The area between the West Coast and Overberg coastal regions is known as the Cape Winelands. You’ll find the pristine Franschhoek Valley in this district and it’s an absolute pearl. Franschhoek lies nestled between towering mountains and is the food and wine heartland of the country. With breath-taking scenery, warm hospitality, a variety of attractions and activities, it presents an excellent escape from the city. A number of shops and galleries in the village offer a wonderful assortment of artworks, antiques, and other treasures.
As you meander down the Franschhoek Main Road, it melts into Huguenot Road, where you will come across Art in the Yard. This contemporary art gallery and consultancy focuses on talented artists who inject skilled craftsmanship with fresh ideas. Art in the Yard carefully selects paintings, sculptures and other artworks from a diverse collection of upcoming, local and international artists.
The spacious gallery is versatile and bright, making it perfect for social gatherings. Set over two levels with lovely vistas of Franschhoek, it’s a calm location that inspires creativity.
Gallery operator, Georgia Eccles Schoeman embarked on her first art venture in 2002. She exported work by established and emerging South African artists to the UK. Georgia exhibited the works at pop-up exhibitions that she organised throughout London, as well as at art fairs and galleries. The most notable gallery, the acclaimed Stephanie Hoppen Gallery in London, represents an ongoing relationship. Due to the difficulties of travelling back and forth to London, the business gradually transformed into an agency through which Georgia represented several Cape Town-based artists.
Georgia took a short break from the art world for a few years as a fashion retail store named Indian Summer attracted her to Franschhoek. She kept an eye open for a space to start her own gallery, and eventually the ideal premises became available. Georgia rekindled previous art connections, made a few new ones and thus Art in the Yard was born.
Art in the Yard is currently exhibiting Chris Denovan’s latest solo offering, In Full Bloom. In this body of work, Denovan translates the height of nature’s beauty to oil paint on canvas. The exhibition will run until 12 March 2016.
Indulge in a dash of culture in Franschhoek and peruse fine art in a comfortable and relaxed environment at Art in the Yard.
OF NOTE
When Monday – Saturday: 9 am – 6 pm, Sunday: 9:30 am – 5:30 pm Sunday
Where The Yard, 38 Huguenot Street, Franschhoek
Contact +27 021 876 4280, +27 83 463 0392, [email protected], www.artintheyard.co.za
Photography courtesy