Creative Matters

In this episode I'm chatting to Charles Tongue, the founder and CEO of Brother Theo - a platform dedicated to career coaching and legacy planning, tailored specifically for artists. 

Brother Theo provides a range of perspectives to help artists plan and grow their career as well as their legacy. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to take your career to the next level, Brother Theo helps you achieve your goals and reach your full potential as an artist. 

Robyn Fleet is a painter from the Hawkes Bay. Her paintings capture the essence of human experiences and our deep connections to the environment. 

Robyn is obsessed with the materiality of paint itself and all its possibilities.

A common thread in Robyn's work is 'the human condition' suggesting avenues of emotion and thought, the human experience through sensations of materiality and tactility. 

We discuss the Ruahine Ranges landscape series which help to tell the story of an accident her father had in 1955 in the ranges which has had a big impact on Robyn.

Robyn talks about her jury member portrait series and where these characters come from, her deep connection to land, people and animals (especially her cats and her gorgeous lab/retriever cross Fred), how she likes to paint and why she is drawn to dark moody landscapes. She shares how caregiving gives her insight and often informs her practice 

Sally Bulling is a contemporary New Zealand painter living in Queenstown. 

Invoking a sense of energy, Sally Bulling's abstract works are created with physical movements, sweeping marks, dripping flicks and elaborate pours. Her love of colour, light and reflection is captured in her beautiful paintings.

After a successful career in the fashion and fine art industry she returned to her love of painting in 2020 and now works full time on her art practice.

I loved hanging out with Sally in my Muriwai studio. What a gorgeous woman! We share a love of sparkles and colour and I found our chat very inspiring as I'm sure you will too. Sally talks about her career in art consultancy and shares some great tips for approaching galleries, choosing a gallery for your work, the advantages of being represented by a gallery and what galleries look for in an artist.

She talks about how she got back in to painting in 2020, how she came to use mirrors as a canvas and stickers as a medium and how her first work sold in a gallery within 3 hours - marking the beginning of a very successful artistic career. We chat about her process from sourcing and cutting mirrors, selecting and layering paint to tinting and applying epoxy resin, adding gilding to the edges of her work and her technical approach to colour.

Sally has a solo show at Parnell Gallery coming up - A Pansy for your Thoughts - 

14 - 28 May. Preview: Tuesday 14 May, 5.30-7pm.

Tim Christie is a designer and artist currently based in Wellington New Zealand.

His innovative, fashion-forward artistic style has been described as a modern synthesis of op art, pop art, street art and geometric expressionism. 

Over the last two years he has extended his collection to include light boxes, large original acrylic paintings and illuminated weavings, enjoying playing with the space or ‘void’ between abstract and representational art. 

Tim shares his inspirational story from graphic designer to successful artist and some of the stories in between! He talks about how he first came up with the idea for digital artworks while holidaying in Scotland, how he gained momentum early on with sell out shows and a huge amount of interest from collectors, how he came to exhibit internationally and how he now manages a very busy art practice and artistic business.

Alison Gilmour is a painter from Auckland, New Zealand. She grew up in Devonport, a coastal suburb in Auckland, which has instilled a deep love of the sea inspiring her to paint it in its many forms. She is also well known for her beautiful floral and still life paintings.

Alison captures the endless beauty of her environment with delicate brushwork – creating images which have a photo-realistic quality and hues which reflect the clarity, light and richness of the South Pacific. 

In this episode Alison tells the great story of meeting Tim Wilson, one of New Zealand’s most successful landscape artists and often referred to as the 'Master of Light'. She talks about how she came to be mentored by Tim two years later, how he got her into painting with oils and how she was eventually invited to exhibit in his acclaimed gallery in Queenstown, the Tim Wilson Gallery. Through this connection Alison increased her global profile, commanded bigger prices for her work and gained confidence in herself as a fine artist.