Ministry of Arts Podcast

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Amy Beager (@amybeager)   Amy Beager lives and works from her studio in Chelmsford, UK.   Beager was selected as a winner for the Delphain Gallery open call 2020 and started exhibiting her work in London last year. Her painting ‘The Blue Room’ was recently on display at Saatchi Gallery as part of the group exhibition ‘Antisocial Isolation’ curated by Delphian Gal...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Taya De La Cruz (@handwrittenart)   Taya De La Cruz is an artist that is relatively new to the artworld. She painstakingly creates decorative artworks using handwritten micro-text.   “Taya is a half-Spanish, half-Indian Londoner who was raised in sleepy southern Spain and educated in Gibraltar. She trained as an actress, and found her way into visual art organica...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Dale Grimshaw (@dale_grimshaw)   Dale Grimshaw was born in Lancashire, in the North of England. During a difficult childhood, his drawing and painting became extremely important to him. He developed his skills at college, firstly with an Art Foundation course at Blackburn College and later he studied fine art to degree level at Middlesex University in London.   D...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Koestler Arts (@elizahopewell)   Often described as an unapologetic artist, Eliza Hopewell went from artistic business idea to successful artist in a matter of weeks. An article in Vogue Magazine, on her [Matisse inspired] loose style of drawing and painting portraits on regular dinner plates, would have people queuing to place a commission.   Moving away from co...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Ben Moore (@benmoore_curator)     Ben Moore is a British art curator, entrepreneur and artist. He is the founder and curator of Art Below, a contemporary art organisation that places art in public spaces and has had shows in England, Germany, Japan and the United States. He is also the founder and curator of Art Wars, an exhibition of designs based on the Imperia...

Ep.94 Koestler Arts 2020 - Ministry of Arts Podcast   This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Koestler Arts (@KoestlerArts)   Koestler Arts is the UK’s best-known prison arts charity. They encourage people in the criminal justice system to change their lives by participating in the arts. They share those artworks with the public, so people can witness this diverse range of voices, stories and talent.  ...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Margo McDaid (@margoinmargate)   Margo McDaid, known on Social Media as Margo in Margate, has accumulated quite a following thanks to her simple, yet extremely inviting and friendly portraits.   Ten years after giving herself the task of creating a painting a day. Margo’s work now sells faster than she can make it. Primarily through the Craft website Etsy, but si...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Abigail Fallis (@abigailfallisart)   Abigail Fallis studied silver-smithing and metalwork at Camberwell College of Art. She now lives and works in Gloucestershire.   Fallis has shown consistently across Britain, including solo shows at galleries including: Beaux Arts Cork Street, Trolley gallery, London and Pangolin London.   In 2009 a public sculpture by Fallis...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Halim Flowers (@halimflowers) Halim Flowers is an artist, writer and activist from Washington DC, that used his creativity to bring light into his dark situation. On March 21, 2019, after serving 22 years and 2 months behind bars, Halim was released back into society. Since his release, he has worked with Kim Kardashian for her documentary “The Justice Project”,...

Ep.90 Martin Green/DouVision - Ministry of Arts Podcast This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Martin Green (@martin_green_sound) As a DJ during the early 90's, Martin Green founded the club SMASHING, which was epicentre of the Britpop scene. He became features editor of Beige magazine, interviewing various cult figures, artists and actors. In addition, he reviews plays, shows and events for the publi...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Ben Tallon (@bentallon)   Ben Tallon is an illustrator, hand painted lettering specialist, author and host of Arrest All Mimics podcast. He has developed a unique, organic, energetic brand of image making with many clients including Channel 4, The Guardian, World Wrestling Entertainment, Penguin Books, The Premier League and Unicef among many others.   The style...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to one of the world’s most innovative sculptors; Richard Wilson. Richard Wilson is one of Britain’s most renowned sculptors. He is internationally celebrated for his interventions in architectural space which draw heavily for their inspiration from the worlds of engineering and construction. Wilson has exhibited widely nationally and internationally for over thirty...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Mikey Georgeson (@bloodandbrambles).   Mikey Georgeson has been a musician/songwriter and visual artist for as long as he can remember. Performing as Mr Solo, then later lead singer of David Devant and His Spirit Wife, Mikey enjoyed closely interacting with the audience, something he often brings to his visual work.   Mikey Georgeson is a multi-disciplined artist...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Nathan, the Father of Background Bob (@background_bob)   Background Bob is a severely disabled young lad, that just so happened to make hundreds of new friends during lock-down, by collaborating with some of the biggest names on the Street Art scene. Before long he had artists from all over the World contacting him asking him to join in.   He hand-painted 250 car...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Sarah Maple (@sarahmapleart)   Sarah Maple is a multi-disciplined artist that takes a very British approach to confront very British attitudes. Being of mixed race (Mother is Kenyan and Father British) and having been brought up a Muslim, Sarah has witnessed bigotry and discrimination from various directions, be it racial, cultural, sexual, etc.   Since winning t...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Gerald O’Dowd.   Gerald is a multi-disciplined artist; whose work predominantly focuses on mental health.   He had quite a hectic life growing up in Woolwich, SE London, as part of a fairly large Irish family, 4 brothers and a sister. His family would later be pushed into the limelight in the early 80’s, when his brother George formed the iconic group Culture Clu...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Lyle Owerko (@lyleowerko)   Lyle Owerko is a Canadian Photographer that has lived in several countries, he currently resides in LA.   On September 11th 2001, Lyle became responsible for capturing one of the most dramatic photographs since the invention of the camera.   Having not yet unpacked from a recent flight, Lyle grabbed his camera bag as the explosion of t...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Natasha Dove (@dvsy_artography). Natasha Dove has only taken the leap to show the world her work during lock-down. Producing photography within an urban environment is the first step of Natasha’s artwork. She spending hours in post-production to create a secondary artwork from each image, what Natasha calls her Artography. Being a bold, intriguing, almost abstrac...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Matt Jukes (@mattjukes). Matt Jukes is an Australian print-maker that made London his home in 2004.   Known for his mountainous, sounds caped mono-prints, Matt is in the process of adjusting his practice to create works on canvas.   In this episode, Matt tells how music plays a vital role in both his mono-prints and his current work, the impacted of the closure o...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to David Iain Brown (@davidiainbrown).   David Iain Brown grew up in a fishing village on the South West coast of Scotland, being the only one of his friends or family with an interest in art. He studied his BA in Printmaking and MA in Fine Art at Gray's School of Art - Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.   After completing his MA, David moved to Glasgow where he...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Ryan Callanan (@RYCA _Artist).   Ryan Callanan is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work pays a humorous homage to his love of Hip-Hop, the rave scene and the Star Wars franchise, he often combines these influences with other religious and cultural figures to create a remix of nostalgic iconography. Famous artworks will be will be directly repurposed in a print e...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Daniel Baker. Being from the Gypsy/Roma community, Daniel's work embraces and takes ownership of 'outsiders' perceptions, stereotypes and even prejudice of that community. By reflecting and sharing its multi-layered and complex cultural history, Daniel's visual information bridges the gap between perception and reality of Roma life. Daniel has a PhD in Gypsy Visu...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Jacqueline de Montaigne (@jdmontaigne)   Jacqueline is a figurative/mural artist that lives just outside Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.   As you will discover, as well as being an amazing artist, Jacqueline is something of a polymath, having extensive knowledge in several areas. Something she attributes to have always had an inquisitive mind that she cannot seem to...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Tiffany Cole (@tiffanycoleart)   Within just four years, Tiffany Cole has become well known from both sides of the easel. She is a figurative artist, predominantly using the female form in monochromatic tones using pencil and pastel, although she has recently started to introduce paint for texture and colour.   During lock-down Tiffany has kept her fellow figurat...

This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Alison Lapper MBE (@alison_lapper_mbe) Born with no arms and shortened legs, Alison Lapper spent most of her childhood trying to piece together her own identity. Her extraordinary background and passion for creativity has given us one of the county’s most inspirational artists. Alison’s reputation was bolstered when Marc Quinn created his modern day ‘Venus de Mil...