The Mater Podcast

This fascinating conversation was recorded at the Rembrandthuis museum in Amsterdam, where I had the pleasure of speaking with The Rembrandt House curator, and the former head of paintings conservation at the Rijksmuseum. We were discussing the paintings of the 17th century Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn: about Rembrandt’s pigments, the evolution of his painting process, and the art of painting conservation. My two guests couldn't be more perfect for this podcast because they have both been at the forefront of both unveiling and sharing the latest discoveries into Rembrandt’s materials..

Petria Noble is the former Head of Paintings Conservation at the Rijksmuseum, a position she held between 2014 and 2022. She is a researcher specialised in paintings by Rembrandt van Rijn, and an expert in the material aspects of his paintings. Prior to joining the Rijksmuseum, Petria worked for 18 years as a Paintings Conservator at the Mauritshuis museum in The Hague.

Leonore van Sloten has held a position as curator at The Rembrandt House Museum in Amsterdam since 2005, here she’s responsible for various exhibitions and publications on Rembrandt and related themes.. She initiated and curated amongst others the 2019 exhibition Rembrandt Laboratory: Rembrandt’s Technique Unravelled, the exhibition that we discuss in this conversation, which shone a spotlight on the world of scientific research into materials and techniques.

I'm Maddie Rose Hills, and you have been listening to The Mater Podcast
Find images from our conversation on the Mater Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/mater________/?hl=en-gb

Related links
Rembrandt House Museum: https://www.rembrandthuis.nl/en/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=692326751&gbraid=0AAAAADSRQune0nZ9wB8TfU1tnowVtWEeI&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0KrJBhCOARIsAGIy9wBP9jrDMiXcvx-b-bCP7UN7yffJpwk_csoiU9bx7erGmLeE_ftk9gkaAhFcEALw_wcB
Petria Noble: https://dutchmethodunfolded.humanities.uva.nl/?page_id=474
Leonore van Sloten: https://www.leonorevansloten.com/
Mauritshuis: https://www.mauritshuis.nl/en?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=1613811005&gbraid=0AAAAADuJqF0q5DhmqQoriFVNj5wZ7Kuwt&gclid=Cj0KCQiA0KrJBhCOARIsAGIy9wC2-pIUMtAUUgxiUzjJYrDJNwt6u8xX_5m1lWHykc1HmpHLyBsKHNwaAgC9EALw_wcB
Art Matters Journal: https://www.amjournal.org/

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BCB: https://www.britishceramicsbiennial.com/
This year’s programme: https://www.britishceramicsbiennial.com/news/full-programme-announced-for-british-ceramics-biennial-2025/
Clare Wood: https://www.britishceramicsbiennial.com/person/clare-wood/
Burleigh Pottery: https://www.burleigh.co.uk/pages/about-us
ReForm Herritage: https://re-form.org/
Recast programme BCB: https://www.britishceramicsbiennial.com/project/recast/
The podcast that Clare mentions about the Recast programme: https://open.spotify.com/episode/750cQoCFPCXBv8YjQGJWLN
Claire Baily episode of The Mater Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-mater-podcast/id1749226924?i=1000694666344

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Welcome back!! Today I'm speaking with Tessa Silva about MILK. Tessa is a British-Brazilian artist whose work considers our collective use of materials from ancient history to the present day. Using craft as a tool to investigate the relationship between culture and nature, Tessa unravels the storied histories of the materials she works with in the knowledge that every material has its own biography. Using milk as her primary medium, Tessa has spent the last six years working with surplus milk proteins as a material to produce bespoke, handcrafted sculptural objects. Titled Feminised Protein, a term first coined by American writer, feminist, and animal rights advocate Carol J Adams to address the exploitation of non-human reproductive cycles to produce food on a mass scale, Tessa’s project exists in dialogue with themes of sustainability, history, nature and motherhood.

The Feminised Protein project has been exhibited at institutions such as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna, and at the 10th edition of Future Heritage, curated by Corinne Julius. Tessa has delivered lectures on her practice at the V&A, Henry Moore Studios, and for the British Council’s Circular Cultures programme.

Tessa Silva
Tessa on Instagram

Tessa's Mater text
Esther Leslie's Mater text

Ma-tter Seetal Solanki
Alfriston Clergy
Weald and Downland museum
Hook and Son Farm - raw organic dairy farm
Arts Council England, Developing Your Creative Practice grant

Tessa referenced two other episodes of The Mater Podcast: 'Emma Witter & Krista Mileva Frank' and 'Andrew Cummings & Claye Bowler'

Mater on Instagram
The Mater website

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This week on The Mater Podcast, Evie Hatch, studio and materials specialist and host of Jackson's Pigment Stories, is joined by artist Ginny Elston to discuss The Personalities of Pigments.

Ginny, winner of the Student Award in Jackson’s Art Prize 2023, shares her insights on her collaboration with Unison Colour to curate a series of soft pastels (pictured here). Evie and Ginny also dive into pigments, paint, and their own understandings of colour.

Ginny Elston (Instagram)
Website

Evie Hatch (Instagram)

Jacksons Art (Instagram)
Jacksons Art blog
Jacksons Art Supplies online shop
Jacksons Art Prize

Ginny's Versatility Soft Pastel Set for Unison
Ginny teaches private classes in Edinburgh, held at Scot-Art, (@thescotart) on London Road. It's a local hub for artists in the city with community spaces, studios and galleries.
Ginny’s interview with Jacksons

Links mentioned throughout the conversation
Amy Sillman, On Colour
Rebecca Fortnum, On Not Knowing: How Artists Think
The Mater Podcast episode on the colour blue
Katharina Grosse - colour liberated from the confines of support. Instagram | Website

Ginny’s recommendations for Art Schools
the New York Studio School (@ny_studioschool)
Leith School of Art (@leithschoolofart)
There are some great artists teaching at Black Pond Studio (@blackpondstudio)
Ginny also teaches private classes in Edinburgh, held at Scot-Art, (@thescotart) on London Road. It's a local hub for artists in the city with community spaces, studios and galleries.

Reach out - Mater________ on Instagram
Website - mater.digital
Email - [email protected]

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A conversation between artist Claye Bowler and art historian Andrew Cummings about the exhibition Dig Me A Grave, burials, connection to the land , latex, soil, death & more.

Links
Dig Me A Grave dates & venues:
Steam Works Gallery, WIP Studios, Wandsworth, London
https://www.wipspace.co.uk/dig-me-a-grave
21.03.25 - 11.05.25
PV 20.03.25

Auction House, Redruth, Cornwall
21.06.25 - 19.07.25
PV 20.06.25

Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield
04.10.25 - 02.11.25

A sculpture from this body of work was also part of a group exhibition
Winter Sculpture Park 2025
01.03.25 - 12.04.25

Claye’s exhibition Top (2022) is being shown again at Queer Britain 10/09/2025 - 23/11/2025

Compilation of protests and actions against the Supreme Court: https://whatthetrans.com/compilation-of-protests-against-the-supreme-court/
Fundraising towards five transfem causes in the UK https://www.fiveforfive.co.uk/

Claye on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/clayebowler/?hl=en
Claye’s website: https://www.clayebowler.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAafm3sQ4CBOg5SYofyAmlntP0rmy1-pJZufTxZbWUseEfV5LruEAwpCwAY3MVw_aem__qa4reKB4fVG85oxlrdUjw
Andrew: https://researchers.arts.ac.uk/2344-andrew-cummings
https://courtauld.ac.uk/research/research-resources/publications/immeditations-postgraduate-journal/immediations-online/immediations-no-18-2021/the-promise-of-parasites/

Fire Choir https://thenestcollective.co.uk/projects/fire-choir
The False Bride, Folk Song that Claye mentions with ‘I’ll lie in my grave until I get over you’
About the Museum Registrar Traineeship: https://ahc.leeds.ac.uk/fine-art/news/article/2675/museum-registrar-traineeship-opportunity-in-leeds-from-september-2024#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThe%20traineeship%20sees%20the%20successful,collections%20work%20amongst%20other%20students.
Brandon Labelle: https://brandonlabelle.net/
Gluck: https://www.npg.org.uk/schools-hub/gluck-by-gluck
Living Well Dying Well - Andrew’s End-of-Life Doula foundation training - https://lwdwtraining.uk/
Grief Tending in Community https://grieftending.org/
Francis Weller, The Wild Edge of Sorrow: Rituals of Renewal and the Sacred Work of Grief, North Atlantic Books, 2015
Camille Barton, Tending Grief: Embodied Rituals for Holding our Sorrow, North Atlantic Books, 2024
Top, at Henry Moore Institute https://henry-moore.org/whats-on/claye-bowler-top/
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