Creative Matters podcast | Listen online for free

Available Episodes

5 of 160

Sara Langdon - Contemporary Artist
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 explore and respond to so that people who feel this same connection are able to enjoy a tangible reminder of a place. In this episode Sara shares her journey to eventually finding her art practice, trialling other creative careers along the way that never quite felt like the right fit for her. We talk about her initial connection with Parnell Gallery in 2013, her fascination with Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland volcanic mountains and tree scapes and her love of capturing texture, atmosphere, pattern, tone, line and light in her work. We discuss the addition of houses in her work and the challenges these present, how she finds commissions and Sara shares her approach to framing, varnishing, composition, painting skies, building relationships with galleries and the value of creating beautiful limited edition prints of her paintings. She unpacks her acrylic painting process, starting with a photograph. We talk social media and marketing, her personalised stationery and how she builds and maintains connection with her audience and collectors.Sara has an upcoming joint show with landscape artist Matt Payne at Parnell Gallery:Salt and Light III, April 1st - April 15th 2025. Opening event on April 1st 5.30pm - 7pm.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 See images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog https://www.creativematters.co.nz/blog
--------
1:41:44
James Watkins - Painter
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 really felt creative as a young person but discovered photography in his late teens. From photographing beautiful things around him, James went on to explore writing, poetry and arts journalism and then made his way to abstract drawing and painting in his mid twenties. We discuss materiality, why he likes to use more than one medium in a painting, why he likes to create what he calls 'history' in a painting, his techniques for starting a painting and the metaphors he see in his paintings. He talks about how and why he 'listens' to a painting and how abstraction for him is a form of therapy and self expression.James thinks of 'excitement' as one of the ingredients and resources he leans on most in his art practice and when he loses that excitement his creativity retreats. We dive deep into the pros and cons of Instagram for artists and explore his approach to building community, connecting with galleries and sharing his work.This episode is like no other. James has many interesting perspectives on life, life as an artist and ways of thinking about and responding to art, creativity and process. To be honest, talking to James has really made me think about my own life as an artist and my artistic process. You can see the work of James Watkins in the NEW COLLECTORS GROUP SHOW at The Frame Workshop and Gallery in Auckland NZ from February 20th - March 8th.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 See images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog https://www.creativematters.co.nz/blog
--------
1:25:44
Delainy Jamahl - Visual artist & creative technologist
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 episode we explore the creative and technical routes he took and the great influence an artist mentor had on him that lead him to consider channelling his skills into an art practice.We discuss in detail two of Delainy's stunning works: Sight Unseen - which is a unique photographic dataset of infrared and colour infrared images of Wellington, continuing his exploration of visualising the invisible and revealing the beauty of the unseen.Rivers of Wind, a mesmerising immersive digital artwork, uses 8 years of historic weather data from the Wellington Airport weather station to produce its flowing visuals. We get into the technical side of immersive video and sound work, which although new to me I actually found super interesting. Delainy shares the feelings he is trying to express and create with the work, how people react to it, the ways he communicates the ideas behind his work and his creative process.We talk about a collaboration Nowadeus with NZ artist Tim Christie, who has also been on the podcast, and other plans he has for collaborative projects and spaces. Delainy is the owner & director at Artificial Imagination and the co-founder of The Grid, which produce captivating digital art experiences, collaborating with artists to challenge the boundaries of imagination.https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/delainy-jamahl-visual-artist-creative-technologistSupport 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 See images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog https://www.creativematters.co.nz/blog
--------
1:15:44
Anna Gibbs - Conservation Artist
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 conservation and fortunate to live on a rural lifestyle-block populated by many native birds and plants. Her oil paintings are inspired by her daily observations of the interaction between native flora and fauna. She is deliberate with her composition and, whilst her work is detailed, she describes her subject with neither abstraction nor absolute realism. In this episode we have a fabulous chat about all sorts of things - such as why Anna likes to gild her backgrounds with 24ct gold leaf and her delicate gilding process, her strong connection to NZ native birds and why she loves to paint them and her passion for conservation.Anna speaks of her apprenticeship with painter Judy Curnow, who studied with legend New Zealand painter Tim Wilson, and how that influenced her painting approach particularly with glazing techniques and helped her confidence as a self taught painter.We explore her painting process, framing, the size of her paintings, her gorgeous studio, how she prepares for an exhibition and her upcoming show at Little River Gallery. She shares some tips for Instagram and how she feels about this platformThis is another quite long episode but it's full of really interesting tips and treasures and is so worth listening to - maybe over 2 walks or 2 commutes or 2 art making sessions, however you like to listen.You can view Anna Gibbs unbelievably beautiful paintings at her solo show South Island Songs at Little River Gallery from January 30th - February 24th 2025 https://littlerivergallery.com/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 See images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog https://www.creativematters.co.nz/blog
--------
1:38:39
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 See images of each guests work and relevant links on our blog https://www.creativematters.co.nz/blog
--------
1:36:59