Art News

Welcome to Art News 2026. 

I have very little of your childrens art to share in this art news publication, simply because we are keeping our artworks as a surprise for our art exhibition, later this year. 

The annual art exhibition takes place in our garden in the 4th term once the weather warms. These days that is very difficult to predict so keep watching for information about the exhibition. 

I want to share something of the art world we have been talking about and something of what we have been up to. 

Above is the cover of our very first art journal. Drawing in pencil is the foundation of art and for most children it is the place they feel most comfortable. Over the years, we would gather these drawings and share them in our art exhibition. This year, for the very fisrt time, I decided to gather these in one spot - the Art Studio Journal. I hope that when you visit the exhibition, you will spend time enjoying these beautiful books. 

I have a variety of classes during each week. 

On Mondays I have a beautiful homeschool , family group, where we spend time arting together. Parents and children work on the same project and we really do have a great deal of fun. 

This term we are working on ideas that flow from a childrens book called "Rosies Glasses" by Dave Whamound

Here is a read aloud videa of this picture book. 

The big idea is about ways of seeing and perspectives. 

On the back of this we have created a variety of works in this class including a beautiful variety of masks. There is an example of one such mask below. 

Ths collection of colourful creations below is also from this Monday class. 

During the holidays, we visited The Natural History Museum to look at San art and the work of George William Stow, who painted one of the oldest records of watercolour work representations of San rockart in South Africa. 

The above is an example of looking at history through the lense of art. In South Africa, we have so many opportunities to do this with children and indeed ourselves. Art creates an place and space to reflect on life in an engaging way. 

The Zetz Mocca has a number of exhibitions on that are really very beautiful and engaging. Wednesday mornings are free for SA citizens. 

Thank you so much for allowing me to visit my family in Johannesburg for my dad's 80th birthday. We spent a beautiful time and even visitied some art spaces. Below is the exhibition we visited  by South African artist Unathi Mkonto at The Goodman Gallery.  Please look out for their work in our city too. 

Constitution Hill

We visited The Constitutional Court and the art exhibition at the court too. The court is build at the oldest prision in SA. There are so many profound moments one experiences . The art exhibition was completely different from our last visit. The reason being that the exhibition is on exhibit at the Zeitzs. 

The above is my favourite work from this exhibit. 

This week we have experienced the sad news of many great artists . 

Yoyoi Kusami was one of the worlds greatest Japanese artists and she died at the age of 97. She spent the last years of her life in a mental welness clinic where she continued to create art until the end. 

The passing of icon Dolly Parton has highlighted the dire need of kindness in this world of ours. I have to say I have subjected the children to a dash of her country vibe this week. 

Portia Zvavahera has some of her work on exhibit at The Norval. This week, Doug and I joined the first of a series on conversation . 

The topic was an interesting one, given our history in SA and the history of the world. 

In celebration and reflection of womens month and the womens march of 1956, when 20 000 women marched to The Union Buildings in then,  Pretoria, the Norval focused their first talk on the topic of women artists in the SA context.

The panel discusion introduced some very interesting ideas and reflected on the difficulties women artists may encounter in the selling of their art.

I look forward to the the Norval  depening  and widening these open talks into the future.  

The Dominican Republic. 

The USA embassy in The Republic held on its walls this wonderous work. 

Do you know who the artists is? 

Kehinde Wiley. 

Kehinde was the artist who painted the official portrait of President Barac Obama. 

The Trump Administration has decided to remove this paining from its embasy walls and have sold it off.  I find these sorts of actions and reasons so very interesting as an art lover, teacher and artists. 

Art speaks. It tells stories. It hold histories. It is. When powerful people censor art, it si for this reason . It is because art holds power. It reflects to us and from us. 

Our teen class is creating new works of art around the idea of war and hope. We are looking it some of the artworks that were made because of war.  They then have to create something that reflects these themes. 

Pablo Picasso's Geurnica is one of these. 

As is Monet's Waterlilies. 

Our city is full of art. From murals created by Falko to grand and beautiful works created by well known and  up and comming artists. I am so excited that your children get to share in this world of creating.  I love sharing art with each one of you.