• This Issue
• Subscribe
• Advertisers
• Ad FAQS
• Ad Web Sites
• About IAT
• Link to IAT

Ruth Prowse

Throughout the ages, artists have often aired their feelings of lack of resources, education, and funding to help them develop and nurture their talents. Ruth Prowse went a step further to address her concerns.

Ruth Prowse (1883-1967) bequeathed her property to establish an art and cultural center. The Ruth Prowse School of Art, founded in 1972 to provide a creative environment with the goal of creative excellence in art and education.

Title: Ruth Prowse (1883-1967)
Image Courtesy: The Ruth Prowse School of Art

During the last years of her life Ruth Prowse resided in a thatched cottage named "The Retreat" which was on Roodebloem.

The historical estate, Roodebloem traces its history back to 1666 via a grant of land from the Dutch East India Company on what was known as Devil's Peak.

Title: Ruth Prowse School of Art, Exterior
Image Courtesy: The Ruth Prowse School of Art

The Retreat's ceiling dates back to 1770 - and one of Ruth Prowse's passions was the preservation of historical properties.

The Ruth Prowse School of Art

A hands-on experience in visual arts is a critical component of the curriculum at the Ruth Prowse School of Art.

Title: Chairman Andrew Mestern and Director Eunice Geustyn
Image Courtesy: The Ruth Prowse School of Art

Students are able to take a four-year course. At first the student is introduced to the basics such as

• Figure Drawing
• Object Drawing 
• Graphic Design
• History of Cultural Studies
• Jewelry Design
• Painting
• Photography
• Printmaking
• Sculpture

At the end of the course the student will leave the School of Art having produced a professional body of work coupled with a short dissertation related to their résumé.

Naturally the school has developed a Graphic Design Program with cutting -edge computer facilities to ensure the student has up-to-date skills in this ever expanding field.

Cape Town

The city of Cape Town is perhaps best known for Robben Island, the former prison that for many years housed Nelson Mandela, the Island is now a tourist attraction.

Art has long been associated with the freedom to express while still risking and yet telling the tale of whatever is at issue in the then current time.

Perhaps it is fitting that a long time volunteer and believer in the benefits of historical preservation, Ruth Prowse, is the reason that a noted art school thrives in her name and truly in her honor.