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www.thevillagenews.co.za
30 September 2020
MY ART
Long weekend of fine art T he weather did not quite play along with all the art events that FynArts Select had planned for the long weekend, including the painting of the bollards and the plein air painting around the Old Harbour, but fortunately the main events on Saturday were able to go ahead.
Melvyn Minnaar gave the opening address at the opening of the FynArts Festival Artist, Beezy Bailey’s exhibition, Landing Stars, at the FynArts Gallery at 11:00 on Saturday morning, followed by the unveiling of the artist’s sculpture, Dancing Jester, at the Hermanus Waterfront. (It had been delivered and installed in the pouring rain on Friday!) FynArts Festival Director Mary
Faure expressed her gratitude to Beezy and art consultant, director and co-owner of the Everard Read Gallery, Charles Shields, who curated the exhibition, for their commitment to FynArts during these uncertain times. She also thanked the Village Square and Overstrand Municipality for agreeing to “yet another sculpture” being installed, this time at the waterfront amphitheatre.
In his opening address, Melvyn summed up Beezy’s work by quoting Brian Eno’s words: “Beezy makes his art out of joy and laughter (and sometimes out of terror). He is somebody to whom art comes easily and who doesn’t feel guilty about it, who revels in his gift and has confidence in it – like a chef gleefully throw-
ing ingredients in by the handful without ever measuring them. He cooks up new worlds, tiny and huge, peopled by bird-women, snakemen, lizard children, and animated vegetables, bursting with bright new music. He makes African jazz in paint, garish as the midday sun, dark as the deepest night.” Other special exhibitions were hosted over the long weekend at Originals (Covid Anthem 2020 by Terry Kobus), Lembu (Joy of Life by Ed Bredenkamp), Lize Art Gallery (New Season by Lize van der Walt and Jeandré Marinier), Rossouw Modern (C19 Lockdown by Obert Jongwe) and the Whale Museum pop-up gallery (Nature by the Hermanus Art Circle).
ABOVE LEFT: Cllr Kari Brice, wine & arts writer Melvyn Minnaar, FynArts Festival Artist Beezy Bailey, Festival Director Mary Faure and art consultant Charles Shields of Everard Read, in front of a work by Beezy entitled Purple Glass City Night Dance. ABOVE MIDDLE: Among the invited guests who attended the opening of the Landing Stars exhibition at the FynArts Gallery were Di Rattle, Victoria Young-Pugh and Stuart Dods. ABOVE RIGHT: Beezy Bailey at the unveiling of his new sculpture at the amphitheatre, Dancing Jester.
CONGRATULATIONS! There was great excitement at Rossouw Modern Art Gallery on Saturday when local artist Jenny Jackson did the lucky draw in the Obert Jongwe competition which had been running on Facebook and Instagram over the past couple of weeks. The lucky winner of Obert’s painting, Walk the Dog II, valued at R46 000, was Nandie du Plooy Swarts. Above, from left, are Jenny Jackson, the artist Obert Jongwe, and gallery owner Jozua Rossouw.
Hermanus First Fridays is part of a worldwide initiative to make art more accessible to the public. On the first Friday of every month, you are invited to stroll from gallery to gallery in the centre of town to enjoy the outstanding range of art and fine craft on display, to meet the artists and gallery owners, and mingle with fellow art lovers.
This Friday 2 October from 17:00 – 20:00
Join us this Friday for a treasure hunt to locate a pair of beautiful pearl earrings designed and crafted by Geta Finlayson. The earrings could be hidden at any one of the galleries, so keep your eyes peeled and you may just become the lucky winner of these bespoke earrings! All COVID-19 protocols will be followed. No mask, no entry.
18 Galleries
Paintings • Sculptures • Ceramics • Photography • Jewellery Hermanus First Fridays Artwalk
@FFHermanus
Hermanus Tourism
