WINE MADE ART AT TOKARA

September 2009

Tokara winery has launched its fourth annual Wine Made Art series, featuring 28 works by young women artists from the Cape - all students from the Fine Arts Division of the Visual Arts Department at the University of Stellenbosch.

Inspired by Tokara wines, Klara-Marié den Heijer, Andreé P van Zyl, Marlene Steyn and Nina-Marí Faasen are the young artists who have explored the brief Nature At Large.

Vivian van der Merwe, a lecturer in the Fine Arts Division of the Visual Arts Department at the University of Stellenbosch, selected the four students because of their personal interests, and ability, in drawing and painting. He says the theme Nature at Large was open-ended enough to allow for a wide range of responses.

"The artworks vary from representational depictions of natural landscapes, imaginary conceptions of nature-like spaces, highly abstracted and symbolic paintings that allude to, rather than describe, nature, and even works that challenge the traditional ways in which we're accustomed to seeing nature depicted in art," says Van der Merwe.

The Wine Made Art project has given his students valuable experience in dealing with commissioned art projects, something they would normally only face as professional artists after graduation.

Den Heijer says she finds inspiration while taking walks in urban and outdoor environments, and these experiences provide the raw materials for her work.

Van Zyl's works are influenced by her life growing up on a farm and she found the Wine Made Art brief challenging and fun.

Steyn's art comes from how her imagination translates her intimate relationship with the land, and her art explores how people reconstruct their natural surroundings.

Faasen's objective is to awaken the senses and for people to become consciously aware of the process of observation when interacting with objects in the spaces that surround them. "This awareness brings with it a refreshed understanding of the interconnections that can be found throughout our environment."

The Wine Made Art concept was created in 2006 to encourage new and creative methods of incorporating wine experience in art. It was conceptualised by Cape Town agency Riot (now Coley Porter Bell), which was awarded a Golden Loerie for the campaign in July 2007.

The public can view the artworks at the winery where they will be exhibited until the end of December 2009.

Tokara, on the R310 outside Stellenbosch, is open from 9am to 5pm weekdays and from 10am to 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays. For more details visit www.tokara.com or email wine@tokara.com or phone +27 21 808 5900.