The Creative Mother Podcast

This weeks episode is with Nickie Hursthouse, the founder and creative force behind My Clay Table, a ceramics studio grounded in the belief that the best memories are made around the table. My Clay Table ceramics are made to be used, to hold food, to share drinks and to gather people together. Nickie is a mum, small business owner and worked as a dietitian for 13 years. Nickie’s journey with clay began from her own need to pause. Following years of anxiety and burnout she found solace in the most unexpected place: a lump of clay. Working with clay taught her patience, resilience, and how to embrace imperfection. Clay became a powerful, therapeutic way to slow down. Through small collections of functional ceramics, creative workshops, and her ongoing project At the Table, Nickie brings together food, clay, and connection. At the Table is where the brand comes full circle, a space for recipes that look as good as they taste, for gathering people together, and for celebrating the everyday moments that matter. Because what is the point of a beautiful bowl if it never gets filled? https://www.myclaytable.co.nz/https://www.instagram.com/myclaytable/https://www.instagram.com/nickiehursthouse/Links MentionedMaybe You Should Talk to Someone: A Therapist, Her Therapist, and Our Lives by Lori GottliebWho Better Than You? The Art of Healthy Arrogance & Dreaming Big by Will Packerhttps://www.myclaytable.co.nz/blogs/recipeshttps://www.myclaytable.co.nz/collections/all-productsAbout your host:Kate Hursthouse is a practising artist and trainee Creative Arts Therapist with over a decade of creative and community experience. She combines her background in design, illustration, and arts education with a growing therapeutic practice centred on inclusion, emotional wellbeing, and creative expression. Guided by empathy and curiosity, Kate supports individuals and groups to explore identity, connection, and growth through the transformative process of art-making.She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.https://www.katehursthouse.com/https://www.instagram.com/katehursthouse/https://www.instagram.com/creativemotherpodcast/A huge thanks to Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme for supporting this season of the podcast.

This weeks episode is with Naomi Azoulay a Tāmaki Makaurau–based artist whose work explores the emotional landscapes of resilience, transformation, and social change. Working in portraiture across collage and painting, she portrays women with strength, agency, and defiance, celebrating feminine rage as a catalyst for social change.With a background in visual arts and community engagement, her practice connects personal experience with broader questions of representation and inclusivity. Through vibrant colour, layered textures, and emotionally charged imagery, Azoulay invites viewers to pause and reflect on their own emotions.Her work has been exhibited nationally, and she continues to develop projects that foster dialogue and solidarity across diverse communities.https://www.naomiazoulay.com/https://www.instagram.com/naomi_azoulay_collagehttps://www.instagram.com/naomi_azoulay_artLinks mentioned:Nap MinistryLissy & RudiKehinde WileyAbout your host:Kate Hursthouse is a practising artist and trainee Creative Arts Therapist with over a decade of creative and community experience. She combines her background in design, illustration, and arts education with a growing therapeutic practice centred on inclusion, emotional wellbeing, and creative expression. Guided by empathy and curiosity, Kate supports individuals and groups to explore identity, connection, and growth through the transformative process of art-making.She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.https://www.katehursthouse.com/https://www.instagram.com/katehursthouse/https://www.instagram.com/creativemotherpodcast/A huge thanks to Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme for supporting this season of the podcast.

This weeks episode is with Dina Jezdic, an art critic, curator, and decolonial scholar with a doctorate focused on decoloniality of museums and contemporary Indigenous practice. She has extensive experience in creative mentoring, delivering tailored programs for groups and individual practitioners across fine art and design.Dina is a frequent contributor to Art News (NZ), Art New Zealand, The Big Idea, Artlink (AUS), Art Collector (AUS), and Sculpture Magazine (US).https://www.instagram.com/ms.interpretedd/Links from this episode:Dina's doctoral thesis: Decolonial Museum Practice Through Performance Art and Activation: A Collective Autoethnography :  https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/items/28129a8c-f767-4dca-96cc-5e4bf540b129 https://www.artlink.com.au/issues/4530/the-mother-issue/Sarah HughesSefton RaniMother Mother CollectiveAbout your host:Kate Hursthouse is a practising artist and trainee Creative Arts Therapist with over a decade of creative and community experience. She combines her background in design, illustration, and arts education with a growing therapeutic practice centred on inclusion, emotional wellbeing, and creative expression. Guided by empathy and curiosity, Kate supports individuals and groups to explore identity, connection, and growth through the transformative process of art-making.She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.https://www.katehursthouse.com/https://www.instagram.com/katehursthouse/https://www.instagram.com/creativemotherpodcast/A huge thanks to Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme for supporting this season of the podcast.

Agate Rubene is the artist and illustrator behind Restless & Infectious. Originally from Latvia, she is now based in Auckland, New Zealand.With a background in fashion and graphic design, Agate began her creative journey through fashion illustration—a foundation that continues to shape her distinctive style. Her work focuses on people and their actions, capturing emotion and celebrating life’s pleasures with a light-hearted tone.She uses bright colour palettes, fluid shapes, and vibrant characters to craft alternative realities inspired by daily experiences, mood, and the aesthetic of pop culture.Agate creates bold, expressive paintings, custom commissions, and commercial illustrations that bring stories to life. She has collaborated with brands such as Dipsea, The Beauty Book, and Urbanaut, and her work has found homes with collectors worldwide—reflecting its universal appeal.https://restlessinfectious.com/https://www.instagram.com/restless_infectious/https://www.facebook.com/RestlessInfectiousAbout your host:Kate Hursthouse is a practising artist and trainee Creative Arts Therapist with over a decade of creative and community experience. She combines her background in design, illustration, and arts education with a growing therapeutic practice centred on inclusion, emotional wellbeing, and creative expression. Guided by empathy and curiosity, Kate supports individuals and groups to explore identity, connection, and growth through the transformative process of art-making.She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.https://www.katehursthouse.com/https://www.instagram.com/katehursthouse/https://www.instagram.com/creativemotherpodcast/A huge thanks to Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme for supporting this season of the podcast.

Abbie McCall (Ngāti Apa) is a mother of three and a proud Māori creative whose life has always been steeped in the arts. Born into a whānau of musicians, visual artists, and makers, creativity has been her constant — a natural rhythm that’s guided her through every chapter.A true jack of all trades, Abbie spent her life joyfully moving between creative worlds — until 2022, when everything stopped. A breast cancer diagnosis brought transformation in every sense of the word. Through the challenge came a deep rebuilding, and it was art-making that became her compass — a way to recalibrate, to find meaning, and to return home to herself.A chance encounter at a writing workshop introduced her to the world of Creative Arts Therapy, sparking a brave return to academia with renewed purpose. What followed was not traditional study, but a deep dive into identity, healing, and curiosity — a process of carving out, and peeling back. Now completing her Master’s in Creative Arts Therapy (Clinical), Abbie brings the healing power of art into schools, kaupapa Māori spaces, and acute care settings. Her mahi is grounded in aroha, wairua, and connection — meeting people where they are, and using creativity as a bridge back to wholeness.For Abbie, being creative isn’t a verb — it’s an innate devotion. A way of being.Links mentioned in the podcast:https://www.instagram.com/abbie.toi.ora.therapy/https://www.wharehaututu.nz/creativearttherapyhttps://www.dancetherapy.co.nz/https://huiacomehome.co.nz/Notes on Womanhood - https://sarahjanebarnett.net/About your host:Kate Hursthouse is a practising artist and trainee Creative Arts Therapist with over a decade of creative and community experience. She combines her background in design, illustration, and arts education with a growing therapeutic practice centred on inclusion, emotional wellbeing, and creative expression. Guided by empathy and curiosity, Kate supports individuals and groups to explore identity, connection, and growth through the transformative process of art-making.She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.https://www.katehursthouse.com/https://www.instagram.com/katehursthouse/https://www.instagram.com/creativemotherpodcast/A huge thanks to Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme for supporting this season of the podcast.

Today I am talking to Hannah Jensen Fox, a powerhouse of creativity, who is technically a multidisciplinary artist, with a love of drawing, photography, etching, printing and more. However she is more well-known for her intricate hand carved images into layers of acrylic paint; a technique I created in 2003 while at Auckland University of Technology.To achieve her bespoke work Hannah applies anywhere between 40-80 layers of acrylic paint to custom made framed ply boards before carving back through the layers, revealing the colours beneath. The results are detailed images rendered in negative relief that emphasise the texture and tonal variations between paint colours in a topographical manner. This paint carving discovery in her second year of study has taken Hannah on this wonderful journey that she is still challenged by (in a good way), to this day. Hundreds of litres of paint later, Hannah is still hooked on this technique as she navigates motherhood alongside her creative practice.https://hannahjensenfox.com/https://www.instagram.com/hannahjensenart https://www.facebook.com/HannahJensenFoxArt https://www.tiktok.com/@hannahjensenartAbout your host:Kate Hursthouse is a practising artist and trainee Creative Arts Therapist with over a decade of creative and community experience. She combines her background in design, illustration, and arts education with a growing therapeutic practice centred on inclusion, emotional wellbeing, and creative expression. Guided by empathy and curiosity, Kate supports individuals and groups to explore identity, connection, and growth through the transformative process of art-making.She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.https://www.katehursthouse.com/https://www.instagram.com/katehursthouse/https://www.instagram.com/creativemotherpodcast/A huge thanks to Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme for supporting this season of the podcast.

Welcome back to Season 3 of the Creative Mother Podcast. A huge thanks to Auckland Council Creative Communities Scheme for supporting this season of the podcast.Today host Kate Hursthouse talks about her struggles with chronic illness and the impact that has had on her creativity and sense of identity. She also discusses her journey towards becoming a Creative Arts Therapist.Kate Hursthouse is an artist, creative business owner, trainee Creative Arts Therapist and a single mother to one awesome kid. With over a decade of creative and community experience she combines her background in design, illustration, and arts education with a growing therapeutic practice centred on inclusion, emotional wellbeing, and creative expression. Guided by empathy and curiosity, Kate supports individuals and groups to explore identity, connection, and growth through the transformative process of art-making.She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.www.katehursthouse.com@katehursthouse@creativemotherpodcast

Today’s episode is with Awhina Murupaenga, a mum of two and founder and director of Whatu Creative.Awhina launched Whatu Creative as a grief response to losing a best friend to cancer. She started with the intention of growing art exhibitions in Te Hiku, the Far North but, as for so many, Covid had other plans for them and she had to pivot her business. She created and launched her Tukutuku kits which are a contemporary take on a traditional Māori artform. The kits were an overnight success and they have struggled to keep up with the demand ever since. Whatucreative.com@WhatuCreativehttps://www.facebook.com/whatucreative/Links from today’s episode:Selwyn MuruClaudine MuruLenny MurupaengaInspired by:Her mentor, Pareaute NathanAbout your host:Kate Hursthouse is an artist, creative business owner and single mother to one awesome kid. She has run her own creative business since 2014 and has been involved in a whole range of projects over the years - from commercial illustrations and design projects to contemporary art, children’s book illustrations and hand painted murals. She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.www.katehursthouse.com@katehursthousewww.creativemotherpodcast.com@creativemotherpodcastIf you are wanting to start or grow your creative business I have just the thing for you. I have learned over the years that to succeed as a creative, you must understand business. I wish I had a guide to help me when I got started, and the way I see it the more we can share with each other the better it is for all creatives. So I have created a Free e-book with an overview of some of the things I think are essential to know when starting a creative business. I have included:5 things you need to get your business started7 revenue streams to make income as an artist5 ways to sell and share your workYou can download ‘The Basics of Running a Creative Business’ for free here.

Today’s episode is with Katie Rickson who is a poet, copywriter and editor and mum of one. Katie has had bipolar episodes for most of her adult life, but wasn’t diagnosed until she was eight weeks postpartum, and experiencing insomnia and mania. One thing that got her through this time was the mantra: “something beautiful will come from this.”Katie now writes about her experiences of hospitalisation, diagnosis and identity, recovery, work, motherhood and more through her website Compassion Poetry. She’s been a guest lecturer at Victoria University of Wellington every year since 2018, a guest on podcasts, and a lived experience speaker at events. She’s on a mission to raise awareness and reduce stigma. [email protected] https://www.katierickson.co.nz/https://www.linkedin.com/in/katie-rickson-writerLinks from today’s episode:Inspired by:Andrea Gibson PoetryShelly DaviesDreamers Collective - Michelle KeatingReading:Roald DahlThe Artist’s Way - Julia CameronBecoming - Michelle ObamaAtomic HabitsOwning Bipolar - Michael G Pipitch?About your host:Kate Hursthouse is an artist, creative business owner and single mother to one awesome kid. She has run her own creative business since 2014 and has been involved in a whole range of projects over the years - from commercial illustrations and design projects to contemporary art, children’s book illustrations and hand painted murals. She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.www.katehursthouse.com@katehursthousewww.creativemotherpodcast.com@creativemotherpodcastIf you are wanting to start or grow your creative business I have just the thing for you. I have learned over the years that to succeed as a creative, you must understand business. I wish I had a guide to help me when I got started, and the way I see it the more we can share with each other the better it is for all creatives. So I have created a Free e-book with an overview of some of the things I think are essential to know when starting a creative business. I have included:5 things you need to get your business started7 revenue streams to make income as an artist5 ways to sell and share your workYou can download ‘The Basics of Running a Creative Business’ for free here.

Today’s conversation is with stand-up comedian, writer and social commentator Michele A’Court.Originally trained as a journalist, Michele has been an icon in stand up comedy since it got started in New Zealand. She was the winner of “Female Comedian of the Decade” at the 2010 NZ Comedy Guild Awards, is a frequent voice on RNZ National’s “Nine to Noon” and “The Panel” and has been a frequent guest host on Three’s primetime show, “The Project”. She has also made regular appearances on the hit comedy show “7Days” since it began in 2009.Her motherhood journey and her career are very much intertwined. In the early 90’s she was one of the only women and the only parent on the comedy circuit. She also created the successful stand up show “Stuff I Forgot To Tell My Daughter” which was then turned into a book in 2015.www.micheleacourt.comInstagram: @michele.acourtTwitter: @MicheleACourt Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michele.acourtLinks from today’s episode:“Stuff I Forgot To Tell My Daughter” by Michele A’CourtReading:“Needs Adult Supervision” by Emily Writes “Eddy, Eddy” by Kate De Goldi About your host:Kate Hursthouse is an artist, creative business owner and single mother to one awesome kid. She has run her own creative business since 2014 and has been involved in a whole range of projects over the years - from commercial illustrations and design projects to contemporary art, children’s book illustrations and hand painted murals. She started this podcast to try and answer the question: how do we continue to be creative and produce creative work, while raising children? Her goal is to create a little corner of the internet where creative mothers share their stories and gain a feeling of community, understanding and inspiration.www.katehursthouse.com@katehursthousewww.creativemotherpodcast.com@creativemotherpodcastIf you are wanting to start or grow your creative business I have just the thing for you. I have learned over the years that to succeed as a creative, you must understand business. I wish I had a guide to help me when I got started, and the way I see it the more we can share with each other the better it is for all creatives. So I have created a Free e-book with an overview of some of the things I think are essential to know when starting a creative business. I have included:5 things you need to get your business started7 revenue streams to make income as an artist5 ways to sell and share your workYou can download ‘The Basics of Running a Creative Business’ for free here.