Maun based American fine artist, Mathew Biorn will next month host an artwork exhibition dubbed ‘Fifty for Fifty’ with a motive to support local vulnerable children while at the same time celebrating his 50th birthday.
Biorn is set to showcase his original oil and acrylic canvas paintings from 2022 and 2023 and will also use the exhibition for retrospection.
The exhibition which is scheduled to run for the whole month aims to support Botho Corps Trust, a local charity serving the needs of vulnerable children in Boro village.
Half of the proceeds from the sales of his artwork will be donated to the trust. The artist will also use the exhibition to celebrate his 50th birthday hence the title “Fifty for Fifty.”
“Fifty for Fifty’ is seen not only as an opportunity for art collectors to acquire original fine art inspired and produced in Botswana, but to also help fund-raise for Botho Corps Trust, an NGO where Biorn serves as a board member,” reads a press release from the director of ‘Biorn Fine Arts’ himself.
Botho Corps Trust nurtures and promotes the mental health and wellness for the children, individuals, organization, communities and the nation at large.
“Having lived in Boro since 2018, I saw first-hand the hardships and dangers the village children faced in walking or hiking to school in Maun, 10km each way. We then appealed to the business community where Lucara Diamond Company answered the call by donating a school bus for the kids,” he stated.
With proceeds from the exhibition, he added that the Trust hopes to launch after-school skills development programmes for the kids to further strengthen the Boro community.
Biorn stated that attendees should be prepared to view some beautiful paintings that capture feelings of peace and serenity. The artist’s taste is quite eclectic and therefore his work varies in regard to subject, yet the paintings attempt to capture moments of bold colour and beauty in the natural world.
Biorn stated that he is inspired by the splendor of his surroundings on the edge of the Okavango Delta, which fuels his motivation to create art. Biorn earned his BA degree in Fine Art in 1995, the same year he first came to Botswana as a US Peace Corps Volunteer to teach English and Art at Chobe Junior Secondary School in Kasane.
Since then, he has developed his career as an artist, exhibiting at the National Gallery in Gaborone in 2014, the American Embassy to Botswana in 2015, and at the Nhabe Museum in Maun in 2018.
The exhibition opening ceremony will be held on July 1st and admission is free of charge for the entire month of July.
