The most prestigious prize at the Michaelis School of Fine Art is the eponymous Michaelis Prize.
Miranda Moss won the Michaelis Prize for her series of sculptural experiments relating to uncertainty, weightlessness, and the weather. Running the gamut from Bunsen-burner experiments to a collection of found-postcards detailing weather conditions, her small-scale works, often in re-purposed suitcases, lead the viewer into her delirious, but highly credible world. As she writes in her catalogue statement, ‘delving into the scientific is a way to tap into the extraordinary’.
Miranda Moss. 2012. [Vapour] Bunsen burner, flask, magnifying glasses, pine.
Similarly the top prizes at Stellenbosch University, are named after an individual with strong links to the institution, in this case, Timo Smuts. These awards are given to top performers in both Studio Practice and Art Theory in each of the study streams offered in the Department of Visual Arts, Stellenbosch University. This year the awards went to Katharine de Villiers for Fine Art, Kathryn Mellor for Visual Communication Design and Anine Roos for Jewellery Design.
For Katharien de Villiers, form is nothing other that the representation of desire. ‘Producing a form provides for possible new encounters—conditions for an exchange’.
Katharien de Villiers. 2012. The Tuscan Villa of Kaapse Tos. Painted sculpture, metal, faux fur.
Anine Roos’s necklace evokes the 1959 toy sensation ‘Barbie’ and her own love-hate relationship with that pleasure-seeking icon.
Anine Roos. 2012. Grown-up Girlie. Painted copper, silver, pink chalcedony.
