STACEY KNIPE
Illustrator
‘As a designer and illustrator, I work
both digitally and by hand,’ says Stacey
Knipe, whose technique has been
described as ‘digital oil painting’. ‘I’ve
always loved creating with my hands.
There’s something unique about it
- when there’s a chance to make
mistakes and embrace imperfection,
which is often where the beauty lies.’
Knipe is behind the portraits of our
2019 Next Level alumnus, working
with elements of their creative
processes, their personalities and their
photographs to produce these artistic
representations. ‘I’ve made a habit of
drawing or creating something every
day, even if it’s just a sketch or a study,’
she says. ‘This will usually spark an
idea for something I’d like to create.
‘Then, I’ll begin again with drawing,
researching and experimenting with
different stylistic approaches.’
With her experience in the magazine
publishing industry, Knipe says that
working on this feature is a career
highlight, and one of her proudest
moments as an illustrator ‘At the
beginning of this project, I struggled
with a lot of self doubt. But I pushed
through it and am really happy with
the end result.’ missstaceyknipe
VUSUMUZI NDLOVU
Chef
In today’s competitive culinary space,
innovation has become a necessity- and for inspirational chef Vusumuzi
Ndlovu, the future of food is in DIY.
Since being voted one of the top
seven young chefs in the world at the
2018 SPellegrino Young Chef Awards,
Ndlovu headed up The Marabi Club in
Johannesburg, where his local flavours
set the tone for the fledgling restaurant.
Now he’s answering the question of
what’s next for South African cuisine
by producing his own ingredients. ‘The
idea to build a larder with “ingredients”
we make ourselves was based on the fact
that a lot of chefs were using similar
ingredients. So I chose to experiment
with fermentation and brewing, which
led to an array of flavours and textures
that I am very excited to use,’ he says.
Ndlovu awed the judges at the Young
Chef Awards with his Isicupho creation,
a dish consisting of heavily smoked duck
leg biltong and pumpkin fermented in
umqombothi. ‘This was my proudest
and most honest creation, and it took
three months to get it right,’ he says.
‘Cooking is a craft as much as it is
an art. We can’t create incredible
dishes without first understanding the
fundamentals of what we do.’ v4vusi
NOLAN OSWALD DENNIS
Artist
Technology and art intersect in
the work of Nolan Oswald Dennis,
a multidisciplinary artist who describes
his process as an ongoing exploration
of the ‘black consciousness of space’.
The 2016 FNB Art Prize winner
and alumnus of the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology exhibited an
outstanding body of work in January
entitled Options – his second solo show
at the Goodman Gallery in Cape Town.
Through his long, looping drawings,
Dennis’ artworks map and structure
the lines that connect his technical,
spiritual, economic and psychological
realms, encouraging viewers to fall
into his black, white and blue universe.
‘I try to determine which systems
govern an idea I’m interested in, and
then I try to build a counter-system
to break that idea – to open it up
and see it differently. I usually take
something I know and force it onto
a thing I don’t know. For example,
I studied architecture, so I try to force
those drawing techniques onto non-
architectural objects, like dreams,
secrets and black liberation histories,’
says Dennis, who is revealing what’s
possible for the next generation
of artists. nolanoswalddennis.com O(^) H
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