Tutors

Alexandra is a practicing artist, living in the bush in a tiny home crammed with an eclectic mix of found items, treasures, collections, and rubbish ready to be repurposed into art. She likes to create very neat and tidy, pretty art that is the opposite of the tornado style in which she lives her life!

Alexandra uses her arts practice to exercise accepting mistakes and imperfections. She loves learning new things and feeling inspired, and often becomes obsessed with the creative projects that she is so adept at planning, hoarding and collecting materials for.

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
 

Ella Becroft works as a director, actor and producer of both theatre and film. She is the Artistic Director of Red Leap Theatre.

Ella has been a Red Leap company member since 2007, performing in Beyond the Blue, The Arrival, Sea, Dust Pilgrim and Owls Do Cry. Ella was employed as Red Leap’s Assistant Director Intern in 2013. In 2016 she became Red Leap’s Education and Outreach Manager, and then Associate Director in 2018. She was appointed as Artistic Director in June 2022. Ella directed the main stage production Dakota of the White Flats for Red Leap in 2021. In 2023 she was nominated as Director of the Year at the Wellington Theatre Awards.

Ella has taught devising and physical theatre workshops throughout New Zealand and internationally, in Macau, Taiwan and Singapore. In 2023 she attended a three-week residency in Singapore where she devised three productions, mentoring young directors and performers.

Ella also works as a film and documentary director and is the co-founder of production company Leopold Wave. Her documentaries LIONS and Bittersweet both screened as part of the New Zealand International Film Festival 2015. Her short film Sail Away, which she co-directed with Tama Jarman, screened in the New Zealand’s Best programme at the New Zealand International Film Festival 2018, and was programmed in Show Me Shorts Film Festival 2018.

Red Leap is a devising theatre company, dedicated to innovating theatrical form through the intersection of dynamic physicality, arresting imagery, and inventive original storytelling. They strongly believe in the strength of collaboration to celebrate the power of the imagination. Their programming places women’s voices at the centre. Red Leap creates transformative theatre experiences that celebrates women’s stories as vital, engaging, and impactful.

WOMEN LED THEATRE THAT IS BOLD, VISUAL, AND IGNITES THE IMAGINATION.

-

@ellabonnieb

Red Leap Theatre

Leopold Wave

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

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

Liz Mitchell MNZM is New Zealand’s leading bespoke fashion designer. Her love of wool has extended from fashion into the development of homewares using New Zealand strong wool. Felting is the oldest textile-making technique in the world, utilising just wool, soap, and water. As a strong advocate for sustainability and NZ strong wool, Liz has been exploring the processes of both wet felting and needle felting, using wool as her medium.

The passion Liz has for the different ways in which wool could be utilised has seen her create beautiful items that are approachable for everyday use. This includes a collection of pet pods and vessels, rugs, wall hangings, lightshades and living fleeces.

The Wool Revolution – Powered by Liz Mitchell was created to connect wool lovers, artists, creatives, researchers, industry experts, and growers to power a movement promoting the use of New Zealand strong wool in our everyday lives – in Aotearoa New Zealand and across the world. Its magical health-promoting properties and sustainability are essential in today’s world.

Liz’s first solo exhibition This Raw Material, held at the Homestead Galleries at Corban Estate Arts Centre, is an exploration of the many ways in which people interact with wool, and demonstrates new ideas in promoting wool for homewares and art.

Continuing the exploration of wool within the community, a new Wool and Natural Fibres Textile Hub is in the process of being established at Corban Estate. With new felting machinery in place, this Textile Hub will bring innovative textile ideas to life and provide support for future education and workshops.

lizmitchell.co.nz

@lizmitchellnz

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

Mandy Patmore is a multi-media environmental artist and educator who lives in Karekare, on Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s west coast. She has a passionate relationship with her local environment and her work reflects this, looking at the past, present and future of our land; focusing largely on deforestation and habitat loss in Aotearoa. 

Patmore highlights the plight of many endangered native species, exploring the human impact on our landscape and themes of colonisation. In 2019, she managed a hugely successful research project on Pekapeka tou roa - Long Tailed Bats, linking artists with scientists, curating an exhibition in response to the project.

She is also the Creative Director for Kākano Youth Arts Collective, onsite at Corban Estate Arts Centre.

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.

A full-time artist since 1999, Neal Palmer has had 29 solo shows alongside participating in group shows and events at Artspace, Rotorua Museum, Hastings City Art Gallery, Artists in Eden and the Beijing and Los Angeles Biennial Art Invitationals. Palmer has been a finalist in the Molly Morpeth, Margaret Stoddart, Estuary Art & Ecology and the Wallace Art Awards and was an inaugural artist for the Karekare House residency. 
 
Palmer’s painting practice revolves around exploring his natural environment and its visual language.

“I have discovered subjects that can evoke strong emotional responses. I have been consistently interested in blending visual languages, and in exploring how the languages of colour, texture, pattern, and abstract forms can inform and cross-reference each other. One focus has been to develop work that uses the illusion of a photographic ‘depth of field’ to allow images to slip in and out of pictorialism and abstraction through shifting the viewer’s conscious reactions to colour, composition, and form.” 
 
Born in London, Palmer gained a Bachelor of Fine Art (hons) from Nottingham Trent University, where the work of his contemporaries Tim Noble and Sue Webster remain influential to this day. He moved to Aotearoa in the late 90’s.

Palmer’s exhibition Reaction & Reflection at Föenander Gallery is a response to his time as Artist in Residence at the Auckland Botanic Gardens, Summer 2023. 

@nealpalmerartist

nealpalmer.co.nz

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

Sam Mitchell was born in Colorado Springs, USA, attending Elam School of Fine Arts and graduating in 1997 with a BFA. In 2010 Mitchell won the Wallace art Award which included the prize of a six-month Artist Residency in NYC, USA at the International studio and Curatorial Program. Since then, Sam has done seven National and International Artists residencies, exhibiting regularly in Aotearoa, along with having many works featured in publications. Mitchell’s artworks are held in both public and private collections, worldwide.  
 
“I have had the luck of living with the neurological disorder called Dyslexia. It's my superpower as it has given me the ability to paint in reverse. This is a fundamental element to my creative process. My practice features candy-coloured portraits that contain Pop Culture references. They are portraits from the inside out, playful depictions of real people's stories.” 

@sammichellartistnz

sammitchellartist.com

Sheyne Tuffery’s mixed heritage of Samoan and Scandinavian/Celt ancestry plays a significant role in his dynamic and experimental art practice. With a Bachelor of Fine Art, majoring in printmaking from Auckland University of Technology in the 90’s, Sheyne’s vision of futuristic Pacific architecture began to take shape gaining a Master's Degree (hons) in relief printmaking from Elam School of Fine Art at the turn of the millennium.

Tuffery saw himself as a paper architect creating futuristic structures that gave identity to himself and the urbanization of the Pacific. His work demonstrates a multidisciplinary approach to art making, utilizing various mediums to explore these themes of mixed heritage and futuristic Pacific architecture.

Shayne is the recipient of multiple artist residencies and a finalist for the Hida Takayama International Contemporary Woodblock-Prints Triennale, Japan, the Sumei National Print Awards, America, the Ink Masters Print Contest, Australia, the James Wallace Awards, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland and The Parkin Drawing Prize, Pōneke, Wellington.

He has an impressive group and solo exhibition History spanning nearly thirty years.

@sheynetuffery

sheynetuffery.com

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

With a Bachelor of Visual Arts from AUT, author and illustrator Stephanie Thatcher has 12 published titles to date.

Thatcher lives in Huia, West Auckland, where she makes picture books alongside her freelance graphic design work. She has always loved books, spending much of her childhood lying around reading. She also loved drawing and painting, especially sketching people and animals. 

Thatcher wrote and illustrated her first picture book Great Galloping Galoot (Scholastic, 2012) about a clumsy giraffe, inspired by her gangly brother. She has since had many more picture book titles published, as well as illustrating several books for other authors.

Open Studios

Profile photgraph courtesy of Sarah Allen Photography.

The Sur-Collective have developed and designed workshops, educational frameworks, publications, exhibitions, and creative activities for the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Consulate of Colombia in Auckland, Studio One Toi Tū, Depot Artspace, Auckland Studio Potters, The Clay Centre, Corban Estate Art Centre, and Auckland Council. 

Jesu Vasquez-Lesser is a Chilean visual artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Her artistic practice includes sculpture, puppetry, mixed textile techniques, and oil painting. Her interdisciplinary artistic work is based on experimenting with different media and forms of expression. She is finishing her PhD at the University of Auckland, researching religious art, collective memory, and grief. The theory and the practice come together in what she considers to be political art. Her aesthetic mixes women from the feminist movement in Chile, migration, religious, iconography and grief in all its forms. 

Catherine Guevara is a Colombian visual artist based in Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland. Her body of work comprises education, curation, research, writing and ceramics. 
An accomplished visual artist in her country of origin, she moved to Auckland to deepen her practice by further understanding the relationship between Latin American and Pacific cultures. As curator for the consulate of Colombia, she developed educational programmes and art workshops that aimed to help with the settlement of the Latin American community in Aotearoa, New Zealand. She's passionate about exploring with clay. Her artist’s work examines the process of ceramic-making, imbuing layers of clay with memory and history.  

Juliana Durán is a Colombian practising visual artist who came to Aotearoa, New Zealand after receiving a scholarship to complete a Master in Fine Arts at ELAM, Auckland University. Her most recent achievement was receiving the Small Sculpture Prize in 2022 by Perpetual Guardian in association with Te Motu Vineyard and the Waiheke Community Art Gallery. 
Durán’s work aims to explore the capabilities and particularities of found materials as a response to “De-growth” and upcycling, a central value within her practice, the relationship between place and space, social constructions around the sense of belonging, and the conception of home. 

-

Sur-Collective

@quiltra.artspace

@cfromcat

@_hulianaa_

Ko Kohukohunui ko Maungaroa ko Pūhanga Tohorānga Maunga 
Ko Wairoa ko Waikato ko Mangatawa nga Awa 
Ko Ngātokimatawhaorua ko Tainui nga Waka 
Ko Ngāi Tai ko Waikato ko Nga Puhi nga Iwi 
Ko Ngāti Te Raukohekohe ko Ngāti Tamaoho ko Ngai Tuteauru nga Hapū 
Ko Umupuia ko Whatapaka ko Pukerata nga Marae 
 
Tessa Harris has been weaving for over 15 years and is a member of the weaving collective Te Roopū Raranga o Tāmaki Makaurau.

Harris holds a Bachelor of Māori Visual Arts (Whakairo) from Te Waananga o Aotearoa, while much of her Mahi Kohatu (Māori stonework) features hand-finishing learnt under the guidance of artist Ross McCabe (Ngā Puhi). 
 
Harris' vision of using hi-tech materials to showcase Māori weaving can be seen in her innovative projects such as Kōrimurimu, Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland, (situated between Quay Street and the Waitematā Harbour where visitors are encouraged to lie on the flax-like surface, breathing the sea air, looking up to the sky and hearing the movement of the tide below); and Aramoana at the Ōtāhuhu Station, which utilises Māori design principles to connect to the environment, culture, and heritage of the area.

@taonga_toi

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.