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A community arts radio show that challenges the belief that the arts are exclusive.
Sugar Loafing Arts Cast showcases the diversity of arts in Taranaki and beyond. Host Mikaela Nyman interviews artists, creative makers, writers and curators, and delves into art ideas and mediums, discussing a wide range of themes, such as decolonisation in New Zealand and Pacific art and literature, how to find inspiration, and the beauty of collaboration with other creative souls across art disciplines.
The fundamental idea of this podcast is to showcase arts and creativity and to inspire. Do you have a creative passion or want to share your ideas? Feel free to contact Mikaela on [email protected]
Podcasts
Click on the title of an episode to listen
Tom Sainsbury
Mikaela caught up with actor, comedian and film-maker Tom Sainsbury at WOMAD. Tom’s darkly comic plays have been staged in New Zealand, Australia, UK, USA, France and Greece. We talk about his funny social media videos, the Goodbye Pork Pie remake, and whether he feels the pressure to always be funny.
Duration: 00:39:15 | Date: 15 June, 2024
Norine Ford-Dixon
Norine Ford-Dixon is the ARTSpace artist in June and shares her love for wallpaper and collage in this episode. Check out her collages and the suitcase that was part of the ‘Abroad’ exhibition at Percy Thomson Gallery last year.
Duration: 00:55:08 | Date: 8 June, 2024
Caroline Barron
Mikaela caught up with author Caroline Barron at WOMAD. Find out what prompted Caroline to write her memoir Ripiro Beach and her novel The Golden Days. Lots of useful writing tips on offer too!
Duration: 00:43:59 | Date: 25 May, 2024
Kura Forrester
Actor, comedian and writer Kura Forrester (Ngāti Porou) won the Billy T Award in 2019 for best-emerging comedian with her show ‘Kura Woulda Shoulda’ and became the first Māori woman to do so. Mikaela caught up with Kura at WOMAD this year.
Duration: 00:39:49 | Date: 18 May, 2024
Heidi Griffins
Heidi Griffin is the owner and manager of the popular Gover St Gallery in New Plymouth - a true community space for Taranaki’s creatives. This year she intends to nurture her own artistic skills too.
Duration: 00:53:47 | Date: 11 May, 2024
Airana Ngarewa_Launch of NZSA Māori Branch
Mikaela talks to Taranaki writer Airana Ngarewa about his best-selling novel The Bonetree and the launch of a Māori branch of the New Zealand Society of Authors this weekend, with more to come!
Duration: 00:53:52 | Date: 4 May, 2024
Rowena Komene
Diagnosed with a rare kidney condition 11 years ago, Taranaki artist Rowena Komene has overcome the odds and now has a future to plan for. One that includes visual arts.
Duration: 00:50:50 | Date: 27 April, 2024
Tio Vanuatu
Tio Bang Massing from Vanuatu delighted crowds at WOMAD this year. Mikaela talked to Tio about his poetic folk music and his home island, Ambrym.
Duration: 00:32:49 | Date: 20 April, 2024
Helen Lehndorf
Helen Lehndorf is a co-founder of the Manawatu Urban Foraging Group. Mikaela talked to Helen off the stage at WOMAD about her book A Forager’s Life which delves into the environment, food, motherhood and autism.
Duration: 00:45:26 | Date: 13 April, 2024
Korrena Kidd
Korrena Kidd’s vibrant art fills the ARTSpace in April. Listen to Korrena talk about her art and the supportive environment at ACE Adult Community Education Massey University Te Putahi a Toi in Palmerston North.
Duration: 00:51:11 | Date: 6 April, 2024
Laura Campbell & Morgan Paige Taitoko
The Emergence Art Awards for young Taranaki artists are back! Mikaela finds out all about them from Laura Campbell, Director of Percy Thomson Gallery, and the 2018 Emergence Award winner Morgan Paige Taitoko.
Duration: 00:53:06 | Date: 30 March, 2024
WOMAD Poetry Slam 2024
Taranaki poets Wilna Strydom and Helen Griffiths reveal how they prepared for the event. Poetry judge Karlo Mila tells us what moves her and reads a poem. And this year’s winner, Teirangi Klever, reveals why she chose to enter.
Duration: 00:53:14 | Date: 23 March, 2024
Rebecca Beyer_Word Festival
Rebecca Beyer is a children's librarian, printmaker and author of illustrated children’s books. She’s been busy organising Our Words - a festival of local writers and story-tellers happening in and around New Plymouth on 20-27 March.
Duration: 00:56:26 | Date: 16 March, 2024
Steampunk Taranaki
Steampunk Taranaki - The Mild Mild West has taken over the ARTSpace in March. Costumes and Tea Pot racers included! Hear Jo Fuller (Lady Watsonia Victorious! Ohms) and Lesley Butler (Lady Esmarelda Wainwright Hyphen Smythe) profess their love for steampunk.
Duration: 00:53:19 | Date: 9 March, 2024
Anna McLean
Anna McLean switched Taranaki’s art scene for a curatorial internship at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. What is it about curating that makes it an exciting career choice for creative young people?
Duration: 00:51:59 | Date: 2 March, 2024
Elizabeth Smither
Elizabeth Smither is a multi-award winning writer of poetry, fiction and non-fiction and a former New Zealand Poet Laureate. Elizabeth reads part of a new short story and a poem.
Duration: 48:47 | Date: 24 February, 2024
Pastel Association
The ARTspace in the Top Town Mall is hosting a group exhibition by the New Plymouth Pastel Association throughout February. Pop in to have a look!
Duration: 00:47:37 | Date: 10 February, 2024
Kris Marlianti
Manaia artist Krismarlianti Donaldson won the 2022 Taranaki National Art Awards in the painting category. Krismarlianti is also a published poet in Indonesia.
Duration: 00:55:11 | Date: 3 February, 2024
Alastair Ross - Film Festival 2024
Alastair Ross talks about this year’s film festivals at Govett-Brewster Art Gallery/Len Lye Centre Cinema. Coming up on 2-6 February is the KIRIATA MĀORI film festival that was taken out by Cyclone Gabrielle last year.
Duration: 00:55:04 | Date: 27 January, 2024
Jo Stallard - Fenton St Gallery
Fenton Street Arts Collective offers great coffee, gin, whisky and gallery space for exhibiting artists. Owner Jo Stallard talks about her portrait painting and the upcoming Shakespeare events in Stratford.
Duration: 00:58:11 | Date: 20 January, 2024
Roger Morris - Remo
The art of Roger Morris (a.k.a. Remo) is often political in nature, communicating what’s happening in the world. His dynamic woodcut prints are on a magnificent scale.
Duration: 00:48:49 | Date: 13 January, 2024
Gaye Atkinson
After 30 years, Gaye Atkinson returned to making pottery. Raku is her preferred firing method. View her award-winning artefacts in ’50 years of clay’ at Puke Ariki, celebrating 50 years of New Plymouth Potters.
Duration: 00:51:59 | Date: 6 January, 2024
Suzan Kostanich
Suzan Kostanich is a fibre artist with many talents in fashion design, stitching and felting. She talks about her intricate process of felting, or laminating, wool and paper together to make her lavish Madonnas embroidered with gold and glass beads.
Duration: 00:44:17 | Date: 29 December, 2023
Marianne Muggeridge
Marianne Muggeridge is a national treasure who has painted Nobel Prize winners and Reserve Bank governors. For Marianne, art is the point of life. Art has never failed to put her back on track.
Duration: 00:53:48 | Date: 23 December, 2023
Jeanette Verster
Jeanette Verster won the fibre art category in the Taranaki National Art Awards 2023. On Sugar Loafing Arts Cast this Saturday at 11am she talks about her meticulously folded paper, cotton, silk and acrylic work influenced by music, kirigami, origami, polyrhythms and the cross as a multi-layered signifier.
Duration: 00:40:16 | Date: 16 December, 2023
Veronica Tee
Colour and light are key elements in Veronica Tee’s art, and she spends hours in Pukekura Park. From early on she learnt that determination and practice pays off. Check out Veronica’s landscapes in pastel and oil in our ARTSpace until 8 January!
Duration: 00:47:48 | Date: 9 December, 2023
Mike Brown & Riki Osborne - Mokau Bone Carving
Mike Brown and Riki Osborne from Mokau Bone Carving talk about next year’s Mokau Bone Carving Symposium and a new community bone carving hub in New Plymouth.
Duration: 00:55:31 | Date: 2 December, 2023
Toni Hartill & Viv Davy
Toni Hartill is the resident artist at from out of the blue studio gallery in Opunake, where her first solo exhibition ‘Waymarkers’ is on show until 17 December. Viv Davy tells us about the kaupapa of her gallery and residencies.
Duration: 00:46:21 | Date: 25 November, 2023
Mike Bishop
Michael Bishop is an emerging creative non-fiction writer from Hawai'i, here on a Fulbright Fellowship to write about sacred ground and legal personhood in Taranaki. We talk about rock-climbing, astronomy and a mega telescope that sparked protests in Hawai’i. And Mike reads his ‘Surf lessons’.
Duration: 00:57:18 | Date: 18 November, 2023
Mere Tari Sovick
Mikaela meets up with Mere Tari Sovick, founder of Melanesian Women Today, at the 7th Melanesian Arts & Culture Festival in Port Vila, Vanuatu. Mere remembers her Taranaki boarding school days and host families in Eltham and Ōpunake. Haus Storian literary Fest’s Ketty Napwatt, Rebecca Tobo Olul-Hossen, Elsie Nalyal Molou and Busi Vasconcellos read their poetry and microfiction.
Duration: 00:48:03 | Date: 11 November, 2023
Gallery Pātea Artists
Gallery Pātea artists are taking over our ARTSpace in November! Gabrielle Belz is showing a student exhibition at Gallery Pātea and Johnny de Painter talks about his art, music and animated film. You can check out ‘BOB Interdimensional Wool Courier’ from Don’t Panic Pictures which won the Best Incredibly Strange Award in the 48 Hours film competition online.
Duration: 00:55:41 | Date: 4 November, 2023
Leina Isno - Bislama Language Week
Dunedin-based Leina Isno is a champion of Aotearoa’s first Bislama Pilot Language Week in November. Mikaela caught up with the NZ Red Cross delegate and writer at the 7th Melanesian Arts & Culture Festival in Port Vila, Vanuatu, and enjoyed kava & poetry at Alliance Française with Leina Isno, Anna Naupa and Catherine Malosu-Lessa.
Duration: 00:59:06 | Date: 28 October, 2023
WITT Art Students
The art students at WITT Te Pukenga Art and Design Taranaki are preparing for their End of Year exhibition. Jodie McEwan, Courtney Bisset-Yandle and Becci Phillips talk about their process, inspiration and designs. Music by art teacher Mark Raymer and his band À la Poupée and the Chine-Collés.
Duration: 00:38:34 | Date: 21 October, 2023
Rachel Lambert
Jeweller Rachel Lambert in Ōkato talks about her love of combining precious metals with deer antlers, mother of pearl and gifted materials.
Duration: 00:54:01 | Date: 14 October, 2023
Menz Shed
Skilled woodworkers Phil Taylor, Wayne Brunton and Dave Richards talk about MenzShed’s kaupapa of learning, sharing and supporting members’ wellbeing. Check out MenzShed’s exhibition in the ArtSpace in October!
Duration: 00:56:09 | Date: 7 October, 2023
Nicola Kawana - UPU
Taranaki-born Nicola Kāwana performs in the award-winning show UPU in New Plymouth in October. We talk about acting on TV versus the stage, about gaming voice-overs that went viral, and Nicola reads part of a poem by Brandy Nālani McDougall, Hawai'i’s current Poet Laureate.
Duration: 00:53:32 | Date: 30 September, 2023
Dale Copeland
Mikaela meets up with Dale Copeland at ‘Water under the Bridge’ - a retrospective of 30 years of Dale’s assemblage art at LUMEN gallery - and plays some Gumboot Tango for her.
Duration: 00:54:37 | Date: 23 September, 2023
John McLean and Chris McLean - Hit the Trail 2022
Taranaki and Aotearoa lost one of its giants with the passing of artist and former art teacher John McLean. This week’s show is a tribute to John and Chris McLean’s artistic legacy, to lives well lived and ongoing creative exploration. The interviews first aired on Access Radio Taranaki on ‘Hit the Trail’ in September 2022.
Duration: 00:49:50 | Date: 16 September, 2023
KareNZ Kitz
Weaver and educator Karen Clark in Waitara is taking her weaving into more artistic directions. As the owner of KareNZ Kitz, she also shares some valuable business tips. Check out Karen’s gorgeous weaving in the ARTSpace in the Top Town mall throughout September!
Duration: 00:57:10 | Date: 9 September, 2023
RYALTS_Michael Kingpotiki_Holly the Library Dog
September is Basic Education and Literacy Month. Lillian Haskins from The Rural Youth & Adult Literacy Trust and former farmer Michael Kingpotiki, who learned to read for his grandkids and wrote a book about it, talk about the power of literacy. We also meet Holly, Stratford’s certified canine pet therapy and library dog, and her owner Jane Roguski.
Duration: 00:45:23 | Date: 2 September, 2023
Suzette Goldsmith
Mikaela caught up with Suzette Goldsmith at WOMAD’s World of Words earlier this year. We talk about gardens, natural heritage and Suzette’s book of essays, Tree Sense: Ways of Thinking About Trees (2021), which emerged out of her PhD studies. Suzette reads an excerpt from the book.
Duration: 00:37:19 | Date: 26 August, 2023
Embroiderers Guild
Barbara Mullins, Eileen Fitzpatrick and Leslie Ault from the Embroiderers’ Guild talk about the ins and outs of embroidery and the strong interest among young people for sewing skills. Check out the Guild’s fabulous exhibition in the ARTSpace until the end of August!
Duration: 00:53:54 | Date: 19 August, 2023
State of Nature_S. Lee Good, C. Dolan, T, Forbes & M. Stoneman
This week features four of Taranaki’s contemporary women artists in the State of Nature – Picturing the Silent Forest exhibition at Puke Ariki. Sarah Lee Good, Michaela Stoneman, Coral Dolan and Tabatha Forbes have responded to the botanical paintings of artist Fanny Bertha Good (1860-1950)
Duration: 00:53:54 | Date: 12 August, 2023
Jan Huijbers and Andrew Doehring
Andrew Doehring’s exhibition ‘Wednesdays with Andrew’ opens at the Gover St Gallery on 5 August. Jan Huijbers has been mentoring Andrew over the past year, just like Andrew’s grandfather, George Boys, once mentored Jan. Mikaela and Jan talk about the things being passed down through generations, and the uniqueness of these talented artists.
Duration: 00:52:24 | Date: 5 August, 2023
Talei Mangioni
Talei Mangioni, a Youngsolwara activist and researcher, shares her insights into the history of the Pacific grassroots movements for a Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific and its relevance today, mentioning Japan’s intention to dump millions of tonnes of treated nuclear wastewater.
Duration: 00:46:16 | Date: 29 July, 2023
Te Waka Puka Puka The Mobile Library - Schools_Part2
Mikaela hitches a ride with Te Waka Puka Puka /the Mobile Library bus with Walter Crawshaw. In this episode we visit Waitoriki, Norfolk, Ratapiko and Kaimata rural schools. Later, we head up the coast to Mimi, Uruti and Ahititi schools and meet a hardcore book club at Tongaporutu. (Part 2 of 2).
Duration: 00:58:19 | Date: 22 July, 2023
Coco Solid
Mikaela and Zeal Taranaki rangatahi get into zines with Coco Solid. Of Ngāpuhi, Sāmoan and German descent, Coco Solid (a.k.a. Jessica Hansell) is an inspiring multimedia artist, producer, film-maker, rapper, musician and writer. Her novel How to Loiter in a Turf War (2022) is a lucid, genre-bending work of autobiographical fiction.
Duration: 00:49:35 | Date: 15 July, 2023
Sobranie Ngarin
Sobranie Ngarin is the ARTSpace artist for July. She shares her love for harakeke and positive mindset. We also talk about the Waitara Artists Cooperative and the upcoming Puanga exhibition.
Duration: 00:56:33 | Date: 8 July, 2023
Te Waka Puka Puka - The Mobile Library Urban Part 1
Puke Ariki library is celebrating 20 years in its current location. Mikaela hitches a ride with Te Waka Puka Puka / the Mobile Library bus in the company of the knowledgeable Walter Crawshaw. In this episode we meet booklovers in New Plymouth’s urban retirement villages (part 1 of 2).
Duration: 00:49:26 | Date: 1 July, 2023
Erryn Willcox & Carl Fairweather
Assemblage artist Carl Fairweather and painter Erryn Willcox run the South Taranaki Creative Space in Hāwera and art classes for adults and children. They’ve recently finished a community mural for the new cultural centre building site.
Duration: 00:50:32 | Date: 24 June, 2023
Gabrielle Belz
Check out the Toi o Taranaki Ki Te Tonga indigenous women’s exhibition in the ART space in June. Artists: Maria Brockhill, Tania Niwa, Charlotte Graham, Melanie Yazzie, Vanessa Edwards, Ashlee Robinson and Gabrielle Belz. This is a taster for the upcoming Kahui Mareikura Indigenous Sisters exhibition at Percy Thomson gallery in July.
Duration: 00:47:51 | Date: 17 June, 2023
Elaha Soroor - Kefaya
Mikaela caught up with Elaha Soroor at WOMAD this year, where Elaha performed with London-based band Kefaya. A traveller of Hazara heritage, Elaha wants to share the folksongs, culture and language of Afghanistan’s people with the world. All the songs in this episode feature Elaha Soroor, incl ‘Charsi’, made famous by folk musician Mir Maftoon.
Duration: 00:43:38 | Date: 10 June, 2023
Alice Cowdrey
Textile artist Alice Cowdrey specialises in needle felting and runs workshops under her Folk Felt name. Her work tells stories that draw on her Eastern European ancestry, myth, spirituality and queerness.
Duration: 00:56:16 | Date: 3 June, 2023
Janet Price - Disability Art
Disability Arts question the limitations society puts on people’s bodies and minds. Janet Price talks about equitable access, her advocacy for disabled artists and how to get artists and galleries to consider how they display their work to make art accessible for as many as possible in our community.
Duration: 00:55:17 | Date: 27 May, 2023
Marilyn Rea-Menzies
Marilyn Rea-Menzies is an amazing tapestry, painting, drawing and mixed-media artist. Her work has been commissioned for Government House. She is currently showing work at the Blue Studio Gallery in Opunake; the exhibition ‘Extinction is Forever’ ends on 29 May.
Duration: 00:55:20 | Date: 20 May, 2023
Alice Te Punga Somerville
Alice (Te Āti Awa, Taranaki) is a scholar, writer and a finalist in the Ockham Book Awards with her first poetry collection Always Italicise: How to Write While Colonised. Alice shares insights into her journey and an unpublished poem especially written for Taranaki.
Duration: 00:57:32 | Date: 13 May, 2023
Alastair Ross and Film Festivals
Films and the upcoming film festivals at the Len Lye Cinema are the focus this week. Mikaela talks to cinema programmer Alastair Ross about the difference between arthouse films and blockbusters, and what makes a film memorable and Alastair shares some favourite music - with a film angle, of course.
Duration: 00:58:19 | Date: 6 May, 2023
Rachel Buchanan
Historian Dr Rachel Buchanan (Te Ātiawa, Taranaki) talks about Te Motunui Epa, a finalist in the Ockham Book Awards for illustrated non-fiction. Carved between 1750 and 1820, buried in a Taranaki swamp, illegally sold and smuggled offshore in 1972 - the story of the five epa features kidnapping, ransom payment and high-level politics that changed international law on the protection and repatriation of stolen cultural treasures.
Duration: 00:50:02 | Date: 29 April, 2023
Cherol Filbee
Hāwera artist and marionette maker Cherol Filbee shares all the tricks of the trade and the joy that goes into making marionettes and performing with ‘The Interluders’ at the Hāwera Repertory.
Duration: 00:53:34 | Date: 22 March, 2023
Lesley Dowding
Lesley Dowding is the Artspace artist in April. She talks about how her love for stage craft, photography and stained glass windows has influenced her current exhibition.
Duration: 00:43:52 | Date: 15 April, 2023
Paul Rangiwahia
Artist and well-being advocate Paul Rangiwahia uses words and images to manage his personal wellbeing. He talks about investing in yourself and his latest resources.
Duration: 00:50:22 | Date: 8 April, 2023
WOMAD Poetry Slam
This week’s Sugar Loafing Arts Cast is a WOMAD Poetry Slam special! Mikaela talks to local poets Anne Bayliss and Warren Smart in the lead-up to WOMAD. Warren ended up in the final two against Paekākāriki poet Kerry Dalton. Poet Laureate Chris Tse offers some useful tips and advice on what he is looking for in poetry, both spoken and in print.
Duration: 00:45:47 | Date: 1 April, 2023
Helen McLorinan & Kerilyn Douwes
When does a hobby become a job? Helen McLorinan Artist and Kerilyn Douwes talk about time management, pricing art, consistency of income and how their visual arts practice in painting and pewter has evolved.
Duration: 00:58:30 | Date: 25 March, 2023
Frances Rookes & Mikaela Nyman
Michelle Bent talks to the March ARTspace artists Frances Rookes and Mikaela Nyman about their joint exhibition of 2D prints and 3D knitted wire bodies, about things hidden within, body shaming, loss and the shadows they carry around - or, in this case, put on the wall.
Duration: 00:58:38 | Date: 18 March, 2023
Parihaka Biochar Event
Huhana Smith and Monique Jansen from the artists collective Te Waituhi ā Nuku: Drawing Ecologies and Phil Stevens from Slow Farm talk about biochar as a practical and creative response to climate change at a biochar burning event at Parihaka māra.
Duration: 00:41:09 | Date: 11 March, 2023
Heidi Griffin
Heidi Griffin, Chair of the Taranaki Arts Trail, gives us the ins and outs of the Taranaki Arts Trail which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year. Deadline for registering: 31 March.
Duration: 00:53:59 | Date: 4 March, 2023
Dave 'Tex' Smith
Dave ‘Tex’ Smith talks about innovation and collaboration, his digital art, building on indigenous story-telling, turning museums inside out and a new type of social media platform.
Duration: 00:56:23 | Date: 25 February, 2023
Ruha Fifita
Ruha Fifita talks about the extensive research and collaboration that goes into making tapa art on a large scale. Ruha’s work ‘Lototō’ can be seen in Te Au: Liquid Constituencies at Govett Brewster Art Gallery and in the spectacular retrospective Robin White: Te Whanaketanga | Something is Happening Here in Auckland. She is the Curatorial Assistant for Pacific Art at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art.
Duration: 00:58:07 | Date: 18 February, 2023
Jennifer Corbett
Jennifer Corbett is the February ARTspace artist. She talks about coming back to art as an adult, her Tourist Birds illustrations for her children’s books, and running after-school art classes in Waverley and Patea.
Duration: 00:54:26 | Date: 11 February, 2023
Printmaking
Printmaking is the focus for this week. Mikaela talks to Dimphy de Vaan, Mark Raymer and Michaela Stoneman about Print Council Aotearoa NZ and the publication of PROOF – Two decades of printmaking in Aotearoa.
Duration: 00:50:47 | Date: 4 February, 2023
Laura Campbell and Getting Exhibition Ready
Laura Campbell, Director of Percy Thomson Gallery in Stratford, talks with Mikaela about the practicalities involved in presenting art and getting exhibition ready, as well as the duty of care for both artists and gallery.
Duration: 00:56:22 | Date: 28 January, 2023
Te Kupenga Stone Carving
Acclaimed sculptors Renate Verbrugge and Jocelyn Pratt talk about this year’s Te Kupenga Stone Sculpture Symposium and their process for transforming hard andesite into playful, sensuous sculptures that defy gravity.
Duration: 00:59:29 | Date: 21 January, 2023
Marita Green Potter
Mikaela talks with potter Marita Green about pricing work and attaching value to art and craft. Pricing is a big challenge for many creative people, but an integral part of being a full-time artist.
Duration: 1:00:16 | Date: 14 January, 2023
LearnerMe with Jordan Huges & Casio Austin
Mikaela talks to Jordan Hughes and Casio Austin about the group exhibition by 10 LearnerMe digital graphic arts students that are showing in our ARTspace in January. Their self-portraits draw on a wide range of references from nature and the spiritual world to manga, anime and gaming.
Duration: 00:52:21 | Date: 7 January, 2023