What if artists aren’t here to fix the world, but to reveal what’s really going on inside it.

In this episode of Extraordinary Creatives, I’m joined by Filipa Ramos, a curator, writer, and educator whose work reframes art not as commentary on ecology, but as an ecological practice in itself.

Filipa is Artistic Director of LOOP Festival Barcelona, Lecturer at the Academy of Art and Design in Basel, and the author of The Artist as Ecologist, Contemporary Art, and the Environment.

In this conversation, Filipa shares vivid examples of inspiring artists and artworks that help us think differently about our relationship with animals and nature. We talk about why artists are often better at raising problems than offering fixes. Why responsibility can immobilise creativity. How beauty, affect, and emotion still matter. And how working relationally, slowly, and collaboratively can be a powerful alternative to extractive, spectacle-driven models of success.

This conversation is for artists who feel the weight of responsibility and expectation. For anyone worried their work isn’t doing enough - for those searching for ways to make art that is rigorous, ethical, and deeply alive.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Art does not need to rush toward answers. Your work does not need to explain itself in a single sentence to be valid; it’s allowed to be complex, relational, and full of questions that unfold over time.

Ecology isn’t a theme you illustrate; it’s a way of relating – letting the places you move through, and the animals and people you share them with, reshape what you notice and how you see it.

The promise of big institutions can be hollow. Often, real agency comes through the platforms you build with others, not the ones that “choose” you.

BEST MOMENTS

“Artists are not here to provide solutions, but to complicate the story. To expose fragility. To create space for shared sensing, shared listening, shared not knowing.”

“That’s why art is so important. It’s not trying to remediate. It’s not trying to provide a simple answer. It’s attempting to find alternatives.”

“The most meaningful, long-lasting work often happens outside the biggest institutions, through collaboration, care, and time.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://www.instagram.com/filipaaaaaaaaaaa

https://loop-barcelona.com

https://www.fhnw.ch/de/personen/filipa-ramos

PODCAST HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

**

Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today!

https://cerihand.com/membership/

**

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

**

Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

**

Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity

Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative.

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Today, Ceri talks to those of you who know exactly what they need to do but still can’t quite bring themselves to do it. Not because you don’t care. Not because you’re incapable. But because the task feels loaded. 

It might be an email you keep rewriting. A proposal you keep circling. A conversation you know you need to have.

You stay busy. You prepare. You research. You tweak. And somehow the hardest thing never quite gets done.

It’s a common experience for so many of the artists Ceri works with. So, you only need to listen in to find out how to get the things you´re avoiding done.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

We tend to think prioritising is a logical skill. Decide what matters most. Do that first - In real life, especially in creative work, prioritisation is emotional. When a task carries emotional weight, the brain treats it differently.

When you avoid a task, it’s rarely about laziness - it’s your nervous system protecting you from something that feels risky.  

You don’t need more discipline; you need systems that fit your brain: visible time slots, clear steps, templates, and processes to follow. The fewer decisions you have to make, the better.

Separating thinking from doing and working alongside others makes emotionally heavy tasks feel doable, not overwhelming.  

BEST MOMENTS

“Difficulty prioritising isn't about knowing what matters. It's about regulation. Attention, emotion, and effort are linked.”

“Make time visible. Short defined time blocks with a timer help counter the feeling that a task is endless. When time is visible, the brain can relax.”

“Separate thinking from doing.”

“Use a shared presence, working alongside someone else, even silently, helps many people stay anchored. This is often called body doubling.”

PODCAST HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

****

Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today!

https://cerihand.com/membership/

****

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

****

Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

****

Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity

Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative.

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Today’s episode brings together two extraordinary creatives whose work has helped shape contemporary culture through a shared commitment to curiosity, counterculture, and championing unique voices.

Ceri is joined by sisters Francesca Gavin and Seana Gavin, each working across different mediums but united by a belief in following instinct and staying close to what feels urgent and alive.

Francesca is one of the most influential figures shaping how contemporary art is written about and presented today. She is Director of Visual Arts at Murmur, Editor-in-Chief of EPOCH, and a regular contributor to publications including the Financial Times. Her curatorial work spans major international contexts, from co-curating Manifesta 11 in Zurich to exhibitions at institutions such as Somerset House and the Palais de Tokyo. She is the author of eleven books on art and visual culture and has hosted Rough Version on NTS Radio for the past nine years, exploring the intersections of art and music.

Seana is a London-based artist working primarily in collage, creating dreamlike worlds from vintage photographic material where past and future collide. Her work has been exhibited internationally, from Somerset House and the Serralves Foundation to the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, with solo shows in Paris and London. Alongside this, her work features in major publications, brand collaborations, and collections including Soho House worldwide. Her photography monograph Spiralled, published by IDEA Books, is now in its fourth edition.

In this conversation, they talk about creative longevity, instinct, and how to build a practice that remains porous, rigorous, and true over time.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Creative longevity isn’t about having a perfect plan. It’s about staying close to what you’re genuinely curious about, paying attention to what keeps returning in your life, and trusting those repetitions enough to follow them.

Work becomes more resilient when different strands feed one another - writing into curating, music into thinking, collage into archives, archives back into books and shows.

BEST MOMENTS

“For me, personally, originality is that unique point of view or something fresh that they're saying - there's often a spirit in there that you can sense in the way something's been made.”

““It’s very intuitive. It’s almost like I’m going into a meditative state… I gather up lots of material that might fit in with that imaginary world… and then something starts to happen.”

RESOURCES

https://www.presentfuture.be

https://www.francescagavin.com

https://www.instagram.com/seanagavin

https://murmur.earth

HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

**

Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals - https://cerihand.com/membership/

**

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

**

Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

There is something quietly brutal about making work that only exists for a day. You build it. You rehearse it. You hold your nerve. The room fills. The moment happens -

And then everyone goes home. You are left standing in the afterglow asking a question most artists feel ashamed to ask.

How does something this ephemeral actually support my life?

Not just my reputation. Not just my sense of meaning. My ability to keep making work. Today, Ceri talks about how one-off events, performances, and live moments can generate income and momentum without turning your practice into merch, without exhausting your audience, and without betraying the integrity of the work.

This is about designing afterlives.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Artists can sell from one-off events without cheapening the work, overpromoting, or burning out. They can design afterlives for ephemeral work, where income, integrity, and longevity can sit side by side.

Think about the entire life cycle of a one-off event and where sales can happen quietly, intelligently and with integrity before and during the event. -  You're not selling the event; you're selling what the event activates.

You only need a small, aligned audience, 10–30 people who genuinely understand and care about your work, combined with simple release windows after an event, to sustain an ephemeral practice.

BEST MOMENTS

“You don't want to flatten something complex into a product, but you also can't afford for every major piece of work to disappear without trace.”

“Many artists miss a trick because they think selling only happens after the applause. It doesn't. Before the event, the work is already alive in other forms.”

“If an event cannot produce anything that can be held, shared or lived with afterwards, institutions can't sustain it, and collectors can't support it.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

Ep 166 - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-why-and-what-of-hosting-your-own-artist/id1709105337?i=1000741761586

Ep 167 - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/planning-the-how-turning-intention-into-a/id1709105337?i=1000742246860

Ep 168 - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/what-happens-after-turning-one-evening-into-long-term/id1709105337?i=1000742648123

PODCAST HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

****

Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today!

https://cerihand.com/membership/

****

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

****

Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

****

Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity

Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative.

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Today, I am joined by Marcel Baettig, artist, cultural leader, and founder and CEO of Bow Arts, one of London’s most influential arts and education charities. Over three decades, Marcel has quietly built a values-led social enterprise that provides affordable studios and housing for artists, reaches tens of thousands of young people, and continually reinvests in local communities.

This conversation isn’t just about scale or success. It´s about precarity, why artists need infrastructure as much as inspiration, and how Marcel’s own experience of working as an artist shaped Bow Arts. We explore leadership without ego, the long game of cultural change, and why we need to stop treating artists as an afterthought in regeneration.

This episode is for anyone who’s ever felt the system is stacked against them - and wondered what it looks like to build a different one.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

We need to stop accepting scarcity as inevitable, to question who systems are really designed for - building a better art world is not a theoretical exercise. It’s a daily practice.

Sustainable creative lives are built through shared responsibility and leaders who remember what it feels like to be at the kitchen table wondering how the rent will get paid and still choosing to make the work.

If we want artists to survive, we must design practical, long-term infrastructure - affordable space, stable income pathways, and owned assets, not just offer prestige moments or short-term opportunities.

BEST MOMENTS

“Artists thrive when they are trusted, resourced, and rooted in their communities.”

“Artists don’t just need opportunities. They need conditions. Time. Space. Stability and a sense their contribution to society is not decorative, but essential.”  

THE GUEST

Marcel Baettig is the Founder and CEO of Bow Arts, a pioneering London charity providing affordable, sustainable spaces for artists to live and work while contributing to their local communities. Originally trained as an artist, he founded Bow Arts in 1994, and it now supports over 1,100 artists across London, runs a major learning programme that reaches tens of thousands of young people, and reinvests significant funds into local cultural life. He is also a founding director of the National Federation of Artist Studio Providers and has advised bodies including the Mayor of London, Arts Council England, and DCMS on creative workspace and cultural regeneration. 

https://www.linkedin.com/company/1639152

https://www.facebook.com/bowarts/?locale=en_GB

https://bowarts.org/

HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

**

Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today!

https://cerihand.com/membership/

**

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

**

Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

Welcome to episode 179 of the Extraordinary Creatives podcast - Should You Quit Your Job to Be an Artist? 

There’s a moment every artist fantasises about. The email sent. The notice handed in. The clean break. Finally, time, headspace, freedom.

But more time doesn’t automatically mean better work. Sometimes it means more fear.

So, Should you give up your full-time job to pursue your art?

Not in theory. Not in Instagram-caption wisdom. But in real life, with real nervous systems, real rent, real doubt, and real ambition. This episode was sparked by a conversation inside her Artist Mastermind Circle. 

An artist who’d built a successful business alongside his practice. Financially stable. Thoughtful. Clear-eyed. And still asking himself the hardest question of all. Is now the moment to make a clean break? 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Quitting your job won’t magically fix your practice. It might give you space.It might also give you anxiety, comparison, and a nervous system in overdrive. Before you burn the bridge, build the baton. Steady the work. Strengthen the support. Then decide.

Anxiety has a way of shrinking creativity. It narrows risk. It softens ambition. It pushes you towards safer work, not braver work. That's not a moral failure, that's biology.

Before you quit, make sure your work is strong, you’re truly committed to sharing it and ready for the time and energy doing that takes. Ensure your inner world is steady, you’re supported, and you’ve tested that your art can actually sustain you. Don’t jump; build the bridge.

BEST MOMENTS

“More time doesn't automatically mean better work. Sometimes it means more fear.”

“A sustainable creative career isn't built on bravery alone. It's built on emotional regulation. Your thoughts affect your feelings. Your feelings affect your actions. Your actions create your results.”

“Can you manage your inner weather when doubt hits? Do you have tools to regulate yourself, or do you collapse into self, judgement and comparison and shrink?”

“The lone, brave warrior fantasy is seductive. And dangerous. It's bullsh**t. No artist gets there alone.”

PODCAST HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

****

Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today!

https://cerihand.com/membership/

****

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

****

Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

****

Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity

Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative.

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Today’s episode is with the extraordinary Eva Sajovic, an artist whose art works provoke questions about labour, value, and exchange. We talk about how growing up with her grandma in the countryside in Slovenia shapes not just what she makes, but how she makes it and how that early encounter with political rupture still informs her resistance to spectacle, speed, and extractive systems. 

We unpack the emotional, ethical, and practical labour beneath participatory work, and talk candidly about teaching, money, sustainability, and authorship. Eva shares what shifted during her British School at Rome fellowship, and what it takes to build a practice that can hold complexity without collapsing. She also reflects on joining the Artist Mastermind Circle, and why vulnerability is essential to getting the work into the world.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Eva´s childhood experiences of scarcity and playing in freedom taught her to explore and be resourceful and that “makeshift” muscle is still at the core of her work. 

When you move out of your body and into your head to “solve” the work, it tends to die. Instead let materials, repetition, instinct and sensation lead. Often, the images and ideas are already in your body, waiting for the right process to draw them out.

If you work with people, factor in the emotional and ethical labour as part of the project, not an add-on. Build in support, debrief time, and clear roles. 

BEST MOMENTS

“Art is really about deep care and attention. About what you offer and what you are willing to hold.”

“The images are in my body, not somewhere else. They are inside and they come out.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://www.evasajovic.co.uk

https://www.instagram.com/eva_sajovic

https://www.arts.ac.uk/whats-on/eva-sajovic-rise-and-fall-of-a-temple

PODCAST HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

****

The Artist Mastermind Circle: Ready to stop second-guessing and start building next level momentum in your art career? Applications are now open for the Artist Mastermind Circle—a six-month coaching programme for 25 mid-career artists serious about growing their income, network, opportunities, and confidence.

Register by 6pm Monday 2nd February: Artist Mastermind Circle Application and take the next bold step. (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6hXd1YpO5MvUq2oRqW3qyqte7BBn5CSkgHG76dXzBMbT66Q/viewform)

****

Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today!

https://cerihand.com/membership/

****

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

****

Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

****

Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity

Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative.

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Today we’re getting into co-representation, the realities of working with more than one gallery, and how to navigate it without damaging the relationships you’ve worked so hard to build.

You’ve built a body of work that has momentum. You’ve shown commitment to your gallery. You’ve done the shows, the fairs, the dinners, the follow-ups. And now you feel ready to build internationally. Not as a vanity move. Not because you’re bored. But because your work feels ready to travel, and because you understand that long-term sustainability often requires more than one market. 

So, you raise the question with your gallery. And instead of traction, you get drag. The response isn’t hostile. It’s not a no. It’s just… slow.

This is where many artists start to doubt themselves. Or worse, start making moves quietly, without support, because waiting feels unbearable.

This episode is for that moment.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Wanting to expand internationally does not make you impatient or ungrateful, but moving without strategy, clarity or the consent and co-operation of your existing gallery can undo years of careful relationship building.

Co-signing you into another territory carries real reputational risk for your gallery and for you and introduces complexity.

Instead of quietly scrambling behind your gallery’s back, ask for a focused meeting, lay out why this territory and why now, and work with them to define clear criteria, a realistic timeline and a small pilot so co-representation becomes a shared, strategic project rather than a secret escape plan. Use the scripts Ceri shares to help you.

BEST MOMENTS

“Joint representation only works when there is deep trust, transparency and aligned strategy.”

“Your primary gallery should lead on sales strategy and pricing coherence… This coherence is what builds confidence and protects your long-term value.

“If the gallery is not acting, you need clarity, not patience without end. So, step one, ask for a decision, not a discussion.”

HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

**

The Artist Mastermind Circle: Ready to stop second-guessing and start building next level momentum in your art career? Applications are now open for the Artist Mastermind Circle—a six-month coaching programme for 25 mid-career artists serious about growing their income, network, opportunities and confidence.

Register by 6pm Monday 2nd February: Artist Mastermind Circle Application and take the next bold step https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6hXd1YpO5MvUq2oRqW3qyqte7BBn5CSkgHG76dXzBMbT66Q/viewform

**

Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today!

https://cerihand.com/membership/

**

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

**

Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

This week’s podcast guest is the extraordinary David Horvitz, an artist whose work has been exhibited at and collected by major institutions around the world.

Witty, poetic, and nomadic, David’s work traverses photography, artist books, performance, mail art, sound, the internet, food, and natural environments, engaging systems of language, time, and networks.

We talk about why artists should resist being burdened by identity or authorship, what it means to let work travel without you, why erasure can be as generative as making, and how attention, patience and trust shape a long creative life.

This is an invitation to rethink how art moves, how ideas land, and why not everything needs to be planned and held tightly to matter. It’s juicy, so I hope you enjoy it!

KEY TAKEAWAYS

You don’t need a tidy label or style. Let your work move across mediums. Consistency of spirit matters more than a fixed “brand.” Protect your ability to change direction, even if it risks sales.

Stop over managing meaning. Allow your work to circulate, mutate, and find its own audiences in its own time. Trust that small gestures, made with intention, can ripple far beyond what we can see.

David reminds us that nerves and doubt aren’t problems to fix, but raw material: use that nervous energy, bounce half-formed ideas off people, and let that call-and-response sharpen what the work really wants to be.

BEST MOMENTS

“You don't have to be burdened by the image you've created of yourself. You could start over.”

“Artists need to be inconsistently consistent, if you like, in order to have freedom to kind of roam and be like a free-range chicken.”

“Once the work leaves your hands, you don’t get to control how it’s held.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

http://www.davidhorvitz.com/

https://www.instagram.com/davidhorvitz/?hl=en

PODCAST HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

****

The Artist Mastermind Circle: Ready to stop second-guessing and start building next level momentum in your art career? Applications are now open for the Artist Mastermind Circle—a six-month coaching programme for 25 mid-career artists serious about growing their income, network, opportunities and confidence.

Register by 6pm Monday 2nd February: Artist Mastermind Circle Application and take the next bold step. (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6hXd1YpO5MvUq2oRqW3qyqte7BBn5CSkgHG76dXzBMbT66Q/viewform)

****

Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today!

https://cerihand.com/membership/

****

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

****

Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

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Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity

Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative.

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Regulation is a creative skill - Anxiety keeps artists busy but stops them finishing. In the last episode, Ceri talked about the fact that you can't make work from a dysregulated life, that no amount of studio time will compensate for exhaustion, financial stress, unresolved anxiety, or a nervous system that never properly settles. Today, she goes a level deeper explaining why even when life is relatively stable, dysregulation still shows up inside the work itself, which is where a lot of artists get stuck. 

Ceri demonstrates why artists need to stop waiting to relax after the work is done and instead regulate their emotional state before they step into the studio and shares how to do that.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

When your nervous system is dysregulated, your brain becomes conservative. It narrows options, avoids risk, and favours movement over resolution. So, starting something new feels safer than staying with something unfinished.

Finishing means deciding, committing, being seen - For an anxious nervous system, which feels like danger.

Your job as an artist is to walk into uncertainty on purpose and stay there long enough for something real to emerge. That’s emotional agility: the capacity to feel threat, doubt, visibility, and not bolt.

BEST MOMENTS

“Anxiety doesn't always stop you working. Sometimes it keeps you working endlessly so you never have to finish.”

“Regulation is not the reward for creative work. It's the capacity that determines what kind of work you're able to make in the first place.”

HOST BIO

With over 35 years in the art world, Ceri has worked closely with leading artists and arts professionals, managed public and private galleries and charities, and curated more than 250 exhibitions and events. She has sold artworks to major museums and private collectors and commissioned thousands of works across diverse media, from renowned artists such as John Akomfrah, Pipilotti Rist, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and Vito Acconci. Now, she wants to share her extensive knowledge with you, so you can excel and achieve your goals.

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The Artist Mastermind Circle: Ready to stop second-guessing and start building next level momentum in your art career? Applications are now open for the Artist Mastermind Circle—a six-month coaching programme for 25 mid-career artists serious about growing their income, network, opportunities, and confidence.

Register by 6pm Monday 2nd February: Artist Mastermind Circle Application and take the next bold step. (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf6hXd1YpO5MvUq2oRqW3qyqte7BBn5CSkgHG76dXzBMbT66Q/viewform)

Join our free webinar on Wednesday 21st January 6.30pm GMT where we introduce you to the coaching programme, walk you through the online hub, coach live, and answer your questions: Register here. https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/KVucmw1WRd2bsBWgPEfn1g#/registration

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Ceri Hand Coaching Membership: Group coaching, live art surgeries, exclusive masterclasses, portfolio reviews, weekly challenges. Access our library of content and resource hub anytime and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals. Ready to transform your art career? Join today!

https://cerihand.com/membership/

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Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course, "Unlock Your Artworld Network," offers a straightforward 5-step framework to help you build valuable relationships effortlessly. Gain the tools and confidence you need to create new opportunities and thrive in the art world today.

https://cerihand.com/courses/unlock_your_artworld_network/

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Book a Discovery Call Today

To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at [email protected]

**

Discover Your Extraordinary Creativity

Visit www.cerihand.com to learn how we can help you become an extraordinary creative.

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/