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Sur Collective - A Latina Artist Collective
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 collective artists Cat Guevara, a ceramic artist who migrated to Aotearoa from Colombia 8 years ago.We have a fascinating chat about how Sur Collective came about and why, how it feels to be a Latina practising artist in NZ and how the collective artists use the arts as a tool to connect, relate and communicate, always with a focus on bringing their heritage and a certain flavour to this land.The Collective see the all of the work they do a bit like a portfolio: the work they create as individual artists that reflects on the collective, art activations, workshops, their studio space at Corbans Art Estate, installations, artist talks, community projects as well as group and solo shows.We talk about some of the amazing Sur Collective art activations and community projects they have delivered, the ideas and stories behind the projects, what they hope to achieve from this work and how they engage and communicate with their audience. We discuss their approaches to the funding process and Cat has some great tips for people applying for funding.Cat talks about her own ceramic art practice and how her work connects back to her heritage, her ancestors and her culture. She shares how she finds living in Aotearoa and NZ people as a Latina wahine and what she has learnt from us, which is super interesting! I am so happy to have had this conversation with an artist and collective who have immigrated to Aotearoa and hope to speak to more immigrant artists who are building community and relationships and developing their art practice here in Aotearoa. Sur Collective: Catherine Guevara (Ceramist); Juliana Duran (Visual Artist); Jesu Vasquez (Visual Artist); Lina Castro (Industrial Designer, Embroidery Artist); Romina Ortega (Visual Artist)https://www.instagram.com/sur.collective/Support the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow CREATIVE CONNECTIONS on InstagramLearn more about Creative Connections and see images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog
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1:16:39
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1:16:39
CONNECTION - 4 guest artists from the group show
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/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 the show and how it relates to the theme of connection, which work in the show would they most like to take home and why, what they think of the exhibition and what's next for them.Support the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow CREATIVE CONNECTIONS on InstagramLearn more about Creative Connections and see images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog
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51:13
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51:13
Mandy Jakich - Talking community with artist Julie Battisti
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 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 been guests on the podcast. This exhibition runs until July 19th 2025 and is absolutely well worth a look.The opening last Friday was a wonderful demonstration of the community that is developing through this podcast, made up of listeners, guest artists, other artists, and some of our Aotearoa galleries. I mention in this episode my previous business Creative Matters, which has been sold since we recorded. Creative Connections is my new business, encompassing creative work in communities, schools and on the podcast, all with a visual arts, collaboration and community focus. I hope you enjoy this episode and make sure you follow The Creative Kind Podcast if you don’t already, where Julie explores listener questions and visual arts topics with artists and experts, offering diverse perspectives and insightful discussions I know you’ll enjoy.The Creative Kind PodcastSupport the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow CREATIVE CONNECTIONS on InstagramLearn more about Creative Connections and see images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog
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44:42
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44:42
Janette Cervin - Contemporary Painter
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 traditional painting conventions and applications of thick layers of glossy resin, which is where Jake Kennedy comes in. This is a very special chat with Janette and I loved welcoming Jake to the conversation part way through to talk about his involvement in Janette's artistic process. Jan and I explore a number of personal life challenges Jan has had and how these have influenced her paintings. We discuss her early successful career in craft and decorative painting which formed the context for her commitment to explore formal art/academic education as an adult student, completing a masters degree in fine art in 2014. Jan shares how her paintings evolve, the the happy accidents that have informed her practice, her folk art inspired painting techniques and the different brushes she uses for different parts of the flowers and how she creates the incredible depth and layering in her paintings.It was beautiful to see the formidable team that is Jake and Jan together and inspiring to see the obvious love and respect they have for each other. We talk about their shared goals, the way they work together, how they compliment each other and how they both contribute to their art practice and process. Jake goes into detail about his part of the resin process: experimenting with colour, using pigments and dyes with resin, 2 pot polyester resin application, his process of layering, sanding between layers and reusing and reconstructing old paintings.This is the most gorgeous chat with 2 lovely NZers, I know you'll enjoy it as much as I did.Support the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow CREATIVE CONNECTIONS on InstagramLearn more about Creative Connections and see images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog
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1:34:02
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1:34:02
Alice Alva: Multi-disciplinary artist
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 ANZAAE – Aotearoa New Zealand Association of Art Educators.This episode is our very first episode with our new podcast name CREATIVE CONNECTIONS. Same podcast different name and branding. I so enjoyed meeting Alice and we had the best chat. We talk about materiality, what mediums in art might be taken more seriously than others, the challenges of attitudes to embroidery or textiles in the art world, the different ways textiles can be viewed and what Alice loves about craft based art.Alice shares how she combined painting and design after studying both visual arts and design earlier in her career, and why she moved from computer based design to teaching high school art. We explore how she came to embroidery, how her embroidery practice has developed over the years, becoming an integral part of her creative practice. Alice talks about her sketchbook / workbook practice, her interest in ornamentation and how she has brought all the disciplines, styles and themes of her practice together. We discuss how the shift in scale working on murals excites (and exhausts!) her and provides balance to her practice.We delve into how Alice's priorities and approaches have shifted since becoming a mother and the ways she shares her making process with her daughter Daphne, why and in what ways nature inspires her, how using text and the titles of her work helps her to communicate things that are important to her. And so much more! So let's just get into it! You're going to get so much from this conversation. You can see Alice's beautiful work at her 2 galleries, The Mandarin Tree Gallery in Hamilton and Masterworks in Auckland. https://alicealva.com/Support the showNgā mihi, thanks for listening! Follow CREATIVE CONNECTIONS on InstagramLearn more about Creative Connections and see images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog
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1:35:33
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1:35:33