Thinking Allowed with Alice Mumford
We invited artist and St Ives School of Painting tutor, Alice Mumford, onto a free interactive webinar where she grappled with some of the key burning questions for artists.
Is Competition Good for Creativity?
Discussion led by Alice Mumford
Picasso and Braque forged a relationship that was part intimate friendship, part rivalry. The two artists were constantly in each other’s studio, scrutinising each other’s work while challenging, motivating, and encouraging each other. Picasso said of the friendship “Almost every evening, either I went to Braque’s studio or Braque came to mine. Each of us had to see what the other had done during the day.”
Artists including Barbara Hepworth and Naum Gabo, Picasso and Braque, Gauguin and Van Gogh have all competed with each other. Yet, when artists compete with each other, is it productive or destructive? Or both?
Join Alice Mumford as she considers the question ‘Is Competition Bad for Creativity?’. Combining thinking with performance, Alice will draw as she thinks through the complexities of the subject responding to questions and interjections from you and fellow students at home. A unique opportunity to be part of a stimulating conversation with your international St Ives School of Painting community. Consider the key questions that perplex and excite artists and perhaps gain a new perspective on why and how we make art.
Within the broadcast Alice mentions a book, Song of the Lark, which is currently available free for kindle users.
This webinar is free but we welcome donations. All donations will go to supporting our Young Artists Programme.
9/2/2022Alice Mumford
Share on
Related Stories

Joan Eardley: The Forgotten Artist
Children from Glasgow’s slums, bleak seascapes, village fishermen at work … the vibrant visions of Joan Eardley are finding a new following. Written by Frances Spalding for The Guardian Joan Eardley, who died aged only 42 in 1963, is barely known in England. In 2007 the National Galleries of Scotland mounted a full retrospective, which attracted a...

St Ives Past & Present
Experience the history of the St Ives art scene through this collection of films featuring St Ives School of Painting and the importance of St Ives and Porthmeor Studios as an artists’ colony. Since 1938. A glimpse into St Ives and the St Ives School of Painting originally established here in 1938 by Leonard Fuller....

How to Create a Colour Beginning
As seen in… A Fresh Start JMW Turner expert Hilary Gibson reveals how ‘colour beginnings’ formed the basis of the artist’s greatest oil paintings and shows you how to create one at home. During my career as an illustrator and art tutor, JMW Turner’s draughtsmanship and ‘colour beginnings’ have been a constant joy and inspiration....