New Work

"Genus"

Janet Botes

Ink & Acrylic on Found Wood

203 x 114mm

2013

"Habitat"

Janet Botes

Ink, Acrylic & Pronature Paint on Wood

198 x 114mm

2013

New artwork: Breathe and Believe

Breathe and Believe

Janet Botes

Mixed media on wood

670 x 340 mm

2012

Part of a new series called Beach Meditations

This artwork is available, please contact me at art@janetbotes.co.za for more information. 

Found and Crafted

A random selection of Found Object & Recycled Art pieces and bits in my studio and home. Some of them are displayed as art, while others are still in the process of growing and becoming something.

Grahamstown: Day 3

Found and assembled

These little assemblage sculptures were made from natural and found objects around the the area closest to VANSA in Spin Street, Cape Town city bowl.



I made them during and as part of the In Focus Concept Development Workshop that Kai Losgott presented. This workshop will be presented again, and hosted by Vansa - keep an eye on www.vansa.co.za, as this workshop is worth attending!

Organic installation at HumanEarth: Conversation

My artist statement for the exhibition:

My art is heavily inspired by nature in some way or another, whether in response to environmental issues and land degradation, or as a tribute and representation of my appreciation for the balance, peace and beauty of the landscape. The artworks “Choking Tree”, “Our Legacy” and “Peinsend oor More” are all works done a year or more ago and can be seen as quite literal reflections on what is happening in our environment. A dead tree - drowned by polluted groundwater and air pollution from factories. A barren landscape with dead trees flanking it. A man worried about the future of our planet, our species, our children and the legacy we are leaving...

“Organic: death or life, or something inbetween” and “Fingers vs. branches” , more recent works, are leaning towards being 'abstract' in the sense that I don't do literal representations or renderings, but rather focus on form, shape and the way that it interacts with things around it, including the viewer – depending on when or which angle you view it from. Playing with organic shapes and the shapes of trees I am allowing the sculptures to almost shape themselves with me only being the facilitating force - very much in the way that dunes are shaped and moved in a desert by the wind. These installations allow for more personal reflection and subjective interpretation in contrast to the more representational works, landscape paintings and drawings.

Lately my focus has once again turned to land art, using naturally occurring materials in the landscape to create transient, temporary art pieces documented photographically, these latest installations being inspired by that time spent outdoors. The natural materials used in the installations were found, however, not only in the forests, beaches, and mountain trails around Cape Town, but also in urban areas where we can still walk among the trees and catch fleeting glimpses of sunlight through their leaves. I think one of the biggest challenges and goals that we have at the moment is to reconnect with nature, no matter who/where we are.

Found objects, carving and mixed media

Rock, bone and wire - each one decomposes or erodes at different stages and times to return back to earth.


Mixed media and charcoal drawings


Laser cut woodpiece, found piece of wood (found in Upington, many years ago) and a wire-bound piece of rock - the three pieces forming a mini-installation that aims at evoking a yearning to be in nature.


A plaster of paris carving on a wood foot piece

Growing, living and learning

"Growing and Living"
Wood and mixed media - my poems and images laser cut and engraved onto discarded wood found in Woodstock and other Cape Town areas.
Variable sizes
2010

the rush of the wind through the leaves
with the sound of your heart underneath
the warmth of the sun on your skin
with the grass growing wildly at your feet

the season changes swiftly in the mountain
while the rock lies peacefully in the stream
and the colours burn orange in the forest
while we drift along in the flurry of life

These were created for the Great Walk and More Arts Festival, hosted by Greatmore Art Studios. The Festival was held on 25 and 26 June in the entire Greatmore Street in Woodstock and featured more than 30 artists, performers, groups and intiatives. I also did a simple performance on the Friday night, carrying two lanterns while dressed in white, and doing movements that enforces concepts or ideas of searching, following the light, finding light in the darkness, and shining a light for other people to follow in order to find their own light. The performance was meant to communicate or inspire 'peace' (a dove's feather was hanging from a rope tied around my waist and neck) and spirituality - whether linked to religion (I was wearing Christian crosses around my neck) or just compassion and respect for all life and life forms.