Footsteps to Freedom Tours

Reach into the soul of Cape Town, by retracing 350 years of dramatic history. Specially trained tour guides will bring to life the challenges facing the early Dutch Settlers, the pain of slavery, the Cape as a colony, the tragedy of apartheid and the joy and triumph of our new Rainbow Nation.

The visual arts have a rich history in Cape Town, and the contemporary art scene is no less exciting.

34 Long

Fine art by leading South African and international contemporary artists.

• Website: www.34long.com
• Address: 34 Long Street, Cape Town

3rd I Gallery

Situated in an 18th-century warehouse, the gallery showcases exhibitions exploring contemporary issues. The on-site framing workshop offers framing, museum preservation and restoration. Phone to find out about evening function times.

• Website: www.capetownpass.co.za
• Address: 95 Waterkant Street, Cape Town

Art.b

Art.b, the Arts Association of Bellville, is a community-orientated organisation, sensitive to new ideas and supportive of established and emerging artists from all cultural backgrounds. Art.b's vibrant art gallery showcases the visual art and artists of the Western Cape. A non-profit organisation open to all, it is the Western Cape branch of the South African National Association of Visual Art. The gallery is maintained and managed with the support of the City of Cape Town.

• Website: www.artb.co.za
• Address: Library Centre, Carel van Aswegen Street, Bellville, Cape Town

Association for Visual Arts

The AVA is an important not-for-profit gallery in central Cape Town hosting up to 50 exhibitions a year, with proposals selected by committee. Run by the energetic Estelle Jacobs, the AVA usually hosts three exhibitions at a time, with many young contemporary artists making their debut here.

• Website: www.ava.co.za
• Address: 35 Church Street, Cape Town

Bell-Roberts Art Gallery

This contemporary gallery has made a great impact on the contemporary art scene in the past two years, soliciting solo exhibitions by trendy young artists such as Brett Murray and Doreen Southwood. Run by a husband and wife team, the gallery adjoins a café and bookshop and the Bell-Roberts publishing company which prints books, catalogues and postcards for the art set.

• Website: www.bell-roberts.com
• Address: 199 Loop Street, Cape Town

Bronze Age Foundry

Incorporating Albertyn's Stables Art Gallery and a bronze foundry which services many of the city's artists, this wharf-side institution is housed in a 200-year-old building originally used by a cartage company to stable horses and store carts.

• E-mail: bronzeage@mweb.co.za
• Address: King George Way, Simonstown
• Tel: (021) 786-1816

Cape Gallery

The Cape Gallery is set in the heart of the old city, flanked by the colourful Georgian and Dutch facades built in the 18th and 19th centuries. Central to the tradition of South African painting is the abiding love of the land. Early Cape painters were reporters who described the topography, flora and fauna of the land, a conservative approach which is still favoured by the gallery's clientele today. The emergence of vibrant street art has added an African character to the work on display.

• Website: www.capegallery.co.za
• Address: 60 Church Street, Cape Town

Carmel Art Original

With two galleries in Cape Town, Carmel Art stocks a wide range of paintings by leading South African artists in a large variety of media and subjects. Traditional work is shown in the Constantia Gallery and more contemporary in the Claremont Gallery, which has recently been expanded to become the largest contemporary art gallery in Cape Town.

• Website: www.carmelart.co.za
• Address: Claremont Gallery: 66 Vineyard Road, corner Cavendish St, Claremont, Cape Town; Constantia Gallery: Constantia Village Shopping Centre, Main Road, Constantia, Cape Town

Chelsea Art Gallery

Situated in the old Chelsea Village of Wynberg is the 'Ou Pastorie', a beautiful Victorian house and home to the Chelsea Gallery, host to leading South African artists and monthly exhibitions of contemporary art.

• Website: home.mweb.co.za/ch/chelsart/gallery
• Address: 51 Waterloo Rd, Chelsea-Wynberg, Cape Town

Everard Read Gallery

A regional offshoot of the long-established Johannesburg gallery, the Everard Read specialises in investment art including wildlife and landscape paintings.

• Website: www.everard-read-capetown.co.za
• Address: 3 Portswood Road, Victoria and Alfred Waterfront, Cape Town

Greatmore Studios

Affiliated to the Bag Factory in Johannesburg and the Gasworks in London, Greatmore Studios offer work places to local artists and temporary residencies to visiting artists. Exhibitions by residents are held on an irregular basis.

• Website: www.greatmoreart.org
• Address: 47-49 Greatmore Street, Woodstock, Cape Town

Hänel Gallery

The Hänel Gallery has established itself as a reputable space showcasing contemporary South African and international artists falling well to the left of centre. With its roots in Germany, the gallery has exposed more than one local artist to the European art fair scene. It has a proven commitment to the local art scene and the advancement of the best in it.

• Website: www.hanelgallery.com
• Address: 84 Shortmarket Street, Cape Town

Irma Stern Museum

Irma Stern (1894-1966) was a major South African artist who achieved national and international recognition in her lifetime. Established in 1971 in the house the artist lived in for almost four decades, the museum's permanent collection on display shows Stern's development as an artist, with subjects including exotic figures, portraits, lush landscapes and still lives conveyed in a variety of media. There is also a commercial gallery showcasing contemporary South African artists.

• Website: www.irmastern.co.za
• Address: Cecil Road, Rosebank, Cape Town

João Ferreira Fine Art

One of South Africa's leading galleries for contemporary artists and art collectors, João Ferreira Gallery hosts regular shows by contemporary artists working in a variety of mediums. Work is selected for exceptional and unique quality. The gallery has the experience and expertise to provide a range of specialist services to collectors, such as the acquisition, sale, restoration and conservation of works of art; valuations and insurance advice; transportation and storage; and framing and installation.

• Website: www.joaoferreiragallery.com
• Address: 80 Hout Street, Cape Town

Johans Borman Fine Art Gallery

Features a selection of works by South African Masters - Irma Stern, JH Pierneef and Gerard Sekoto, among others - as well as works by leading South African contemporary artists such as Erik Laubscher, Conrad Theys and Walter Meyer, covering a diversity of styles and subject matter.

• Website: www.johansborman.co.za
• Address: In Fin Art Building, Upper Buitengracht Street, Cape Town

Michaelis Collection

Situated in the historical Old Town House on Greenmarket Square in the city centre, the gallery is home to a collection of paintings by Dutch and Flemish masters, as well a small collection of antique Dutch furniture.

• Website: www.museums.org.za/michaelis
• Address: Old Town House, Greenmarket Square, Cape Town

Michaelis Galleries

These university galleries occasionally stage cutting-edge, non-commercial shows including video art by local and international artists, as well as housing postgraduate and undergraduate exhibitions.

• Website: www.uct.ac.za
• Address: Hiddingh Campus, 31-37 Orange Street, Cape Town

Natale Labia Museum

Presented to the South African National Gallery by Count Natale Labia in 1985 in memory of his parents, the museum houses a historical collection, occasional temporary shows, and offers drawing classes, workshops and lecture series.

• Website: www.museums.org.za/natale
• Address: 192 Main Road, Muizenberg, Cape Town

Rose Korber Art Consultancy

Rose Korber is an independent art consultant and dealer, specialising in works by leading and emerging contemporary South African artists. Her selection of artwork ranges from paintings, drawings, original prints and photography, to sculpture, ceramics and museum-quality craftwork. She also offers specialist services such as installation, framing, hanging, conservation and restoration.

• Website: www.rosekorberart.com
• Address: 48 Sedgemoor Road, Camps Bay, Cape Town

Sanlam Art Gallery

A corporate collection of works by South African artists, comprising paintings, drawings, graphics and sculptures, with selections exhibited regularly at the company's Bellville head office. The collection spans the 20th century and many international art movements.

• Website: www.sanlam.co.za
• Address: 2 Strand Road, Bellville, Cape Town

South African National Gallery

South Africa's flagship art museum houses major collections of South African, British, French, Dutch and Flemish art. Selections from the permanent collection change regularly to enable the museum to have a full programme of temporary exhibitions of paintings, works on paper, photography, sculpture, beadwork, textiles and architecture.

• Website: www.museums.org.za/sang
• Address: Government Avenue, Company Gardens, Cape Town

VEO Gallery & Frameworks

Regular exhibitions of a range of contemporary art (including sculpture, painting and photography), with solo and group exhibitions. The gallery also sources art works for specific installations, has exhibition space available for rental, coordinates exhibitions, and offers comprehensive framing services.

• Website: www.veo.co.za
• Address: 8 Jarvis St, De Waterkant Village, Green Point, Cape Town

William Fehr Collection

Located in the Castle of Good Hope, and comprising both the B Block and Good Hope galleries, the William Fehr Collection is a permanent display of historical paintings and decorative arts from the 17th to mid-19th centuries reflecting social life, events and the natural environment, mainly in Cape Town, the Western Cape and Eastern Cape. There are also archaeological displays of artefacts excavated in the Castle and a number of furnished interiors. Gallery spaces are occasionally used for historical and contemporary art exhibitions.

• Website: www.museums.org.za/wfc
• Address: Corner of Darling and Buitenkant Streets, Cape Town

Art galleries elsewhere in the Western Cape

Dorp Street Gallery

Dorp Street specialises contemporary South African artists, with a new exhibition every three weeks. It features South African artworks in all mediums: painting, graphic work, sculpture, ceramic, glass, installation art, textiles and so on. There is also a shop selling glass, jewellery, graphics, paintings, ceramics, textiles, sculptures and African decorative collectables.

• Website: www.dorpstreetgallery.co.za
• Address: 176 Dorp Street, Stellenbosch

Knysna Fine Art

Located in the picturesque coastal town of Knysna, this gallery specializes in contemporary South African art in a variety of media, although a growing number of international fine artists are also exhibited. The owner is Trent Read, elder son of the late Evercare Read, who was the doyen of South African art dealers. Trent is the fifth generation of his family to be a dealer.

• Website: www.finearts.co.za
• Address: Corner Grey and Gordon Streets, Kenyans

Lipchitz Gallery

The Lipchitz Gallery is well known nationally and internationally for representing the best of South Africa's emergent and established artists in all genres, in the biggest gallery on the Garden Route.

• Website: www.southafricanart.co.za
• Address: 16 Market Square, Beacon Way, Lautenberg Bay

Sasol Art Museum

This museum is run by the University of Stellenbosch and houses a collection of historical works by Cape artists as well as temporary crated and solo exhibitions.

• E-mail: lmdw@sun.ac.za
• Address: 52 Reneged Street, Stellenbosch
• Tel: (021) 808-3693

Stardom Gallery

Established in 1968, Stardom Gallery (Afrikaans for "gallery") is a family business internationally recognised for its high standard and tasteful display of selected artworks by a cross-section of South African painters, sculptors, printmakers, potters and photographers.

• Website: www.artaffair.co.za
• Address: 79 Market Street, George, Western Cape

US Art Gallery

This gallery, situated in an old church, falls under the University of Stellenbosch and is regularly host to exhibitions of contemporary art.

• E-mail: sld@sun.ac.za
• Address: Corner Dorp and Bird Streets, Stellenbosch
• Tel: (021) 808-3524 / 3489