INTERVIEW WITH BILLY CHILDISH

Mike Chavez Dawson interviewed Billy Childish during a performance evening at The Whitworth Art Gallery.

Billy Childish is a cult figure in America, Europe and Japan. Painter, poet and song writer - in a twenty year period he has published over 40 collections of his poetry, recorded over 100 full-length independent LP's and produced over 2000 paintings.

Name
- Billy Childish

Current job and place of employment
- Painter, writer and musician

What did you study at sixth form or college?
- Left secondary education at 16 and entered the Naval Dockyard at Chatham as an apprentice stonemason.

Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study?
- St Martin's School of Art to study painting, BA Hons Fine Art, however this was short-lived and I was expelled in 1982.

What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career?
- Vincent Van Gogh



Mike Chavez-Dawson is an interdisciplinary artist, fascinated with the place where the worlds of Media and Art collide and intermesh. He is also Visual Arts Editor for "Flux Magazine", founding curator for Flux Space and adviser for State Of Flux.

Name
- Mike Chavez-Dawson

Current job and place of employment
- Artist

What did you study at sixth form or college?
- Art, Photography, Art History and Film Studies

Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study?
- Manchester Metropolitan University, BA Hons Interactive Arts and MA Art as Environment

What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career?
- My Grandad


Download the video interview with Billy Childish

INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTOPHER BUCKLOW

Name
- Christopher Bucklow

Current job and place of employment
- Artist

What did you study at sixth form or college?
- History, Art and English A-Levels

Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study?
- Leicester Polytechnic, BA Hons Art History

What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career?
- Alfred Sisley




Download the video interview with Chris Bucklow

INTERVIEW WITH JAH WOBBLE

Our video interview with Jah Wobble (born John Wardle, in Stepney in 1958) English bass guitarist, singer, poet and composer. He became known to a wider audience as the original bass player in Public Image Ltd (PiL) in the late 1970s and early 1980s, but left the band after two years. Following his departure from PiL, he went on to a successful solo career. He also owns his own record company based in Stockport.

Name
- Jah Wobble

Current job and place of employment
- Musician/Record Company Owner

What did you study at sixth form or college?
- N/A

Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study?
- BA Hons Humanities at Birkbeck, University of London as a mature student


What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career?
- Music just took me.




Download the video interview with Jah Wobble

INTERVIEW WITH HEATHER BIRCHALL (PART TWO)

Download the second part of the video interview with Heather Birchall

INTERVIEW WITH HEATHER BIRCHALL (PART ONE)

Name
- Heather Birchall

Current job and place of employment
- Curator (Historic Fine Art), Whitworth Art Gallery, the University of Manchester

What did you study at sixth form or college?
- History, English, French

Did you go to University or any other higher education institution? If so, where and what did you study?
- Hull University, BA History
- Nottingham University, MA History of Art

What was or who was the biggest influence on your choice of career?
- Oh my goodness. Probably visiting Manchester Art Gallery as a child and looking at all the Pre-Raphaelites, and wishing that I would grow up to be like one of the women in Rossetti’s paintings. Alas, that didn’t happen, but it did alert me to working with pictures and putting them in new contexts.

Any other comments?
- "Blake’s Shadow" has been a pleasure to work on – I have discovered new things about artists, musicians and filmmakers who have literally followed his "shadow". I hope it will be a huge success.



Download the first part of the video interview with Heather Birchall