Blog
Spotlights
Explore inspiring artist stories, award-winning creative work, and essential industry insights. From emerging talent to practical guides for arts organizations
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From Burnout to Hope: Hana Walker-Brown’s ‘In Pieces’
In a world where burnout has become an epidemic, artist Hana Walker-Brown dared to turn her breaking point into breakthrough art. Her powerful words ‘In Pieces’ won the Zealous Amplify public vote, resonating with countless viewers who saw their own struggles reflected in her vision.
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“As a self-taught, older artist working in an unusual medium, it’s extremely difficult for me to find opportunities to show my work and to network with artists and galleries. Zealous gave me that opportunity.” – Pinkie Maclure
Pinkie Maclure is a Scottish stained glass artist and musician, with a focus on working with stained glass.
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“Applying for awards often seems like a shot in the dark, but my experience with Zealous still reminds me that it’s worth putting myself out there to see what comes of it.” – Katie O’Rourke
Katie O’Rourke is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator based in Nantes, France, where she moved from Manchester last year. She collaborates with people and brands who make it their mission to do some good in the world. Katie bring ideas to life with care, colour and playfulness. Outside of her client work she loves…
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“Winning Amplify has given me confidence” – Zillah Bowes Interview
Zillah Bowes is a Wales-based filmmaker and multi-disciplinary artist who works mainly across film, photography and poetry, as well as installation and sculpture. Her work is often rooted in nature and frequently explores our relationship with the natural environment.
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“(Zealous) helped give me confidence in what I was doing” – Maggie Williams
Maggie Williams is a British-Chinese visual artist based in the Lewisham Arthouse in South East London. Her practice explores themes surrounding cultural identity by embroidering materials linked to both cultures such as British tea bags and Chinese rice sacks/bags.
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Social Gardening (The Mind at Rest)
Winner of the Zealous Amplify: Environment public vote Luminara Florescu is a British born artist, curator, artist mentor and mother based in rural Somerset. Her winning piece, ‘Social Gardening (The Mind at Rest)’, is an immersive film installation which presents a filmic exploration that delves into the profound act of resting in nature.
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ALLOWED
Zillah Bowes is a multi-disciplinary artist with a practice in film, photography poetry, installation and sculpture, often combining disciplines. With a spiritual enquiry around climate change and biodiversity, her work frequently explores the relationship between the individual and the natural environment.
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Unlocking your creativity with the author of “Everyone is Creative”
In this interview, Guy explores the true essence of creativity, challenging conventional notions and emphasizing its universal applicability. From tackling digital chaos to embracing discomfort for richer solutions, Guy’s insights guide you on a transformative journey to unleash your creativity in everyday life.
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Collage Artists You Should Know
Although traditionally seen as a paper-based medium, collage is a technique which is constantly evolving. Whether working in a more conventional way, or expanding to the digital and three-dimensional realms, these 10 creatives are ones you should definitely be watching.
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Unborn
Zealous Amplify: Mental Health and Wellbeing Public Vote winner Lucy Cross is a self-professed endometriosis warrior, which she has had since she was 11 years old. As a result, it has severely impacted her mental health and wellbeing. Most importantly, her experience is not a rare one.
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War Notes
Zealous Stories: Photography 2022 winner Mouneb Taim is a photojournalist who has covered life under siege in Douma, Eastern Ghouta, Idlib and Aleppo.
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Tippler and The Crow
Mason Matak is an illustrator based in Iran. His works have appeared on the pages of children’s books, beside Old Iranian folktales, as tattoos on people’s skin, and also exist online as NFTs.
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Burial Rites
Zealous Stories: Short Story winner, Yvette Naden, is an obsessive writer of poetry and prose.
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Terminal B
Zealous Stories: Digital Art winner, Nigel Goldsmith, is a visual artist focusing on environmental issues and the Anthropocene.
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Performative Drawing
Zealous Stories: Performance winner, M. Lohrum, is an artist based in London and currently working across video, drawing and performance.
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Wee Muckers – Youth of Belfast
Zealous Stories: Photography winner, Toby binder, has been documenting the daily life of teenagers in British working-class communities for more than a decade. His winning series is a compelling exploration of young people in Northern Ireland, who often suffer the same problems, undeterred by which side of the border they reside.
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From Lenses to Lighting
Zealous Stories: Design winner, Yair Neuman, is a London-based designer and entrepreneur, exploring sustainable design opportunities. Neuman’s Lens Light collection is a positive action to repurpose waste lenses from the eyewear sector into striking, sculptural lights.
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Shadow Passage
Zealous Stories: Animation winner, Ali Aschman, is a visual artist working primarily in stop motion animation. Aschman’s tactile work is rooted in storytelling, but takes a non-linear and surreal approach, finding its own organic structure through an intuitive and often improvisational process.
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Houses of Kadıköy
Zealous Stories: Painting winner, Edinburgh-based artist Emily Moore, creates arresting landscape paintings using an amalgamation of personal source images and experiences. Moore’s creative process allows her to recall each place and combine them to create new, anonymous landscapes.
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Ghosts in the Graveyard
Zealous Stories: Craft winner, Linda Southwell, creates intricate porcelain sculptures based on plant and flower structures. She works from memory, developing flowers that are unique to her. Linda’s work celebrates her identity as a female artist and her fascination with the natural world.
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Oasis
Zealous Stories Illustration winner, Jie Gao, is a London based visual artist and graphic designer. Her winning series, Oasis, uses digital art techniques to express deep-seated loneliness, as the main character gradually looses herself, paralysed by the modern world.
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Fairy Words
Zealous Stories: Short Story winner, Kate MacRitchie, grew up in a small town in the heart of Scotland – a place of Fingalian legend and high, windy fields. Her writing is driven by the shadow selves we keep secret, collective memory and the meeting of landscape and language.
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September / October Highlights
It’s been a while! With museums, galleries and art spaces reopening to the public, you may want to dip your cultural toes back into the art world’s waters. If you’re struggling with what to check out first (both online and in person), here’s a list of 5 events to add to your cultural calendar for…
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The Story of Miss Ruby Ribbon
Zealous Stories: Print winner, Rebecca Carrington, blends prints and embellishments into lively womenswear designs with an innovative twist. Her winning collection, ‘The story of Miss Ruby Ribbon’, is based on a playful narrative, inspired by her childhood and a tribute to her parrot Ruby.
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A Networked Performance
Zealous Stories: Digital Art winner, Francesca Fini, is an interdisciplinary artist focused on experimental cinema, installation and performance art. Conceived during lockdown, her winning work is a fascinating exploration of the deserted Italian squares.
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The Power of Performance
Zealous Stories: Performance winner, Lanre Malaolu, is a director, choreographer, writer and performance artist based in London. Lanre’s work is an unflinching exploration of social and political worldviews, which aims to enhance, challenge and rouse conversation about our own ideals.
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The Fragile Texture of our Desires
Zealous Stories: Sculpture winner, Camilla Hanney, is an Irish artist living and working in London. Camilla’s practice explores themes of time, sexuality, cultural identity and the corporeal. Her winning installation investigates both the fragility of the human condition and the complex nature of our desires.
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Exploring the Rocky Outcrops
Zealous Stories: Mixed Media winner, Alysia Webster, is a visual artist based in Northern England. Alysia’s energetic work aims to recreate the feeling of being immersed in the landscape, and the ever-changing weather against the unyielding mass of the mountains.
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English Journey
Zealous Stories Photography winner, John Angerson, explores the different languages of documentary photography, focusing on how specific communities form, shift and develop. John sets out to report England as it really is, and was; embracing the spirit of English novelist J. B. Priestley.
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The Dictionary
Zealous Stories: Animation winner, Xiaoying Liang, is a graphic designer whose work destabalises, stretches and interrogates the boundaries of day-to-day objects created by their dictionary definitions. Xiaoying playfully questions the authority of the dictionary, defining her practice through this project of self-discovery.
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Forces of Nature
Contemporary landscape painter, Tori Tipton, explores our emotional response and attitudes towards the natural environment. Her work is an amalgamation of recollections, observations and experiences. Amidst these ambivalent forces of nature, one can retreat from civilization and reconnect with the earth.
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A Crafty Christmas
Get into the festive spirit this December and explore the array of Christmas markets and winter fairs that the UK has to offer! Whether you’re looking for gift inspiration, or simply want to indulge in mince pies and mulled wine – you’re sure to find something to enjoy from this month’s top picks.
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The Language of Making
Zealous Stories: Craft winner, Steven Edwards, aims to share the material / maker relationship with the viewer by creating work that emphasizes implied movement. Fascinated by process-led making, he uses traditional techniques to explore unanticipated outcomes.
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Dones d’Aigua
Zealous Stories: Illustration winner, Sonia Alins, is focused on the creation of art with a poetic narrative. Sonia’s aim, is that through the relationship between the figures and aquatic medium, the viewer can experience the soul, emotion and energy of the character.
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How Love Loses Itself
On a quest to rediscover her creativity, Zealous Stories: Short Story winner, Catherine Sleeman, is an experimental writer and dancer. Catherine is interested in the connection that can be formed between words and movement. Her work, Chemistry, delves into the intricacies of a married couple’s complex relationship.
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A Search for Structure
Zealous Stories: Print winner, Carol Wyss, adopts the human skeleton as the framework through which she examines the relationship of human structures to their surroundings. Through her methodical search for what holds things together, Carol broadens the possibilities for interpretation.
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Dirt: A Graphic Novel
Artist and Illustrator Lewis Darley is the winner of the Cass Art Award and the Batsford Prize 2019. His winning project “Dirt” is a graphic novel which explores the whimsical tale of Percy and Sue as they navigate a series of unusual predicaments.
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Must-sees for May
From classical music ensembles to London Craft Week panels, there’s plenty of creativity in the air this month. If you’re looking to soak up some culture, the search ends here. We’ve compiled our top-picks to elevate your calendar, so go ahead and pencil in these must-sees for May.
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Dust: Transforming Contemporary Dance
Zealous Stories: Digital winners, Andrej Boleslavský and Mária Júdová have been investigating the creative potential of technology for over a decade. Their work combines the exploration of technologically informed dance practices with participatory performances, body movement, time and space.
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April’s Dose of Creativity
There’s plenty to see this month, so we’ve made whittling down your options a whole lot simpler with our top 5 picks for April! Immerse yourself within a fusion of hip hop and spoken word, explore China’s digital realm and delve into two newly commissioned moving-image installations.
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Recreating Natural Phenomena
Zealous Stories Sculpture winner, Daria Jelonek, is a media artist, researcher and designer based in London. Her work is situated in the field of interactive design and immersive art installations, often focusing on the relationship between nature and technology.
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Top Picks For Your March Cultural Calendar
If your March calendar is looking a little lacklustre, don’t panic! We’ve compiled our top 5 picks for the month so that you can schedule in your weekly dose of creative culture without lifting a finger! From architectural storytelling to lunchtime piano concerts, you’re sure to find something to enjoy in this round-up of the…
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Marta Soul on the Interplay Between Reality and Fiction
Marta Soul, participant in the artist-led project 209 Women, creates photographs which generate visual reflections of the interaction between social constructs, aesthetics and behaviour. Born in Madrid and based in the UK, Marta’s relationship with people is essential to raising profound about stereotypes.
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Sculptural Landscapes and Performative Spaces
Meet Candida Powell-Williams, winner of Mother Art Prize 2018, hosted by Procreate Project on Zealous. Candida creates sculptural landscapes which function as platforms for performance. By referring to our identity as subjects straddling physical and digital culture, Candida confronts the ways in which our online experience is impacting sculptural discourse.
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Fulfil your creativity with these 5 exhibitions to visit this February
We’ve tried to pick just 5 excellent exhibitions for you to catch in February 2019 so that you can get some creative inspiration for the year ahead. From London to Liverpool, we think we’re sure there’ll be something for you!
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Ariadna Dane on Organic Wreaths and Imitating Nature
Meet Ariadna Dane, UK based artist and winner of Zealous Stories Mixed Media. Through her upbringing in Siberia, Ariadna has discovered a deep-rooted connection to nature that is fundamental to her ever-evolving practice. Ariadna creates organic forms that are reminiscent of celestial structures, coral wreaths and woodland. Each element is entirely unique and cannot be…
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Meet Chynna
Meet Chynna Guyat, Brighton based Photographer and winner of Zealous Stories Photography. Practicing between Brighton and London, Chynna’s style is heavily influenced by film, showing how even the most basic moments could be a scene from a film through colour, style, composition and drama.
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7 exhibitions not to miss this November
With the amount of amazing art in the UK, it’s hard to keep up with what exhibitions are on and when exhibitions close. In an aim to reduce the number of times we hear ‘I can’t believe I missed that!’, we’ve compiled 7 exhibitions you definitely don’t want to miss this November.
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Meet Yijin
Meet Yijin Huo, Product and Experience Designer and winner of Zealous Stories Ceramics. Based between London and Beijing, Yijin focuses on data visualisation, material research, emotional expression, cultural experience and cross-sectoral experiments, presented in the form of product design, spatial design, sculpture and installations.
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Meet Oskar
Meet Oskar Krajewski, winner of It’s Art Call 2018, hosted by The Cult House on Zealous. Inspired by visions, dreams, technological and spiritual studies and practice, Oskar invests his time in solid and complex sculptures that are thought-provoking, interactive and incredibly detailed.
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5 exhibitions to catch this October
With the amount of amazing art in the UK, it’s hard to keep up with what exhibitions are on and when exhibitions close. In an aim to reduce the amount of times we hear ‘I can’t believe I missed that!’, we’ve compiled a list of five exhibitions you should definitely try to catch in October…
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Meet Phil
Phil has been engaged in development and humanitarian work for over thirty years, and much of his work focuses on conflict and how we, as humans respond to it. Writing has played a significant role in his professional life and this, combined with a love of words, meant it was only a matter of time before…
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Meet Michelle
Meet Michelle Loa Kum Cheung, winner of the the Secret Art Prize 2018, hosted by Curious Duke Gallery on Zealous. Michelle creates fictional environments exploiting the tactility and raw materiality of wood. Using techniques including pyrography and painting, her art focuses on landscape and displaced heritage, as a response to her own cultural heritage and identity…
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Meet Jess
Meet Jess Burgess, MA Fine Art graduate and winner of the first Zealous Stories, open to UK-based painters. Jess’ practice asks questions surrounding the virtual screen, and has in turn driven her desire to explore painting as a slower medium. A fascination with recipe books has allowed her to break into new grounds, creating her…
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5 galleries to check out for World Photo Day
We’ve compiled a list of our 5 favourite impactful photography galleries below for you to check out and take some inspiration from before you decide to share your photos with the world on the 19th. Be sure to tag us in your pictures or #bezealous so we can share them too!
