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Festa is a professional artist currently living in Garsfontein, Pretoria, South Africa. She has been painting for several years and specializes in landscapes and portraits but is best known for her paintings of trees, farm life and geese which have brought her considerable acclaim. Achievements and ExhibitionsThroughout 2010 Festa’s large solo exhibition featured prominently in the media, followed by various exhibitions with Four Paws Wine, Forever Resorts, heART in the Garden, Essence Art Gallery, the Centurion Art Association's 'Artist of the Year', the Chris Tugwell gallery, House of Art and Theunis Minnie gallery. Festa has also exhibited, through invitation, with a few interesting institutions including the Siena Art Institute in Italy, the Museum of Young Art in Austria, WWAB Contemporary Masters and Artspace Galleries with whom she had large exhibitions in London, England and Paris, France.
Festa was also featured in the June ’11 Tuis / Home magazine as the artist of the month. The investment value of her work also doubled between July 2010 and 2011. Her swift advancement in the world of art is astounding and can be directly attributed to Festa’s unique and skilful style of painting. About Festa's paintingsThe chosen medium for Festa's paintings is Oil on wooden board which she prefers to canvas because of its earthen feel which compliments her style and natural subjects. Photography and travelling are some of Festa's favourite pastimes. She finds her inspiration and refernce material in her travels throughout the beautiful South African countryside and enjoys painting subjects which depict the beauty of her country, especially found in regions of the Drakensberg, Namaqualand and the Western Cape.
Festa lives by the motto of growth and balance in all things. She likes keeping busy and regularly paints from sunrise to sunset but when it's time to unwind Festa enjoys gardening, cooking, hiking and expanding her imagination by traveling around the world. Some of the places she's visited include France, Germany, Italy, Greece, Egypt, Vietnam, Java, Bali, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and many more. Her style is greatly influenced by Impressionism and Post-impressionism of the 19th century where the value of light, colour, visible brushstrokes and everyday subjects are retained but structure, shape and solidity are also prominent. Some of Festa’s older artworks were more inclined toward the abstract and imaginary but her love of realism combined with just enough expression kept returning to a more traditional style of painting. If the goal of Festa's work is to send a message of South Africa’s beauty out to the world, she has certainly succeeded. Festa says, ‘I paint because my vocabulary does not allow me express this message completely. I paint so that the image speaks what I cannot, like a mirror that reflects both me and the onlooker, telling and gathering more stories with every person that looks at it… Stories of peace and home.’ |
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Opening day of Festa's Artspace group exhibition in Paris.
What's Festa up to lately?
At the moment, Festa is busy with a collection of paintings about aloes in South Africa, click here to see them!
