Based  from his North Yorkshire studio, William Watson-West is  a painter  whose first-hand observations of landscape, flora and fauna are the  basis of his work.

Graduating from Edinburgh College of Art in 2011 with a degree in ​Textiles, William has since exhibited his mixed-media paintings at several galleries in the north of England, including 108 Fine Art and the Mercer Art Gallery, Harrogate. He has previously been shortlisted for the prestigious New Light Art Prize and has been selected for the Great North Art Show amongst others. His painting, 'Swinsty in Autumn' was the 2019 winner of the Best Picture Award at the 20th Anniversary Ilkley Art Show.

Suman Kaur won the best amateur artist in the BBC Big Painting Challenge 2017.  Since then she has been improving her practice and building on her  skills.  As a British Sikh, Suman is keen to establish herself as a  professional painter and to document and reflect on Sikh history in her  work.

Sally Barker works with sculpture, installation, ceramics, printing,  video, and the occasional performance. Her interests focus on power,  control and damage across the distinct but connected areas of feminism  and the environment. These themes are expressed through a strong sense  of touch and materiality, coupled with acts of breaking down and  dismantling.

Joe's path to becoming a sculptor started at a young age, choosing clay and 3D work over drawing and painting where ever he could, he stood out among his fellow school pupils as a gifted artist.

A lifelong passion for art and sculpture together with his practical nature led him to take up an apprenticeship in stone masonry. Masonry combined design with hands on physical work that suited his creative personality.

Joe worked as a stone mason for several years and became experienced in  many aspects of the craft. His particular interest in sculpture together  with his flare for stone carving drove him to establish his own  business and become a sculptor full time. Opening his own workshop and  gallery in early 2012, his work is already in private collections  spanning from Glasgow to London.

Human form and in particular the head inspire Joes work. He creates  unique figurative pieces as well as portrait sculpture in both stone and  bronze. He also produces bespoke stone work including the design,  creation and installation of stone fireplaces and all other ornate stone  work.

Photo: James Hardisty

Recorded on Wednesday 31 March 2021  

What Powers Creativity? The relationship between Patron, inspiration and  problem solving is at the heart of some of the worlds most incredible  creative endeavours.   Winch Design has built a career taking imagination and partnering  craftspeople who know how to make it possible.  

Join us for a discussion on the role of patronage in supporting the  crafts that all started in the Yacht building industry and did not stop  there.  Andrew Winch’s love of yachts was ignited in childhood, during long  summers spent sailing the Solent in his father’s 42ft (12m) Beneteau. He  completed a degree in 3D Design at Kingston College of Art, and then  went on to gain experience as a skipper in the Caribbean, followed by an  apprenticeship for acclaimed yacht designer, Jon Bannenberg. His love  of yachts would persist through adulthood and inform his entire life’s  work, leading him and his wife Jane, as designer and company manager, to  establish Winch Design in 1986.   

In the three decades since Winch Design was established, the business  has grown exponentially. The architecture portfolio spans interiors,  exteriors, chateaux, beach villas and mountain retreats and the yachts  and aviation departments have produced sailing yachts, motor yachts and  aircraft ranging from helicopters to the first-ever private Boeing 787/9  Dreamliner.  In that time Winch Design has won over 30 prestigious design awards and  come to be recognised as one of the leading international design studios  in the world.

Since graduating from London College of Fashion with first class honours, photographer Ben Benoliel has gone on to produce acclaimed commercial and editorial work for print and digital publication.His clients include Bang & Olufsen, Muji, John Lobb, LN-CC, size?, Loewe, i-D, Matches, APC and Wallpaper.com amongst others.

Neil Bedford's wide body of work spans portraiture, including an impressive list of A-list celebrities. His work also includes documentary, fashion and music. 

Talk with David Goodhart discussing the status of work outside the  knowledge economy & reviving the status of work by heart &  hand.

Author and journalist David  Goodhart discussed and presented the ideas from his latest book ‘Head,  Hand, Heart: The Struggle for Dignity and Status in the 21st Century’.

In this timely and original  analysis, David Goodhart divides human aptitudes into three: Head  (cognitive), Hand (manual and craft) and Heart (caring, emotional). It’s  common sense that a good society needs to recognise the value of all  three, but in recent decades they have got badly out of kilter.  Cognitive ability has become the gold standard of human esteem. The  cognitive class now shapes society largely in its own interests, by  prioritising the knowledge economy, ever-expanding higher education and  shaping the very idea of a successful life.

Head, Hand, Heart tells the story of the cognitive takeover that has gathered pace over  the past forty years. As recently as the 1970s most people left school  without qualifications, but now 40 per cent of all jobs are  graduate-only. A good society must re-imagine the meaning of skilled  work, so that people who work with their hands and hearts are valued.

David Goodhart is the founding  editor of Prospect magazine and one of the most distinctive voices on  politics today. He is currently head of the Demography Unit at the think  tank Policy Exchange, and was previously director of the centre-left  think tank Demos.

A discussion with the curator and writer Glenn Adamson as he introduces  his new book on crafts and making.  

Glenn Adamson Senior Scholar at the Yale Center for British Art and  formerly Head of Research at the V&A and Director of the Museum of  Arts in New York talks about his new book Craft; an American History.  The talk examines the role played by craftspeople;  ‘the quiet  heroes of the American story.’ Adamson will also discuss the influence  of craftspeople from Britain who migrated across the Atlantic and  reflect on how, as craft has become increasingly marginalised in modern  Western economies, overall levels of social cohesion have also  deteriorated and thus how important it is to this day.  A central theme in Glenn Adamson’s work has been modern craft: the  application of skilled making to the world around us. His new book is  concerned with American craft and building societies through making.  

Glenn Adamson works at the intersection of craft, design history and  contemporary art. Currently Senior Scholar at the Yale Center for  British Art, he has previously been Director of the Museum of Arts and  Design; Head of Research at the V&A and Curator at the Chipstone  Foundation in Milwaukee.

Recorded on Wednesday 10 March, as part of our Active Environmentalism  series of talks and events.  

The RSPB’s Beccy Speight discussed what our migrating & permanent  residents tell us about wider changes to the environment.  What does the study of birds tell us about changes to the environment  and our potential for change? 

The RSPB is the largest nature  conservation charity in Europe. Since it’s inception in 1889 the threats  to birdlife and their habitats have continued to grow but the RSPB have  ambitious and wide-reaching conservation plans to change the fate of  nature.  Rebecca Speight is Chief Executive of the RSPB since 2019. She was  previously the Chief Executive of the Woodland Trust.  

The RSPB has more than 1.2 million members, over 2,000 employees and  around 12,000 volunteers. It has over 200 nature reserves across the UK,  wild havens where everyone can get closer to nature and home to 80 per  cent of our rarest or more threatened bird species. The RSPB also works  internationally and is a leading player in BirdLife International, a  partnership of conservation organisations working to save nature across  the world.

Recorded in March 2021

Welsh designer, Based in Leeds UK. Laura Wellington has a passion for materials, process and the fine details.

Laura  arrived in Leeds in 2005 and since graduating from her degree in 2008  she has gained international press and transatlantic clients. In 2011  Laura featured on the BBC TV Program “Britains Next Big Thing” which  charted her taking HULA to the High Street. In 2014 HULA was listed as  one of the most iconic Habitat designs in the last 50 yrs.

Laura has most definitely made Leeds her home and as well as making and creating in her studio, Laura has Co-Founded Duke Studios alongside her partner James Abbott-Donnelly.