January 28, 2003
By Mandisi Majavu
AN exhibition of tapestries from the Stephens Tapestry Studio is on at the Standard Bank Art Gallery, featuring works designed by artists like Cecil Skotnes, Gerard Sekoto, Judith Mason and Robert Hodgins.
The exhibition is a trip through South African history, says studio owner Marguerite Stephens. The show includes recent as well as older pieces, giving it a retrospective dimension. One artwork by Cecil Skotnes dates from the late 1960s and another Skotnes from 1975, says Stephens.
The studio moved to Johannesburg in 1965 from Swaziland and has since then established itself as one of the world's foremost tapestry workshop, with its work exhibited in many of the world's major art centres. One of the largest works the studio has produced was executed for the Durban International Convention Centre - sized at 7m x 20m.
"The studio's philosophy is to encourage the awareness of tapestry through the excellence of technique and interpretation of an artwork," she says. "It endeavours to ensure that the tapestries produced are an extension of the original work - that they are an artwork of independent value." The thread - whether silk, hand-carded and hand-spun mohair or wool - is dyed using only the three primary colours but in combination a myriad of colours is achieved.
Woven Images: Four decades of South African Art through Tapestry will run at the Standard Bank Gallery from 28 January to 15 March.
