Since my last post, there was the very rewarding (both in terms of sales and interacting with some really delightful people) solo exhibition at Old Nick in Plett. This led to a return there in November to conduct 2 encaustic workshops. I must thank Marina of Encaustry.co.za (a local online store that finally makes it easy for South African encaustic artists to source our particular art materials.) She very generously gave me access to extra hot plates, burners and birchwood supports for the workshops.

Thanks also to Stu and Janet Holding, owners of Old Nick Village, for being such fun hosts while we were in Plett for the workshops!

On our return to Prince Albert, it was full steam ahead to produce new work, and move my working studio out into the showroom space in the former Miller’s Barn. Our kids were coming to visit in December, and we needed to use my existing studio as a spare room.

My grandsons helped me to get it all set up and ready for the January 2022 Prince Albert Open Studios. But then a bit of a curve ball flew into us, as we all ended up with Covid! So I had to cancel my participation in Open Sudios. It took a while to bounce back, with the extreme fatigue and low O2 Sats lingering for several weeks. But during that time I was exploring new ideas, and also new media!

My roots in photography, back in the days of film, were very much about working in a darkroom to print my own black and white images. Then I went into ceramics and became a studio potter for several years. Somehow, during my convalescence, I developed an urge to revisit these two disciplines, but in a fresh way, and to integrate them into my current work practice. The resulting journey into Cyanotype printing, on both paper and ceramic forms, which I made and had fired locally, has been so inspiring! I’ll do a separate post shortly about the history of cyanotype, how it speaks to my work, and integrates with the encaustic, but for now, here are a few shots to show what I mean…

In June there was the winter edition of Prince Albert Open Studios, and I was so delighted to be back with a new body of work. Again I held an encaustic workshop, which ended up being so full I had to do two on consecutive days. It was a lot of fun with lovely participants and we worked in front of a toasty fire in our dining room due to the wintery snap (I LOVE winter, it is my BEST!!!) That said, I am also looking forward to the summer open studios, which will take place from 24th to 27th November. A highlight for me was being included in the Koast to Caroo exhibition, held by the Doos Gallery (yes, you read that correctly, but it might not mean what you think!) The idea is to hang a small portable box gallery in Prince Albert, featuring work from Knysna and Garden Route artists, and then take work back from Prince Albert Artists to show in Knysna.

While that was happening, I was also delighted to be included in the Prince Albert Gallery Pop-Up exhibition in Kirkcudbright, Scotland. Brent Philips-White, owner of Prince Albert Gallery, took across a selection of works by local Karoo artists, and my art photos and cyanotype prints were amongst them.

Coming up shortly I am holding another Mixed Media/Encaustic workshop in my studio next month. I want to do a cyanotype one too, at some stage, but am still figuring out the logistics of how many people I can squeeze into my small darkroom at the back of the studio!

If you are interested in doing one of these encaustic workshops or learning cyanotypes, please drop me an email so I can add you to my waiting list.

Anyway, that’s it for now, I’ll do the cyanotype post soon, promise!

The post SO… WHAT’S NEW THIS YEAR? appeared first on Sue Hoppe.

This sadly neglected blog is an indication of the crazy year which is already almost behind us! After the January Prince Albert Open Studios, there followed a time of renovations to our rental property, creating a cottage from a garage using all sorts of recycled materials.

Then there was the build-up to the Winter Edition of Open Studios, in mid June. This included two mixed media/encaustic workshops, which were well received. I had so many requests for more that I did another 2 in PE at the end of August.

Then the work began in ernest for my up-coming solo exhibition “Celebrating Karooness”, which takes place in Plett, at Old Nick Village, from 1-10 October. At the end of October, Max and I have been invited to speak about some of our self-published books at the Boekbedonnered Festival in Richmond, Northern Cape.

 

The post Back IN FULL SWING appeared first on Sue Hoppe.

So, as if all the other renovation was not enough, we got a bee in the bonnet to take the giant extractor hood out of my studio. It began as a simple exercise, which would have saved us a lot of work… We advertised “you take it out and you can have it” . But if course, in full creative flow, it was never going to end there! Max has run with this one, When he saw the lovely light pouring in through the hole in the roof, left by the chimney of the extractor fan, he decided a simple cover up was not an option, he would make a skylight! And patch up the walls and ceiling, which never received the same tlc as the rest of this derelict place when we renovated it at the beginning of last year. So he has been slaving away, between other projects, for weeks now. And soon it is going to be a lovely, light-filled creative space to draw me back to my easel and canvas. But for now, not much art happening…. Watch this space!!!

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I’ll be sharing a couple of videos describing my painting processes for oils and the mixed media works, so watch this space!

The header photo is the newest in my “Don’t Fence Me In” series. It can be archivally printed on canvas or enhanced matte art paper. If you are interested, inquire about available sizes and prices.

It was taken when we headed over the Swarberg Pass again last week, during a cold front, and although there was disappointingly little snow, the clouds and mist were wonderfully atmospheric. On our way home, it did begin snowing, and I ran around in my first actual falling snow (after 6 decades of wishing for this experience) like a demented 5 year old!

The post Build-Up to Prince Albert Open Studios: Online Edition appeared first on Sue Hoppe.

Well, you don’t need 2020 Vision to see what a strange year this is turning out to be! All the best laid plans were last seen heading off into the distance, wearing face masks.

As an artist, it has affected me in 2 ways. I just cannot seem to bring myself to sit and paint, and yet I am full of hope and creativity, in other directions.

Covid has been a wake-up call. We can commit to events, count on income from steady gallery sales, plan art workshops, and attract online sales, only to find someone across the world eats a sick bat (or was it a pangolin?) and it is all wiped out in the stroke of a legislative lock-down pen.

Art is, by nature, a solitary and introspective undertaking, so not much has changed in that regard. But making art is just a tiny part of what makes one an artist. There is then the question of getting that art out into the wider world, and all the admin and logistics that go along with that. Since it was considered by the powers-that-be to be a non-essential item, one’s art remains in lock-down too. With the impact this has had on income, thoughts have had to turn to other ways of surviving in a pandemic altered world. So, for now, my creativity is being channeled into food production. And trust me, it has had to be a lot more creative than just plonking some seeds in the ground.

I almost feel a tug back to the country roots I embraced 3 decades ago, when living on a smallholding, running a pottery studio from our garage, and growing vegetables so we could supplement a very meagre income. We had a cow, Daisy, who I milked twice a day, and I made all our butter from the thick clotted Jersey cream she produced. We had a family living on the smallholding, to help with all the fence-building, planting, animal care etc.
This is an older, less physically able version of me now, and we live in the Karoo, in the era of a brutal drought. We also have no access to helping hands, under lock-down, so all the hard, physical labour is being handled by these 2 old bods. We are falling into bed aching and exhausted, but immensely satisfied to be doing something that feels so useful and productive each day.

We live at the foot of a mountain and are surrounded by hungry wildlife. So, we have had to cart rocks to create raised beds with contour banks. We have collected donkey/horse manure from the nearby sanctuary, to feed the sandy soil, and have had to work out all sorts of ways to save water, so that every available drop can be used to germinate seeds, and keep seedlings alive. Now that the plants are just promising to get to the stage of proving food soon, we are having an ongoing battle of wits with a porcupine called Houdini. We cart rocks and twist wire daily, to strengthen our fence around the property, but each night Houdini chuckles to itself at our efforts and helps itself to another few mouthfuls of almost ready veggies.

As all this hard labour requires a fair amount of recovery time on the couch, and I am doing a lot of admin catch-up work on my laptop. I have shifted back to my first love, photography, for now. So, the art has adapted to the circumstances, and is still happening. I’ll talk about the theme of the new work in the next blog post.

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