THE BEECHWOOD AIRSHIP INTERVIEWS

This book takes the reader on a meandering journey. It is part memoir, part travel, and part oral history stitched together with the thread of exploration of the creative process. The writing of the book is its own creative process as one interviewee opens a door to another and so on. The artists interviewed could be illuminating and/or frustratingly opaque about their artistic process, but all passionate about their art. I didn't know of all them and some of the social references would have been lost on me without the author's hugely helpful, extensive footnotes (almost a book in themselves!). However, chapter by chapter, I found myself drawn through the book by the author's engaging writing and self-deprecating humour. Highly recommended.

This is a rambling, confusing book that mirrors the creative process itself. Beginning and ending with the death of art schools, the disparate commonality of the artistic soul is explored through conversation, walking and anecdote. Read it if you're an artist or are interested in the deeper artistic process. It's easy on the eye and harder on the brain...

Brilliant interviews with a range of artists, from Jenny Saville to David Nash, from Manic Street Preachers to Judy Dench, about the process of creating. And the book itself is a account on the author's process of writing the book. Beautifully written. A must read.

A beautifully written book on the nature of creativity and the compulsion to make art just because you have no choice. This is a journey that takes you through a diverse variety of artists working in the 21st century from Jane Bown to Stewart Lee to Bill Drummond. The Jenny Saville chapter was particularly loved but while they can be dipped into as isolated chapters, the rhythm and poetry of the writing takes you on a compelling, narrative journey via the collective interviews themselves - informed, intelligent, revealing and funny accompanied by a set of footnotes that makes a case for a whole new category for the use of the footnotes… it’s a character in itself - give the airship interviews a read, you won’t be disappointed . . .

This book is one of the most unique pieces of literature I have ever read. It is funny and sad simultaneously, blending together the every day and the extraordinary. The airship becomes all encompassing, yet at the same time the book goes far beyond the airship, into the academia of art, into human lives and minds. Wonderful.

The Beechwood Airship Interviews  Great book - lovely rambling discursive form and highly insightful - a fantastic set of interviewees. An exposition of the creative process and the problems that face creative practitioners - I've recommended to my students as a great primer on thinking about their art practice, both in terms of their day to day routines and how to function (or not!) in the current confusion of arts in higher education in the UK

I'd not heard of half the people interviewed in this before I bought it, but it really drew me in.It's a really odd, exciting book, made me think about creativity in a different way; like the best bits of art school all over again. The photographs are lovely too.

I finished reading this book last night - what a joy!I absolutely loved it.Judi Dench and Bill Drummond in the same book. Engaging, funny and beautifully written.Hugely recommended.