BIOGRAPHY
SHANY VAN DEN BERG
(b. 1958 Riversdale, South Africa)
Shany van den Berg's artistic practice stems from her life as a woman, mother and professional artist. Renowned for her technical acumen, subtle symbolism and agility in slipping between portraiture, figurative, abstraction and sculptural, she investigates and interrogates the critical contemporary themes of womanhood, identity, family, and connectedness to mother earth. With subtle symbolism and technical agility, her artwork is diverse, ranging from portraiture, figuration and mixed media, combined with abstraction and sculpture. She reconstitutes her stream of consciousness as both fable and history, binding together a layered ‘map’. This serves as both a solitary interior landscape of self-reflection and the more universal language of humanity's journey through one’s life. Shany van den Berg’s artworks poignantly remind us that we are all unique and inescapably part of one human race and planet.
She is based in Stellenbosch.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024 BinneTuin / GardenWithin, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2023 Garden of Her Dreams, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
2022 Her Garden, Everard Read, London, UK
2021 nōs / ons, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 Dreampond, Everard Read, London, UK
2018 Fluisteringe vanaf n Leliepoel/ Whispers from a Lily Pond, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
2017 (in)filtrati on of time, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2015 Al(l)een, The Gallery at Grande Provence, Franschhoek, South Africa
New works, Gallery at La Grande Provence, Franschhoek, South Africa
2013 Hinterland, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
2011 Siel van my Vel, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2010 Solo, IS Art at Le Quartier Francais, Franschhoek, South Africa
2008 In gesprek met, Smelik & Stokking, Den Haag, Netherlands
2007 ..(h)erken...ken...en..., Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Gedagtes wat reis, My Own Choice Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands
2006 Dwaaltuin, Grande Provence Gallery, Franschhoek, South Africa
Die Fees Gees, Cultivaria at Vrede en Lust Wine Estate, Paarl, South Africa
2003 Construction site, Limeline Design, Cape Town, South Africa
2001 Vlug in tyd, Dorp Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
1999 My shadow, my echo, me, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 10 Years | Summer Show, Everard Read, London, UK
Matter Matters: Artists and Their Media, Everard Read, London, UK
2024 Southern Light, Everard Read, London, UK
110 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK
2023 What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Summer, Everard Read, London, UK
Winter 22/23, Everard Read, London, UK
2022 Spring, group show, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Things I’d like to remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Summer, Everard Read, London, UK
2021 Offering, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
2020 On Being, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Journeys of the Mind, Everard Read, Franschhoek, South Africa
Toe ek 21 was, Toyota US Woordfees, Stellenbosch, South Africa
STILL, Everard Read, UK & South Africa
2019 Selected Artists, Knysna Fine Art Gallery, Knysna, South Africa
The Ampersand Foundation / 21 Year Celebration Exhibition/
A Vision of Jack Ginsberg, UJ Art Gallery, Johannesburg, South Africa
Southern Aspect, Everard Read, London, UK
Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Synchronous, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, South Africa
2018 Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2017 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
People and Portraiture, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Summer, Everard Read, London, UK
Winter, Everard Read, London, UK
2016 Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, South africa
Opening Exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK
Winter Collection, Group Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2015 Fear & Loss – Industrial Karoo Group installation, Pretoria Art Museum, South Africa
100 Years, Die Burger, Cape Town, South Africa
Summer Sculpture Garden, with Everard Read, Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town,
South Africa
Homage, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2014 Summer Season, D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Fear & Loss, Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Summer of Sculpture III, with Everard Read, Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa
Magicus, group exhibition, D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2013 Cape Town Re-Imagined, Suidoosterfees, Cape Town, South Africa
100, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Universal Suffering, War Museum, Bloemfontein, South Africa
Femininity, curated by Eva Roer, Germany
SAADA Antique Fair, Pier Rabe Antiques, Franschhoek, South Africa
Hiernamaals/Hereafter, Slee Gallery, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Binnehemels, group show, Red, Black & White, Stellenbosch, South Africa
2012 Small Works, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
A Summer of Sculpture, with Everard Read, Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town, South Africa
2009 The Great South African Nude, Everard Read, Johannesburg, South Africa
Sex, Power, Money, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2008 Confluence, a two-woman exhibition between China & South Africa,
Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Art Fair Utrecht, Netherlands
2006 Small works, Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
Shany van den Berg / Strijdom van der Merwe, Grande Provence Gallery, Franschhoek, South Africa
2005 Three , Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
2000-2 Shany van den Berg/Alex Hamilton, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2000 A Celebration of Art & Technology, group show in aid of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund,
sponsored by Hewlett Packard
COMPETITIONS & PROJECTS
2022 Woordfees / Stellenbosch, SA in conjunction with Stauss & Co, South Africa
2021 Sanlam Portrait Award Finalist: Rust en Vrede Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2019 Sanlam Portrait Top 40 Finalist ‘Leah se Water’ Rust-en-Vrede Gallery, Cape Town, South Africa
2016 BP Portrait Award Finalist, National Portrait Gallery, London
BP Travel Award Shortlisted Finalist, Portrait Gallery, London
Art Patron of MAD Leadership Foundation / Collaboration with students, Stellenbosch,
South Africa
2013 Fellowship granted by the Ampersand Foundation, New York
2011 Bright Ideas Ceramic art, Light from Africa Foundation, Cape Town, South Africa
2010 BP Portrait Award Finalist, National Portrait Gallery, London
2 Textile wall artworks, 6m by 2m, made in collaboration with Mogalakwena Art and Craft Centre,
Limpopo, for Waterkloof Wine Estate, Somerset West, South Africa
2009 BP Portrait Award Finalist, National Portrait Gallery, London
2008 Art exchange, Hubei Institute of Art, China
Art Fair Utrecht
2007 AAF Amsterdam
2005 Sasol New Signatures Finalist, South Africa
2004 Community Arts Workshop, with Everard Read, Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, South Africa
2000 Hewlett Packard Project and Auction Johannesburg in support of Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, South Africa
1990 Corobrik Ceramic Competition Cape Town finalist
ART RESIDENCIES
2023 Residency at Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France
2013 Fellowship, The Ampersand Foundation, New York, USA
2007 Art Exchange, Hubei Institute of Art, Wuhan, China and Everard Read, Cape Town, South Africa
1998 Lauenberg, Germany
COLLECTIONS
Works included in private collections in South Africa, London, France, Germany, Luxenburg, Caymen Islands and U.S.A
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