Talking with Painters
Maria Stoljar talks with Australian painters about how they became an artist, their painting techniques, influences and current work.
Episodes
Watch a 2 minute highlights video of this episode on the YouTube channel here
In this special episode of Talking with Painters, I’m bringing you my conversation with Richard Lewer recorded shortly after he was announced as the winner of the 2026 Archibald Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales. Richard won Australia’s most prestigious portrait prize for his powerful...
Watch a short highlights video of this episode on the TWP YouTube channel
In this special International Women’s Day episode I speak with acclaimed artist, and previous podcast guest, Ann Thomson about building a career in the male-dominated art world of the mid-20th century.
Born in 1933, Ann’s art education took place during the 1950...
Watch highlights from this conversation on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel
I loved this conversation with Mary Tonkin at the S.H. Ervin Gallery in Sydney, before the start of her survey exhibition Among the Trees (opening 3 January 2026). The show brings ...
A highlights video from this episode will also be coming soon to the Talking with Painters YouTube channel
In this episode, I visit the studio of acclaimed abstract painter Aida Tomescu just days before the opening of her exhibition Messiaen at Fox Jensen Gallery in Sydney. The exhibition continues until 20 December 2025.
Watch an edited video version of this episode on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel here
Podcast listeners see the works we talk about here or go to talkingwithpainters.com (ep 169)
When I travelled to Hobart for the announcement of the Hadley’s Art Prize, I not only interviewed the winner, Sophie Cape (you can hear her in the previous episode),...
Watch an edited video version of this conversation on the YouTube channel here
Sophie Cape has just taken out the $100,000 Hadley’s Art Prize for landscape with her powerful painting Thunder Shifts the Shivering Sands.
It’s a raw and visceral work on canvas made...
Australia has lost one of its great painters. William Robinson has passed away at the age of 89.
I was lucky enough to meet Bill in 2020 when I interviewed his close friend, artist Davida Allen. At Davida’s suggestion, Bill joined the conversation —and what unfolded was something special.
In this re-relea...
Watch an edited video version of this conversation on the YouTube channel here
It’s one of the most thrilling days on the Australian art calendar—and this year, Julie Fragar has taken out the Archibald Prize with a captivating portrait of fellow artist and colleague Justene Williams.
Her large scale portrait of Justene, appearing to flo...
Watch this interview on the Talking with Painters YouTube channel here
Step into the gripping world of Richard Lewer — where drawing, painting, and video meet the raw edges of human experience.
Richard doesn’t look away from life’s toughest stories. From the deeply personal — like...
Catch up on the latest YouTube videos and Instagram reels, and don’t miss the chance to be part of my next Loading Dock interview at the Art Gallery of NSW!
My conversation with two remarkable Australian artists, Robert Malherbe and Keith Burt was in front of a fabulous audience at the Tweed Regional Gallery.
Robert and Keith completed residencies at the gallery’s Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residence Studio, drawing inspiration from objects in Margaret Olley’s recreated home studio at t...
Ingrid Hedgcock, director of the Tweed Regional Gallery, shows me around the amazing Margaret Olley Art Centre which is the relocation of Margaret Olley’s home studio from Paddington in Sydney.
Famous for being like an Aladdin’s cave of eclectic objects, the recreated home studio contains the sources of many inspirational items which appear...
See an edited version of this episode (5 mins) on the talking with Painters YouTube channel
Podcast listeners click here to view the works
Through layers of paint in varying translucency, Karen Black explores not only the physical nature of the female form but through her use of abstraction and considered use of colour she brings out another dimension – an emotional layer.
There is a strong sense of a spontaneous response in her pa...
Congratulations to previous podcast guest Laura Jones on winning the Archibald Prize – Australia’s most famous portrait prize – with a sensitive and meaningful portrait of writer and environmentalist Tim Winton.
On Friday I ...
See the video version of this episode on the TWP YouTube channel here.
This is my 5th collection of Loading Dock Interviews of entrants to the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman prizes.
Six brave painters fronted my camera and microphone as they delivered their work to the packing room at the Art Gallery of NSW via the loading dock.
Thankyou to these artists (tap on their name for their Instagram page):
See highlights of this interview on the YouTube Channel
Caroline Zilinsky’s paintings freeze pivotal moments in our culture’s history, encouraging us to reflect upon our times, whether it’s the absurdity, the horror or the humour.
At the risk of being labelled a conspiracy theorist, she’s attracted to the dilemmas brought on by the internet era and shines a light on the things...
Podcast listeners click here to see images of the work
Over the years, podcast guests have shared some fascinating back stories to paintings they have made, stories which you could never have guessed just on viewing the work.
Sometimes that back story has made me look at the work in a totally different way and I’m bringing you another eight artists’...
Podcast listeners click here to see images of the works
Over the years, podcast guests have shared some fascinating back stories to paintings they have made, stories which you could never have guessed on merely viewing the work.
Sometimes that back story has made me look at the work in a totally different way and I’m bringing you a few of those t...
Podcast guests talk with me about the flow state!
See below for timestamps and links to each guest’s full podcast interview and video
3:39 Julie Nicholson and Fiona Verity – Podcast | Instagram video
6:40 Ann Thomson – Podcast | YouTube
7:54 Joshua Yeldham – Pod...
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