Recent Land Art works

Mossel-sirkel
Dolphin Beach, Western Cape

Kampsbaai op Sunset Beach

The sand sprinkles or thrown onto the level/flat sand on Sunset Beach comes from Camp's Bay. This sand was collected from Camp's Bay for the Tread Upon installation, created at the Walk This Earth Alone exhibition, and was left over after the installation were done. Instead of returning it to where I found it, I displaced it further along the coast.

Vredeskring
Sunset Beach, Western Cape, August 2012

This is not a land art work, but an observation: To the left is a discarded battery, modified and transformed by the ocean's salt and water, in order to resemble the rock to the right:

5 rocks 
Sunset Beach, Western Cape, August 2012

Time, money and happiness

I have been quite busy since returning from Grahamstown and Sedgefield. I'm working hard at finding a balance between the things I HAVE to do and the things I WANT to do. I HAVE to make enough money to contribute towards our household costs like food. I WANT to make art, do gardening, dance, play, spend time with the people I love, play with my cat and make more art. I HAVE to do marketing to able to sell my art, to make money from what I love doing. I WANT to find balance between the pressures of making money and purely just doing things for the fun of it, while not being stressed or worried about the money-making project while I'm relaxing or spending time with hubby and kitty. 

... and I'm working at it. Sometimes acing it, sometimes struggling a bit. But always keep trying! And amongst this ongoing "reaching out" towards finding balance, "balance" just happens, often when I least expect it. It's not something to attain or achieve. It's something that's already there, you just need to see it, acknowledge it and enjoy it.

Enough rambling for now... some news:

• I have enrolled to the two month performance dance course with iKapa Dance Company, and went for the first class last night. My muscles are screaming at me, and it feels good to be moving again. 
• I am organizing myself a studio space at Studio 41 in Cape Town's Fringe District - very excited to have space to work on larger artworks again, and also work close to other artists!
• Arrangements, planning and creation is under way for an exhibition of art by me, Simon Bannister, Stefanie Schoeman, Kai Losgott, Claire Homewood, Nicolle Marais, Danelle Malan and Janet Ranson to be exhibited at the Green Expo at the CTICC in November 2012!
• And the Walk This Earth Alone exhibition, curated by  is showing until 26 September. My work exhibited includes "Tread Upon" and "Look Upon", both works created specifically for the exhibition, and also the works below:

Collection of photo-documentation of Land Art: 2006 - 2012
Booklet of 130 x 130 mm

Photo Blocks as part of the Meander & Human series, to the left between paintings by another artist, and two prints from my Nuances series on the right - Nuanced Landscape and Memory of This

See you on Sunday!

Tread Upon

TREAD UPON, as part of "Walk This Earth Alone" art exhibition, hosted by the Gallery @ Grande Provence, Franschhoek, 12 August - 26 September 2012

This work is focused on sand as material, medium and inspiration - sand representing the dust of our existence, the kernels resulting from ancient rocks' erosion, and thus a symbol of time and also place. The installation is a metaphor for the marks we leave behind as we tread upon the landscape, the spoor we leave in the sand. It is inspired by the Karoo 2052 exhibition, which I saw during the National Arts Festival in July 2012, as well as earlier work that I've done as part of HumanEarth and my SCAPES project. It is a continuation of the work I did as part of SAND(SPOOR], performed at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown in July 2012.

As part of the art installation, I specifically did not put poles and ropes up to keep people away from the artwork - the intention was for people to accidentally walk unto the artwork and destroy the stylized images of insects and foliage, as symbol of the way we destroy insects and plant life in the "real" landscapes, whether intentionally or unintentionally through the choices we make and the products we buy. Fracking in the Karoo is only possible if we as the public and as tax payers keep silent about our opposition against it. Renewable energy is viable as an energy solution for our country, but the government will only invest in it if we demand it. If we do nothing, we are allowing the destruction of our planet through coal mining, nuclear waste and fracking, and we are treading upon the landscape very harshly and mindlessly.

Beautiful addition(s) by one of the gallery goers or viewers

Look Upon

LOOK UPON
as part of "Walk This Earth Alone" art exhibition, hosted by the Gallery @ Grande Provence, Franschhoek, 12 August - 26 September 2012

We as humans display, explore and examine the natural world, trying to understand it, sometimes taking advantage of it and also ultimately conserving and protecting it, or pieces of it. There is a beauty to be seen, appreciated and respected in everything that surrounds us.  When we realize this, and experience it constantly, it might awaken the need and desire to protect living creatures so that museums don't end up being the only place where we can view creatures, plants and 'specimens' from nature.

Look Upon. Exhibited at "Walk This Earth Alone". Don't miss it!

 

I wrote a WikiHow article! How to get Your Art Submission Ready

Whether you want to submit your artworks for inclusion on an online gallery, to a local gallery for a possible exhibition, or to a magazine for promotional purposes, you need to make sure your art submission is complete and shows your art in the best possible way. Potential buyers, representatives, gallery owners and art agents want to see professionalism and want to know that you are proud of your art. If you are proud of your art and show it to its full potential, the chance is good you'll find success as an artist much easier to attain.

Steps

1. Finish your artwork completely. Make sure that your artworks are signed, dated (on the back if you don't prefer adding the date on the front), and neatly presented (framed, mounted, varnished, or kept in a plastic sleeve or porfolio to protect it from getting damaged).
2. Give a title to your artwork. Write the title into your artwork booklet or database (if you don't have this yet, start it now - even an empty notebook available from any stationary store is ideal, or have a file on your computer that you regularly back up onto a CD or external hard drive / print out to put into a ledger)
3. Measure your artwork. Add the width, height and if applicable, depth of your artwork alongside the title in your notebook or database. Also add the medium of your artwork and the year.
4. Write a DESCRIPTION about your artwork. A paragraph or more about the meaning or intent behind its creation, or what inspired you. Add this description to your entry of the artwork in your notebook or database - easy to find whenever you need it.
5. Take great quality photographs of your work. If you are not able to do it yourself, get a professional to do it for you (if you don't have the money to pay for it, offer a barter or swop for your creative services or an artwork the photographer likes). Take photographs of the full artwork, but also close-up images that shows your mark-making, texture and other special detail in the artwork.
6. Edit the photographs of your artworks, if needed. Make sure that each photograph matches the artwork's colours as close as possible.
7. Resize and save the images. Even if you've got a photographer taking your photographs, give him/her these directions beforehand: Make sure that you have three copies of each photograph - one high resolution image of 300dpi, for magazine submissions and printing catalogues for exhibitions, one low resolution image of about 600 pixels wide and 72dpi for use in blogs, newsletters and emails, and a medium sized image of about 1200 pixels wide (also at 72 dpi) for online galleries. Save them all together in an artwork folder that's easy to find and use. Name each photograph with your name and the title of the artwork. An example of naming the different sizes of a specific artwork's photographs are as follows: john_doe_bentreality_small.jpeg, john_doe_bentreality_med.jpeg, john_doe_bentreality_highquality.jpeg.
8. Write your ARTIST BIOGRAPHY. This is an introduction to you as person and artist, where you grew up, where you studied, what you have achieved, what makes you tick. Keep it relevant - tell them about who you are as an ARTIST.
9. Write your ARTIST STATEMENT. If you're submitting to exhibit a specific body of work / series of artworks, the artist statement would be focused specifically on that. If it's a general submission for promotion or an online gallery, then your artist statement is a more general summary of your art practice. Your artist statement is a description of HOW and WHY you create your art - methods, inspiration, motivation, materials, and other information that gives insight into what type of artist you are.
10. Compile all the information. Copy all the information about your artwork(s) from your notebook/database into a document ready for submission. Add your artist statement and artist biography to the document, or save each of them on their own or together into a separate document, ready for submission. Also add your name and contact information to each document.
11. For digital Submissions. If you're making a digital submission, e.g. to an online art gallery, make sure to attached your photographs (the low resolution images - you can send the medium resolution images on their request), biography, artist statement, information for each artwork (title, medium, size, year) and the description of the artworks you are submitting, to the email along with your greeting, reason for submission and charming message. Send!
12. For physical submissions. If you are making a physical submission to an art gallery, print out your photographs, using the high quality version(s). Also print out your artist statement, biography, information for each artwork (title, medium, size, year) and the descriptions for each of the artworks you are submitting. Put these in an envelope and deliver/send them!

Tips

• If you are submitting for a possible exhibition, or if relevant in any other way, also provide a list of exhibitions that you have participated in.
• It is also good practice to send your CV - keep it relevant and suited to the submission. Make sure to include art workshops you have attended, exhibitions and projects, and any awards you've received for your art.
• A good practice is to add small versions of your artwork to your notebook, file or database, along with the information for the artwork.
• Get family members and friends to read your biography, artist statement and descriptions of the artworks. Listen and apply any good suggestions that they might have.
• Aim at presenting your biography, artist statement and description of your artworks as neatly as possible. Use a neat, clean and simple layout and font (sans-serif fonts like Arial, Tahoma and Helvetica is great to use). The focus should be on your artwork, not the decorations, patterns and other additions to your text/content documents.
• The description of your artwork is very important, and many artists neglect this. The description gives insight to potential buyers of your work into why you created the work, and why you chose the materials or medium. An example where it has proved essential in my own art practice is a landscape painting I sold in which the location of the landscape is not obvious in the artwork itself, but in my description I did provide the context and the place where I took the photographs used to create the painting. The person who bought this particular painting has a special affinity with the area where I took the photographs, and this had a profound influence in her decision to buy the artwork.

Related wikiHows

• How to Write an Artist Statement
• How to Write a Personal Bio
• How to Title Your Work of Art
• How to Resize a JPEG
• How to Photograph Oil Paintings
• How to Make an Art Portfolio

Sources and Citations

• Based on the submission process to the online art gallery http://www.StateoftheArt.co.za

Article provided by wikiHow, a wiki how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Get Your Art Submission Ready. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.

Contrast

 

These small artworks were created using scraperboard as medium and technique - a layer of black sits on top of the white backing, and is scratched away to reveal the white. They are available for sale from Studio 46 in Bloubergstrand, Western Cape.