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Ardmore Young Artists Awards
The dynamic, creative partnership of Fèe Halsted-Berning and Bonnie Ntshalintshali was to be rewarded in 1990 when they were the first ceramic artists to be nominated for the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Visual Art.This is the pre-eminent artistic award in South Africa and Fèe and Bonnie were required to produce an exhibition to tour the country.This put Ardmore on the map. Ardmore 's acclaim resulted in a trail of visitors to the rural Studio and with this a demand for their creative work.In order to meet this demand, Fèe began to teach a steady stream of rural women to paint and sculpt.The picturesque idyll presented by the setting bellies the fact of high unemployment and rural poverty. The northeastern boundary of Ardmore rises to high point beyond which, unseen, lies Drakensberg Location No. 2 and Ntabanhlope Location, densely populated by small-scale peasant and subsistence farmers along the length of the Injasuthi River Valley.It is from this abject rural poverty that the studio draws it's artist : faced with earning a living their primary focus is on improving the lifestyle of their families.
ACCOLADES AND ACCLAIMArdmore grew expeditiously during the 1990s with many of the new artists achieving accolades and acclaim within six months of joining the Studio.In addition, many Ardmore artists have attained the ultimate recognition for artistic endeavour , that of having a work of art in a South African gallery. The momentum sustained by the art and accolades resulted in international recognition for the Studio.Significantly, Bonnie was the first South African to have artwork displayed on the Venice, Biennale in 1993, thus breaking the cultural isolation of the apartheid years. In 1996 Fèe opened a second Studio at Springvale Farm near Rosetta.Interestingly the move there , combined with the success of the art, resulted in an increase in the number of young men who joined the Studio.The Ardmore Ceramic Studio which continues to sustain a dynamic local and international exhibition programme.
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