Weird: Grahamstown doesn’t have a single proper art gallery. Who would’ve thought the home of the National Arts Festival would be lacking art?
Weird: Grahamstown doesn’t have a single proper art gallery. Who would’ve thought the home of the National Arts Festival would be lacking art?
This means we largely rely on Rhodes University’s fine art department for our regular fix. Nothing wrong with that, of course. It has produced some of South Africa’s greatest artists, from Penny Siopis to Brent Meistre.
So it was with a sense of anticipation that I went to the Student Holiday Project Exhibition, which opened last Friday 16 August at the Albany History Museum.
After all, this is one of the few occasions, besides the National Arts Festival Student Exhibition, that the general public can see artwork from the entire student body, from first to fourth years.
Having completed my own Bachelor of Fine Art last year, I had high expectations from this exhibition.
But I left deflated.
The exhibition was conceptualised by lecturer Maureen de Jager, and curated by Rat Western and Tanya Poole. The idea was to keep things interesting and students interested beyond examinable work. This year’s theme was ‘Object’. Each student had to submit inspirational objects, which were then shuffled and redistributed to serve as inspiration for fellow students’ work.
This piece had to be created during the mid-year vacation. Interesting idea, I thought, remembering my own second year when this holiday exhibition was first organised.
There was great enthusiasm from the students, fascinating art filled the gallery space.
And this year? Well, although there were some inspiring pieces, including the video installation of winner David Glover and the scary ‘needle pump’, many lacked professional presentation.
There were a lot of photos ‘prestiked’ to the wall. Additionally, with two exceptions, none of the works provided an explanation as to what their given object had been and what their art represented.
Granted that this is not always necessary, I believe it hindered the viewer’s experience in this instance.
Great initiative – but isn’t it losing steam somewhat? The project is separate from students’ other works and many don’t seem to give it the attention it deserves, especially since it’s a ‘holiday project’. The decline started last year, when no or very mediocre work was submitted.
And that is a great pity, both for student artists and Grahamstown’s art-loving public. I would encourage the Fine Art students to show off a little more. This exhibition is the perfect opportunity to do what you want and flaunt your talents.
We know it’s your holidays, but hey, we want to see more!
