(Elizabeth Balcomb with
her 2014 winner works from the Weighed Measured Series)
The Sasol New Signatures Arts competition serves to
encourage greater creativity across age, gender and education, as well as to
acknowledge the talent of our nation’s youth.
‘It is currently youth month and what better way to
celebrate this month by focusing on the youth of South Africa who are in the
arts industry. As South Africans, art plays an important role in the cultural
fabric of our history and future,” say the organisers.
Young people in various industries such as Engineering,
Science and Technology are often given a huge amount of exposure. However,
aspiring artists are hardly recognized and embraced for their artistic talents.
Sasol New Signatures Arts competition aims to combat this by providing a
platform for young artists to not only showcase their art but to also get
national recognition for their art pieces.
\
Elizabeth Jane Balcomb is a case in point. A self-taught
artist, she has been a full-time sculptor for the past five years. She lives
and sculpts at her studio-home in the mist-belt forest of Byrne Valley, KwaZulu-Natal.
She won last year’s Sasol New Signatures Arts competition
for her works from The weighed and measured series, I am you and Survival,
which are both sculptural pieces. She won R100,000 as well as a solo exhibition
at the Pretoria Arts Museum.
Commenting on Balcomb’s work, the judges said: “The artist’s
keen interest in nature conservation and a deep longing for wild places, led
her to become interested in aspects and characteristics of therianthropic
figures found in the iconography of San paintings. Animal-human figures symbolise
animal characteristics found in the personalities of humans. Furthermore, these
figures offer a window into the spiritual world regarding the realms of the
living and the dead.”
For more information, visit www.sasolsignatures.co.za or
contact Nandi Hilliard from the Association of Arts Pretoria on 012 346 3100,
083 288 5117 or artspta@mweb.co.za
For more information on Elizabeth Balcomb visit http://elizabethbalcomb.co.za/#about.html
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