Extraordinary Creatives

At a recent exhibition opening, I was talking with an artist whose work I admire. We were looking at work that was beautifully made and meticulously researched, yet somehow, I wasn’t moved.  The artist described it...

How does a sixteen-year-old looking for beer money become one of the world’s leading dealers in rare maps, selling extraordinary objects for millions and occasionally outbidding the Library of Congress? Today I’m...

What if the thing that you keep calling procrastination, lack of confidence or self-sabotage isn’t quite what you think it is? What if one part of you desperately wants the exhibition, the opportunity, or success, while...

What do you do when an artwork you’ve been quietly developing for years suddenly goes stratospheric? And how do you turn a hit into a career-changing opportunity without sacrificing your health, your family, or the work...

“I don’t know enough people” might be one of the most convenient lies artists tell themselves. And before you get cross with me, hear me out. If you tell yourself, you don’t know the right curators, collectors...

Andrea Grover has spent nearly thirty years championing artists who take risks. And right now, she’s taking a few of her own. She’s turned her dining room into an experimental performance space called the Ponderosa...

Today, I am talking about a feeling that most of us know intimately. A feeling that most of us don’t talk about: Envy. This episode is about both kinds, which turn out to be the same machine running in two different...

My guest today is the wonderful Italian-Australian singer-songwriter Gabriella Cilmi. Many of you will remember her breakthrough hit Sweet About Me, which became a global success when she was just sixteen. Since then...

I was watching The Big Deal, the new programme with Steph McGovern on the BBC, and I came away with more thoughts than will fit into one episode. Most of them can wait. Today I want to use one thing from it, because it...

Some artists spend their whole lives trying to outrun the work that made them famous. Others spend their lives trying to find their way back to themselves. Today's guest has somehow done both. Wreckless Eric exploded...

There is a page in Emma's notebook that has been written out, in more or less the same words, most weeks for months. Five things on it. Email the curator she met last spring. Book the studio visit. Get the new work up...

What does it really take to create extraordinary work with another person? Not just the exciting bits of making, but everything that happens behind the scenes. Building trust. Navigating creative differences. Talking...

I was looking at an artist’s proposal recently for a really significant exhibition, and it was one of those proposals where you can immediately see that the artist has really thought about the opportunity. They haven’t...

PJ Raval has spent his career asking a deceptively simple question: whose stories are we willing to see, and whose stories have we been taught to ignore? He's an award-winning Filipino American filmmaker whose...

'I don't want them to think I'm difficult.' I've heard that sentence more times than I can count, usually about four minutes after somebody has told me the best news of their year. They’ve landed a gig, an exhibition...