Mature artist scoops 2012 Sasol New Signatures prize

Artistic empowerment has no boundaries or age restriction and Ingrid Bolton, a 48-year-old Franschoek-based emerging artist, demonstrates that you can follow your passion despite your career path or age. With her cutting edge artwork, ‘Un(sea)n’, Bolton captivated the Sasol New Signatures judging panel and walked away with the coveted title of the 2012 Sasol New Signatures winner. 

Bolton received the grand-prize of R60 000 and a solo exhibition at the Pretoria Arts Museum next year. ‘Un(sea)n’ presents a construction of microscopic diatoms made from delicate porcelain, representing a ball, suspended above a circular tray of oil. 

Sasol Art Curator, Cecile Loedolf explained the judging process, “Our judging process is completely anonymous and we have no idea who the winner of the competition is until all our ratings are tallied. Ingrid was the top rated artist across the board and her artwork speaks for itself. The beauty of the Sasol New Signatures art competition is that there is no cut-off age for the competition, widening the opportunities for all age groups, including a 48-year-old microbiologist.” 

The runner-up was Kenyan-born, Mandy Martin, who walked away with a cash prize of R20 000, for her winning pieces titled ‘Trembling Giant’ and ‘Virgin Pulp’. ‘Trembling Giant’, is named after what is said to be one of the oldest trees found in nature. The entire piece is made from paper, paper threads and paper pulp, cast into thin veil sheets and imbedded in a layer of concentric circles. 

The five Merit Award winners were: Brendon Erasmus, Martin Pieter Klaasee, Lindi Lombard, Renzske Scholtz and Zelda Stroud who each received R5 000. 

Celebrating its 23rd year, the art competition had close to 500 entries submitted with 71 finalists selected from across the country. The Sasol New Signatures art competition is presented in collaboration with the Association of Arts Pretoria and is the longest running, national art competition in South Africa. 

“The artworks submitted this year were of a high standard and the entrants understood the emphasis placed on quality craftsmanship. This showcases that the information sessions conducted during the first half of the year are reaching the target audiences,” said Peter Binsbergen, National Chairperson of the Sasol New Signatures selection panels. 

The Sasol New Signatures art competition is a springboard for emerging artists who are 18 years and older to launch their careers. South Africa’s freshest talent is unearthed through this competition and it is a platform for up and coming artists to launch their careers while being awarded for excellence, originality and perceptiveness.

Richard Hughes, Sasol Sponsorship Manager said the art competition is an important event on Sasol’s calendar and underpins the company’s commitment and support to the visual arts in South Africa. Sasol further purchases artworks from the Sasol New Signatures exhibition for its corporate art collection. The collection currently holds over 2000 pieces of work. 

“At Sasol, we are conscious of our commitment to the development of the country and our obligation as a large corporate to contribute to the promotion of our unique African culture. Congratulations to Ingrid Bolton and the winners. We are going to see amazing artworks from the winners and we wish them all the best for their career,” Hughes said. 

The Sasol New Signatures art competition exhibition takes place at the Pretoria Art Museum and is open to the public from 30 August 2012 to 30 September 2012. Also exhibiting during this period, is Peter Mohau Modisakeng, the 2011 Sasol New Signatures winner, as part of his solo exhibition, won last year (The works of Mohau Modisakeng appear Courtesy of BRUNDYN + GONSALVES, Cape Town). 

For more information, contact the Association of Arts Pretoria on 012 346 3100. 

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Note to Editor 

The Sasol New Signatures judging process is completely anonymous and consists of a rigorous six stage process. The judges concentrate on four criteria: technical excellence; conceptuality; presentation and artistic merits of the artwork. In the final selection stage, the judges vote by a secret ballot on the winner. If there is no unanimity about the winner, the judges allocate a numerical value to the seven artworks to identify a winner. Once unanimity on the winner is reached, the numerical values indicate the runner-up and merit awards.