It is with some sadness that we announce the imminent closure of our beloved village art space. Directors Kate and Vince are changing professional trajectory: Kate is narrowing her creative focus and concentrating on her personal fine art practice, which also means she will be doing more tattoo and less curating of other artists' work; Vince is committing to work in the Solar Energy field.
This means we won't be occupying the shop at Atalaia in Chintsa anymore.
But what an incredible experience we've had with you all! From our humble beginnings as an artist and electrical engineer putting their heads together and calling in a way to pool the creative talent of our area (and save it from export to bigger, more 'exciting' and established creative hubs in the cities), to laying the foundations for a new creative scene in Chintsa, making this a proper art pin on the Eastern Cape map, we are super happy with what we've done to reignite pride within in our creative community and inject some faith into not only the artists we've met, but also the wider mindset of East London, when it comes to the value and power of art.
Thank you to everyone who was involved in some way. Thank you Tersia Vermaak for the initial match-making... Thank you Mike and Sean for letting us occupy your building and gradually turning your car park into a garden and events venue; thank you Sal for coming on board and starting to paint again; thank you Pam for bringing us news from the outside art world; thank you Emerald Vale Breweries, Crawfords Beach Lodge, C Club, Buccaneers-on-the-Beach, What's On East London, Country Life Magazine, What's Up East Coast, Jikeleza Art Route, Salza Media and Purple Haze Eco Lodge for all your generous contributions to our cause, and of course Lynne Crawford for letting us use your chairs, opening your bar at night when we had overflow, and for all those other wild occasions when we ran out of 'stuff' (also, for all the coffee); and to all the special people who visited and added their energy into what we were doing in our dear, darling Chintsa! Thank you
