In collaboration with TPS (Tim's Print Studio)

May 2009

Tim Foulds has been working as a master printer for the past nine years and in 2004 he set up his own professional studio, TPS (Tim’s Print Studio) in Midrand, where he has been collaborating with a number of prominent South African artists. David Koloane, Dumisani Mabaso, Colbert Mashile and Kagiso Pat Mautloa are all well-known contemporary South African artists, and each responded in his own inimitable way to Fould’s invitation to work at TPS.

The relationship between the artist and the master printer has been compared to that between a composer and a conductor. The master printer facilitates dialogue with the artist, offering suggestions of techniques in order to achieve the image that the artist seeks. Through the intrinsic artistic qualities of the print media, their collaborative work explores new relationships between image and material.

About the artists

David Koloane was born in Alexandra, Johannesburg in 1938 and received art training at the Bill Ainslie Studios, Johannesburg (1974 – 1977), the Birmingham Polytecnic, England (1983) and the University of London (Diploma in Museum Studies, 1984-5). Koloane is an prominent South African artist, who has worked internationally as an artist and curator. Committed to the cause of art in South Africa and working for social and political equality, he has been actively involved in community and educational affairs, and has published extensively.  

Dumisani Mabaso (born 1955, Soweto) was introduced to art by his father, who was a well-known printer in Soweto. He attended art classes at the YWCA, Dube, Soweto (between 1970 and 1974), where he was taught by Eric Mbatha and Ben Arnold. He studied at Rorke’s Drift, Natal (1977 – 78) and studied part-time at the Johannesburg Technikon (1981). Mabaso’s exceptional ability as an artist/printmaker is widely acknowledged, combining his artistic talent with an intrinsic understanding of the technical complexities of the fine art print medium. He is actively involved in community art projects and has played a major role as a teacher/mentor to many artists. He is the founder of Sguzu Studio (Soweto 1982, 2007; Nieu Bethesda and Kimberley, 2007). He has exhibited widely both locally and internationally.

Colbert Mashile was born in Bushbuckridge, Limpopo in 1972. He obtained a BA(FA) degree from the University of the Witwatersrand (2000), and his landmark student  exhibition at the Johannesburg Art Foundation in the same year, was the beginning of a successful career as an independent artist, working mainly as a painter and printmaker. Deeply rooted in his community and dealing with aspects of traditional practice in his work, his subject matter has become more inclusive of the human experience.    

Kagiso Pat Mautloa was born in 1952 in Ventersdorp. He studied at Leratong Art Centre, Soweto (1966 – 1973) and subsequently at the Jubilee Art Centre and the Mofolo Art Centre in Johannesburg. He obtained a Fine Art Diploma from Rorke’s Drift, Natal (1979). He became a full-time artist in 1992. In his art he explores the dynamics of the city environment in relation to the people who live and work there. He often uses texturing and layering in interaction with his subject matter, allowing the medium to suggest the passage of time and the many layers that makes up life in the city.

Tim Foulds studied Fine Art at the Vaal University of Technology, South Africa and Professional Lithography at the Tamarind Institute in New Mexico, USA. He has been working as a master printer for the past nine years and in 2004 he opened his own professional printing studio in Midrand, where he has worked with a number of prominent and young South African artists. He specializes in etching, lithography, relief and screen printing.

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