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Alex Wilkinson - Ceramic Artist and entrepreneur
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/supportNow 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.Support the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/creativematterspodcast/Learn more about Mandy and the podcasthttps://www.creativematters.co.nz/podcast
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1:36:59
Roy Mason from Fingers Contemporary Jewellery Collective
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.Support the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/creativematterspodcast/Learn more about Mandy and the podcasthttps://www.creativematters.co.nz/podcast
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1:17:46
Bailee Lobb - Sculpture, installation and performance artist
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.https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/bailee-lobb-sculpture-installation-and-performance-artistSupport the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/creativematterspodcast/Learn more about Mandy and the podcasthttps://www.creativematters.co.nz/podcast
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1:38:03
Julie Battisti - Painter
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! https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/julie-battisti-painterSupport the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/creativematterspodcast/Learn more about Mandy and the podcasthttps://www.creativematters.co.nz/podcast
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1:24:21
Chris Melville - Photographer
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.Support the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow us on Instagramhttps://www.instagram.com/creativematterspodcast/Learn more about Mandy and the podcasthttps://www.creativematters.co.nz/podcast
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1:11:17