Open Studios Fish Hoek & Clovelly

Kyoko Kimura Morgan is a Japanese paper artist and origami teacher living in Cape Town. She is the founder of Origami For Africa (OFA), a platform dedicated to using origami as a tool for creativity, connection, and transformation. Guided by the belief that meaningful change—social, emotional, and artistic—can begin with something as simple as a square of paper, Kyoko creates participatory art experiences that foster dialogue and agency across cultures and communities. Artistic Practice A unique element of Kyoko’s work is the fusion of Japanese cultural traditions with the natural beauty of Cape Town. This is expressed across a range of artmaking techniques, including ceramics, mosaics, embroidery, Boro (ボロ) mending, Yotsume Toji (四つ目綴じ) book-binding, and Sumie (墨絵) ink painting. Each piece reflects her commitment to collaboration, accessibility, and the power of handmade processes to bring people together. Kyoko also...

Gerda Smit, professionally known as O.Griet, is a fine artist and illustrator whose work brings together storytelling, sculpture, and the quiet beauty of everyday life. Trained in painting and ceramics at the Tshwane University of Technology, Gerda developed a distinctive visual language that combines technical skill with a deep sense of playfulness. Her academic thesis explored the childlike and naïve quality that many artists long for — an intentional unlearning in their process, where the focus shifts from polished outcomes to creating for the sake of expression and discovery. At the heart of her creative practice is a rich process that includes visual diary work, experimental drawings, and hand-built ceramic characters. These sculptural forms often emerge as companions to her illustrations, or as standalone artworks that give her stories a tangible, three-dimensional life. Between...

A Weekend of Art, Connection & Creativity. Mark your calendars! From Saturday 4 to Sunday 5 October 2025, Fish Hoek and Clovelly will come alive with creativity for the very first edition of Open Studios Fish Hoek & Clovelly (OSFHC). Expect a feast of creativity—from painting, ceramics, sculpture, and papermaking to illustration, textiles, mosaics, and much more. Explore 19 artists across 15 studio spaces, following four inspiring routes through the neighbourhoods of Clovelly, Fish Hoek Valley, Fish Hoek Mountainside and Risi View. Dates:  3–5 October 2025 Locations:  15 studios | 19 artists | 4 unique routes Cost:  Free entry all weekend Preview Day (Collectors & Enthusiasts):  Friday 3 October – R150 💬 Why OSFHC? “We’ve always admired Deep South Open Studios like those in Noordhoek and Kommetjie,” say the organisers. “Fish Hoek & Clovelly may have been known as a sleepy hollow, but that’s changing fast....

Sasha Scholtz originally studied Fine Art and then worked in the Commercial Art sector in Cape Town. She started, and supported, various small-scale creative art-related businesses before the teaching bug bit. She taught for many years in schools and to adult groups, whilst living in Eswatini, Franschhoek and Makhanda. After moving back to Cape Town, she set up a home art studio in Clovelly where she offers Art classes to adults and children: Creative Space - Clovelly. Her own art practice includes dabbling in all sorts of different media, usually using a multi-media, layering approach, mixing paint, collage and ink. Everyday Inspiration Landscapes , nature and still-lives of ordinary everyday things inspire her most of all. She finds time for her own creativity while attending regular art classes and is known to lug art materials around with her when on holiday in various places and spaces. 🖼️ Exhibi...

Marlise Keith (b. 1972) is known for her mixed media collages; large-scale drawings in pencil, ink and acrylics; and most recently, for her small sculptures of fabric, embroidery and found objects. Her subject matter is vast, drawing inspiration from a mental medley of horrific news headlines, colonial history, friends’ pets, psychopathology, girlhood memories, dreams, Pinterest , her persistent, chronic migraines, and roadside memorials . Subjects too daunting, too confused, or too subliminal to articulate in neat words and sentences, are processed through mark-making; offering an alternative “understanding” of a world that often does not make sense in traditional, logical language. This violence emerges in plentiful paint; sometimes it’s suggested by the very act of mark-making itself - paper is gouged, scratched, sanded, torn, folded , and nailed. Material Juxtapositions and the Question of Value The question of val...

Elizabeth Vels (born 1937-) is an esteemed South African artist who has held 14 solo exhibitions to date. She is one of South Africa's first papermakers as well as artist’s bookmakers, and has been since the late 1970's.  An early series of her artist’s books was bought by Jack Ginsberg, of The Jack Ginsberg Centre for Book Arts, within the envelope of Wits Art Museum.   She has multi-media artworks in both local and international collections, including Iziko and Anglo American, and was a guest artist at the Johannesburg Art Museum.   She was with the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg for 15 years, under Linda Givon, where she had 5 solo exhibitions.   She studied at the Johannesburg College of Art and obtained a National Higher Diploma in Papermaking and Master’s Diploma in Technology. Thereafter she was a lecturer in Painting and Art History. Over the course of her five-decade career, Elizabeth Vels has immersed herself in papermaking and ...

Jenny is an established photographer and visual artist with over four decades of practice exploring social landscapes, environmental portraiture, and working with diverse South African communities. Her work demonstrates a sustained commitment to documenting South African social realities. Jenny’s practice spans documentary photography , environmental portraiture, and collaborative community-based projects. Her series "Breathing Spaces: Environmental Portraits of Durban's Industrial South" examined the intersection of industrial development and human habitation, resulting in a published book in collaboration with Marijke Du Toit. Exhibitions and Recognition Jenny has had multiple solo exhibitions at major venues including the Castle Cape Town, Durban Art Gallery, and the Market Theatre Johannesburg. Her international exhibition history spans Europe, America, and Afr...

Sue Kaplan grew up in the Eastern Cape, and after many years of living in Johannesburg, she’s now back in Cape Town—living near the sea again. She holds an MAFA from Wits; an Honours Degree in Curating from UCT; a BAFA from UNISA; an Advanced Diploma in Fine Art from Wits; as well as having completed Art Therapy and Zen Coaching courses. She has worked in many different communities, spanning such diversity as the Katlehong Art Centre in the 1980s, and LISOF in the 2000s. She has facilitated numerous workshops focused on Art Therapeutic modalities, and spent several years working in various rehab centres in the Western Cape . Her teaching and her own practice go hand in hand, each informing the other. Most of her recent work is made in response to encounters, sensations, and explorations in her life. "My painting is visceral and fairly intuitive—like a sort of diary; more impulse than rigour, but still engaging with my values and identity in the moment. ...

Mel Miller  is a  mosaic artist  and teacher based in Fish Hoek. Trained in Italy, she has been creating mosaic art since 2003 and now teaches from her home studio. Mel creates modern, contemporary mosaic art, using original designs. Her work features a rich mix of materials, including glass, marble, semi-precious stones, raw minerals, Italian Smalti, dichroic glass, and found objects. More recently, she has incorporated copper and weathered wood into her pieces. Her mosaics are held in private collections around the world, including the  USA, Holland, UK, Australia, and Spain. Follow Mel 📸 Instagram: @melmillermosaics Website: Mel Miller Mosaic Artist

Evan Oberholster was born in 1956 in South Africa. He studied Fine Art at the University of Pretoria before relocating to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, where he worked as an artist and illustrator. In 1999, Evan presented his first solo exhibition, Total Exposure, a collection of 69 male nude paintings completed over two years of focused artistic exploration. Following this debut, he hosted two additional solo exhibitions in Cape Town and participated in several group shows. New Medium, New Direction Since relocating to Clovelly in 2019, Evan has expanded his practice to include clay sculpture, developing a compelling series of ceramic masks - expressive, mixed media works exploring the human face. His current body of work juxtaposes these recent sculptural pieces with his earlier oil paintings, presenting a dialogue between painted bodies and sculpted faces- a rich exploration of identity, form, and transformation. Ceramic Mask - Mixed Media Selec...