Aleta's arcanum : profile

Driving up to Aleta Michaletos's home in Lynnwood, Pretoria, I pass her private art gallery, Galleries Petites, in the lush green garden. I park in front of the residence, where Aleta and her medical practitioner husband, Theunis, live, and I am met by a beautiful gracious lady, who, with an engaging smile, directs me towards a narrow alleyway, which winds, in a series of irregular steps, along the right side of the house. I sense the Mediterranean atmosphere as I follow the stone steps past pots of Iceland poppies in full bloom, lending colour to the route to her spacious airy studio (aptly called Studio Illuminare), where she invites me to enter her studio.