In homage to one of the ancient and most human rites we broke bread tonight. Art school Africa hosted a beautiful creative conversation focusing on how to capitalise your creativity with a powerful panel of speakers lending their voices and experiences as our main course.
Hosting a diverse line up of artistic fields moderator and founder of Art school Africa, Julia Buchanan Swart, navigated us through the various topics much like the beautiful menu they served at the table.
Ceramic artist Xanthe Somers (@xanthesomers), Co-owner of the iconic Me&B Kelly Gibberd (@gogobeast), and influencer and independent creator Le'Chelle Aldridge (@lechellealdridge) were the panelists of the evening. This event was hosted by the Southern Guild art gallery in their residency space.
The common thread of being authentic to your creativity and listening to your intuition flavoured the evening. From how structures depend on personality to the essential drive, energy and belief in your creative journey the key message was to never give up.
We looked at different strategies to get to this space ranging from authenticity, the power of word of mouth, having confidence and not overthinking to spontaneity and embracing how scary that all can be.
The discussion was followed by a beautiful bespoke dinner by Annalize Catering @annalizecatering).
Key takeaways were to not try fit in a mould and chase algorithms but to be yourself and build your visual language and lean into your intuition.
Define and refine your creative practise/offering and view your creativity as ongoing relationship and internal conversation where too much stress kills joy and by not taking oneself too seriously you make space for play and experimentation.
The reassuring notion that it takes time to develop your niche and that you have to fail and make bad works to get there was inspiring.
The old saying of making space at the table rang in my mind tonight. Especially amongst the happy cozy voices as we ate a gorgeous meal together. Art school Africa is not only inviting people to the table with these creative conversations but building a larger and more inviting space. They are building a community.