Extraordinary Creatives

Today, Ceri moves to the next step of the artist website journey. Once you’ve selected the work and gathered the words, the question becomes: what should definitely be on the website? And just as importantly, what should not.  Most artist websites don’t fail because they’re missing things; they fail because they’re overloaded with too many pages, projects, and text and no clear entry point. Your website is not a storage unit - it’s a guided experience. You are leading someone through your work, whether you realise it or not, and the clearer that journey is, the more confident your website feels.  Listen in to learn how to create a structure that supports your practice rather than draining it. KEY TAKEAWAYS If your website feels overwhelming, remove before you add. Take anything off your site you wouldn’t actively send a curator to today, such as old projects you’ve outgrown or sections you feel you have to apologise for. Navigation is your backbone. If the menu is messy, everything else feels messy. Ceri shares a simple menu that works. Give people a "front door" to each body of work. Instead of an endless scroll, group your work by year, medium, or series to provide an entry point that lets the work do the persuading before the language does. Consider how movement affects attention . Moving sideways through work slows the encounter down and deepens the relationship, while vertical scrolling carries the muscle memory of "doom scrolling" so people absorb less. Use text as an invitation. Strangers don't want to wade through long paragraphs before seeing images. Keep text short, place it after the work, and use it to orient the viewer toward your thinking or materials. BEST MOMENTS "Volume doesn’t build trust. Structure builds trust."  "Your website gets stronger every time you remove something that no longer represents you."  "Home is the doorway. Work is where they fall in. About is where they trust you. Contact is where they act."  “I worked with an artist who had hundreds of images with no grouping. They thought it made them look prolific. Instead, it made the viewer do all the work.” EPISODDE RESOURCES Episode 122 - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/should-you-start-a-newsletter-as-an-artist/id1709105337?i=1000717594617 https://claire-morgan.co.uk 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 hello@cerihand.com ** 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 guest is Rob Lowe, also known as Supermundane, an artist, illustrator, writer, and public speaker whose work uses geometric shapes, colour, pattern, and words to create playful, philosophical, and deeply generous work. With a background in graphic design and over 30 years working across the creative world, Rob has moved fluidly between indie magazine design, publishing, murals, community-led projects, and major global commissions, including designing the influential magazines Anorak and Fire & Knives and creating the visual identity for the Champions League London Final. Whether he’s working at the scale of a print, a rug, a classroom, or city walls, his focus is the same: making work that feels rooted in shared human experience. He’s also the author of Lost Ordinary Magic, a book of “simple things in a complicated world,” which feels like a neat distillation of his wider practice. In this conversation, we talk about how to make accessible work without flattening it, how projects grow through trust rather than ego, and what it really takes to build a sustainable creative career that protects both your voice and your energy. KEY TAKEAWAYS Caring about the people, the context and the conditions of the work isn’t extra; it’s the strategy that makes the work deeper, more trusted, and more sustainable. Big commissions don’t require a different version of you. They require the same thinking, just at a different volume. Scale doesn’t have to mean compromise. You don’t have to contort yourself to be legible. You don’t have to overproduce to be relevant. You don’t have to disappear inside other people’s frameworks to make meaningful work. BEST MOMENTS “You can work at the scale of a kid with scissors and glue, and also the scale of a city, and still be doing the same work, just with different volume.” “I work hard, but I don't like stress … I work within what I'm good at, so I'm always working with my strengths, rather than trying to force myself to do something that I think I should be.” “There is obviously a recognisable style, but it's more about how I work and how I think and… I have a certain way of looking and seeing the world.” EPISODE RESOURCES www.supermundane.com www.instagram.com/supermundane 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 hello@cerihand.com **** 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/

Despite what we’re told, websites are not obsolete. Curators still look at them. Gallerists still look at them. Collectors still look at them. Commissioners still look at them.  Quietly. Carefully. Often before they ever contact you. Your website is where people go when they’re deciding whether to take you seriously. Social media shows momentum. Websites show coherence. If your website feels overwhelming, messy, neglected, or like a project you keep putting off, that doesn’t mean you’re behind. It usually means you’ve skipped a step.   Most artists jump straight to design. Templates. Platforms. Fonts. Colours. And they do it before they’ve made the harder, quieter decisions. What actually belongs on here? What am I ready to stand behind? What story am I telling now, not five years ago?  So, today´s episode isn’t about redesigning your website. It’s about preparing for it.  KEY TAKEAWAYS Artist websites still matter - curators, gallerists, commissioners, and collectors actually use them.  Your website isn’t dead. It’s quietly doing its job when the right people are paying attention. Your website is not a performance space, but a catalogue of your strongest thinking. It is not an archive. This is a selection of your best work - If someone only ever saw this work, they should understand the kind of artist you are. I don't want anyone landing on your site and thinking, well, now what? So, decide before you design how people can connect with you. This episode is about deciding what needs to be included on your site. The next one is about shaping. BEST MOMENTS “Ask yourself something important - if someone only saw these pieces, would they understand what kind of artist I am?” “Have a portrait image of yourself, ideally in your studio or somewhere that feels human. Smiley helps, warm helps, approachable helps. People want to know who they're connecting with. They don't need mystery here.” “A blank contact page with just an email address or an Instagram handle doesn't feel welcoming. It feels like a closed door.” 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 hello@cerihand.com **** 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/

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 hello@cerihand.com ** 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 hello@cerihand.com **** 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 hello@cerihand.com

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 hello@cerihand.com **** 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 hello@cerihand.com

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 hello@cerihand.com **** 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 hello@cerihand.com **** 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 hello@cerihand.com

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 hello@cerihand.com **** 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. ** 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 ** 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 hello@cerihand.com ** 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’m joined by the brilliant Beth Greenacre, a curator, advisor, and art consultant whose career has unfolded quietly but powerfully at the centre of the art world. Beth began working with David Bowie in her twenties and went on to oversee the care, exhibition, and eventual sale of his collection, revealing a deeply personal way of looking, collecting and living with art. Since then, she’s built a long-term, trust-led portfolio career advising private collectors, working with artists and estates, and curating exhibitions. In this conversation, we talk about how collectors really make decisions, how intuition is really deeply embodied knowledge and why holding work back can be an act of integrity. This is a rare, generous look inside how the art world actually works, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did! KEY TAKEAWAYS Be present. Build relationships patiently. Share your work carefully. Trust that confidence is learned, not bestowed. Quality reveals itself over time, through deep looking, honest editing, and the courage to hold work back until it is ready to speak. Artists are not failing when recognition comes slowly. They’re building something with roots. Working with David Bowie taught Beth that confidence isn’t about hierarchy or bravado. It’s about shared commitment, deep listening, and respect for the work. BEST MOMENTS “My purpose is to acknowledge, celebrate and give space to the power of art to change people's perspectives.” “Nothing meaningful in the art world is built quickly. Not confidence. Not collections. Not trust.” EPISODE RESOURCES https://www.bethgreenacre.com https://www.instagram.com/bethgreenacre_london 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 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: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/KVucmw1WRd2bsBWgPEfn1g#/registration ** 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 hello@cerihand.com This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

There’s a romantic idea that if you just shut the door, block the world out, and push through, the work will save you. That you can white-knuckle your way through exhaustion, anxiety, financial stress, hangovers, through everything else falling apart. For a while, maybe you can - willpower is powerful, but it is not infinite. Ceri regularly see artists trying to dominate their minds instead of supporting their nervous systems. Trying to overpower negative thoughts instead of changing the conditions that generate them. Eventually, something gives, leading to work that feels thinner than it used to and burnout. The studio doesn’t magically neutralise what you haven’t dealt with outside it. Your body, your mind, your fears come with you. In this episode, Ceri unpacks why being in the studio only works when the rest of your life is set up to support the quality of thinking your work actually needs. KEY TAKEAWAYS The studio won't save you if your life is dysregulated, but when your life supports your nervous system, your thinking deepens, your work sharpens, and finishing becomes possible. Work of depth, originality, risk and resonance doesn't come from distraction, so you do need long stretches alone. But every artist who has the capacity to go deep has support from others in their lives. BEST MOMENTS “Capacity doesn´t come from chaos.” “Making your best work is not about heroic effort. It's about building conditions that allow you to finish.” “Finishing our work is a good habit to develop. It boosts confidence.” 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) 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) ** 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 hello@cerihand.com This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

Sophie Coryndon learned early that craft is not decoration, but devotion, time, patience, skill, and care. Her work sits confidently outside conventional categories, moving between art and craft, history, and contemporary imagination.  This conversation is about enchantment in a disenchanted world, about beauty as a serious subject, about what it means to make work slowly with your hands, at a time when speed and visibility are rewarded above all else. We also talk openly about Sophie's experience of being part of the artist's mastermind circle, where she felt stuck before joining, and how having a space to think more expansively has shaped her work and decisions. KEY TAKEAWAYS ·      We're not separate from the natural world. We are of it. When we remember that, we start to see the magic in everything and capture it. ·      The art world is far more varied than it first appears. You don’t have to conquer it all  ·      Don´t be afraid to make slowly, to create work that needs privacy, darkness, and time before it is ready to be seen. BEST MOMENTS “What's in the way, is you - always. We are all holding ourselves back.” “Craft is a form of language. When someone takes the time to make something carefully that care travels - even across centuries.” RESOURCES https://www.sophiecoryndon.co.uk/contact https://www.instagram.com/sophiecoryndon 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 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 https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/KVucmw1WRd2bsBWgPEfn1g#/registration   ** 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 hello@cerihand.com   ** 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/

In this episode, Ceri explores the uncomfortable truth at the heart of a sustainable creative life - good mental health doesn’t come from avoiding hard things, but from learning how to move through them. It comes from learning how to deal with them, from building confidence, so that when life feels awkward, lonely, stressful, or uncertain, you won't fall apart or abandon yourself. Yet so many artists quietly organise their entire creative lives around avoiding discomfort. They avoid awkward conversations; they avoid going to private viewings alone. They avoid putting editing dates in the diary. They avoid following up. They avoid staying with work when it feels unresolved. Telling themselves that they're protecting their wellbeing, but often they're doing the opposite – shrinking their capacity. Ceri demonstrates why discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life, especially for artists and shares how to accept and embrace this fact and use it to build the career you really want. KEY TAKEAWAYS Avoidance of stressful situations feels like self-care. But over time, it shrinks your capacity - You can´t build a creative life on evasion. If you avoid the stress of editing, the stress grows. If you avoid the stress of being seen, it compounds. If you avoid the stress of committing to a direction, everything stays harder for longer. Most artists think confidence comes first -Then they’ll go to the show. Then they’ll talk to new people. It doesn’t. Confidence is built after you stay with the discomfort. After you walk into the room anyway. After you sit with unfinished work. BEST MOMENTS “Discomfort is the price of admission to a meaningful life - not a side effect, not a failure, the price. And if you're an artist, that price shows up everywhere.” “Here's the problem, the things she's avoiding are the very things that will build her confidence.” “Avoiding stress increases stress. Learning how to cope with stress makes us more resilient, and that applies directly to creative lives.” ** If you’re muddling through the art world on your own, you already know the cost. Lost time. Avoidable mistakes. Weeks stuck on something that could have been solved in minutes with the right support. Inside the Ceri Hand Coaching Membership, you don’t have to do it alone. Each week you can bring whatever you’re facing, and I’ll help you cut through it fast. Creative blocks, pricing, pitches, confidence dips, applications, all of it. You’ll find clarity, and an international artist community, and real guidance from people who understand your world. Join for £10 per month. Cancel anytime. And stop losing years to guesswork. Just sign up here: http://cerihand.com/membership 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 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. ** 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 To schedule a personalised 1-2-1 coaching session with Ceri or explore our group coaching options, simply email us at hello@cerihand.com This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

I don’t know about you but for me, a new year holds up a mirror. Not the soft one that flatters, but the honest one. The one that shows you the thing you want most and the exact shape of the fear wrapped around it. Today is for artists who are done pretending they don’t know what they want. This is the year you stop hiding from the thing you want most. Let’s make this practical, emotional, and real. Not a manifesto. Not a vision board. A lived year. A designed year. A year where confidence becomes something you build on purpose, not something you hope to stumble into. And since artists always want to know where to begin, I’ll tell you. You start with one question. What is the thing you want most but have been quietly avoiding? If you can answer that honestly, the year will write itself. -- Most artists are guessing their way through and staying stuck far longer than they need to. Inside Ceri Hand´s Coaching Membership, you get straight answers and real support through live sessions, portfolio reviews, virtual studio visits, monthly art world experts and community to help you cut through fast. Ceri covers everything. Right now, you can join or gift a full year for £99 - our only discount of the year, available until the first of January. Please join here - http://cerihand.com/membership/ KEY TAKEAWAYS Start with one question, what's the thing you want most, but have been quietly avoiding – If you can answer that honestly, the year will write itself. You know what the one important thing you have been avoiding is because you feel it in your stomach. A flicker of longing and a flicker of dread at the same time. Follow that. It never lies. Your Year begins with one honest decision, one place where your confidence is thin, one skill you avoid, one action you know would change everything, but you never quite take that's your focus for the year. BEST MOMENTS "Readiness is a myth artists use to avoid taking themselves seriously. Start before you're ready. That's what readiness actually looks like." "Confidence is not a feeling. Confidence is a practice. It grows exactly where you feel resistance. It grows in the doorway You've been avoiding. It grows when you stop circling the perimeter of your life, and step directly into the centre." "Identify the thing you want most. Name the fear that sits beside it. Make it the focus of the year. Choose one tiny weekly action that touches it. Repeat until you no longer flinch. Let that momentum bleed into the rest of your life." 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 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. ** 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 hello@cerihand.com ** 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/

I wanted to end this year with a simple thing. A thank you. A real one. The kind that comes from the ribs. Because you might not realise how often I think about you when I sit down to plan these episodes. I think about what you’re navigating, what might help, what could spark a shift, or soften a blow, or give you a way through a knotty day. And I’m grateful that you’re here, listening, building a creative life alongside me. It’s been a challenging year for so many of us. We’ve ridden wave after wave in the social, political, economic, and arts climates. It’s been loud out there. Overwhelming at times. And artists, more than most, have a knack for turning all of that noise into blame. Blame for what we didn’t finish. For what we haven’t achieved yet. Blame for the mythical future selves we think we should already be. My brain does that too. Ambition is a beautiful engine, but it forgets to look back at the road travelled. It forgets the courage it’s taken to get here. It forgets what we’ve survived, created, learned, and quietly carried. So instead of listing everything I’ve done this year, I wanted to talk about something I rely on every single day. Gratitude. Not the glossy version. The real, grounded, neuroscience-backed kind. The kind that keeps you upright when the world tilts. -- Most artists are guessing their way through and staying stuck far longer than they need to. Inside Ceri Hand´s Coaching Membership, you get straight answers and real support through live sessions, portfolio reviews, virtual studio visits, monthly art world experts, and community to help you cut through fast. Ceri covers everything. Right now, you can join or gift a full year for £99 - our only discount of the year, available until the first of January. Please join here - http://cerihand.com/membership/ KEY TAKEAWAYS We’re so quick to measure ourselves against the version of us we think we should already be. The one who’s achieved more, finished more, ticked more boxes. But we forget the person who got us through this year. The one who kept showing up when life was heavy or heartbreaking or just plain hard. A new year won’t transform your life if you carry last year’s avoidance into it. If you’re an artist standing at the edge of something important, let this be the year you stop walking around the perimeter of your life and finally step in. BEST MOMENTS “I want to invite you to pause and notice what you're grateful for, not the obvious wins - the quieter things, the things you did for yourself, the things you did for others, the things you survived, the moments of courage no one else saw.” “Confidence doesn’t arrive first. Courage does - And courage usually shows up exactly where you feel the wobble.” 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 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. ** 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 hello@cerihand.com This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/

If you’ve been listening to this festive-season mini-series, you’ll know that in Episode 1 Ceri laid the foundations. The why. The what. The who. The purpose of staging your own event. And in Episode 2 we stepped into the how. The planning. The invitations. The rehearsal. The feedback. The choreography of the night itself. Today, we’re entering the part artists often ignore. The after. Because what happens after your event is often far more important than the event itself. The room empties. The fairy lights cool. The paint smell settles. The cushions slump. The adrenaline fades. And there you are, standing in your studio, wondering what it all meant. Did it work? Did it matter? Was it worth it? What comes next? This is the moment artists often mis-handle. They either spring into frantic action or retreat into silence. But the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Slow, steady, intentional follow up. Gentle momentum. Small moves done consistently. -- Most artists are guessing their way through and staying stuck far longer than they need to. Inside Ceri Hand´s Coaching Membership, you get straight answers and real support through live sessions, portfolio reviews, virtual studio visits, monthly art world experts, and community to help you cut through fast. Ceri covers everything. Right now, you can join or gift a full year for £99 - our only discount of the year, available until the first of January. Please join here - http://cerihand.com/membership/ KEY TAKEAWAYS The after is where 90% of the opportunity sits. The event is only the beginning. The reflection and follow up is the bridge to your future. Hosting your own event is not about grandeur, it's not about numbers. Is not about applause. It's about agency, clarity, community, practice, becoming the artist who leads rather than waits. Plan with intention. Invite with care, host with presence. Follow up with warmth, reflect with honesty, and build with steadiness, and in time, your work will move outward into the world with a stronger pulse. Use your event as a catalyst not a climax. BEST MOMENTS “The first hour after everyone leaves is emotional. Everything feels tender. Your self-worth is loud, your exhaustion is louder.” “She tracks which price points people reached for, she jots down which pieces felt alive in the space and which pieces she'd not show next time.” “This is the moment that artists begin to think like both makers and professionals, where they have agency, where they take control of their own creative careers.” 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 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. ** 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 hello@cerihand.com **** 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/