On the left, Joanne Lee Miller and Paula Dubois in the lounge that will be a makeshift gallery this weekend and next.
Salon 104, an ensemble of professional artists, will be staging an art exhibition at 104 Belmont Gardens in Oranjezicht over two weekends.
Twelve artists will be displaying their work at the apartment of Paula Dubois, 53, who is opening her home to host the exhibition.
All artworks will be sold for R1800, with R300 from each piece going to the Imbali Western Cape Visual Literacy Project in Kylemore.
“We want to keep costs low and we don’t have a gallery and so we have created a gallery in the lounge. A lot of my friends want to buy art and we thought that we should do something for our friends and those that are interested in buying affordable art, so this is why I’m doing it here,” said Ms Dubois.
“Salon 104 is such a richness of people with incredible talents and skills, there’s mentoring and advice being given on a casual basis, so it’s working for us and we have a lot to give. We are excited about this exhibition and supporting Imbali,” she said.
Joanne Lee Miller, 43, is one of the contributing artists and organisers of the exhibition and is enthusiastic about the artwork being done on A4-sized paper.
“Most of us have not worked on paper so it’s been a new experience and any medium and subject is welcome, as long as it’s on A4 paper. For example I’m an oil painter and I paint on canvas and I had to learn how to prepare the paper to use oil paints so that was a new experience. So some will use acrylic and water paint so it’s all different,” said Ms Miller.
Ms Miller, who studied classical realism at the Florence Academy of Art, is the founder of Salon 104 and explains that the idea came from bringing artists together.
“So this (salon) started in 2017 in Florence and I imagined what it was like when Gertrude Stein hosted her salon in Paris on Saturday nights and when Dorothy Parker brought people together in New York, so I wanted to bring people together to talk about art and philosophy and what it means to be a professional artist, what it means to have personal identity in art, what does it mean to sell art and not sell out, so we are doing the same here in Cape Town,” she said.
According to Ana-Paola Little, Imbali's fundraiser, they conduct an Art-Making Programme that strengthens cognitive skills and serves as a foundation for long-term support and personal development for children and young people from the ages of three to 19.
“Art making is crucial in building self-esteem, self-expression, fine motor skills and problem-solving. The added benefit is the involvement and support of the friends and families of our budding artists as they enjoy being part of the programmes and events,” said Ms Little.
Free tickets are limited to 30 people a day for the six-day exhibition and can be obtained through Quicket:
The opening hours are:
Thursday May 23, 4pm to 7pm
Friday May 24, 4pm to 7pm
Saturday May 25, 10am to 1pm
Thursday May 30, 4pm to 7pm
Friday May 31, from 4pm to 7pm
Saturday June 1, from 10am to 1pm