Art, the Beauty of Nature and Overcoming Your Fears with Martina Sestakova

Welcome back to Environmental Professionals Radio, Connecting the Environmental Professionals Community Through Conversation, with your hosts Laura Thorne and Nic Frederick! 

On today’s episode, we talk with Martina Sestakova, Textile Designer, Art Educator, Abstract Painter about Art, the Beauty of Nature and Overcoming Your Fears.   Read her full bio below.

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Showtimes: 

1:40  Nic & Laura talk about personality tests
6:49  Interview with Martina Sestakova starts
10:01  Martina talks about Art
19:27  Beauty of Nature
25:25  Overcoming your fears

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This podcast is produced by the National Association of Environmental Professions (NAEP). Check out all the NAEP has to offer at NAEP.org.

Connect with Martina Sestakova at https://www.linkedin.com/in/martina-sestakova-1223a180/

Guest Bio:

Martina Sestakova engages in textile design, painting, and art education. Martina creates scarves that invoke stories from life experiences. Her scarves have been featured on Voice of America and at the Smithsonian American Art Museum (DC). In her watercolor paintings, she communicates words through colors and shapes. Her artworks have been shown at the Adah Rose Gallery (MD) and Latela Curatorial (DC) and other art institutions. As an art educator, Martina offers workshops and brings creativity to the public and communities with limited access to the arts, such as individuals in correctional institutions. Martina Sestakova resides in Kensington, MD.

Music Credits

Intro: Givin Me Eyes by Grace Mesa

Outro: Never Ending Soul Groove by Mattijs Muller

Transcript

Transcripts are auto-transcribed

[Intro]

Nic 
Hello and welcome to EPR with your favorite environmental nerds Nic and Laura. On today's episode, Laura and I discussed personality tests. We talk to Martina Sestakova about art and beauty of nature and overcoming your fears. There's a lot of great advice in there, so be sure to check it out. And finally, seahorses don't have a functional jaw or a real stomach. In order to survive, they have to eat food that is small enough to easily pass through to their digestive system, which I initially thought was devastating for our culinary aficionados, except every time I go to a fancy restaurant, they gave you tiny portions so maybe it's kind of all right I don't know. Anyway hit that music.

[Shout outs]

Nic
NAEP is currently seeking nominations for at large members from voting members of any NAEP.  Selected nominations will then be put forward for a vote on February 2022. Eligible voting members include fellow members, general members, meritorious members or emerging professional members. The NAEP Board is composed of several elected at large members, ex officio members, and chapter representatives from NAEP's affiliate chapters. NAEP members can self nominate.  If you know a fellow environmental professional who you would like to recommend and we encourage you to invite them to submit a self nomination. Laura, I love doing this show. If you love it too, and would like us to keep doing it. We need your help. We can't do it without our awesome sponsors. So please head on over www.environmentalprofessionalsradio.com and check out our sponser form for details. Let's get to our segment.

[Nic & Laura segment]

Nic
I was really I was like, that's such a lame answer. I think I remember I said something about like, I'm an introvert, which I think I've talked about actually now that,

Laura
I think we have talked about that.

Nic
Yeah, it was like one of the first things we talked about. And I was like this is wrong. I gotta redo. It Shocked. Shocked, Kara. She hadn't heard it before. I don't think. Yeah. Yeah, I was like, Yeah, I talked about it and actually, and the more I think about that, too, it's really more like at the very end it kind of clicked as I wait and I'm not even as an introvert because I still like being around people. So it's not even fair. It's like I'm an ambivert.

Laura
Yeah. You are an ambivert. Yeah,

Nic
But I mean, like I do love being away from people. I like both. I like being in the group.

Laura 
Oh, yeah.  I'm totally an ambivert. All of my personality tests come out on the introvert side. And not so always, but mine are always right in the middle.

Nic 
Mine are right in the middle middle too. And like, I took one recently and it was the same thing. It was like 52 extrovert, 48 introvert and I'm like, Yeah,

Laura 
Mine is usually the other way just a little bit on the introvert side. And then but but super close to right in the middle.

Nic 
But I think it's all the more reason why you can't put people in boxes, you know, and even the idea the concept of introvert extrovert is a little misguided anyway, because it just makes people think they are two things. Yeah, please.

Laura 
Everyone thinks they're an introvert. Very few people who, because claiming to be an extrovert is almost the opposite of being humble.

Nic
Right, right.

Laura
So I would say 90% of people that I talked to, like in career coaching stuff, they think they're introverts and I'm like, right, you're not you just haven't found the space where you like to be an extrovert.

Nic 
Yeah, yeah. And I think there's a much, much healthier way of looking at it. It's because everybody is in certain context, you know,

Laura 
Like everyone likes to be a home.

Nic
Yeah. yeah.

Laura
It doesn't make you an introvert necessarily.

Nic 
I know. You're totally.

Laura
It's all just frickin labels.

Nic
I know that even personality tests I find most of the time are just, you know, just window dressing. It's like, your personality is very complicated. It is not just four letters.

Laura 
And it's so, every time I try not to talk too much crap about them, because someone who wouldn't takes part in them for the first time is always so stoked. Yeah, like did this DiSC assessment it was really cool. And then Oh, I did this other thing. And it was really cool. Yeah. Ask them again in a couple years.

Nic 
Like yeah, I know who I am. I don't need to take it. Yeah.

Laura 
Yeah, I did that one time. they don't stick. They don't make that big a difference. You're not going to change the culture of your organization because y'all did a frickin DiSC assessment. It's a good starting point. But it doesn't get you to the end, you know?

Nic 
Yeah, that's the thing. It's exactly. It's like data. It's just a piece of information. It's what it is, and how you choose to use it is really what comes out of it more than anything else,

Laura 
It's like a stepping stone into self awareness. You know, it's just, it helps you see that oh, not everyone is like me there are differences. But those differences don't have to be predefined in four little boxes, or 16 little boxes. Or whatever they are.

Nic
Yeah, yeah,

Laura
It was it points and proximities. You know,

Nic 
And Your primary and your secondary, you know,  your primary personality, that secondary person. No you just have a personality. It's just you know, and it's complicated and it ebbs and flows. There's parts of you that you like to come out sometimes in other parts. That you don't, and it's just how personality works. It's not static. It just it's just we love to measure things. We just can't help ourselves. I like to think I think the first people were like, it's a trees, three people tall. I'm pretty sure I'm certain it is. Who cares like just go get the you know, we the apples from the tree. I don't care how tall it is. You want to mean like that's kind of, but we just can't help ourselves. We really can't.

Laura  
Yeah, and labeling things like there's a new label for something all the time.

Nic
Oh, that's true.

Laura
Yeah. New thing to call ourselves or to identify with or whatever because the old things we're tired of those new ones.

Nic
What is it?

Laura
Boomers and Gen Xers and all that stuff? Right? Yeah, when we were kids. That didn't exist, you know, like, there were generations but they didn't have these names like okay, Boomer and all that stuff. But what how do we use that we use shade on each other like it's horrible.

Nic  
Exactly, yeah, and it's funny because you know, like, there's a line in the song that I like where it's like we basically rebelling against the things that everyone else has already done before. And you just think that the rebelling but you're really just doing the same thing the previous generation did and it's like it's every, like all the boomers will tell you about the 60s and how loud and creative and diverse they were. And again it happens it happens every generation every time. It's almost like, you know, like your 20s are this way your 30s are this way and it's just it's so funny to me that we feel original. We need to find a space to be unique, but it's still almost always it's like every movie, right? There's like, there's like three different movies and they're all the same. It's just you put a little window dressing here and there. And it's different, you know, so pretty funny to me, actually. Yeah, totally agree. Yeah. But I mean, like you said, there's value in that self discovery, I think and maybe that's another topic we can talk about next time. Because I think it's really important too actually have a fun, self discovery journey. We can come in, maybe we'll walk through like how I got to where I am to was based a lot on like that just one personality test even though we're making fun of them a little bit here, but it was funny how that happened. So that's a little tease maybe for next time, but I know we got to wrap up so we can get to our interview.

Laura 
Yeah, I know. I'm intrigued.

Nic 
Yeah, there we go.

[Interview with Martina Sestakova starts]

Nic
Hello, and welcome back to EPR. Laura is off today so I will be flying solo. Today we have Martina Sestakova on the show. She is a little different than our usual guests as you're not an exact environmental professional in a scientific sense, but rather an amazing artist who is passionate about the environment. Welcome, Martina.

Martina Sestakova 
Thank you for having me. Hi, everyone.

Nic 
So what came first? Was it art or passion for the environment?

Martina Sestakova 
Oh, interesting. The role of art in my life is actually pretty recent, I would say about the past six years. So I think I have to say I love the environment and nature. I grew up in the Czech Republic in a fabulous garden maintained by my grandparents. So you know I'm definitely the child who ate fresh potatoes and you know, fresh strawberries and I have loved spending time outside in the garden. And art kind of rolled into my life a little later. When I ended up going to graduate school for fashion design.

Nic  
Oh, that's so cool. Well, yeah. Laura, I love to travel. So you see from Czech Republic. So what are your experiences like there like so? What else did you do on a day to day basis that helped foster that love nature?

Martina Sestakova 
So I was I am from Prague. I'm from the city. But my family has a really interesting history. I actually grew up in a house built in 14th century.

Nic
Whoa.

Martina Sestakova
A really cool farm. What do you would call suburbs of Prague, but the house was about a 10 minute drive from like the Prague Castle, you know, so kind of the downtown of the city so a really cool place to grow up. Three generations living in the same house, which was both good and bad. But, But I did grow up with grandparents who literally I would call people of the land you know, they work with their hands all day long. And when was was lunchtime, my grandma will be like, hey, go to go dig out three potatoes. I need two carrots, you know, so there was a true connection. My memories of childhood are those of you know, three walnut trees and two pear trees and eight apple trees and like, it was all very like land and property and nature based. I don't know we have always you know, gone out mushroom hunting is like the national sport of the Czech Republic. You know my other grandfather owned like a mushroom encyclopedias. So that was like the winter read was mushrooming. So yeah, just I feel like really, you know, a really rich life when it comes to nature and my immediate environment and kind of knowing what I can get and what one can do with an apple and what you know what a potato looks like. So they quite you know, it may sound silly, but I feel like that's something I actually really kind of appreciate in my daily life.

Nic  
No, yeah, it's great. And like you say, it's really that connection to something that never goes away. So yeah, yeah, I'm really glad to hear that. So you're a pretty accomplished artist. So tell us a little bit about the art you create and your educational program.

Martina Sestakova 
Sure. Thanks so much. So I am currently residing in Kensington, Maryland. So a lot of the activities I do is in the DMV area, Maryland, Washington, DC. And I focus kind of on three areas, which I actually feel like really directly linked to my childhood and growing up. I'm a textile designer. And this came out of me going to graduate school for fashion design which I kind of liked and kind of didn't, and you know I took that one class which was textile design. I was like why didn't no one ever tell me about this? It's so fun. So you pretty much paint and then you play with it and it becomes a pattern, and you know that's it so like so much fun. Where I think my work is you know pretty interesting are not kind of the cookie cutter industry. Let's design something for a new season thing is that I, I only design new patterns around actual life experiences. Something happens to me and I have a visual of it and I want to tell a story of it. So you know some of the scarves. As I mentioned, when I was preparing for the interview, I was kind of looking at the body of work I have done and I have a scarf called "In Bloom", which is directly inspired by my grandmother's garden in Prague. I have a scarf called "Raindrop", which is based on a photograph I took after a rainstorm in Costa Rica. I have a scarf called "Passion for walks" inspired by a poem by Mary Oliver. So it's all very nature focused. It is moments that I've experienced that I think when people look at my work, especially the scarves, there is a kind of like an overarching human possibility for connection. You know, it's Oh, pretty colors, but then I talk about the stories and everyone kind of It wakes up something in them, which that we can all you know, connect over. So the textile design is kind of the big part of my work and then I also love abstract art. So I'm a painter. I work on a really cool medium. Oh, this actually ties to environment as well and I didn't even think about it. I work I work on a really cool medium called Yupo which is a manmade paper designed in Japan. And it doesn't have any trees but it is fully recyclable. So there you go for you both. So like with the scarves, I kind of experience everything that I paint. And I love to read and a lot of the imagery that I capture is inspired by poems. I already mentioned Mary Oliver, who was an avid walker always outside and using really nature as a I think a means of healing. And so you know, again, a lot of the names of the paintings or the titles are stuff like I take my walk, loving the world, after the rainstorm. So there's a lot of natural imagery. And then the colors I use are the same case it's you know, kind of pulling the greenery from the forest that I have visited, looking up at the sky thinking about what blue communicates in our lives. So that's a little bit about the artwork. And then the third area of focus for me is art education. I really enjoy meeting people. So I have been teaching kind of through my own company on Zoom now that you know it's a little harder to be together. And then I also work for a bunch of nonprofits that kind of focus on bringing arts to communities that don't always have access to arts. So for instance, I am next year working with recently immigrated kids in high schools and kind of using art as a means for them to you know learn about the culture but also you know, kind of maintain their own or identities. I've worked with women in local jail using art kind of as a as a means of again, just kind of discovering new skills and maybe kind of broadening one's view. So it's been a very personally enriching experience. So

Nic 
Oh, yeah, I can imagine. Yeah, I love hearing you talk about it, because it's something you talked about visualizing what you're about to do.  And then you talked about how that basically you're capturing emotions, thoughts and feelings. So have you felt like you've been able to kind of convey that to other people through your education is that what inspired you to want to teach it because you're, you know, you know, the process, but it's very boring to some people and some people have never thought that way.

Martina Sestakova  
Right? Well, it's kind of funny because I feel like I've been very fortunate to teach at  very important places. It's nice to have these places on my resume, but I will actually tell you that I don't have any formal art education. I do have an degree. I have a master's in fashion design and it is years filled with imagery and painting, but no one sits down and teaches you oils, you know? No, I am I would say 90% of what I do is self taught, which I think is a great way for me to have compassion for other people.  You know, an art is scary, you know, I cannot tell you how many people come into the class. And the first sentence is I'm not creative, and there's no like, go away, like don't look my way, and I'm gonna sit at the other side of the room. And it's okay because I've been there. Right. So I think what draws me to the teaching is this opportunity to connect to observe how we react to things we don't know enough about at the moment and really kind of work with curiosity as a way of exploring new things. I mean, traveling is fun, right? We look around at the world but you can really have a very similar experience at a desk. You have a brush and you have an idea it's kind of pursuing it is really opening up new worlds. So there's a lot to art that's really really good.

Nic 
Well, I love that and like you know, some of our listeners may not be primarily artists, but like Laura, you know, with photography a lot of people do have that as a hobby or a passion or something that they may not even know that it's something they like to do. So, what advice would you have for people who are trying to take that step who are saying, you know, don't look my way I'm not creative, but how do you get them involved in something like that?

Martina Sestakova 
I think what excites me most is believing that your ideas are worth a pursuing. So if you have this inclination, I'm not creative. I think you can turn it around and think, okay, maybe except I have a camera and I love taking photos. Okay, maybe but I did go to the art store and I bought those watercolors, you know, there's a thing there's something to us really honoring our ideas and what our bodies are telling us. And that kind of like shoves the fear to the side a little bit.  You know, there's a really good story about Mary Oliver, as I mentioned, a famous American poet. She was a huge believer in kind of an inspiration, whatever that was to her, you know, I don't know muse, something I don't know. And she believed that if an idea came to you. It was really your obligation. I would almost say listen to it, pursue it, do whatever you can do with it, go bake that bread. You know, I don't know. Plant a tree, whatever. And apparently that she would go on a walk once she had a notebook but she forgot a pencil. And she had an idea for a poem and it disappeared because there was no pencil to write it down with so you know, I always remember this and every consequent walk she would take in the in the woods in her New England home. She would take a little pencil into a tree you know, so I think that's like so amazing. And if you like make a bigger story out of it is right she there's this woman, she's an idea. She's honoring it, and she's kind of giving back to the forest, honoring the forest's ability to wake up these wonderful ideas in her. Yeah, so like to make a really long story short, if you want to pursue anything artistic, and it's scary. Give it a try. And I'll start with five minutes a day. Kinda just just see and I think a lot of these ideas that target us, even if they're scary, they are really really really like life affirming. And if you do give them those five minutes, really good things will happen.

Nic 
I love that. That's such a great answer. You know, it's actually speaks I think to something that all of us can appreciate. She actually had a problem and came up with a very creative solution to that problem.

Martina Sestakova
Absolutely. Absolutely.

Nic
Really cool. Yeah, yeah. So you also, sailing kayaking are also pretty important to you? I think it's fair to say. So does that influence how you get involved in places like global microplastics Initiative and the Maryland oyster restoration program?

Martina Sestakova 
Yes. So you know, I already mentioned kind of a childhood and growing up so I feel like I have like a really, like really tight and good relationship with earth and like ground then but I met my now husband six years ago, you know, there's a guy with a boat, and he was like, let's go out on the Chesapeake Bay or like of course let's go on the Chesapeake Bay. Sounds like fun. So, you know, a lot of what I'm talking about now is really just kind of, you know, driven by my husband's interests. He's a lifelong sailor. So, you know, wonderful kind of life on water. And, you know, the Chesapeake Bay is just an incredible world treasure. I mean, it's just a place to be. So yeah, we took the boat and a few years ago, we got involved in a microplastics research was was so interesting. You know, very basic instructions, go out on the water wherever you are, collect samples, mailed into a lab and see what happens and become kind of part of this worldwide effort. So it was really fun. We you know, we really like focused on it, and it gave a lot of the adventures that we had a focus, you know, a destination. So it was it was both fun and both really educational. And, you know, we read through the protocol of the study like full of this and full of that, and it was fun. So we collected I don't know how many samples I feel like we may have done over 20. So a lot of samples on the Chesapeake Bay. We have also collected samples in Florida in the Everglades on a trip which was really fun because we went we went on a four day kayaking trip. With all of these empty bottles um, like how much food can we give up to collect samples? Not everything fits into a kayak when you go out on the water for four days. So we collected samples there and you know, got back on the land and went to a local post office and shipped them in. And so I think if people are interested in doing a little bit of research, there are really fun ways of doing it. Like it's just kind of makes for fun, good stories. And one really fun experience that came out of this is both my husband and I enjoy writing So we wrote a little blog about it and then ended up being posted on the National Geographic's website.

Nic
Yeah that's right. That's so cool.

Martina Sestakova 
So yeah, and it was it was all about sailing and kayaking and microplastics. So that's a it's fun. It's really great to just kind of incorporate you know, the beauty of the world and daily life and write about it, and explore.

Nic 
That is such a cool thing. And did they just reach out to you or do they just post it were they like, Hey, we're gonna, we're gonna do this thing for you.

Martina Sestakova 
We got published on the organization's website and then I know National Geographic picked it up.

Nic  
That is so cool. That is Yeah, I hate getting so jealous on the show, but that's pretty cool.

Martina Sestakova  
One one little claim to fame I have that I think is a really funny story too is you know, we will always take pictures while we take the boat out on the Chesapeake Bay. And Chesapeake Bay magazine. I believe they have a photo contest. So we sent a photo in and we ended up on the cover of the 2017 Cruising Guide. I am in the photo  except I'm looking away and we're both like quarter inch tall. But I'm like, I'm taking it though. I'm on the cover of a magazine.

Nic 
So we're talking to a celebrity now that's what I'm hearing

Martina Sestakova 
Yes, a half an inch tall celebrity.

Nic
Yes. Right right.

Martina Sestakova
So you know a lot of good things came out of being out on the water and just having fun and taking pictures

Nic 
And that's amazing. Well, I mean, to be fair that you are recently published in Plenty Magazine so yeah, creative in your you're a writer as well, like you mentioned like that's another way to kind of combine your passions and I love hearing about that. But what was the article about in Plenty.

Martina Sestakova 
So the Plenty magazine is a magazine published to kind of celebrate the Montgomery county agriculture reserve. My husband and I go motorcycle riding up in the area. It's maybe 20 minutes kind of north of our home and it's a great area, you know, farms and fields. It's beautiful. And I'm also on the board of Montgomery Art Association. And so I always see you know, the artworks that our members share and I, we're driving through and I'm like, there's all of these artworks kind of done about these lakes and I just remembered last week, a member posted a photo, you know, a painting of a vineyard or something and I'm like, how about I write an article about kind of nature's really gift to the artist, right, you can step out, look at a tree and it's a painting. You know, it's just the new look at a cloud and it kind of wakes up your emotions and it's something so this article came really about, you know, one day being on a ride loving kind of what I'm seeing and then thinking can I locate artworks that are actually created in the reserve? So I located for four members of Montgomery artists association I wrote about getting out there and walking the path and you know, taking the photos and yeah, it was a great experience. And the magazine enjoyed it, though it's published.

Nic  
Yeah, that's awesome.

Martina Sestakova
Yeah, a lot of fun. Thank you.

Nic
Yeah. And no, I think it's great. It's a great thing to do. I think, like you said, art and nature really do go hand in hand. And so So you've also travelled quite a bit. And you know, like you say, you're telling us you create art as you travel? So is it like what kind of places do you go and is it do you theme it like, I think this is what I want to do is go walk through National Forest, or you know, what inspires you how do you pick the trips you go on,

Martina Sestakova 
so I used to be one of these travelers who would have like an Excel spreadsheet. Let's go to New York City, wake up at 8:20, 8:40 lunch, 8:47 go to the museum, blah, blah, blah. I don't know what happened to me, but I don't do any of it now. And you know, I love waking up and just jumping to the car and going so I have been fortunate to travel pretty extensively through Europe because I do go visit my family every year back in Prague and you know, it's a quick train ride to another country or a quick flight. So Europe is definitely one of my favorite places. But one of the best experiences I've had was crossing the US, you know, on a camping trip, we spent I believe 37 days out.

Nic
Wow, man,

Martina Sestakova
You know, and again, none of us none of it planned. Getting into the car. We have actually you know, don't judge me this is not very high life. We have converted the back of our truck into a bedroom.

Nic  
I love it.

Martina Sestakova 
You know I will definitely sleep on dirt if I have just to be outside in nature. I love love being outside. And yeah, so U.S. is absolutely fascinating to explore, you know, go drive. We love to get into the car and set, you know, whatever the Google Maps on, like avoid highways. And then I mean, you get to places that you know no one would ever tell you about and it's just fascinating, and it's wonderful and you get to meet new people. And yeah, it's really fun. So travel is, you know, a great, I think a great way to really expand one's worldview and meet other people. Get out of the comfort zone. And yeah, it's been very beneficial for me.

Nic 
It's so great. Honestly, one of my favorite vacations I ever took was that exact thing. You know, just driving across the country. We'll see where we are and then decide how to how to camp or whatever and it was, it was fabulous. I love to hear that. Do you have a place in like an off the beat place in Europe? Oh, you would recommend for people to go to

Martina Sestakova  
I feel like in Europe I have kind of done a little bit of the touristy things. My husband and I did like a five day road trip from Prague to Poland. So that was kind of, you know, again, off beaten path, but I don't know that I would, you know, have a particular place to recommend just kind of wander around and drive into a tiny village and say hello and see where it takes you.

Nic  
That is so cool. Yeah, even even if you're a little nervous to do that. I think that's a great idea.

Martina Sestakova 
Well, you know, I talked you know, when we talked about art I think one of the biggest values I have is curiosity, because if you are curious, you are going to overcome that fear that you may have about picking your brush up and doing something on the paper. And I think one of the things about travel is the same. It's this curiosity. About how other people live and I have done I feel like enough travel and a variety of travel from like, you know, a really nice hotel to literally sleeping on dirt in the middle of a forest. You know, when like snake most snakes will crawl over me I can, I can genuinely tell you that like, the world is good. Get out there. You're gonna meet really nice people and helpful people. I mean, all kinds of things happen during our lives. But I think if you know if exploration and curiosity is a value you may have it's, you know, Earth is a really good place to be. A really good place.

Nic 
That's a good thing. Yeah. I love that. And it's very inspiring. Yeah. And you've also you've had exhibits, like in the DC area, is that correct? Tell us about those.

Martina Sestakova 
Yeah. Thank you. Yeah, I have been exhibiting pretty widely around in the area trying to kind of showcase my artwork again. It's all of it is kind of tied to nature and the beauty of life and being alive and I have a nice, nice lineup for 2022 showing at a variety of nice venues, so I'm quite excited about it.

Nic 
Yeah. So where can people find you in 2022? What venues are you have lined up.

Martina Sestakova 
One place I am really kind of proud of and it doesn't just tie to next year is I have a collection of my scarves featured at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. If you go to the American Art Museum in Washington, DC, they have a really nice gift shop and my scarves are there on display.

Nic
Really?

Martina Sestakova 
Yeah. So yeah, that started us like yeah, they were my first client ever when I started my company.

Nic 
Oh, Wow, that's amazing. That's incredible.

Martina Sestakova 
Well, I you know, I have mentioned curiosity. I also have one of this like, if you have an idea, just do it, even if it's like the silliest thing around. So I designed this one scarf that's inspired by the American Art Museum Building and I'm like, huh, who do I tell about this? It's really pretty so come on. So I googled like, email for the Smithsonian and sent them an email like a black hole of emails and I'm laughing and I'm like, What is this? Nothing and nothing. You're like, alright, well, you gave it a try. Three weeks later, the buyer for the museum, came back and bought all of this work. I'm like, hello. That was I guess, five years ago, six years ago. So another story another story to show you that if you have an idea pursue it.

Nic 
That is incredible.

Martina Sestakova 
Yeah, that's a really great place to be. I'm very honored that the work is you know, well accepted there. And just working on like a list of places to show I'll be showing at a bunch of galleries in the DC next month. I always do everything on my website and share updates on Instagram. So if people are interested, you know, there's a way to find my my schedule.

Nic 
Yeah. So So where can people find you? Why don't we go ahead and give them information?

Martina Sestakova 
Sure. So I try to promote my work. Well, I'm everywhere. I am on Instagram. I actually two accounts on Instagram. The one that kind of, you know tells the stories behind my scarves is called Radost by Martina Sestakova.  The word radost is the name for my company and is actually the Czech word for joy. So I hope that whatever you see coming kind of out of my hands and out of my mind is filled with joy. And then the second account on Instagram that focuses on my abstract art only is Martina Sestakova Art. And I have a website and you're welcome to sign up for a monthly newsletter where I update you and you know, you can kind of get a list of all of the art workshops that I teach. You can learn about new designs in the scarves, and new paintings and that comes out on the first of each month.

Nic 
Wow that's great. That's absolutely awesome. And we've covered a wide range of topics here, but I want to give you another opportunity. Is there anything else before we let you go that we didn't touch on?

Martina Sestakova 
You know, I mean, I could just talk about myself all day. No. Kidding. Kidding. Kidding. You know what, let's finish with a good story that I hope will encourage everyone to follow their ideas. I teach art at retirement communities. And last week, I was teaching a watercolor art class and I had my oldest student ever take a guess how old.

Nic
Eighty five?

Martina Sestakova
A hundred and four!

Nic 
Oh my gosh.

Martina Sestakova 
Yeah. So no matter what age you are, get out there. This lady. This lady is 104 and she painted for an hour non stop created a beautiful, beautiful still life. So you know moments like this in my work really, really encourage me to keep going and just meet new people and have fun.

Nic 
Wow, that's great story. That's amazing. I love it.

Martina Sestakova 
It's very cool. It's very cool. And I'll tell you she was better dressed than me. Those nails that the hair. Whoo.

Nic 
I love that. Martina, thank you so much for joining us. You had so many great, great stories and we were really happy to share them with our audience.

Martina Sestakova
Wonderful. Thank you so much for having me. Great experience. Take care.

[Outro]

Nic
And that's our show. I want to thank Martina so much for joining us today. It was really fun to have her on, great episode. Please be sure to check us out each and every Friday wherever you get your podcast. Don't forget to subscribe rate and review. See you everybody. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai