Africa is synonymous with drought but how may associate the Cape with this affliction? Being of Mediterranean climate this region relies on winter rainfall to fill its dams. This year it looks as if it has fallen short – again. But the locals are pragmatic. When I last visited top Cape artist and ceramicist Helen…
Before we launch our next exhibition we must deal with the season of abundance upon us, and it’s a bumper year at our Fillingdon Gallery garden. First up on the homemade stakes have been pots of pine-nutty pesto whizzed up in the blender from a lush crop of lurid green basil grown in the greenhouse,…
Last month we were invited to partake in the Art4Africa fair in Bedfordshire, raising money for Rise Africa, a charity dedicated to the education of orphans in Tanzania. This week we were delighted to pay the charity £1,200.00 which will provide three youngsters with schooling for a year. Overall the event raised in excess of…
Our latest consignment from Africa to UK consisted of 289 fragile works of art weighing over 680kgs in nineteen large boxes – and there was not a single item broken. What a fantastic result. Everyone involved takes such care and it is worth spelling out the invaluable assistance we receive from Johannesburg. They use the…
Out walking our dog recently on a gorgeous sunlit late spring evening, I took this photograph from the top of our field across the Chiltern Hills. The words of the Beatles song kept lilting through my mind as I gazed upon the distant road winding its way through the green fields of wheat. And I…
On the other side of the world in a small community called Samford Village, Queensland, Australia, I have a close and dear friend who a sings in the choir of the local Catholic Sacred Heart Church. One Sunday a few months ago, she spied a newcomer in the front pew. Not only was that unusual…
Yes, Hennie is a big man. But he is not just physically tall. He is a giant in the world of ceramics. As one of South Africa’s leading ceramic artists, Hennie’s CV shows his meteoric rise through the classic art shows of the country and is littered with awards and accolades. But he also is…
Blue and white is the classic ceramic colour combination used by potters over the centuries around the world. Timeless, classless. fresh and so very beautiful, it is a simple winning formula with universal appeal. And, its inspiration? Perhaps nature. To walk in our local woods at the moment is a heady experience. They are a…
It has been claimed that Cape Town acquired this moniker because in 1930’s someone wrote that it was the only city in South Africa that could justly call itself a metropolis. This word is coined from the Greek derivation of ‘meter’ or ‘metros’ meaning mother and ‘polis’ meaning city and so the nickname of ‘Mother…
Pictured are a few of the talented and inspirational women who paint, sculpt, pot and create for our gallery. There are obviously many more, and today, on International Women’s Day, we salute their ingenuity, and thank them for their continous contribution and excellence. Mary-Jane Alexander’s oil painting “Mimosa – Festa della Donna” which we have…