Silence
of the Lands is an exhibition by Joan Martin, Lara
Mellon, Maggie Strachan and Ana Pereira de Vlieg currently running at Fat
Tuesday in Kloof.
As with previous art exhibitions at Fat
Tuesday (Two Goats and a Dog - 2011, Lost Found & Stolen - 2012), this
exhibition is as much about the artists’ relationship with each other as the
development of their art. This time the group has been expanded by the
inclusion of Ana Pereria De Vlieg.
At their initial meeting the group came up
with the idea of landscape as a theme. All four of have explored landscape in
one form or another in teir previous artwork.
Some of our early attempts at a title for
this exhibition included Land Claims
and Land (re)claimed but both were
rejected for their political association. The eventual title Silence of the Lands was inspired by the
following quote “Where the river is deepest it makes the least noise.” Lara
Mellon was instrumental in coming up with this title and says: “There’s an
unsettled quietness in all our work … a peaceful threatening …”
In order to challenge each other and
underline their association they decided to approach the method of making art
for this exhibition in a particular way. Each selected an image and shared it
with the other three - specifying a particular format i.e. A4, A5 etc. They all
paint from the same reference image and share the results at their regular
meetings, which occur about once a month. Each artist can submit as many
versions as they want of the same image, as long as the same reference is used.
The monthly meetings are held at Durban Girls’ College Art studio in the
afternoons where informal crit. sessions are conducted.
There will be two walkabouts of the exhibition:
June 22 at 10h30 from a
psychological perspective with narrative and family therapist, Estelle Hudson
June 29 at 10h30 from
an artist perspective with Jeanette
Gilks, fibre artist and art teacher
Silence
of the Lands runs until July 6 at 12 noon at Fat
Tuesday, Bellevue Campus - Bellevue Road
in Kloof. There is a cash bar downstairs or call ahead to book a table
for supper at Bellevue Café on 031 717 2780.
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