How to Live an Artful Life: December

The Great Women Artists

Katy Hessel

Arts

4.8 • 944 Ratings

🗓️ 30 November 2025

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Dear listeners, As we enter a new month of December, I wanted to share a teaser of the audiobook of my new book, How to Live an Artful Life. https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-to-live-an-artful-life/katy-hessel/9781529155204 Here is an extract from the month of December, featuring its introduction and the first five days. Each month is based around a theme. For example, January is about seeking out ideas, February is about love, and September focuses on time. December's is joy and features thoughts, reflections, creative exercises and daily routines from the likes of Laurie Anderson, Louise Bourgeois, Yoko Ono, Judy Chicago, Faith Ringgold, and more. A time of celebration, light and beauty; a time to spend with family and take part in festivities; to relish in the delights that the gift of art can give, and to take stock in everything you’ve discovered, learnt, tried and tasted this year. As we embark on this month, before we start again in January, think of December – like art – as a gift that has been given to you, full of work yet to be written, painted, sculpted and more; people whom you have yet to meet, talk to or fall in love with.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello listeners. I'm very excited to bring you the first five days and the introduction to the month of December, as featured in my new book, How to Live an Artful Life, which is out now. It's made up of 366 quotes by artists and writers for every day of the year. Think Tracy Emin to Marino Abramovich, and I respond to each one,
0:22.3	bringing the artist's words alive, and so their wisdom can be applied to anyone wanting to look
0:27.2	at the world a bit like an artist might, or to bring creativity to their day, whatever their profession.
0:33.3	I've linked to the book in the show notes, and I hope you enjoy this preview.
0:41.4	DeLateau I've linked to the book in the show notes, and I hope you enjoy this preview. December. Joy.
0:51.6	December, you got here.
0:58.3	The last month of the year, a time of celebration, light and beauty,
1:04.2	a time to spend with family and take part in festivities, to relish in the delights that the gift of art can give, and to take stock in everything you've discovered, learnt, tried and tasted
1:09.7	this year. You've drawn your fears, tried and tasted this year.
1:16.5	You've drawn your fears, found beauty and the mundane, made new routines and experimented with getting lost and found and lost again.
1:20.2	This month, let's focus on joy, on doing, as Laurie Anderson puts it, whatever makes you
1:25.9	feel free and really good.
1:29.0	As we embark on this month before we start again in January,
1:32.8	think of December, like art, as a gift that has been given to you,
1:37.2	full of work yet to be written, painted, sculpted and more,
1:40.7	people whom you have yet to meet, talk to or fall in love with.
1:48.7	First of December. Have fun. As the artist, Laurie Anderson said, whatever makes you feel free
1:57.6	and really good, that's what to do. It's really simple. Let's kickstart our
2:04.1	month of joy with this very simple quote from the pioneering American artist Laurie Anderson.
2:10.1	Think of the last time you felt like this, really free and really good. Was it while playing
2:15.5	sport with a particular person immersed in a book in a
2:18.9	particular place? We can live our lives by what we should do or what looks good, but the way
	...

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