with Instagram and all the other ways that we're supposed to be, like, monetizing and branding and all these things, it it kind of is getting your head again. You're like, wait. I don't need to do all of that all the time.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. That's like a different that's a system that that I I can take what I need from it, but I don't I don't need to, like, give all my time away or all my labor away or, you know, you're never gonna do enough. This is impossible. So you have to keep bringing it back to what am I gonna do today in the studio and and and try to have fun too.
Rob Lee:It's always getting back to that why, and you're you're right. You're so right. And especially in that that that piece about the the social media component, like, this is a digital thing. This is this is online. And, you know, I've in the last year, I've done education around this, like, teaching like the next generation of young podcasters.
Rob Lee:And I've been doing this for a decade and a half, you know, and so one of the dinosaurs of the the industry or what have you and but learning a lot of stuff and seeing the ebbs and flows of all of these these different things And, you know, seeing sort of this push out there, seeing and this is why I made that distinction earlier about conversations versus content. And, you know, so it's like, you know, you have these marketing people, hey, you wanna go viral, so you gotta put it here. I was like, nah, I just have to do the interviews and hopefully the guest enjoys themselves and they feel it as a win and I feel it's a win because I don't just talk to people because they have a name. I talk to them because their work interests me, their story interests me, and it might be as superficial as, that's a really cool color. How'd you do that?
Rob Lee:Or how'd you make that? You know? And trying to delve into that further to get the story from the person that goes into that work.
Liv Aanrud:Well, yeah. Because you said you saw my work in, at Future Fairs, so you actually saw in in person and, and so that's exciting because one thing, speaking of, like, the digital world is is sometimes hard to get a 2 inch screen or whatever to to, capture everything that's going on texturally or people don't even know exactly what the material is. And so it it's nice to have you have had seen it in person and and whatnot. Yeah.
Rob Lee:Yeah. Absolutely. That's that's why I was up there in in May. I was talking about earlier. Yeah.
Rob Lee:Yeah. So so moving into sort of a little bit of talk around like the work, I want to hear a bit about sort of, you know, it could be something that you worked on and sort of finished recently or something you're working on currently. But talk about the the the creative process. Like, where where do you start? What are those stages like?
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. So one of the things everything I basically make these big wooden frames, and I have a back background piece. So there is this kind of blank canvas that you're looking at, and I usually I usually don't really do a lot of, like, drawings, ahead of time. So often it just comes from like an I do think they're a bit a bit self portrait like, given that a, I use myself as a reference, but also, like, even just the psychology of them. You know, I think that they come from a feeling.
Liv Aanrud:So, and sometimes it is just, like, being overwhelmed. A lot of stuff that's going on currently, and it never seems to end. But, you know, there's a lot of pretty frustrating and horrible things happening all the time. So sometimes I just get into this mode where it's like I'm making something that I start with the you know, like, how I feel, and I'm like, maybe make the pose and then I draw the body with a marker. You know, I get the figure set up where where they need to be to illustrate, you know, to kinda be in the space.
Liv Aanrud:And then, and then I kinda work really, improvisationally. Like, I'll I'll add like, I don't have everything all drawn out. I don't do the entire drawing and then start the process of of tufting it. I generally just start, once I know where the bodies are, I just start with the hair or I'll start with the thing that I'm trying to, so let's say I put, like, a swan on the thigh or something like this. Right?
Liv Aanrud:I'll start there. And then as the days go by and as I'm sitting there with all this time, you know, as I'm working, I'll come up with other ideas and I add them in. So it's a little bit like when you start drawing on your hand or something, and then you draw you know, like, if you kept moving along like that, it's like you just keep thinking. It's more about a a process of drawing as a way to think. But in the end, like, the the figure gets pretty obfuscated with all these, you know, there's all these objects and flowers and, you know, symbols and it's sometimes there it's almost like tattoos, somewhat they're they become disguised in the environment.
Liv Aanrud:But the one thing that I do notice is, like, the facial expression and and the kind of, like, the eyes that are looking back at you. You know, you can lose the body, but you you're gonna still see the face. Yeah. And so as long as that I wanna I wanna capture and and maintain that this kind of expression. So, like, even if the figures don't necessarily look like me, it's that face.
Liv Aanrud:I'm like, I made that face. That is me looking like what is going on. And a lot of times, it's, feeling really disconnected from nature and really making these these works are about, like, a, you know, a place and it it it and it is a place where it's like they're all it's women. Right? Because it's it's a self referential kind of situation, but it's also, I think, about, you know, care and collaboration and kind of, you know, earth mother stuff.
Liv Aanrud:You know what I mean? And and, like, healing and self compassion. And and maybe as I'm working on them, I'm trying to try to get that into my own life. And, you know, because it's like there's so much stuff I can't really do that much about, I suppose. And, you know, you kinda have to sit with some of these feelings.
Liv Aanrud:So it's a way of, like, kind of working through that and but also, like, highlighting I mean, I really like the to reinterpret that body. Obviously, there's plenty of imagery out there constantly of women looking a certain way for men or for, you know, just to like, the presentation of of and, yeah, social media notwithstanding. Internet, everything, ads. But it's like these this isn't really like the body becomes this other kind of vessel. It's not really, you know, you're not gonna see, like, the I would just say, like, listen.
Liv Aanrud:They're stacked in a different way. They're stacked with, like, information. There's, like, different things. There's there's symbolism. You're gonna look at something and it'll remind you of something else.
Liv Aanrud:It's not really about, like, the boobs being, like, it's, like, sexualized or something. Right? It's like they're flowers. They're functional. Like, where'd they go?
Liv Aanrud:You know? Are they in the foreground or the background? Like, I like that the body, that they're that they're functional and sort of that thing of self sufficiency and that there's, like, these other functions that, that you can, like, that the body disappears and is so integrated into the background that it it just emphasizes this maybe this point that we're all we are all part of nature, and we should know that by now. And, and that we're we're all made of the same stuff essentially. I mean, as I say.
Liv Aanrud:Right? So, we're this close to being something else, I would think. Right? Materially. So it's kind of that idea of of, yeah, being part of of a system and that there's like, if there's more than one figure, sometimes it's just 1, but if there's more than 1, it's like they're all doing different things, like, but they have but they have I don't know.
Liv Aanrud:They're they're into something. Right? They're they're collecting firewood. They're doing these things that are, like, kind of a useful like, it it's it's like a portrait of of them collaborating and and existing and helping kinda, I guess it's like what I would hope that that people are like and that it's something that's lacking maybe in the day to day sort of selfishness of our current culture. Right?
Liv Aanrud:Everyone's trying to, like, get what they can and get you know? It's a little depressing sometimes to see how, yeah, how disconnected people are. So, yeah, I guess it's like a rally against that a little bit. No.
Rob Lee:No. No. No. I I appreciate it. I appreciate the the context.
Rob Lee:I'm as you're describing it, you know, sort of like the the thoughts that go into the work and sort of like the the connections and what's presented in there and and connecting it to the societal component. I'm looking at, like, images. Like, currently, I'm on your site and I'm looking at the, Tangle Bead, braid series, and I'm like, oh, it's it looks like as you're saying, I was like, oh, there are 2 people there. Oh, they are working. You know?
Rob Lee:Yeah.
Liv Aanrud:Sometimes you can't see them or there'll be one that sometimes upside down, and so you're kinda figuring out which who's up it's yeah.
Rob Lee:And just, like, it it's it's like it's even more questions that start popping up. It's like, how? Like, I'm looking at the work. I was like, oh my gosh. This is really intricate, and I'm seeing this it's so many things to, like, find, so many images to find in there.
Rob Lee:It's like, oh, there's there's an apple in that one, axe in the honeypot. Oh, there's flies. There's there's a beetle right there. There's so many there's a playing card and
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. It was I mean, remember I don't know how but, like, highlights magazine, there used to be that thing at the back where you find all the stuff and and, you know, it's all disguised, and I feel like there's still some element of that was my first, you know, magazine. It was exciting. And so I feel like there's some some part of that. And I also like them to be something that, yeah, you can't quite see.
Liv Aanrud:I mean, it's it's great to me when when there are kind of intentional, like there's blind spots where you you're, you know, you can't really quite get your head around the whole thing. And I mean, maybe some of that is just from I mean, we're constantly inundated with images, but even just like outside, there's, you know, there's graffiti stacked on top of an advertisement, stacked on top of, like, a person. And so they're just visually the world is operating like that. And so it feels like not, too crazy to have all these it's it's a little bit of, like, stream of consciousness kind of doodling too. You know?
Liv Aanrud:Just add something here. Add something here. And, and then it all sort of comes together and and there's a tension that keeps everything kind of in place visually maybe. Yeah.
Rob Lee:No. It's it's not a maybe. It's a definite. I I see it. I and I I dig it.
Rob Lee:It's, you know, I'm like I said, I've been scoring back through, and I was like, alright. This is this is tight. I like this. And and I like getting sort of the the story that connects sort of the overarching themes that that are there. And so I have this question still related with within process.
Rob Lee:So what is it do you find like maybe the most challenging or monotonous, like understanding that the work is very labor intensive? And, you know, I I will say this, sometimes I'll get, like, on a Friday, right, I prep for the upcoming week. I'm like, it's time to make the donuts to use a dated reference, and I'm going through thinking of what questions I'm gonna ask, like checking out old interviews, making sure I'm up to date. And if it's 3 interviews, it's easier. At one point, I did I was doing 16 interviews per week at one point.
Rob Lee:So it's a lot, folks, to prepare for. There is. It's a lot of questions. It's a lot of it's a lot of work in in that sort of way, and it could be monotonous because I try not to ask someone that maybe does a certain style of work the same questions I ask someone else. I feel like that's a disservice.
Rob Lee:It might be similar territory, but it's not gonna be the same question. I'm trying to recycle questions. So what what what what's within your work, you know, within the process that feels like monotonous, that feels like sort of like a challenge, and how do you stay motivated when you get to those those points of, like, I gotta do this?
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. It's it goes in different phases for sure. I mean, I usually get, of course, excited at the very beginning because it's this drawing and it's a little more freestyle and there's basically, there's a lot of things that could happen and so there's kind of some charge in that, you know. And basically, these things, you know, they they take time so you're you get excited about what's I don't have a plan. I don't have, like, a a piece of a a drawing in front of me.
Liv Aanrud:So I am excited about, like, what's it gonna what's it gonna look like? What's gonna happen? You know? And that that can be it comes in waves. And then there's the tediousness of, yeah, it gets to a point where you're filling in.
Liv Aanrud:And and so I use basically a hand like a wooden old timey Oxford hand punching tool. So a lot of it is just I mean, if you think of, like, a stick and poke tattoo. Alright? So it's like, bam, bam, bam, like that. But it's slow.
Liv Aanrud:And so it's a little bit like stippling or drawing or something like that. But then it gets to a point where, yeah, it's a big surface. I mean, one piece I made last year was 10 feet wide. And so there's just a lot of hours and and, you know, I guess I I do I listen to podcasts. I try to find, like, things so that it's like, okay.
Liv Aanrud:Today, you'll just focus on this part. You know? And I I kinda go big to little to big to little all the time where sometimes it's just, you know, finding the thing that you can be interested in one day. And then the hard part is just like, you know, when there's basically gaps where you can see the background and you just know you have to fill it in, but it's it's more like the in between, which isn't you know, so it it doesn't mean it's not important. It doesn't mean it's not like, but it there's just all these little gaps.
Liv Aanrud:So sometimes the the very end of a piece is actually really hard because it looks almost down and people say, oh, yeah. You're really close. And I'm like, it's still like another 15 hours away, and it's 15 hours of tedious, you know, stuff. I what I'll do is I'll turn it around because I'm basically, I'm working on the back when I'm working on this stuff. So I'd have the drawing.
Liv Aanrud:I'm working with either the, the little wooden tool or I have a, machine tufting gun, like a handheld one. Yep.
Rob Lee:And I
Liv Aanrud:think those are pretty ubiquitous on the Internet. People are always making stuff. I think most people know those tufting guns by now. But, I've turned it around and then I'll took put little, toothpicks through to mark where the, where the little gaps are. And then it's turning it back.
Liv Aanrud:And and so even just that little, game of, like, okay. Now there's these toothpicks. It gives me a sense of, like, how long or there's a there's something it's that I can mark and go, okay. I have 70 spots to fit finish. And then they you know, you hear them clink and hit the ground, and maybe there's something in my little squirrel brain that's like, oh, hey.
Liv Aanrud:That was satisfying. But and you see less of them. Okay. I'm I feel like I'm getting somewhere because it's you're just convincing yourself that it's gonna be fine and it's really and it's not like something I can often I if I can get helps, you know, sometimes I've been able to hire people or or but it's a lot of it because it's so intuitive and because I kind of jump around. I'll work on one part, work another part.
Liv Aanrud:So there's a lot of disconnected parts that it's really I have to finish it. It's not like there's a map and I can say, here's the diagram. So it definitely it gets long. So sometimes it I'll just work on a small like, it's like if I work on a big piece, the next one will be smaller so I can kinda keep myself from getting, you know, totally despondent or just physically, being not just being the hunchback of Santee Alley over here. So it's tough because, yeah, it is physically and I'm probably 45 in August.
Liv Aanrud:So I don't know. I gotta make sure I've taken care of myself so I don't, you know, carpal tunnel, all that kind of stuff. So it's a little bit of like a, yeah, a balancing act physically, and I just do different things. So sometimes I'll just have a new piece that I'll just leave the old one for a while. I got it.
Liv Aanrud:And if there's no deadline, I'll leave it, and then I'll work on something else and just draw or you know? So but it's yeah, there's definitely phases and it doesn't even the phases of of it being something I'm like I don't like it and I don't know if I'm gonna like it, but you're already in it so so far and and it can be hard to pull everything out, you know, like, so you have to trust yourself enough to keep going and and that just I don't know. I have studio mates now, so I'm in this building with a bunch of other artists. And so sometimes I'll bother them and have them give me, like, a pep talk or something and be like, help me. Yeah.
Rob Lee:Has it gotten, like, sort of like, what part of that has gotten maybe sort of sort of easier in in that time? And I'll and I'll and I say it because of this. Like, I would do do these interviews, and, you know, early on starting out, I'm like, this is like creative blind dating. That's always where I look. It's like, I had I know a few things about this person.
Rob Lee:I know they like their work. I know we're gonna do this interview, but I I'm trying to see who they are as a person in addition to what their their work is and kind of connecting those dots, and sometimes it's just like, oh, this person hates me, you know, without much context, and then it's like, oh, no, they're shy or whatever it might be. And I would almost put it off with this sort of, like I have the first conversation with someone, and it's like, they hate me. I was bad. I did ask poor questions.
Rob Lee:I didn't do whatever. It's always on me. And then that would carry over into those next interviews. And I'm like, damn. And really, none of it's true, but it's all in my head.
Rob Lee:And I would go to this thing. And the thing you had mentioned about the sort of intuitive nature, I would say maybe maybe I should have someone else take a stab at these questions. Maybe my questions are just off the mark all the time. Right? And maybe that's bleeding into how this conversation goes.
Rob Lee:Right? And I'm like, no. No one's gonna have that perspective. No one's gonna connect those dots in that way. That has to be has to be me.
Rob Lee:And being able to maybe bring in an assistant here to maybe do some of the stuff that I'm in I'm not as efficient in or that it just is another piece of time. Yeah. I had to at one point, I talked to a guy who I was friends with I was working with in this this data job that I had, and he'd asked me, how long does it take for you to produce one thing? You know, one episode, one conversation. I That's, like, 6
Liv Aanrud:hours. Yeah.
Rob Lee:Just like, so how many are you doing a week?
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. That's why I'm worried about you. I'm just kidding. Yeah. That's a lot of time.
Liv Aanrud:I mean, you know, if it'd be different if maybe you could sneak in some stuff and and you got your day job and you're doing it there and kind of stacking the clock, but but that's a lot of time. And I would imagine editing would be tedious, and, like, the exciting part would be talking and, you know, having a good conversation, but then it's, analyzing and figuring out what what stuff to cut out and all that kind of stuff. So, yeah, I mean, I think it's at a certain point, a lot of that is my own, you know, internal dialogue to feel like what what I need to get to get through, you know, to to stick with a piece and be like, I like it. I you know? Because I I'm always trying to throw a wrench in in my works a little bit.
Liv Aanrud:You know? I don't wanna get too obvious or something. Right? So even just color my palette, I'm trying to mess with that all the time lately just to try to be like because I started out all the colors. Right?
Liv Aanrud:Then I'm doing more monochromatic stuff, and now I'm like, looking you know? It's like, that seems a little too easier. I've done that. So then and now I'm trying to, like, trick myself a little bit more, and so it can get uncomfortable. But, ultimately, I just I think it's just, like, just keep doing it.
Liv Aanrud:And that's when nice it's nice to have a studio that's not in my house, because then I just I'd show up. It's like, this is the job, and I come here. And there's other people working. So you kind of feed off that energy where it's like and it's also not always about doing something a 100% the whole time. You know?
Liv Aanrud:It's not like, you know, whistle while you work chip chip chip. It's sometimes you sit around you know, sometimes like, yesterday, I fell asleep, which I don't normally do, but it's so hot. And so I was like, man, I don't really feel like doing anything and I was just, you know, slumped over and all of a sudden half an hour later, I was like, I feel a little better. That was probably I needed to shut it down. But, yeah, that's it's a little bit of a a balancing act, to try to get yourself to to stay motivated, especially when like, right now, currently, I don't really have anything coming up that I'm that's driving me in a panic where I I think before, especially the last year, I had a lot of stuff.
Liv Aanrud:So it was like, I kinda would make lists and I had a calendar and I was like, okay. You gotta do this by this and, you know, set these kind of goals essentially. And then now it's like, well, there's no one really requiring anything. So I just have to create a, you know, a reason, I guess. And then also just trust that something will pop up and then I'll be ready.
Liv Aanrud:You know? I got a bunch of stuff ready to
Rob Lee:go.
Liv Aanrud:Knock, knock. Anybody caught the phone is not ringing off the hook. But it's alright. That's also a difficult thing. You know?
Liv Aanrud:Because right now, everybody's the art market is slowing down, and it's an election year, and there's all these things that I don't even wanna think about, but, that has an effect. And so yeah. But this is not my first rodeo, and I feel like that's where it's been a long time. And I've been doing it long enough that it's, like, success is is the surprise. And and mostly, it's like about just keep keep doing it.
Liv Aanrud:And, yeah.
Rob Lee:Yeah. I, you know, I I feel you. You know? Keeping keeping one's head down, doing the thing, doing the thing. And, you know, I I'm not a I'm not a person that really celebrates any of the stuff that I do.
Rob Lee:It's like it's just more work for me to do. And it's like, I'm happy to do the work. That's that's sort of the the thing for me. And, you know, I try to always in any of this, as I was touching on earlier, and I got one more question after this before I move into the rapid fire portion. But it's this sort of like thing.
Rob Lee:Like we talk about brands, we talk about things, we talk about things that we always sort of return to these hallmarks. I try not to do the typical, hey, tell me about your work. Oh, my God. It's so interesting. I feel like you've had that interview before.
Rob Lee:I feel I feel like people have had those those interviews before. So I'd like to delve deeper. And that's in part maybe sort of the structure of how some of the questions are like, let's connect those dots, as I said before. But even in the rapid fire portion as well, which you'll become aware of very soon. But it's sort of this thing of like when someone listens to this, what makes it unique is it's, you know, you're talking with artists, talking with creative folks, you're talking with people who are in this this cultural industry and getting sort of what their story is and connecting those dots, and it's a sort of a mix of multiple things.
Rob Lee:It's these unique questions, it's unique way of connecting things, and it's curated in this this sort of way. So for you, if you're if you're thinking about what your work is as a brand, what would be like the 3 primary like themes that always show up? I've heard a few. I've heard sort of like collaboration. I've heard sort of like, you know, people are working together.
Rob Lee:It's the the land. It's nature. It's women. It's all of these different things. But I wanna hear from you.
Rob Lee:I I I don't I don't wanna say, hey, man's blame. You know?
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. I mean, III would say maximalism is a is a theme, you know, I think just just really visually stacking and packing everything in there in this way. Like I wanted to feel verdant and and lush and like it's it's own ecosystem in a in a funny way. And then yeah, I mean, feminism or matriarchy. I think we could try that out.
Liv Aanrud:And so one of these days, it's pretty depressing how, yeah, there's just a lot lot of damaging for egos and people in power and things that it's just it's it's wild, how we've taken so let's say even whatever since the industrial revolution or, you know, in the past couple 100 years that that human beings have been operating in this capitalist, you know, society and and stepping away from being, more collaborative. It's like it doesn't take long before the whole system is in, you know, shatters. So, like, I don't know The earth is the earth will make it. Like, it'll continue somehow. Right?
Liv Aanrud:It'll it's built a 1000000 years later or something, but it but it's, it's depressing. So I always think of, yeah, matriarchy, and feminism as part of nature. And yeah, I guess those are those are some of the the themes and also maybe just, like the way they're constructed, the slow pace, just even that as a as a as a counter to the idea of, like, production and art. And so you're supposed to find the simplest way, the sexiest way to to knock something out, and then hopefully you just keep them coming. You got your thing, and then you can just mass produce, but then that's then you're everybody else.
Liv Aanrud:Then, like, why why am I I could work at a bank. What am I doing? So I I think it's like, yeah. I I work hard. I will slowly chip away at this.
Liv Aanrud:I'll do it, but it's not there's only so fast you can go. And it's not gonna be something that I'm gonna send us somebody else to make or or whatever mass produced. I just think it's like that's not what the point is. So I think even just the the the the way it's made is is a is a philosophy and maybe it's a little old fashioned, you know. Okay.
Liv Aanrud:So what?
Rob Lee:That's that's that's great. I like the way that you closed that out. That's really good. So shout out to you on that. Alright.
Rob Lee:So we've I think in this conversation, we've established some goodwill. You know, we we we're both hard workers. We're we're lazy.
Liv Aanrud:I'm not gonna arm wrestle you. You look like Yeah.
Rob Lee:I can lift a few weights. But so I wanna hit you with this rapid fire thing. I got I got a couple of them, and I got 4 of them for you. So as I always tell folks, don't overthink these. You know, it's like, you know, whatever you just like I said, what I said, whatever the answer is that the answer.
Rob Lee:All right. So here's the first one. You know, long hours, long days, right? And it always takes something to unwind. And I always connect to food.
Rob Lee:Right? So what is a comfort food for you?
Liv Aanrud:Probably, like I mean, in LA Mexican food for sure. You know, I have nothing like a street taco and, you know, definitely some margaritas here and there.
Rob Lee:Good answer. If you could visit one place in the world, where would it be?
Liv Aanrud:Oh. I mean, I really like to go to Japan. It could be and it's an endless list though. I mean, like, Morocco, you know, But I think Japan because I like that idea of, like, people that know how to do something like their specialty. You know?
Liv Aanrud:There's, like, people that specialize and we watch this thing on Saturday morning where NHK show. It's just people that bike around Japan and then they go visit places and these guys know what they're doing. They've been doing it a 1000 years. Like, I like that idea of, like, this is what I do. And no one's going, what have you did?
Liv Aanrud:What have what was your brand? They you just let them do it. Make the candy. Make the thing. It's so good.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah.
Rob Lee:I that's that's great. I'm gonna look for that because I've been I'm now at day 305 of study in Japanese, and, it's on the shortlist. I definitely want to go. It's because of of things like that, that like I have this book. Yeah.
Rob Lee:I have this. Right? So it's in my studio, the Gumbotty book. Just just go. Just go forward.
Rob Lee:Just do your thing. It's no such thing as good luck. It's just, like, it'll happen because you're putting effort.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. Yeah.
Rob Lee:And I try to apply that in in in doing this, you know, being a podcaster and having all of these different things every other week. What's the the milestone? How do you get here? How do you determine success? And it's like, just gonna keep doing everything else to sort itself out.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. Yes.
Rob Lee:What is one book or moving? Because, you know, we got to go high, high level, low level, one book or one movie that you really dig that you're really into? Like, you know, what you've read the most or watched the most, I guess.
Liv Aanrud:That's so that's a tricky one because there's, I feel like it's like the most to me. I'm always like, what's the most recent book that I read that I'm just still thinking about or or, movie? I mean, I like Battle for LG or something like really stuck with me. I like, yeah. I don't know.
Liv Aanrud:I'm trying to think. Because a lot of the times, I I read a lot more, like, novels, and I'm really into storytelling. Right? So it's not really sometimes it's people maybe it would be an art book, but I feel like just, like I just read, the long pedal a long pedal of the sea, Isabelle Ayende. And that one, like, I love, like, a historical, kind of to to think back of, like, we're not the first ones who've dealt with any of these situations, so maybe it gives us a little bit of hope.
Liv Aanrud:And so that's talking about these refugees that come from Spain, and they're living in, you know, in in South America. And it's this whole the history about this of the immigrant, situation. And so I feel like those are good stories to kind of revisit. And, so, yeah, maybe that's just the most recent one that I read that I'm so, I guess, thinking about, Yeah. I don't know.
Rob Lee:No. That's it's good. I've been rereading, oh, audiobooks. You know, I'm an audio guy. It's always headsets on me or always earbuds in my ears.
Rob Lee:But, I was reading this rereading this book called Hitmakers by, what's this dude's name? Derek Thompson, And it's, kinda just talking about the science of, like, popularity in the digital age.
Liv Aanrud:Uh-huh.
Rob Lee:You know, seeing these different things as one design concept that he keeps pushing across that really I applied it because you take an account like I talk to people and some of the guests that I have or we become friends is like, oh, cool. We're friends now. And, you know, you'll hear like, oh, you know, I think your podcast is this. So I think what you do is a combination of this. So I did a, you know, test.
Rob Lee:I kind of took almost in a Mad Libs way, took like what I do is that this version of this and this concept of Maya is this most advanced yet acceptable. So we like things that are familiar. And I'm like, all right, you know, I've heard the I've heard the James Lipton thing. I've heard the Nardwuar thing. I've heard the Charlie Rose and I've heard the Anthony Bourdain thing.
Rob Lee:So if I'm taking these different influences and most of which of them I do take influence from, I was like, I do this. I'm this version of what they do. And I sent it to a marketing person who I was gonna work with, and he was like, that's exactly what you do. How did you come up with that? I was like, Maya Maya thinking.
Liv Aanrud:Oh.
Rob Lee:And it all came from from this book or what have you of determining what's ahead. And the example that they used in it, which was so so interesting, they were talking about how years ago, say a new company popping up, they would say this company is the eBay of this. You know? Like, Airbnb is the eBay of rentals. And I was like, that's something there.
Rob Lee:People like, what's familiar?
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's especially if you're your work is in data and you're you're kinda like that's like a mind like that you can apply where I feel like I'm I would joke and you know I'd when people say where are you from because it's like I'm from some places really remote and you know not very close to anything.
Liv Aanrud:So I always joke and, oh, well, it's the Manhattan of the Midwest and people, really? And I'm like, no. It's not. But, like, to to get a few of those comparisons that I usually do it in a in a joking way. But, but yeah.
Liv Aanrud:I wonder. Yeah. I wonder what how that would apply to that kind of logic or, like, my art or, you know, I'm not sure. I do know that I'm the only one with my particular name, so hopefully that'll that'll hold me out for a while or it won't be nobody else is me yet.
Rob Lee:First of her name.
Liv Aanrud:There's AI. We don't know. We don't know what's gonna happen. I can't even deal with that.
Rob Lee:Look. I I do a I do a podcast and having all of those different pieces of my voice out there. Right? I am terrified. It's like, oh, here's auto rod.
Rob Lee:Wait. No.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, I heard this thing because, I just tried to watch a little bit of Beverly Hills Cop 3 last night, and I heard that a lot of that was AI. And so then I was looking. I'm like, is Eddie Murphy is he is he real right now?
Liv Aanrud:Is it like I don't know. It's there's some crazy stuff that happens in that movie where I'm like, it's it's yeah. Anyway. That's the world we live in. You might start to question like who's who's really you know, are they there or are they in a studio place else or I don't get it, but I don't think I don't think I'm I have to worry about it too much for a while, but it's it's definitely a strange strange, the digital world as as yet another part of our personality that can be, I guess, manipulated or, like, managed in some ways is kind of unnerving.
Rob Lee:But but I but I think you you keyed in on one of the things that definitely hit this last rapid fire, but I think you keyed in on one of those things. That's a key distinction that people who get it really know and recognize is sort of the reality of it is kind of, you know, not handing this off for someone else to mass produce if it's being able to be mass produced, is able to be replicated. And I I tend to talk about sort of imperfections. I talk about the things that make it unique and human. And I think in part, that's why people kinda gravitate towards this.
Rob Lee:I'm always super privileged when someone such as yourself will come on and spend an hour and change with me to talk about your work in their insights and musings because it's a real thing. It's not, like, a bunch of scripted AI questions with an AI. I mean, eventually, it may replace me because, you know, I'm I'm I'm almost 40, so I'm getting a little tired. But, you know, it's, you wanna make sure it has something that feels real, that feels authentic, and I think that's what people value.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. I think there's a you know, you gotta look and see what the kids are doing, and, like, I do think that there is a push against you know, we think it's like it's just gonna be this exponential direction going one way, and it's just gonna get more and more, you know, dystopic. But then at the same time, there are kids that are like, I manage my I got off social media and I do this differently because I couldn't take it and they can kind of they do they they do have some sense of what's going on and and are, you know, working against some of the stuff that I feel like maybe needs to happen to kinda slow things down to get your get your mind right again. So I think that it's it's always interesting to hear what what the kids are up to and stuff, too. But yeah.
Rob Lee:So this is the last one I got for you, and I'm I'm very curious. I'm always curious about the the habits of artists. We're we're workaholics. We're problem solver. We do all of these different things, And sometimes we don't take those times, those moments, whether it be weekly, whether it be in the day, to kind of disconnect, reset up here.
Rob Lee:Do do you have a mindfulness practice? Are you, like, you gotta run, you know, you gotta, meditate, you gotta hit the gym, or whatever the thing might be. Do do you have a mindfulness practice?
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. I mean, I go through phases. I've been it's hard because I think that the tricky thing is I'll say, oh, god. I gotta I gotta it's like snapping yourself out of that work mode a little bit and do yellow gym class and and kind of, like, take that time. And so usually if I do that in the morning, that starts the day off a little better.
Liv Aanrud:I have a hard time doing that at the end of the day. I'll definitely, like, chill at the end of the day or something or, you know, we live near a park, take a walk, all that kind of stuff. But I think if I do, it's it's always good in the morning kind of organized so that when I come here, that's it's in it's built in and then and then I'm here and I don't have to think about getting back or getting getting out of here to try to keep some keep some schedule. So I think it's yeah. That's that's what I try to do.
Liv Aanrud:And, it's not like doesn't always work, not every day. But, yeah, trying to find that kind of balance so that you're taking care of yourself and that also, that, it just getting getting any kind of routine, it makes you feel a little bit more functional. Like, okay. See, I'm I am an adult, and I'm doing things this way. I'm not just, like, you know, kind of scattered all over the place or just maybe sometimes making art of is can be an avoidance.
Liv Aanrud:You know? It's like I'd rather be doing this than I'll do this. And, you know, it's trying to trying to find that balance so that it it all works, because you can't avoid a lot of that other stuff in your life. But if I if I do, like, a gym class or something, then I then I'm thinking, okay. I gotta it gives me a chance to, to think to and and kind of in more of an organizational mindset as I'm suffering through some, you know, routine.
Liv Aanrud:But then if I'm here, I I often get a little lost and I and not I'm not planning in the same way. I'm I'm in the in the flow or whatever. So I think, yeah, that that helps to have a little saying right in the morning.
Rob Lee:That sounds that's that's super important, and I I do the same thing. I Yeah. Get it sorted out, and it it starts things off, like, right and just being a creature of routine. And, you know, it's like running gym coffee, And then here we are. We're we're engaged.
Rob Lee:I'm properly set up, properly dipped.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah. Yeah. You set your expectations too for the day. It gives you it gives you it allows you to to, like, take that time then you know what I mean. It's just it's all about kind of finding a strategy so that you can do something maybe a bit more unconventional, maintain.
Liv Aanrud:And then when you wanna take a break, then you then you do, you know, it's you know, it's you know, it's you know, it's you know, it's you know, it's you know, it's you know, it's you know, it's you know, it's you know, it's And then when you wanna take a break, then you then you do. You know, it's I don't know. It's hard when you just think that you gotta do I think the trick is getting out of this idea of, like, well, this is what an you know, people would they work a 40 hour work week, and this is how that goes. And so you try to apply that to an art practice. Sometimes it doesn't always work.
Liv Aanrud:So some days are shorter, some days are longer, some days you know what you're doing, some days you're like, this is not mentally like, this is not helping my mind to just scrutinize myself or think that I'm failing. So sometimes you just gotta leave it and let it shut the door, you know. So it's yeah. But it's all it changes and it's all part of, you know, different phases of my life. It's looked different, but this is what I got going on right now.
Liv Aanrud:Yeah.
Rob Lee:Right. And, that's kinda it for the podcast for the, the you're off the hot seat. So one. So thank you. There's 2 things I wanna do as we close out here.
Rob Lee:1, I wanna, again, thank you for coming on, spending some time with me. And 2, I wanna give you the space and opportunity to share with the listeners where they can follow you on social media, website, all of that good stuff to check out images of your work and kind of stay up to date with you. So the floor is yours. Okay.
Liv Aanrud:Okay. Yeah. So my name is the tricky thing. So it's l I v and then a a n r u d, that's all works, at, you know, dotcom is my website, and then on Instagram, it's just my name. I'm not messing around with any moniker or anything to throw anybody off.
Liv Aanrud:So just you just kinda gotta write it out, or look on your site, SFOs. And then there's nobody else with my name, so that's easy. That's the only that's the easy part. And yeah. And then I guess on my website and also on Instagram, I'll post when things are coming up and when I have some, you know, shows and anything coming up, that's where I usually post them.
Liv Aanrud:So, yeah, that that's about it.
Rob Lee:And there you have it, folks. I'm gonna again thank Leave on Roode for coming on to the podcast. And I'm Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture, and community in and around your neck of the woods. You've just gotta look for it.
