Hildegard lives her art dream doing what she loves
MELVILLE – Make sure to visit this local art pop-up shop with original artworks and hand-crafted items in December.
A mother of three shared her story of how she has overcome personal tragedy to realise her dream of opening an art shop.
The Northcliff Melville Times visited the Avalon Art pop-up shop which is situated in the comfort of Hildegard van Heerden’s own home, where she has turned her passion for art into a reality by exhibiting her original artworks and a selection of unusual hand-crafted items.
Hildegard spoke about what she hopes for the future of the pop-up shop, “It’s all art based I’m looking in the future in this creative piece doing some workshops with ladies.”
All the artwork from the shop is mostly from Hildegard or her parents – Martin Wenkidu, who has exhibited internationally in New York, and mother Rae Wilmot.
Originally from Hillcrest in KwaZulu-Natal, Hildegard studied fine art at Pietermaritzburg University. She has also lived in London, where she exhibited at the Battersea and Paper Leaf art fairs.
About 11 years ago, she was struck with personal tragedy when her husband passed away days before opening their own art shop. At the time she was pregnant with her youngest daughter.
Her husband, Tom van Heerden died of a heart attack on Easter day in Byrne Valley near Richmond in KwaZulu-Natal, where the couple lived at the time.
“I just had a reality of an unborn child and two children under three years, and I had to just survive. We didn’t have anything. We were sort of living hand-to-mouth but what I realised is that I had this fear [sub-consciously] for a very long time that when you start something new and get excited about something new that something bad can happen,” she said about those days after her husband died.
Her pop-up shop at her Melville home has been not just a business, but also in part a small realisation of a venture Hildegard had with Tom – starting a gallery in Byrne, just before his death.
Hildegard ‘s main artwork is hand-coloured printed intaglios, often embellished with gold or silver leaf and embossing. She has a range of work inspired by the Austrian symbolist painter Gustav Klimt.
Avalon Art is at 80 Third Avenue, Melville and normally runs two weekends a month.
It will be open in the first week of December for a Christmas market, from Saturday, 1 December to Sunday, 9 December. The shop is filled with beautiful, original artworks and hand-crafted items – a wonderful place to browse for Christmas gifts.
