Sjoe ons is nou al n paar dae in die nuwe jaar in, en ek hoop van harte dat dit goed gaan met jou?
Ons het pas teruggekeer nadat ons n paar dae weggebreek het na Nieu-Bethesda en voel weer fris en vars om die nuwe jaar aan te pak.
It was the first time in 20 years that I visited the Owl House again. This time was kind of weird since as soon as I entered the Camel Yard, I burst into tears, and then I couldn’t get out fast enough. I had goose bumps the whole time there. I still find it an amazing place. We also visited these stone men and women at Ongeluksloot just outside Nieu-Bethesda.
We also went on a fossil tour which was very educational.
On our way back we saw this tree:
Maar voor dit het ons tydens Ou-kersdag die Slapende Skoonheid probeer ontwaak – We tried to hike up to the top of Sleeping Beauty, but only made it half way up. But still, the weather conditions were good, and we had a picnic near a cool stream.
It is great to be back and looking forward to return to the studio on Monday.
New work: “It’s a jungle out there”
In the meantime I send out my monthly newsletter, so if you would like to receive it, feel free to send your email address via my contact page. If you are on my mailing list already and have not received it yet, please look in your spam folder. Or if you have received it but cannot open the link to the catalogue with new available works, please let me know and I will forward the catalogue to you again.
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:
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:
I don’t know about you, but September was really testing my patience. I had a hard time with the South African postal services trying to send work overseas, which in the end didn’t reach is destination. So better luck next time. But October is here and promises to be a busy month as well as a beautiful one!
Peach blossoms in our garden
I am excited to announce that I started working on a commission last month and it is progressing slowly but surely:
Yep, that’s me (wearing a wig as usual) in front of the work just to give you an indication of the size!
The only request from the patron is that “Size matters!”
That’s when I decided that it will be the title of the work as well. 😉
note to self
So dear friends due to this commission, I will not be hosting a studio exhibition this month, but I do have those works that didn’t leave the country, available directly from my studio, until the 10th of October. If you’d like to receive a pdf file, let me know via email: hannalie.t@gmail.com.
Studio shot with a work titled: Love is in the air
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
