About
Inge Brigitte Semple is an award-winning artist based in Cape Town, South Africa. Semple’s work reflects her deep connection to the Cape’s geography and heritage as a descendant of its earliest inhabitants. She completed her BA in Fine Art and Art Education at Stellenbosch University in 1985, majoring in painting oil and watercolour under Paul Emsley and Ellalou O’Meara.
A lifelong learner, Inge waited almost 40 years for instruction in classical old master drawing and painting. She was privately mentored and taught by Carlo Russo, a modern realist still life master, from 2020-2023. In 2024, Inge was fortunate to take part in Russo’s first London UK painting workshop on Dutch Golden Age floral painting. Russo taught Inge to turn form through the sight size method and cast drawing, and to paint thinly applied oils in the spirit of the old Dutch masters.
Her career includes over 40 group exhibitions locally in Cape Town, Johannesburg and Grahamstown, four large solo exhibitions in Cape Town, and online for the Fabriano in Acquarello Italian and international Watercolour Festival in 2022. Inge has achieved international acclaim, including Best Watercolour at the juried 111th Annual South African Society of Artists Exhibition in 2017, third Best Watercolour at the second National juried WASA Watercolour Exhibition in Johannesburg in 2018, and international recognition when invited to exhibit in the Bienal Internacional de la Acuarela online exhibition in Mexico in 2023.
A committed fifth-generation educator of art students aged 1-90 since 1986, and co-founder of the recently formed Cornerstone Art Atelier based in Cape Town, Semple also teaches adult art classes and workshops across the Western Cape, focusing on realist techniques in drawing, watercolour and oil. Her work is part of private collections worldwide, reflecting her artistic versatility and enduring appeal.
Inge is a member of South African Society of Artists, Botanical Artists Association of Southern Africa, and Watercolour Art Southern Africa.
Inge can be found at www.ingesemple.com, and on Instagram and Facebook @ingesempleart
Mujahid Ur Rehman, a superbly talented landscape photographer and documentary filmmaker from Pakistan, now living in Cape Town, made a beautifully crafted documentary about Inge's life and career thus far. Visit his website for more of his work.
Artist Statement
My work explores themes of nature’s transient beauty and the fullness of time. I am fascinated by the exquisite light effects in landscape, having been deeply influenced by hiking in the Cape mountains, and by my residence for two decades- a historic forestry cottage in a national park in Cape Town, South Africa. I depict detail, texture, iridescence, colour and transparency, and explore the delicate, ephemeral qualities of indigenous and exotic flora and fauna.
Rooted in both realism and impressionism, my art contains references to Dutch and Flemish Golden Age masters, British Romantic and French Neo-Classical plein air landscape painting. My technique expresses both the revealing and dissolving of form, with a focus on light and texture in the present moment. Working only from life, I follow a concept whereby a brief window of opportunity and perfection is captured and made permanent. I often make use of the vanitas theme where one is poignantly reminded of the brevity of life.
Always driven by curiosity, I use multiple mediums: oil, watercolour, charcoal, pencil and silverpoint. Through drawing and painting, I strive to depict a unique balance of meticulous detail of unusual natural objects, the underlying structure of these objects and landscapes, and an ethereal quality that expresses not just the physicality of my subjects but their innate essence and story. I thereby, through my brush, invite my viewers up close to marvel deeply at the world, as if they are co-inhabiting a vast “Wunderkammer” with me. I aim to render the ordinary extraordinary and to imbue transience with a sense of divine timelessness.
Artist CV: Inge Semple
Contact
(+27) 072 597 5275
E: inge@ingesemple.com
W: www.ingesemple.com
instagram.com/ingesempleart
facebook.com/ingesempleart
Education
1985 BA (Fine Art) HDE Stellenbosch University, Studied under Prof Larry Scully, Cecil Skotnes, Ellalou O’ Meara, Paul Emsley
1986-present Studied under/attended workshops by Van Zyl le Grange, Barbara Innes, Mel Todd, Sally Price, Lyn Northam, Vivian van der Merwe, Victor Honey, Dr John Manning, Vicky Thomas, Kasper Kobke, Amit Kapoor, Carlo Russo and Joanna Lee Miller
2020-22 mentored by Carlo Russo, Modern American still life master
2024 Attended Dutch Golden Age floral and still life painting workshop with Carlo Russo in London, UK
Professional Appointments and Business
2025 Teaching watercolour, oil and classical drawing classes and workshops in Cape Town and the greater Western Cape
2023 Collaborative Workshop Series - Anatomy for Portraiture - with Michael Tietz-Geldenhuys
2023 Collaborative Plein Air Workshop Series with Joanna Lee Miller
2023 Co-Founder, Cornerstone Art Atelier with Michael Tietz-Geldenhuys & Tiana Goosen
2022 Two collaborative demonstrations held at The Italian Art Shop with Michael Tietz-Geldenhuys
2022 Ran collaborative workshop on artistic anatomy for portraiture with Michael Tietz-Geldenhuys - featuring cast and portrait drawing
2022 Documentary film about Inge made by Mujahid Ur Rehman
2020 First online demonstration on painting birds for Constantiaberg Art Society
2020 Ran collaborative watercolour workshop entitled “The Colour Of Hope” with fellow watercolourist Dayna-Gay Tate for First Online Artist’s Gathering
2018-2019 Two watercolour demonstrations for The Italian Art Shop
2018 Constantiaberg Art Society evening adjudication of members’ artworks with Elise Bezuidenhout
2017 Watercolour demonstration for Somerset West Art Society
2017 Watercolour demonstration for Fish Hoek Art Society
2017 Two workshops with 50 Chinese tourist artists at Goldfields, Kirstenbosch, and collaborative painting with their art teacher, Mr Sun
2016 South African Artists evening adjudication of members’ artworks with Lesley Charnock
2016 Talk for Western Cape Botanical Artists Society on painting insects
2016 Watercolour demonstration for Blaauwberg Art Society
2016 Watercolour demonstration for Fish Hoek Art Society
2016 Watercolour demonstration for Constantiaberg Art Society
2014-present Runs watercolour workshops in Western Cape
2007 Launch of Cape Fauna and Flora cards and prints, now called Inge Semple Art
2004-2014 Taught art, design and photography to home educated students Grade 0 - Grade 12, and organised their joint art exhibition in 2009
1998 Oil demonstration for Constantiaberg Art Society
1993-present helped students with art and design portfolios for tertiary applications
1993-present teaches drawing and painting to adult students from studio
1990-2014 Relief teaching at Herschel Girls’ High School, Peter Clarke Art Centre, Springfield Girls’ Primary School Art Department
1990-98 Book illustration for educational publishers Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, Kagiso Books and others
1987-89 Taught Art and English at Fairmont and Settlers High Schools Grades 8-12
Awards
2019 Certificate of Commendation for mixed media at 113th SASA Annual Exhibition
2019 Watercolour selected by international jury for 1st International Watermedia Festival Cape Town
2018 Third best Watercolour 2nd National WASA Watercolour Exhibition Johannesburg
2018 Honourable Mention for watercolour at 1st National WASA Exhibition, Cape Town
2017 Best Watercolour at 111th SASA Annual Exhibition
2010 Certificate of Commendation for watercolour at 104th SASA Annual Exhibition
Selected Exhibitions
1998- present Taken part in over 40 group exhibitions in Cape Town, including Common Ground Artists, South African Society of Artists members’ exhibitions, International Watercolour Society South Africa national and international exhibitions, Original Cape Art, Artist’s Portfolio, Professional Cape Artists, and Salon 104
2023 "Evening Harvest" watercolour included in Bienal Internacional de la Acqurela in Mexico City
2023 Flora Fest group botanical art exhibition, Stellenbosch University Botanical Garden
2023 PLANT Botanical Exhibition, Kirstenbosch Botanical Garden with BAASA
2022 Participated in the international Fabriano in Acquarello Exhibition as part of a group of South African artists
2021-2022 Selected Cape Artists at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
2021 Original Cape Art
November 2020-March 2021 Selected Cape Artists at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens
2020 A5 Online Exhibition
2019-20 Gallery One11 Botanica Terrarum: The Nature of Things group exhibition
2020 SASA Merit Exhibition
2019 SASA 113th Annual Exhibition
2018 Joint studio exhibition with 30 past and present adult students
2018 Artem Gallery co-organised first national International Watercolour Society South Africa exhibition
2018 Co-organised “Re-sCape” first National 40 Stones Art Collective exhibition in Cape Town in conjunction with First Thursdays Cape Town
2018 SASA Merit Exhibition
2017 SASA 1111h Annual Exhibition
2017 Grahamstown National Arts Festival group exhibition with 40 Stones Artist’s Collective
2017 Exhibition at Goldfields Centre with adult students for Chinese artists at their workshop
2016 The Cape Gallery, Watercolours group exhibition
2014 The Cape Gallery, Pause, the annual wildlife group exhibition
2013 SA Print Gallery Group Botanical Prints exhibition
2013 Fourth Solo Exhibition, The Cape Gallery, “A Sense of Place- fifty paintings for turning fifty” and open for First Thursdays Cape Town
2011 SASA Merit Exhibition
2010 SASA 104th Annual Exhibition
2009 Exhibition at Tokai SAN Parks Cape Research Centre opening
2009 Third Solo Exhibition, Sanlam Hall Kirstenbosch Gardens, “Life in the Forest”, consisting of 100 original paintings
2005 Second Solo Exhibition, Tokai Library, “The Fullness of Time”, with sculptor and clockmaker Guy Luck
2001 Women of Promise Women’s Conference, Parow, art exhibition
2001 Group Exhibition with South African artists, Albany Museum, Grahamstown National Christian Arts Festival Exhibition
2001 Nova Constantia Cellars Joint exhibition with artist Francoise Viglietti and potter Tina Schultz
2000 Kirstenbosch Botanical Biennale
2000 First Solo Exhibition, Nova Constantia Cellars, “The Coming Harvest”, with potter Tina Schultz
1998 Nova Constantia Cellars First Group exhibition, “Towards the Light”, with Francoise Viglietti, Lissa Claassens, and Ronelle Rudman- all twenty artworks by Inge Semple sold out.
1987 Staff Art Exhibition at Fairmont High School, Durbanville
Articles
2017 The South African Artist Issue 27 featured artist for The Italian Art Shop
2011 The Chronicle 7 December: “All Creatures Great and Small Inspire Tokai Artist”
2009 Constantiaberg Bulletin Thursday 7 May by Garth King: “Tokai Forest’s Beatrix Potter Exhibits Her Work”
Commissions
2020 Logo design for Fynbos Crush beauty products
2014 Group Portrait in honour of Professor Andre Odendaal’s retirement from sport and to commemorate his contribution to sporting awards by Western Cape Department of Cultural Affairs
1991 Logo, badge and letterhead design for Buren High School, Cape Town
1991 Logo and letterhead design for Village Landscaping
1991-present Over 400 birth, marriage and other rites of passage personal paintings including hand drawn wedding invitations and special birthday gifts
Collections
Many works in three private collections in Wales and RSA
Numerous works in private homes in the USA, Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Nigeria, England, Scotland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Swaziland and South Africa