Meet the Team
At the heart of Goldfinch Create and Play is our inspiring team of creatives.
We have a diverse range of artistic skills, backgrounds, and life experiences, but we share a passion for inspiring kids and grownups through art, craft, and nature.
Nicole Strong
Goldfinch owner
Kids Art Clubs, Art Parties and Holiday Art Clubs.
Experience:
Nicole was an Urban Designer and Landscape Architect who spent six years designing community facilities and outdoor play areas for children in Cape Town’s most underserved areas. After relocating with her family to Bristol, Nicole repurposed her skills and passion for people and founded Goldfinch Create and Play.
Creative streak:
Nicole (and her two girls) are the creative masterminds behind many of the Goldfinch activities. From watercolour paper cranes to cardboard homes for badgers, Nicole has the power to fire up anyone’s imagination.
Loves:
Connecting people through play and nature.
Georgie Mountjoy
Goldfinch Partner
Preschool & Baby Art and Music Classes and Art Parties.
Experience:
Creative streak:
Writing, teaching and developing inspiring process art projects for all ages.
Loves:
Seeing the seasons change, chatting to lovely people, bringing joy to others, working with children on a daily basis.
Sarah Dennis
Kids' and Teens' Art Clubs
Experience:
Sarah Dennis is a paper artist and illustrator who combines traditional paper-cutting techniques, collage, and digital art.Creative streak:
She incorporates playful elements to encourage learning through search and find, pop-ups and interactive books.
Loves:
Sarah aims to encourage visual learners to explore facts and information in a visually stimulating way. Sarah loves supporting children in their creativity, she hosts classes that invite you to embrace play, imagination and self-exploration.
Justin Tsui, Nadia Addonizio, Martyna Grądziel, Louise Taylor, Nicole Strong and Sarah Dennis
Holiday Art Clubs and Art Parties
The Holiday Art Club team:
At Goldfinch Create and Play, our holiday art clubs are led by a warm and experienced team of artists and educators who are passionate about creativity and inclusive learning.
Nadia brings extensive experience from adult education, creating supportive, confidence-building sessions for a wide range of communities, alongside running her own creative floristry business.
Louise has a rich background in early years education, Montessori, forest schools and community arts, and now thrives as a creative facilitator.
Martyna, a Bristol-based illustrator, brings bold, playful energy through her love of colour, drawing and collage, while Justin Tsui, an artist specialising in coloured pencil, adds a thoughtful and detailed approach to making.
Along with Nicole and Sarah, the team creates a welcoming, inspiring environment where every child feels encouraged to explore, create and express themselves.
Goldfinch would not have taken flight without the ideas and experience of our team.
Be inspired.
Louise Taylor
Art parties & Holiday Art Clubs
Experience:
Louise has taught in early years mainstream education, Montessori kindergartens, forest schools, and more recently in community and healthcare settings. These days she feels most at home as a creative facilitator in the education and community arts space.
Creative streak:
An approach to creativity that supports imagination, curiosity, inclusivity, and play.
Loves:
Using art to build creative confidence and inspire artists, young and old.
Chrissie Homer
Experience:
Chrissie trained in Power Yoga at The Power Yoga Company in London, where she had in-depth training in teaching techniques, the history of yoga and philosophy.
Creative streak:
Weaving philosophical themes into yoga classes in a way that people of all ages and abilities can relate to.
Loves:
Sharing the power of yoga and seeing it benefit the well-being of anyone who gives it a try.
Creative Partners
LET'S MAKE ART
Experience:
Karen and Alice are Creative Directors of the independent arts organisation, LET’S MAKE ART. They provide art provision for schools and communities across Bristol as well as at events and festivals. They are artists in residence at the Arnolfini, Bristol’s International Centre for Contemporary Arts.
Creative streak:
Thinking up unique, modern, and sometimes cheeky ways for children and grownups to express their creativity.
Loves:
Experimenting with different materials and techniques to help children have fun and make meaningful connections with art.
Chandos Atelier
Experience:
Emma has been making props and costumes for over 20 years and now runs ‘Creative Maker’ sessions from her workshop on Chandos Road. Emma’s classes are unprescribed, playful, and somewhere children and adults are free to create in their own way.
Creative streak:
From glue gun experiments, weaving with unusual materials or using plasticine in new ways, Emma’s creative ideas are unique, fun, and inspiring.
Loves:
Helping children freely explore, play, and invent—the perfect antidote to school!
Adult Art Classes
Rebecca Finnerty
Clay
Experience:
Rebecca is an Irish ceramicist who is inspired by themes of nature, folklore, tradition and the connection between land and people.
Creative streak:
Working with clay to bring everyday rituals and materials to life.
Loves:
Inspiring others to use clay to explore texture, culture, and nature.
Sarah Dennis
Experience:
Sarah is a paper artist and illustrator. Sarah has worked with a range of clients including BBC Four, Tatler, and The Guardian. She has also illustrated and authored a selection of books, including Papercut Woodland and Paper Plants.
Creative streak:
Combining traditional paper-cutting techniques, collage, and digital art.
Loves:
Sharing the joys of paper craft to help people focus their minds and find a sense of serenity.
Jenny Sweetnam
Experience:
Jenny is an esteemed artist who creates jewellery defined by its bold style. Her work has been featured in leading publications including Dazed, Elle, Dansk, the Guardian, The Times, Vogue and The Financial Times.
Creative streak:
In 2018, Jenny won the prestigious Wallpaper Design Award!
Loves:
Inspiring others to create modern jewellery pieces.
Alice Dunn Ribeiro
Experience:
Alice is a Portuguese/British artist based in Bristol. A love for music has taken her practice out of the studio and into venues around Bristol.
Creative streak:
Her work is inspired by fleeting moments, moving between drawing, painting and animation. Having developed a passion for life drawing, due to the way it unveils the beauty in every unique body, she captures poses with fast, instinctive movements.
Loves:
Pending many evenings watching and drawing musicians and performers, she allows the shapes and sounds to flow onto paper in the ever-changing environment.
Sophie Rae
Experience:
Sophie Rae is a mural painter and printmaker who specialises in colourful, abstract designs. She has painted murals in gardens, cafes, bars, restaurants, offices, schools, shops, and high streets, and taught workshops across Bristol.
Creative streak:
Transforming spaces into welcoming, inspiring environments with her bold murals.
Loves:
Uplifting people of all ages and abilities by engaging them in fun, relaxed printmaking experiences.
“My girls have absolutely loved all of their classes."
Beth, Parent of 3, 7 & 9 year olds