In this discussion Roger talks about the upcoming American Yes tour that he will be joining for and speaking at. We discuss the conception of the first and second Yes logos and the beginning of his creative relationship with Yes, how it has evolved over the years and how those years have affected the evolution of the artwork and music respectively and in concert. We will be doing another discussion and answering your questions so please comment below and we will incorporate them in our next chat that we will record on Thursday the 14th. In our next catch up we will also cover  some recent films and talks Roger has seen about Album Cover Album, Hipgnosis who created Pink Floyd's album covers and many more and the Tetris movie about Roger's friend and collaborator Henk Rogers.

Project Updates, exhibition news, announcement of live discussions 14th and 21st of December on Facebook 7pm GMT with some live painting to be scheduled.

Freyja and Roger Dean Update on NFTs  School etc

Roger in conversation with Neil Gaiman an English author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, nonfiction, audio theatre, and films. His works include the comic book series The Sandman and novels Stardust, American Gods, Coraline, and The Graveyard Book

Roger dean in Conversation with Jennifer Choyce Marine Biologist; Ecologist; Conservationist;
https://twitter.com/jenniferchoyce
https://www.jschoycephotography.com
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/lets-talk-conservation/id1555185442

Richard Graham is an educational consultant who specialises in teaching English in a fun or Genki way (https://genkienglish.net/teaching/selfintro/).

When Freyja first arrived in Tokyo she was recommended by a friend to talk to Richard and ask his advice about teaching in Japan. Richard was happy to chat with her about her project at Courtyard, teaching small children and in fact it turned into a longer conversation that turned into Freyja setting up the Dean Online School of Art. (https://gallery.rogerdean.com/).

Chris Braide

This week we have our second member of the Downes Braide association, singer, songwriter and record producer Chris Braide. Braide’s writing credits are an extraordinary catalogue of some of the world’s most well-known, creative and successful artists. Braide has worked with Beyonce, Britney Spears, Lana Del Rey, Sia Marc Almond, Beth Ditto and many, many more. I have worked with Braide before on album covers for DBA but this was the first time we have had a proper chance to sit down and discuss ideas and creativity. I found it amazing the parallels between our two processes, both creative but one audio, one visual. I hope you take as much inspiration from this conversation as I did and enjoy it as much too.

http://christopherbraide.com/

Henk Rogers

It is difficult to sum up in an opening sentence the many and various projects and endeavours that have made up Henk’s extraordinary career. I first met Henk when we worked on a role playing game called The Black Onyx. I then then designed the logo for the game Tetris, which Henk secured the rights to distribute and which he produces to this day as managing director of The Tetris Company. Since his work in gaming Henk has set up the charity Blue Planet Foundation, which led to Hawaii, where he lives instating the first 100 percent renewable energy state law in 2015. He is Chairman of the Pacific International Space Centre for Exploration Systems (PISCES) which aims to develop an aerospace industry in Hawaii. His enthusiasm and positivity for the future of the planet is inspiring, I always enjoy our conversations about it and this was no exception. I hope you all enjoy it too.

https://blueplanetfoundation.org/board/henk-rogers/

Stephen Fry

I’m sure most of you here will very familiar with Stephen Fry, whether you are a fan of comedy, opera, classical myths, issues surrounding mental health or the English language Fry has written about or produced documentaries on all of these subjects. Many of you however will be most familiar with his incarnations as Lord Melchett in Blackadder or the eponymous Jeeves alongside Hugh Laurie in Jeeves and Wooster, Fry has also acted in films such as A Fish Called Wanda, The Hobbit film series and many, many more. His voice alone is familiar to many people as he narrated all of the Harry Potter books and between 2003 and 2015 he hosted the British television show QI. I could go on but there is simply too much, he is an extraordinary person whose mind seems to know no bounds and it was an absolute joy to hear it at work in our conversation. So please sit back and enjoy the incredible thinker and speaker, Stephen Fry.

https://www.stephenfry.com/