A woman

Betsy Blodgett

Contributor

Betsy Blodgett is the host of Hello Atelier and co-founder of Phonicalia. Previously the co-owner of a fabric and craft store called bon bon atelier and the producer of the bi-yearly craft fair the Ric Rac Roundup, she left retail ownership to work as a social media marketer and product development manager in the sewing industry. Now, Betsy combines her marketing skills with her love for indie design in the podcast Hello, Atelier! When not working on podcasts, she can be found writing about fashion and craft for online publications, or in her own studio, sewing a new project.

Stories by Betsy Blodgett

Hello Atelier | Crafting Activism

Nedra Bonds is a quilter, dollmaker and activist. She makes a statement – and generates change – using the non-confrontational medium of textiles. As you’ll hear in this episode, Nedra isn’t afraid of, well, anything. She isn’t afraid to speak out against an injustice. She isn’t afraid to explore her world, and she isn’t afraid…

Creating Public Art with Phil Shafer AKA Sike Style

  Muralist Phil Shafer, AKA Sike Style, is part of a revolution that is turning graffiti into a public art form. Forget the image of an artist in the dead of night attacking a building with spray paint. While Shafer does paint with spray can in hand, he also taps into his background of art history and…

Hello Atelier | Objects Are Not What They Seem

Like pop art icons Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, ceramicist Shalene Valenzuela transforms mass produced images and objects into art. Recreating household items like rolling pins and telephones out of clay mutates them from a comforting everyday object to a hollow form, filling the viewer with uncertainty as they realize the object isn’t what it…

Hello Atelier | Inside the House of Tula Pink

Fabric designer Tula Pink has created a fantasy world we can visit through her art. Her fabric designs are bright, colorful and just a bit surreal – psychedelic cats, day-glo frogs, and swirling octopuses have all taken center stage in her fabric collections. Pink’s designs have garnered her an international following of fans, dubbed Tula’s…

Hello Atelier | For the Love of Dance

Despite a late introduction to ballet, Devon Carney has spent his professional life as a dancer. Working with the Boston Ballet right out of high school, he was mentored by the great Rudolf Nureyev, from whom he learned the key to being a successful performer. Today, though retired from the stage, Carney is a choreographer…

Hello Atelier | That Disney Life

Growing up, Kevin Kidney knew he was destined to live at Disneyland. Once he realized that people don’t actually get to live there, he did the next best thing. He got a job there. In the art department, Kevin had the opportunity to work on design projects large and small for the Disney company – everything…

A collage for Hello Atelier Episodes 15 and 16

Hello Atelier | From Students to Teachers

Episode 15 | Brandon Mably A chance meeting at a bus stop propelled textile artist Brandon Mably from a career in catering to his life as a designer. Known for his bold and graphic use of color, Mably isn’t content to create by himself; he also shares his colorful talent with his global students. As he puts…

Collage for Hello Atelier podcast

Hello Atelier | Keeping Time with Maiko Kuzunishi

This week we welcome Maiko Kuzunishi to Hello Atelier. Ten years ago, while designing screenprints, Kuzunishi stumbled across a product that would change her business – a simple clock. Since then she has challenged herself to take clock design as far as she can, incorporating whimsical creatures and flowers with graphic lines to create stunning…

Main image for Hello Atelier podcast Episode 13.

Hello Atelier | Freya North and Her Caravan of Characters

In a small white building in the midst of the Hertfordshire, England, countryside, best-selling author Freya North works studiously day after day, bringing life to her caravan of characters. Now with 14 novels to her name, North doesn’t think of herself as creating the characters, but acting as an antennae through which fully formed stories flow….

A collage with a woman and her sculptures

Hello Atelier | A Sculptor With a Vision as Big as Her Art

This week we welcome Alanna Derocchi to the show. Alanna has become known for her large-scale sculptural pieces of animals; walrus, hippos, even tapirs. But, an artist is always in evolution, and in this episode Derocchi talks with us about finding her artistic voice and transitioning her vision – even if it means alienating some…