It is in the present tense.
Depending on context, Sy maak kuns can mean:
Afrikaans often uses the simple present where English might use either makes or is making. If you want to strongly emphasize that it is happening at this moment, you can say Sy is besig om kuns te maak.
Because kuns here is being used as an uncountable noun, like art in English.
You normally would not say an art in English in this sense, and similarly you do not use ’n here in normal Afrikaans. So Sy maak kuns is the natural form.
If you mean one specific artwork, you would usually use a different word, such as ’n kunswerk.
A rough guide is:
A simple English-friendly approximation would be say mahk kuns, but the vowel in kuns is especially worth listening to from native speech, because it is not a perfect English sound.
Afrikaans usually makes negatives with double nie:
This is a very important Afrikaans pattern. In many ordinary sentences, one nie appears after the verb phrase, and another nie comes near the end of the clause.
Yes, but Afrikaans has an important rule: in a main clause, the finite verb usually stays in second position.
So:
That verb-second pattern is a key feature of Afrikaans sentence structure.