South Africa 2011: Day 28 - Oliewenhuis Museum and Eunice School Visit

We started off with a trip to the Oliewenhuis Museum where we had an opportunity to hear from a few guest artists as well as to hear the story about the Blind Alphabet Which is a rather big piece for the museum currently. The museum only began in 1989 and only collects South African art.

The Blind Alphabet is a piece which the artist uses metal boxes about the size of a few work boot boxes that each contain an object made from wood. Attached to the surface of the box is a sheet of metal with braille writing on which the top which the blind are to use in order to discover the objects found within. It is rally quite interesting. We wee fortunate to have a young blind student named David do the local university read to us the story of the objects found within the stories.

It was really powerful listening to David read the story because not only were the stories unique abstracts of the work which made knowing the object and listening to the story interesting, but watching him read and listening to the mixed Africaans and English was really cool. It was also special hearing how David uses his only true seeing sense of touch to identify and learn about what he is taking part in.

We also had a chance to visit their outside court yard which was stunning and full of some sculptures that really spoke a lot about the South African people. In the back of the court yard space there was a functioning carousel which was designed based on African animals positioned in the back for children to ride when they visit ... or in our case adults to ride. I wish you could see the animals up close because the detail was quite fascinating.

At the end of the court yard there was a small building which looked like it was only going to host a few pieces of art, but then as you walk inside it takes you into an underground section of the gallery which is currently holding work by an artist of the name Willie Bester. His work mainly focuses on using found scrap metal that he fashions into figures representative of coloured individuals and the lifestyles they face given what they do to survive. The work also speaks of how their lives change dramatically because of those sacrifices they have to make. It was really an incredible site to see. Managed to snap a quick picture while the security guard was looking the other way. Yay to being sneaky :)

This was another impressive museum with a wonderful set of archives that it has to share with it's audience. A lot of the works I have seen these past museum visits have really made me begin to think about different ways I can engage my own kids in class and challenge their thinking to an entirely new level. I can't wait to incorporate more of these ideas in my own classes. This trip has done such wonderful job in challenging those thoughts and perceptions I've had on my class.

This afternoon we visited the Eunice school for girls which was by far the most incredible school I've ever seen ... no offense Mr. Fujii :) It felt like I had walked into a facility designed for college students with beautiful lounges full of patterned furniture, fresh tea cups and loads of finger sandwiches for the girls at any time. Ummm, yeah super jealous by the way.

The teachers have the girls for a full year and the girls average about 50 hours per project most of which is outside work done after school or during holiday time. I can't squeeze that out of kids if I paid them. The students art work is impressive and really showed solid examples of the fundamental items needed to complete organized aesthetic work. I am really blown away here at the quality, but I suppose it is to be expected with the amount of time they invest in their work.