Date: 14 – 30 July 2010
Time: 8: 30am – 4.30pm
Venue: DUT Art Gallery, Steve Biko Campus above the Alan Pittendrigh Library.
The exhibition Connections is a catalogue launch showcasing works by both the Fine Art and Jewellery Design departments at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). The project was born out of a peer reviewed research publication titled, New Connections which will be launched later this year. The publication will in part revisit the history of art and design in the province at institutions related to the university’s reformation. The exhibition will showcase local artworks by current staff.
The department of Fine Art and Jewellery Design has its origins deeply embedded in the humble beginnings of art in academia, 125 years ago. The university’s centenary catalogue titled 100 Hundred Years of Art highlights the beginnings of the faculty and how art education was launched under the unlikely auspices of the Natal Government Railways, in 1884. Major Herbert of the Natal Carbineer’s was responsible for teaching apprentices model making and geometric drawing.
Since then, art and design existed under different department through the institutions transition from a college to a technikon, the merger between ML Sultan Technikon and Natal Technikon and the present University of Technology (UoT). Historically the School of Art was established in 1886 by the government Department of Education under the leadership of W.H.T. Venner, the School of Art was headed by John Adams in 1915 and J.P. Oxley in 1921. In 1937, it was renamed the School of Arts and Crafts under G.D How at the Natal Technical College.
The college was later renamed the Natal College for Advanced Technical Education and existed as an Art School under numerous headships. The Jewellery Design and Manufacture programme established in 1978, is currently being led by Chris de Beer. The newly formed department of Fine Art and Jewellery Design is committed to build on its national reputation for the development of a unique approach to design and manufacture rooted in Kwa-Zulu Natal’s culture and traditions. It provides a framework for the use of existing synergies, and the curriculation of a multidisciplinary qualification in the context of a UoT and the newly gazetted Higher Education Quality Framework (HEQF).
This exhibition showcases practice-based research that reflects the commitment of lecturers to a UoT centered integration of theory and practice, in the context of the rich cultures and traditions of art and craft. Exhibiting artists include Andries Botha, Themba Shibase, Tony Starkey, John Roome, Chris De Beer, Jan Jordaan, Greg Streak, Bonginkosi Tshabalala, Marlene De Beer, Nicola Savage, Royal Gwala, Greg Bye, Carla Da Cruz, Hendrick Strobel, Barry Truter, Bronwen Vaughan Evans, Samantha Vincent and Nirmi Ziegler.
For more information, please contact:
Curator Nathi Gumede.
DUT Art Gallery.
Tel: (031) 373 2207
Cell: 082 2200 368.
Email: nkosinathig@dut.ac.za