Meet award-winning artist, Modisane

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Friday September 9, 2011 00:00

'In our homestead, there were many artists and craftspeople who were always busy making items such as wooden chairs and clay pots,' he said in an interview with Arts & Culture adding that art has always been running in the family.

The award-wining artist believes that due to the fact that he grew up surrounded by artists fuelled his interest in the visual arts.

Luckily for the young man, at primary school, he met a teacher, Edward Gouwer, who greatly encouraged him to come up with artworks like wire cars for primary school competitions and more often than not, he became an eventual winner.

At junior school, Modisane came under the mentorship of his teachers, well-known cartoonist; Tebogo Motswetla and Enoch Keerate who continued to help nurture his talent as an artist.

According to the artist, it was while at Kagiso Senior Secondary School that his other mentor, Kombani Mugabe 'took me through different areas of art'.

Mugabe encouraged the aspiring artist to take part in the National Museum's Children's Art and in 1995; he won the first prize in the ceramics category.

Modisane, who works as a teacher in one of the schools in Gaborone, says that even at secondary, he was able to make signage and generate little money doing piece jobs.  After finishing his Cambridge, the artist was posted to Paje Health Post for his national service.    Needles to say, he was bored with his new job and decided to form an art club at Paje Primary School where he provided materials to his 'students'.

'I did not feel challenged working at the health post so I thought forming the club would keep the artist in me alive,' he asserts.

The move helped him a great deal since the headmaster of Patikwe CJSS, still in Paje, recognised his talent and insisted that he should be moved to the school where he went on to teach art.

In 1999, Modisane went to Molepolole College of Education (MCE) to read for his diploma in secondary education. It was while he was at the college that he met Lin Tao, Abel Manatsha, Edwin Dichaba and a host of other lecturers.

The artist points out that it was at the college where he could see a sense of growth in him as an artist and learnt different disciplines of the arts given the fact that his lecturers had different things to offer.

Today, Modisane can confidently declare that he is one of the leading artists in the country in the areas of painting, drawing and graphics and he has won a number of awards and prizes to prove that.

'Although most people in the country know me as a painter, I can say that I excel better as a sculptor,' he says adding that one of the contributing factors might be because it takes a lot of time and energy to come up with a work of sculpture as opposed to a painting.

There is no doubt that Modisane has influenced a generation of artists in this country because Arts & Culture has already interviewed a number of both upcoming and established artists who have named him as a mentor.

Some of the young artists that Modisane has mentored include the talented trio of Comfort Babili, Ditshupo Mogapi and Thato Khomela who have been making a name for themselves on the visual arts scene. The artist, who says he specialises in abstract painting, asserts that he has been influenced by the legendary Pablo Picasso.

'Lately, I have been trying to bring down my approach to the African context because I am aware that there are a lot of emerging issues in my environment,' he says.  Modisane asserts that he gets his drive from the dream of becoming a legend and leaving behind an enviable legacy.

'I also believe that one can become a great artist if he is industrious and sets high standards for himself and others,' he says adding that money should only come as a bonus.

He further says that this is an era of experimentation and discovery that has set a long route for him as an artist.Modisane says that he is looking forward to a time when he would be able to work on a piece that would take years for him to complete as he believes it would be well thought of.

Like most other professional artists, he laments the fact that since the time that the Botswana government has encouraged its departments to start buying artworks from local artists, a lot has been compromised, as there are a lot of substandard works in the offing by fly-by-night artists.  He further says that some supplies officers in the government have played collectors although they are not qualified to do so adding that the situation should be rectified.

The outspoken painter lambasted Thapong artists who refuse to grow although the centre has done much in nurturing art in Botswana adding that it is high time that some old Thapong members established themselves and outgrew the centre.

The National Gallery was not spared by Modisane, who pointed out that it is not doing enough to develop the visual arts in Botswana.

'Young people, who want to be professional artists, must do extensive research about the field and they also need to be patient,' he said that it was not an easy thing to make a mark in the arts.  He further advised that they should not be motivated by cash in joining the field because they would actually fail in the process.

Some of the awards Modisane has won include first prize in Children's Art - ceramic category in 1995, second prize, Artists in Botswana (sculptor category) in 2002, first prize, Artists in Botswana (painting category) in 2003, first prize, Heritage Day celebration in 2010 and first prize in the Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) 2011 Directory Cover design.