NIEU-BETHESDA — Nieu-Bethesda ceramicists Martin and Charmaine Haines have recently had three of their works purchased by the William Humphries Art Gallery (WHAG) in Kimberley.
Charmaine’s ‘Abstract Owl’ is a powerful rendition of a barn own, beautifully executed with her distinctive mark-making and powerful use of bold colour. Charmaine says, “I guess sometime in my life, I was always going to make an owl!’ - a bird that is synonymous with Nieu-Bethesda.
Artworks often reflect historical time and place, and Martin’s ‘Kimberley Cat’ is certainly an example of this. Working with finely painted glazes (often with no tonal variation before firing), his cat communicates images of early mining activity and San rock art in Kimberley.
The cat is enveloped in a drawing of the ‘Honoured Dead’ memorial, commemorating those who died during the siege of Kimberley. The ornate gates of the Kimberley club, as well as copies of San paintings, make this piece a didactic reflection of this town’s history.
WHAG also purchased Martin’s ‘San Hare’. Depictions of rock paintings that reflect traditional folklore of hare’s trip to the moon to find eternity and how his cloven lip came to be are intricately decorated on the highly glazed surface of this artwork.
Nieu-Bethesda is fortunate to be home to highly acclaimed artists such as the Haines’. Their gallery, ‘Ware on Earth’, is open to the public at the corner of Immelman and Church streets.
Martin Haines' ‘San Hare’.
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