Curio 06 Diary: Keep Your Evil Stephens in check
When Martin from Imaginary Friends invited me to speak at their excellently curated talk series ‘Curio’, a warm glow of excitement was quickly doused by panicked nausea.
Image by Fragment
I had heard from designer pals in Glasgow about how good the Curio events were. A cut above, with some sensational guests dishing out inspo like hot cakes.
I was also informed of who else was on the bill, and that added extra pressure on my slowly creaking shoulders to come up the goods for the night as I knew there wouldn’t be any slackers here.
Such a cracking lineup ↓
The last time I had given a talk to fellow creatives was back in April 2023 at JamHot’s equally excellent GAB events. I was rusty, and life and my practice had shifted considerably. No chance of recycling old bits to help fill the 20-minute slot.
A fresh keynote canvas was drawn up. I had a loose idea about ‘Thoughts on Thoughts’. Our thoughts define us, and for professional creatives, if we harness and capture the right ones, we can pay our bills for another month.
50,000 is the average daily amount of thoughts we all have. Which is a staggering amount when you consider how little of it is actually useful. The vast majority are idle, disposable pests, all chirping away and distracting from the really good ones trying to hold their own in the choir.
That became a solid intro and a subsequent framing device, and I pulled out single thought forms in the past year that have spiralled off into full projects.
Oh, and I used the bland, generic face of ITV Host Stephen Mulhern to represent the neutral nature of thoughts. Obvs.
How a simple catch-up plan with the immensely talented Ewan Leckie developed into my WiseNoise podcast series.
The process of designing a logo for the Outer Hebrides and some of the very unconstructive feedback it received after launch.
Closing out the talk, I wanted to open up on the darker thoughts that show up in that 50,000. They need to be dealt with before they infect the rest. ‘The Evil Stephens,’ as I dubbed them.
It was an opening up of how turbulent running your own design practice can be.
At creative talks like this, a parade of people showcasing excellent high-class work can exacerbate my own feelings of inadequacy. Their level is unattainable. They’ve got all their sh*t together when I clearly haven’t.
It’s not all sunshine and rainbows in my practice and this industry. I didn’t want to just show a shiny portfolio and give a false sense of the reality of the pressures running a creative practice can bring.
I finished the talk by briefly discussing Ram Dass and how influential he has been in helping me get a grip on my thoughts.
Side note: If you don’t know about Ram Dass, check out the Be Here Now podcast or the excellent ‘Going Home’ documentary on Netflix.
Image by Fragment
The night was absolutely superb.
Such a fantastic, warm crowd, and each speaker brought their A game.
I loved Kirsten Murray’s insight into the perils and pros of ADHD in her sublime work as a Creative Strategist to start the night off. The complete short circuit she had when offered her dream brief was a perfect insight into how an overwhelming number of thoughts and ideas can sabotage a whole project.
Image by Fragment
I had never heard of Chris Leslie before, but now I’m a big fan. His sociopolitical portraits of Glasgow and its people were really powerful and impactful. Documenting fascinating untold stories of the city, like ‘Who owns the Clyde?’ - A question explored in this highly recommended podcast.
Image by Fragment
Coming from a print design background, I’ve always loved The Newspaper Club’s output and have used them for projects in the past. It was lovely to see and hear CMO Kaye Symington’s enthusiasm for TNC’s machines and its quirky marketing stunts.
Image by Fragment
That trio made up the first half and neatly complemented each other. I began to wonder if I had gone a bit ‘jokey’ for my talk, given the weight of some of the topics discussed in the first half.
But I was soon relieved of that notion when the superb Izzy Stott took to the stage in her warped guise of ‘Günter’ - A pompous wine-swilling dandy, mildly intimidating the crowd while refusing calls from A-Listers.
GUNTER! -Image by Fragment
Izzy was masterful in her comic poise. When she broke the fourth wall and spoke about Somewhere Between’s mission of using performance as therapy, everyone was on board, given the medicinal laughter we all imbibed.
I had been looking forward to Grateful Gallery’s talk and meeting the boys, as I am a huge fan of their work. I knew it would be full of laughs as they don’t take themselves seriously, but I wasn’t prepared to find it so moving.
Image by Fragment
Panda from the trio of founding members, alongside Conzo and Ciaran Globel, stepped up to do the talk since Conzo had an unwelcome encounter with a bus and was still in a hospital bed with a broken pelvis.
He prompted many laughs during the talk but also conveyed the heart and soul that went into opening a gallery space in the city, which coincided with his own sobriety journey. Conzo made a brilliant cameo from his hospital bed, explaining how the gallery's logo came to him in a Dali-esque dream.
Conzo joining us from his Hospital Bed -Image by Fragment
I felt strangely comfortable by the time I went on. The crowd had displayed such warmth and a willingness to laugh at the other speakers that I was confident that, once I got the first few slides out of the way, I would relax and enjoy it.
And I absolutely loved it.
The first 6 months of this year have been a struggle. Moving to a new area, shifting our entire lives from the Outer Hebrides, meant I didn’t have as much time as I'd have liked to launch the studio properly and get the word out there. My work enquiries and subsequent mental health have been suffering because of it. I’ve let those Evil Stephens invade my thoughts as the long dark days stretched to April.
But that 20 minutes at the Social Hub, carried along by the energy of fellow creatives, was a tonic I didn’t know I needed. My personal angst, my Evil Stephens, all reset. Praise be.
Image by Fragment
Written by
Pearse O’Halloran
Senior Graphic Designer and Founder of WiseLove Studio
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If you want to chat about appearing at a future speaking event, let me know via the enquiry page.
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