A 140-year-old building on the corner of Loop and Church in Cape Town is currently being transformed into 99 Loop Gallery, the newest art hot spot on the Church Street strip. We caught up with gallery manager, Lena Sulik to find out about the new space, which opens on 5 August 2015 with an exhibition titled, Cape of Good Hope.

What did you do before the opening of the gallery?

I was a stage manager for a dance company after university, having studied English and Drama at UCT. I moved from theatre to fine arts in 2006 and haven’t looked back. I was lucky enough to work at Everard Read for a number of years, before being given the brilliant opportunity to develop this space with owner and director, Morne Marais. Morne brings the business acumen of a hedge-fund manager to an industry that needs it.

Which artists are you opening with? 

Our debut exhibition is a nod to our surroundings – the city of Cape Town. We’re in the heart of the city and it’s a fascinating, beautiful, contentious place for shaping artistic gesture. The 15 artists on show range from sculptors and painters to photographers and GIF artists. We have Fayrooz Abader, Andrew Hart Adler, Chris Auret, Thomas Cartwright, Rayaan Cassiem, Michael Chandler, Katrine Claassens, Adriaan Diedericks, Robert Hamblin, Daya Heller, Lizza Littlewort, Johnson Tsoku Maela, Jenny Parsons, Khaya Sineyile and Karen Wykerd.

What kind of art can we look forward to in the future?

99 Loop will play host to a revolving series of solo and group exhibitions of various media, from the oil paintings of Zarah Cassim in September 2015 to the kinetic drawing machines of Gregory Stock in November 2015. The gallery is made up of a number of different rooms, so any one month will have two or three exhibitions running simultaneously.

What excites you about South African Art?

The same thing that excites me about South Africa in general, the diversity and opportunity. South Africans are starting to realise that art is something that you can engage with and enjoy, and something that is rewarding, because of events like First Thursdays, which we’re very much looking forward to being a part of. I’m also glad to see the new appreciation of painting that’s developed over the last few years.

Who is your favourite artist at the moment?

That’s like asking what someone’s favourite song is – tough! I tend to like individual pieces from different artists. But I’m really excited to be exhibiting the work of Daniel Clarke in September 2015. A complete unknown in the fine art world, he’s made a name for himself as a concept designer in the animation industry. He started painting only last year, and his work is already powerfully evocative. It makes my heart beat faster.

The Cape of Good Hope exhibition runs from 5 – 28 August 2015. 99 Loop Gallery is located at 99 Loop Street, Cape Town. For more information, visit 99loop.co.za.

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A dilapidated warehouse in Cape Town’s Church Street has been turned into a gorgeous art gallery, Smith Studio – which opened its doors with a solo exhibition by Kurt Pio.

It is a dream come true for two Mother City friends and business partners: Not only have Candace Marshall-Smith and Amy Ellenbogen turned their love for art into a business by launching their very own art gallery, Smith Studio, but they have also given a 250-year-old double-storey warehouse a fabulous new lease on life.

Candace is the first to admit it was quite a journey to get where they are. A photographer, avid art collector and business whizz with an accounting back-ground, she knew the old pakhuis in Cape Town’s Church Street would be in need of very special attention. Not to mention vision.

After buying it on auction with her husband William and business partner Andrew Bonamour, Candace immediately called her friend Amy, an art history graduate fresh from a curating stint in Edinburgh, to partner with her as the gallery’s curator. So Smith Studio was born, the name referring to Candace’s surname as well as to a crafter, a maker of things. Smith is also a common surname, easily attachable to other names like exhibitions and artists’ names without stealing the show.

Next, they called in the experts to help reimagine their long, narrow space. And who else but heritage specialists Gawie and Gwen Fagan would ensure every little bit of the building’s history is honoured and restored to its former glory? Architects Reanne Urbain and Alex McGee gave it all a fresh and contemporary polish-up.

“We wanted the best of both worlds,” says Candace: “amazing art by new and established local artists as well as a beautiful destination gallery.”

Something Amy is especially mad about is the restored glass-front doorway, which is large enough to let in not only a car but also the First Thursdays art-loving crowd once a month.

“I look forward to all the possibilities the door presents,” says Amy: “Imagine large functions or exhibition openings stretching out of the door and onto the cobbled street.”

When Amy’s not dreaming of Smith Studio’s future ventures, her scouting eye is on the lookout for new talent. Once she’s set her sights on an artist, it’s a matter of guidance and support before they work towards a show together.

“Many artists have a background in illustration and want to move forward, try different mediums, change certain styles or simply grow. That’s where I come in,” says Amy.

And the upstairs area with its lovely light and sash windows? “It’s offices now, but our dream is that it will eventually become an exhibition space,” says Candace.

At the rate this duo is making dreams come true, it’s just a matter of time.

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Since 1971, No. 35 Church street in Cape Town has been home to the AVA gallery (Association for Visual Arts), the city’s oldest non-profit art gallery. With all the galleries that have popped up on Church Street in recent years, it’s easy for spaces to get lost in the mix. We met up with the gallery’s brand new director, Portia Malatjie to chat about the Open Stoep Residency, just one in a series of projects she is spearheading at the AVA.

What is the Open Stoep Residency?

There are quite a number of galleries around, most of which have windows where you can actually see into the space and engage with the art without even walking in.

One of our challenges at the AVA is that we have walls with no huge windows, allowing people to walk past without noticing that there is a gallery space inside.

The idea is therefore to draw attention to this building as a gallery space and a relevant one at that. We are essentially a community space and we want people to engage with that, we want them walking in and out all the time. The Open Stoep Residency invites artists to engage with the space. We’re essentially taking the art outside the gallery to the surrounding community.

First Thursdays in May marked your initial Open Stoep Residency evening. Tell us a bit more about that.

Our first artist was Sethembile Msezane. She did a performance conceived in response to the xenophobic attacks. She wore a dress with African flags and stood on the stoep and invited people to “hug an African.” She also had a large piece of paper next to her featuring all of the African flags. The idea was that people had to write next to the flag the name of the African country they represented. Even after the performance, we still had people from the streets engaging with the flags. It was amazing.

How often will you have artists occupying the stoep?

We initially wanted to have a resident artist each month, but when we launched during First Thursdays, people absolutely loved it and other artists wanted the opportunity to get involved, so now we’re going to be doing it twice a month. Although each artist or group of artists will have two weeks to work with the space, each residency will differ. Some will last two full weeks, while others will be once-offs.

What else can people expect to see with you as the new director of the AVA?

Well, this is quite a vibrant space to begin with. So many artists who are well known now began their careers here. It was an important space then and it is an important space now. I am working on a programme that utilises the energy of the space, to remind everyone that new and interesting things are happening here all the time. I’ll be making sure we are consistently visible. The Open Stoep Residency is just the beginning of that. We have film screenings and talks coming up that run alongside our exhibition programme. One of the things that has characterised the AVA is that we’re Western Cape-based and that we appeal to Western Cape artists. I’d like to open that up a bit more. I’ve worked with people from Joburg, Brazil and the States and I’d like to keep conversations going with some of those people.

How do readers find out about future artists and events on the programme?

You can find out via our website and Facebook page, or you can sign up to our newsletter.

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Church Street in Cape Town is fast affirming its position as the go-to destination for art lovers.

May 2015 will see 99 Loop Gallery open its doors as the seventh gallery in this short stretch of road.

Named after its location, the gallery will open with an exhibition inspired by the city itself, featuring work by a variety of artists including sculptor Adriaan Diedericks, illustrator and designer Atang Tshikare, photographer Robert Hamblin and painter Jenny Parsons.

Alongside the gallery there’ll also be a café serving food grown on the gallery’s rooftop garden.

Keep up with the activities at the gallery via facebook.com/99Loop.

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