I have had the privilege of being provided with beautifully handcrafted cloths, intricately decorated with beads and safety pins to sell to guests.  Through a guest staying here at the guest house I met up again with  Mbhanyele Jameson Maluleke, whom I had first met whilst I was still at Wits.  Mbhanyele Jameson runs a group project [...]

Kim Miller, assistant professor of women’s studies and art history at Wheaton College in the States, is currently researching visual representations of women political activists in South Africa both during and after the struggle against apartheid.  When in Johannesburg on her research trips, Kim stays at Liz at Lancaster Guest House.  Wanting to track down [...]

Kim Sacks, who is a potter, a teacher, a facilitator and much more besides, has developed a gallery which sells a range of exquisite artefacts. These range from historical to contemporary, and include functional objects used in a traditional context (milk gourds, head rests, stools, sticks, clothing regalia, etc.) and objects like pottery and artwork [...]

Janine Hobbs from Cotswold Gardens, an excellent 4 star guest house in Saxonwold , sent me this wonderful oh so South African story:
Janine writes:
Yesterday I took a trip to Nasrec to work out the exact kilometres from my place to Soccer City.  Well this mlungu [white person] took the wrong turn off and got so lost [...]

A visiting academic who is staying here at Liz at Lancaster referred this morning to Boekehuis as ‘Johannesburg’s Best Kept Secret’.  What a shame not to spread the word about such a gem of  a store. The title of Lucille Davie’s article (www.joburg.org. za  7 June 2006):  ‘Boekehuis one of the world’s 50 unique bookshops’, says it all.  [...]

Went to opening of Jeanette Unite’s exhibition ‘Head Gear’ last night at Gold of Africa Museum. Large scale works depict fragments of mining head gear in a powerful bold drawing style. Anglo Gold Ashanti’s extraordinary ‘new’ building – the old Turbine Hall in Newtown, provides the  perfect setting.  More on Anglo Gold’s fine and sensitive  adaptation and renovation [...]

 
The Fire Walker by Kentridge and Marx
 Johannesburg is to have its own William Kentridge, a collaborative work with Gerhard Marx.  Part of the public arts programme, it will stand at the south end of Queen Elizabeth bridge. The sculpture has been funded by the Johannesburg Development Agency and the Goodman Gallery. Standing 12m high (8 [...]

 
Much of the talk on Radio 702 yesterday focused on the vuvuzelas at the Confederation Cup soccer games and it seems there are polarized opinions of them – people either love `em or hate `em.  FIFA’s initial concerns about the vuvuzela (probably influenced as much by their potential for competitive advertising, as by the loud cacophony [...]