Friday Feature Artist

Latest Episodes:

From the archives: Sally Hirst turns memory into material Dec 12, 2025

Show notes

Painter, printmaker and educator Sally Hirst brings a fearless, can-do spirit to her richly layered abstractions. Guided by memory, material and the textures of the urban environment, Sally’s work is an evolving conversation between painting, printmaking and collage. In this lively conversation, she shares how curiosity, risk and repurposing drive her process – and why the best ideas often start with “what if?”

Visit our website to view Sally’s work, explore our courses, or dive into more articles and interviews.

Lissy and Rudi are crocheting joy Dec 05, 2025

Show notes

Lissy and Rudi Cole are collaborative fibre artists, visionaries and partners in life and art. Guided by aroha, whakapapa and a bold creative spirit, they transform simple crochet into monumental public artworks. In this intimate episode, the Coles share the story behind their neon-pink whare nui, their soulful creative process, and their deep belief in the power of art to heal, connect and uplift.

Simone Elizabeth Saunders creates soft textures with strong messages Nov 28, 2025

Show notes

Through the vivid language of punch needle tapestry, Simone Elizabeth Saunders reclaims and reimagines Western art histories. A Canadian artist of Jamaican and African descent, Simone weaves narratives of Black womanhood, liberation and ancestral connection into lush, large-scale works rooted in Art Nouveau, the Renaissance and her own lived experience. In this conversation, she shares the spiritual, symbolic, and technical dimensions of her extraordinary practice.

Visit our website to view Simone’s work, explore our courses, or dive into more articles and interviews.

Dana Falcini sculpts the cycle of life Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

Sculptor and installation artist Dana Falcini works with organic materials – from fish skin and feathers to human hair and bone – to create sculptural forms rich with emotion and meaning. In this reflective conversation, Dana shares how time away from making deepened her creative practice, and how her raw materials hold quiet conversations about memory, care, and transformation.

Visit our website to view Dana’s work, explore our courses, or dive into more articles and interviews.

Coulter Fussell on quilts and play Nov 14, 2025

Show notes

Mississippi-based artist Coulter Fussell turns donated, discarded, and once-loved textiles into exuberant, improvisational quilts that carry memory, conflict, beauty, and joy. From river towns to war zones, soft sculpture to Snapchat videos, Coulter’s layered works ask us to consider what we throw away, what we hold onto, and what makes something worth remembering.

Visit our website to view Coulter’s work, explore our courses, or dive into more articles and interviews.

Jacki Barklie on resisting perfection Nov 07, 2025

Show notes

From painting flower power on her father’s car to water blasting antique linens in her New Zealand studio, fibre artist Jacki Barklie has never been one to follow rules. In this episode, Jacki explores scale, resistance, and identity in her richly layered practice – one that celebrates risk-taking, material curiosity, and the quiet power of the unsaid.

Visit our website to view Jacki’s work, explore our courses, or dive into more articles and interviews.

Helen Geglio and the quiet strength of cloth Oct 31, 2025

Show notes

American textile artist Helen Geglio creates layered, hand-stitched works that explore memory, motherhood and the quiet power of cloth. Blending the intimacy of collage with the discipline of quilting, her art reflects years of teaching, storytelling and meditation through stitching. In this thoughtful conversation, Helen shares how repetition, reflection and risk-taking have shaped her visual vocabulary and her artistic life.

Visit our website to view Helen’s work, explore our courses, or dive into more articles and interviews.

Carlie Trosclair casts time and place Oct 24, 2025

Show notes

Artist Carlie Trosclair casts the world in latex, capturing the skins of old buildings, staircases, and trees to reveal stories embedded in their structure. Drawing on architecture, memory and place, Carlie’s work invites us to think about home, the body, and the quiet yet booming voice of impermanence.

Visit our website to view Carlie’s work, explore our courses, or dive into more articles and interviews.

Tina Marais is starting a Soft Revolution Oct 17, 2025

Show notes

Internationally acclaimed textile artist Tina Marais invites us into her sculptural world, where memory, material and meaning are intimately stitched together. From community to creative courage, this conversation explores Tina’s poetic practice and her new Take Two course, Soft Revolution – a deeply personal offering shaped by years of experimentation and a lifelong reverence for cloth.

Learn more about her course here.

Visit our website to view Tina’s work, explore our courses, or dive into more articles and interviews.

From the archives: Layered histories with Rebecca Crowell Oct 10, 2025

Show notes

Painter, writer and educator Rebecca Crowell has helped redefine how artists engage with cold wax medium. In this conversation, Rebecca reflects on abstraction, intuition, and the layered histories that lie beneath a painting’s surface. For artists drawn to process, materiality, and meaningful teaching, this is a rich and thoughtful listen.

Visit our website to view Rebecca’s work, explore our courses, or dive into more articles and interviews.