Young artists walk away with gold medals

Roshan Abrahams|Published 8 months ago

Gold medalists Sameer Jensel and Gasant Isaacs with their winning artwork at the Provincial art competition in Athlone.

Two best friends have won gold medals in the provincial and national sections of the College Sports, Arts and Culture South Africa (COSACSA) art competition, which had the theme “Democracy”.

Gasant Isaacs, 18, won the gold medal in both the provincial and national competition for the male charcoal drawing category, according to his mother Shafieka Dollie-Isaacs.

“Gasant attends the College of Cape Town, City Campus and he will be starting N5 level for Art and Design in the new semester,” said Ms Dollie-Isaacs.

Gasant Isaacs’ charcoal drawing for the national art competition.

This is Sameer Jensel’s winning pencil drawing for the national art competition.

His friend, Sameer Jensel, 19, from Delft, won the gold medal in both provincial and nationals for the male pencil drawing category. He also attends College of Cape Town, City Campus and he will be starting in N6 level in the new semester for Art and Design.

Gasant, who used to be a Lotus River resident, attended Buck Road Primary and Pelican Park High School. He showed an interest in drawing since the age of 2, said Ms Dollie-Isaacs.

The Isaacs family are currently living in Sandvlei, Macassar.

“Gasant’s siblings are also into art. It runs in the family, the creativity as well. His aunt also did drawings in her younger days and his dad used to draw cars and horses for him when he was small,” said Ms Dollie-Isaacs.

This picture was done by Gasant for the provincial art competition.

Gasant describes his method of drawing: “I would say charcoal is easier in some ways than that of pencil and in others more challenging for instance the shading of the charcoal is easier than the pencil shading because it covers area quickly as opposed to that of pencil. However it is difficult to acquire fine details with the charcoal because of its fragility and it is harder to clean up that pencil. Painting is generally more challenging than charcoal and pencil so there is no question about that,” said Gasant.

Sameer's work for the provincial art competition.

His mother said she was so proud when he won these awards, “I was so humbled and extremely proud of him. We can only give thanks to Allah (God) for his talent. His family are super proud of him. We always knew he was talented and we pray that The Almighty continues to guide and protect him.”

Ms Dollie-Isaacs said they are hoping that Gasant’s achievements will inspire and “allow our kids to have a better chance in making their lives better.”