Night of a Thousand Drawings, the charity event hosted by the twenty three First Fridays Artwalk galleries in Hermanus, will take place on December 3^rd. Each gallery will be selling a huge range of A5 size artworks; some donated by professional artists and some by amateurs, the artworks will be priced at R100 each and all the proceeds will be donated to charity.

Corné Eksteen has donated 10 works in ink and mixed media on paper to this incredible initiative and the pieces will be exclusively available through Rossouw Modern at 3 Harbor road in Hermanus

Two artworks by Corné Eksteen are included among finalists for the 2021 Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Award.
See Corné Eksteen's artwork "Encryption I" HERE
See Corné Eksteen's artwork "Seat for the conspiracy theorist on the lap of the conscientious" HERE

The 2021 Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Award Top 100 finalists have been announced. The 100 works selected from over 800 entries nationally were announced by City of Ekurhuleni on October 8^th, 2021. The Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards (TMFAA) is a contemporary fine arts competition hosted and sponsored by the CoE under the auspices of the Arts, Culture and Heritage (ACH) Directorate of the Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture (SRAC) Department. The competition and awards seeks to inspire the passion that the late South African acclaimed resistance artist and activist Thamsanqa "Thami" Mnyele had for art.

The adjudicators for the 2021 Thami Mnyele Fine Arts Awards competition were:

• Sizwe Khoza - 2019 First Prize Winner
• Molemo Moiloa Gapare - Artist and Curator
• Colbert Mashile - Artist, Lecturer and Curator
• Gordon Froud - Lecture, adjudicated provincial and national art competitions and an accomplished Curator and Artist
• Aysha Waja - Independent Curator & Artist Mentor

Corné Eksteen's artwork "Encryption V" has been shortlisted for the 2021 Rust-en-Vrede Portrait Award.
See Corné Eksteen's artwork "Encryption V" HERE

The 2021 Rust-en-Vrede Portrait Award shortlisted finalists have been announced. The shortlist, consisting of 40 works (including Corné's "Encryption V") by South African artists selected from over 900 entries nationally were announced by Rust-enVrede Gallery over the weekend. This prestigious biannual competition now in its fifth edition has grown to be on of the most revered portrait competitions in Soutn Africa.

This year's competition was staged in several rounds. A first round consisted of digital submissions from which roughly 250 works were selected for physical viewing by this year's adjudicators Robyn Cedras-Tobin, Lucia Burger and Stefan Hundt. (Read more about the judging panel HERE) A longlist of 100 works were selected by the judges. Sixty works seleted for this longlist of finalists will go on show at The Rupert Museum in Stellenbosch on Septmeber 4th, 2021. The remaining Top 40 selections will go on show at the Rust-en-Vrede Gallery in Durbanville, South Africa on the same day. A gala event on September 3rd at Rust-en-Vrede gallery will see the announcement of this year's overall winner.

The winner of the 2021 Portrait Award stands a chance to walk away with over R150 000 in prizes.

Get more info about this award: Rust-en-Vrede Gallery Website

20 artworks by 20 South African artists will be auctioned off for charity - The Travelling Art Gallery's art benefit initiative from 20 May to 8 June 2021.

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, many organisations have lost their necessary financial support and many schools, as well as foundations, are finding it extremely difficult, no matter where they are in the world. Therefore, the artists of The Travelling Art Gallery - an artist initiative from South Africa that usually presents art from South Africa in the form of pop-up exhibitions - are staging an online charity auction with 20 works. During the "20 STARS Charity Auction", 20 great works by 20 established artists from all over South Africa will be made available and auctioned off for a good cause. The proceeds will be shared and will benefit an aid organisation in South Africa as well as a foundation in Germany.

Especially for culture, 2020 was not an easy year, and yet the artist initiative from South Africa managed to successfully realise various exhibitions. The Travelling Art Gallery, by and with artists from South Africa, has literally travelled with art since its inception in 2017, hosting colourful, strong, large pop-up exhibitions in various cities. 2020 was the year with four exhibitions planned in Europe, but unfortunately, COVID-19 has thwarted these plans, too. Nevertheless, the team managed to stage two exhibitions in Berlin and join a project in Frankfurt. The art of 26 artists from South Africa was shown, seen and acclaimed, as well as sold to numerous art lovers. Art that would otherwise not have been seen in Germany.

One of the concerns of Barbara Lenhard, co-initiator of the benefit campaign, is to give something back from this success together with the artists. Half of the money from the auction will be donated to HOPE SCHOOLS in South Africa and the other half to the German-based STARKE BANDE foundation. HOPE SCHOOLS in East London was founded in 2009 and is a refuge for about 300 HIV-positive children. The German foundation STARKE BANDE promotes the strengthening of the parent-child relationship with family therapies. "We are happy that through this charity auction we can together make a difference that will enable a real life perspective for the lives of the children of HOPE SCHOOLS", says Ruth Gombert from Hope Schools, who runs the shop SOIS BLESSED in Munich and is very committed to this school. Annika Fink from the Stifung Starke Bande in Frankfurt adds: "Looking and not looking away - that is more important than ever in today's world. Whether as an artist, as an initiator of an organisation or as a donor. Taking responsibility, no matter how small, means changing something for the better."

"We also want to use art to promote a sense of companionship. Both organisations do so much for communities, which are very important for our society. Our aim with the '20 STARS Charity Auction' is to support and show what art can do for us as people," says Barbara Lenhard, who has spent 12 years of her life working in South Africa and has just moved back to Germany. "With each winning bid, the auction participants not only do good for others, but also give themselves a gift of a great work of art at the same time," adds the sympathetic power woman.

19 paintings and one bronze sculpture by 20 different established artists from South Africa will be auctioned off, all of which are donated by the artists to raise funds for a good cause. Included are works by Corné Eksteen, Paul Blomkamp, Mandlenkosi Mavengere, Riaan van Zyl, Corné Theron, Andrew Ntshabele, Sara Gaqa and Adriaan Diedericks, among others.

The "20 STARS Charity Auction" starts on 20 May for 20 days and runs online until 8 June 2021 at www.ttag.online .