Spier Arts Trust values the cultural contribution of art to South Africa’s creative economy. Our purpose is to facilitate successful art careers by enabling freedom of creative expression with the potential for social transformation.

Our business model is one of shared value; our patron partners are committed in a long term strategy to realise economic business goals while doing good in society.

We build significant art collections for our patron partners through the administration of an ecosystem of career development opportunities for fine artists. These include, among others: Spier Arts Academy, Creative Block and Qaqambile Bead Studio

Spier Arts Academy

Our final graduation ceremony in December 2020 saw 8 graduates join the 60 previous alumni of Spier Arts Academy.

Spier Arts Academy offered employment-based training in professional Mosaic and Ceramic as art medium. We administered a full-time 3-year apprenticeship that offered tuition in drawing, art history, an accredited business curriculum and applied practical experience in mosaic and ceramic making.

A vibrant learning environment that explored these art forms, the Academy developed the practical and technical expertise and creative spirit of all learners. The programme was designed to create a local industry of skilled artisans.

Spier Arts Trust continues with the legacy of the Academy, finding opportunities for our journeymen to specialise in collaborative and experimental work with fine artists, designers and architects in the conceptualising, manufacture and installation of large-scale contemporary artworks in these exciting mediums.

Collaborations

Collaboration between fine artists and skilled artisans harnesses personal empowerment and contributes to equitable co-existence.

In the co-creative process, resources are negotiated in a way that allows the different voices to be heard, while engaging in power and relational dynamics. This process has the potential to affect personal transformation and social agency.

The Dying Slave

In the wake of the completion of his acclaimed sculpture of Nelson Mandela, a new work by Marco Cianfanelli was installed at Spier wine farm in August 2012. Like the Madiba piece, this work features columns that together create the completed picture.

Nine columns measuring 4.1 metres in height cover an installation area of almost 30 square metres, and together form the image of the 'The Dying Slave'. The work was created in mosaic by artists from Spier Arts Academy and marked the first outdoor, three-dimensional piece produced by the studio.

The Wayfarer

The Wayfarer by iconic South African artist Conrad Botes is a site-specific, mosaic artwork commissioned by Telesure and realised by mosaic artisans from Spier Arts Academy.

The 78 square meter surface of The Wayfarer is constructed with 2.8 tons of material, which include travertine, limestone, granite, pebbles, marble, bricks, industrial glass, porcelain, handcrafted ceramic elements and Venetian glass. 14 mosaic artisans worked for 8 months to complete the work.

Creative Block

Colourful, contrasting and ever-evolving, the Creative Block collection is the result of a one-of-a-kind art initiative. Each unique Creative Block artwork represents one of more than 250 participating artists; their individual stories,subject matter and style. But it’s when they’re displayed together that they create something magical – a rich and striking expression of South African art.

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Qaqambile

Qaqambile is a fine art beading studio owner-managed by three dynamic artists and business women. This art production studio has been collaborating with professional South African artists since 2004, translating artworks into striking beaded panels. The studio has mastered sensitivity to each partner-artist’s particular style.

Beaders work together on each panel to share the load of painstaking labour, to assign individual strengths of each beader to particular areas and also to distribute individual style across the work; the beaded panel emerges as a cohesive artwork that transcends the limits of individual ideas and making preference.

Our Patron Partners

Spier

Spier believes that the visual arts challenge us to take a fresh look at our world and environment. Art it is a powerful tool for transformation that is shared with guests and staff on the Spier estate, and art enthusiasts all over the world.

Passionate about the arts, Spier displays a significant collection of contemporary Southern African artwork on the estate in Stellenbosch.

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Nando's

Nando’s was founded in 1987 in Johannesburg, South Africa, which remains the cultural heartbeat of the brand. The Art in the restaurants is an expression of this culture. By exhibiting original art from their cultural heartbeat in restaurants, they believe that they are democratizing art by making it accessible to anyone visiting their restaurants, while telling the story of their beginnings. Nando’s ambition in art is to change lives and make a real difference to Southern African artists and their families by providing career development opportunities and exposure.

Since 2002, in a close shared value partnership with Spier Arts Trust, Nando’s has been enabling career development opportunities for artists. By allowing artists to focus full-time on their artistic careers with the potential to earn a regular income, Nando’s is making a difference in people’s lives while at the same time growing their body of high quality Southern African contemporary art. Nando’s houses one of the largest contemporary Southern African bodies of art publicly exhibited in the world, each piece an original work. By sharing the artists’ stories, they are sharing their own story. By showcasing the artists’ work globally in their restaurants, they are sharing a significant period in Southern Africa’s history with the rest of the world.

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