The informative talk by sculptor Jean Theron Louw from Somerset West on her journey from professional architect to acclaimed sculptor, was attended by a record crowd at the PJ Olivier Art Centre in Stellenbosch last Thursday evening.
Among them were Laetitia la Grange and Marlene de Lange from Durbanville.
After winning the Sanlam Africa Art Award while still at school, Louw studied architecture at the University of the Free State. In her work she focuses on issues of climate change, the state of our planet, overpopulation, urbanisation, water shortage and the need to live green. She is passionate about changing the unsustainable way in which we all live and, in her work, highlights the environmental crises we will all face, Louw says.
Awaken a consciousness
“The purpose of my work is to awaken a consciousness of our connectivity with the planet as a whole. I want to draw my viewer into moments of self-reflection, for that is what makes us truly human.
Louw has taken part in numerous exhibitions at Cavalli, Tokara, Imibala, Turbine Art Fair, Cape Town Art Fair, Cape Town Castle, Hermanus Fynarts, SculptX, Melrose Arch, Johannesburg, and at long-term public sculptural displays at, amongst others, Komsit Stellenbosch, Sculptures on the Cliffs in Hermanus and at Boschendal Estate.
She has numerous works in private art collections globally. Currently her work can be viewed at the Art on Church Gallery in Stellenbosch, Art@Africa in Cape Town, Intethe Gallery and Walker Bay Modern Art Gallery, both in Hermanus.
kykNET Fiesta Award
Louw received the 2019 US Woordfees trophy for visual arts (best presentation), for her exhibition titled My African Wild Dogs. It won the 2020 kykNET Fiesta Award for best presentation in visual art.
Louw has taken part in Sculptures on the Cliffs numerous times and is currently one of only female sculptors whose work can currently be seen at Gearings Point in Hermanus. A life-size sculpture of her work Ass’n About is also on display at Art on Church Gallery in Church Street, Stellenbosch.
