- When Celeste Arendse, an art teacher at Schoonspruit Secondary School, shared one of her pupil's artwork on social media, she had no idea what a hit it would be.
- She posted five A3 pencil sketches, in which Cohnwille Swarts depicts young children and old women with wrinkles on their faces.
- Swarts said he used art to work through the pain of losing his mother during lockdown.
- The young artist hopes to study fine art when he finishes school at the end of the year.
Cohnwille Swarts, a Grade 12 pupil at Schoonspruit Secondary School in Cape Town, was catapulted into the spotlight after his teacher shared his end-of-year drawings on social media.
Swarts' body of work was based on the theme of "poverty" and, in five A3 pencil sketches, he depicted young children and old women, with wrinkles on their faces.
As people from all over the country admired his beautiful work, Swarts told News24 that art was a gateway to peace for him.
"When I am busy drawing, I feel peaceful. It makes me feel good as well. It takes my mind off problems and negative things," he said.
He started drawing when he was in Grade 3, trying different mediums. But it was only in Grade 10, after taking visual arts as a subject, that his love for pencil drawings flourished.
"When I first started drawing with a pencil, I knew that this was the medium for me," he said excitedly.
Swarts admits that using pencil is a unique skill.
"You need to know how to create tones and textures in the drawing," he said.
Poverty as a theme
The young artist from Abbotsdale near Malmesbury decided to focus on poverty as a theme for his final practical exam.
"I get my inspiration from my surroundings, and my situation at home," Swarts said.
"Because there is so much poverty, and it affects me, I decided that I need to express it in my artwork," he added.
He is currently living with his grandmother and uncle after losing his mother during the national lockdown.
"It was sad when my mother passed away. I thought my life was going to come to a halt," Swarts said. His father died when he was only a year old.
"While I was sitting with all the heartache, I decided to draw. It motivated me to change," he said.
His art teacher, Celeste Arendse, could always see he was talented. "I saw he was on another level when he was in Grade 10," she explained.
"The detail in his work is exceptional, and like he mentioned his tonal value as well."
Her biggest hope is that he can make a career from his art after school and says he's already received several offers from tertiary institutions so far.
"He just needs to choose which one he wants to go to," she said.
Swarts will be hosting his very first art exhibition in Riebeek Kasteel this coming weekend.
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