Bay embraces Fringe status of National Arts Festival

NELSON Mandela Bay is en route to claiming its stake as arts Mecca – and there is nothing stopping it. This is the feeling of the local tourism agency, an art group in the city called the Arts Journey and the city’s development gurus, the Mandela Bay Development Agency, as the city features for the third time on the National Arts Festival Fringe Programme.

“There is no doubt that the Eastern Cape is a breeding ground for talented artists, but before the past couple of years there has been limited space for their expression and support – that is until now,” said Titus Chuene, Nelson Mandela Bay Tourism marketing manager.

“We have undergone a revolution in the arts industry, and the one way to sustain it is to tie into provincial and national structures that underpin the arts. Joining the National Arts Festival is one way to do so.

“It also gives us greater reach to capture tourists en route to the festival into spending a couple of days in our city.”

Spearheading the drive to integrate with the National Arts Festival was renowned local artist, Anthony Harris, who has both made this project his baby and a success. 

“The programme has grown from three events two years ago to 12 – excellent growth in only two years,” said Harris. “Each program has high human and financial investment in the event and we hope to attract at least 10% of the 214 000 festinos who pass through Nelson Mandela Bay on their way to the Festival in Grahamstown.

“One can only imagine what the impact is if 21 400 folks spend on average one or two days in Nelson Mandela Bay. This is the financial investment that we want in our Arts, Culture and Heritage industries.”

Harris manages the Arts Journey – a conglomerate of interested stakeholder in the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality that was established to introduce all the creative arts and culture and heritage found in Nelson Mandela Bay to the world at large, and promote tourist and local enjoyment of the city’s creativity.

Hard work has been Harris and the Arts Journey establishing itself as part of the National Arts Festival’s – an annual event held in Grahamstown – fringe programme. All venues and exhibitions listed below form part of the Fringe Program of the National Arts Festival.

XPRESSIONS 2012
Venue: 1:  ART Gallery, 51B Cuyler Street, Central Hill, Port Elizabeth
             2: National Arts Festival, Trinity Hall, Hill Street, Grahamstown.
Date:    1: 12 – 25 June
             2: 28 June – 8 July at the National Arts Festival
This curated, multi-media, biennial exhibition highlights the work of 22 professional artists living in Nelson Mandela Bay. Each artist were asked to respond, in their own genre and medium,  to two square standard formats that they selected  – the only limitation was that the artist cannot exceed the limitation of the square they have chosen.
XPRESSIONS 2012 moves from Port Elizabeth to the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown


SACRED STEPS: FROM THE SHADOWS INTO THE LIGHT
Venue: Ron Belling Art Gallery, 30 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth
Date: 28th June - 27th of July 2012
A solo exhibition by Duncan Stewart: An exhibition to stimulate reaction and action around the reality of a supernatural, metaphysical, personal god through a visual drama in the form of painting, drawing and sculptural installations.

HOME//an experiment
Venue: Athenaeum, 7 Belmont Terrace, Central Hill, Port Elizabeth
Dates: 25 June – 13 July
The experiment will destabilize the finite construct of ‘home’ as a ‘structure/objects’ but propel us to imagine a fluid, unstable notion that is re/made by the ‘people/things’ that inhabit/outside its domain. Through the interplay and juxtaposition of the works – using visual forms as catalyst – a kinetic energy will agitate/activate the works.

4X4 Seasons
Venue: ART Gallery, 51B Cuyler Street, Central Hill, Port Elizabeth
Date:  26 June – 14 July
Four artists, Prof Gregory Kerr (painting), Lydia Holmes (ceramic sculpture), Lungiswa Gquanta (sculpture) and Sandy Coffey (photography) use their chosen media to respond to the theme. An exceptionally talented group of artists with a visually challenging exhibition.

IN PRAISE OF VESSELS
Venue: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, 1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth
Date:  21 June – 15 July
Ceramics Southern Africa Eastern Cape represents an exhibition of ceramics, sculpture and other three dimensional disciplines, that aspires to look at the nuances of vessels in the context of the Eastern Cape coast, the Indian ocean and the relationship between art and maritime trade.

“Treasures” - Annual Exhibition of the Friends of the Art Museum.
Venue: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, 1 Park Drive, Port Elizabeth
Date:  21 June – 15 July
Organised and funded by the Friends of the Art Museum, this year’s theme of “TREASURES” challenges all artists, crafters, photographers, designers and bead workers to make something contemporary and exceptional in response to the theme.

COMIX
Venue: Athenaeum, 7 Belmont Terrace, Central Hill, Port Elizabeth
Dates: 28 June – 8 July
The Art Comix Project is an educational exhibition that showcases a collection of the art comix participators own artwork and documentation of the process in developing a hard copy comic that teaches the youth about the importance of public art in general and specifically Route 67 in Port Elizabeth.
The Art Comix Project is funded by the National Lotteries Distribution Trust Fund and is implemented by the Mandela Bay Development Agency, working on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.

Title: ROUTE 67
Venue: Public Spaces in and around the Donkin Reserve, Port Elizabeth
ROUTE 67
ROUTE 67 is one of the largest Public Art Commissions in South Africa. 67 Public Art Works and interventions symbolising Nelson Mandela’s 67 years of work dedicated to the Freedom of South Africa.
The Public Artworks commissioned by the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA), on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality with the financial support of the NLDTF, experience the 67 public art interventions in the inner city – ARTS JOURNEY - “take a walk on the ART side”.

93rd artEC/EPSAC ANNUAL EXHIBITION
Venue:  artEC (Eastern Province Society of Arts and Crafts [EPSAC]
Dates: 28 June – 13 July
artEC - Eastern Province Society of Arts and Crafts [EPSAC]:
This is the most prestigious exhibition on artEC calendar. Traditionally this is an adjudicated Annual exhibition. This year, the Annual gets a further boost by being an official Fringe Exhibition of the National Arts Festival. The Curators are talented local artists Banele Njadayi and Bamanye Ngxale.

“alone : together”
JIMMY NDLOVU, AYANDA MJI, SUE HOPPE
Venue:  Carinus Annex Room B (NAF)
Contact: Sue Hoppe 083 261 9671
Dates: 28 June – 8 July
As individuals, we have concerns which we address through our art, coloured by our unique paths through life.
When independently generated works of sympathetic artists come together, they create a dialogue which is more powerful than the sum of its parts.

EVOLVING EARTH/FIRED EARTH
Venue: Trinity Hall, Hill St. (NAF)
Dates: 28 June – 8 July
Donve Branch (Ceramics) and Anthony Harris (painting and mixed media) use their individual disciplines to explore the theme EARTH – evolving, complex, destructive, regeneration, fracking, spiritual.

“Intimate Spaces” Solo Exhibition by Mein Greyling.
Venue: Montage Gallery, 59 Main Road, Walmer Port Elizabeth
Dates: 19 June – 21 July
Shared spaces depend upon a commitment of body and soul.  Our incompatibilities become the laughing stock of the shadows in the corners. Old furniture is like old trusted friends, and beloved objects the silent observers of our joys and our fears. The landscape serves as a metaphor for an unpredictable journey. Mien Greyling grew up in the Karoo.  She started drawing from a very young age, and has painted since her early twenties.

For more information on the Arts Journey please visit: www.artsjourney-nelsonmandelabay.co.za  ARTS JOURNEY - “take a walk on the ARTS side”