One of the Capes colourful artists died over Christmas 2007. The community where he lived and contributed for many years, Mbekweni, outside Paarl, will miss him. Soloman Siko passed away at the age of 42.

Not a man for the flashy spotlight or artistic highlife. Siko provided a particular, individual and typically Caoe point of view in his bright, crisp paintings and engaging drawings. His works was inevitably chosen to be part of exhibitions or presentations which showcased Cape Socail culture.

Born in Sakkieskam, Wellington, Solomn somehow always related to the community and culture of the region. When settled on a art career, he made his home in Mbekweni.

Humour and satire frequently invaded his pictures which he executed with a dedicated sense of style and theatrical skill. He simply loved to portray the scenes that surrounded him, lifting characters and personalities and recording the township landscapes. This made his art the valuable documents of that society that they are.

"Siko 's vibrant paintings on heavily textured and engraved board are the theatre for richly imaginative portrayal of street life. Siko loves to stretch the world around him. Humour is a positive force in our multicultural society and with his real gift for caricature, the application’s (made) gently".

Siko studies art at the then Community Arts Project (CAP) in Woodstock in the late 1990's showing his first work at an exhibition held at St Georges Cathedral and later a solo show at the Oude Pastorie - museum in Paarl.

Identifying with the credo of so - called struggle art, Siko's work got a stimulus when the South African Art Association of Art gave him a stipend to work at the Dal Josafat art foundation near his Paarl home in 1992. He never looked back.

Central to his career - which included taking part in overseas group shows and having his work acquired for important collections - was to give back to his community in the form of art classes.

"Extracts taken from the Cape times Article published on the web by tonight on January 8, 2008".

TANYA BONELLO
b. 1972, South Africa
Ba (Fa) Graduated 1994
University of Cape Town, South Africa

Tanya is a mixed media artist who is currently working with gypsum, rust, linseed oil and oil paint on board.

Born in 1972 in Asmara, Eritrea.
Lives and works in Pietermaritzburg, RSA
EXHIBITIONS:
2006

2005

Janice Walton

Janice Walton trained at Dundee’s Duncan of Jordanston College and at Edinburgh Art College. Having 3 children in her mid 20’s she then did mainly commissioned wok and private teaching.
When she moved to Surrey in the mid-eighties she undertook much more teaching and studied the human form in great depth, working intensively from the model.
Janice’s expertise for many years was in pastels but recently she felt the need to devote all of her time to the development of her own individual work which is now also in oils. Her subject matter has moved from almost exclusively the human form into the world of still life and recollections of past experiences. Her style has developed into expressionistic constructivism, with a strong sense of colours and balanced composition reflecting the many hours of exploratory drawing she has always done. Yearly trips to South Africa have resulted in original interpretations of wild life imagery. Having recently moved to a house by the sea in South Devon, Seascapes and local landscapes are now part of Janice’s repertoire.
Her work is happy and rich in atmosphere, merging imagination with reality
EXHIBITIONS
-Connoisseur Gallery, Crawfod Street, London
-Hyde Park Gallery, London
-Royal portrait Society,Mall Galleries, London
-Atrium Gallery, Whitley’s, London
-The Orangery Gallery, Holland Park, London
-Fire and Iron Gallery, Leatherhead
-Figurative Artists Gallery, Twickenham (2 person show)
-Watts Gallery, Compton, Surry (solo show)
-Robert Phillips Gallery, Walton on Thames
-Weybridge Library
-Windsor Street Gallery, Chertsey
-The Gallery, Virginia Water (including 4 solo shows)
-Gallery 17, Beckenham
-The Cultural Centre Wassenaar, The Netherlands
-Deutshen Apotheker – und Artzebank, Gottingen, Germany
-Inspires Gallery, Oxford
-Mayne Gallery Kingsbridge, South Devon
-Kaya Gallery, Southside Street, Barbican, Plymouth
-Delamore Gallery, Cornwood, Ivybridge.
AWARDS
-Art prize in final year of school
-Travel Award in 2nd year Art College
-Diploma of Art from Edinburgh College of Art
-City & Guilds Adult Education Teaching Certificate
COLLECTIONS
Works in collections in Great Britain, The Netherlands, Germany, Japan, United States and South Africa.
Numerous commissioned works throughout career including child and animal portraits and landscape views.
Major installation “the bathers” for the Burgh Island Hotel, South Devon – Autumn 2005.

Dominic Benhura

At the age of 10 Dominic Benhura began to assist his cousin, the sculptor Tapfuma Gutsa, an soon after to create his own works. Many early formative years were spent at Chapungu Sculpture Park and he is today regarded as the cutting edge of Zimbabwe sculpture with one-man exhibitions in Zimbabwe, Australia, Belgium, Holland, Germany and America.
His subject matter is extensive including plants, trees, reptiles, animals and the whole gambut of human experience. Benhura has an exceptional ability to portray human feeling through form rather than facial expression. He continues to lead by experimentation and innovation and has created many memorable works including Euphorbia Tree, Our H.I.V. Friend, Swing Me Mama, The Dance of the Rainbirds, and Lazy Sunday.
DOMINIC BENHURA, born in 1968, is in a league of his own. He began his career in sculpture at the age of ten when he studied under his cousin, Tapfuma Gusta, a Master Sculptor. Dominic sold his first piece professionally to architects at the age of twelve. His work is bold and daring and he captures balance and movement both physically and emotionally. His prime motivation is to explore new ideas, concepts, techniques and methods and to express and communicate powerfully simple ideas. Nature, family and the relationships with his children are his main inspiration for his sculptures.

Helena Scheibe- Cape Town

Her works are imbued with rich colour and textured surfaces.

Works are done in different media. The surface texture is created with a variety of impasto mediums. Elements like sand, twigs, collage and metals are embedded in the wet paste and left to dry. The works are finished with layers of washes and glazes in rich earth colours, using acrylic oils, beeswax and pigment.

Nature and earth elements are sources of inspiration but not recreated on canvas. Works become altered landscapes of the mind and viewers may find the image familiar but unidentifiable. The patina of time, weather and erosion, worn edges, scratches, smudges are represented in some works.

Tuition: Diploma in Fine Art & Design (3 years)

Private art lessons with the following tutors:
Andre van Zyl (80's)
Andrea Desmond Smith (90's)
Michael Petit (90's)
Angela Babayo
Eva- Marie Bergen  (encaustic workshop, San Fransisco, USA) Ann Baldwin (collage and mixed media workshop,  Sedona, USA) Lauryn Taylor (Carmel, USA)

Shany was born in Riversdale South Western Cape in 1958, and matriculated from CJ Langenhoven High school. She studied ceramics part-time from 1982-1985 at Paarl College, and life drawing and painting part time at Ruth Prowse School of Art from 1990 – 1992. Since then she has worked as a full time artist, developing her own technique in oil painting and producing work exhibited at various galleries

Shany’s ethereal, sensitive oil paintings and artwork capture a mood reminiscent of contemporary mannerism and romanticism with a strong focus on womanhood. She succeeds in communicating the multi-layered emotions, ideas and modern concepts with a classical approach to portraiture and captures these ideas with meticulous attention to detail , simplicity and subtle symbolism.

Born:  28/ 6/ 1978 Durban, KwaZulu-Natal

Sibusiso Duma started drawing with crayons and colour pencils at a young age. In 1994 he met the late Trevor Makhoba (1956-2003) who was well known for his controversial and socially critical painting style. Makhoba mentored Duma from 1994-2003. Everyday after school Sibusiso, together with Welcome Danca went to paint along side Makhoba and much of his influence can be seen in Sibusiso’s earlier work.

Sibusiso is the author and narrator of his works, he ‘stores’ his life experiences, opinions, and nostalgic childhood memories in his paintings. He makes sense of life through the stories he tells in his paintings.

The figures in the paintings are consistently placed in the centre of his compositions, looking into the distance with their backs facing the viewer. This invites us to enter and translate the works through our own experiences of life, so we contemplate the painting, quietly; there is a lesson to be taught. Sibusiso’s paintings exist between his reality and fantasy of life around him. 

1966...Born in Cape Town South Africa.
1983...Matriculated at St Cyprians School for Girls in Cape Town.
1984...1st year Bachelor of Fine Arts at Michaelis School of Fine Art,University of Cape Town.
1985-1988...studied at Ruth Prowse School of Art where she achieved a Fine Arts and Design
Diploma;majoring in Textile Design.
...received a student textile design award for "Innovative Design in Commercial Application".

 EMPLOYMENT

1990...Worked as a Decorative Commercial and residential Painter.
...Johannesburg's Sunday Star Newspaper Magazine featured on
27 May 1990 a front cover showing her use of paint and concrete to transform an ordinary bathroom into an ancient Pompeian Spa.
...Amongst her MANY assignments she decorated a Salon for the wellknown Socialite;Yvonne Chaka Chaka
1992...Received a Merit Award in the interior Design Category at the Dulux Awards for the Creative use of Colour for a mural done at the Katinka Heyns Film Studio in Johannesburg Judged to be of Exceptional Standard.
...A highlight of this period was an assignment to decoratively paint the Conference Rooms,Super Bowl Surrounds and the BALLROOM ceiling at the famous LOST CITY for Sol Kerzner of Sun International fame.
1994...Relocated to Los Angeles Laguna Beach California U.S.A.for 3 years;doing decorative commercial and residential painting;including set design with Lyon Studios at Newport Blvd,Newport Beach.
1997...Returned to her native Cape Town South Africa to engage in Oil on canvas artworks
...Worked for Charles Grieig Jewellers at the V&A Waterfront.
2005/6...Exhibited at 'The Association For Visual Arts' annual Members Exhibition
...various Merit Awards were given by 'the SA association for Artists' for works exhibited.
2007...Worked for Egon Tania on Public Sculptures;life size bronze figures;installed at PIER PLACE 35 Heerengragt Cape town 2008...Various private  commissions.
2009/10...Working for Sculptor Donald Greig of Charles Greig Jewellers,daily managing the jewellery display;and assisting him with sculpture and painting for his Gallery.