Sofia Athineou is a full-time artist of Greek heritage, based in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her practice is mainly in glass, a medium she sees as having many sensual and optical qualities.  

 Surrounded by the dramatic bush of Auckland’s west coast Waitakere Ranges, it’s easy to see the inspiration behind Sofia Athineou’s incredible glass sculptures. These pieces represent vitality through light, texture and colour and appear to blend into the ever-changing landscape. Elemental forces such as wind, fire and water and the constant movement and natural patterns of these elements are captured in her sculptures.  

 Sofia talks about how she adjusted to NZ life when she immigrated here at the age of 23 from Greece, how she became a full time artist after raising her children, the work she has exhibited at sculpture shows around Aotearoa NZ, the challenges she faces of living on a single artist income, pricing her work and the many hats she has to wear to keep the money coming in. 

 She takes us step by step through her glass casting process using open cast moulds and explains why she prefers not to polish her work.
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Sofia Athineou - Glass Artist

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Zoë Nash is a multidisciplinary artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Her brightly coloured, abstract works explore a slow and mindful accumulation of repeated and highly detailed mark making.  Reflecting her love of nature, Zoë’s works increasingly draw on selected plant and flower motifs as inspiration. Frequently initiated by things seen, things spoken, or things remembered, narrative and nostalgia are also used to trigger personal connection with viewers.  After taking some art classes with Zoë at Browne School of Art, it was a real privilege to talk to her and get to know her and her practice a little better. Zoë speaks about the 'round about way' she came to design and the fine arts arena and her challenging time completing a masters degree in fine arts without having an art practice at the time, and how she didn't make art for 4 years after this experience. We discuss her identity crisis at the age of 30 as a British born woman who had lived in NZ for as long as she'd lived in the UK and how this translated into her fine arts study, which focused on identity, the use of autobiography and the role of female narratives. Zoë talks about how renting her own art studio finally kick started her art practice again and why her work became so connected to nature. She shares the ideas behind the presence of dots and repeated marks in her work and how that can be therapeutic and sometimes reflects her own personal stories. AND Zoë has the best list yet of artists and reasons why they have inspired her and informed her practice.

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Zoë Nash: Multi-disciplinary artist

Belinda Griffiths is a conceptual figurative artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Her work lies within the disciplines of painting and printmaking and explores the expressive power of the gestural mark.  When coupled with depictions of the human form, this tension between mark and form has the potential to dig deeper and communicate something of the human experience that becomes instinctive and visceral. Belinda's work is an ongoing exploration of that potential. In this episode we talk about how she came to emigrate from South Africa to New Zealand at the age of 18, how she started her career in design and then made the switch to full time artist. We discuss how she discovered printmaking and what she loves about monotypes, why she likes to create monotypes as well as paintings and her printmaking process.  We talk about the different residencies Belinda has done and how they have influenced her work, how she knows when a work is finished and successful, how she manages the push and pull between marks and form. And how she sees her process as a metaphor for her work and why she doesn't like to share all parts of her process. Text Mandy - leave your name and email so I can get back to you! Support the Show. Ngā mihi, thanks for listening! 

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Belinda Griffiths - Conceptual figurative artist

Clinton Christian (aka Clint© or CC'd) is an award winning contemporary New Zealand artist based in Hamilton New Zealand.   His graphic style, themes and mediums reflect his personality - fun, bright, shiny and often nostalgic with a love of all things 70s and 80s. Clint initially gained a big following with his animal pop portrait series ‘Animal Instinct’ during 2020/21 and he has recently developed a new collection of work ‘Retrovision’ that dives into his youthful nostalgic memories of the 1970’s -80’s. Clint loves making people smile and is super passionate about what he does. In this episode we talk about Clint's journey from architectural designer to full time artist and how well received his work has been right from when he started painting only 6 years ago. He talks about a pivotal light bulb moment in 2018 after a tough year when he decided to leave his job and start creating, even though he initially didn't know what form this would take. We discuss how he once thought he wasn't 'creative' because he would draw what he sees and didn't feel he had his own ideas - ideas is defintely not something he is short of today! Clint has a very entrepreneurial approach to his art career. He talks about some of his tricks and techniques he has for promoting and selling his work, connecting with artists and gallerists and building a loyal following. He unpacks his painting and sculptural practice and goes into great depth about his process, from sourcing and using resin and how he builds his pieces to the way he transfers the text in his Title Deeds series and his favourite paints to use. Such a good listen!
https://www.creativematters.co.nz/post/creative-matters-with-clint-christian

 Text Mandy - leave your name and email so I can get back to you! Support the Show. Ngā mihi, thanks for listening! 

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Clinton Christian - Visual artist

POPUP is a versatile platform for artists, organisations, and venues in Aotearoa to produce their own online experiences. Born out of years of online event production, POPUP allows users to effortlessly create and manage their online events.  The platform's immersive virtual spaces facilitate serendipitous encounters and meaningful interactions. From customisable environments to interactive features such as video chat and spatialised sound, POPUP empowers users to curate memorable experiences tailored to their unique visions. Additionally, the platform prioritises ease of use, ensuring everyone can participate fully in the digital realm. Artist Naomi Azoulay, who I spoke to on the podcast in episode 106, talks about this amazing virtual resource for artists, what it offers, how it works, who could use it and why and how she can help you set up your very own virtual meeting, exhibition, event, interview, or party (fully funded until the end of July). I'm already working on my own virtual space for the podcast, with the help of Naomi, and I can't wait to see what we can do with this exciting way of communicating and sharing the work we do.
https://www.instagram.com/naomi_azoulay_collage/ Text Mandy - leave your name and email so I can get back to you! Support the Show. Ngā mihi, thanks for listening! 

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POPUP virtual platform - with Naomi Azoulay

Dunedin based artist Nic Dempster has been part of the city’s art scene for over twenty years. His bold colourful geometric style has developed out of contemporary landscape work and reflects his love for architecture and design.  His works play with ideas of urbanisation, our infatuation with property and the great kiwi quarter acre dream. It was such a pleasure meeting Nic. We talk about how he went from studying history at Uni and gaining a masters degree to full time artist. He shares how he approaches the composition of his work, how he fills a space and the mathematical formula he uses to construct the shapes and form of his paintings. We discuss his colour palettes and use of shades and tints, his signature black outlines and what drew him to this style, how he orders his process, how his work has evolved over the years and where he can see his work heading in the future.  This is a lovely chat I know you'll enjoy. Nic also very generously shares his personal surrogacy journey, which I'm sure you'll appreciate as much as I did.

 Text Mandy - leave your name and email so I can get back to you! Support the Show. Ngā mihi, thanks for listening! 

If you'd like to support the show with a $3, $5, $8 or $10 monthly donation to help with production costs, please follow this link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1713946/supporters/new 

Follow us on Instagram
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Learn more about the podcast
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Please rate and review our show to help others find us https://podcasts.apple.com/nz/podcast/creative-matters/id1561034043

Sofia Athineou - Glass Artist

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