If art, theatre, good food, fine wine, and a whole town full of performance and creativity is your idea of the perfect weekend away, look no further than Solo Studios – Intimate Art Encounters.
Arguably the marquee event on the annual cultural calendar of Arts Town Riebeek Valley, Solo Studios – Intimate Art Encounters will host its fifth edition over the weekend of 11 – 13 December 2020.
At the heart of Solo Studios is a select group of acclaimed and mostly reclusive Riebeek Valley resident artists who open their studios for a limited number of art lovers, investors, and collectors. This year sees a curated line-up of 17 participating studio artists including sculptors Andries Dirks and Anton Momberg, conceptual artist and curator Emma Willemse, and mixed-media artist Tamlin Blake who will be exhibiting her most recently completed tapestries as well as a collection of drawings. Be sure to view the full list of participating artists here.
In addition, 11 galleries host various themed or group exhibitions, demonstrations, talks and other interesting activities, and a variety of peripheral activities are on offer to entertain art lovers throughout the weekend. Check out a few of Creative Feel’s highlights below.
Avant-garde theatre performances
Spread over the weekend and the town itself, a number of experimental performances will take place, including poetry readings, fireside theatre, and public processional performances, ensuring that wherever you go over the course of the weekend, bespoke art and performance is right around the corner.
Solo Kitchens
A new event that was added in 2019 to the Solo Studios weekend and in line with the ‘Intimate Encounters’ experience, Solo Kitchens invites the visitor into the personal realm of some of Riebeek Valley’s finest hosts’ homes to experience a ‘Chefs Table’ concept. A very limited number of patrons will have the opportunity to be entertained in private homes for a wine and canapes pairing event featuring award-winning Swartland wines on Saturday 12 December 2020. Winemakers from Lammershoek Winery, Kloovenburg Wine and Olive Estate, Fram, Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines, and AA Badenhorst Family Wines will be in attendance.
The Art of Wine
Meet the people behind some of the Swartland’s most acclaimed wines at the Art of Wine, which has now become an integral part of Solo Studios. Held outdoors (weather permitting) in the grounds of the iconic Royal Hotel in Riebeek Kasteel, overlooking the vineyards, fruit orchards and olive groves of the Riebeek Valley and under the shadow of the Kasteelberg, this event allows a limited number of people the opportunity to interact with some of the winemakers and/or owners of these wineries, during one of three 90 minute sessions on Saturday 12 December. Participating wineries include Lammershoek Winery, Kloovenburg Wine and Olive Estate, Fram, Mullineux & Leeu Family Wines, and AA Badenhorst Family Wines.
Other Intimate Art Encounters events include:
- The Olive Branch Project – Exhibiting a community performing arts development programme through an experience of creative processes behind a unique production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet.
- The Steelband Project – Providing quality music education to young people in the Western Cape, with a particular focus on ‘youth-at-risk’.
- The Business of Art – guided walkabouts of the studios.
Premium, Weekend and Day passes can be purchased on www.solostudios.co.za. Please note activities can only be booked once a Premium, Weekend or Day Pass has been purchased.
