Art for SanWild
was launched to help raise additional funding for wild
animal emergency rescues and to care for the various prides
of lions held at SanWild. Original art works are up for sale
and the Trust also produces a limited number of high quality
prints of animals at SanWild.
Two South
African artists have donated some of their work to help us
raise funds for several of SanWild’s projects.
 Elsa Cornelissen
- Painter
Elsa completed her BA in Fine Art at the University of
Pretoria in 1980. Since then she has taught art at various
high schools and technical colleges, held various one-person
and group exhibitions and taught private art classes to
adults and children.
After several years in teaching she gave up her career to
devote herself fully to painting. Her subject matter has
always been derived from nature in the form of flowers,
birds and fish in vivid colours. In recent months Elsa felt
more and more compelled to try and “give something back” to
the subjects of her passion – Africa’s wild animals.
In December 2005 after the SanWild Wildlife Trust issued a
press release about the tender that had been put out by
Limpopo Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism to
sell Jespha’s pride to the highest bidder, Elsa saw Jespha’s
photograph in a local newspaper. She was inspired by the
beauty of the magnificent black-maned lion behind a wire
fence and felt compelled to do something to try and help to
secure this creature’s long-term welfare. She approached the
SanWild Wildlife Trust and offered to paint the black-maned
male and donate the painting to help raise funds for
Jespha’s future. Both paintings of Jespha were sold
successfully.
In
April 2007 Elsa also painted the Thukela elephants. This
stunning painting was inspired by the rescue of the small
herd of African elephants at a time when SanWild’s future
was greatly challenged by some evil
people wanting to destroy the lives of people and animals
alike.
The
dark background of the painting truly reflects the difficult
times and the doves flying up in front of the elephants
reflect a new era for the sanctuary and its wild animals.
This painting was also sold within days of being donated to
the Trust.
Barry Jackson - Sculptor
I was born in South Africa and
educated in Zambia in the 60’s and for the past 30 years have
lived here in Cape Town.
I started my career in the advertising industry and since the
early eighties freelanced as an illustrator but soon found the
need to move on and sculpture was the exact thing I was looking
for. The work was infinitely harder and infinitely longer but
the end result is also infinitely more satisfying. I found
sculpture suited me perfectly in spite of being one of the most
difficult and most expensive to produce, and it wasn’t all
smooth sailing. In the beginning I didn’t realise what a
difficult medium sculpture is and there were many times when I
threw up my hands in despair with blisters on my fingers or
burning eyes and decided to give it up and stick to the easier
way of making a living with painting or illustration. That
didn’t last long because I soon forgot my frustration and found
myself starting another work. So as time passed and I became
more experienced together with using better equipment things
became a lot easier or so it seemed and I realised that being a
sculptor was not really a choice for me. I simply was one
whether I liked it or not. However I did like it so I just got
to work
It was somewhere in the mid eighties that I decided to change to
sculpture as a full time occupation. Of course it is not that
simple because at the time I was married and had two small
children and mortgages and bills to pay. If my sculpture was to
pay all the bills I had to have a vast amount of work out at the
galleries to generate a reasonable income and that takes years.
So for many years it was necessary to work two freelance
professions simultaneously. One in the demanding and unforgiving
world of advertising and the other trying to get a sculpture
career going. It meant many 12 and 15 hour days and working
weekends but the day did come where I could finally and with
great relief hang up my airbrush and give up the frivolous and
unsatisfying illustration stuff and sink my teeth into bronze
sculpture and I have loved every minute of it.
Most of my work has an African flavour because I was born in
Africa and have lived here all my life. So I suppose it is
natural to reflect the things that I have seen and experienced.
I am really from the old school of “I paint what I see” and that
carries over to sculpture and it sits well with my style which
is representational. Ideally an artist should work from life as
many painters believe but with sculpture that is impossible just
from a practical point of view.
So I rely heavily on photographs. I will take as many photos of
a subject as possible and use them to jog my memory on the small
details. As accurate as photography is, to get your subject to
do precisely what you want it to do is unachievable... I am
always mildly amused when I see promotional photographs of
artists painting on an easel in the field with a herd of buffalo
or some other animal a safe distance away. It is just not
possible except for very quick sketches however I also do
sketches where possible. It is amazing how much feel you get for
a subject from sketching as opposed to taking photographs.
My favourite subject is the bushman of Southern Africa. They
were the first people to inhabit Africa and they were the only
African people that practiced art.
No one knows how long they have been here but rock paintings
have been found that have predated the pyramids of Giza by
thousands of years, as far back as the Stone Age. They are still
here today - many living exactly the same life style they did
then. Their rock paintings are artistically significant even by
today’s standards and are a record of their life style, culture
and deep spiritual beliefs They are now however a displaced
people and there are not many of them left. Since the white man
arrived at the Southern tip of Africa and moved north they
considered the Bushmen as thieves and vermin and slaughtered
them at will. The black man who migrated South from the north
treated them no better and did all they could to wipe them out.
So between the white man and the black man, both new arrivals to
the region and as merciless as each other, the peace loving and
for the most part friendly bushman who killed only to survive
stood no chance. He has been forced to the fringes of
civilisation, most of his hunting land has disappeared and his
way of life “hunting” has been outlawed thanks to civilisation
and politics.
I am currently working on a life size bronze of a Bushman named
“A!kunta”. The exclamation mark represents the click which is
prevalent in their language. It is made by placing the tongue on
the roof of the mouth and clicking it. The work is based on a
previous bronze I am using as the maquette that I called the
“Returning Hunter”
A!kunta was a Bushman who lived sometime around the mid 1800’s
and was arrested and jailed for the crime of hunting, something
that he and his ancestors had been doing quite naturally for
thousands of years. Land ownership was a concept unknown to the
bushman. The sculpture will be called “ A!kunta, the returning
hunter”
With my wildlife sculptures and my realistic style I try to find
that defining moment in the animal. Not simply an accurate
rendering showing what the animal looks like.
I try to find that telling expression of movement that tells
what they are doing or about to do or even why. The dangers and
brutality of wild Africa such as the cheetah looking around
vigilantly ever watchful that there is no danger lurking nearby,
the lion charging the fleeing gemsbok or the wildebeest in their
most vulnerable time crossing the crocodile infested river
during the great migration.
However, not all of wild Africa is so uncompromising. It also
has a gentle nurturing and even fun side to it as I have tried
to show with my lioness and cub, the elephants trying to keep
their sick companion from falling or my springbok herd pronking.
They do this when there is danger because it confuses the
predator or even when there is no danger they do it for the
simple enjoyment and thrill of it.
African wildlife is an infinite source of inspiration to me but
sadly their numbers are getting fewer over the years as their
areas get smaller and smaller because of human encroachment. We
forget too easily that this planet belongs to them as much as it
does us. SanWild is an organisation that hasn’t forgotten this
and is doing something about it. So for me it is a privilege to
be able to contribute even in a small way to the work that they
are doing.
As SanWild we are extremely proud to offer you the opportunity to
purchase 5 more limited sculptures that has just been donated to
us to raise funds for our latest project that will benefit the
large predators at SanWild.
You may choose from:
Brothers, Height 38cm
Cheetah Group, Height 38cm Base
60cm x 45cm
Life Support, Height 24cm Width 38cm
Lion with Kill, Height 23cm
Wild Dogs (pair), Height 26cm Tail to
nose 35cm
For more information please email
louise@sanwild.org or phone our offices on 015-318-7900 for more
information.
Music for SanWild
We have been given permission to
use the wonderful Marimba music of the Ilanga Le Afrika band.
So turn up your music players and
enjoy the fantastic music from Africa!
The following is from their
website,
http://www.welcome.to/ilangaleafrica Please do take a moment
to visit the site and learn more about the band.
Music Project
Cape Town, South Africa has like other big cities in Africa many
townships. The St. Francis School, located in the Langa Township
has run for years now a Music Project as an extra-curricular
activity for children who are interested in – and can afford –
playing a music instrument. The project survived, as one of a
few, the Apartheid era. Five part-time music teachers teach
piano, guitar, violin, cello and flute, brass instruments and
African music to about 40 children on Fridays and Saturday
afternoons. The school provides classrooms for the music courses
but lacks funds to pay for the salaries of the music teachers
who are paid from financial support by South African companies,
mainly Anglo-American. Children who wish to participate pay an
annual tuition of Rand 110.00 (approx. USD 13.50) per year to
attend these music classes. Although this may seem a negligible
amount in many parts of the world, after a visit to the
townships one will understand that it will be raised with
difficulty by many of these children’s parents.
Ilanga Le Afrika (or "Sun of Africa") is a Marimba-music group,
the first music group to originate from the Music Project of the
St. Francis School. The group mainly plays swinging African
‘folk-tunes" and music originating from the townships.
Current Situation
Ilanga Le Afrika performs now and then in and around Cape Town,
at school, during dinners, parties or just "al fresco" (in the
streets). In October 2000 the group performed during the
gala-diner of the AIPN conference in Cape Town. After the
performance a few persons set out to raise funds to support the
music group, the Music Project of the St. Francis School and
other small projects in the Langa township.
The Langa Support Project was established in October 2000. Early
2001 the professional development sponsoring foundation "Wilde
Ganzen" ("Wild Geese") from The Netherlands accepted our project
as a project within their mission and offered to help by
redoubling all sponsor gifts received from companies, families
and friends.
All photos are copyrighted to Elsa
Cornelissen, Barry Jackson, Ilanga Le Afrika and SanWild
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