21: Creating in all its forms, from chocolate to canvas with Aisleigh Anne
Release Date: 02/14/2025
47: Sonya Wilkins: Clay, Trees and the Art of Listening to What Lifts You
An Art To It
In this episode, I’m joined by ceramic artist Sonya Wilkins, whose vessels are inspired by the natural world - particularly trees, woodland textures, and the quiet power of time spent outdoors. Sonya shares how creativity has been woven through her life since childhood, from early painting lessons with her father to discovering clay at school, and why ceramics became both a practice and a refuge. Sonya also talks candidly about her “two pulls”: a creative identity alongside an entrepreneurial streak, and how her earlier career in people development eventually found its way back...
info_outline
46: Art for Everyone with Liz Lidgett
An Art To It
2026 - and series five - kicks off with An Art to It’s first ever transatlantic episode: this week I’m joined by gallerist Liz Lidgett of Liz Lidgett Gallery + Design in Des Moines, Iowa. https://www.lizlidgett.com/ Liz shares how growing up with a free local museum - and a grandmother who bought her art lessons every Christmas - shaped her belief that art should be for everyone. After studying art history and working as an in-house curator for a major corporate collection, she left the corporate world after exactly one year to become a freelance art advisor before opening her own gallery...
info_outline
45: Christmas Special: Behind the Gallery Wall with Sharon Harvey and Sara McKee
An Art To It
Ever wanted to eavesdrop of gallery owners in conversation? Now is your chance . In this Christmas Special edition of An Art to It, I’m joined by two fellow gallerists: Sharon Harvey (Sanctuary Gallery, Gloucestershire, and landscape artist) and Sara McKee (Life Full Colour gallery and music venue, North Wales). Together we unwrap what 2025 has really been like for independent galleries: the tough months, the surprising highs, the “Dunkirk Spirit” of a Private View in a rainstorm and flood, and why layering income streams and experiences has become essential. We also answer questions...
info_outline
44: Finding Your Artistic Life with Gabriella Buckingham
An Art To It
In this week’s episode, I chat to visual artist Gabriella Buckingham, whose creative path has taken her from illustration, to product design, to online teaching, and finally to the richly expressive painting practice she runs today. Gabriella reflects on her childhood desire to be an artist and how finally reaching her destination “was just what I wanted. So I'm very grateful.” And how her time spent in the business side of a greetings card business left her with invaluable knowledge of trends, sales analysis and creative stamina which she could ultimately apply to her own creative...
info_outline
Unframed 5: It’s Makeover Time
An Art To It
In this final episode of my mini-series An Art to It: Unframed, we’re talking about the quiet power of presentation - and why giving your digital presence a bit of a make-over can make such a difference to how your work is seen, understood, and valued. As a gallery owner I get a lot of submissions from artists and makers asking me to consider their work, and naturally I look at their Instagram accounts and websites. Some times I’m excited by what I discover and others… well, let’s just I’m left a bit confused as to what their practice actually is. So this episode explores how your...
info_outline
43: A Certain Kind of Crazy: Ten Years as a Maker with Amy Stringer
An Art To It
In this episode of An Art to It, I’m joined by applied artist Amy Stringer, who has just celebrated ten years of running her creative business. Amy’s practice moves between jewellery and ceramics – think structural, architectural, process-led work that blurs the boundaries between wearable pieces and sculptural objects. Starting with body adornment and bold cement forms, she’s now known for both her chain-led silver jewellery and her carved Kurinuki vessels, where jewellery sometimes lives inside the ceramic object. Together, Elaine and Amy talk about what has changed over the...
info_outline
Unframed 4: Copycats
An Art To It
It’s one thing when a friend deliberately buys the same coat as you. It’s quite another when your creative work, or something very similar, turns up on someone else’s instagram grid, gallery, grid, or workshop offering. Copying is personal, deeply and annoying and hurtful - but when it could undermine your carefully crafted creative identity and brand, then it’s a real issue. In this episode, we take a look at the slightly thorny subject of copying in creative business: how to spot it, what to do when it happens, and how to protect yourself going forward. From personal experience to...
info_outline
42: The Art of Reinvention with Jane Wilson
An Art To It
What happens when the art you’re known for no longer brings you joy? In this episode, mixed media artist Jane Wilson shares her journey from fashion buying to creative commercial success, and how a door closing lead to her finding her true voice as a playful, joy-filled artist. Jane opens up about early experiences of imposter syndrome, the emotional fallout from a tough gallery break-up, and how lockdown gave her space to rediscover creativity on her own terms. We talk about the art of starting over - more than once - and why success looks different at different stages of life and career....
info_outline
Unframed 3: Invisible Women: Time to Throw off the Cloak
An Art To It
In episode three of my mini series of mini podcasts, I’m talking about something that comes up again and again - in both quiet conversations and loud frustrations. Invisibility. That creeping feeling of no longer being seen or noticed as we age, especially as women. Whether it's being ignored in a cafe queue, looked through as we walk into a gallery or walked past at a party, there's a moment many of us experience where it feels like the spotlight has quietly moved elsewhere. And if you’re an artist and maker does that make your job of getting your work seen even harder? I believe...
info_outline
41: Creative Hands, Bold Moves with Franca Westaway
An Art To It
In this week’s episode of An Art to It, I chat to artist I talk to the multi-talented Franca Westaway - an artist, designer, educator and all-round creative force. Franca’s work spans textiles, ceramics, teaching, painting, mural commissions - and a deep commitment to following her creative instincts wherever they lead. We talked about her early love of fashion and textiles, and how she pivoted from working in the London fashion industry to teaching art and then building her own surface pattern business. She shares how creating bold work helped her resist the “invisibility cloak” that...
info_outlineIf you could pick the ideal medium to create your art work what would it be? Oil paint, charcoal, … or chocolate? Although painting had been a part of her life for as long as she could remember, it was as a chocolatier that Ashleigh Anne first found creative professional success.
In our lovely chat, Aisleigh shares her love of creating in all its guises and how following in her family's footsteps into the restaurant and catering world didn’t mean she turned her back on her artistic skills. Encouraged by her grandmother, she excelled at cakes and confectionery and before long was opening a chocolate shop and cafe where her elaborate wedding cakes were much in demand.
Aisleigh reveals that working in the somewhat relentless pressure of the hospitality industry took its toll on her mental health. A decision to reprise her love of painting and to go to art college to pursue that sadly added to the stress rather than relieving it. But moving away from the chocolate business and finding solace in new jobs in gardening and fitness helped; and then finally a move from Devon over the border to Cornwall made Aisleigh determined to follow her artistic dreams.
We chat about Aisleigh’s work, her inspirations and desires for her practice and how having run her cafe has given her insights into the skills she needed to bring to her creative business.
Aisleigh also shares that having had her own issues with anxiety has inspired to create art especially for those in need of a tranquil and calming focus.
You can see Aisleigh’s art on her website https://www.aisleighanneart.com/ and on instagram she is @aisleighannecornwallart
Aisleigh also talked about taking part in the course I offer to artists and makers - An Insider’s Guide to Gallery Success. It’s back this April with a bit of a makeover and some exciting new content, to join the waitlist so you’ll be the first to hear, and get a 10% discount on any course purchased, please visit https://thebyregallery.co.uk/pages/courses-and-coaching