• Bio

    Bio



    Above: Ballet sets for Audrey King's ballet 'Nursery Nonsense' adapted from Amanda's drawings, aged 4, 1964


    Matriculated at the National School of Arts and studied a BA.FA. at UCT, majoring in printmaking under Dutch printmaker Jules Van der Vyer.
    Completed a MA.FA. (UCT) in 1988 with a dissertation on contemporary black South African art.
    Lectured for eight years in Cultural History and History of Art at UCT.

    In 1992 diversified into the applied sciences, studying a N.D. Land. Tech. (Cum Laude; CPUT), working in own business as a landscape designer and contractor for fifteen years, applied art to the creation of gardens.
    Continued to practice painting and drawing while in art allied careers, exhibiting in group exhibitions and selling works privately.

    In 2007 moved to a farm outside the village of Baardskeerdersbos pursuing a full-time art career, exhibits at the bi-annual Baardskeerdersbos Art Route at farm studio and gallery.

    In 2019 completed BA. Honours in Counselling Psychology. (Cum Laude; UNISA), with an interest in combining a career in art and psychology.

    Graphic work, etchings and paintings are rich and diverse reflecting multiple interests and are characterised by a strong sense of colour and rhythmic form. Works in mixed-media, ink, graphite, charcoal, pastel, intaglio print-making, oil and acrylic paints and in paper sculpture.
    Genres include portraiture, figurative, animal subjects, landscapes, still life and symbolic/ conceptual subjects.

    In etchings, a large expressive series of coloured etchings depict wildlife ‘Trophy Heads’ influenced by a concern for the environment.
    A series of Overberg and Scottish landscapes are derived from rural scenes along farm roads around farm and from Scottish visits to the Highlands.
    Smaller etchings inspired by the movement of ballet and classical Greek sculpture.

    Inspiration for painting found in farm environment and in the symbolic nature of found odjects, for example in ‘Entropy Series’ decaying farm archaeology in the form of found objects is imbued with personal meaning of experience with breast cancer and the recognition that all physical matter disintegrates.

    A personal sense of history as a second generation, South African of British descent is the subject of a recent series of paintings derived from family holiday slides in East Africa, Mozambique and the Eastern Cape.

    Living in an agrarian environment has provided access to a diverse range of farm animal subjects and a love of these, plus ever present cats are a further distinctive feature of work.

    Took part in Greg Kerr's painting workshops in 2018 - 2020.

    Currently exploring paper sculpture in the form of costumed cat and animal characters and various ballet figures out of hand-painted paper based on Ballet Russes ballets, in particular, Le Pavillion d' Armide and Bakst's designs for Sleeping Beauty.




  • CV


    Amanda Jephson- Curriculum Vitae

    Date of Birth: 4.4 1960
    Contact Details: Cell 084-3502025, email: ajephson@live.com

    Art Education
    1969-1971 Nina Campbell-Quine Children’s Art Studio, Hyde Park
    1975-1978 Johannesburg High School of Art Ballet and Music
    Higher Grade Matric with Distinction in Science of Art, Painting, Sculpture, Graphic Art, Design & English.
    Leadership Role: Prefect
    1980-1983 Bachelor of Art in Fine Art, with Distinction in Cultural History of Western Art & History of Art; Majored in Printmaking.
    Michaelis School of Art, University of Cape Town,
    1986 Master Of Arts in Fine Art- Dissertation: Aspects of Twentieth Century Black South African Art Up to 1980.
    University of Cape Town,

    Additional Education
    1994 National Diploma in Landscape Technology (Cum Laude)
    Cape Peninsula University of Technology.
    2019 Bachelor of Arts Honours in Counselling Psychology (Cum Laude) UNISA.
    2020-present, registered with for a MA in Psychology at UNISA.

    Awards
    MacIver Scholarship 1981-1984 &1988;Twamley Scholarship 1981-1984; C.G.Saker Scholarship 1981-1984; UCT Post Graduate Scholarship 1984-1986; Human Sciences Research Centre Bursary 1984-1986; Harry Crossley Overseas Travel Grant 1986; Jules Kramer Grant 1984-1986; Harry Openheimer Travel Grant 1984-1986
    Class Medalist: Cultural History of Western Europe 1980, 1981 & 1982
    Merit Award Student in Landscape Design 1992
    Best Student Award in Landscape Design 1993 &1994
    Van Elden Prize National Diploma Landscape Technology 1994

    Professional Work and Experience
    2018 Psychology elective, Hermanus Provincial Hospital.
    2008-2022 Full time artist, Stables Studio and Gallery, Assegaai Bosch Farm, Baardskeerdersbos, Western Cape. Art works in various graphic media, intaglio printmaking , oil and acrylic painting. Work is influenced by rural environment with subjects from local countryside and farm surroundings. Co-founded Baardskeerdersbos Art Route, a bi-annual art exhibition of various artists in the area.
    1995-2008 Freelance Landscape Designer and Landscape Contractor in Cape Town. Clients included, Urban Landscape Solutions, Starke Ayres Landscaping, Magda Kirkham Landscape Design, Blue Rock Landscaping, Strelitzia Landscaping, Holiday Inn, Bill Venter, Ari Efstathiou, Chris Ball and numerous private residences.
    Part-time: Painting and exhibiting of art work at Hout Street Gallery in Paarl and Dorp Street Gallery in Stellenbosch.
    1996-1999 Co-owned and managed Topiary Nursery in Observatory, Cape Town
    1989-1991 University of Cape Town
    Lecturer History of Art;
    Course and Exam Convener History of Art II
    UCT Summer School Lecturer Black South African Art
    AA Life Vita Awards – Theatre Judge
    1988 University of Cape Town
    Lecturer and Course Convener Cultural History of Western Europe III;
    Assistant Lecturer History of Art
    1986-1987 University of Cape Town
    Lecturer Cultural History of Western Europe and Course Convener CHWE II & III
    Research visits around South Africa for MA Dissertation.
    1984-1985 University of Cape Town
    Assistant Lecturer Cultural History of Western Europe.
    Research visits to United Kingdom and France, Germany and Holland for MA Dissertation.

    Part Time Employment
    1979- 1980 Assistant Film Editor -Trevor Hill Post Productions, Johannesburg
    Graphic Artist - Rent-A –Studio, Johannesburg
    Graphic Artist - John Growse Associates, Cape Town
    Exhibition -Mixed Media, Gallery 709, Cape Town
    Founder and Teacher – Blue Route Children’s Art Centre
    1988-1989 Assistant Proof Reader and Advertising Rep– ADA (Art Design & Architecture) Magazine
    Freelance Layout and Design Artist- La Lanterna Restaurant, Vinello Kitchen Designs, Monks House, Cape Town
    1988-2000 Part-time Manager Rozenhof Restaurant, Cape Town
    1992-1995 Founded The Art Studio: Adult Art Classes, Cape Town

    Committee and Board Memberships
    University of Cape Town: Board of Faculty of Arts 1985-1991;
    Board of Centre for African Studies 1988;
    Centre for African Art Works Committee 1988-1991
    Cape Town Film Society Committee 1988-1991
    Save Bantamsklip Association: Vice Chairman 2009-2010
    Strandveld Tourism and Conservation Foundation Committee 2009-2011

    Memberships
    South African Association of Art Historians 1989-1991
    Visual Arts Group, Cape Town 1990-1991
    Friends of The South African National Gallery 1990-1991
    Wild Life Society 1985-1989
    Cape Town Ecology Group 1989-1991
    Earth Life Africa 1991
    SALI: South African Landscapers Institute Student Representative and Member 1993
    Baardskeerdersbos Art Route 2008-2011
    CANE Coalition Against Nuclear Energy 2009-2011
    AVAAZ 2009-2011

    Publications
    Interview with William Kentridge, ADA Magazine No 4, 1987
    Bongiwe Dhlomo- Printmaker, ADA Magazine No 5, 1988
    Tarting Up the Transitional, ADA Magazine No 5, 1988
    Imijondolo: Black and White in Gold, review article of Echoes of South African Art by Matsemela Manaka (1987 Skotoville Press)
    Co-author review article of Art of the South African Townships, by Gavin Younge, ADA Magazine No 6 1989
    FUBA Academy, Johannesburg, ADA Magazine No 6 1989
    Rorke’s Drift ELC Art and Craft Centre- Origins and Overview, Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town 1990
    Paint and Popular Texture: Making South African Art and Its History Accessible, review article of 150 South African Paintings by Lucy Alexander and Evelyn Cohen (1990 Struikof), ADA Magazine No 9, 1990.

    Interests
    Cognitive and Neuro psychology; Psychology in general; Women's rights; Philosophy, Art Theory and Aesthetics; the Creative process; African art; History of Art; Women's Art; Genealogy; Cape Vernacular Architecture and Landscape; Antiques; Perfume and Scent distillation; unusual Plants; anything French.

    _Other Activities _
    Cattle farmer; Burmese cat breeder; Donkey rescuer; Animal rights, Activist against Bantamsklip Nuclear Power Station, Ballet.