Susan M. Davies Sue Davies is a painter who approaches her work from many directions - abstract, animals, landscape, sumi-e,meditative, whimsical...but the constant is color: rich, vibrant, exuberant color. You sense that she...

Darin Podulke-Smith is an artist, improv actor, stained-glass creator, banjo-player and Buddhist priest. In this episode, we talk to Darin about banjo practice and the practice of Buddhism, and what it takes to become a Zen priest. He also desc...

Artist Deb D'Souza is devoted to the ancient art of mosaic and has traveled the world to study it,  but she also incorporates innovative techniques.  Mosaic is a patience-testing process than can take 40 hours to assemble thousands of...

Eva Barr puts the culture in agriculture!  Eva and her partner Todd started Dream Acres Farm, near Wykoff, Minnesota, as a land collective where they built all the timber-framed farm buildings, taught heritage farming techniques, farmed wi...

Lynette Yencho has a lifetime of experience as a commercial artist, from drawing school buildings and class ring designs at age 16 and for Jostens, to designing collectible figurines, to being agraphic designer for the Minneapolis Star newspape...

Kevin Ian Reid was the Orofacial Pain Specialist at Rochester's  Mayo Clinic for 26 years. He had never studied art, but in order to cope with the strain of working with so many people suffering from pain, he began painting, especially abs...

Becky Schlegel grew up in South Dakota singing classic country music. When she moved to Minnesota, she fell in love with bluegrass music and with her banjo-pickin' husband, Heath Loy.   Now Becky is a singer with a voice as sweet as nectar...

Judy Onofrio's work has spanned from firing ceramics to burning huge structures in fiery performances, elaborate, quirky brooches to elegant sculptures assembled from bones, celebrations of nature to divas, acrobats and other colorful character...

The first time I met Suzanne Szucs, she was dressed in the most sumptuous, colorful, exotic clothing you can imagine, dancing at Squash Blossom farm during  our Cow Puja festival. That is just one facet of Suzanne's life -  she also&n...

Kevin Ewing recently retired from his career as a teacher and is now devoting himself to his favorite pastime - woodcarving.  He is not just whittling away his time - he creates elaborate, elegant pieces inspired by architectural and histo...

Brooke Burch is all about textile design. She is a fashion designer, seamstress, sewing instructor, and has a vintage clothing boutique in her Rochester studio.  Her original clothing designs have been featured on the runway at...

Stephanie Podulke is a woman with a huge heart and great wit, who has created scores of spectacular stained glass windows throughout Southeast Minnesota. She is one of the inspiring leaders of our Rochester community. 

In this premier episode of A Brush With Life, you will learn how my husband, Roger Nelson, and I met and how 60 years of friendship and shared dreams ultimately landed us at Squash Blossom Farm where learned to be real farmers with chi...