Homes of the Hunter features all kinds of homes, rentals, renos, retro and recycled.
This week we're revisiting and remembering the homes of different artists we've featured.
As the pandemic has shown us, working from home is easier than we imagined.
These artists below have made their work an extension of their home with different touches depending on their craft.
Here are a few snippets from painters, textile artists, photographers and crafters.
Last year, artist Liz Anelli welcomed the Herald into her studio and home in Hamilton North, which she shares with her partner, Mario Minichiello, who is also an artist and head of design at the University of Newcastle.
The pair needed individual studios. Anelli took a room in the house and Minichiello got the garage.
"We love each other dearly, but we don't want to work in the same studio," Anelli says.
You'll find art supplies, paintings, drawings and work slowly being realised in their jumbled, joyous, lived-in spaces.
Next up, in Warners Bay, is crafter and designer Jenna Picken. Far from a minimalist, her studio is full of odds, ends, glitter and glam.
She loves making crowns, and "beast-mode sunglasses" first inspired from an Elton John concert.
"It's a manifestation of my own creative world," she says.
"I wasn't getting out there, and then I started a graphic design business, three years ago. That helped me build confidence and just grow up a bit.
"This is the second phase, make another business that's really out there."
She regularly works with recycled, second hand items. Her Etsy store is called Pippin's Revival.
Her vibe is very different from artist and painter Leslie Fitzsimmons, who lives in Mayfield and is constantly drawing inspiration from the natural world.
Enamoured with the natural light in the house, she and her partner moved in and eventually opted to make the studio out of a bedroom that had French doors.
"You've got to have a room with a lot of light," she says on finding the perfect place to paint.
"I am definitely inspired by my surroundings and being able to create my own space."
Fitzsimmons is in her studio every day, working different hours. Within her studio along with her paint and paintbrushes you'll find different pieces of nature for stimulus.
For a softer approach, look no further than Ranie Owens' place in Lambton. She lives here with her husband and two children.
Owens works as a fibre artist and provides fibre supplies for other artists. Her home office is full of colourful textiles and her fibre artwork adorn their home.
"It's full of yarn and looks like a big rainbow cloud," she says.
She designs weaving kits and tools and also spins and dyes yarn. She runs workshops at The Fernery, in Islington, and sells her work online and at the Olive Tree Markets.
In the nearby suburb of Islington is the home of poet Keri Glastonbury and her partner Eila Vinwynn. Vinwynn's art adorns the house, and the two share a home office. Right up the road within Newcastle ArtSpace is Vinwynn's studio where she paints her bigger pieces, sometimes accompanied by Tilly the greyhound.
Living on the rapidly changing Chinchen street, the pair find the area is still grungy enough for an artist.
"There's a grime here you can never get rid of," Vinwynn says.
Another creative, photographer and artist Lee Illfield lives in Tighes Hill with her two children.
She does her photography and sewing in her studio, which gets great winter sun. A beautiful glass door provides a barrier between her work and family life.
"During the winter time it's a sunroom; it's not uncommon for friends to come nap on the couch," Illfield says of her office.
Illfield's house is a distinct colour of pinkish purple, which suits her creative lifestyle.
These are just a few creative corners of the community where home, art and lifestyle blend and flow. Newcastle is richer and brighter because of them.
