August 2019 - Alice Sheridan: contemporary artist

The Ebb and Flow of Creativity with Megan Woodard-Johnson [32]

Settle down, you are in for a treat in this discussion of the artist as problem solver!

Megan Woodard Johnson is a mixed media artist who layers vintage paper ephemera with paint, various drawing media and found objects to tell evocative stories within her work. She shares how she uses these as the basis of her work and why they are so important.

Alice talks with Megan about your growth as an artist rarely being linear, often it comes from twists and decisions you made along the way and it’s only looking back we understand how all these parts fit together to create new opportunities.

We spoke about building a creative practice alongside a family and adapting to whatever your current situation allows, how it can be difficult to find honest critique of your work and where new classes and experiences can invigorate you.

Megan has some practical tips for loading your car (!), teaching workshops and how these also inspires new ideas and how creative collaborations allow you to blossom.

If you have a question you’d like us to discuss, click here to send it to us

If you are enjoying the podcast this is an easy and inexpensive way to help support it and ensure it continues. The demands of making it each week can be challenging. Your support is allowing us to hire some editing help. If you’d like to help out with a one-time or a monthly donation, you can “buy us a coffee” us at Ko-fi.com

Contribute to the podcast here:

Follow Alice on Instagram @alicesheridanstudio
or Louise @louisefletcher_art

Credits
“Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

The Whisper of Intuition in your Creative Process with Jacqui Fehl [31]

podcast episode

In our first breakout week, Louise is in discussion with artist Jacqui Fehl . Influenced by music, lyrics, feelings, stories, other artists, and the materials themselves, Jacqui’s art is as varied and unpredictable as her ever changing hair – sometimes light, humorous and colourful , while at other times serious with a touch of dark.

“If I had to describe my work, I would say that it is a blend of grunge, whimsy and outsider.”

Jacqui is working on the largest commission she’s ever done, for the pediatric wing of a large hospital. She’s excited and also a little nervous, but she has a clear vision of what she wants to create.

As we dive deeply into issues around creative process, scaling up your work and developing your personal voice this quote came in to play:

“It quite frequently happens that you’re just treading water for quite a long time. Nothing really dramatic seems to be happening. … And then suddenly everything seems to lock together in a different way. It’s like a crystallization point where you can’t detect any single element having changed. There’s a proverb that says that the fruit takes a long time to ripen, but it falls suddenly … And that seems to be the process.”
Brian Eno

Art Juice podcast episode 31 with Jacqui Fehl — ‘She Couldn’t Remember The Last Time She Cleared Out Her Purse’ by Jacqui Fehl

Jacqui gives her response to “How do you define success as an artist?” and shares how her ability to roll with the punches has grown, overcoming some stressful events to pull off a successful show and earn a large commission.

If you have a question you’d like us to discuss, click here to send it to us

If you are enjoying the podcast this is an easy and inexpensive way to help support it and ensure it continues. The demands of making it each week can be challenging. Your support is allowing us to hire some editing help. If you’d like to help out with a one-time or a monthly donation, you can “buy us a coffee” us at Ko-fi.com

Contribute to the podcast here:

Follow Alice on Instagram @alicesheridanstudio
or Louise @louisefletcher_art

Credits
“Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Tears & Tantrums: What to Do When Things Don’t Go as Planned [30]

podcast episode

Things haven’t gone to plan chez Alice and Louise this week. Alice’s much anticipated summer break was swamped by rain, meaning a lot of wet walks and NONE of the planned sketchbook days out. To compound the situation, she also lost internet which meant she couldn’t catch up on important work.

Louise worked for months on an online course, only to be let down by Zoom, YouTube and Mailchimp all on the same evening. The result was less than pretty!

Given these mini-disasters, we discuss how we react when things go wrong. It’s easy to say ‘put things into perspective’ but do we need to feel that emotion first? And if so, is there a way to feel the emotion, but also keep things in perspective?

Audience Question

We answer a question about art degrees. One listener is considering whether to go for an MA. We acknowledge that being an artist is about learning and stretching yourself, but we wonder whether taking an advanced degree is a safe option that simply postpones the inevitable time when you have to do this for yourself anyway.

We would love to hear you views on this topic too, if you’ve taken an MA, what did you feel it gave you?

Mentioned:

Louise’s course – Find Your Joy
Two Dots – you really don’t want to waste your time on this (unless you are only human!)

If you have a question you’d like us to discuss, click here to send it to us

If you are enjoying the podcast this is an easy and inexpensive way to help support it and ensure it continues. The demands of making it each week can be challenging. Your support is allowing us to hire some editing help. If you’d like to help out with a one-time or a monthly donation, you can “buy us a coffee” us at Ko-fi.com

Contribute to the podcast here:

Follow Alice on Instagram @alicesheridanstudio
or Louise @louisefletcher_art

Credits
“Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License

Working as a Female Artist in a Man’s World [29]

podcast episode

This week we’re discussing gender and how it influences the way we work. The high-end art world continues to be dominated by men and yet attend any workshop and most of the artists there will be women. Are female artists victims of a sexist society? Or are we actually holding ourselves back?

Amongst looking for a lost cat, Louise has been ‘involved’ with making new content for her course and impressed herself by feeling more organised (by necessity!)

Alice has been taking and collecting selected work from exhibitions – you can see three pieces at The Annual Exhibition Society of Women Artists Tuesday 24th to Sunday 29th September at the Mall Galleries. I have a limited number of tickets for the Private View – if you’d like me to post you one, please contact me.

Working as a Female Artist in a Man's World

Does being a woman artist affect how you feel, act or make decisions?

We discuss how our parents influenced our attitudes, how women’s tendency to care for others can hinder us, and how we might make our way confidently in a man’s world without resorting to mimicking our male colleagues. We also wonder why some men take up two seats on a plane instead of just one!

Where men often feel fully qualified for a role, even without all the necessary attributes, this study shows women will hold back until we can tick all the boxes.

Damn! Should have scrolled further down the page… Look! By 40 women’s confidence grows to match men and post 60 is greater!!!!! There is hope 🙂

What’s inspired?

As she delivers and mails her own paintings, Louise is reminded of the joy of owning art as she receives one she has just purchased. Alice is making plans to see the upcoming Olafur Eliasson exhibition at Tate Modern which is on until January 2020 and has been uplifted by watching this documentary.

Mentioned:

Alice’s mum’s book (for a great summer read) is called ‘The Baby Box’ by Jane Hayward
Buy the hard copy direct: https://janehayward.blog/book/
Or on Amazon HERE

‘The War of Art’ by Steven Pressfield HERE‘
Art and Fear’ by David Bayles and Ted Orland HERE

If you have a question you’d like us to discuss, click here to send it to us

If you are enjoying the podcast this is an easy and inexpensive way to help support it and ensure it continues. The demands of making it each week can be challenging. Your support is allowing us to hire some editing help. If you’d like to help out with a one-time or a monthly donation, you can “buy us a coffee” us at Ko-fi.com

Contribute to the podcast here:

Follow Alice on Instagram @alicesheridanstudio
or Louise @louisefletcher_art

Credits
“Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License