(Pic: “Masai elder” by Arthur Reed)Mixing engineering and magic!
Well-known professional magician Arthur Reed is an engineer by trade. He’s also a former Natal Amateur Ballroom and Jive Champion (1958- 1959) and helps out as a voluntary sound and lighting engineer to a ballet school.
He was Mechanical Engineer to the Locomotive and Car components design 1956-1983 and he built and ran a Mobile Disco called the Telstar from 1970 to 1985.
He’s a founder member South African Association of Therapeutic Hypnotists (1964) as well as the South African Association for the Conference Industry (1989) and the main founder member of the art meander, The 1000 Hills Experience. A past member of The Durban Chamber of Commerce he is also a member of the South African Tibetan Buddhist Society. Along the way, he is an illusion builder and mentor for the next generation of magicians and advisor for school plays.
He can claim to 35 years as a professional magician and is three times winner for the most entertaining Magic Act. With his wife Avril, he travels extensively performing in all the major cities in Africa and South Africa. In the process, he has turned his magic hands to art and has created oil paintings of the many tribes in Africa and the far east, which have crossed his. Arthur also carves Greenman Masks, dragons, wood craft and sculptures.
For the past 13 years Arthur has been restoring and repairing violins, and uses his knowledge of these stringed instruments to make miniature versions for his Gallery. The miniatures won First Prize at the Royal show in 1998 and can be seen in homes around the world.
Arthur Reed, The only Professional Magician in Natal is three time winner of the most entertaining act. Arthur, and his wife Avril, travel extensively performing at Cabaret, Stage Shows, Conferences and product launches for: SABC, Southern Life, Panasonic, AA Life, Toyota and Audi Agents. They have performed in all the major cities in Africa and South Africa.
Arthur was helped on his artistic way by none other than the late Tretchikoff. “I got help from him and his benefactor Leslie Riggall who used to live in Kloof,” he explains. “Leslie had bought ten of Tretchikoff's paintings after he landed in Cape Town after the war in 1946. I was shown all of the paintings and given a huge book of his paintings as a gift. I even had a chance to speak to Tretchikoff before he died. Leslie left South Africa when someone tried to break into his house, which is now known as The Makaraga Tea Garden.”
More information at www.arthurreed.co.za
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