Local hopes to use her art to help charity
An artist living in Malalane hosted an auction of her spectacular work and will be giving a portion of the proceeds to charity. She chatted to Corridor Gazette about how she started her career as a painter.
MALALANE – It is never too late to start pursuing a new passion or career. Local artist Jen Conway is a prime example.
She grew up in Ofcolaco, a tiny settlement between Tzaneen and Hoedspruit, and hitchhiked around Europe for a year after she finished boarding school.
She met her husband, Kevin, in what was then Rhodesia and the two lived in Canada for several decades.
Her family members were sugar-cane farmers who moved from the bushveld to Malalane decades ago.
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When Jen and Kevin decided to move back to SA, they wanted to be close to their family and in 2013 they settled in Malalane.
Jen explained that she only started painting in 2000 after she joined her niece in drawing and painting for therapeutic reasons. “Since my son is an artist, I thought that I had to have some artist genes and could try it out,” she said.
Jen doesn’t limit herself to a certain topic, but instead does a bit of everything. “While I was in Canada, I drew a lot of people, now that I’m here, the focus is more on animals.”
Jen enjoys experimenting with different mediums, but is currently enjoying working with watercolours.
In Canada, she was part of an art guild and exhibited her works in a variety of shows. She has also been commissioned for artworks by patrons all over the world. Locally, her work can be seen in Pesto’s, the Art-E-facts showroom and at Hamilton’s.
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Jen is now passing her passion and technique on to the next generation through after-school art classes for children.
She also gets plenty of inspiration for her art through working in the Kruger National Park as a SANParks Honorary Ranger., with her husband. She takes her sketchbook along on their trips and then proceeds to translate the sketches into paintings once she is home.
The couple will soon be moving to Mbombela, and Jen held a special auction to give her dozens of beautiful paintings a home. A portion of the proceeds will be going towards helping abused woman and children via Go Purple Malelane.
For more information on the artist and her work, visit www.jenconway.ca.
