Creative Connections with Mandy Jakich
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© 2026 Creative Connections with Mandy Jakich
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Conversations with visual artists and arts practitioners from Aotearoa New Zealand
194 Episodes
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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 Craig...
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 ...
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 Ph...
Vicki Fox founded Quirky Fox art gallery in 2012. It is located in Hawera, a small town of 10,000 people south of New Plymouth. Showcasing both established and emerging talents, Quirky Fox invites both New Zealand and international artists to be part of its carefully curated range; all international artists are exclusive to the gallery within New Zealand, while New Zealand artists are exclusive to the gallery within Taranaki. Quirky Fox aims to provide a home for artists working in new ...
Scott Lawrie is a well known, much loved gallerist and writer who was based in NZ and is now living in Scotland. I absolutely loved catching up with Scott again a few months ago while I was living in Turkey. I last spoke to Scott on the podcast more than 3 years ago in episode 62. Scott Lawrie Gallery began life in 2017 in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland and continues to thrive now in Edinburgh Scotland. As the gallery’s reputation grew the focus pivoted away from art as a business ontology, t...
In this episode I speak with Mike and Linda Geers, the owners of Art By The Sea, an art gallery in Hurstmere Road Takapuna, Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. This is a fabulous chat with 2 people who are very passionate about the visual arts in Aotearoa. Linda and Mike see themselves as conduits between artist and audience, as kaitiaki guardians of artists' work, making connections through art. We talk about how they came to purchase Art By The Sea in 2001 when it was in Devonport, the early challeng...
Katie Leigh Stewart is a mixed media artist living in Wellington, Aotearoa NZ. Katie's paintings explore floral landscapes, portraiture, everyday life and nature. Her bright and bold palette as well as signature brush strokes gives viewers a moment to pause and find joy. In this episode Katie talks about her early nursing career and how she finally came to focus on her artist career as a new Mum. We explore her paintings which are mostly inspired by her life, everyday experiences ...
Natalie is an emerging multi-disciplinary artist born in Yorkshire, England, with a current focus on figurative oil paintings. Nat moved to New Zealand in 2016 in her early twenties.and is currently based in Auckland. In this episode Natalie shares how creating likeness in a portrait has become a challenge too tempting not to take on as she's got older, becoming thirsty for something that felt more difficult and less forgiving. As a Mum of 2 boys, her sons have become treasured subjects that ...
Andrew Barns-Graham is an established Auckland-based artist known for his hard-edged contemporary portraits with a pop realist style. He renders smooth, gradient-infused figures set against minimal, atmospheric landscapes. In this episode we talk about the pivotal moment that led to Andrew devoting himself to his art practice after a career in advertising. Andrew tells us about a traumatic near death experience and how that has influenced his art practice, his outlook and the way he liv...
Kyra Alkamil is a 19 year old emerging artist from Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, in her first year studying fine art at Elam School of Fine Art in Auckland. Kyra paints in oils and is interested in storytelling, the human figure, nostalgia, domestic scenes and surrealism. In this episode we talk about the ways Kyra discovered and developed her love of art and her skills in visual art as a homeschooled teenager, how life drawing has contributed to her figurative practice, her shift from acrylics t...
Katrina Cosgrove is a painter born in England who immigrated to NZ in 2005. She is now based in Bronte, a small settlement at the top of the South Island of Aotearoa NZ in the Tasman District, near Mapua. Katrina's nature inspired artworks delve into the themes of self discovery, transformation, freedom, and the profound connection between nature and the human spirit. With a background marked by resilience and a powerful personal journey, Katrina’s art reflects her transition from the c...
Shelley Ryde is a well known, highly respected Aotearoa art educator and artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland NZ. Shelley has led the visual art department and taught art at Diocesan School for Girls in Auckland, finishing this position in 2024 after 42 years of devotion, hard work, commitment and a lot of love. Many young art students and NZ practising artists have been taught and inspired by Shelley, including a number of guests on this podcast who speak so highly of her a...
Kirsty Nixon is a contemporary New Zealand artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Her vibrant, light-filled paintings celebrate the untamed beauty of Aotearoa New Zealand — from the windswept beaches of the North Island to the soaring mountain ranges of the South. Drawing inspiration from the land, sea, and native birdlife that surround her, Kirsty’s work invites a quiet moment of reflection — a breath of peace amidst the noise of modern life. With an instinctive eye for colour and compos...
Sarah Ritchie is a New Zealand fibre artist living in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Sarah specialises in creating framed works in natural fibres such as New Zealand wool, bamboo and cotton, showcasing her passion for texture, colour, and non-toxic creativity - drawing inspiration from the breathtaking beauty of Aotearoa New Zealand. In this episode Sarah unpacks her fibre art process for us: from her preferred fibres to use and the tools she uses to her technique , use of colour and the ideas be...
Ceara Lile is a fibre-based mixed media artist who grew up in West Auckland. She creates abstract textile collages layered with meaning, memory, and emotion as well as eco inkless hand printed fabrics. She now lives in Keri Keri in the Far North of Aotearoa NZ with her partner Mario. From an early age, Ceara has been captivated by textiles, drawn to their textures and versatility. Her work takes the form of abstract, collage-based fibre sketches, where these materials serve as both her medium...
Jane Shriffer is an abstract painter living and working in Wānaka in the south island of Aotearoa NZ. Jane paints intuitively, layering colour and texture, making her marks with a palette knife. In this episode we have a fantastic chat about Jane's experience studying painting at Dunedin School of Art as an enthusiastic 18 year old only to leave university with her degree and not return to painting for 10 years. She shares how she got back into painting through immersing herself in lthe local...
Katie Blundell is a contemporary New Zealand artist, living and working from her studio in Clevedon, south east of Auckland. Focusing on the human experience, her work is both personal and universal. Katie approaches her practice through different media depending on what ideas she is wanting to express, primarily focusing on on printmaking, painting, drawing, photography and sculpture. In this episode we talk about: her beautiful gallery/studio space in Clevedon where she teaches, creat...
Lynette Fisher is a contemporary painter living in Te Puna near Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty. Lynette's art practice also encompasses printmaking, drawing and assemblage. Her work investigates themes of adoption, identity, obligation and ownership. While an underlying sense of nostalgia usually permeates her work, Lynette purposefully disrupts it to bring layered and disordered meaning to often commonplace and overlooked themes. Lynette is such a fun person to talk to and I think you'll enjo...
Muse Gallery, founded by Kaye McGarva in 2017, is situated in Havelock North, in the Bay of Plenty, Aoteaora NZ. In this episode I talk to Kaye McGarva, a professional artist herself and the owner/director of Muse Gallery. This bis a conversation I'm sure many artists will be intrigued to hear. Kaye shares how and why she started Muse Gallery 9 years ago and the challenges of starting a gallery with no former experience in this area and how she grew the gallery from the ground up. We ex...
Caitlin Johnston is a multi media artist living near the Hibiscus Coast north of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. As a Kiwi, much of Caitlin's work shows the deep connection that we have with the ocean and the land in Aotearoa. The way it makes us feel, and how we are connected to it. The sounds of the waves, the emotions we feel, the endless beauty of coastline and the nature of New Zealand inspires her work. Caitlin uses upcycled surf boards and various other found materials as her canvas, then in...
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