The Metaphor Mindset: Recent Episodes
Shannon Borg
The Metaphor Mindset is a podcast for artists and creative thinkers, entrepreneurs and leaders who want to explore ideas around creativity and commerce.
Think like an artist. Work like a boss.
See full images and show notes at https://www.metaphormindset.com
Art does change the world and you are one of those flames. You are the fuel for your own art and art is your fuel.
The world inspires us and we transform those ideas and concepts and images into something new, which then creates more beauty in the world and more ideas and more thoughts and more change.
Complete show notes and transcript at https://www.metaphormindset.com/26-your-creative-spark
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- Negative and Positive Space help to define shapes and focus in art - and life.
- The shape of your goals, career and business is created by the decisions you make - The constraints or freedoms you choose, and what you do and don't do.
- Mostly we look at Positive Space - the shape we are creating. But … looking at the negative space gives us a new perspective on any situation, from art, to sales, to our vision for the future.
To see the art images from this episode, and learn more about Metaphor Mindset Studio, visit
metaphormindset.com.
Find more about how you can gain more confidence in business through one-on-one coaching in my program, Metaphor Mindset Studio at shannonborg.com
Seeds hold profound symbolism and are often associated with concepts of growth, potential, and new beginnings.
Inside every hard shell - including the one on our shoulders - is a world of knowledge that can guide you in your creative entrepreneurship, but sometimes you just need a little guidance.
In this episode, art and business coach Shannon Borg talks about the symbolism of seeds, and about the art of Ai WeiWei, the Chinese activist artist who made an exhibit with 100 million porcelain sunflower seeds.
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- Thoughts are SEEDS that grow into Feelings, Actions, and Results.
- What are your thoughts about your art? Do these thoughts help you make more work? Or keep you from creating?
- Art Thoughts, Business Thoughts: Any thoughts you can have about your art, you can ALSO have about your business. You can love your business as much as you love your art by making a decision to cultivate thoughts that help you get there.
Read the full show notes and see images at:https://www.shannonborg.com/metaphor-mindset-podcast/24-seeds-of-your-creative-business
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- Landscapes are the place of personal mythology
- Inner to Outer: Sand Play, the Beach, the Desert
- The Inner Journey often begins in real places, translated and transformed into art through the artist’s creative process to inner places.
Find complete show notes at shannonborg.com/metaphor-mindset-podcast/23-beach-desert
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- Brene Brown’s challenge to “Enter the Arena”
- The Roman Arena = The Place of Sand
- Inner to Outer: Sand Play, The Beach, The Desert
Find full show notes at:
www.shannonborg.com/metaphor-mindset-podcast/22-in-the-arena-of-sand
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- History of the Artists’ Studio Tour
- The Studio is the Mind
- Visit me on the San Juan Island Artists’ Studio Tour
See full show notes, artist studio images, and more at:
https://www.shannonborg.com/metaphor-mindset-podcast/21-studio-tour
On Mother's Day, let's talk about baby steps. And breakthroughs. One usually precedes the other - but sometimes they work back and forth, from baby steps to breakthrough and back, in a continual process of growth.
Find images and show notes at: https://www.shannonborg.com/metaphor-mindset-podcast/20-baby-steps-breakthroughs
Show NotesIn this episode I talk about the Feather of Truth from the story and many sculptures and narrative images of the Ancient Egyptian goddess Maat, who wore a beautiful ostrich feather on her head, representing truth, justice and cosmic harmony. Learn how this metaphor helps us think about balancing our thoughts from different parts of our lives, including art and business.
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- What are your thoughts about your art?
- What are your thoughts about business?
- Any thoughts you can have about your art, you can have about your business.
Join me for a Q&A about creating an online art & business community - I'd love your input!
https://shannonborg-discovery.as.me/thought-salon-community
Rosa Bonheur hung out with Wild Bill Cody, and got a special permit to wear trousers. She was truly a horse of a different color.
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- Recap: Plato’s Allegory of the Soul : The “soul” is a chariot driven by a charioteer (Reason), drawn by two horses - let’s call them Yin (dark) and Yang (light).
- Rosa Bonheur’s “The Horse Fair” painting is a beautiful example of how the love of a subject can drive a successful career.
- The Creative Process may change colors like one of the horses from The Wizard of Oz wearing a mood ring. But you are still the one driving the chariot. and the horse is still doing its best for you. Enjoy the ride and the colorful show and honor it for yourself.
See full show notes at: metaphormindset.com
Are you “White Horsing it” in your art or business?
Have you noticed when you are in the state of waiting for that (fill in the blank: prince, princess, cowboy, savior, hero) to come and save you? (‘cuz I have).
This episode returns to Plato's Allegory of the soul, with its charioteer managing two horses - a wild one, and a noble one. We need both horses - both sides of ourselves to get there.
See full show notes at: metaphormindset.com
The Chariot of our Creative Life is pulled by two horses - according to Plato - a noble horse, and a wild horse.
We have many sides to our interior life that we must manage as artists - emotions, thoughts, ideas, expectations - all are important. Plato’s allegory of the soul as a charioteer driven by two horses - one noble, one wild - gives us some interesting ideas to think about when it comes to creative process and business.
See full Show Notes at metaphormindset.com.
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- Plato’s Allegory of the Chariot : The “soul” is a chariot driven by a charioteer (Reason), drawn by 2 horses - let’s call them Yin (dark) and Yang (light).
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Fun facts about imaginary horses:
- Plato’s winged horses fly, fall, lose their wings, then grow new ones, and fly again.
- Hold the belief for yourself that you can become the next version of yourself
Book a free consultation to talk about your art and business at https://shannonborg-discovery.as.me/consultation.
What IS Impostor Syndrome?
- Where did it come from, and how does it manifest in the artist’s life?
- How you think about Impostor Syndrome can create a powerful result.
Find Full Show Notes at https://www.shannonborg.com/metaphor-mindset-podcast/15-embrace-impostor-syndrome
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- When is a work of art DONE? How do you decide?
- Do you have anxiety over when to call a work finished and move on?
- Use the Wild/Abandon Scale to help you gain self-awareness around your pathway to finishing project.
I can't believe I've been doing this for a whole quarter!
In this episode, I offer 3 tools to help you review your art, business or any other event, class or project.
Big 3 Ideas from this episode:
- How much time do you spend in the past? In the future?
- A Quarterly Review can be a calming and grounding practice in your art - and business.
- Here are 3 tools to help you stay on track for the year.
PLUS! You can now become a sponsor of the Metaphor Mindset Podcast - and I will create an ad for you and your art! Visit metaphormindset.com for Show Notes and more information about sponsorship - and how to promote your art, classes, coaching and more through this podcast.
Creative Meditation can help you find new ideas, process and feel calmer and more connected to the ideas you have, and enhance your creative process, so you can feel calmer, more centered, and more productive as an artist.
Find full show notes and images at: metaphormindset.com
George Bernard Shaw said, "We do not find ourselves, we create ourselves."
So when it comes to artistic voice, I really feel like it's a combination of the two. Finding yourself and creating yourself. What do you think?
It’s bigger on the inside.
Today I want to talk about TIME - how time works in art — and also - how to manage your time.
Find full show notes at https://www.metaphormindset.com.
This is a line from the British cult sci-fi show Dr. Who - the TARDIS looks like a blue phone booth on the outside, but when you walk in, it is a huge spaceship.
This is like our brains, our art, too.
When you enter a painting, it expands in your brain into color, memory, ideas, feelings.
When you enter a poem or a play - the world inside your head expands, too.
If you battle with your weekly schedule like I have in the past, this fun and effective 3-step process may transport you.
The art world was in a tizzy last week when a visitor to the Art Wynwood Fair in Miami accidentally kicked the pedestal, where a shiny bright blue porcelain, balloon shaped dog stood knocking it to the floor. This "art event" made all the papers, and made the artist, Jeff Koons, even more famous than he already was. What is fame, what is obscurity - and , as an artist - do you want either? Or both?
In this episode, I talk about obscurity, Fame, the Northwest School, and more.
See the full show notes at metaphormindset.com.
Let's talk about the artist's struggle. There's a concept I teach called the Struggle Button. This episode, I'll tell you all about it, and there are also a few paintings and stories about little creatures who have overcome their struggles in order to grow.
See full show notes at: https://www.shannonborg.com/metaphor-mindset-podcast/8-the-struggle-button
Today. I want to talk about the flow state. That moment when time stops and you are in the zone. We often know what this feels like because we've experienced the opposite.
Fear of the blank page, the creative block.
Find Show Notes at https://www.metaphormindset.com
What are the roles artists need in a business to help it thrive?
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The 4 “Hats” we wear are:
- The Creator Hat
- The Leader Hat
- The Operator Hat
- The Promoter Hat
- Take the “What is Your Artistic Archetype?” Quiz
- Take the Free mini-course: The 4 Hats of Artists in Business, and get the free 4-Hats Business Assessment (PDF) at www.shannonborg.com/4-hats
Have you ever noticed that every teacher who wants to help people grow and set goals uses the idea of steps, a stairway, a path forward. I want to explore this idea today to understand why we are so intrigued and motivated by steps, and look at what it means for artists - especially as you set goals and think about your business, your future, and your art.
See full show notes, links and more at:
https://www.shannonborg.com/metaphor-mindset-podcast/4-make-decisions
Let’s talk about making decisions!
This is important because the more awareness we have around our decisions the more success and growth.
We all make decisions all day everyday.
No wonder we’re exhausted….
Blue or black? Canvas or panel? Oil or acrylic, light or dark?
Paper or plastic!
Most of the time we don’t even know we are making decisions, and this is the way it should be.
Our brain don’t like confusion, so whenever we can just do things the easy way, the obvious way, the way that is already grooved into our psyche and mind space, that is what we do.
Our brains love certainty and pattern and order.
But we also need stimulations, learning, creativity.
We need both - flow and order. Order AND Flow.
This episode is all about making decisions.
James McNeill Whistler's Nocturne in Black and Gold was ahead of its time, an abstraction of a night scene on the river, but more than that, it captured a feeling of London during the late 1870s, of melancholy and beauty, color and light.
How do you create the atmosphere in your mind, your studio - and your business - that you want to create. Isn't this why we make art, after all? When you can do this as an artist, you've started on the path of understanding the power of art to transform emotions and lives.
We think, write and paint in metaphor. What is this magical ability, and why don’t we even realize it is happening in us all the time?
In Episode 1: The Setup, I explore how Claude Monet created his series of paintings of the Rouen Cathedral, and how we can set up our minds, our studios, and our creative businesses for success.
Find the Show Notes at: https://www.shannonborg.com/metaphor-mindset-podcast/the-setup
Think like an artist. Work like a boss.
The Metaphor Mindset is a podcast for artists and creative thinkers, entrepreneurs and leaders who want to explore ideas around creativity and commerce.
A podcast for artists, writers, makers, and thinkers who want to love their creative businesses as much as they love their art.