Ministry of Arts Podcast

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Elizabeth Waggett (@waggs_)   Working as an art teacher in the UAE Elizabeth decided to make a dramatic change to her life and move to the USA in the hope of becoming a full-time artist.  With nothing more than a one-way ticket and a bag full of dreams, Elizabeth headed off to New York. Before long her finely detailed monochromatic drawings, often hand finis...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to painter Lee Cutter (@leecutter_Studio)   This is the second of several podcasts featuring artists that are associated with the prison arts charity Koestler Arts, who have their annual art exhibition at the Southbank’s Royal Festival Hall, this year entitled Another Me, until 3rd November.   Lee Cutter discovered art whilst serving a 6 year prison sentence an...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Johnny Costi (@johnny_costi)   Johnny Costi is an ex-gang member and prisoner whose life was transformed thanks to art.  He was the recipient of the Koestler Arts mentor ship programme, where he met Jeremy Deller, who took him and several other ex-offenders to help him install his Pavilion at the Venice Biennial in 2013.   For full line up of confirmed artis...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to painter Vince Kamp (@vincekamp)   Vince Kamp is a self-taught, figurative painter that is fascinated by the dark, gritty underground world of urban sub-culture, his paintings delve beneath the surface of social class. Heavily influenced by cinema, particularly the crime and gangster genres, Kamp says he likes to capture a moment of high tension, imagining th...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to painter Susan Bunn (@susansilverbunn) This is the LAST of three episodes featuring artists from a group exhibition called ‘A River Runs Through It’, showing at Gallery Oxo at the base of The Oxo Tower, on London’s Southbank running from 4-8 September. Susan Bunn is a painter that has quite a unique ability of bringing a sense of tranquillity to her views of...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to art duo LoveJordan (@lovejordanart) This is the second of three episodes featuring artists from a group exhibition called ‘A River Runs Through It’, showing at Gallery Oxo at the base of The Oxo Tower, on London’s Southbank running from 4-8 September. LoveJordan is an art duo comprising of Johnny Love and Samuel Jordan.  Their work feels like a feat of aesth...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks digital artist Michael Wallner (@michaelwallnerart) This is the first of three episodes featuring artists from a group exhibition called ‘A River Runs Through It’, showing at Gallery Oxo at the base of The Oxo Tower, on London’s Southbank running from 4-8 September. For many years Michael had a successful career in TV production, but as with many artists I have...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to jeweller Tessa Metcalfe (@tessametcalfe). When growing up in London’s East End, Tessa took great joy watching the pigeons scampering around in search of food and was taken aback when she heard them referred to as vermin.  She did not see these beautiful birds as dirty creatures, as most others around her did. When studying illustration at University, Tessa a...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to portrait artist Darren Baker (@darrenbakerart). Darren Baker approached The Prince’s Trust for guidance after completing his degree.   Thanks to that guidance and support, along with a lot of hard work, by 2011 Darren Had been contacted by Buckingham Palace with a commission to paint an official portrait of HRH The Queen. In 2012 he was an official Olympic a...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to multi-media artist Lauren Baker (@laurenbakerart).   Lauren Baker Is possibly best known for her neon work, most notably her text piece, ‘ Everything is going ti be Fucking Amazing’ . Lauren is a very mindful and spiritual person, it was whilst travelling around the countries of South America that she had an epiphany to become an artist. Lauren’s reputation...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Sign painter Alex May Hughes (@alexmayhughes). Alex Discovered Sign Painting after wanting to revisit a project she had undertaken on her graphic design degree involving typography, by chance her local art shop was running a sign painting workshop and the rest is history. Alex worked from home and would post her finished pieces online, while still working in...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to portrait artist Tim Gatenby (@therealtimgatenby), film maker turned portrait painter.  During his BA in film-making, Tim started to be highly influenced by the graffiti that seemed to pop up overnight, feeling disheartened thinking of the sole painter when comparing it to the team of people and time required to produce a film. Being drawn towards oil portrai...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to sound artist Martyn Ware (@martynware), music producer and founding member of both Human League & Heaven 17. Martyn co-curated ReAnimate , an exhibition of sound spread over several rooms of the National Portrait Gallery where several artists were invited to create sound portraits, as part of the Late Shift Extra events. For The National Trust’s One and All...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Ben Eine (@einsigns). Ben Eine is one of the UK's best known Street Artists that travels the world adorning buildings with his bold and colourful messages, generally in a Circus type font. He and Banksy created Art on Walls, a screen-printing project that transferred their works off the wall onto canvas. In 2005, Ben produced his largest [illegal] artwork 'S...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Shuby (@shubyart).   Shuby started out with graffiti, but is today better known as a multi-medium artist that concentrates mainly in printing.   She uses many cultural references in her work, that send the viewer back to their youth within moments   This episode was recorded in Shuby's subterranean  studio on the South coast of England.   Shuby featured in F...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Michelle Mildenhall (@michellemildenhall). Michelle uses layers of coloured latex to create portraits of iconic, generally female figures. Having been part of the fetish scene for several years, Michelle enjoys bringing these figures into the world of fetishism. She playfully transforms each figure using by adorning each with some form of sub-don/fetish clot...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Nettie Wakefield (@nettiedraws). Nettie studied at The Wimbledon School of Art where she devised the reverse portrait after taking a photo on her phone, during a lectur, of the back of a fellow student's head. She w Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Dario Illari (@jealous_london) Dario Illari is owner and founder of Jealous Gallery and print studio in Shoreditch and Crouch End. Jealous Gallery has hosted both FaceValue2 and FaceValue3, a conceptual exhibition in aid of The Katie Piper Foundation the shows artwork that has had its 'identity changed at the hands of another'. For full line up of confirmed...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Livvy Kemp (@livvykemp) Although trained as a painter, Livvy Kemp produces large-scale, highly detailed landscapes [generally] using fine nibbed pens. Livvy's vast landscapes are a mixture of study, memory and fiction culminating in a beautifully tight and complex web of linear ink. For full line up of confirmed artists go to www.mizogart.com Email: podcast@...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Katie Piper (@katiepiper_) Katie Piper is a British TV presenter that was attacked in 2007, by a stranger who threw acid into her face as she walked to work. This attack left her blind in one eye and horrific scarring on her face and chest; she has undergone more than 100 operations to date. This experience made her want to help others that have been left wi...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Emily Malice (@emilymalice) Emily Malice is one of the most sort-after artists in the UK, she is one of the many bold and powerful women that are rebalancing the gender scale of the once heavily male orientated industry. She is famed for her linear style mouth design, smiling or snarling and showing braces fixed to the teeth. As well as selling prints of her...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Gita Joshi Gita Joshi is a curator, art dealer and the host of The Curator's Salon Podcast, where Gita has conversations with artists, curators and authors about making it in the art world. She gets behind the studio doors for entertaining and informative discussions about the journey through the visual arts, how projects were realised, ideas that informed n...

In this episode Gary Mansfield talks to Ben Oakley, owner and director of The Ben Oakley Gallery, in Greenwhich Market. After working in the film industry for several years, Ben turned his hand to Mosaic. Moving from one of the most laborious and time-consuming creative processes to probably the quickest, Ben discovered graffiti – being in the Secret Society of Super Villain Artists – Santa’s Grot...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Ray Richardson. Ray Richardson is a figurative painter from Woolwich, South East London, an environment that features heavily in his work. Another main feature of his work is an English Bull Terrier breed of dog, which symbolises the artist himself. Ray's painting style has a very cinematic feel, often having figures entering or leaving the frame, only half...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Alice Irwin.   Within less than six months of graduating from the Royal Collage of Art, Alice was selling her work via Flowers Gallery and had had a solo show at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.   Alice's studio is packed, floor to ceiling with sketches, prints and port folios.  This is the by-product of being a prolific worker and having a fully-functional pr...