Explore every episode of the podcast Creative Connections
| Title | Pub. Date | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kirsty Nixon - Contemporary artist | 12 oct. 2025 | 01:25:40 | |
Kirsty Nixon is a contemporary New Zealand artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her vibrant, light-filled paintings celebrate the untamed beauty of Aotearoa New Zealand — from the windswept beaches of the North Island to the soaring mountain ranges of the South. Drawing inspiration from the land, sea, and native birdlife that surround her, Kirsty’s work invites a quiet moment of reflection — a breath of peace amidst the noise of modern life. With an instinctive eye for colour and composition, she transforms everyday encounters with nature into uplifting works of art that feel both familiar and extraordinary. Kirsty has been a practising artist since 1997 after a career in graphic design and advertising. In this episode Kirsty talks about how working in advertising led her to having a nervous breakdown of sorts which turned out to be the catalyst for taking a break and finally choosing to become a full time artist. We talk about:
Kirsty talks us through her painting style and the different series of works she makes, from the well known NZ native flora and native bird landscape works and her 'roadie' series, to more graphic works incorporating different colour palettes and pattern. https://www.creativeconnections.nz/post/kirsty-nixon-contemporary-artist
| |||
| Sarah Ritchie - Fibre artist and author | 06 oct. 2025 | 01:37:35 | |
Sarah Ritchie is a New Zealand fibre artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Sarah specialises in creating framed works in natural fibres such as New Zealand wool, bamboo and cotton, showcasing her passion for texture, colour, and non-toxic creativity - drawing inspiration from the breathtaking beauty of Aotearoa New Zealand. In this episode Sarah unpacks her fibre art process for us: from her preferred fibres to use and the tools she uses to her technique , use of colour and the ideas behind her work. Sarah is an absolute power house, or as she says, a “purpose-driven multi-passionate”! As well as being a practising artist Sarah teaches needle felting workshops; she has created a range of needle felted painting kits; she has curated a collection of merchandise and a range of prints featuring her original needle-felted fibre paintings; she has written 4 non friction books, she is a business mentor, a member of an art collective, a photographer and a facilitator; all while working full time in graphic design and advertising. With a background in business, graphic design, advertising, and human resources Sarah has a sound understanding of what it takes for artists to run a successful, sustainable business and imparts much of her knowledge and experience in this episode. We talk about identifying your why, identifying and reaching your audience, aligning to your purpose, different ways of monetising art, creating a business plan, strategic thinking and dealing with 'failure'.
| |||
| Ceara Lile - Textile artist | 29 sept. 2025 | 01:29:21 | |
Ceara Lile is a fibre-based mixed media artist who grew up in West Auckland. She creates abstract textile collages layered with meaning, memory, and emotion as well as eco inkless hand printed fabrics. She now lives in Keri Keri in the Far North of Aotearoa NZ with her partner Mario. From an early age, Ceara has been captivated by textiles, drawn to their textures and versatility. Her work takes the form of abstract, collage-based fibre sketches, where these materials serve as both her medium and her tool. Caera creates layered backdrops, using these elements to build a rich foundation, then draw over them—playing with color and form to evoke places, emotions, and relationships. At the heart of her work is a deep fascination with the human experience, particularly the ways in which we seek connection and belonging, both in physical spaces and within society. I loved meeting and talking to Ceara. She shares how she got back to creating after a break away travelling after completing a fashion degree. We discuss how her love of maths and her fashion degree has informed her work, the process of abstract art and how abstract works often have a 'teenage stage' before reaching a satisfying completion and the mathematical problem solving that is often part of the abstract process. Ceara goes into fascinating detail about her inkless printing process, from collecting rusty iron and bark and creating pigments to how she chooses the leaves and how each leaf responds to the dying process. We also talk about her 2 other series of works, changing Landscapes and The Venn Of Us, which are fabric collages using repeated shapes and hand stitched lines. Ceara explains the ideas and the meanings of the codes that appear on her fabric collage works, we go to the craft versus art conundrum and her shifting attitude of "it's just clothes" to seeing her work as art and herself as an artist. https://www.creativeconnections.nz/post/ceara-lile-textile-artist
| |||
| Jane Shriffer - Abstract painter | 21 sept. 2025 | 01:41:18 | |
Jane Shriffer is an abstract painter living and working in Wānaka in the south island of Aotearoa NZ. Jane paints intuitively, layering colour and texture, making her marks with a palette knife. In this episode we have a fantastic chat about Jane's experience studying painting at Dunedin School of Art as an enthusiastic 18 year old only to leave university with her degree and not return to painting for 10 years. She shares how she got back into painting through immersing herself in lthe local art scene, the things she did to grow confidence in herself as an artist and how she managed that dreaded imposter syndrome. We discuss how Jane's unique and highly recognisable abstract painting style came about and how her work has evolved over the years. Jane talks about her influences, her organic approach to colour and the joy colour brings, making that first mark, how she knows when a painting is finished, and a pivotal moment in her career that got her thinking more seriously about her work. We touch on the time she overheard someone saying "my 5 year old could paint that", how she feels about people trying to recreate her work, the different ways people respond to the colour pink, the joys of abstract making, how she comes up with the quirky titles of her paintings and what they express to her. https://www.creativeconnections.nz/post/jane-shriffer-abstract-painter
| |||
| Katie Blundell - Multi media artist | 16 sept. 2025 | 01:26:35 | |
Katie Blundell is a contemporary New Zealand artist, living and working from her studio in Clevedon, south east of Auckland. Focusing on the human experience, her work is both personal and universal. Katie approaches her practice through different media depending on what ideas she is wanting to express, primarily focusing on on printmaking, painting, drawing, photography and sculpture. In this episode we talk about:
Women Art Work October 17th 2025 opening night from 5pm, October 18th and 19th 10am - 4pm at Katie's gallery and studio 331 North Road in Clevedon https://www.creativeconnections.nz/post/katie-blundell-multi-media-artist
| |||
| Lynette Fisher - Contemporary painter | 09 sept. 2025 | 01:46:36 | |
Lynette Fisher is a contemporary painter living in Te Puna near Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. Lynette's art practice also encompasses printmaking, drawing and assemblage. Her work investigates themes of adoption, identity, obligation and ownership. While an underlying sense of nostalgia usually permeates her work, Lynette purposefully disrupts it to bring layered and disordered meaning to often commonplace and overlooked themes. Lynette is such a fun person to talk to and I think you'll enjoy listening to her story and outlook on life as an artist. Lynette shares her early artistic career in graphic design, picture framing, working in an art gallery and quirky artist collaborations which led to her showing her own work after painting and drawing for most of her life. We talk about her challenging journey with breast cancer and how this became a catalyst to leaving her job and studying art in her early forties, and we explore why she felt she needed to study alongside her art practice and what she gained from this time. We discuss context for an artist, how boundaries can influence work, the ideas behind her work that relate to her as an adopted person, what interests her about family and memories and artist collectives. We talk about nostalgic objects and how she has brought them together into the gallery context to produce installations or assemblages and what this communicates for her. Lynette loves to enter art awards and has been a finalist many times in various NZ awards such as the Molly Morpeth Canaday, Parkin Drawing prize and the Adam Portrait award. She talks about why she enters these awards and what she gains from the process.
| |||
| MUSE ART GALLERY - with Kaye McGarva | 01 sept. 2025 | 01:18:02 | |
Muse Gallery, founded by Kaye McGarva in 2017, is situated in Havelock North, in the Bay of Plenty, Aoteaora NZ. In this episode I talk to Kaye McGarva, a professional artist herself and the owner/director of Muse Gallery. This bis a conversation I'm sure many artists will be intrigued to hear. Kaye shares how and why she started Muse Gallery 9 years ago and the challenges of starting a gallery with no former experience in this area and how she grew the gallery from the ground up. We explore how Muse Gallery organises their yearly exhibition programme, the current stable of artists at Muse Gallery, how/why they were selected and how connecting with more experienced established artists helped the gallery to build their good reputation. Kaye gives some super helpful tips to artists when approaching galleries: the dos and don'ts; her preferred ways for artists to connect and share their work; how and why they choose the artists to join the gallery; what feedback or advice they may pass on to artists approaching them and what they look for in an artist beyond their work. We talk about how the gallery deals with artists not selling work, how she feels about artists experimenting and changing styles, gallery commissions and pricing work, her view on artists selling work themselves, artist contracts, how the gallery elevates the artists and communicates the ideas behind their artists work. Kaye explains what type of gallery she sees Muse Gallery as, what if offers as a gallery, ways they make the gallery feel accessible, how the gallery operates and where this gallery fits in the NZ gallery landscape. And so much more! This is a fascinating chat which I know you'll benefit from listening to.
| |||
| Caitlin Johnston - Multi media artist | 26 août 2025 | 00:55:55 | |
Caitlin Johnston is a multi media artist living near the Hibiscus Coast north of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. As a Kiwi, much of Caitlin's work shows the deep connection that we have with the ocean and the land in Aotearoa. The way it makes us feel, and how we are connected to it. The sounds of the waves, the emotions we feel, the endless beauty of coastline and the nature of New Zealand inspires her work. Caitlin uses upcycled surf boards and various other found materials as her canvas, then incorporates mixed media, acrylic paint, drawings and pure oxidized copper often sealed with a resin pour. 2 years ago at the age of 30, Caitlin made the decision to devote herself to being a full time artist. She began by entering art shows which proved to be very successful, giving her the confidence to continue and deadlines to work towards. In this episode Caitlin talks about her love of trying out new techniques and experimenting with found materials such as discarded surfboards, old frames, mirrors and wood. We discuss her use of copper leaf, the oxidising process, her approach to painting on the back of a mirror and her love of experimentation. Caitlin has a very positive, reflective attitude to her growing art career. We talk about the term 'self taught artist'; how she has found her distinctive, very original style; her love of portraiture and where that is heading; what she loves about the regional NZ art shows; why she thinks she needs to "show some restraint" and the narratives and ideas behind her work. Subscribe to the Creative Connections Podcast You Tube channel to see a video of this episode.
| |||
| Fiona Kerr Gedson - Feather Artist | 18 août 2025 | 01:34:11 | |
Fiona Kerr Gedson is a fibre artist who has used feathers as her primary medium for more than 25 years. She works from her home near Ōpōtiki, in the Eastern Bay of Plenty, Aotearoa NZ. Fiona’s meticulously crafted, intricately designed feather pieces have a calming and meditative presence. Her work reflects and honours the things most important to her – her family, her spirituality, shared experiences, life stages and a sense of kotahitanga (unity). Her most recent collection, Pilgrimage, is the embodiment of this. Inspired by walking the Camino de Santiago – completing 1500km over 8 1/2 weeks, this series responds to the many stained glass windows found in chapels and cathedrals on Fiona's remarkable life changing hikoi, which she undertook in 2022. In this episode we have a beautiful conversation about walking the Camino and how this has consequently influenced her art practice. Fiona shares a personal experience of losing her precious father 3 weeks in to the pilgrimage and how she managed to process and manage her initial grief and keep walking. We discuss another influence in her practice, her work with Family Constellations (a method of family therapy or systemic therapy), and how this has also informed her practice. Fiona shares how she started working with feathers in her early twenties; how she sources the peacock, turkey, guinea fowl and hen feathers; her positive long term connections with galleries; her meticulous creative process; her framing approach and the meditative aspects of pattern. And so much more. You can see the uncut video of our conversation on our You Tube channel Creative Connections Podcast. I'd love you to subscribe!
| |||
| Lucy Eglington - Painter | 06 août 2025 | 01:40:24 | |
Lucy Eglington is a painter originally from the UK who immigrated to Aotearoa in 2003. She works from her home studio in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Working primarily in oils, Lucy’s paintings explore human states of mind: dreams, successes, losses, grief and love and the narratives we tell ourselves. She often uses animals to represent ideas and feelings and to add individual narratives to each work. With a successful track record of sell-out shows and recognition in prestigious art awards, her works resonate with audiences around the world. In this episode we have a gorgeous chat about the ideology behind Lucy's work, the way she uses animals in her work and what they represent to her, what she is communicating through her work, how she wants the viewer to reflect on through her work, her love of portraiture, her creative process from sketching and note taking to filing her ideas and her painting approach. We have an uncut video of this chat which will be available soon on our You Tube channel, which is currently under development. This will contain images of the work we are talking about and could be a fantastic resource for art teachers, artists and interested creatives, and for people who just love to watch instead of listen.
| |||
| Alexandra Tylee - Painter | 29 juil. 2025 | 01:12:44 | |
Alexandra Tylee is a painter living in Poukawa in the Hawkes Bay. From her early twenties until her early forties Alexandra setup and ran 2 successful businesses, Fuel espresso in Wellington and Pipi Cafe in Havelock North. She has also written 3 cookbooks and an award winning children’s fiction book called If I Was A Banana. Alexandra started painting around 5 years ago. Selling Pipi cafe in 2023 allowed her to devote herself more to her painting practice and since then she has had two sell out exhibitions at Muse Galley in Havelock North. In this episode we talk about her passion for cooking and how it intertwines and connects with her love of painting, feelings, memories, stories and the still life paintings she likes to paint. We discuss how she sees running a business as a creative outlet and her approach to working in hospitality, how she feels now she has sold her business and has finally got time to devote to paintings, the painting lessons she had with NZ artist Helen Kerridge and why that felt important for her to do. Alexandra shares how she choose the objects for her still life works, what they mean to her and what they communicate, the way she sets up a composition that reflects the way she sees things, how she combines different elements and objects in her own unique way and how her paintings create stillness. We also talk about the 4 books she has written and her love of writing despite being dyslexic - I've included the video of Alexandra reading her children's book at the bottom of her blogpost.
| |||
| Anna Stichbury - Contemporary Artist | 22 juil. 2025 | 01:37:56 | |
Anna Stichbury is a contemporary New Zealand artist from Wellington whose practice spans painting and installation, distinguished by her bold use of colour, layered textures, and dynamic mark-making. It was a pleasure to meet and talk to Anna, an artist I have admired for a long time, and hear all about her fascinating art practice. We discuss how Anna studied design in Wellington after high school, what she gained from this course and a significant moment that lead to her first gallery representation in her early twenties, which marked the beginning of her established full time professional artist career of more than 25 years. Anna works around a number of themes and styles which all connect and talk to each other in different ways. We explore her floral paintings, her installation work and her most recent portraiture work and how she approaches and manages each of these series. Anna shares how her latest focus on portraiture came about and the joys and challenges of exploring a new genre within her practice. We chat about collage, installation, materials, working between styles and media successfully, maintaining personal creative projects alongside her professional work and why this works for her. And so much more. Anna has a solo show Listening To Flowers coming up at Parnell Gallery August 12th - 26th 2025. Read Anna's blogpost
| |||
| Sur Collective - A Latina Artist Collective | 13 juil. 2025 | 01:16:39 | |
Sur Collective is an artist collective founded in 2021 out of a need to create a sense of place and redefine the space Latina artists use as migrant women in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Sur-Collective are 5 wahine from Colombia and Chile who work with different art disciplines such as sculpture, drawing, painting, textiles, ceramics, photography and embroidery. Today I'm speaking with one of the collective artists Cat Guevara, a ceramic artist who migrated to Aotearoa from Colombia 8 years ago. We have a fascinating chat about how Sur Collective came about and why, how it feels to be a Latina practising artist in NZ and how the collective artists use the arts as a tool to connect, relate and communicate, always with a focus on bringing their heritage and a certain flavour to this land. The Collective see the all of the work they do a bit like a portfolio: the work they create as individual artists that reflects on the collective, art activations, workshops, their studio space at Corbans Art Estate, installations, artist talks, community projects as well as group and solo shows. We talk about some of the amazing Sur Collective art activations and community projects they have delivered, the ideas and stories behind the projects, what they hope to achieve from this work and how they engage and communicate with their audience. We discuss their approaches to the funding process and Cat has some great tips for people applying for funding. Cat talks about her own ceramic art practice and how her work connects back to her heritage, her ancestors and her culture. She shares how she finds living in Aotearoa and NZ people as a Latina wahine and what she has learnt from us, which is super interesting! I am so happy to have had this conversation with an artist and collective who have immigrated to Aotearoa and hope to speak to more immigrant artists who are building community and relationships and developing their art practice here in Aotearoa. Sur Collective: Catherine Guevara (Ceramist); Juliana Duran (Visual Artist); Jesu Vasquez (Visual Artist); Lina Castro (Industrial Designer, Embroidery Artist); Romina Ortega (Visual Artist) https://www.instagram.com/sur.collective/
| |||
| CONNECTION - 4 guest artists from the group show | 07 juil. 2025 | 00:51:13 | |
This episode is different to our usual format. Mandy is in the Kumeu Arts gallery at the podcast group show CONNECTION with 4 previous podcast guest artists who have work in the show. Contemporary Fine Artist Dita Angeles https://www.ditaangeles.com/ Abstract photographer Chris Melville http://www.chrismelville.co.nz/ Painter Yvonne Abrcrombie https://www.instagram.com/yvonneabercrombie Contemporary painter Coral Noel Yang https://coralnoelyangart.com/ Each guest was asked what they've been up to artistically since we last spoke on the podcast, to talk about their work in the show and how it relates to the theme of connection, which work in the show would they most like to take home and why, what they think of the exhibition and what's next for them.
| |||
| Mandy Jakich - Talking community with artist Julie Battisti | 30 juin 2025 | 00:44:42 | |
Hello and welcome to season 9 of Creative Connections. I’m so excited to be back with weekly episodes and a fantastic varied line up of artists booked in from now until mid December 2025. This episode is a bit different. I was interviewed by artist Julie Battisti for The Creative Kind Podcast a few months ago and I thought you might be interested in listening to our conversation. We’re talking community. Which is very topical at the moment alongside the current Connection group show at Kumeu Arts which I curated, involving 60 artists who have been guests on the podcast. This exhibition runs until July 19th 2025 and is absolutely well worth a look. The opening last Friday was a wonderful demonstration of the community that is developing through this podcast, made up of listeners, guest artists, other artists, and some of our Aotearoa galleries. I mention in this episode my previous business Creative Matters, which has been sold since we recorded. Creative Connections is my new business, encompassing creative work in communities, schools and on the podcast, all with a visual arts, collaboration and community focus. I hope you enjoy this episode and make sure you follow The Creative Kind Podcast if you don’t already, where Julie explores listener questions and visual arts topics with artists and experts, offering diverse perspectives and insightful discussions I know you’ll enjoy.
| |||
| Janette Cervin - Contemporary Painter | 08 juin 2025 | 01:34:02 | |
Janette Cervin is a contemporary painter. She lives in Warkworth, north of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, with her partner and artistic collaborator Jake Kennedy. Jan creates beautiful large-scale paintings that offer an invitation to an immersive antipodean paradise teeming with exquisitely detailed New Zealand flora and fauna. A unique illusion of depth is created through the combination of traditional painting conventions and applications of thick layers of glossy resin, which is where Jake Kennedy comes in. This is a very special chat with Janette and I loved welcoming Jake to the conversation part way through to talk about his involvement in Janette's artistic process. Jan and I explore a number of personal life challenges Jan has had and how these have influenced her paintings. We discuss her early successful career in craft and decorative painting which formed the context for her commitment to explore formal art/academic education as an adult student, completing a masters degree in fine art in 2014. Jan shares how her paintings evolve, the the happy accidents that have informed her practice, her folk art inspired painting techniques and the different brushes she uses for different parts of the flowers and how she creates the incredible depth and layering in her paintings. It was beautiful to see the formidable team that is Jake and Jan together and inspiring to see the obvious love and respect they have for each other. We talk about their shared goals, the way they work together, how they compliment each other and how they both contribute to their art practice and process. Jake goes into detail about his part of the resin process: experimenting with colour, using pigments and dyes with resin, 2 pot polyester resin application, his process of layering, sanding between layers and reusing and reconstructing old paintings. This is the most gorgeous chat with 2 lovely NZers, I know you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
| |||
| Alice Alva: Multi-disciplinary artist | 21 mai 2025 | 01:35:33 | |
Alice Alva is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Kirikiriroa – Hamilton, New Zealand. Her work is informed by an interest in patterns, ornamentation, architecture and craft-based processes. In addition to her art and design work, Alice is also an art educator and a māmā to her daughter Daphne. She is an advocate for the visual arts in Aotearoa, New Zealand and is on the executive committee of ANZAAE – Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Art Educators. This episode is our very first episode with our new podcast name CREATIVE CONNECTIONS. Same podcast different name and branding. I so enjoyed meeting Alice and we had the best chat. We talk about materiality, what mediums in art might be taken more seriously than others, the challenges of attitudes to embroidery or textiles in the art world, the different ways textiles can be viewed and what Alice loves about craft based art. Alice shares how she combined painting and design after studying both visual arts and design earlier in her career, and why she moved from computer based design to teaching high school art. We explore how she came to embroidery, how her embroidery practice has developed over the years, becoming an integral part of her creative practice. Alice talks about her sketchbook / workbook practice, her interest in ornamentation and how she has brought all the disciplines, styles and themes of her practice together. We discuss how the shift in scale working on murals excites (and exhausts!) her and provides balance to her practice. We delve into how Alice's priorities and approaches have shifted since becoming a mother and the ways she shares her making process with her daughter Daphne, why and in what ways nature inspires her, how using text and the titles of her work helps her to communicate things that are important to her. And so much more! So let's just get into it! You're going to get so much from this conversation. You can see Alice's beautiful work at her 2 galleries, The Mandarin Tree Gallery in Hamilton and Masterworks in Auckland.
| |||
| Michelle McIver - Contemporary Artist | 27 avr. 2025 | 01:52:03 | |
Michelle McIver's is a contemporary artist who grew up in rural Otago and is now living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her work explores the interplay of light, colour, and form through abstract compositions. Using simple geometric shapes, she layers and juxtaposes blocks and bands of colour to create depth and structure. Each painting is an exploration of how light interacts with form, evoking a sense of balance in its abstract simplicity.' Michelle and I feel like kindred spirits. I loved sitting down with her and having a good chat in my little studio. We explore how she went from figurative drawing from a young age to abstract painting later in life, her short lived experience studying art at Uni after leaving school, her experience living in Japan for 7 years and how this time has influenced her and her work. We discuss how she came to seascape and landscape painting, her connection to the sea and to land, Michelle shares her personal story of how the Christchurch earthquake disaster deeply affected her and her family, forcing a move out of the city 4 days later and a new direction. We explore a pivotal time in Michelle's practice when she studied painting at Browne School of Art in 2024, the ways her art practice evolved over this time and how the guidance from the teachers has helped her to gain confidence in her work - helping her to settle on her own ideas, talk about her work and push her thinking and techniques to finally develop her personal style. Michelle talks us through her early and current artistic practice and process, her painting techniques using glazes and acrylic paint, how she approaches scale, titling work and her connection with her 2 art galleries Turua and Gallery de Novo. And so much more!
| |||
| Resale Royalties Aotearoa, Toi Huarau | 19 avr. 2025 | 00:31:27 | |
The Resale Royalties Scheme brings New Zealand in line with global standards to ensure artists are fairly compensated when their work is resold. It means NZ art resold here and overseas will return a payment to our artists or their successors. Today I'm speaking with Chief Executive Sam Irvine. He explains everything artists, successors and art market professionals need to know about the Resale Royalty Scheme. I recommend you check out their website https://resaleroyalties.co.nz/ after listening to this episode which has all this information and more set out in a very readable, intuitive way with PDFs you can download, guidelines and helpful videos.
| |||
| Isaac Weston - Copper Artist | 11 avr. 2025 | 01:44:20 | |
Isaac Weston is a full-time copper artist based in Matua, Tauranga, Aotearoa NZ. Isaac’s creative process is a unique blend of artistry and alchemy, combining acids, salts, and sunlight to reveal the hidden beauty of copper. This approach allows him to bring out light, shadow, texture, and vibrant patinas, showcasing the organic elegance of the metal. From sculptures to wall art, Isaac creates high-quality gallery pieces that reflect his ongoing fascination with the ever-changing textures and colours of his materials. I loved talking to Isaac in my studio at Muriwai. We explore his past careers and how he came to be a full time artist 8 years ago in his forties. He explains how copper became his medium of choice, what inspired him in the beginning to make and what gave him the confidence and impetus to keep going in the early days. Isaac shares how he has developed his art practice to become a successful sustainable career through diversification, the creation of his own garden and art gallery with the support of his wife Lara, connecting with gallerists and community groups, building relationships and putting himself out there as much as possible. We go deep into Isaac's fascinating creative process: how he sources and reuses railway sleepers and copper, his process for creating patinas on his copper works; how he creates different patina colours and textures; his approach to scale and shape; how he comes up with designs; his cutting and connecting processes; his varnishing techniques and the development of his large range of sculptural works. He shares how he visualises work in his mind before he comes to make it (often when he should be sleeping - I can relate to that!), ways he has created tools and developed techniques over the years through perseverance, problem solving and modification. We talk about why he has decided to market his work under two brands, Isaac Weston Artist and Rework It, how he manages deadlines, how he has learnt to say no over the years, how he manages his 'show pony' and 'peacock' tendencies and we also touch on tricky topics like people copying his work and cultural appropriation. Isaac's enthusiasm and passion for what he does is infectious and his entrepreneurial approach to his work is inspiring. You're going to love this chat.
| |||
| Sefton Rani - Parehuia Artist in Residence | 19 mars 2025 | 00:59:38 | |
Sefton Rani describes himself as a maker, who uses paint as his primary material. Based in Auckland, he is a visual DJ who mashes up industrial materials with Cook Island narratives, to create modern Pasifika art. Sefton is the current Parehuia Artist in Residence at McCahon House, which is in Titirangi West of Auckland NZ. McCahon House Artists’ Residency, named Parehuia by local kaumatua Eru Thompson in 2008, is amongst the most prestigious artists’ residencies in New Zealand. Three residencies a year, each of three months duration, are available to outstanding professional artists. Artists receiving the residency live and work in the purpose-built French Bay house with an attached studio. I met Sefton in the studio this week to have a chat about the residency, being an artist in residence, the work he is creating over this 3 month period, how he has been inspired by past events and his surroundings, his thinking and development and of course his creative process. This is the second time Sefton has been a guest on the podcast - you might like to go back to episode 73 which we recorded in March 2023 to hear more about Sefton's life and art practice.
| |||
| Claudia Aalderink - Contemporary artist | 05 mars 2025 | 01:27:33 | |
Claudia Aalderink is a self-taught artist based in Kihikihi, near Hamilton in Aotearoa New Zealand. She is also the founder and director of The Mandarin Tree art gallery in Gordonton. Her works are created by meticulously fragmenting discarded beehives in a non-symbolic approach. Within a reduced visual vocabulary of circles, squares, rectangles, and lines, she explores the subtlety of colour, scale, and composition Originally from Holland, Claudia says her 2005 move to New Zealand has been ‘life changing’ for her family and her art. We have a beautiful chat with all the windows and doors open in the studio on a gorgeous summer's day, serenaded by cicadas (and the builders next door!). We talk about how Claudia discovered her medium of choice - beehives, how she sources and stores the boxes, her systems for selecting which parts and which colours to use, It was fascinating hearing about Claudia's creative process. Claudia likes to work with a variety of scale and shapes, combining them in different ways. She shares her approach to design, composition, colour, space and shape, the ways she incorporates different elements found on the beehives and how she comes up with the titles and what they mean to her. We explore the charring part of her process, how she embraces imperfection and unexpected elements within the boxes, the introduction of stitching and the importance of artistic collaboration. Claudia shares how she randomly discovered and fell in love with a building in Gordonton 10 years ago, previously a BP service station, which she went on to turn into her own art gallery The Mandarin Tree. We talk about some things she has learnt as a gallery owner and business woman, the challenges of juggling her business and her art practice and how the two parts of her life connect and compliment each other.
| |||
| Sara Langdon - Contemporary Artist | 19 févr. 2025 | 01:41:44 | |
Sara Langdon is a contemporary New Zealand landscape artist living in Beachlands, East of Auckland. Sara currently draws inspiration from the beauty of familiar and distinct volcanic landmarks around Auckland city and the Waitemata Harbour.The New Zealand landscape is Sara's source of inspiration and reason for painting. Sara paints places she is connected to and loves, places she wants to explore and respond to so that people who feel this same connection are able to enjoy a tangible reminder of a place. In this episode Sara shares her journey to eventually finding her art practice, trialling other creative careers along the way that never quite felt like the right fit for her. We talk about her initial connection with Parnell Gallery in 2013, her fascination with Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland volcanic mountains and tree scapes and her love of capturing texture, atmosphere, pattern, tone, line and light in her work. We discuss the addition of houses in her work and the challenges these present, how she finds commissions and Sara shares her approach to framing, varnishing, composition, painting skies, building relationships with galleries and the value of creating beautiful limited edition prints of her paintings. She unpacks her acrylic painting process, starting with a photograph. We talk social media and marketing, her personalised stationery and how she builds and maintains connection with her audience and collectors. Sara has an upcoming joint show with landscape artist Matt Payne at Parnell Gallery: Salt and Light III, April 1st - April 15th 2025. Opening event on April 1st 5.30pm - 7pm.
| |||
| James Watkins - Painter | 06 févr. 2025 | 01:25:44 | |
Born in Oxford in the UK in 1984, James Watkins moved to Auckland, New Zealand at a young age, kicking off a lifelong journey of travel and creative exploration. James thinks of his intuitive painting practice as limitless and sees defining his practice as a certain style or describing himself as a certain type of artist as restrictive and unnecessary. In this episode James shares how he never really felt creative as a young person but discovered photography in his late teens. From photographing beautiful things around him, James went on to explore writing, poetry and arts journalism and then made his way to abstract drawing and painting in his mid twenties. We discuss materiality, why he likes to use more than one medium in a painting, why he likes to create what he calls 'history' in a painting, his techniques for starting a painting and the metaphors he see in his paintings. He talks about how and why he 'listens' to a painting and how abstraction for him is a form of therapy and self expression. James thinks of 'excitement' as one of the ingredients and resources he leans on most in his art practice and when he loses that excitement his creativity retreats. We dive deep into the pros and cons of Instagram for artists and explore his approach to building community, connecting with galleries and sharing his work. This episode is like no other. James has many interesting perspectives on life, life as an artist and ways of thinking about and responding to art, creativity and process. To be honest, talking to James has really made me think about my own life as an artist and my artistic process. You can see the work of James Watkins in the NEW COLLECTORS GROUP SHOW at The Frame Workshop and Gallery in Auckland NZ from February 20th - March 8th.
| |||
| Delainy Jamahl - Visual artist & creative technologist | 26 janv. 2025 | 01:15:44 | |
Working at the intersection of art and technology, Delainy Jamahl's art practice focuses on data as the central narrative. He creates immersive and interactive installations that explore and visualise, transforming complex information into engaging visual experiences. It was lovely to meet Delainy and to speak with a creative technology artist - the first of his kind on the podcast! In this episode we explore the creative and technical routes he took and the great influence an artist mentor had on him that lead him to consider channelling his skills into an art practice. We discuss in detail two of Delainy's stunning works: Sight Unseen - which is a unique photographic dataset of infrared and colour infrared images of Wellington, continuing his exploration of visualising the invisible and revealing the beauty of the unseen. Rivers of Wind, a mesmerising immersive digital artwork, uses 8 years of historic weather data from the Wellington Airport weather station to produce its flowing visuals. We get into the technical side of immersive video and sound work, which although new to me I actually found super interesting. Delainy shares the feelings he is trying to express and create with the work, how people react to it, the ways he communicates the ideas behind his work and his creative process. We talk about a collaboration Nowadeus with NZ artist Tim Christie, who has also been on the podcast, and other plans he has for collaborative projects and spaces. Delainy is the owner & director at Artificial Imagination and the co-founder of The Grid, which produce captivating digital art experiences, collaborating with artists to challenge the boundaries of imagination.
| |||
| Anna Gibbs - Conservation Artist | 19 janv. 2025 | 01:38:39 | |
Anna Gibbs is a contemporary painter living in Banks Peninsula, near Christchurch in the South Island of Aotearoa NZ. If you search her name on Google you'll see she is described as an "internet personality" which probably comes from the amazing work she does on the Instagram social media platform and her loyal audience of more than 100,000 followers. Anna is interested in conservation and fortunate to live on a rural lifestyle-block populated by many native birds and plants. Her oil paintings are inspired by her daily observations of the interaction between native flora and fauna. She is deliberate with her composition and, whilst her work is detailed, she describes her subject with neither abstraction nor absolute realism. In this episode we have a fabulous chat about all sorts of things - such as why Anna likes to gild her backgrounds with 24ct gold leaf and her delicate gilding process, her strong connection to NZ native birds and why she loves to paint them and her passion for conservation. Anna speaks of her apprenticeship with painter Judy Curnow, who studied with legend New Zealand painter Tim Wilson, and how that influenced her painting approach particularly with glazing techniques and helped her confidence as a self taught painter. We explore her painting process, framing, the size of her paintings, her gorgeous studio, how she prepares for an exhibition and her upcoming show at Little River Gallery. She shares some tips for Instagram and how she feels about this platform This is another quite long episode but it's full of really interesting tips and treasures and is so worth listening to - maybe over 2 walks or 2 commutes or 2 art making sessions, however you like to listen. You can view Anna Gibbs unbelievably beautiful paintings at her solo show South Island Songs at Little River Gallery from January 30th - February 24th 2025 https://littlerivergallery.com/
| |||
| Alex Wilkinson - Ceramic Artist and entrepreneur | 16 déc. 2024 | 01:36:59 | |
Welcome to episode 155, the final episode of 2024. Ngā mihi nui Thank you so much for listening and for your support this year. I hope the podcast has cheered you up, motivated you, inspired you, affirmed what you do or educated you in some small way. As you probably know, the CM podcast is largely self funded. However, I now have a way for you to show your support if you'd like to, by making a small donation of 3, 5, 8, or 10 dollars every month. There is a link in my podcast Instagram profile and in the show notes to sign yourself up to donate each month and you can cancel anytime. Every small contribution is hugely appreciated and actually makes a difference., and will ensure the podcast is sustainable and hopefully will continue for years to come. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1713946/support Now for episode 155. Alex Wilkinson is a ceramic artist and entrepreneur living in Te Awamutu in the Waikato. She founded Mystery Creek Ceramics out of a love for Nerikomi and functional, beautiful ceramic tableware. Alex talks about her journey to art school in her twenties via 3 years of studying engineering for 3 years and business for 2 years and how discovering and nurturing her creative side has helped with her well being, mental health and managing depression. Alex credits pottery for helping her out of a severe period of depression and putting her back on the path of valuing herself and her contribution to the world. Alex says "I simply would not be here if it were not for me trying a night class in pottery and my incredible support network." Alex shares the more conceptual part of her art practice and explains how this sits comfortably alongside her Nerikomi tableware production, allowing her to push her thinking and self expression, and how an art competition led to her losing confidence in her conceptual art practice. We explore Nerikomi, a Japanese pottery term describing the artistic technique where multiple colours of clay are marbled or combined to create various designs,.and what Alex loves about this process. Passing her passion for ceramics on to others is Alex's favourite part of her practice. Alex talks about the different ways she does this through teaching, supplying, mentoring and building her audience and networks through social media. We have great chats about using Tik Tok and Pinterest, the highs and lows of small business, the commercial and conceptual sides of Alex's art practice, mentors, being the face of the business, branding, suppliers and so much more. This episode is a fascinating insight into business life alongside the life of an artist and a lovely peep into the world of Mystery Creek Ceramics.
| |||
| Roy Mason from Fingers Contemporary Jewellery Collective | 08 déc. 2024 | 01:17:46 | |
Established in 1974 by a group of young jewellery makers to promote their work, Fingers has become synonymous with innovation and originality and the development of an indigenous style of contemporary New Zealand jewellery. Fingers has been at the forefront of treating and displaying the craft object as art, and has constantly challenged the notion of what is precious. As the oldest contemporary jewellery gallery in New Zealand, Fingers has become an institution recognised locally and internationally, providing a platform for many artist's careers. In this episode I speak with jeweller Roy Mason who is one of the founding partners of Fingers. We explore Roy's experiences at Ilam Art School in Christchurch in the early seventies, his early artistic practice, insights into his creative thinking and how nature inspires his work. Roy reflects on how and why this group of like minded craft makers came together, the early days of Fingers and the move to Kitchener Street opposite the Auckland Art Gallery Toi ō Tāmaki in 1987. He talks about the Fingers early group exhibitions - a pivotal part of the establishment of Fingers - each one focusing on a chosen concept such as a material. We discuss how the partners worked together and supported each others' practices, the use of diverse and less often seen materials such as Paua and Mother of Pearl (mela mela), how the group shows allow for the team to experiment and push boundaries and how other artists have come on board with 72 artists now exhibiting in the gallery. This is a fascinating look into an iconic New Zealand contemporary jewellery collective who this year celebrate 50 glorious years of intelligent art making.
| |||
| Bailee Lobb - Sculpture, installation and performance artist | 01 déc. 2024 | 01:38:03 | |
Bailee Lobb is a queer, disabled artist born in Whanganui, Aotearoa, 1989 and now based in Wellington. She is a multi-disciplinary artist who works with textiles, colour, and movement to create sculpture, installation, and performance artworks that explore art as disability access and care. In this enlightening episode Bailee talks about how she felt as a teenager, as a person who was dealing with undiagnosed autism and how her artwork now responds to and nurtures her disability. She shares how she started her studies in architecture at uni in Aotearoa, why she changed degrees and went on to study fine arts in Sydney and how architectural ideas continue to inform her art practice. Bailee speaks about how her work has always connected with mental health in some way and how her art practice has helped her discover and acknowledge her own health and disability issues such as chronic pain, sleep problems, depression and autism. For Bailee, art is a way of communicating personal things that are hard to put into words. We explore a number of Bailee's installation and performance works in depth, how audiences react to and interact with her works, how she uses colour to , how she manages creating work that is for people to experience more than for people to purchase, how grants have helped her to push her practice and the ways in which she considers creative access in all of her work.
| |||
| Julie Battisti - Painter | 24 nov. 2024 | 01:24:21 | |
Julie Battisti is a painter who grew up in Melbourne Australia and moved to Aotearoa New Zealand with her husband in 2017, settling first in Rawene in the North Island then going on to make Dunedin her home. Julie's paintings currently have two significant themes; clouds and flowers. Both are studies of light and texture. In this episode Julie shares how she sources and chooses the flowers she paints, how she creates her floral compositions and her floral painting process from underpainting and taking photographs to painting the final details and how she approaches colour. We discuss her cloud paintings and how they have initially came from feeling homesick, helping her to feel more connected to her friends and family on the other side of the Tasman. We explore how she manages work for her gallery with regular commissions, how she connected with the 2 NZ galleries who represent her (Gallery de Novo in Dunedin and Parnell Gallery in Auckland), why she is no longer represented in Melbourne and how she manages 2 distinct themes in her practice. Julie is the host of The Creative Kind podcast, where she explores creative questions with the help of fellow artists & art professionals who share insights and inspiration with listeners who, like Julie, are passionate about creativity in all its forms. As fellow podcast hosts we talk about our podcasts, why we started them and our plans for the future of our shows. It was so nice to connect with Julie. We have a fantastic conversation - it was such a treat to hear Julie talking about her beautiful art practice for a change!
| |||
| Chris Melville - Photographer | 17 nov. 2024 | 01:11:17 | |
Chris Melville is a photographer, graphic designer and jazz musician living in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. In his latest photographic collection, Chris uses household items and a slow shutter speed to create landscape compositions, suggesting dreamy lakes or mountains appearing from the mist. Chris currently works with linen, denim, smooth cotton and coarse hessian, creating visual layers and textures. The resulting images, while being made entirely of practical human-made objects, speak of the mystical natural New Zealand environment, referencing Colin McCahon paintings through their minimal aesthetic. Chris shares lovely reflections on life and creativity in this episode. We talk about his experiences showing his abstract photographic work at the last 2 Art in the Park events in Auckland, why he also likes to take photographs of musicians, how his sense of humour comes through his art practice and the other things he likes to capture with his camera. We explore his photographic process, how he comes up with the titles of his latest series and how he juggles a full time design job, being a musician, being a Dad and going to gigs with his photographic fine art career.
| |||
| Ross Jones - Painter | 10 nov. 2024 | 01:21:51 | |
Ross Jones is a painter creating works that evoke a heady sense of nostalgia and elevated playfulness, living in Snells Beach on the east coast north of Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Each meticulously devised painting offers hints at various narratives as the artist invites the viewer to engage with his role as storyteller. I loved meeting Ross and chatting to him. We talk about Ōtaki on the Kapiti Coast of Aotearoa where he grew up and the things he loves about where he now lives at Snells Beach. He shares how he failed his first year studying art and design at Wellington Design School only to return a year later and start the course again, gaining his degree 3 years later. Ross talks about how he likes to play with time and scale in his work, his love of incorporating toys form his childhood and sourced from around the world into his paintings, how his previous illustration career informs his fine art practice today and his love of using sketchbooks for organising ideas, experimenting and drawing. We discuss goal setting and how this has evolved into his 100 painting project which started in 2009 and finishes in 2028 and The Final 50 painting project which will start up after that and hopefully take him through to his early 80s. We explore why Ross doesn't like to paint NZ scenes, why he wouldn't enter an art competition, why he likes to paint one painting at a time and only have a solo exhibition every 2 years and why he loves to paint his dog Alice and why he won't paint yours.
| |||
| Cathy Carter - Photographic + multi media conceptual artist | 03 nov. 2024 | 01:18:54 | |
Cathy Carter is a photographic and multimedia conceptual artist, living in Grey Lynn, Auckland. Cathy's art is inspired by concerns about climate change and our evolving relationship with bodies of water as physical, cultural, and unique environmental ‘landscapes’ and investigates our complex psychological relationship to water through different perspectives and geographical locations. Cathy and I have a lovely chat which I know you'll enjoy and I just loved our time together. We talk about an influential trip to Europe with her young family that influenced her and informed her early art practice, why she finally went back to uni to study fine arts at AUT University gaining a Master of Art and Design (Hons) in 2013 and why she felt she needed to do this. She shares how she came to make water her muse and how her work became more conceptual, and how she came to be represented by a dealer gallery as soon as she left uni. We explore her extensive and wonderful series of works from her Oceanids series to her latest Fluid Alchemy series and why she likes to dip in and out of these series. We discuss her creative process, how she makes some of her work, the ideas behind her work and how she likes to also incorporate sculpture, light boxes and collaborative pieces in her shows. Cathy talks about why she likes to enter art awards and competitions, the success she has had with this and how she approaches submitting her work.
| |||
| Jeff Thomson - Sculptor | 28 oct. 2024 | 01:41:03 | |
Jeff Thomson is a sculptor living in the little suburb of Helensville, in the north west of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He is well known for his corrugated iron animals, birds, cars and people as well as NZ icons like the Taihape gumboot and the Holden in our national Museum Te Papa, and is often referred to as the corrugated iron man of Australasia. Unconventional, humorous, challenging, iconic and ironic, the sculpture of Jeff Thomson has given a whole new perspective to corrugated iron in the New Zealand landscape and in art. Jeff'swork is keenly sought after by collectors in New Zealand and internationally. He has had major exhibitions in Australia and Germany as well as New Zealand. His work never stands still, and he continues to be recognised as one of NZ's leading and most original contemporary artists today. After a successful artistic career of over 40 years Jeff has a lot of great stories - from making an elephant fence for James Wallace's home and sleeping rough in a rotunda in Albert Park for 9 days whilst installing iron elephants, to his early long distance walks and meeting the locals, his first corrugated cow made for a letterbox and his love of finding a 'non art' audience. Jeff shares some of these stories in this episode. He talks about some of the domestic craft processes he has explored with iron such as knitting using downpipes for needles, french knitting, screen printing, weaving, lace making and making pompoms. He shares the ideas and techniques behind some of his artist led community projects, public and private commissions and other sculptures and he talks about some of his favourite works. We discuss one of his career highlights, which he describes as functional art out in real life, roofing in the community and the beautiful connections he's had with other respected NZ artists such as Don Binney, Paul Dibble, Ralph Hotere and Rosalie Gascoigne. This is a fascinating glimpse into Jeff Thomson's incredible career.
| |||
| Emma Hercus - Figurative Painter | 20 oct. 2024 | 01:03:42 | |
Emma Hercus is a painter born in Hastings and now living in Plimmerton, just north of Wellington. The everchanging ocean and its view from her home serve as constant reference points in Emma's narrative abstract figurative paintings. I loved talking to Emma. We talk about her early influences and inspiration from family as she was growing up, the amazing basketry and weaving practice she developed when she first decided to get back into being creative after having kids - which after a number of years finally led to her painting practice. We discuss her experience studying art for 3 years part time at the Learning Connection in Taita, Wellington, gaining a diploma in creativity. Emma shares what she loves about painting, how she incorporates mark making using her favourite scruffy brushes; layering, sanding, scratching to create beautiful marks and glimpses of colour and patterns through the layers. We explore interesting topics like using chatGPT or AI for writing artist statements (or not), framing, why she sometimes likes to elongate limbs in her paintings, where her stories come from and the symbols in her work. We talk about her joint show Wildy, coming up this week at Railway Street Gallery + Studios: And you'll hear from Emma's doggie Ricky at times making a guest appearance.
| |||
| GUEST UPDATE: Kylie Rusk | 15 oct. 2024 | 00:12:37 | |
Today I'm catching up with painter, printmaker Kylie Rusk to see what she's been up to since I last spoke to her in March 2021.
| |||
| Gilly Sheffield - Contemporary Artist | 13 oct. 2024 | 01:10:17 | |
Gilly Sheffield is a sculptor | weaver living in both Glendowie in Auckland and Wanaka in the South Island. After a lifetime of making, it was only a few years ago that Gilly developed a more specific art practice using corrugated iron and started to see herself as an artist. In this episode Gilly shares how she came upon this very iconic NZ material, corrugated iron, how she sources it (with help from her 'Iron Rescue Collective' friends) and the stories this medium tells for her. She generously shares a personal traumatic event in her family's life that led to the creation of a whakapapa installation of crosses for her home, which marked the beginning of her art practice. She explains how she came to adding woven line and pattern with thread, and the steps she took to learn to weave. This chat was motivating for me and got me thinking about all the potential of not only Gilly's work but other ideas that came to me using different materials. I'm sure you'll feel the same! We both get excited about the potential of her work, exploring the possibilities of outdoor sculpture, scale, perspective, use of different threads and public installations. We also reflect on the pricing of her work, the dreaded imposter syndrome and how she came to exhibit her work in a number of NZ art galleries. Gilly is celebrating a big year with her first group show, with Kylie Rusk and Claudia Aalderink: ELEMENTS - Turua Gallery, 18th - 30th October 2024
| |||
| Sue and Karen Gardiner from the Chartwell Trust | 06 oct. 2024 | 00:56:29 | |
Creative visual thinking is fundamental to us all as human beings as we strive to understand our sense of self and the world. Chartwell seeks to deepen understanding about the importance of art and creative thinking for our future and our wellbeing. The Chartwell Trust was set up in the early 1970s by Robert Gardiner, then a Hamilton businessman and accountant, as a charitable trust to realise Chartwell's vision for wider access to and deeper understanding of creative visual thinking. The Chartwell Collection was established in 1974 as a privately managed public collection, a new model for its time in New Zealand. From the beginning, all acquisitions went immediately into public gallery care and use. In this episode I speak to 2 of the Chartwell trust directors Rob Gardiner's daughters Sue and Karen Gardiner, as they celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Chartwell Trust’s involvement with and support of the visual arts in Aotearoa New Zealand. Karen and Sue share some lovely stories about their early days with their parents Rob and Ev and the man that is Rob Gardiner. We talk about the long 50 year history of Chartwell, how and why Rob started the Chartwell Collection, why the collection eventually came up to Auckland from the Waikato to the Auckland Art Gallery in 1997, why contemporary art makes up the collection and how acquisitions are chosen. Chartwell's activities and projects are divided into four key domains - Being, Seeing, Making and Thinking. Karen talks about one of the Chartwell outreach projects named Squiggla, which is a cross curricular tool that helps develop creative thinking through the power of mark making https://www.squiggla.org/ Sue takes us through ideas around asking questions in art, how we respond to contemporary art, the affects of viewing art, slow looking and Chartwell's hopes for the next 50 years and she shares the 50th year Chartwell anniversary programme which is running from March 2024 - March 2025. This is a wonderful conversation which recounts an important part of Aotearoa New Zealand's social and visual art history and celebrates the value of art and the creative process for everyone.
| |||
| Levi Hawken - Contemporary sculptor | 29 sept. 2024 | 02:04:45 | |
Levi Hawken is a brutalist | modernist sculptor living and working in west Auckland. His practice includes sculpture in concrete, glass, wood and bronze as well as painting. As a skateboarder, Levi understands the undeniable attraction of the urban concrete landscape. His work responds to the forms and elements of this environment. In this very authentic conversation Levi takes us through his extraordinary life from early graffiti days and his world of skating to his appearances on TV and in film and the Nek Minute meme that made him famous, although not necessarily for all the right reasons. He speaks from the heart about experiences in his life that have affected the person he is, the way he works today and the art he makes. We discuss Levi's early work, how his first show came about and how he built his reputation as a serious artist. We talk about his current work the False Idols series and the Solv series and how his work is inextricably intertwined with skateboarding and urban forms. Levi describes the ideas behind his work and his process for making and how he feels about showcasing his work in a more commercial environment. This is an amazing story which will inspire young and old, giving you a true insight into the person and artist that is Levi Hawken. 02:34 Childhood Memories and Early Influences 04:11 High School Art Journey 06:10 Discovering Graffiti and Skateboarding 09:10 Pursuing Art and Skateboarding in Melbourne 13:07 Transition to Professional Art and Design 27:08 Life in Dunedin and Artistic Evolution 45:27 The Impact of the 'Neck Minute' Meme 52:37 Freestyling Shapes and Downhill Skateboarding 53:24 Exploring Helmet Designs and Aero Helmets 53:46 Collaborations and Exhibitions 54:35 Landscaping and Concrete Sculptures 55:47 Discovering Brutalism and Smaller Works 56:25 Buffable Show and Permanent Art 57:04 Challenges in the Art World 58:39 Transition to Full-Time Artist 59:19 Experimenting with Glass and Bronze 01:02:10 Architectural Influences and Brutalism 01:05:54 Urban Environment and Skateboarding Influence 01:14:05 Large Scale Projects and Problem Solving 01:23:32 Commercial Success and International Reach 01:31:01 Reflections and Future Aspirations 01:40:56 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
| |||
| Di Tocker - Sculptural glass artist | 22 sept. 2024 | 01:43:02 | |
Di Tocker is a sculptural glass artist living and working from her purpose built studio in Cambridge, in the Waikato. Di maintains a structured approach to her art practice and business. She provides work for 5 galleries throughout New Zealand, and undertakes commissions for private residences and commercial projects. Di loves to connect with people who enjoy her glass work and welcomes visitors to her studio by appointment. In this episode we chat about how Di discovered her love of working with glass and the ideas and narratives her work conveys. Di very generously shares her complex glass casting process and guides us through her glass casting from design and polishing to managing colour and creating spaces and curves in her work. Di talks about studying glass sculpture in Australia and how that contributed to the artist she is today and why she likes to include figures in her work. She shares her approach to the business side of being an artist, how she chooses galleries to work with, her love of making notes and keeping journals. This is such an insightful episode, I learnt so much! Di has an inspiring approach to life as an artist - her journey is fascinating and she has so many great tips for creatives.
| |||
| Ronja Schipper - Re:purpose Ronja | 15 sept. 2024 | 01:15:26 | |
Ronja Schipper has been lovingly making up-cycled art objects since 2015. She lives in the Waitakere Ranges in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Ronja uses waste materials for creating design pieces, aiming to highlight the relationship with our at-risk environment & its resources. All pieces are hand made in NZ from discarded bike innertube, cleaned, polished & enhanced with new findings. Ronja was born in Munich, Germany and is a creative all-rounder with 20 years experience in the publishing, fashion and advertising industry in Europe and NZ with a particular passion for illustration. Since moving to New Zealand in __ she has set up bureau55, her own design studio in West Auckland and in 2015 she started her art practice. This was such an inspiring chat with a truly formidable woman. Ronja talks about how she uses her art practice to highlight the relationship with our at-risk environment, how she got started with jewellery making using this recycled resource and how her business and art practice has evolved over the last 9 years. She explains her process from sourcing and cleaning the inner tubes to the designing, cutting, painting and packaging stages. Ronja shares how she is starting to use inner tube in different ways with framed artworks designed to be hung on walls and how she is learning to define herself as an artist.
| |||
| Mandy Patmore - Mixed-media environmental artist | 09 sept. 2024 | 01:23:11 | |
Mandy Patmore is a multi-media environmental artist living in Karekare, on Auckland’s west coast. Primarily a painter, Mandy's current work focuses largely on deforestation and habitat loss in New Zealand, and the plight of many endangered native species, whilst exploring themes of colonisation and human impact on our landscape. I find the work Mandy does in the community, with the environment and her own art practice super inspiring and this is a fantastic episode I know you'll gain many things from. We talk about the Piha domain footbridge project she completed in 2009 which won the NZ Recreation Association Award for most outstanding project and other projects she has done to highlight environmental issues. Mandy tells us all about the Kōkano Youth Arts Collective which was developed from a pilot programme in 2013 as a response to recognising the needs of some of the most vulnerable young people in West Auckland; all of whom have struggled with mainstream education. She shares the challenges and highlights of working with at risk youth and what she has learnt. We talk about how Mandy manages all the things in her life and how they all connect, her art practice, her love of using found surfaces and timber to paint on, why she wants to diversify within her art practice, who and what has influenced her practice. We discuss funding, self doubt and how she sometimes feels some form of shame around creating realistic works that may seem more about beautification than the message she is trying to convey. As this episode goes live Mandy will be listening from her latest residency in Peru, which I'm following with fascination on her socials.
| |||
| Dita Angeles - Contemporary Fine Artist | 02 sept. 2024 | 01:34:50 | |
Born and raised in Auckland, Dita Angeles completed her BFA at Whitecliffe College in 2004 before spending the majority of her career in Asia and more recently Australia. With a strong background in portraiture - social presentation, perception and persuasion are the dominant themes that run through Dita's work. Her paintings are inspired by existential philosophies and 20th century aesthetics, and depict social issues and personal moments that incorporate the spectacle of contemporary culture, paying close attention to behaviour, ego, identity and anonymity. We have a fascinating honest chat about the difficulties of moving to other countries and trying to maintain an art practice, creating new contacts and artistic communities and then also the challenges of returning to NZ and again building her community and promoting her work. Dita talks about a traumatic medical event she experienced in Hong Kong which left her disabled and how this has affected her life. She speaks of her photographic practice, how important composition is for her, how she has to see something to paint it and likes to use her own photography or found images for her work with an emphasis on anonymity and how she sometimes uses herself as a subject but in that case sees herself as a character playing a role. We talk about her striking upcoming show #Iconograph, which is showing at The Grey Place in Auckland from September 3rd - September 14th 2024. We discuss the symbols in these works such as leather and sunglasses and the icon references she incorporates. Dita talks in depth about other portraiture series of works - The Post Mod Wallflowers which she showed at the Auckland Art Show in 20, The Gentleman's Club referencing the Me Too movement and her ongoing series Compositions of Identity which are thought provoking cropped images of people at a party in the mid 20th century. We discuss her amazing painting "It's love" of NZ musician Chris Knox which is a finalist in the Adam Portraiture award 2024, and how this came about. And she shares how people often don't connect her as the artist of her work and how anti-climatic it feels for her when she finishes a painting. And so much more!
| |||
| Leigh Tawharu - Mixed media artist | 26 août 2024 | 01:25:56 | |
Leigh Tawharu, is a contemporary mixed media and printmaking artist living in Kaeo, Te Tai Tokerau in the far north of Aotearoa NZ. Her work is created through various techniques and mediums which seek to explore surface texture, pattern and design on paper. She is influenced and inspired by her surrounding landscape of maunga (mountains), native bush, fashion, textiles and still life from within her immediate domestic environment. This is the best conversation and I absolutely loved meeting Leigh. We initially connected when I inited her to exhibit a work alongside my own thread paintings in a group show I'm involved in with Muriwai Arts Collective. As our conversation went on we found more and more connections between our work and the way we think. Leigh speaks about the immense pleasure she gains from the object and the cloth, the memories they hold and the cathartic practice of repetitive stitches, which provides a daily early morning exercise in mindfulness. She shares how she finally devoted herself to studying fine art in 2018, how she uses printmaking and painting in her work and how she manages threading on paper. We discuss her various series of works she has done over the last few years, using thread and different mediums such as shellac, gold leaf, collage and ball point pen, and how they all connect. We have great chats about all sorts of interesting things like nostalgia and how that creeps into our work, sales at shows, imposter syndrome, how we both feel connected to our land and place and how her work responds to the environment around her. Leigh goes into fascinating detail about all the different processes she uses to bring thread into her work. Once again please excuse my blocked up croaky wheezy voice in this episode.
| |||
| Sam Leitch - Contemporary painter, print maker | 22 août 2024 | 01:03:02 | |
Sam Leitch is a contemporary painter and print maker living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Sam sees himself as a storyteller of everyday life and the unknown, capturing time and combining commonplace objects and surrealist expressions to invite the viewer in to the painting. He has always been fascinated with what makes a piece of art. The connection between the viewer, the artist and the piece is a relationship which dominates his ever-evolving art practice. Sam and I have a great chat, firstly off air about our dogs - my border collie Mali and his Staffy cross Mikey. On air, we talk about his experience studying fine art at university straight from school at the age of 17 and a life changing experience he had at uni that still runs deep with him 16 years later and affects his art practice today. By the age of 24 he was represented by 2 Auckland galleries with a sell out first solo show and marked the beginning of a full time career as an artist. Sam shares why he likes to include birds in his latest work combined with abstract shapes, his painting process including how he uses resin to get a shine for some works and sands it back to create a tile like hardness and flatness, a contrast he enjoys. We discuss his screen printing process and why he loves this medium so much. Sam is part of a group show Contemporary Creations of Colour at Turua Gallery with Beautifully Frank Frankie meaden and Agate Rubene, Restless & Infectious. This gorgeous show starts tomorrow - Friday August 23rd (with an opening event from 5pm) and runs until September 4th 2024. Ngā mihi nui, thank you Turua Gallery for generously sponsoring this episode.
| |||
| GUEST UPDATE: Frankie Meaden | 19 août 2024 | 00:13:32 | |
GUEST UPDATE: Textile artist Frankie Meaden was last interviewed on the podcast in July 2023 in episode 87.
| |||
| Agate Rubene - Artist, Illustrator | 18 août 2024 | 01:11:05 | |
Agate Rubene, aka Restless & Infectious, is an artist and illustrator with a background in fashion and graphic design. She is from Latvia and now lives in Wānaka in the South Island of NZ. Agate’s work focuses on people and their actions, capturing emotions and feelings. She is inspired by the people around her, human interactions and patterns in nature. Agate loves using bright flat colours to create her own alternative realities, where feminine themes take centre stage. It was such a pleasure meeting Agate and I found it super inspiring to hear a positive story of someone who has settled in NZ from Eastern Europe and is making her life as an artist here in NZ. Agate talks about how she came to live in New Zealand from Latvia and how both her homeland and her background in fashion influences her work. She shares how successful her initial approaches to galleries were, her first exhibition at Art in the Park art show in Auckland and how her knowledge and experience in graphic design has helped her so much with managing her art practice. We chat about her illustration work, mostly with breweries, and how that connects and fits in with her fine art practice. Agate reflects on working as an artist in Aotearoa, how she feels she would never have been an artist if she'd stayed in Latvia and how painting brings her calmness and is so good for her well being. https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/creative-matters-with-agate-rubene
| |||
| Jennie De Groot - Contemporary Painter | 11 août 2024 | 01:23:32 | |
Jennie De Groot is a contemporary painter living near Hamilton in the Waikato. Jennie's oil paintings occupy a space where reality, imagination and memory all hold equal tenancy. These psychological landscapes hold the tension between realism and abstraction, place and non-place. Her status as immigrant informs her work, exploring themes of identity and adaptation. After studying archeology, a career in travel consultancy, moving to New Zealand from South Africa and then contracting a serious infection at the age of 39, amongst many other things, Jennie finally devoted herself to her art practice at the age of 40. In this awesome episode, Jennie talks about how her landscape paintings reflect more of a feeling, an idea and are often more about self than an actual place. She talks about being in the state of flow and how music contributes to this, how she thinks of herself as a colourist, how she builds her colour palette and how she creates balance in her work. Also the different surfaces she likes to paint on and the mark making tools she loves to use. We talk about her amazing Cold Comfort and her Figures in Space series and how and why these paintings came about. We talk about what she loves about painting plein air, why she went back to university in her fifties to gain her masters in fine arts and how that has contributed to her art practice and what she gains from her mentor relationship and friendship with fellow NZ artist Di Tocker, who will also be on the podcast later this year. And we touch on so much more!
| |||
| Alice Fennessy - Visual artist | 04 août 2024 | 01:08:45 | |
Alice Fennessy is an artist based in Palmerston North in the Manawatu. She uses drawing to convey themes such as intimacy, domestic life and interior worlds. Her work is currently intertwined with motherhood as she raises her two young children, dreams and memories. Alice is endlessly fascinated by the juxtapositions or dualities thrown up by pregnancy and motherhood, how these experiences can be simultaneously beautiful and ugly, tender and excruciating. Her work aims to be sensitive and vulnerable, casting light on experiences of life often disregarded. I loved talking to Alice. We discuss her secondary art teaching career and how that feeds into her art practice, how her drawing practice developed and how she uses drawing to process what's going on in her head and around her, and sometimes as a place to escape. She shares her love of cyanotypes and the colour blue, how she has introduced stitch and printmaking into her art practice and why she likes to sometimes create her own supports or frames that become an important part of her work. Alice was a finalist in the Parkin Drawing prize in 2023 and is a finalist again this year in 2024 - we discuss the reasons why she likes to enter this art award, and how scary but great it feels. Another juxtaposition for Alice to be fascinated by.
| |||
| Rosanna Raymond - Activator, Fabricator | 28 juil. 2024 | 01:17:49 | |
Artist Rosanna Raymond aka Sistar S’pacific is in her words an "activator, fabricator" who has achieved international renown for her performances, installations, body adornment, and spoken word. Rosanna is an innovator of the Pacific art scene and notable producer of and commentator on contemporary Moana culture in Aotearoa New Zealand, the U.K, Canada, Australia and the USA.She is a long-standing member of the art collective the Pacific Sisters and a founding member of the SaVĀge K’lub. Her body centred practice includes working within museums and higher education institutions as a researcher, curator, artist, performer, guest speaker, poet, and workshop leader. Rosanna's acti.VĀ.tions not only expose and critique the colonialism of traditional Western museum practices of conservation, collecting, and display, but also propose other methods for keeping culture alive, through inherited tradition, personal innovation, and embodiment. Rosanna has achieved so much in her long career internationally and in Aotearoa. This episode only just touches on her achievements and all the things she has been involved in but you will get a fascinating insight into her life and her art practice. We talk about how and when she came to think of herself as an artist, the stories behind The Pacific Sisters and Sa'vage K'lub, the work she has done in institutions around the world and the changes she has seen over the last 30 years in the Pacific arts community.
| |||