Creative Adventures - An accidental podcast

In this episode I reflect on my work being described as vacuous nihilism, consider how our artistic self-expression may be experienced as a unique form of vitality and explore the bizarre world of my dreams.

TL;DL
02:18 Vacuous Nihism
08:46 Recording my dreams
25:08 The ethereal fingerprints of artful vitality
32:13 Mask workshop, inner critic workshop and CRABS film

Links to things I mentioned
A ridiculous talk about a pointless project - The “(Not a) Lost Cat” TEDx talk
Spongfest 2018 festival poster
Gnopsefalooza 2019 festival poster
The Spongleheim Gallery
CRABS – my Super 8 film debut
2 day Dancing with the Inner Critic Workshop
Mask Workshop
Buy an analogue copy of this podcast on C90 cassette
My shop

The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.
 
Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]
 
(Total listening time 34’ 21") 

In this episode, having no phone signal makes me contemplate my existence, I come up with some ethical thought experiments inspired by a macabre Cold War idea and wonder why boats have such bad names.

TL;DL
00:48 Analogue friction
05:42 Existential ponderings in Cornwall
15:08 Badly named boats
19:18 The Fisher Protocol (and other ethical interrupts)
28:01 Details about open studio, exhibitions and workshops 

 Links to things I mentioned
What the February?! 108 weird creative challenges for humans
Autumn Open Studio
Folklore exhibition at Hackney Gallery
Brighton Illustration Festival
2 day Dancing with the Inner Critic Workshop
Mask Workshop
Buy an analogue copy of this podcast on C90 cassette
My shop

The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.
 
Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]

(Total listening time 30’ 25") 

In this episode I discover that a bird I see regularly is actually a very weird creature, make my head explode by going down a rabbit hole asking myself what memory actually is, and come up with a stupid idea to offer analogue versions of all of this.

TL;DL
01:26 Old Father Jackdaw update
02:31 Analogious joy
08:10 The mysterious crested arse foot bird
13:37 The invention of memory
19:37 Events and workshops
21:11 A confusing ending

 Links to things I mentioned
Buy an analogue copy of this podcast on C90 cassette
Grebo guru by Pop Will Eat Itself
Video of a grebe walking
Buy prints and cards of my grebe painting
Lighting Little Fires event in Cornwall
Brighton Illustration Festival
2 day Dancing with the Inner Critic Workshop
Mask Workshop
My shop

 The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.
 
Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]
 
 

(Total listening time 21’ 40") 

In this episode I try to find ways of bringing the art of marginalia to a podcast, realise I may be somewhat addicted to the psychological tension created by an incomplete project and reflect on a profound experience that began with the discovery that a water bottle would fit on my head.

TL;DL
01:05 Old Father Jackdaw
05:23 On digital marginalia
09:34 Mouhamadodou Lo and his Children
11:00 Becoming Connie Cyclonic
19:26 Generic Existential Distraction
20:27 The paradoxical grief of completion and the art of potential space
26:08 Richmond Lock and Weir
27:42  Silent interview, workshops and EELS ARE COOL t-shirts

Links to things I mentioned
Mouhamadodou Lo and his Children on Spotify
Video of the making of Connie Cyclonic
Video story of Connie and the Creature at Samphire Hoe
Silent interview with Joe Lycett
Mask Workshop
Dancing with the Inner Critic Workshop
EELS ARE COOL T-SHIRT

The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.
 
Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]
 
 

(Total listening time 30’ 21") 

In this episode I talk about the importance of breaking routines whilst breaking my own routine, reflect on how the biological process of synaptic pruning might be a useful metaphor for creative practice and consider whether the accidental pursuit of consistency could ruin my relationship with this podcast.

TL;DL
0:18 Breaking the routine of making this podcast
06:39 From “grope” to “rote”
13:58 The importance of the body in spontaneous self-expression
18:58 My fears of breaking this routine
22:13 Synaptic pruning
28:46 Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds
31:12 My paradoxical fear of being misunderstood and totally understood
35:06 Form is emptiness and emptiness is form
37:00 The importance of meeting the stranger

Links to things I mentioned
“Orbiting the giant hairball” by Gordon MacKenzie
James Traeger’s tennis talk at Inexpert 2018
Norman the sunken boat
Juvenile wood duck joins me on the kayak

The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.
 
Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]

(Total listening time 40' 41") 

In this episode I realise how important meaning is as a way of organising my attention, reflect on the value of starting before I am ready in any creative endeavour and try to understand why human beings seek out quiet and stillness in nature only to fill it with noise.

TL;DL
1:14 “The River Thames Project” and organising my attention to find flow
11:56 On humans and making noise in nature
19:15 A trip to Canada and the importance of starting before you are ready to start
29:04 The mysterious world of Connie Cyclonic

Links to things I mentioned
The paper on flow that I mention
Sound of Silence podcast
The imperfect portrait experiment
Two day Inner Critic Workshop
Mask Workshop
Solstice Festival at Samphire Hoe

The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.
 
Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]
 
(Total listening time 30’ 44”) 

In this episode, encountering some midges on a run gets me reflecting on nuclear terror in the 1980s, I contemplate how therapeutic art works brilliantly in the gaps between words, and explore why acts of carnival are vital for weirdos trying to make a meaningful difference in the world.

 TL;DL
02’ 06” A chain of thought from midges to 1980s nuclear terror
10’25”  The microtonal power of therapeutic art
18’ 18” The performative solemnity of the consummate professional
26’ 47”  Jackdaw invasion!
35’ 24” Upcoming workshops and Samphire Hoe Solstice Festival

Links to things I mentioned
Jonno Hanafin’s Percieved Weirdness Index
Unhurried moments podcast where I tell the story of that moment
Playing at the Edge Inner Critic Workshop
Paper Cutting Workshop in Guildford
Mask workshop
Samphire Hoe Solstice Festival

The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.
 
Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]
 
(Total listening time 37’ 53”)

In this episode I investigate a strange fact I was sent about crows being rainbow coloured, explore impermanence and the art of ending projects at their peak, and lament the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station and what that can teach us about the dangers of “golf-course creativity.”

TL;DL
04’ 32”  I got sent a weird book about Rooks
08’ 36”  Are crows in fact rainbow coloured?
12’ 43”  The art of the intentional ending
25’ 04”  The lost soul of Battersea Power Station
34’ 33”  The Creatively Eccentric Podcast
35’ 37”  Details about forthcoming Open Studio events

Links to things I mentioned
Fred Deakin on Instagram
Lemon Jelly
Talking Jim Reilly on the Glen Dye Podcast
The Creatively Eccentric Podcast
Details about Open Studios
Buy stuff in my shop
Buy me a coffee (support this podcast)

The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.
 
Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]
 
(Total listening time 36’ 49”)

In this episode I try to resist doing anything special for episode ten but end up going down a decenary rabbit hole, I reflect on the difference between aloneness and loneliness and rethink the brain’s role in creativity through getting to know a primitive sea creature.

TL;DL
3’ 12”     Why does the number 10 feel so significant anyway?
9 ’42”     A story of transforming lonliness into solitude on a remote island
26 ’20”  The human brain and the happy little stomach on a stick
32’ 35”  Come hang out in my brain
33’ 22”  Bad crow biology

Links to things I mentioned
The Ocracoke Art Adventure
The article about "The British artists" in the Ocracoke Observer
7 ½ lessons about the brain book
"Towards a social psychology of loneliness" paper
Upcoming workshops (Masks, musical improv, paper cutting)
Details about my forthcoming Open Studio

The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.

Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]

(Total listening time 34' 26”)

In this episode I express my love of the River Thames through the metaphor of a storybook with the bridges as the chapters, explore the difference between art culture and meme culture, and reflect on boredom as a powerful indicator of living a meaningful life.

TL;DL
2’ 41”     A trip to St Leonards and the Hong Kong  valley of the spiders
6 ’02”     A love affair with the Thames
15’ 16”   The existential importance of boredom
17’ 33”   Readings from my old school reports
27’ 07”   Memes vs art
37’ 26”   Support the show and a soabox bit about podcasts
39’ 44”   Jim the Podcast Sherpa

Links to things I mentioned
Seething Wells
10 Year plan prints
My shop
Podcast with Jim the Podcast Sherpa
My next mask workshop
Super Secret Musical Improv Workshop
My online shop
Become a patron of my studio
Buy me a coffee (from £1)

The written substack version of this episode can be read on my Substack.

If you're wondering why this is an accidental podcast then listen to the first 5 minutes of episode one.

Comments, questions, requests and stuff to [email protected]

(Total listening time 41’ 46”)