Monday, March 4, 2024

The Studio Newsletter 2024

Welcome back to art with Caren at The Studio for 2024.

Here is what we have been up to so far. 

We began the year with beautiful nature drawings of seed pods,  cones , seeds and the like. Children often really enjoy a pencil drawing experience and these are no exception.  

What pencil to use for drawing? 

Find any good quality B pencil - 3/4/5/6/8 will do. A good quality sharpener and eraser is also helpful in the drawing process. 

The art we engage in at The Studio is traditional , observational artworks as a starting point. Much like gathering information for any work, even works of imagination, we gather and use resourses to create artwork. Very young children have excpetional observational skills and create wonderous works. As do older children and adults , however the older we get the more  self critical we tend to become. 



This term we have focused on self-portraits. 
We learnt abut the proportions of a face. 
Where do we put our eyes? 
Where does the nose turn around at the end? 
What abou the position of ears? 
and then, there is the mouth? 

For the background or negetive space, we looked at  North American artist, Kehinde Wiley. This well know artist was asked to paint the portrait of Borack Obama. he has turned the way portraits represent people today, right on its head. :)



Kehinde Wiley paints orate, highly decorative backgrounds full of nature including meaningful and thoughtfully chosen flowers. 

We hope to finsih of the term with these amazing self reflective works. 

Adult Class- Thursday morning




This year we started off adult art class with all things giant. Each artist is working on their own work of art and idea. The way I like to work with adults is to provide a project idea and then let the artists fly. Some or working on enormouse flower works while some do works in watercolours and chalk pastels.





 Follow Art at The Studio on social media. This year I am focusing on encouraging us all to draw every day. Spending 10-15 minutes every day creating art will change your perspective and really improve your art skills. 

Art at The Studio has 2 family art sessions. This work below is from one of the art sessions. The idea is that children and their parents enjoy an art session together, while working on the same project. It creates a space for beautiful conversation and sharing. 


Art in Cape Town


This year we have enjoyed The Cape Town Art Fair once again. Each year this exhibition is held in the CTICC and is a real celebration of many South African and African artists. 

Highlighting - Esther Mhlangu

 Dr. Esther Mhlangu is a national treasure of South Africa. 98 year old Esther has an exhibition on at The National Gallery. Her familiar and beautiful Ndebele art pattern works can be enjoyed by the whole family. I don't know about you, but I long to be creating in my 90's. 

Art with teens


Art at The Studio works with teens. On Friday afternnon we have our wonderful teen art class. T Shirt painting is the order fof the day to begin the year of 2024. 
We are learning all about how paint works on strtchy fabric. The works are not yeat completed. lookout for them next term in the newsletter 2. 
I work with teens in Mitchels Plain too. These beautiful teens are also creting T shirt art and this is a safe and relaxing place to express and explore. 





Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Art Times at The Studio 4

Thank you
for joining us in sharing some of our art news for the last term of Art with The Studio. 


Here are some of the amazing works of art from term 3 and 4 . 

The children come from many different communities and range from four to 16 years of age. 
These beautiful patterns below grew out of our discussion of Basotho Blankets.  
Below are 
some of the works of art from the family art group. 
 

Welcome to the 4th art news for this year. This has been a beatiful year of Art at The Studio and I will share some of the highlights with you all. 

I will begin with our annual art exhibition. 

This October, despite the wind that Cape Town often offers up, we shared some gfreat snacks and enjoyed our works of art. Below are some of the works from the day. 

One of the things I love about children's art exhibition, is that we get to share  the works we have created with one another. Someone said something to me resently which made me feel quite sad. " This is only childrens art". while I understand why the person said this, I felt that this parent had missed something of the profoundity of a child drawing or painting what I term , " real art". This is not craft , although sometimes there is an element of craft, but what I offer for art is a real, athentic space for children to begin the journey of observational art learning inclusing some theory and art history. This space is the very beginning or a journey where art engages with life. 

Our art exhibition shares osmething of this philosophy. Anyone and everyone can be an artist. 


During the October break, my family and I traveled to the town of Nieu Bethesda in The Karroo, near Graaf Reinett. The main purpose of this family holiday, was to visit the famous Helen Martin's Owl House. The Owl House is the centre of the community of Nieu Bethesda and has more fet through its small doors than our National Gallery. People travel from all over the world to witness the beautiful work of Helen, Koos Malgas and The Owl House. 

It did not disappoint. 

Here are a few of my photographs. 
 I have shared two photos that capture bothe the light and the love of The Owl House. It was a truly mystical and grateful experience. 

I would like to share a little about the making of the delightful bird sculptures from the exhibition. These artworks grew out of our exploration of The Owl House and the work of Helen and Koos. They were indeed a personal labour of love and patience and each child gave of their all to create these wonders. 



Art during the holidays - What can you do this holiday? 

There are so many wonderful art exhibitions and spaces in all of our cities in South Africa. From a small town like Nieu Bethesda to any of our large cities, many artists share their work. A few weekends ago Kirstenhof held their very first community market where many people exhibited their works. - as an example. 

The Norval in Tokai is always a must for a visit. The garden with all the sculptures by well known artists is a firm favourite. Take a small snack and enjoy this space with many shady trees. Maggie Laubser is still on show with her mesmerizing portraits and a lovley timeline of work on exhibit. 

Zeitz at The Waterfront is free for SA citizens on Wednesday mornings.There is an amazing exhibition of political resistance art from South Africa and many other parts of the world. It is extremely powerful. Not for children under the age of  12/13.

Galleries are also a wonderful space to pop into. The big galleries like Southern Guild, Blanc, A4 and Goodman etc are place on e can visit for free. Just check the internet for details. 

The National Gallery - this is a firm favourite of mine. It holds a beautiful collection of South African artists as well as artists from the world. The childrens gallery is bright , welcomming, with paintings at a lower level and bean bags to lie on. 



I end on this note. Thank you. Thank you for sharing in the exhibition . Thank you for encouraging your children in their artist journey.  To all those grade 7 children who begin a new year at a new school, go for it. Make new friends and keep on drawing. A reminder I have an art class for teens on a Friday afternoon. 

Have a peaceful, restful holiday time . I look forward to spending time with my family, new "family" and my 82 year old mom who is visiting us from Johannesburg. 

I look forward to see you next year. 

in art

Caren


Thursday, September 7, 2023

Art Times at The Studio - 3


Good morning artist parents and guardians. This is our 3rd newsletter and the trickiest ne to write because I will need to be as secretive as I can about the art we have been creating for the exhibition. 
You will not be disappointed. 

As you may know by know, I have several different art classes including adult, teen, homeschool, family art groups, outreach work as well as the weekly general art classes for your children. These are all beautiful spaces where a mirriad of artworks are being workd on. 

In addition to these, I try and offer an art outing to an exhibition once a term and the above photo is an example of the adult group visitng the Zeitz Mocca art gallery in Cape Town to see the , "When We See Us" exhibition. Some of our children also visited this ehibition during the july holidays. It is an extrodinary exhibit of black artists work from the diaspora and I highly recommend a visit. Wednesday mornings are free for SA citizens. 
 
 

Surrealism is a genre of art that developed in the shadow of WW 1,as a response to the horrors of war. This art form wanted to express the ideas that are hidden in our dreams and sub conscious and key artists are people like Spanish Dali , French Rene Margritte and Max Ernst .


These holiday and homeschool artworks which take an animal and then create something wonderful with them are along the ideas of this surrealist movment. 


Above is a little hint of what we have been building throughout this term. No more :)



Above is a beautiful frame made during one of our family art sessions. You are so welcome to book a slot and bring your family to share in art. 


On Tuesday mornings I visit a school in Mitchels Plain to do art with a small group of teens. We are exploring Surrealism too by creating collages which we will paint. 

Adults jind me for a morning of design and free work. This person took an old jacket and created this beautiful work reflecting HOPE. 

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If you are wanting to develope more of a purposeful art practice, then do follow The Studio on social media for idea and prompts. 



Below is a beautiful work done by a student this term. Most students have been able to manage 3 projects , which have all been on the go at the same time. Awesome. 
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Painting these wonderful creations is the very last part of this huge project. I am so proud of each child. 

Thank you for this opportunity to share art with all of your children as well as the adults who join and the families who have joined too. It is such a joy for me. 

Artist exploration - This term we have learnt about South African artist, Helen martins and her 'Owl House". Helen was born in 1897 and diesd in 1976. She lived most of her life in the little town of Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo of South Africa. She was quite and interesting person who , along with her hellow artist and helper, Koos Malgas built the wonders in her garden which can be visited today. 



This holiday, I am going to visit The Owl House with my family. I am extremely excited as this has been a life wish for me. I will let you know how this journey goes. 

Exhibition - please diariase the date of 28th October in the afternoon which will be our annual art exhibition. 

Yours, in art Caren
Please do not hestiate to contact Caren.Falconer - art@carensartstudio.co.za

Monday, May 22, 2023

Art Times at The Studio

Welcome to the second Art Times for The studio. 
The focus of this termly news letter is to share something of the art we have been creating during the term, as well as highlighting interesting exhibitions and art ideas for us all to ponder and enjoy. 
I begin at the beginning with a little of the story behind this term sart projects. For those who may not yet know, I run art classes for children and teens as well as a vibey fun adult class. The art classes for children are mixed ages. last year I started a wonderful class for slightly younger children which happens on Tuesdays. This term we have been busy with a beautiful , rather large work of ourselves. Each child has been working on their own body. Honestly, the delightful end product can not explain the deeply motivated and dedicated work these children have engaged in. We really sucked the life out of art here. I love these works. 

Some of the children had an opportunity to focus some time on drawing from a still life. while others continued their works of the Chameleon. These began as drawings and have ended with these characters of note. Most of the work we do at The Studio has some sort of picture of object that gives inspiration and allows children to practice their observation skills. The picture or object gives a rich language for children to launch themsleves off of when they are ready to do so and as they grow in confidence. 



Our homeschool monthly workshop created these wonderful shoes out of paper and card. 
A labour of love and care and lots of problem solving. Art is often about problem solving. I encourage chidren to try and figure out a way to answer their questions when a problem arises. The aim is not to create a "perfect" work each time but for children to learn and grow and challenge themselves. 


We are busy with a new project after completing last terms amazing works. These are based on the Basotho Blanket design of the people of Lesotho.  Please check out this link for more on these works of colour and delight. 


Maggie Laubser at The Norval

last week I visited the Maggie Laubser exhibition at The Norval in Tokai. Entrance is free for children. It is a wonderful timeline , art walk through some of her work from the beginning of her art journey until its end. In the painting below, we can see her very careful expression of a woman which in itself was revolutionary for the times. It is a beautiful and honest painting and I love her use of colour which dates the work and sets it well in the times. 

This exhibition is suitable for children and I recommend a visit. Alongside this exhibition is one by artist Bernie Searle. For adults, this is a fantastic opportunity to see Bernies work. She is a video and photographic artist of world status and , if you can set aside some time, this is thought provoking indeed. 
Holiday news - During the longer June/July break I will be running some art workshops. 
These will take place on - 27th and 28th June. 

Details to follow. 
I also hope to take some children to an art exhibition . Maggie Laubser is on the list as well as another visit to The National Gallery for those who missed it. :)

Please do not hestiate to contact Caren.Falconer - art@carensartstudio.co.za



Tuesday, April 4, 2023

The National Gallery

The National Gallery in Cape Town, South Africa holds a wide selection of artistsboth South African and from many other countries as wells as from across the ages. Today, I took a group of children to visit the gallery. My hope is that the visit wet their appetite for art enjoyment.  Above is one of the many William Kentridge works where he uses his signiture charcoal . Hidden in this work are some of the items we have grown used to in a Kentridge . 
The Children's gallery has a selection of works, hung at a lower level for children to enjoy. We enjoyed a detective game in this room where children went to find some of a list of items and artists such as Irma Stern and Picasso. Could you find these?
Last year, we learnt about Wassily Kandisnsky, a Russian artist born at the beginning of the first world war. He has Kinesthesia and so colours are as sounds and music are as colour to him. This influenced the art that he painted as can be seen in this musical abstract work.
Eduard Villa is a South African sculptor who has a number of works in the gallery . The knot is one of them . Can you spot the knot. 
Walter Batiss is a wonderful artist from South Africa. He is the creator of the delightful Fook Island and all its creatures, language and people etc. This is one of his works. 
Each work tells a story and I wanted the children to enjoy the different stories of art for themselves. 
Gone Fishing is a delightful work which some children chose as their unusual choice!!