Talking With Painters

Through her art, Kiata Mason takes us into her world and her way of seeing. Her still lifes are filled with the objects from her home, collected over generations, and portraits contain reminders of the past. She plays with colour and perspective to convey her subjects not quite the way they exist in reality but with an ever present optimism and empathy mixed with a bit of kookiness. She has a Masters degree in drawing from the National Art School and this forms the foundations of her painting. Last year she won the Muswellbrook Art prize for works on paper and she’s also been a finalist and semi-finalist in many major painting prizes including the Sulman, Doug Moran, Black Swan and Paddington art prizes. She has exhibited in five solo shows and has another two coming up this year but still sees herself in the early stages of her career as a painter. Her work crosses still life, portraiture and landscape. I recorded this episode in Kiata's studio in the back room of her home in Lake Cathie just south of Port