Fine artist Malebogo Molokoane is excited to showcase her glass talent on a global stage.
Molokoane bet on herself when she walked away from her lucrative career as a mechanical engineer to pursue fine arts in 2015. Her second gamble? The 34-year-old from Tlhabane, Rustenburg, last year decided not to renew her contract as a part-time lecturer at Tshwane University of Technology’s (TUT) Glass Studio in search of other avenues.
As though it were written in the stars, Molokoane, convinced by a friend, submitted her application for the Chrysler Museum of Art Student Assistantship programme in Norfolk, Virginia. Last month, she received news from the museum that she and seven other emerging glass artists globally were selected for the programme. She leaves for the US on Friday.
“This is a great opportunity,” she shares her excitement on the phone.
“This year, I'm going to start venturing with the opportunities that I've been getting. My friend sent me the application and said I should just apply. I submitted my application and boom, I was selected.”
The six-month programme that offers emerging glass artists an opportunity to gain professional experience in a museum setting will assist with public demonstrations, classes, maintenance and special events.
“This is an educational enhancement,” says Molokoane.
“We will be assisting professional glass artists coming from all over the world. We will gain the knowledge and work in a bigger space of a museum.”
Molokoane's glass artwork first made a splash as a recipient of the 2022 Absa L'Atelier Gerard Sekoto Award. As part of her grand prize, Molokoane attended a three-month art residency in Paris between April and July 2023. Shen then did her first solo exhibition at the Absa Gallery in Johannesburg.
“The exhibition was my first and was overwhelming, but exciting all at once. My family and friends and other artists came through to support me,” she says.
“It was different from what they've [Absa gallery] showcased previously. Due to the fragility of artwork, we had to put a tent outside to accommodate people and only ten people could go into the gallery to view the work at a time. We were scared the glass might break. They tried to monitor it. But I think they had a great experience as well.”
The exhibition explored human emotions through indigenous and Western childhood games titled A Re Tshamekeng (Let's Play).
“I chose this theme because the medium of glass is very fragile. I create all these games so people can interact with my work. I gave guests the chance to touch the medium and feel and have an idea of how it works which is something you don’t often come across at exhibitions,” says Molokoane.
The exhibition comprised a collection of 23 glass art pieces and took Molokoane 912 hours (38 days) to fuse. This excludes the hours spent polishing the glass structures.
“One glass piece takes about 36 hours to polish because you go from black to bright. It takes the most time and you need the most patience to get your glass to shine,” says Molokoane.
She became the first glass artist to win the prestigious art award in its 39-year history.
Molokoane uses various glassmaking techniques that she fuses throughout her body of artwork including kiln form, kiln cast, cold shop and glass blowing.
“Kiln form is taking two sheets of glass and fusing them. I use multiple sheets of glass, close to ten or more glass sheets and I fuse them to become one artwork. My signature is whenever I would do my work with glass, I would be using sand by sandblasting to create artwork. I love layering glasses,” she says.
“Glass has different kinds of techniques and not only glass blowing. One can also create a solid piece, not just small pieces but like a canvas where people paint. Take two sheets of glass, draw a portrait and fuse it by placing it into a kiln stove. It's the stove where you fire glass so it can fuse, hence you have a fusing technique. Slump in, drop out in the kiln form technique. It's amazing to see your art piece take shape.”
Molokoane began her journey to fine glass art when she enrolled in the TUT undergraduate programme in fine arts in 2017 with an elective for glass art.
“My dad could not understand why I would choose art over engineering, at first, they saw it as just a hobby,” she says.
“They’ve been supporting me but not understanding until it came about when I completed my studies. That's when they saw I meant it. I told them not to worry and I will not disappoint. They became more settled, and now they're into glass and art.”
Fact Box
TUT is the only higher education institution in Southern Africa to offer fine glass arts as an elective for its Fine and Studio Arts Programme under the Faculty of Arts and Design.
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