Public installations, intimate exhibitions and behind-the-scenes encounters with artists will transform Fish Hoek and Clovelly into an accessible cultural destination this October. Cape Town’s Southern Peninsula will become a living gallery when Open Studios Fish Hoek & Clovelly 2026 returns from 9 to 11 October.
Offering an intimate alternative to the traditional gallery experience, the annual event invites visitors into the studios, workshops and creative spaces where contemporary South African art is conceived and made. This year’s expanded programme brings together established artists, emerging talent, community organisations and local businesses across Fish Hoek and Clovelly.
The experience begins ahead of the official weekend, with a dedicated exhibition and three public installations opening on 1 October.
Elizabeth Vels: Recording a Remarkable Creative Life
At AP Jones, the upstairs exhibition space will host A Cabinet of Curiosities: Recording and Recalling a Very Long Life by distinguished South African artist Elizabeth Vels, who recently celebrated her 89th birthday.
Born in 1937, Vels has presented 14 solo exhibitions over the course of her career. She is recognised as one of South Africa’s early practitioners of papermaking and artist-book creation—disciplines she has explored since the late 1970s.
The exhibition brings together ceramics, oil paintings and works on paper from different periods of her career. Collectively, they reveal an unusually diverse practice shaped by more than five decades of curiosity, experimentation and material exploration.
Visitors are invited to consider how Vels has moved between fine art, craft, bookmaking and tactile forms of storytelling, continually challenging the boundaries separating these creative disciplines.
Art Moves Into the Public Realm
The cultural encounter will begin before visitors enter AP Jones.
The department store’s two front windows will be transformed into large-scale installations created especially for Open Studios by artists Sue Kaplan and Marlise Keith, together with designer and costumier Susan Didcott.
One installation will present self-portraits by participating artists, offering the public a visual introduction to the people behind the weekend’s studios and creative practices. These portraits will be interspersed with suspended works by Kaplan and Keith.
In the second window, Didcott—whose professional work includes projects for Cape Town Opera—will dress a mannequin using predominantly recycled paper and card. The layered installation will take the familiar visual language of fashion display beyond conventional retail and into the realm of public art.
The installations will remain in place throughout the Open Studios weekend, bringing contemporary art into direct conversation with pedestrians and the everyday activity of Main Road.
Visitors will also be able to collect printed Open Studios maps from AP Jones. Produced by local printing specialists Zip Print, the maps will guide guests through the participating studios, exhibitions and public activations.
Reframing the Everyday
Further along Main Road, Jacqui’s Framery will become an exhibition space in its own right.
Artists Candice Oppenheim, Gerda Smit and Nicolene Louw will create a bespoke installation using empty picture frames alongside original artworks. By reimagining materials normally associated with the presentation and preservation of art, the artists will transform the framing shop into an unexpected creative environment.
The intervention establishes a conversation between artwork, craftsmanship, display and the surrounding commercial landscape, demonstrating how art can emerge beyond the boundaries of formal cultural institutions.
Inside Fish Hoek Studios
Among the new additions to the 2026 programme is Fish Hoek Studios, a shared creative space established in 2025.
The venue houses 11 individual artists’ studios, with a woodworking workshop situated below. During Open Studios, works by participating artists will be presented in the communal area, introducing visitors to the different practices developing within the space.
Contemporary artist Xanthe Scout Lardner-Burke will curate the presentation, creating connections between the artists and their varied approaches.
The Fish Hoek Studios community includes Ben Stanwix, Sivan Zeffertt, Hugh Byrne, Matt Slater, Amber Moir, Brendan Murton, Tremayne Ward-Smith, Duduetsang Lamola, Matt Hazel, Carola Friess and Motelseven.
Beyond the completed works, the studio offers visitors insight into the shared environments, processes and conversations that support contemporary artistic production.
A Collaborative Artwork at Mothership Studios
Also joining the programme is Mothership Studios, an artist-led professional studio and makers’ space founded in late 2025.
Created in response to the need for accessible, child-friendly and community-driven working environments, Mothership Studios describes itself as an evolving creative ecosystem where artistic practice, community and everyday life can intersect.
Its Open Studios activation will invite every visitor to become part of the creative process.
Guests will receive a piece of paper before moving through a series of workstations. At each station, an artist will add a stamp to the page. The individual marks will gradually accumulate into a collaborative composition, allowing each visitor to leave with a unique artwork recording their journey through the studio.
The activation reflects Mothership’s emphasis on participation and collective creation while dissolving some of the traditional distance between artist and audience.
Art for Everyone at Peak Café
At Peak Café on Main Road, visitors will be invited to create miniature artworks on Post-it notes and contribute them to an expanding public exhibition.
Four prizes will be awarded, with the winning works selected through a public vote. Materials for the activation have been supplied by The Write Shoppe.
A group exhibition of small works by Open Studios artists will accompany the participatory display, creating an accessible point of entry for visitors who may be encountering the local art community for the first time.
Creativity With a Social Purpose
The programme also includes the Joyce Chevalier Protective Workshop, a Fish Hoek-based nonprofit organisation providing sheltered employment for people with disabilities and special needs.
With support from Open Studios sponsor Property Peninsula, members of the workshop have produced beaded keyrings that will be displayed at each studio stop.
Their inclusion adds another dimension to the weekend, recognising creativity not only as an artistic practice but also as a source of participation, dignity and economic opportunity.
Making a Day of the Experience
Open Studios extends beyond galleries and working spaces to embrace the broader character of the neighbourhood.
Located on Paris Road at False Bay Hospital, the Farm Shack Cafe will offer visitors a place to pause between studio visits. The café harvests produce from its adjacent food garden and serves fresh juices, milkshakes, coffee, sandwiches and wraps alongside organic produce and locally made products.
Extended opening hours and a special weekend menu will make the café a convenient stop along the route, reinforcing the event’s identity as a neighbourhood-wide experience shaped by art, local enterprise and community life.
A Growing Creative Destination
The participation of Fish Hoek Studios, Mothership Studios, Jacqui’s Framery, Peak Café, AP Jones and Farm Shack Cafe reflects the evolving character of Open Studios Fish Hoek & Clovelly.
Rather than limiting art to the traditional gallery model, the programme celebrates the diverse spaces in which creativity is developed, displayed and experienced—from private studios and shared workshops to shop windows, cafés and community organisations.
At its heart, Open Studios is about access: opening doors, introducing audiences to the people behind the work and offering a closer understanding of the processes that shape contemporary South African art.
For collectors and culturally curious visitors alike, the weekend presents an opportunity to encounter established and emerging artists within the environments that influence their work—and to experience the Southern Peninsula as one of Cape Town’s growing creative destinations.
Event Information
Open Studios Fish Hoek & Clovelly 2026
Dates: 9–11 October 2026
Public studio weekend: Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October
Opening hours: 10:00–16:00
Admission: Free on Saturday and Sunday
A paid preview evening in support of breast cancer nonprofit Project Flamingo will take place on Friday, 9 October. Tickets are available through Quicket.
The Elizabeth Vels exhibition and public installations at AP Jones and Jacqui’s Framery open on Thursday, 1 October.
Participating venues, programme information and the digital map are available at openstudios.org.za and through @openstudiosfishhoekclove
