The Mater Podcast

An amazing conversation with Bisila Noha & Simone Brewster Bisila is an artist working predominantly with clay, with a background in Translation and International Relations. She writes about ceramics, crafts, identity and design, and has a particular interest in the contributions of women of colour to the history of art and craft. Her words are a bridge bringing the past - the forgotten, the ignored, and the belittled - to the present.Bisila suggested we are joined in conversation by artist, designer & cultural change-maker Simone Brewster. Strongly grounded in craft, Simone’s practice includes painting, sculpture, jewellery and writing, Using her creative outputs as her voice, celebrating and sharing windows into varied Black female narratives and histories. The threads that flow throughout her work display a balance of function with beauty, a repurposing of the “ethnic” and the “western” and a continuous playing with scale, materiality and architectural form. LinksBisila Noha InstagramSimone Brewster InstagramBisila’s blog post about translationBisila Noha Baney clay projectNegress and MammyWoman In PartsSimone’s solo exhibitionSpirit of PlaceV&A porcelain sugar holderUrsula K le Guin, Carrier Bag Theory of FictionElizabeth Fisher's best-known work is Women's Creation: Sexual Evolution and the Shaping of Society. The 7th chapter The Carrier Bag Theory of Evolution inspired Le GuinLydia Yuknavich talking about The Carrier Back Theory of Fiction Frank Gehry, a Canadian architect, famously said, “Decoration is a sin, expression is in materials”Truth to materials - ‘A belief that the form of a work of art should be inseparably related to the material in which it is made’. Slow Motion Multi Tasking, Tim HarfordFollow Mater on InstagramThe Mater website

I am joined by two UK-based artists Hannah Lees and May Hands. The two have recently undertaken their second collaborative project together, titled ‘Self can shade off into otherness gradually’. The project was held at VOLT gallery, run by Devonshire Collective in Eastbourne.Hannah Lees investigates ideas of cycles, constancy and mortality; the sense that things come to an end and the potential for new beginnings. This constancy, be it in religion, science, history or in organic matter, is visible in her practice through her attempts to make sense of and recognise traces of life. Traditional processes, materials and rituals are often reworked to explore how ideas and beliefs can live, die and be reborn across times and cultures.May Hands explores how our relationship with materiality shapes our understanding of the world. She documents and collects observations of the world around her through traditional craft-based techniques and the collecting and reinterpreting of objects. Reflecting upon seasonal cycles, sensuality and the inherently curated aspect of our everyday consumptions, her work questions how society constructs and articulates value and desire.LinksVolt Gallery: https://www.devonshirecollective.co.uk/about/exhibitions-at-voltDevonshire Collective: https://www.devonshirecollective.co.uk/https://www.instagram.com/devonshirecollective/Hannah and May:https://www.instagram.com/hannahjlees/https://www.instagram.com/may_hands/Collective Ending: https://www.collectivending.com/https://www.instagram.com/collectivending/Green screen refrigerator action Mark Leckey: https://markleckey.com/IMGs-2010Primitive Technology - send to May. can she share a video of the person making cordage. Funny that they are often menman on YouTube - video of him making a furnace and also cordage

This week I discuss oil paint, car wraps, spray paint, light, and painting tools with Harriet Gillett and Kate Dunn.  This conversation contains references to sexual assault.Harriet is an artist living and working in London, who works from sketches made in the moment, usually in pubs at live gigs.. Working predominantly with oil and spray paint, she layers thin veils of colour over a warm fluorescent spray paint ground. She recently finished an MA in Fine Art at City & Guilds of London art school, after previously studying English Literature. When I contacted Harriet to be a guest on the podcast, she suggested we are joined by Kate Dunn. Kate, another former C&G student who is now a fine art tutor at the university. The two met in tutorials and conversed over their shared use of spray paint..Kate Dunn studied MA Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School, following a classic training in Florence. Previous artworks have included UV reactive pigments, UV light, sound, pigments, spray paint and coloured pencils. Her works have been installations and experiences based around painting; working with themes such as renaissance, rave, light and sacred space. skin is a new body of work looking at themes of touch, rage, and absence. These works involve using oil paint and abrasive tools on car wrap. Car wraps are made as a temporary and alternative exterior. Created to last only a few years, the wrap is like a kind of transitionary skin. Harriet Gillett on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/harrietgillettart/Website: https://harrietgillett.co.uk/workKate Dunn on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bellissi.mama/Website: https://www.k8dunn.org/Mater on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mater________/Website: https://mater.digital/

A magical conversation with Emma Witter and Krista Mileva-Frank about Shells and Grottos.. I first came across Emma’s work a couple of years ago.. Emma is an artist who makes work from found and waste ephemera. Looking back at heritage craft, she combines ancient materials with relatively recent scientific processes such as electroforming and kiln forming. When I asked Emma a few months ago to be on the podcast, she wanted to take her time to pick the right guest. Which brings us to our second guest, Krista Mileva-Frank.. Krista Mileva-Frank is a fourth-year PhD candidate in the History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture and Art program at MIT. Her dissertation examines grottoes and rock landscapes in nineteenth-century France and Latin America in the context of environmental transformation, labor, and racial politics. Krista is the curator of the group exhibition Objects for a Heavenly Cave, on view at Marta Gallery in Los Angeles, 7-12th October.. The show features work by Emma Witter..LinksEmma: https://www.instagram.com/emma_witter_/?hl=en & http://www.emmawitter.co.uk/Krista: https://architecture.mit.edu/people/krista-mileva-frankThe Exhibition: https://marta.la/exhibitions/various-artists-objects-for-a-heavenly-cavehere is a link to the exhibition.The exhibition catalog, along with the GROTTO hat, can be purchased from the Marta Bookshop.Other artworks in the exhibition referenced:James Naish (Corycia bench)Lily Clark (superhydrophobic fountain Dew Point III)Emily Endo (scent-based piece Nymphaeum)Masaomi Yasunaga masaomi_yasunaga (Melting Vessel 熔ける器, 2024)Marta Gallery on InstagramFumi: https://galleryfumi.com/ & Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gallery_fumi/?hl=enMater on InstagramThe Mater website

This week I am in conversation with Hannah Fletcher and Steffie de Gaetano about sustainable photographic processes, soil chromatography, and wasteHannah Fletcher is an artist based in London, working with photographic processes, incorporating organic matter such as soils, algae, mushrooms and plants into photographic mediums and surfaces. I first heard of Hannah through her work as the founder of the Sustainable Darkroom, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to researching and disseminating lower-toxicity photographic materials and methods.I’m thrilled that Hannah has introduced me to our second guest Steffe De Gateano, an interdisciplinary artist and researcher currently based in Eindhoven, in the Netherlands.. Steffie’s work is situated at the intersection of architecture, landscape, art, and anthropology, disciplines she critically unbuilds by uncovering their colonial entanglements and ramifications of Modernity. Steffie’s Permeance Project uses the technique of chromatography on soils from the river Dommel, which have been contaminated by industrial waste streams. Steffie de GaetanoWebsite https://steffiedegaetano.net/about.htmlInstagram https://www.instagram.com/steffiedegaetano/Hannah Fletcherhttps://www.instagram.com/hfletch/https://www.hannahfletcher.com/Sustainable Darkroom: https://sustainabledarkroom.com/

The fabulous Rebecca Coleman & Nicole Seymour join me to chat about the sparkly, clingy, joyful, irritating, enchanting paradox that is glitter!A few years ago I attended a zoom lecture by Dr Rebecca Coleman about her long-term research project into glitter. A project which was initiated following a collaging workshop with young girls, organised by Coleman.. It was witnessing the allure of glitter as a material in this workshop, as well as how glitter was appearing for weeks afterwards, lingering at the bottom of a bag, or attached to belongings and clothing, that led her to follow some of these themes further..Rebecca is a professor at the school of School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies and Bristol Digital Futures Institute at the University of Bristol, with research crossing media, cultural studies and feminist theoryRebecca recommended that we invite Nicole Seymour to join us in this conversation.. Nicole works in the environmental humanities, asking how literature and other cultural forms – from documentary film to stand-up comedy – mediate our relationship to environmental crisis. Her latest book, Glitter, is an environmental-cultural history of that substance from Bloomsbury’s “Object Lessons” series. She is professor of English and graduate advisor of environmental studies at California State University at Fullerton.I am officially a mega fan of Beckie and Nicole, they are both iconic. They do such a good job of maintaining the enjoyment of glitter while taking it seriously as a subject.. I highly recommend both of their books which I will link to here:https://mitpress.mit.edu/9781912685387/glitterworlds/https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/glitter-9781501373763/More LinksRebecca Colemanhttps://journals.oslomet.no/index.php/rerm/article/view/3669https://read.dukeupress.edu/cultural-politics/article/18/1/79/298683/Glitter-Shine-GlowPatinas-of-Feminine-Achievement (I'm not sure if this is open access?)https://www.academia.edu/36834385/_Osgood_J_in_press_You_cant_separate_it_from_anything_glitters_doings_as_materialised_figurations_of_childhood_and_art_in_Sakr_and_Osgood_Eds_Post_Developmental_Approaches_to_Childhood_Art_Bloomsburyhttps://www.gold.ac.uk/goldsmiths-press/publications/glitterworlds/Nicole SeymourA very short piece on glitter’s usage in fishing lures. https://bloomsburyliterarystudiesblog.com/2022/09/fishing-lure-glitter-environment.htmlhttps://www.dukeupress.edu/aesthetics-of-excesshttps://read.dukeupress.edu/books/book/214/ShineThe-Visual-Economy-of-Light-in-AfricanAlso referenced: Kylie Crane, Plastic and ConcreteMater:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mater________/Website: https://mater.digital/

On ochre, wild clay and foraging! This week I am joined by the magnetic pairing that is Heidi Gustafson and Belinda Blignaut. When I first came across the sculptures of the artist Belinda Blignaut I was blown away by them. Made from unprocessed clay and other found materials from her immediate surroundings, tapping into ideas around transformation. Though it took me a long time to actually reach out to Belinda and tell her what a fan I was, images of her works have been pasted on my studio wall and saved on Instagram for several years.When we spoke on the phone a few weeks ago Belinda suggested we invite Heidi Gustafson to join us in conversation today.. And I’ve thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Heidi’s work in more detail since then.. Heidi is ‘a recovering philosopher who forages and crushes rock for a living.’ Her Book of Earth is an immersive introduction into the world of ochre, a naturally occurring mineral used to make pigment. Heidi’s cabin in the rural North Cascades shelters the Ochre Sanctuary project, which contains more than 600 pigments from around the planet.. a transforming body and future earthwork made with ochres and earth pigments gathered by humans worldwide.We spoke about the body, and Belinda’s journey through health and healing. The body is central to Belinda’s work - the Mud Rights practice sees her covering her body with earth, creating an earth skin and lying down in the ground.. It is a still, meditative and contemplative experience of re-connection.Heidi spoke about the vastly broad array of colours and forms that an ochre can take, how they have been a way of understanding her connection to earth, and how ochres are connected to our bodies through our material make-up.Find Belinda & Heidi on Instagram: @belinda_blignaut  @heidilynnheidilynnFind out more about Heidi’s Ochre Sanctuary: https://earlyfutures.com/ochrearchive/Heidi’s book, Book of Earth: https://earlyfutures.com/book-of-earth/Belinda also organises the Wild Clay retreat: @wildclayretreatWe are on Instagram at @Mater________We also have a website with 19 commissioned pieces of writing which can all be read for free on our website mater.digital

I am joined by the wonderful Nicola Turner & Mick Sheridan, speaking about sculptures, upholstery, waste, horsehair and wool..Nicola Turner: https://www.instagram.com/nicolaturner.art/?hl=enMick Sheridan: https://www.instagram.com/m.s.upholstery/?hl=enNicola is an artist with a background in set and costume design. She has designed for The Royal Opera House, National Theatre and Sydney Opera House to name a few.. Today we will be talking about her sculptures. As an artist Turner investigates dissolution of boundaries, liminal states, and continuous exchanges across ecosystems.. exploring the interconnection of life and death, human and non- human, attraction and repulsion. She combines found objects that hold traces of memory, with the shapes of living forms, and materials from organic ‘dead’ matter such as horsehair - a material used previously for bedding and furniture. Her sprawling sculpture, The Meddling Fiend, in the Royal Academy courtyard has been a highlight for many visitors to this year’s Summer Exhibition.Mick is a second generation upholsterer based in Wales, proficient in both traditional and modern methods, and specialising in British wool fabrics. Mick’s Guerilla Reupholstery project finds fly tipped or discarded furniture on the streets, and transforms them into something new.. Using as much of the existing materials as possible and augmenting that with waste products from their reupholstery business. The chairs are sculptural, several being made in collaboration with an artist, and one with a Designer/Weaver.Mick's Guerilla Upholsterer account: https://www.instagram.com/guerrilla_upholsterer/?hl=enThe Meddling Fiend at The Royal Academy : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7gVTwxvhPkJulie Ann Sheridan: https://www.instagram.com/sheridanjulieann/Sadie Campbell: https://www.instagram.com/sadiedidi/Find us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mater________/?hl=enOur website: https://mater.digital/