I haven’t been to an exhibition at the Joburg Art Gallery for ages -  somehow JAG’s PR doesn’t market its events succesfully (suffering from the City Council’s budgetary woes?).  So to go to the opening event on Sunday 6th May and see the Gallery literally bursting at the seams with both people and images, was a complete joy!  Oh that it was like this for every exhibition and event. Kentridge’s lecture was almost certainly what drew many of the visitors through the Gallery’s doors and as always he did not disappoint.   He consistently presents acute and thought- provoking insights and makes highly original connections in an accessible and fascinating way.   The south entrance hall of the Gallery was jammed to capacity with nowhere near enough space – both seating and standing space was full with many disappointed people having to leave as they could not get into the building  at all and so could not hear anything of the proceedings.   After William’s talk visitors moved into the courtyard where Sibongile Khumalo officially opened the exhibition.

Coming of  Age is a retrospective exhbition of Artist Proof Studio (started by Kim Berman and Nhlanhla Xaba in 1991). For more on Artist Proof see  http://www.artistproofstudio.co.za/ .   There are also many works by more established artists – both South Africans as well as visiting international artists.  With many sub-sections put together by different curators, the exhibition is overwhelming to take in on one visit – and that is certainly no complaint!  So be prepared to go back twice and more. Also the printing processes are many, varied and complex and it really helps to see the actual processes before going round the exhibition.  So before starting to view the works, my advice would be to make your way down to the basement level and turn left (ie to the eastern part of the building) where,  in the far corner, you will find artists from the Studio demonstrating  the various printing techniques.  For a non-printmaker to begin to internalize the complexities of the processes before confronting the works is really valuable.  And once one has only the most superficial of insight and understanding into the consummate skill of these artists, the images inspire even greater awe.   It is a real gem of an exhibition NOT to be missed. With another two months to go make sure you leave time to go back 2 or 3 times.   The exhibition runs until the 6th July. You are in for a treat – enjoy. I certainly will be going back. 

For more information on the background to the exhibition see  http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=29903 

With 3 or 4 screenings a  day there is still time to see Coriolanus before it goes of circuit. Ralph Fiennes contemporary production has been called ‘the thinking person’s action movie’. Peter Bradshaw of  The Guardian writes:  ’Ralph Fiennes’s intelligent take on an unloved Shakespeare links it not only to the 1990s Balkans, [much of it was filmed in the Belgrade] but [also to] the present-day Arab spring.’   Using Shakespeare’s original text (with some cuts here and there) the setting is contemporary, drawing on modern genres like war reporting and TV news. Ralph Fiennes is Coriolanus, Vannessa Regdrave is Volumnia, his equally powerful mother  and our very own John Kani plays General Cominius.  For the remaining performance times for this week see http://www.moviesite.co.za/where/Cinema_Nouveau_Rosebank.htm (Next week’s schedule is still not available so not clear if it will finish on Thursday.

La Traviata (part of the latest season’s opera at the NY Met,  filmed in HD and and showing at Cinema Nouvea), only has 4  more showings: tonight at 19.30; Wednesday at 11 and Thursday at 2 and at 19.30.  Natalie Dessay plays Violetta (her voice was suffering after a cold on the night of the filmed performance) and Matthew Polenzani plays  Alfredo.

Courtesy of the Phantom of the Opera Programme 2012 (Pieter Toerien Monte Casino)

A few weeks ago a guest staying at Liz at Lancaster & who is a musical-aholic, told me he had seen ‘Phantom of the Opera’ SEVENTEEN times – in NY, London and now the night before at Monte Casino, his 2nd time in SA. And he thought it was the best performance he had ever seen. I had never seen Phantom so on his recommendation and with high expectations, I went with a friend (also a Phantom novice). We were completely bowled over. Apart from that wonderful music, the stage sets and costumes were just amazing, but most gut wrenching of all was Johnathan Roxmouth’s rendition of the Phantom. Just an extraordinary performance. Really don’t miss it if you can help it. It’s been extended until 3rd June.

Pooh Bear had his honey pot,  but Liz’s search for the perfect honey has been far more complicated.  Several years ago at a farm stall whose location, let alone its name, I have long since forgotten, I found some special honey. What really caught my eye – apart from the fact that it was Blue-gum flavoured – was the dinky tubular container it was presented in: like a perspex test tube with a red plastic lid. It’s convenient to hold, you can dispense the honey with ease, and it gets round the problem of those awful half empty squeezed plastic bottles of honey which compete fiercely with crusty tomato sauce bottles for the prize in Supreme Tackiness. But of course at the guesthouse we got to the stage where we were short of the honey containers for the breakfast tables. So now .. the hunt began, as I had NO idea where to source these mysterious containers. All my research skills came to the fore, beginning with Googling ‘test tube suppliers’. Starting out with suppliers of lab equipment as far afield as the Cape, I initially gave my long, garbled and utterly confusing story about being a guest house owner, serving honey in tubes and looking to try and replace these unidentifiable tubes. I soon realized that this was way too much irrelevant info. During each phone call I got to learn more of the technical lingo and so gradually refined my enquiry to the company ‘product information specialist’ : ‘Do you supply clear uncalibrated 150 ml centrifugal test tubes, (short and to the point ?), ideally with a screw top lid’ … it was this latter specific that confounded each ‘product information specialist’ .. along with my reply to his/her question of  ‘How many thousand would you be ordering?’ which was, of course, along the lines of ‘Well, I really only need about 10.’  Every person I spoke to was amazingly helpful which each person passing me on to somebody else and seeming to take on my weird project as his or her own personal challenge. SAffers are amazing – I love them! Finally I got to somebody in Joburg who asked me to send her a picture. She phoned back the next morning to say: ‘Guess what? This is a Coke bottle before it has been expanded to its full size’. I mean how amazing is that? And sure enough many more phone calls later, Eddie in the Coke bottling factory said ‘Yep that’s a pre-form’ and you can have some with pleasure. Now I was soo close … except it transpired that Eddie could not supply the screw tops as they were all branded. So the final hurdle was getting the unbranded caps from the supplier at Nampak .. again very generously set aside for me to collect. My hunt for the perfect honey container was complete at last.

But the saga does not end here … I have always wondered what ‘natural honey’ is .. Is there any other kind?? This seeming contradiction has always niggled in the back of my mind (yes, I lead a sad life I know when these are the mysteries of life for me.) And then, seemingly unrelated to all this, conversation over the dinner table a few nights back, led, amongst a whole lot of other equally interesting topics, to a discussion on food irradiation. The consumer I learnt, can identify those products which have been treated by irradiation by looking for the word ‘radurized’ on the food label – a completely new word for me. Buying honey in the supermarket a few days later, I of course examined the label to see, lo and behold, that this product is ‘radurized’. Now I know that honey is one of nature’s few products that never spoils so why would you irradiate honey?? So I begin to think I understand what ‘natural’ honey might mean. And of course I am now on the hunt to track down some ‘natural’ honey (and also to find out why you would irradiate honey in the first place). On Saturday I am ambling through the stalls at the Craigpark Open Day, enjoying the sublime warm autumn day, the festive atmosphere and the laid back sense of community connection, when I spy some unlabelled bottles of honey on a stall table. I pounce on them and as I start spluttering with excitement thinking about all the questions I want to ask, Roy says to me ‘No dear, it’s not irradiated .. is that what you were going to ask?’ So here is the oracle who can answer all my questions about the mysteries of honey. It turns out that honey is irradiated to get rid of the harmful effects of the pesticides that have been used on the plants from which the bees have gathered their nectar. And if an area is pesticide free, there is no need to irradiate the honey. In the Cape where there are badgers, (who love honey nearly as much as Pooh Bear), this is called ‘badger friendly’ honey. So now at last, Liz at Lancaster provides guests with natural unradurized honey, made by bees which have fed off the nectar of citrus trees at Hilton in the Natal Midlands.

Like Hannibal in the A-team .. I do so love it when a plan comes together !

Feels like spring not autumn here in Jozi with temperatures of  27°  over the week-end.  And what better way to enjoy the unseasonally warm weather on Saturday than at the Craighall Park Centenary Open Day.  I have had the privilege of living in Craighall Park for nearly 40 years (terrifying thought!) and daily I am reminded how lucky I am. Apart from its centrality in Joburg and its easy access to all the major business and shopping hubs, it also has such a wonderful sense of neighbourhood and community. This was brought home even more strongly yesterday at the day of festivities and fun organized by the CraigPark Residents Association and held on the sports fields of the Craighall Park Primary School.  

CraigPark Residents’ Association  

The CRA is driven by an amazingly energetic and hard working Committee – one the most pro-active, effective and visionary Residents’ Associations in Joburg.  These extraordinary people carry out their portfolios with commitment,  passion and hard work. To name but a few: Ryan Roseveare (Chair); Wendy McAllister (Vice Chair and Communications), Paulette Malcomess (Civic Affairs and Environment); and Bianca De Roland Phillips (Town Planning), Mack Rogan (Traffic), & Sue Harris (Community Affairs).  They and others on their team have been leaders in managing refuse collection, town planning  & environmental aspects, and work tirelessly for our neighbourhoods at issues  ranging from potholes, to security, to domestic watch training sessions. For more on their work  see www.cra.org.za.  There are also regular updates on community issues on   http://www.facebook.com/craigparkresidentsassociation.

South African woods,  a quick lesson in making cheese and finding the perfect honey

The really very special mix of Craighall Park was particularly evident at Saturday’s event. While Craighall Park is very much a suburban neighbourhood, there are also many small owner run businesses located along Jan Smuts and in several local shopping centres such as The Colony, The Lancaster, 9 Grafton Ave, and the Valley Shopping Centre.  Seeing many of these owners at their stands on Saturday, brought home to me what a sense of locale and community we have in Craighall Park.

Fabulous aromas wafted from various food stalls offered by the likes of Casalottis (fabulous thin based pizzas), the Market Place (tasty home cooked food), Fatima’s great samoosas (yum – wish I’d brought some home with me), Steers fast food,  (consistently good), Hodges family run restaurant in the Colony, Helen’s cakes, (great croissants and muffins too), lamb on the spit from Mannie’s excellent Craighall Park Meat Supply (also make wonderful chicken thigh kebabs); and many more. And I even learnt all about cheese from Pepe who makes goat’s cheese (right here in Lancaster Avenue) using non-pasteurized milk which he gets from the goats kept by Onderstepoort Veterinary  Faculty near Pretoria. 

I bought vegetable seedlings (bok choi and swiss chard) from Danielle at the Vegetable Club (which is holding a vegetable competition next Saturday 12^th down at the REEA Foundation) and I treated myself to a wonderful handmade wooden pen made from Leadwood by Frans Joubert.  Frans uses all sorts of Southern African woods – Tambotie, Wild Olive, African Blackwood, African Red Ivory – to make his pens and pencils. Great presents!    And of course I found the perfect honey. See  http://lizatlancaster.co.za/blog/like-pooh-bear-i-have-searched-for-the-perfect-honey-pot  

Two local residents had tracked down Peter Rattray, the great great grandson of William Rattray who developed the townships of Craighall and Craighall Park. Peter hand-drew a  map of the old Craighall Park with a key to the sites of yesteryear, which created a lot of interest.   I have written briefly on the history of Craighall Park http://lizatlancaster.co.za/blog/exhilarating-air-of-peace-and-calmness-accommodation-in-craighall-park and there is more information on http://www.cra.org.za/index.cfm/p/pages.history-overview.htm.  Given William Rattray’s strong Scottish connections it was fitting that there was a wonderful pipe band which added to ceremony and atmosphere of the day on Saturday.

So well done to all the people who worked so hard to make this such a success with special mention to Wendy and Bianca. 

The Jozi Run took place on Tuesday evening before Human Rights Day (21st March). See http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-03-22-run-jozi-sa-runs-for-its-life-finds-its-soul-in-hillbrow 

The space at 281 Commissioner St opened up to allow the projection of Buntu Fihle's photographs onto a building across the street. Source: Andre Pretorius

On Tuesday evening, I went to 10 years On Air – the collaborative Review exhibition of the On Air partnership: Marcus Neustatter and Stephen Hobbs. Unexpectedly, Marcus was there to give a walkabout which made viewing particularly enjoyable and accessible . It was really good to see their production over the last decade – much of which has been based in other countries.   Their projects have been very varied but all demonstrate their interest in collaborative work, performance and installation work, and making interventions in public spaces and buildings.   With most of their work being of an ephemeral nature, Neustatter and Hobbs use different mediums (video, slides, artefacts and everyday objects, drawings) to record and re-present their various projects.  These thought-provoking projects  have generated many beautiful visuals as in the Hand and Machine piece which contrasts and compares the different rural and urban Mali environments of Djenne the mud city (and World Heritage site),  and Bamako the capital.  10 years On Air  will be on for another 2 months but only by appointment.  It is showing in a great venue – a factory building at 281 Commissioner St (a block away from Arts On Main) and because much of their work is in the form of large scale video projections, the show is only on in the evenings after dark. For more see http://www.onair.co.za/broadcast/?p=415#more-415 

A cheese maker on Liz at Lancaster’s doorstep … literally in the same street , one block away, and I never knew about it. Am off there this week. And seems he supplies no lesser luminary retailers than Thrupps, Organic Village Market in Bryanston, Nieghbourhoods in Braamfontien, and our great neighbourhood restaurant Cnr Cafe http://www.jhblive.com/reviews/shops/damn_fine_cheese_in_jozi!/99781