Tutors

Catherine Thomson is a respected artist, tutor, and arts facilitator who has previously worked in education, graphic and product design.

Catherine has artworks held in the Arts House Trust (NZ) and Durham University (UK) art collections and has also been a Parkin Drawing Award finalist. She works with the Chartwell Trust to help advise on learning resources and is also an experienced Creatives in Schools lead creative, having worked with several primary schools around Tamaki Makaurau Auckland.

Passionate about the wellbeing benefits of art making, Catherine is excited about the opportunity to bring her inspiring and inclusive process-based art experience, The Experimental Art Club to Corban Estate Arts Centre.

@housebound_art_club

Chloe Lam is an artist who recently moved to Auckland. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication (Graphic Design), and a Master's degree in Art and Education from Birmingham City University. She completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Education in Visual Art at The Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Chloe enjoys writing songs on piano, guitar and ukulele. She is interested in multiple disciplines, studying both arts and music in her Master's.

With more than 10 years teaching experience, she has taught a variety of art projects in schools and studios. Chloe uses multidisciplinary and innovative art activities to elicit each student’s talent and ability to express feelings, emotions and ideas.

@chloel.artist

chloelam.weebly.com

Dr. Bobby Hung is a graffiti artist known under the name Berst. He has painted graffiti for 15 years and involved in a range of community centred projects with youth and visual arts education in the tertiary sector. His creative practice involves the production of large scale aerosol artworks in public spaces while also intersecting with a range of studio practices.

Since 2010, Berst has been involved with Corban Estate Art Centre delivering art workshops and curating graffiti art battles with an aim to engage with the youth. In parallel to art making, Berst has been employed for the past nine years in the Creative Industries at Unitec Institute of Technology and lectures in art and design education. He holds a PhD in Education from the University of Auckland and his list of accolades includes a second-place award at the international Ono’ U graffiti competition in Tahiti, Guinness World Record for the World’s longest graffiti scroll completed in Dubai, and a recipient of the Unitec- Taipei Artist Village residency programme.

@berst_1

berst1.com
 

Ko Taranaki toku maunga
Ko waitangiroa toku awa
Ko tokomaru toku waka
Ko mururaupatu toku marae
Ko puketapu toku hapu
Ko te atiawa toku iwi
No Massey Tamaki Makaurau ahau
Ko ellen moore toku ingoa

Tena Koe,
My name is Ellen and I am an Artist from West Auckland. I have Bachelor’s Degree in Fashion from AUT and Toi Maruata: Certificate in Māori and Indigenous Art (Level 3) with Te Wānanga o Aotearoa.

I am the Director and Operator of SEWN 2015 Ltd, a small business that provides the services of clothing alterations, repairs, custom-made garments and sewing lessons. My business, trading as Sew West, is based in Huapai and this is where you will find my creative space. I have sought to channel my creativity and artistry as a full-time seamstress to support my young family.

I’m inspired by my children, my culture and my connection to people and the planet.

@sew.west

Eric Soakai is an artist, activist and academic of Samoan, Tongan, German, Scottish and Irish descent. An award-winning poet, Eric was the 2019 New Zealand National Slam Champion, 2021 the University of Auckland Slam Champion and has been published in Knowledge Makers journal in Canada and online magazine Oscen.

A contributor to our annual Word Up events and workshops, Eric is also a member of Te Kāhui Creative Writing Programme (under the umbrella of Youth Arts New Zealand). Te Kāhui curate culturally safe, equitable and accessible spaces for youth self-expression through creative writing.

@soakaiser
@te_kaahui

Han Nae Kim is an experienced visual artist and tutor, who majored in Painting at Elam School of Fine Arts and has a Master of Fine Arts from the Melbourne Victorian College of Arts. Han teaches playful and experimental workshops which visit many mediums individually and combined.

Her practice explores fields of encounter, collision, and splitting. Its process of repetitive layering, rubbing, and sanding, makes the surface of her work rich with potential. It becomes the symbolic skin, which possesses a virtual depth that can be constantly manipulated and regenerated. Her drawing-based investigations sing of the liberating force and cathartic potential of making art through the process-orientated approach to creative practice.

“What is made in my studio usually requires repetitive and obsessive bodily gestures of division, binding and polishing in order to become a sensorial mass which speaks about emerging unconsciousness.”

@h_n_k_ott

Ina Arraoui is a contemporary print artist currently based in Tāmaki Makaurau. She is passionate about promoting contemporary printmaking in Aotearoa as a platform for community building and cross-cultural exchange, writing about the print community and establishing the Printopia Festival of Original Print.

Ina loves to challenge perceptions of printmaking using alternative materials, in particular, upcycled and foraged items commonly found in supermarket aisles and the forest floor to create unique one-of-a-kind prints. For her, printmaking is an exciting medium for exploration, experimentation and self-expression.

www.inaarraoui.com
@inaarraoui

James Lawrence holds an MFA from Otis Art Institute, Los Angeles and is a well-known artist who has exhibited both nationally and internationally. His practice focuses on energy, movement and colour; what emerges represents a distillation of personal expression, gestural marks and discoveries. "For me, painting is letting go!”

In his popular workshops, he explores abstract painting concepts while sharing techniques to utilise paint, gel and additives. His teaching style will give students a base for further painting adventures with an emphasis on process and discovery.

@jameslawrenceart

jameslawrenceartist.com

Jean Stewart is a painter and arts educator. She has a Masters in Design and Painting. Jean says: 

"I have been painting for around 20 years. I love paint, colour, mark making and all the formal playful aspects of painting. Over the years I have investigated how to tell stories in paintings and how paintings can operate as memories. My current trajectory is to realise projects that take the painting outside of itself and connect to the community in various ways. For the last 2 years, I have been painting the Whau local hero portrait; the community votes and the winner gets their portrait painted. I have recently completed a wall painting in the Huia Hall, that will see the people of the area up on the wall in masquerade. Painting for me has been a constant challenging connecting force. It is always there and ready to be grappled with."

@jeanbuzz

jeanstewart.co.nz

Kate Hart is a registered teacher, art educator and practising artist. With a love of people’s untapped potential, Kate's teaching takes inspiration from an idea, an artist, a collection of materials, colour, form, and experimental work which comes from raw instinct.

Focusing mainly on drawing, painting, hand made ceramics and small sculpture, Kate enjoys encouraging others to lean into their hands and trust their own efforts. Kate loves to make durational works which span months and sometimes years.

@katehart0801

A West Auckland local of 18 years, Leela Bhai holds a Diploma in Film and Television Make-up, Bachelor of Design and Visual Arts, and a Post Graduate Certificate in Design.

As an independent curator, her practice involves cultivating community space, using art as a tool for connection. 

​She has been part of the Corban Estate Arts Centre team since 2015 teaching creative workshops for children, youth and adults, responsible for engagement, encouragement and impressive outcomes. She also contributes to the public programme at Studio One Toi Tū teaching children’s holiday art classes.

When teaching, her focus is on the process, pursuing careful observation of the subject matter, experimental use of mixed mediums and pure self-expression through art.

In 2017 Leela taught a second-year student spatial design elective for the Bachelor of Creative Enterprise at UNITEC and held a mentoring role for graduating third-year students of multiple disciplines.

Leela has also designed and facilitated public workshops for the annual events of ArtWest, Love Hendo, The Didsbury Art Trail and Mental Health Awareness Week 2021.  

@ideasbhaidesign

Lina Castro, originally from Bogotá, Colombia, describes embroidery as a passion that makes her happy. "Thanks to embroidery, I have been able to connect creative worlds and discover new ones."

She has an Industrial Designer honour degree, her experience includes 4 years as a teacher at the Faculty of Design in Colombia and 11 years experience in product development and marketing.

Her story with embroidery started in 2015 and since then, her obsession has been to expand the possibilities of “embroidery beyond the hoop” turning the embroidered pieces into earrings, necklaces or key rings. That is also, the reason why she specializes in tiny stitches as the technique is used to embroider small garments.

She is constantly studying and using different techniques so her contemporary embroidery is changing and innovating to explore new ways to popularize this beautiful craft.

Her workshops are aimed at both beginning and experienced creators where they are encouraged to tell stories, experimenting with sewing techniques, various fabrics and different fibres.

@lin.island.creative

Maha has been carving bone and pounamu for over 10 years and has found that his art has opened doors to new places… and new people.. while at the same time …connecting him back to old places, and to his old people. Maha is of Waikato Tainui, Rangitane, Ngati Kauwhata, Ngati Toa and Ngai Tahu descent and his hapu in Te Wai Pounamu is Ngati Huirapa of Arowhenua in Temuka.
Maha has a bachelor's degree in Creative Arts and a post-graduate diploma in Cross-Cultural Supervision and is the Director at Aotearoa Bone and Stone Carving. 

Maha's workshops specialise in crafting contemporary Taonga. 

“Following my passion for craft; I found purpose, direction and have strengthened my identity. I feel privileged and grateful to be able to share my passion for creating Taonga from beef bone and Pounamu. I enjoy the beauty of the materials. Simple forms with complex interweaving binding on Taonga that create an intrinsic balance with my work."

@absca.nz 

absca.nz

Molly Timmins is a painter and embroidery artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Landscape, heritage and craft are the main themes throughout her work, but her art knowledge expands to many fields which she has loved teaching to all ages throughout her years of art education. She is on the Arts Education team at CEAC, and occasionally tutors classes too.
As she embarks on her Masters of Fine Arts in 2022, her creative passion continues to develop in every artistic venture.

@molly.timmins

With over three decades of experience in education, Naomi Azoulay has earned a reputation as an innovative and dynamic art educator. She understands how art can inspire and enrich our lives, providing her students with the necessary tools and skills to express themselves creatively.

In addition to her role as an art educator, Naomi is also an accomplished artist with her mixed-media collages and paintings showcased in galleries throughout Aotearoa.

Naomi's collage workshops consistently receive positive feedback, her students are encouraged to be playful, exploring various materials and techniques, and can build confidence in their own artistic abilities. With a passion for the arts, she strongly believes in making the transformative power of creativity accessible to all.

naomiazoulay.com

@naomi_azoulay

Naomi is one of the finalists for the 2023 National Contemporary Art Award.

(Tainui, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Porou Te Whānau ā Apanui)

Nat is passionate about Te Ao Māori, sustainability, health and well-being, and education. She has been weaving for over 15 years and delivers contemporary weaving workshops to rangatahi and educators across Auckland.

Nat sees Harakeke as a plentiful natural resource with so many varieties that can be woven into many useful things and has zero impact on our world. A plant that keeps on giving and encompasses the model Te Whare Tapawha (Wairua, Hinengaro, Tinana and Whānau).

Nāku te rourou, nāu te rourou, ka ora ai te iwi.
With my basket, with your basket, we will thrive.

With 20 years in the music industry, Nat is currently in the final year of a Bachelor of Contemporary Music Performance at the Music and Audio Institute of New Zealand. Nat holds Level 3 and 4 Te Ara Reo Māori and has worked as a cultural and wardrobe assistant for GFC Film and Television.

Penny's artworks are an expression of the artist’s narratives of finding one’s cultural identity. Penny is of Māori (Te Mahurehure, Ngāpuhi) and Celtic descent.

Her works explore memories, stories, and longing of and for whānau, whakapapa and tūrangawaewae, within both her Māori and European ancestry. She questions what we have lost culturally through colonisation and pacific diaspora but also the connections that we can retrace and hold within ourselves to pass on to future generations. The red thread in Penny’s work represents I Nga Wa O Mua, the Māori worldview to take the past with us into the future for guidance.

Penny graduated with a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1995. She has work in the permanent collections of the Wallace Arts Trust, Foundation North, Auckland Events Centre, the University of Auckland and in public and private collections across New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK, and China.

Penny is part of our CEAC Education team and has tutored many classes from preschool, primary, intermediate and high school age students.

@pennyhowardart

Phil Dadson is an artist with an interdisciplinary practice working essentially in sound, music, performance and moving image. His workshops focus on invented instruments, rhythm, and experimentation – for all ages.

Phil studied at Auckland’s Elam School of Fine Arts and later earned a Master of Arts with Honors while teaching at Elam. He became known for his invented musical instruments (PVC slaptubes and others) and for his long-running group From Scratch (1974 to present), plus has produced numerous experimental films and videos and recorded sound for documentaries.

Arts Foundation Laureate 2001.
Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 2005.

“I still love the sound of a good PVC pipe. It has a wonderful thump that hums! And if you get a good set of them, they have a beautiful sound.” - Phil Dadson.

@fromscratchnz

Rachael Burke is a mixed media artist from Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland.

Rachael holds a deep fascination for the human condition. Her creative practice, is an ongoing exploration relating to perceptions of identity and selfhood. The fact that identity is created through hidden processes, that we become individuals through metamorphosis, living in a constant state of flux are key concepts crucial to her practice.

Rachael completed a Fine Art degree (Honors) at Whitecliffe in 2021. She currently teaches at Mapura Studios and Lakehouse Arts.

@rachael.burke_art

Ni sa bula Vinaka!

Auckland artist and educator Rowena Rooney has been creating mosaic for over 20 years. Her designs are often inspired by her Fijian heritage, which she is very passionate about.

Early in 2019 she had a solo exhibition, Masi in my Blood here at Corban Estate Art Centre which drew from Rowena’s Melanesian roots, exploring how Masi and Masi designs were woven into contemporary practice. Her personal connection with Masi, through passed-on tradition, culture and language had a powerful presence in the works.

With a strong background in arts education, Rowena's workshops focus on building new skills, introduction to new materials and positive creative experiences.

Tesserae Tales of Aotearoa exhibition at Pātaka Art + Museum.

@_blueturtledesign

Ruby Macomber is an award-winning poet, essayist and creative non-fiction writer of Rotuman, Scottish and Ngāpuhi descent. She is published in Landfall, Kete Books, Awa Wāhine, Signals and was the 2022 Starling Residency recipient at the New Zealand Young Writers Festival. Ruby is due to be published in the New Zealand Performance Poetry Anthology 2023.

A contributor to our annual Word Up events and workshops, Ruby is also a member of Te Kāhui Creative Writing Programme (under the umbrella of Youth Arts New Zealand), Te Kāhui curate culturally safe, equitable and accessible spaces for youth self-expression through creative writing. 

@rubyrma@te_kaahui

Sally Barron was born in Whanganui and now lives in Auckland, painting and teaching. She has studied in the UK where she lived for several years, attending Leeds University and the Royal College of Art.

Sally works almost exclusively in oils with key themes exploring memory and our relationship with the environment, balancing figuration with the abstract. She uses emotionally charged colours and gestural techniques influenced by post-impressionist and abstract expressionism.

@barron.sally

sallybarron.co.nz

Sofia Athineou is a full-time artist of Greek heritage. She works mainly with glass, a medium with many sensual and optical qualities. Her sculptures capture the surrounding nature of the Waitakere Ranges, where her studio is located and the organic forms of elemental forces like wind, fire and water. The constant movement and natural patterns of these elements are captured in her sculptures. Sofia is fascinated by the way glass looks and feels and its natural ability to reflect and distort light and our perception of it.

A recent public commission for Auckland Transport Maungawhau/Mount Eden Station is currently in construction and due to be open to the public later in 2023. For it, Athineou has created red glass triangles representing lava and the god of volcanic activity incorporating cultural narratives and the geological context of the station area with the technical and functional needs of a train station.

@sofiaathineou

www.sofiaathineou.com

Tessa Mitchell has worked as a drama teacher with young children and teenagers for over 25 years.  She has run holiday programs and drama workshops across  Auckland. Tessa has worked with Isabel Fish Academy,  Shine, Performance Net and The Performing Arts School.  She currently teaches for Shine Speech and Drama and has run independant drama classes at Freemans Bay Primary school for over 7 years.

Tessa graduated as an actor with a degree from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 1994. She has an Masters in Spatial design from AUT in 2010.

Tessa has appeared as an actor in many films, including ‘The World’s Fastest Indian’, ‘Perfect Creature’, ‘Rubbings of a Live Man’ and ‘Oracle Drive’, as well as guest TV roles and numerous theatre performances, recently receiving the Fringe award for  ‘I wanna be na nah na nah nah’, directed by Stephen Bain in which Tessa was the co-writer and performer . This turned into her solo show ‘Girl You Want’ which she performed seasons of in both NZ and Melbourne.

@tessamitchell66

Verity is a highly accomplished West Auckland artist and tutor, who studied at the Slade & Royal Drawing School, London and Elam, completing her BFA in 2007.

With both parents practicing artists, she grew up in and around their studio, immersed in an artistic way of life. Her art practice has always been a way of life as well as a vocation for her.

Verity has won awards including first prize in the Greater Auckland Art Awards 2018, Supreme Award in the Franklin Arts Festival 2016 and the Molly Morpeth Best Drawing Award in 2007.

Verity was also a finalist in the Parkin Drawing Award 2017, Adam Portrait Award 1991, 2000, 2004, 2016 and in the Portage Ceramic Awards 2001, 2005 and 2006.

verityk.com

@veritykart

openstudioswaitakere.co.nz

Virginia Frankovich is a Philippe Gaulier (Paris) and John Bolton (Melbourne) trained theatre-maker and live visual artist, holding a BA Double Major (University of Auckland) in Theatre & Psychology & a PgDip in Creative Arts Therapy (Whitecliffe).

Virginia has created many original theatre works including the award-winning If there’s not Dancing at the revolution, I’m not coming; Medusa; The Plastic Orgasm; Gorge; NO/I/SE(LF) as well as the immersive theatre show CAR which took passengers on a curated series of performances across Auckland city. She has also directed numerous professional productions including Silo Theatre’s Revolt. She said. Revolt Again; Sofija’s Garden and ATC’s production of BED as well as being Silo Theatre’s Director’s Intern.

Virginia has tutored creative workshops for tamariki, rangatahi and adults for over 12 years, leaning into theatre/performance and live visual arts. She encourages intermodality, inviting a wide array of materials within the space to allow free play and exploration.

Virginia’s classes are centred around playfulness, with an interest in encouraging curiosity and spontaneity to allow magic to blossom through the mahi toi. Her most recent project has been working with tamariki in various West Auckland Kindergartens, creating magical large characters to inhabit within communities.