Vicky Penfold

Vicki Penfold is an artist and art teacher in Cape Town, South Africa where she runs both oil painting and mixed media classes from her St. Catherine Studio. She combines her 15 years’ experience in oil and mixed media technique with an energetic teaching style to allow students to develop their own intuitive artistic voice.

Inspiration for her own art work stems from a deep connection and love for nature and the creatures which inhabit a place of magic. Born in Zimbabwe in 1972, Victoria spent her formative years roaming unpopulated wild spaces where her imagination co-opted birds and beasts into fantastical endeavors. Her work challenges one to reconnect with this intimate and beautiful space. To stop, to listen, to suspend time, even if for a fleeting moment. During the two-year global ‘shut down’ in which human travel and interaction was curtailed, a re-emergence of nature into ‘our’ world was observed as animals ventured into the deserted spaces. Victoria’s work expresses the realization that they have never left, are not separate; that we are responsible for maintaining our shared environment and honoring the relationships between beings.

When not behind the easel or running art workshops, Victoria can be found pottering in her permaculture garden, conjuring up a tongue-scorching chilli sauce or running after a wayward chicken.