From Greek Paintings to Irish Jigs with artist/musician Manolia Kokoloyianni - a podcast by Carol McQuaid

Today we’re in Greece, on the island of Crete, heading into Heraklion to meet up at the Miniatoura Café with artist and musician Manolia Kokoloyianni.  She grew up in both Crete and Athens, paints beautiful introspective canvases in the intense and subdued palette of this island home, and yet it’s jigs and reels she performs on her classical greek lyra with her Irish partner musician Paul Goodman. Its these awesome contradictions that keep life interesting, isn’t it?

Our Guest Artist: Manolia KokoloyianniOur Host Artist: Carol McQuaid www.carolmcquaidart.com

Our Bar: Miniatoura Cafe, Heraklion, CreteNow follow me to the Miniatoura Café on the island of Crete and listen in as Manolia and I talk about the dance between music and painting, the satisfaction of having good students, and how to not mess with the gods of art.

Cheers In this episode you’ll hear about:


The artist’s life on Crete

Choosing Crete as a base after the Economic Crisis, and how her thoughts on that may be changingAttending art school in Thessaloniki, Greece

A career based on painting, teaching and playing musicPlaying the classic Greek instrument, the lyra

Playing and touring with the Paul Goodman TrioHow jigs and reels mix with traditional Greek music

painting the light in the Greek IslesWindow paintings and self-reflection

The role of emotion in artBeing influenced by Henri Matisse and Richard Diebenkorn

The role of size when it comes to selling art (hint: it matters)Painting scenery and doing wardrobe for theatre as a side hustle

The realities of earning a living from painting vs musicHer upcoming shows and adventures


Follow Manolia on https://www.facebook.com/manolia.kokoloyianni (facebook )@manolia.kokoloyianniFollow our Podcast on


 http://www.instagram.com/2artistspodcast (instagram), https://twitter.com/2artistspodcast (twitter) andhttps://www.facebook.com/2artistspodcast ( facebook) @2artistspodcastFollow our Host on


 http://www.instagram.com/carolmcquaidart (instagram), http://twitter.com/carolmcquaid (twitter) and https://www.facebook.com/carolmcquaidart (facebook )@carolmcquaidartExplore these Resources

In this episode, we mentioned the following resources:Paul Goodman Trio and a few songs from their first album entitled“Strangely Familiar”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2yRcOlvBu0 (Little Green)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWgt4ZoO8IY (Puddle Pondering)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwazfaM20VM (Girift)Manolia’s artwork on the Etsy shop she shares with some fellow artists at BSMEDERStuio https://www.etsy.com/shop/BSMEDERStudio?ref=shop_sugg (here )

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Matisse (Henri Matisse)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Diebenkorn (Richard Diebenkorn) 

Join the Conversation!One of my favorite parts of recording a podcast each week is participating in the great conversations they spark.  Share your feedback and favourite moments on social media, and in the comments section of each episode page.

And remember, if you love the episode, head to the webpage where you can http://bit.ly/buyusaround (bit.ly/buyusaround)Join us at The Bar

Are you enjoying Two Artists Walk into a Bar?  Sign up for monthly updates and special features on our http://bit.ly/2artistsnews (newsletter) at http://bit.ly/2artistsnews (http://bit.ly/2artistsnews)Where to find Two Artists Podcast


Website: http://www.twoartistswalkintoabar.com (www.twoartistswalkintoabar.com)iTunes: http://bit.ly/2artistspodcast (http://bit.ly/2artistspodcast)Instagram, Facebook and Twitter @2artistpodcast

http://bit.ly/2artistsyoutube (YouTube: http://bit.ly/2artistsyoutube)email: contact@twoartistswalkintoabar.com


Thanks for  listening!  Cheers 

Further episodes of Two Artists Walk into a Bar

Further podcasts by Carol McQuaid

Website of Carol McQuaid