Mandi Friedman has been selected as the South African representative for the 7th ‘Art Connects Women’ taking place in Dubai later this year.
Linden, South Africa (14 February 2024) – This year marks the 7th edition of the ‘Art Connects Women’ event in Dubai, and each year, women from around the world are selected as ambassadors of their countries. Mandi Friedman has been selected to represent South Africa in 2024.
We got the chance to speak to Mandi Friedman, learning how she got into art and what her hopes are for attending the event on behalf of South Africa. She shares that the news of her being chosen has been “truly exciting”.
To fund her trip, she set up a raffle for a beautiful ‘Peace Bowl’ of her creation and it has been a great success! The event takes place in the first week of March 2024 and she is taking her sculpture called “Fossey”.
Mandi Friedman is a ceramic artist who loves brightly coloured whimsical sculptures, but her “Fossey” piece, which weighs over 10kgs, was inspired by Dian Fossey and her work with primates in Rwanda. It honours the life’s work of Dian, who was murdered in 1985, and every ounce she gave of herself to protect the Gorillas of Rwanda.
“She’s a gorilla Mom with her baby in her arms. She’s looking at this infant with all the love in the world that a mother looks has for this tiny bring that they’ve created.
To me, she represents all women, all mothers, she is the embodiment of love and peace, but fierce and protective and she’ll do whatever it takes to bring this being to adulthood. We could learn a lot from animals about love and kindness, and the need to protect our planet“
“Fossey” took 6 months to complete and is sculpted from earthenware paper clay, which was fired 3 times.
“Paperclay is regular Earthenware clay with added paper pulp which makes the clay sturdier to build with as a sculpture. The paper obviously burns out with the subsequent firing of the piece in the kiln”
Mandi started her ceramic career 20 years ago under the guidance of Anthony Shapiro. After his relocation, she then worked with Anne Rimbault. She has, over the years, built up great experience in the field. Two years ago, Mandi started teaching the art form and teamed up with her friend, a stained glass artist, to open the Potted Glass Studio in Linden. Mandi and Cathy teach various art classes for people wanting to stretch their creativity.
Her love of clay work has been the driving force behind her creative and artistic pursuits.
“I love the texture [of clay] and the fact that you can create anything. Clay is so incredibly grounding, and keeps you in touch with the earth. I can be in the worst mood ever, which is quite easy living in Joburg, but fifteen minutes after picking up a little clay I’m a different person. Clay has the most incredible healing properties, it’s as old as the planet and when you play with clay you’re literally at love with Mother Nature, in my head at least”
Mandi is responsible for getting herself to the Art Connects Women event and so she turned to fundraising to help make up the difference for her expenses and getting “Fossey” to Dubai. She launched a raffle, as mentioned above, and says that fundraising has definitely humbled her.
“I turned to the public and that has been the most wonderful journey. People have responded in a way I’ve never experienced before. The most unlikely people, so many of our customers and clients have stepped up, family, friends and so many strangers, that I don’t even know where to begin to say thank you. My heart is overflowing with gratitude for the angels out there.”
Being an Art Ambassador for South Africa
Mandi had seen an open call for entries into the exhibition on Instagram and sent in an entry,
“I wasn’t even expecting to hear back from them, never mind have my piece accepted. So I’m pretty blown away.
This exhibition selects one female artist and one piece of work from each country that enters, 112 this year. They have this gala event on the last night where you wear a banner with your country’s name on and walk across the stage, which means I get to be Ms South Africa, who knew!”
This opportunity to showcase her work on an international stage and represent South Africa is a once in a lifetime experience for Mandi. She is honoured to be chosen and plans to fly the flag high!
“This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to showcase myself and my work to the world and an opportunity to highlight South African ceramic artists overseas. I’m honoured to be an ambassador for South African art, all art, but my passion is South African ceramics.” – Mandi Friedman
Mandi is still fundraising and plans to host a second raffle so please stay tuned to her Potted Glass Studio page here. You can find her current raffle below, there are still some tickets available.
Sources: GTG Interview
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