Sheila Nowers’ mixed media work Seated Nude With Turban is one of the works by Myfanwy Bekker’s students which make up the Vernissage II exhibition.
VERNISSAGE II EXHIBITION (The Old Post Office, Plettenberg Bay until February 14).
THIS exhibition, which has opened at The Old Post Office in Plettenberg Bay’s Upper Deck, is the annual display of a life drawing group run by the irrepressible Myfanwy Bekker.
An artist of note herself, Bekker has worked and exhibited internationally and her infectious enthusiasm has inspired the group of 35 artists to produce an exhibition of both quality and variety.
The sheer diversity of the media employed in the 48 eight works on display is breathtaking. There are two items in ceramics and two in clay.
The 43 paintings and sketches are completed with materials ranging from the traditional oils and pastel to charcoal, mixed media, pencil, ink, pen and wash.
There is a small figure cast in bronze and most intriguingly of all a small sculpture in sand, surrounded by some of the detritus often found on a beach, all secured beneath a protective pyramid of clear Perspex.
If nothing else, Vernissage II is as clear a demonstration as any, that one of the greatest attributes of artistic endeavour is in its many forms of expression.
Life drawing and painting is a most demanding discipline the subject matter is difficult in both form and outline, tonal changes have to gradual and sure, skin tones require careful mixing and application and the all important geometry of proportion, weight and balance have to be correct.
For all that, the overall quality of the work produced by the artists at the Vernissage II Exhibition is of a high standard.
While some of the paintings could want for more tonal range and firmness of line, there are many works that are entirely successful.
In Seated Nude With Turban by Shiela Nowers, the artist takes inspiration from The Bather of Valpincon by the great Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, a lovely study results from the use of crayon and mixed media on paper.
Nude No 13 by Maurice Barker has fine application of line, and the drawing in pencil by Sally Jean Rush, entitled simply Reclining, is quite superb. There are also good works by Janet Holding, Dierdre Pelham-Reid, Nick Frootko, Loren Scheepers, Jane Luck and Helen Mudge.
The Old Post Office is a relatively compact venue and so some of the paintings have, of necessity, had to be hung at rather high points on the walls, but thus does not detract from the overall quality of the presentation, which is good.
Reviewed by: Timothy Twidle
Source: The Weekend Post
