About Us

About Lillian Gray Art School

Welcome to the online home of Lillian Gray (Pty) Ltd.   Lillian Gray is a multi-passionate artist-entrepreneur. Founded by Lillian Gray in 2016 the team has grown extensively since then. The business is multi-faceted. Please click on the area of interest to you below.

The Artist

Lillian Gray is a contemporary South African Fine Artist. She internationally recognised with international art exhibitions in London, New York and Florence. She believes in creating unique art pieces that will serve as art investments for her clients. She is a lover of business and art and loves empowering people. Lillian Gray founded this school as a way of empowering young South African artists. 

The School

At our school, we offer weekly art classes in Johannesburg. We are suited for the beginner student as well as the advanced art student. We teach adults, teens, tweens, kids and toddlers. We offer a broad range of other artistic events such as Paint Nights, Workshops as well as Corporate Team Building activities and year-end functions

The Shop

We have our very own online art supplies store to offer starter products and kits to our students. We also sell these bespoke Art Supplies at our studio. All products have been hand-chosen and used by Lillian. We have supplies for Watercolour, Acrylic, Charcoal, Pencil Drawing, Clay, Oil Paints as well as products aimed at children starting their creative journey. You can visit our online shop here.

Meet the team

Our Team
Lillian

Lillian Gray
Founder; Co-owner

Lillian Gray started teaching art in 2015 and established the Lillian Gray Art School with her husband in 2016. They built the larger studio space and completed it in 2017. Lillian studied at Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch Design Academy, and Stellenbosch Business School. She is an internationally recognised artist with exhibitions in New York, London, and, most recently, in Barcelona in 2022.  She is best known for her contemporary oil painting portraits.

Lillian loves empowering people through art, teaching them new skills, and creating a love for art history. She is currently living in Munich, Germany, and is working on developing lots of new worksheets and YouTube videos about South African and African artists. She is also translating her current content into German. Lillian hopes to start teaching art to small groups of kids in Munich.

View Lillian’s art on her website, Facebook and Instagram. Watch courses, interviews, and Art History videos on our YouTube channel.

Visit Lillian Gray's WEbsite
Adelle

Adelle Jansen van Rensburg
Co-Owner; ADULT AND Tweens Art Teacher Ages 9-12

Adelle is our resident Tweens and Adult teacher. She has loved art her whole life and loves connecting with kids and all humans. She is a self-taught artist and had her first International Exhibition in Barcelona in 2022. She is most known for her bold-style portraits. Each week Adelle develops new skills in her students, whether in drawing, clay, lino, or painting. Adelle is passionate about teaching and loves to see her students grow lesson by lesson.

Adelle’s love for psychology and human development also comes in handy. She hosts our corporate team-building events. Adding a touch of conscious living exercises.  As stated, Adelle loves teaching kids art and has a unique touch and way of teaching with our Tween students. She regularly hosts our Paint Nights at our studio with fun art themes like Mexican – Frida Kahlo, Starry Starry Night – Van Gogh, etc.

See some of Adelle’s art on our website and on her Facebook and Instagram.

Read more about Adelle

The Team

Grizelda

Grizelda Liebenberg
Administration

Grizelda has been doing administration for more than 8 years.

She is the official ‘left brain’ in the office, ensuring all the admin is up to date.

She is the welcoming face at the studio and the friendly voice on the other side of the phone.

Grizelda is in charge of your experience as the client. She is the one you speak to when you’re organising classes or outings or buying products. She is the first respondent to any of your queries. She is the absolute backbone of our Art School making sure that your experience is as smooth as possible.

Grizelda is creative, although she would not categorise herself as an artist she makes creative decisions every day. She is loyal, determined and hard-working.

Grizelda joined the team on the 1st of September 2017.

Jemma Sander
Assistant Marketing Manager and Tweens Teacher ages 9-12

Jemma joined our team this in 2021 as our new Tweens teacher for an extra late afternoon time slot.

She is the Assistant Marketing Manager and is in charge of our social media and communication online.

She has a bachelor’s degree- cum laude in Education, with her main subject being, Art History. Jemma has 5 years of teaching experience in all ages, with experience in teaching Visual Arts.

She considers herself a self-taught artist and loves using different mediums and experimenting with different styles. She is excited to help the students to develop and grow as artists.

Patience

Patience Ncube
Youngsters Art Teacher Ages 4 - 8

She is our youngster’s teacher and has such a soft touch, she surrounds them with kindness and love and ensures that their skills develop in all mediums as well as their fine motor and social skills.

She started doing additional courses in 2019. She has obtained her certificate in au pairing as well as her certificate in pediatric to older child first aid. She has also done course in OT Development for Kids.

Patience has completed the following courses in art:

 

  • Child Development Ages 4 -6
  • Mixed Media Collage for Toddlers 
  • Lillian Gray Drawing Course – 12 weeks

Patience is in charge of getting all the hospitality aspects ready for our events. She has a diploma as a receptionist and in bookkeeping. Patience has been a part of our studio family for over 4 years now.

Claire Cafetzoglou
Photography Teacher

Claire’s travels and life experiences have shaped the way she captures life through the lens.

She has more than ten years of experience in natural light photography and has worked professionally capturing portraits, families, and weddings in the United States and South Africa.

Claire has a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Graphic Design and enjoys finding new ways of blending her love for photography and design through both teaching and freelancing.

She is currently furthering her knowledge in studio lighting. 

See some of Claire’s work on our website and on Instagram.

See some of Claire's photography

Sandi Mojo
Teaching Assistant

Sandi is our teaching assistant and our helping hand around the studio. She ensures our classes are set up and ready for our students, by making sure we have everything we need for the day.

Sandi works alongside Patience and helps with the youngsters, she has a big heart and is a caring soft soul that makes all our kids feel safe.

She loves working with clay and painting.

She is the welcoming face at our gate and ensures all our students enter and exit safely.

Sandi helps with all our hospitality aspects and gets them ready for our events. She decorates our studio and ensures everything is neat and organised.

Jaylin Richardson
Adult and Teen Art Teacher Ages 13-18

Jaylin is an enthusiastic and passionate woman. She is motivated and determined to share her love for art with our teenage students.

Jaylin Graduated with her Masters of Arts(MA): Visual Art-cum laude IN 2022

She has a lot of experience in printmaking. She is well-versed in Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro. She has been a part of four exhibitions and has absolutely excelled in her studies, completing her Btech Fine Arts cum laude.

Jaylin has also received awards for her art: Top 100 Sasol New Signatures, Lynn Goldfinch Trophy, and the Special Award Design School floating trophy for excellence in painting and drawing.

See some of Jaylin’s art on Instagram.

Photos of our art studio