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TOKARA WINE MADE ART
8 Oct, 2012 - 31 Dec, 2012
WINE MADE ART EXHIBIT ATTRACTS WINELANDS VISITORS
The annual Tokara Wine Made Art exhibition is a popular attraction for visitors to the Cape Winelands and the 27 artworks on display celebrate the iconic Simonsberg mountain.
Simonsberg, which watches over the quaint university town of Stellenbosch, is considered one of the best locations for producing fine South African wine. Its slopes, which carry vineyards hundreds of metres above sea level, is home to many world class estates including Rustenberg, Thelema and Tokara.
Tokara chose to pay tribute to this majestic landmark by selecting the theme “Inspired by the Simonsberg” when commissioning artists to produce works for its annual Wine Made Art exhibition, which is open to the public and runs until the end of December 2012 giving local, upcountry and international visitors the opportunity to experience these incredible works.
The artists, from the Mari Stander School of Art in Jamestown outside Stellenbosch, used the 2010 Tokara Shiraz as a medium to produce 27 works mostly focused on the fauna and flora encountered by hikers on the slopes of the Simonsberg.
The fauna featured in the works include a young male Mountain Leopard, which has been photographed at Tokara in recent months, small antelope like Duiker and Steenbuck, and the cat-like Caracal. Birders can enjoy paintings of a Black Eagle, a Peregrine Falcon, a Sugarbird and an finely detailed face of an owl.
Jean Louis, who painted a Cape Sugarbird, said one of her favourite things when hiking through the Cape Mountains is the way in which the early morning sunlight catches the different Fynbos leaves making a myriad of colours. “Recently I enjoyed watching the delightful Cape Sugarbird on a high branch with his amazingly magnificent tail billowing in the breeze. This was all a delight for me to capture on canvas for my Simonsberg project.”
Flora on the rugged mountain is expressed in landscapes and through detailed Botanic art illustrating the seeds, flowers and other plants that find a home on its slopes. Some artists elected to tell the story of Simon van der Stel, whose name is given to the mountain, while others celebrated the communities who live in its shadow.
“This year’s Wine Made Art brief made me focus on something that I see every day while traveling to and from work, but almost take for granted as ‘part of the scenery’. I decided to literally go to the mountain and found my inspiration in the wide array of plant and animal life only visible on closer inspection. Beauty is present in even the dead and discarded seeds, leaves and flowers. It starts to form part of the insect life on ground level; starting a new function in nature’s cycle,” said artist Janet Traut.
The winery, situated on the crest of Stellenbosch’s Helshoogte Pass, is open from 9am to 5pm weekdays and from 10am to 3pm on Saturdays and Sundays.
Visit www.tokara.com for more details.
