Publications
“Such creativity and imagination,” and “Wonderful to see so much talent and original expression on display,” are just some of the positive comments received following the Deep South Community Art Exhibition.
Margherita Introna, organiser of the event and local fine art photographer, hosted the second annual community art show at the end of last year, from Friday 11 to Wednesday 16 December.
The latest edition of the exhibition saw substantial growth in the number of artists’ works on show – an increase of 20 artists – to bring the 2020 total to 49. These artists exhibited more than 150 art pieces, from paintings to photography, drawings, sculpture, jewellery and more.
“While the hope of generating lots of sales is an obvious reason to host an exhibition, it is not the only benefit,” says Introna.
“One message that came through over and over again this year was that it was not about the sales, but about how much this exhibition was needed on a much deeper, emotional level – something positive and exciting for the community to focus on.”
With the threat of Covid-19 still very real at the time of the show, safety measures were taken to reduce the risk.
“We were very lucky to have been able to host the exhibition during level one of lockdown – which allowed us to proceed with the event in the usual format, albeit while wearing masks and with lots of sanitising stations.”
The show was important to host, Introna says, as it provided a platform for local artists to showcase their work and get them inspired by the positive feedback.
One of two new features of the show was the artist-in-action sessions, which, she says, was a hit.
“We hosted a few sessions where exhibiting artists created artworks live in the exhibition space during the exhibition. (Among other artists) we had sculptor Joseph Chitambire doing some stone carving on a small sculpture inspired by Kataza.”
The other – the support-an-artist initiative – gave opportunities to those who may not have had them.
“We were able to support a few artists who would otherwise not have been able to participate in the exhibition.
“We were also able to include two homeless artists who have been creating artwork through The heART Project, which is a local non-government organisation operating in the South Peninsula,” the artist explains.
The major success of the show was the ability to give new and established artists a platform to exhibit, and to donate the proceeds to Tears Animal Rescue.
Introna conveys a huge thank you to the sponsors: The Pole Yard (Noordhoek), Cape Town Wine Co, The Hub Café Scarborough, Scarborough Village Association, Central Mica and Margherita Introna Photography, as well as The Yoga Lounge for hosting a yoga session among the art.
Once the final numbers are in, Introna will hand over the donation to Tears.
And if you missed it, you can take a look at some of the art pieces on social media.
