artist

Hormonal Imbalance, snails and Summer holidays: Studio news….

Studio news/blog
Hannalie Taute in her studio photographed by Kleinjan Groenewald

Hi dear friends. I’m a bit late with my monthly studio news update, because I’ve been on a emotional roller-coaster these past few weeks. I had to try and stay calm because the boys was writing exams, but I just felt uninspired, tired, drained, sad and anxious. Our garden at the moment is a true reflection of where I’m at emotionally….

what happened here!!?
the bloody snails are everywhere!

dare I even show you these! Yikes! BUT after I spent Monday afternoon in the garden, with my fingers in the soil and getting rid of some snails, I feel much much better. Gardening as therapy 😉

I also cleaned up the studio and found some old ink drawings I did in 2004 for a solo exhibition at the Joao Ferreira gallery in Cape Town. I allowed myself to feel destructive and playful and so I reworked those drawings:

drawing from 2004 reworked in 2020

I still feel kind of tired, but actually I am grateful, because there was lovely highlights this year too!!!

can you guess which one is the Beyond burger?

A dear collector send us a Spur voucher from abroad, and so we had a chance to finally get a taste of the Beyond Burger. (which according to the Youtube channel my boys watched, taste and look like a real burger, but it is completely plant based.) Just a pity its double the price of a normal burger.

Thanks for the feature RK Contemporary and SA Art Times

I received some lovely magazine exposure abroad and locally.

I had the opportunity to work on some amazing commissions and exhibitions this year too. A big thanks to each and everyone who commented, liked, shared, discussed and bought my work this year. It doesnt go unnoticed and I appreciate it. This was actually my best year in the studio sofar!

But then why….

All I can think is that it is due to a hormonal imbalance:

“Hormonal Imbalance” 2020 (Embroidered rubber. Altered vintage photograph)

But I will leave you with this quote from an amazing book I received as a gift and just finished reading”

“If you are pitched into misery, remember that your days on this earth are counted and you might as well make the best of those you have left.”

Yann Martel from the book: Beatrice and Virgil

“Stop the rot, keep moving”

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news/blog

Its been a while since I wrote to you, but October was a wonderful, intense, creative, and thankfully productive month for me, and I hope for you too?!

I am pleased to announce that I finished the commission which occupied most of my time in the studio. I am really chuffed that I finished it on the time I set aside for it. My self-imposed ‘deadline’ was for the end of October. I allowed myself to focus on it for two months. I need deadlines (but is there not perhaps a better word for it, since deadline sounds so final) ;-P

“You are born, you die, and the rest is just marking time.” (James Joyce)

I had the pleasure of having Kleinjan Groenewald over for a photo shoot yesterday! I will share some photos from this shoot over the next couple of months!

I was also introduced to Ike in October. His owner says that he always smile for the camera:

he was the inspiration for a new “family member” – The Good Boy!

The Good Boy

And he is off to join the rest of the clan in this collectors home:

Other news is that I had to get reading glasses/goggles/spectacles! I was diagnosed with PRESBYOPIA which is just a fancy Greek word meaning: “Old and eye.” “Presbyopia is the name given to the condition of the sight which develops as a natural senile change” (quoted from an encyclopedia) I was so stressed out about my appointment with the Optometrist, but I am glad I went, since now I can enjoy reading again. I am just curious why most of the frames for glasses are made out of plastic! eek! Anyway I am celebrating by reading a book I found in the library: “The secret dairy of Hendrik Groen 83 1/4 Years old”

“Biologically speaking you become superfluous on your fortieth birthday or thereabouts. Since the children are born by then, approaching self sufficiency. That is when slowly but surely the rot starts to set in with hair loss and reading glasses. On a cellular level too things start going wrong. You have more and more errors of division and multiplication. A slowing metabolism leads to a weaker nervous system which also makes the mind to weaken. One thing is clear: “Use it or lose it” from the book …..

I really enjoy spending time with Hendrik Groen. Like him I also “rarely say what i want to say. I tend to choose the path of least confrontation. My specialty: wanting to please everybody.”

In other news:

I painted the wall in my studio a dark grey, in preparation for my next ‘Studio exhibition: The Haunted Stitch” coming soon…watch this space. 😉

I will also be participating an a group show in November…more about this a bit later:

Other news: Feel free to visit the stockroom at MContemporary gallery for some available work, or feel free to send me a message:

Until we speak again….”Stop the rot, keep moving” Hendrik Groen

Special days

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news/blog

What makes a day special? How many special days are in a year? Someone once said that: “Every day is a gift. But some days are packaged better.” Well there seems to be a special day for just about everything these days, because, hey why not?! I am sure you can find a special day for everyday depending on your interests. How about Read in a bathtub day? or Earth day, also Spring Equinox which is tomorrow (is that the actual first day of Spring?), or Heritage day (which is coming up for South Africa on the 24th.) Apparently, according to some sources it is also Batman day today!

Happy Batman day!

If you are looking for more special days to celebrate, then there is a website called ‘daysoftheyear.com. I saw there that today is also “International day of Peace” and “Escapology day”, and on this day in 2025 it will be “World Gratitude day.” But today I am grateful for something else. Today is the anniversary of our Wedding day:

We are celebrating the decision to spend for the past 18 years a LOT of time together.

Quote of the day found on the internet #foklore #oldfarmersalmanac

Do you have a special day/days? I would like to know. But for now I will leave you with:

“Yesterday is history,
tomorrow is a mystery,
and today is a gift…
that’s why they call it present”
― Master Oogway

Short studio visit

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news/blog

Greetings on a rainy day.

As some of you know, the Turbine Art Fair (online) was extended, and will come to an end on Monday.

‘They’ have asked me some questions, and I responded in my mother tongue. Unfortunately they did not add subtitles, and they’ve called it “Conversations with Artists”, but in reality it’s more like a monologue 😉 And wouldn’t it be lovely if there was some sort of soundtrack playing in the beginning? Anyway….

Feel free to ask me some questions of your own.

#join the party

I wish you a lovely weekend.

My weekend forecast: Stitching with a slight case of meatballs or rather ….balls of thread 🙂 xxx

the making of “a walk in the park”…

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news

Oh hi! Just taking “a walk in the park” today with a hot-air -balloon 😉

How are you?

Educational Toy (cotton thread, fiber filling and rubber SOLD

I started working on ‘A walk in the park” exhibition in November 2019, after I received an invitation from the Pretoria Art Association to have a small solo in their Black Box area.

detail Educatonal toy

but it was only in January that I started making the ’embroidered rubber balloons” for the show.

At first I was worried that these balloons was looking too much like those whoopee cushions! Do you remember those?

Anyway, I reassured myself that that was just my inner critic talking trying to spoil the fun I was having in the studio….

and then the pandemic happened!

So “A walk in the park” was meant to open on the 29th of May 2020, but with lockdown and everything, the show got postponed until further notice, and eventually the Art Association suggested we open it in September 2020.

Hare-raising thoughts 2019 Cotton thread, fiber filling and rubber SOLD

Postpone it for so long?! What about all the bills to pay? That was indeed a hare-raising thought, and after careful consideration and a talk to one of my dear collectors I decided to host this exhibition myself. Directly from my studio for a change!

Rich Bitch 2020 Cotton thread, fiber filling and rubber SOLD

because I am fortunate and lucky to ‘know’ some rich bitches right! 😉

Just kidding :-p

Rich Bitch detail

But seriously I am blown away by the support and interest in my work and this exhibition so far.

Thank you so much!

and as the saying goes: “Its not over until the fat lady sings”…

Its not over until the fat lady sing ( thread, batting and rubber 2019 SOLD

THANK YOU!