Let’s Talk About Creative Podcasts

Pull Up a Chair – Let’s Talk About Creative Podcasts

There is something rather lovely about a good conversation, isn’t there? Not the rushed sort where you’re half listening while simultaneously answering an email, putting the washing on and wondering what you went into the kitchen for, but a proper conversation. The kind where you suddenly learn something about somebody you’ve known for years, discover a completely different way of looking at something, have a good giggle or find yourself saying, “Oh thank goodness, I thought that was just me.”

And I think that is really where the magic of podcasts lies.

I’ve become a big fan of podcasts because they fit into real life. You can listen while you’re driving, walking the dog, cooking dinner, painting, drawing or, in my case, probably cleaning up a studio that will look exactly the same again approximately seven minutes later. But more importantly, they allow us to step into conversations and communities that we might never physically be able to access.

Taking the creative community outside the studio

For years, my creative community existed largely within the four walls of my studio. It was the children who came through the door every afternoon, the adults sitting around a table at a workshop, other artists I met at exhibitions, teachers I worked alongside and all those conversations that happen when people are making something together.

And I still absolutely love that. There is nothing quite like physically creating alongside other people. But podcasts have opened up another kind of creative community, one that isn’t limited by geography, timetables or whether you can actually get yourself to a gallery, studio or classroom on a Tuesday night.

You can be sitting in Brisbane listening to an artist in London talking about why their exhibition went horribly wrong. You can be driving to work listening to an art teacher discussing what is happening in classrooms. You can hear a curator explain why an artwork matters, listen to two artists disagree about creative practice, or discover somebody whose work sends you down a complete rabbit hole for the rest of the afternoon. And suddenly your creative world gets a little bit bigger.

I think that is incredibly valuable, particularly in the arts, because creative practice can actually be quite isolating. So much of making happens alone. You're in your studio, at your kitchen table, in the spare bedroom or squeezed into whichever tiny corner of the house your family hasn't claimed yet. Podcasts can provide company, but they can also give you access to ideas, opinions and experiences outside your own little creative bubble.

A space for discussion, debate and education

The other thing I love is that podcasts give conversations room to breathe. Social media is brilliant for lots of things, but we consume so much of it in tiny snippets. A photograph here, a 30-second reel there, a caption we skim while waiting for the kettle to boil. Complex conversations about creativity, education, careers, wellbeing or the art world don't always fit particularly well into 30 seconds.

A podcast allows somebody to say, “Well actually, it’s a bit more complicated than that.”

There is space for discussion and disagreement. There is time to explain why somebody teaches in a particular way, why an artist changed direction, why a curator chose one work over another or why two creative people can have completely different opinions about the same subject and neither necessarily has to be wrong. That's education too.

I have been teaching art for more than 20 years, but that certainly doesn't mean I've finished learning. Far from it. Some of the most interesting things I've learned have come from conversations with other artists, educators and creative people who do things completely differently from me.

Podcasts give us access to those conversations. They're almost like having a constantly expanding staffroom, studio and slightly unruly creative dinner party in your pocket.

And I rather like that.

A few creative podcasts worth popping in your ears

There are some fabulous podcasts already contributing to that wider creative conversation.

Closer to home, there is The Art Room, the new podcast from the Queensland Art Teachers Association. As an art educator, I'm particularly excited to see a Queensland-based podcast creating space for conversations around art education – what we're teaching, how we're teaching it and how we continue to keep creativity alive in our classrooms and communities.

Another Australian one worth seeking out is Talking with Painters, hosted by Maria Stoljar. The podcast gets beyond simply looking at the finished artwork and explores the person and process behind it. How did you get here? What happens in your studio? What influences your work? What keeps you going? Those are the conversations I find fascinating because the finished painting is really only one tiny part of an artist's story.

Then there's Art Juice, with artists Alice Sheridan and Louise Fletcher. Art Juice has now finished producing new episodes, but there is a fabulous back catalogue still sitting there waiting to be discovered. Their conversations about art, creative practice and the realities of being a working artist are honest, generous and funny. Think of it as discovering a really good box set after everyone else has watched it – you might be late to the party, but you've got loads of episodes to binge.

For a good dose of art history, The Great Women Artists Podcast, hosted by Katy Hessel, celebrates women artists through conversations with artists, curators, writers and other voices from the art world. If, like me, you enjoy disappearing down a rabbit hole and suddenly realising you've spent an hour learning about an artist you'd barely heard of before, this is a dangerous one.

And ART FOR YOUR EAR, from The Jealous Curator, takes you behind the finished artwork and into the lives of contemporary artists – the human stories, the funny bits, the struggles and all the stuff you don't necessarily know when you're standing politely in a gallery looking at the finished piece.

That's what I love about creative podcasts. They don't all need to do the same thing. Some educate, some challenge, some celebrate, some delve into history, some talk technique and some simply allow us to eavesdrop on a cracking good conversation.

Together, though, they're helping to build a creative community that extends far beyond the walls of any one studio, gallery or classroom.

And somehow, I've joined the podcast world too...

Which brings me to The Nook - A cosy chat about creativity

After more than 20 years of being an artist and art educator, I apparently decided that teaching, running an art studio, making my own artwork, running workshops, creating content and generally having far too many ideas wasn't enough. Obviously what I needed was a podcast. The Nook is my contribution to that wonderfully noisy creative conversation.

My aim has always been to make creativity affordable, accessible and available to everybody, and the podcast feels like another way of doing exactly that. I want to break down some of the snobbery and mystery that can surround the art world and create conversations that feel welcoming rather than intimidating.

I hear people say all the time, “Oh Karen, I'm not creative.” “I can't draw.” “I can't even draw a stick figure.”

Well, firstly, I've seen some pretty questionable stick figures in my time and nobody has been arrested yet. And secondly, who decided creativity meant being able to draw perfectly anyway?

Creativity is enormous. It's painting, drawing, fashion, illustration, sculpture, photography, design, textiles, writing, gardening, cooking, making, problem-solving and coming up with ridiculous ideas at two o'clock in the morning that you then inexplicably decide to turn into actual projects. The Nook gives me somewhere to explore all of that. The people behind the creativity

I've got some fabulous guests lined up from across the creative world: artists, gallery curators, community arts providers, designers, makers and people whose creative careers have taken them in directions they probably never imagined when they started.

Of course I want to know what they do, but I'm probably even more interested in everything that happened along the way. What went wrong? What nearly made them give up? Who gave them a chance? What was their sliding-door moment? Do they still suffer from imposter syndrome? And do they ever look at what everybody else is doing and think, “Bloody hell, am I actually any good at this?”

Because I certainly do.

The episodes will alternate between guest conversations and chats with me about my own creative roller coaster: teaching art, making art, running a creative business, finding inspiration, building communities and navigating all the strange and wonderful things that have happened during more than 20 years of doing this.

I'm not interested in pretending I have all the answers, because I absolutely don't. I'm still learning, experimenting and making mistakes, and still occasionally producing a piece of artwork that makes me wonder whether I should quietly put it in the bin and pretend it never happened.

That's creativity.

Creativity, connection and wellbeing

There is another conversation I particularly want The Nook to be part of, and that's the relationship between creativity, connection and wellbeing.

I've seen firsthand what happens when people are given permission to create without worrying about whether the finished result is “good.” I've watched children who lack confidence completely come out of their shells through art. I've watched adults rediscover something they loved doing as children and had somehow forgotten they were allowed to do. I've watched friendships form around tables covered in paint, glue, pencils and cups of tea.

Sometimes art is about making something beautiful. Sometimes it's about expressing something you can't find the words for. Sometimes it's simply two hours when your brain stops thinking about everything else.

And sometimes it's just really good fun.

All of those things count.

Pull up a chair

The Nook has been made possible with funding from the Lord Mayor's Women in Business Grant, which allowed me to create a permanent filming space and take this slightly bonkers idea from something that existed in my head to an actual podcast.

There have been cameras, microphones, lighting, technology and cables. Lots of cables. There have also been moments when I have nodded knowledgeably while somebody has explained something technical to me and I have understood approximately 14% of what they've said.

But now it exists.

The first episode of The Nook launched on 29 September 2026, with new episodes coming fortnightly on my @KarenBessellArt YouTube channel. It's new, and I'm sure it will grow, change and find its feet as we go along – just like every other creative thing I've ever done.

I don't want it to become overly polished or pretentious. I want it to feel like you've wandered into the studio, pulled up a chair and joined the conversation. There will be art, creativity, interesting people, honest stories, probably some oversharing, definitely some laughing and, knowing me, a fair few tangents.

Because creativity isn't neat and tidy. Neither are people. And the most interesting conversations rarely follow the script.

So whether it's The Nook or one of the many other brilliant creative podcasts out there, pop one in your ears the next time you're painting, drawing, driving or pottering around your studio.

You might learn something. You might disagree with something. You might discover a new artist, find your next creative rabbit hole or simply feel a little less alone while you're making.

And I think that's rather wonderful.

See you soon lets pull up a chair, pop the kettle on and have a cozy chat....you'll find me in The Nook!

Karen x