The Unconventional Journey of a Self-Assured Artist

One late afternoon, Idalet and I sat at the dining room table; she was sketching using a tennis racket and netball as her only reference. She leaned over to use a ruler, when I repeated the teacher’s words: “you may not use a ruler in art”. Idalet, age 13 years, replied unfazed that she doesn’t care what the art rules are. Featured image: 1975: School Year Book Cover. Mtunzini Primary School.

This self-assured attitude later caused two very dramatic shifts in her career trajectory as a professional artist.

At the end of 1980, Idalet received a bursary to study Fine Arts, after receiving, according to her proud teacher “the highest mark achievable in art in matric”. While studying at two universities, she was offered lecturing positions, but she gave up her studies and the job offers. She apparently received an assignment to “cycle through wet paint” and since she believed it did not constitute art, she stopped her studies and did not want to lecture this to future students.

After 1993, there was an extreme shift in her art style after she complained to me that no one understood her art.  

In Volume I of the e-book that I published, an art analysis attempt was made to interpret her artwork relating to the period 1985 to 1993: https://idaletanderica.com/products/idalet-volume-i-transpersonal-contemporary-art-1?_pos=1&_psq=Volume+I&_ss=e&_v=1.0

Visit our online art gallery in South Africa: https://idaletanderica.com/