Creative Connections

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...

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 t...

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 pa...

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 ep...

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 of...

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 gall...

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 inspire...

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 experi...

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 w...

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...

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 scho...

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...

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 Contempor...

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 co...

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 traditio...

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 AN...

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...

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 Resa...

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 hig...

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 T...

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, sca...

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...

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 re...

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 e...

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 conserva...