Mentorship is a very important focus of the New Breed Art offering this year, which includes a face-to-face mentorship session with the Free State Art Collective, the New Breed Art Webinar Series sponsored by Absa and featuring established, leading South African artists, and a workshop on Professional Art Practice by the Art Bank of South Africa.
This is all in addition to and in run-up to the 2022 New Breed Art Competition, which has been officially launched. Now in its sixth year, the New Breed Art Competition is presented by Phatshoane Henney Attorneys, in association with Oliewenhuis Art Museum, the Art Bank of South Africa and the Free State Art Collective.
As it has since its inception in 2016, this one-of-a-kind visual arts competition strongly supports the uncovering of new and emerging Free State artists, providing art development and mentorship opportunities for up-and-coming local artists, giving national exposure to showcase talented local artists and ultimately advancing the art careers of many promising New Breed Artists.
The need for art mentorship has been identified as vital to the growth and development of emerging artists, which is why various exciting mentorship events have been lined up for this year to provide support and guidance during the build-up to the New Breed Art Competition and elevate the contribution of the entire New Breed Art project as a whole.
First off is a mentorship session presented by leading artists of the Free State Art Collective, who have also all been former New Breed Art Competition winners and finalists. On Saturday 21 May at 10:00 in the Oliewenhuis Art Museum’s reservoir, local artists have the valuable opportunity to receive personal guidance, mentorship and inspiration from some of our most talented local artists, so as to improve the application of their skills and help them be competition-ready. All artists are welcome, but to attend, artists should please RSVP to azola@phinc.co.za by 16 May.
The mentors (all members of the Free State Art Collective) on the day specialise in a variety of mediums:
- Baitumetse Moloabi, 2021 New Breed Art Competition’s overall winner
- Neo Theku, 2019’s New Breed Art Competition’s overall winner
- Kay Fourie, 2019’s New Breed Art Competition runner-up
- Miné Kleynhans, 2019 New Breed Art Competition Merit Award winner
- Xola Sello, 2018 New Breed Art Competition Merit Award winner
- Bongani Tshabalala, 2019 New Breed Art Competition Public Choice Award winner
- Nandipha Jantjies, 2021 New Breed Art Competition finalist
- Lesego Motsiri, 2021 New Breed Art Competition finalist
“We encourage local artists to embrace fully this valuable opportunity to get face-to-face with accomplished artists who have already gone through the competition process, have since grown and developed much as artists and are building thriving art careers. You can only benefit from such personal guidance and advice. We look forward to seeing you there!” says Magdel Louw, Competition Coordinator and Marketing Manager at Phatshoane Henney Attorneys.
Next up is the New Breed Art Webinar series, sponsored by Absa, which will be a dedicated four-part virtual webinar series led by some of South Africa’s best and most well-known artists, taking place at regular intervals throughout the course of the year. “All artists are welcome to attend these sessions via Zoom, and benefit from these established artists’ mentorship and experience,” adds Louw.
In August, the Art Bank of South Africa will host a virtual workshop entitled Professional Art Practice which will be all about the business of art and how to build a thriving, sustainable career as artists. “Taking place just before competition entries open, it is a great opportunity to get some final tips and advice on pricing your artwork right and increase your chances of selling your work, and correctly finishing your artworks to have them competition- and exhibition-ready,” Louw remarks.
To stay in the know about all events and opportunities, artists are strongly encouraged to follow the New Breed Art social media pages on Facebook and Instagram.
This year’s total 2022 New Breed Art Competition prize money of R100 000 consists of R50 000 for the overall winner, R20 000 for the runner-up, and R10 000 for each of two merit award winners, as well as the Public Choice Award winner.
In addition, artists selected to participate in the New Breed Art Competition Exhibition at Oliewenhuis Art Museum, including the final winners, automatically qualify for consideration and possible inclusion in the exclusive Free State Art Collective, founded and headed up by Karen Brusch. They also have a valuable opportunity to gain exposure with the Art Bank of South Africa, a national programme of the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture tasked with purchasing art from emerging South African artists.
“We are excited about the incredibly valuable New Breed Art mentorship opportunities lined up for this year and invite all artists to grab at every opportunity to grow their art careers. We look forward to the high level of talent that’s bound to come forth from the Free State art arena once entries to the competition open later this year.”
Key competition dates
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Submission of entries at Oliewenhuis Art Museum: |
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12-14 September 2022 |
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Selected works exhibited at Oliewenhuis Art Museum: |
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4 October-13 November 2022 |
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Selected works open for voting on website to
determine Public Choice Award: |
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4 – 31 October 2022 |
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Winners announced at formal prize-giving function: |
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3 November 2022 |
Entry forms are available here at www.newbreedart.co.za, Phatshoane Henney Attorneys at 35 Markgraaff Street and Oliewenhuis Art Museum in Bloemfontein. Download the launch presentation here and click here for the recording on Youtube. For more information, please e-mail art@phinc.co.za.