Rory White: Visual Artist with a Dream...



The Licking Toad
(Digital)

The visual arts, including digital art, have always fascinated Rory White. As a result, he is obsessed with art, design and digital graphics, and always wants to learn more.

He is mostly self-taught, however, he did study art in high school. Having received a bursary for tertiary education, White attained a certificate in Graphic and Advertising Design through Intec College.

White's influences include: the Surrealists; fantasy artists such as Frank Franzetta and H. R. Geiger; Neo-Manga artists such as Eva Soulu; as well as video game designers, illustrators and concept artists most notably, American Mcgee, Daryl Mandrake and Syd Mead.

In terms of White's personal style, he always attempts to "twist" his subject just enough to make it unexpected or surreal. White draws from his dreams and his work often takes on African wildlife and textural elements.

White aspires to work full-time within both the print and video game industry as illustrator, conceptual artist and creature designer. Ultimately, White aims to develop a career within the South African gaming and illustration industries.



Inkhorse
(Digital)



You can view more of Rory White's work at:

http://rorywhite.deviantart.com/

Rory White's paintings can be viewed at:

http://www.southafricanartists.com/ShowArtist.asp?Code=WHITE001



Prey
(Acrylic)



The Point of No Return
(Acrylic)



Blue Crane
(Acrylic)



Down in the Garden
(Mixed media)







Margaret's Daughter: a musical journey

Ami and Etienne of Margaret's Daughter

Adri-Mari, better known as Ami or Margaret's Daughter, is one of South Africa’s top singer-songwriters. Etienne Ghyoot is a multi-instrumentalist and indie producer. Together, this Johannesburg-based duo is the much loved pop-rock band Margaret’s Daughter.

Margaret's Daughter: Black Hole
Express (album cover)

So far, Margaret’s Daughter has released three melodic English albums, including Margaret's Daughter (The Early Days) (2006) and Simplicity... (2007). Their latest English album, Black Hole Express (2009), co-produced by Matthew Fink, is easy, chilled out, even nostalgic listening, showcasing master song writing skills by Ami, as well as her soothing voice and the rhythmic tones of acoustic guitars. With a hint of folk, this album is sure to appeal not only to pop-rock fans, but to fit in quite snuggly with the internationally emerging folk-rock scene.

Several tracks have been playlisted on many South African radio stations, including RSG, East Coast Radio, KFM and OFM. .

The beautiful, full-colour, illustrated cover booklet is a graphic representation of the Black Hole Express by renowned CapeTown-based, French artist Brice Reignier.

Ami: In 'n oogwink (album cover)

The duo have now ventured into recording in Afrikaans. In ‘n oogwink is the duo’s first album in their mother-tongue. The album was produced by Ami and Etienne themselves, and is marketed under Ami to avoid any confusion. It aims to appeal not only to an adult comtempory audience, but to all their fans young and old, English and Afrikaans speaking. Due to a great response from both fans and critics, the originally planned EP blossomed and grew into a full eleven track album. Ami and Etienne played all the instruments on the album, except the drums, which were played by long-time collaborator Andy Maritz.

In 'n oogwink also showcases pop-folk-rocky, easy listening ballads, yet stands strong on its own two feet among their English albums. It is refreshing in a vast ocean full of repetitive sokkie treffers that seem to get churned out on demand every second day. Here, Ami's song writing gifts are undeniable - thoughtful, deep, nostalgic, cheerful. Ami has surely set the benchmark for new Afrikaans music in South Africa with this album.

The duo have performed extensively both nationally (where they have shared the stage with most of South Africa’s top artists and played most major festivals, including Splashy Fen and the White Mountain Festival) and internationally (Zihuatanejo International Guitar Festival in Mexico, and STRAB and FORR in Mozambique). Margaret’s Daughter is adaptable to venue and mood, performing either as an acoustic duo or as a full rock band, involving different musicians as needed. Ami and Etienne have also performed individually at KKNK and Aardklop (South Africa), UKkasie (England) and Eurokasie (Netherlands).

There is no doubt that once you have listened to Margaret’s Daughter and Ami that their music will grow in your heart. Musical talent such as this is often hidden in South Africa, often ignored in such a saturated industry. It is time that more gems like this are discovered, brought out into the light and given our support.

Visit Margaret’s Daughter’s official website for all the latest news, gig guide and more: http://www.margaretsdaughter.com/index.html.
Sign up to their mailing list online and receive a free MP3!

Black Hole Express is available at Look & Listen stores countrywide. International fans can find the album on iTunes, Amazon and all major online retailers.
 

In ‘n oogwink is also available countrywide. Find out more and listen to samples at http://www.ami-sing.co.za/.

The Inklings: The University of Pretoria's Literary Society

Cast of She Stoops to Conquer
(Photo by Idette Noome, 2006)

The Inklings, the Literary Society of the University of Pretoria, is a dynamic group of students and alumni from various disciplines who have devoted much energy and time to promoting literature, creative writing and the amateur drama on the Tukkies campus, for over a quarter of a century. Many members have gone on to be successful academics, writers and actors, and have made their marks in various other professions too. In this way, the Inklings have contributed much to, and continue to make a mark in, arts and culture in South Africa.

The group was formed in 1982 and registered as a society on campus in 1985. It is one of the longest running societies on campus and possibly the only literary society to have survived this long on any South African campus.

Although the initial focus was more academic, the aims of the society became more broad over time. The Inklings is a space for people who enjoy literature to get together and enjoy reading, writing and socialising within a literary theme. Most importantly, the Inklings create a space for people who may be in other disciplines, but who also have a passion for these things, to enjoy them too.

The society started with a group of senior students who were interested in the Bloomsbury group. The late Professor Bill Maxwell-Mahon (then in the Department of English at Tuks and affectionately known as M²) encouraged the students to write a revue of the period to showcase their research. They decided to do a show on the period 1890 to 1914. They formed a group called ‘The Holists’, led by Wendy van der Stoep. In 1983, an eager group of Prof. M²’s first-year students took up the challenge to write and perform another revue, ‘You’ve gotta be joking (1914-1945)’. In 1984, the Holists wrote and performed ‘The Breakaway (1945-1960)’ and started a creative writing group. They then started working toward formally registering as a society on campus and finally registered under the new name ‘The Inklings’ in 1985. 

The name ‘The Inklings’ is a play on words. It includes the notion of ‘an inkling’, the society’s logo (an inkpot) and is a tribute to the original Inklings in Oxford, which included J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Idette Noomé (née Skawran) was the first Chair of the Inklings (she was awarded the SRC medal for Best Chair in 1990 and is still Treasurer of the Inklings, having served the society in various capacities since 1985). She now lectures in the Department of English. Her contribution to the Inklings over the years has been invaluable, especially when it comes to keeping alive and guiding committee members in the true spirit of the society.

Creative Writing Workshop poster
(By Michelle Ganter, 2007)

The Inklings creative writing group was started to promote creative writing in English and Afrikaans and to provide a safe forum to expose one’s own writing. The third revue was collaborated on during the first meetings. Elizabeth Burroughs (née Nel), then a junior lecturer in the English Department, led some of the workshops. Since then, many of the weekly workshops have invited students from many disciplines to share ideas, poems and prose in an informal setting and give each other constructive criticism on how to hone their writing skills.

The creative writing group has organised several poetry competitions and feed Inclinations, a bilingual poetry and prose magazine. Inclinations was published from 1985 to 1996 to showcase the writing of students and other members, including lecturers and friends of the Inklings. Key to the publication is quality. The current committee is committed to reviving Inclinations.



Mort amateur production poster
(by Peter Hubbard, 2007)

The Inklings also produce at least one amateur drama production every year. They have performed over thirty sell-out productions over the years. The Inklings’ forté is comedy – some sparkling productions include Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, George Bernard Shaw’s Arms and the Man, Androcles and the Lion, How He Lied to Her Husband and Pygmalion, Brandon Thomas’s Charley’s Aunt (from Brazil where the nuts come from…), P.G. Wodehouse and Ian Hay’s Leave It to Psmith, various Stoppard productions and some productions based on Terry Pratchett novels.

She Stoops to Conquer
(Photo by Idette Noome, 2006)

The Inklings have made a point of presenting plays and setworks seldom seen on the South African stage, including the classic Lysistrata by Aristophanes. Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer, directed by Bonnie Kneen, is a favourite of last decade. Some Medieval and Renaissance plays were commissioned and performed for the South African Society of Medieval and Renaissance Studies’ international conferences, including The Second Shepherd's Pageant and Noah's Flood, Doctor Faustus by Marlowe, Everyman and Beaumont’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle. Last year,  Betrayal by Harold Pinter was acted in three different versions.



Betrayal
(Photos by Stephanie Carlsson and Heather McLachlan, 2010)

The Inklings’ productions give most members involved an opportunity to gain experience in a diverse number of related fields, including administration, front-of-house, back-stage, ticket sales, wardrobe, lighting and sound, besides writing, directing and acting. The society has also premiered a few plays written by members.



A number of  actors and writers who started out with the Inklings have gone on to make their mark in a bigger arena. Among them are Anton Robert Krueger, award-winning dramatist and novelist, now lecturing drama at Rhodes. Aside from starring in a number of Inklings productions, his In the Velvet City and In the Blue Beaker premiered with the Inklings. His plays have been staged in South Africa, as well as in England, Wales, Australia, the U.S.A., Monaco, Venezuela, Argentina and Chile. Anton’s Living in Strange Lands (also known as Tsafendas), a play about Hendrik Verwoerd's assassin Dimitri Tsafendas, was awarded a special trophy by the South African Community Theatre Association in 2001, and was nominated for South Africa’s highest stage award, the FNB/Vita prize. His most recent achievement is his novella Sunnyside Sal.

Other past members who have made a name for themselves include Annelize Nienaber, advocate and professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Pretoria, who has co-edited the book Plain language for a new democracy, and has published research related to a variety of human rights issues; the late Werner Viljoen, former Perdeby editor, who worked for CODESA; Sarel van Vuuren, whose voice, reporting for SABC news is familiar to all; Stephen Naudé, Managing Director at Pearson Education; Elizabeth le Roux, formerly of the Africa Institute and Unisa Press; Adalbert Ernst, Cape Town anaesthetist, and many more.

The acting experience gained with the Inklings has inspired some to take this pastime more seriously: Stewart Clegg is now acting professionally in the UK, Danie Struwig has also gone professional, and Peter Hubbard, who has had several lead roles in Inkling productions, now acts in his spare time for two amateur production companies in Amsterdam, one of which, the Queen's English Theatre Company, has produced The History Boys in Amsterdam and in Edinburgh during the Fringe Festival in August 2010.  



The Inklings' social events are always based on a literary theme. Events include picnics and dinner parties, such as a white picnic at the Union Buildings, a Shakespeare in Love Valentine's dinner, a Great Gatsby dinner party, a Narnia ‘kid’s’ luncheon and a 1950’s party. During such okkasies, members dress according to the theme, indulge in a delicious, theme-based, home-cooked meal and appreciate like-minded company. One the society's great strengths – its most enriching privilege –is that everybody in it values intellect without any airs, quirkiness and eccentricity without pretentiousness. It is a place where people with brains can be themselves and be liked for it!

  



1920s Jazz Party
(Photo by Andrea Vermaak, 2010)



The Inklings wish to continue their tradition of promoting arts and culture in the spirit of friendship and fun, giving anyone who is interested a chance to express him- or herself through writing or performing arts, and gain experience in various related fields without any pressure. Although the Inklings may be a small group of mostly UP students, it is an essential group which contributes much to academics, literature and stage in South Africa, with friendships and abiding ties that last long after its members leave university.



Anyone who has a great appreciation for the literary arts and loves to indulge in its beauty as an art form is welcome to join the Inklings. UP students may register as members, while members of the public are also welcome to get involved in the fun and support the society.

Join the Inklings’ Facebook page to keep up-to-date with news, socials events, creative writing workshops and productions: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_2262130317

Words by Andrea Vermaak and Idette Noomé

Kathalijne van Zutphen: Swimming Upstream



Miss Texas 1977

Swimming Upstream

Photographer Kathalijne van Zutphen has captured the visages and insights of young Cape Town creatives in her recent project, Swimming Upstream. 

In an attempt to discover what drives these creatives, as well as the difficulties they face in our advanced technological era, van Zutphen captured a series of portraits and individually interviewed emerging DJs and musicians, filmmakers and actors, authors and illustrators. Interviews uncovered how each creative started their career, their perennial challenges within their respective creative industries, their experiences in marketing themselves, as well as ‘touchy’ issues such as copyright and file sharing.

Each artist was photographed in a location specifically chosen to complement their unique identities; yet collectively, the series sketches van Zutphen’s own interpretation of the Cape Town landscape.

All works were produced in 2010, except ‘Hot Water’ (late 2009).

There is a making-of video available here: http://www.vimeo.com/16861674



Hot Water


The list of artists taking part in Swimming Upstream includes:

Toby Atwell, Lauren Beukes, Donovan Copley, Guy Buttery, Lauren Fowler, Twanji Kalula, Akio Kawahito, Miss Texas 1977, Tshepo Moche, Maloti Mothobi, S.A. Partridge, Verity Price, Monishia Schoeman, Neil John Smith, Hendrik Vermeulen, Tristan Waterkeyn and Sam Wilson.

Kathalijne van Zutphen

Van Zutphen was born in The Netherlands and given her first camera at the age of eleven. She became seriously interested in music photography once she started studying at the University of Utrecht. She soon landed a position at a local music magazine. van Zutphen worked as a project manager at a graphic design company for seven years after graduating with an MA in American Studies. At the same time, she took courses in Copywriting at the School of Journalism and Copyright Law.

Her interest in photography was reborn when she discovered digital photography and photo sharing websites, such as Flickr.

Van Zutphen started her own company in May 2009. She then left the design company in July 2009 and came to Cape Town in August 2009, where she still resides.

 

DJ Akio

 

Tristan Waterkeyn

Artist’s statement

"Starting your own company and moving countries in these times can either be smartest or the stupidest thing you can do. And the first couple of months were tough. I struggled to make friends, to find work; I was constantly putting myself out there and getting nothing back. I ran into copyright issues when I had one of my photos ‘stolen’. But after being here for about 6 months, something changed. I started meeting people – people who do really cool things; people I like, and people whose work I admire. While talking to them it was such a relief to learn that they've faced similar problems along their own journeys; that it wasn't just me, and that there are different ways of going about or looking at things. Swimming Upstream is actually a good thing, since that’s how you grow and become stronger. I learned a lot from talking to them, and profiling them is the best way to show that."

Scott Ormerod: emerging illustration talent

Pin-up

Meet Scott Ormerod, 24 year old photography graduate from Tshwane University of Technology and graphic designer whose true desire is to be an illustrationist. The reason behind this desire is that he can let his imagination run wild, with very few restrictions to hold him back.

Budda

Photographs are used as references to create his illustrations. Ormerod adds his personal experiences and imagination to each image and is largely inspired by pin-ups from American art; but what truly inspires his work is an Asian influence, which includes Japanese and Chinese artworks.

Stacey

His illustrations are a true testimony to the energy it takes to produce each one - each is detailed and vibrant, with a life and personality of its own.

You can visit Scott Ormerod’s website at: http://www.wix.com/scotty2orm/dreamerchild

Humming bird

Henning Lüdeke: Fluidity in Creativity

Ariane

Henning Lüdeke experiences the digital world as something that has the potential to be tangible, something in which we could interact in a more physical and natural way. He links creativity and technology in his efforts to produce differently and to bridge the gap between electronic and print media.



He first distinguishes between digital and electronic media, one of the main tenets of his recent show Unnatural Selection. He believes that letters from the Roman alphabet, for example, are digital and have the same meaning, regardless of whether they are hand written, printed or sculptured. In other words, digital systems need not be binary or electronic. Lüdeke believes that “Electronic, binary media has become synonymous with the concept 'digital' since it’s easy to accurately transmit and reproduce 0’s and 1’s through electronic circuits and has thus become ubiquitous. The exciting aspect of electronic media is that it’s computable. Media can, therefore, be transformed and disseminated in new and organic ways. Online media runs on inorganic machinery, but the software platforms and processes of creating media on, for example, social networks become organic in nature.”

Lüdeke sees print media as Dry Digital media and electronic digital media as Wet Electronics. The dry, tangible nature of print media gives it the quality of being Dry Digital media. In Lüdeke's view, once we disseminate Dry Digital media, information and meaning may become illegible or even lost. Electronic digital media, on the other hand, is fluid, travelling quickly. Information in this form remains intact and meaning does not deteriorate once it has been disseminated. “Fluidity also means that the creation and processing of digital media becomes easy,” says Lüdeke. “When we manipulate these digital electronic images, not only does information become fluid, but wet as well. The shine and glossiness of tangible prints become wet again.”

Arnoldoa

Through his unrelenting fascination with technology and its potential to go further, he creates images that are at once fluid and static; both ‘wet’ and ‘dry’. He works with virtual spaces, traditionally seen as intangible, and tries to create what he calls Tangible Virtual Space Interfaces by transforming its fluid, electronic digital nature to the dry digital nature of printed media.

Unnatural Selection is a collection of organic images that resemble butterflies, but are, in fact, digital collages of images of shoes collected from a variety of commercial online shoe advertisements. “It needed to be a product that’s easily accessible and varied in form, texture and colour, as to provide enough material to satisfy the collage process,” says Lüdeke. He believes that the collaged images should be arranged in patterns that form digital signatures, so that their meaning would be transferred not only from the glossy screen to the glossy prints, but also from glossy prints to photographs and subsequent reproductions. “Each shoe fly could by likened to a character, and whole arrangements as pages from a sci-fi novel,” says Lüdeke. “The patterns of the butterflies signify their digital nature, but through the collages being printed on organic material, they may fade and degrade again, ultimately experiencing the death associated with organic entities.”

Greenleaf Canvas

“Form and function are intrinsically linked. There’s ample evidence of people’s sentiments embedded in the acquisition, use and customisation of their possessions. Yet underneath all the veneer, the underlying functions remain. In my view, technology is about solving important problems and, therefore, creativity needs to be employed in a serious manner. Whimsical technology is backwardly created and serves its own purpose. Creativity employed in finding truly great designs serves a higher purpose in my view. After important solutions are designed, we can worry about playing with the surface aesthetic.”

 

“Unnatural Selection refers to the fact that electronic platforms are driven by humans, not computers,” says Lüdeke. “When buying shoes online, you engage with a virtual interface that connects the whole supply chain, with its accompanying environmental impact.” It is in this way that Lüdeke tries to find ways of transporting online commercial media into tangible, tactile spaces within the context of consumerism. Although he was aware of the ‘skoenlapper’ concept, it was not Lüdeke's intention to connect with the Afrikaans. It is incidental and unavoidable.



During the first stage of this evolutionary process, the digital prints remind us to re-integrate our online experiences with everyday life; we need to remain or become grounded again. “During the project I was concerned with the environmentalist buzz saturating the media. I needed an industrially produced product that serves as a metaphor for the way people create their identities via consumerism.” Lüdeke chose to digitally collage shoes as they provide a “container identity” the moment you step into them, yet they also physically separate you from the earth. The result is a symbolic “Cyberian” species that hints at the transformation of earth as a nurturer into a Femme Fatale.

A second phase finds us interacting with these forms through an interactive digital projection - tangible, but still virtual. Currently, Lüdeke is considering transforming the two dimensional designs into autonomous flying sculptures.

"Computers and the internet in particular, provide a global democratic platform. But only for those that are both literate and computer literate. My work attempts to convey some of the magical qualities inherent in communicating via virtual spaces, especially for people who don’t intimately know the possibilities of electronic communication. Concepts of the exchange of knowledge and products are integral in my collages. The prints provide only a glimpse into online realties, but stimulate conversation about the politics of being/becoming engaged in electronic space.” During his first show at the Association of Arts, he had an interactive projection where people could interact with projected butterflies that would respond to touch. These types of ‘physical computing’ spaces, according to Lüdeke, mediate between the illiterate/uninitiated and virtual space. “Without any foreknowledge of how computers work, one can engage with elements of virtual worlds by the wave of a hand. I intend to develop more such portals for future shows.”



Greenleaf

Thereafter, he spent two years at the Cape Town-based Studio 2666 art collective. He also crossed over into the theatrical, winning a Fleur du Cap award for best props made for Lara Foot-Newton's award winning Karoo Moose in 2008.

Unnatural Selection is Lüdeke's debut solo exhibition. It made its first appearance at the Association of Arts Pretoria in April 2010. The exhibition opened at Artspace Warehouse in Johannesburg on 5 September 2010 and ended 2 October 2010. “I’m happy with the positive response. This show provides a decent platform from which future works will evolve.”

Based in Melkbosstrand, Lüdeke studied at three different institutions. He first studied a specialised year course in 3D animation at Allenby Campus, followed by a course in Visual Communication at Open Window Art Academy, including modules in 3D Animation, Layout, Web Design, Drawing, Painting and Photography. He finally graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Stellenbosch in 2006. During his university studies, he did stop-frame experiments and learnt much from Rosalin Burr, a lecturer in animation, social theory/art history and drawing.

Thereafter, he spent two years at the Cape Town-based Studio 2666 art collective. He also crossed over into the theatrical, winning a Fleur du Cap award for best props made for Lara Foot-Newton's award winning Karoo Moose in 2008.

Unnatural Selection is Lüdeke's debut solo exhibition. It made its first appearance at the Association of Arts Pretoria in April 2010. The exhibition opened at Artspace Warehouse in Johannesburg on 5 September 2010 and ended 2 October 2010. “I’m happy with the positive response. This show provides a decent platform from which future works will evolve.”