DVD resources

Crossings celebrates Ten years of Democracy

The Crossings project has been engaged with South African Art, Education and Culture for seven of the last ten years, a decade where South Africa moved from pariah state to fully fledged democracy.

To mark our ongoing links, and to coincide with the South African National Galleries own exhibition " A Decade of Democracy", we are proud to announce the publishing of 6 video / DVD presentations. Shot in Cape Town at various times over the lifetime of the Crossings project, these productions give a showcase to 5 important individual artists as well as one collection exploring some of the township art in the collection of the South African National Gallery. Click here for more details...

Many of the artists in the series are discussed in an essay written by Poppy Morris, now an art teacher at Tavistock Community College, who was part of the original Crossings research team in 1998.

Garth Erasmus	Jill Trappler	Peter Clarke
Randy Hartzenburg	Zwelethu Mthethwa	Township Art

The Crossings project was established to develop cultural exchange between schools in Devon and Cape Town. In October 1998 a party of 25 teachers, consultants and education advisers from Devon, accompanied by a video crew, visited South Africa to work with teachers and artists in Cape Town. On their return, the Devon teachers developed schemes of work based on their experiences. They implemented these schemes in their classrooms during the spring and summer terms of 1999 and the exhibition of work was opened by Devon's Director of Education, Arts and Libraries on 8th July 1999. 

The project has now moved on to a second phase. The pilot work done by Devon teachers will be developed into published resources for teachers nationally to use in their work on cultural diversity and anti-racism.

• The first pack, Crossings: Three Cape Poets has been launched by Peter E Clarke in Exeter.
• A second pack features extensive video interviews with John Kani, co-author of The Island. The material was shot on Robben Island in February 2001 and the pack has been jointly published by Devon Curriculum Services and Wordsworth Educational Editions.
• A third pack featuring a variety of Cape Town artists such as Randy Hartzenburg, Zwelethu Mthwethwa, Garth Erasmus, Gill Trappler and Peter E. Clarke, plus an illustrated talk about the print collection of the South African National Gallery by Emile Maurice is planned. In addition to video taped interviews with all the artists there will be a CD ROM to assist in supported self study modules on South African art.