NOSTALGIA
Diane Johnson-Ackerman Solo Exhibition www.princealbertgallery.co.za Written by Wendy Malan
Garingbome, etching
T
he Prince Albert Gallery will be celebrating the paintings and prints of Diane Johnson-Ackerman in a solo exhibition from 31 March - 2 May 2021. Diane studied under Prof Brian Bradshaw at Rhodes University and exhibited with the Grahamstown Group. She has worked consistently and prolifically since graduating in 1973, participating in many shows, including the Stellenbosch Woordfees, the KKNK and South African Society of Artists exhibitions. Diane has completed important commissions including a series of paintings of historical buildings related to the University of Stellenbosch Faculty of AgriSciences Centenary Celebrations during 2018. Diane Johnson-Ackerman is a painter and printmaker of extraordinary technical ability and draftsmanship. Her etchings (a notoriously difficult medium) are flawlessly executed. Diane’s work has always attracted me because of its quiet Romanticism, its mysterious and sometimes disquieting atmosphere. Romanticism is a label that has often been abused because it has been associated with the term sentimentality. Diane’s work is all but sentimental and has a quality which is more easily detected in the visual arts than defined. It is not a style but an attitude of the mind.
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Karoo Church, acrylic on canvas, 450mm x 320mm
