SILENT CHATTER

There was a time 
before I started selling my totems.... 
(before I was brave enough to put them out there) 
when I created solely for myself. 
The walls of my little studio were lined
 with totem after totem
stacked one against the other
their weathered faces watching over me.

I discovered a quote by Wosene Kosrof
which was an Aha! moment for me
He said "The more I go to the studio, 
the more I create my spiritual crowd".
I felt strongly that I had created
my own spiritual crowd. 

After my first exhibition my studio emptied
It was a time to rejoice 
but I also experienced feelings of loss.
Thankfully my work sells quickly.
I am grateful that people feel a connection to my work
and I wouldn't have it any other way.....
but I do miss my spiritual crowd
filling my studio
with their silent chatter.

Setting out on a road trip. Weaver wondered about my neck of the woods, KwaZulu Natal. Click here and scroll to get a general idea of where I live.

ANCIENT MEMORIES, SYMBOLS AND MARKINGS

Coral Fourie

It is interesting to see how ancient symbols have found their way into contemporary art. In a way the artist is linking with the past .....with the lives of previous generations. It's a feeling I am unable to describe....this mysterious connection with ancient tribes.



All in time's space. Gesso and oil on canvas by Coral Fourie

In this post I've featured the work of artists from Africa.

Coral Fourie hales from the Free State, South Africa. Her art and her work with the San Bushmen "aim at keeping the flame of a threatened people alive."

I discovered Coral's work in a newspaper article many years ago. At the time we had no internet and I couldn't find information about her art anywhere but I was ever vigilant for mention of her name and saw a short TV documentary about her which made my day. While browsing in a bookshop I discovered her book Splinters from the Fire. Without even browsing through it to see if it was worth buying I walked to the counter and paid for it. I have poured over this little book for years!

"The Bushmen are the only custodians of a priceless treasure: a culture, with its roots directly in the hunter-gatherer ancestry of all mankind. While these little people manage to survive physically their unique culture is rapidly disappearing. The writings, the personal art creations of Coral Fourie and the brotherhood she shared with the Bushmen aim at keeping the flame of a threatened people alive. For the San culture forms of an intrinsic part of the treasures of humanity. Coral Fourie watches over it with much sense and sensibility."

 Coral Fourie is on Face Book. Click for her art page.

An image from the book Splinters from the Fire by Coral Fourie. I love that her paintings are influenced by her time working with the Bushmen

Scatterlings over Africa by Coral Fourie. 

Change of the guard. Acrylic on canvas by Robert Slingsby
Robert Slingsby is another artist who is inspired by ancient rock paintings and petroglyphs, especially those found in the Richtersveld. He has developed his own alphabet of petroglyphs and uses both ancient and contemporary symbols in his work. See his website here. Link to his petroglyph series here.

Robert Slingsby

Artwork by Soly Cisse, one of Senegal's internationally best-known artists. See more here.

Artwork by Soly Cisse. See more here and an interesting blog post by Yayemarie, here.

Mind of the Mathematician by Ethiopian-born artist, Wosene Kosrof . See more work here.

Tsevie III. Mixed Media painting by Togolese-born artist Sokey Edorh. See more of Sokey's work here.

Dance the Trance. Fabric and thread collage by Mary-Ann Orr.
Mary-Ann's "Thread-art works utilize unwanted household textiles, industrial waste and virtually anything that can be stitched down. The textiles are deconstructed into confetti-sized pieces, providing her with a pallet of millions of multi-coloured pieces that are then re-constructed into canvases."
See more of Mary-Ann's work at The Cape Gallery, here.

GRID COMPOSITION IN ART

Mixed media by Rosalie Gascoigne

The grid forms the foundation of many artworks and sometimes it is so well hidden that you don't notice the underlying grid until someone happens to mention it, but in other pieces it is very obvious.

In this post I am featuring many of my old favourites as well as a few new ones. First and foremost, I LOVE Rosalie Gascoigne. Much of her work is based on an arrangement of shapes, squares and rectangles within a grid. Not that she would ever categorize her work. "Oh I don't do those deep thoughts" she said. "And in the end, okay, I was putting things in grids. But I didn't really know what a grid was. And that's the way it worked, it worked for me , you see."

Mixed Media by Rosalie Gascoigne . See more of her amazing art here.

Mixed Media with Kuba cloth collage by Hannes Harrs. See more here.

German artist Hannes Harrs became interested in Africa as a child when his uncle, who was a ships captain, returned from his travels with several African artefacts. Thus began Harrs obsession with the ancient arts of Africa. At the age of 23 he accomplished his dream when he settled in South Africa.

My dream is to own a Hannes Harrs. I love the rich earthy textures of the collages that incorporate old Kuba cloth and other African textiles.

Mixed Media with African textile collage by Hannes Harrs

Grid 2 (Driftwood, deer skull, found objects) by Bob Leibow. See more here.

Katrinas Garden. Mixed Media by Anita Cooke. This has to be seen enlarged to really appreciate it, here.

The list of materials used in Katrinas Garden is quite impressive. Canvas, acrylics, acrylic gel, thread, ceramic grog, embroidery thread, rope, wood, rug lathing, copper wire, window screening and twine !!!

Lady Liberty by Wosene Kosrof. See more here.

Wosene Kosrof is an old favourite who I've featured in blog posts several times before. He has lived outside of Ethiopia since the 1970s. In his art he engages in an energetic dialogue with his Ethiopian heritage.

Interior Landscapes. Hand-woven tapestry by South African artist, Susqya Williams. See more here.

Equus Red by Laura Wait. See more here.


Mana he aga, Manako by John Pule. See more here.

Ahipara girl introduced me to John Pule's work last year in this interesting post, here. Scroll halfway down to see the gorgeous fabric that caught my attention.