Art Takes Over the Neighbourhood: Inside Open Studios Fish Hoek & Clovelly 2026
For one weekend in October, Fish Hoek and Clovelly become a map of creative activity, with artists opening their studios and a host of local spaces finding new ways to bring art into the everyday. However this year, you won’t have to wait until the official start of Open Studios Fish Hoek & Clovelly to see the neighbourhood transformed.
Ahead of the main event, a series of exhibitions and installations will begin appearing across the area, turning shopfronts, cafés, and working spaces into beautiful spaces to encounter contemporary art.
A life in art, on display at AP Jones
From 1 October, the upstairs space at AP Jones will host A Cabinet of Curiosities: Recording and Recalling a Very Long Life, an exhibition by South African artist Elizabeth Vels, who recently celebrated her 89th birthday.
Spanning ceramics, oil paintings and works on paper, the exhibition draws from a practice that has developed over more than five decades. Vels is recognised as one of South Africa’s early papermakers and artist’s bookmakers, disciplines she has pursued since the late 1970s.
So instead of just presenting a neat perspective, the exhibition offers a glimpse into the breadth of Vels’ materially adventurous practice and the ways her work has moved between fine art, craft, bookmaking, and experimentation.
When a framing shop becomes an exhibition space
At Jacqui’s Framery on Main Road, the familiar world of picture framing becomes the starting point for another intercession.
Artists Candice Oppenheim, Gerda Smit, and Nicolene Louw will work with empty picture frames and original artworks to create a bespoke hanging installation. Instead of treating the framing shop simply as a backdrop, the project incorporates its existing objects and materials, bringing art, craft, display, and the everyday commercial landscape of Main Road into an artistic conversation.
Inside Fish Hoek’s newest artist community
There are also new spaces to discover during the 2026 edition, including Fish Hoek Studios, a shared artists’ studio established in 2025.
The space houses 11 individual studios alongside a woodworking workshop, creating an environment for artists across a range of disciplines. For Open Studios, selected works will move into the communal area, allowing visitors to view the artists collectively while getting a sense of the environment in which their work is created.
Contemporary artist Xanthe Scout Lardner-Burke, who is a friend of the studio, has curated the presentation. The participating artists include Ben Stanwix, Sivan Zeffertt, Hugh Byrne, Matt Slater, Amber Moir, Brendan Murton, Tremayne Ward-Smith, Duduetsang Lamola, Matt Hazel, Carola Friess, and Motelseven.
Take home a piece of the experience
At Mothership Studios, the visit itself becomes part of the artwork.
The artist-led makers’ space, founded in late 2025, was created around the need for an accessible, child-friendly and community-driven professional studio environment in Fish Hoek. During the weekend, visitors will be given a piece of paper and invited to move through a series of workstations.
At each station, an artist will add a stamp to the paper. As visitors progress through the space, individual marks build into a single composition – meaning that by the end of the visit, each person leaves with their own communal artwork.
It’s a simple idea, but one that speaks to the main idea of the space: art as something participatory, collaborative, and connected to everyday community life.
Everyone gets a chance to make something
The programme is not just about professional artists. At Peak Café, visitors can create their own miniature artwork on a Post-it note and add it to a growing public exhibition.
Four prizes will be awarded, with the winners selected by public vote. Alongside the participatory display will be a group exhibition of small works by Open Studios artists.
There is also a community thread running through the weekend in the form of beaded keyrings made by the Fish Hoek-based Joyce Chevalier Protective Workshop, which provides sheltered employment for people with disabilities and special needs. The keyrings will be displayed at participating studio stops.
Make a day of it
With so many of the activations embedded within the neighbourhood, Open Studios is as much about exploring Fish Hoek and Clovelly as it is about visiting individual studios.
Farm Shack Cafe on Paris Road will open throughout the weekend as a place to stop between visits. Situated at False Bay Hospital, the café grows produce in its adjacent food garden and serves fresh juices, milkshakes, coffee, sandwiches and wraps, alongside organic produce, and other products.
With extended hours and a special weekend menu, it provides an easy place to pause before heading back out onto the studio trail.
Beyond the gallery
For visitors, the experience is about following a trail through the places where artists live, work, make, and connect.
Open Studios Fish Hoek & Clovelly takes place from 9 – 11 October 2026, with the main studio programme running on Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 October from 10h00 to 16h00. The weekend is free, while a paid preview takes place on Friday 9 October in aid of breast cancer NPO Project Flamingo.
Maps, participating venues, and the digital programme can be found at openstudios.org.za.
Images: Supplied