Greatmore Studios. Celebrating 10 years

            jan.feb 2009

TAG is a professional visual artists’ newsletter providing a global platform to the artists in residency at Greatmore Studios, Cape Town and also to art practitioners within the network of Triangle Art Trust. As a compliment to a regularly updated web site, www.greatmoreart.org TAG provides artists with relevant updates about the studios, artists’ work and opportunities in the art arena both locally in Cape Town, on the continent and abroad.                                                                                                                      

contributor’s notes …(read more)

in this issue our news

·         Willie Bester to donate R100,000 if he wins The Johnnie Walker Celebrating Strides Award

·         Crossings – Visitors from the UK make a special trip to Greatmore

·         Call for participants • Mentoring Month at Greatmore Studios 

·         Call for visiting artists • May - July

in this issue in the loop

Untutored Figure Drawing

·         The Orange Group at Greatmore 

·         The Commonwealth Foundation’s international art residency programme invites applications

·         Call for applications for Shatana International Artist Workshop

contributor’s notes

Greatmore happily welcomes you all to our first newsletter of 2009. Our current artists are: Dathini Mzayiya, Emma Willemse, Ena Carstens, Gary Stephens, Glen Arendse, Jade Gibson, Marie Van Gass, Mongezi Gum, Ndikhumbule Ngginambi, Suzanne Elizabeth Duncan, Velile Soha, Lebeoana Lefuma and Vuyile Cameron Voyiya. All contracts are coming to an end in March and will be reviewed by the committee then.
The staff and artists hope that your year has started off as well as ours. We very much look forward to sharing our exciting news with you.

Contributor's - Mishkaah Roberts, Gary Frier, Kate Tarratt Cross and Jill Trappler  

in this issue our news

Willie Bester to donate R100,000 if he wins The Johnnie Walker Celebrating Strides Awards

Willie Bester one of South Africa’s most prominent self taught artist has been nominated for contributing to creation and sustainability of the arts and has selected Greatmore Studios as his chosen organisation to receive a R100 000 donation should he win the art category.
The Johnnie Walker Strides award recognises exceptional progress made by inspirational South Africans. Five categories of awards have been established – Design, Entrepreneurship, Environment, the Arts and Leadership.
An independent panel of judges will select a winner from the three nominees in each category.
Each winner will receive a R140 000 prize package and in turn will give a R100,000 cash prize to benefit a registered institution.

VOTE for WILLIE BESTER
To vote send an email to  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it   label your email "Johnnie Walker Competition" and send us the name of your nominee and your own name and contact details  or SMS  "Gold", the name of your nominee - Willie Bester and your name and surname to 34112 

Crossings – Visitors from the UK make a special trip to Greatmore

On the 16th of February Greatmore studios welcomed a group of visitors from the UK. A wonderful evening of art, food and music was organized for the group of educators from Devon County. Every other year, 20 selected teachers visit the Western Cape for a study tour. The purpose of the trip is to research and collect materials from local schools to support work back in their own schools. As part of their visit, Greatmore was asked to host an evening so that the group could get a flavour of good South African art and see the workings of the studios. All artists opened their studio doors so the visitors had a chance to interact with each artist. The event space housed Greatmore’s private collection which was hung with the help of Estelle Jacobs. Garth Erasmus and Manfred Zilla provided a sound performance to the engrossed audience. The evening was a great success and some of the visitors said that this was a highlight to their trip.

 Call for participants - Mentoring Month at Greatmore Studios

An exciting mentoring workshop is being organized for April in conjunction with M Photo and  Exposure Gallery at the Old Biscuit Mill. 8 talented participants will get the opportunity to discover the photographic world movement, Lomography. Lomography uses low tech film cameras. The movement originated in Austria, later infecting the world with quirky features such as fisheye, colorsplash, and supersampler (shooting 4 simultaneous images in one shot). These are amongst the cameras that will be used to experiment with over a 4 week period. Film processing, printing costs, exhibition fees will all be supplied. A small deposit for the camera (deposits will be refunded upon return of cameras) and your enthusiasm to experiment in this exciting medium is all that is needed.
Contact Mishkaah at Greatmore studios on 021 447 9699 for more information on how to apply or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

Call for visiting artists • May - July

Greatmore’s visiting artist program is taking place from May to July there is still one space available for a self funded artist. Please contact Mishkaah for more details.  

in this issue in the loop

Untutored Figure Drawing

The new event space has been hosting Figure Drawing sessions from 9:30 to 12:30 am every Monday. There is no tuition and a variety of models are available on a weekly rotation. Space is still available but going fast so booking is essential. The cost of each session is R70. Contact Mishkaah or Gary on 021 447 9699 or email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  

The Orange Group at Greatmore

A Group of painters who originally met at Orange Street Studios now meet at Greatmore studios on Thursday mornings from 9:30 to 12:30. The aim of the group’s meetings is to maintain individual projects while sharing a peaceful and companionable space. New group members are welcome. The cost of each session is R70. Contact Mishkaah or Gary on  021 447 9699 or email:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it  '; document.write( '' ); document.write( addy_text77143 ); document.write( '<\/a>' ); //-->\n This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

The Commonwealth Foundation’s art and craft residencies have a long tradition of artists working within different cultures, encourage the exchange of skills, knowledge and experience. Formerly the Commonwealth Arts and Crafts Awards, Commonwealth Connections is a residency programme that in 2009 will offer six successful visual artists (who are citizens of Commonwealth country), the unique opportunity to travel and study in another Commonwealth country. Grants up to £8000.00 will be provided. Performance and photography are included as eligible categories for the first time; there is no age limit for recipients of the grant. The deadline for applications is 8th March 2009. For more information about application forms please visit www.commonwealthfoundation.com/artsresidencies or email mailto: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Shatana international Artist Workshop 3

Jordan is inviting applications for its 2-week workshop residency program in Shatana, Jordan from the 3rd until the 17th of July 2009. Shatana workshop is part of the Triangle Arts Network following the model of workshops organized by artists for artists.

Submissions Deadline: 30th of March, 2009

For more information: http://www.makanhouse.net/shatana

 keep connected with 

www.greatmoreart.org  

TAG newsletter is kindly sponsored by:

The Ford Foundation (FF)

The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF)

HIVOS

National Arts Council (NAC)

Pro Helvetia, Arts Council of Switzerland
Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC)