Extraordinary Creatives

Today’s guest is Rob Lowe, also known as Supermundane, an artist, illustrator, writer, and public speaker whose work uses geometric shapes, colour, pattern, and words to create playful, philosophical, and deeply generous work.

With a background in graphic design and over 30 years working across the creative world, Rob has moved fluidly between indie magazine design, publishing, murals, community-led projects, and major global commissions, including designing the influential magazines Anorak and Fire & Knives and creating the visual identity for the Champions League London Final. Whether he’s working at the scale of a print, a rug, a classroom, or city walls, his focus is the same: making work that feels rooted in shared human experience.

He’s also the author of Lost Ordinary Magic, a book of “simple things in a complicated world,” which feels like a neat distillation of his wider practice.

In this conversation, we talk about how to make accessible work without flattening it, how projects grow through trust rather than ego, and what it really takes to build a sustainable creative career that protects both your voice and your energy.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


Caring about the people, the context and the conditions of the work isn’t extra; it’s the strategy that makes the work deeper, more trusted, and more sustainable.


Big commissions don’t require a different version of you. They require the same thinking, just at a different volume. Scale doesn’t have to mean compromise.


You don’t have to contort yourself to be legible. You don’t have to overproduce to be relevant. You don’t have to disappear inside other people’s frameworks to make meaningful work.

BEST MOMENTS

“You can work at the scale of a kid with scissors and glue, and also the scale of a city, and still be doing the same work, just with different volume.”

“I work hard, but I don't like stress … I work within what I'm good at, so I'm always working with my strengths, rather than trying to force myself to do something that I think I should be.”

“There is obviously a recognisable style, but it's more about how I work and how I think and… I have a certain way of looking and seeing the world.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

www.supermundane.com

www.instagram.com/supermundane

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 [email protected]

****

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/

Despite what we’re told, websites are not obsolete. Curators still look at them. Gallerists still look at them. Collectors still look at them. Commissioners still look at them. 

Quietly. Carefully. Often before they ever contact you. Your website is where people go when they’re deciding whether to take you seriously. Social media shows momentum. Websites show coherence.

If your website feels overwhelming, messy, neglected, or like a project you keep putting off, that doesn’t mean you’re behind. It usually means you’ve skipped a step.

 

Most artists jump straight to design. Templates. Platforms. Fonts. Colours. And they do it before they’ve made the harder, quieter decisions. What actually belongs on here? What am I ready to stand behind? What story am I telling now, not five years ago? 

So, today´s episode isn’t about redesigning your website. It’s about preparing for it. 

KEY TAKEAWAYS


Artist websites still matter - curators, gallerists, commissioners, and collectors actually use them. 


Your website isn’t dead. It’s quietly doing its job when the right people are paying attention.


Your website is not a performance space, but a catalogue of your strongest thinking. It is not an archive. This is a selection of your best work - If someone only ever saw this work, they should understand the kind of artist you are.


I don't want anyone landing on your site and thinking, well, now what? So, decide before you design how people can connect with you.


This episode is about deciding what needs to be included on your site. The next one is about shaping.

BEST MOMENTS

“Ask yourself something important - if someone only saw these pieces, would they understand what kind of artist I am?”

“Have a portrait image of yourself, ideally in your studio or somewhere that feels human. Smiley helps, warm helps, approachable helps. People want to know who they're connecting with. They don't need mystery here.”

“A blank contact page with just an email address or an Instagram handle doesn't feel welcoming. It feels like a closed door.”

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 [email protected]

****

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 if artists aren’t here to fix the world, but to reveal what’s really going on inside it.

In this episode of Extraordinary Creatives, I’m joined by Filipa Ramos, a curator, writer, and educator whose work reframes art not as commentary on ecology, but as an ecological practice in itself.

Filipa is Artistic Director of LOOP Festival Barcelona, Lecturer at the Academy of Art and Design in Basel, and the author of The Artist as Ecologist, Contemporary Art, and the Environment.

In this conversation, Filipa shares vivid examples of inspiring artists and artworks that help us think differently about our relationship with animals and nature. We talk about why artists are often better at raising problems than offering fixes. Why responsibility can immobilise creativity. How beauty, affect, and emotion still matter. And how working relationally, slowly, and collaboratively can be a powerful alternative to extractive, spectacle-driven models of success.

This conversation is for artists who feel the weight of responsibility and expectation. For anyone worried their work isn’t doing enough - for those searching for ways to make art that is rigorous, ethical, and deeply alive.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


Art does not need to rush toward answers. Your work does not need to explain itself in a single sentence to be valid; it’s allowed to be complex, relational, and full of questions that unfold over time.


Ecology isn’t a theme you illustrate; it’s a way of relating – letting the places you move through, and the animals and people you share them with, reshape what you notice and how you see it.


The promise of big institutions can be hollow. Often, real agency comes through the platforms you build with others, not the ones that “choose” you.

BEST MOMENTS

“Artists are not here to provide solutions, but to complicate the story. To expose fragility. To create space for shared sensing, shared listening, shared not knowing.”

“That’s why art is so important. It’s not trying to remediate. It’s not trying to provide a simple answer. It’s attempting to find alternatives.”

“The most meaningful, long-lasting work often happens outside the biggest institutions, through collaboration, care, and time.”

EPISODE RESOURCES

https://www.instagram.com/filipaaaaaaaaaaa

https://loop-barcelona.com

https://www.fhnw.ch/de/personen/filipa-ramos

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 [email protected]

**

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/

Today, Ceri talks to those of you who know exactly what they need to do but still can’t quite bring themselves to do it. Not because you don’t care. Not because you’re incapable. But because the task feels loaded. 

It might be an email you keep rewriting. A proposal you keep circling. A conversation you know you need to have.

You stay busy. You prepare. You research. You tweak. And somehow the hardest thing never quite gets done.

It’s a common experience for so many of the artists Ceri works with. So, you only need to listen in to find out how to get the things you´re avoiding done.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


We tend to think prioritising is a logical skill. Decide what matters most. Do that first - In real life, especially in creative work, prioritisation is emotional. When a task carries emotional weight, the brain treats it differently.


When you avoid a task, it’s rarely about laziness - it’s your nervous system protecting you from something that feels risky.  


You don’t need more discipline; you need systems that fit your brain: visible time slots, clear steps, templates, and processes to follow. The fewer decisions you have to make, the better.


Separating thinking from doing and working alongside others makes emotionally heavy tasks feel doable, not overwhelming.  

BEST MOMENTS

“Difficulty prioritising isn't about knowing what matters. It's about regulation. Attention, emotion, and effort are linked.”

“Make time visible. Short defined time blocks with a timer help counter the feeling that a task is endless. When time is visible, the brain can relax.”

“Separate thinking from doing.”

“Use a shared presence, working alongside someone else, even silently, helps many people stay anchored. This is often called body doubling.”

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 [email protected]

****

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/

Today’s episode brings together two extraordinary creatives whose work has helped shape contemporary culture through a shared commitment to curiosity, counterculture, and championing unique voices.

Ceri is joined by sisters Francesca Gavin and Seana Gavin, each working across different mediums but united by a belief in following instinct and staying close to what feels urgent and alive.

Francesca is one of the most influential figures shaping how contemporary art is written about and presented today. She is Director of Visual Arts at Murmur, Editor-in-Chief of EPOCH, and a regular contributor to publications including the Financial Times. Her curatorial work spans major international contexts, from co-curating Manifesta 11 in Zurich to exhibitions at institutions such as Somerset House and the Palais de Tokyo. She is the author of eleven books on art and visual culture and has hosted Rough Version on NTS Radio for the past nine years, exploring the intersections of art and music.

Seana is a London-based artist working primarily in collage, creating dreamlike worlds from vintage photographic material where past and future collide. Her work has been exhibited internationally, from Somerset House and the Serralves Foundation to the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm, with solo shows in Paris and London. Alongside this, her work features in major publications, brand collaborations, and collections including Soho House worldwide. Her photography monograph Spiralled, published by IDEA Books, is now in its fourth edition.

In this conversation, they talk about creative longevity, instinct, and how to build a practice that remains porous, rigorous, and true over time.

KEY TAKEAWAYS


Creative longevity isn’t about having a perfect plan. It’s about staying close to what you’re genuinely curious about, paying attention to what keeps returning in your life, and trusting those repetitions enough to follow them.


Work becomes more resilient when different strands feed one another - writing into curating, music into thinking, collage into archives, archives back into books and shows.

BEST MOMENTS

“For me, personally, originality is that unique point of view or something fresh that they're saying - there's often a spirit in there that you can sense in the way something's been made.”

““It’s very intuitive. It’s almost like I’m going into a meditative state… I gather up lots of material that might fit in with that imaginary world… and then something starts to happen.”

RESOURCES

https://www.presentfuture.be

https://www.francescagavin.com

https://www.instagram.com/seanagavin

https://murmur.earth

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 and enjoy special discounts within a vibrant community of peers and professionals - https://cerihand.com/membership/

**

Unlock Your Artworld Network Self Study Course

Our self-study video course 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.

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 [email protected]