Local artist wants everyone to speak the language of creativity

Pretoria has a vibrant and very active art scene waiting for all kinds of art lovers and art novices to find all that the capital city has to offer.

Debbie Cloete is one of Pretoria’s more influential artists as she heads the visual arts department at Pretoria Boys High.

She is passionate about education and opening young creative minds.

She has also participated in and planned many solo and group exhibitions in Pretoria. Most recently she has been invited to participate as one of eight artists in the Wolf. Esel. Elf. exhibition currently on display at the Association of Arts Pretoria.

Her style can be described as pop-surrealism. She combines images that relate to popular and counter-culture.

She believes art should be accessible and affordable, and supports the idea of edition art that offers viewers multiples of the same artwork.

“I don’t prescribe to the notion that art should be an elitist commodity or be seen as a status symbol,” said Cloete.

Cloete spoke to Rekord about creativity, her art, and the art scene in Pretoria:

How did you find your way into the local art world?

I wouldn’t say that I found my way into the art world necessarily, it has just always been where I’ve been, and it has always been where my friends are. I started participating in group exhibitions while studying and have held numerous solo exhibitions over the years while working in the design and print industry and later in education. Making art was never a decision for me or a planned career path, it has always been a natural progression of thought coupled with the compulsion to create.

When you start a new piece or plan an exhibition, what do you consider putting it all together?

The work naturally always starts with an idea, the idea can be an accumulation of experiences, one single event, occurrence or realisation. Sometimes that thought or idea is a simple one that requires one work, this is often the case with group exhibitions when artists are prompted with a theme or title.

A solo exhibition is a more complicated process, one of intensive reflection, decision-making, filtering and ultimately intuition. I draw from both societal constructs and personal experiences when piecing together my ideas. My imagery comes from where these two aspects meet. My work is often biographical and serves as a means to translate my experience of life.

What is your advice on how one should approach an exhibition or a specific piece?

With absolute honesty! There is no trick or winning recipe to making art, and there is no way of faking it. There is also no room for arrogance, not every idea is a good one and not all attempts are successful. The problem of thinking too hard and too much is a continual one which can make a work feel contrived or forced. I have learned to rely on intuition and trust the space between idea and execution, to let go of reason and logic during the process, and as clichéd as it may sound, channel the experience of making and finding the artwork, allowing it to emerge.

How do you think about creativity when you approach art?

I see creativity as a language, it is a means of communication, across all art forms, music, literature, design, architecture, theatre and performance – we all use the same alphabet. It is a language that not all people can necessarily speak but it is most definitely one that everyone can understand if willing. This is something that I believe about my own work and is also the approach I take in teaching. One does not have to like something to appreciate it and one does not have to be able to do it to be able to understand why it was done.

I think that the general misconception about art is that it is only for people who have some sort of skill in understanding pictures. I do believe that art, if made with honest intent, has the power to resonate with anyone and everyone. I see creativity as a way to connect with people.

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