Down to a Fine Art

It’s episode 75 and to celebrate, Izzy and Anna chat to artist Emma Digerud-White. The three of them discuss the importance of knowing what makes you feel good, the barriers to making art, Emma’s recent solo show, sketchbook usage, inner landscapes, the female gaze, motherhood, anger, and post-show slumps. Emma’s art can be seen on Instagram @emmadigerudwhite and online at www.emmadigerudwhite.com...

Following on from their previous episode ‘Booktalk’ where they spoke about their reading habits, this episode Izzy and Anna discuss what they’ve read in the past year. Their top recommendations are: ‘Babel’ by R.F. Kuang, ‘House in the Cerulean Sea’ by T.J. Klune, ‘Islands of Abandonment’ by Cal Flyn, ‘Still Life with Bones’ by Alexa Hagerty, ‘I’m Glad My Mom Died’ by Jennette McCurdy, ‘Landmarks’...

This week Izzy and Anna talk to three guests at once! Artists and stone carvers Elle Brown, Emily Roberts, and Sue Rogers discuss their show ‘The Green Cube’ at Potager Garden. They reflect on the benefits of exhibiting outdoors, share their stone carving tips, and consider ideas for the future of ‘The Green Cube’. All artists can be found on Instagram: Elle at @elliebrownartist, Emily at @erobert...

Join Izzy and Anna as they go into a bit more detail about their jobs and explore their creative identities alongside. They chat about the organisations they work for, question what aspects of their employment they enjoy, and think about how their practices fit into their wider sense of self. Disclaimer: eclipse juice may have impacted this episode. Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train avai...

Today, Izzy and Anna chat about workshops. What makes a good one? What is their purpose? How do you design a workshop? Join them as they consider the answers to these questions by revisiting their past favourites. Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train available at https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa.

This episode Izzy and Anna celebrate the podcast’s third anniversary with visits from the ghosts of podcast past, present, and future (i.e. they talk about the podcast over the years and think about where it’s going). They’re also doing a call-out for guests so get in contact (@downtoafineart.podcast on Instagram) if you’d like to be involved. Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train available...

So…rocks. Let’s talk about them. (Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train available at https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa)

This episode comes to you two months late (oops) and is all about ego in art. Inspired by a chat in Gabrielle Teaney’s episode, Izzy and Anna have some burning questions. Is ego/confidence helpful, or even essential, to being an artist? Is making something you know you can make well egotistical? Is ego tied to commercial success? Are ‘successful’ artists actually as riddled with imposter syndrome...

It’s the first episode of 2024 and to mark the occasion Izzy and Anna interview Liv Gravil – painter, printmaker, and poet. Returning to Daisy Laing Gallery, they discuss the themes of Liv’s solo show ‘The Upworld’ including caves, mining, other-worldly spaces, anxious landscapes, the atomic priesthood, and the transitory space between the up and the down. The film referenced is ‘Into Eternity’ by...

Happy (nearly) new year’s! To celebrate the imminent arrival of 2024, Izzy and Anna settle down for their annual episode of new year’s reflection and resolution assessment. They look back at the resolutions they set at the beginning of 2023 and see how many of them they’ve forgotten (spoiler: most of them) and decide what they would like to set as resolutions, or perhaps intentions, for the year a...

In a further exciting turn of events, this week Izzy and Anna do their third ever live episode! They return to Daisy Laing Gallery in Penzance, this time to interview artist Max Whetter about his solo show ‘Made of sugar are ee?’. Sitting amongst Max’s work, they learn about his creative process, his mentoring with artist Andrew Litten, and the inspiration behind his wonderful titles (e.g. ‘The lo...

In another exciting turn of events, this week Izzy and Anna do their second ever live episode! Joined by stone carver Elle Brown at Daisy Laing Gallery in Penzance, they discuss Elle’s inaugural solo show ‘Forme Féminine’. They explore a wide range of topics including the physical impact of stone carving, symposiums, the ethics around touching sculptures, Elle’s creative process, and the historica...

This week Izzy and Anna introduce a new segment of the podcast: the leopard seal segment (this is not permanent nor, in fact, that relevant to the episode). Moving swiftly on, they then spend the rest of the episode talking about their journals. How do they use them? Are they online or in-person? Are they a place for full sentences, drawing, or chaotic word circling that won’t ever make sense to t...

It’s another guest episode and this time Izzy and Anna are joined by Gabrielle Teaney – a multi-talented artist with a rich background. Over the years Gabrielle has studied photography, portraiture, painting, and art history, as well as working as a doula and running art classes and nature workshops. They discuss Gabrielle’s recent solo show, the impact of different environments on her paintings,...

In a first for the podcast, Izzy and Anna experience a technical glitch – that glitch being they lose half of their recording (RIP). But at least the remaining half is packed full of lichen-y goodness. Anna talks about her recent research into lichen, Izzy eats some chocolate fingers, and then they discuss how to bring scientific research into artistic practice. The artworks Anna mentions are 'Kin...

It’s episode 60 – time to talk about books! Izzy and Anna compare their reading habits whilst talking about the great fiction/nonfiction divide, the benefits of book clubs, and how to start reading more. This episode is sadly not sponsored by Goodreads but could be sponsored by Steve Blease (who they discover might be the gateway drug to Robert Macfarlane). Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Tr...

In this week’s episode, Izzy and Anna are joined by professional art person and creative cheerleader Meg Fatharly. Join them for a whistlestop tour covering Meg’s artistic beginnings, the pressures of full-time artistry, teaching as practice, the importance of quitting, and anchor words. There’s also a pep talk for all the artists out there. To see Meg’s work, check out her Instagram @printcessmeg...

Despite a chaotic start, Izzy and Anna manage to pull off a pretty coherent and insightful episode talking about the concept of comfort zones. They discuss the benefits and drawbacks of leaving your comfort zone, the desire for familiarity, being pressured into your uncomfort zone, and how to healthily push yourself. We also learn that Izzy acts as the bowling rails of this podcast. Music: Ketsa,...

Now that they’re a year on from finishing university, Izzy and Anna decide it’s a good time to reflect on the similarities and differences between graduate life and student life. They give a rundown of their current jobs and discuss whether their chaotic schedules as Fine Art students prepared them well for their current working lives. There’s a cheeky plug for the Tate Collective Producers and, a...

(CW: brief discussions of OCD) This week, Izzy and Anna start a book club! Well, sort of. Unlike a conventional book club, they’re bringing different books to the table and unpacking some of their favourite quotes. Izzy’s reading from ‘Arts of Living on a Damaged Planet’ by Anna Tsing, Nils Bubandt, Heather Swanson, and Elaine Gan, and Anna has chosen ‘Entangled Life’ by Merlin Sheldrake. If you’r...

In this episode Izzy and Anna are joined by Sophia Heath-Rochna – part 1 architectural assistant and Kevin McCloud’s biggest fan. In pursuit of finding out what it means to be an architect, they discuss a typical day in the role, the highs and lows of LinkedIn, socially conscious architecture and B Corps, as well as providing some advice for incoming architecture students and spending a ridiculous...

It’s time to get reflective as this week Izzy and Anna look back on their recent group show, ‘The Unsteady Now’. They re-live the rollercoaster of preparing, curating, and hanging the exhibition, as well as assessing if they’ve got better at private view-ing since their degree show (spoiler alert: they have). A big shoutout to all other members of the Cultivator Graduate Start-Up Programme 2022 (a...

In an exciting turn of events, this week’s episode was recorded at Tate St Ives! As part of the gallery’s U Studio festival, Izzy and Anna had the opportunity to bring Down to a Fine Art to a live audience for the very first time. Join them as they discuss the trials and tribulations of being an emerging artist in Cornwall and take questions from the crowd. Thank you to the Tate Collective Produce...

It’s the podcast’s two year anniversary! As working adults, Izzy and Anna have decided not to get drunk this year, but instead to reminisce about their very first episode. Join them to see how their answers differ and if they’ve changed: how have their practices developed? Do they still have the same artistic insecurities? Are they better equipped when it comes to ‘art knowledge’? There’s also a t...

This week, Izzy and Anna visit the studio of the wonderful artist and lecturer Lucy Willow. In a slightly different episode format, they have an unfiltered discussion over some cups of tea and unpick the similarities in their practices. They discover a shared love of fossils, collections, and ceramics; the importance of having a comfortable studio; the benefits of a good deadline; the odd experien...