Katy Hessel is an art historian, broadcaster, and curator dedicated to making art history more inclusive and accessible. She is the founder of The Great Women Artists podcast, which spotlights women artists across centuries and cultures. Her first book, The Story of Art Without Men, became an international bestseller and won the 2022 Waterstones Book of the Year.
In her new book, How to Live an Artful Life, Hessel continues her mission to reshape how we see and live with art — offering readers 366 reflections that connect creativity to the everyday. To mark its release, Katy sat down with artist Chantal Joffe for a conversation about daily rituals, the creative process, and what it means to live artfully.
Whether through writing, speaking, or curating, Katy champions artists past and present, inviting audiences to engage with art in ways that are dynamic, relevant, and inspiring. Enjoy!
Katy Hessel: What’s the first thing you do when you get into the studio?
Chantal Joffe: The first thing I do is change my shoes. I put on my paint-covered Birkenstocks … I always find my outdoor shoes seem uncomfortable, and I love my comfortable paint-covered shoes that have no back.
KH: Do you listen to music?
CJ: I do when I paint … I like to listen to the same thing over and over and over again, on rotation. It'll be Leonard Cohen, Nina Simone, or Joni Mitchell; Goldberg Variations or John Denver… I’ve got a whole stack of filthy CDs that I hope haven’t got paint on, so they play!
Katy, 2023,Oil on canvas 100 x 70 cm
The Conversation (Antonia and Katy), 2022Oil on board183 x 120 x 6 cm
KH: What books do you like to keep around you?
CJ: I've got enormous numbers of books around… recently I was reading Sally Mann’s memoir, Hold Still. I found that really inspirational and exciting to read in between paintings. Then I read Chalk, the Cy Twombly biography, because – of course – Sally is friends with Cy Twombly and I like to follow threads.
Often I'll have a bunch of art books open on the floor when I'm painting, I’ll have a big Philip Guston or Paula Modersohn-Becker book… Or Helen Levitt’s photographs of people on the underground. It just depends on what I'm thinking about.
KH: What do you look for in a sitter?
CJ: It could be anything, like a great shirt or their hair colour, or a way a person is to be with, the way they are. It can be visual or personal, it can be lots of things.
KH: How do you like to arrange them, if you do?
CJ: Mostly I don't like to arrange them, but then occasionally I'll have something in my head. Recently, I painted Bella like the Dodd Procter of the woman in the white slip. I made her bring a white slip, and arranged her like that. There seemed to be a connection between Bella and that sitter.
When I started painting men, I was thinking about Alice Neel’s John Perreault, and the kind of trueness of how she was able to paint John Perreault in all his nakedness and beauty. So I tried to arrange somebody the way that he sat. It didn't work out so well, but I liked using that as a starting point.
Katy Hessel on her 29th Birthday, 2023, Oil on canvas, 215 x 100 cm
Katy in a Yellow Suit, 2023, Oil on canvas, 210.3 x 105 cm
KH: What are materials we can all use?
CJ: One of the simplest things – which I like to do in the studio but you could do anywhere – is ink and paper. So you can have just one brush, a bottle of Winsor and Newton black ink and some photocopy or print paper - and just draw. You can draw fast, and it doesn't matter.
KH: What do you look for when you go to an exhibition?
CJ: The game is not to look for anything. You have to go with an open mind.
KH: Do you have any advice for someone going to an exhibition?
CJ: I think the idea that other people know how to ‘look’ better than you is rubbish. Everybody is an amateur looker, and you can do it how you want. You can love the green, you can look for anything.
Sometimes I'm looking and thinking in relation to a painting I'm making, and so I bring that. You can always find your own place within it, in relation to you. That's really important. I like to find a way in that's my own. We're all allowed to look however we want to look, as fast or as slow.
Katy Hessel 2, 2022, Oil on board, 80 x 60 x 5 cm
KH: What artist is keeping you excited at the moment?
CJ: I'm really excited by Cy Twombly. There's a show, Five Friends in Cologne [at Museum Brandhorst] that I'm desperate to see, which is him, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and John Cage.
KH: What can we expect from your upcoming exhibition?
CJ: I'll just tell you the title. It’s called I Remember.
See more of Chantal's amazing work here - and be sure to follow Katy on Instagram @katy.hessel and if you haven't alreday, check her incredible podcast @thegreatwomenartists
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