The Creative Kind

In this episode of The Creative Kind I’m joined by curator, writer and arts mentor Amber Creswell Bell. During the year I have been collecting a whole lot of questions from listeners, so in this Q&A epsiode, we cover a wide range of things: from galleries and art prizes to pricing your work and building a career independently.

Some of the questions came in around knowing when inspiration becomes too close to copying, developing your own visual language, what to do with a studio full of unsold work, and how to manage relationships with galleries. Amber has a very practical way of looking at these things, and there are lots of good reminders here about doing your research, asking questions and being clear about what you actually want.

You can find my previous episode with Amber here: What Matters (and What Doesn’t) for Artists in 2026 with Amber Creswell Bell

Find Amber Creswell Bell here on instagram and here on her website
Find The National Emerging Art Prize here on instagram and here on the website
Find The Emerging Art Fair here on instagram and here on the website

Recommendation:
Genevieve Carroll at King Street Gallery, Sydney website
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In today’s episode I'm talking with Joshua Brew, an Australian artist working on Whadjuk Noongar Boodja country in Perth. Joshua explores contemporary masculinity in his graphite drawings. His practice looks at identity & vulnerability, often turning the focus inward and using his own body as his subject, examining what it means to see and be seen.

Joshua and I talk about his experience of being an emerging artist while balancing a full-time teaching job, a relationship, a mortgage and everything else that comes with life after art school. We talk about how he finds time to make work, using deadlines and awards to create structure, and making his practice more manageable by working at a smaller scale.

Joshua discusses his ongoing exploration of masculinity and his interest in making different representations of male bodies visible. We also talk about life drawing, community, experimentation and giving yourself permission to play. Joshua shares some of the artists, books, shows and other things that have influenced or interested him, and talks about the challenge of believing that what you have to say is worth saying while also seeing the opportunities that come with being at an emerging stage of an art practice.

You can find Joshua here on instagram and here on his website

Mentioned in this episode:
Book- How to Art by Kate Bryant
TV Shows: The Great Pottery Throw Down & Adults
Andrew Sleeman on The Creative Kind
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This week I'm joined by two returning guests, Sarah Birtles and Rachael Parsons, who answered questions that have come in from listeners over the past year. Sarah is an art dealer and director of Sarah Birtles Gallery, who recently opened a new space in Springwood in the Blue Mountains. Rachael is the director of the New England Regional Art Museum (NERAM), marking 10 years in the role this year.
We get into a lot of ground: what question emerging artists should actually be asking themselves, whether you need formal art training to be taken seriously, what happens when work doesn't sell at a gallery, and the sometimes-blurry line between decorative and fine art. We also talk about how much artists should share of their personal lives online, how to navigate working across different subjects or genres without losing collectors, and a discussion on AI, where it's a useful tool and where it isn't. We finish with practical advice on how to approach a gallerist or curator for feedback.
This season is going to be made up of interviews plus a few Question and Answer episodes from different artists and arts professionals, and like Sarah and Rachael, they will all bring really different vantage points.

I loved hearing both Rachael and Sarah’s answers today, what they agreed on, how they built on what each other said and their different perspectives from both the commercial and public gallery sectors

If you have a question for the podcast, you can ask it here (or send me an email or dm)

You can find Sarah Birtles here on Instagram and here on her website
You can find Rachael Parsons here on Instagram and here at NERAM

Previous episodes:
Rachael Parsons: Copy That: Rachael Parsons on copying in Art, copyright & AI
Sarah Birtles: Art Fairs with Sarah Birtles
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Anita Phillips is a West Australian landscape painter raised on a Wheatbelt farm, who spent close to four decades as a home economics teacher before painting became her full-time focus. In this conversation she talks about selling her Perth home, resigning from teaching, and moving to the Bellarine Peninsula near Geelong and what she expects to change, and not change, in her and her work once she's away from the landscape she's painted for most of her career.

Anita talks through how her practice has developed and shifted over time, the role travel has played, the residencies that sparked real change in her, and how drawing and journalling became central to her process alongside painting.

She also discusses the role of her circle of artist friends have played throughout her career and how those friends have supported her, mentored her early on, and given her the confidence to make this move. She also talks about the mentoring she sought out earlier in her career, and about the wider artist community she's built through Instagram and residencies.

Find Anita Phillips here on instagram and here : anitaphillips.com.au

Anita has an upcoming exhibition titled 'Shaped By Weather' with Michael Reid Southern Highlands from 17th September to 18th October 2026

Mentioned:

Carly Le Cerf : here on instagram and here carlylecerf.com.au
Julz Beresford: here on instagram and here julzberesford.com
Lauren (Elise) Kennedy: here on instagram and here laurenelisekennedy.com.au
Sophie Perez: here on instagram and here sophieperezartist.com
PS Art Space (PSAS):here on instagram and here psas.com.au
Michael Reid Southern Highlands: here on instagram and here michaelreidsouthernhighlands.com.au
Brisons Veor, Cape Cornwall (residency) — brisonsveor.org.uk
WASPS Scotland (residency organisation, Skye and Shetland) — waspsstudios.org.uk
Sydney Contemporary here on instagram and here sydneycontemporary.com.au
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In this episode I talked with Amy Stapleton about changing direction in her art practice. Amy has moved from painting gum trees and landscapes towards more abstract and experimental work. We discuss the difficulty of moving away from work that has been successful and how she has facilitated her practice to change.

Amy talks about burnout, the value of stepping away, and how a residency at The Corridor Project helped her reconnect with making. We also discuss exhibitions, art communities, building confidence, working across different materials and scales, and the challenge of creating without knowing what the outcome will be.

We talk about comparison, success and finding your own voice, as well as Amy's interest in art history and looking at how other artists' practices have changed over time.

Amy has an upcoming show ‘Do not go gentle’ with Side Gallery in Brisbane on October 8-17, where proceeds from sales will support Dangerous Females' work for domestic and family violence services.

Find Amy at her website here and on instagram here
People and places mentioned

The Corridor Project,
Laura Horn
Cynthia Copley
Julie Bradley
Ipswich Art Gallery - Sharing the National Collection (Rothko & Agnes Martin, on loan from the National Gallery of Australia)

You can find the podcast here
Thanks so much for listening! Feel free to rate, review & share if you enjoyed it, this helps other people find the show
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