Extraordinary Creatives

My guest today is the wonderful Italian-Australian singer-songwriter Gabriella Cilmi.

Many of you will remember her breakthrough hit Sweet About Me, which became a global success when she was just sixteen.

Since then she's toured the world, won awards, shared stages with some of music's biggest names, and now, after thirteen years, she's released a remarkable new album called Pure Love. It's soulful, analogue, deeply human, and for me, one of those records that gets better every time you listen to it.

What fascinated me wasn't the success. It was the journey back to herself.

In this conversation, Gabriella shares what it took to stop running from other people's expectations, how she learned to trust her own creative instincts again, why the people around us shape the work we're capable of making, and how she finally found the confidence to make the album she'd always wanted to make.

If you've ever questioned your own voice, struggled to trust your instincts, or wondered whether it's too late to create the work that's really inside you, I think you're going to love this conversation.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The work often changes when we stop trying to outrun ourselves and start listening to the part of us that knew what it loved before everyone else’s expectations got involved.

Sometimes your younger self knows more than you think. Return to that place within yourself that cannot be destroyed, your spark.

The right people can create the conditions for extraordinary work to exist. Being seen, supported and challenged by others can give you the confidence to take risks.

Don´t eliminate all uncertainty from your creative process. Deliberately creating slight discomfort, more opportunity for spontaneity and the possibility of failure introduces energy into your work. Some imperfection is not a defect; it can be part of the character of the work.

BEST MOMENTS

“That first seed of idea is so important. don't lose track of it. It can change. Be open to it changing, but there's always something in that.”

“Fear never disappeared but became something she learned to work alongside. And perhaps most importantly, success became less about proving herself and more about finding peace with herself.”

“I just stopped trying as hard and just did what felt natural.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://open.spotify.com/artist/5v2GEv1pQaCp6oeOQROdKE

https://www.instagram.com/gabriellacilmi/ - to pre-order her new album

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/

I was watching The Big Deal, the new programme with Steph McGovern on the BBC, and I came away with more thoughts than will fit into one episode. Most of them can wait. Today I want to use one thing from it, because it landed directly on top of something that comes up in my membership every single week.

An artist has made a body of work. It went out once, into one exhibition, and it didn't sell. Now it's in the studio taking up space, and the question arrives in one of three forms. Should I auction it off cheap? Should I give it away? Should it even be on my website anymore?

So, three questions, and every one of them is a plan for getting rid.

It is interesting the speed at which the artist brain goes to disposal. The work has been out once…. and already the conclusion is that it's spent, it's evidence of something that didn't work, and that the fastest way back to feeling alright is to make it disappear. And underneath that is something bigger - artists hate the idea of selling.

Yet, I know that every artist can turn their graveyard of pieces that did not sell into a living archive that attracts collectors.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Unsold work is not failed work. That back catalogue you’re quietly ashamed of might be the best thing someone new to it sees this year. Your job is not to hide it, but to remember why you made it and let it back into circulation.

An aversion to the idea of sales holds you back. Selling doesn’t require you to become louder, slicker, more salesy. It’s shared enthusiasm. When you reconnect with the ideas, stories, and processes behind a piece, you can talk about it in a way that lets other people decide whether it’s for them.

You need a simple practice. One older piece a month: document it properly, write a short note about where it came from, and release it through your newsletter, socials, or a personal email.

BEST MOMENTS

“The work in the corner of your studio isn't waiting to be disposed of. It's waiting for you to remember why you made it and share your enthusiasm for it.”

“You have to sell yourself on the work first before you try to sell the work to anybody else.”

“She started looking for her people, her collectors, the ones already half interested in what she was interested in.”

If you want more of this in your inbox every week, subscribe to my newsletter Beat the Block cerihand.com/subscribe and it’ll land in your inbox every Friday.

EPISODE RESOURCES

How to sell more art episode - https://podcasts.apple.com/tw/podcast/want-to-sell-more-art-fix-this-first/id1709105337?i=1000700986682

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 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/

Some artists spend their whole lives trying to outrun the work that made them famous.

Others spend their lives trying to find their way back to themselves.

Today's guest has somehow done both.

Wreckless Eric exploded onto the music scene with Whole Wide World, a song that became part of popular culture. But behind the myth sits Eric Goulden: musician, songwriter, producer, writer and relentless observer of ordinary life, who's spent four decades building a body of work far richer and more personal than most people realise.

In this conversation, we go far beyond punk and nostalgia.

We talk about growing up, art school, perfectionism, collaboration, his distrust of the music industry, and what it means to keep evolving when everyone thinks they already know who you are.

We explore his partnership with songwriter Amy Rigby, why imperfection makes music human, and how returning to songs he'd once considered failures became one of the most liberating creative acts of his life.

This isn't really a conversation about success.

It's about staying curious enough to keep becoming.

I loved every minute of it, and I think you will too.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

You don't need perfect conditions to make honest work. You can start exactly where you are, with the tools and spaces you already have, and let the scruffy, makeshift reality around you quietly seep into what you make.
Celebrate your idiosyncrasies and make the work anyway. No one is queueing up for it - and that's freeing. The wrong notes, rough edges and sudden left turns are often where the real human connection lives.

BEST MOMENTS

“You should celebrate your idiosyncrasies rather than try and fix them.”

“Stay curious. Keep experimenting. Trust your odd rhythms. The work that lasts isn't usually the work that tries hardest to fit in. It's the work that sounds unmistakably like you.”

“I got it in my head that rhymes were really banal… but she said they take you to places that you probably wouldn't go without them.”

“It's like Morris dancing in a in a recording studio.”

EPISODE RESOURCES
https://www.wrecklesseric.com
England Screaming - https://www.promojukebox.com/PEMDL87209220-2AV5YA5R7TBB4BCS-sean%40bureau-b.com%2Csean.newsham.tapet
Leisureland - https://www.promojukebox.com/PEMDL42485375-R24DCBHF4GCTBTR7-sean%40bureau-b.com%2Csean.newsham.tapet
Amy's Rigby’s Hang In There With Me - https://www.promojukebox.com/PEMDL50672250-FNXA4A4HAZTVPWDE-sean%40bureau-b.com%2Csean.newsham.tapet

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. 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 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
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/

There is a page in Emma's notebook that has been written out, in more or less the same words, most weeks for months.

Five things on it. Email the curator she met last spring. Book the studio visit. Get the new work up on the website. Finish the residency application. And every week, in that big looping handwriting of hers, the same five things go down on a clean page, and by the following week not one of them has a line through it.

If you have a page like that, and I think most of you do, I think some of you could recite yours to me right now, then this one is for you. It will help you to work out why you are repeatedly delaying doing those specific tasks, so you can finally break that cycle, get them done and make some real progress.Before we go any further, if you haven't followed the show yet, do that now, because these solo episodes land every week and they are built to be used rather than just listened to.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

The task that´s been on your list for weeks isn’t a procrastination problem; it’s an emotional one. Emailing the curator, updating your website, raising your prices look like simple tasks, but by not doing them you are actually dodging the risk of rejection, judgement, or getting it wrong in public.

Instead of asking, “Why can’t I just do this?”, say, “I’m not avoiding the task, I’m avoiding the feeling that…”.

Reframe the task, make it tiny and less threatening: “email the curator” becomes “practice reaching out,” “update my website” becomes “practice being seen.”

Make taking action embarrassingly small. Send a three‑line email to that curator, spend 30 minutes on updating your website – so fear doesn’t get a vote, and you can actually do it on an ordinary, messy day.

BEST MOMENTS

“Not one of those five tasks was a task. All five were feelings that she'd already decided the task would produce.”

“You tell yourself to put the new work online, and it (your brain) files that under judgement. And you tell yourself to raise your prices, and it files that under losing everything you've built.”

“Confidence arrives afterwards. It arrives as evidence. Every difficult email that you've sent, every application you've submitted, every room that you've walked into before you felt ready, your brain quietly loved that you came out the other side.”

“Practising saying it out loud to yourself over and again is how it becomes embodied.”

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 does it really take to create extraordinary work with another person?

Not just the exciting bits of making, but everything that happens behind the scenes. Building trust. Navigating creative differences. Talking honestly about money. Knowing when to compromise and when to hold your ground. And finding a way to keep making work together over many years without losing your own artistic voice.

That's what today's conversation is really about.

My guests are composer and sound artist Ain Bailey and vocalist, composer and movement artist Elaine Mitchener MBE, two artists whose work has quietly shaped the landscape of contemporary art and experimental music in Britain and internationally.

Ain's work has been commissioned and exhibited by organisations including Camden Art Centre, the Serpentine, FACT Liverpool and CCS Bard in New York, and she's a recipient of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation's Awards for Artists.

Elaine is a Wigmore Hall Associate Artist, an MBE for Services to Music, a former DAAD Artist-in-Berlin Fellow, and an exhibiting artist in British Art Show 9, with a practice spanning contemporary music, performance and visual art.

Together they've created Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner for Art on the Underground. But what they share today reaches far beyond a single commission.

This is a conversation about creative partnership, artistic integrity, sustaining a practice over decades, and what it really takes to make ambitious work that lasts.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Creative careers aren't built by endlessly saying yes. They're built by knowing what deserves your time, having the courage to walk away from what doesn't, and trusting that the quieter seasons aren't empty.

The best creative partnerships are sustained by relationships that exist beyond a single project. Building trust over time, staying connected to your community and continuing to initiate relationships creates the network of people and opportunities that keep an ambitious practice moving forward.

BEST MOMENTS

“They don't confuse trust with vagueness. They ask difficult questions, they're clear about expectations, they value each other's time, and they aren't afraid to have honest conversations.”

“There are friends who have seen the work of somebody online and think that they would want to collaborate with them. Then they do - and it's a horror show.”

“You're not behind. Rest is part of the work. Learning is part of the work.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://ainbailey.com/

https://www.elainemitchener.com/

https://www.instagram.com/elainemitchener1/

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

**

This Podcast has been brought to you by Disruptive Media. https://disruptivemedia.co.uk/