Level Up: Insight for Mid-Career Artists with Ceri Hand
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
Release Date: 03/14/2025
Keep Painting: John Walker on a Life in the Studio
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
We’re revisiting one of my favorite conversations from the archive with painter John Walker, an episode that feels just as relevant now as when it first aired. In this conversation, John reflects on what it means to stay with the work over decades, how a painting practice evolves over time, and the quiet discipline required to keep showing up to the studio. We talk about the deeply meaningful realities of a life devoted to making art. As we move into a new year, this episode feels like the perfect reminder that sustainable creative lives aren’t built overnight they’re...
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Doing the Next Thing in Your Art Practice: Following What Lights You Up in the New Year
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
In this New Year episode of I Like Your Work, I talk about doing the next thing in your art practice by following what genuinely lights you up — even when it means making a change. I share why I chose to refocus my energy on teaching, creating courses, and building spaces for artists, and how that clarity led me to an exciting move to Patreon. This shift makes it easier for more artists to access professional practice support, classes, and conversations in a way that’s flexible, affordable, and rooted in real studio life. I Like Your Work Links: ...
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Do It Afraid — Creative Planning for Artists Starting the Year Strong
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
In this mini episode of I Like Your Work, I talk about why waiting to feel “ready” or confident keeps so many artists stuck and how planning your artistic year while feeling afraid can actually be the most honest place to start. This episode is for artists who: Feel overwhelmed when thinking about the year ahead Struggle with creative fear, doubt, or perfectionism Want to plan their art practice without burning out Are ready to make work even when clarity hasn’t arrived yet You don’t need to eliminate fear to move forward. You can do it afraid. I share simple,...
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Sculptor Lydia Musco on Finding Clarity in Your Studio Practice
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
Lydia Jenkins Musco’s work has been exhibited in galleries and public spaces throughout the United States. With an MFA from Boston University and a BA from Bennington College, her artistic practice has been shaped by international experiences, including stone carving studies in Italy and participation in art symposia in Norway, South Korea, and China. Musco’s work has earned recognition through awards including two Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants, a Joan Mitchell Foundation MFA Grant, and an Edward F. Albee Residency Fellowship, among others. Her work has been featured in exhibitions...
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What’s Happening at Miami Art Week 2025: Artist Takeaways from Art Basel, NADA, Untitled & SCOPE
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
If you’ve been watching the Miami energy from afar and wondering what it all means for your studio practice, this episode gives you the trends, themes, and takeaways that actually matter for artists.In this episode, Erika covers: • The big-picture trends shaping Miami Art Week 2025: – Institutional validation and residencies becoming more influential – The shift toward sustainable careers and long-term practice – Experiential installations dominating many fairs – Latin American and Caribbean artists in the spotlight – The ongoing market...
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Italian Journey: Corot, Goethe & the Self We Discover
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
In this episode, Erika explores how observation, travel, and memory shape artistic practice, inspired by her upcoming class in Italy, The Symbolic Landscape. Drawing from Corot’s plein air studies and Goethe’s Italian Journey, she reflects on how artists discover themselves through what they see—whether in a distant landscape or a simple daily moment. The episode invites listeners to make space for beauty and reflection, wherever they are, and to see art as both a return to the world and a way to transcend it. Dates: May 10 - May 24 Early Registration Discount: A 20%...
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Understanding Your Experience with Painter Gail Spaien
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
Gail Spaien (b. 1958, Hartford, Connecticut) is an American artist and educator based in Maine. Her studio practice centers around the idea that a painting is a site of connection; an object that transmits emotion from one person to another. She is of a lineage of artists who think craft and beauty shape and build a more relational world. Spaien has been the recipient of numerous fellowships, including the Ucross Foundation (2024), Varda Artist Residency Program, Djerassi Foundation Resident Artists Program, Millay Colony for the Arts, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture....
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Most Overlooked Area in Open Calls
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
In this episode, I'm diving into open calls including what jurors look for when reviewing applications, and why the description box is crucial for providing context about your artwork. I'm also sharing practical tips on how artists can use detailed descriptions to make their submissions stand out and highlighting resources for artists to improve their application process. I Like Your Work Links: Thank you to our sponsor, Sunlight Tax. Apply for our Winter Exhibition: Deadline is November 15: ...
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The Life of Objects with Painter Gwen Strahle
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
Gwen Strahle is a painter living and working in northeast CT. She teaches at the Rhode Island School of Design. She shows her work at Nancy Devine Gallery in RI. Strahle has received several awards including the Connecticut Artist Fellowship, the Purchase Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Honorarium from the Drawing Center. Strahle earned her MFA from Yale University in 1983. "I have been making paintings of objects arranged on my studio table for over forty years. Many of the objects in my work have been with me for the entirety of that...
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Mystery and Philip Guston
I Like Your Work: Conversations with Artists
In this episode, I touch on mystery in art—the space between knowing and not knowing that drives us to create and share Philip Guston’s essay “Faith, Hope, and Impossibility”. Faith, Hope, and Impossibility- Philip Guston “There are so many things in the world—in the cities—so much to see. Does art need to represent this variety and contribute to its proliferation? Can art be that free? The difficulties begin when you understand what it is that the soul will not permit the hand to make. To paint is always to start at the beginning again, yet being unable to avoid the...
info_outlineCeri Hand is a creative coach, mentor, host of the Extraordinary Creatives podcast, public speaker and the founder of www.cerihand.com, supporting thousands of creatives to make an impact with their work and earn more money doing what they love.
Prior to establishing Ceri Hand she was Director of Programmes for Somerset House, responsible for the exhibitions, live events, learning and skills programme across the whole historic site. She successfully helped to build its profile and brand, shaping its reputation as one of the UK’s top 10 most visited arts attractions (2.5million visitors annually).
Significant highlights include landmark exhibitions such as Mushrooms: The Art, Design and Future of Funghi; Get Up, Stand Up Now: Generations of Black Creative Pioneers; Good Grief, Charlie Brown! Celebrating Snoopy and the Enduring Power of Peanuts; Hassan Hajjaj: La Caravane, in partnership with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair; commissioning filmmaker Bradford Young for the annual Film4 Summer Screen programme; Anna Meredith and GAIKA for the ice-rink and Kojey Radical and Little Simz for the outdoor concerts Summer Series.
During her time there, she also successfully commissioned artists based within Somerset House Studios including Hannah Perry, Larry Achiampong and GAIKA, as well as commissioning new work for 1:54 AFrican Art Fair, Photo London, British Council International Fashion Showcase, and the London Design Biennale.
Throughout her career she’s worked with and commissioned new work from thousands of artists including notably: Hans Peter Feldmann, Gary Simmons, Angela Bulloch, Vito Acconci, Pipilotti Rist, Bedwyr Williams, Toby Ziegler, Dexter Dalwood, Chen Chieh-jen, Walid Raad/The Atlas Group, Sophie Jung, Anthea Hamilton, John Akomfrah and Black Audio Film Collective, Christian Jankowski, Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Sissel Tolaas, Shilpa Gupta, Salla Tykka, Candice Breitz, Yang Fudong, Jill Magid, Cory Arcangel, Jeremy Deller & Alan Kane, Naeem Mohaiemen, Ran Huang, Paulina Olowska, Claudio Parmiggiani, João Penalva, Mai-Thu Perret, Michelangelo Pistoletto, Josephine Pryde, Hugh Scott-Douglas, Jim Shaw, Clare Woods and Heimo Zobernig.
Ceri’s other previous roles include: Associate Director: Institutions and Public Relations, Simon Lee Gallery, London; Associate Consultant, Contemporary Art Society, London; Director, Ceri Hand Gallery, London/Liverpool; Director of Metal, Liverpool; Director of Exhibitions, FACT, Liverpool; Deputy Director of Grizedale Arts, Cumbria and Director of Make, London. Ceri is currently Chair of Castlefield Gallery, Manchester.
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Apply to our Summer Exhibition & Publication at Chautauqua Visual Arts: https://www.ilikeyourworkpodcast.com/submitwork