At our initial meeting we came up with the idea of landscape as a theme. All four of us have explored landscape in one form or another in our 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. We have recently settled on the title “Silence of the Lands” this 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 she says: “There’s an unsettled quietness in all our work … a peaceful threatening …” 

In order to challenge each other and underline our association we decided to all approach the method of making art for this exhibition in a particular way. Each of us selects an image and shares it with the other three - specifying a particular format i.e. A4, A5 etc. We all paint from the same reference image and share the results at our regular meetings, which occur about once a month.  Each artist can submit as many versions as she wants of the same image, as long as the same reference is used.  These monthly meetings are held at Durban Girls’ College Art studio in the afternoons where informal crit. sessions are conducted.

 Above: Original Reference photo

Above:  Maggie Strachan – Red Earth  – 15x15cm

 Above: Joan Martin – Ana’s Gold – 15x15cm  

 Above:  Lara Mellon – Sienna Soil – 15x15cm

Above: Ana Pereria De Vlieg – Tilled Soil – 15X15cm

Please join us at the opening, any of the walkabouts or visit the exhibition during the three weeks it is open. See invite below:  

You are invited to an exhibition by:

Joan Martin, Lara Mellon, Maggie Strachan and Ana Pereira de Vlieg

Tuesday 18th June at 6:30pm until Saturday 6^th July 12noon

@

Fat Tuesday

Bellevue Campus - Bellevue Road - Kloof – 031-717-2785/9

Cash Bar Downstairs or call ahead to book a table for supper at Bellevue Café (031) 717-2780

Tues 18^th June 6:30 – Exhibition to be opened by Joan Martin

Sat 22^nd  June 10:30 -  Walkabout from a psychological perspective with Estelle Hudson, Narrative and Family Therapist

Sat 29^th June 10:30 – Walkabout from an artist perspective with  Jeanette Gilks, Fibre Artist and Art teacher

http://betweenthepagesblog.typepad.com/between-the-pages-blog/2012/01/amazing-alice-in-wonderland-cake.html

http://betweenthepagesblog.typepad.com/between-the-pages-blog/2011/01/amazing-jules-verne-cake.html

http://blog.sylviaweinstock.com/post/14511119388

I have never baked anything more complicated than a muffin, so I am going to have to enlist the expertise of Phillipa our consumer studies teacher. Phillipa recently won a melktert (milktart) competition held at our school. Our headmaster fancied himself as an expert milktart baker & challenged the staff to beat him baking this traditional Afrikaans desert. 

The competition was judged by two owners of a local restaurant Spice in Durban, during our teatime on Friday 10^th of May.  You can download Phillipa’s winning recipe here and you might like to download Tessa’s (a member of our Afrikaans staff) here.

I didn’t save this particular life, as the reader comments above, but just contributed in a small way by making an artwork & getting involved in the first everyONEcounts campaign.  My involvement in the first everyONEcounts campaign came about through my friendship with Lara Mellon who initiated the call to artists to raise awareness of abandoned babies. However, it was only when I saw an image of a baby abandoned in a dustbin at one of our local shopping malls that I reacted with my “heart”. Click here to read about this story:

Our new campaign “Speak ART against Human Trafficking”, was motivated by a teenager’s disappearance from her home in Durban in 2012. In the period between her going missing & her being returned to her family, we had made contact with two groups who work against human trafficking. They function as crisis and trauma centres (The Open Door) and raise awareness of human trafficking by giving talks at schools and businesses. (Red Light) The presentations by Red Light aim to inform the audience of the dangers of Human Trafficking, how to identify Human Trafficking and the measures that can be taken to protect oneself from becoming a victim.

As an Art teacher and artist I haven’t got the time or the skills to work at either of these organizations, but I can make a difference to my society in a meaningful way by making a small piece of art, as Fiona Couldridge did below with her "Jane" which is a portrait in acrylic paint and embroidery thread on Towel.  

Please get involved in our new campaign by donating or buying an A4 artwork – the exhibition will be held at KZNSA gallery in the last week of August 2013. Get more information from our website: www.everyonecounts.co.za

The works featured in the magazine illustrate the working method we have adopted for this exhibition Each of us selects an image and shares it with the other three - specifying a particular format i.e. A4, A5 etc. We all paint from the same reference image and share the results at our regular meetings, which occur about once a month.  Each artist can submit as many versions as she wants of the same image, as long as the same reference is used.

Already in these very early works distinct differences in approach and style have emerged. Most of Ana Pereira De Vlieg’s work reflects her passionate personality and this is underscored by the bright layering of paint she uses in her work. Lara Mellon’s work depicts the swirling misty atmosphere that has become a characteristic of her work. Maggie Strachan demonstrates masterful observational skills in her interpretation of our shared references.

My mixed media pieces have returned to a monochromatic colour scheme that reminds me of the etchings I made when I was at university. I have also built up a low relief on these small works in plaster and stamped words and textures into the surface. You can see larger images of my pieces here.     

Before going through the above concepts in my slide shows the students watched some YouTube clips on doodles, negative space and zentangles. 

Sunni Brown’s talk on the importance of doodling for improving concentration in school is enlightening. 

My students seemed to grasp the idea of negative space drawing better by watching the following you tube clip: 

Finally they learnt how to Zentangle by watching the following two clips: 

The basics of zentangling 

How to do a particular motif: 

I wanted the students to learn some art history so I gave them the following brief:

Task: Find an interesting silhouette from a famous artist’s artwork and zentangle (doodle) in the negative spaces. The silhouette must be left white. You need to write down the name of the artist and the name of the artwork that you used as the source of your silhouette. (Inspired by the following image I found on the internet (I can't find the reference for the image below.)

The girls had an opportunity to experiment with dip pens when making this artwork:

The following images are a few of the artworks the girls made in response to the brief: 

I have based my teaching on the premise that the girls taking art have some aptitude for the subject, and have planned my lessons accordingly. The year started off with a lesson introducing my plans for the year & then half way through the lesson wae started exploring “blind contour drawing” popularized by Betty Edwards in her book “Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain”. Click here for some Betty Edward's drawing exercises 

In the following lesson I introduced the girls to simple measuring devices to use when drawing. The girls sourced the images on their ipads (I told them they had to make a collage of three different objects – a face, a cylindrical object and a round object. The objects were either composed in a traditional collage on paper. Or they collaged the three images using an app called “Superimpose”. 

They then drew “crates” over their collage & used these simple grids to construct their drawings.   I used the information on Frank Curcovic’s site as a source for this lesson.  

One of my Grade 9 students using her ipad as a resource for drawing below:  

Drawing constructed using "crates" by Teagan below:

Another drawing constructed using crates by Georgina: 

I have taken excerpts from the essay & posted them below:

She describes her journey from the entrance of the studios, up the stairs & then into the main art room:

“The potent smells of turpentine, lacquer thinners and resin; combining into one & going straight to my head, gives my creative spirit something to feed off. It’s my hearing that kicks in next. Mrs. Martin, like the busy body she is, is walking up and down the art room, her ‘killer’ heels playing a rather off beat yet strangely soothing ‘melody’ along the wooden floor. All that’s separating me from my haven is a flight of stairs which I usually fly up due to all my energy, newly found every time I enter the art room. Once greeted by Mrs Martin’s personal guard dogs and wolves, I’m in!” (I have a drawing on the second landing of a stairwell of fighting dogs) 

“The bright summer light flowing in through all the uncovered windows blinds me for a second & then I see it all.  The wide loft like room, tables situated all around crowded with art utensils and students, the breath-taking Durban City and teasing beach views from the balcony. It all combines in such a beautiful way creating the best home-like atmosphere.“

This for me is the true beauty of this classroom. Walking in stress free, being able to kick off my shoes, turn up the music; catch up on weekend stories yet at the end of the day, still being able to complete my work. Personally, Art projects don’t count as ‘work’ they’re opportunities for me to express my passion towards Art and it’s in this classroom where I’m able to let my creative juices flow and express my passion at its best!

What is my idea of a perfect classroom you ask? It’s anything remotely similar to Mrs. Martin’s Art room. 24/7 assistance from one of the best teachers, a homely atmosphere, one of the most scenic views and the best part-being able to let go and be yourself by expressing yourself in any way possible. What could be wrong with a place like this, it’s a little piece of heaven that Durban Girls’ College hides for us.”  

She decided to start her year with her Grade 5 students by satisfying not only their creativity but also satisfying them gastronomically.

Melanie has spent many hours sourcing the presentation boxes that house the cupcakes; finding the right paper cupcake wrappers; testing fondant icing and dying it the right green; hand-cutting stencils; asking our estate manager to buy plastic piping as rollers instead of using expensive wooden rollers; and finally enlisting the help of our catering manager in baking the cupcakes for this lesson.  

However, I am sure the very lucky Grade 5 girls have appreciated all of the effort that went into making this very unusual art lesson successful.

The girls not only learnt about layering images using all sorts of found items like bits of lace, wire mesh etc. to create their very pretty presentation boxes, but they started learning about sculpting techniques (the fondant icing is similar to the consistency of sculpture clay). 

After seeing these beautiful cupcakes I am starting to scheme about collaborating with our consumer studies department & introducing fondant sculpture to my high school students. 

 I started working on this painting in December 2011 and have worked on it sporadically throughout this year.

This artwork ended up at school as a result of my frustration during the September break. The IEB (Independent Examinations Board) don't place any restrictions on the time allocated to making the Grade 12 final Practical piece. However, the artwork is not allowed to leave the school & the art teacher has to supervise the making of these artworks. Grade 12 students leave everything to the last minute, so as a result we normally spend the September break in the art studios - them finishing off their pieces while I spend my days distributing equipment from store rooms, trying to work out solutions to disasters (because they didn't do enough experimentation prior to making the artwork) and reassuring everyone that it will all work out.

After one particularly tiring day I decided to take my big tree painting (150x100cm) to school & have some "time out" in my own classroom.  I dragged an easel into the middle of the room, set up the painting on this easel, plugged in my iPod & announced that I was going to turn murderous if I didn't paint. I managed to get in a few undisturbed hours of painting.  

Not every day was as idyllic - as the date of the exhibition drew near the girls needed me more so I only found time to paint after they had left to write their final examinations. 

Our bursar was looking for some artwork for display in & outside the staff room - she came up to the studios one day & asked me if she could use my painting until the opening of our exhibition at KZNSA.

This particular tree represents my favourite tree the fig tree - an obsession that I have had for many years. I love the muscular structure of these trees and their intertwining branches. I only recently found out that the tree I have been painting is a strangler fig. I did some research on these trees & found this article by David Tng quite interesting.

The following images show the progress of this painting:

The final painting is at the top of this post.