Creative Connections with Mandy Jakich

Mark Whippy is a Kiwi-Fijian artist born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand. Mark’s figurative and portrait art is inspired by observing the ordinary everyday people and scenes of his environment, hoping to capture their stories and characters, finding the beauty of every day life. 
Mark's style is a playful blend of realism and abstraction. His focus currently has been on the urban environment of Auckland City life.​ As well as being a practising artist, Mark has a passion for teaching art and helping others gain confidence and grow their skills. 
In this episode we talk about life drawing, teaching art, participating in art battles, Mark's experience studying fine art at Whitecliffe in Auckland, his experiences drawing people's portraits in public, Mark's painting process, entering art awards, neurodiversity and the ideas behind Mark's paintings. Mark talks about his introverted younger self and the ways he has gained confidence in himself and his practice over the years through his time at Whitecliffe Art School, participating in online art classes and stepping out of his comfort zone.
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Ben Kaye DBKAYE is an Auckland tattoo artist and the co-founder with his wife Madeline of the Roots Auckland Tattoo Convention.
Auckland is set to host its first-ever international tattoo convention in 2026 with the launch of the Roots Auckland Tattoo Convention, a weekend celebration of artistry, culture, and community taking place Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th March at The Cloud, 89 Quay Street, Auckland.
In a country like New Zealand, few art forms hold as much personal and cultural significance as tattooing. An expression of cultural, artistic and personal narrative, tattoos have transcended their origins to become a global phenomenon, celebrated and revered across diverse communities. The Roots Auckland Tattoo Convention is an exceptional tattoo convention designed to unite New Zealand and international artists, enthusiasts, and industry leaders in a shared celebration of ink and artistry.
In this episode I speak to Ben about his own creative journey and tattoo practice as well as the Roots Auckland Tattoo Convention, which is on at The Cloud for the very first time on the weekend of March 14th and 15th 2026, with plans to continue each year.

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Carol Bucknell is a Waiheke artist who has come from a successful career in journalism and garden design. She has been painting commissioned portraits and figurative works in oils for 20 years, and now produces more abstracted figurative works using oils and cold wax.
In January 2024 Carol and artist Sally Tagg held a joint exhibition at Waiheke Community Art Gallery. Later that year she was a finalist in the Walker and Hall Art Awards. In January 2026 she won the runner up prize at the Craigs Aspiring Art Awards in Wanaka.
 Carol has completed several specialist courses focusing on painting the figure in order to broaden a mostly self-taught practice. Working out of her Oneroa studio in Waiheke her paintings explore the relationship between contemporary digital processes and oil paint application on panels using cold wax medium.  Through the use of bold colour, texture, stencils and other media the resulting paintings take the figure beyond its traditional boundaries while retaining the artist’s obvious affection for the human form.   
In this chat we talk about Carol's journey from painting portraits to abstracted figurative works, the cold wax process, abstracting the figure, how she captures movement, her fascination with gesture, human poses and body language, inspiration for her paintings, why she likes to paint women, using the Procreate app in her process, the possibility of using text in her paintings and the influence of a career in journalism and landscape design in her work. And so much more. This is such a great episode I know you'll love as much as I loved meeting and talking to Carol.
Thank you nga mihi to Carol Bucknell for joining us on the podcast and for sharing your story with us.
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Lyndy Wilson is a contemporary New Zealand painter of Tainui descent. She grew up and still lives in the small town of Ngāruawāhia surrounded by the Waikato and Waipā rivers and the majestic Hakarimata ranges, a constant source of inspiration.
Her style can be described as diverse, eclectic and ever evolving which allows her the freedom to explore different subjects such as floral and botanical, abstract, landscape and more recently figurative.
Growing up in Ngaruawahia Lyndy was immersed in Maori culture. Annual regattas At Turangawaewae Marae were always a huge event for the town and a way to celebrate and show pride in their rich heritage.  Lyndy has early memories gathering flax with her Grandmother and sitting watching her great Aunties weave. Hangis at Christmas with the extended family were well loved  ..these early memories inform some of her figurative work. 
In this episode Lyndy talks about studying at The Learning Connexion art school in Wellington, how she manages painting three different genres in her art practice and what inspires each genre, the ways she processes her own emotions through her paintings, her fascination for "the dark side", what she does with her 'failed' paintings and the great story behind her finalist work for the National Contemporary Art Award "Tell Me You Like It Anyway". She opens up about self doubt and learning to handle that, building community, her experimenting Fridays and her tongue in cheek plan for starting up a "husbands of artists support group". 
Thank you to Lyndy for joining me on CC. And thank you as always to my faithful listeners and supporters .
Now on to my chat with Lyndy - enjoy.
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Helen Kerridge is a contemporary painter from the Hawkes Bay. 
Many of Helen’s paintings are set in sparse environments, with a minimal grouping of subjects exude a sense of stillness, contemplation, and a celebration of the beauty to be found in objects and the stories to be told.
Helen has been painting all her life, from as far back as she can remember. She started her photo realistic painting career in New Zealand and the US, touching up professional photographs before the days of Photoshop.
In this lovely episode which I know you'll love, we talk about how her 18 year teaching career in painting started, from community classes to her private painting classes which became hugely popular in the Hawkes Bay area, and how and why she came to full time painting only 3 years ago. She shares how teaching influenced her own painting practice, pushed her out of her comfort zone and kept her learning across genres. 
Helen shares her love of and connection with objects she includes in her paintings like the Crown Lynn Swan and how she likes to learn about the background and stories of these objects. She shares her love of the Old Masters of the 17th century and how they have influenced her work, and how she has created a 'point of difference' in her work with her use of simple compositions and mostly subdued tones, with the occasional addition of pattern. 
I just love the little anecdotal stories Helen tells in this episode. 
Helen talks us through her painting process, how she paints glass and the paints she uses, her colour and paint management, the thin layers of paint she applies, how she decides what to paint, her studio set up (which is not as organised as you'd imagine!), her poratit training she experienced in 2019 and why she prefers to use acrylic paint.
Helen talks enthusiastically about the loaded symbolism in her "The Devil Is In the Details" painting, which was made for a Hospice fundraiser and sold for $40,000, as well as the symbols and narratives in other works.
Nga mihi thank you to Helen Kerridge for sharing your incredible practice and career on Creative Connections. Your work is such a joy to view and it's been wonderful to learn more about your ideas, process and the connections you make. And a big thank you to you for tuning in. 
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