Tamlin Blake | |
|---|---|
 Tamlin Blake at work in 2009 | |
| Born | 1974 (age 50–51) |
| Nationality | South African |
| Website | tamlinblake |
Tamlin Blake (born 1974) is a South African mixed media artist living and working in Riebeeck West. The major themes of Blake's work revolve around cross-cultural South African symbols of wealth and status and, more recently, what constitutes and underpins each individuals sense of belonging. [1] Her sculptural pieces often transcend boundaries between illustration, craft, and art, using weaving, beading, and drawing, amongst other media. [2]
Contents
- Career
- Education
- Select group exhibitions
- Collections
- Gallery
- Works
- Inherited Space
- Awards
- References
- External links
The main body of Blake's beaded art works took the form of South African stamps finely woven using glass seed beads. [3] [4] “By replicating these original stamps in a traditional craft idiom that has such a strong association with indigenous African cultures , Blake offers a genteel but acerbic reference to [South Africa’s] troubled past.” (Innes 2012: pg20 ISBN 978-0-620-52880-1).
While working on her own bead art Blake helped Jeanetta Blignaut, [5] to establish a bead studio which today exists as the Qubeka Bead Studio, [6] a collaborative owned by the bead artists themselves.
After this Tamlin used a variety of different media including three-dimensional pieces in felt and beads to explore the use of farm animals as valued commodities and symbols of wealth and status across the boundaries of race and culture. [7] [8]
Blake's more recent work consists of tapestries woven out of recycled and hand-spun newspaper [9] a collection of which were bought by The Spier Holdings Contemporary Art Collection [10]
