Listen: Nick Park In Conversation on 'Only Artists'

Aardman Animation's Nick Park is a bona fide legend of the animation world. The winner of four Oscars and the creator of Wallace and Gromit, even if he were to never make a film again, his place in stop-motion history would be assured. Since arriving on the scene 30 years ago, he's gone to direct six short-films (three of which won Oscars) co-directed two features and made his solo feature debut last year with Early Man. Park recently recorded a conversation for BBC radio, with artist Nina Mae Fowler.

He appeared on the Radio 4 series Only Artists, a series which pairs up artists of various stripes to discuss their craft. Fowler is an artist  and sculpturer whose work often features prominent Hollywood figures.

Across the course of the 28 minute conversation, Park talks about his preference for drawing with a pen and ink over digital, gives insight into how the story of The Wrong Trousers came together and confesses he often longs to go back to making a movie on his own in his garage.

It's a fascinating listen for any fan of his work (or stop-motion in general) and the format of the series provides some really insightful conversation.  BBC radio can be listened to online anywhere in the world or downloaded as a podcast. UK listeners can also stream or download the episode on the BBC Sounds app. Listen to the episode here.



SYNOPSIS:

The artist Nina Mae Fowler meets the animator Nick Park.
Nina Mae Fowler finds inspiration in the cinema past and present. She has created large scale pencil and graphite drawings of stars from Hollywood’s Golden age, and her portraits of leading British film directors are on show at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Nick Park is an Oscar-winning animator, writer and director best known as the creator of Wallace and Gromit, Creature Comforts and Shaun the Sheep.