Archive: Issue No. 108, August 2006

4.08.06 'Work(ers) in Progress' at artSPACE durban
4.08.06 Louise Jennings and Jeannie Kinsler at artSPACE durban
4.08.06 Luan Nel at the KZNSA
4.08.06 Ilana Seati Erasmus at the KZNSA
4.08.06 'Threading together' at the African Art Centre

7.07.06 Malibongwe Shangase at the BAT Centre
7.07.06 Philemon Shangwe at the African Art Centre
7.07.06 'FNB Craft Now' at the KZNSA Gallery
7.07.06 A Retrospective by Omar Badsha at the Durban Art Gallery

2.06.06 'Portrait of a Pioneer: Joseph Forsyth-Ingram' at the Tatham Art Gallery
2.06.06 'Treasures from the Dungeon: R.H. Whitwell Collection' at the Tatham Art Gallery
 

This is a collaborative exhibition featuring students and practicing artists alike. The exhibition, curated by Cheryl Penn, features paintings, digital work and photographs in varying stages of creative progression. The exhibition is an attempt to highlight a cross-section of work currently being produced in the Durban area. Featured artists include Adrienne D'aeth, Theunisa Easton, Moya Evans, Jody Watson, Manuella Girzda and Fiona Hannaford.

Opens: July 31
Closes: August 12

'Still' showcases the work of artists Louise Jennings and Jeannie Kinsler. Jennings' works are studies of water lilies, exploring the fleshy quality of the plants and their forms. Kinsler's series of oil paintings concentrate on the human figure, looking at how it interacts with light and space.

Opens: August 14
Closes: September 2

The work on Luan Nel's 'Smallville, SA' is inspired by museum-type diorama installations. Here, the artist has created miniature worlds using model train set figurines. According to Nel, the works deal with issues of control, escape, obsession and secrecy, in relation to the construction of male identity. This is done largely by removing the figurines from their original context and placing them in new, often personal narratives.

Nel obtained his BAFA from the University of Witswatersrand in 1993. From 1998 - 1999 he undertook a residency at the Rijksakdemie van Beeldende Kunsten in Amsterdam and a research residency at the Dutch Institute in Rome.

The exhibition runs until September 3.

Opens: August 15
Closes: September 3

Artist Ilana Seati Erasmus' exhibition, 'The Other Side of the Equator' deals with questions of identity. Using form, colour and content, she questions notions of truth and fantasy. In doing so, she considers her personal history by giving form to its cultural and social motifs.

Erasmus is a graduate of the Shenkar Institute in Israel. She obtained her Bachelor of Arts (Textile Chemistry) in 1974 and practiced at the Johannesburg Art Foundation from 1980 - 1982.

Opens: August 15
Closes: September 3

In celebration of Women's Day, the African Art Centre is showcasing an exhibition of embroidered textiles. Participating artists include Khulemalaphi Hlambisa, Agnes Mbatha, Isipethu Embroidery Group, Kaross Embroidery Group, Mapula Project, Zimeleni Embroidery Project, Ntokozi Project, Witty Nyide, Leone Malherbe, Odette Tolksdorf, Rosalie Dace, Hlengiwe Dube, Anthea Martin and Yvette Dunn.

In an exhibition titled 'UkuFunda' (learning), Malibongwe Shangase explores his study of woodcut prints under the mentorship of Ezequel Mabote. Shangase is an ex-BAT Centre student from the Artist-in-Residency programme. He graduated in 2004 and is now a resident artist at the Centre's studios.

Opens: July 18
Closes: August 4

The African Art Centre will be showcasing an exhibition of work by Philemon Sangweni, who has been named as the African Art Centre's 'Artist of the Year 2006'. Criteria for the award include mature age, consistent production over a number of years, innovation, vision, contribution to art or craft and the passing on of skills and knowledge to their community.

Sangweni sculpts using indigenous woods which he finds in the forests near to where he lives in northern KwaZulu-Natal. He has been carving since the 1970's and was originally encouraged by Jo Thorpe of the African Art Centre. His work is represented in the Durban Art Gallery's collection. The award has been sponsored by the National Arts Council.

Opens: July 19
Closes: August 12

In an attempt to showcase the best craft in the country, the Craft Council of South Africa together with their partners FNB, are travelling this year's 'FNB Craft Now' exhibition to Durban where it will be hosted by the KZNSA Gallery. The competition awards R15 000, R10 000 and R6 000 for 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes. This year the Craft Council has established a new category called the 'New Signature Prize', to the value of R5 000.

The Craft Council has selected exciting, innovative work, reflecting a diverse celebration of craft. Many of the products make reference to South African culture, environment or social structure. Following the exhibition, the top 20 selected works will be an auctioned at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Rosebank.

Opens: July 20
Closes: August 13

The Durban Art Gallery is hosting the first major retrospective exhibition of the work of Durban-born artist and photographer Omar Basha. The show will include drawings and photographs that span his artistic career over a period of 41 years. Badsha is one of the first group of artists who not only overtly challenged the apartheid regime but who is credited, along with Dumile Feni, for creating a new visual vocabulary that questioned the one dimensional representation of black life in South Africa.

'From the Margins to the Centre' covers examples of work from all of Badsha's publications from his first book A letter to Farzanah through to Imijondolo life in Inanda, Imperial Ghetto and Road to Tadkeshwar.

Badsha has received a number of awards for painting and photography including the Sir Basil Shornland Award, Arts South Africa Today 1965, The Sir Ernest Oppenheimer Memorial Award, Natal Society Of Arts - Annual award 1968. In 1995 he was commissioned by the Danish Government to document life in that country and in 1996 he travelled to India as a guest of the Indian Government to document life in his grandparents' ancestral village in Gujarat.

Badsha and his family moved to Cape Town in 1987 where he established the Centre of Documentary Photography at the University of Cape Town. Aside from numerous group shows worldwide, Badsha has held several solo shows in South Africa. His paintings and photographs are to be found in all the major public collections in South Africa and leading galleries and institutions abroad. He is also the founder and director of 'South African History Online', one of the largest websites on South Africa history and culture.

Opens: July 26
Closes: September 3

The Tatham Art Gallery is hosting an exhibition of works by Joseph Forsyth Ingram (1862 - 1923). The exhibition comprises five paintings by Ingram completed between 1910 and 1923. Also included in the exhibition will be examples of Ingram's poetry, books, decorated letters and envelopes and Christmas albums.

Forsyth-Ingram was a Magistrate in Dundee, Howick and Pietermaritzburg while remaining a prolific artist and writer. This exhibition features a number of his paintings as well as archival and biographical material that would be of great interest to the residents of Pietermaritzburg. A number of the works on exhibition are being donated by Forsyth-Ingram's descendants to the Tatham Art Gallery.

Opens: May 4
Closes: This exhibition has been extended until the renovations for the new Gallery Craft Shop commence

The 'Treasures from the Dungeon' exhibition was on display during December, but due to public demand has been extended.

The exhibition unearths a number of works donated by Colonel R.H. Whitwell between 1923 and 1926. Whitwell's donation comprised of over 400 works that are mainly by British and French artists. Included are works by Charles Isaac Ginner, Charles Maurice, Edward Julius Detmold, Edward Frank Giller, George du Maurier, Sir Frank Brangwyn and others. Also on display are Moorcraft ceramics, with tudric pewter stands and silver works based on Celtic designs by George Connell.

Opens: June 13
Closes: August 27