Nitty Gritty

On this week’s episode, Kate and series regular Flick are discussing the ethics and etiquecy of copying. Imitation vs. inspiration, and the cold hard truth that no idea is completely original. In a world of instant gratification and limited patience, where everyone wants the destination without the journey, ideas are being copied and pasted left, right and centre. But where do we draw the line bet...

This week Flick and I are back in London with artist Alma Berrow. Self-taught, Alma calls herself an artist who works with clay rather than a ceramicist. Her sculptural installations turn everyday objects into something humorous, surreal and quietly loaded: ashtrays, oysters, Ritz crackers, pomegranates, a lone gherkin placed beside a bowl of them. We talk about how having no formal training becam...

I’m back with illustrator, artist and curator Tabby Booth for round two! A year after her first Nitty Gritty episode, we caught up outside the Tate Modern for a chat I'm very excited to share. Since we last caught up, Tabby has launched her Substack, Cult of Create , where she shares more of the inner workings of her practice — money, motherhood and the truths of being a working artist. We tal...

Got a big following but no one's buying? I'm flying solo today to break down the difference between building an audience of peers and one of buyers, and why your approach to content makes all the difference when it comes to selling art online. I get into why attention doesn't equal intent, how "process content" can bring about students instead of collectors, and why clarity (not virality) is what...

This week Flick joins me in Copenhagen for a chat with artist Arne Ohlsen. Arne started his art practice in Australia while working as a carpenter, painting on wooden offcuts because canvas was out of reach. He gained momentum quickly, exhibited at several shows, and moved into a full-time creative practice before returning to Europe, where the work turned darker, leaning into identity, isolation,...

Should your work look like an extension of you? This week, I sit down in Lisbon with Ukrainian-born, Portugal-based textile artist Bombony. Best known for her geometric textile works, Bombony draws on her background in architecture to create intuitive compositions that balance structure and softness, allowing meaning to reveal itself over time. As a single mother and full-time artist, she's built...

This week we’re getting a crash course in Marketing 101 with the person who markets me — Felicity “Flick” Brown, my marketing and brand strategist, plus basically 55 other jobs in one. For the past 18 months, Flick has helped me scale my art business, and now we’re finally sitting down to unpack exactly how we got here — from landing on my new marketing plan to all the trial and error attempts we...

Nitty Gritty is on tour with me while I move around Europe and this week I'm in London with oil painter Adam Baker. In his practice, Adam focuses on intimate, imagined snapshots of queer life and love, drawing on personal experience to build fictionalised narratives that speak to the emotional complexity of contemporary queer identity. Baker often investigates the contradictions of connection — ho...

Bella McGoldrick and Tyler Rogers built a thriving art business by breaking every rule the traditional art world swears by. As the duo behind Looks Pretty Good, Bella is a coloured pencil artist producing hyperrealistic works inspired by mementos from the places she's lived, and Ty, with a background in design and tech, keeps the wheels of their art business turning behind the scenes. Ty's decisio...

Creativity thrives inside structure, and Lauren and Kass of Crossing Threads are proof. This week, I sat down with the Sydney-based sisters behind one of Australia's most distinctive fibre art practices. Together, they use weaving as a way of exploring emotion, memory and connection through texture and form — describing their creative practice as "breathing through their hands." This episode tackl...

Befriending fear has been the best decision I ever made.  Today I'm flying solo and sharing the lesson that’s underpinned my creative career. In the last few months, I've made some enormous changes. I left my studio of five years, my community, and the entire foundation my creative practice had come to depend on. A choice to bite into the bitter taste of fear, hoping for something sweeter und...

We’re back for our 5th season, and starting us off is an incredible conversation with Loribelle Spirovski. Loribelle is a Filipina-Australian artist who, after almost giving up her art career due to a persistent nerve injury, intuitively taught herself to finger paint. What began as an act of perseverance became a technique that liberated her as an artist, ultimately leading to her winning the 202...

UNO REVERSE! Kate's on the other side of the mic this week for an expansive Q&A with Sophia D’Urso of ArtSupport. From the psychology of sales to what bubble wrap to buy, this chat spans the mindset and mechanics of building and sustaining a serious art practice. Kate shares her rules around commissions, how buyers invest in the story of you, and the not-so-sexy logistical realities of shippin...

This week I’m chatting with the brilliant Sophia D’Urso, founder of ArtSupport and one of the most insightful voices in the Australian arts space. Sophia created ArtSupport after her own creative journey, with a mission to equip artists and arts workers with the tools, resources and confidence to build sustainable careers. Through mentorships, workshops, and her weekly newsletter packed with oppor...

It’s that time again, and this week I’m sitting down with the talented Argentinian visual artist, Lola Erhart.  Lola is a painter born in Buenos Aires and now based in the forest of Patagonia. Her figurative work takes the human body as an object of study, exploring the way emotional and fundamental parts of the human psyche can be displayed through brushstrokes. Lola’s models are friends or...

This week I’m joined by self-taught oil painter Tamika Hogan for a grounded conversation about the evolution of her practice over the last 6 years, becoming a full-time artist while co-parenting her son.  Known for her immersive West Australian land and seascapes, Tamika’s paintings have an entrancing ability to translate the power and stillness of nature into timeless and immersive works of...

Story time this week. In light of recent events, I wanted to share my experience with galleries — the red flags I ignored, the things I’d do differently now, and the lessons that could have saved me a lot of pain and struggle. If you’re navigating gallery relationships, big opportunities, or that uneasy feeling you can’t quite name, this episode is for you. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy f...

This week, I caught up with illustrator, muralist, designer, and all-round creativity machine, Daren Thomas Magee, aka Real Fun, Wow! His work lives somewhere between imagination and reality—often landing in that weird, wonderful in-between space. With everything from prints and books to socks, posters, tapestry and tiles, it's obvious Daren is constantly pouring his creativity into every avenue h...

This week, my studio partner Holly and I sit down in Byron with self-taught ceramic artist and educator Bianca Pintan, and walk away completely energised by her passion, creativity and warmth. Bianca’s bold colours, sculptural forms, and intuitive, hand-built process grew from playful experimentation in her garage into a body of work and workshops that inspire artists worldwide. Guided by colour,...

This week, I’m in the studio of London-based Australian artist Jess Cochrane to chat through her modern take on a traditional art practice. ⁠ Jess’s paintings depict scenes from the everyday with a focus on familiar scenes of gathering and the things we as humans tend to gather, focusing on themes of consumerism, pop culture and fashion. ⁠ Jess shares openly about the ambition that drives her...

This week I’m joined by UK-based artist, illustrator and curator Tabby Booth, whose work treads between illustration and traditional folk art painting.  We get into the tension between being an “Instagram artist” versus a “real artist,” the snobbery that still lingers in traditional galleries, how to push through cringe to find success online, and the creative challenges of commission work. A...

To round off the Table Talk series, we’re sitting down with Layla Cluer, the creative force behind Softedge Studio and the mind behind the beautiful plates that graced our Table Talk lunch. Crafted by skilled makers in the tiny town of Hasami, Japan, Layla’s work reimagines the art of eating, blending form and function to bring beauty into everyday moments. In this chat, we hear the journey of Sof...

This episode of Table Talk takes us out of the studio and into the kitchen. Maya and Chelsea of Maria’s Byron Bay are culinary artists who blur the line between food and art - and the creative geniuses who brought my recent collection to life as caterers for the Table Talk lunch. Before the event, Holly Terry and I stepped into their kitchen to dive into their creative process, their inspirations,...

This episode marks a first for Nitty Gritty. TEN creative minds on one couch, diving into the nittiest and grittiest questions we’ve ever asked. Welcome to Table Talk, a short series we’re dropping ahead of my upcoming print collection, which is all about connection.  Call it debate, call it a deep sleepover chat - this episode is honest, insightful, and full of colliding perspectives. It’s e...

This week I’m joined by Canadian ceramicist Sasha Court for a chat that’s basically creative rocket fuel. We unpack ditching the 9 to 5, breaking up with galleries, hanging onto childlike curiosity, and how she leaned into the intuitive path that’s carried her to where she is today. Sasha is pure creative fire with infectious confidence and we hope this conversation leaves feeling ready to take on...