JABULISA
Cattle and Cups
Corina Lemmer
The Schreiner Gallery
5 October to Sunday 12 November 2006
Corina was raised on a farm in KwaZulu-Natal and studied Design and History of Art at the University of Pretoria. She has participated in a number of group exhibitions throughout the country and has her work represented in a number of private and public collections in the province.
She has taught art and is currently focusing on creating work with themes of cattle and crockery for this solo exhibition. She describes the cattlescapes as "Densely massed cattle, as a metaphor for humans being herded helplessly along through circumstances."
Her interest in teacups and tablescapes is based on her experiences as a farmer's wife and a mother, where teacups depict a culture of feminine values associated with serving, which is slipping away with constantly changing cultural and social values.
She sees a cup as a symbol of a person, with the potential to nourish through its content. Both subjects address themes of man's various, simultaneous levels of existence.
The artist will be in residence during her exhibition when she will be available to talk to members of the public about her work.
Treasures from the Dungeon
Main Gallery
First displayed: 14 December 2005 to 4 February 2006
Repeated: 1 June to 27 August 2006
The Treasures from the Dungeon exhibition unearths a number of works donated to the collection by Colonel R. H. Whitwell. This exhibition is the first in a series that will feature neglected aspects of the Tatham Art Gallerys permanent collection.
Between 1923 and 1926 Colonel Whitwell donated over four hundred artworks by mainly British and French artists to the Tatham Art Gallery. Whitwell retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Indian Army Medical Corps about 1900 and, as a bachelor with no strong family connections he used his pension to travel and collect art. His sympathies with the Union government of General Louis Botha led him to the idea of establishing and enhancing Municipal art collections in the colony.
Whitwell wisely insisted that his donation be protected under a deed of trust, which protected it during the infamous dispersal of artworks in the 1960s. Whitwells contribution broadened and deepened the range of the collection and had an invaluable impact on the quality of the Tatham Art Gallery collection. Treasures from the Dungeons exhibition focuses on lesser known works from Whitwells donation, those which would not normally be displayed as part of the permanent collection.
This exhibition features two dimensional works of British artists, including Charles Isaac Ginner, Charles Maurice and Edward Julius Detmold, Edward Frank Gillett, George du Maurier, Kate Greenaway, Sidney Sime, Sir Frank Brangwyn, Sir Henry George Rushbury, Thérčse Lessore and Yoshijirô Urishibara.
Twins Charles Maurice and Edward Julius Detmold were precocious artists, having first exhibited at the age of thirteen. Charles Maurice committed suicide at the age of twenty-five but not before the brothers made some masterful works together. Of these the most famous are a series of sixteen watercolour illustrations for Rudyard Kiplings The Jungle Book. The Tatham Art Gallery owns two of these works, The Council Rock and The Dancing Elephants, which will be on display in this exhibition.
Another pair of artists who collaborated was Sir Frank Brangwyn and Yoshijirô Urishibara. Urishibaras individual work clearly shows his Japanese origins and training. His adeptness in printing is however clearly evident in his collaboration with Brangwyn where he demonstrates his ability to execute Western themes and visual conventions. This collection of fine traditional prints are exquisite works worthy to be seen. Thérčse Lessore belonged to a family of artists who had strong links with Wedgwood ceramic production. As the third wife of the painter Walter Richard Sickert, whose paintings are well represented in the Gallery collection, she interested him in trying his hand at ceramic decoration. The result was one of two ceramic Wedgwood platters, this one decorated with a sketch based on his famous painting Ennui.
Also on display are Moorcroft ceramics with tudric pewter stands and silver work based on ancient Celtic designs by George Connell. This kind of work was part of the arts and crafts movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, which sort to reintroduce hand crafted items of high quality design in the face of increasing industrialisation. Unfortunately, the cost of producing such individualised items placed them beyond the reach of those for whom they were initially intended, the working classes. Ironically, shops such as Liberty of London employed designers to work on so-called arts and crafts pieces which were then manufactured for a mass market. Today these pieces are highly sought after collectors items.
ISAAC SITHOLE
From the Fire - An interaction of Earth, Fire and the Potter's Touch
Louise van Niekerk
The Schreiner Gallery
22 June to 6 August 2006
Louise van Niekerk has been involved in ceramics for more than 20 years, most of it spent on production work. She studied ceramics at the Free State Technical College for two years and thereafter with private teachers.
She produces a wide range of ceramics from earthenware and stoneware to Raku and smoke fired ceramics. It is especially in her Raku and smoke firing where she pushes the boundaries for example working with paper clay in both techniques.
Her work is always about balance - not only in the physical appearance, but also in the process.
In her work, Louise is inspired by contrasts. She says:
"The contrast between the strive towards technical perfection and what the fire will give back to you is for me the magic of Raku and smoke firing"
Together with her husband, Ian, she has also been producing stained glass lamps and windows for the past 15 years. Her latest focus is on sculptural stained glass lamps, incorporating fusion techniques.
OPENING ADRESS LINK???
Images of the Raku process
ROB SCOTT
INGRAM
KZN Schools Art Exhibition 2006
Main Gallery
25 April to 21 May 2006
At the end of 2005 we had a wonderful opportunity to select artworks at the marking centre for Government Schools for the KZN Schools exhibition. This exhibition will include works from the final exam including some that were awarded more than 90%.
In addition a large number of year work, of which the standard seems to be high last year, will also be on show. The exhibition will exhibit artworks from the Indendent Schools in the Msunduzi area.
Nicro: Beyond the Prison Walls Exhibition - The West Gallery (26 January to 12 March 2006)