Back from Korea! Inspired & hard at work...

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I am back in the studio!

After participating in the second South Korean leg of the Global Nomadic Art Project by Yatooi, visiting the Northern Cape, hiking in the Cederberg and attending the launch of the Snake Eagle Thinking Path in Matjiesfontein, I am back in the studio and hard at work...

• View photos of my work for the Global Nomadic Art Project / Work in the landscape on Facebook / Work for the exhibition on Facebook / On the Yatooi website (on the photo above: Me & the other artists standing in a river on Nochu Mountain, South Korea)
• View photos of land art I created in Brandvlei, in the the Northern Cape: Website | Facebook
• View my post about the launch of the Snake Eagle Thinking Path, and photographs of my work

Above: some of my work as part of the Global Nomadic Art Project in South Korea. 

Land Art in Brandvlei, Northern Cape, South Africa
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Nuances: Riemvas-Brandvlei

Archival print on cotton paper 90 x 40 cm
R4 750 View / Buy

I've also updated my website's events page // And view the full latest newsletter

Land Art in Arderne's Garden, Claremont

I am part of a group of artists who meet  in a different place once every month to create site-specific temporary art installations with the materials we find around us. Here's what I created during the August gathering. Want to know more about the gatherings? Read more...

Tokai Forest Land Art

This land art was created during the June gathering for the monthly Cape Land Art sessions
facebook.com/capelandart

More land art on Gordon's Bay beach

Small elongated pieces of rock that seems to 'sliver' off from large rocks, planted into the sand, and washed away by the tide

These are the rocks where I found the long pieces of rock. There are several yellow rocks lying around, which I used to accentuate a natural cleft between the rocks.

New work: February 2014

More information on this work and two other new Nuances works:

Spirit of the Desert: janetbotes.com/spiritofthedesert

Sinai Mountains: janetbotes.com/sinaimountains

Oludeniz: janetbotes.com/oludeniz

I am also doing some interesting 'experiments', drying kelp and sea lettuce:

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And... this morning I spent my early morning on Gordon's Bay beach to create land art. View photographs on my website or facebook page.

Land Art on Sunset Beach

I was up this morning at 5h15, preparing for a morning of playing and creating on the beach from about 6h15. Diaan Mynhardt, a very talented photographer, joined to capture this human-nature co-creation, as well as artist Janet Ranson, who created a large-scale snaking kelp-installation. It was a morning filled with beauty and magical moments - including my utter delight of creating sand lines that partially get washed away by the very slowly-incoming tide. I also found the power of the water that pushes onto the beach astonishing - the rushing water flinging the pebbles against the sides of my bare feet and ankles.

I should add that I did get slighty agitated when the water kept washing away the small rocks before it was 'the right time', which then made me realise that it's an apt metaphor for life - things don't always work out the way that we want it to, but instead of fighting against it or getting unhappy about it, rather appreciate that there's so much other things that DO go well.

Land Art: Upington, September 2013

It seems the theme for this Upington visit was rocks (symbolic for stability and as lines in/on the earth) and twigs (growth, direction and building). Except of course for the sheep's scat (yup, 'skaapdrolletjies'!)...

Sand Circles and Mud Patterns - collaboration

(Photograph by Darren Bruce Lyon)

Circles in the sand by Darren Bruce Lyon, also known as Das. He created these circles in the sand in front of the rocks I painted with mud, while participating in Andrew van der Merwe's Beach Calligraphy course during the Site_Specific Land Art bienalle. Resulting in an incidental creative collaboration! I love the way his geometric interlinking circles contrasts with the organic pattern I created on the rocks.

Creative Energy and Flow at Site_Specific

I was very privileged to be one of the artists for the 2013 Site_Specific International Land Art Biennale, held in Plettenberg Bay from 10-17 August. I met incredible artists, professionals and also members of the public (some as young as 5 years old, while others were retired and had a lot of experience and wonderful stories to share). I'd like to share the work that I did during the week...

Inspired and fascinated by the splatter patterns of water on sand,
the idea started to form around
the connection and borders
between land and sea. 

Sea to me = Spatters Waves Foam Water Flow

&

Land brought me to soil, mud, "grond"

Only after I started playing and experimenting with the mud on the sand and rocks did I find out about the ship that got stranded just up the coast towards Knysna and Wilderness, leaking oil. My artwork incidentally or accidentally gained a new layer of meaning.

"Flow" and "Riding the Wave" became slogans for my week - realizing I had to manage my energy levels, taking advantage of the inspiration and creative flow, because time seemed to fly past sooo quickly!

...The sands of time...

Painting with Mud.

Connecting with the rocks that has not yet eroded into sand.

Flow. Drift. Splatter

Flowing with clarity and energized focus.

Creating, Working

Being in the moment.

Drifting along, swept away by emotions.

Feelings, thoughts that ebb and flow like the tides.

While oil seep into the cracks of our survival.

Spluttering, Crashing against rock, 

hitting your head against a wall to leave your mark.

Flow, Focus, Have Faith

that you are in the right place at the right time.

That everything can be healed, washed away

By water. Or by Time.

 For images of work by the other Site_Specific artists and participants, go to: 

• pinterest.com/sitespecificafr/landartbiennale-photo-competition/
• facebook.com/events/418591894888932
• sitespecific.org.za
• landartsouthafrica.blogspot.com/2013/08/sitespecific-2013-huge-success.html