Your Creative Midlife

You may know Alex Honnold, the only person to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan rock cliff without any gear. But did you know that Honnold’s mother, Dierdre Wolownick, is the oldest woman to climb the same mountain (with gear)? Or that she only started training in her 60s? 

Melissa Davey, a documentary filmmaker, wanted to share Diedre’s story. Her film Climbing into Life is now available to stream on Apple TV, Amaz...

What happens to a craft when there aren't enough people left making a living at it?

In this episode of Your Creative Midlife, I'm recording from the podcast studio at the Nantucket Historical Association with Mary Lacoursiere, artistic director of its Heritage Craft Program. I then go behind the scenes with Mary at the program headquarters. 

 In This Episode You'll Learn:

  → What are heritage crafts (and why they&rsquo...

What happens when you sign up for something you might turn out to be bad at? In this episode of Your Creative Midlife, I'm exploring embroidery on Nantucket, in its different forms. It's the part of this island the influencers aren't telling you about.

What I didn't expect was how much this experience would end up being about limits. I learned that I am not good at everything (and how to be ok with that).

In This Episode You'll Learn

...

I’m sharing the results of a collage workshop I took at the Visual Arts Center of the Artists Association of Nantucket, one of the island's major art centers. As a budding collage artist, this was an amazing experience, and it really gave me a chance to do a deep dive for four days in a row with a great instructor and great classmates. 

I talk about the different techniques I used in each collage and how I’m discove...

How would you like to try something completely new? That's what I'm doing with my summer, calling it Nantucket Camp. How about paper marbling? It's a heritage craft, which means, in some ways, it's considered endangered. 

Here’s how I learned to make marbled paper, just like Renaissance Florence or Venice! I took the workshop run by The Nantucket Historical Association. They have a heritage crafts department where you can...

This summer I'm treating Nantucket Island like summer camp, exploring new activities like pottery, collage, paper marbling, and so much more. You can try so many artistic pursuits on this island. So if you see something new that you want to try, join me for Camp Nantucket.

The first episode drops Thursday, July 23rd!

Please rate and review on Apple Podcasts.  And see more about Betsy Bush and her guests at www.yourcreativemidlif...

Do you wish you had taken (or stuck with) music lessons as a kid? Or maybe you didn’t have the opportunity for lessons and now wonder if it is too late. In this episode, I talk with Elle Littlefield, an entrepreneur and classical music lover. Elle Littlefield grew up playing violin through the Suzuki method. But like so many of us, she put music aside for other things. Now she is returning to the instrument as an adult, playi...

There are many reasons to write a memoir.  You may find it cathartic to “get it all out there” or maybe you have a life story that you think readers will find entertaining.  Either way, says memoirist and writing workshop leader Sarah Saffian, there is a difference between therapeutic writing for its own sake and writing for publication. Working through these distinctions in a workshop setting with an experien...

In this episode, I reflect on my trip to The Art Students League and how it influenced my friend and podcast guest John Kneapler’s journey as an artist. 

The Art Students League has been making art education and studio space accessible in New York City. This kind of community is important for making art and also for improving our health. In her book Art Cure, Daisy Fancourt says social prescribing as the practice of refer...

I’ve explored collage a lot this past year. In fact, my collage roommate has become an exceptional collage artist after retiring from her career in corporate communications. Her creative pivot has been a huge inspiration. This episode is a compilation of my interview with Lela and my own journey into the world of collage. 

Links:

Watch the full interview with Lela: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2vc2HvS2zo&t=793s&nbs...

I met Dr. Daisy Fancourt in May, when she was a featured speaker at a longevity conference. If you’ve heard of her, it’s because her latest book Art Cure, has taken over the art world on social media. 

In this special solo episode, I share my thoughts on this revelatory book, the questions it asks, and what I think needs to happen next. 

Resources:

Art Cure: The Science of How the Arts Save Lives: https://booksho...

You can have a whole new identity if you want. You can pick up something new or pursue that creative impulse that has been in the back of your mind. 

This week on Your Creative Midlife, I am in the hot seat! I sat down with my friend and fellow podcaster, Flora White, who is the CEO of Evolution Content. 

We talk about the inspiration behind Your Creative Midlife, what it was like to go back to school in my mid-fifties, and...

Do you want to write a book, either now or in retirement? Rather than put off his writing dreams until retirement, Chris embraced the challenges through courses, mentorship, community, and self-education. He went on to write a debut novel and is working on his third book. 

Chris’s story offers inspiration, empathy, and encouragement for anyone who dreams of writing but doesn’t know where to start.

About the guest:

Chr...

This week on Your Creative Midlife, I talk with Brooke Berman about her latest film, "Ramona at Midlife," which explores the central challenge of reconciling one's youthful aspirations with the reality of how life actually unfolds. 

The film follows Ramona, a former essayist turned animal shelter worker, as she grapples with the gap between her 25-year-old self, the person she expected to become, and who she actually became&mda...

What do doctors and scientists do in retirement? In this week’s episode, Betsy speaks with Bob Veselis, a former anesthesiologist, about his art practice and how he transitioned from medicine to becoming an artist.

About the guest:

Bob Veselis, a retired anesthesiologist from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, has returned to painting, collage, and piano playing in his retirement. His artistic work has evolved from more tr...

I am thrilled to share my conversation with John-Morgan Bush, Dean of Juilliard Extension. We talk about creative aging, Juilliard Extension, and how music and the performing arts can help us live more enriched lives.

John-Morgan advocates for the importance of lifelong engagement with the arts, explaining that older adults bring a unique depth of emotional experience to their creative pursuits. He highlights how arts participation ...

When you watch a movie, do you ever wonder about the people in the background? What would it be like to work as an extra in the movie business and how do you get that work anyway? 

In this episode, I talk with Deidre Michael, a former lawyer, about how she became a model and movie extra. It took Deidre following her curiosity to start this new phase of her life. What is something you are curious about, and where could that curi...

While you're learning to be creative, I'm learning how to do a podcast. In this episode, I reflect on the fantastic first year of the show, podcasting as an older woman, what AI means for our creativity, the connection between creativity and brain health, and what I’ll be exploring on the show in 2026. 

What is a creative project you are either working on or afraid to start? Write on the contact form on my website...

Few of us would dare attempt to become a filmmaker at 65, but that is exactly what Melissa Davey did when she retired from corporate life.  Her second documentary, "Climbing Into Life" profiles Dierdre Wolownick, the oldest woman to climb Yosemite’s El Capitan.  Wolownick was guided through the climbing process by her son, Alex Honnold, famous for his free solo climb up El Capitan.  Melissa recounts how she dis...