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16 March 2018 Photo Xolisa Mnukwa
Final-year Fine Art students exhibit their work
Petra Schutte describes the “My Wereld – wat sien jy” canvas.
The annual final-year student exhibition of the Department of Fine Arts is underway, with artists such as Danielle Pretorius, Petra Schutte, Dienka Staal and Robynne Gouws showcasing their art at the Johannes Stegman Gallery on the Bloemfontein Campus of the University of the Free State (UFS).

“My artwork grapples with a sense of destiny or chance,” said Danielle Pretorius. It resembles her memories of Alkanstrand, a beach she visited as a child growing up in Richards Bay. She describes her art studio as a temporary, substitute dwelling place of reflection in which her artistic genius comes alive. 

Final-year student Dienka Staal explained that her artwork drawn from life on her family farm in Kalkfontein, Free State. It depicts her memories and involvements with farming, as well as the elements of power and ownership. She employed colours that suggest flesh, bruises, and wounds in order to equate the farm landscape with the human body. She added that her inspiration was in recalling her childhood.

“My work is the result of a growing fascination with bodily movement which coincides with my love of depicting the human body,” said final-year Fine Arts student Robynne Gouws. She said her artwork had the ability to evoke emotions that elicited different empathetic responses. Gouws further outlined that audiences would be able to project their own sense of equilibrium onto her work which in essence would help them appreciate the meaning of her drawings.

Petra Schutte said unconventional objects such as small animal skulls, used tea bags, hair and insects had always fascinated her and subsequently inspired her artworks, revealing an unknown and unexplored territory in art. 

Their art will be on display until 29 March 2018. The Johannes Stegman Gallery at the UFS Sasol Library is open from Monday to Friday for viewing.

News Archive

Researchers focus on parrots, poultry and phage therapy
2014-10-10

Photo: en.wikipedia

Veterinary biotechnology focuses on microbial and molecular biological approaches to veterinary illnesses. The group working on veterinary biotechnology research at the University of the Free State (UFS) consists of two academic staff members, Prof Rob Bragg and Dr Charlotte Boucher, two post-doctoral fellows, Drs Chris Theron and Arina Hitzeroth, five PhD and three honours students.

The group has three research focus areas.

Dr Boucher says, “Our main focus area is infectious coryza in poultry, caused by the bacterium Avibacterium paragalliarum. The aim is the control of the disease, mainly through improvement of vaccines, understanding the immune response and improved biosecurity. A key objective is improving methods for serotyping; studying of selected surface antigens and investigating the influence recently discovered bacteriophages might have on virulence. We have co-operative projects with research groups in China, India and Israel.

“The second focus area is an expression system co-developed with the National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA), France. The flagship project is the expression of the coat protein gene of the beak and feather disease virus, a disease affecting parrots, currently threatening the endangered Cape parrot. This system has led to the development of serological tests, currently under patenting. The application of this system has been extended to human-related diseases, with two interdisciplinary projects underway, co-working with Profs Muriel Meiring and Felicity Burt. Prof Meiring is working on diseases causing bleeding disorders, such as blood-clotting impairment, while Prof Burt is working on viral infections causing haemorrhagic (bleeding) disorders.

“We are also researching disease control in a post-antibiotic era, investigating the potential of phage-therapy by targeting and destroying pathogenic islands within a host, with reduced side-effects on the host itself.

“We have smaller projects, including an interdisciplinary project with Zoology, looking at the protein profile of amphibian (frog) secretions with the focus on antimicrobial activity, as these secretions assist with protecting amphibian skin against infections.”  


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