In FOOTNOTES, Mientjie works with one of the most ordinary objects in daily life – the shoe – and remakes it in clay. Loafers, flats, sandals and other forms appear across more than one hundred individual pieces, each made by hand and none intended to be repeated.
The exhibition grows out of two parts of her life that rarely meet in the same room. As an ultrarunner, shoes are practical objects shaped by distance and endurance. As a ceramic artist, she approaches them differently: as forms that can be altered, exaggerated and reconsidered once their usual function is removed.
The title also points to another strand of Mientjie’s work. Her full name is Hermiene, and she is a PhD candidate and part-time lecturer in Old Testament Studies at the University of the Free State.
In November 2026, she will present research at the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting in Denver, Colorado, with a paper focusing on Psalm 104 and its representation of the sea. Proceeds from the exhibition will contribute towards the cost of that trip, with every ceramic shoe available for sale and Rust-en-Vrede Gallery waiving its commission.
Mientjie’s mother, Annetjie, was involved in the project from its early stages and helped develop the idea of producing the shoes as a larger body of work.
The opening adds another personal thread. Chef and author Isabella Niehaus will join Mientjie to speak about her cookbook and culinary memoir, Bella’s Kitchen.
After Denver, Mientjie plans another journey of a very different kind: a 100-kilometre run through the Karoo from Tankwa Padstal to Da’ Doer Padstal.
Opening
Thursday, 1 October 2026
18h00 for 18h30
Images courtesy of Rust-en-Vrede Gallery + Clay Museum and Mientjie.
