The channel will bring to screen five new Sky Originals which will bring the arts to everyone…
Uncover the day-to-day lives of the world’s most extraordinary women artists in My Week With… In this brand new series, Sky Arts sends art expert Kate Bryan to spend a week with some of the most iconic and disruptive women artists. With up to half the footage captured by Kate on an iPhone, these films are intimate, candid, and refreshingly real. The first episode, My Week With…The Guerrilla Girls sees Kate Bryan spend an extraordinary week monkeying about with the bad girls of art activism, The Guerrilla Girls, who haven’t given a film crew full access to their lives and works in over 30 years. Keeping their identities secret throughout the film, Kate joins the masked crusaders, iPhone in hand, filming as they continue to disrupt the status quo of the “billionaire boys club” of the art world, campaigning for equality of opportunity and representation in the lead-up to their major installation at the Beyond the Streets gallery in Los Angeles.
The second film My Week With…Lubaina Himid marks the first time anyone has had full access to Himid’s life and working processes, and when the crew leaves, Kate is left with her iPhone to capture candid moments and conversations. Join her as she gets under the skin of one of Britain’s first black female disruptors, discovering Lubaina’s obsession with reclaimed wood and her love for Preston – the industrial northern city she calls home. Himid works non-stop, and Kate hangs out with her from dawn till dusk in her studio and her home.
And in My Week With…Maggi Hambling Kate spends long days with Maggi at home and in her studio, where the artist rises daily at 5am, and sets to work despite her recent near-fatal heart attack. In quiet moments on the iPhone they discuss everything from her creative processes and her muses to speeding tickets, cinnamon buns and being a reluctant queer icon, this one-off film draws an intimate portrait of an artist and iconic tour de force , known as much for her acerbic wit as her artistic genius.
Other programmes looking at iconic women artists include films on literary virtuoso Edna O’Brien, 2-Tone legend Pauline Black and sister disruptors, The Brontës. Bill Bailey will also continue to fight for the survival of heritage crafts with a third series of Bill Bailey’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation.
Phil Edgar-Jones, Executive Director of Original Unscripted:
“Arts TV is alive and kicking. We have a brilliant range of programmes coming down the line, whether that’s celebrating the greats in various fields from Edna O’Brien via Maggi Hambling to Pauline Black and the The Brontës. We are proud to be flying the flag for the best in British and Irish Arts.”
In Blue Road: The Edna O’Brien Story Sky Arts bring to screen a portrait of one of the world’s most charismatic writers, Irish author Edna O’Brien, who died last month aged 93.
In 1960, a young Edna O’Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, The Country Girls, and became a literary sensation. This new film explores Edna’s identity as one of her generation’s most controversial women, as she undertakes her final camera interview and describes what it is to know there is little time left. Never-before-seen excerpts from her personal journals are read aloud by Oscar-nominated actress Jessie Buckley, as we bear witness to the denigration she endured as an Irish woman and artist. Additional perspectives are offered from Gabriel Byrne, Walter Mosley and an array of renowned writers.
There is also Pauline Black: A 2-Tone Story. This one-off feature looks at Pauline Black – the living embodiment of the 2-Tone music movement and a woman who has made her mark on society.
She helped shift British society towards diversity with a whole new ethos of anti-racism, sexism and gender politics that we still strive towards today. Her band, The Selecter, had a unique sound and energy defined by Pauline’s distinctive voice and performance. They were a reflection of working-class life in Thatcher’s England, and their music was social reportage. In this new film, featuring unseen archive from the era, we see how Pauline’s life story imitates her art, music and informs her activism as she discusses her experience of adoption, abuse, persona, gender and perseverance.
Anita Rani presents The Brontës: Sisters of Disruption an exploration of the Bronte sisters and their enduring influence, tracking the impact Anne, Charlotte and Emily have had on millions of readers across the centuries. Partly autobiographical, this new programme traces Anita’s relationship with the Brontes as she heads back to her hometown of Bradford, recalling her first encounter with them at school and her experience of growing up with the stunning landscape of Haworth and the moors on her doorstep.
Anita also meets fellow Bronte fans and literary experts to discuss how and why these sisters became ground-breaking ‘literary disruptors’ whose work still feels relevant and influential today.
Finally Bill Bailey is back for another series celebrating traditional crafts with Bill Bailey’s Master Crafters: The Next Generation. This third series of Master Crafters will delve into four more heritage crafts which are in danger of being lost if the next generation do not take them up; Blacksmithing, Letter Press Printing, Mosaics and stone carving.
Bill joins twelve Junior Crafters, each of whom are starting their own heritage craft journey in their chosen fields, as they are given the opportunity of a lifetime to expand on their skills with bespoke masterclasses. Bill will also get crafty himself as he visits a wealth of Britain’s cultural heritage sites to find out why it is so important that we keep these crafts alive.
