The newly-refurbished Durban Art Gallery,
one of the country’s leading major national art museums, is hosting two
companion exhibitions, People, Prints
& Process: 25 Years at Caversham and Hats Off: 25 years Linocuts from Caversham – both of open formally
on Thursday 30 May and run at DAG until 21 July.
The Gallery has been operating with limited
capacity for the past year while specialists created a special dome over the
fragile and badly damaged gallery roof, which boasts vintage stain glass
detail. The threat of water damage to the priceless works of art on exhibit
below meant that much of the gallery was non-functioning while the roof was
re-enforced and sealed.
“We are delighted to report that the roof
is now complete and all the leaks have been efficiently repaired,” says Mduduzi
Xakaza, Director of the Durban Art Gallery.
A very jubilant opening season is being
hosted at the Gallery to commemorate 25 years of one of KZN’s most enduring and
significant art institutions, the remarkable Caversham Press, Educational Trust
and Centre for Artists and Writers, which turned 25 in 2010.
The Caversham Press was founded in 1985 in
the Caversham Valley, Balgowan, to afford South African artists access to a
professional collaborative printmaking studio for the production of
limited-edition prints. The press was the first comprehensive facility of its
kind in Southern Africa and has become highly regarded not only for the range
of processes it offers and the expertise of founder and master-printer, Malcolm
Christian, but also for its reputation as an accessible and collaborative art
centre.
Since its inception it has worked with many
notable South African professional artists including William Kentridge, David
Koloane, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Deborah Bell, Mmakgabo Sebidi, the late Robert
Hodgins, Bonnie Ntshalintshali and the late Gabisile Nkosi.
In keeping with the founding ethos, to
offer accessibility and skills transference and to nurture emergent artists
from disadvantaged backgrounds and other countries, residencies designed to
generate creative dialogue between South Africans and people of other nations
were introduced in 1999. During this period, it has contributed to the skills
development of more than 250 artists including Ezekiel Mabote, Vulindlela
Nyoni, Sarah Tabane and Witty Nyide.
“Caversham Press, home to a dynamic
portfolio of programmes, recently curated and presented a series of exhibitions
to celebrate 25 years of creative practice. A marriage of the visual, social
and discursive, the prints collectively trace Caversham’s biography through a
rich and diverse archive of a tumultuous past. The history of printmaking shows
its use, since invention, as a political tool to stimulate thought and garner
action, two requirements for effecting change,” notes arts commentator and
former curator of the KZNSA Gallery, Brenton Maart.
The Hats
Off exhibition was first seen at Tokara Wine Estate before being shown
concurrently with People, Prints and
Process at the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg in 2010 and in Boston
University USA and at the Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg and The William
Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley in 2011. The 25 years of Caversham exhibition has also been hosted at the
National Arts Festival in Grahamstown and at the Oliewenshuis Art Gallery in
Bloemfontein last year.
People,
Prints & Process: 25 Years at Caversham
comprises 74 works and Hats Off comprises
33 works. The exhibitions run until July 21.
The Durban Art Gallery (DAG) is open seven
days a week: Monday until Saturday from 8.30am until 4pm, and Sunday from 11h00
to 16h00. Entry is free and all are welcome! For more information, contact the
Gallery on 031 311 2264 / 9 or Jabu.Mngwengwe@durban.gov.za
(weekdays).
DAG is on the second floor of the
magnificent Durban City Hall building, enter opposite the Playhouse.
Regrettably the lift, which is being repaired, is currently out of commission,
so the only access is via stairs, which may be problematic for wheelchair patrons
or the elderly.
Posts
