News from the Art and Design Departments

Art & Design Awards: Report

The annual Art and Design Awards were held on Thursday 19 August 2010. The exciting Awards evening was kicked off by a festive art exhibition reflecting the wonderful works from both Design and Visual Art. Characteristically, the works on show reflected the talent and dedication of the girls taking Design and Visual Art, as well as their unique, creative interpretation and expression of practical projects.

The award ceremony itself was officially opened by dynamic guest speaker James Webb. James Webb is a contemporary South African artist working with sound as a medium of expression; and currently included in the Grade 12 Visual Culture Studies curriculum. He encouraged the girls to create relevant cultural products in their art making process - emphasising the fact that they work within a rich cultural environment that could be the source of a range of interesting artworks and design products. We would like to congratulate the girls who were awarded certificates and thank them for their hard work and dedication throughout the year.

Art and Design Department

Michaelis Galleries

On the 13th of August a group of Grade 10 Visual Art learners visited the U.C.T. Michaelis School of Fine Art to view a dynamic photographic exhibition.

“Regeneration 2”, is the second of a very successful exhibition that features 45 young photographers from around the world whose work explores how they view the world and their surrounding. The photographs were not only beautiful; it also made us see how life can be viewed in a variety of ways, showing life through the various photographers’ eyes. We were amazed at how wide the medium of photography actually is and what is considered photography. We were stunned at how Photoshop is so widely used and we are still discussing whether this work can be considered photography.

There were pieces that appealed to each of us individually and there were some that didn’t, as with your normal fine art. This experience was enriching and very inspiring and we left the exhibition wanting to experiment with our cameras.

Mieke Loubser, Skye Scott, Magenta Graziani, Maxine Steyn, Amy Scott, and Natalie Pinto

Friday Art and Design outing 20th August

The first thing that we noticed about Brett Murray was his ability to make a satirical joke out of nearly everything. From the minute we set foot in his studio we were blown away by his amazing yet simple art works. It was as if our text books had come to life, finally seeing the man behind some of the most famous and criticized works of art in the history of South African art.

Mr Murray immediately jumped into an explanation of his art works, motivating questions and providing us with booklets of his recent works. The books, which he generously gave us, were filled with political, economic and social statements which he clearly, in a new democratic South Africa, needed a lot of guts to make. After showing us various processes of his work and taking us behind the scenes, he kindly allowed us, to our amazement and utter delight, into his beautiful, artistic home. We were ecstatic to see works that we had only dreamed of seeing; like ‘Black Like Me’, a satirical take on the face of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Colonel Sanders; in which he simply adds an African twist by adding an afro, commenting on the history of Africans in America.

A huge thank you to all the art teachers who made this exquisite visit possible. Those of us who were lucky enough to choose the 26th of August to go on the excursion, were truly inspired.

Tessa Collington-O’Malley and Qiniso van Damme