Marieke Kruger
"I currently work as a visual artist and lecturer of drawing and printmaking at the Jack Meyer Art Centre in Paarl, South Africa. I was brought up on a farm called “Rainbow’s End” in the Banhoek valley. Being surrounded by the beauty of nature since childhood, I developed a growing desire to study art and completed my B.A. Fine Art Degree at the University of Stellenbosch in 1994 (majoring in Painting). I moved to Johannesburg in 1996 and completed my M. Tech degree studies (cum laude) in Visual Art specialising in drawing and stone lithography at the University of Johannesburg. After completing a 4-month student exchange, specialising in printmaking, at the Karel de Groote Hogeschool in Antwerp, Belgium, I returned to South Africa to finish my M.Tech studies with a solo exhibition entitled “A HOLY WAR” at the Civic Gallery, Johannesburg in 1998.
Currently, I am employed as a Visual art educator at the Jack Meyer Art Centre in Paarl, which focuses on secondary Visual art and Design education. Furthermore, I have been involved in various community art projects (through VANSA), presenting different drawing workshops for the Stellenbosch Art Society as well as my involvement in drawing rehabilitation workshops, product development, job creation for ex-convicts in the visual arts and research (focused on identity transformation, healing and rehabilitation through drawing and printmaking) in various prisons in South Africa. Most recently we have extended our prison project to other prisons in the Paarl vicinity such as Allandale prison and currently Anne-Ghrett Erasmus and I have curated our first Virtual prison art printmaking and drawing exhibition entitled “INMATES VS OUTMATES” at the Breytenbach Art Gallery in Wellington. My first solo exhibition entitled “A HOLY WAR” took place at the Civic Gallery (1998, Johannesburg, partial requirement for Masters studies) and was followed with several other solo shows – such as “TO A PROMISED LAND…” at the Bell-Roberts gallery, (August 2006) and a collaborative exhibition with the ceramicist, Dr Ralph Johnson entitled “JOURNEYS” at the Grande Provence Gallery in Franschhoek (March 2007). These solo shows were followed with another solo exhibition at the ABSA Gallery in Johannesburg, entitled “ABOUT FACE I” (February 2009) and a follow up solo show entitled “ABOUT FACE II” (was held at the Art-b Gallery in Bellville during August 2009). Most recent solo exhibitions include “Carceral spaces - Anticipating the Sublime” (Oliewenhuis Museum, Reservoir Gallery, 2017) and the “Hidden” solo exhibition hosted at the Everard Read Gallery in 2018. Currently working on upcoming two person exhibition with artist Henk Serfontein entitled “CONFESSIONALE” (Italian for “Confessional”) at the DeepestDarkest Gallery, Cape Town (October/November 2020). "
In 2015 I started becoming involved with the Art Programme at Drakenstein Correctional Services and specifically focussed my drawing and printing rehabilitation workshops towards skill training, job creation for the inmates when they leave prison in the field of visual arts and my personal research (on the transformative potential of the experience of the sublime through the visual arts in carceral spaces).
"I currently work as a visual artist and lecturer of drawing and printmaking at the Jack Meyer Art Centre in Paarl, South Africa. I was brought up on a farm called “Rainbow’s End” in the Banhoek valley. Being surrounded by the beauty of nature since childhood, I developed a growing desire to study art and completed my B.A. Fine Art Degree at the University of Stellenbosch in 1994 (majoring in Painting). I moved to Johannesburg in 1996 and completed my M. Tech degree studies (cum laude) in Visual Art specialising in drawing and stone lithography at the University of Johannesburg. After completing a 4-month student exchange, specialising in printmaking, at the Karel de Groote Hogeschool in Antwerp, Belgium, I returned to South Africa to finish my M.Tech studies with a solo exhibition entitled “A HOLY WAR” at the Civic Gallery, Johannesburg in 1998.
Currently, I am employed as a Visual art educator at the Jack Meyer Art Centre in Paarl, which focuses on secondary Visual art and Design education. Furthermore, I have been involved in various community art projects (through VANSA), presenting different drawing workshops for the Stellenbosch Art Society as well as my involvement in drawing rehabilitation workshops, product development, job creation for ex-convicts in the visual arts and research (focused on identity transformation, healing and rehabilitation through drawing and printmaking) in various prisons in South Africa. Most recently we have extended our prison project to other prisons in the Paarl vicinity such as Allandale prison and currently Anne-Ghrett Erasmus and I have curated our first Virtual prison art printmaking and drawing exhibition entitled “INMATES VS OUTMATES” at the Breytenbach Art Gallery in Wellington. My first solo exhibition entitled “A HOLY WAR” took place at the Civic Gallery (1998, Johannesburg, partial requirement for Masters studies) and was followed with several other solo shows – such as “TO A PROMISED LAND…” at the Bell-Roberts gallery, (August 2006) and a collaborative exhibition with the ceramicist, Dr Ralph Johnson entitled “JOURNEYS” at the Grande Provence Gallery in Franschhoek (March 2007). These solo shows were followed with another solo exhibition at the ABSA Gallery in Johannesburg, entitled “ABOUT FACE I” (February 2009) and a follow up solo show entitled “ABOUT FACE II” (was held at the Art-b Gallery in Bellville during August 2009). Most recent solo exhibitions include “Carceral spaces - Anticipating the Sublime” (Oliewenhuis Museum, Reservoir Gallery, 2017) and the “Hidden” solo exhibition hosted at the Everard Read Gallery in 2018. Currently working on upcoming two person exhibition with artist Henk Serfontein entitled “CONFESSIONALE” (Italian for “Confessional”) at the DeepestDarkest Gallery, Cape Town (October/November 2020). "
In 2015 I started becoming involved with the Art Programme at Drakenstein Correctional Services and specifically focussed my drawing and printing rehabilitation workshops towards skill training, job creation for the inmates when they leave prison in the field of visual arts and my personal research (on the transformative potential of the experience of the sublime through the visual arts in carceral spaces).
