micro
S K Y F A R M
GALLERY
Introducing the farm-fresh fynart of Gretchen
Wheeler and her micro-gallery in Knysna.
This artist’s gallery is inspired and exists
because of Skyfarm - a fynbos farm, poised
lightly on an ancient sand dune overlooking
Knysna's circuitous tidal lagoon. It is easy to
guess that Skyfarm harvests sunlight and
rain water, farming the sky in short.
It is here living, completely off-grid as a
Skyfarmer, where Gretchen germinates and
produces her fyn art, fynbos oil paintings.
Gretchen Wheeler was born in South Africa
in 1967 and wanted to paint. She painted
ridiculously large human figures for her
matric exhibition in 1985 and won the art
prize. Encouraged possibly by this, or
maybe just determined, she chose to study
a 4 year Fine Arts honours degree at
The University of Kwazulu-Natal, where she
graduated in 1989, majoring in painting.
A whirl of years passed where she painted
and painted while she made her artistic
talents work for her as a corporate and free-
lance designer, art director for a
architectural magazine and teacher,
adapting her academic education to the
practical business world.
1040 x 1300
1040 x 1300
AFTER THE GLOW
AFTER THE RAIN
On Skyfarm, the Restios, that overlook the
Knysna lagoon, glisten with the thrill of the
recent rain.
The earth still hums with the blush of the sun, after its
gone. The warmth vibrates in the fynbos.