The Ann Bryant Gallery

The Ann Bryant Art Gallery in Southernwood is a place well worth visiting when you are in East London.

Not only is it a love nest for two pictoresque doves having found their spot under the roof but the building's architectural structure takes the visitor back into a colonial past when space was not considered to be a luxury. 

The house, called originally The Gables, was built by the Savage family. Mr Savage had an export import business in East London and he built the stately house for his family but it must have cost him more than he could afford because shortly after the house was completed, he was declared bacnkrupt.

In 1907 the house was bought by Mr. Bryant to house his wife's art collection.

 

It is a host to a variety of art pieces of different styles and epoches.

They are tastefully exhibted in old colonial rooms with high pressed ceilings and large windows, having the right light and the right size for an art gallery 

It is a house that creates a desire to inhabit it. To make it your own.
Usurp it.

By the way, I find it an absolutely breath taking idea that there could be a husband somewhere out there who would buy a house to host my art collection. I must be definitely living in the wrong decade or centruy even. I love, love, love that thought. That is the husband I need. Well, Mrs Bryant had one like this.!

The building itself is a piece of art.

with wooden mahagony staircases, long drapes

colored glass windows

 the flair of the last century

and an absolutely majestic door

Local East London artist, Terry Flynn, famous for his Nahoon Beach landscapes oil paintings is also the assistant curator of the Ann Bryant Art Gallery. His work gives him still enough time to paint in the afternoon and it is easy to understand why he calls himeslf very lucky.

While he explains to me the structure and the composition of the painting he is presently working on I look around.

Terry's painter palette........

 

A table for playing cards

Hard to not envy him for his working place.

But since envy is a truly bad thing
let's rather enjoy the magic of this slightly wild garden outside

and the paintings and the aura
inside this beautiful house with it's Art Deco atmosphere

and lovingly arranged art pieces

always captivating my eyes is the one that does not want to stay in place and hangs skew

which you can find in any gallery

and then have a coffee and Lemon meringue at the Coach house.

My Loving Shining Heart

A Poem For Me

When  you stand in front of their grave,

then think of me

When you read their old and familiar names

that I have called and spoken so many times

now chisseled in the green-blue stone,

then think of me

The pain and suffering given as a heavenly gift to me,

because of my love for them

is buried right there, in the ground with them

So, that is the reason why, 

when once again on a Sunday afternoon,

you stand in front of their grave

Do also think of me

and say my name

The Lonely Oyster

The Sani Pass

These charming old vintage prints, dating back to the 1960's, that have found their way just recently to my collection show an area in South-Africa that is of amazing beauty  The road that leads up to the Sani Pass.

The Wikipedia tells us the following:

The Sani Pass is located in the western end of Kwa Zulu province of South-Africa. It is a route that connects Kwazulu-Natal and Lesotho. It is a notoriously dangerous road, which requires the use of a 4x4 vehicle. This pass lies between the border controls of both countries and is approximately 9km in length and requires above average driving experience. It has occasional remains of vehicles that did not succeed in navigating its steep gradients and poor traction surfaces, and has a catalogue of frightening stories of failed attempts at ascending the path over the Northern Lesotho mountains. While South African immigration at the bottom of pass prohibits vehicles deemed unsuitable for the journey, the Lesotho border agents at the top generally allow vehicles of all types to attempt the descent. The Border tween the two Countries closes at 4:00 pm every day and the Pass is often closed due to weather conditions, especially during winter.

All the more interesting when looking at the vintage Landy in the first picture making his way up the steep mountain road. The second picture shows the Lesotho Border post the way it looked many decades ago. 

I Gave Him A Great Name

This was the moment when I saw my horse for the first time. It belonged to the wealthy trader in the picture, whose passion was to breed horses in Nara, Mali. He brought it to me knowing of my love for horses. It was born and bred in Nara. The horses of the Sahel have a great deal Arab blood in their veins but they are a desert breed of their own that has developed over centuries in the Sahel region. They are short, thin, strong willed and very endurant. But they are not nervous like race horses. Of course I bought it.

I called the stallion " Mandela" because he was so proud and strong. At the time I did not know that I would live in South-Africa later. The name came to me in the flash of a second. And Mandela became known in the whole village of Nara and in the "cercle". A cercle in West-Africa corresponds to a municipality in South-Africa.

And he has given me lots of trouble too. On more than one occasion I had to make my way back by foot through the bush while he was already home in the yard feeding grass, as if nothing has happened, or running through the roads of the village with an empty saddle on his back - embarrasing me by doing so! But he was too beautiful not to forgive him.

There is great contrast between my life then and now. The country of South-Africa at the tip of this beautiful African continent is a different planet compared to the West-African region. Both areas are beautiful. When going through the material, the work reports, the letters written home and the many photos recently, I have decided to tell the tales of this period on a blog of their own. It is worth it.

I Want To Ride My Bicycle

Cycling along the shore of Nahoon Beach

on a windstill afternoon

is something I am gonna try very soon.

Turn Left

Let's hope the inside is more comfy.
The beach is real nice.

The Scottish Family

Seeing this young family with their four children walking at the beach made me think of my grandmother's wise but nevertheless often unexpected exclamations:

" Where there are two or three, there can be always one more ! "

One could truly feel the love.

The Gate Of Mercy

The Gate of Mercy looks at you and your pitiful devaluating facial expression while you pass by and it says with confidence:

" I have a right to exist, so just walk on "

It has seen others like you before.

Quigney

La Vie En Rose

A lovely, old, pink and white painted, colonial house in Quigney in East London.

Quigney was the first place where I lived when I came to East London and I still like the vibes of this suburb.

And There Were Three Jack Russell

And there were three of them..................

The Gift

The Three Graces

A Southern Sun