31 May 2013

Kasane senior culture officer, Thelma Chaya has called upon competitors of arts and crafts to always have readily available items.

The call followed failure by some participants at the President Day regional art and craft exhibitions in Chobe to showcase their work because they had not been able to complete their pieces on time.

“We have some artists who could not take part in these year’s competitions because they had no readily available materials to show,” she said. She warned them to desist from the habit as they would never know when their work would be needed.

Chaya also pointed out that some people had submitted work that did not belong to them. “We have had a case this year where one individual brought in somebody else’s work and claimed it as his despite the contradicting initials on the art work,” she explained.

She added that this defeated the overall objective of the competition, which was to unearth talent and develop it. One of the adjudicators, who is also an art teacher, Tamelo Moretlwa expressed his disappointment at those who had tried to enter the competition by submitting art pieces they did not own.

Moretlwa said this year’s competetors showed a lot of interest in basketry and encouraged artists to partake in large numbers as that improved quality and level of competitiveness. Botswana Visual Artists Association (BOVAA) chairperson, Philip Segola motivated artists not to look down upon themselves and their work.

“Many times art is often associated with the so called uneducated but can an uneducated come up with something this creative?” he asked pointing at one of the artworks.

He encouraged them to believe in themselves and know that they were educated in their field of work.

ENDS