The Owl House Informer
The Owl House
Informer
Volume 1 Nr. 1Autumn 2008
New Board of directors
1
The Owl House Informer
Meet OurTeam
D
uring the recent AGM held on Saturday, 27 October 2007, a new board of directors were constituted. Following is a brief introduction to our current OHF directors:
Heidi Kühne Boekkooi:Owns a house in N-B (Nieu-Bethesda), but resides in Port Elizabeth where she owns and manages an art gallery.
Dr. Bruce Lakie:Studied medicine at WitsUniversity.A Psychiatrist by profession, trained and registered as a Jungian Psychoanalystwith the International Association of Analytical Psychologists (IAAP) Zurich.He hashad an interest in N-B for many years and moved permanently to N-B in mid 2002. He is chairperson of the N-B Heritage and Vernacular Society and has a great interest in the preservation of historical buildings, especially houses. He is also very interested in music and horticulture.Dr Lakie has served on the OHF (Owl House Foundation) boardsince 2006 as director and vice-chair.
Monty Maré:Representative on the Board since the summer of ’99 as head of the Eastern Cape Division of one of our principal patrons and sponsors, PPC Cement.
Phillip Olifant:Originally from Cape Town, he accepted a post at the local municipality near the end of 2000. Represents the CamdebooMunicipality on the board since 2005. Married with two children and loves to read. Secretary and treasurer of his church denomination.
Albert Redelinghuys:Albert is a fine artist specializing in painting. Three years ago he left his cottage in Irene, Gauteng to become a resident of N-B. He loves painting vast Karoo landscapes and still-life(think enamel) – and he is not planning any sudden changes in lifestyle …
Peet van Heerden (Chairperson):Native to N-B, farmer and owner of Doornberg Guest Farm.
Huldah (Eloff) van Wyk:Matriculated at RustenburgHigh School (Afrikaans medium). Studied (B.A.BK) at the University of Pretoria and T.H.O.D. (Higher Education Diploma) at Normal College, Pretoria. Lived in Bloemfontein and Johannesburg, but relocated to N-B during 2003. Huldah resides in the original old parsonage (pre-1860), which she restored with loving care. She has served on the OHF Board since October 2003, and is presently the longest serving director.
Terry Winship (Vice-Chairperson):Terry lives and works in Cape Town but spends every possible moment in Nieu Bethesda – renovating the Ibis and helping out at the Owl House. She has a B.Com degree (WitsUniversity) and runs an I.T. company. Terry has a passionate interest in the OH and is involved in the administration, computer and marketing aspects of the foundation.One outstanding achievement was the setting up of controls and systems to simplify the Foundation’s administration. ♠
Topic / PageMeet the Directors / 1
Art: Absenceby Emily Jan / 2
Project “Birdcage” / 2
Reflections by Yvonne du Plessis / 3
Visitors’ Stats / 4
Acknowledgements Membership / 5
Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre / 6
Regulars “What’s New?” / 7
art …
absence
by emily jan
24” x 24”, acrylic on canvas
2007
A R T I S T ’ S
S T A T E M E N T :
I painted absence in memory of Helen Martins.
I first visited the Karoo in late 2004, and fell in love with Nieu Bethesda and the Owl House. Helen Martins’ story captivated me, both for the incredible world she created and for the tragedy of her death.
Visiting the Owl House for the first time, I was struck by the contrast between the joyful, magical world she created out in the blazing Karoo sun, and the palpable weight of sorrow mixed with beauty and love that exists within the glittering walls of her home. The empty chair and table in the painting speak to me of her absence within this world, and I sometimes picture her ghost sitting in the chair, contemplating the world she created against all odds.
I think every artist can relate to the feelings of alienation and loneliness, as we try to bring work forth into a sometimes hostile world. Helen Martins’ tenacity, vision, and courage are an inspiration to me, and surely to many others.
A B O U T T H E A R T I S T :
Emily Jan was born in Hollywood, CA, USA. She grew up in San Francisco and attended BrownUniversity where she received a degree in designing for the Theatre. She currently attends CCA (CaliforniaCollege of the Arts) where she is pursuing a second degree BFA in Painting. She works as a graphic designer and is co-founder of Timbuktu Design (
Emily moved to South Africa in 2004, and lived and traveled there with her husband, James Bowyer, in 2004 and in 2006. They currently split their time between Berkeley, CA and Cape Town, ZA.♠
As a child in Nieu-Bethesda, during the 1950s, I knew Helen Martins. I was then still in primary school (the building where the present tennis and bowling clubs are situated), and my mother’s (Nora van Niekerk – born Pienaar) sister, Aunty Lettie Kritzinger, was also the teacher and principal of this one-man-school! During the week I stayed with her and went to school, while I went home for weekends to our farm, Ganora, where JP and Hester Steynberg live today. This goes back many years – about 50 years or so, but I still see Helen Martins standing in front of me. As the custom of those years was for addressing an older woman, to me she was ‘Ant Helen’ -- a shortened Afrikaans form for the English ‘aunt’. (That was before ‘tannie’ became the fashion!)
So much has already been written about Helen Martins, but when I peruse the books and articles about her, there are quite a few things that bother me and that are not the whole truth. Whether it is a result of memory lapses, oral tradition, different perceptions or maybe on purpose, just to make the story of her life more colourful for a hungry public – who knows? At times I feel as if Helen Martins was hijacked by people who never even knew her, and that people have changed her into something that she never really was.
Helen Martins lived in the same street as me and Tannie Lettie – that is, in New Street. In the house with the stoep with the wire cage, there down to the left where the road turn to the right over the Gats River with the island on the “other side” – as we used to refer to that part of the village. As a child without prejudice I have always been aware that her house as well as she was “different”. But I and the rest of Nieu-Bethesda’s residents accepted her as she was. “Different”. The same way you still find “different” people even today...
I do not believe for one moment that the villagers ignored or “shunned” her on purpose. I think she wanted it like that. From the outside her house was always tightly closed, the windows covered with grounded glass, and there were mirrors in her house that looked like the sun on the well-known “Sunshine” polish tins of the time … and there were strange cement figures in her backyard.
She always kept herself one side. She never joined in the day-to-day social activities of the village community, as was the case with my mother and them. I mean, like being a member of the tennis club and to participate in tournaments, to belong to the VLV (Women’s-Agricultural-Society) that was held in the building diagonally opposite the police station – at one time this very building also served as a school, and afterwards the home of the VLV as well as the Boerevereniging (Farmers Society) – today it serves as an arts centre. All the birthday parties on the different farms, the church fetes, the Christmas tree and distributing of children’s gifts in the old church hall, the New Year festivities, school concerts, debating societies, etc. We hardly ever saw her on the streets.
I remember well one Sunday when I was with my parents in the church – at that time the Pienaar and Retief families always sat left of the pulpit (i.e. when you stand facing the pulpit). After the dominee has already started his sermon, I looked down the long, middle wing of the church to the very back, left of the big church watch. There Helen was sitting in a small bundle. And just before the end of the sermon, she slipped out ever so quietly to the outside. She was there, but she didn’t want to be noticed.
Helen was a frail, skinny woman with a wrinkled face and grey-black hair that she tied close to the back of her hair, with locks that always came loose and hung around her face. Her eyes were small and encircled with wrinkles, and when she smiled, her eyes became small slits that all but disappeared. She had light black hair above her upper lip and it used to bother me whenever she gave me as a kid a smacker. Even through my child’s eyes she seemed unkempt and plainly dressed. She used to wear flat rubber slip-slops and her feet were at times not the cleanest – maybe as a result of working in her backyard or in the evenings, just after dark, when she walked the dusty roads of the village. Vaguely I do remember something odd in connection with her feet and her toes. Maybe she only had 4 toes one the one foot or both, or something like that. Different Nieu-Bethesda residents, who also knew her, may recall this better than I do.
As Helen constructed more and more cement-images, my Tannie Lettie (salt of the earth that she was!) scolded Helen one day and said, “You waste your money on all this cement, Helen! Rather go buy yourself some decent food.”
Helen used to consume vast quantities of tea – honey-sweet – with quite a few teaspoons sugar stirred into each cup. She was incredibly skinny – I’m not so sure how much she actually did ate. Maybe her money was too little ... Because of these circumstances, Tannie Lettie used to invite Helen ever so occasionally to come and enjoy supper with us. She always came at dusk – and walked underneath the trees so that no one would notice her. After entering the house, the two adults talked a mile a minute about this and that, and just everything else. I was too small to understand all that was said -- only listened. It was only Helen, Tannie Lettie, and I at the table with the flower-patterned oilcloth and/or a candle, paraffin lamp which threw big shadows against the wall.
Helen was always very friendly towards me. She loved children very much. She smiled easily and (as I have already indicated), she always wanted to kiss me! Whenever Tannie Lettie and I went to visit Helen, the two of them used to enjoy tea together while I munched away on the most delightful kwepertameletjie (quince sweets). We used to sit in her lounge or dining room and, while the two women were chatting away, I gaped at the mirrors and the light that broke through the glass-covered windows. I was especially dotty about the two tarentale (guinea fowls) standing on the table. I am not sure whether it was made out of wood or porcelain. Strange, I wonder whatever happened to them? Through my child’s eyes these two guinea fowls were just the prettiest things out.
My mother was blessed with an incredible memory. She used to tell me stories about Helen’s father, Piet Martins, as well as her mother. Unfortunately I do not recall the name of her mother. I have also met her two sisters at one time – they did come and visit occasionally – I know that one of the sisters was called Alida, the other one is beyond my memory. Oh yes, I also remember that Helen had a “boyfriend” – a very tall man with a moustache and his name was “old” Hattingh. As a child, as far as I was concerned, there was something scandalous about it all – but I never had an inkling just for what rhyme or reason this could have been the case! Hattingh owned property on the other side of Tannie Lettie Kritzinger’s house, right at the end of New Street where it turns to the right. There where the “Rust and Vrede Guesthouse” are situated today. As a child I also saw the exceptionally elongated bed where Hattingh was supposed to have slept when he came to visit Helen. Needless to say, Tannie Lettie did not held forth very much to me about the situation!
Helen Martins was an Afrikaans speaking woman, born and bred in an Afrikaans home. But as so many other villagers she was quite capable of speaking and writing in English. The apparent reason why she conducted her correspondence in English and not Afrikaans, was due to her going to school during a time when Afrikaans was only starting to develop as written medium, and to crown (no pun intended) it all, during that stage South Africa was still a British colony and English was carried through as the medium of communication in all the schools.
It grieves me today that Helen Martins’ Afrikaans identity is hardly ever mentioned in writings – not even in the Owl House itself – and that the vast majority are under the impression that Helen Martins was actually from English stock – on the contrary, she was as much Afrikaans as I am.
As far as I am concerned, it is a shameless distortion of reality. One wonders what the actual reason for doing so could be. Is Helen’s artwork of less worth having been an Afrikaans-speaking South African? And now this fact is being blurred? Why represent Helen Martins different from what she really was? If the truth is the aim of the guardians of her legacy, this one fact, in the interest of historical correctness, should be rectified.
Contributed by Yvonne du Plessis
Klein Ganora
Nieu-Bethesda
28 November 2007♠
Visitor StatsOctober
2007
1095 / November
2007
1089 / December
2007
3002 / January
2008
1648
2006
798 / 2006
1130 / 2006
2782 / 2007
1680
Donations
Financial
We thank PPC Cement for their continued support to the OHF during 2007, and generous monetary gift of
R30000.00. PPC, your continuous support not only adds to the upkeep of the Owl House and Camel Yard, but also indirectly to the village of Nieu-Bethesda, and all who visit here.
Dr. Riaan C. Els, Chief Executive Officer of The Carl & Emily Fuchs Foundation wrote, “I have great pleasure in confirming the approval of a grant to you by the Board of Trustees of the Carl & Emily Fuchs Foundation. Enclosed please find a cheque prepared in favour of yourselves to the value of R5 000.00 … May we take this opportunity to wish you and your staff well with your efforts and hard work.” Thank you, Dr. Els.
Literally out of the blue, another benefactor elected to post a cheque in the amount of R1000.00. Thank you, Adv. Brian Slon from Sandton, Johannesburg. We appreciate your kind comments and are in agreement with you that the Owl House and everything connected with it, needs to be preserved for posterity.
We also make use of this opportunity to publicly show our appreciation to all those wonderful friends of the OHF who sent a donation with their membership fees. It is indeed heartwarming that our members exhibit such a positive attitude to the aims and objectives of the Foundation. Thank You:
Chris Ahlers / Diane MackenzieClaus Brummer / Joshua Rossouw
Lucille de Kock / Prof. Jim Phelps
Elma du Plessis / Riaan Steenkamp
Linda Hulley / Cherie Swanepoel
Reinet le Roux / Dr. Roelf van Niekerk
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Membership
As always, we greatly acknowledge appreciation for the unstinting support of our loyal members. They are not only crucial to the survival of the Owl House, they are vital, as they not only contribute to the conservation of this important work of art, but also to South Africa’s national heritage. It is with this in mind that we urge those of you whose membership has lapsed, to consider renewing it. Membership fees and donations are used for restoration work and the general conservation of the Owl House.
We also make use of this opportunity to welcome the following new members since September 2007, as friends united in our mutual vision:
André Cilliers, Lucille de Kock, Elma du Plessis, Reinet le Roux, Cherie Swanepoel, E.G. Boekkooi, Sue Hoppe, Pinkie Kühne, dr. Frieda Pienaar, Alida Stewart, Sandra Sweers, Annie van der Merwe & Fam, Isabella van der Merwe, Elske van Rooyen, Elaine Whitcher, Linda Hulley, Louise Miller, Elenor Kern, Tania Kern, Yehuda Gosher, Joshua Gosher, Adelle Nothnagel, Riaan Steenkamp, Joshua Rossouw, Cecily-Ann Pohl
For those with a penchant for stats, here are some interesting data regarding our present membership:
SeniorCitizens / 13 / Businesses / 8
Individuals / 43 / Newsletters
English / 36
Families / 9 / NewslettersAfrikaans / 36
Local Business Membership
The following businesses have responded positively to our call for local enterprises to support the Foundation and to acknowledge the key role of the Owl House in the activities of Nieu-Bethesda. We welcome their participation in the affairs of the Foundation and trust that the public will positively respond to the generosity of these businesses:
Doornberg Guest Farm, N-B / (049) 8411 401Huis Nr. 1, Hudson-straat, & De Toorn Guest Farm, N-B / (049) 8411 700
Inclusive Books, Martin-straat, N-B / (049) 8411 770
Nieu-Bethesda Art Centre, Miller- straat, N-B / (049) 8411 731
Somerland Guesthouse (Self-catering),Pienaar Street, N-B / (049) 841 1776
The Fisherman’s Gallery (Hermanus) / (0283) 313 2222
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