2024HermienPrint-59

About the Artist

Artist Hermien van der Merwe is fascinated by Cape fynbos plants.

Living at the foot of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa, Hermien is embraced by inspiration for her work. She regularly walks along the nearby mountain paths in the Table Mountain Nature Reserve, absorbing her surroundings with all her senses.

“I see buds appear, flowers open and seeds form as the seasons change. I smell the foliage and feel the mountain air against my skin. I pause at interesting leaves and cones – feeling their textures,” says Hermien.

It’s in this walking, seeing, touching, breathing in, that Hermien observes the interaction between fire, drought, and rain on Cape fynbos. And it’s in her brush strokes that she narrates this story. Hermien hopes to raise awareness for fynbos and preserve it for future generations – preferably as a living, adaptable biome but also immortalized in art.

Heaven touching earth

Hermien focuses on the connection between heaven and earth — where heaven meets earth. She is constantly exploring the parallel between the physical and the spiritual, as she engages with nature as creation.
“During the time in my studio, I surround myself with plant inspiration and oil paint. It is here that I search for deeper meaning in my subject: Do we, as humans, not also go through fire to shape our character – to flower in the next season? Do we not also go through drought to appreciate the abundance – that provision or rain brings? Are we not also, like fynbos, dependent on rain – dependent on a Higher hand to provide for our needs? May new provision replenish us like rain does the fynbos plants.”

Mediums and mark making

Hermien paints mainly with oil paint.  She enjoys the silky soft feel of the medium and the gorgeous, rich colours it provides.  

Hermien’s paints in a wide array of colours.  She loves to mix paint on her palette and masterfully combines colours in her paintings.  She never mixes oil paint on the canvas, but instead, apply confident marks next to each other and build up numerous layers over dried paint.  

Hermien also enjoys using mono printing as art making medium. These mono prints are made using actual plants and a homemade gelli slab. She uses printers’ ink and a roller to print the plants directly onto paper, and her body as printing press. She presents regular workshops in this medium.

 

Words inspiring hope

“While I am creating art, I am always listening to the still voice within me – searching deeper for the spiritual meaning in the subjects I love and whispering this into my art,” says Hermien. “I weave words and visual elements into my works – often hidden to the naked eye. I trust that my artworks will whisper hope and light into the homes of their new owners.”

Curriculum Vitae

1992–1995

B.Prim.Ed.Art

University of Stellenbosch

2011

Advanced Painting Course

Ruth Prowse School of Art

2011–Present

Full-time Artist

Exhibitions

2024

Solo Exhibition:  “Ruik jy fynbos of ruik jy Karoo?”; Welgemeend Manor House; Cape Town

2024

Group Exhibition:  Cape Fine Art Collective; Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Cape Town

2023

Group Exhibition:  Cape Fine Art Collective; Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Cape Town

2023

Group Exhibition:  Cape Artists; Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden, Cape Town

2023

Group Exhibition:  “Fijn”; Rossouw Modern Art Gallery, Hermanus

2023

Group Exhibition:  The Affordable Art Fair with AITY Gallery (Franschhoek); Battersea; London; UK

2023

Group Exhibition:  The Voice Collective Art; Kanonkop Wine Estate, Stellenbosch

2023

Group Exhibition; Clara Anna Fontein; Durbanville

2023

Group Exhibition: “Daydreaming”, Gallery at Glen Carlou; Paarl

2023

Group Exhibition: “Contemporary Art from South Africa”, The Travelling Art Gallery;  Documenta City Kassel, Germany

2022

Group exhibition: Summer Show with Cape Artists; Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens; Richard Crowie Hall; Cape Town

2022

Group exhibition: “Nature Us”; Gallery One11; Cape Town

2022

Group exhibition: Art in the Yard Gallery; Franschhoek

2022

Group exhibition: Spring Show with Cape Artists; Kirstenbosh Botanical Gardens; Richard Crowie Hall; Cape Town

2022

Group exhibition: “Grow” with The Voice Art Collective; City Hall, Stellenbosch

2022

International Group exhibition: “She” with The Travelling Art Gallery; Hamburg, Germany

2022


2021

Group exhibition: “Art a la Nature”, Curated by Salome Daruty De Grandpre; Art in the Yard Gallery, Franschhoek

Group exhibition:  “Growth”; Welgemeend, Cape Town

2021

Group exhibition: “Tulbach Art Gala”, curated by Lindie van Niekerk; The old Parsonage; Tulbach

2021

Group exhibition:  “Quiddity”  Daor Contemporary Art Gallery; Curated by Kerry Red; Victoria & Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town

2021

International group exhibition with The Travelling Art Gallery; curated by Barbara Lenhard; Hamburg; Germany

2021

Solo exhibition: “Shelter in the Shadow”, Welgemeend, Cape Town

2020

Group exhibition: “Subsurface Scattering”, Curated by Clare Menck; Gallery One11, Loop Street, Cape Town

2019

Group exhibition: “Natura Botanica Terrarum”, Gallery One11, Cape Town

2019

Group exhibition: “Fynbos en die emmer obsessie”, Welgemeend, Cape Town

2019

Solo exhibition: “Let it Rain”, The Old Agricultural Hall, Stellenbosch

2018

Group exhibition: “What we need is here”, Welgemeend, Cape Town

2018

Strauss & Co. group exhibition: “Boundaries” South African women artists over the past 100 years; Welgemeend, Cape Town

2018

Solo exhibition: “Come Fire, Come Rain”, Welgemeend, Cape Town

2017

Solo exhibition: “Composing Art”, Welgemeend, Cape Town

2014

Solo exhibition, “Flower where you are planted” Rust-and-Vrede art gallery, Durbanville, Cape Town

2013 – 2014

Annual group exhibition: Rust-en-Vrede Art Gallery, Durbanville, Cape Town

2013

New Signatures group exhibition: Alice Art Gallery, Johannesburg

2013

Zivaglo light show, Woordfest, Stellenbosch

2012

Group exhibition: Rust-and-Vrede art gallery, Durbanville, Cape Town

2008 – 2009

Annual group exhibition: The Mill, Philadelphia, Cape Town

2005 – 2007

Annual solo exhibition: KKNK, Oudtshoorn

Galleries

  • AITY Gallery, Franschhoek
  • The Artists Gallery, Cape Town
  • Rossouw Modern Art Gallery, Hermanus
  • The Travelling Art Gallery, SA and Europe
  • A series of lino prints are exhibited on Table Mountain in Cape Town in “The Shop at the Top”, where two of my artworks have also been enlarged on wallpaper.
  • Art @ 39Long, Great Brak River
  • Artvark Gallery, Kalk Bay, Cape Town
  • Gallery One11, Cape Town

Private and Corporate Collections

  • Frank en Lizelle Kilbourn private art collection, Cape Town
  • 12-Cape art portfolio, Luxury Hotel, Sea Point, Cape Town
  • The Bay Hotel, Camps Bay, Cape Town
  • Le Franschhoek hotel & Spa entrance hall, Franschhoek
  • Austin Dundas Property Group offices, Tygervalley, Bellville
  • Adriaan Smit Orthopedic Surgeon consultation rooms, Durbanville
  • Wally Nel Orthodontist Practice, Sandton, Johannesburg