TEREZA HARLING

(Coastal Sun news paper 2008)

“Art transcends language, culture and time.”

There are several styles and methods for producing my paintings and though I enjoy making copies of paintings by the old masters and land and seascapes, my main love is abstraction.

The process of creation starts with the intuitive application of mixed media to the canvas. From there the painting develops as the paint is applied with brush and pallet knife.

Artists who have influenced my art are William Kentridge, Paul Du Toit, Paul Coetzee and Bette Chilliers Barnard.

In1992 the Harlings moved from East London to Vredenburg, seven years later they settled in Velddrif. Though Tereza had done two years Commercial Art at the Natal Technicon in her teens, art gave way to bringing up a family. In 1997 she took up art again studying under Raymond Hoggan, and later with Jan Visser and Lauren Broekhuisen. This lead to her doing first year UNISA Visual Art and workshops with Jenny Merit and Jill Trappler.

Tereza has been a member of the West Coast Art Guild since 1998 and is also a member of the South African Society of Artists. Currently she is a member of the Guild committee.

Over the years Tereza has participated in many exhibitions, some of them being at Reebek Kastel annual festival, the many exhibitions held by the West Coast Art Guild, been invited to participate Steenbokfontein Art Exhibition three years running. As a member of SASA she has had paintings accepted for the Members and Annual exhibitions and participated in the 2007 Merit Exhibition.

Tereza’s paintings may be seen at the Bay Gallery and the Farmhouse Hotel in Langebaan and the West Coast Gallery in Velddrif.

For Tereza, art is articulating a three-dimensional conversation with the canvas and when complete, she provides viewers with a bowl of thought-beads and thread, stimulating them to thread-through and create their own unique necklace of interpretation.

“ I experience both excitement and surprise as intuition bypasses intrinsic logic and produces something different to what I’d planned.”

“ Art is my best friend.”

Tereza’s main love is to paint abstracts. She uses mixed media such as sand and cloth to enhance the meaning of the painting and to express the duality of the material and spiritual world. She also paints still-lifes and landscapes.

Her paintings are allegorical, with symbols, themes, colours and lines of movement.

Medium
Predominantly oils, sometimes acrylics and pastels. Mixed media textures.

Career Highlights
Opening night at exhibitions. At the recent West Coast Artist’s Guild exhibition one of her paintings fetched premium price.

Personal
Tereza is unconventional yet structured. Eccentric yet cautious. Analytical yet intuitive. Pensive yet positive. Lives in a small town yet explores art across the globe via web browsing. Prefers solitude but enjoys company in small numbers.

Sources of Learning
Commercial Art, Durban Technikon
Visual Art, Unisa
South African teachers, notably Raymond Hoggan and Jan Visser.
Workshops with Jill Trappler and Jenny Merit.


Influenced by
Judy Buxton, Judy Moolenscot, Vanessa Berlin, Sam Dillemans and Francis Bacon.

Soul Food
Meditation, music, colour, being with people of like-minded disposition.

Inspiration
The ancient, the classical and the spiritual. Diverse cultural ancestry. Passionate, exciting and moving music, such as requiems, masses and operas. Philosophical works of saints, legends, ancient history and religions.
Born Malta 1941. Came with parents and settled in Durban 1946.

1958-9 attended full time Commercial Art classes, Natal Technical Collage.
1993 Moved to Vredenburg on the Cape West Coast. Studied under Raymond Hoggen, Jan Visser. Attended several Jill Trappler workshops.
1996 – Joined the West Coast Arts Guild
2001 Did First year Visual Art, UNISA
From 1997 till today I have been exhibiting and selling paintings and drawings at various galleries from the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town up to Lamberts Bay.
2006 & 7 Invited to participate in the Steenbokfontein Nature Reserve Annual Art Exhibition.
2006 & 7 As a member of the South African Society of Artists, exhibited in the Members and Annual Exhibitions at the Kirstenbosch National Gardens.
2007 Exhibited in the South African Society of Artists Merit Exhibition, Sanlam Hall, Kirstenbosch National Gardens.
2007/8/9 Participated in group exhibitions at the VEO Gallery, Cape Town
2008 – Continual participation in all exhibitions held by the West Coast Arts Guild
2009 – Velddrif committee member of the West Coast Art Guild.

My main interest is abstraction in oils or acrylics with mixed media. The subject is usually man and his environment, with metaphysical undertones. Still lifes, making copies of paintings by the old masters and landscape paintings of local scenes also give me great pleasure.

GALLERIES
……………..

Gallery 909, V & A Waterfront West Coast Gallery, Velddrif

Bay Gallery, Langebaan @ Pater Noster Gallery, Pater Noster

Die Pomphuis, Pater Noster Geelbek Hotel, Langebaan Nature Reserve.

Gallery On The Square, Mykonos, Langebaan. ROMONDO, Vredenburg.

“The Wild”, Lanbert’s Bay. The Barn Gallery, Reibeek Kastel

Farmhouse Hotel, Langebaan.

EXHIBITIONS
……………….

West Coast Gallery
Farmhouse Hotel, Langebaan
The Art Orchard, Reibek Kasteel.
Paternostor Hotel, Paternoster.
Bay Gallery, Langebaan.
Art-B Gallery, Bellville
The Gallery On The Square, Mykonos, Langebaan.
Riebeek Kasteel Cellars
Agnios Nikolas Gallery, Mykonos, Langebaan.
Frame Craft and Exhibitions, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town
The Old Palm, St Helena Bay.
Wild Wings Gallery, Langebaan.
Velddrif Community Center
Rieebeek Hotel,
West Coast National Park.
Annual Exhibition, Steenbokfontein Nature Reserve, 2006.,07,08
South African Society of Artists, Members Exhibition, Cape Town. 2006
S.A.S.A., Annual Exhibition. 2006.
Merit Exhibition, SASA, Kirstenbosch Gardens, Cape Town 2007
NB. Some of the above galleries have closed down over the years.

Galleries where her work has been exhibited
Frame Craft & Exhibitions,
V&A Waterfront Bay Gallery,
Mykonos, Langebaan
Wild Wings, Langebaan
Paternoster Gallery
The Barn Gallery, Riebeeck Kastel
West Coast Gallery, Velddrif
Artful Things, Pelican Harbour, Velddrif
Gitters and Goeters,Vredenburg
The Frame Shop, Vredenburg.

Tereza Harling
108 Smit Laan
Velddrif 7365

Tel: 022-783-1817
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it