Message from the Manager
JANUARY 2022
Welcome to 2022 and an exciting and full exhibition programme. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect our operation, but the Gallery continues to display a wide range of exhibitions, supported by relevant educational activities. Every effort has been made to ensure the safety of our visitors, and each exhibition and activity planned in the Gallery has been adjusted to current protocols.
In the Main Exhibition Room we have art works from the Gallery’s permanent collection depicting one of the most consistently reproduced subjects in all of art history, the theme of Mother and Child. This exhibition was opened last year and remains on view until the beginning of February 2022. The exhibition celebrates and explores the unique relationship and various aspects of the deep bond between a mother and child.
Following on in the Main Exhibition Room is a comprehensive exhibition of the work of Gerard Bhengu. Entitled Gerard Bhengu: tradition and modernity, this exhibition of art works by Bhengu has been curated by Juliette Leeb-du Toit, and is supported by a researched publication. Bhengu is among South Africa’s and the region’s well-known artists, and has become widely recognised for his portraits, landscapes and culturally sourced historical and narrative scenes.
The Schreiner Gallery is a venue for the display of temporary exhibitions by artists or groups who have applied to exhibit in the Tatham Art Gallery. visit/re/visit is the result of an exciting collaboration between Tatham Art Gallery and Epworth High School. All students attending high school were encouraged to come into the Gallery to visit/look at/explore a number of pre-selected art works, and then to reinterpret a chosen art work/s. All competition entries are on display, alongside the art work that has been reinterpreted.
Material is Metaphor is the next exhibition in the Schreiner Gallery. Curated by Jenny Stretton and Jess Bothma, this exhibition explores how artists consider their materials, the ‘stuff’ they craft and experiment with to give a voice to a personal vision. Visual metaphors are ‘primary’ images that the viewer understands as ideas, ideas which form connections to ‘secondary’ images that, depending on syntax, intensity, and frequency, act in concert to become a narrative.
The last exhibition in the Schreiner Gallery this quarter is Home Truths, by Tsholofelo Moche, who explores the nuanced relationship that people have with history and perceptions on how this forms part of the present. The body of work is developed with reference to ongoing conversations between the artist and his father on isithakazelo (praise names).
All exhibitions are supported by Educational programmes, which can be found on the Gallery website. Activities at the Gallery are all COVID-19 dependent, and we acknowledge that we may need to adjust our planned programme at short notice.
Bryony Clark
Acting Manager
SEPTEMBER 2021
In the Schreiner Gallery, we begin this quarter with the Zakhele Hlatshwayo’s Killer Pandemic: COVID-19 exhibition. This exhibition is based on the current COVID-19 pandemic which has affected every single one of our lives since March 2020. Dr Zakhele Moses Hlatshwayo was inspired to document and illustrate how this killer pandemic has changed our everyday lives.
Ker Stanley’s exhibition of conceptual photographs entitled Sacred Spaces is the next exhibition in the Schreiner Gallery. Digitally manipulated photographic images explore the sacred spaces found in moments of death, grief, loss, elation, and surrender. Through manipulation of the images, the artist enables the viewer to explore both the spiritual and physical aspects of human experience.
Art works from the Gallery’s permanent collection depicting Mother and Child is the last exhibition in the Schreiner Gallery this quarter. This exhibition celebrates and explores the unique relationship and various aspects of the deep bond between a mother and child, with some interesting surprises.
All exhibitions are supported by Educational programmes, which can be found on the Gallery website. Activities at the Gallery are all COVID-19 dependent, and we acknowledge that we may need to adjust our planned programme at short notice. We have had a busy and productive year at the Gallery, and sincere thanks goes to the staff that have made this possible. Without your efforts, Pietermaritzburg would not be able to celebrate this art museum that we are all so proud of.
And all that remains, is to wish our patrons and supporters a happy holiday season. We value your support and invite you to join us in the New Year for another exciting and busy programme of exhibitions and events. We welcome your visit.
Bryony Clark
Acting Manager
MAY 2021
We are almost half way through 2021 and the Gallery’s operation continues to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, but we continue to make every effort to display a wide range of exhibitions, supported by Educational activities. Every effort has been made to ensure the safety of our visitors and each exhibition and activity planned in the Gallery has been adjusted to current protocols.
The annual KwaZulu-Natal Inland Matric Art Exhibition shows art works made mainly by the previous year’s Matric art students from local schools. On display will be art works made from a variety of media, from the traditional to the extraordinary.
Spotlight on Matric Art Teachers celebrates the art teachers that challenge and nurture our youth. In many cases, the art teacher becomes aware of the student’s personal struggles in life, and encourages them accordingly. We salute these teachers for their creativity and perseverance.
St John 20/20 Vision is on view in the Ferguson Room in the last two weeks in May. St John South Africa, well-known internationally for first-aid training and related services, is hosting a photographic exhibition to promote the work conducted in the field of eye care and the impact this work has had on the lives of everyday South Africans. The exhibition features thirty two photographs taken by Cape Town photographer David Prior with accompanying explanatory text narratives. There will be free vision screenings at the Gallery during opening hours over two weekends, Saturday 22, Sunday 23 and Saturday 29, Sunday 30 May 2021.
Following on in the Main Exhibition Room is My Life in Colour: Roy Starke. This exhibition of art quilts made by Roy Starke (1954-2018) celebrates the work of an extraordinary fibre artist. He developed his own personal visual language in colour and composition, and placed the emphasis on design, emotional impact and content. Needle and thread became instruments for the power of ideas. These vibrant quilts are rich in message and meaning.
Imidlinzo/Meditation is a collaborative exhibition by artists Sakhile Mhlongo and Zakhele Hlabisa. It questions commonly held perceptions about our daily lives, and how easy it is to judge, based on an individual’s personal perspective. Their art works portray people’s lifestyles and daily habits that have become accepted as the norm. These moments are captured and reflected upon by the artists.
Zakhele Hlatshwayo’s Killer Pandemic: COVID-19 exhibition is the last Schreiner Gallery exhibition for this quarter. This exhibition is based on the current COVID 19 pandemic which has affected every single one of our lives since March 2020. Dr Zakhele Moses Hlatshwayo was inspired to document how this killer pandemic has changed our everyday lives, through his drawings and paintings.
All exhibitions are supported by Educational programmes, which can be found on the Gallery website. Activities at the Gallery are all COVID dependent, and we acknowledge that we may need to adjust our planned programme at short notice. We welcome your visit.
Bryony Clark
(Acting Manager)
December 2020
2020 has changed all our lives in many ways. What started out as a well planned year, with the Gallery programme brimming full of exciting exhibitions, has turned out to be very different from what we anticipated. For six months the Gallery has been closed to the public, and for much of that time the only sign of life was the security staff who were on duty around the clock.
The COVID-19 pandemic and the resultant National Lockdown forced the Tatham Art Gallery to close to the public from the end of March to the beginning of October 2020. Exhibitions that were on the walls have therefore remained open for longer than planned, and a number of exhibitions have been rescheduled to take place later this year or in 2021. The Gallery hours have been temporarily adjusted, in line with the Lockdown protocols. We will revert to our normal hours once the Lockdown is lifted.
Our Choice, the temporary exhibition on show in the Main Gallery, has been extended until 22 November 2020. This exhibition is an eclectic selection of art works chosen from the permanent collection by Gallery and Café Tatham staff and all volunteers associated with the Gallery. Members of the Board of Trustees, Acquisitions, Exhibitions and The Friends of the Tatham Art Gallery committees were invited to choose an artwork and to write a short motivation for their choice. Art works on display range from large paintings to a tiny sculpture made from an animal’s jawbone, and motivations are interesting and varied. Some of the art works chosen are too big to move to the exhibition room downstairs and so are identified upstairs by a coloured label.
In the Schreiner Gallery we have Local is Lekker/ Kumnand'ekhaya. This exhibition is a celebration of art works from the permanent collection, produced by artists who live in Pietermaritzburg. During the course of the exhibition artists will talk about their works. These Personal Perspective recordings will be loaded onto the Gallery website.
Unfortunately the annual Fabulous Picture Show, scheduled for November, has been cancelled for this year. After receiving a fraction of the number of donations usually contributed to our annual fundraising auction, it became clear that hosting the auction in 2020 is not feasible. We will try again in 2021.
Fibreworks microMACRO is the Main Gallery exhibition over the festive season. Opening in early December, this exhibition of art works made by the Fibreworks group, consists of two parts. An exhibition of small fibre works in the foyer is contrasted with large works exhibited in the Main Gallery. This exhibition is an exciting exploration of alternative materials that fall into the ‘fibre’ category. There is a vibrant schedule of Educational activities planned to support this exhibition.
After the Flood is the next exhibition in the Main Gallery. Painting and Paper Conservators have worked meticulously to save over 400 works from the permanent collections that were damaged when the Gallery basement flooded in 2017. The art works on display have been restored to their former glory, and in many cases are looking better than they did before the flood. This exhibition celebrates not only the exceptionally high standard of conservation available in our country, but the art works themselves that were saved from disaster.
Following on in the Schreiner Gallery is an exhibition of paintings by François Hugo. Great Creating Nature is an exploration of the sculptural nature of organic forms. The paintings are based strongly on British Modernism, with a focus on line, colour and form.
Some of the changes brought about by the pandemic have been daunting, but have made us reconsider what we do and how we do it. The Gallery has been catapulted into the Virtual Age. As a staff, we are exploring how to make the Gallery more accessible online. There are many new and interesting online activities and educational programmes planned, and you are encouraged to join us on this adventure. Watch our website, Facebook and Instagram pages to see what is happening behind our grand Victorian façade.
Bryony Clark
(Acting Manager)
Message from the Acting Manager
March 2020
The Tatham Art Gallery remains temporarily closed to the public during the National lockdown, but despite being closed, we are sharing daily images of our beautiful building and collection on Facebook (@tathamartgalleryofficial). Through our daily posts, we hope that the images provide food for your soul, and keep our art community connected during these difficult times. The building and collection are being safeguarded by our Security team. We are grateful to them and thank them for being on duty around the clock, whilst the current health crisis prevents us from being at work. Additional thanks to Phumlani Ntshangase for going into the Gallery regularly to ensure that the collection is safe.
This morning I was struck by the quiet in the Gallery. The air is thick with the hum of the air conditioner, art works line the walls like sentries, and sculptures fill the spaces, but the life of the building feels like it has been drained without any visitors. We look forward to the time that we can re-open the doors and welcome life back into the Gallery. Until then, stay at home, keep safe and keep watching our Facebook page!
Bryony Clark (Acting Manager)
Welcome to 2020. We start the year with a focus on the Tatham Art Gallery collection.
The temporary exhibition on show in the Main Gallery until April is Our Choice. This exhibition is an eclectic selection of art works chosen from the permanent collection by Gallery and Café Tatham staff and all volunteers associated with the Gallery. Members of the Board of Trustees, Acquisitions, Exhibitions and The Friends of the Tatham Art Gallery committees were invited to choose an art work and to write a short motivation for their choice. Art works on display range from large paintings to a tiny sculpture made from an animal’s jawbone, and motivations are interesting and varied. Some of the art works chosen are too big to move to the Exhibition room downstairs and so are identified upstairs by a coloured label.
Mending the Scars is currently on display in the Schreiner Gallery. The work on this exhibition is created by four fibre artists. Each artist addresses concerns around issues of pain and healing in their immediate lives and the broader environment. The common thread that binds the artists is one of empathy with their subject and with their home country, South Africa.
Following on in the Schreiner Gallery is Recent FOTAG Acquisitions. This exhibition acknowledges The Friends of the Tatham Art Gallery (FOTAG) who provide a life line for Tatham Art Gallery. It is through their fund raising initiatives that we are able to continue adding art work to the permanent collection, which keeps our museum current and relevant. Without the assistance of FOTAG, the Gallery collections would stagnate. This exhibition recognises the role played by the Gallery’s true friends, for their unstinting support of the art museum that we are all so proud of.
In between changing temporary exhibitions, our Technical team have been busy rehanging some sections of the permanent displays. There are new works in our passages and displays in the KZN galleries have been freshened up. Art works produced by past students of the Centre for Visual Art are now on display in one of the KZN galleries.
And last but not least, some staff news. Two of our staff retired at the end of last year. Kobie Venter joined the Gallery in a temporary capacity in 1999, and has kept us all on track since then, and Mary Kleinenberg has managed the Gallery Shop since 2001. We wish them both well and thank them for their lengthy and dedicated years of service. We will miss them both very much.
Bryony Clark (Acting Manager)
MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGER SEPTEMBER 2019
As the end of the year approaches, the Tatham Art Gallery programme is packed full of exciting exhibitions and events.
There is still time to view Hermine Spies Coleman’s exhibition The Power of Loss and Gain, where the artist explores how the hardship of change and loss is often rewarded positively by gain.
This exhibition will be followed by Flowers in Art from the Tatham permanent collection. Artists’ depictions of flowers vary from the abstract to the sublime, and are presented in a number of different media.
A celebration of BIG artworks from our collection is on show in the Main Exhibition Room. A number of the art works on this display have been on sabbatical in storage for many years, including the magnificent Riviere Noire by well-known KZN artist, Andrew Verster. This work comprises 48 individually framed pieces which make up a drawing so big that it spans two walls of the Gallery. You are invited to view it before it returns to storage.
Big art works will be replaced by tiny ones when the annual FOTAG Fabulous Picture Show takes place in November. This annual exhibition and auction of donations from artists is a highlight on the Gallery’s calendar. Artists from all walks of life donate their art works which are sold to raise funds for new additions to the Gallery’s permanent collection. It is the relentless support of these artists and the Friends of Tatham Art Gallery that enables us to keep the Gallery collection alive and relevant.
There are two exciting exhibitions planned for the end of the year. Both of these exhibitions will be on view over the holiday season.
Our Choice, an eclectic exhibition of art works chosen from the Gallery permanent collection, is bound to intrigue. The art works have been chosen by all those who currently work at the Gallery either as employees or in a voluntary capacity. This exhibition is their opportunity to celebrate a favourite from the collection.
And last, but certainly not least, an exhibition entitled Mending the Scars will fill the Schreiner Gallery. Four fibre artists from KwaZulu-Natal have produced a body of work that addresses issues of pain and healing. The mixed media works are bound together by a common thread of empathy felt by the artists, for their subjects and their home, South Africa.
We have had a busy and productive year at the Gallery, and my sincere thanks goes to the staff that have made this possible. Without your efforts, Pietermaritzburg would not be able to celebrate this art museum that we are all so proud of.
And all that remains, is for me to wish our patrons and supporters a happy holiday season. We value your support and invite you to join us in the New Year for another exciting and busy programme of exhibitions and events.
Bryony Clark (Acting Manager)
MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGER MAY 2019
The Tatham Art Gallery has an exciting line-up and variety of exhibitions for the next four months. The ever popular KZN Midlands Matric Art Exhibition attracts large audiences of scholars and adults alike. It is a vibrant visual expression of the excitement and challenges of youth, and it provides inspiration for future art scholars in terms of thematic interpretation, and explores many different creative methods and techniques.
The Schreiner Gallery is available to practising artists who wish to exhibit. Three recent applications have been accepted by the Exhibitions Committee:
Siyabonga Ngubane has just completed his Honours degree in Printmaking at the Centre for Visual Art on the local University campus. As with numerous other developing artists in the past, the Friends of the Tatham Art Gallery have assisted with some of his exhibition costs. His exhibition of linocuts entitled The Suffering of the People is well worth a visit.
Jaap Jacobs’s display of his recent work consists of sculpture and two dimensional art works. His use of interesting materials that include DNA and dust, focuses on Afrikaner and family history.
Hermine Spies’s exhibition of abstract paintings follows Jacob’s exhibition. Spies has been teaching art for over forty years and currently runs Giverny Studios in Curry’s Post, where her focus is on creative expression.
The Standard Bank Young Artist for Visual Art 2018, Igshaan Adams, is also exhibiting during this quarter. Combining aspects of performance, weaving, sculpture and installation that draw upon his upbringing. His cross-disciplinary practice is an ongoing investigation into hybrid identity, particularly in relation to race and sexuality.
The staff continue to focus on museological aspects of the Gallery’s operation. We can happily say that the conservation of paintings and paperworks damaged in the flood two years ago, is nearing completion.
A number of artists participated in the Gallery’s ARTBIN project recently. Thanks go to Kobie Venter who co- ordinated this exciting project. The brightly painted bins are soon to be placed in the Gallery grounds and should help to keep the City Centre litter-free.
Once again our grateful thanks goes out to City Printing Works. Without your part-sponsorship, we would not be able to produce the printed outline publication.
Bryony Clark (Acting Manager)
MESSAGE FROM THE MANAGER JANUARY 2019
As we enter a new year we reflect on the past year as one of change, but also one that has provided great opportunities for the future. At the end of September last year, Brendan Bell retired. He had been the Manager of the Tatham Art Gallery since 1992. Brendan was trained by Lorna Ferguson, his predecessor. The current Gallery staff take this opportunity to thank them both for the solid museological foundation and legacy that they have, in turn, left behind.
At the Annual General Meeting last year the Board of Trustees for the Tatham Art Gallery Trust for 2018 – 2021 was nominated and confirmed.
Prof Ian Calder
Bryony Clark (Acting Manager)
Christopher Duigan (Vice Chair)
Heather Gourlay-Conyngham
David Gush (Chairperson)
Dr Louise Hall
Gavin John
Thulani Makhaye
Suren Naidoo
Sibusisiwe Ngcobo
Bona Nyawose
Anand Singh
Beauty Sekete
It is eighteen months since the devastating flood occurred in the Gallery basement. Numerous art works were affected by the flood, but in many ways we find ourselves better positioned as a museum now, than before the flood. Most of the Gallery’s recovery can be attributed to human endeavor and the effort that has been made, since the flood, to remedy the damage and to ensure that there is not a recurrence of the disaster.
Slowly but surely, the art works damaged in the flood are being repaired. Ekkehard Hans continues to restore paintings and DK Conservators in Cape Town are working on all works on paper. The Gallery’s collection of Persian carpets has been restored and relined and the sculpture damaged by the water has been repaired.
Through the generous financial donations received from Strauss & Co, as well as Carola and Martin Gordon, the Tatham Art Gallery now has a number of art work stands, created as platforms to keep all large art works in storage safely off floor level, and a stand-alone pump in case of water in the basement. There are new pumps in our basement plant room to keep the underground stream at bay, and an early warning alarm system that triggers if the stream rises. In addition, the Gallery now has a large generator which kicks in, in the event of a power failure. All paper works returned from Cape Town have been reframed, and a donation from Julia Meintjes Fine Art has enabled us to replace frames where necessary.
The Gallery’s technical team have rearranged the storage facility at the Gallery. We are extremely proud of their attention to detail and focus on the safety of the City’s cultural heritage. Their tireless efforts have made our storage better than ever before.
Without the efforts of many people, from those who assisted immediately after the flood to the staff and conservators who continue to care for our collection, it would not be possible to write this good news story. Thank you to each and every one who continues to maintain the highest museological standards of care for the Tatham Art Gallery collection, thus keeping the legacy left by our predecessors, alive.
Bryony Clark (Acting Manager)