The GFI Art Gallery in Park Drive, Gqeberha, is currently hosting a two-hander. Bretten-Anne Moolman, who works on various canvasses, and Bianca Whitehead, a ceramic artist, are exhibiting recent works under the title Here we are – click on this link to see more of their work.
On Saturday, 31 October, the artists staged a walkabout, explaining their work. Anna Stewart (in the blue shirt), the gallery manager, welcomed everyone before Moolman explained that the title of the exhibition has various levels of meaning:
- Here we are, all of us!
- Here we are, the two artists whose works you see, at this point of our professional careers.
- Here we are as humans on this planet.
Whitehead studied art in Gqeberha and taught at the local university, but at present she is a full-time artist. She explained her creative process. She likes creating functional art. Her creative process goes into the shaping, colouring and patterning of the piece. Colour is important to her, and for that she uses many layers of ceramic paint. Each layer has to be applied and fired. Most of her pieces get fired at least four times, some up to seven times.
To get the colours right, Whitehead often has to test different combinations. She said that in the past she would often have to throw away many little test pieces, but she has learned to test her colours and techniques by making something small that is usable or can be exhibited. As she grows better at a certain technique, she then begins sculpting and colouring bigger pieces using that technique.
Moolman then took us on a journey through her work. We started with works associated with rain. Rain is water, and water consists of two gasses: hydrogen and oxygen. Moolman explained that the hydrogen and oxygen coexist in nature as gases without interacting. It takes a specific set of events for the two to come together to form water. It is like a love affair, Moolman says. Do all of us not want to love and be loved? Should we not all love the earth with the same passion?
Moolman is passionate about creating awareness of the earth’s needs. She has a strong ecological awareness for preserving our natural environment. One part of her exhibition consists of detailed nature scenes created with charcoal dust on archival paper. Those were hung in a separate room – the way a museum would often hang or place works that need to be preserved in separated annexes. She also exhibited small oil paintings of the old, used-up tubes in which her paint comes to her studio, as a form of acknowledging everyone in the making and filling of those tubes.
Lastly, she explained a new series: It comprises landscapes crisscrossed with lines and cubes, often pixelated at certain spots. There are many layers to these paintings, but importantly she begged us to consider the impact of technology on our environment. Data centres, for instance, use major amounts of electricity. Power lines to those centres crisscross our landscapes. We can also read the lines as borders we have created. Her challenge, says Moolman, is to create art that shares her angst for our natural world, but each piece should still be lovely enough to hang on a wall.
Moolman studied art and art teaching. She is a full-time artist who also teaches. Moolman also owns Art of Target, another well-known gallery in Gqeberha.
The two artists were asked about the way their works of art seem to speak to one another – did they often visit each other’s studios in the run-up to the exhibition? The answer is that they did not. While the exhibition was carefully planned and the ideas behind the works thoroughly discussed, they purposely did not look in on one another’s work during the time of preparation. Setting the exhibition up then became fun.
Their works will be on display until 25 November 2026.
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You can visit the GFI’s website for more information. Here is a sneak preview of what is to come:
- The Creative Block: 3 December 2026 – 8 February 2027
- Gregory Kerr Solo: 18 February – 13 April 2027
- Hilary Graham Solo: 22 April – 25 May 2027
- Fourfold: Ian Hunter, Ayanda Mji, Banele Njadayi and Charles Wildervanck: 3 June – 6 July 2027
- Michael Barry Solo: 15 July – 17 August 2027
- Group Exhibition: 26 August – 28 September 2027
- Textile Art Pe and The Keiskamma Art Project: 7 October – 16 November 2027
- The Creative Block: 25 November 2027 – 26 January 2028