Bruce Bowale

Bruce Bowale is a South African born artist from Limpopo who grew up in Pretoria.

He is an artist who has truly been fascinated commonly by playful physical indigenous activities that children engage in their everyday lives which give reminiscences to his previous generation of style he lived in Limpopo before having to be relocated. He is also intrigued about how language and communication (knowledge) plays a vital role in the growth and self-realisation of children. He categorize his topic under the theme of nostalgia.

Bruce began exposing his talent to the public by painting a mural at the Pretoria National Zoo in 2016. In 2017 he was amongst the top five short-listed candidates for the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) scholarship for Fine Arts. He obtains a National Diploma in Fine Arts from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT) 2018. He is an Alumni to the Pretoria Art Museum Educational Assistance (EA) development programme, were he was equipped with the necessities of being a tour guide, an art facilitator to workshops and art-making projects with schools.

In 2018 he participated in a group exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum. He was then part of the top forty States of The Art (SOTA) finalists. And he was part of the top one hundred (100) finalist of Thami Mnyele fine arts awards competition 2018. In 2019 he was selected for the Artist Career Boot Camp (ACBC) year three – 2019 mentored by Lesley Cohn from the Art Source South Africa. This programme was funded by the National Arts Council of South Africa (NAC) and in association with the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios, which took over for a period of three months at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios. The programme lead to a group exhibition “Bibliotheca 700” hosted at the Bag Factory, in which he was also the co-curator.

During 2019 he participated in the autumn and spring edition collection from the Julie Miller Art Investment Institute, Mall of Africa. The bi-annual winter and summer Salon exhibition at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios. A group exhibition titled “Void” hosted by MmARTHouse in collaboration with First Rand Limited (RMB) curated by Ntokozo Langa. He then exhibited at the BKhz Gallery in Braamfontein from a group exhibition show “Genesis II X’hibition” in partnership with the Pretoria Art Museum.

And in the year 2020 Bruce Bowale exhibited with the AVA Gallery at the Investec Cape Town Art Fair (ICTAF) “under 18’s campaign”. 2019 Volunteered intern at the RMB Turbine Art Fair (TAF) 2019. Artist Career Boot Camp (ACBC) year three – 2019 funded by the National Arts Council (NAC) of South Africa and in association with the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios. 2017 – 2019 Pretoria Art Museum (PAM) Educational Assistance programme. Conductor of formal guided tours to visiting schools and private groups at the museum. Art facilitating workshops and Art-making projects. Art Facilitating Projects 2019 Charcoal technique on collage presented on 23 April 2019 at the Pretoria Art Museum. Painting workshop presented on 23 March 2019 at the Pretoria Art Museum. 2017 Mixed Media Technique of the workshop series presented on 28 October 2017 at the Pretoria Art Museum Achievements 2019 Assistant curator at the ACBC “Bibliotheca 700” group exhibition at the Bag Factory. Shortlisted candidate for an interview at the National School of Art (NSA), Braamfontein. 2017 Top five shortlisted candidate at South African Reserve Bank (SARB) scholarship. 2016 Volunteered to paint mural at the Pretoria National Zoo. Exhibitions 2020 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery. 2019 Pretoria Art Museum in partnership with Banele Khoza (BKhz) Gallery, group exhibition titled Genesis hosted at BKhz Studio. Bag Factory Artists’ Studios Summer Salon exhibition. MmARTHouse in collaboration with First Rand Limited, group exhibition titled “Void” curated by Ntokozo Langa. ACBC programme group exhibition titled “Bibliotheca 700” hosted at the Bag Factory Artists’ Studios. Julie Miller Investment Art Institute, autumn edition collection. 2018 The Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards 2018, top 100 artists. Julie Miller Investment Art Institute, Spring Art Collective Exhibition. States of the Arts (SOTA) top forty Finalist, Cape Town. Pretoria Art Museum, Genesis II X’hibition, group exhibition. Electronic Catalogue 2019: Bag Factory Summer Salon: https://issuu.com/bagfactoryart/docs/bag_factory_artists__studios_summer_salon_2019_1_n Bag Factory Bibliotheca 700 Group exhibition: https://issu.com/bagfactoryart/docs/bibliotheca_700-_small_size_file Bag Factory Winter Salon exhibition: https://issu.com/bagfactoryart/docs/bag_factory_artists_studios_winter