About Us -

THE NORTH COAST ARTISTS' STORY

Our very own Centenarian member, Thelma Buzzard (RIP), who celebrated her 100th birthday in July of 2024, once recalled to us of a time, perhaps eight decades ago, dwelling for a while in a cottage amidst Umhlanga’s coastal milkwood trees, spending her days painting and sketching at the beach…

The driving force behind the formation of the North Coast Art Group, however, was Meta Orton (1912-2001) when after ten years of living in London and travelling around the world, she returned to South Africa to settle in Umhlanga Rocks. In 1966, she had written from London saying, “I have all sorts of ideas for starting a painting studio for holiday visitors at a seaside resort near Durban.

Lib Steward, at the time concerned that the Group might disintegrate, organised a meeting in her home and suggested they form it into a properly constituted Group, complete with Chairperson, Secretary and Committee.

In January 1976 Meta was invited to its first General Meeting — “We approved a Constitution, item by item, and elected a Committee and Officers. I didn’t stand, as I did not know where I was going to live; but I was happy over the development.

It was rewarding to see something that had grown in my studio achieve a life and identity of its own,” she later wrote. In 1983, Meta wrote a book called The World and Umhlanga Rocks, published by True Art Printing.

The North Coast Art Group originally met in the old Umhlanga Water Board offices in the sugar cane fields, then later at the Umhlanga Library. Some exhibitions were held at the old Buxton Centre, and once at the Oyster Box Hotel as well. Some of our older members recall drawing (as an “en plein air” project) at the old Edge of the Sea Hotel before it was demolished. North Coast Art Group also had a semi-permanent place in a passageway in one of the other centres, where members set up and exhibited.

Today, North Coast Artists, as we’ve become known, meet on the second Saturday of each month at St Luke’s church hall in Glenashley, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. We have a guest artist conducting a demonstration and an in-house competition for members where we display artworks following a monthly theme.

As of February 2024, under the guidance of our new chairperson, Guy McGowan, we have sought to grow our online presence, for North Coast Artists and our talented members, culminating in our own e-commerce website. In line with our vision of expansion, we also aim to establish long-term relationships, both in accessing international exposure, for our members and for talented yet less privileged local artists, as well as taking responsibility for growing the art community in KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa as a whole.