Local artists growing careers on The Lucky Bean Tree
An innovative new online platform is set to take artwork produced in the Eastern Cape to national and international audiences.
The brainchild of arts entrepreneur Tracy Cahill, the platform showcases the work of local artists to audiences they would not normally be able to reach and to send a little of the magic of the Eastern Cape out into the world.
With decades of experience in promoting artists at a professional level, Cahill is giving emerging local artists exposure to national and international audiences through her website www.theluckybeantree.co.za and social media platforms.
“I am on the lookout for all types of artists – sculptors, weavers, beaders, woodworkers and so on to join the site,” Cahill said.
There is no joining fee and Cahill takes commission from the sales.
“If the artist is close by, I don’t hold stock but go and collect the item from them for transport once it has been sold,” Cahill said.
”If the person is further away, I may hold say 10 items of stock here so that I can fulfil orders as they come in.
“When I moved from Cape Town to the village of Bathurst in 2019, I was struck by the unique creativity of artists working in the area,” Cahill said.
One of the first to catch her eye was Nomvuyo Manyathi, designer and creator of a range of colourful and quirky toys, décor items, bags and kitchenwear.
Another was Sandra Thomas, a fine artist renowned for her finely detailed pencil and oil paintings, which chronicle her love of SA’s natural environment.
Despite their evident talent, they had limited access to broader markets, partly because the Eastern Cape is still relatively isolated from mainstream art markets.
It was then that Cahill decided to turn a long-held dream into a reality.
She designed and set up the online platform to market and sell art and handcrafted work produced in the Eastern Cape, including Bathurst, Makhanda and Port Alfred, and that’s how The Lucky Bean Tree came into being.
She said the idea was to provide a sales and marketing platform that many artists working in the region would otherwise not have access to.
Cahill said Manyathi’s original works, including chicken doorstops and Nguni wall hangings, had winged their way as far afield as Newfoundland in Canada.
When Manyathi exhibited at the Decorex Interior Design and Décor Show in 2018 and 2019, every one of her items were snapped up by buyers.
The latest artist to join platform is Munya Childakwa, who lives in Makhanda, and was an assistant to renowned bronze sculptor Bruce Little.
“In his whimsical creations, he uses traditional methods to bring birdlife and animals to life in boldly coloured beads.”