Ministry of Arts Podcast

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Tom Hunter (t omhunterphotography)   Tom Hunter is an artist using photography and film, living and working in East London. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society and has an Honorary Doctorate from the University of East London. Tom has earned several awards during his career, including the Rose Award for Photography at the Roy...

In this bonus episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Peter Li (@pli.panda) Peter Li is an Architectural Photographer based in London, renowned for his exceptional architectural artwork. His artistic talent has been widely recognized, with notable achievements including securing first place in the Architecture Category at the Epson International Pano Awards in 2018 and 2022. His work has been shortlisted...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Jessie Woodward (@ jessieabstract )   Jessie is an abstract painter and mixed media Artist, based in Bristol. She has exhibited works throughout the UK and sold her vibrant pieces worldwide. Jessie’s instinctive way of working explores the language of paint and mark making to evoke emotions in the viewer, aiming to communicate how pure abstract work ca...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Katy Baird (@ thenewlookkatyb)     As an artist Katy has performed at performance festivals and venues across Europe as well as squat parties, clubs and raves. Her debut studio-based performance  Workshy , a show about work and the things we do for money, was a smash hit and toured internationally to over 30 cities. She has received comm...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Luke Hannam (@LukeHannamPaintings)   Luke Hannam’s works are celebrated for their vibrant colours, dynamic compositions, and emotional depth. Hannam's early exposure to the arts fuelled his passion for painting, leading him to study at Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design.   Hannam's paintings are characterised by their bold use of colo...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Rosa Roberts (@ rosa_roberts_ )   Rosa Roberts grew up in Norfolk on a fruit farm, and moved to London with her family in her teenage years, later studying Fine Art at Central St Martin's. She ran a business which designed and ran drawing workshops in London Museums for 8 years until deciding to go full-time as a painter in 2020. Rosa has developed a u...

  In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Peter Stapleton (@peterstapletonart)   Peter was born in the city of Manchester, in the UK and his early years were significantly influenced by the complexities of coming from a family heavily in serious crime. Eventually Peter ended up in prison, charged with armed robbery on security vans. After spending several years on the run in South Afric...

 In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Mark McGowan (@the_artist_taxidriver) Mark McGowan is a British street artist, performance artist, film maker and public protester who has gone by the artist name Chunky Mark and more recently The Artist Taxi Driver. By profession, McGowan is a London taxi driver and occasional University speaker and arts tutor. McGowan is known internationally for hi...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Clarke Reynolds (@ clarkereynoldsofficial )   Born in 1981 in Portsmouth, Clarke Reynolds began his life journey with a unique perspective, one shaped by limited sight and profound resilience.   Despite facing the challenges of domestic violence and alcohol abuse in his childhood, Clarke found solace and expression through drawing. His sketchbook...

  In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Mason Storm (@ masonstormgenius )   Masons work has been considered controversial and provocative, however he never try’s to be controversial in his subject matter just for the sake of it, there is always an underlying reason for the work he produces. Mason is probably best known for his mask. It has become a trademark, hiding his identity whils...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Holly Searle (@the_subversive_stitcher)     For as long as I can remember I have always been making something. In retrospect, I may well have picked this desire to create up from my nan and my mum, who were always making something as well.   I was an analogue child that was closer to the make do and mend generation than the digital children o...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Heath Kane (@ByHeathKane)   Heath Kane returns almost five and a half years after he first appeared on the podcast, in episode 09. At the time he had his own branding agency, creating his ‘Rich Enough to be Batman’ prints as an external creative outlet. We simply discuss what’s happened since we first recorded on that bench in Hoxton Square m...

💥Ep.247 Danielle Tomlinson 🎙Ministry of Arts Podcast LINK IN BIO  In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Danielle Tomlinson (@danielletomlinsonart) Danielle Tomlinson is a successful young British contemporary artist, taking the art world by storm with her bold, abstract paintings focused around her passion for wildlife.  Before working full time as an artist Danielle was competitive...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Georgia Powell of co-founder of CURA Art (@cura_art_) Georgia Powell and Liza Shapiro are the Founders of CURA Art and The Residency. Through the two platforms, the founders have created an environment that is focused on long-term care and legacy. The Residency is a platform aimed at supporting and sponsoring underrepresented artists, centered around time a...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Endless (@endlessartist) He goes by the name “Endless” – a word which embodies his limitless creativity, passion and drive. Endless is a London-based artist, who infuses street and contemporary art techniques and practices. After 6 years of study, Endless graduated from Cambridge School Of Art, where he specialised in fine art and screen printing. Shortly a...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Nicola Turner (@nicolaturner.art) Turner investigates dissolution of boundaries, liminal states, and continuous exchanges across ecosystems. In doing so, she explores the interconnection of life and death, human and non- human, attraction and repulsion. She combines found objects that hold traces of memory, with the shapes of living forms, and materials fro...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Hercule Van Wolfwinkle (@portraitsbyhercule) Hercule has been called lots of things throughout his life, an artist certainly wasn’t one of them. But all of that changed one late summer afternoon in 2020 when, whilst trying to coerce his young son into making some thank you cards, he doodled a picture of their family dog. The picture was rubbish, so naturall...

  In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Sara Prinsloo (@saraprinslooart)   Sara Prinsloo is a Sheffield based artist exploring her own mental health and lived experiences through art. “My art is a journey into an unconventional adolescence and those ‘things’ that just stay with you forever. The aim is to make sense of my own life experiences: dealing with grief, coming from a working-...

In this episode, MoA host Gary Mansfield looks back at the guests that have appeared on the podcast throughout 2023. As ever, we had the widest range of guests of any art podcast, from the unknown to the world renowned and all those in between. Thank you for your support throughout 2023 and look forward to keeping you company through 2024. For any podcast guest recommendations, please contact @Min...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Martin O'Brien (@martinobrienart) Martin O’Brien is an artist and zombie. He works across performance, writing and video art. His work uses long durational actions, short speculative texts and critical rants, and performance processes in order to explore death and dying, what it means to be born with a life shortening disease, and the philosophical implicat...

Last week we said goodby Background Bob, the artist with the BIGGEST smile in the art world. In his short time on the art-scene he inspired everyone he came in contact with. We're re-releasing episode 86, recorded [with his Dad Nathan] just over 3 years ago, at the start of his journry... Keep smiling Background Bob!! This week Gary Mansfield speaks to Nathan, the Father of Background Bob (@b...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Jamie Jones (@just.jamie.jones) Jamie Jones absorbed the artistic and illustrative pop-culture of the 80s and early 90s, bingeing Saturday-morning cartoons, collecting comic books and being mesmerised by the pillars of hip-hop. Playful, bigger-than-life characters, bold neon colour palates and pop art styles. Jamie works with recognisable characters that ev...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Joelle Taylor (@jtaylortrash) Joelle Taylor is the author of 4 collections of poetry. Her most recent collection C+NTO & Othered Poems won the 2021 T.S Eliot Prize, and the 2022 Polari Book Prize for LGBT authors. C+NTO is currently being adapted for theatre with a view to touring. She is a co- curator and host of Out-Spoken Live at the Southbank Centre...

In this episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Chris Atkins (@scatatkins ) Chris Atkins is a British journalist, documentary film maker and best-selling author. He has made several fiction feature films, feature length documentaries and television documentaries, which have received three BAFTA nominations. His work is noted for causing controversy and has faced legal action as a result of his films. He...

In this bonus episode Gary Mansfield speaks to Joseph Ford (@josephfordphotography) The best summary of what I do is 'storytelling with a side order of off-beat creativity and an occasional sprinkling of optical illusions'. Twins blended into a wall with custom knitwear? Check. A railway line merging into a zipper? Check. A lifestyle shoot featuring a cardboard teenager? Yup, that too. Clients aro...