Elizabeth Vels | Fish Hoek - Cape Town | Artist's Books, Paintings & Ceramics

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 artist’s books using her own paper, images and bindings, painting, stitching, weaving, ceramics and etchings. 

On the 9th of July 2022 she held a major retrospective of her work at the Spin Street Gallery.

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Follow Elizabeth’s latest work on Instagram:

📸 @liz.vels_studio