First Birthday for Artist Proof Studio
by Robyn Sassen
March 9 will remain significant for Johannesburg's Newtown-based art community, marking encouraging achievement but also great sadness. The date commemorates the first birthday of the Artist Proof Studio (APS) in its new Bus Factory premises, but also the death of Nhlanhla Xaba, one of the partners and founding members of the establishment.
At the function to commemorate these two events, APS's history was recounted. The fire, which killed Xaba also destroyed the studio, alongside the Dance Factory. It had contained an accumulation of 12 years of art and art equipment. Xaba had established APS with Kim Berman in 1992, based on the principles of the Artist Proof Studio in Boston, with which Berman had enjoyed affiliation during the 1980s. With a mission to teach skills, offer working facilities and exhibiting opportunities, APS quickly became a landmark in Johannesburg.
Moving from a small space in Jeppe Street, to a larger one in President Street, over the years, APS became �home' studio to more than 100 artists. With the teaching skills of Wits- and Boston University-trained Berman and Unisa-trained Xaba, it was a haven for people to learn a skill, relax, to express themselves and find peace. Artists from the inner city, suburbs and townships of Johannesburg and further afield were drawn to this space.
A year after the fire, the new studio was launched. Like a beloved orphaned child in the community, from the time of the fire, the APS was - and continues to be - partnered by financial heavy-weights, including the Ford Foundation, the SA Development Fund, Boston Printmakers, Johnson & Johnson International, the Goodman Gallery, the Arts and Culture Trust of the President, Johannesburg Development Agency and the Artist Proof Solidarity Portfolio.
In its financial statement, APS acknowledges the support of donors and friends at the time of the fire and subsequently. These include the MTN Art Foundation, the French Institute, Pin Point One, Bill Dewar, Business Arts South Africa, the EDL Foundation, Art Therapy Centre, Atlantic Philanthropies, the National Department of Arts and Culture, the National Arts Council and CreateSA.
At the event, Berman recounted the studio's achievements during the year, and then called on members of the student body and teaching staff to speak about APS. In approaching the microphone and the assembled guests, some speakers were bashful, others youthfully confident, but the overwhelming message was one of gratitude to the establishment and Berman's contribution.
Berman is an artist with a passion for teaching. She holds a senior lecturership at Johannesburg University and spends much of her time overseeing APS and its various subsidiary initiatives. Her ardent political conviction during the 1980s has matured into a long-term vision over the last 20 years. APS doesn't only embrace printmaking - learners proficiently performing percussive jazz at the party made it clear that APS must be understood as an entity with the potential to foster diverse creative practices.
Beyond the studio's conventionally visual arts confines, there is Phumani Papers, a papermaking studio which makes functional and funky paper products, and Paper Prayers, an HIV-Aids awareness initiative that is an income-generating campaign for urban and suburban women.
Paper Prayers, under the management of Shannin Antonopoulo, is currently creating children's toys. A notch above typical charity or craft-market ware, these beautiful brightly coloured felt giraffes, elephants and ducks are of sufficiently high standard to be endorsed and marketed by Woolworths. Not only does this offer the women dignity, it is something to which similar projects can aspire.
With characteristic humility, Berman has nurtured APS, enabling many financially thwarted individuals access to a whole world of possibility. APS's first birthday party is a healthy milestone for the arts community.
