MOSSEL BAY NEWS - When the Mossel Bay Visual Arts WhatsApp group was started last year, only six people were on the group.
Coffee shop and gallery owner Marguerite Hartzenberg started the group and it has since grown to 56 people.
The WhatsApp group was formed originally to organise the Mossel Bay Arts Festival, which was held from 14 July to 3 September and was hailed as highly successful in the art community.
Mossel Bay Municipality first mooted the idea of an arts festival and supported it wholeheartedly.
Venue
Marguerite then opened her coffee shop venue to artists, for them to exhibit and also offered it as a venue for events.
"She's been very generous," says Reebok artist Maresna van Schoor. There were many other venues for the arts festival as well.
Maresna organised an exhibition in the NG Moedergemeente hall (Klipkerk) in August last year, called Synergy. Here a large group of artists exhibited their works. It was well attended, with significant sales.
After the exhibition, Maresna asked the Synergy exhibitors if they wished to join the Mossel Bay Visual Arts WhatsApp group and most of them did so.
Building a community
Fellow artist Riska du Plessis notes: "The group is about building a community and an atmosphere where there is freedom and artists support one another. Together we are stronger. It's about cheering one another on."
She and Maresna agree on these principles. They are the "admins" on the Mossel Bay Visual Arts Group together with Marguerite.
"It's not necessarily about selling your work at an exhibition immediately," Maresna says. One the artists who exhibited at Synergy sold nothing, but told her she was delighted because someone had attended the exhibition, spotted her work and asked her to exhibit at his venue.
Publicity
Another huge plus is increased publicity of one's work. Artists are more aware of one another and although some had always held workshops, now their workshops are publicised more.
The Mossel Bay Visual Arts Group has a social at Marguerite Art Café, next to the Tourism Office, in Market Street, on Saturday, 20 January from 12:00 to 15:00.
If you are interested in finding out more, contact Maresna (082 678 9436) or Riska (073 909 6558).
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