Featured Artists 2025
This year we are collaborating with these Talented Featured Artists
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We are thrilled to collaborate with a group of dynamic, boundary-pushing artists who each bring extraordinary talent and vision to the
Thinking Rabbits Project.
Masters of their craft, they transform ideas into powerful works of art that inspire, challenge, and provoke fresh perspectives on creativity, culture,
and community.
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This diverse collective spans a wide spectrum of disciplines, street art, graffiti, design, fine art, sculpting, mosaics, and more, each contributing their own unique style and energy.
Together, they create a powerful synergy where bold ideas meet technical mastery, sparking dialogue, telling stories, and reimagining what art can mean in today’s world.
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In the coming weeks, we’ll be introducing each artist individually, highlighting their inspirations, creative journeys, and the magic they bring to the Thinking Rabbit project.
Stay tuned as we celebrate the remarkable people whose work is shaping this year into an unforgettable artistic experience.
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Follow our collaboration on Instagram and Facebook
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Meet the Artists
Johnny Allison
Johnny Allison is a professional South African muralist based in Pretoria and recognised as one of the few truly exceptional artists in his field.
Unlike graffiti, which often carries a raw street expression, Johnny’s murals are designed to beautify and transform spaces, bringing vibrant creativity to corporate offices, restaurants, retail stores, and public spaces.
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Proudly calling Pretoria his home, Johnny’s artistry extends across the country. His murals can be found in Cape Town, Gqeberha, Durban, Johannesburg, Midrand, Centurion, Welkom, Qwa Qwa, and many other towns and cities across South Africa. His work is admired for its ability to merge artistic vision with functional design, creating environments that inspire and engage.
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You may already know Johnny’s style from the iconic Chicken Licken murals that have become landmarks in many neighbourhoods. While some might think of him as a street artist for hire, his portfolio positions him firmly as both an indoor and outdoor mural painter, specialising in custom, commissioned artwork for businesses and individuals.​
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For more information check out Johnny's social links below.​​​​​​​​​
Rici Allison
Rici Allison, Pretoria based artist, hopes her lifelong passion for painting can inspire others, as she shares her creative world with her husband and family.
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She was born in Vereeniging and raised in Pretoria, where she attended an art high school before studying textile design at the Technicon in Pretoria (now TUT). Her love for creativity later took her to Germany, where she spent several years studying at an art academy in Hamburg.
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The journey from painting a childhood friend's door to running art exhibitions has been 'vibrant and deeply fulfilling' for the artist.​
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She believes painting is not only about art, but also about giving people a joyful and uplifting experience.
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Her creative energy flows into every aspect of her life, and art is not just something she does, but something that defines who she is.
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She runs an art shop at House of Superior Clothing in Brooklyn, where she hosts step-by-step painting events and monthly arts and crafts workshops.
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For more information check out Rici's social links below.​​​​​​​​​​
Laurel Holmes
Laurel Holmes (b. 1964) lives in the Western Cape, South Africa.
Her practice references a nostalgia strongly influenced by memories of an unrestricted childhood, where the physical landscape was more accessible. Through painting, printmaking and porcelain, she examines fragility and strength in a natural world within which our own lives are often harried, bombarded by fear and worry, too little privacy or quiet.
She creates works that invite the viewer to consider their own thinking about the natural world and what it means to them.
Holmes left a corporate career in 2012 to focus on a creative practice. In 2021 she completed a postgraduate diploma in fine art at Michaelis School of Fine Art, UCT.
She exhibits regularly, founded Open Studios Kommetjie in 2018 and a member of The Printing Girls.
Her original prints, paintings and ceramics are held in private international and local collections as well as in South African institutional collections.
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For more information check out Laurel's social links below.​​​​​​
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Daniël Jansen van Vuuren
Daniël Jansen van Vuuren is an established Creative Director and Photographer. After 20 years of practicing within the field of Visual Communication, he started working as a fine artist again parallel to his commercial photography and design business, which was founded in 1999.
Jansen van Vuuren holds an honours degree in graphic design, marketing and photography as well as a Fine Arts degree.
As a fine artist his early work has been accepted and exhibited at several national exhibitions including:
“The New Signatures-competition”, “Rolphes Impressions”, “The Volkskas Atelier”. Many of his early works are held in private collections.
Statement: "I am a visual communicator fascinated by interconnectedness of matter. Much of what exists cannot be
seen with the naked eye, but is still contained within a vessel or structure. We often tend to only believe
in what we see, touch, smell and feel, hear and rely on our physical senses to corroborate our condition.
Everything we perceive in physical reality, in some form, has been here since the beginning of time and
will remain forever."
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For more information check out Daniël's social links below.​​​​
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Mister Bzar
Mr. Bzar is an enigmatic artist, who founded and curated, We Do Graffiti, a premier graffiti and mural collective based in Cape Town, South Africa.
Their mission is to transform blank walls into bold canvases of expression, blending craftsmanship with raw, street-level storytelling.
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Mr. Bzar, the face (and mask) of the collective, leads a talented team of artists working across major cities, including Durban and Johannesburg, to deliver custom murals, live graffiti events, and large-scale public artwork.
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His work is characterized by a vector-inspired design style, seamlessly combining solid and gradient fills with crisp, vibrant outlines.
With a philosophy rooted in the belief that “the world is our canvas,” they collaborate with brands, corporates, event planners, and private clients to bring creative visions to life.
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Whether it’s breathing life into public spaces or responding to client briefs, We Do Graffiti is dedicated to preserving the authenticity and energy of urban art, balancing technical precision with fierce creative voice. Their reach extends nationwide, making them a standout name in South Africa’s street art scene.
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For more information check out Mr. Bzar's social links below.​​​​​​​​​​​​
Jonathan van der Walt
Jonathan van der Walt (b. 1991) is a Gqeberha-based visual artist, curator, and academic whose interdisciplinary practice merges traditional and digital sculptural techniques to explore contemporary South African identity.
He holds a Master’s degree in Fine Art Sculpture from Nelson Mandela University, where he lectures in Visual Arts and manages the Bird Street Gallery and the School of Visual and Performing Arts’ 3D Printing Lab.
He is also a member of the South African Visual Arts Historians (SAVAH) and serves on the board of ArtEC, supporting emerging artists in the Eastern Cape.
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Jonathan’s recent work critically examines contemporary white African identity through a postcolonial lens, using the braai as a thematic point of departure.
By deconstructing its forms, textures, and sensory elements, he interrogates its layered meanings in relation to his South African heritage and identity construction.
His practice integrates traditional sculptural methods with digital technologies, including 3D modeling and printing, creating a dialogue between the tactile and the virtual, the past and the present.
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For more information check out Jonathan's social links below.​
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Sarah Walmsley
Sarah Walmsley was born in Port Elizabeth and completed her BTech in Fine Art Sculpture (cum laude) in 2015 and graduated with her Masters in Fine Art Sculpture from Nelson Mandela University in April 2019.
Walmsley has taken part in over 60 group exhibitions across South Africa including the nation-wide top 50 All Womxn Matter finalist exhibition, Absa L’Atelier and Sasol New Signatures top 100 finalist exhibitions and has just been accepted into the Chateau d’Orquevaux Artists Residency in France.
Her artworks are in private collections around the world and can be viewed on the online gallery platform of StateoftheART Gallery.
Walmsley lectured at Nelson Mandela University, in the Department of Art and Design from 2015-2019 and from 2020-2022 was the head of Visual Art at Collegiate Girls’ High School in Port Elizabeth. Walmsley now runs her own Art & Wellness business titled Art with Heart and pursues her career as a practising artist from Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
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Walmsley explores the self-portrait as a mode of processing identity, memory and as an assist to navigate the process of grieving the loss of mothers and mother-figures in a personal context.
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For more information check out Sarah's social links below.
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Carmen Levey
Carmen Levey is a devoted mother, grandmother, and mosaic artist who turned her passion into a thriving creative business.
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For over a decade, she has been bringing color and texture to life through her mosaic art, evolving from a hobbyist into the owner of a mosaic supply store and studio workshop host.
Carmen has completed countless pieces, including commissions, and has guided many first-time artists through the joy of creating their own mosaics.
Her studio is not just a place to make art, but also a space where creativity and community come together.
When she’s not working with students or managing her store, she dedicates her time to caring for her 13 -year-old son and two grandchildren.
Her garden, dotted with her whimsical mosaic creations, reflects both her artistry and her love for beauty in everyday life.
Carmen continues to inspire others with her warmth, creativity, and passion for mosaics.
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For more information check out Carmen's social links below.
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