Well done, Sally!

- Linda Jaquet -

At the end of October, Sally Arnold, fine artist, designer and resident of Prince Albert, will travel to Cologne, Germany, to receive a prestigious international architectural award for her design of the façade of the Delheicht School’s new sports hall in the town of Esch-sur-Alzette in Luxembourg. The award-winning design comprises a 100m² undulating stainless steel cable net with lime green plexi-glass shapes sandwiched onto the upper third of the net.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Association for Sports and Leisure Facilities (IAKS) awarded a Gold Medal to the Delheicht project for “Exemplary Sports and Leisure Facilities” in 2007. Sally worked on the assignment for over three years with Witry & Witry, a Luxembourg-based architectural office. She and her colleagues are in distinguished company: three other Gold Medals have been awarded this year, to the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, the speed skating hall in Turin and the Nanjing Sports Park in China.

The award is made bi-annually and is the only one of its kind worldwide. Sally was delighted at the news as the unusual project had been complicated and was finalised only after a one-year delay. She now hopes this excellent reference will lead to collaborations on large scale projects in South Africa.

Sally Arnold was born in the Eastern Cape and grew up on a sheep farm in the Great Karoo. She studied Fine Art at the Cape Technical College and the Royal Academy in Antwerp, then mastered in Art History in Munich and Frankfurt. She has lived abroad for thirty years, began exhibiting her work in Europe and South Africa in 1996, and has since gained respect as both artist and designer. Sally has had a home in Prince Albert since 1999 and aims to use her studio here for works and projects made in South Africa.

In 2001, Sally started the Skuinshuis Scholarship fund to sponsor a female learner for three years in preparation for her entering an art, architectural, dance or music college in South Africa. The fund is currently supporting a promising art student at Hoërskool Zwartberg.