07 Aug 2016

Coordinator of Thapong Visual Arts Centre says they have always championed training and development of the visual arts as they view them as a cornerstone in growth and diversity of the arts.

Officially opening an art exhibition of Botswana artists studying abroad hosted at Thapong, Reginald Bakwena, said this was the second exhibition hosted by Botswana artists studying abroad with the first one having been in 2006.

“Through this show, Thapong is continuing to extend creative frontier to both mainstream and academics by starting to engage with them on the views of current art development in Botswana,” he said.

He indicated that Thapong is an art centre that encourages skills transfer with this exhibition and provides an opportunity for this happen.

“This will also promote dialogue and sharing of ideas between locally based artists and colleagues who are studying abroad,” he said, adding that the exhibition is exciting because it showcases different disciplines in the visual arts that include painting, sculpture, ceramics and printmaking.

Bakwena encouraged art lovers and other artists to visit the exhibition to appreciate the art on display.

“The exhibition will be for two weeks ending on August 19,” he said.

Bakwena noted that most of the students studying abroad are teachers by profession, and government should be applauded for seeing the need to send them for further studies.

“Not only will they impart their knowledge when they come back, but for them personally and for their love of art, it is a good thing and they can only grow from here,” he said.

Phenyo Moathodi, representative of the students and also studying for his honors at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in ceramics, said government’s help should be appreciated.

“Government continues to help in the skills rise with regards to art,” he said.

He indicated that in 2012, Ministry of Education and Skills Development decided to select the largest group of art teachers who were given the opportunity to further their studies in various art disciplines.

“Whilst studying abroad, we came to the realisation that we needed to share with Batswana the knowledge and skills that we acquired,” he said.

He said across all Universities in South Africa, they have all performed exceptionally well.

“We would also like to appeal to the business community to join us in an attempt to develop the arts in Botswana,” he said.ENDS