11 Apr 2018

Coordinator of Thapong Visual Arts Centre says he is delighted that an increasing number of artists are set to showcase their products at Thapong’s members’ exhibition scheduled for Friday at the centre.

 Speaking in an interview, Reginald Bakwena said the number of participants  at the members’ exhibition grew every year since they started the initiative.

“The exhibition will be a collaboration between Thapong Visual Arts Centre and Maitisong Festival and the official opening starts at 6pm,” he said.

He said it was important for the centre to host such exhibitions in order to help artists interact with professionals so that they could move a notch up in their craft.

Bakwena said they saw it pertinent to hold such exhibitions because during art competitions and exhibitions it appeared some artists kept repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

“We need our artists to improve things such as presentation of their work, creative ability and take originality very seriously,” he said, adding that local artists still had a long way to go when it came to international competitions.

He said the fact that local artists were not winning competitions such as the Barclays Art competition was evidence that they still lagged behind, but said it was not something that could not be corrected.

Bakwena further said it was important for artists and professionals to share experiences which in turn triggered dialogue between the audience and artists.

“Artists need to understand that different opinions and perspectives with regards to artworks should not be taken negatively and thinking that other people are wrong for holding different perspectives to theirs,” said Bakwena, further indicating that members’ exhibitions were important and encouraged more artists to come onboard.

“Criticism should not deter artists. Take it as positive criticism and work on from that even though sometimes it is very harsh, but that is the environment one has to work within,” he noted.

He said some of the most important things artists needed to do when working on their artworks were visual impact, interpretation, creativity, composition, design and craftsmanship among others.

Bakwena also said it was important for artists to ensure that they exercised professionalism with regards to presentation of their work, and that their work was tidy.

“Untidy work has never been attractive. Make sure your framing, write-ups and you actually know what you are going to say when people ask you to interpret your work,” he said.

Bakwena said most artists still failed to make oral presentations when quizzed about their work, and that it should be addressed as soon as possible.

Bakwena also said they would host more exhibitions as the year progressed in order to help more artists in their craft.

“I want to encourage people to come and view some of our artworks which are part of our member’s exhibition and support our artists,” he said. ENDS