A clay sculpture – “Your body is your clay home.”

”Your body is your clay home. The body is sacred and a mirror where the secret life of the soul finds expression.” (O’Donohue – Anam Cara) I have been putting of my plan to experiment with clay sculpting. Mainly due to the fact that I didn’t have studio space for the most part of Unit […]

Documenting Slabstown – Finding home in the most unlikely places.

My visit to Slabstown on the 9th of March marks a memorable day I will never forget. The initial idea was to visit Cloetesville, a neighborhood in Stellenbosch where my domestic worker, Samantha, lives. We have a wonderful relationship and our daily conversations about life in Cloetesville gave me a deep desire to capture the […]

Sense of place: The relationship between Topophilia and Indentity (the inner landscape)

Looking at the theoretical debates of Yi-Fu Tuan ’’People think geography is about capitals, land forms, and so on’, says Tuan. But it is also about place – it’s emotional tone, social meaning and generative potential.” (Interview between Yi-Fu Tuan and Mary Ellan, 2013) In his book Topophilia, Tuan begins the fist chapter by writing: […]

Homelessness, Reflexivity & Homeness of a Visual journal (VJ):

I would never have thought that this MA Fine Art journey would take me on such a personal journey. It is as exciting as it is scary to see this theme unfold. After all, it is hard to separate art from the artist. In the same sense I find it hard to separate my art […]

Teaching Week 21 : Thursday 9th March 2023: Tutorials and Independent working

Here is my feedback after another helpful session with Michele this Thursday. I am feeling the pressure with regards to assessment and will be diving into the action points listed at the bottom: Reflections since last tutorial (if applicable) Since our last tutorial, I have worked hard to elaborate and broaden my literature resources and […]

Teaching Week 17: w/c 7th February 2023: Revisiting Fracture, Form, Frame.

I decided to return to Fracture, Form, Frame as I respond to the Case Study. I’ve left this project on the ‘shelf’ as I focussed on research and my Contextual study draft. I would like to continue the project using the found building material together with wire, armature and sculpting clay. As I assemble the […]

Teaching Week 16: w/c 30th January 2023 :Case Study & Independent Learning

“I have to remind myself that it’s not about overcoming but instead working with the uncertainty, the difficulty; finding a dialogue with these new conditions of making and being with the work. Out of this intuitive process I slowly begin to discover a new intention for the work and with this a shift in my […]

Teaching Week 15 – Thursday 26th January 2023: Critiques

It was week 15 and our Thursday Crit-session was drawing closer… “Why was I nervous?”, you ask. Well, perhaps because I had been reading too many articles and publications in search of information that would start to echo the voices that are trying to find a way out of my heart and into the world. […]

Teaching Week 14 – Thursday 19th January 2023: Group Sessions 

Looking back, looking forward: a journey through fine art practice: It was very informative to explore contemporary art and the lack of an ’-ism’. As Hayley mentioned in the session, contemporary art appears to be part of a cultural dialogue that concerns larger contextual frameworks (personal and cultural identity, community, and nationality). Contemporary art keeps […]

Teaching Week 12: Thursday 5 January 2023: Student presentations  

This was our first student presentation and although I was nervous, I enjoyed the process of investigating my own work over the past few years. It was very insightful to see the other student’s presentation and to listen to the feedback that each received from each other and the tutors. What a wonderful and great […]

Teaching Week 9: Thursday 15th December 2022: Lecture 

Thinking through Making with Dr Michele Whiting I enjoyed the lecture and it has shed a lot of light on my journey of researching through and art practice. I love the following paragraph from ’Visualizing research’: Our diverse family of creative disciplines has the potential to explore questions of great significance and value to our […]

Teaching Week 8 – Thursday 8th December 2022: Lecture and Seminar 

I was good to get an introduction to the Contextual Study and Literature Review. Indeed a challenge to firstly decide what it is that you want to research (what is important to me) and secondly – where to find relevant information that is credible and interesting. How to create a melting pot of theory and […]

Teaching Week 7: Thursday 1st December 2022: Seminar

One point in Michele’s seminar struck a cord with me: “Artistic Research…do(es) not look for general laws: instead they embrace the specific and the personal, the human and the experiential; they open perspectives…” I love the fact that Art (unlike the news and media) has the power to look at the specific, to the personal […]

Week 6 – Thursday 24th November 2022: One-to-one tutorial 

Tutorial report after my zoom meeting with Michele: I had the most wonderful chat with Michele in spite of a very busy day full of distractions on our building site… I was nervous because I wanted to prepare a bit better but before I knew it, it was time for our zoom meeting. I found […]

Week 6 – Thursday 24th November 2022: Lecture 

Meaning Making/Making Meaning by Dr Michele Whiting Personal reflections and observations after listening to Michele’s lecture: I found Michele’s lecture most inspiring. Although some of the academic language she used was difficult to absorb at first, I took the time to listen to it a few times and got so much out of it. I […]

Week 5 – Saturday 19th November 2022 

Making day ‘Making day’ was drawing closer and I started to nervously prepare and gather my materials. As mentioned in my previous post, there was only one obstacle to this quest… I was in the middle of a house renovation. With my head in my hands about whether the house will be finished in time […]

Week 4 – Thursday 10th November 2022

Introduction to Form Frame Fracture  Initial thoughts (pre-session): Form, Fracture, Frame (re-fram 1)Definition of form: (Noun): A visible shape/configuration of something. (verb): To bring together or combine – to create. 2) Definition of fracture: Cracking or breaking of a hard object (verb): break or cause to break 3) Definition of frame: Rigid structure that surrounds […]

Week 3 – Thursday 3rd November 2022 

Writing and Thinking  Some thoughts after our zoom meeting: The experience of writing a short piece addressing the process of making work was incredibly good for me. It made me re-think and question why I tend to work in the way that I do. My written piece can be found at the bottom of this […]

 Week 2 – Thursday 27th October 2022

Ideas, Plans and Practice Some thoughts after our zoom meeting: The outline was: What’s your Cannon? Investigation of the what, why, how and the ‘so what?’ surrounding practice. The session was fun and also a but daunting. A sense of vulnerability as you show your art and lay it all out there. The way I […]

Week 1 – Thursday 20th October 2022

Introductory Session Some thoughts after our zoom meeting: I was very excited about our very first zoom meeting. I did however take an interesting turn when I realised that we would be experiencing load-shedding (power outage) in my area during the time that we would meet. I had to rush and find a restaurant that […]

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