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Apr 11, 2026
The Open Studio Interview - Anna Sullivan
The Open Studio Interview - Anna Sullivan
00:00
26:10
Transcript
0:00
I think we should get started. Okay. And I'm gonna try not to do things like this. Okay. [laughs] Or like this. Do you want me to do what my mom does, which is like... [laughs] Okay. One, two, three.
0:47
[upbeat piano music] Hello, and welcome to the Open Studio Interview. My name is Allie Marcus, and I'm here today at the North Bend Studio, local artist, writer, and conversation evangelist, Anna Sullivan.
1:02
[upbeat piano music] Anna, thank you for hosting me, and for being game to sit with me as my first audio interview ever. [laughs] Yay.
1:18
It's already been full of ups and downs.
1:20
You and I, uh, have had a number of really inspiring conversations, and I'm really happy to be here to record one of them so that others can get a sense of the important work you do. So... Thank you...
1:33
tell me about your work. What's your elevator speech? Okay. My elevator speech is my nightmare. [laughs] Because I think of my work as an ecosystem, which I think doesn't translate that readily to an elevator speech.
1:48
But if I were to say very briefly, what I do is I do, I write and I make art, but the core of everything that I create or wanna put into the world is supporting greater connection to the experience of human being.
2:04
So small, slow, simple things that plug us into ourselves, the...
2:10
who we are, mind, body, spirit, who we are in connection with others, and also the greater experience of living as a person on this planet with all its magic and mysteries, and heartache and joy. Yeah.
2:23
So in your ecosystem, I know you have a lot of different projects. Yes. Um, why don't you tell us about some of the ones you're working on right now? So right now, I have a couple different things going.
2:34
I have an art exhibit in Burien, the second life of the community mailbox experiment, which started at Happy Time. And we've had a mailbox in, or two mailboxes actually, in Burien since December. No, since October.
2:50
And now we have an exhibit of the letters that have gotten sent in through the mailboxes, so people can come and read the letters and see those there.
2:57
Uh, I also write essays on a Substack, and I have some retreats in the works, and teaching yoga, and then some corporate programming around handwritten recognition and gratitude. So where is this exhibit in Burien?
3:11
It is at the Heritage Highline Museum. And how long is it there? Until April 3rd, and the reception is February 6th. Yeah.
3:19
And just for people who haven't seen your work, this is physically a mailbox that contains pre-stamped and pre-addressed envelopes, and blank cards with prompts in them. Correct.
3:31
And then whoever is lucky enough to pick one up, read the prompt, and react to it, pop it in the mail. You receive it, and then process it or show it as part of the work. Exactly, yeah. Yep.
3:43
This is your second round collecting letters and exhibiting them. Are there any similarities or differences between the project you did in Issaquah and this one in Burien? Mm, that's a great question. There are both.
3:57
I think for Burien, there was a more target- more targeted idea of what the arts organization behind that project wanted to collect. They wanted specific prompts, more around creativity, the Burien community.
4:12
It was meant to be a much more local experiment, where at Happy Time, we did just open-ended prompts. People would walk by the sidewalk and pick up the cards.
4:23
In Burien, they were at the community center and at the Heritage Highline Museum, so people were really getting them in a different way. So there's much more of a,
4:31
not cohesive, but much more of a community orient around that project, where the Happy Time project had just a much broader scale.
4:40
And I think because some of the questions would be like, "What do you think happens when we die?" Some of the responses were just really intimate and special.
4:51
And we got a few of those in Burien too, but, um, there's just a different kind of scale of what people are sharing, which is interesting to see. Cool.
4:59
And how about this Writing It Everyday project that you're doing this year? Mm. Right. I forgot all about that.
5:04
[laughs] But The Daily Write is a daily journaling prompt that's meant to be very simple and straightforward.
5:10
I read a poem or an excerpt of an essay, or have just some kind of introduction, and then a simple writing prompt, and then I hold 10 minutes for us to all write together during the podcast, and then close it at the end.
5:27
So it's really just meant to be that daily reminder to practice handwriting, because it's one thing to write one letter one time, that's amazing, or to write in your journal one time, that's amazing.
5:39
But like yoga, it's a practice that builds over time. And so The Daily Write is a way for me to both put that out into the world, and also do it myself, which I think is a big part of all the work that I'm doing.
5:50
It's like practices I want to maintain. Feels easier to maintain them when I'm like putting them out somewhere, and then there's an expectation that I'll do them and...
5:58
And it sounds like it has-Writing time for the listener- Correct...
6:03
to feel sort of an in between space between I'm doing this on my own and I'm doing it in a room with other people, 'cause it sort of has this togetherness thing, but it's obviously asyn- synchronous. Totally. Right?
6:15
Yeah. So that's something I feel like we see a lot in our world is like we're together in spirit- Right... maybe not at the same time, but it feels good. Yes. [laughs] Yeah.
6:26
And in some ways that's an extension of the letter projects in the mailboxes too, because it's like we all...
6:32
Everyone who participates in the community mailbox experiment, whether at Happy Time or in Burien, gets their cards from the same place.
6:41
Like, they all experience the same moment of getting their blank card, and then they go into their own space and they respond, and then all of those things come together again in the exhibit. So there is this level of,
6:53
yes, together but not. And I think that bind of, like, invisible connection between us is, again, also as meaningful as being together in person or, um, in different ways. So it's been a fun- Yeah, and I-...
7:06
way to create... I mean, I know I really felt that in the exhibit at Happy Time. Yeah. Like, being in the room with all those thoughts and emotions felt like being in a room full of people that I knew- Totally...
7:16
or wanted to know. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay, I'm curious, as a kid, were you one of these kids who was made to write thank you letters for birthday presents? Mm. Yes [laughs], I was. What was that like? Um,
7:29
I mean, honestly, it is hard to remember. Did I enjoy doing that as a child? I think that probably...
7:36
I know that I was always made to do it, and my mom has always been a huge proponent of handwritten notes, and I don't think I really appreciated that until I was in college as far as just, like, connection through handwritten letters with friends, but also looking for jobs and writing thank you notes and how that kind of stood out as something different.
7:55
So I don't remember how I felt about the practice when I was a child, but I certainly began to appreciate it in my late teens, early 20s, and I definitely do it to my children now. [laughs] Make them [laughs]
8:10
make them write notes because I think it's just a, it is a really great practice. And- I do the same thing. [laughs] And we got into it during COVID- Mm...
8:17
because my kids were in preschool then, and we just needed to reach out to our, the people we love. Right. And so we were constantly drawing things and mailing them- Yeah... to people. Yeah.
8:28
There's something really special. And even, like, my kids are preschool age now. It's not like they're... Well, my child gave you a card today. [laughs] You saw.
8:35
It's not like they're writing anything, but they, you know, put their stickers on. It just, the practice of, yeah, communicating in that way, putting effort into, "Oh, I got something."
8:46
I think this is what my mom really instilled in me that I, I did and do find valuable is, uh, you put in effort to do something for me, and I'm putting in effort to show you that I'm grateful.
8:57
And I think that that's a really valuable practice for kids as young as, you know, young to learn. Yeah. Definitely. Was there a time when you decided this was gonna be your job? Uh, no.
9:12
It's, that's an interesting question, because I would say no, but there have been a lot of nudges, and if I look really back, like, when I started college, I studied poetry, and I did think poetry would be my life.
9:25
I thought that I would get an MFA and become a poetry professor, and I would live in this arts world.
9:33
And then toward the end of college, got some feedback, like, "You need a job," and I thought, "Oh yeah, I do need a job," and then I went into tech.
9:40
And I feel like I've just slowly walked my way back toward poetry or a poetic life. So maybe the answer is yes when I was 18.
9:51
[laughs] But maybe the answer is, you know, when I started Pidge Post, which was originally a card subscription service, and it was an app, and that sort of bridged the gap between being a tech PM and the work I'm doing now.
10:03
And then just continuing to pivot and feel like... Not even pivot, I guess, but feel like I went deeper and deeper into why do I feel like I wanna build this app and have people write cards?
10:13
Because I think handwriting is important. Researching why handwriting is important, getting into the journaling. So it just feels like a funnel, I guess, into this space,
10:22
but ultimately I think a younger version of myself knew this was a place I wanted to be. Yeah. You've kinda always been there. Yeah. Yeah. At Happy Time, writing by hand is a weekly part of our core curriculum. Mm.
10:34
You know, I teach guitar, ukulele, songwriting, and every student who comes in, even if they're too young to be fluent readers or writers, they have time every week to have a thought in their head- Mm...
10:48
some kind of prompt, and translate something to paper as a result of the thought in their head.
10:52
And there's something about the tactileness of doing that that is so important, um, in, in learning music and understanding music and processing how to then play it back out. There's, like, an analytical quality.
11:06
There's an emotional quality. Mm-hmm. And I find that unless you've taken the time to learn how to translate a thought into something on paper- Mm... it, it's missing something.
11:17
It's missing a kind of depth or a kind of attention. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
11:19
In my mind, there's just no way to be a musician without developing this skill, whether you're writing down the chords instead of me giving you a worksheet or whatever. Totally. Right? Yeah.
11:28
So, um, even, like, thinking for myself as a songwriter or other kind of writer, using a keyboard just doesn't feel the same. Mm. I, I never interact with it in the same internal way as if I am writing it on paper. Yeah.
11:41
Um, and some of that is, like, I'm an old person and- [laughs]...
11:44
didn't learn to write on computers in first grade the way kids do now, but, um, just curious about what that's like for you and the physicality of handwriting.
11:53
You know, like, what does it mean to you as the writer- Mm... that you wrote it? What does it mean to the recipient of a letter- Mm-hmm... that it was handwritten? Mm-hmm.I...
12:03
Okay, you said a lot of interesting things in there that I wanna touch on. I think,
12:07
I think the idea of using our hands for play and tactile relationship to the world is extremely important, and there's a lot of data behind the fact that that's important, whether it's handwriting or playing the ukulele.
12:21
The, the idea of our fingers plucking at strings or plunking on a piano, um, or playing with a ball, like, all of those sensory elements are meaningful to the human experience, and if you're just typing on a keyboard, you're not getting that.
12:38
It doesn't create that same relationship between your body and your heart and your mind, and I think for me, writing, I think specifically stream-of-conscious writing, which I think letters often are, we start writing a letter and you kind of have one shot to write the thing that you wanna write, that it creates a bond between the body and the mind that is just unique from how we are interacting when we type an email and then think, "Mm, that's not exactly what I want."
13:08
You delete it. You type it again.
13:09
You can adjust in a different way, and I think when we're journaling stream of conscious, when we're writing a letter, when we're painting or writing a song or just kind of allowing the body to respond to the elements of living in a tactile way, we are building a deeper relationship to the experience of living.
13:30
And I... Handwriting, for me, is a core part of that, but I think for a lot of people, it is making music or it is painting, and I think there's just a lot to allowing ourselves to play in a physical way.
13:45
And what I love about writing, too, is that, like, then there's something, there's something that you can look back to, and I always think of writing as a way to both put something outside of yourself that you wanna just release and get rid of, or it's a way to put something outside of yourself that you wanna hold onto.
14:00
And I just think the fact that writing something down can be both of those things is really beautiful and special.
14:06
And again, there's a lot of interesting data behind the fact that when we write by hand, we are connecting these elements of ourselves differently and more meaningfully and in ways that we remember and process better than typing on a computer or on our phone or whatever.
14:23
Is this connected for you to the practice of yoga? 'Cause I know that's part of your world, too. It is absolutely... It is yoga, yeah. And I really...
14:33
Figuring out how to talk about, again, the ecosystem, and I use the word connection a lot, and people will use the word mindfulness, which I think they're all variation of the same thing.
14:42
But to me, writing letters, writing in a journal, writing by hand in general, it is yoga.
14:50
If you define, like, the d- definition of yoga is to yoke mind, body, spirit, and that is absolutely what a journaling practice or a letter-writing practice does. Can you describe your relationship to social media?
15:05
[laughs] And to the idea of using digital means to draw in an audience for your work. How does that make you feel? Hmm. I mean, complex, right? [laughs] I, especially in recent weeks, even this morning,
15:23
was thinking about the way social media is... It, it, it can be a connective tool.
15:30
I'm, I am learning ways to support people in Minneapolis or things going on in the world that I would not otherwise have ready access to necessarily, and I think that that can be beneficial in a...
15:44
I think that can be beneficial in a broad way. This is, this is what I wanna say about social media. I think there is a broadly connective element to social media that can be positive.
15:57
I think what happens when we rely specifically on social media as a connective tool is we lose the depth of connection that people really seek and need to build long relationships and to care for ourselves as humans and each other as humans.
16:12
And I think we're in a time with social media where there's a lot of that breadth, and the depth is really missing because of the promise of, like, ease and convenience and all of these elements that, like, deep connection doesn't accommodate, because depth requires friction and work.
16:30
So I think there's a, an imbalance, and my personal relationship to social media is fraught because the thing that I want to invite is that depth, but to reach people who are maybe craving that or who don't even know they're craving that, but ultimately it could be positive for them or it brings them to my work, which allows me to do this work more,
16:54
social media feels like a requirement. I don't feel like I am navigating that relationship very well, and I don't know the answer. [laughs] But I do understand that it's important, and I see people doing it really well.
17:06
I see artists, like, I see Sarah with Show Your Art. I think she does a remarkable job of leveraging social media to share a deeper message, and there are people who are good at it, and I am not one of them.
17:18
[laughs] Well, it sounds like what you're describing is that it's, you know, completely disembodied experience. Correct. Right. So without that kind of core element of what really makes you tick- Yes...
17:31
you know, it's like the bottom's dropped out. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
17:35
And it's like I know I see it as a means to an end as an artist and as a, you know, creative business owner, but then spending my time on doing it, like, that does feel like real friction to me that I just, I really struggle against.
17:47
So maybe I can take some of my own advice in why it's valuable to suffer a little bit. [laughs] Well, that's how we met, was the exhibit I did- Exactly... was on the theme of social media. Yes.
17:58
And you sent me an email that said, "I'm not an artist, but would this work?"Right And I said, "Um [laughs]... I think you are. I think this is an art project." Mm-hmm. Do you wanna talk about Rage Fest? Sure.
18:11
'Cause, well, yeah, I'm, I'm curious to hear about Rage Fest because what I know is that every year for the last few years you've done this sort of awesome kind of retreat- Mm-hmm...
18:22
and it kind of changes names year to year, and it was called Rage Fest last year. Correct. What was that, and is something like that happening this year? Yes.
18:31
For the past few years I've had different day-long retreats in the area. The first year was Rest Fest, and it was a day of deep connection and rest.
18:41
Last year was Rage Fest, which was a, I think was kind of a misnomer, but it was a welcoming exploration of rage, but also in the same modality as Rest Fest, where we used movement, um, connection, relationship, creative play, and literal rest to kind of ex- process these big, a, a big emotion that especially for women we don't get a lot of access to exploring or experimenting with.
19:12
So I can talk about Rage Fest specifically in a minute, but for this upcoming year, the feedback I got out of Rage Fest was, like, this was...
19:19
People really liked it, which was a huge compliment, but also wanted more time. And, and I felt that too, because rage is a... Rage is a big beast.
19:29
Like, and especially if we've spent all our lives, and most of the women who came to the retreat, myself included, have spent most of my life suppressing rage or translating rage into fear or something else, and so it takes a longer time to open that box and really get into it and sit in that discomfort and navigate to the side where you actually can feel like you're truly, you've truly processed something and have some, have some rest or have some
19:59
understanding or power around it where you can walk back into your life with a practice or tool that feels accessible. And I also wanna be very clear, like, I'm not a licensed therapist.
20:10
I am not there to clinically support people on a process of dealing with deep rage. But I think looking at this year, having a longer time period and having
20:23
more practices that are maybe more specific and moving through things in a slower pace would be beneficial. So I don't know if this year will be a Rage Fest and it will be, like, a weekend-long thing.
20:34
One of the women after our, the retreat was saying that she just felt like rewilding, like getting into the woods and, like, getting into the dirt, and I love the idea of that, of, like, a rewilding [laughs] fest, where we're really, like, connecting into nature, into, like, human animal nature.
20:51
There's a lot of work and thought to be done, and partnerships to be had with experts who can actually manage that.
20:57
So we'll see how it shapes out, but I would love to have something, and I would love for it to be one or two nights long this year. So, like me, you're raising kids in a world that's dominated by- Mm...
21:08
screen-based activities and online interactions, and very good reasons to encourage learning in those spaces. Mm-hmm. What are you hoping they learn from growing up this way? Mm.
21:21
This is gonna make me sound like a Luddite. [laughs] I, I hope that they learn that digital access and digital tools have their place, but ultimately a full human life is not lived in the digital. Mm.
21:34
And I would like to be a good steward of that for them. And h- and honestly, what I hope that these generations behind us learn,
21:48
and I think that they are learning this, is that there is benefit to friction. There is benefit to the discomfort of a real human relationship that cannot be met in a frictionless digital space.
22:05
It's the opposite of the digital. Like, I hope that they can really find whatever the benefits are of that broad connection. Knowledge,
22:16
fine, that all exists in the digital, but I hope that my children can learn wisdom and discomfort and, like, human experience comes outside of that space.
22:28
How do you think those things will help them grow up in the world that we live in today? It's hard, because a lot of the times I think, like, "Why did I have kids in the world that we live in today?" Truly.
22:40
I mean, it's a huge struggle of, like, what am I giving these people that I love so much? Like, what have I brought them into, you know? Like, the climate and authoritarianism, and I just...
22:54
It is easy to look at the world... And, and AI, and, like, digital companions. I look at that stuff and I do feel kind of h- hopeless. Like, what is a, what is a good human experience?
23:06
And ultimately what I do hope for them is that they have a whole human experience. And
23:12
without getting too whatever about it, I think that is having a connection to, like, a, a broader universe that exists outside of the individual, and I think if they can develop those
23:23
elements of themselves where they have anchor points that are not just their own individuality and their own power and their own experience, then I think they can have a really whole and beautiful life, but I also
23:39
worry that it's not gonna be comfortable, and I wish they could just have a comfortable, easy life, you know? Hmm. [laughs] I think that's good advice for people at any age, really. [laughs] Sure. [laughs] Yeah, sure.
23:49
Sometimes I think the more we model discomfort and, you know, tolerance of it, the better. Yeah. It's hard because I feel like, what do I know? You know? Like, who am... [laughs] Not who am I to...
24:02
But I feel like the things that, to me, the things that really matter are very simple. It's showing-Love.
24:11
Like living kind of with like love at a center and hoping that maybe that creates some small moments of beauty or joy in both my life but the people around me, that I'm taking care of the planet. You know?
24:24
Like, I just hope my kids can be loving and compassionate to themselves and to other people, and I think that you learn to be that way through, through friction and through experiencing living in the world.
24:36
Maybe through writing letters? And probably through writing letters. [laughs] Well, your work is expanding. Do you wanna say a little bit about where people can find you?
24:46
I know you have a exhibit coming up in Burien- Mm-hmm... on February 6th. Yes. Anything else you want people to know about how to stay in touch? Well, obviously you can write me a letter.
24:55
[laughs] Will there be show notes if I send my- I'll figure that part out. Okay. We'll do something. So you can send me a letter to P.O. Box 245 in North Bend, Washington 98045.
25:08
You can find me online at Pidge Post, P-I-D-G-E Post, which basically if you find my Instagram you can get to my website, and all my stuff is there.
25:18
But, um, I do, I do the individual and community work, the workshops, retreats, the art exhibits and installations, and then also corporate programming, and all of that stuff is on my website.
25:30
Well, thank you for being here to remind us of these things that we should be spending more time on, 'cause you're not wrong, and, um, the more that we can share your message, I think the more we can help people reach out and be with others.
25:46
Um, so thank you for our conversation, and we will keep in touch. Sounds good. Thank you for having me and letting me go on and on about the thing I love. [outro music]
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