Today is bittersweet

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news/blog
Bets Taute and the dinosaurs

Bets Taute and the dinosaurs

Today the 16th of January would have been my mother’s birthday.  If she survived the car crash 19 years ago, she would have been 59.

I wish I could share the news with her that I have been nominated for a KykNet Fiesta 2015 award for my exhibition: Rubber ever after in the category for:” Best accomplishment in Visual Art”!!!!

This announcement was made last night: see here: http://kyknet.dstv.com/2015/01/15/vyfde-kyknet-fiestas-gaan-groot/

I am honoured to be nominated alongside fellow artists: Diek Grobler, Gerhard Marx and The Little Marionette Company!

So yes, today is kind of bittersweet …..but thanks for letting me share it with you.

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Rubber ever after: the digital catalogue

Art portfolio- my work

 

Thank you Neil Nieuwoudt for making the best of the images we had at hand.

Note to self:

Next time get a professional to take photos of the work and the installation

Maybe even take a video to capture the atmosphere of the exhibition and the clock ticking in the background.

but all in all I’m happy to have all of the images in one place.

http://issuu.com/neilnieuwoudt/docs/rubber_ever_after_htaute/0

 

johanna brand(t) rubber ever after

Art portfolio- my work, Studio news/blog

On Sunday evening we returned home after the 20th ABSAKKNK (Klein Karoo National Arts Festival).  I have been feeling a bit like Cinderella due to all the homework and laundry I’m faced with- but I am NOT complaining, since I had a fantastic time!

While still feeling overwhelmed with the amazing positive response to my show, which I am very grateful for, I decided to start posting in the weeks to follow slowly bit by bit thoughts, feelings and images here regarding my solo exhibition: Rubber Ever After and the whole festival experience.  So much happened in that week from the 29th of March to the 5th of April that it will be best to do small blog entries to make sense of it all….watch this space!

The above video came about when Marinda du Toit aka Johanna Brandt invited me to participate with her in a performance since we were the only two females on the main festival program.  For her exhibition:  Johanna Brandt die Klein Karoo.   Marinda du Toit decided to burn something every day for the duration of the festival.  So needles to say:  she decided she wanted to burn some rubber….and voila – my first two person performance!

Apart from having a lot of fun, I gained a lot of experience by being part of a performance while being in front of a camera.  Watching and learning how another artist approach something like this!

See more of Marinda’s work here:

http://kknk.co.za/visuele-kunsgalery/marinda-du-toit/

and her some of her previous video work here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsm-VM2_Phw&feature=youtu.be

 

 

6 and 20

Art portfolio- my work

My little boy, my firstborn is celebrating his 6th year on this planet today.

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                                                                                   A lighthouse. Drawing by my son.

On one hand I wish I can keep/freeze/pause him at this age.  This seems like a magical age, where what mommy says is still word.  Where Santa Clause and the tooth mouse are still real.  Where magic can be found in nature and where the mystery of electricity fascinates his little sponge like mind.  He is very curious by nature and wants to know a lot.  I learn with him.  Besides tractors, volcanoes, dragons and plants (especially hibiscus and bonsai’s) – his latest fascination lies with Lighthouses.

I think it has more to do with the power of the wave’s crashing against a manmade thing and it doesn’t break.  He has been testing his strength against the waves this past holiday, and he saw the lighthouse at our harbour in battle with waves at high tide; but his ultimate favourite is this video on YouTube.  (I indulge my children and when I see a spark of interest I go on info hunting with them.)  I thought it might be a brilliant time to discuss electricity and its uses and luckily they had this great book at the library and we found this lovely project to do:

page from the book called: "Laat dit werk! Elektrisiteit" by Baker and Haslam

page from the book called: “Laat dit werk! Elektrisiteit” by Baker and Haslam

I wondered how long his yearning to become a farmer would last, and last week he told me he decided he doesn’t want to be a farmer anymore.  He wants to become a lighthouse-keeper.

In the meantime, while he decides, we are off to the local nursery to buy his bonsai (that’s what he wants for his birthday), and I need to get to the library to find some bonsai books (Because this mommy is clueless about little tiny trees…)

What I do know is that the ABSA Klein Karoo National Arts Festival (KKNK) is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year and I am super excited to exhibit and be part of their Visual Arts Program.  You can view the full program here….

And check out the visual arts program here….I am blessed to be in the company of all these artists

And a little bit more about my exhibition during the festival here………

And on that note I would like to end this post with a song:

(“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”)

Sing along here