Artists

Anton Butler - I am 45 years old and studied graphic design at Mechaelis art school for two years. Too impatient to get out into the world I did not finish but started building surfboards and founded my own company. I have always loved colour and design and started painting three years ago. I am inspired by land - sea - and skyscapes. The mood of a landscape fascinates me and is what I try to capture in my paintings, through the shapes and colours. The colours must jump out at the viewer, so that every time you walk past it makes you look. Interestingly enough, some of my paintings can be hung upside down if the mood requires. I airbrush the paint onto the canvas . Recently I have been introducing wild life into my paintings which seems to be working. I am still growing and finding my feet as an artist and it is an exciting journey.

Ashleigh Vincent - An artist with a passion for our landscapes, oceans, and the rich floral Kingdom we enjoy in Cape Town.Ashleigh loves working with texture and there is often much mood and feeling to be found in her work. She is totally inspired by the colours and textures of the sand, sea and sky of our wild Atlantic Coast. Ashleigh uses various media to transfer her passion onto canvas and handmade papers. Working mostly in oils, pastels and collage techniques. Ashleigh holds a National Diploma in Textile Design and has also received further training from renowned Landscape Artist Peter Birch and abstract Artist Helen Leiros. Ashleigh has sold her work through galleries in Zimbabwe and Zambia and in December 2007 held her first local exhibition in Kommetjie. Ashleigh has produced a number of private commissions and on a slightly different tangent helped illustrate a paper for a Doctor of Botany. Being inspired by the vast beauty and diversity of life in Africa her desire is that her work would bring some of that life and beauty into peoples homes and places of work.

Bonnie Serjeant - I studied fine art at Michaelis and Bezalel in Jerusalem. My inspiration is the natural world and its people and the narrative of the unspoken which I translate through painted imagery onto recycled wood or canvas or other surfaces which interest me.

Gary Frier - I find inspiration in many forms of media. Creating art for me is about constantly reflecting on my place in the world, discovering how to distill and interpret my interaction with what surrounds me and documenting that personal relationship.

Gordon Rattey - Dream Chair In a life before I started living, I studied advertising, got an apprenticeship in joinery, build lots of kitchens and even a house or two. An accident in 1997 left me with 20% vision in my right eye and plenty of recuperating time. I could no longer function in the industry, so I started to play with wood - sculpting and mixing form with function.

Hilde Alet Malan - I grew up in the Gamtoos valley in the Eastern Cape and studied at the University of Cape Town. I have always been inspired by nature. Originally I worked with natural forms found in botanical subjects and the nude female figure. These subjects, through the media of painting and drawing, provided me with subject matter, form and content and I increasingly gravitated towards painting as my medium of choice. It provided the expressive freedom, fluidity and chromatic ranges that allowed me to progressively distil and abstract my subject matter. Gestural action, spontaneity and beauty is a very important part of my paintings. My paintings is a personal expression of my emotions. I love it when other people can look at my paintings and feel something of what I felt when I was painting it, but also interpret it in their unique way. I have a truly personal, honest and expressive way of painting. Painting has become a process of self-discovery and given me the opportunity to paint who I am.

Igshaan Adams - Igshaan Adams is a Capetonian artist from Bonteheuwel who completed his National Diploma in Fine art at The Ruth Prowes School of Art in 2009. He has participated in various group shows including The Greatest Hits 2009 exhibition at the AVA in January 2010, the "Swallow my Pride" exhibition at Blank Projects in March 2010 and "Materiality" at ORE gallery currently on show. In April 2010 he had his first solo exhibition at the AVA gallery titled Vinyl where he offered neighbours in his community new vinyl floor-covering in exchange for vinyl that had been worn down by years of domestic use which he used as his basic canvases.

James Clayton - Born in 1963 in England, received a BEng from Imperial College London in 1985. I am a self taught artist with no formal training. I work in the space where industrial engineering meets and mimics nature, I strive to create magic. I now live in Noordhoek, South Africa. I used to be a mining engineer, derivatives trader, software designer, bank executive, martial arts teacher, software sales executive. I am now an artist, a risk consultant and a process art teacher. Exhibitions: Spier Contemporary 2010. “Washa and Gnasha”

James Musoke-Lule - James is a Ugandan trained artist born in 1965. He is a painter, sculptor and a printer. In 1990 he graduated at Magret School of Industrial Art, Makerere University. James is also an Art teacher and has taught Art at high school level for 10 years. James has been involved in various solo and joint exhibitions in Uganda, Kenya, UK and South Africa. He sculpture in; Wood carving, Plaster of Paris, Bonze cast and Terracotta. James is a self employed artist who lives in Cape Townt. At the present he is working with a new method using a dark canvas with illuminating colours. James has embarked on using pixel points to express form, colour structure and feelings. His style is unique it tells a story in form and painterly texture.

James Sleigh - James Sleigh is a Cape Town based artist, who works in mainly acrylics and mixed media on canvas. His work has been on several exhibitions. James is also a photographer and travel writer, from which he draws inspiration for some of his paintings. Under the brand James Sleigh Creative, he consults as a brand development consultant and designer, assisting organisations with branding and marketing themselves. He owns a creative workshop – The Visual Junction, which executes many of his designs as creative signage, print media and packaging. He is a father of two daughters, and an aspiring yogi.

Kelly John Gough -  “I have no qualifications in fine art, I have only a passion and talent for the only thing I have ever wanted to be, an artist”  Kelly showed a very keen interest and aptitude for art from a very early age, and started receiving instruction from his father, (a fine artist himself) from about the age of four.

Lena Magnusson - Grew up in northern Sweden with brush and pencil behind her ears. Illustrates her own as well as other peoples stories. Wants to breath, eat, hear, smell, feel and taste art...every day.

Linda Butler - Linda Butler was born in 1972 in Orangemund, Namibia. She moved to Cape Town in 1981. After completing schooling and a brief period of studying graphic design she pursued a career in Nursing. Currently she is a part time student of Marlise Keith. Her artistic influences and inspirations are Paul Emsley, the Dutch Masters and the Impressionists. She works mainly in pastel and charcoal, using everyday life and trips to the South African bush to gather photographic material of her subjects.

Lizette Chirrime - I was born in Mozambique Angoche District of Nampula. I was inspied as an artist by my mother who is a musician and found my self surrounded by artist friends. In 2003 i started to work as full time artist and move to Cape town In 2005

Marian Rixon - Marian Rixon is a Cape Town based artist who specializes in the medium of acrylics to reflect her interest in nature & its relationship to our lives. As a landscape gardener by profession she has found that using paint on canvas she creates stronger and bolder gardens and landscapes that now appear on the walls of many homes. She uses colour with light and shadow to create texture and has a certain magic that is her style even in her daily work as a gardener.

Merle Buratovich - Merle Buratovich exudes a love and a passion for life and is as creative and beautiful a person as her art. A fine art graduate of The Foundation School of Art she has been in a number of exhibitions in and outside South Africa. Her late father, a physician and artist, taught her the importance of colour and light, which is an essential aspect of her work. Living in Cape Town she also teaches art from her studio.

Nikki Rixon -

Osnat De Villiers - Dream Shop I have been drawing and painting since 3 years old, while living in Jerusalem, Israel. I live in Scarborough, Cape town - a quaint little village set on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. I am always inspired by nature and the beauty surrounding us.  I enjoy sketching and drawing daily and develop those into big paintings on canvas. I use ink, water colors, fabric paint, acrylic and oil paint on paper, fabric and canvas..

PHILANI Fresco Art - Philani Child Health & Nutrition Project consists of six centres in Khayelitsha, Crossroads and Brown’s Farm. As a way to generate income for women with children, Philani offers training and work facilities for weaving, print making and art production. Five young women are currently enrolled in Philani’s fresco group; Nonkqubela Mtengwana, Beaullah Molusi, Thandiswa Ramba, Phumeza Mgwinteni and Wendy Peter. Using plywood, plaster, paint and fabric they produce images featuring iconic African wildlife, supervised by South African artist Igshaan Adams. The images are available in a range of sizes and can be ordered. The artpieces are increasingly in demand; one was recently sold on auction in Sweden and two are now decorating the new health clinic in Town 2, Khayelitsha.

Pieter Niemann - I come from a very artistic family, my father and mother are both artists. As a youth, I would spend time watching my father sit at his easel, and paint all kinds of images. It amazed me, how he could use different colours, to create a picture on a blank piece of paper, that could stir an emotion in me. I was inspired to create, like my father; to do what he could do. For me, my art is a natural expression of my creativity. My focus in my paintings, is to express the raw power and beauty of nature, and the mortality of man and his crafts. My work is a snapshot of history and events that should not have taken place. After school, I pursued a career in the corporate world. Being creative was always part of my life - in 2003, I was rewarded by the SABS Design Institute, for the best design of the year. In 2004, I left the corporate world and moved to Cape Town; where I live out my passion for history and ships. Nature inspires me, by how it can mould and reshape man’s craftsmanship, transforming it into a work of art, constantly changing through time, like a sculpture, carved in ice.

Reon Zeff - Sculpting sand has been my passion for more than 10 years. Through the years, I have done a vast number of gigs, for corporate companies as well as children’s birthday parties. I can sculpt almost anything you can imagine from castles in the sky to detailed interiors of cars or any animal that comes to mind. The biggest art piece I have worked on was 120 tons of sand, which took me ten days. Why not initiate a promotion that for sure will capture people’s minds, eyes and hearts. My specialized sand creations can bring new excitement to your next marketing activity or event be it indoors or outdoors. I have trained with the World Champions from Florida and offer sand sculpting possibilities for corporate logo reproductions, displays, production set designs, shopping mall window displays.

Robert Hahn -

Scott Waterhouse - Scott Waterhouse has been practising art from an early age and continues to behave like a child to this day.

Sue Conradi - Originally I was a Fashion Designer then changed to Decorative Art. Recently I have been doing more fine art, specifically oils and acrylic I am mad about colour and light. My two obsessions at the moment are skin textures/tones and the human tendency of to hide some part of ourselves, to keep something secret, sacred - goggles, glasses, back views, no faces. I have also illustrated a children’s book with writer Kate Harrison. The two years that I spent in the Karoo was very inspiring. Now living in Kommetjie I am loving the open spaces and the closeness to the ocean.

Vivien Kohler - My work deals with aspects of past, present and future. And as I discover more about where I come from, where I am and where I am going, my work takes on a richer more soulful attribute not consciously perceived at the onset. To discover ones self along the journey of life is a glorious thing. The path of destiny is laced with trails and victories all designed to shape our characters. The person I grew up knowing myself to be is dying, making way for the person I am destined to be. My work too reflects this change. Vivien has taken part in many prestigious exhibitions i e ; the “Ero-Sensual” exhibition as one of 5 featured artists. In 2007 he was invited onto the prestigious group exhibition curated by Prof. Michael Godby of UCT. The exhibition titled "Is There Still Life" featured the cream of South African artistic talent. His work has reached as far as Switzerland, France, Australia, Austria and London, and gone into collections such as The Hollard Collection (Jhb), SAB (Jhb), ABI (Jhb), Nando’s (UK) and Fusion (UK). Together with Lonwabo Kilani, Thulani Shuku, Lindile Magunya, Dathini Mzayiya and Ndikhumbule Ngqinambi he started the Umsi (the smoke) group. Since January 2007 Vivien has moved to and is now a resident artist at the Good Hope Art Studio at the Castle in Cape Town, where he also has stepped into a management position.