Shows
Creative Connections with Mandy JakichCONNECTION - 4 guest artists from the group showThis 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/yvonneabercrombieContemporary 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 t...
2025-07-0751 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichMandy Jakich - Talking community with artist Julie BattistiHello 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...
2025-06-3044 min
The Creative KindCommunity- Mandy JakichIn this episode, I’m joined by Mandy Jakich—artist, educator and founder of Creative Matters & Creative Connections Podcas—to talk about the role of community in a creative life.Mandy shares how her need for connection as a self-taught artist led her to start building her own audiences early on, from hosting exhibitions at home to developing wider educational initiatives. She reflects on her time at Auckland Art Gallery, the role of the Muriwai Artists Collective, and the evolution of her podcast and art education business—all of which have centred around creative connection.We talk...
2025-06-1843 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichMandy Patmore - Mixed-media environmental artistMandy 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 whi...
2024-09-091h 23Creative Connections with Mandy JakichToby Raine - Contemporary ArtistToby Raine is a contemporary artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. He has a distinctive approach to his work, moving large quantities of oil paint across the surface of a canvas with confident strokes, creating expressive, emotive, gestural paintings.Toby spent eleven years studying at Elam School of Fine Art in Auckland, beginning in 2006 when he was 23-years-old. Over the next decade he would go on to complete a degree, then a masters, then a doctorate in Fine Arts. In this episode Toby ta...
2023-09-271h 16Creative Connections with Mandy JakichMatthew Browne - Abstract Artist and Founder/Director of Browne School of ArtMatthew Browne is an abstract painter living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Born in London UK, he relocated to New Zealand in 1991. Matthew's striking geometric paintings feature sharp lines with bold, experimental colour palettes. His process starts in exploring formal relationships in colour and form and develops greater complexity as the work progresses. He has been making and showing paintings and sculptures for more than 40 years.After many years of teaching visual arts in both the community and tertiary sectors, Matthew founded his ow...
2023-09-161h 56Creative Connections with Mandy JakichFleur Woods - Contemporary Fibre ArtistFleur Woods is a contemporary fibre artist based in the beautiful rural village of Upper Moutere (near Nelson, New Zealand) She is surrounded by vineyards, hop farms, orchards and country gardens - it makes sense that her work is largely inspired by nature. Fleur describes her style of her work as contemporary stitched paintings. Coming to stitch as a mixed media artist she has taught herself a variety of embroidery techniques which generally don't follow traditional embroidery but beautifully serve the kind of ma...
2023-09-011h 37Creative Connections with Mandy JakichEvan Woodruffe - Abstract ArtistAbstract artist Evan Woodruffe lives in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He is a well known, much loved figure in the NZ art world.Evan is an artist with many threads to his practice. Most of his time is spent making work for exhibitions, projects, and commissions. He's also the “product specialist” for Gordon Harris, running workshops and writing editorial for their art stores. He is one of six Global Brand Ambassadors for both Schmincke Artist Colours and da Vinci Artist Brushes in Germany. He teaches at Browne School of Art in Auckland and h...
2023-08-251h 32Creative Connections with Mandy JakichSean Beldon - Visual ArtistSean Beldon is a South African born, Auckland-based artist best known for his large New Zealand landscape paintings. His style is mostly painterly with a modernist feel.For more than a decade, Sean has been photographing and painting landscapes from the far north to the deep south of Aotearoa. He finds his inspiration on road trips throughout the country and only paints places he has been. Even though his compositions will be quite abstract at times, the scene always originate with what he sees through the camera’s viewfinder – his primary canvas - an...
2023-08-102h 05Creative Connections with Mandy JakichJasmine Kroeze - Artist and Textile DesignerJasmine Kroeze is an an artist and textile designer living in Papamoa near Mt Maunganui. With a background in the fashion and textile design industry, Jasmine fell into the art world through painting large scale murals as a passion project and now she applies the same creative process to her original paintings and digital artworks. Jaz enjoys working with commercial clients and interior and product designers and she has collaborated with many well known companies such as Kathmandu and Bolt of Cloth.Her designs have been printed on st...
2023-08-041h 18Creative Connections with Mandy JakichElliot Love - Contemporary ArtistElliot Love is a contemporary artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. His hyper realistic paintingsdepict cars from the 80's and 90's era set within a city's still and lifeless urban environment.Elliot works in oil on canvas, often on an unusually small scale. Many of the cars he paints are reaching the end of their lifespan - several of the cars he has painted no longer exist. With this in mind, Elliot looks to convey not just a moment in time, but the passing of an era.
2023-07-291h 45Creative Connections with Mandy JakichLinda Va'aelua - Visual Artist | DesignerLinda Va’aelua is a full time visual artist and designer of Samoan Scottish heritage. She grew up in the West Auckland suburb of Te Atatu South and is based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.Linda straddles the worlds of digital graphic design and fine arts. Her aim is always to bring unique perspectives to the creative landscape. Her recent work explores her identity and mixed heritage through abstract maunga forms and malu patterns.Linda strives to provoke emotions and challenge conventional perspectives. Each piec...
2023-07-221h 29Creative Connections with Mandy JakichFrankie Meaden - Textile ArtistFrankie Meaden is a textile artist and painter from Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. She makes giant embroidery artwork from recycled materials.Frankie’s art is almost always botanical, with her large-scale sculptural pieces challenging the scale at which embroidery is usually seen. Frankie tells the story of the rich biodiversity of our world using colourful rope and recycled street banners in a way that is impactful, beautiful and sustainable.We talk about how Frankie came to work on such a large scale, how she sou...
2023-07-131h 09Creative Connections with Mandy JakichMandy Rodger - Contemporary Abstract ArtistMandy Rodger is a contemporary abstract artist based in Auckland, New Zealand.Mandy's first career was in law and in 2014 she began studying painting and drawing at Browne School of Art. Since 2017 her art practice has been her main focus and she hasn't looked back.. Mandy's abstract paintings are characterised by fluid moves and sweeping energy flows made up of spontaneous dynamic gestures. She is motivated by the way painting allows her intuition to come to the forefront of logic. She intertwines embodied subjectivity, em...
2023-07-061h 13Creative Connections with Mandy JakichMatt Payne - Landscape PainterMatt Payne is a landscape painter living on the North Shore, in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Much of Matt’s work is inspired by a love of New Zealand’s landscapes and coastlines, which is reflected in dramatic compositions and depicted with vivid colour and extraordinary attention to detail. He has a fascination with the relationship between colour, light and form and how these are perceived by the eye.Matt's career began in high level sportsmanship where he represented New Zealand in Waterpol...
2023-06-291h 18Creative Connections with Mandy JakichSam Mitchell - Visual ArtistSam Mitchell is a visual artist based in the north west of Auckland, well known for her artworks painted in acrylic on perspex in reverse and watercolour paintings. A sassy and subversive bricolage of rescued materials, painting media and eccentric imagery are utilised by Sam to explore the potency of pictures.This is a fascinating look into an amazing artist's life and work. There are lots of little gems and interesting perspectives in this episode which I'm sure you will take away and think more a...
2023-06-221h 47Creative Connections with Mandy JakichGavin Chai - Emerging Artist, PainterGavin Chai, born in 1997 in Malaysia, is a figurative painter and artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He specialises in the traditional technique of oil painting on wooden panels, linen and canvases and paints the world through a subtle introverted gaze. He captures everyday contemporary experiences through his careful composition and clever treatment of colour, light, and shadow. His world is idyllic yet often bound by loneliness, and colourful yet often tinged with a certain sadness and anxiety. We talk about how his sen...
2023-06-131h 11Creative Connections with Mandy JakichMarcus Hipa - Visual ArtistMarcus Hipa is a Niuean artist born and raised in Alofi, Niue Island, currently living in Tāmaki Makaurau, Aotearoa NZ. Drawing, painting and carving are some of the mediums he utilises to explore and share insights of his people's history and culture.Marcus moved to Aotearoa New Zealand at age 17, attending the Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland, completing both his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.His work celebrates the values, traditions, progress and sense of community and sheds light on social and p...
2023-06-021h 17Creative Connections with Mandy JakichDagmar Dyck - Interdisciplinary ArtistDagmar Dyck is an interdisciplinary artist, researcher, art educator and social justice advocate. She is a New Zealander of Tongan and German descent, living in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.Dagmar graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts at the University of Auckland in 1995 and was the first woman of Tongan descent to do so. She has spent the last 30 years regularly exhibiting nationally and internationally with her works being held in significant public and private collections in New Zealand. Her prints and paintings are in...
2023-05-251h 38Creative Connections with Mandy JakichJanet Hafoka - Photographic ArtistJanet Hafoka is a visual artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, working primarily in the medium of photography. Her art practice focuses on transience and time passing. Her current work explores both the uncertainty and beauty in the short lived. The centuries old fascination with the ‘golden hour’ is referenced, known as the brief period after sunrise and before sunset when the sun casts a golden light. With decaying leaves and seed pods illuminated, falling and in flight, her current images seek to breathe life int...
2023-05-1954 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichNeville Parker - Gallerist and ArtistNeville Parker has been a full time sculptor and illustrator since 1995 and he opened his first art gallery in 1996.Since then he has had 7 more distinctly different galleries including 1 in Auckland, 2 in Marlborough and 4 in the Nelson/Tasman region. He has represented more than 400 artists from a variety of disciplines in Aotearoa. His most recent Gallery, Church House Gallery in Motueka, opened in April this year.Neville is interested in helping our creative community members with a desire for a sustainable career in the visual a...
2023-05-111h 06Creative Connections with Mandy JakichSean Hill - Emerging ArtistSean Hill is a Kiwi Samoan emerging visual artist from Auckland, currently based in New Plymouth. His art practice is influenced by graffiti as well as his heritage, everyday life and the natural environment and includes painting outdoors, graphic design, installation, paintings and prints on clothing.As Gallerist Scott Lawrie says " Sean Hill is one of those rare discoveries - an emerging artist who was ‘doing his own thing’ while inventing a new visual language at the same time."In this episode Sean shares his expe...
2023-05-041h 17Creative Connections with Mandy JakichAimée Ralfini - Artist, Design Director, Founder of Art AcheAuckland based Aimée Ralfini is an artist, design director and the founder of Art Ache.As an artist Aimée works in the digital space, collaborating with other artists to create “campaigns” of their work. Art Ache believes art is the most potent form of communication and artists are the litmus paper of society. It aims to make art and culture part of the everyday conversation and aims to assist intellectual and creative development, for the betterment of the local community and national identit...
2023-04-191h 21Creative Connections with Mandy JakichNeal Palmer - PainterUK born painter Neal Palmer immigrated to New Zealand in 1998 and has been painting full time ever since.Through the exploration of the New Zealand environment he has discovered subjects that evoke strong emotional responses such as Harakeke (NZ flax). He is inspired by the natural forms, composition, spaces and shapes, as well as nostalgic references his botannical subjects provide.Neal blends visual languages within his practice, exploring how the languages of colour, texture, pattern and abstract forms can inform and cross-reference each other. He...
2023-04-141h 26Creative Connections with Mandy JakichRichard Penn - ArtistRichard Penn is a South African artist living and working in Auckland, Aotearoa. His work examines the intersection of scientific and artistic vision, using scale and detail as metaphoric devices to reflect on our invested positions as viewers. He works across various media, including painting, drawing, sculpture and animation, exploring the relationship between visual and conceptual abstraction. More recently Richard has worked exclusively with clay and ceramics and in 2022 he was the recipient of The Premier NZ Portage Ceramic Award In this episode we di...
2023-04-061h 21Creative Connections with Mandy JakichHelen Ollivier - PainterHelen Ollivier is a painter living in West Auckland. She graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts in 1997 and since then has had 6 solo exhibitions, participated in group shows and been included in several NZ art publications.In the last few years, she has been busy running art programmes for kids and raising four children of her own, which has left her little time and headspace for her own work. Recently, she has embarked on a 100-day challenge in order to find her voice as an artist and is loving the opportunity to become...
2023-03-301h 00Creative Connections with Mandy JakichSefton Rani - MakerSefton Rani works out of Piha, a coastal settlement west of Auckland. He describes himself as a self taught maker who uses paint as his material of choice to create modern Pacific art.Paint skins are collaged or simply allowed to float as a sculptural object. He encourages the apparent ageing of his work surfaces to show the lineage and journey of both the materials and of the migrant Pacific people whose artistic traditions strongly influence his work.Sefton is of Cook Island heritage. His work enables him to explore...
2023-03-231h 07Creative Connections with Mandy JakichRebecca Hazard - Emerging ArtistRebecca Hazard is a young emerging artist currently based in Tãmaki Makaurau Auckland, working primarily with oil paints.Rebecca's current work references raw meat to investigate our tangibility within existence and her own social concerns, offering the viewer a moment of mindfulness and philosophical reflection. Her oil paintings are large scale with a limited palette of vibrant colour. Although the works are fundamentally representational there is also a distinct abstract, surrealist and sometimes geometric feel to her paintings.Rebecca talks about her decision not to attend an art school af...
2023-03-161h 03Creative Connections with Mandy JakichBonco - Visual ArtistBonco, aka Paul Nathan, is a visual artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. He predominantly paints with oil on linen and sometimes makes sculpture and textiles. https://www.boncosmos.com/Bonco explores the language of geometric abstraction, signs and symbols and is interested in discovering the spiritual, through an investigation of the modernist grid and its variations. In this episode we discuss the varied career Bonco had in the UK and America before studying at Elam School of Fine Arts and committing to a painting practice in 2017, the metaphors he use...
2023-01-191h 14Creative Connections with Mandy JakichSarah Oostendorp - Emerging ArtistSarah Oostendorp is a contemporary emerging artist from Southland Aotearoa and currently living in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Her art practice focuses on the state of mind whilst in the midst of creating labour-intensive drawings of repeated circular movements using paint.Viewers are provoked to create their own narrative in the drawing, as figures, landscapes and textures begin to appear amongst the circles.Sarah talks from the heart about how her unusual upbringing in a small rural town in Southland and her parents (who a...
2023-01-121h 23Creative Connections with Mandy JakichOlivia Asher - 2nd Year Student at Elam School of Fine ArtsOlivia Asher is an emerging multidisciplinary artist currently studying at Auckland University's Elam School of Fine Arts.In this episode Olivia shares her experiences as a second year student at Elam School of Fine Arts. We talk about how the school is set up, the application process, the papers and electives offered in different semesters, the recording and assessment systems, the critiques, what she finds inspiring and challenging about studying at Elam and what she her goals are for the future.Olivia's art practice c...
2023-01-0557 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichStephen Templer - Visual Artist, IllustratorStephen Templer is an artist and illustrator previously from Wellington and now living in Kumeu, in the north west of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.His art practice includes street art, murals, graphic design, prop and concept design, illustration for children's books and community art and festival projects. His work has elements of humour and tells playful stories, connecting people to form shared worlds where they feel safe and free to express themselves.Steve's paintings and illustrations offer a delicious escape into your own imagination w...
2022-12-221h 15Creative Connections with Mandy JakichVirginia Woods-Jack: Photographic ArtistVirginia Woods-Jack is a British-born photographic artist and curator currently living and working in Aotearoa New Zealand. She is also the founder/curator of Women in Photography NZ & AU. Virginia's art practice explores notions of connection to place, materiality and memory to consider relationships between the human and more-than-human worlds. By doing so, she aims to understand how memory informs the way people interact with the natural environment to highlight the importance of care in navigating the climate crisis. https://www.virginiawoodsjack.com/ Virginia talks about how she built conn...
2022-12-151h 19Creative Connections with Mandy JakichLogan Moffat - PainterLogan Moffat is a painter who graduated from Elam School of Fine Arts with a BFA Honours in 2018. Since then he has been painting full time from his little studio in Pukekohe, in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.Capturing the portraits of people through highly detailed oil paintings at uni began his interest and exploration of painting. These early studies of people have since evolved into paintings that attempt to communicate the portrait within, provoking thought with the viewer through their interaction of the large scale and often unconventional shaped canvases to offer t...
2022-12-081h 24Creative Connections with Mandy JakichGrace Thresher - Artist, Exhibition Coordinator, Marketing Creative.Grace Thresher is an artist, exhibition coordinator and marketing creative based in Port Waikato, New Zealand. She uses a variety of media in her work; black pen, photographic manipulation, photography, collage and paint, inspired by nature, and things around her. Each mark is a testament to patience, detail, accuracy and precision. Aiming to create intricacies and dimensionalities, creations the viewer can get lost in.Grace expresses the movement and feeling of nature’s ever evolving, breathing, changing splendour through her work. Her practice is driven by a love of lin...
2022-12-011h 04Creative Connections with Mandy JakichDeborah Crowe - Visual ArtistDeborah Crowe is a visual artist working in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her practice involves building 2D and 3D environments that explore architectural, spatial and environmental characteristics. The work often queries perceptions of space, place, human's impact on the environment, systems of containing the body and language frameworks. Deborah's practice acknowledges its origins in woven construction and a strong interest in drawing, particularly collage. Her training as a weaver forms an overarching conceptual frame and the notion of weaving is embedded throughout the construction of imagery, fabrication of sculptural objects, installations and her approach to re...
2022-11-241h 26Creative Connections with Mandy JakichJessica Gurnsey - PainterJessica Gurnsey is an 18 year old artist from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland currently based in Pōneke Wellington. In 2022 Jess became the youngest ever recipient of the NZ Adam Portraiture Award with her self portrait Lady Day. Her paintings have also been recognised through the National Youth Art Awards where she was the overall winner in 2021 and the winner of her category in 2022, the Kumeu Arts Awards 2022 where she won her category and just recently it has been announced that her painting Shady at Midnight has been chosen to be part of the Wellington Regional Art...
2022-11-171h 00Creative Connections with Mandy JakichScott Lawrie - GalleristScott Lawrie is an art lover, writer, entrepreneur and the owner and director of the Scott Lawrie Gallery in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.Scott Lawrie Gallery aims to connect hearts and minds when it comes to encountering and experiencing contemporary art. They proudly show a range of emerging, mid-career and Internationally-renowned artists from around the world, with a focus on New Zealand, Australia, and the wider Moana region.In this episode Scott talks about his life, his passions, how he got to be the director and owner of an art gallery, his l...
2022-11-101h 46Creative Connections with Mandy JakichTiffany Singh - Social Practice ArtistTiffany Singh is a social practice artist, specialising in socially engaged art outcomes. Her practice explores relationships & engagement between arts, culture, health & well-being. She was born in Aotearoa New Zealand of Indian and Pacific decent and is currently living in London UK.Tiffany's work positions the arts as a vital contributor to health and well-being by utilising a fine art framework. Her interest in cultural preservation combined with an integrated social discourse has seen her use the arts as a vehicle for education, outreach & empowerment. https://tiffanysingh.com/
2022-11-031h 14Creative Connections with Mandy JakichLauren Kitts - SculptorLauren Kitts is a sculptor living in the Tasman area at the top of the South Island who works mostly in stone but also in bronze and wood.Lauren has gained international recognition as a professional sculptor over the last 30 years. She exhibits on a regular basis and now has her own sculpture gallery in the Tasman area on her 13 acre property.Her inspiration is the natural world where form and all its complexities abound. She explores the connection between the material world and the “unseen” and is concerned with the nature of unce...
2022-10-111h 10Creative Connections with Mandy JakichGlen Colechin - SculptorGlen is a sculptor born and raised in the UK and now a NZ resident living in Napier. His contemporary sculptures are made from recycled materials, off-cuts from native timbers, recycled copper, brass and natural elements like stone and wood.Being an innovative craftsman fits comfortably with Glen Colechin’s engineering background. With a past career in product design and production engineering, he has a sound foundation with the skills to drive his creative core. He has recently transitioned to a full-time artist and focuses his creative energy on fulfilling his passion and con...
2022-10-051h 17Creative Connections with Mandy JakichElliot Collins - Interdisciplinary ArtistElliot is a text based artist from Tāmaki Makaurau, currently living in Taranaki, who works in an interdisciplinary way. He incorporates painting, language, photography, installation and sculpture to discuss ideas of time, memory and ways we interpret our environment. Elliot is interested in the art that can inform our lives and can be used as a filter or divining tool to see the world we inhabit with greater clarity and purpose. I so enjoyed meeting Elliot and chatting to him in my studio. We discuss his amazing art career of nearly 20 years, how...
2022-09-301h 18Creative Connections with Mandy JakichValerie Auersperg (Valerism) - Illustrator, PainterValerie Auersperg, also known as Valerism and I Am Valerism, is an Austrian artist living in New Zealand. She creates acrylic paintings and digital drawings depicting pop-surreal scenes in a colourful, dream-like manner. Her work brings a smile and sense of wonder to the viewer.Valerie explores the world inside and around herself, pairing the expected with the unusual. She focuses on themes such as memory (real and perceived), pop culture and mental health. Her work is a whimsical commentary on how our inner journeys, moods and...
2022-09-271h 03Creative Connections with Mandy JakichJosh Lancaster - PainterWelcome to Episode 56. This week I'm talking to Josh Lancaster. Josh paints the places and buildings New Zealanders know and love. "I do this by trying to capture the essence of a familiar place" says Josh " be it someone’s dairy, beach, view, flat, island, road, takeaway shop, family bach or simply just the memory of one. These are the places we cherish - the iconic moments that make up who we are. They are an agent for fond memories, stories, feelings. Collectively we love these places for what they remind us of – they connect us." ...
2022-09-202h 01Creative Connections with Mandy JakichRachael Mayne - PainterRachael Mayne is an artist with a passion for wild flower fields, gardens and all things floral, living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Rachael juggles a career as a clinical psychologist and a professional artist, as well as being the mother of 2 young children.Rachael mainly paints impressionistic and abstract pieces and draws inspiration from the colours and forms surrounding us in nature. She loves to experiment with new colour palettes, as demonstrated in her vibrant abstract pieces. Rachael is also fascinated by the use of light, layers, and texture, and how this can be u...
2022-09-141h 05Creative Connections with Mandy JakichARTFULL - An Online Gallery PlatformArtfull is an online gallery platform that bridges the gap between artists, galleries and art collectors in Aotearoa NZ. https://www.artfull.co.nz/On Artfull you can discover original artworks from established and emerging Aotearoa New Zealand artists, connect with the story behind each piece, engage with art, culture and design and buy and collect New Zealand art - all in one place.Artfull was founded by two passionate art lovers, Jessica Agoston Cleary and John Barnett, who believe that a life full of art is a meaningful, joyful, soulful, be...
2022-09-0333 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichLucy Rice - Abstract PainterLucy is a full time artist living in the small seaside town of Snells Beach, an hour North of Auckland, New Zealand, with her husband & 3 young children.She studied Photography and Art at Elam School of Fine Art in Auckland NZ and spent 8 years running her own photography business (Lucy Rice Photography) before launching her painting career in early 2019.Lucy works with acrylics & mixed media to create intuitive abstract pieces with glorious soft pastel and earthy tones. Her paintings play with the idea of physical & emotional landscapes as one. Sh...
2022-08-191h 06Creative Connections with Mandy JakichBLANK INSPIRATION: Pre Framed CanvasesThis is episode 52 and the first of a new series of shorter format podcast episodes that will be sprinkled through our artist interviews and are devoted to highlighting a creative business from Aotearoa NZ who provide a great service or product I think you would love.This week I'm talking to the Founder of Blank Inspiration, Hadleigh Vernall.Hadleigh AKA Hads talks us through the range of awesome pre framed, primed cotton/linen canvases, available through his Blank online store. https://www.instagram.com/blank.inspiration/
2022-08-1213 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichJim Wheeler - Veteran SculptorJim Wheeler is a veteran NZ sculptor living in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland. Jim generally works in cast metals such as bronze, aluminium and iron but also uses concrete, ceramics, plastics, wood, stone and fabric- whatever is appropriate to express his ideas.His current work is a blend of botany, biology, and beauty. His interest in plants and how plant communities evolve informs his sculptural practice.Jim has been exhibiting sculpture and drawings since 1979 with eight solo exhibitions and many group shows here and overseas, and is w...
2022-07-271h 23Creative Connections with Mandy JakichLucy Melville - Painter, Business Coach, Creative EntrepreneurLucy Melville is a painter, creative entrepreneur, business coach and Mum based in Mt Maunganui.Lucy’s work centres around energetic geometric shapes with strong, vibrant colour. Her latest work features some of the most stunning birds found on earth combined with shape and contrasting colour to reflect their spiritual meaning.As well as managing a busy full time art practice Lucy is on a mission to help artists learn the skills to share and sell their art with confidence, combining the key business skills she learnt in her 15 year corporate career and ex...
2022-07-251h 00Creative Connections with Mandy JakichCoral Noel Yang - Multi-disciplinary ArtistCoral Noel Yang is a Waitakere-Auckland based, Taiwanese born, multidisciplinary artist who specialises in expressive figurative and abstract paintings with oil and acrylic. Her passion for Aotearoa nature, her Chinese/Japanese heritage, and living and working across the US, Europe and Asia inform her works. Before pivoting to full time painting during Covid in 2020, Coral worked as a film and animation director/producer in Hollywood for 15 years, before pivoting to full time painting during COVID lockdown in 2020.Growing up under the tutelage of her mother, a premier artist in...
2022-07-201h 14Creative Connections with Mandy JakichFraser Williamson - Illustrator and PainterFraser Williamson a.k.a. ‘Fraz’ has had a love of art since he was a young boy and has been creating incredibly distinguishable paintings and illustrations for 35 years. https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/creative-matters-with-fraser-williamsonIn the early 1990’s he became known as Red Shark Art and Illustration, putting his dreams and musings to canvas and his love of diversity and the quirky to paper for children’s books.Fraser sees himself as a magpie picking up ideas and styles anywhere from Mesopotamian bas reliefs to underground comics.The ocea...
2022-06-161h 11Creative Connections with Mandy JakichShane Hansen - Artist, Designer of Graphics, Furniture and FashionShane Hansen is an artist, a designer of graphics, furniture and fashion, a loving husband and doting Dad to two boys. Born in New Zealand in the 1970s, he is of Maori (Tainui, Ngaati Mahanga, Ngaati Hine), Chinese, Danish and Scottish descent. Shane is the benefactor of a life lived long and well in Aotearoa. The country is in his blood, in his heart and in his art. https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/creative-matters-with-shane-hansenShane’s creations spring from the characters, creatures, moods, memories and moments lying deep wit...
2022-06-091h 37Creative Connections with Mandy JakichHelen Dean - Abstract PainterHelen Dean is an artist based in Titirangi, Auckland. Her abstract paintings begin with colour and are created through many layers of paint to build up a surface that is full of life, showing glimpses of what’s underneath, combining gestural brushwork, playful shapes and subtle glazing. https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/creative-matters-with-helen-dean https://www.helendeanart.com/Helen explores a range of different marks and techniques, some gestural, some more controlled and the paintings slowly take form. Avoiding a formula, each painting develops in its own way as she aims for a...
2022-06-021h 01Creative Connections with Mandy JakichKell Sunshine - Lettering artist, Muralist & IllustratorKell Sunshine, a.k.a Kelly Spencer, is a lettering artist, muralist & illustrator from Gisborne with a big love for Mother Earth. Her creative style is characterised by bright and retro-fresh colour palettes and curvaceous forms, meticulously hand crafted lettering, and illustrative elements of flora and fauna.https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/creative-matters-with-kell-sunshine“I consider it a privilege to be able to use my creativity to amplify the voice of Mother Earth, with my personal and client work often serving as a platform to promote love & respect for our...
2022-05-271h 15Creative Connections with Mandy JakichSarah Barton-Hills - Painter and PhotographerSarah Barton-Hills is a painter and photographer based in Auckland, New Zealand. As a girl, Sarah was drawn to pattern, colour & texture. She constantly drew, sculpted, photographed, sewed and created with fabric to express her deep fascination with these elements, inspired by her NZ bush clad Waitakere surroundings. Through her career in fashion and textile design, retail, visual merchandising & interiors she has honed her eye for detail, layout, design & colour. As her children have become more independent, Sarah has returned to her love of art, primarily embracing her painting and photography practices. Sarah's Sti...
2022-05-201h 18Creative Connections with Mandy JakichKate Hursthouse - Designer, Painter, EntrepreneurKate Hursthouse is a New Zealand artist, illustrator, creative entrepreneur and mother of one living in Te Atatū Peninsula, Aotearoa NZ. https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/creative-matters-with-kate-hursthouseShe is on a mission to help women find their own place of joy and calm through colour and creativity.Kate has a background in architecture and design and has been running her creative business since 2014. Her work has taken a number of forms over the years, from contemporary artworks, calligraphy and commercial illustrations to an illustrated children’s book, colourful abstract paint...
2022-05-121h 10Creative Connections with Mandy JakichGae Webster - Multi Disciplinary ArtistGae Webster is a multi-disciplinary artist from Auckland in Aotearoa NZ. She works in paint, print, paper, fibre, glass, sculpture and contemporary jewellery from her studio in Pukekohe.Gae's works are all a narration of her views and responses to life – the telling of the story is the focus across all the mediums that she likes to create in and all of her disciplines connect and relate to each other.I talk to Gae in her studio about her incredibly varied practice and all the different media and processes she uses. She speaks of her jo...
2022-05-051h 27Creative Connections with Mandy JakichToipoto - Creative Career Mentoring, with Dina JezdicToipoto (which means Closer Together in Te Reo Maori)) is a free mentoring programme for the creative sector in Auckland NZ. Developed from The Big Idea's popular Mentoring in the Arts format, Toipoto has been expertly designed for those starting out or looking to build momentum in their creative journey, who are driven to build a sustainable and rewarding career in the arts.Today we are thrilled to be speaking with Dina Jezdic, a mentor and director from Toipoto.Toipoto helps you connect with the people and pulse of the arts sector and gives you t...
2022-04-2833 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichEric Schusser - PhotographerEric Schusser is a photographer from Central Otago in New Zealand. He has a diverse style and portfolio that includes social documentary, abstract works and fine art imagery. His work is often project based and he's fascinated by the power of text and photo together. He is drawn to the big skies, dramatic weather and season changes and the graphic wide-open spaces of the South Island of New Zealand, which he has explored extensively in his 36 year career as an Outdoor Education teacher. He is fascinated by the simplicity and complexity of light, form, li...
2022-04-211h 03Creative Connections with Mandy JakichAnnemarie Hope-Cross - Photographic ArtistEPISODE 39: Photographic artist Annemarie Hope-Cross was born in Wellington NZ, grew up in Auckland and has lived in Alexandra, Central Otago, since 2008.Annemarie uses three historic processes that date back 180 years to early pioneering photography techniques, some of which are referred to as camera-less photography.Her mousetrap camera is set up outside in her back garden. It takes six to eight hours to create the images and a lot of hoping the weather does not change in the meantime."It can be fraught with peril but i...
2022-04-141h 12Creative Connections with Mandy JakichErika Pearce - Multi disciplinary ArtistErika Pearce is a multi-disciplinary artist born in Auckland Aotearoa NZ and now based in the beautiful Bay of Islands. She is well known for her large scale murals, vibrant artwork and strong female portraits. Her mural artwork can be found throughout New Zealand, from Northland to Bluff, as well as in Fiji, Australia, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand and the USA. Erika is a dedicated ocean conservationist and is deeply motivated to inspire communities to care for and protect their coastlines and surrounding waters. The creation of her large scale ocean murals has a really positive im...
2022-04-071h 21Creative Connections with Mandy JakichPhilippa Bentley - Multi Disciplinary ArtistPhilippa Bentley is a multi-disciplinary artist inspired by nature, with ecology and environmental concerns at the heart of her work. While primarily known as a painter and printmaker, Philippa incorporates a range of media and processes in her art practice. She is interested in the intersection of art, design, science and technology and the possibilities this brings.""We are an island nation" explains Philippa - "New Zealand begins with the sea and ends with the sea - and we all have a relationship with the water. Listen to the sea, it has something to say to y...
2022-03-241h 08Creative Connections with Mandy JakichLucy Davidson - Contemporary Landscape PainterLucy Davidson is a contemporary landscape painter from the Tutukaka Coast in Northland NZ, currently living in Auckland. Her abstract paintings explore the notion that nature and human emotion are interconnected and affect each other. To Lucy, Memories are inherent in our natural landscape and she uses colour to highlight the things we might miss in our daily encounters with natural elements. Her experiences at Elam School of Fine Arts (Auckland NZ) and in the film, TV and design industries in twenties have informed her painting practice and she is now a full time artist at...
2022-03-181h 04Creative Connections with Mandy JakichJenny McLeod - Contemporary Glass ArtistJenny McLeod is a contemporary glass artist from West Auckland, NZ. She creates quality, original functional glassware, sculpture, garden art, installation and exhibition work and enjoys using glass for a modern environment in a non-fragile way. Her two 6 cubic foot kilns in her workshop at home give her the control required to fuse and slump cut and layered sheet glass. Much of her work is mixed media , incorporating a variety of materials including concrete, resin beads, wood, pumice, shells, feathers and a NZ native fibre, Harakeke. Jenny enjoys working with all these materials and is inspired by th...
2022-03-101h 15Creative Connections with Mandy JakichRosemary Eagles - Contemporary PainterRosemary Eagles is an established contemporary NZ artist living in Auckland. She has with a deep appreciation of nature and the beauty of Aotearoa New Zealand. Her work captures vibrant impressions of native trees, plants and flowers and strata land formations with an unrestrained use of texture and colour, depicting her expressions of these different environments and the things within them, discovered on her walks and travels around NZ.Rosemary’s recent works depict mānuka trees in Tāwharanui, “where rolling land meets the sea”. This regional park is a treasured place for Rosemary and the m...
2022-03-031h 13Creative Connections with Mandy JakichJohn Botton - Photographer and Fine Art PrinterJohn Botton is a fine art photographer and a digital giclée inkjet printer who holds a Fellowship from the Photographic Society of New Zealand. He's also an entrepreneur and self confessed 'Technical Geek' and is the founder and CEO of Print Art: Fine Art Imaging - a company well known and loved by many NZ artists. John is a true supporter of artists and their process. He sees his fine art printing business as much as a printing business as an "enabling business" for artists and photographers. He's a people person and has created a community amo...
2022-02-241h 09Creative Connections with Mandy JakichBeatrice Carlson - Inter-disciplinary ArtistEPISODE 32: Beatrice Carlson is an interdisciplinary artist, a visual artist, printmaker and contemporary jeweller. http://www.beatricecarlson.com Born in France, she has been living and making in Devonport, Aotearoa NZ for the last 16 years. Beatrice has always been interested in shapes and textures in her interdisciplinary art practice - from visual art to costume design to printmaking and now to adornment jewellery.Beatrice currently sees herself as a contemporary jewellery artist and silver is her latest preferred medium. Her work is influenced by the different media and techniques she used in...
2021-12-091h 15Creative Connections with Mandy JakichKathryn Wilson - Shoe DesignerKathryn Wilson is NZ’s most successful shoe designer. She created her brand Kathryn Wilson at the age of 23 in 2003 with a dream to “make beautiful shoes for cool people” and go big. And that she certainly did! Kathryn Wilson is now an internationally renowned footwear brand, a household name in NZ and one of NZ’s fastest-growing fashion brandsKathryn hosted a New Zealand first, exclusive footwear runway show at New Zealand Fashion Week in 2010 and In 2011 she opened her first retail store in the form of a pop-up shoe box that travelled New Zealand...
2021-12-021h 18Creative Connections with Mandy JakichCreative Matters Q + ADescribe your studio. What tricks or ideas do you have to make the space work well for you and your creative process?In this episode NZ artists Terri-Ann Berry, Joss Hong, Robyn Kay, Moya Deacon Radley, Adele Dubarry, Amber Emm, Lynette Fisher, Rosanne Croucher and Tanya Blong answer this question from their point of view.You can see images of the artists and their work on our blog https://www.creativematters.co.nz/blogAbout your host:Mandy Jakich is the Founder and CEO...
2021-11-2645 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichMichelle Reid - PainterMichelle Reid is a painter living in Riverhead, Auckland. She graduated with a Bachelor of Textile Design from Massey University in 2001 and worked in the textile industry for 8 years in both NZ and London.In 2019 she gained a Postgraduate Diploma from Elam School of Fine Arts with Distinction - at the same time as raising her 2 young children.An eclectic mix of written, visual, and intuitive information, inform her painting practise. Michelle is currently working with Romantic art theories, ideas of regrowth in the post-human ‘novel’landscape, and reconnecting with pattern in painting. Mich...
2021-11-181h 10Creative Connections with Mandy JakichCreative Matters Q + AWhat impact has your creative making had on your everyday life? In this episode artists Marlon Hart, Tanya Blong, Gabriella Williams, Ingrid Boot, Guy Du Toit and Emma Springford-Gough (plus a little contribution from Mandy) answer this question from their point of view.About your host:Mandy Jakich is the Founder and CEO of Creative Matters, an award winning business providing creative, educational opportunities to enrich the lives of our children, educators, artists and community. https://www.creativematters.co.nz/She is a practising artist www.a...
2021-11-0538 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichJudith Milner - PainterEPISODE 27: Judith Milner is a portrait and figurative painter living in Auckland NZ.After studying law, psychology and art history at the University of Auckland, Judith worked as a commercial lawyer for 13 years before re-connecting with her love of painting while taking a break to focus on caring for her two young children. Judith has always been drawn to the quiet contemplation of portraiture: the opportunity to read a face, to reflect on the sitter’s interior and, through the process of painting, to try to capture something of their essential character, something more than a s...
2021-11-011h 05Creative Connections with Mandy JakichGuy Du Toit - Wood ArtistGuy Du Toit is a wood artist living in Keri Keri NZ who creates unique and bespoke fine art pieces in rare native timbers.His fine wood art includes sculptures, jewellery, wood turned art pieces and traditional wood turned objects. Guy was born in South Africa and emigrated to New Zealand in 2015. From the first moment he put a gouge to wood Guy understood that the wood was taking him on a journey and a new passion had been discovered. He found himself instantly enamoured and fascinated by wood turning and discovered a natural t...
2021-10-291h 02Creative Connections with Mandy JakichVanessa Fong - Clay Jewellery ArtistVanessa is a young Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland artist who gained a fine arts degree at 20 years old and has worked in Art Galleries and art education since then. She is now 27 and celebrating ONE year in business selling her intricately handmade clay earrings through her Dewdrops brand, informed by her fine art practice in sculpture and installation and her love of painting. Vanessa started making earrings during the first COVID lockdown in 2020 as a creative hobby and suddenly found herself obsessed with polymer clay.Her website and first collection was launched in Spring 2020 and sh...
2021-10-151h 09Creative Connections with Mandy JakichJannine Wilkinson and Ann Orman - Writer and PhotographerIntroducing - Spirit: Conversations with Creative Womenhttps://www.thecreativecollectivespirit.co.nz/ https://www.instagram.com/conversationswithcreativewomenIT ALL BEGAN WHEN….an idea was sparked between two friends, writer Jannine Wilkinson and photographer Ann Orman, to produce a book celebrating creative women in New Zealand. This week the result of this powerful union and vision comes to fruition, with the release of their book Spirit Conversations with Creative Women. Jannine and Ann worked their way across New Zealand to talk to and photograph 34 creative women and learn the stories of their lif...
2021-10-081h 11Creative Connections with Mandy JakichJudy Darragh - Multi Media ArtistJudy Darragh is a highly respected NZ artist renowned for her brightly coloured sculptural assemblages of recycled items, industrial materials and found objects, as well as video, collage, photography and poster art. She has exhibited widely since the 1980’s and is well known for her ambitious works which alter public spaces in incredible ways. Her works are held in numerous public and private collections and In 2004 the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa featured a major retrospective of her work entitled 'Judy Darragh: So... you made it?'.Judy lives and works in Tāmaki...
2021-08-161h 07Creative Connections with Mandy JakichDonna Massey - PainterDonna is an established full-time artist living and working in Riverhead, Auckland NZ. Her oil paintings are easily recognized for their vibrant crisp images and bold colours.It never occurred to Donna that she could have a career as an artist. She left school to work in a bank where she stayed for twenty years and it wasn't until 2004 that she discovered "what she wanted to be when she grew up” and she hasn’t looked back since.Donna’s love of New Zealand is evident in her painting. She is madly passionate about the outdoor...
2021-08-041h 02Creative Connections with Mandy JakichIngrid Boot - PainterIngrid is a painter influenced mainly by beauty as well as fashion history, fashion photography, movie icons and old things from the 20th century. Her paintings are all about style and elegance, portraying the beauty of the female form with a surreal, stylised realism. Ingrid lives in Orewa, north of Auckland and emigrated to NZ from the UK in 2000.Over the years Ingrid has explored other themes and subject areas that might seem unexpected. Ranging from classic cars to abstract works, they all share the same characteristic precision and attention to detail. Each work is t...
2021-07-301h 14Creative Connections with Mandy JakichGabriella Williams - Painter, Pen and Ink ArtistGabriella is an artist living in Auckland NZ. She has a super interesting story which I’m sure will be really inspiring to many of you, as despite living amongst creative people, trying out creative ventures over the years and having a creative career in education, it’s only now in her 50s her passion for art has been unleashed and she has developed her own art practice and now finally thinks of herself as an artist..Her paintings often respond to the sea, skies and land of a favourite place, Muriwai Beach, where she spent many happ...
2021-07-231h 01Creative Connections with Mandy JakichMandy Flood - Contemporary JewellerMandy is a contemporary jeweller from Westmere, Auckland NZ."Everything is on the point of decline" W.G. Sebald "The aesthetics of decay and obsolescence along with the beauty of impermanence forms the impetus for my work. I take the traditional process of enamelling and seek to expand the preconceptions of a finished surface. It is the inclination of time found on the commonplace urban object that I endeavour to express through both manipulation of metal and the indeterminate nature of enamel. The alteration of the surface is intended to...
2021-07-131h 09Creative Connections with Mandy JakichFeeonaa Clifton - Multi-Disciplinary ArtistFeeonaa Clifton (née Wall) is a multi-disciplinary artist and a mother of 3 children of Samoan, Swedish, German and English heritage, living at Muriwai Beach, North West of Auckland..She has a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Pacific) / Diploma in Arts Administration, University of Auckland. Her work has explored indigenous histories and stories, her own identity, wellbeing, and environmental issues through the use of costume, body adornment, dance, poetry, ceremonial activations and more recently moving image. Fee has been a long-standing member of ‘Pacific Sisters’ a fashion activist art collective of artists, performers, fashion designe...
2021-07-101h 17Creative Connections with Mandy JakichEpisode 18 - Feeonaa Clifton (née Wall)Feeonaa is a multi-disciplinary artist and a mother of 3 children of Samoan, Swedish, German and English heritage, living at Muriwai Beach, North West of Auckland..She has a Bachelor of Performing Arts (Pacific) / Diploma in Arts Administration, University of Auckland. Her work has explored indigenous histories and stories, her own identity, wellbeing, and environmental issues through the use of costume, body adornment, dance, poetry, ceremonial activations and more recently moving image. Fee has been a long-standing member of ‘Pacific Sisters’ a fashion activist art collective of artists, performers, fashion designers, jewellers and musicians estab...
2021-07-091h 04Creative Connections with Mandy JakichArwen Flowers - Mixed Media ArtistArwen is a New Zealand-born mixed media artist, raised in the beautiful ranges, forests, and beaches of the West Coast of Auckland. Her recent artwork on canvas utilises a unique mix of media—dressmaking patterns, graphite, charcoal, metallic foil and paint. Through this unique multi-media approach Arwen references landscape and oceanic forms while exploring intersections, crossovers, and parallels between historical and modern European and Pacific Island culture and themes of identity, often from a feminine perspective.To communicate the curiosity she has for the human motivation and experience of exploration, navigation and migration across the...
2021-07-021h 05Creative Connections with Mandy JakichAmber Emm - PainterAmber Emm is a full time artist from the North West of Auckland NZ, currently painting stunning photo realistic floral oil paintings that celebrate contrast, colour, detail and light.Amber took up painting in 1990 purely for pleasure and became a full time artist in 1995. Then In 1998 positive feedback from a painting demonstration encouraged her to start teaching.Her main inspiration has been boats, the seaside and the coastal fauna and flora of New Zealand. In the last 5 years she has turned her attention to the Garden and has rediscovered a driving passion to recreate the p...
2021-06-241h 07Creative Connections with Mandy JakichSharon Keightley - Quilt Maker and Pattern DesignerSharon is a passionate quilt pattern designer and quilt maker from Auckland NZ. A self confessed lover of reproduction fabrics, her favourite thing to do is 'Appliqué' using pieced blocks to complete the quilt. "I simply love to design and make quilts, for me it has been an absolute joy to share my patterns and my fondness of vintage and reproduction fabrics. Experimenting with this range of unique fabric styles allows me to add my own historical vision into my design work."I've learnt so much about the quilting process from talking to Sha...
2021-06-091h 12Creative Connections with Mandy JakichEmma Farry - Writer, Creative MakerEmma is a writer, photographer, creative maker and meditation practitioner. Her work is all about emotion, and the life of the spirit. She brings this awareness to her work with photography, books and soul stones. Each of her pieces is designed to start a conversation with the heart of the viewer.Emma writes her books and creates her soul stones at her studio overlooking Muriwai Beach and her writing and photography is inspired by the dynamic beauty that surrounds her. She gives thanks for the tangata whenua of Aotearoa and is grateful for the wisdom and guidance...
2021-06-081h 07Creative Connections with Mandy JakichKiri Abraham - Painter, pencil and ink artistKiri Abraham is an artist, mother, gardener, tramper and lover of nature who has lived and worked in Helensville (North West of Auckland NZ) for the past 15 years. She describes her art as ‘drawing’, although it includes painting, printing, stitch and more recently, cutting and burning. Drawing can be both a very simple process, and a complex, multi layered practise, and it is this diversity that attracts Kiri to the medium as a way of expression through mark making. She works by building up a bigger story through repeated intricate marks, the process being as integral to the pie...
2021-05-2851 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichAnna Hanson - Textile, Rope and Embroidery Artist, CuratorWith over thirty years’ experience in the arts, as both a practitioner and curator, Anna Hanson strives to empower artists, champion the role of art in society, and transform widely-held perceptions of textile-based projects within the art arena. As a practitioner, Hanson’s work embraces the codes of embroidery ,ropes and textiles. She believes in art as an essential part of a healthy community and, wherever possible, aims to remove the terms ‘traditional’, ‘craft’ and ‘female’ from the art world’s vernacular.As a curator, Hanson sees her role as one of empowerment: providing artists with an environment...
2021-05-141h 04Creative Connections with Mandy JakichEmma Springford-Gough - PainterArtist Emma Springford-Gough grew up in West Auckland NZ and has lived in Huapai for the last 11 years with her husband, 3 kids, dog, cat and a handful of fish. Making art, drawing specifically, has always been a great part of Emma’s life. She loves drawing and finds it a raw and immediate form of expression. She uses drawing as a tool for documenting objects and interiors that surround her. Ink and brush is her fav medium, but really anything will do in her eyes.Embroidery is another medium Emma embraces as a form of dra...
2021-05-061h 05Creative Connections with Mandy JakichJago Neal - Painter, Illustrator, PhotographerJago Neal is a mixed media artist, illustrator and photographer originally from London. He now resides in West Auckland New Zealand. Jago has a small studio at home which also serves as a darkroom. He often incorporates photography into his practice or integrates it with other methods of drawing, collage or painting. "I draw, paint and photograph the world as a form of expression, to help make sense of it, to stay calm and to feed my imagination and my soul. The work I create and the media I use depends on my mood, my en...
2021-05-021h 09Creative Connections with Mandy JakichAmanda Jakich - Multi-Disciplinary ArtistAmanda Jakich (Mandy) is a self taught abstract painter and the Founder and CEO of Creative Matters. She is the proud mother of 2 young adults (with a grand baby on the way) and lives with her husband George at Muriwai Beach, North West of Auckland.Mandy's work responds to her surroundings, particularly to the seas, skies, land and nature of her home place Muriwai Beach NZ. She is drawn to simple form and design, colour and composition and enjoys experimenting with different materials, ideas and tools.This podcast episode sees the tables turned - Mandy i...
2021-04-241h 08Creative Connections with Mandy JakichMarion Stutz - PainterMarion Stutz is a painter living in Huapai, Auckland NZ. In the last 5 years she has gone from being a creative interested in art with a great appreciation for all things arty and a love of making to a practising artist who already has her first solo show under her belt.Marion's work is all about colour and form, explored through landscapes, portraiture and still life and inspired by artists such as Henri Matisse, Mark Chagall and Rita Angus.- Join Mandy in a conversation with Marion Stutz. See our blog for relevant lin...
2021-04-151h 00Creative Connections with Mandy JakichCatrina Lloyd - PainterCatrina is an abstract painter from Muriwai Beach, North West of Auckland, with a passion for interpreting the many layers of her natural environment. Whenever she is outside in Muriwai she can't help but see endless paintings, endless textures, colours, lines, shapes, light and movement, and so much west coast energy.She enjoys translating what she sees through exploring different techniques using paint, ink, dye, pastel, pen and pencil.Support the showCreative Connections Website See our website for more about us and artist blogposts with images + links of t...
2021-04-0757 minCreative Connections with Mandy JakichMarlon Hart - IllustratorMarlon Hart is an illustrator/artist with a background in advertising and art direction. As well as animal wrangling, yoga, karate and acting! Go Marlon!He has lived in Muriwai for 30 years. He spent his childhood growing up in Vancouver, Canada, which instilled in him a great love of nature, and culturally, left a lasting impression. Working in advertising as an art director and illustrator for more than three decades, Marlon has honed his fine art practice using a wide range of styles and artistic mediums. Marlon is currently working on a series of graphic ar...
2021-04-011h 01Creative Connections with Mandy JakichAmanda Kemp - Ceramic Artist, PainterAmanda is a long-term Muriwai Beach resident, a ceramicist and a painter. She specializes in hand-built sculpture, often in the form of jewellery and wall installations. Amanda prefers natural, found or recycled materials and makes in traditional ways when possible, such as pit firing with combustibles collected from the beach.See her work on our blog:https://www.creativematters.co.nz/blogAnd make sure you catch our other conversations with inspirational NZ new and experienced artists.Support the showCreative Connections Website See our w...
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