The Mater Podcast

• Milk with Tessa Silva

  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 SilvaTessa on InstagramTessa's Mater textEsther Leslie's Mater textMa-tter Seetal SolankiAlfriston ClergyWeald and Downland museumHook and Son Farm - raw organic dairy farmArts 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 InstagramThe Mater website Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• The Personalities of Pigments with Ginny Elston & Evie Hatch

  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)WebsiteEvie Hatch (Instagram)Jacksons Art (Instagram)Jacksons Art blogJacksons Art Supplies online shopJacksons Art PrizeGinny's Versatility Soft Pastel Set for UnisonGinny 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 JacksonsLinks mentioned throughout the conversationAmy Sillman, On ColourRebecca Fortnum, On Not Knowing: How Artists ThinkThe Mater Podcast episode on the colour blueKatharina Grosse - colour liberated from the confines of support. Instagram | WebsiteGinny’s recommendations for Art Schoolsthe 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 InstagramWebsite - mater.digitalEmail - [email protected] Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  1:09:22
• Dig Me A Grave with Claye Bowler & Andrew Cummings

  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.LinksDig Me A Grave dates & venues:Steam Works Gallery, WIP Studios, Wandsworth, Londonhttps://www.wipspace.co.uk/dig-me-a-grave21.03.25 - 11.05.25PV 20.03.25Auction House, Redruth, Cornwall21.06.25 - 19.07.25PV 20.06.25Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Wakefield04.10.25 - 02.11.25A sculpture from this body of work was also part of a group exhibitionWinter Sculpture Park 202501.03.25 - 12.04.25Claye’s exhibition Top (2022) is being shown again at Queer Britain 10/09/2025 - 23/11/2025Compilation 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=enClaye’s website: https://www.clayebowler.com/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAafm3sQ4CBOg5SYofyAmlntP0rmy1-pJZufTxZbWUseEfV5LruEAwpCwAY3MVw_aem__qa4reKB4fVG85oxlrdUjwAndrew: 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-choirThe 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-gluckLiving 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, 2024Top, at Henry Moore Institute https://henry-moore.org/whats-on/claye-bowler-top/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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  1:14:33
• Conservation, Craft & Art at West Dean (notes from a Research Residency)

  Hello! This is Maddie Rose Hills, host of The Mater Podcast. This week's episode is a little different, and a lot shorter! I have just got back from a week-long Research Residency at West Dean School of Arts, Craft, Design and Conservation. What is a research residency? Well it can really be anything - but for me it meant wandering around the school, meeting people from lots of different departments, and talking with them about what attracted them to the craft and materials that they were studying or teaching. I wrote a diary while down there and have put together a selection of the thoughts here. This text can be read on the Mater website: https://mater.digital/stories/a-research-residency-at-west-dean/Or listened to here on the podcast platformI will also share more images on the Mater Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mater________/?hl=enFind out more about West Dean: https://www.westdean.ac.uk/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westdeancollege/?hl=enWest Dean Fine Art on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/westdeanfineart/?hl=enMore about West Dean: 'Our schools of arts, design and conservation offer a uniquely broad range of world-leading courses. At the heart of all we do, is our belief that 'making' makes our lives better. We celebrate the intrinsic value of work that has been hand-made by artists and artisans, and challenge the assumption that mass-produced must be the only way because, across the world, the maker movement is growing.' Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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• Relationships with Colour, with Barbara Collé & Lucila Kenny

  Today I am chatting with Lucila Kenny and Barbara Collé about COLOURLucila Kenny is an Argentinean textile designer as well as a researcher focused on Natural Dyeing and the colourants produced by a range of plant species. As a natural dyer and educator she has worked with universities, art academies, fashion designers, biologists and artists exploring, preparing and producing plant colorants for dyeing, inks and paints.Barbara Colle is a Dutch visual artist and philosopher, investigating our experience of colour. She publishes her findings through essays, artist books and visual essays. On the subject of colour she guest lectures at universities, contributes to publications and curates. The two have bonded over colour and perception through many conversations and collaborations, so it was very moving to be able to be a fly on the wall for one of their chats. We discuss how colour is changing all the time, and letting go of a desire to control colour when natural dying and while growing pigments. Lucila describes is as seeing that the plants are 'gifting' us, instead of what we want to take. They discuss the language we use to describe colour, and how it says so much about our relationship with it. LinksLucilla's website: https://www.lucilakenny.com/ | On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lucila.kenny/?hl=en-gbBarbara's website: https://www.barbaracolle.nl/ | On Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/barbara___colle_/Indigo website: www.growingblue.infoflower, fruit, leaf, husk and root (book): https://www.lucilakenny.com/shop/bookBraiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall KimmererElmer, by David Mckee (the children's book about colourful elephants)The Color Kittens, Margaret Wise Brown (Barbara's children's book)Eleanor Irwin, Colour Terms In Greek Poetry (1974) Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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