Heike Taschner Jeske
Heike Jeske (b. 1981) is a Pretoria-based mixed media, printmaking and installation artist from South Africa. She draws her inspiration from roses, having grown up on a Rose Farm and spent her childhood surrounded by this beloved flower. Her work ponders why human’s have been so captivated by this flower. Her work tends towards large-scale, site-specific installations that seamlessly merge with their surroundings, but still asserting their presence through their size. She makes use of space, lighting and colour to metamorphose her art, imbuing it with diverse moods and atmospheres. She works through a variety of mediums, exploring boundaries of creativity.
Heike Taschner Jeske (b. 1981) is South African artist specializing in mixed media, printmaking and installation art. Drawing inspiration from her upbringing on a Rose Farm, nature, particularly flora, deeply influences her work. Surrounded by roses since childhood, she possesses a natural understanding and appreciation of the flower’s anatomy, it’s color, form, fragrance and the various uses such as rose water distillation, breeding, and culinary application. For years, she has been captivated by the essence of the rose, pondering why humans are so infatuated with this flower.
Her often large-scale, site-specific installations seamlessly merge with their surroundings while asserting their presence through sheer size, actively intervening in and enhancing the space. She utilizes space, lighting, and color to metamorphose her art, imbuing it with diverse moods and atmospheres. Continuously exploring disciplines & materials such as ink on paper, ceramic, stainless steel, bronze, copper, plastic and material from nature, she molds and challenges these mediums into various forms and shapes, pushing the boundaries of creativity.
Driven by a passion for problem-solving, she thrives on creating commissioned pieces and permanent installations that seamlessly integrate into architectural designs. She believes there’s an energetically compelling synergy when artwork finds its rightful space, melding elements and materials, including empty spaces and unseen potential, into one authentic expression. Since 2006, she has been crafting larger-than-life metal rose sculptures, a testament to her fascination with this iconic flower.
Heike honed her skills and expanded her creative horizons through her studies in Fine Art at the Tshwane University of Technology . She then joined the Interior Architecture Department, finishing with a BTech Cum Laude. She has had the opportunity to share her insights on creativity and the exploration of the rose through radio and TV appearances, spreading awareness and appreciation for the beauty and significance of this timeless symbol.
