I woke up this morning just like any other weekday; I got up with the family as my oldest two children were getting ready for school. I said good morning to my family and plopped down on the couch. My circadian rhythm has been thrown off lately. Two nights prior to this morning, I didn’t get much more than 2 hours of sleep scattered in 20 minute chunks. My maladaptive tendencies scream that there’s something wrong with me and I have to take a second and remind them that I am fine and just going through changes, as most of the world is, and that I’m feeling it.

That last sentence is an understatement; the world seems to be burning, yet when I look out my window it looks beautiful. I feel this is a direct result of what could be called “modern living”, of which I am also a participant of at times. Being exposed to constant crisis scenarios online is not normal for us as creator beings. Everything we take in builds our world. Despite knowing this, it seems nearly impossible to avoid getting caught up in the 24/7 news cycle in some way. On one hand, being informed is important when it comes to issues that can affect the lives of innocent people and our ways of life. On the other, it can be extremely draining and bad for our mental health. There needs to be a balance here that is not currently found in the modern American lifestyle. This is what I mean when I say “modern living”. We’re stuck between the pier and the incoming boat with full-body swimming cramps; to get out of this in time is going to take a lot. Luckily, awareness is the first step to positive change.

I made the mistake of jumping online first thing in the morning, I know, terrible habit (like I said, I’m at fault at times too). I came across the recent viral video of a Marine protesting at Capitol Hill and it bothered me. What disturbed me most was seeing how unresponsive and drone-like the politicians at the front of the room were. It was like we as the public don’t even exist to them anymore. It was very dystopian-like and downright creepy. This is as far as I will take the political talk in this article, but I bring this up for a reason. The booming of the internet age held great promise to usher in a greater sense of connection between previously separated parts of the world. For the first time in recorded history, we can tap into the internet and see what is happening nearly anywhere. While initially this held great promise of grandeur, it has now become a tool of social engineering; one of the most effectively diabolic ones in recorded history. It is a tool of distraction, directed advertisement, and convenience in the hands of the despondent.

Not only are these kinds of tactics so deeply engrained as normal to the generations who don’t know life without screens, but there are now multiple industries built upon being online. This makes business easier, and downright possible for some that it would be impossible without. It can be a huge economic, social, and literary tool for positive growth when implemented properly. It has made many, many peoples lives much better in various ways, and I don’t miss the irony in that this article wouldn’t exist without it. Don’t get me wrong, there are benefits. That being said, in a country with a growing dependency problem in various areas, people now depend on being logged on for their financial wellbeing. This makes avoiding “bad news” even more difficult, especially when its advertised.

It is slow suicide to the creative soul to have to participate within a society that depends on silencing the soul in order to survive. Let me be clear: I do not feel the internet and all of its functions are inherently “bad”. But, I do feel the constant exposure to terribly negative things contributes to an increase in highly negative world views. Our thoughts and beliefs build our reality, and while the negative needs to be dealt with, I feel the constant exposure is a big contributor to the global issues we see facing humanity right now. We are now nearing seamless connection with the shock and horrors of the world, motivated by monetarily incentivized clicks, where the most attention gathered is fostered by human destruction. Markets are now available to make bets on war. We are seeing the shadow of humanity being revealed through the brightening of the light. These are the aspects of our world and its people that society as a whole has refused to deal with or even acknowledge, and as Jung said:

I brought up a lot of negative aspects of our society, but I’m not one to neglect a way out.. so, what do we do with this mess? We, as a species, have ignored the underlying causes of what contributes to the horrors of war, violence, and greed. Our comfortable ways and countless means of escape have caused the majority of populations that could do something about this to not do anything at all. Because of these maladaptive behaviors, the worst of the worst have manipulated their ways into the top portions of society and created a system of rules to not only help keep them there, but to keep others down and too overwhelmed with their system to be able to do anything about it.

The solution to this starts at home, within ourselves. Each and every one of us need to use these terrible things happening in the world as fuel to look within and do a moral inventory: Are you willing to see these things you’re seeing on the news happen in your own communities? If nothing changes, these things will come, simply because of universal law. Once we look inside ourselves and clean house, we need to do the same thing within our communities. This is not done with fire and brimstone, but with love and grace. We need grace because sometimes it takes tough love to get the message through; grace helps us remain centered and loving.

Next, we need to make a way to see more positive aspects of humanity and community in our daily lives. We need to experience these things with our five senses, and implement them in our daily lives as a way to combat the digital onslaught of fear being exposed to us on a daily basis. These can be actions as little as holding a door open, buying someone a coffee, or even just a sincere hello and authentic connection through conversation. I feel the more we do this organically and honestly, the more grounded and balanced individuals will start to feel. This, with most people, should bring about more empathy and compassion for themselves and others, along with a calling to better themselves and things they care about.

Supporting your local communities keeps money local, and the ones that can do the most with that money at “entry level” will be the artists, musicians, artisans, and entrepreneurs. These members of society are naturally-inclined to live a more conscious and connected lifestyle, as to create takes connection with imagination, and imagination is consciousness. Hopefully, with more connection, the more cooperation is had at this level, but remember this only works if people work on themselves first. Shop at local farm stands or local and employee-owned grocers. Hopefully with more attention on grocer monopolies fixing prices, small grocers will receive more support. With diligent shopping techniques like spreading out where we buy groceries, we can help to keep more resources local, and after all, money is only a tool to acquire resources.

When an individual does something that ignites the loves and passions of the soul, and that soul is in harmony with itself, positive change comes as a result. Do things that make you feel like a child again. If you had a tough childhood, be the adult your inner child needed and tend to your old wounds. Heal your inner child and become the change you want to see in the world. Attend more art fairs and festivals, go to more local shops instead of department stores and get to know the owners and employees. Spend cash when possible. If “high prices” keep you from mom-and-pop shops, maybe ask yourself if you really need to buy so many things, or if maybe a lesser amount of higher-quality items are required. Remember, if you were born in the last 70 years, you’ve been brainwashed into consuming garbage. Stop treating yourself like a landfill and start treating yourself like a treasure.

As time goes on and the more people do this work, the more it will naturally grow; like a pond ripple. No one person can do absolutely everything, but every single individual can do something. What you can do will be revealed to you along the way, as cleaning house tends to reveal our true selves, our likes and dislikes, and our willpower. The more we build up the natural-born creators, thinkers, and doers, of our communities and the more we keep our resources local, the faster we can build our communities. The more widely this is adopted, the greater the scale of change will be.

I think, or at least I hope, we’ve come to realize that the ideology of modern politicians will not save us. It is built upon division and control. Ultimately at this point in time, most look at us as a resource for extraction. Our modern system runs on controlling others, and enforcing this control through violence. This system is destined to fail. We need to come together as a collective of communities to shape change from within our country, not by coming together to produce more violence and pain upon those we see as enemies. We need to create parallel-systems that are based upon cooperation and uplifting one another instead of control and dominance. There needs to be alternatives to being a butt-munch.

Welcome to the second transmission of Subversive Frequencies eclectic pirate radio presented by The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine & Review. We play all genres of music with no censorship with more of a focus on spotlighting independent artists. Included with each episode is a source list with names of songs and links to the artists. If you’re a musician or know of some great independent and smaller-label signed artists and bands feel free send some music my way!

Enjoy the show in either video or audio-only format. It’s a traditional music radio show. The only talk you’ll hear is every 3 songs to tell you what was played, what’s playing next and what you’re listening to. No filler, no ads, just one hour of music. Just press play and enjoy the show!

If you would like to help support The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine & Review with operation costs including subscriptions to software and domain renewal you can find all our donation links on The Anartist Collective’s Linktree. Enjoy the show!

Source List

1. My Futures by Rainbow Wars

2. ghost stories by cats kill

3. To Be You by Delial

4. The Grobe/i’m stoned by Never Kenezzard

5. Muffin Man by Rugburn

6. I’m A Unicorn by Frances and the Boof Machine

7. Girls by MITCH-L

8. Jungle Birds by Lulu Lewis

9. Pluto the Destroyer by Spyderland

10. High Road by Cursing

11. What It Takes by Lost Objects

12. Black Sheep Count Yourself to Sleep by The Tilt

13. We Are Starlight by Tripping Jupiter

Film sources for video art

• Cabiria (1914)

• Carnival of Souls (1962)

• He Who Gets Slapped (1924)

• H.G. Wells’ Things to Come (1936)

• Teenagers from Outer Space (1959)

• Tod Browning’s The Show (1927)

• October: Ten Days That Shook the World (1928)

• Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927)

• The Blue Bird (1918)

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Beyond its cinematic significance, Woodstock has been a haven for writers and artists. The town’s unique charm and nostalgic ambiance have attracted individuals who find inspiration in its beauty. The red bricks of the square seem to whisper secrets of the past, containing cosmic memories of rubber, flesh, and hooves that once roamed the Earth. Woodstock is truly a one-of-a-kind town, and it’s no surprise that it has nurtured such unique individuals.

I arrived at Trademark Events LLC about half an hour before the doors opened. As usual, the magic of Woodstock Square began even before I arrived. It was snowing, think big, fluffy snowflakes and light wind. I decided to have an early dinner before the show. After a delicious buffalo chicken sandwich and a couple of Hi Waters at a local restaurant “Oliver’s”, I headed over to the venue.

There, I was greeted by Clay, a member of the local metal band “Rotten Mouth” and a member of the organization “The Warp Corps”. Both of these groups are significant contributors to the event I’m attending. The event, titled “Metal Cares Market,” brings together over a dozen incredible artists and artisans, along with four bands: Strident Escape, Rotten Mouth, Wings of Severance, and SVNTN (pronounced seventeen). Strident Escape’s Matt Monson organized the event, and he did an outstanding job. The event successfully raised over $2,000 to support The Warp Corps’ mission.

What is this mission? It aims to prevent suicide, substance use disorder, and homelessness through direct engagement. Rob has been a figure in our community since my childhood. He owned and operated one of the area’s most popular skateparks, The Warp, back in the early 2000s. I have fond memories of attending skate camp there and meeting skaters from all over the area, including professional skater Patrick Melcher. I also had the opportunity to skate with Chaz Ortiz before he became the professional skater he is today. Even back then, Rob provided a safe and welcoming space for kids and teens to engage in year-round, fostering creativity and offering a healthy outlet for expression in an area that lacked such opportunities. He continues to do this today in a broader and more expanded form. Please watch this video to learn more about their mission and involvement here.

Woodstock, IL, and McHenry County are alive with a vibrant music and art scene. As I stepped into the basement venue of Trademark Events, I was transported back in time to a place that thrives on love, cooperation, and free expression. SVNTN brought raw and brilliant emotion to the stage, which was extended and built by Matt and Blake of Strident Escape. Their performance genuinely captured the energy of the youth. The music was loud, angry, and filled with a sense of togetherness, creating a beautiful and powerful atmosphere. It was as if I had stepped into an 80s hardcore show, but with a profound sense of care and camaraderie among the performers and audience. Circle pits erupted like the blooming of a flower, and skanking filled the pit. When someone fell, everyone immediately stopped to ensure their well-being. This venue embodied the best aspects of the underground music scene while providing a safe environment for kids and teens.

Between each set, I ventured upstairs to explore the diverse array of local vendors, artists, and artisans. Each one showcased their unique and creative creations. I purchased an emotional support pickle, some homemade and reusable hand warmers, and custom stickers. I wish I had brought more money because there was so much more to discover and purchase. From hand-painted skateboards, a pop-up tattoo station, coffee and cheesecakes, to handmade artwork, candles, hats, handmade esoteric items, and a pop-up record shop. There was tons of stuff here to look at and buy.

Wings of Severance had an incredible set. Their vocals were guttural and loud, yet elegant and well-received. I wish they had played their cover of the Misfits’ “Dig Up Her Bones,” which is one of my favorite songs. However, they did play a lot of their own original songs, including “Welcome to the Afterlife,” which was absolutely fantastic. Sometimes, there’s nothing better than some Viking metal, and this was one of these instances. They later said that this show brought them back to their roots, and I couldn’t agree more. Their set reminded me of going to and playing at thrash metal shows back in the late 2000s.

Strident Escape is another band that needs more exposure. They released two singles in 2025, both available on streaming services, titled “Just for Fun” and “20 Years.” My favorite track of theirs is “The Mute King,” and they played even better live. This was when the show reached its peak. During their song “High Water,” a massive circle pit erupted. This, combined with the beach balls flying around and the light show happening, truly made for one of the most wild sets I’ve seen in a while. They played extremely well together and the vocalist was absolutely on point. Even after taking a few beach balls to the face, it was truly epic and refreshingly real.

Last but definitely not least, Rotten Mouth. They self-describe as Groove Metal, and they definitely live up to that. Their songs ranged from heavy rock to straight-up metal and even punk. A couple songs reminded me of old CKY, primarily around their “Infiltrate. Destroy. Rebuild” album. Clay’s playing abilities and vocals are impressive and well-done. I highly recommend checking them out on their Instagram and streaming platforms.

Each of these bands brought something truly original, unique, and amazing to the stage, and the fact that they united with local artists for a noble cause made the event even more special. This is how our world progresses; it’s a microcosm of the future. Togetherness and community looking out for one another through art and music. It doesn’t get any better than this. If you’re ever in Chicago and want to experience the community and its spirit, hop on Metra’s UP-NW line from Ogilvie Transportation Center and head out to Woodstock. The square is just across the road from the train station and is very walkable. There are diners (including the one Murray visited), chocolate shops, art boutiques, bookstores, a renowned Opera House that hosts incredible plays, a movie theater, numerous bars, venues, and a beautiful pavilion and park. The spirit of togetherness is alive and thriving here; come experience it for yourself!

Links:

Warp Corps Instagram

Wings Of Severance Instagram

SVNTN Instagram

Strident Escape Instagram

Rotten Mouth Instagram

Our first album review and publication under The Alchemy of Creation is the debut albums from western Canadian Lynchian experiemental psychedelic pagan goth electronic band SIXPOINTS. If that description piques your interest then you’re in for a treat.

When I relaunched The Anartist Collective as a mixed creative arts magazine and review one of my main missions is to cover all the creative arts, explore creativity and support and share the work from creative artists from across the spectrum whether starting something new or continuing down a long path. The relaunch started with Subvervise Frequencies Eclectic Pirate Radio on January 1 and as I was spending the previous month and a half looking for independent musicians and small label musical artists to spotlight over large mainstream music I started going down the Instagram rabbithole to find and follow musical artists across the musical spectrum and compile an ever-expanding list across genres, I came across some bands and musicians that don’t have any released music yet I decided to add to the list to watch for future releases. From the bits I gathered from their Instagram posts they seemed like an incredibly interesting band I wanted to keep an eye on and I’m glad I did because poet and half of SIXPOINTS Jimy Dawn reached out to me to review their debut album, Negative Space out now and I’m incredibly honored to be asked especially after listening to the album. I can’t even describe how I feel that SIXPOINT’s music is the first album review for The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine.

I asked Jimy for some key points for the review and introducing their work including what their inspiration is and what he said is so beautiful all I can do is quote him directly:

The sentiment of the statement is incredibly apparent listening to the songs on Negative Space. Both with extensive musical backgrounds dating to the late 1990s with a project called SYLO, SIXPOINTS members Shaun Day Woods and Jimy Dawn started sharing music with each other over the past few years while Jimy was living in Toronto and had written and published a couple of books of poetry through Night Forest Press. After Jimy recently moved back to the coast, he and Shaun have been doing live shows and in 2025 entered the studio to record two albums, their debut Negative Space out now and Lithium slated for late February release.

I have to agree with Jimy that the sound is a bit hard to pin down because of the myriad of sounds and inspirations so beautifully blended together but the result is something befitting a David Lynch movie, a soundtrack for a spiritual journey through the underground to rise like the phoenix from the ashes. From the song names to the lyrics to the very sound, the poetic spoken-word lyrics together with the post-industrial psychedelic goth sound with a dash of blues and tribal sounds for a philosophical journey plumming into emotions, the human experience, the struggle of existence and the journey of the soul immersed in a trancelike warm bath of vibration. Each song is a slow-burn mood that hypnotically flows right into the next with hints of Patty Smith, Lou Reed, the heart and soul of blues combined with atmospheric pagan gothwave tones and a touch of 90s alternative and low key industrial thrown in that perfectly soundtracks the story of the human spirit told throughout the albums spoken-word lyrical tale. SIXPOINT’s debut Negative Space album would fit in perfectly with any art school dorm room, underground goth club, artist coffee house and all other creative and intellectual mixed-art spaces. Between the weaving narrative of the lyrics to the calming overall tone of the songs it’s a very easy album to get lost in.

If you like doom psychedelic rock, experimental musical art, slow alternative music, post-industrial goth, spoken word poetry set as music or music that sounds like it fell off a David Lynch movie soundtrack, this album is for you especially those of a artsier, witchier persuasion. I, for one, will be adding SIXPOINTS to my artsy fartsy time playlist and yes, I literally have a playlist labeled “artsy fartsy time”. It was easy losing myself in the music listening while writing this review and I know for a fact I can easily lose myself in this album while getting into my artistic flow state working on paintings.

A special thank you goes to Jimy for thinking of me and reaching out to ask me to review this album for our first album review. I couldn’t think of a more perfect album to launch our reviews with.

Find more from SIXPOINTS including their music and where to follow them on social media for updates including Instagram at https://www.sixpointslive.ca/

Listen to SIXPOINTS on Bandcamp and if you’d like to purchase Negative Space on vinyl you can DM them on Instagram or email them at now@sixpointslive.ca

To find out more about Jimy Dawn and where to find his books of poetry for sale visit https://www.jimydawn.ca/

And for further album review with samples from the album with me, Shelly Olmstead, watch the video below

I thought I would start off with myself for the artist spotlights so people can have a background story about who I am, my background and why I started The Anartist Collective so here’s my official introduction.

My name is Shelly Olmstead and I’m an artist, occasional photographer and generally artsy craftsy person. I love learning new forms of art and even if I don’t end up being particularly good at something I love the process of learning and experimenting with new art forms. My whole entire life has been submersed in the arts, of all sorts, so my background is just a touch involved so I’ll just give you a brief background.

I was born in Oneonta, NY in 1980 to a large extended family on both sides and the larger of my mom’s side full of artistic, creative and intelligent people. My mom was an artist and musician, my brother too, my sister has her own talents and I’ve been surrounded by artists, musicians, craftsmen and all creative types since the moment I was born. My entire hometown is full of creative people from musicians and artists to writers, performers and everything in between. The list is so long it’s just best not to begin. I started drawing when I was 3, was very involved in arts and crafts in grade school including Saturday Seminar art classes in the SUNY Oneonta Fine Arts department where my father worked for 30 years (25 in the fine arts building), took all of the art classes Oneonta High School had to offer halfway through my junior year and was allowed to have free art class periods where I made up my own curriculum so I went heavy on the portfolio fillers specific to fashion design and general multimedia portfolio art and ended up getting accepted to Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY for Fashion Design and Munson Williams Proctor Institute in Utica, NY for Fine Arts in 1998. When I went to Munson it was a sister school of Pratt that had a 2 and 2 program with the fashion design department so I decided with that program but since then Munson has been completely absorbed by Pratt Institute and is now a Pratt art school. I ended up leaving after the first year due to chronic health problems. After working for a while and injuring myself at work, I went back to college in 2003 at SUNY Oneonta for a double major in anthropology with a concentration in cultural anthropology of the Americas specifically Caribbean and a major in studio art with a minor in art history. After a couple years I left school for chronic health issues and the injuries. After working for a couple years I went back to school for a couple more years for the same majors and again had to drop out due to chronic health issues and injuries. I’ve been on disability since but I still volunteer in the arts wherever I can, paint, draw, take photos, and now I’ve been learning how to make videos and I do some graphic design as well have started reversing some of my lifetime chronic health issues and have even put some into remission. Visual arts aren’t my only interest either. I absolutely love music, I can’t work on art without music. I was in school chorus from grade school through part of high school, was in Otsego all county choir freshman year of high school and involved in high school musicals in drama club, and I was in church choir through grade school. I also sew and have a bunch more creative interests, it just happens when you’re immersed in the arts your whole life.

In the year prior to going back to college for the last time I started a series of pop art acrylic paintings. I took photos of some of my artwork to CANO (Community Arts Network of Oneonta) in Oneonta, NY and ended up getting a show for my acrylic paintings in the Kubiak Gallery in January 2007 or 2008. I had a room for all my paintings and it was joint with glassblower and former Hartwick College art professor Erik Halverson and one of Andy Warhol’s master printmakers. I wish I can remember his name but I do remember he’d had a massive stroke and painted with a paintbrush in his mouth on torn-up cardboard. Twelve of my paintings were on display in the gallery. I painted them so smooth that people that came to my opening assumed they were vector drawings screenprinted on board. I had started college again just after the opening of my show and one of my art professors was aware of it so she took the class to CANO early in the semester so the students could see another student’s work in a gallery show.

The voodoo doll painting with the hearts, that’s called Voodoo Love. The symbol in the background is the veve for the Voodoo lwa Erzulie Freda. It’s the painting that got me my show so I drew my own version of the veve and got it tattooed on the inside of my left forearm. I was also taking Caribbean cultural anthropology courses at the time while my professor was writing a textbook on Caribbean folklore (Caribbean Folklore: A Handbook by Donald Hill) and asked if he could take a photo of it for the book as an example of the spread of Caribbean culture. He also loved my voodoo doll paintings so much he bought Voodoo Revenge and had it on display in the reception area of his office at SUNY Oneonta. Donald passed some years ago but I still think of him fondly.

I also took a watercolor class in that same time frame and one of the paintings I painted for my final projects was accepted in the SUNY Oneonta juried art show in 2008 and it won best watercolor painting in show.

Over the years I’ve had some hand surgeries and some other issues so I took a bit of a hiatus from art from the most part. I moved from doing such tight, detailed work and forced myself to explore and loosen up and I’m really enjoying the results.

This one is called Angel Eye. I painted/drew this in 2024 with india and acrylic inks. I didn’t prepare for this one at all with sketches or anything. I just sat down, drew what was in my head in blue-tinted water and filled in the rest. I let the painting reveal itself as I went and that’s the process I prefer these days.

This one is called Across the Ages and I think this might be my favorite of all my artwork. I painted the canvas with splashes of Golden Artist Colors high flow acrylic paint and water, using it like watercolor and adding a bit of salt. Then I cut out a few images from books. The celestial map is from an old encyclopedia, the angel and madonna I cut out from a vintage Fra Angelico coffee table art book and I painted them in with Golden high flow acrylics. Then I layered them in between layers of Golden clear leveling gel with high flows and heavy gel medium. I also used some mica pigments mixed in with some of the gel medium. There’s a lot of layers, the merkebah I made using two different size printouts, layered with leveling gel then peeled off the back when dry to make a photo transfer then layered those on the canvas with layers of gel and color in between and on top. It took a lot of time, A LOT of drying time, but the outcome is so satisfying and I loved seeing the progress every time I finished a layer. Each layer is a different painting. The plasma around the merkabah is based on an orb I saw flying across the sky in Pueblo, CO July 2024 outside of the Blo Back Gallery when I traveled to help out with the Third Eye Carnival that summer that expanded into a large ball of plasma, then shrink back into an orb and continue traveling across the sky. I wanted to get that in some kind of art and it ended up working its way into this piece, which I began within a few weeks of getting back home from Colorado. I hand delivered it to its home in Chico, CA where I traveled in March 2025 to help out with the Maker’s Muse Festival at Maker Radio/Chico Fab Labs. It seems appropriate that it started with one event and ended in another place because of another event I helped plan. This was an experimental piece for me and now that I know what to do better and what not to do I’ll be ready for my next one which has already been started.

Another one of my more recent favorites is Vibrate. It’s a smaller piece, 8”x10”, done in Derwent water-soluble graphite pencil with Qor watercolors lined with handmade gold watercolors from Glimmery Watercolors (they’re legit, I love their watercolors, they’re beautifully pigmented and they’re very affordable especially for handmade watercolors!) on Blick hot press cotton watercolor paper. I see the vibration and color of music and sometimes it crackles like this so it was fun just letting loose and letting whatever comes out come out.

I have a lot more artwork you can see from over the past couple decades in my deviantART.com gallery as well as my photography and some of my graphic design/digital art. I’ve also been learning how to edit videos and you can see pretty much all of my work through The Anartist Collective and all our channels. I’m also uploading shorter finished videos to my deviantART gallery. I started taking photos well before I got my first camera for my eighth birthday using my mom’s camera. While in high school I used one of the local studio photographer’s Pentax SLR cameras he loaned to students who showed promise in photography. I used it to take photos for the high school yearbook and newspaper as well as practice taking photos with a SLR camera. I bought my own film SLR camera around 2000 and my first digital SLR a few years later. I’ve taken photos with all sorts of cameras and currently have a dSLR but I really prefer my phone camera. I can take it anywhere with me and get all the interesting things I see while out and about without having to carry a heavy bag full of camera equipment and the quality is excellent these days. I do miss film photography and I hope to get back into it someday. Here’s some examples of my photography and digital art.

This is my first music video type video made using CapCut video editor and scenes cut from the 1962 movie Carnival of Souls. I can’t tell you how happy it makes me that I finally know how to edit video because I’ve been wanting to make art/music videos for decades! There will definitely be more coming in the future. And all you have to do is follow The Anartist Collective and watch the videos to keep up on most of my video work. It’s how I’ve been learning how to do everything and I really do have so much fun making videos.

There won’t be a video from me for my artist spotlight. I feel uncomfortable enough recording video for the collective and I designed these spotlights to be done in any way the creative artist feels comfortable with, from video and audio interviews to self-written essays and articles. I’m weird and awkward and I’m painfully aware of it. I have speech issues and always have. I also feel super weird about staring at a blank screen with no one on the other end just talking at…nothing. It’s so freaking weird and I honestly don’t know how podcasters can do it. Hats off to everyone that can talk at a blank screen to yourself over and over again. Does it ever get any better? Any less awkward? Who knows, perhaps I don’t want to get used to it. I’ve been socially isolated for years living out in the middle of nowhere central NY in Norwich where I have virtually no social interaction on a daily basis. I already talk to myself enough as it is. If I’m recording video or anything like that I think I prefer for someone to be on the other end and having a good conversation and learning new things about others. And that’s what I made The Anartist Collective for. I started it when I was getting back into my artwork and photography and was building a website for myself. I thought it was a bit excessive having all the room for so little work. I’m not a prolific artist, I’m not creating new artwork constantly and there are times where I can go months and months not working on physical artwork (though I’ll be working through other creative outlets"), and I’m always finding new talented people, and a lot of multitalented people. I wanted a place to share all the creative artists I know and continue to meet and it’s just expanded from there. I want everyone to get to know creative artists the way that I get to know them, as holistic human beings, as friends, as family, because we are all part of the creative collective consciousness. I have always believed that creative artists are channels for the divine. I felt it as a child and I feel it so much more as an adult and I think if we as a creators work on our craft with that in mind amazing things will happen in this world. The act of creating art and really anything at all is alchemy. You take all these little bits and pieces of things and make one whole thing out of it and that’s exactly what alchemy is and I want to put a fire under everyone’s butt to go out and be alchemists and channels of the divine. Have you always wanted to paint but never think of yourself as an artist? If you paint, you’re an artist so do it! Have you ever listened to your favorite music and wish you could do that? Start singing, buy a cheap guitar and start learning. Who cares how you sound, practice makes perfect and you’re still doing something new. Have a favorite hobby you put aside years ago and really miss doing? Put aside a few minutes a day and start doing it again! Everyone can put aside 10 minutes a day. The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine is for sharing all the ways people create beautiful things, showing the process and the end results as well as why people do the things they do and through that those people will share the creative artists and arts they know of and on and on. It’ll be a daisy chain of the creative arts and I am so excited about this relaunch!

Because The Anartist Collective is for sharing everyone and all of the creative arts as well as a crowdsourced effort access to everything is free. I run this myself and I can barely afford to live but I pay for subscriptions and services out of my own pocket unless I get donations. We don’t have any sponsors (I’m not exactly against it, it’s just not a thing right now) and I have to set up a store page for merchandise so donations would be greatly appreciated. You can donate to The Anartist Collective using direct donations on our Linktree, directly to me if you just want to tip me using direct donation links on my Linktree for the work I do, or you can buy some of my art. I do have some pieces for sale. I have to fix my Ko-Fi shop but if there’s anything in my deviantART gallery you’re interested in feel free to ask me if it’s available and if it is we’ll talk further. You can DM me here or email me at shellyolmstead@gmail.com. I’ll edit in my Ko-Fi shop link once I get it fixed.

And now that I have the first spotlight taken care of, published and my own introduction out of the way, on to the artist interviews! I’m super stoked, I have people lined up and I have a lot more to ask. And there’s a lot more that I have planned for the future!

Now that it's 2026 and we’re relaunching The Anartist Collective as a creative arts magazine and review I recorded this message to share a little background, what my intentions are with the magazine and review and a call for volunteers and creative artists. Watch the video and if you’re interested in anything I discussed or have any questions feel free to comment down below, DM me here or other places on social media or email me at shelly@anartistcollective.com.

I also need to renew the domain name and my domain-related email address which thankfully isn’t much at all compared to the whole hosting package (another great thing about moving the collective to Substack), but finances are a bit tight for me at the moment and as much as I hate asking for donations as I do this voluntarily for the love of doing it, I do need to keep the domain name and email. I don’t need much, just $40 or so. You can find all ways to directly donate to The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine & Review on our Linktree. Donations also help pay for monthly subscription services for software used for making videos and graphics, go towards internet service and other things that help keep The Anartist Collective going. Every little bit helps and is greatly appreciated.

At the moment I’m most immediately looking for artist feature contribution volunteers and music recommendations to get started with but if you’re an artist working at an event in some regard from vending to volunteering or just planning to go to any kind of ccreative arts-related event and you want to feature the event and artists involeved, feel free to get in contact me here, on social media or email me at shelly@anartistcollective.com. I would absolutely love to see events and artists all over the place and spotlight local and regional creative arts events so if there’s any events anyone is planning to go to in the near future hit me up and we’ll talk more about ideas of how to cover events. Lets all make this magazine and review (which means events, galleries, venues, anything you can think to review in the creative arts spaces) grow and evolve together and make this for everyone. A truly crowd-sourced creative arts magazine.

Interested in being featured, volunteering or otherwise supporting The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine & Review? Feel free to send us a message!

Welcome to the inaugural transmission of Subversive Frequencies eclectic pirate radio presented by The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine & Review. We play all genres of music with no censorship with more of a focus on spotlighting independent artists. Included with each episode is a source list with names of songs and links to the artists. If you’re a musician or know of some great independent and smaller-label signed artists and bands feel free send some music my way! I listen to a little bit of most genres but I could REALLY use the help to broaden our database for future shows! I already have 13 pages of links and I want to make that 50 pages sooner than later and organize it into genres. I’ll be adding the music master list to the table of contents once we’re off and running in 2026.

The entire show is entirely intuitively put together by myself, Shelly Olmstead, by the sound and vibe of the songs somewhat randomly chosen. I don’t listen to the vast majority of the artists on the list, I just found a bunch of them. I just click on one of the band names, scan their music and if it’s the right sound for the segment of the show I go with the song that’s the right vibe for the previous and following songs. I’ll be including genre-specific shows but I want the vast majority to be a mix of different genres so people are exposed to music they might not otherwise be exposed to. There’s a lot of fantastic music out there and it’s a shame to box oneself into a genre camp. I also welcome anyone to compile their own hour or so long playlist if anyone wants to feature any music artists they know or any particular genre you may be knowledgable in. I truly want this to be a crowdsourced effort and once I get enough little movie clips made to create an hour-long video of little movies it’ll make the process of creating each video for the shows too. All I’ll have to do is drop in the audio and some looping text for each song and I can eaily get a show released each week with everyone’s help. And I’ll make sure I’ll announce in the beginning of the show who contributed the playlist if you help out. I’m all about giving people the credit they deserve for helping out and I’ll make sure to include your name and main link in the show notes too.

The video format of the radio show has looping video cards with the names of the songs and artists I’ve been making out of clips of old movies and even though I’ve gotten a lot better at video editing over time, especially over the past year, I still have a lot to learn and a lot more experimenting to do so everyone will be watching me experiment, learn and refine my video editing skills with each new transmission so I hope you all enjoy watching my progress. The most important thing about the creative arts isn’t the end result but the very act of the creative process. Just consider the format of this particular show to be an experimental multimedia evolving art project because at the core of it that’s exactly what it is, just in radio show format.

The radio show is also formatted for audio-only listening so you can listen to the entire show beginning to end and not have to look at a screen or check the source list to find out what songs are played. It’s a traditional music radio show. The only talk you’ll hear is every 3 songs to tell you what was played, what’s playing next and what you’re listening to. No filler, no ads, just one hour of music. For the moment I’ll be releasing shows once a month until I get enough of a database of short videos and music artists of different genres built up to where I can l just do a quick edit and upload and patch a radio an episode together in just one day. And if anyone has any suggestions of some artsier silent and older films I can use to make videos with, feel free to send them over!

If you would like to help support The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine & Review with operation costs including subscriptions to software and domain renewal you can find all our donation links on The Anartist Collective’s Linktree. Enjoy the show!

Source List

1. Blood by ANIMA!

2. Dreaming by Chainflower

3. Ten Thousand Years of Twilight by Daikaiju

4. Barely Alive by Compass Rose

5. Cosmic Gaze by Eyes of the Ocean

6. Dying Star by Blue Envy

7. Daddy Government ft Courage is the Cure by Matt Finlay

8. Leviathan by The Rat Utopia Experiment

9. Checkmate by Trainwreck Boyfriend

10. Ode to you by Emily Holloway

11. THE ANSWERS by Kent Woods

12. Fly Bird by Casmir

13. Panda's Dream by Perfect Weather for Humans

14. Letters (to the eye) by Occult Priestess

15. SunRise by Herman Nebula

Film sources for video art

• Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927)

• Carnival of Souls (1962)

• Cabiria (1914)

• October: Ten Days That Shook the World (1928)

• The Blue Bird (1918)

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The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine and Review is a crowdsourced creative arts magazine focused on spotlighting independent artists, musicians, filmmakers, performers, craftsmen and more with event and venue reviews of smaller creative spaces all over the country and the world with every level of creative artist from hobbyist to professional. From artist features, interviews, event and small business spotlights, indie pirate radio, creative art reviews, thought pieces and more we’ll be providing a whole host of content to find new creative artists and craftsmen. If you are an artist, musician, writer, filmmaker, craftsman of any type or own a smaller gallery and/or venue and would like your work to be featured you can DM me here, on any of our social media accounts found at our Linktree, or email me at shelly@anartistcollective.com. I welcome people to be added as contributors and represent yourselves and your work. I’ll also be more than happy to feature your work myself. And if you know of a lot of creative artists and craftsmen, go to a lot of arts-related events, know of some really cool creative businesses you would like to share or would like to contribute in any other way just let me know and you can contribute to our magazine. You don’t have to be an artist yourself, just an appreciator of the arts and you can contribute as little or as much as you want (within reason), a one-time guest contributor (if you don’t want to join Sustack and would like to still conribute a guest feature article, review or more you can just email it to me at shelly@anartistcollective.com) or a regular contributor and therefore a part of the collective. I would also love some articles, video and even audio on art history, theory, practice, music theory, philosophy of different aspects of creativity and other things so if you have something along those lines you would like to contribute it’s very welcome. It’s an anarchist creative arts collective. No membership, just contributors sharing the creative people and endeavors we find and I would like to keep that network of creatives going through the creative arts magazine because the real anartist art collective is not just me, it’s the entire creative collective consciousness.

Table of Contents

Makers & Dreamers Spotlight

Articles & interviews spotlighting creative artists across the spectrum

January 2026

Subversive Frequencies Radio

Independent internet music radio shows presented by The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine & Review

January 2026

• Subversive Frequencies Eclectic Pirate Radio Transmission 1 January 1, 2026

Exploring the Process

A peak behind the wizard’s curtain

The Alchemy of Creation

Philosophy of creativity and analysis of the creative arts

Living the Dream

Find ways to experience the creative arts in the real world for yourself

Updates & Announcements

January 2026

• A Call for Volunteers, Makers & Dreamers and What The Anartist Collective Looks Like 2026 On January 6, 2026

November 2025

• Ending the Extended Hiatus With Some Major Changes November 6, 2025

I grew up around a lot of musicians and artists, friends with a lot of musicians and bands some of whom I photographed during shows, I did some online street team work, started going to school for fine arts and fashion design, eventually double majored in anthropology and studio art with minors in cultural anthropology specifically the Caribbean and the Americas and art history and there’s more. I just don’t have a degree because of health stuff but I’m finally starting to get some of that squared up. I was also in drama club, art club, chorus, and the school paper, yearbook and art magazine and I think this is the best direction to go in. I’ll be starting with people who are already in the collective and move on from there because honestly I go to some events and I share them anyway and I want to encourage people to share artists and more they know and find as contributors. Instead of members and members pages there will be featured artists with highlights and links and stuff. Most of everything is off site and what’s not is backed up. I’ll be sharing artists, bands, events, etc that I find myself and do individual write ups and would love for more to do that because I want this to show creative artists from all over the place as well as events, gallery openings and more. There will be a table of contents post pinned for easy navigation too. I want to get back to artist interviews too. I also want to feature small publishers, venues, smaller owned businesses, small bookshops, and a bunch of other stuff all over the country. I always wanted to crowdsource this effort but having a website and having artists join isn’t the way to get a bunch of cool artists and places featured in one place. Anyone can make a Substack account, I add them as a contributor and they share things. Easy. And you don’t need to use your real name to be a contributor, I’m totally cool with pen names.

I’ll be writing an article for the Substack introducing The Anartist Collective Creative Arts Magazine this week and once I get everything organized over there and start adding reviews of artists anartistcollective.com will be redirected to the Substack’s table of contents page. I always intended to start an art magazine through the collective from the very beginning, it just makes more sense to turn it into the magazine.