Port Elizabeth, Nelson Mandela Bay, will host 9 major exhibitions at specific Galleries in the city as part of Visual Art fringe programme of the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. Entry to the Port Elizabeth venues is free of charge, and open to all.
Open Now:
- Ernest Cole Photographic Exhibition: International award winning photographer Earnest Cole is the first exhibition to be housed in the Art Gallery of the Red Location Cultural Precinct.
Opening today 15 June:
- “SKIN” at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum. Pieter Swart, Director Marketing and Corporate Affairs NMMU will open the exhibition. The Friends of the Art Museum will host an inaugural exhibition titled “SKIN”. The selected, curated exhibition is open to all artists resident in Mandela Bay who have responded to the theme “SKIN”.
- “Weird and Wonderful” This Curated exhibition from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museums permanent collection will highlight some very weird and unusual works of art.
Opening 17 June:
- “ART and ARTISTS of the Eastern Cape”: Tony Lankaster (CEO) National Arts Festival will open three Exhibitions at the recently renovated Athenaeum building. Over 200 Eastern Cape Artists where invited to submit work for this ground breaking exhibition. A book of the same title, featuring 208 Eastern Cape Artists, will also be launched and go on sale.
- “Ceramics SA – Eastern Cape”: The Eastern Cape Potters will showcase their work. Workshops and a potter’s outreach programme have been organised.
- “Port Elizabeth Camera Club”: 100 National and International award winning photographs will be showcased
Opening 21 June:
- “NMMU CONTEMPORARY” – Prof. Derrick Swartz, Vice Chancellor NMMU will open this exhibition at the Ron Belling Art Gallery. Staff and Alumni and students of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University School of Art will showcase their cutting edge creativity.
Opening 27 June:
- “ROUTE 67 ….in the making”. Overseen and Commissioned by the Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) – 67 Public Art Works and Art Interventions installed in and around the Donkin Reserve. A number of works have been complete and the balance will be complete by October. Explore the public art works in the ongoing upgrade of the Donkin Reserve and surrounding areas of Central, Port Elizabeth
Opening 28 June:
- “Finding Kaggen”. A curated exhibition at artEC (EPSAC) open to all artists in South Africa who where asked to respond to the theme “Finding Kaggen” – finding the mythological “TOKKELOSIE”.
Over the National Arts Festival from 30 June to 10 July, Port Elizabeth is expected to become a hive of festival “festino’s” experiencing the visual creativity of South Africa in Nelson Mandela Bay.
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Alan Straton
Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth.
Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die."
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