In this episode, Sharon talks about her Caribbean heritage, her early connection to race equality campaigners and inspirations Eric and Jessica Huntley, how her wide education has informed her practice, how her collages celebrate Black women and seek to redress the balance of under- representation in mainstream media and art history, how she has questioned... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Gary Nicholls talks about steampunks, how he became one and the influence they have on his work, how he creates the images for his Imaginarium digital prints and book trilogy, the influence of Caravaggio, Dali and other Old Master painters on his images, the darker side of life for his themes, the... Continue Reading →

In this episode, British documentary photographer Polly Braden talks about some of her long-term projects. They include photographing a worker in a shoe factory in China, a group of people with autism and learning difficulties, single mothers facing challenges in an age of austerity, a flying eye hospital in Africa, the City of London both... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Brussels-based Polish sculptor Tatiana Wolska talks about the sculptures she makes from found or recycled materials, particularly wood. She describes herself as a “junk artist” who is commenting on the wastefulness of western society and breathing new life into redundant waste products. She talks about how her fabricated shelters are a plea... Continue Reading →

In this episode, the remarkable Californian husband and wife team talk about assemblage art in which they make sculptures out of found and discarded objects. Spencer talks about how decades in the music business led him into this art form, Esther describes how her training as a psychotherapist has influenced some of her work. They... Continue Reading →

In this episode, the London-based artist talks about living in Japan and its connection with her home country of New Zealand, why she chose to paint portraits and the responsibility this entails, the experience of coming out as a lesbian in her late twenties, how her paintings became largely autobiographical through painting others from the... Continue Reading →

In this episode, London-based Nigerian photographer Elizabeth Okoh talks about how she first began photographing in her childhood, why she left Nigeria to attend university in the UK, her initial difficulties in culturally acclimatising, how lots of her series and her commercial work focus on female empowerment, and how her current exhibition Women on the... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Attua talks about winning the Design Museum’s 2024 Ralph Saltzman Prize for design, how her work intersects design, craft and art, why she left Spain for the UK, the importance of sustainability in her process, her experiments in fusing borosilicate glass with clay to create sparkling ceramics, how a shelf-unit she made... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Caroline Burraway talks about why and how she has given voice to those disenfranchised and displaced on the margins of society, how she has focused recently on refugees like Tarik and Eden whom she has met in refugee camps and of whom she has made large-scale prize-winning drawings, about her Ungrievable Lives... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Romany talks about his upbringing during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, how he gave up practising as a lawyer to become an artist, how the death of a friend inspired his AIDS Memorial sculpture in Brighton, why he started painting, the influence of Francis Bacon, designing theatre sets and about his new... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Jersey-based fine art photographer Connor Daly talks about how photography became his passion, his struggles at art school, the adventurous spirit he inherited from his mother, how his photographs responded to a serious illness, how a car park provided a career turning point, how his influences owe more to painters than photographers,... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Kate talks about her passion for colour and what colour provides, how she discovered the Araash fresco practice during a trip to India as a teenager and how she subsequently went back to learn the process, the art objects she makes using it, her obsession with walls, the influence of Rothko’s use... Continue Reading →

In this episode, British sculptor Rebecca Stevenson talks about her love of wax as a material, how studying anatomical dissection influenced her work, how she has updated Baroque Vanitas paintings for the 21st century, how feminism underpins her oeuvre and how a recent artist residency at the Victoria and Albert Museum has altered the perspective... Continue Reading →

In this episode, James Mortimer talks about the reasons behind his works that depict strange, primeval and dramatic landscapes whose inhabitants have cast aside moral constraints and where humans and animals share equal status. James talks about how a dull, industrial town fed his imagination from early childhood, his travels in eastern Europe including Ukraine,... Continue Reading →

One of Britain’s leading stone sculptors, Paul Vanstone talks about his fascination with stone and how he loves the openness and risk-taking involved in carving it, the feeling of vibrancy that it gives him in particular marble for its variety of colours and texture, how he honed his carving skills in Italy and India, the... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Kristian Evju talks about his background in a remote part of Norway, the influence of psychology on his art, his time at Chelsea College of Art in London, how historical archive photos and research form the basis of many of his series including those of old technology and prisoner mugshots, and how... Continue Reading →

In this episode, HSWD talks about her aristocratic heritage, her philandering gambling father with whom she lived in Soho in the 1970s, how she encountered artists such as Francis Bacon and various other famous and infamous characters, how she decries the changing character of the area, how she discovered art and the inspirations for her... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Joanne talks about how being brought up as a working class girl in the rural north of England has given her a unique perspective for delving beneath the surface of the rural idyll to reveal hidden histories and issues of class, power, identity and poverty. She talks about her own experience of... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Ant talks about not being a stereotypical street artist, his experience of living in South Africa during the end of apartheid, studying graphic design and animation there, how he has fostered community relations with his street art since returning to the UK, conducting workshops as part of his art residency at St... Continue Reading →

In this episode, the Austrian-born UK-based potter talks about her family background in ceramics, the influence of her compatriot Lucie Rie on her works, the importance of shape, colour and integrity of her pieces, how she makes her own pastels and glazes, how a recent trip to Japan inspired many ideas, and her process of... Continue Reading →

In this episode, photographer Oli Kellett talks about how he discovered Paradise early in his career, how the idea emerged for his award-winning series Cross Road Blues, the concept behind it and how he photographed it, how ice-cream and eastern philosophy combined to inspire his Life Drawing Series, and how his current obsession is something... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Michael Pemberton talks about his career as an abstract painter in which he has investigated the relationship between our inner and outer selves, how a certain restlessness and thirst for new experiences has seen him live in different parts of the world, how concern for the environment has continued to inspire his... Continue Reading →

In this episode, Andrew Gow talks about his career’s early birthing pains, his technique for painting portraits that he regards as art’s greatest challenge and which has brought him widespread acclaim, and how he has recently added narrative paintings to his oeuvre that draw from his personal concerns about the state of the world and... Continue Reading →

In this episode, acclaimed painter Nick Archer talks about how his artistic vision changed while at the Royal Academy Schools in London, how he turned to landscapes after leaving London for the countryside, how his works explore the relationship between figures and the landscape, the influence of film directors on his paintings, how his process... Continue Reading →