Beth Diane Armstrong

Beth Diane Armstrong
Born	1985 Nelspruit, South Africa
Nationality	South African
Education	Rhodes University
Known for	Sculpture

Beth Diane Armstrong (born 1985) is a South African sculptor. Armstrong is represented in Cape Town by EVERARD READ GALLERY ^[1]

I move through experiments of things in relation to other things; structural, personal, systematic , through the expected and unexpected. Lines in relation to lines; densities and looseness; proximities and distances. I consider ideas to be largely hindsight reflections on process. Or better expressed, that ideas and process work in relay with the utmost importance placed on the necessity to keep moving: keep processing. Beth Diane Armstrong 2016

Fascinated with structure: organic, architectural, mathematical, psychological and conceptual, Beth Diane Armstrong retains a strong identifiable position as a leading sculptress of her generation. She retains at her core the ability to skillfully craft and weave process and change in various media. Her skills, ambitious scale and large projects have allowed her to assume the role and position alongside many of her South African male counterparts. For the last number of years she has worked predominantly on monumental artworks made of mild and stainless steel but there are a variety of different materials to her repertoire: other sculpting media as well as printmaking, video, photography, drawing and installations.

Biography

Born in South African in 1985, Beth Diane currently lives and works in Johannesburg. In 2010, she completed her Masters of Fine Art at Rhodes University (with distinction). In 2007 Rhodes bought her BFA exhibition, Hibernation, for their permanent collection. Since graduating there have been solo exhibitions, a number of group shows and projects locally and internationally, as well as private and public commissions. Recent highlights include sculptures at the Design Miami/Basel design fair in Basel, Switzerland, and at Design Miami, Florida – both in 2014. 2014 also saw the completion of a large permanent public artwork in Oostvoorne, in the Netherlands, commissioned by the Kern Kunst Westvoorne Foundation. Her first large-scale sculpture was bought by Standard Bank in 2013 and is installed in their new building in Rosebank, Johannesburg. Armstrong currently lives and works in Johannesburg.

Recent developments

Armstrong was selected to create sculptures for a major 2011 campaign by investment management firm Prescient.^[2]

Armstrong was one of 33 artists selected for Worldforall's 'Not All is Black and White: Wisdom from the African Zebra' campaign, which ran concurrently to the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[3]

Beth Diane partook in Design Miami/ Basel, with Southern Guild, Miami, Florida, USA in 2014, and .^[4] She also completed the Flagpole Sculpture Commission for Kern Kunst Westvoorne Foundation, the Netherlands.

Beth Diane contributed to A Place in Time in association with the Yorkshire Sculpture Park UK, curated by Helen Pheby, NIROX Sculpture Park, Johannesburg, South Africa in 2016. ^[5]

Page – a site specific public sculpture in Grahamstown's newly built NELM (National English Literary Museum) will be unveiled in late 2016. Armstrong's anticipated next solo exhibition will be the middle of 2017.

Reception

Grace O’Malley noted in a review for Artthrob, that Armstrong’s work "offered a multifaceted intellectual examination of human psychology through line and space".^[6] Ashraf Jamal, in a piece on Armstrong for Art South Africa’s "Bright Young Things", states that "Armstrong’s warping of the sculpture paradigm makes way for new applications and new figurations in a genre caught in the tedious warp of thingness"; later stating that Armstrong introduces not only a new philosophy of making and meaning, but its solution".^[7]

References

External links