Jo Roets
Capetonian Jo Roets is a passionate sculptor, painter and mould maker. Art has always been a central theme in Jo's life and art practises are interwoven in her education and professional careers.
Jo's background is in the film industry where she worked as an artist in the art department. She also had a fulltime lecturing career, lecturing in painting, prosthetics, special effects, props fabrication, sculpting, mould-making and casting at a multimedia film school. In 2017, after 14 years as a senior lecturer, she exchanged her lecturing apron for one of a full time artist.
She calls her artworks "light relief". The way Jo has used her medium is unique. The artworks are created from an air-drying clay medium, which is rolled out to a paper -thin thickness to create delicate bass relief sculptures. Using unusual sculpting tools such as toothpicks and needles, she scores the damp surface with indents, holes and incisions. Part of her creative challenge is to push the medium to its breaking point, encouraging it to warp in the process. This warping quality is unique to the each artwork and unplanned.
In 2018, Jo's work was selected for three other prominent art competitions. Sasol New Signatures, Pretoria Art Museum (finalist); Tollman Bouchard Finlayson Art Award Barrel Head Exhibition, Hermanus (finalist) and Vuleka, Art.B Gallery, Bellville (finalist).
She was announced as the winner of the inaugural StateoftheART Gallery Award in 2018 and had her first solo exhibition in May 2019 at StateoftheART Gallery.
Her work has been exhibited at various galleries, including SMAC, StateoftheART, Rust & Vrede, Art.B, GUS, Imibala, Nel, Art Afrique, Breytenbagh Gallery, No End Contemporary, Art@Africa, Johann van Heerden, Art on Avenues, Christo Coetzee Museum, AVA and Trent Gallery. Apart from participation at gallery exhibitions, her work has also been exhibited at festivals in South Africa. These include, KKNK, Hermanus FynArts Festival, US Woordfees and Tulbagh Arts Festival. In 2020 she started exhibiting abroad at Galeria Begbie & Coll, Spain.
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