Blake TV

Our fifteenth and final podcast is an interview with Michael Eavis, dairy farmer and founder of the Glastonbury Festival - appropriately enough, as the festival is taking place this very weekend! Michael was interviewed over the telephone by Wendy Gallagher. The illustration accompanying the interview is by Jenny Dunn. Many thanks to everyone who was involved in this project - especially to our interviewees for their time and patience. And thank YOU for tuning into Blake TV (almost one thousand downloads to date, from around the world). We hope you enjoyed it. Download the interview with Michael Eavis

Our penultimate interview is with David Morris, Head of Collections at the Whitworth Art Gallery. Name - David Morris Current job and place of employment - Head of Collections, The Whitworth Art Gallery, The University of Manchester What did you study at sixth form or college? - English, History and Geography A-Levels Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study? - BA (Hons) History (1972-75), Trinity Hall, Cambridge University - MA Art History (1996-97), The University of Manchester What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career? - My English teacher at school, who also taught art history Download the video interview with David Morris

Download the second part of the interview with Tracy Chevalier

We are very pleased to include a two-part interview with Tracy Chevalier as part of the Blake TV podcast series. Tracy is the best-selling author of novels including "Girl With A Pearl Earring" and "Burning Bright", which features William Blake as one of its characters. She was interviewed over the telephone by Jo Beggs. The illustration accompanying the interview is by Stuart Madden. Name - Tracy Chevalier Current job - Author Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study? - I graduated with a degree in English literature from Oberlin College in the US. My career previous to writing was in publishing: I was an editorial assistant for a year on Macmillan's Dictionary of Art project, then was literary editor for St. James Press, a reference book company, for 5 years. There I edited encyclopedias on subjects such as children's writers, poets, and contemporary world writers. In 1993 I left publishing to do an MA in creative writing at the University of East Anglia. From 1994-97 I worked part-time as a freelance editor and wrote part-time. Once The Virgin Blue was published I began to write full-time. Download the first part of the interview with Tracy Chevalier

Our interview this week is a series of voxpops from the launch of "Blake's Shadow" and "Mind Forg'd Manacles: Blake and Slavery". To follow, over the next few weeks are interviews with David Morris, Head of Collections at The Whitworth Art Gallery, Michael Eavis, founder of Glastonbury Festival and Tracey Chevalier, author of "Burning Bright". Download the voxpops video interview

"Blake's Shadow" has been devised by Dr Colin Trodd, a lecturer in Art History at the University of Manchester. This exhibition, to run concurrently with "Mind Forg’d Manacles", explores the influence of Blake on the development of the visual arts from the eighteenth century to the present day. Name - Dr Colin Trodd Current job and place of employment - Lecturer, the University of Manchester What did you study at sixth form or college? - Art History, History A'Levels Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study? - BA Hons Art History, Sussex University What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career? - William Blake and Syd Barrett Download the video interview with Dr Colin Trodd

Mike Chavez Dawson interviewed Billy Childish during a performance evening at The Whitworth Art Gallery. Billy Childish is a cult figure in America, Europe and Japan. Painter, poet and song writer - in a twenty year period he has published over 40 collections of his poetry, recorded over 100 full-length independent LP's and produced over 2000 paintings. Name - Billy Childish Current job and place of employment - Painter, writer and musician What did you study at sixth form or college? - Left secondary education at 16 and entered the Naval Dockyard at Chatham as an apprentice stonemason. Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study? - St Martin's School of Art to study painting, BA Hons Fine Art, however this was short-lived and I was expelled in 1982. What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career? - Vincent Van Gogh Mike Chavez-Dawson is an interdisciplinary artist, fascinated with the place where the worlds of Media and Art collide and intermesh. He is also Visual Arts Editor for "Flux Magazine", founding curator for Flux Space and adviser for State Of Flux. Name - Mike Chavez-Dawson Current job and place of employment - Artist What did you study at sixth form or college? - Art, Photography, Art History and Film Studies Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study? - Manchester Metropolitan University, BA Hons Interactive Arts and MA Art as Environment What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career? - My Grandad Download the video interview with Billy Childish

Our video interview with Jah Wobble (born John Wardle, in Stepney in 1958) English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two years. Following his departure from PiL, he went on to a successful solo career. He also owns his own record company based in Stockport. Name - Jah Wobble Current job and place of employment - Musician/Record Company Owner What did you study at sixth form or college? - N/A Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study? - BA Hons Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London as a mature student What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career? - Music just took me. Download the video interview with Jah Wobble

Download the second part of the video interview with Heather Birchall

Name - Heather Birchall Current job and place of employment - Curator (Historic Fine Art), Whitworth Art Gallery, the University of Manchester What did you study at sixth form or college? - History, English, French Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study? - Hull University, BA History - Nottingham University, MA History of Art What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career? - Oh my goodness. Probably visiting Manchester Art Gallery as a child and looking at all the Pre-Raphaelites, and wishing that I would grow up to be like one of the women in Rossetti’s paintings. Alas, that didn’t happen, but it did alert me to working with pictures and putting them in new contexts. Any other comments? - "Blake’s Shadow" has been a pleasure to work on – I have discovered new things about artists, musicians and filmmakers who have literally followed his "shadow". I hope it will be a huge success. Download the first part of the video interview with Heather Birchall