Heike Taschner Jeske
Mixed media sculptor
Pretoria, South Africa
A life amongst the roses
- Heike creates large rose sculptures, inspired by the feeling that the flower evokes
- She specialises in relief carving and mixed media sculpture
- Her works have been exhibited both locally and internationally
Heike Taschner Jeske grew up on her family’s rose farm, a landscape that would later shape her sculptural, mixed media practice. She studied fine arts at Tshwane University of Technology in 2000, before completing a bachelor's degree in interior architecture. After returning to the family business, Heike continued to make art on the side until she decided to pursue it full-time in 2019. While searching for her artistic voice, she was drawn to creating rose-like forms. “I did not intend to go back to working with roses, but they are an inherent part of me.” Heike creates large, deconstructed sculptures using various materials, including ceramic and stainless steel mesh. Her process unfolds intuitively, guided by material choice and the space for which each piece is intended.
INTERVIEW
In 2019, I made a rose artwork for my family’s rose festival. I did not want to replicate a rose, because the flower is already perfect as it is. Instead, I imagined it should be big, floating and enveloping, to express the feeling of smelling a rose.
As a child, I built houses from discarded rose pots. I loved pulling things apart and rebuilding them in a way that made sense to me. I still love seeing how things fall apart and how I can put them back together.
I select materials that I can easily work with. It is crucial to me to be able to handle them myself from start to finish, because my process is very intuitive.
I always hope to evoke a sense of awe, and a feeling that there is much more to life than just our daily routines. We have so much to feel and explore.
