Even if Grahamstown is shivering with the cold this week, art lovers can enjoy a hot cup of soup or a glass of sherry or wine at the opening of several National Arts Festival exhibitions right here in Port Elizabeth.
Kaleidoscope will feature the work of Les Bird, Anne-Mari Burger, Janet Kingwill and Jenny Maltby and they will present their work on the same platform as PE Fringe artists Evelien Burger, Liesl Duthe, Llise Dodd, Joseline Fick, Gaynor Gordon, Sue Hoppe, Bill Jones, Lita Marais, Susan Smith and Sonia Strümpfer.
Both exhibitions open at 5.30 for 6pm on Thursday, and from then will be on show from 9am to 4pm daily until the end of the festival on Sunday, July 8, at St George’s Prep in Park Drive, St George’s Park.
Nelson Mandela Bay is hosting another Festival exhibition at the GFI Art Gallery in Park Drive, a solo exhibition of classic portraiture using contemporary techniques, tools and colours by Riebeek-Kasteel artist Solly Smook.
It also will feature ceramics by Kate Malan and opens tomorrow at 6pmThe work on show is part of the official festival programme.
Smook said that in creating his work he “reconsidered the conventions of portrait painting”. His goal was to create paintings which engage with matters beyond what is immediately visible.
Nelson Mandela University is exhibiting the work of its students in Port Elizabeth, at the university’s Bird Street Art Gallery as part of the NAF Fringe programme.
Intersection 100/135 will open on Thursday at 6pm and celebrate 135 years of creativity, commentary and art-making by the NMU Department of Visual Arts, with selected works from undergraduate and graduate students.