Benjamin Kator is an artist working and living in Philadelphia. From his roots in New Jersey, he ended up in the Kensington neighborhood in Philly while dealing with addiction. There he found a road to recovery and a new lease on his life as a creator. For the past 5 years, he has built his life back up while building up a small art space named The Blockchain Gallery. The gallery became a beacon of light in the struggling community. Ben left the light of the space on throughout the night to offer something different than the cycle of struggle that so many walked through on the streets. For creatives, it became a place to show and see work. For those in the neighborhood struggling with substance abuse, homelessness, or poverty it became a safe space to experience community and culture. Blockchain Gallery gave Ben a place to create and share his creations, but building it into a not-for-profit entity also gave him a positive project to concentrate on while he worked out his life. Kator's portfolio, full of pen and ink illustrations of the musicians he loves and his experimentations with abstraction and digital art, developed in earnest as he was given back his love and drive to create. Follow his next ventures in life on Instagram @benkator1

Jessica Russo Scherr is an artist known for her large-scale paintings and social media videos that demystify art making. Her paintings intertwine her love of art history, travel, memory, and motherhood in a manner that often blends represented reality to such a degree that the visuals combine into plays of abstraction. Jessica is an International Baccalaureate Art Educator who challenges her students to create large-scale paintings and to understand their work in the context of art history. As a dedicated creator and as a teaching tool, she can't help but create her paintings in the same space as her students. Her media presence is full of honest experiences of succeeding and failing using materials like Gelli printmaking sheets or more traditional art-making methods. The Fulbright Grant she received earlier in her career set her on a track of international art education and art creation ventures that continue into her life now. Jessica lives with her two kids and her husband in Germany where she teaches at the Frankfurt International School and continues to influence and share her passion for art with others. Jessica's creative life can be followed at @bluelavaart.

Eteri Chkadua- From Soviet Control to a Life of Freedom and Art Making: Ep. 67 S3 (published 3/21/2024)

Eteri studied at the Academy of Arts in Tbilisi, Georgia where her professors taught her to avoid Soviet style Social Realism, with an embrace of abstract and impressionist styles, as a reaction against the oppressive state. Before she finished her time there she made a painting that contained figurative realism to bust the chops of her professors that surprised them so much that it propelled her into the art scene of her home country. She came to America in 1988 with an American Linguist who was studying the Georgian language and helped her leave a place where no one was allowed to leave. Since then, she has become known around the world as a figurative painter who explores serious topics with a sense of humor. Her paintings explore the content of her new life in America (from Rastafarians to new relationships) alongside references to her life back in Georgia or the weapons of war that oppress people around the world. Enjoy this conversation that taps into topics of her creative art-making to Russian control that still threatens today.