‘n Maand vir elke bord | A month on a plate
Tina-Marié Malherbe’s passion for illustration, botanicals and blue combine almost seamlessly with a sense of time (months of the year) and a love for Afrikaans words and verse on her ‘n Maand vir elke bord’.
Tina-Marié picks plants instinctively and for weeks presses her collection of leaves and flowers in large flower presses. When they are properly dried, she mounts the delicate pressed plants – roots, stems, leaves and flowers - with fine strips of masking tape on large sheets of paper, artworks on their own.
The next step takes her to her ceramics. Inspired by the delicate patterns of the plants, she allows them to gain a new life on her white plates and bowls, exquisitely illustrated in hues of blue.
It’s the delicate vulnerability of the poppy or the nastursium that attracts her, but also their strength and endurance. She focuses on capturing their finest qualities, sometimes even carefully dissecting small stamens, interpreting how they make her feel, rather than taking a photorealistic approach.