(b. 1958 Riversdale, South Africa)

SHANY VAN DEN BERG

Shany van den Berg's artistic practice stems from her life as a woman, mother and professional artist. Renowned for her technical acumen, subtle symbolism and agility in slipping between portraiture, figurative, abstraction and sculptural, she investigates and interrogates the critical contemporary themes of womanhood, identity, family, and connectedness to mother earth. With subtle symbolism and technical agility, her artwork is diverse, ranging from portraiture, figuration  and mixed media, combined with abstraction and sculpture. She reconstitutes her stream of consciousness as both fable and history, binding together a layered ‘map’. This serves as both a solitary interior landscape of self-reflection and the more universal language of humanity's journey through one’s life. Shany van den Berg’s artworks poignantly remind us that we are all unique and inescapably part of one human race and planet.

She is based in Stellenbosch.

 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026

Upcoming, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA

2025

A Place to Bloom, Everard Read, London, UK 

2024

BinneTuin / GardenWithin, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2023

Garden of Her Dreams, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA

2022

Her Garden, Everard Read, London, UK 

2021 

nōs / ons, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA 

2019  

Dreampond, Everard Read, London, UK

2018  

Fluisteringe vanaf ‘n Leliepoel / Whispers from a Lily Pond, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA

2017

(in)filtration of time, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2015  

Al(l)een, Grande Provence, Franschhoek, SA

2013

Hinterland, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA

2011

Siel van my Vel, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2010  

In gesprek met II, IS Art, Franschhoek, SA

2009

Halfmens / Heelmens, Pier Rabe, Stellenbosch, SA

2008

In gesprek met I, Smelik & Stokking, Den Haag, Netherlands 

2007     

..(h)erken...ken...en..., Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Gedagtes wat reis, My Own Choice Gallery, Amsterdam, Netherlands

2006

Dwaaltuin, Grande Provence, Franschhoek, SA

2005

Die Fees Gees, Cultivaria, Vrede en Lust, Paarl, SA 

2003

Construction Site, Limeline, Cape Town, SA

2001 

Vlug in tyd, Dorp Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, SA

1999 

My shadow, my echo, and me, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, SA

 

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026

Winter Collection, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA

2025

10 Years | Summer Show, Everard Read, London, UK

Matter Matters: Artists and Their Media,  Everard Read, London, UK

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, London, UK

2024

Southern Light, Everard Read, London, UK

110 Year Anniversary Exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK

2023

What I Feel When I Think About The Cosmos, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA

Summer, Everard Read, London, UK

Winter 22/23, Everard Read, London, UK

2022 

Spring, group show, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA

Things I’d like to remember, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Summer, Everard Read, London, UK

2021 

Offering, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA

2020 

On Being, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA

Journeys of the Mind, Everard Read, Franschhoek, SA

Toe ek 21 was, Toyota US Woordfees, Stellenbosch, SA

STILL, Everard Read, UK & SA

2019

Selected Artists, Knysna Fine Art Gallery, Knysna, SA

The Ampersand Foundation 21 Year Celebration Exhibition / A Vision of Jack Ginsberg, UJ Art Gallery, Johannesburg, SA

Southern Aspect, Everard Read, London, UK

Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Synchronous, Knysna Fine Art, Knysna, SA

2018

Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2017 

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

People and Portraiture, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Summer, Everard Read, London, UK

Winter, Everard Read, London, UK

2016 

Investec Cape Town Art Fair, with Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Opening Exhibition, Everard Read, London, UK

Winter Collection, Group Show, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Celebrating a Century of Geography in SA, Stellenbosch University Museum, Stellenbosch, SA

2015 

Fear & Loss – Industrial Karoo Group installation, Pretoria Art Museum, SA

100 Years, Die Burger, Cape Town, SA

Summer Sculpture Garden, with Everard Read, Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town, SA

Homage, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Winter, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2014 

Summer Season, D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, SA

Fear & Loss, Oliewenhuis Art Museum, Bloemfontein, SA

Summer of Sculpture III, with Everard Read, Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town, SA

Magicus, group exhibition, D-Street Gallery, Stellenbosch, SA

2013 

Cape Town Re-Imagined, Suidoosterfees, Cape Town, SA

100, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Universal Suffering, War Museum, Bloemfontein, SA

Femininity, curated by Eva Roer, Germany

SAADA Antique Fair, Pier Rabe Antiques, Franschhoek, SA

Hiernamaals/Hereafter, Slee Gallery, Stellenbosch, SA

Binnehemels, group show, Red, Black & White, Stellenbosch, SA

2012

Small Works, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

A Summer of Sculpture, with Everard Read, Mount Nelson Hotel, Cape Town, SA

2009 

The Great South African Nude, Everard Read, Johannesburg, SA

Sex, Power, Money, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2008 

Confluence, with Wang Qingli, a two woman exhibition between China & South Africa, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Art Fair Utrecht, Netherlands

2006

Small works, Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

Shany van den Berg / Strijdom van der Merwe, Grande Provence Gallery, Franschhoek, SA

2005

Three , Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

2000-2

Shany van den Berg/Alex Hamilton, Bang the Gallery, Cape Town, SA

2000 

A Celebration of Art & Technology, group show in aid of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, 

sponsored by Hewlett Packard

 

COMPETITIONS & PROJECTS

2025

Portrait Award Top 40, SA

2023

Portrait Award Top 100, SA

2022

Woordfees / Stellenbosch,  SA in conjunction with Stauss & Co, SA  

2021  

Portrait Award Top 40, SA

2019

Portrait Award Top 40, SA

2016  

BP Portrait Award Finalist, National Portrait Gallery, UK

BP Travel Award Shortlisted Finalist, Portrait Gallery, UK

Art patron of MAD Leadership Foundation, Stellenbosch, SA

2013  

Fellowship granted by the Ampersand Foundation, New York

2011  

Bright Ideas Ceramic art,  Light from Africa Foundation, Cape Town, SA

2010  

BP Portrait Award Finalist, National Portrait Gallery, UK

2 Textile wall artworks, 6m by 2m, made in collaboration with Mogalakwena Art and Craft Centre, Limpopo, for Waterkloof Wine Estate, Somerset West, SA

2009

BP Portrait Award Finalist, National Portrait Gallery, UK

2008  

Art exchange, Hubei Institute of Art, China

Art Fair Utrecht

2007  

AAF Amsterdam

2005  

Sasol New Signatures Finalist, SA

2004

Community Arts Workshop, with Everard Read, Castle of Good Hope, Cape Town, SA

2000

Hewlett Packard Project and Auction, in support of Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, SA

1990  

Corobrik Ceramic Competition finalist, SA

 

ART RESIDENCIES

2023

Residency at Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris, France

2013  

Fellowship, The Ampersand Foundation, New York, USA

2007  

Art Exchange, Hubei Institute of Art, Wuhan, China and Everard Read, Cape Town, SA

1998  

Lauenberg, Germany