In addition to their lecturing skills, many staff members at the Tshwane University of Technology’s Department of Fine and Applied Arts are also accomplished artists. Now, for the first time, they are collaborating in a group exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum, titled Art(ed), featuring work representing all three disciplines taught at the Department, namely Textile Design, Jewellery Design and Fine Arts.
“The aim of the exhibition is to showcase the skill and
versatility of staff in a single exhibition,” says Dr Runette Kruger, Head of
the Department. “They exhibit all over South Africa, even beyond, but haven’t
done so collaboratively. It is often taken for granted that lecturers are also
practitioners. However, this exhibition makes the depth and range of skills at
the Department more tangible for staff, students, and the public,” Dr Kruger
adds.
The exhibition is curated by lecturer and glass master, Retief
van Wyk, and includes work from disciplines as diverse as painting, sculpture,
ceramics, printmaking and glass, alongside textiles and jewellery.
The variety of disciplines taught at the Department is to be
found in no other visual arts department in South Africa.
Dr Kruger says almost thirty staff members will participate,
including Assistant Dean of the Faculty of the Arts, Prof Nalini
Moodley-Diar.
“We seldom have the occasion to appreciate one another’s
creativity. This exhibition is an opportunity to celebrate that which gives us
joy as creative practitioners,” Dr Kruger concludes.
Artistically admired retired staff member, Carl Jeppe, will open
the exhibition on 14 September, at 18:00 for 18:30 in the East Gallery of the
Pretoria Art Museum. The exhibition ends on 8 October.
The work on exhibition is for sale.
For more information, please contact Eunice Cugnolio at 012 382
6159 or cugnolioe@tut.ac.za.
For more information on the Tshwane University of Technology,
please contact Willa de Ruyter on tel: 012 382 5352 or send an email to
deruyterw@tut.ac.za.