The AVA Gallery is managed by a Committee of volunteers who give of their time and expertise to serve the AVA gallery, its constitution, mandate and the visual arts community at large. The AVA Committee is made up of visual arts professionals and arts enthusiasts that serve the AVA Gallery as a reference, advisory and regulatory body that along with the AVA Gallery Director guide the AVA Gallery in the fulfillment of its vision.
This annually elected Committee is divided into 4 sub- Committees. Exco, Selection, Artreach and Marketing. The AVA Gallery is proud to have been associated and guided over the years by some of the most dynamic and committed professionals within the visual arts community at large.
Chantal Louw
Chantal Louw is co-founder and co-owner of The Fringe Arts, a projects company and collective of over 100 artists and designers. In January 2010, Louw and her business partner Thessa Bos started their first project with a pop-up store/gallery at Spier Contemporary 2010 and have popped-up nine times since then. Their current pop-up can be visited at the Alfred Mall, V&A Waterfront. In June 2011, they opened their first permanent store on Kloof Street. Prior to The Fringe Arts, Louw worked at Joao Ferreira Gallery and successfully launched artists such as Spier Contemporary 2010 winner Araminta de Clermont. Louw has also worked in mentorship at the Visual Artists Network SA guiding artists and has a master degree from UCT in art history.
Matthew Blackman
Matthew Blackman is a writer, lecturer, and journalist. He is currently a part-time lecturer at the University of Cape Town where he teaches art theory. He previously ran the YOUNGBLACKMAN project space in Cape Town which exhibited a range of established and young Southern African artists over the period of two years. He has completed post-graduate degrees at both the University of Cape Town and at the London School of Economics. He also has published a novel and writes regularly for various arts publications and newspapers. He is ArtThrob’s News Editor.
Marilyn Martin
BA (Hons) UNISA; MArch, Wits University.
In May 2001, after eleven years as director of the South African National Gallery, Martin was appointed director of Art Collections for Iziko Museums. Prior to her career in the museum sector she was senior lecturer in the Department of Architecture, Wits University. Since her retirement from Iziko Museums in 2008 she is working as an independent writer, curator and lecturer.
She was a member of the National Arts Council from 1997 to 2004 and a trustee of the Arts and Culture Trust until 2007. Her biographical listings include Who’s Who of Southern Africa and The International Who’s Who of Women.
Martin has curated exhibitions of South African art in Brazil, Denmark, France, Mali and the USA, and has served on many panels for art and architecture, including the Dakar Biennale (2000, 2010). She was co-curator for the exhibition Picasso and Africa; she curated the retrospective exhibition on Louis Maqhubela for the Standard Bank Gallery in Johannesburg in 2010 (it travelled to Cape Town and Durban) and 1970-1990: A Legacy for the Association of Visual Arts in Cape Town.
Martin is a Visiting Professor at Kingston University, London and in 2009 she was an acting leave replacement at the Michaelis School of Fine Art. In 2010 she was appointed to the Council of Iziko Museums. She is currently on contract to UCT to teach Visual and Art History.
She has written numerous articles on art and culture in national and international publications and is a regular contributor to Art South Africa and the arts pages of Die Burger.
In 2002 Martin was admitted to the Legion of Honour of the Republic of France at the rank of Officer.
Elgin Rust
Elgin Rust was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1974. She received her BA (FA) in Studio Practice and Theory at the Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, after she was awarded the class medal for Studiowork in her 3rd year, 2006. In 2010, Rust completed her MFA with distinction. Focusing mainly on sculpture and installation, she nonetheless works with a wide range of media. She has participated in numerous group shows in Cape Town at the Michaelis Galleries, the Association for Visual Art (AVA) and the Rooster Theatre Collective, as well as participating in a workshop facilitated by the L’Atelier D’Alexandrie (Egypt, 2009). ‘Judgement – Uitspraak 2011, Case No 001/05/2008′ was her first solo exhibition, hosted by The AVA Gallery, Cape Town.
Rust’s work is included in private and public collections such as the UCT Works of Art Collection and the Ellerman House Contemporary Art Collection. The short paper ‘redress-un-dressed: Introducing a play of judicial and aesthetic processes of redress’ was published in 2011 in the South African Journal of Art History, Vol 26, Issue 1. Rust is currently preparing ‘APPEAL 2012, CASE NO. 001/05/2008′, a collaborative research project that responds to the investigation presented here.
Stacy Adriaans
Stacy Adriaans is a jewellery designer, manufacturer and co owner of jewellery design brand ‘two birds with some stones’ (participating in design events such as Design Indaba). Adriaans has a honours degree from Stellenbosch University in Visual Art specializing in Jewellery Design and an Honours degree in Art Historical Studies from University of Cape Town. She is currently working towards a Masters in Art theory at UCT.
Richard Mudariki
Richard Mudariki is a full time visual artist who lives and works in Cape Town, South Africa. He has developed a sixth sense and a third eye to create images of art that have creative meaning and attraction. His goal in art is very simple – to enjoy the creative process. He strives to create artworks that delights the eye, feeds the senses and fires the imagination. His work has been shown in galleries in Cape Town, Harare, Munich and London. He holds a BA in Archaeology and Museum Studies from the Midlands State University.
Cobus Van Bosch
Cobus van Bosch is a visual artist and arts writer living in Cape Town. He has had nine solo exhibitions to date, and his work is represented in various public and corporate collections in South Africa. He has many years’ experience as an arts writer for mainly Die Burger and other Media24 newspapers and publications, and still writes for them on a freelance basis.
Caroline Coates
Caroline Jane Coates – specialist property marketing consultant – I have several clients ranging from Upper Eastside Hotel to several firms of Architects and Property Developers. Prior to this I was the Marketing Executive of Redefine Properties one of South Africa’s largest listed Property Fund, where I brought my experience, energy and enthusiasm to an amazing array of projects. From the launch of Cape Town’s Convention Tower with a high-profile public art competition, to the regeneration and development of the former sweet factory that is Buchanan Square in Woodstock, as well the mixed use development in cape town – Upper East Side and more importantly Woodstock’s first 4 star hotel – Upper Eastside Hotel .
Prior to 2008, I was resident in London for almost 17 years and it was there that the property sector became my life (and my necessary passion for designer wellington boots began). I have been on both sides of table, having worked for the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea before taking on the marketing responsibilities for St George’s Imperial Wharf development, the largest mixed-use scheme in London.
Chad Rossouw
Chad Rossouw (20/12/1982) is a writer, lecturer and an artist, based in Cape Town, South Africa. He has a bachelor in Fine Art from Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT and a Masters degree at the same institution. He has most recently exhibited a solo show called A History of Failure, at Brundyn + Gonsalves. Previous shows include, along with Charles Maggs, a show entitled Syndrome at Whatiftheworld / Gallery, Born to Lose (2006) at blank projects, Cape Town and Sightings of Robert Sloon (2006) at the Parking Gallery, Johannesburg. He has been on numerous group shows, and examples of his work reside in the IZIKO South African National Gallery’s collection. Under the alias Robert Sloon he is founding editor of South African art blog Art Heat.
He regularly publishes in Art South Africa, ArtThrob.co.za, The Mail & Guardian, and The Big Issue and has written for the London based Art Newspaper. He is the author of numerous catalogue essays, especially for young and emerging artists. He is the Head of Photography at the Ruth Prowse School of Fine Art in Cape Town.
James Nilsen
James Nilsen completed his BTech Fine Art with distinction and National Diploma in Illustration at the NMMU in 2004. He received an honours degree in Production Design from AFDA. James worked with theatrical property in the Cape Town film industry for 5 years as facility manager at Hot Tuna Props and Artappel Prop Hire. James moved from props to puppets in 2009 to join Handspring as Assistant to the Executive Producer. Handspring is a puppetry performance and design company whose work represents a fusion between the disciplines of fine art and theatre and has collaborated with producers and artists internationally for 30 years. The company provides an artistic home and professional base for a core group of producers, designers and performers. James has a deep appreciation for art, theatre and film and has travelled to exhibitions and theatres in Amsterdam, London, New York, L.A., San Francisco, Mexico City and Buenos Aires. James joined the AVA committee in 2012.
