Starways Arts Centre is situated 3 km from the centre of Hogsback village.
The rustic road signs bring you to an entrance with a large gate and a
pedestrian gate. The first view of Starways' unique building style is
The Forest Gallery, roughly thatched and housing the works of three
potters and a variety of painters.
Just behind The Forest Gallery is The Rose Theatre
which is built into eight tall pine trees and is reminiscent of
Shakesperian theatres. Glancing up the hill you can see more cabins
and workshops built with planks, mud, wattle sticks and stones,
all gathered from Starways.
During the tourist seasons The Rose Theatre runs entertainment.
Pizzas are served from its quaint kitchen. A great variety of genres can be seen there.
Folk and blues singers visit often. Poetry readings take place every year.
Trance parties happen in December. Story-telling round a fire has become popular.
Workshops at The Rose in sound travel, bead-making and painting take place now and then.
Recitals of classical music take place in the Main House lounge with its acoustic piano.
Many of the performers are Gwyneth's colleagues and students gathered during her
years of professional singing and university teaching.
The resident artists are usually available for a chat while curating
the art work. Vale van der Merwe, Liyanda Mafika and Gwyneth Lloyd were
trained and mentored by the late Anton van der Merwe. They continue the
inspired work that he created at Starways expressing their own unique
styles. Anton made a significant contribution to the history of South
African flame fired pottery and founded Starways Pottery in Hogsback in
order to use the abundant supply of wattle on the property, developing
reduction firing with ash glazes and local clay. Gwyneth Lloyd, his
wife, encountered her love of pottery in London and took over the
decorating of Liyanda Mafika's domestic ware. Water colours by Gwyneth
Lloyd and neighbour Ali Brandstetter, as well as prints of Anton's
superb water colours, are displayed on the walls.
Anton and Gwyneth's children live at Starways for several months in
the year. Pearce van der Merwe is internationally known as Flooting
Grooves and he presents his new tracks at Hogsback each year before
taking them to Brazil, Italy, Turkey, Switzerland, Australia and other
countries. Eliot Lloyd Short and his wife Carrie von der Langenberg live
in London and bring their experience in west end theatres to workshops
and art at Starways. Vale lives with her family over the road and she
creates exhibitions with her pottery and her husband Kent Smith's superb
furniture.
Gwyneth and Anton slowly built up Starways Arts Centre from the early
nineties and were instigators of the Hogsback Arts Festival which
started in 1993. Now the whole village hosts seasonal festivals and
their dream of Hogsback becoming a cultural destination has come true.
