Jo Roets

Jo Roets is a passionate sculptor, painter and mould maker. Art has always been a central theme in Jo's life and art practises are interwoven in her education and professional careers.

 

She calls her clay artworks 'light relief sculptures'.

​

The way Jo uses the medium is unique. The artworks are created from self-drying natural stone clay, which is rolled out to a paper-thin thickness to create delicate bass relief sculptures. Using unusual sculpting tools such as toothpicks and needles, she scores the damp surface with indents, holes and incisions.

 

Part of her creative challenge is to push the medium to its breaking point, encouraging it to warp in the process. This warping quality is unique to the each artwork and unplanned.

 

Jo's education includes Sculpture and Ceramics as primary subjects at the P.J. Olivier Art School in Stellenbosch, South Africa. 

 

Her background is in the film industry where she worked as an artist in the art department. She also had a full-time lecturing career, lecturing in painting, prosthetics, special effects, props fabrication, sculpting, mould-making and casting at a multimedia film school. In 2017, after 14 years as a senior lecturer, she exchanged her lecturing apron for one of a full time artist.

 

Her work has been exhibited at a wide variety of galleries, including SMAC, StateoftheART, Lizamore & Associates, Rust & Vrede, GUS, Nel, Breytenbach Gallery, No End Contemporary, Mok Gallery, Galería Begbie & Coll and Galería F&deO and more. Apart from participating in gallery exhibitions, her work has also been exhibited at festivals and art fairs. These include, KKNK, Tulbagh Arts Festival, Hermanus FynArts Festival, US Woordfees and Affordable Art Fair UK.

 

Roets' work is featured in the newly released book Clay Formes - A Survey of Contemporary Clay from South Africa. This unique publication combines literature and visual art, highlighting the work of 30 South African artists who works with clay in various forms. A publication dedicated to the contemporary clay and ceramics scene in South Africa, showcasing renowned artists such as Zizipho Poswa, Belinda Blignaut, Katherine Glenday, Andile Dyalvane, and many others.

 

Jo's work adorns the homes of collectors around the globe, spanning from South Africa and Seychelles to Dubai, Canada, America, and the UK. She is currently exhibiting at various local and international galleries in South Africa, Spain and UK.