SEEDS OF THE FUTURE LIE BURIED IN THE PAST
‘Seeds Of The Future Lie Buried In The Past’
- Solo Illustration Art Exhibition By Dewald Veldsman
THE LIFE AND ART OF PLANTS
AND THE RENDERING OF DEWALD
VELDSMAN.
Where did Dewald Veldsman’s extraordinary renderings of seeds begin? “Where does art begin?” is
as complex a question as “where does life begin”.
Was his surname a predetermination - “man of the veldt”? Did it germinate over childhood holidays
on his grandparents’ farm, living in the bushveld for days on wild fruits and hunting birds, armed with a slingshot, a cousin and a keen curiosity? Was it an appreciation born under the mentorship of a farmworker’s son - his first friend and proficient expert on the fauna and flora of the land?
The journey of Dewald Veldsman’s life seems destined always to bear back to plants, woods, trees and seeds, right up to his collection of drawings printed in archival ink on German Etching Fine Art 18 Bell street, Grüne Kranz, Windhoek 1 bellhaus.artRag that will be exhibited at the BELLHAUS Atelier and Galerie. Seeds of the future lie buried in the past open on Earth Day, 22 April until 13 May, the date no coincidence at all but very much a tribute to mindful appreciation and conservation of the earth.
“I have always been a dreamer and future thinker inspired by nature. During school, I had art as a subject and was awarded the prize for the best final year art student in our region. I excelled in both science and art and subsequently, studied Architecture at the University of Pretoria. During my studies, I would spend hours wandering my environment sketching and analysing nature, people and their activities.”
For him, processing and contemplating life happened through the seeing, the looking and the drawing, the light and the shadow. The textures and flaws through which the unique and magnificent manifests.
His instinctive, relentless pursuit of perspective, a passion for nature and the skills acquired in architectural design informed his unconventional life choices and career decisions.
One of the most exciting results of his alternative paradigm approach was the design and construction of the Emantini Seed Bank in the Kingdom of Eswatini.
Working for Paragon Architects in South Africa at the time, a remote residential project in the Kingdom of Eswatini was not of interest to any other team leaders in the firm. Dewald put up his hand. Fast forward a series of projects down the line, the client and Dewald had become good friends, sharing a passion for plants and a sustainable future for the planet.
Working with a very tight budget of 500k, Dewald managed to reimagine the use of the simple cinder block, a very basic, unfinished concrete block consisting of two holes, to construct an ingenious work of architecture that is beautiful, functional and cost-effective.
Playing with the shape of the cinder block, not unlike that of a lego block, Dewald turned, moved and altered the application of the blocks to create spaces in the wall for planters, lights and aesthetic design features.
The result is the Emantini Seed Bank, a “vault” of conservation to safeguard the genetic diversity of local and regional plant life. A significant contribution to the sustainability of natural species, this incredible gift to the world enables scientists to collect and document seeds, after which they are stored in the two insulated storage refrigerators, until such time as, near expiry, it needs to be planted and the seeds replaced.
The Emantini Seed Bank is located on a private estate in the Kingdom of Eswatini and forms part of a private nature reserve, nursery, and botanical garden.
Dewald found the seeds wanting to be understood. To understand, he started to draw. He continued to document these seeds that found their way into the seedbank, to wait there, dormant and seemingly dead, yet so very much alive.
“Drawing comes naturally to me when I design and investigate any subject matter and these (seeds) are the fruits of my labour”.
18 Bell street, Grüne Kranz, Windhoek 2 bellhaus.artLooking at the drawings, you can see how he sees. He makes you see. Sharp and clear here, shaded with tiny lines to create different angles and energy there. They are revelations of what and how he sees literally, but also with his minds’ eye.
“I love trees. And seeds are tiny living creatures. Tiny trees. The trees of tomorrow. We trample on seeds without thinking and in the process, we are wasting away our last chance of creating a sustainable environment for the future. They are seeds of hope. Of a legacy of sustained life. “
Marcii Magson, the co-founder of the BELLHAUS Atelier and Galerie who curated the exhibition, happened upon his incredible work in his humble notebook, which he carries around everywhere.
An esteemed artist and exceptional creative soul herself, she immediately understood the language of his genius:
“Looking into other people’s notebooks is to witness moments of creative exploration and growth.
A graphic facility in others can provoke envy, but being given access into someone else’s mind and seeing where it wanders is always invigorating.
Architects’ notebooks harbour many different kinds of content. Mostly, there are travel sketches of buildings and places, focussing on topography, form, atmosphere, and inhabitation, economically rendered as the fleeting moments allowed. Sometimes there are sketched design ideas, conceptual “seeds” from which mighty projects may or may not grow.
In this particular notebook, there was an endless amount of the most meticulously hand-drawn illustrations of botanicals, seeds and pods… someone was so moved, inspired and taken by nature and its natural phenomenon that they gathered, studied and collected not just the seeds and pods but also the time to look at these pieces of botany long enough to translate them so accurately onto paper… Dewald’s illustrations present an almost three-dimensional perspective, standing on what are three to 4 different axes. The first being the ‘present layer’ - detailing the Testa - Seed Coat, underneath there are the ‘shadow’ layers, which are duplicated outlines filled with a variety of diagonal lines informed by the time of day it was drawn, hence shadow lines, this is made up of finer lines with different stroke densities.
These shadow lines create an inherent voice of movement and flow of light through Dewald's illustrations. It's almost as if the light of life is dancing through them.
Dewald's illustrations are alive and contain a deep-rooted message that needs to be heard.
NOTES ON THE EXHIBITION:
• Seeds of the future lie buried in the past’ is a limited edition print series of 30 prints each and can be bought framed or unframed.
• All the illustrations are printed on Hahlemuehle German Etching Fine Art Archival paper - complying with the highest archival standards. Each print will be accompanied by Hahnemuehle Hologram Certificate of Authenticity and the Artist Certificate of Authenticity.
PROGRAM
Fri 22 April 2022 at 6 pm
Exhibition opening on Earth Day
22 April 2022 - 12 May 2022 Exhibition run
18 Bell street, Grüne Kranz, Windhoek 3 bellhaus.artSat 23 April 2022 at 10 am 1st Small Talk on Emantini Seedbank in Kingdom of Eswatini
Tue 26 April 2022 at 6 pm 2nd Small Talk on Illustration Style and Creative Concept behind Seeds of the future lie buried in the past.
Thu 28 April 2022 at 6 pm Illustration Evening hosted by Dewald Veldsman & Bellhaus Atelier & Galerie: Join us for an evening of drawing at the BELLHAUS. Some seeds from the past might germinate or new ones planted for the future. We will explore linework and contrast in a nurturing, informal environment with music and wine provided by the BELLHAUS.
CONTACT
BELLHAUS ATELIER & GALERIE
Curator - Marcii Magson
0814036682
hello@bellhaus.art
www.bellhaus.art
Text by Christine Hugo
Illustrations by Dewald Veldsman
18 Bell street, Grüne Kranz, Windhoek 4 bellhaus.art
