Neha Patil (Editor)

Jeannette Unite

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Nationality
  
South African

Website
  
www.jeannetteunite.com

Jeannette Unite httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Known for
  
Mining artist, Jeannette Unite is known for collecting detritus and minerals directly from smelters, slimes ponds, mine dumps and heritage sites to make her own paint and pastels. She incorporates photographs, videos, maps and images from her travels into large-scale works and installations.

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Jeannette Unite (born 20 January 1964) is a South African artist who has mined for her paint box by collecting oxides, metal salts and residues from mines, heritage and industrial sites, to develop paint, pastel and glass recipes for her large scale artworks that reflect on the mining and industrial sites where human's contemporary world is manufactured.

Contents

Her industrial-scale mining Headgear drawings and "TERRA" paintings were exhibited at Museum Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany in the reconstructed building on the site of mining headquarters for the Ruhr Valley to commemorate the final year of underground coal mining in Germany.

Through 2014 and 2015 her research on Earth's stratigraphy with Department of Earth Sciences, Oxford University and Oxford University Museum, developed into a body of work exhibited at the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (CCANW), Exeter University, Devon, between October 2015 and February 2016. This travelling exhibition also formed part of the United Nations' Year of Soil and the British Geological Society's Year of Mud.

Gerard scholtz gesels met jeannette unite


Research

Unite's works reference mining heritage sourced from archives and museums. This includes early geological historical maps and texts that were created during the British Industrial Revolution to guide mining the coal that fueled the engines that drove modernity.

Photographs from Unite's travels and images duplicated from mining museums and archives, are as precious a resource to Unite as the site-specific sands and slimes pond tailings from the mines and industrial detritus, and loaded with meaning that she mixes into her paints and pastels.

Unite has exhibited in Germany, Beijing, Lyon and Tashkent Biennials and Art Museums internationally.

Education and community work

2012-2014
  • Masters in Fine Art (MFA) (distinction), Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town
    • 2011-2016
  • Workshops in Materiality, re-introducing formal gesso, rabbit glue and paint preparation processes into painting department, co-ordinating specialists, artists materials workshops in pastels and paint, Michaelis School Fine Art, UCT.
  • Assisting PHD student with a 'Drawing From the Ground' pastel-making workshop.
    • 1997-1998
  • EMEP - teacher art training in Nyanga
    • 1987-1997
  • Frank Joubert Art Centre, taught printmaking and general art.
  • Taught adult education drawing classes: If You Can See You Can Draw
  • Taught Painting classes: Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway
    • 1992-1996
  • University of South Africa
    • 1987
  • Facilitated workshops; Gallery 709; Adderley Street & Franschhoek
    • 1982-1986
  • Michaelis School of Fine Art, University Cape Town

    • Selected exhibitions

    2017

    COMPLICIT GEOGRAPHIES, Eclectica Contemporary, Cape Town

    2016

    35th International Geology Congress, Invited Earth mining artist, CTICC

    TERRA, Museum Am Ostwall, Dortmund, Germany

    Mining Our Heritage | Bergbau Unser Erbe – Germany Preview, Abalone Hermanus Fynarts

    In Plain Sight: Social Life in South Africa and Romania before and after 1989, Aparte Gallery of George Enescu Uni of Arts, Iasi & Borderline Art Space, Iasi, Romania

    Out of the Fire, Into the Light, Dr Ingram Anderson, Glass exhibition, AVA, Pretoria

    STRATA two-woman show with Isabel Mertz at ISart, Franscchhoek

    Colori sotto il Visuvio (The Colours of Vesuvius), Il ramo d'oro Centre of Arts and Culture, Naples, Italy

    2015

    Bi-Centenary William 'Strata' Smith, Innovation Centre, University of Exeter

    PREVIEW Bi-Centenary William 'Strata' Smith, Jo'burg Art Fair Fringe curated by Carol Brown, Mboneng, Johannesburg

    LAW & ORE, Youngblood Foundation Gallery, Cape Town

    Between Democracies curated By Judy Peter, Karen von Vey & Richard Gregor, Constitution Hill, Johannesburg

    Fear & Loss in the Industrial Karoo, Curator Katie Du Toit, Oliewenhuis, Bloemfontein | Pretoria Art Museum | Graaff-Rennet

    Blowing in the Wind, curator Carol Brown, KZNSA Gallery, Durban and University of the Orange Free State, Art Museum.

    Between Conceptual and Spiritual, curated by Ortrud Mulder, Abalone Gallery, part of FynArts Festival, Hermanus

    2014

    LAW & ORE, Abalone Gallery, Hermanus

    EXTRACT, Youngblood Gallery, Cape Town and Cologne, Germany

    COMPLICIT GEOGRAPHIES, Fine Arts master's degree exhibition, Michaelis Galleries, Cape Town (MFA with Distinction)

    2013

    HERE / THERE, UCT and WITS Masters students, Michaelis Galleries, Cape Town

    HAWK Guerrilla Video Projections on land and group Art Intervention, (curator Lien Botha) Overstrand, Western Cape

    2012

    Residuum: Mines & Machines Installation at the Western Cape Archives & Records Service, Old Gaol, Roeland Street, Cape Town

    Exhibition & Presentation: 9th IMHC International Mining History Conference, Johannesburg

    HAWK Group Art Intervention, (curated by Lien Botha) Overberg, Western Cape (project printed map)

    Return to the Archive, Museum Africa, Johannesburg

    2011

    Paradox of Plenty, Michaelis Galleries, University of Cape Town - Installation of mining archive & artist-in-residency

    Mining the African Industrial Landscape: Presentation; Conflicts & Natural Resources: African Studies Conference, AEGIS, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain

    Artists Visual Response to the Industrial Landscape: Presentation The Paradox of Plenty, Joburg Art Fair, September

    On the Surface: The Heritage of Mines and Mining; conference University Innsbruck, Austria

    Iizkhwepha Zhetu / Shaping our Minds, (curated by Phumzile Dlamini) Durban Art Gallery (catalogue)

    3 Parts: More Harmony, South African, United Arab Emirates & Mozambique artists (curated by Phumzile Dlamini), Durban Art Gallery (catalogue)

    Alumni Exhibition & Auction, Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town (catalogue)

    2010

    6 Meters Under, 4th Beijing International Art Biennale, China

    The Lie of the Land: Representations of the South African Landscape,(curated by Michael Godby), Michaelis Collection, Old Town House Museum (catalogue)

    TERRA: Above Below, Oliewenhuis Museum, Bloemfontein (Catalogue)

    Mineral Resources and Residues of Power in the African Industrial Landscape, Presentation at ICACD (3rd International Conference on African Cultural Development) Cultural Imperatives for Development: 50 Years Post Independent Africa, Kumasi, Ghana

    2009

    Headgears, 9th Tashkent Biennale, Central Asia, Uzbekistan

    Presentation ‘The Colonial Gaze’ Scientific conference, Urban Philosophy: Anthropological Landscape’, Tashkent, Uzbekistan

    Earthscars: Mining the African Landscape: Presentation AngloGold Ashanti, Turbine Hall, Johannesburg

    Headgear, Inaugural solo exhibition, AngloGold HQ, Turbine Hall, JHB

    Earthscars: Mining African Landscape, XLIIIrd AICA (International Association of Art Critics) Congress, The Relations Between Art and Science: Complicity, Criticality, Knowledge, Dublin Castle, Ireland

    On Top of the World, (curated by Andre Vorster) (catalogue)

    Earthscars, 20:20 Presentation at VANSA, Spin Street, Cape Town

    2008

    Remembering the Future, Western Cape Archives and Records Service, Old Gaol, Roeland Street, Cape Town

    Re-structuring the Colonial, Group Exhibition, Thompson Gallery, Johannesburg

    2007

    Hot Earth, Artworks in response to travels to copper mines of Namaqualand. Thompson Gallery, Johannesburg

    Visions of Africa, (curated by Dirk Oegema) Pretoria Art Museum

    2006

    HERM: Boundaries Between the Wild and Cultivated, collaboration Cumbria Institute of Arts, Ann Bryant Art Museum, East London

    2005

    Gunfree South Africa, Constitution Hill Auction, Johannesburg

    2004

    Earthscars: A Visual Mining Exploration, William Humphreys Art Museum, Kimberley

    Earthscars: A Visual Mining Exploration, Mozambique National Gallery, Maputo, Mozambique

    Earthscars: A Visual Mining Exploration, Irma Stern Museum Gallery, University of Cape Town

    Surfacing, with Lynne Lomofsky, Unite Studio, Cape Town

    2003

    S.U.M., Bag Factory Residency Exhibition, Fordsburg Art Studios, Johannesburg (catalogue)

    Sentences & Gestures, Zebra II, Hampstead, London

    South African Artists, Old Mutual Place, London

    2001

    Sentences, Bell-Roberts Contemporary Gallery, Cape Town (catalogue)

    Heart For Art, Red Cross Fundraiser, The Foundry, Cape Town

    SA Today, Signature Artist, (curator Patrick Lagus), Fair Centre, Helsinki

    Blue Danube, animated projection, edited by Koeka Stander, concert with Sibelius Orchestra, Helsinki, Finland

    2000

    Sentences, art animation film, 8 minutes, edited by Koeka Stander

    Artichoke, Multimedia event, Sandton Civic Centre, Johannesburg

    1999

    Thresholds, Irma Stern Museum Gallery, University of Cape Town

    Inaugural Group Exhibition, National Library of South Africa, Cape Town

    Softserve, Public Eye Event, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town

    Thupela Workshop, IZIKO South African National Gallery, Cape Town

    1994

    Print Triennial, Musee d’Art Contemporain Internationale, Lyon, France

    1993

    South Africa in Black and White, Print exhibition (curated by Ray Maylen), South African National Gallery, Cape Town

    Aids Awareness, AVA Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town

    Brides, (curated by Christopher Peter), Irma Stern Museum Gallery, University of Cape Town

    1992

    Art Now, AVA Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town

    1990

    Critics’ Choice, AVA Association for Visual Arts, Cape Town

    1981

    Young Artists’ Exhibition, 1st Prize, Kellogg’s Foundation (catalogue)

    Publications and texts

  • COMPLICIT GEOGRAPHIES, 2016, Edited by Ivor Powell. 400 page monograph on artwork by Jeannette Unite investigating how wealth from land and Earth is divided, measured and allocated and global cycles of extraction, consumption and waste.
  • TERRA, 2012, Edited by Andrew Lamprecht and Ivor Powell with contributions by Ashraf Jamal, Kathryn Smith, Marian Tredoux and Bongani Ndodana-Breen. 192 page monograph surveying twenty years of Unite's practice and research.
  • ‘Headgear: Mining Engineering Drawings’, Critical Interventions, USA 6: 91-101, Spring 2010.
  • ‘TERRA: Sands and Detritus Soiled with History’, Art South Africa, 9(1): 98-9, Spring 2010.
  • ‘Exploring the Visual Residues of Colonial Exploitation’, Nukta Art: Contemporary Art Magazine of Pakistan. 5 (1): 80-85, 2010.

    • Awards, grants and residencies

  • Mzansi Golden Economy Grant, SA Department Arts and Culture (funding for TERRA in Dortmund, Germany and COMPLICIT GEOGRAPHIES, CCANW, Exeter University, Devon) 2016
  • MacIver Scholarship, Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town. 2013
  • Twamley Postgraduate Bursary, University of Cape Town. 2013
  • Jules Kramer Travel Award, University of Cape Town. 2012
  • Academic Bursary from Michaelis School of Fine Arts, University of Cape Town 2012
  • CCA (Center for Curating the Archive), University of Cape Town. 2012
  • Fellowship Artist-in-Residency, Michaelis Galleries, University of Cape Town 2011
  • AEGIS - African Travel Grant for African resource conference closing presentation, University Autonoma, Madrid Spain 2011
  • Art Moves Africa (AMA) Research Grant for Travel in Africa 2009
  • Tashkent Biennial (merit award for original use of natural materials) 2009
  • CSIR, Awarded Public Art Competition /Glass Wall Installation, Department Science and Technology Buildings, Pretoria 2006
  • Bag Factory, Fordsburg Artists’ Studios (Triangle Network) Johannesburg 2003
  • Constitution Hill (Glass & Steel Water History Sculpture) Finalist 2003
  • Thupela Workshop, South African National Gallery Annex. 2000
  • Thupela Workshop, South African National Gallery Annex.1999
  • Kellogg's Young Artists Award, First Prize National Art Competition. Prize: (Four year all-inclusive international art scholarship.) 1981

    • Conference presentations

  • Artists Who Mine the Landscape, 9th IMHC (International Mining History Conference), Johannesburg 2011
  • Mining the African Industrial Landscape, Conference Presentation at Conflicts & Natural Resources: African Studies, AEGIS Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain 2011
  • Artists Visual Response to the Industrial Landscape, Conference Presentation On the Surface: The Heritage of Mines and Mining; University Innsbruck, Austria 2011
  • Mining Indaba. Art Exhibition Intervention, Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) 2010
  • Mining the Artists Palette in Africa's Industrial Landscape: Presentation, Colour Colloquium, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 2010
  • Mineral Resources and Residues of Power in the African Industrial Landscape, Presentation at ICACD (3rd International Conference African Cultural Development) Cultural Imperatives for Development: *50 Years Post Independent Africa, Kumasi, Ghana 2010
  • Mining Indaba. Art Exhibition Intervention interpreting the mining industry, Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC)
  • Mining the Artists Paintbox from the African Industrial Landscape: AICA (Art Critics International Association), Art & Science Conference, Dublin, Ireland 2009
  • The Colonial Gaze Scientific conference, Urban Philosophy: Anthropological Landscape’, Tashkent, Uzbekistan 2009
  • Mining Indaba. Art Exhibition Intervention, Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) 2009
  • Earthscars: Mining the African Landscape, Presentation AngloGold Ashanti, Turbine Hall, Johannesburg 2009
  • Earthscars, 20:20 Presentation at VANSA, Spin Street, Cape Town 2009

    • Selected collections

  • Anglo America Kumba, Johannesburg
  • Bell Dewars Incorporated, Johannesburg
  • Chevron Headquarters Canal Walk, Cape Town
  • Clifford Chance, Brussels, Belgium and Frankfurt
  • Department of Science and Technology, CSIR Building, Pretoria (Public Art Award)
  • Development Bank of South Africa, Johannesburg
  • DEVS, Cape Town
  • Fairbridges, Cape Town, Johannesburg.
  • Goldstone Resources, Cape Town
  • Group 5 Engineering, Johannesburg.
  • Iso-leisure, Johannesburg
  • Isqithi HQ, Johannesburg
  • Liberty Holdings, Cape Town & Umhlanga, Kwazulu
  • Louis Karol Architects, Johannesburg Office
  • MTN Art Collection, Johannesburg
  • Old Mutual Place, London
  • Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein
  • Pezula, Knysna
  • Swiss:Re, Johannesburg
  • Chemical Engineering Building, University of Cape Town; Works of Art Collection.
  • TRONOX HQ, Johannesburg
  • Vodacom Art Collection, Cape Town
  • William Humphries Art Museum, Kimberley, Northern Cape

    • References

    Jeannette Unite Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA