Wilma Cruise

Wilma Cruise (b. 1945) is a South African sculptor and visual artist, primarily making use of fired clay to create life-sized human and animal figures, with these sculptures accompanied by works on paper. Themes explored in Cruise’s work include the interface between humans and animals and existential conditions of muteness – silent, internal battles in the search for meaning. Cruise’s work also explores the interaction and the conditions of communication between humankind and animals; a condition that transcends the spoken (human) word. She maintains it is not the animals who cannot speak, (and therefore cannot reason), but us who cannot listen. 

Wilma Cruise (b. 1945) was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, three years before the Nationalist Apartheid government was elected to power. For the following forty-five years she lived under a regime that was predicated on the public identity of people. Hence, it is not surprising that the question of identity beyond the publicly conferred image should be of concern to her.   Her art functions in the psychic space between inner and outer worlds. She uses the body, the site of experience, as the vehicle for the exploration of meaning. Brenda Schmahmann (2001) has said, “Her works explore the relationship between subjectivity and speech. They investigate the ways in which we express desire, trauma, loss and need, not only through verbal and written discourses but also through the body. The body is per­formative. It constitutes itself into a speech act – a statement of conscious and unconscious wants.”   Many of Wilma Cruise’s works on paper are results of a suggestion that she turns the notes and research drawings for works in other media into editions. ‘I love words and I love text. In all my drawings, in all my prints, the text is often foregrounded, and those are the kinds of ideas that I would use for the sculpture. So, conceptually they’re the same.    Wilma Cruise first started working with David Krut Workshop (DKW) in 2007, resulting in her solo exhibition at David Krut Projects (DKP) SPLIT LON.NY.JHB in 2008. She has worked collaboratively with DKW printers over the following years, as in 2010 and 2015. This collaboration led to her solo show Advice From A Caterpillar at DKP. In 2020 we hosted her solo exhibition Cruise x Krut 2020 – an exhibition of unique paper collages and sculptures from the artist’s studio, shown alongside editions published by DKW. She also has written texts such as Reading Ceramics, published by David Krut Publishing in 2006 in Messages and meaning in the MTN Art Collection. Cruise has been part of various group exhibitions at DKP.  

Artworks

News

Beyond the Page: Woordfees 2024
Oct. 17, 2024

Woordfees began in 2000 with a focus on celebrating Afrikaans literature and has now become one of the largest arts...

Tags: Beyond the Page, boschendal, Brundyn arts, David Krut Projects, litrature, woordfees, works on paper
A look back at new editions, projects & collaborations from 2020
Jan. 15, 2021

The year 2020 was a productive year as we saw new editions and projects by a variety of artists in...

Tags: 2020
Print of the Month November 2020 | Wilma Cruise | The 13th Hour Series
Nov. 24, 2020

This month we look at the new series by Wilma Cruise, featured in her solo exhibition Cruise at Krut 2020....

Tags: collage, Editions, handwork, Print of the Month, Unique Works, Wilma Cruise
David Krut Podcast: Animals, art & nature with Bernard Stiglingh & David Krut Listening Time: 35 min
Oct. 31, 2020

In this episode, David Krut chatted to Bernard Stiglingh – a nature and art lover who visited our location at...

Tags: Animals, Creative Community, David Krut, David Krut Podcast, Nature, podcast, Trees, Wilma Cruise
Print of the Month August 2020 | Wilma Cruise | Word
Aug. 4, 2020

Notes from the David Krut Workshop (DKW), Arts On Main, Johannesburg. Compiled by Sarah Judge. Word is one of a...
FILM | The Making of ‘Word’ (2015-2020) by Wilma Cruise
Jul. 29, 2020

Join David Krut Workshop Printer Kim-lee Loggenberg as she prints an edition of 'Word, 2015' by Wilma Cruise. This is...

Tags: Arts on Main, David Krut Print Workshop, Kim-Lee Loggenberg, Printmaking, Timelapse, video, Wilma Cruise
David Krut ARCHIVE
Apr. 6, 2017

DAVID KRUT PROJECTS ARCHIVE Opening the Archives Opening the Archives gives the public the opportunity to view and buy works...

Tags: David Krut Archive
Wilma Cruise – Advice from a caterpillar opening
Aug. 22, 2015

Wilma Cruise's Advice from a Caterpillar opened at David Krut Projects at the Association for Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery Cape Town on Thursday 13...

Tags: David Krut Projects Cape Town, Exhibition
A conversation with Wilma Cruise about ‘Advice from a Catapillar’ and her ceramic art practice
Jan. 29, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vI7yN-bo9c August 2015 In this video, ART AFRICA met up with Wilma Cruise at her beautiful studio in Noordhoek, Western...

Tags: Wilma Cruise
David Krut Workshop Open for the Year
Jan. 15, 2015

The team at DKW is back and carrying on printing artist’s work.  Printers Chad and Nathaniel have just finished new...
IMPRINT: Selected Editions and Works on Paper, Installation Images
Jul. 20, 2011

David Krut Projects is pleased to present IMPRINT, a selection of editions and works on paper by local and international...

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