MPHO YA BADIMO

NWU GALLERY MPHO YA BADIMO Mamorena Senokwanyane & Kgalaletso Senokwanyane 9 December 2020 – 20 January

We at the Underdawg strongly believe that our artwork is awe worthy and is set apart by its uniqueness and diversity. It embodies the essence of the world all over, we have artwork that appeals to people from all walks of the world. Our mission and vision is to have our artwork seen on an international platform. We aspire through the establishment of a modern day art museum to have our artwork seen by at least one person from each of the listed countries on the globe.

Our artwork ranges from an artistically created love letter (hand drawn in pen) that is over 20 years old and still in its original form to a depiction of the statue of liberty using glass beads. We craft have crafted and continue to craft artworks that convey a collidoscope of different nations, backgrounds and nationalities. All our work is handmade; we have artworks that have taken up to more than 9 months to complete and those that took a day to complete. More than 95% of our artworks are made from glass beads we use the beads in three different forms namely, full glass beads, coarse glass beads and glass beads in powdered form.

Mother and son handmade artwork using beads and mixed media. A hobby to an at home art gallery. During the year 2016 the now retired educator, 59-year-old Mamorena Senokwanyane, a creative by nature began this craft as a way to ease the stress from her job as an educator.

Her now 29-year-old son began to gradually gain interest the more she engaged in her craft, this compelled him to get onboard and in a dire attempt to mimic the way his mother crafted he ended up finding his own rhythm in the craft.

Kgalaletso Senokwanyane, beads and mixed media

“Her now 29-year-old son began to gradually gain interest the more she engaged in her craft this compelled him to get onboard”

Mamorena Senokwanyane, Beads

Mamorena Senokwanyane, mixed media

Mamorena Senokwanyane, mixed media

PRINCE ALBERT OPEN STUDIOS Art in the Heart of the Karoo

By Sue Savage www.princealbertopenstudios.co.za

Above: Artist-blacksmith, Kashief Booley. Opposite Page left to right, top to bottom: Land Art by Heleen de Haas. Ceramicist, Sue Savage. Functional Art lamp by Pat Hyland. Deidre Maree in her studio. Louisa Punt-Fouche - Hermes (mixed media). Cobus van Bosch - Untitled (oil on canvas, 90x80cm, 2020)

After the disappointment of the June cancellation of Prince Albert Open Studios, the artists will be delighted to welcome visitors to their studios again from 7-10 January 2021, albeit with strict covid protocols.

Thirty artists and two galleries will be participating, an extraordinary number for a small town. Prince Albert Open Studios is an opportunity to have a window into the worlds of the artists, and understand their inspirations and processes, as well as to view their latest work.

What is it about Prince Albert, a small desert town but with constantly flowing water from the Swartberg, that attracts so many artists? Does the environment inform their work? And if so, how? When asked, responses are naturally varied. Many come for the vastness of the Karoo landscape and the clear light, pure and unpolluted; there’s the freedom to be yourself, to explore wild places that awe and inspire, like the magnificence of the ancient prehistoric mountains of the Swartberg. Some love to forage for bones, pieces of metal, shards of pottery and glass, connections with the past, to include in their work.

For many it’s the simplicity of life in a quiet town, with its historical architecture and profusion of flowers, where the status symbols of city living are largely irrelevant. The artists’ works reflect of all these contrasting elements.

Above all, perhaps, it’s the support that people in small towns offer each other, that creates a sense of community and safety.

Printmaker Joshua Miles in his studio

Creativity attracts creative people, and thus a community of artists “happens”, organically. After all Prince Albert Open Studios is run by the artists for the artists.

At 6pm on Wednesday 6 January the Prince Albert Gallery (which has recently moved to a beautiful new venue) will host an opening to a group exhibition featuring a piece from each participating artist. Following this is a creative feast – four days of visiting artists in their studios, galleries, land art installation routes and labyrinths!

January 2021 Participants are: Cobus van Bosch, Collette Hurt, Deidre Maree, Di Johnson-Ackerman, Di Smith, Di van der Riet Steyn, Erika van Zyl, Gita Claassen, Heleen de Haas, Janet Dirksen, John O’Sullivan, Joshua Miles, Karoo Looms, Kashief Booley (Striking Metal), Kevin de Klerk, Louisa Punt-Fouche, Louis Botha, Mariana Botha, Mary Anne Botha, Pat Hyland, Philip Willem Badenhorst, Prince Albert Community Trust (featuring artists, Elcado Blom and Selwyn Maans), Rebecca Haysom, Sally Arnold, Sam Reinders, Sonja Fourie, Sue Hoppe, Sue Savage, Turid Bergstedt, Prince Albert Gallery, and Watershed Gallery.

Disciplines include painting, photography, printmaking, botanical fine art, sculpture, ceramics, assemblage, found objects, mixed media, collage, papier mache, jewellery design, letter art & calligraphy, land art, functional art, blacksmith/forging, weaving, handmade knives and kaleidoscopes.

Visit our website for more details and information about individual participants.

Dates: Thursday 7th - Sunday 10th January 2021 Times: 9am - 1pm & 3pm - 6pm Website: www.princealbertopenstudios.co.za Email: info@princealbertopenstudios.co.za Facebook: Prince Albert Open Studios Instagram: @prince_albert_open_studios Book your accommodation on wwwprincealbert.org.za www.princealbertaccomm.co.za

THE KAROO An exhibition of artist proofs by Joshua Miles

By Angela Miles

In this exhibition titled ‘The Karoo’ Joshua Miles is releasing his collection of artists proofs to show the journeys he has taken through this magical part of South Africa. It is a special place which draws people from all over especially artists who find inspiration in the landscape. Joshua has criss-crossed this part of the country for many years travelling with his family, treating every dirt road as an adventure, going up and down mountain passes and following the escarpments to discover the beauty of the area. This exhibition tells the story of these road trips...

Throughout his career Joshua has been working full time as an artist and printmaker. His main focus is limited edition reduction block prints, at first in woodcut and more recently in linocuts. He produces limited editions of ten hand-made prints. Once the edition is sold out there can be no more prints - that is simply not possible with the reduction print technique.

He takes inspiration from this Japanese form of printmaking, and he is also conscious of the impressionist style of mark-making. Because of his passion for working in this technique he works prolifically, and has built up a large collection of his own artist proofs.

An artist proof is a print taken in the printmaking process where the artist can see the current state of the image being worked. Joshua makes his proofs in order to test the colour and the cut before continuing with each layer of his printed edition. The proofs are as identical to the edition as a hand-made print can be.

Artists proofs normally belong to the artist and by convention the artist is not supposed to sell these with the numbered edition. Art curators, collectors and historians view artists proofs as especially desirable because of their rarity and this value is often reflected in their price.

Swartbergpas aloes Swartbergpas ingang

“Joshua is not the kind of artist who strives for a deep meaningful explanation behind his work, he prefers the work to speak for itself.”

Brandrevier hek. Opposite Page: Mud brick ruin

Gifberg

Now Joshua is releasing his collection of artist proofs which have never had a chance to be shown together before as a retrospective of his working career to date. All of the proofs being released provide a rare opportunity for collectors and buyers to purchase that ‘one that got away’. So, if you remember that image of Joshua’s that you were too late to purchase from the limited edition, then here is one last chance...

Joshua is not the kind of artist who strives for a deep meaningful explanation behind his work, he prefers the work to speak for itself. He is a landscape artist who loves to track the way light moves over the landscape. What better landscape for capturing this but the vast Karoo.

The Prince Albert Gallery in the heart of the Karoo is the ideal showcase for this collection of work and is also the town where Joshua and his family currently live and call home.

The exhibition will open on Saturday January 2 2021 at 6pm and run until Sunday 22 February. Please contact Brent at princealbertgallery@ gmail.com for the full catalogue of works which will be released nearer to the opening.