Heaps Creative

Ida Sophia is an artist currently based between Adelaide and Berlin. Working in sculpture, durational performance, and video, her practice is rooted in autobiographical entry points. Using conceptual materials, ritual and time, she explores themes of regret, longing, forgiveness and the complexity of connection. Ida Sophia’s works employ beauty and sensory elements as a kind of lure, inducing audi...

Alex Sawyer is an author living in the Adelaide foothills, Kaurna Yerta. His debut novel, Rat Daniels, won the 2023 Richell Prize for Emerging Writers. Alex is a clinical psychologist by trade (not a firefighter, despite what the internet may say). Hosted by Tyler Jackson Chappell Recorded on Ngarrindjeri/ Ramindjeri land on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Links: Rat Daniels by Alex Sawyer https://www.hac...

Intergalactic-birdwatching-paradise-cowboy Mickey Mason is doing big things. Painting the world through his cosmic desert/ tropical beach lens of the world. His cold shed is the womb from which beauty and colour and sharks burst forth. Recorded on Ngarrindjeri/ Ramindjeri land on the Fleurieu Peninsula. Links: Instagram https://www.instagram.com/mickeymasonpaint/ Mickey at Brunswick Street Gallery...

Something a bit different! I was lucky enough to be invited to Artworx Gallery in Goolwa during their SALA exhibition ’Blue Interpreted’. I sat down with Jane Smeets and Ben Saunders for a wonderful chat in front of a live audience. Jane Smeets’ previous role as an arts psychotherapist in palliative services has a significant influence on her art practice. Working with people facing end of life ha...

Bio: Millie Bird is a Goolwa-based potter (she prefers that to ceramic artist) working under the creative name Chicky Ceramics. Millie's pots tend to talk about the sea, mortality, the human condition, buildings, and vintage cars, among other things. They often show the interdependence between beauty and sorrow, pain and elegance, death and what it means to be alive. Recorded on Ngarrindjeri land...

Amanda Westley is a Ngarrindjeri woman and artist, born in Victor Harbor, South Australia in 1985. Her totems are the whale, pelican and black swan. Growing up she experienced the best of both worlds living the farm life 12kms out of the coastal country town of Victor Harbor. Her father was a boat builder so the water and the ocean have always been a big part of her life. Amanda’s painting style i...

Farrin Foster is an editor, writer, and occasional film-maker. She is currently the founding editor of Splinter literary journal, and was previously the editor of independent masthead CityMag . Farrin has worked extensively as a journalist and a writer and has been published by titles like the Guardian , Meanjin, Kill Your Darlings , and The Big Issue . Hosted by Tyler Jackson Chappell Recorded on...

Tom Ling is a South Australian based photographer, educator, documentor of space and time and conversational wizard. A profoundly deep thinker, every question I asked him about his work resulted in a cornucopia of insights about the creative practice. Tom boasts an extensive list of clients and collaborators and he was just last year, recognised as a finalist in the Bowness Photography Prize, Aust...

Kristen Cowell is the founder of Kenjo Studio, a branding and design studio based in Middleton, South Australia. After 10 years of design school and agency work she decided it was time to take the leap and start her own design studio. Kristen works closely with clients as she turns ideas into cohesive, personality-driven brands that move beyond templates and passing trends. Kenjo Studio perfectly...

Nathan Lean aka Sticks of Sticks by Sticks. Nathan is the creator of spiritual chariots and foam dance floors. Through the act of shaping surfboards Nathan explores creativity and connection to nature and his fellow humans. Nathan is at heart a teacher, one who respects the importance of lineage but who is also more than happy to share his knowledge with anyone who shows a genuine interest. Nathan...

Emily Hart is publisher and co-founder of Pink Shorts Press. She was previously publisher at Hardie Grant Books, and before that worked at Wakefield Press and Dillons Bookshop. She was named the book industry’s Rising Star in 2022. As well as bookselling, ghostwriting and art teaching, she also has experience (and a degree) in marketing and brand voice which is super evident in the distinct look a...

Ailish Ling is a South Australian based artist driven by a desire to bring people together through a shared love of collage, clay and the practice of bringing elements of the outside in. Haus Collage & Stoneware is a space where her two favourite mediums collide, drawing inspiration from the surrounding natural landscape and the human form. Her work dives into the contemporary whilst holding o...

Mike Ladd is a poet, essayist and reviewer. He has published ten collections of poetry and prose, including the natural history haibun Karrawirra Parri, Walking the Torrens from Source to Sea (2012) and Dream Tetras (2022) an experimental collaboration with visual artist Cathy Brooks. Mike worked for ABC Radio for nearly forty years and was the editor of Radio National’s Poetica program. His new a...

Chris Summer is a self-taught contemporary artist who specializes in hyper-realistic still-life compositions, often focusing on natural subjects like feathers, shells, and urchins. He now lives and works on South Australia’s Fleurieu Peninsula, having relocated from London. His works are known for fine detail and can take up to 200 hours to complete. Chris has been recognized in prestigious prizes...

Olivia De Zilva is a writer based in Kaurna Yerta (Adelaide). Her novel Plastic Budgie was released in July 2025 by Pink Shorts Press. Her novella Eggshell was released by Spineless Wonders in November 2025. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The Guardian, SBS, The Saturday Paper, Mascara Literary Review and many other publications. Olivia's writing has been shortlisted by the Richell Prize,...

In this interview I was lucky enough to sit down with Leah Gace. Leah is a self described arts worker employed by a non-arts entity. For the last almost 19 years she has acted and evolved in the role of arts and cultural development officer for Alexandrina council. There are very few people able to walk the line of government and the arts as gracefully and successfully as Leah; she is uniquely sit...