Artworks find pride of place

HUNDREDS of eager little hands painted four massive canvases at Mtunzini Rotary’s Art in the Shade festival in November last year.

Two of these colourful works of art have been donated to the uMlalazi Municipality and hung in the Mtunzini town hall and two were donated to the Mtunzini Primary School.

The canvases were sponsored by Annemarie Beukes and Empangeni Paint Centre.

This very successful festival not only allowed artists to exhibit and sell their work, its main purpose was also to raise funds for Mtunzini Rotary’s community projects.

This year’s festival, to be held on 29 September, will again offer visitors the opportunity to paint similar canvases.

With an eye on the weather, it was decided to provide artists and visitors with a bit of a respite from impending rain and scorching heat by shifting the date from November to September.

Like last year, trees will again be wrapped in zebra colours a week before the event, while the popular zebra statues that cause such a stir will be back on their little island.

The wooden zebras were crafted by local carpenter Koos Best and will this year be painted black and white.

A few changes have been made to accommodate more artists and food stalls, with space for at least 60 artists and 10 crafters. This should see an increase in the number of visitors from the 1 900 adults who passed through the gates last year.

The applications are rolling in and some eminent artists and potters from Zululand, the rest of KZN and even Cape Town have already confirmed their participation.

Artists who still want to participate should visit the Art in the Shade Facebook page

A beer tent and cocktail bar will again be operating and as usual, there will be all kinds of activities and music performances for the whole family.

The festival will begin at 9am on 29 September and entrance will again only be R20 per person and free for kids under 12.