Art studio opens the industry to the youth
The Rukoko Art Studio will host an initiative aimed at getting young people excited about artwork and teaching them the inner workings of the art world.
The studio can be found at the Caster-bridge Lifestyle Centre in White River and is run by local award-winning artists Coleen Williams and Henriëtte van Staden.
Williams and Van Staden said they came up with the idea as a way of creating awareness of the art world’s business side.
“As an artist, you don’t really realise the amount of red tape and unmentioned rules of approaching and dealing with galleries,” said Van Staden.
“When you get to the point of approaching a gallery to possibly showcase your art, lots of people don’t know about pricing and contracts. It can be quite a harsh reality.”
The two artists said they wanted to create a space where the youth can get excited about creating art, connecting with other artists and have the opportunity to showcase their work.
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Van Staden said the initiative would include young people in high schools (aged 13 to 18) who may submit their works to the studio via the gallery’s website, www.rukoko.co.za.
These will then be viewed by other artists as well as a guest judge. Finalists would then have the opportunity to have their work displayed at the Rukoko Gallery and may even put their art on sale if they wanted.
“We would have a rudimentary contract drawn up with the finalists who have art displayed at the gallery, just to give them a feel for how the art industry works.”
The deadline for submissions is May 15. “We have so many ideas going forward. It’s all very exciting. Who knows what will branch off from this initiative and what other projects will blossom from it?” she said.
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