Down to a Fine Art

It’s episode 50! And to celebrate, Izzy and Anna have brought you their longest ever recording! This week, Izzy gets some art therapy because, in summary, sHE NEEDS THIS. They workshop the importance of being fun with your art, the different associations with painting/drawing/found objects, trace fossils, when to justify your artwork to others and when to listen to your critical voice. They also l...

Big news! Izzy and Anna are in a group show! This week, they talk about their current planning process and how they’re preparing for the upcoming exhibition. What are they worried about? What’s going well? How are they staying on top of the workload? Is a deadline really a deadline if there’s no one there to enforce it? Tune in to find out. Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train available at...

In this episode Izzy and Anna answer your questions! From the reality of being an artist to alternative places of study, their early of experiences of art to overcoming doubt, they reveal all on everything you wanted to know. Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train available at https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa

Do you have any new year’s resolutions? Should you? Well, Izzy and Anna are here to unpack that for you. Join them as they look at their own resolutions (past and present), as well as discussing how to keep them healthy, the new year as a catalyst for change, and how the podcast has grown over 2022. They hope this episode gives you some food for thought in preparation for 2023! Music: Ketsa, Still...

This week, Izzy and Anna discover their self-saboteurs and the impacts (both positive and negative) they have on their lives. Using author Shirzad Chamine’s saboteur test, they assess how various personality traits might be affecting their ability to art. Traits discussed include perfectionism, restlessness, people pleasing tendencies, melancholia and more. If you’re a fan of children’s TV referen...

How should you title an artwork? Is there a right and a wrong way of doing it? Izzy and Anna delve into the world of titles in this week’s episode, comparing their favourite titles and discussing what it is they like about each one. They unpick the difference between a title and a label, discover some great puns, and have yet another argument about ‘BMW Shark’. Artists, artworks and exhibitions me...

Hold on to your hats because this is one jam-packed episode! Izzy and Anna are joined by Lily Evans, whimsical illustrator and fellow Falmouth graduate, to share their respective art experiences. Topics include: website building, drawing blobs, the power of positive energy, social media, style/visual language, Etsy shops, and the age-old commercial vs non-commercial art discussion. You can find Li...

Today, Izzy and Anna introduce a new episode format to the podcast. They each bring an old piece of their own work to the metaphorical table, discuss the making and thought processes behind it, and then consider it in the context of their developed practices. To see the works in question, head over to @downtoafineart.podcast. Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train available at https://freemus...

In this episode, Izzy and Anna discuss sustainability in art. They speak about their own experiences of this topic in relation to education, how to deal with art being inherently materialistic, and even give some strong artist recommendations. Speaking of which, here are the artists they mentioned: Claire Chi (mica artist) (@clairechi.art), Bonnie Steward (@bish_art_), Alice Fox (@alicefoxartist),...

Do you want to hear a slightly sub-par lecture?! Then this is the episode for you! Join Izzy and Anna as they unpack 'Thing Theory' by Bill Brown and 'Vibrant Matter' by Jane Bennett in a slightly chaotic way. Highlights include Izzy introducing us to her blob theory, meeting Anna: ship of Theseus, and Jane Bennett spitting some bars. The poem Anna read was by Jarod K. Anderson, @cryptonaturalist...

Izzy and Anna are joined by ‘film person’ Adam Simcox in this week’s episode. They talk a lot about the differences between fine art and film, particularly with regard to commercialism and criticism, as well as how to have a well-informed opinion. At one point, they also take it upon themselves to dissect Adam’s personality. Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train available at https://freemusi...

It's time for another reflective episode as Izzy and Anna check in with their practices two months post graduation. There are some wholesome conversations on the importance of managing mental health as a creative, suspending your critical voice, and creating sustainable working habits. Creepy crawlies also make a strong appearance as Izzy describes her recent bug paintings, and Anna shares a traum...

This week there's a strong science and art vibe as Izzy and Anna describe their favourite exhibitions of all time. There's some existential jellyfish, some wondrous mahogany cabinets, a deep dive into Alice in Wonderland, the origin story of Rachel Sussman, and some mild controversy over utensil use - this is not an episode to miss! Exhibitions/artworks mentioned: ‘Our Time on Earth’ at the Barbic...

In today’s episode, Izzy and Anna interview Alex Blackwell – photographer, geologist, and geography teacher. They do a deep dive into the photography, admin and politics of protest, as well as discussing a shared love of books as curatorial devices. Towards the end, the conversation moves to the role of art in education, particularly when it comes to the climate crisis. The photo Alex mentions can...

Want some advice about CV writing? Then this is the episode for you. Join Izzy and Anna as they delve into ‘art’ applications, ‘job’ applications and everything in between. There’s lots of confusion about what you should and shouldn’t put in a CV (is year 6 cycling proficiency still relevant?!), as well as some formatting discussions and Anna hating on the colour grey. What an episode!! Music: Ket...

Back from their impromptu break, Izzy and Anna talk about their recent residencies at CAST – a local artist studio complex with a focus on art and science. They describe what a residency actually is, what work they made whilst there, and how they found the whole experience. The episode finishes on a thoughtful note as they reflect on their new creative endeavours and how their practices might chan...

This week’s episode covers all things organisation, from daily schedules to art journaling. Izzy and Anna touch on to-do lists, the management of the podcast, whether they’re digital or physical note-takers, and spontaneity vs routine (particularly as an artist – do organised artists even exist?!). They also check-in with each other on how they’re finding being in the abyss of non-student life, an...

Following on from ‘Let’s put up a degree show’, Izzy and Anna use today’s episode to go in-depth on how it went. If you want to know how they hung their work, who came to the opening, what went wrong behind-the-scenes, and the advice they would give anyone hanging a show of their own, tune in! Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train available at https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa

This week, Izzy and Anna take their minds off the fact that they’ve finished their degrees by doing something entirely unrelated – a dichotomy test. Join them as they discover who would rather take up water skiing, go on a spontaneous trip, constantly re-watch their favourite movie, try new foods, or jump out of a plane (with or without a parachute). Who do you think is more likely to be a creatur...

Hello, we’re quite (very) stressed with our final hand-in right now so writing a podcast description isn’t top of our to-do lists at this point in time, but essentially this is a podcast about putting up a degree show and how stressful and chaotic but fun and rewarding it is (even though right now it’s not finished and the deadline is looming so it’s mainly quite stressful reeeeeee). We hope you e...

At this critical point in the semester, some art issues have come up and Izzy and Anna need to workshop them – what better way to do this than by giving each other a tutorial live on air. They take matters very seriously and set each other a strict 30-minute time-limit to get out all of their art quandaries, covering embossing, curatorial decisions, making art for the abyss, losing conceptual grou...

It’s episode 29, and Izzy and Anna are joined by the wonderful Ethan Carney – Tate ‘big dog’, and art-loving creative. They start with a reflection on how artists present themselves on Instagram, considering the nuances of an ‘art’ page as opposed to an ‘artist’ page. This opens up conversations about establishing yourself after uni, the world of networking, the strange way art often comes full-ci...

This week Izzy and Anna discuss collaboration – its pros and cons, their own experiences, and their future collaborative plans. Join them as they try to answer all manner of collaboration-based questions. Are bus drivers working collaboratively? Can self-doubt ever be a good thing? What even is collaboration?! Music: Ketsa, Still Room On The Night Train available at https://freemusicarchive.org/mu...

Down to a Fine Art is one year old today and to celebrate Izzy and Anna host one of the messiest episodes to date (spoiler alert: it involves a lot of alcohol). In their drunken state, they reflect on the past year, scream at a cork being popped, and discuss some of their favourite moments. There’s some behind the scenes insights into how the podcast was created, and even a section on other potent...

Suffering with artist block? Then this episode is the one for you! Izzy and Anna discuss their respective ruts: what’s caused them, when they started and how they’re trying to get out of them. By no means is there a one-size-fits-all solution to this problem, but as all creatives go through it, hopefully their ways of coping might give you an idea of where to start. They’d also love to know how yo...