2025 PROGRAMME

The one-day sculpting workshop is designed for both first-time sculptors and those with some experience looking to enhance their skills. Participants are encouraged to enjoy the process, explore their  creativity, and express themselves, without any requirement for prior artistic experience. The primary focus will be on creating a half-life-size bust, encompassing the upper shoulders, chest, neck, and head. All necessary materials are provided for a fulfilling experience.

Join bestselling author and publisher Melinda Ferguson for an electrifying 2-hour live-writing memoir workshop that will ignite your creativity and silence your inner critic. Melinda will also discuss her seminal memoir Smacked that was celebrated for its courage and brutal honesty. Come armed with a notebook and a pen.

Die bekroonde joernalis, skrywer en uitgewer Marida Fitzpatrick vertel van die droom waaruit haar sielkundige riller, Mara ontstaan het. Nuweling Elmarie Viljoen-Massyn deel die verhoog met agtergrond oor haar nuwerwetse spanningsroman Vuurvoël wat met ‘n filmprys bekroon is. Marian Human-Nel van die Departement Afrikaans en Nederlands, Frans en Duits aan die UV lei die gesprek oor boeke wat jou laat naels kou.

Clarens is known for its beautiful poplar trees, especially the leaves turning yellow in autumn. Join us in making drawing charcoal from the dead branches of these trees. You will experience the high quality of the charcoal, much better than any charcoal that you can buy in local stores. Once the charcoal is made, we will use it in still life and/or landscape drawing, where you will learn either basic or advanced skills in charcoal drawing, depending on your current skill level. You will then be able to take some charcoal home and continue practising your new found skills. Artist Kara Schoeman will be facilitating the workshop. She has experience in lecturing Fine Art at the University of the Free State,  and has recently formed part of the very first group of students to complete their Art Therapy Master’s degrees in South Africa. No former art experience is needed for this workshop.

Far and away one of South Africa's most popular and beloved actors, Ian Roberts talks about his new memoir Nomad Heart and takes us down the highways and byways of his life.

A dynamic Figure Drawing & Painting session featuring live dancers from BoNana Dance. Both professional and amateur visual artists are invited to capture the beauty of movement and form as the dancers strike varied poses. Whether you’re sketching or painting, immerse yourself in an inspiring atmosphere of art and dance, perfect for honing your skills or simply enjoying creative expression. Bring your preferred art supplies and let the dancers’ energy fuel your creativity!

Fraud: How Prison Set Me Free tells a gripping story of drugs, abuse and crime, and how it was a spell in jail that saved Nikki Munitz’s  life. Her publisher Melinda Ferguson, herself a recovered addict, leads her through the dramas.

Portrait studies have been a passion of Loezytha Maritz since a very young age. “After years of practice I can do a pencil sketch of you in 20 minutes while you pose. There is a difference between a sketch and a pencil portrait.  When drawings are made with minimum use of lines, these are called sketches, whereas when a pencil is used as if it is a brush and for more detailed artwork, it is called pencil portrait.  In the workshop we will look at both.”

Josh Mokoena is a son of the Clarens soil and this show will be a homecoming concert (his first) in Clarens since he left for Johannesburg in 2016. 

The music performed will be seeking to interrogate the question of time in music. What does it mean to work against time - in and out of time - how is it reflected in the music and the performance? The show will comprise of a lot of original tunes and tunes that inspired Josh as a musician. These will comprise of jazz, blues, neosoul and more. This homecoming will be the best of its kind.

How did writer, filmmaker and photographer Lesedi Molefi (Patient 12A) find himself in a mental institution? He tells novelist Sven Axelrad (The Nicotine Gospel) what led him there, and how he was able eventually to filter out the noise and find peace.

Award-winning travel writer and novelist Justin Fox (Place - South African Literary Journeys) sits down with poet and academic Simon van Schalkwyk to map writers’ landscapes, from the Karoo of Olive Schreiner to Zakes Mda’s Wild Coast. 

Guenter Nerlich, a Swiss-born singer and instrumentalist who arrived in South Africa 22 years ago, will be celebrating Clarens' Swiss connection in song and stories. A very personal musical journey from his birthplace high on a mountain in Switzerland to South Africa’s jewel of the Eastern Free State, the town of Clarens. He will showcase songs that represent some of the best of Swiss Pop, Rock, Traditional and beyond as well as Switzerland’s languages! Touching ballads, bluesy songs and real jewels from the musical history trove of Switzerland seasoned with stories of a life that led to Clarens, South Africa.

Beleef saam met Koos van der Merwe lied en gedig soos rooiwyn voor die kaggel. Poëties, diepsinnig, spitsvondig. Afrikaans soos jy dit min hoor.

Experience the power of dance in “Lahl’umlenze: The Dionysian Journey,” where a broken-mirror-masked Dionysus leads us from the chaos of Pandora’s Box to the hope of Flowers in the Spring. This dynamic show blends dance, spoken word, and electrifying rhythms for a ride towards unity and renewal.

Kan jy die eerste gesig onthou wat jy gewaar het ...vasgevang in tyd, geheue en onveranderlik? Natuurlik nie. Soos met alle herinnerings is daar veranderlikes. Ewig wisselend in die album van ons geheue; altyd nuutgeskep op die doek van ons verlange, soos lewende kuns. Elke gesig wat ons onthou, word die legkaart van ons lewens, die reuk, die musiek, die liefde. In die multimediaproduksie  “Gesigte” word die werk van internasionale bekroonde portretkunstenaar André Serfontein tot lewe geroep deur die digitale kunstenaar Seun. Elke lewensstorie van André Schwartz word verbeeld deur die unieke gesigte wat op die skerm verskyn. Klavier, kitaar en stem vertel liedere soos ‘From Both Sides Now, First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, The Book of Love’ en ‘The Rose’. André se treffers en  eie komposisies soos die kwesbare en gewilde ‘Ek haal asem’ maak ook ‘n buiging. 

Gesigte vertel in beeld en musiek die eerlike herinneringe van die legio kosbare mense in André Schwartz se lewe. Hierdie produksie is benoem as beste musiekaangedrewe produksie by die Aardklop Kunstefees en sy voorloper ‘My keuse’ benoem vir ‘n gesogte nasionale Fiësta-toekenning in dieselfde kategorie.