Despite retirement, this Brixton artist and educator is still brushing on the canvas
Retired educator and artist Bronwen Finlay has turned her Brixton home into a buzzing art studio. With her mosaic team by her side and a canvas always waiting, she is proving that creativity does not retire, it evolves.
Artist and retired educator Bronwen Finlay continues to colour her world with vibrant creativity and collaborative spirit. Though retired from teaching, her passion for art remains constant, with her Brixton home now transformed into a bustling studio space brimming with canvas, colour, and mosaic masterpieces.
Originally from KwaZulu-Natal, Finlay taught in Durban before moving to Johannesburg where she lectured at both UJ and Wits University. Her focus was in the education department, where she dedicated years to nurturing future art educators – teaching teachers how to teach art. Though she’s stepped away from formal teaching, she’s far from idle.
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“I’ve retired from teaching, but I haven’t retired from painting,” she shares with a warm laugh. “There’s never going to be a time where I’ve got nothing to do.”
Her personal work primarily consists of oil painting on canvas, rich in colour and texture, reflecting her interpretation of the world around her. But it’s her mosaic work – a medium she never imagined would become such a central part of her life – that now takes up much of her time and studio space.
“I never really thought I’d become a mosaic artist,” she admits. “But the way I work with pattern, colour, and design fits so naturally with mosaicking. It all just came together.”
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Her mosaic projects are deeply collaborative. Finlay paints the designs first, and her skilled team, Mosa Mosikidi, Simba Mgeda, Sindiso Moyo, and Gavaza Mthombeni, of Artisans, brings the mosaics to life by working on top of her painting. “They can’t do the work without me, and I can’t do the work without them,” she explains. “It’s a beautiful collaboration. We talk, share ideas, and inspire each other while we work side by side.”
This spirit of teamwork extends into every corner of her home, which she says has turned into a mix of studio and storeroom, especially now as preparations are underway for a major mosaic installation set to be unveiled at the National Museum in Bloemfontein at the end of June.
“I live my life in collaboration,” she says. “The team works on mosaics every day, but especially on Thursday afternoons – that’s when the energy really picks up.”
She held her first exhibition in 1977 after completing her studies as an art student. Since then, her love for creating has only deepened. “Art keeps me sane,” she says. “I express myself through colour and thick paint. It’s my way of making sense of what I see.”
Her home, much like her art, tells its own story, from kitchen walls covered in mosaic tiles to leftover client pieces finding new life in her living space. She also works on commissions, though she admits interpreting a client’s vision can be challenging. “It’s hard to know what’s in someone else’s head, but we’re lucky to work with flexible clients who let the process unfold organically. The final piece may not be what they expected, but, hopefully, it’s something they love even more.”
At the heart of it all is a childhood love of drawing, painting, and making things by hand – a passion she never outgrew. “I was lucky to find something I was good at,” she says. “And even luckier that I get to keep doing it every day.”
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