More than 100 young people toured the Johannesburg Art Gallery on Gerard Sekoto Day, learning about painting and sculpture and trying their hand at making artworks.

A TRIP to the Johannesburg Art Gallery (JAG) may well have changed the life of Sibongiseni Madi, a grade 11 pupil from Deutsche Internationale Schule in Johannesburg.

Students are taken on a tour and learn about the different artworkStudents are taken on a tour and learn about the different artworkMadi was among over 100 young people between the ages of 10 and 18 who were at the gallery on 16 December to celebrate Gerard Sekoto Youth Day. It was her first time at the gallery, but after a day of artistic activities – especially a workshop with famed artist Mbongeni Buthelezi – she said she is considering making art her career.

Since 1991 Youth Day has been celebrated annually with the aim of exposing young people to art.
The day was activity-packed for the various ages that attended. Young ones got their faces painted while the teenagers toured the gallery led by Sabelo Lukhele, the tour guide at the gallery.

Lukhele patiently led the young visitors from one artwork to another, explaining each of them and how they differ from one another. The youth also learned about the artists and what inspired their work.
Lukhele said he noticed that everybody was learning a lot, although at first they were hesitant to ask questions. “For most of them, it’s their first time,” he explained.

“It is important for youth to visit the gallery and check what other artists are doing and learn from them so they can also be inspired by various artworks. Not everyone will be a doctor  --some will be artists,” he said.

On the day students were hands-on doing their own artworks as Buthelezi monitored and guided them, sharing his expertise with the young artists.

His medium is plastic litter which he picks up on the streets, melts with a hot air gun and uses to create both township scenes and abstract works.
Joburgers learn from practical workshops at the Gerard Sekoto Youth FestivalJoburgers learn from practical workshops at the Gerard Sekoto Youth Festival
The day proved enjoyable for the youth as they were actively involved in each task they were given. They also had the opportunity to see another type of art – motion pictures – as they were treated to a movie to conclude a busy day.

Along the way, the students learned the history of Gerard Sekoto, one of South Africa’s most famous artists.

Sekoto was born in Botshabelo near Middleburg in Mpumalanga in 1913 and moved to Johannesburg in 1938 where his art career begun. He moved to Paris in 1947 and died there in 1993.

Sekoto was the first black person to sell his artwork to the JAG – but black people were not in those days allowed into the gallery, so he could not see his work displayed there.

Before he passed away, he founded Youth Day to give young South Africans the opportunity to learn about art.

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