All Fired UAll Fired Uppconversations between storerooms and classroomsconversations between storerooms and classrooms

All Fired UAll Fired UppCONVERSATIONS BETWEEN STOREROOMS AND CLASSROOMS

Curatorial Statement 05

by JENNY STRETTON

The artists, their work and their selections 23

(un)Earthing History: Ceramics at the Durban Art Gallery 52

by DR. ELIZABETH PERRILL

A History of Ceramics at the Durban University of Technology 57

by TONY STARKEY

Continuity and Change: Ceramics at the Centre for Visual Art, UKZN PMB 61

by IAN CALDER

Mediating indigeneity and a cross-cultural aesthetic... 67

by JULIETTE LEEB-DU TOIT

The Nala Dynasty : the relevance and importance of these utshwala vessels 71

by JULIETTE ARMSTRONG

Ardmore 76

by VALERIE LEIGH

Rorke’s Drift ceramic traditions in context 80

by JULIETTE LEEB-DU TOIT

Biographies of exhibiting artists 86

Biographies of selected artists 89

C o n t e n t s

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5

Looking back on my own framing of the exhibition it seems more than

coincidental that I had a fl eeting image of an archeological dig. I think

it was this image that suggested to me that excavating the collection

would be worthwhile. In most civilizations it is the ceramic that en-

dures, a marker of the state of that particular society; their profi cien-

cy in science and art refl ected in their use of technology. Of course

in excavating sites from ancient societies we are unearthing mainly

functional ceramics in the form of vessels and other utilitarian objects

while modern ceramic artwork is about ideas.

The title is about the cyclical nature of creative production that has

within it both refl ective and innovative elements: a chain of ideas

passed from artist to artist over a period of time; the older more es-

tablished, inspiring the younger who bring vitality and daring to age-

old themes, eventually creating something utterly new. “All fi red up”

refl ects the vitality of the contemporary artist set against a tradition of

diverse experience.

Practically, the exhibition takes the following format: the invited art-

ists both submit their own work and also select from the DAG collec-

tion works which have inspired them.

The exhibition is also about transformation. In juxtaposing the es-

tablishment position, which is inevitably what collections are, with cur-

rent artistic thinking, we are illustrating a transformation of styles and

artistic practice. Set in the context of South Africa 2012 – a transform-

ing social and political landscape, the shift in subject matter for artists

is striking. No longer are we compelled to showcase the horrors of the

regime as we were when art was one of the few remaining avenues of

protest. Maybe that time will come again but for the moment the infer-

no of Apartheid has been swopped for a forge – melting and welding

different societies together. Almost without exception the artists speak

of the transformational power of the kiln – it is a magical, sacred space

that has no master. Other art forms also manipulate materials but not

at the alchemic level of the ceramicist – God knows what Faustian

deals are done as the artist closes the door of the kiln!

Ceramics in the greater society have become the darlings of mate-

rial scientists, chemists and physicists who create jet turbine blades

and fl exible springs as well as computer semiconductors from ceram-

ics. In the art world in general and in this exhibition in particular the

artists are no less innovative: clay is knitted into ceramic baby booties,

printed upon or folded into Origami fl oral arrangements.

There are so many layers of meaning at work, from the immensely

complex icon-inlaid to the deceptively simple overlapped patched

porcelain. There are fi red shell chunks – like meteors with lodestone

magnetic qualities they carry shards of manufactured colonial ceram-

ics, trade wind beads and other artifacts on new journeys.

Although drawing on traditional techniques from countless cultures

these South African artists have transcended categorization as rec-

ognizably South African – more than any other branch of the visual

arts, ceramicists are claiming a unique space as internationalists. The

Durban Art Gallery is committed to supporting and promoting this kind

of vision.

Curator ia l Statementby JENNY STRETTON

6

Creativity for me is a stream of consciousness within a certain medium. I decide on an idea and then try and work it out with the materials I have. I do not work to a specifi c outcome but en-joy playing with the clay (medium) and pushing it to its limits within the original idea. Ceramics really has no limits and it is silly to think if you are using the medium you have to stick with that source as inevitably your initial idea is only a starting point and the eventual fi nished item will have evolved beyond that limitation and become something new. I have an idea and then ‘walk’ through the idea with different possibilities until I reach a conclusion. This may have evolved be-yond my expectations or original intent.

As a ceramist, form is an integral aspect of my work as it occupies space three dimension-ally. The work I make cannot be separated from this property. I rely on the translucency and bril-liance of the bone china I make up and if I do use tonal variations it will be to specifi cally to offset the vibrancy/ light refl ection/changes from dif-

ferent light sources.Most of my work is profoundly infl uenced by

my research into Zulu material culture and the pottery made for the drinking of utshwala. How-ever, these pieces do not directly refl ect this research, although the fi nished items are con-tainers and could be used for a ritualistic drink. Currently I am working on vessel-like forms which contain space within the fragile parameters of the form. These are not necessarily functional although they could be used for an elixir of sorts, depending on the occasion. My work does not rely on so called ‘traditional techniques’ as I am trying to invent new ones. The only aspect of my work that is ‘traditional’ is the fact that it is put into a kiln and fi re it to make it to watertight and durable. I use very little clay in my ‘body’ as it is mostly bone ash. Consequently I have to invent new methods of making the mixture usable, so that it can be formed and fi red. I use a mixture that I have devised of bone ash, feldspar and white clay which when fi red to a high tempera-

Jul iet Armstrong

Armstrong, JulietA South African carrier shell from the time of the Sao Jaoa 2011Bone china & shells7. x 12.5 cm

Armstrong, JulietSouth African Carrier shell 2011Bone china, stoneware glaze, Ming shards, Carnelian beads, and tradeshells from the wreck of the SAO Jaoa off the coast at Port Edward130 mm x 150mm

Armstrong, JulietSouth African Carrier shell 2011top view

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Armstrong, JulietBody I 1977stoneware60.4 x 36.4 cmloose breast 11.2 cmDAG 1974

Armstrong, JulietBowl 1980bone chinaD: 12.7 cmDAG 2094

Armstrong, JulietBone China I 1981bone china13.2 x 5.8 cmDAG 2260

Armstrong, JulietUntitled 1990bone china (2 components)21.8 x 11.5 cmDAG 2315

Armstrong, JulietBone China II 1981bone china12.1 x 5.7 cmDAG 2261

DAG COLLECTION - JULIET ARMSTRONG

8

Nala, NestaClay pot with amasumpha 1993earthenware21.4 x 29.3 cmSC 626

Jeanning DAG Whitwell collectionVase c.1900stonewareH: 17.1 cmDAG 749

Delpayrat, Pierre AdrienDAG Whitwell collectionGourd shaped vase undatedstonewareH: 11.5 cmDAG 748

Carriés, Jean DAG Whitwell collectionBowl c.1870sStonewareH: 17.6 cmDAG 746

JULIET’S SELECTION

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Artist Unknown (Sévres)DAG Whitwell collectionBasin & tripod 191011.6 x 13.8 cminsc. on base Sévres markDAG 718

Artist Unknown (Manyani Valley)Ukhamba c.1996earthenware27.5 x 31.6 cmDAG SC 979

Mchunu, MamazibukoIsikhamba with grass lidc. 1920s Msingaearthenware & grassH: Isikhamba 28.7 cmD: Imbenge 17.4 cmDAG SC 870ZZZ

Artist Unknown (Mpangeni)Uphiso c.1930searthenware37 x 33.4 cmDAG SC 968

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My heritage as a potter is grounded in the area I grew up in, KwaZulu-Natal, the place I learnt my craft (Centre for Visual Art, UKZN, Pietermaritz-burg) and in the studio pottery that attracted my attention in local museums, notably the Durban Art Gallery and the Tatham. It was within these environments that I fell in love with clay as a material.

Looking through the Durban Art Gallery collec-tion, the surface of Claassen’s Pietermaritzburg junction: XIII (1990) caught my eye. The skilful, expressive use of engobes, slips and mineral oxides on the tense terracotta form is a subtly graded patina that suggests the passing of time. This piece speaks eloquently of the stark beau-ty of clay surfaces and embodies the legacy of modernist teaching practices in studio ceramics at the CVA that began with Hilda Ditchburn. Even today this legacy remains infl uential to CVA ce-ramics students and recent graduates, such as myself, through an emphasis on form and craft.

Conventionally, clay is mostly used by studio

potters as a thin skin - formed by the hands, and perhaps with a few tools. The earth’s crust is also like a skin or a vessel form around the mag-ma mantle. Clay can be an eloquent visual lan-guage for speaking about the igneous mass that it comes from. Clay is also a fi tting medium for ex-pressing a moment, and with it an implied move-ment. Whether this movement is the dynamism of a leaping animal or the geological slowness of gradually cracking earth, it can be captured permanently in clay as it changes to ceramic during the fi ring process. Though the moment is often captured faithfully, the material changes that take place during fi ring can yield surprising results and the moment of raw beauty is altered forever. In Rummage/ Rheumage moments in my process have been captured as images.

The potential to capture movement, tension and contrast through form and texture is evident in Mariti’s bull form. I was drawn to the scraped, glazed or vigorously combed surfaces that dem-onstrate the materiality of clay. The stoneware

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Bagley, KimRummage/Rheumage 2011Video (looped)

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Claassen, Garth‘Pietermaritzburg junction: XIII 1990clay & engobe23,6 x 23.9 cmon base ins. ‘GHC 1990’‘Pmb junction XIII’DAG 2974

Mariti, PasekaBull 1977stonewareL: 26.9 cmDAG 1975

Mkhabela, JudithElephant 1987earthenwareH: 26.9 cmDAG SC 151

Msiya, Elizabeth & Martha‘Large elephant’ c.1990earthenware52.4 x 40 cmSC 431

Manyoni, BhekiAnimal 1989clay, paint31.5 x 49.8 cmsgd. front right leg ‘B.M’DAG 2752

KIM’S SELECTION

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In Durban Art Gallery’s permanent collections, I was inspired by many examples of historical ce-ramics to create my own painted maiolica work.

Intricately decorated Isnik earthenware plates from Turkey fi rst caught my eye and imagina-tion. In Audrey Frank’s painted ceramics, I was fascinated with the historical connections in her work, as she had fi rst studied at Durban Art School’s Ceramics Department, then worked as a qualifi ed ceramist at Olifantsfontein’s ‘Ceram-ic Studio’, and later taught and inspired Hyme Rabinowitz in Cape Town (before he came into prominence as a leading South African stoneware ceramist).

The vivid cobalt blues painted on Chinese ex-port porcelain wares from Colonel Whitwell’s original bequest reminded me of the small frag-ments of porcelain, with their sky-blue brush-

strokes, that continue to wash onto the sea-shores at Port Edward today from the Sao Joao shipwreck of 500 years ago.

Amongst more recent works in the Collection I enjoyed the rotund forms and modelled motifs of Nesta Nala’s izinkamba, and was inspired to make a base with geometric patterns –like the carved rosewood bases on which many old pots are placed- for my own vase to stand on.

4The painted vases designed by the Poole Pot-tery ceramist, John Adams (who established South Africa’s fi rst college ceramics studio in Durban almost a century ago) led me further into my creative challenge of recollecting personal memories (indigenous lilies, hilltops, vleis, wo-ven patterns) and assembling them into a new ceramic work.

Ian Calder

Calder, IanMaiolica vase and stand: Battle Hill series 2011 Thrown vase & stand with carved motifs; maiolica tin-glaze with hand-painted oxide imagery, 2011 sight H: 30cm

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Calder, IanVase 1990Thrown vase; maiolica tin-glaze with hand-painted oxide imagery H: 47.1 cmsgd. on base ‘Calder ‘ 90’SC 451

Calder, IanMatisse’s seated nude 1990Thrown vase; maiolica tin-glaze with hand-painted oxide imagery H: ????????????? cm DAG 2759

Calder, IanWanli Plants 1990Thrown vase; maiolica tin-glaze with hand-painted oxide imagery H: ??????????????????????????? cm DAG 2760

Calder, IanVase 1990Thrown vase; maiolica tin-glaze with hand-painted oxide imagery H: 23.2 cmsgd. on base ‘I Calder ‘ 90’ DAG 2813

WORK IN THE DAG’S COLLECTION

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IAN’S SELECTION

Lee, PeterTea Pot c.1984earthenwareH: 16.3 cmsgd. insc. on base monogram HDAG 2448

Artist Unknown Plates x 2 (Rhodesia date unknown)porcelainD: 26.2 & 25.6 cmDAG 1168

Frank, AudreyShallow platter, 1925StonewareD: 29 cmsgd. on base ‘A.F. 1925’DAG 2768

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Adams, JohnDish date unknownstonewareD: 22 cmDAG 2020

Hall, JamesBowl c.1986porcelain6.2 x 13.3 cmsgd. insc. on base monogram HDAG 2521

Gerlings, SonjaOpen brown jar with black rim c.1969earthenware11.3 x 12 cmDAG 1680

Artist Unknown Pair of Imari bowls (Japanese early 19th century)porcelainH: 11 cmDAG 2343

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My love of working with clay and creating forms all began when I met my ceramic lecturer, Hen-drik Stroebel at Technikon Natal in 1995. Hennie was and is of great inspiration to many of his students and gave us the opportunity and en-couragement to explore and create using clay as a language of expression. Hennie’s love of form and design have always inspired me and contin-ues to do so. On a particular occasion a group of African women came and taught us the tradi-tional coiling method and it was then that I truly found my vocabulary.

I moved to Nottingham Road in the Midlands in 1999 with two other friends to take up work in a bronze casting foundry. There I crossed paths with ‘design guru’ Neville Trickett who intro-duced me to the botanical photography of Karl

Blossfeldt (1865-1932). This triggered the start of an evolving journey with clay.

Blossfeldt’s monotone prints determined that I would work with white clay as I feel it creates a pure canvas for light and dark to ‘shape’ the piece. This approach captures the presence of the fl ora which inspired it. Whilst I start with a drawing, the piece transforms in the making process; clay, to a large degree has a life of its own.

I like Rebecca Mtibe’s pieces as she is present-ing a concept of something within the vessel. This is exciting as the ‘inside’ is as of much inter-est as the outside. In my work the strategic use of negative as well as positive space is integral to the success of the piece.

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Dahl, AstridWinter Aconite (1/10) 2011fi red earthenware, unglazed, sealed73 x 50 x 33 cm

Dahl, AstridLeaf Bud 2 (1/10) 2011fi red earthenware, unglazed, sealed56 x 35 x35 cm

Dahl, AstridCaladenia Dilatata (1/1) 2012fi red earthenware, unglazed, sealed69 x 44 x 59 cm

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Mtibe, RebeccaGreen, red, black & white pot 1993Earthenware & paint37.3 x 28.2 cmDAG 3059

Mtibe, RebeccaPetal pot 1993Earthenware 37.3 x 28.2 cmDAG 3060

ASTRID’S SELECTION

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I’m an avid internet browser and I fi nd a lot of in-spiring and interesting information online. I also love art and reference books, particularly botan-ical themed ones. For me, the creative process sometimes starts here – I might see an image (or several) that begins the thought process. I will then start drawing, and try to visualise the idea as a ceramic work. Within this drawing process, I will also work out the practical and technical aspects of making the work.

My work addresses the relationships between comfort and discomfort, interior and exterior, structure and chaos. The forms I use are ar-chetypal and are intended to evoke a sense of subconscious recognition and familiarity. The imagery is taken from and infl uenced by my sur-roundings, my interaction with everyday objects and my fascination with industrial, architectural and natural forms. I use clay as a material to explore texture, geometry, repetition and pat-tern found in nature and in the world around us. I am increasingly aware of the pressure placed

on the environment in the name of development and industry. It is an ever-present concern which infl uences my work.

Form is very important in my work as it the starting point for me, then comes texture or sur-face. Colour (glaze) is only necessary if the work needs it. I will only glaze the work if the glaze will reinforce or add to the form/texture/struc-ture of the piece. The defi nition of form is the encapsulation of space, the tangible shape of life in our three dimensional world. I am utterly fascinated with the idea of the inner workings of the natural world, why things are shaped the way they are and the question of whether are they shaped that way because of their function. The microscopic is an elusive part of our reality and is largely unseen by the naked eye.

These new works are an exploration in por-celain, of my perception of the vulnerability of the natural world. The ‘bodies’ of the pieces are made using simple bowl forms as moulds. Within these bowl forms, I have used paper-thin porce-

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Da Cruz, Carla Whorl I 2011porcelain16cm x 16cm x 4cm

Da Cruz, Carla Whorl III 2011porcelain15.5cm x 15.5cm x 3.5cm

Da Cruz, Carla Inverted 2011porcelain14.5cm x 14.5cm x 15.5cm

Da Cruz, Carla Whorl II 2011porcelain17.5cm x 17.5cm x 3.5cm

Da Cruz, Carla Whorl IV 2011porcelain16cm x 16cm x 2.5cm

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Armstrong, JulietWhite vessel 1994bone china 12 x 12.2 cmDAG 3175

CARLA’S SELECTION

Hemp, DoreenUntitled 1993High fi red black clay & pate de verre23 x 16 cmDAG 3127

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I’m an avid internet browser and I fi nd a lot of in-spiring and interesting information online. I also love art and reference books, particularly botan-ical themed ones. For me, the creative process sometimes starts here – I might see an image (or several) that begins the thought process. I will then start drawing, and try to visualise the idea as a ceramic work. Within this drawing process, I will also work out the practical and technical aspects of making the work.

My work addresses the relationships between comfort and discomfort, interior and exterior, structure and chaos. The forms I use are ar-chetypal and are intended to evoke a sense of subconscious recognition and familiarity. The imagery is taken from and infl uenced by my sur-roundings, my interaction with everyday objects and my fascination with industrial, architectural and natural forms. I use clay as a material to explore texture, geometry, repetition and pat-tern found in nature and in the world around us. I am increasingly aware of the pressure placed

on the environment in the name of development and industry. It is an ever-present concern which infl uences my work.

Form is very important in my work as it the starting point for me, then comes texture or sur-face. Colour (glaze) is only necessary if the work needs it. I will only glaze the work if the glaze will reinforce or add to the form/texture/struc-ture of the piece. The defi nition of form is the encapsulation of space, the tangible shape of life in our three dimensional world. I am utterly fascinated with the idea of the inner workings of the natural world, why things are shaped the way they are and the question of whether are they shaped that way because of their function. The microscopic is an elusive part of our reality and is largely unseen by the naked eye.

These new works are an exploration in por-celain, of my perception of the vulnerability of the natural world. The ‘bodies’ of the pieces are made using simple bowl forms as moulds. Within these bowl forms, I have used paper-thin porce-

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Da Cruz, Carla Whorl I 2011porcelain16cm x 16cm x 4cm

Da Cruz, Carla Whorl III 2011porcelain15.5cm x 15.5cm x 3.5cm

Da Cruz, Carla Inverted 2011porcelain14.5cm x 14.5cm x 15.5cm

Da Cruz, Carla Whorl II 2011porcelain17.5cm x 17.5cm x 3.5cm

Da Cruz, Carla Whorl IV 2011porcelain16cm x 16cm x 2.5cm

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Armstrong, JulietWhite vessel 1994bone china 12 x 12.2 cmDAG 3175

CARLA’S SELECTION

Hemp, DoreenUntitled 1993High fi red black clay & pate de verre23 x 16 cmDAG 3127

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I work exclusively with a porcelain clay body for its translucency and range of ceramic colours which suit my chosen fi ring range. I take pleasure in making ceramics that intrigue the viewer in questioning the material’s physical qualities and illusion/allusion to non-ceramic surfaces, forms and objects. ‘Is it paper or is it clay?’ Trompe l’oeil paper objects if you will.

By working with very thin cast sheets of paper-clay that contain up to 10% (dry weight) paper pulp I achieve optimum levels of translucency. The combination of paper pulp with porcelain creates an optimum clay body that is fl exible, strong and highly translucent when fi red to tem-peratures exceeding 1220°C.

Inherently, both porcelain and paper encom-pass delicate fragility and ephemeral qualities. This can be refl ected in the manipulations that I apply to the paperclay; from the softness of

the fold or tear, to the sharpness of a cut. This idea is closely linked to the art of paper folding, Origami (this art form was at the basis of my clay constructions when I began my Master of Arts in Fine Art studies).

For the work Transfi xed I cut out triangular shapes and attached them to the cylinder. The spikes simulate paper, looking malleable and fragile. In truth, the fi red porcelain paperclay is ridged and strong.

The connection between print-making and my own ceramic work is fuelled primarily by the symbiotic relationship between paper and pa-perclay. Paperclay and paper share a material signature – the ability to be worked from a fl at sheet into three dimensional structures.

Working with old family photographs I am able to preserve images on a clay surface. Paper is an organic material and will eventually decay whilst

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far left Frisinger, LeanneTransfi x 2012Porcelain paperclay, ceramic pigment, photo lithography10 x 13 x 22cmsgd. None

left Frisinger, LeanneTransmit 2012Porcelain paperclay, photo lithography, found object33 x 15 x 20cmsgd. None

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Glenday, KatherinePorcelain Vessel 1995porcelain22 x 13.6 cmsgd. on base ‘Katherine Glenday 1995’SC 904

Hemp, DoreenUntitled 1993High fi red black clay & pate de verre23 x 16 cmDAG 3127

Armstrong, JulietUntitled 1990bone china (2 x components)base & cone: 21.8 x 11.5 cmDAG 1974

LEEANNE’S SELECTION

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Gobardan, RakshaIdentity 2011Terracotta and mosaic on wood80 x 4 x 200 cmsgd. at back ‘RGOBARDAN’

Gobardan, RakshaRefuge 2011Smoke-fi red earthenware on wood80 x 4 x 200 cmsgd. at back ‘RGOBARDAN’

My work is a construction of my cultural iden-tity, fi rstly as a South African of Indian origin and secondly as a female. I have developed a visual language based in Hindu iconography and spir-ituality and which draws on other cultures that have infl uenced me and formed a vital part of my South African identity. I strive to create a connection with a local, contemporary South Af-rican reality since we are a product of the time and place we live in.

I am working on a series of old doors selected to show the patina of time and the history that eachone embodies. Working with the rough sur-faces of these rectangular shapes, I juxtapose and insert small refi ned details of various medi-ums such as clay, broken tiles, African beadwork, old brassware, copper wire etc. I enjoy working with the malleability of clay. I am able to create individual pieces of different sizes to embellish the wooden surfaces that I work with. I love the

use of texture, detail and precision in my work and this often takes on an obsessive dimension. Smaller textured details are created with a plas-ter-of-paris mould. I work spontaneously allow-ing the element of chance to infl uence my work process. Background colour is muted to allow the mosaics to dominate. When I undertake large-scale commis-sions mosaics feature promi-nently in my ar-tistic practice. The clay pieces are often high-fi red terracotta or smoke-fi red earthenware.

The doors being an aspect of architec-

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Mikula, MaggieLoom sculpture 1983Stoneware, fi bre & porcupine quills9.1 x 33.4 cmDAG 2488

Mikula, MaggieThree standing forms 1983stoneware & slip decoratedHs: 9.7, 9.6 & 7.9 cmDAG 2390

Kuhn, JulieEarth piece 1976stonewareD: 24.7 cmDAG 1915

Mikula, MaggieOpened egg form 1983stoneware, matt white glaze & slipH: 5.7 cmDAG 2387

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RAKSHA’S SELECTION

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My Fine Art background, teacher training and my quirky sense of humour, have determined the way in which my ceramics has evolved from vessel-making into sculpture, specifi cally hors-es, now. This journey, has taken many routes of exploration and discovery. My becoming an Art teacher by default, led to becoming a Ceram-ics lecturer at Natal Technikon. These six happy years, brought me into contact with talented students such as Hennie Stroebel, as well as my fellow Fine Art lecturers, most of whom were also established artists in their own right.

During my Fine Art degree, I also studied a course in Classical Civilisations. Since then, the art of these cultures has continued to infl uence the subjects of my ceramic forms and surface decoration. Motherhood brought me in contact with children’s books full of simplifi ed colour-

ful images of animals and people - these tied in with similar images in Classical Art. My tall coiled porcelain vessels grew in size to accom-modate bands of colourful patterns where sim-plifi ed and humorous African birds and animals were incorporated into designs recalling those of Greek vase painting.

The “Fish Wife” series of sculptures were the fi rst works where I merged sculptural form with surface pattern. My intention was to poke fun at an insult, by interpreting it in a series of art-works. By 2001 I had resumed oil painting and life drawing and also returned to teaching Art privately. In 2006, Jeanette Gilkes’ drawing group was the catalyst for the fi rst ceramic horse I made.

Making my ceramic horses has been the most liberating experience. The subject ties in with

Carol Hayward Fel l

Hayward Fell, Carol White Horse with Tabby 2011Once fi red stoneware with painted and trailed porcelain slip and black stain 38 x 47 cm Sgd. full signature beneath

Hayward Fell, Carol Black Stallion with his Dog 2010Once fi red stoneware with ceramic stains and slips32 x 30 cm sgd. full signature beneathR

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WORK IN THE DAG’S COLLECTION

Hayward Fell, CarolFish fi gure 1990porcelain H: 46.5 cmDAG 2822

Hayward Fell, CarolVessel with ducks on pedestal 1989porcelain, slips, lustres, wood & acrylic48 x 25 cmDAG 2741

Hayward Fell, CarolSlip painted vase with lustres 1986Porcelain, slips, lustres H: 21 cmDAG 2524

Hayward Fell, CarolBox 1980porcelain H: 5.6 cmDAG 2100

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Haines, CharmaineRedemption 1993fi red earthenware, underglaze, vgold lustre37 x 36.2 x 49 cmsgd. at back ‘CHAINES 93’

Grobeler, DiekThe prophet 1989earthenware76.6 x 55.7 cmsgd. beneath horse face ‘Diek Grobler 1989’DAG 2995

Jones, MarjorieDancing couple 1990earthenwareH: 54.2 cmsgd. left hand side male jacket ‘MJ 90’DAG 2819ZZ

Morgan, PamelaSylvan Landscape 1993fi red terracotta, carved jeutong, acrylicH: 131. 8 cmDAG 3122

CAROL’S SELECTION

Gerling, SonjaPenguin 1978stonewareH: 37.8 cmDAG 1994

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Nowers, JohnThe couch 1986earthenware43.1 x 111.9 x 75.5 cmDAG 2621

Hall, JamesEquestrian 1965earthenware34.2 x 37.8 cmDAG 1494

Neke, GailHyena and paper cutouts 1996earthenware & paper41.5 x 28 cmDAG 3305

Dibb, BarryForm 1993porcelain34 x 18 cmDAG 3098

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Guided by dreams and visions, the technical and conceptual aspects of my work continue to re-fl ect my role as messenger. African spirituality is an important vehicle for me to tackle some of the most complicated, unspoken socio-cultural residues that humanity, particularly women, carry as they navigate the present democratic South Africa.

Issues such as mass spiritual uprooting and dis-location are important reference points in my work. On one level, it speaks from a chain of people that have come before us, not only my ancestors, but the African ancestors that lived through the liberation movement. It speaks about the number of people who got dislocated during apartheid; particularly the plight of un-heard marginalized women whose children were never given proper burial and whose bones never returned from exile. In African Queen the in-numerable women and children who suffered

are represented by each and every bead in the artwork.

On another level, the work invites people to look back at where they come from. For this exhibition, we were asked to select some of the work from the DAG’s permanent collection for inspiration. Amongst the objects I selected ukhamba (Zulu pot), mainly for its mystical pow-er, to represent umuntu (a person). I then fo-cused on its base; the fact that you cannot make a pot without fi rst making the base is a profound message.

In Isimpande the suspended elements, not quite touching the fl oor, speak about the uproot-ing of indigenous heritage by external colonial forces and also about commodifi cation, which in many ways, has left indigenous roots hanging. There is a sense in the work of fl oating people and shadows that, during the making, sparked a dialogue within my immediate community, be-

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Khanyile, Isaac NkosinathiIzimpandei (The Roots) 2011/12Earthenware, fi bre, beads, steelsize variable

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DAG COLLECTION - NATHI KANYILE

Khanyile, Isaac NkosinathiAfrican Queen II 1996earthenware72.5 x 40.7 x 30.6 cmDAG 3455

Khanyile, Isaac NkosinathiAfrican Queen 1996Cement fondu, beads, fi bre69.9 x 45.2 x 27.1 cmDAG 3439

Khanyile, Isaac NkosinathiAfrican Queen III 1996earthenware68.5 x 39.9 x 19.5 cmsgd. inside torso ’96 NATHI’DAG 3456

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Artist unknownTraditional beerpot c.1920s earthenware20.9 x 33.6 cmSC 847

NATHI’S SELECTION

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Artist unknownTraditional Zulu headrestwoodMEASUREMENTS ??????????????????SC 851

Ndlovu, SiphoIziqhaza (pair of ear lobe discs)

DATE????????Wood, plastic

MEASUREMENTS ??????????????????

SC 169

Artist unknownIsiqiki: Headrest with Amasumpa DesignwoodMEASUREMENTS ??????????????????DAG 3481

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Artist unknownTraditional beerpot c.1920s earthenware20.9 x 33.6 cmSC 847

NATHI’S SELECTION

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Artist unknownTraditional Zulu headrestwoodMEASUREMENTS ??????????????????SC 851

Ndlovu, SiphoIziqhaza (pair of ear lobe discs)

DATE????????Wood, plastic

MEASUREMENTS ??????????????????

SC 169

Artist unknownIsiqiki: Headrest with Amasumpa DesignwoodMEASUREMENTS ??????????????????DAG 3481

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I work with mostly with porcelain which can be a trying medium. I use different methods of working with this medium from throwing on the potters’ wheel (as seen with my miniature and cylinder with engraved fl oral pattern) to hand building (slab building and coiling). I have dis-covered that coiling (especially with very thin coils) the way I’ve done with my coiled vessel has proven to be the most challenging.

With the thrown cylinders the pieces are pre-dictable however with hand building (coiling) my work does to an extent rely on chance. There are several factors that play a role when I make coiled vessels and one of these is weather. Each coil is rolled out by hand and because they are so thin they dry out very fast so it is vital to work quickly. The size and colour of the piece is also subject to chance. One piece can take anything from 4 to 7 hours and it is important that once I start a piece, it must be fi nished as rehydrating

the clay is not an option. . I decorate my work using leaves, bark and

weeds from my surroundings to express my inter-est in nature. Over the years I’ve experimented with colour in my porcelain work. Since porce-lain is a white medium it has the ability to re-fl ect colour successfully. I play around with the percentage of oxide or stain in the porcelain to achieve different variants of colour

For this exhibition the work I particularly liked in DAG’s collection were by Martha Zettler, Ju-liet Armstrong and Andrew Walford. Zettler’s embossed pieces are inspiration for my engraved cylinder where I have carved a fl oral pattern into the porcelain body. Armstrong’s translucent bone china pieces inspired my ‘patched series’. I have recently been exposed to Bonsai recently and this has sparked a growing interest in miniatures hence the selection of Walford’s work.

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Omar, Fahmeeda Patched series I 2011Hand built porcelain vesselUnglazed Fried to 1260ºC in an oxidised kilnH: I: 7.5 cm H: II: 10.5 cm

Omar, Fahmeeda Coiled vessel 2010PorcelainFired to 1260ºC in an oxidised kilnUnglazedH: 12 cm

Omar, Fahmeeda Patched series II 2011Hand built porcelain vesselUnglazed Fried to 1260ºC in an oxidised kilnH: I: 7.5 cm H: II: 10.5 cm

Fahmeeda Omar Engraved vase 2011PorcelainFried to 1260ºC in an oxi-dised kilnH: 11 cm

Omar, Fahmeeda Miniatures I & II 2010Thrown porcelainGlazed and fi red to 1260ºC in an oxidised kilnH: I: 4.2 cm H: II: (with lid) 4.6 cm

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Findlay, ShirleyVase 1976PorcelainH: 8.4 cmDAG 1907

Armstrong, JulietBone China I 1981Bone China13.2 x 5.8 cmDAG 2260

Zettler, MarthaBone China Form 1991bone china14 x 12.7 cmDAG 2893

Zettler, MarthaPorcelain Form 1993bone chinaH: 14.6 cmsgd. on base ‘MZ’DAG 3082

Walford, AndrewMiniature Pot 1969Stoneware4.4 x 2.9 cmDAG 1690

FAHMEEDA’S SELECTION

Armstrong, JulietBone China II 1981Bone China12.1 x 5.7 cmDAG 2261

Armstrong, JulietBowl 1980bone chinaD: 12.7 cmDAG 2094

Marscuson, ThelmaVase 1980porcelainH: 11.2 cmDAG 2105

Bickfell, GillianPot 1980porcelainH: 5.5 cmDAG 2108

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Pattenden, MhairiSpecimens 101 2011Paper porcelain with wooden trophy mounts45 x 30 cm

Art or artefact: that is the question. In my cur-rent work I am fascinated by the motivation and decisions made by people who collect objects. Sometimes labelled as curiosities, these items were initially viewed as artefacts but may pres-ently be viewed as art. These objects are often diverse and not necessarily related yet they pos-sess points of reference that strike a chord with the collector. Questions of defi nition are not es-sentially relevant.

The selected items may seem to be diverse but are clearly related in my mind. I favour clean, simplistic forms with interesting texture and glaze effects in my endeavours to create a three dimensional sculptural form. My initial fas-cination began with the anthropomorphic fi gures found in San rock art. The importance of the Shaman shape infl uenced my early practice, de-veloping into an exploration of sculptural animal skulls. This has lead me to my current investiga-

tion of trophy mounts, which embody elements of power and supremacy.

My interest in rock paintings had been piqued from early encounters growing up as my mother shared her interest in this art form. She never believed that San paintings were ‘art for art’s sake’, but rather followed David Lewis-Williams theories and ideas that the art had a function and purpose. I remember my fi rst visit to Game Pass Shelter in the Kamberg area of the Drak-ensberg Mountains as a personally illuminating experience.

I believe what is crucial to understanding our own practices is the clarifi cation and establish-ment of the objects that surround us, just as, together with their beliefs, San rock art offers us a window into their world. I fi nd Pippa Skotnes’s artworks very innovative and inspiring, as well as currently having an infl uence on my own work in this regard.

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Pattenden, MhairiSpecimens 101 2012Paper porcelain with wooden trophy mounts23 x 21 cm

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MHAIRI’S SELECTION

Hall, JamesIsangoma 1991Terracotta39 x 30.4 cmsgd at back with a rectangular monogram & ‘James O. Hall ‘91’DAG 3073

Fisch, MollieThree slender vases 1978stonewareA: 23 cm B: 22.7 cm C: 22.1 cmDAG 1993 A,B & C

Nell, JosuaCow 1988PorcelainL: 18.2 cmDAG 2684

Britschi, DorethFour ceramic sculptures 1993Earthenware & crystal glass metalHeights: 23.5, 23.5 28.8 & 30.7 cmsgd. on bases: monogram & ‘D.B.’DAG 3047

40

Since I embarked on my career as a ceramist I have been preoccupied with the female form. Not being content with the narrow conception of beauty according to Western norms led me to explore Zulu culture and traditional life. I have, for example, been collecting Zulu artifacts such as the Zulu hairdress (isicholo) and Zulu head-rests (isigqiki) and making works that refl ect my interest in Zulu cosmology and fi nding depths of metaphor in these shapes.

My creative process has many parts, all of which I consider to be important: sketching is vital and making small maquettes or simply play-ing and moulding clay is a signifi cant part of my work – this experimentation excites me and re-sults in a beginning.

Technique is important in my work production and I have had several opportunities to learn

methods that have added to my artistic prac-tice. I traveled to Nigeria where I learnt about the traditional techniques of the Igbo. They have a particular style of building up their Odo pots (traditional musical pots) and I was taught the building method used by the late Abuja ceramist Dr Ladi Kwali in Nigeria in the 60s by Magdalene Odundo. She showed me the technique of pulling wet clay from a lump without adding a single coil until you reach the neck. Nesta Nala too gen-erously shared her technique: I had previously struggled with cracking and exploding bases un-til she demonstrated how to begin the base of a Zulu pot.

I have come to appreciate change; it is so im-portant to embrace change because it forces one to re-examine and take new directions. Initially I started out as a sculptor being very infl uenced

Cl ive Sithole

Sithole, CliveIndawo yami (my place, my space) AMEN....! 2011earthenware42 x 26 cm

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Sithole, CliveIzwi lami (my voice) 2011earthenware41 x 29 cm

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DAG COLLECTION - CLIVE SITHOLE

Sithole, CliveItombinto II – Virgin 2001earthenware25 x 15 cmDAG 3533

Sithole, ClivePot 2001earthenware31.2 x 33.1 cmDAG 3516

Sithole, CliveMilk & Blood 2009earthenware26 x 18 x 18 cmDAG 3741

Sithole, ClivePot 2002earthenware28 x 28 cmins. on base ‘Clive Sithole’DAG 3580

Sithole, CliveUntitled vessel 2005earthenware25 x 23 cmins. on base ‘Clive Sithole 2005’DAG 3683

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Artist unknownMilk pail date unknownwood39.5 x 18 cmDAG 3556

CLIVE’S SELECTION

Nala, NestaClay pot with amasumpha 1993earthenware24.1 x 29.3 cmSC 626

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Zulu, MazunguIphiso Inkandla c.1940pit fi red earthenware27.9 x 28 cmSC 1000

Artist unknownHeaddrest date unknownwood13 x 36 cmDAG 3548

INCORRECT IMAGE

44

At art school, although I took painting as my major and ceramics as a minor, clay became my preferred medium of expression – there was di-rect contact with my hands and I enjoyed the malleability of the medium. It was the same with embroidery – controlling the thread with the di-rection of the needle. Being left handed has also infl uenced my relationship with what I make. I was not comfortable on the wheel, which are for the most, designed for the right handed.

In terms of infl uence, each lecturer gave me something special but my most seminal experi-ence came from Fee Halstead who at our fi rst lesson whipped out a python skin and rolled it along with a slab of clay through the slab roller producing a textural imprint. That changed the perception of ceramics for me.

My creative process is sparked by the visual

and the unconscious. I fi rmly believe the uncon-scious locks in ideas which are revealed to one as they fi lter through. I am very stimulated by my journeys though Middle Eastern countries and in these travels I have discovered my creative in-terests lie in aspects of antiquity coupled with those of the present: structure and shape are in-formed by embellishment and decoration mainly drawn from Craft traditions particularly those from the Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires. Persian carpets, ceramic tiles, wood carving – these are all grist to the mill.

I have developed techniques that juxtapose and contextualise the traditional and the con-temporary. I make vessels with emphasis on the shape and structure – this shows my love of clas-sical form. With the form secured, I adorn the surface using a variety of embellishments: found

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Stroebel, Georg HendrikImprint 2011/12 (vessel with Bedouin portrait)Earthenware & various glazes & mosaic insets68 x 40 cmsgd. signature on base

Stroebel, Georg HendrikArabesque 2009Earthenware, slip, studio & com-mercial glazes & smoke fi red72cm x 47 cmsgd. signature on base

Stroebel, Georg HendrikBlue vessel 2011earthenware, oxide & glaze, found objects73cm x 40cmsgd. signature on base

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DAG COLLECTION - GEORG HENDRIK STROEBEL

above right Stroebel, Georg Hendrik

Epitaph 1991Earthenware & embroidery

30.5 x 22.2 cmunsigned

DAG 2873 (A)

Stroebel, Georg HendrikTuscan garden 1991Earthenware & embroidery28.1 x 18.1 cmsgd. on back ‘Stroebel ‘91Tuscan garden Florence’’DAG 2873 (B)

Stroebel, Georg HendrikNemrut Dagi 1996

Earthenware & embroidery set in metal frame

75.2 x 49.7 cmunsigned

DAG 3341

Stroebel, Georg HendrikDe Wetsdorp CemeteryEarthenware & embroidery30.1 x 20 cmsgd. on back ‘Stroebel ‘91’DAG 2873 (D)

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Artist UnknownLinnware vase c.1940searthenwareH: 40 cmDAG 2844

HENDRIK’S SELECTION

Armstrong, JulietBody I 1977stoneware60.4 x 36.4 cmloose breast 11.2 cmDAG 1974

owers, JohnFat lady from Antibes 1978StonewareH: 20.2 cmDAG 1992

Mabaso, L. Tapering vase 1991EarthenwareH: 28.8 cmOn base “L. Mabaso C-75-91”DAG 2929

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Ntshalintshali, BonnieAngel on a whale 1996Terracotta & plaka paint14.5 x 16.1 x 13.8 cminsc. On base made by Bonie N,painted by Bonie N, Ardmore Studio 96DAG 3393

Ziqubu, EphraimRorke’s Drift Vase c.1991Stoneware21.4 x 16.8 cmsgd. on base ‘Ephraim Ziqubu’ & Rorke’s Drift monogramSC 460

Mbatha, GordonBrown & sky blue bowl c.1970earthenware9.6 x 29.5 cmDAG 1718

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Weaving, SharonConvolutions 2011Engobe fi red to 1200 degrees Csize variableUnsigned

Weaving, SharonNests 2011Engobe fi red to 1200 degrees C140cm X 50cm Unsigned

Initially my work involved experimentation with surface treatment; investigating how the porce-lain surface could be pierced to create interest-ing marks, textures and shadows. My interest in the surface of a form prompted me to identify with the work of Juliet Armstrong and Martha Zettler. Both ceramists have worked delicate-ly, using different methods to create beautiful marks on their pieces. Although the marks are fi nely executed, evidence of shadows are dis-tinctly visible adding to the striking nature and appeal of these works.

Further exploration of the potential to create shadows with my pieces resulted in my use of structural frames dipped in paper porcelain and high-fi red. I felt that the shadows created add-ed an interesting dimension to the pieces; they became an integral part of the artwork fi ltering into the viewer’s space. The framework charac-terised my pieces with a sense of repetition and

regularity juxtaposed with an organic softness creating an interesting tension. The elements of regularity, repetition, pattern and formula initi-ated my desire to create the framework itself.

Experimentation with the elements of pattern, formula and repetition characterising Japanese braiding, knitting and crocheting resulted in my decision to use knitting and crochet to create the desired effect. I produced knitted and cro-cheted test structures using material of varying thicknesses in combination with large scale knit-ting needles and crochet hooks to create a loose weave. The soft structures were dipped in paper porcelain slip and fi red to 1200˚C producing a brittle framework within which an organic feel and delicacy existed. However, the textured quality of the paper porcelain camoufl aged the delicate, intricate detail of the crochet work. I experimented with engobe recipes, developing a mix which allowed for a single dipping and the

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SHARON’S SELECTION

Armstrong, JulietBone China II 1981Bone China12.1 x 5.7 cmDAG 2261

Zettler, MarthaBone China Form 1991bone china14 x 12.7 cmDAG 2893

Zettler, MarthaPorcelain Form 1993bone chinaH: 14.6 cmsgd. on base ‘MZ’DAG 3082

Armstrong, JulietBone China I 1981Bone ChinaT13.2 x 5.8 cmDAG 2260

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Lucie Rie has always been an inspiration for my ceramic aesthetic, her leanings towards a formal minimalist Bauhaus aesthetic has become my own artistic preoccupation. I am also infl uenced by Hans Coper and German ceramicists as I also concentrate on reserved form and refi ned line.

The beautifully crafted bone china pieces by Juliet Armstrong were inspiration to explore this medium and after seeing a bone china piece by Penny Le Roux with a surface design created by sandblasting at a National Exhibition at the Dur-ban Art Gallery in 1988 I was clear in my artistic direction; I wanted to produce simplicity in form with strong translucent qualities. The medi-ums of bone china and porcelain medium really talk to me because they offer up whiteness and translucency.

My interests in the surface texture and pattern

are achieved through geometric design and over the years the strict geometric designs I initially preferred have been transformed into more or-ganic and sinuous lines.

When I work I fashion the vessel/object on the wheel or by hand out of clay; I then make a plas-ter of Paris mould of the object – casting slip is poured into the mould and depending on the thickness required I leave this in for between 3 – 5 minutes. The next process is bisque fi ring the work. My decoration involves the use of mask-ing tape to isolate negative shapes after which the surface is sand blasted. During this process the negative area isolated by masking tape is re-moved to expose the intended decoration. A high fi ring of 1000 – 2000 degrees centigrade follows and thereafter I paint transparent glaze onto the raised/relief areas - this is followed by another

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Zettler, MarthaBone China Form I 2011bone china16.5 x 10 cm

Zettler, MarthaPorcelain Form with Bone China Décor 2011porcelain, bone china

Zettler, MarthaBone China Form II 2011bone china22 x 15 cm

Zettler, MarthaBone China Form III 2011bone china18 x 12 cm

Zettler, MarthaBone China Form IV 2011bone china14 x 12 cm

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DAG COLLECTION - MARTHA ZETTLER

Zettler, MarthaBowl & stand 1994bone china15.1 x 8.9 cmsgd. on base with monogram DAG 3174

Zettler, MarthaBlack and white bowl 1990bone china21.4 x 13.9 cmsgd. on base of bowl ‘MZ’DAG 2820

Zettler, MarthaBlack china form 1991bone chinaH: 14 cmDAG 2893

Zettler, MarthaVase 1984Porcelain, saw dust fi redH: 10.7 cmsgd. on base ‘MZ’DAG 2442

Zettler, MarthaForm 1994bone china13.9 x 11.2 cmsgd. on base with monogram DAG 3145

Zettler, MarthaBlack porcelain form with gold lustre 1986porcelain, saw dust fi redH: 11.7 cmDAG 2520

Zettler, MarthaPorcelain form 1993porcelainH: 14.6 cmDAG 3082

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Le Roux, PennyPot 1988bone chinaH: 12.2 cmDAG 2690

Armstrong, JulietBone China I 1981bone china13.2 x 5.8 cmDAG 2260

Mikula, MaggieLarge fl at pebble 1983Stoneware, matt white glaze & slipD: 18.1 cmDAG 2389

MARTHA’S SELECTION

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Magwaza, BuzephiPot 2005ClayH: 25 cmDAG 3688

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In its diversity and breadth the All Fired Up exhibition demonstrates the purpose of a municipal art museum – to preserve, collect, and exhibit artworks that foster public understanding and education. This exhibition and catalog bring to the public ceramics from over 50 years of KwaZulu-Natal’s rich history. We see recent works by 15 practicing lecturers and advanced ceramic students. Moreover, each instructor and student tells us a deeply personal narrative of Kwa-Zulu-Natal’s ceramic history through the artworks they selected.

Curator Jenny Stretton’s post-modern choice to share the selec-tion of artworks with practicing artists democratizes the curatorial process and reminds us that all exhibitions and collections contain subjective idiosyncrasies. The truth is that no single collection can objectively refl ect 50 years of KwaZulu-Natal ceramics. Each col-lection is unique, but we can also see that delving into the holdings of a public museum results in a stylistic and aesthetic diversity that would be impossible through private means.

Through each artist’s selections the audience is presented with a window into an artistic community that is interconnected through the love of clay, a unique and powerful medium tied to the earth – to KwaZulu-Natal. In this essay, I hope to provide the reader with one more window into the exhibition – to take you behind these scenes into the records of the Durban Art Gallery.

I will place a particular emphasis on the institutions that have been instrumental in the formation of this collection. I will then close with a few vignettes – unique stories of ceramists inspired by fellow artists they have never met in person. I hope that this conclu-sion will highlight the unique aesthetic comparisons that are made possible by All Fired Up.

Roots of the Collection

Three initial acquisitions during the 1960s-70s form the early backbone of the Durban Art Gallery’s ceramic collection – James Hall’s equestrian fi gure, works from the 1969 South African Pottery Exhibition, and ceramics exhibited at the controversial 1976 MUD Exhibition.

In 1966 the Durban Art Gallery acquired its fi rst ceramic object made in South Africa, a small equestrian fi gure by James Hall. French and Chinese porcelains were fi rst added to the Durban Art Gallery collection in the 1920s, but collecting ceramics from South Africa was considered to be relatively taboo in 1966, as this medium was still not seen as “high” art by some critics.

James Hall was originally from New Zealand and trained at the Slade School in London, but his “Equestrienne,” selected for All Fired Up by Carol Haywood Fell, was made in South Africa. This small fi gure was a part of the modernist school of sculpture that was in-creasingly the fashion throughout South Africa. Pushing to reduce lines, search for essential forms, and break with naturalism sculptors across the country were trying to break with the past.

Students of South African sculpture might compare this form with the bronze Killed Horse by Sydney Kumalo of the Polly Street school. Kumalo’s equestrian fi gure of 1962 pushed the modernist school into the political realm in both form and content. The twisted form of a dead, bloated horse conveys the pain Kumalo saw in the black community. Hall, on the other hand, depicts a contained equestrian rider. While Kumalo struggled to gain access to the classical media of bronze for his tortured form, Hall’s fi gure refers more traditionally to the classical horse and rider motif and fi nds its tie to contempo-rary trends through Hall’s choice to work in the medium of clay.

Historically, James Hall’s work captures a more reserved liberal ar-tistic non-conformism. Hall’s “Equestrienne” was collected through the Institute for Race Relations, an institution dedicated to liberal democratic ideals that provided venues for sales and exhibitions to many black artists during apartheid. The Institute for Race Relations shop would later become the African Art Centre, which continues to operate today as one of the leading non-profi t galleries in KwaZulu-Natal.

In 1967 Jill Addleson was formally appointed as an assistant cu-rator at the gallery and turned her attention toward the ceramic medium and its traditions in KwaZulu-Natal.

I was far in advance of other art museums. They wouldn’t even consider ceramics. They didn’t think that they were part of “high

(un)Earthing History: Ceramics at the Durban Art Gal lery by DR. ELIZABETH PERRILL

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art” and I used to think that’s a lot of rubbish. … I though to myself, “If there are Chinese why can’t there be South African?”

- Jill Addelson, 27 Sept. 2005In 1969 Addleson made a major accession of at least twenty art

works from a South African Pottery Exhibition,a including works by Esias Bosch, Sonja Gerlings, Hyme Rabinowitz, Marietjie van der Merwe, and Andrew Walford. A Gerlings jar and a Walford miniature from this accession can be seen in All Fired Up.

The collection continued to increase vigorously during the seven-ties, just as the ceramic community was organizing in a more formal manner. The Associated Potters of Southern Africa (APSA, now Ce-ramics Southern Africa) was founded in 1972b and opened its Natal branch shortly thereafter when artist Tim Morris traveled to Durban to organize Natal members.c In 1976, one year before the found-ing of the Stellenbosch Farmers Winery (Oude Libertas) collection, which would become the Corobrik Collection – offi cial sponsor of the APSA national and regional exhibitions after 1982,d the Durban Art Gallery made its second large ceramic purchase. No less that thirty pieces were acquired from the 1976 APSA national competition – en-titled the MUD Exhibition and held at Hilton College, Natal.

Today, the MUD Exhibition is seen as a key moment for many in the history of KwaZulu-Natal ceramics. A generation came into its own as maturing students and young professionals called attention to the materiality of clay. David Walters recalls that it was his concept to call the 1976 exhibition MUD. The Natal APSA chair, Gill Anderson, Suzanne and Peter Passmore, Barry Allison, Rhona Wills, David Wal-ters and Malcolm MacIntyre-Read all worked vigorously to launch the exhibition and accompanying catalog.e

By the late 1970s, the foundation of a substantive ceramic collec-tion was laid and Durban Art Gallery curators continued to see the APSA exhibitions as a source of high quality ceramics.

Branching Out During Apartheid, Creative Collecting

The Associated Potters of Southern Africa (APSA) continued to host national and regional exhibitions, yet strong ties to the Anglo-Ori-

ental tradition kept aesthetic diversity in the Natal ceramic world relatively low until the early 1980s.

Though Malcolm MacIntyre-Read agitated for change as early as 1976, few collections refl ect this aesthetic all until the mid-1980s.f Wilma Cruise, with a passion born of close experience, stated that it was only with the visits of American ceramist David Middlebrook in 1982 and 1983 that South African ceramists truly broke from Anglo-Orientalist school.g I would set the date a bit earlier in 1980 or 1981. In these years awards were granted to various porcelains featuring sculptural forms and bold color during both the APSA National and the Things People Make exhibitions held in Durban.h

Aesthetic expansion came hand-in-hand with a growing awareness of Zulu ceramic artists working in Natal and KwaZulu. Exhibitions at the Natal Society of Arts (NSA, today the KwaZulu-Natal Society of Arts, KZNSA) and the Institute for Race Relations (today the African Art Centre) featured ceramics by Rorke’s Drift as well as independ-ent ceramists working in rural areas, such as Miriam Mbonambi and Nesta Nala.i

In 1984 Rorke’s Drift, Mbonambi, and Nala works were some of the fi rst ceramic pieces by black artists to enter the Durban Art Gallery collection. The acquisition of art by black artists was considered ta-boo for a municipal art collection, as apartheid policies would have regarded this work befi tting an “anthropological” or “ethnological” collection.

Thankfully, in forward-thinking move the Durban Art Gallery had founded the Study Collection in 1982 “to accelerate the purchase of art by black artists.”j The director was able to collect up to R1000 annually for the Study Collection without authorization, allowing a great deal of fl exibility in purchases. In fact, ceramic works by white artists including Ian Calder, Dale Stanbridge, and Rosemary Jaffray also entered the Durban Art Gallery through these annual purchases. The Study Collection, which still exists as a mechanism for occa-sional commissions or acquisitions, became a tool for expanding the diversity of the gallery’s ceramic holdings. Today, Study Collection arworks are used equally with the Durban Art Gallery’s Permanent Collection for educational and exhibition purposes, but retains its

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identity and reminds us of the creative collecting that was a neces-sary tool under apartheid.

The Permanent Collection also continued to grow during the 1980s and works by white artists were formally added to this collection. APSA National Exhibitions were held at the Durban Art Gallery in 1984 and 1988, and acquisitions were made from national and re-gional exhibitions held at the NSA and the Tatham Art Galleries. Pur-chases were also made from private galleries such as the Grassroots Gallery and later the Bayside Gallery (now Artisan Gallery).

In the 1990s the Durban Art Gallery staff dovetailed the Study Col-lection with the Permanent Collection, which is currently the re-pository for all ceramic purchases and donations. Indeed, by 1989 work by Bonnie Ntshalintshali began the re-integration of works by black artists into the Permanent Collection. In 1994, as South Africa was ushering in a new democracy, the Durban Art Gallery Permanent Collection already contained works by black ceramic masters such as Mavis Shabala, Bonnie Ntshalintshali, Josephine Ghesa, Rebecca Matibe, and Elizabeth Mbatha. The importance of indigenous ceram-ics was further emphasized with the purchase of Nesta Nala’s prize winning uphiso in 1995.

Since the mid- 1990s the KwaZulu-Natal ceramic community has expanded to include work from both indigenous ceramists and work from post-modern ceramics students working in KwaZulu-Natal’s tertiary institutions, including the University of KwaZulu Natal and the Durban University of Technology. In the following narratives and throughout All Fired Up audiences will see that many infl uences, from early modernist ideals to indigenous traditions are blended in the work of contemporary artists.

Beyond Master & Apprentice, Relationships Built through Clay

Intimate stories of aesthetic impacts can be traced when we delve into All Fired Up. As the three following vignette’s demonstrate, ob-jects sometimes connect artists beyond the bounds of face-to-face relationships, beyond the master-student ties that are built during educational processes.

Through ceramics held in the Durban Art Gallery collection both the public and artists can explore the aesthetic ties between artists via this municipal collection.

Maggie Mikula & Clive Sithole:

The innovative ceramist Maggie Mikula passed away in 1989 when Clive Sithole was just eighteen years old. Sithole’s fi rst solo ceramic exhibition was held in 2001 and he cites 1998 as the year his ceramic career truly began. Yet, Mikula’s infl uence upon Sithole’s decorative details – applied decorations, abstracted references to Zulu designs, and networked patterns – can be seen in many of the younger ce-ramist’s work. The delicate surface treatments in Sithole’s smoke fi red work can be compared with Mikula’s engobes, etching, and even weaving additions.

This kinship is also born from a love of objects. Paul Mikula, of the Phansi Museum has spent hours with Sithole examining older Zulu objects and invited Sithole to the Mikula farm. Sithole recalls:

I was staying on their farm, and the house, at the cottage, they had tiles and tiles… in the kitchen and some were at the doorstep. I never got to meet [Maggie], but we share that connection and it was great. … I’ve learned so many things from that family, about the beauty of Zulu headrests, Zulu pots and all that, and I love col-lecting.

- Clive Sithole 19 September 2005Through Maggie’s ceramics and Paul’s collection Sithole built a re-

lationship with the Mikula family. Of course, this is just one of many infl uences upon Sithole’s development, and All Fired Up provides us with the opportunity to compare and contrast Sithole’s work with many members of the KwaZulu-Natal ceramics community and with Zulu objects drawn from the Durban Art Gallery holdings.

Buzephi MaKhanyile Magwaza & Martha Zettler

In our second vignette we see two masters of the ceramic me-dium whose work resonate well – contrasting and yet complimenting

57

one another. Martha Zettler’s vessels are renown for their technical mastery and delicate, pierced designs. Their translucency and fra-gility are the product of precisely measured, sandblasted, and drill-pierced technical potting. In contrast, MaKhanyile’s works are more stylistically vigorous, utilizing angular designs that are the product of a trained eye, rather than precise measurement.

Magwaza and Zettler have never met and live in historically sepa-rate worlds in KwaZulu-Natal.k Based on opposite sides of the Tuge-la, one works in earthenware and the other in high-fi red bone china. Yet both women highlight the tactility that is inherent in the ceramic medium. Their vessels utilize contrasting high-shine versus matte or texture areas and geometric rubrics to lead viewers around each piece.

Both are also lovers of subtle innovation in their chosen media. Zettler’s works have varied from strict linear geometry to variations on natural forms, including recent botanical themes. Her pieces in All Fired Up highlight the breadth of this foundational KwaZulu-Na-tal ceramist’s work. In All Fired Up MaKhanyile’s form utilizes an older style, the ungiyana, which features a raised lip surrounding the mouth that was historically known in her home region. She revi-talized this old form as one more variation among her repertoire of ukhamba drinking pots, uphiso necked vessels, and fl attened indoklo forms.

Garth Claassen & Kim Bagley

When asked to select artworks from the Durban Art Gallery col-lection Kim Bagley’s fi rst choice was the strikingly abstract Pieter-maritzburg Junction: XIII by Garth Claassen. In many ways Bagley surprised herself with this selection. Claassen’s work represents a masculine almost modernist tradition she does not necessarily claim as her aesthetic roots. The angularity and contained form of Claas-sen’s piece is in opposition to post-modern or deconstructivist ten-dencies seen in Bagley’s work. The two artists are separated concep-tually and live continents apart.

Yet, Claassen’s sculpture drew Bagley in… with a sense of materi-

ality and sensitivity to surface. She instantly reacted to the surface qualities Claassen had captured. She was also aware of Claassen as a foundational member of her artistic genealogy.

I may have never met him, but I know his legacy because I know his teachers; my instructors are from the same generation.

-Kim Bagley, 14 Sept. 2011In their training and output, Claassen and Bagley are both prod-

ucts of what is now known as the Centre for Visual Arts (CVA) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg. Claassen’s work is a fragment, but still stands alone as a sculptural whole. His sculp-tural formalism attests to the attention to composition that is at the core of CVA’s training and his surfaces speak of the technical mastery demanded by CVA instructors. In an associative moment Bagley real-ized that Pietermaritzburg Junction: XIII made her think of all of the demonstration pieces that lay around the CVA ceramic studios, frag-ments of form created by past students that have shaped her own development as a conceptual ceramist.l

Conclusion

In All Fired Up audiences can explore both institutional and indi-vidual histories. Additionally, viewers can begin to appreciate the ways in which each object has the potential to inspire new genera-tions, new audiences, and will continue to contribute to KwaZulu-Natal ceramics.

We can only hope that this resource will endure. At a time when acquisition budgets have been slashed and many public collections are at a stand still a show like All Fired Up can be a wake up call. We are at risk of loosing large chunks of ceramic history as national and regional exhibitions pass and award winners are not added to collections. I hope that the municipality will continue to fund the historic Durban Art Gallery collection and ensure this resource for KwaZulu-Natal’s future.

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Endnotesa This exhibition took place at least three years prior to the for-mation of The Associated Potters of Southern Africa. Source, Gill Anderson, Personal Correspondence, 19 Sept. 2011.b Ceramics Southern Africa Website. http://www.ceramicssa.org accessed, 16 Sept. 2011; van Vliet, Querardien. “Ceramic Supplement,” SA Art Times, September 2006. Gill Anderson, Ann Marais, and Susan Sellschop all attended the fi rst national meeting at The Potter’s Shop in Orange Grove, Johannesburg and recall that attendees included: Tim Morris, Hyme Robinow-itz, Esias Bosch, Wendy Goldblatt, Gail de Klerk, John Shirley, Thelma Mar-cussen, and Martin Zaalberg. Source: South African Pottery History Facebook Group, online discussions, 17-21 Sept. 2011.c Zettler, Martha, Personal Correspondence, 14 Sept. 2011.d Ceramics Southern Africa Website. http://www.ceramicssa.org ac-cessed, 16 Sept. 2011; de Klerk, Gail. “Ceramic Supplement,” SA Art Times, September 2006.e Anderson, Gill, Personal Correspondence, 14-21 Sept. 2011.f MacIntyre-Read, Malcolm. “Coloure me clay –please,” Sgraffi ti, No 10, 1976, cited in Ronnie Watt, “The History of the South African Late-mOd-ernist Studio Potters,” unpublished manuscript, 2011. g Cruise, Wilma. Contemporary Ceramics in Southern Africa. Cape Town: Struik Publishers, 1991.h Addleson, Jill. Things People Make: Durban Art Gallery, 3 to 10 Au-gust 1981. Exhibition Catalogue. Durban: Durban Art Gallery, 1981.; Durban Art Gallery Collection accessions, 1980-81. i Exhibition inventory, Art and Craft of KwaZulu at the Natal Society of the Arts Gallery. 1984. African Art Centre Archives held at the Killie Camp-bell Archives, Durban.j Stretton, Jenny quoting Durban Art Gallery Advisory Committee minutes, 8/3/11.k Zettler, Martha. Personal Correspondence 20 Sept. 2011.l Bagley, Kim, Personal Correspondence, 14 Sept. 2011.

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Ceramics has had a long and illustrious history at Durban University of Technology which cannot be completely captured in this catalogue. The intention of this article is to highlight some of the talented and colourful staff and students who have been part of this history, drawing on historical documentation and personal reminisces.

Anne Wilkinson (2009: 4-6) wrote that the origins of Ceramics at Durban University of Technology date to 1914 when John Adams ARCA (Lond)(1882 – 1953) was appointed Head of the School of Art at Natal Technical College where he set up a pottery department and taught. This is corroborated by Wyn Rees (1957:92) when he said Adams “proceeded to create in the Art School, the department of ceramics which he made famous throughout South Africa”.

Adams’ life had been imbued with the atmosphere of ceramics since his birth in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent in England. His father was Thomas Adams the chief engineer at Ridgway’s pottery, then the largest pottery in the country. His precocious drawing skills were recognised early on and, at the age of fourteen, he became an ap-prentice tile designer at Shaw and Cotton. His employers sent him to the Henley School of Art in Stoke, where he studied part time in the evenings.

In 1914 he married Gertrude Sharpe (1890 – 1958) who he had met at the Royal College of Art. After their marriage Trudy, as she was called, taught Ceramic design at the Durban School of Art (Wilkin-son, 2009: 4-6).

Adams built a coal fi red kiln in the College grounds and is quoted by Rees as saying “I have never met with a better kiln of its type, though I have seen many kilns since in European countries and Amer-ica…” (Adams in Rees, 1957: 93). The coal fi red kiln (Fig. 1) designed by Mr Priestly and built in 1918 cost £150. It was generously fi nanced by Sir Charles Smith and a shed was added to it by the College Coun-cil (Adams, 1941:7). “Electric kilns were not then effi cient in design, and gas was not available for a gas-fi red muffl e (Adams, 1941: 6). Adams (1941:7) lamented that the kiln “was taken down a few years ago when the College extensions were built, and I sometimes wished that the students had made a commemorative tablet to go near the spot where the fi rst successful pottery in Natal was fi red”.

Prior to the building of this kiln, Adams had “ in 1916 hired part of a woolwasher’s yard in Lancer’s Road for ten shillings a week and got an expert on sugar refi nery to build a kiln costing about £50” (Ad-ams, 1941: 6). Adams noted that due to his drawings for the kiln not being appropriate for a boiler maker and because he was too busy at the art school, it ‘proved to be a thoroughly bad kiln and with diffi culty and waste of fuel it painfully attained a maximum heat of only 950 deg. C (Adams, 1941: 6).

The Editorial of the 1928 Summer edition of the Durban Art School Common Room Magazine rejoiced that:

.. we have got a new kiln – nearly. The old kiln was a constant source of fearful anticipation, despair and occasional joyful sur-prise; and it was found that the majority of students rarely recov-ered properly from the strain of these emotions….We priced a kiln at about £150, which at fi rst seemed beyond our means…(Editorial, Common Room Magazine, Summer 1928).

In the 1929 Winter edition Editorial of the Common Room Maga-zine it was noted that “at last the new kiln has been tested and has proved a great success. The fi rst lot of pots caused a great deal of interest , several new clays having been tried and found to be prom-ising (Editorial, Common Room Magazine, Winter 1929). Methley (1933 : 29), in an article titled South African Ceramics, noted that “The Durban School is most fortunate in its record, and that it does not content with past achievement is shown by the recent installa-tion of an electric furnace”.

Pottery was taught “in the Pottery Room, which is a large attic, only to be reached in comfort by the lift, or, in emergencies, through a small trap door” (Common Room News, 1922: 18) and “devotes of the pottery class increase monthly and our ‘attic’ is now crowded with wild-eyed, clay-covered and paint-daubed students bending tenderly over cherished pots-to-be” (Common Room News, 1929:11). In an article titled Pottery and Education by Fincher (1938: 30), who taught pottery at the Durban Art School, he noted that “Durban is singularly fortunate in possessing one of the fi nest equipped pottery rooms [Fig. 2] in the Union and a visit to the School of Art and Crafts at the College would bring conviction of the worthiness of this fun-

A History of Ceramics at the Durban University of Technologyby TONY STARKEY

60

damental art of the potter” . This is corroborated by the Editor of the Common Room magazine who wrote that:

The re-building of the Pottery room has further assisted in bringing this section to the forefront of the School’s activities, and to cope with the increased number of students an electrically driven potter’s wheel and another kiln have been ordered from overseas. The addi-tion of a special glazing room with electric spraying apparatus makes this one of the fi nest equipped pottery sections in South Africa” (Art School Notes, 1938:7).

Johanna Heymans (1989) provided an account of students who studied under John Adams at the Durban School of Art, and who went Von to establish themselves as leading South African artists, when she said:

Among Adams’s students in the early twenties were Audrey Frank,

Marjorie Johnstone, Joan Methley, Thelma Newlands and Gladys Short. Methley, Newlands and Short pursued their studies in Eng-land. Johnstone had meanwhile become friendly with Sir Thomas Cullinan’s son Reginald, whom she was later to marry.

After completing their studies in England, Methley and Short start-ed a pottery in Durban. The mediation of Johnstone led Reginald Cullinan to invite them to begin a pottery at Olifantsfontein. From 1925 Johnstone, Methley and Short worked together at Olifantsfon-tein, the studio being known as the “Ceramic Studio”. Upon her marriage to Reginald Cullinan in 1926, Johnstone left the studio. In 1927 Audrey Frank joined the Ceramic Studio as did Thelma New-lands in 1928.

The Ceramic Studio produced a wide variety of decorative pots and utensils which were distributed throughout South Africa. In co-operation with the Natal potter Mary Stainbank, a large number of statues were manufactured for private and public buildings.

Another of John Adam’s students was Mary Stainbank (1899 – 1996),

Figure 1. Pottery Kiln. 1918.

Figure 2. Students at work in the Pottery Room

61

who was to later study with Henry Moore (1898-1986) and Barbara Hepworth (1903-1975) at the Royal College of Art from 1922 - 1926. After “ her return to South Africa in 1926, she set up the Ezayo Stu-dio at Coedmore where she and her companion, Wilgeforde Agnes Vann-Hall (1895-1981) and worked for the remainder of their artistic lives” (Barkhuizen. 2003: 1-2)

After fi ve years in Durban John Adams and his wife Truda returned to England in 1921. Wilkinson (2003: 6) noted that “Adams perhaps was looking for new challenges and while on in England on leave he was in touch with Harold Stabler”. This was to lead to Harold Sta-bler, John Adams and Cyril Carter forming a company Carter, Stabler and Adams “whose purpose was to produce ornamental and domestic wares” (Wilkinson, 2009: 6) which became to be known as ‘Poole Pottery’. Truda Adams was appointed Designer and over the years created patterns which have come to be known ‘Traditional Poole’. She would later be responsible for creating the ceramic fi gures on the War memorial Cenotaph in Farewell Square, Durban.

Staff records in the Common Room Magazine between 1920 and 1942, accessed in the Killie Campbell library (University of KwaZulu Natal),record that Pottery was taught by JH Bradshaw ARCA (Lond) from 1926 – 1942 and EC Fincher from 1938, later assisted by Nils Anderson (1940).

James Hall took over the Ceramics Department at the Durban Technical College (now the DUT) in 1956 on a full time basis and taught there for 11 years. From 1967 to 1980 he was a part-time lec-turer in that department. He showed his work extensively in South Africa and abroad.

Hall was born in New Zealand in 1916 and studied art at the Dun-edin School of Art (1938-39) and from 1946-49 at the Slade School, London under Randolph Schwabe and F.E. McWilliam. He then spe-cialised in ceramic art at the Camberwell School of Art, studying under Jacob Drew and R. Kendall. He taught at the Camberwell and Harrow Schools of Art from 1949 to 1955.

In 1961 he submitted work to the exhibition of the Society of Por-trait Sculptors held at the Royal Academy, London, and from 1961 he held a number of exhibitions of his sculpture and pottery in Durban. He also carried out numerous public commissions in South Africa (Artthrob, 2006).

Carol Hayward Fell joined Huby Wiid and James Hall in the Ce-ramic Dept in mid 1978 and was a full-time lecturer for 6 years until 1984 (Hayward Fell, 011). At this time both ceramics was offered as part of the Ceramic Design and Fine Art Diplomas. Many students will remember Huby Wiid’s unforgettable night-long fi rings in the City Campus sculpture courtyard, accompanied by liberal quantities of libations.

This memory echoes the reminisces of John Adams (1938:31)in an article titled Looking Back in which he said:

How shall I fi nd it possible to convey the atmosphere of those nights when I sat up until long after daybreak with Mr Priestly beside the coal-fi red kiln? Those were grand nights, the clear African stars overhead, the kiln fi res purring quietly as we lay on the grass, get-ting up at intervals to put the tea kettle on the white hot fi re mouth, or to look through the spyhole to see how ‘she’ was going. On one

Figure 3. A Group of Pottery. Durban Art School.

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62

occasion a tram stopped suddenly in the road opposite in the early hours, and people returning from a dance rushed across, mistaking the fi res for those of a burning classroom.

Hendrik Stroebel (2011) recounted that: Carol Hayward Fell left the Ceramic dept at the end of 1983 and

the Fine Art department moved to Steve Biko campus in 1984. The lecturers were Huby Wiid, U Ray and for six months Fee Halstead. In 1986 Ceramics and Sculpture moved to the bottom end of the cam-pus for the next 20 years. Huby Wiid left in 1988 and U Ray left at the end of 1989. In February 1990 Andries Botha recalled me back from Paris. I joined the department on the 5 March 1990. Nkosinathi Khanyile joined Sculpture and Ceramics in 2001 to teach fi rst year ceramics.

THE Ceramic Design course was phased out in 1989 owing to dwin-dling numbers and the contraction of the South African ceramic industry. In 2003 Executive Management recommended the closure of Ceramics and Sculpture due to small class sizes; the department responded by highlighting the long history of the disciplines and the valuable contribution made by Sculpture and Ceramics to regional and national education and culture over the years. Management ac-cepted structural changes to the department’s offerings and Sculp-ture and Ceramics emerged revitalized.

Following the merger of ML Sultan Technikon and Technikon Natal in 2001 Sculpture and Ceramics moved from the run down facilities on Steve Biko campus to refurbished Engineering workshops at ML Sultan campus, where ceramics continues to fl ourish under the pas-sionate tutelage of Hennie Stroebel.

Tony Starkey is the Head of Department: Fine Art and Jewellery Design at Durban University of TechnologyBibiliography

Adams, J. 1938. Looking Back. Common Room Magazine. December edition. Durban Art School. Durban: Natal Technical College.Adams, J. 1941. Early days of Pottery. Common Room Magazine. December edition. Durban Art School. Durban: Natal Technical College.Adams, J. 1942. The fi rst South African architectural faience. Common Room Magazine. Winter edition. Durban Art School. Durban: Natal Technical Col-lege.Artthrob. 2006. James Hall at the Durban Art Gallery. Issue 109.Common Room News, 1922. Common Room Magazine. Winter edition. Durban Art School. Durban: Natal Technical College.Common Room News, 1929. Common Room Magazine. Winter Edition. Durban Art School. Durban: Natal Technical College.Fincer, E.C., 1938. Pottery and Education. Common Room Magazine. June Edition. Durban Art School. Durban. Natal Technical College.Hayward Fell, C. 2011. Personal communication.Heymans, J.A. 1989. Pottebakerswerk in Suid Afrika met spesifi eke verwys-ing na die werk war vanaf 1925 to1952 by Olifantsfontein gedoen is. (Pottery in South Africa with special reference to the work done at Olifantsfontein from 1925 to 1952). Abstract. Masters Degree in Humanities at the University of Pretoria.Liebenberg-Barkhuizen, E. 2003. Mary Stainbank, Modernism and the ‘Spirit of Africa’. Presented to the History and African Studies Seminar. Pietermar-itzburg: University of KwaZulu Natal. Methley, J. 1933. South African Ceramics. Common Room Magazine. Winter Edition. Durban Art School. Durban: Natal Technical College. Rees, W. 1957. The Natal Technical College 1907 – 1957: a jubilee history. Durban: University of Natal Press.South African History online http://www.sahistory.org.za/people/mary-agnes-stainbank accessed 12 September 2011.Stroebel, H. 2011 Personal communication.The Editor, 1938. Art School Notes. Common Room Magazine. December edi-tion. Durban Art School. Durban: Natal Technical College.Wilkinson, A. 2009. Poole Twintone and Tableware: A History and Collector’s Guide. Birmingham: Cortex Design.

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63

The Ceramics Studios of the Centre for Visual Art (CVA) at the Uni-versity of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg has many contempo-rary and historical connections, regionally, nationally and interna-tionally, in South African ceramics. This short account traces the Studios’ main developments in ceramics and pottery from its incep-tion, specifi cally in the intersections with the Durban University of Technology and Durban Art Gallery. At the outset, I emphasise that my account is necessarily short, and that the narrative is both par-tisan and participatory.

For brevity in this exhibition catalogue, developments of the CVA’s Ceramics Studios are periodised in the main sections of this essay, as follows:

1. Antecedents and inception: the new Fine Art Department at Natal University and the start of the Ceramics Studios (c1937 to 1945)

2. Formation and expansion: Hilda Ditchburn (1946 – 1981) and Malcolm Macintyre-Read (1972-1976)

3. New directions in contemporary ceramics: Juliet Armstrong and Ian Calder (c1977 to 2012)

There are several continuities in the early histories of the studios of the two universities that explanation in order to appreciate the thematic connections that are shown in the current exhibition of our contemporary ceramics at Durban Art Gallery.

Antecedents and inception

It is almost a century ago since John and Truda (Gertrude) Ad-ams, later of Poole Pottery fame (see http://pooleimages.co.uk/traditional.aspx), arrived in Durban to teach at its School of Art, and where John Adams instigated South Africa’s fi rst college ceramic studio. Their graduates during the 1920s went on to establish this country’s fi rst studio pottery - at Olifantsfontein’s ‘Ceramic Studio’ (which later became Linnware), and their colourful earthenwares provided almost the only locally hand-made studiowares in South Africa for the fi rst half of the twentieth century (see Hillebrand 1986). Imported English and Continental industrial ceramic table-

wares were invariably slip-cast porcelain or bone-china, and even when small ‘factory’ productions of domestic pottery commenced in the expansive post-War period in South Africa (in the studios of Ka-lahari, Crescent, and Drostdy for instance) it was earthenware that dominated local studios.

John Adams’ approach at the Durban School of Art was founded on the educational principles of William Morris’s Arts and Crafts move-ment in the nineteenth century and in the South Kensington system (Hillebrand 1986) in which he had been trained; craft-skills were es-sential acquirements in training designers for industry and teachers for education. Adams’ introduction of ceramics in Durban gave his colonial art students topical opportunities to exercise their studies in direct ways using clay to model sculptural forms and to make use-ful pottery. He researched and used local KwaZulu-Natal terracotta clays, imported a stock of ceramic pigments and earthenware glazes from Britain, and fi red wares in a coal-burning kiln constructed for the purpose at the Art School. As an artist himself he also made sev-eral local architectural installations, ceramic reliefs and ‘faience’ tile-panels, and designed Durban’s Cenotaph memorial (Hillebrand 1986) before leaving in 1921 to return to Britain.

His successor, appointed in 1923, was O.J.P. (John) Oxley. As head of Art and Design at Durban’s Natal Technical College until 1936, Ox-ley applied similar educational principles and practices established by Adams to promote craft and design particularly in his teaching, and ceramics provided a capstone in the values on which he founded a new department of the (then) University of Natal in Pietermaritz-burg with his subsequent appointment (in 1937) as its fi rst Professor of Fine Art (Hillebrand 1986).

Continuities of art-educational purpose ensured the inclusion of ceramics in Professor Oxley’s curriculum of art-education in the new Fine Art Department (now known as the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Visual Art (CVA). Adams’ heritage in ceramics education at Durban School of Art was reinforced in the CVA’s Hilda Ditchburn (then Hilda Rose) who had studied art under John Oxley just prior to World War II, before her own appointment to Natal University’s fi rst –coincidently South Africa’s initial- fully fl edged lectureship in ce-

Continuity and Change: Ceramics at the Centre for Visual Art, UKZN PMBby IAN CALDER

64

ramics in 1946 (Vurovecz 2008). Explaining the historical signifi cance of her appointment, Malcolm Macintyre-Read commented (in 1975) that Oxley’s move to Natal University in 1937 ‘proved retrogressive for ceramics as no member of the department’s staff actually taught the craft. Any development was entirely due to self-help and ex-change of knowledge amongst those students suffi ciently interested to make use of the facilities as and when they could. This situation continued until 1941 when a former B.A. student was appointed as a temporary lecturer, the fi rst potter to teach pottery in the depart-ment. Thus Hilda Ditchburn, then Hilda Rose, began a career which was to make her one of the most respected teachers of ceramics in South Africa’.

Encouraged by Oxley, Hilda Ditchburn was granted special study-leave from 1947 to 1949 to go to the Central School of Arts and Design in London to develop her skills, where she trained under Dora Billington, then head of Ceramics. Coincidently at the end of Hilda Ditchburn’s studies in London, Esias Bosch arrived on a scholarship to study ceramics; Gail de Klerk (2001) noted that ‘Dora Billington …taught [Bosch] the value of really looking at pots … He spent many hours in the Victoria and Albert Museum making hundreds of draw-ings of pots. The course was not a very practical one and was geared to training teachers, something he did not want to be.’ On his return to South Africa after working with Ray Finch at Winchcombe, Bosch began teaching ceramics in the Art Department of Natal Technical College in Durban –when Hilda Ditchburn was launching her new coursework in Pietermaritzburg.

She introduced a scientifi c theory of ceramic materials and glaze-chemistry, which in accordance with Dora Billington’s training was highly systematic; she kept careful notes of all her tests of clays, glazes and fi ring results, and referred to the highly technical pub-lications of Alfred Searle, Cullen Parmelee, Ernst Rosenthal, and Daniel Rhodes; books by Michael Cardew, Bernard Leach, Dora Bil-lington, Muriel Rose and J.B. Honey appealed to her more visual sense. Whilst it was in Michael Cardew’s studio pragmatism (his re-sourcefulness tried and tested practically at Abuja in Nigeria) that she was inclined to his earthy approach to pottery, she emphasised

that although glazes had ‘an aesthetic side,’ a ceramist should ‘base your practice on scientifi c knowledge’, and that the ‘making and fi r-ing of glazes’ necessarily involved the ‘chemistry, geology and phys-ics’ (CVA archival records).

Whilst F.G.E. Nilant’s key-text of 1963 provided a brief chapter about indigenous pottery, and briefl y mentioned Esias Bosch’s in-novative stoneware at that time, it is apparent that earthenware was the prevalent medium of South African modernist studios before 1960, and that local studio ceramics were based on the fi ring proc-esses and technology of earthenware glazes.

One of Hilda Ditchburn’s great historical achievements was in the stoneware kiln she built and fi red for the fi rst time in 1954: it was also South Africa’s fi rst reduction stoneware kiln and anticipated the high-fi red technologies that came as late modernist imports in South African studio ceramics. Despite the international dominance of Ber-nard Leach’s modernism in studio pottery, it was only when Esias Bosch began stoneware productions with a wood-burning ‘Cardew kiln’ in 1960 at his newly built studio, ‘Die Randjie’, near White Riv-er, Mpumulanga that reduction stoneware became familiar in South African production studios (Cruise 1991).

In her four decades at the university’s studios, Hilda Ditchburn consolidated her original aims to ‘provide a basic training in hand-building and throwing, the various methods of decorating, glazing of earthenware and stoneware, [and] the study of ceramic materials and glaze chemistry’ (CVA archival records). Her reduction glazes express her fascination with complex layers of classical stoneware glazes: ‘Tenmoku’ or ‘Kawai Kaki’ sprayed over a poured coat of ‘Central School Hard’ or ‘Magnesium Glaze’, often with regular oxide-brushwork or wax-resist motifs repeated regularly on care-fully paddled thrown forms. Through Dora Billington’s training, her stoneware glazes were nevertheless derived from Bernard Leach’s standard range – even though she did not consider herself to be his ‘follower’; nevertheless she was well aware of his concepts about studio pottery.

Hilda Ditchburn absorbed Leach’s ideas directly from her attend-ance at the international Dartington Hall conference in 1952, where

65

at his instigation several prominent crafts practitioners had publi-cised their aims.

In his revival of English studio pottery, Bernard Leach’s aesthetic philosophy was fused with Soetsu Yanagi’s concept of the ‘unknown craftsman’ at the heart of the Japanese Mingei (Folkcrafts) move-ment –the nascence of which Leach pioneered equally in Japan dur-ing the 1920s (Kikuchi, 1994). Essentially, the beauty of ‘folkcrafts’ (terms such as ‘peasant art’ and ‘folk art’ were familiar to William Morris in the English Arts and Crafts movement) was in their prosaic utility, made by hand and by anonymous craftspeople (potters did not sign their works), ‘working in groups, free of ego and free of the desire to be famous or rich, merely working to earn their daily bread’ (Kikuchi, 1994)

Western pottery provided no traditional legacy of stoneware, as such, on which to base Leach’s models (though English slipwares –earthenwares- were central to his and Michael Cardew’s pottery). However the classical glazes of China (Song celadons in particular), Japan (ash-glazed tea-wares of the Old Kilns such as Shigaraki, for example; and though not stoneware: Raku wares) and Korea (Koryu wares) provided models for the high-fi red reduction glazes favoured by Leach’s ‘anglo-orientalist’ followers in South African studios after 1960 (Cruise, 1991).

Hilda Ditchburn appreciated that a ‘good pot’ resulted from at-tention to certain material processes, involving elemental ‘natural truths’ of clay and fi re itself - in which the functional forms and aesthetic surfaces of pottery vessels were realised according to de-liberations of sturdy utility. Her ceramics were almost entirely about the useful beauty of glazed pottery – and much of this was stoneware and (later in the early 1970s) porcelain.

Though Hilda Ditchburn’s notebooks are full of stoneware glaze recipes and information she had collected directly from visits to the studio of Bernard Leach and his son, David, she seems to have pre-ferred Michael Cardew’s ceramics and example of self-suffi ciency as a potter. She identifi ed closely with Cardew’s lived-experience as a potter in West Africa, and was impressed with his resourcefulness for example in prospecting on the Jos Plateau of Nigeria for the raw

mineral components to use in his stoneware glazes. Though she did not do any such fi eldwork herself, in her own South African context she had to be to equally practical in sourcing local glaze materials and local KwaZulu-Natal clays to supply her students and teaching in the university’s Ceramics Department – when she began teaching during the colonial era (and until she retired early in the 1980s) most of the ceramic glaze materials were imported from Wengers’ in Britain.

Expansion

Professor Jack Heath’s death in mid-1969 was unexpected; he had been Head of Department since 1953 (and previously Professor of Fine Art at Port Elizabeth’s School of Art) and had fi rmly led a dynamic teaching staff in Pietermaritzburg that included his wife, Jane (their daughter Jinny (Bronwen) Heath was one of Hilda Ditchburn’s most talented students – and who also subsequently lectured Ceramics at intervals whilst Hilda Ditchburn was away on periods of sabbatical leave. Jinny Heath retired from the CVA in 2009, having taught Print-making, Painting and Drawing for several decades before).

Aidron Duckworth was then appointed head of Fine Arts, and during his short headship (from 1970), he instituted major changes in the Ceramics Studios. Likely inspired through this earlier marriage to the well-known international ceramist and sculptor, Ruth Duckworth, he elevated its course from a secondary status (in an optional diploma course) to that of a major: on a par with Painting and Sculpture in the CVA’s Fine Arts degree. Having motivated for an additional post in its Ceramics Studio, Malcolm Macintyre-Read, a graduate of the Central School of Art and Design in London, was appointed and began teaching Ceramics in 1972 with Hilda Ditchburn.

At that time, Hilda Ditchburn also introduced porcelain as a new medium in the Studios, and acquired the Studios’ fi rst large electric kiln, specifi cally to fi re its new works in stoneware and porcelain. The Department’s students of the early 1970s with specialisations in ceramics were Melanie Hillebrand (who later completed her MA in Art History, and subsequently her PhD), Juliet Armstrong (MAFA),

66

Thomas Vermeulen (MA in Art History), and Penny Human (BA Hon-ours in Ceramics). From their academic examples were to emerge a new era of CVA postgraduate studies that focused increasingly on local art, especially pottery and ceramics.

With Malcolm Macintyre-Read’s assistance, rapid expansions be-gan in the Ceramics Stutio’s coursework. ‘Mac’ (as he was known) brought dynamism and freshness from his training at the Central School of Art and Design. In this respect the two lecturers shared a considerable heritage, and they focused pragmatically in their ce-ramics coursework, which they devised jointly. A new generation of Fine Art students were afforded the opportunity to study Ceramics for the fi rst time as a major discipline in the Fine Art Department. Until then, ceramics (or ‘Pottery’ as it was called) had been an ‘ex-tra’ option in the structure of the Fine Art degree, and offered as a diploma course to seriously-intentioned senior students.

Malcolm Macintyre-Read and Hilda Ditchburn mobilised the CVA’s fi rst crop of ceramist-graduatesi –all Fine Art students majoring in Ce-ramics for the BAFA degree for the fi rst time since the Department’s formation in the 1930s. Marietjie van der Merwe, then a prominent South African ceramist (and MFA graduate of UCLA’s Laura Andreson) practicing in her Cape Town studio was appointed the external ex-aminer to the new ceramics coursework – an important connection that later led to her return to teach in the Studios during 1982 after Hilda Ditchburn’s retirement.

During his fi ve-year tenure (he left South Africa at the end of 1976 to return to Britain), Malcolm Macintyre-Read’s lively, energetic na-ture complemented Hilda Ditchburn’s more serious disposition in the Ceramics Studios (‘Mac ruffl ed feathers, Mrs Ditchburn smoothed things over’). Partly an organisational principle to accommodate the different specialisations of Hilda Ditchburn and Malcolm Macintyre-Read, ceramics studiowork and teaching were divided into process-oriented areas. With his training in industrial ceramics and design, especially reprographic processes, Mac’s teaching portfolio involved handbuilding processes of construction –rather than wheel-made forms- and the development of more sculptural aspects of ceramics. Malcolm Macintyre-Read also began teaching a history of Western

ceramics, which was introduced as an examinable component of the Ceramics studio coursework in 1975. He also regularly hired batches of photographic slides from the British Crafts Advisory Council on contemporary crafts and ceramic exhibitions abroad.

Malcolm Macintyre-Read’s resignation from the Ceramics Studios and return to Britain at the end of 1976 (the Soweto Uprising in June that year no doubt resolved his decision to leave South Africa; Eric Mtshatsha, as the Ceramics Studio Technician recalled Macintyre-Read’s encouragement at that time for his involvement with the uni-versity’s Black Workers Organisation as a resistance organisation).

New directions

Towards the end of the 1970s, Hilda Ditchburn’s ceramics students included Jonathan Keep and John Wilhelm (both are now profes-sional ceramists of note); her MAFA students at that time were Juliet Armstrong, Garth Claassen, Sue Geddes-Page, Shane Richards and Ian Calder. Juliet Armstrong was appointed lecturer after Malcolm Macintyre-Read’s resigned from his post in 1976, and Ian Calder sub-sequently joined the staff after the retirement of Hilda Ditchburn in 1981.

Having fi rst trained as a sculptor at the CVA, Juliet Armstrong went on to postgraduate studies at Leicester Polytechnic. Subsequently, she returned to the CVA and completed an MAFA in which her ceram-ics were strongly sculptural in their fi gurative form and content. Her sensuous appreciation for clay as a plastic material recalled her ear-lier training with modelled, cast and carved forms in the Sculpture Department of Fine Arts; Peter Schutz was a contemporary.

As a new lecturer at the CVA, Juliet Armstrong innovated studio methods of casting studio porcelain and bone-china. Increasingly to the present her expressive intentions are identifi ed with a cultural metropole in contemporary KwaZulu-Natal; her works range in scale from intense small assemblages to expansive sheets of translucent ceramic material, pieced and bound together to form large wall-pieces.

Ian Calder’s postgraduate ceramics were constructed from thrown

67

components, often stacked together to form composite sculptural works, glazed in muted stoneware colours that corresponded with Hilda Ditchburn’s modernist affi nities for classical Chinese Song pot-tery - and also expressed his undergraduate training as a painter at the CVA. His subsequent ceramics –thrown vessels with colourful maiolica paintings – may be compared formally with John Adams’ painted designs for early Poole Pottery (c1930s).

Amongst the fi rst groups of ceramics students taught by Juliet Arm-strong and Ian Calder were Katherine Glenday, Ralph Johnson, and postgraduates Fee Halsted and Bea Jaffray – all of whom went on to national ceramics awards, international recognition and active prac-tices as studio ceramists. Coincidently this group of students was also taught by the porcelain artist, Marietjie van der Merwe, whom Hilda Ditchburn appointed external examiner in Ceramics during the mid-1970s and who subsequently taught with Ian Calder during his fi rst year as a lecturer at the CVA (1982).

Marietjie van der Merwe’s studio practices derived from her MFA studies at UCLA under Laura Andreson; she returned to become one of South Africa’s founders of stoneware and porcelain – which in-cluded Esias Bosch, Hyme Rabinowitz, Tim Morris, Andrew Walford, Brian Haden, and the ceramics staff of the Pottery Workshop at Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre (Dinah, Ivy and Lephina Molefe, Gordon Mbatha, Joel Sibisi, and Ephraim Ziqubu). It is signifi cant to recall that Durban Art Gallery’s director, Jill Addleson, purchased for the museum’s permanent collection some of the fi rst ceramics of Rorke’s Drift’s Pottery Workshop – at a time when the institutions of apartheid actually prevented their representation in its fl agship art museums. Marietjie van der Merwe also introduced Ian Calder to the Pottery Workshop staff, and Gordon Mbatha subsequently visited the CVA as guest-ceramist on several occasions. Nordic research connec-tions followed in several international grants from the University of Gavle in Sweden.

Several part-time and periodic teachers added new approaches to the CVA’s ceramics coursework. David Middlebrook’s visit as guest-ceramist at the CVA in 1983, and lecture tour around South African centres also occasioned many APSA-members to revise their notions about ceramics, largely premised on their interpretations of Leach’s

‘anglo-orientalist’ genre of pottery. For many years as a part-time teacher, Lindsay Scott contributed to studio classes. Garth Claas-sen returned from a Fullbright scholarship’s doctoral studies at the University of Bloomington, Indiana, to teach Drawing, Art History and Ceramics at the CVA in the early 1990s – and in his wide range of skills and practices, he encouraged the CVA’s ceramists to fuse the hermetic divisions of their art-training.

Initially with Ian Calder, Juliet Armstrong developed a series of topical research projects in fi eldwork and interventions with potters and ceramists of rural communities in northern KwaZulu-Natal. These began with documentary fi eldwork with Nesta Nala in the early 1990s and more recently with the Magwaza family, that have continued to revise notions about tradition and traditionality in highlighting Zulu ceramics as signifi cant contemporary cultural expressions – not as sterotypically ‘dead or dying traditions’.

It is worth recalling that in the era in which Durban and Pieter-maritzburg were establishing their college ceramics studios, indig-enous forms of art fell outside the scope of modernist defi nitions of the Fine Arts and crafts. In retrospect, it is worth recalling that the core-collections of the Tatham Art Gallery and Durban Art Gallery -the province’s major art museums- were formed with the bequest of Colonel Whitwell’s personal compilations of tasteful oil paintings and prints; his orthodox tastes for example included Chinese blue-and-white porcelains, fi n-de-siècle glasswares and works of French artist-potters.

Marshaled in local museums of cultural history, small collections of indigenous art were acquired passively as donated novelties, where they were catalogued as ethnographic specimens of the many ‘anonymous Zulu’ ceramists – ironically given the Japanese philoso-pher Soetsu Yanagi’s insistence on the authenticity of the ‘unknown crafts[person]’. In this context, Zulu domestic forms of pottery and indigenous ceramic expressions were barely represented in local pub-lic collections; Hezekile Ntuli’s sculptural tableaux of the late 1920s in the KwaZulu-Natal Museum are the notable exception, and only in the last few decades of the twentieth century did Nesta Nala’s ceramics make the exquisite forms of Zulu pottery world-famous.

From the outset, Juliet Armstrong and Ian Calder shared strong in-

68

terests in the local indigenous art and culture of KwaZulu-Natal; yet as undergraduates at the CVA, the arts and crafts of Africa –including local expressions of ceramics and pottery- were not studied at all. Whilst the scholastic basis of studio ceramics in design established by Hilda Ditchburn was maintained, the new teachers increasingly developed their capacities in documenting the works of rural ce-ramists, which resulted in several funded national and international research projects, and new generations of postgraduate MA and MAFA candidates whose studies were to be focused on topics based in the region’s ceramics productions.

Too numerous to outline here, many notable postgraduate research studies include Ian Garrett’s MAFA dissertation on Nesta Nala; Glenda Mentis’ project about Ardmore Ceramics identifi ed some of the stu-dio’s major themes in its early history; Jane Todd’s digital records documented the Magwaza family’s ceramics and processes; Sharon Weaving’s recent research critically interpreted issues of indigenous narrative and Zulu mythology in Ardmore’s contemporary context; Mathodi Motsamayi’s project probed issues of indigeneity and au-thenticity in Rorke’s Drift ceramics of the 1970s.

Prominent South African studio ceramists were the focus of MAFA studies by Candice Vurovecz (about Hilda Ditchburn), Lara du Plessis (about Marietjie van der Merwe), and Fahmeeda Omar (about Thel-ma Marcusson). Recent postgraduate studies by Kim Bagley and Lea Frisinger have probed the emergence of post-materiality in contem-porary South African ceramics.

The CVA’s Ceramics Studios’ staff and students continue to gener-ate signifi cant new creative expressions and interpretations of in-dividual, social and cultural affi liation in South African studio ce-ramics, and especially to challenge contemporary assumptions about ‘traditionalities’ in local ceramics in a globalising metropole.

Ian Calder works at the Centre for Visual Art, University of KwaZulu-Natal: Pietermaritzburg

Bibliography

(Author not stated) http://pooleimages.co.uk/traditional.aspx Accessed by Ian Calder, November 2011.(Author not stated). Dartington Hall Archive at http://www.dartington.org/archive/results.php?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28PersonName%3D%27Leach%27%29 Ac-cessed by Ian Calder, November 2011.Archival records of the Ceramics Studios, Centre for Visual Art, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.Armstrong, J. and Calder, I. 1996. ‘Traditional Zulu Pottery.’ Zulu Treasures, AmaGugu kaZulu: Kings and Commoners (exhibition catalogue), KwaZulu Cul-tural Museum, OndiniClark, G., L. Wagner. 1974. Potters of Southern Africa. Cape Town, ABC. Cruise, W. 1991. Contemporary ceramics in South Africa. Cape Town, Struikde Klerk, Gail.2001. ‘Esias Bosch, Master Potter’, National Ceramics Quar-terly, No 55.De Waal, E. 2003. 20th Century Ceramics. London, Thames and Hudson.Hamer, Frank. 1975. The Potter’s Dictionary of Materials and Techniques. Lon-don, Pitman.Hillebrand, Melanie. 1986 ‘Art and Architecture in Natal 1910-1940’. (unpub-lished MA dissertation, Centre for Visual Art, University of KwaZulu-Natal: Pietermaritzburg). Macintyre-Read, Malcolm. (undated, ?1975). ‘Ceramics at the University of Natal’ (CVA archival draft document; likely published in Sgraffi ti magazine, 1975)Nilant, F. 1963. Contemporary pottery in South Africa. Cape Town, Balkema.Partington, Matthew. (not dated) ‘Ray Finch and Functional’ in www.uwic.ac.uk/ICRC/issue001/fi nch/fi nch.htm. Accessed by Ian Calder in February 2010.Vurovecz, Candice. 2008. ‘Hilda Ditchburn: A Teacher and Pioneer of Stone-ware Ceramics in Southern Africa’ (unpublished MAFA dissertation, Centre for Visual Art, University of KwaZulu-Natal: Pietermaritzburg).Wilkinson, Anne. 2009. Poole: Twintone and Tableware.Yuko Kikuchi, 1994 in ‘The Myth of Yanagi’s Originality: The Formation of “Mingei” Theory in Its Social and Historical Context’ Journal of Design History, Vol. 7, No. 4 (1994), pp. 247-266 (Oxford University Press on behalf of Design History Society) www.jstor.org/stable/1316066, Accessed by Ian Calder, Au-gust 2011.

Zaalberg, M. 1985. The 1985 Year Book of South African Ceramics. Cape Town and Johannesburg, Corobrik: Perskor.

69

In what can be regarded as one of the many micro resistances to racial exclusivity and white suprematism, multicultural referencing in a range of creative expressions in South Africa refl ects a partisan-ship that challenges former prevailing strategies of exclusion and separation.a Refl ected not least in changes in design, curriculae and research emphases, by the late 1970s a distinctiveness marked by lo-cal indigenous and other African and oriental referencing was clearly discernible and widespread, not least in various aspects of ceramic practice. Such cross-cultural referencing in South African ceramics effectively eroded the former monocultural dominance of Western-derived cultural centrality that prevailed in the imported wares en-tering the region until at least the 1930s. Such cross-cultural refer-encing was located mostly in studio ceramics, conveying a distinct modernity which upheld individuation and indigeneity, refl ecting a shifting of preconceived values, boundaries and paradigms. Several factors contributed to this gradual change in aesthetic and design preferences, based on personal and collective perspectives and ex-perience.

In ceramics a cross-cultural aesthetic emerged as early as the 1890s, possibly even earlier, identifi ed in the drawings of immigrant artist Erich Mayer. Although mainly a painter, he envisaged designs for ceramics derived formally from both Greek and Roman antiquity, combined with San motifs, indigenous southern African vessels and decorative embellishment, amplifi ed by the addition of motifs de-rived from local fauna. Only a few of these were actually realised. Based on an increasing knowledge of and admiration for indigenous material culture and its peoples, his intention in developing such prototypes was to create an indigenous ceramic idiom that would refl ect a more inclusive and representative South African identity.b

By the 1920s a few artists in Natal (KwaZulu-Natal) experimented with cross-cultural referencing in ceramic design and aesthetic pref-erences. Mary Stainbank, a sculptress and contemporary of Mayer, was an important pioneer in the use of African motifs and studies for her sculpture which included maquettes in clay. Trained in South Africa at the Durban School of Art (now Durban University of Tech-nology) and at the Royal College of Art, London, she also provided

some designs for the renowned Linnware ceramic studio. In a de-parture from the academic realism imparted to her at both centres where she trained, she used an African idiom, stylized fi gures and motifs in some of her work, especially while in Britain, as if ref-erencing her geographic affi nities and origins. A later colleague of hers, Peter Hall, refl ected both her infl uence and that of other com-mercial studio potteries such as Kalahari and Drostdy ware as well as the drawings of amateur ethnographer Barbara Tyrrell. A plate decorated by him (c 1950) of a Zulu woman in a contorted positionc typifi es his imagery. Recognizably Zulu, the woman wears an isicolo that designates her married status, yet the rendering is stylized, with beadwork, weaving and dress reduced to decorative swathes and patterns rather remote from their original sources.d

A modernist Africanness emerged in a more diverse range of ce-ramics by, among others, black South Africans trained at the pottery studio at the Evangelical Lutheran Church Arts and Crafts Centre at Rorke’s Drift (Rorke’s Drift. This coincided with the renewed interest in functional indigenous ceramics, especially those produced by the Venda, Sotho and Zulu potters, their wares marketed both internally (for traditional purposes) and to a receptive white market. They pro-vided an ‘authentic’ and sustained source of reference and associa-tion, increasingly admired for their aesthetic and functional aspects.e Straddling the realms of local and curio ware while also becoming desirable collector’s pieces, these wares were also marketed at ex-clusive outlets such as, among others, Helen de Leeuw’s Craftsman’s Market (in the former Transvaal and Cape), Klaus Wasserthal and Papatso (Pretoria and environs) and the African Art Centre (exclusive to Natal). Over fi ve decades the ceramics marketed by these and other outlets contributed to a marked transformation in aesthetic appreciation and design preference refl ected primarily in private collections and a few public institutions.f

While a Natal audience of the 1960s was initially too conservative and anglophile to be receptive to a hybrid modernist ceramic idiom that was emerging elsewhere, this was to change however when, among others, the African Art Centre (AAC) was established in the 1960s as an outreach of the Institute of Race Relations. Founded un-

Mediating indigeneity and a cross-cultural aesthetic in work by ceramists from KZN in the collection of the Durban Art Gallery by JULIETTE LEEB-DU TOIT

70

der the auspices of the Anglican Church as an inter-denominational centre to foster intercultural relations in the social and political sphere, the AAC provided Black artists in particular with an outlet for exhibiting and selling their work, and soon came to represent a signifi cant source of most forms of local art. One of their main sources for ceramics was from the pottery studio at Rorke’s Drift, where high fi red stoneware and slip-covered or sgraffi to decorated ceramics, and the lack of prescriptiveness in design and decoration, resulted in imagery dominated by a rudimentary conceptualism sourced in ‘free design’. Coupled at times with sourcing in local oral traditions and idioms, the resulting rudimentary forms were identi-fi ed as uniquely ‘African’ to a local and international, predominantly white market.

It was also in Natal that independent ceramists, such as Andrew Walford, pioneered an oriental syncretic stoneware and porcelain idiom acquired in emulation of Japanese master Shoji Hamada, Ber-nard Leach in England and practice amplifi ed during his apprentice-ship with Max Liebermann ceramics in Johannesburg. Walford’s idiom was widely emulated, often critiqued for being so overtly derivative of oriental ceramics. His robust stoneware came to be indigenised in part, with unglazed surfaces to which glazed letters are applied, in what he now describes as having local ethnic affi nities. Given the former conservatism in KwaZulu-Natal where he still works, it is hardly surprising that initially his largest market was in the former Transvaal, Cape and Japan.

Several local tertiary art schools were signifi cant in contributing to a cross-cultural aesthetic in KwZulu-Natal. Given the precedents by Stainbank in the 1920s and later Hall, it is not surprising that by the late 1970s the Natal Technikon (now Durban University of Tech-nology) design students and those from the ceramics and sculpture departments, pursued a cross-cultural aesthetic. It was here that Maggie Mikula trained, completing a Diploma in Commercial Art in 1962. She later developed a distinctive cross-cultural idiom in her ceramics in which she emulated African forms and decorative em-bellishment, to which wire, beads and other organic materials were affi xed. On the one hand her idiom was sourced in local South Afri-

can indigenous cultural heritage, in particular designs on earlpugs, izinkhmaba (beer drinking vessels) and their decorative protrusions (amasumpa) and patterning, but they were equally sourced in ori-ental and other African sources.g Referenced in her ceramic pieces these motifs constitute a self-referencing that echoed her child-hood, familial history and memory of place Her referencing of local African motifs is hardly surprising as she hails from a well known family of missionary-traders who established ventures initiated by her great- grandfather Alfred and grandfather Charlie Adams, both known to the Zulu royal family as advisors and mediators. Raised in Eshowe, she was familiar with the collection of Zulu material cul-tural artefacts acquired by the family.. h

In c1976 work produced by ceramic undergraduates in the Fine Arts Department of the University of Natal (now the Centre for Vis-ual Art) mostly refl ected the prevailing infl uence of the Anglo-Ori-ental tradition that had come to be widely used throughout South Africa. This resulted in robust glazed and slip covered earthenware and stoneware pieces. Ian Calder’s earthenware forms glazed in muted tones and stacked in phallic towers allude obliquely to ritual and associated practice, while Garth Claassen created monumen-tal totemic forms with horned protrusions. Later Calder referenced imagery on his maiolica vessels from local history, fauna and fl ora. Their contemporary, Sue Geddes-Page (now in Australia), was partic-ularly drawn to African decorative motifs, such as Asante and Hausa designs translated into clay – a Hausa purse, a body cast recreated in clay fragments detailed in African derived design, and another decorated body cast affi xed to an authentic Hausa robe (boubou).i Another contemporary, Davydd Myburgh was also one of the fi rst ce-ramic sculptors to reference African sourcing and forms. His ceramic heads on poles and masks with beads and feathers clearly located his sourcing in totemic African masquerades. One of the main inspira-tional forces inculcating this mediated ceramic sculpture was senior sculpture lecturer Henry Davies. A Zimbabwean by birth who had done research on art education in former Rhodesia and taught art there. Particualrly familiar with African art, Davies often assisted in the ceramics section of the department, exposing both the ceramic

71

and sculpture students to a range of sources, many African.j The undergraduate work of Fee Halsted (later Halsted-Berning) fur-

ther challenged the prevailing idioms in the above department, with her roughly fi nished surfaces and forms, inserted shafts of replicated snake and leopard skin, and her experimental and irreverent juxta-positions of surfaces and references. She was directly infl uenced by visiting American lecturer David Middlebrook who encouraged stu-dents to reference their own surroundings and local traditions in their work. With this liberating view and a healthy irreverence for convention, Halsted briefl y taught at the Natal Technikon (later the DUT) and when retrenched she settled at Ardmore farm where with the assistance of Bonnie Ntshalintshali they together formed the re-nowned Ardmore Studio. Here an inverse borrowing and hybridity ensued in which European shapes and conventions were indigenized with the application of cultural themes, local fauna and fl ora and narrative references. Josephine Ghesa produced a more robust ware, patinated and modifi ed with paint and polish, in totemic fi g-ures derived from her southern Sotho heritage.

In the 1980s the obsessively decorative surfaces and compilations of Bea Jaffray, who completed a diploma in the Fine Arts Depart-ment, emerged. Like Mikula her iconography became increasingly multi-culturally sourced in predominantly African and Indian design, resulting in meticulously incised vessel rims and exteriors, incised patterned tiles using both saturated and muted colours. Drawn largely from North African sources she was criticised by David Mid-dlebrook for directly copying such motifs rather than mediating these and drawing on her own resources in her designs. Ironically he had supported Halsted’s innovative experimental locally referenced designs.

From the mid 1980s the Fine Arts Department (CVA) soon attracted several students who pursued an interest in African ceramic tradi-tions from the region, infl uenced in this by Ian Calder, Henry Davies and Juliet Armstrong. This saw the work of Ian Garrett closely refer-ence the local izinkhamba traditions, having done his Masters’ dis-sertation on the work of , among others, Nesta Nala. His meticulous surfaces and burnished fi nishes resulted in a distinctive vernacular

that prevailed in his work for decades. Former fashion designer Clive Sithole attended a workshop by Garrett and later met with Nesta Nala and other rural potters, inspiring him to retrain as a ceramist. He later studied briefl y at the CVA under Calder and Armstrong. Known for works that emulate both Zulu traditional wares as well as Gar-rett-inspired burnishing and experimentation, his more recent works draw from a range of cultural sources. The CVA also attracted other African students and ceramists, with Ghanain Lawrence Asare pro-ducing robust forms that alluded to Ghanaian vessels. More recently the CVA was visited by world renowned Kenyan artist Magdeleine Odundo who discussed her work in the CVA and conducted some cri-tiques with students, inspiring several students.

Juliet Armstrong’s early use of stoneware, typically dominant in the 1980s in the CVA, soon gave way to the use of porcelain and bone china, often combined with earthenware. Her pristine translucent white forms juxtaposed with dark organic shapes began gradually to reference local sources such a fl ora (eg in Ginko Leaves). Her increasing interest in Zulu ceramics led to a greater understanding of Zulu cultural practice and idioms and by the 1990s these became referenced in works such as Flies in the milk and in her many isi-bodiya-derived forms. By the late 1990s the sourcing of black South African culture by white artists was subject to considerable scrutiny, some regarding cross-cultural borrowings as being without legiti-macy, located in a context of imbalanced power relations. However fl awed such appropriations and othering, these visual overtures are testimony to an emergent visual vernacular that conveys the extent to which intercultural acknowledgment and aesthetic appreciation occurs. Refl ecting a sense of belonging and affi nity to place, cross-cultural expression is in part attached to an emergent consciousness as South Africans, long since separated both psychologically and geo-graphically from one another engender new idioms that refl ect their South Africanness.

In culturally diverse nations, such as South Africa, people live within a framework of multiple cultural identities that are often only partly known or recognized by the groups within this frame-work. For some, cross-culturalism became attached to the struggle

72

for identity in a colonial context, as the gradual loss of affi nity with the mother countries from which colonists hailed, receded. In proc-esses of self-defi nition located in personal choice and selected af-fi nities based on constantly evolving self-construction, cross-cultur-alism was an indication that identity was shifting and was no longer preconceived. In the process individuals were no longer tied merely to their original identity but moved within the ostensible boundaries that culture assumed.

The ceramic examples in this exhibition reveal a range of strate-gies and intentions that must be taken into consideration, refl ecting the ways in which self-defi nition emerged in a multi-cultural con-text, what borrowings were made and how these refl ect the nature and degree of cultural entanglement in the region. The intention and reception of cross-cultural borrowing is complex, often attached to personal ideals, but it can be acknowledged as a signifi cant ba-rometer of a population desirous of asserting both their commonali-ties and difference.

Bibliography

Basson. E. The use of indigenous motifs in the ceramics of Erich Mayer. UNISA, De Arte, 2006. Bauer, V. The inception of cross-cultural dimensions in the ceramics of the lae 1970s onwards as refl ected in the work of Maggie Mikula and her ad-herents. Unpublished MAFA thesis, submitted to the Centre for Visual Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.Calder, I M S Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit, 2011.Davies, H Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit, January 2012.Gers, W. A South African Studio Ceramics, c1950s:The Kalahari Stu-dio, Drostdy Ware and Crescent Potteries. Unpublished MA dissertation in Art History. Centre for Visual Arts, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 2000.Leeb-du Toit, J C Nordik infl uence on South African ceramics of the 1970s. Unpublished paper presented to the Ceramics Colloquim at the William Hum-phries Museum, Kimberley, 2005. Sithole, C Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit, 2005.Olsson, K Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit, 2005.Wasserthal, K Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit, 2005.

Endnotes

a Coincident tumultuous events on the political and social front had a major impact on student life, where partisanship by students and staff saw ongoing resistance to autocratic action and legislation effected by the state.b Mayer’s attempts refl ected an innovative modernity coincident with the emerging disciplines of anthropology and ethnology that contributed to greater cultural awareness. These disciplines however were also to be used to foster segregation and differentiation. In part his interest in a broader South Africanness was also located in his German diasporic origins and desir-able affi nity with Africa, his new home. c This item is in Juliet Armstrong’s personal ceramic collection in Pieterma-ritzburg.d The extent to which Hall and Stainbank’s work was known beyond the con-fi nes of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal) was relatively limited, but Stainbank had executed sculptural commissions in the then Transvaal (now Gauteng) which were more widely known. e Several early South African modernists were engaged in documentation and the collecting of indigenous cultural items, with artists such as Erich Mayer, Irma Stern, Walter Battiss and Cecil Skotnes well known as informed collectors. Subsequently these artists’ work drew on such indigenous sources, refl ected also in other design activities which contributed to gradual depar-tures from the predominance of established Western sourced preferences in studio ceramic ware. f Wasserthal still has an outlet in Pretoria, and both he and De Leeuw were important in originating a syncretism between local and indigenous produc-tion and handcrafted design, foregrounding handmade and organic materi-als, they provided a key entry for these products into an essentially western interior in which the centrality and appreciation of functional design and natural materials was shared. The juxtaposition between white/western and indigenous traditions resulted in an increasing appreciation for the latter. This led to the creation of new market opportunities and an increased sup-port for other spheres of African production such as emergent contemporary art, beadwork and ceramics. This modernist multicultural aesthetic was also shaped by their interest in late modernist European, especially Nordic, de-sign, identifi able by its upholding of simplicity, truth to materials and func-tionalism.g Mikula won the Corobrik National Ceramics Award in 1984 and in 1985 the APSA (Association of Potters in Southern Africa) National Prize.h Her son Max Mikula best summarizes the ideological underpinning of her

73

In order to understand the making and international appreciation of the Zulu pottery vessels made by the Nala family, it is necessary to give a brief historical outline which led the acquisition of these items in the Durban Art Gallery

In the later 20th C, Zulu crafts in the rural areas were nurtured both in the local and relatively poor communities and through Bantu Education. It was mainly through the efforts of Jack Grossert, who was in charge of ‘Native’ education in Natal during the 1950’s and 1960’s that rural learners were encouraged to pursue so called ‘tra-ditional crafts’ at the schools. However, Zulu crafts in general fell under the derogatory label of Bantoekuns (Afrikaans ) or Bantuart (Nettleton 2010) as the construct of the regime saw it as inferior to European arts commonly collected for Art Galleries in South Africa. Finely made crafts were scorned by many Western residents as they were associated with rural ‘illiteracy, naivety and so called back-wardness’. The rural craft makers were invariably illiterate and, unfortunately, this was associated with the construct of stupidity. It was only in the 1980’s that art galleries in South Africa, in line with international critical debate, were open to considering the ‘art ver-sus craft’ discussion. They started to collect fi ne examples of Zulu (Southern African) crafts (as opposed to ethnological collections in museums) including beadwork, ceramics, wood carving, basket work and metal weaving.

There were a few opportunities in Natal or Durban to buy fi ne Zulu cultural artifacts for collectors through commercial outlets like Ivy’s, Shewells and the African Art Centre in Durban These outlets were patronized by keen collectors of current and historical cultural pieces. Generally these fi nely crafted wares were unsigned. Conse-quently, few of the makers have been singled out and acknowledged for their work. It is only through recent research and collecting that artists have become known for their fi ne technique and style, as this work did not usually access a public domain or artist-specifi c trend, and consequently sophisticated craftspeople were not acknowledged for their skills.

For the Nalas an important aspect of craft promotion came about in Eshowe in 1972, when a Swede, Reverent Kjell Lofroth, came to

Eshowe, Natal to encourage the local production of fi nely made in-digenous crafts in an effort to form co-operatives of skilled craft makers. This support came under the auspices of the Vukani (“wake up and go”) project. The project initially promoted crafts includ-ing woodwork, beadwork, basket making and pottery with a primary emphasis on personal development for the artists, encouraging qual-ity productions which they sold on behalf of the artists for the ex-port market. Vukani was seminal in assisting, mainly women, to hone their skills for the fussy export market that was keen to buy goods from Africa. Rev Lofroth was admired for his empathy and coordina-tion of the cooperatives and through this contact he encouraged the groups to develop quality products for export so as to ensure the makers were compensated according to their fi ne technical skills

When I met him at the Pietermaritzburg branch of the African Art Centre in 1984, he spoke to me about some exceptional rural potters he had located in a particularly remote area and that he was taken by the fi nesse and technical skill that was evident in their ceramic work. I am sure the potters he spoke of were the Nala women, Siphiwe and her daughter Nesta, from the Oyaya area. Nesta and her mother made ceramic vessels for a living which were bartered or sold to the local community to be used in the consumption of utshwala or sorghum beer.

I know that Rev Lofroth commissioned Nesta to make small vessels for the tourist trade which were then sold at Vukani and the African Art Centre in Durban and Pietermaritzburg. Lofroth cunningly asked Nesta to make work that could easily be transported in a tourist’s suitcase. Consequently, the work made was minute replicas of the customary ukhamba, fi nely crafted and fi nished to fi t into the palm of one’s hand but items that would not be used for drinking sorghum beer. He was also responsible for encouraging her to sign her work in about 1984(Garrett, Ian.1998:47), thus crossing the domain of the unknown craftsperson to the sought after potter that she became.

Many people are unaware of the symbolic and customary spiritual signifi cance of the utshwala vessel and the rituals involved in the drinking of this beverage. Zulu speaking Africans, mainly from Kwa-Zulu-Natal in South Africa, use many types of pottery to prepare,

The Nala Dynasty : the relevance and importance of these utshwala vesselsby JULIETTE ARMSTRONG

74

transport, store and serve Zulu sorghum beer or utshwala. Utshwala is both a nutritious drink and an alcoholic beverage. Beer served in black clay pots is consumed specifi cally when communing with the ancestors or amadlosi at an event that is commonly called umseben-zi. The communal drinking of beer encourages the living descend-ants to engage in good neighborliness and communal living, usually celebrating a rite of passage or giving thanks for the homestead’s wellbeing. These utshwala vessels are made by the women who learned their techniques from other women specialising in ceramic forming and fi ring. This is a specialised skill, and it is not expected that most rural women will be familiar with the specifi c techniques involved in this sophisticated indigenous knowledge system.

The basic foundation of a vessel is made from coils of clay. After the initial construction, the potter begins smoothing and tapering the walls. All drinking and serving vessels are decorated and the de-signs are always added onto the wet clay surface. There are several methods used to decorate a vessel: fi rstly, removing clay from the pot surface by incising into the leather-hard clay with different tools used to score into the vessel surface; or by adding further clay to raise the surface in relief by raising the smooth surface of the vessel with pellets or strips of clay. The pellets are grouped closely to-gether to create a markedly tactile geometric pattern. This type of design is usually called amasumpa.a The styles of all these motifs will vary according to the region in which they are made and will invari-ably refl ect a localized symbolic code. The placement of these motif designs is usually around the shoulder of the vessel and intrinsic to the grip of the vessel when fi lled with beer. Many of the motifs, and so called “designs”, are encoded with messages or symbols which would be understood by the local community, but probably over-looked as irrelevant by the outsider. Furthermore, the motifs should be read from the top as the vessel is customarily kept on the fl oor, or is seen from the top as the beer is sipped and then passed around to the other celebrants.

When the decoration is completed, the smooth drying vessel is rubbed on the undecorated surface with a smooth stone lubricated with a little water. This compacts the surface clay particles to cre-

ate a fi ne burnished sheen, called ukugudla. The clay vessels are left in the sun to dry before being fi red, and then each vessel has a glowing ember placed inside it to complete the drying process. The arid winter months are considered the ideal conditions for the fi ring process because the ground is dry. Flammable materials such as dry cow dung, grass, wood, and dried aloe leaves fuel the fi rst ‘biscuit fi ringb’done in a shallow pit situated below the potter’s homestead. The pots are then positioned in various layers and covered with the fuel before being ignited at the top of the pyre. The fi ring temper-ature reaches approximately 900ºC. The intense heat changes the composition of the clay, making the fi red vessel water resistantc.

Only the drinking and serving vessels are given a second carbonised fi ring to make them black. This process does not cause any ceramic change or strengthen the vessel, it is a customary ritual in honour of the ancestors (amadlosi) who appreciate dark cool places, and so are enticed to be present and accompany the beer ceremony by the shiny blackness of the vessel. So an ukhamba with incised designs, for example, can serve as a welcoming beacon for the ancestors who are being called to protect the living descendants.

Men and women usually drink in separate groups. If men are of-fered a drink of beer, the ukhamba is usually covered by an imbenge, a woven fi bre or grass ‘platelike form’ that protects the brew from dust and insects. Men will drink communally from a ukhamba, shar-ing the brew, whereas women will usually sit inside and may not drink directly from the vessel, but will drink from a cuplike gourd dipped into the ukhamba. A reveler cradling a blackened decorated ukhamba will feel solace knowing the beverage he sips and the ves-sel he touches are imbued with spiritual respect for the ancestors. A ‘hot’ or un-blackened vessel would never be used for ceremonial occasions: it is devoid of the protective symbolism that customary beer drinking and pottery embody.

It is within this context that Siphiwe Nala (1914-2003) mother of Nesta Nala (1945- 2005) both made and sold pots in the rural area of Oyaya about 40 Kms outside Eshowe. Siphiwe was trained by her paternal grandmother Ntombi MaKhumalo Nala (pers comm Jolles). It is interesting to note that although Cruise states that Nesta was

75

Mikula, MaggieLarge fl at pebble 1983Stoneware, matt white glaze & slipD: 18.1 cmDAG 2389

Mikula, MaggieLarge fl at pebble 1983Stoneware, matt white glaze & slipD: 18.1 cmDAG 2389

Mikula, MaggieLarge fl at pebble 1983Stoneware, matt white glaze & slipD: 18.1 cmDAG 2389

Mikula, MaggieLarge fl at pebble 1983Stoneware, matt white glaze & slipD: 18.1 cmDAG 2389

76

making pots at the age of 12, custom dictates that women who are menstruating, breast feeding, pregnant or have recently engaged in sex, typically cannot be involved in the making of pottery vessels d or the brewing of utshwala . Nesta would have customarily deferred her making, fi ring and selling of her wares to her mother, Siphiwe. Consequently, there is a construct from ill-informed people that the craft is dying out.e This is not so as it is usually the older women who will make and sell ceremonial pottery or take responsibility for the making and fi ring of the vessels. The younger women will learn the techniques but will not openly admit to the making of the vessels. However, this prohibition is changing and many young women in the rural areas are allowed to make pottery within a certain context which encourages them to earn money and make a sustainable liv-ing

Nesta would have refrained from the selling of ceremonial pots until she was passed child bearing age. She made non-ceremonial vessels for the tourist trade as this would not have impinged on her status in the community, and she would have been able to make a living from the techniques she learned from her mother. Rural ta-boos are changing and Nesta’s children all became fi ne potters in their own right. They include Zanele (1978-2006), Nonhlanhla, who was murdered by a jealous lover, Jabu (1969) and Thembile ( 1974) the latter two are still making pots. Nesta’s children have worked with customary Zulu utshwala pottery prototypes, initially accord-ing to the customs required, but have developed the genre beyond the constraints of the utilitarian vessel. They, including Nesta, have broken the boundaries of the customary ritual constraints to make, as Cruise(2005) mentions, “virtuoso expressions of the craft” using more adventurous decorative techniques whilst retaining a fi nesse and control of the swollen form to embody a sculptural aesthetic of its own, although not far removed from its utilitarian origins.

The author is grateful to the National Research Foundation (NRF) in South Africa for providing funds for this research

BibliographyArmstrong, J The relationship between body ornamentation and pottery decoration among the Zulu people. Women, the Arts and South Africa. Con-ference Proceedings: In Zaverdinos, A and Liebenberg, E (eds) Vol1. Pieter-maritzburg: Gender Studies Program, UN(P).1995 Armstrong, J Amasumpa in Zulu Ceramics@, South African Art Historians Con-ference, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. 1995 Amsamo Ceramics, South African Art Historians Conference, Uni-versity of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. 1996 Ubumba Catalogue. Tatham Art Gallery. The Magwazas: Potters of Distinction. Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermatritzburg. 1998 ( pg 27-32.)Berglund, A-l Zulu Thought Patterns and Symbolism. Hurst: London. 1976.Bryant, A. T. The Zulu People As They Were Before The White Man Came. : Shuter and Shooter: Pietermaritzburg. 1949.Cruise, W. Breaking the mould in Between Union and Liberation. Edited by MArnold, M and Schmahmann, S. Ashgate, Aldershot. 2005(pg 132-151)Doke, CM;Malcolm, DM;Sikakana, JMA Vilakazi, BW (comp) English-Zulu: Zulu-English Dictionary. Witwatersrand University Press: Johannesburg. 1990De Haas, M.E Sorghum Beer in Southern Africa: Continuity and Change. Durban: Unpublished report prepared for Tetra Pak. 1986.Hamer, Frank, The Potter’s Dictionary of Materials and Tech-niques.University Printing House: Cambridge.1975Lawton, A.C. `Bantu Pottery of Southern Africa’, Annals of the South African Museum, Volume 49, 1967-68. Kennedy, C. Art, Architecture and Material Culture of the Zulu Kingdom, University of California, (unpublished) Ph.D. dissertation in Art History: Los Angeles. Volume 49, 1967-68.McAllister, P.A. `Indigenous Beer in Southern Africa’, African Studies. 52:1, 1993.Nettleton, A Life in a Zulu villiage: Craft and the Art of Mo-dernity in South Africa.The journal of Modern Craft Vol 3: issue1: 2010 p 55-78Reusch, Dieter Imbiza kayibil? ingenambheki the social life of pots. Ubumba Catalogue. Pietermaritzburg 1998

77

Schofi eld, J.F. Primitive Pottery: an Introduction to South African Ceramics Prehistoric and Protohistoric, South African Archaeological Society, Cape Town: 1948.Stuart, J. ed. The Diary of Henry Francis Fynn, Shuter and Shooter: Pietermaritzburg:. 1969.

Endnotesa The word means nodules or dimples. It can be a laborious method of decoration and the potter usually charges a higher fee for work made in this way, or only makes it for commissions. b This will change the clay to pottery. Once the clay has been sub-jected to temperatures of 600º C or more it becomes a hardened material which cannot be disintegrated or dispersed by water.c Any fi ring lower than 850 degrees centigrade will render the ves-sels too fragile for use although they have been through ‘ceramic change’.d The male guest honored by the ritual beer drink is the fi rst to be offered the beverage, regardless of age and status in the homestead.e In conversation with the Magwaza potters (2011)in mPabalane they told me that a mother may work with clay 3 months after she has given birth. I have noticed that the younger women defer the making of their pots to their mothers. Although the young mothers have made and decorated the work they will announce that it is their mother’s pottery and will collect the money under the name of the mother. It is only the older women who will be involved in the fi ring of the pottery. (Pers obs)

78

In an interview of 1991(Ferguson and Leigh) F Fée Halsted-Berning expresses something of the nature of the development of Ardmore Ceramic Art: ‘One always starts something and it snowballs beyond your wildest dreams. And you’ve got to carry on. I mean you can’t really foresee how it’s going and you just carry on.’ Ardmore art was initiated and developed primarily through F Fée’s own career and development as a ceramist. Her inventiveness and creative energy burst into the rural life of the people around her and precipitated their own latent talents and drives.

Fée had entered the University of Natal in 1977, graduating in 1984 and then focussing on ceramic in a two year specialised course. She began teaching at the Natal Technikon, Durban, showing her brilliance as a teacher. To her great disappointment she was, together with oth-er female locum staff, retrenched. She joined James Berning (later her husband) at his farm, Ardmore, in the Drakensberg and began to look around for someone to teach. This, of course, was the begin-ning of her association with Bonnie Ntshalintshali, a young girl with polio. They began work in a small hut. The area is made up of family nodules of rural African peoples. As the women saw Bonnie’s success they slowly came to join and Fée began to use the large stone barns as studios. Later men joined the venture, largely throwers and model-lers while the women preferred painting and coiling.

Fée was born in Zimbabwe in 1958 and her visual impressions were shaped by the country around her. She became familiar with the animal life of the area and her Matabele nanny, Sara Thaka, introduced her to the minutiae of Africa - insects, birds, plants, snakes. Such elements occur in Ardmore work but the work does not refl ect only the character of Africa. Fee had been broken from conservative approaches by the American ceramist, David Middlebrook, visiting the University of Natal in the early 1980s. She had visited Turkey and Europe and studied the history of art. In her home her mother, of Dutch origin, decorated with Persian carpets and Delft tiles. Fée exposed her workers to English Staffordshire and other European styles and made copious illustrative material available to them. As the venture expanded it became more and more a project of shared cultures, one learning from the other. A particular way of dealing with an image might be learnt from either

side.Fée’s fi rst Durban exhibition, Painted Clay was held at Cafe Geneve

in 1984. Andrew Verster wrote of it: ‘She bends ... twists ... breaks. She embeds nails, wire and foreign matter in the surface. The clay responds by coming alive.’ Marianne Meijer wrote of its ‘soul, spirit and style.’ The exhibition included snakeskin rolled into clay, tiles in a Persian fashion, crates based on African bed-mat carriers decorated with animal patterns, piled tubes like piled wood and extrusions of clay from metal tubes. In 1985 Fée arranged an exhibition at Eliza-beth Gordon Gallery, Durban, which showed dinnerware thrown by David Walters and decorated with animal patterns. Some candelabra by Bonnie Ntshalintshali were included. This was a forerunner of later Ardmore developments.

At this point Fée began to work with tiles, largely based on her Persian experience, and to these she added small modelled fi gures and features. This particular approach, the adding of modelled and sculptural features to vessels, was to become part of the Ardmore approach.

From the beginning the work of the women of Ardmore deliberately had a commercial emphasis. The work not only gave the women the satisfaction of being able to create but also gave a sense of personal worth and dignity and brought in much needed money. Fée started the women’s commercial venture in the early 1980s with egg cups and then with moulded ducks, all painted with plaka. The Berg was full of tourists and the product began to sell.

Two particular occurrences in the late 1980s drew attention to Ard-more. The Sotho artist, Josephine Gheza, appeared at the Ardmore workshops, derelict, with a baby on her back. Fée took them in and Josephine rapidly developed as a powerful sculptor and began to be shown and bought by national institutions. In 1990 Bonnie and Fée were voted Standard Bank Young Artist Award Winners for that year. There was a great deal of media attention and the whole Ardmore venture was given prominence.

Fée had won the Corona del Mar Award in 1987 and in 1988 her large panel Remembering the Floods was purchased by the Tatham Art Gallery. At this point Fée began to direct her attention more partic-

Ardmoreby VALERIE LEIGH

79

Race (now destroyed)1983Wood and steel300 x 150 x 100cm

Race (now destroyed)1983Wood and steel300 x 150 x 100cm

Race (now destroyed)1983Wood and steel300 x 150 x 100cm

Race (now destroyed)1983Wood and steel300 x 150 x 100cm

Race (now destroyed)1983Wood and steel300 x 150 x 100cm

80

ularly to the development of her work with the people of Ardmore. She exhibited Ardmore work in local vicinities and gradually, nationally. The pots were more ambitious and complex in structure and glazes re-placed the plaka paint. She organised a number of exhibitions, in U.S. and in a number of other venues but notably In 1998 in Germany and in 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1999 an exhibition celebrating the Anglo-Zulu War was held in Pietermaritzburg featuring works by major Ardmore artists, Wonderboy Nxumalo, Petros Gumbi, Nhlanhla Nsundwane. The exhibitions in 2003/4 and 7 at Christies in London and Edinburgh were resounding successes and Christies importantly recommended Ardmore works as ‘collectibles’. Honours were given, for example, the exhibition at Groote Schuur in 2008.

Agents in U. S., Britain and Europe handle Ardmore ware. From 1991, alliances were formed with the Greig brothers fi rm and some remarkable exhibitions have been held in cooperation with them. Ard-more works have been given to some of the most distinguished peo-ple in the world.

However the quality and visual appeal of the work are perhaps not the most important features of the art of Ardmore. In 2011 Fée was honoured by the Women’s Campaign International for her work with the Ardmore women. In a moving speech at the function in New York she described her grief at the loss through AIDS of many of those who worked with her. She has described in a letter the especial an-guish she felt at the loss of Bonnie Ntshalintshali when she defi ed the authorities to remain with her in hospital. She has worked tirelessly to help her staff in dealing with the disease and has had to come to terms herself with its existence in her community. A number of power-ful and meaningful exhibitions of Ardmore AIDS works that deal fear-lessly with the subject have been held in South Africa and recently exhibitions have been held in Finland and Sweden. One is presently projected for Istanbul.

For its 25th anniversary Ardmore is launching into a range of do-mestic design ware and Fée’s three children have joined in the work. In 1996 Fée moved to Springvale, later to Caversham where she is now settled. It has been impossible to speak in this short space of the artists but it is they who continue to carry on the work, to develop their

gifts and produce new visions. Lastly, one cannot forget the adminis-trative staff of local women who undertake the vast business of pric-ing, selling, packing and sending these exceptional works. In an inter-view of 1991(Ferguson and Leigh) F Fée Halsted-Berning expresses something of the nature of the development of Ardmore Ceramic Art: ‘One always starts something and it snowballs beyond your wildest dreams. And you’ve got to carry on. I mean you can’t really foresee how it’s going and you just carry on.’ Ardmore art was initiated and developed primarily through F Fée’s own career and development as a ceramist. Her inventiveness and creative energy burst into the rural life of the people around her and precipitated their own latent talents and drives.

Fée had entered the University of Natal in 1977, graduating in 1984 and then focussing on ceramic in a two year specialised course. She began teaching at the Natal Technikon, Durban, showing her brilliance as a teacher. To her great disappointment she was, together with oth-er female locum staff, retrenched. She joined James Berning (later her husband) at his farm, Ardmore, in the Drakensberg and began to look around for someone to teach. This, of course, was the begin-ning of her association with Bonnie Ntshalintshali, a young girl with polio. They began work in a small hut. The area is made up of family nodules of rural African peoples. As the women saw Bonnie’s success they slowly came to join and Fée began to use the large stone barns as studios. Later men joined the venture, largely throwers and model-lers while the women preferred painting and coiling.

Fée was born in Zimbabwe in 1958 and her visual impressions were shaped by the country around her. She became familiar with the animal life of the area and her Matabele nanny, Sara Thaka, introduced her to the minutiae of Africa - insects, birds, plants, snakes. Such elements occur in Ardmore work but the work does not refl ect only the character of Africa. Fee had been broken from conservative approaches by the American ceramist, David Middlebrook, visiting the University of Natal in the early 1980s. She had visited Turkey and Europe and studied the history of art. In her home her mother, of Dutch origin, decorated with Persian carpets and Delft tiles. Fée exposed her workers to English Staffordshire and other European styles and made copious illustrative

81

material available to them. As the venture expanded it became more and more a project of shared cultures, one learning from the other. A particular way of dealing with an image might be learnt from either side.

Fée’s fi rst Durban exhibition, Painted Clay was held at Cafe Geneve in 1984. Andrew Verster wrote of it: ‘She bends ... twists ... breaks. She embeds nails, wire and foreign matter in the surface. The clay responds by coming alive.’ Marianne Meijer wrote of its ‘soul, spirit and style.’ The exhibition included snakeskin rolled into clay, tiles in a Persian fashion, crates based on African bed-mat carriers decorated with animal patterns, piled tubes like piled wood and extrusions of clay from metal tubes. In 1985 Fée arranged an exhibition at Eliza-beth Gordon Gallery, Durban, which showed dinnerware thrown by David Walters and decorated with animal patterns. Some candelabra by Bonnie Ntshalintshali were included. This was a forerunner of later Ardmore developments.

At this point Fée began to work with tiles, largely based on her Persian experience, and to these she added small modelled fi gures and features. This particular approach, the adding of modelled and sculptural features to vessels, was to become part of the Ardmore approach.

From the beginning the work of the women of Ardmore deliberately had a commercial emphasis. The work not only gave the women the satisfaction of being able to create but also gave a sense of personal worth and dignity and brought in much needed money. Fée started the women’s commercial venture in the early 1980s with egg cups and then with moulded ducks, all painted with plaka. The Berg was full of tourists and the product began to sell.

Two particular occurrences in the late 1980s drew attention to Ard-more. The Sotho artist, Josephine Gheza, appeared at the Ardmore workshops, derelict, with a baby on her back. Fée took them in and Josephine rapidly developed as a powerful sculptor and began to be shown and bought by national institutions. In 1990 Bonnie and Fée were voted Standard Bank Young Artist Award Winners for that year. There was a great deal of media attention and the whole Ardmore venture was given prominence.

Fée had won the Corona del Mar Award in 1987 and in 1988 her large panel Remembering the Floods was purchased by the Tatham Art Gallery. At this point Fée began to direct her attention more partic-ularly to the development of her work with the people of Ardmore. She exhibited Ardmore work in local vicinities and gradually, nationally. The pots were more ambitious and complex in structure and glazes re-placed the plaka paint. She organised a number of exhibitions, in U.S. and in a number of other venues but notably In 1998 in Germany and in 2002 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. In 1999 an exhibition celebrating the Anglo-Zulu War was held in Pietermaritzburg featuring works by major Ardmore artists, Wonderboy Nxumalo, Petros Gumbi, Nhlanhla Nsundwane. The exhibitions in 2003/4 and 7 at Christies in London and Edinburgh were resounding successes and Christies importantly recommended Ardmore works as ‘collectibles’. Honours were given, for example, the exhibition at Groote Schuur in 2008.

Agents in U. S., Britain and Europe handle Ardmore ware. From 1991, alliances were formed with the Greig brothers fi rm and some remarkable exhibitions have been held in cooperation with them. Ard-more works have been given to some of the most distinguished peo-ple in the world.

However the quality and visual appeal of the work are perhaps not the most important features of the art of Ardmore. In 2011 Fée was honoured by the Women’s Campaign International for her work with the Ardmore women. In a moving speech at the function in New York she described her grief at the loss through AIDS of many of those who worked with her. She has described in a letter the especial an-guish she felt at the loss of Bonnie Ntshalintshali when she defi ed the authorities to remain with her in hospital. She has worked tirelessly to help her staff in dealing with the disease and has had to come to terms herself with its existence in her community. A number of power-ful and meaningful exhibitions of Ardmore AIDS works that deal fear-lessly with the subject have been held in South Africa and recently exhibitions have been held in Finland and Sweden. One is presently projected for Istanbul.

For its 25th anniversary Ardmore is launching into a range of domes-tic design ware and Fée’s three children have joined in the work. In

82

For almost fi ve decades the ceramic traditions established at the Evangelican Lutheran Church Arts and Crafts Centre at Rorke’s Drift (Shiyane) in KwaZulu-Natal, have attracted both national and inter-national patronage especially from those who recognised in the work a distinctiveness and indigeneity born of regional creative excel-lence. Signifi cantly Jill Addelson of the Durban Art Gallery was the fi rst national mauseum director to purchase a vessel from Rorke’s Drift in 1970.a Marketed locally predominantly by the African Art Centre (AAC), a few outlets in the former Transvaal and Cape, and in Sweden and Germany, patrons of the African Art Centre in South Africa were largely drawn from a white population, many interested in, or partisan to, the efforts of the Institute for Race Relations in realising the Centre. Rorke’s Drift ceramics were soon avidly col-lected by this market as representing a unique idiom that, to some, straddled what they believed to be both Zulu ‘traditional’ ware as well as an anglo oriental modern stoneware tradition, to which an innovative fi gurative decoration was added. This slippage between the contemporary and the perceived ‘traditional’ resulted in Rorke’s Drift ceramics being regarded as a signifi cant refl ection of a unique South African idiom and modernity.

Historical background

Sweden had established links with the Zulu in present-day KwaZu-lu-Natal from the early decades of the 19th century when the Swed-ish Mission Church came to the area at the invitation of various Zulu leaders, to both educate and proselytize to local communities. In 1962 the Swedish Evangelican Lutheran Church established an Arts and Crafts centre at Rorke’s Drift (Shiyane), an enterprise prompted by the vision of Bishop Helge Fosseusb and Berta Hansson, among others.c Both Fosseus and Hansson had noticed how extant African craft traditions were gradually being supplanted by mass-produced alternatives. Drawing on the expertise of students from Stockholm’s Konstfackskoland these teacher/students were invited to fulfi l the ideals of Fosseus and Hansson by establishing a creative centre in-tended primarily to improve the economic plight of women from

the area by producing high quality marketable items that would en-sure their economic improvement in income-generating capacities. Hansson’s ideals were located in Swedish feminism, where women’s groups engaged in the formation of educational ventures directed at improving and foregrounding women’s creativity both at home and abroad.e Combining feminism and social consciousness, they were intent on enabling residents of Shiyane to develop their creative ca-pacities and in the hopes of fostering their spiritual self-realisation and self-worth.

The ceramics tradition

The ceramics tradition that emerged at Rorke’s Drift cannot be seen in isolation as it was directly linked to the other creative proc-esses established there from the early 1960s. Such was the eventual demand for both ceramics and textiles in South African and select European commercial outlets that they constituted the fi nancial ba-sis for the centre. The initiating of ceramics at Rorke’s Drift was slow and problematic. In 1964 Kerstin Olsson (later married to Klaus Was-serthal), who had trained at the Konstfack Skolan under the world renowned ceramist Stig Lindberg, arrived at Rorke’s Drift, joined in 1968 by mechanical engineer Peder Tyberg from Denmark. Tyberg built a kiln, but as he encountered many technical diffi culties pottery production was limited and he left soon afterwards.f Under Tyberg wares were painted with slips and left unglazed.g Their approach, in particular that of Olsson, was important in that rather than intro-ducing western methods and traditions, she arranged to meet local potters (of both Zulu and BaSotho heritage) learning as much as she could ‘about local clays, handbuilding methods and traditional pitfi r-ings, and also experiments with a wood-fi red kiln (commissioned by Peder Gowenius with the help of a local bricklayer).’h Calder notes that the Gowenius couple ‘remember local Zulu ceramists bring-ing elephants (like those of Judith Mkhabela, in the collection of the Tatham Art Gallery) to sell at Rorke’s Drift, and that the pieces tended to be rather small and fragile, and they recall encouraging the ceramists to make larger works based on vessel forms’. In a later

Rorke’s Dri f t ceramic tradit ions in contextby JULIETTE LEEB-DU TOIT

83

interview with her (in 2005)i Olsson noted that initially her students made fi gurines and animals in unglazed terracotta but that these were rather unsatisfactory. She left and settled in Pretoria, to be re-placed by Anne and Ole Nielsen as pottery teachers, but they too had little real success and the workshop ceased operation for a while.

A distinctive ceramics idiom emerged, however, soon after the ar-rival of ceramist Marietjie van der Merwe, a practising South African studio potter of international standing, who functioned as advisor to the pottery from 1971 until her death in 1992. She was well aware of developments in both Danish and Swedish ceramic post-War design that had come to represent the acme of modernity. She was also well aware of the preferences marketed at outlets in South Africa such as Helen de Leeuw’s Craftsman’s Market and her other outlets in Cape Town, Pretoria and Johannesburg as well as Wasserthal’s in Pretoria.j

Calder notes that she ‘was to be the most enduring formative and technical infl uence on the Pottery (who) resolved the studio’s tech-nical problems of its fi rst phase (1967) …and ushered in the second and most sustained phase of Rorke’s Drift ceramics’.k Her knowledge of ‘South African ceramics and raw material supplies had grown out of her own practical experiences in setting up studios of her own – fi rst in Grahamstown, and then later in Cape Town.’ l She also sourced a clay supply at a farm near New Hanover, assisted in this by Andrew Walford (who had established a pottery at Shongweni in KwaZulu-Natal). The clay body she used at Rorke’s Drift was ‘de-signed for high-fi ring stoneware – it was rougher (more groggy) and paler to accommodate darkening that results from the reduction fi r-ings she introduced.’m

Under van der Merwe’s guidance, early wares, handbuilt and thrown, were painted with fi gurative images and geometric motifs in coloured slips (blue and earth colours) onto the unglazed surface. But a further aesthetic and design infl uence emerged soon after her arrival when Gordon Mbatha and Joel Sibisi attended printmaking classes (in 1971-2) at the Fine Art School. It was her that the intaglio process was acquired (in etching and lino cuts) which was translated into a sgraffi to technique incised into the brown or blue slip covered

areas on the thrown wares.n Initial motifs were varied, some almost abstract with a gradual development of an idiosyncratic fi gurative mode that has distinguished the ceramics form Rorke’s Drift for dec-ades.

The development of such design preferences in ceramics is also

located in suggestions made by the early teachers at Rorke’s Drift. Peder Gowenius, a founding member of Rorke’s Drift wished to en-gender ‘..a new creative freedom that did not restrict the designers solely to tradition’o He and his wife Ulla introduced Bauhaus-based training in design, and while they resisted adopting local processes they were responsive to traditional geometric motifs in beadwork, grass weaving and that found on ceramic decoration with which lo-cals were familiar even if they did not produce these themselves.p In part the Gowenius’ approach was informed by the idea of non-intervention in the shaping of art and design, allowing individual expression, but also couched in the idea that an innate naivety and conceptualism should be allowed to prevail.

As many of the founding group of ceramists were also trained in or exposed to the teaching and interpretive sessions in the other studi-os, the signifi cance of these to other areas of creative development at Rorke’s Drift must not be underestimated. Women hand builders in the pottery studio had often trained in other areas such as weav-ing and textile printing before they gravitated to the pottery studio, and their expertise and training in these other workshops applied in the pottery studio. Malin Sellmann’s role at Rorke’s Drift (mainly known for developing the textile workshop) was particularly distinc-tive in that she trained local women to make rudimentary designs loosely based on geometric and organic shapes. These ‘free design’ principles were wholly sourced in the designers’ conceptual capaci-ties, Sellmann believing that there was no need to introduce drawing preparatory to making designs. Designs were prompted initially by having a theme set for the day, for example to ‘make animals’ intent on nurturing an innate sense of design, supporting creativity rather than controlling it.q It appears that a similar process was at times realised in the pottery studio, but this later gave way to a more in-

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Hall, JamesEquestrian 1965earthenware

Armstrong, JulietBone China I 1981Bone China13.2 x 5.8 cmDAG 2260

Armstrong, JulietBone China I 1981Bone China13.2 x 5.8 cmDAG 2260

Armstrong, JulietBone China I 1981Bone China13.2 x 5.8 cmDAG 2260

Armstrong, JulietBone China I 1981Bone China13.2 x 5.8 cmDAG 2260

85

dependent initiation of forms and decorative embellishment. Women at the pottery studio were relegated to particular proc-

esses and decoration. They too had not been ‘given the opportunity to train in graphics as the Workshop’s founding male throwers were’.r Their distinctive contribution to Rorke’s Drift ceramics is in their handbuilding and innovative assimilation of local functional wares into a new modernist three dimensional idiom. They had been en-couraged earlier by Olsson and Tyberg to uphold and source their work in Zulu and Sotho ceramic traditions which had originated in the work of one of the foundation hand builders, Dinah Molefe. She had supervised many of the early female hand builders (who included members of her own family) and encouraged them to develop their own idiom as well, loosely based on the ukhamba-like vessels, often stacked and punctuated by amasumpa nodes, as well as zoomorphic and anthropomorphic sculptural forms. Elizabeth Mbatha, trained by Molefe, never having made ceramics previously, owes much to Molefe’s shapes, creating conceptualised anthropomorphic forms. In addition she often adds rows of amasumpa nodes using ‘cobalt-blue and iron-bearing slips… under the heavily reduced, speckled stone-ware glaze.’s

The reception of Rorke’s Drift ceramics was positive especially from the 1970s when their functional wares were widely marketed and collected locally and nationally, and many outstanding pieces were purchased for national collections by the 1980s. In addition the studio produced a high volume of functional ware such as bowls, mugs and vases. It is well known that after a fi ring the best wares were selected and shipped to markets abroad, mostly Sweden and Germany. In Sweden such wares were sold especially at Afro Art, a commercial outlet that specialised in ‘ethnic’ goods.

Interventionist training, or its absence, other than from a techni-cal perspective resulted in much of the sgraffi to imagery on Rorke’s Drift pottery being dominated by a rudimentary conceptualism that in its simplicity appeared suffi ciently conceptual to be regarded as ‘African’. Some motifs are culturally derived or allude to the sur-rounding landscape with pastoral scenes, but many themes were also directly or obliquely sourced rather in Zulu history and iconic warrior

fi gures. This thematic preference is hardly surprising as Rorke’s Drift and nearby Isandlawana are sites of major battles with the invad-ing British forces from 1879. In this these themes also functioned as reminders of the increased opposition to Apartheid oppression and white suprematism which clergy at the nearby theological seminary at Mapumulo challenged in their consultations and sermons.

In addition a strong conceptual aspect prevails in many of the mo-tifs, akin to the precognitive and dream-inspired imagery of weaver Allinah Ndebele whose motifs became increasingly contorted and abstracted in the early 1980s. While an identifi able ‘style’, based on forms, clay and decorative embellishment emerged at Rorke’s Drift, the distinctiveness of its various ceramists remains discernible. More recently Gordon Mbatha has created fi nely hand built porcelain ves-sels, but these are unprecedented in Rorke’s Drift wares..

In the early 1990s clay deposits that had been accessible to the studio for over four decades were no longer available. It appears that years of digging along the river bank had eroded large areas of the site. The farm on which the deposits occurred has since been sold to SAPPI. In the interim a commercially acquired alternative was sourced for them, a pale clay body that has changed their idiom considerably. There are however suggestions that appeals will be made in the near future to once again access the former clay de-posits.

The ceramists at Rorke’s Drift, all highly acclaimed in the life-

times, still function within a controlled collective under the auspices of the Lutheran Church. They are paid a small stipend as well as a proportional amount for individual pieces sold, some of the profi t going to the studio, community and the church. The studio func-tions as a mutually supportive environment in which work is assured and greater profi ts are realised when sales increase. The ceramists remain wholly dependant on the studio and its infrastructure, but are also largely independent in terms of what they produce and what motifs they elect to affi x to their wares, except when specifi c commissions require collective decisions and contributions. In effect they have realised the co-operative ideals envisaged by Hanssson

86

and Fosseues, while at the same time, within the constraints ap-plicable in a co-operative, they have in part realised their creative potential and self-worth.

Juliette Leeb-du Toit is an independent researcher and a Senior Research Associate at University of Johannesburg

BibliographyCalder, IMS Personal communication with J C Leeb-du Toit

2011Calder, IMS Chronology of Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre:

selected highlights (unpublished RD papers), 2011. Calder, IMS Ian Calder: essay in the Veterans of KZN exhibition

catalogue, July 2003.Sellmann, M Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit 2005Sunden, K The Textile production at Rorke’s Drift. Unpub-

lished paper, 2006.Olssen-Wasserthal, K Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit 2004.Tyler, P Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit, 2004.Sibisi, J Informal conversation with J C Leeb-du Toit,

2006.Mbatha, G Informal conversation with J C Leeb-du Toit,

2006.

Endnotesa Calder, 2003.b Fosseus, who had been in South Africa since the inception of

the rise of the Nationalist Party dominated regime in 1948, was well aware of the impact of emergent segregation and labour policies that had been in place at least since 1910. Swedish partisanship and intervention was in part fanned by an increasing consciousness of this in Sweden.

c Sunden 2006:1. Hansson was an established artist in Sweden,

known for her educational ideals and practice, having also been a teacher for most of her life. Her art and educational interests were also rooted in her familiarity with the ideals of the Fogelstad femi-nist circle and the ideals of Ellen Key

d The items produced at the centre initially included weav-ing (wall hangings and carpets), screenprinted cloth, ceram-ics (functional and decorative), with some lino printing.

e Women formed collectives known as Hemslöjd workshops that drew on functional and traditional domestic creativ-ity that was either emulated, reproduced or developed into modern variants in keeping with current developments in de-sign. These workshops developed the potential of women’s creativity and were as much a part of social restructuring as they were of the feminist project, with Hemslöjd processes and design becoming a central contribution to Swedish na-tional design and taste. This resulted in, among others, the development of state supported Hemslöjd ventures through-out Sweden.

f Calder notes: ‘Tybjerg leaves Rorke’s Drift the following year, and moves for a short while to Swaziland (where he reports on the viability of local clay deposits to that country’s Ministry of Industry)’ (Calder ….separate text unpublished).

g It is suggested by Calder that ‘Tyberg’s and the Nielsen’s (pottery teachers) pioneering efforts may have deferred to an indigenous Zulu pottery tradition that simply had no need of glazes. But the painted slips on unglazed wares also suggest stylistic overtones of Nordic studio ceramics and graphic design

h Calder, 2011, Unpublished chronology of Rorke’s Drift. i Olssen,K Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit, 2005.j Olssen,K Interview with J C Leeb-du Toit, 2005.k Calder, 2003.l Calder, 2003.m Calder, 2003.n Calder, 2003.o Sunden, 2006. This decision was no doubt also prompted

by the fact that many of the inhabitants of Rorke’s Drift were

87

in fact ‘schooled’ (educated), many of whom resisted sug-gestions that they always refer to the practices of Zulu tradi-tionalists. Olsson notes that the women regarded themselves as different, even an educated elite (personal communica-tion 2004). This was noted when her students declined when asked to assist her in digging and processing clay to work with, regarding such work as ‘traditionalist’. As a result they were prepared to produce fi gures and western type bowls but resisted drawing from traditionalist sources and practice in early ceramic pieces they produced.

p Sellman, 2005.qr Calder , 2003.s Calder, 2003.

Juliette Leeb-du ToitSenior Research Associate: University of JohannesburgIndependent researcher

88

JULIET ARMSTRONG was born in 1950 Juliet Armstrong studied both here and overseas, earning bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Natal, Pmb and an English post-graduate diploma in Art. Armstrong straddles the academic/creative divide balancing the roles of lecturer and researcher and the more intuitive hands-on work of ceramist. As well as attending con-ferences locally and in Wales, Northern Ireland, Korea and the Virgin Islands, she has exhibited at dozens of galleries including: KZNSA in Durban; the Na-tional Gallery, Cape Town; Tatham Art Gallery, Pmb; Durban Art Gallery; the Milton Gallery at St Paul’s School London and the Deerfi eld Academy, Mas-sachusetts, USA. Armstrong has won awards from amongst others: Touch Gal-lery, National Art Gallery Cape Town, APSA National Exhibition and the Dur-ban Art Gallery as well as being named one of UKZN’s top female achievers for 2005. Armstrong’s work is represented in numerous collections including: South African National Gallery, Cape Town; Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermar-itzburg; Pretoria Art Gallery; William Humphries Art Gallery, Kimberly; MTN Collection; Durban Art Gallery; Johann Stegmann Gallery, Bloemfontein; RFC Corporate Finance Collection, Sydney.Considered an innovator in her use of glass-like translucent clay mix-tures Armstrong believes form to be the strongest element in her work. KIM BAGLEY was born in Welkom in 1986 Kim Bagley studied at UKZN (Pmb) where she graduated with a master’s degree in Fine Art. In 2008 she exhib-ited at the Centre For Visual Art Staff and Postgraduate Show at the Jack Heath Gallery, Pietermaritzburg and also in Kenya at the ISCAEE exhibition, Nairobi National Museum. Bagley showed work at a number of venues in 2009 including: the UKZN Ceramics Department Alumni exhibition, and African Ce-ramics 2009, both at the Tatham; Miniatures the Jack Heath Gallery as well as Out of the Box at the same venue. 2009 Also saw Bagley exhibiting at the Nivea START Art Award at KZNSA and David Walters and Friends – In Conver-sation with Gabisile Nkosi, at William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley. In 2010 Bagley held a solo exhibition titled Clay-earth-skin at the Jack Heath Gallery, Pietermaritzburg. In the same year she exhibited at Red Eye Jomba, at the DAG, at Found, ArtSpace Durban in addition to showing in London at UKZN Alumni Exhibition at St Paul�s School. In 2010 Bagley was awarded the Emma Smith Scholarship. In 2011 Bagley again exhibited in the UK, this time at Concept and Context in Practice: Contemporary Applied Research at UCA, James Hockey Gallery, Farnham. She explores primary themes in her work: the metaphor of fi red clay as planets cooling, their surface betraying internal stresses and the pared-down forms of cattle, impassive and timeless.

IAN CALDER was born in 1955 in Scottburgh, KZN. He graduated from the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg (now the University of KwaZulu-Na-tal) with a BAFA in 1976 and subsequently completed an MAFA (cum laude) in 1988. Since 1982 he has lectured in Ceramics, Drawing, and Art History (Visual Culture) at the Centre for Visual Art of the University of KwaZulu-Na-tal in Pietermaritzburg where he is currently an associate professor of Visual Art. Much of Calder’s fi eldwork research has been into local visual cultures, focusing on the intersections of personal expression and local cultural sig-nifi ers in commemorative sites, emblematic crafts and natural objects of KwaZulu-Natal.His current research extends these cultural intersections in focusing on the international infl uences, new local studios and emerging ce-ramists of KwaZulu-Natal during the nascence of South African stoneware and porcelain in the 1960s. In 2000, as an international guest scholar of the Nordic Africa Institute (Nordiska-Afrika Institutet) in Gävle Sweden he initi-ated research links with the Swedish artists and former directors of Rorke’s Drift ELC Art and Craft Centre and the staff of the pottery workshop. This body of academic work and international exposure has infl uenced his studio practice and in 1990 Calder received the Corobrik National Ceramics Award. He has work in the following collections: MTN Corporate Collection; IZIKO (National Gallery), Cape Town; Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg; Durban Art Gallery; Tshwane (Pretoria) Art Museum; Corobrik Collection; Dal Josafat Collection, Paarl; William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley; Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth; KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Collec-tions; Margate Municipal Art Museum; University of KwaZulu-Natal Permanent Collection, Centre for Visual Art, Pietermaritzburg. CARLA DA CRUZ was orn in Maputo Mozambique in 1975, Carla da Cruz studied at Durban Institute of Technology where she was awarded a master’s degree in Fine Art in 2004. Exhibiting regularly, often in Durban, da Cruz has shown work at the KZNSA on Hand Made Group Exhibition 2005, Bright Sparks 2005, Common Ground 2007 and Suss’t Sustainable Art 2008. Other galleries around the country at which she exhibited include ArtSpace Durban and AVA in Cape Town. Her two solo exhibitions titled Incased 2004 and Imprint, 2009 were both held at the KZNSA. As well as being in several collections includ-ing Tatham, Unisa and Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, da Cruz has received numerous commissions and has contributed to important public ceramics projects at: Constitutional Hill, Albert Luthuli Hospital and Durban International Airport. In addition da Cruz has completed several private com-missions. Da Cruz’s work mimics biological natural selection as well as hinting at industrial process in her use of repetition and clustering. Whorls and intri-

Biographies of exhibit ing art ists

89

cately folded ribbons of paper-thin clay could for example be an automotive oil fi lter or a cross section through a kidney – either way the pieces suggest complex function.

ASTRID DAHL was born in 1977 in Empangeni. She graduated with a bach-elor’s degree in Fine Art from Natal Technikon (now Durban University of Technology) in 1999. Group exhibitions include 37 Songs, Wilsons Wharf, 1997; Hardly Earth, NSA, 1998; Onus, a collaborative video made with Sarah Lovejoy, 1998 and Nine of Them, NSA, 1999. In 1997 she held a solo exhibi-tion titled Seamless at Natal Technikon. Dahl has been commissioned by: Beyonce, Liberty’s in London, Conran Shop in London, and Queen Rania for whom she created eight works based on the national fl ower of Jordan, the Black Iris. She currently has a work on exhibition at Amaridian in New York. She was awarded Edida (Elle International Decoration Awards) in the category of tableware in 2005. Dahl works from home in Nottingham Road in the Kwa-Zulu-Natal Midlands where currently inspired by German photographer Bloss-feldt she creates fragile botanical shapes in unglazed white earthenware.

CAROL HAYWARD FELL was born in Durban in 1952 and holds degrees from the University of Natal. Hayward Fell has exhibited in London and Bonn as well as in Hamburg and shown work at many local venues such as Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg the Goodman and Crake Galleries in Johannes-burg, the Cameo Gallery in Stellenbosch and the DurbanvilleClay Museum in the Western Cape. Selected for every CSA National exhibi-tion since 1980 her work has won numerous awards and has been purchased by major public collections such as Pretoria Art Museum, Durban Art Gallery, The Sasol Collection of Fine Art and the Nelson Mandela Art Gallery of Port Elizabeth. Although her subject matter is diverse, her beautifully textured horses, often garnished with a cat or two has captured the public’s imagina-tion. She is represented in private collections in the UK, Canada, France, Japan as well as the United States and Australasia.

LEANNE FRISINGER studied at UKZN where she majored in Art History and Ceramics and recently completed her master’s degree. Early exhibitions were shows at: WHAG, the Jack Heath Gallery in 2009 and the UKZN Ceramic Alumni Exhibition the Art Gallery. Frisinger showed work at various venues in 2010 including Jabulisa, Local is Lekker at Contemporary Gallery, Red Eye Jombaat Durban Art Gallery and David Walters and Friendsat WHAG. also exhibited at two overseas exhibitions, namely: UKZN Alumni Exhibition John Milton Art Gallery, St Paul’s School, London and Usak University International

Young Ceramicists Tile Competition – Usak University,Turkey. The Jack Heath Gallery, UKZN, Pietermaritzburg was the venue for Frisinger’s solo exhibi-tion for her MAFA in 2011. Using paper pulp as a component of her clay mix Frisinger rolls ultra-thin layers of paperclay to create origami forms which she also prints on. The results occupy a tense no-man’s-land between origin and purpose. RAKSHA GOBARDAN was born in Estcourt and studied at Durban Institute of Technology obtaining a B.Tech degree in 2001 and is currently enrolled for a M.Tech. In 1999 Gobardan participated in Artistes en Conversation at the Al-liance Francaise Durban and in Jabulisa at the Durban Art Gallery the follow-ing year. In 2001 she exhibited at the Heritage Day Exhibition at the DAG and in 2002 participated in the A.P.S.A Exhibition in Durban and at the Woman’s Day Exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery. In 2004 Gobardan showed work at Expo Arte Contemporanea Mocambique at Musea Nacional de Arte – Maputo, Mocambique and the next year was selected to represent the country at the 2nd Triennial of Contemporary Art in Quatre Borne, Mauritius. A prolifi c art-ist, she has been active in working in Durban’s public spaces including the Thuthukani Youth Centre; a memorial wall at the site of the Throb Nightclub tragedy; King Dinuzulu’s statue and the upgrading of West Street. National projects have included work at Constitutional Hill as well as a project for AMAFA in Ulundi. Using inlaid Hindu iconography Gobardan refl ects on the duality of her roots.

ISAAC NKOSINATHI KHANYILE was born in1966 in Umlazi, Durban where he still lives. He obtained a B Tech degree followed by a master’s degree at Technikon Natal, now Durban University of Technology. He is currently fi nish-ing a doctorate at the Durban University of Technology where he teaches in the ceramic and sculpture departments. He won the Volkskas Atelier Award in 1996. In 1999 he won the Commonwealth Art and Craft Award and was a nominee for the FNB Vita Award. In 2000 he received the Our Heritage Image Award (Fine Art and Culture Development Co-operative), KwaZulu-Natal. Exhibitions include Amasiko Ma Afrika Amasiko, Civic Gallery Johannesburg 1998; Dreams and Visions, Freemantle, Western Australia 1999; Holland South Africa Line, Den Haag, Amsterdam and Cape Town 2000; Sands to Stones, Midland TAFE, Western Australia 2000. Khanyile comes from a long line of diviners and he is undergoing training to assume the same role. Much of his work is inspired by dreams.

90

FAHMEEDA OMAR was Born in Pietermaritzburg in 1984 Fahmeeda Omar completed her bachelor’s degree in 2007, went on to do honour’s the follow-ing year and is currently completing a master’s. 2009 saw her exhibiting at the Jack Heath Gallery and at the WHAG in an exhibition titled David Walters and Friends. She also exhibited at the Tatham’s Alumni exhibition as well as at an exhibition of miniatures at the CVA. In 2010 Omar showed work at the Tatham’s Jabulisa exhibition, at John Milton Art Gallery - St Pauls’ School in London and at an exhibition in Turkey. Accepted for the ABSA Atelier in 2011 Omar also exhibited with Leanne Frisinger and Carol Albertyn in April and at Meet the Makers at the Tatham Art Gallery in July. Omar has work in several collections including: the Msunduzi Museum, the William Humphreys Art Gal-lery in Kimberley and the Tatham Art Gallery in Pietermaritzburg. Working in porcelain, Omar pre-colours her clay to obtain a translucency which she maximizes in the way she handles the thin sections – overlaying and some-times patching.

MHAIRI PATTENDEN was born in Empangeni KwaZulu-Natal in 1987 Mhairi Pattenden graduated cum laude from the University of KZN-Pmb in 2007 and followed that up with an honour’s degree summa cum laude, also from UKZN-Pmb. In 2009 Pattenden exhibited at the 7th annual David Walters and Friends exhibition and at the African National Ceramics Conference. The fol-lowing year she participated in: the Jabulisa travelling exhibition; Red Eye Jomba and the 2010 Women’s Exhibition – both at the Durban Art Gallery, as well as showing at WHAG Kimberly in the UKZN student/staff exhibition. Also in 2010 she exhibited in London at the St Paul’s School’s John Milton Art Gallery. In 2011 Pattenden was a regional fi nalist in the ABSA Atelier Art com-petition at the ABSA Art Gallery in Johannesburg in addition to showing at two exhibitions at the Jack Heath Gallery. The same year she was commissioned to produce the trophies for the 2011 KwaZulu-Natal Young Achievers Awards – the fi rst event of its kind to be held in the province. Trophies of different kinds have featured prominently in Pattenden’s work – particularly skulls, as symbols of power and vessels for ideas.

CLIVE SITHOLE was born in Soweto 1971 and cites as early infl uences Alina Masoetsu, Philemon Lerata and Cara Walters. He later studied formally at the University of KwaZuluNatal where he came into contact with academ-ics such as Juliet Armstrong. The prolifi c Sithole exhibited at: the BAT Centre, KZNSA, African Art Centre, Gallery on the Square, Bloemfontein Museum, Craft Yarona in Pretoria and the Alliance Francaise in Jhb. In 2003 he exhibited with Rodney Blumenfeld and in 2008 he held a solo show at

the Gallery on the Square in Johannesburg. Sithole has received numer-ous awards including a FNB VITA Merit Award in 2000 and fi rst prize in Price Waterhouse Cooper’s Trophy Design for Premier Award Biennial International Competition in 2001. Generous with his time Clive Sithole has held work-shops with rural communities and young ceramicists. But on another level, it was working with acclaimed ceramicists Nesta Nala and the Nigerian Magdalene Odundo that helped propel Sithole into the international arena. Clive Sithole is represented in numerous collections worldwide including the World Health Organisation (United Nations), the Mandela Museum and the Oprah Winfrey Girls School Collection as well as in private collections both here and overseas.

GEORG HENDRIK Stroebel was born in 1954 in Bloemfontein. After graduat-ing from the Natal Technikon (now Durban University of Technology) in 1985 with a Higher Diploma in Fine Art he completed a three year diploma course in ceramics. He has lectured since 1990 in the DUT ceramics department and now heads up the department. Stroebel has participated in many group ex-hibitions – one a year over the period 1983 to 1995. These include Corobrick Regional Exhibition, NSA Gallery 1983; Corobrick National Exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery 1984; SAB Exhibition, Café Geneve Gallery, Durban 1987; Volkskas Pretoria, Association of the Arts Gallery, Pretoria 1989; Contempo-rary South African Ceramics, Tatham Art Gallery, 1992; Edges – Ceramics at the Goodman, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg 1992; Joy of Making Ceramics, Goodman Gallery, Johannesburg 1993 and Human Rights Travelling Exhibition 1995. In 2009 he participated in New Connections, KZNSA Gallery, Durban and in 2011 had a mid-career solo retrospective titled Recollect, KZNSA Gallery, Durban. In 1989 Stroebel won the Volkskas Atelier Award. He is represented in the Durban Art Gallery collection, Tatham Art Gallery, South African Na-tional Gallery and numerous private collections in South Africa and abroad. Stroebel has a love for antiquity and the biblical lands and has developed a very personal vocabulary using clay and embroidery.

SHARON WEAVING was born in Pietermaritzburg in 1973 Sharon Weaving also studied there and is currently fi nishing her master’s at UKZN – Pmb. In 2009 Weaving exhibited at: the Tatham – UKZN African Ceramics Confer-ence Staff/ Student Exhibition; the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kim-berly – David Walters and Friends Exhibition commemorating the work of Gabi Nkosi; Underberg Art Gallery – Botanical Exhibition. The following year she exhibited at the Tatham’s Jabulisa, at WHAG’s David Walters and Friends Exhibition, the Durban Art Gallery’s Red Eye Jomba as well as showing in

Text continues Zettler (need to edit text to fi t)

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JOHN ADAMS was born in England. He was a distinguished ceramic designer and potter. In 1914 he came to Durban to take up a position as Head of the Art Department at the Technical College (now the Durban University of Technol-ogy). There he started a school of pottery and was Head of the Durban Art School from 1918 to 1921. Returning to England in 1921, Adams was per-suaded to join Poole Pottery situated in the town of Poole, Dorset, England. Poole Pottery then became Carter, Stabler and Adams Ltd. It was here that Ad-ams became involved with the making of the Durban war memorial Cenotaph. The ceramics on the Cenotaph. were made by Harold and Phoebe Stabler together with John Adams. Adam’s work is represented in the collection of the Durban Art Gallery.

KATE AMBROSIUS No biographical information available

GILLIAN BICKELL was born in Northumberland, England in 1932. She gradu-ated from the London School of Economics with an Hons. in Sociology in 1951. She was introduced to ceramics at an adult education centre in Surrey in 1967. She taught at Staines Adult Centre between 1971-1972 and immigrated to South Africa in 1975. She has conducted intensive research into high tempera-ture glazes and clay and opened Gillian Bickell Potteries in 1976 supplying materials to ceramic studios. She blends different colour clays representing a stylized landscape using the vessel as the ‘canvas’. She developed ‘agate’ ware where agate is located under transparent glaze in a porcelain body. Bick-ell fi res to high temperatures in a gas kiln.She is the recipient of the following awards: Brickor Award, 1976. Oude Liber-tas Award, 1979 (joint winners – Hyme Rabinowitz, Thelma Marcuson, Neville Burde)Collections: Oude Libertas. Durban Art Gallery.

DORETH BRITSCHI studied at the at the Centre for Visual Art of the Univer-sity of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg where she graduated with a BA Fine Art in 1979. Britschi went on to teach art at local schools and subsequently taught ceramics (within adult education) at Pietermaritzburg Technical College. Britschi ‘s work is represented in the collection of the Durban Art Gallery.

JULIE KUHN studied at the at the Centre for Visual Art of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg where she graduated with a BA Fine Art in 1976. After graduating Kuhn taught art at Westville High School. Her present whereabouts are unknown. Kuhn‘s work is represented in the collection of the Durban Art Gallery.

GARTH CLAASEN was born in Johannesburg in 1953. He studied at the Uni-versity of Natal (now known as University of KwaZulu-Natal) where he gradu-ated with a B.A. Fine Arts degree. He was a pottery teacher for three years at the city’s Technical College. In 1982, he was granted a Fulbright Fellowship to study at Indiana University in USA where he graduated with a doctorate in 1990. He taught art history for two years at University of Natal and moved on to Witswatersrand Fine Arts Department where he also lectured art history. In 1994 he joined the Fine Art faculty at Albertson College of Idaho (now College of Idaho) where he lectures and manages the Rosenthal Gallery of Art. Claas-sen works in a quasi-abstract style and is infl uenced by the sculptor, Tony Smith, and the German born potter, Hans Coper. His forms are constructed from wheel thrown and assembled parts. The surfaces are created by coating forms with red clay, slip and washes of oxides which he fi res in a reduction atmosphere. Along with Juliet Armstrong he was joint winner of Sculpture for the Unsighted, South African National Gallery, Cape Town, 1978. In 2001 and 2009 he won an Idaho Commission of the Arts Fellowship, Boise Art Museum. His work is held in the collection of the Durban Art Gallery.

BARRY DIBB was born in 1940 in Durban. He was introduced to ceramics at school after which he attended the Michaelis School of Fine Art for one year. He maintains his knowledge of ceramics is derived from books and regular visits to galleries. His decision to become a potter was inspired by an exhibi-tion featuring work by Andrew Walford, Hyme Rabinowitz and Esias Bosch. Dibb taught at the University of Natal (now the University of KwaZulu-Natal), Pietermaritzburg from 1983-1985, and at the University of Durban Westville in 1984. Dibb works from his home studio in Westville, making porcelain vessels in a minimalist style. He uses Amaco underglazes mixed into a porcelain slip and airbrushed or painted onto bisque ware which he fi res in an electric kiln at temperatures ranging from 1186 to 1280 C.Collections: Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg. Durban Art Gallery. Potch-efstroom Art Collection. William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley. Corobrik Collection, Pietermaritzburg. Sanlam Collection. Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth.

NOMUSA DUBE No biographical information available

SHIRLEY FINDLAY No biographical information available

MOLLIE FISCH has studied at the University of the Witwatersrand. She works only by hand in stoneware and porcelain, fi red in an electric kiln. She has ex-

Biographies of selected art ists

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hibited throughout South Africa in collective and solo exhibitions.Awards: Brickor and APSA National Ceramic Exhibition in Johannesburg.Collections: Durban Art Gallery.

AUDREY FRANK (b.1905 Durban d.1990). Educated at Ladies College, Dur-ban, 1912-20. In the early twenties she trained under John Adams at the Dur-ban School of Art. In 1927 Frank joined the Ceramic Studio, Olifantsfontein, where she worked for four years. Between 1933 and 1936 she taught at the Durban School of Art. She subsequently taught art in Johannesburg in 1937 and in 1938 attended the Reiman School, London under Austin Cooper and Eric Fraser. She taught at Port Elizabeth School of Art in 1939 and at Cape Town and Bloemfontein School of Art from 1940-1944. She was Principal of the Frank Joubert Art School 1945-1956 and taught at Russel’s Girls School, Pietermaritzburg and Northlands Girls’ School, Durban (1957). She also taught at the Technical College, Durban (1958-1966) and ML Sultan College, Durban (1970-1971). She participated in various group shows until the 1960s.Major commissions: HtmlResAnchor Johannesburg Railway Station : tea room tiles, 1932 Including the set “Ships that called at the Cape” and “Nursery rhymes”Design for relief panel for mantelpiece (“ HtmlResAnchor Sunlawns”) 1931Exhibited: Pretoria Music Festival, 1937, No. 36 (Pretoria Music Festival catalogue)“Pan” mask for waterspout at “Sunlawns” swimming poolTile panels: Groote Schuur: Children’s wards (Chil-dren’s nursery rhymes English and Afrikaans) 1934-1935 HtmlResAnchor uMhlali Post Offi ce (Zulu feast dance; Zulu wedding dance) HtmlResAnchor Ngqeleni Post Offi ce 1937 Bookends. 1929 (Diary)Collections: Durban Art Gallery.

SONJA GERLINGS (b. 1942) studied graphics at Michaelis Art School for three years and then joined Hyme Rabinowitz as an apprentice. In 1971 she started her own pottery studio at Zeekoevlei on the outskirts of Cape Town, teaching and making low-fi red earthenware in an electric kiln. Gerlings is an artist who acknowledges traditional roots. Her designs are soft-edged, giving an almost ‘out-of-focus’ quality to her pieces. Sgraffi to is another decorative technique in which she excels. Her infl uence comes largely through the works and writings of Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew. In 1976 she moved to Swellendam, where she built a small oil-fi red kiln and experimented with western-style raku fi ring on sculptural pieces. She has been living in Scotland since 1980.Collections: Durban Art Gallery.

KATHERINE GLENDAY (b. 1960, Cape Town) Studied Ceramics, History of

Art and English at the University of Natal (1979-1982). Glenday worked profes-sionally as a ceramic artist, using porcelain clay and exhibiting from 1980 to the present. Her work is often functional, and was been decorative in her earlier years but on the whole speaks of an embodied dialogue between herself, her materials, the fl ora and fauna and people around her. From about 2001 she began to set out her vessels as installations – making use of their context. Awards: 2003 Merit Award, Brett Kebble Awards, Cape Town 2002 Gold Medalist, Vita Craft Now, Johannesburg 20022001 Sterling Award, Association of Potters Of Southern Africa National Solo exhibition UCT Irma Stern Museum, Cape Town1999 Sterling Award, Association of Potters Of Southern Africa NationalCollections: Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg. Pretoria Art Museum. Johan-nesburg Art Gallery. Durban Art Gallery. King George 1V Art Gallery, Port Eliza-beth. South African Cultural History Museum, Cape Town. William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley. Sasol Collection. Corobrik Collection.

DIEK GROBLER (b. 1964 Transvaal) obtained his BA Fine Arts degree from the University of Pretoria in 1987 and his master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand in 1996. He has exhibited professionally since 1988 and makes works of ‘social fantasy’ using fi gurative forms, humorously exaggerated to make trenchant social comments. He coils and slab-builds his works using a commercial earthenware body and fi res them once. No glaze is applied, instead Grobler uses stains, paint and oil to colour the fi nished work. Grobler has also been involved in public art projects, and organised and cu-rated the Artwall Metrorail Art Gallery, a public mural project. He works in a variety of media and disciplines: ceramic sculpture, oil, and gouache paintings and scraperboard drawings. He also works in time-based disciplines: perform-ance art, computer aided 2D animation and stop-motion animation. He lives and works in Pretoria and has received many awards over the years includ-ing: 1988 Merit award for Sculpture, New Signatures Competition; 1993 Merit Award in Volkskas Atelier Competition; 1995 Merit Award in Volkskas Atelier Competition; 1999 De Kat Herrie Award, Klein Karoo National Arts Festival, Oudtshoorn; 2003 winner, Graphic Arts section, of the South African leg of the International Olympic committee art Competition. He also won the 2005 Gold medal for painting at the International Delphic Games, Kutching, Malaysia and in 2007 his animated fi lm Little Bang was nominated for a SA Film and Televi-sion Awards for Best Short Film. Collections: Pretoria Art Museum. Tatham Gallery, Pietermaritzburg. Durban Art Gallery. University of South Africa Art Collection. University of the Orange Free State RAU Collection. SASOL Art Collection. ABSA collection. GENCOR

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collection. TELCOM collection. SANLAM art collection. Gauteng Legislature and Rand Merchant Bank.

CHARMAINE HAINES (1963 Grahamstown) studied ceramics at the Port Elizabeth Technikon in 1985, receiving a Higher National Diploma in ceramic design. In 2001, Haines left the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University where she had been lecturing to focus on her own work. 2008 saw her working in France before relocating to Nieu Bethesda in the Karoo. Haines uses a red-fi ring earthenware to construct her ‘icons’, parts of which are cast. The works are assembled and the surfaces are collaged and impressed. The icons are then painted with slips and stains before being bisque-fi red, then glazed with transparent glaze and fi red to 1100 C in an electric kiln.Awards: 2009 Dept of Arts & Culture. Craft Awards 2009. Category Winner – Ceramics. 2010 Became a Fellow of Ceramics Southern Africa in recognition for her contribution to Ceramics in South Africa.Collections: Musee De Vallauris, Vallauris France. Nelson Mandela Metropoli-tan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth. Durban Art Gallery. Samlingen Art Collection, Denmark. William Humphries Gallery, Kimberly. The Corobrik National Collec-tion. Pretoria Art Museum.

JAMES HALL (b. 1916 New Zealand d. 2006) studied in London at the Slade School of Fine Art (taking sculpture and architecture) from 1946-49 under Ran-dolph Schwabe and F.E. McWilliam. He then enrolled at the Camberwell school of Art, studying under Jacob Drew and R. Kendall, where he did ceramics and where he later taught. Hall arrived in Durban in 1956 and was appointed as head of the Department of Ceramics and Sculpture at the Natal Technical Col-lege Art School (now the Durban University of Technology.) From the 1960’s to the 1990’s he was design consultant to the glazing division at Corobrik Natal, where he designed decorative tiles and formulated glazes. Here he also liaised with clients and designed customised tile panels for new buildings. Between 1947 and 1956 he produced a vast array of artwork, which can be seen on many urban facades in and around KwaZulu Natal. These include tiles and lettering, crests, doors, windows, mural panels and sculptures in a variety of mediums. Hall also participated in numerous art exhibitions both locally and abroad.Collections: Durban Art Gallery and the Hanley Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, U K. Commissions: 23rd Psalm Panel, Jewish Hall of Prayer. Redhill Cemetery, Durban. Madonna, Holy Trinity Church, Durban. Panel, Blue Waters Hotel,

Durban.’Sea Saga’ and ‘Neptune’, Ocean Terminal, Durban. Stellenberg Build-ing, Musgrave, Durban. Frieze Panelling, corner of Moore and Sydney Roads, Durban. ‘Youth’ panel, Natalia Building, Pietermaritzburg. Panel, Public Library, Pietermaritzburg.

DOREEN HEMP has a master’s Degree in Fine Arts and is an Associate of Professional Photographers of South Africa. She has worked with weaving, ceramics and more recently with glass. She is co-author and photographer of Contemporary Ceramics in South Africa (1991), and Craft South Africa (2002).Collections: University of South Africa, Durban Art Gallery, Sandton Art Gallery, Consol Glass Collection.

MARJORIE JONES studied at the Durban Institute of Technology and com-pleted her Teacher’s Diploma in Art, majoring in Sculpture and Ceramics. Her adventurous spirit is clearly exhibited through her diverse collection of artworks she creates, from wood and ceramic sculpture, acrylic on canvas, monoprints and wall hangings consisting of a rich mixture of sisal, natural wool and clay. Some of her ceramic masks feature heavily tattooed faces, carved and deco-rated with colour. Marjorie is bold in her approach to art, and yet there is a feminine quality to her sculptural fi gures. She currently works from her studio in Hillcrest, South Africa.Collections: Durban Art Gallery.

PENNY LE ROUX No biographical information available.

PETER LEE (b.1950 Durban) obtained a BA degree in English and Art at the University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg. He is infl uenced by the work of Michael Cardew and Richard Batterham. He lives and works in Cloete’s Pass in the Eastern Cape with no electricity or other modern conveniences. Lee fi res with bottled gas in an updraft, oxidised muffl e kiln. His pots are thrown on the wheel using white stoneware and terracotta earthenware. He applies slip and scratches through the slip to achieve decoration. Four basic glazes, including transparent and tin white are used over the slip. Lee fi res his work to 1220 C.Collections: Durban Art Gallery. Durbanville Clay Museum. Corobrik Collec-tion, Pietermaritzburg.

BUZEPHI MaKHANYILE MAGWAZA (b.1951, Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal) learned ceramics from her in-laws at the Magwaza household. She has worked

94

to fulfi ll commissions not only for Zulu beer vessels, but also more diverse ceramic objects such as aromatherapy burners and other specialty items. Magwaza has recently been improvising with new fl oral patterns and larger renditions of the new indoklo, fl attened vessel shape that the Magwaza ’s have developed for gallery sales. She also produces wares for the Vukani Collection sales area. Magwaza currently resides in Mpabalana, KwaZulu-Natal.Collections: Vukani Museum. Durban Art Gallery.

SHONGAZIPHI MaXABA MAGWAZA(b.1954, Mxamalala, KwaZulu-Natal) was trained by her mother-in-law, Fihliwe Magwaza. She also participated in 2 workshops held by Juliet Armstrong at the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, Pieter-maritzburg. In 2005, Shongaziphi MaXaba participated in a workshop at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Art Museum, Port Elizabeth, where she worked alongside other family members and guest artists to provide an entire week of instruction and interaction with students from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. Her work embodies perfectionism and tradition, with a hint of in-novation. Magwaza supplements her income from other sources, working on local, road-maintenance crews with other members of her extended family. It’s a vital service that ensures outside buyers are able to access the Magwazas via the dirt road that leads to their rural homestead in Mpabalana, KwaZulu-Natal.Collections: Vukani Collection, Eshowe. Durban Art Gallery.

BHEKISANI MANYONI (b. 1945 Greytown, Natal) completed three years of study at Rorke’s Drift in 1963 and was employed at Rorke’s Drift for a further two years to teach children’s art. He then taught art at a school for the physi-cally disabled in Newcastle, Natal. In 1973 he taught printmaking at SATCO training centre in Mbabane, Swaziland and was also curator of the Pandora Gallery, Mbabane. Since 1979 he has been an artist-in-residence at the Katle-hong Art Centre, Germiston. His work has been exhibited by the Helen de Leeuw, Goodman and Everard Read Galleries. Manyoni’s ceramic sculptures are coiled using Vereeniging Pipe clay on which he draws using oxides. His sculptures are fi red once to 1200C.Awards: Masana tapestry design, 1982. Hans Merensky Trust, Grahamstown, 1987 (special award).Collections: Botshabelo Sun Hotel. Durban Art Gallery. Museum fur Volkerkunde. Frankfurt am Main. PUTCO Foundation. SACHED Trust, Johan-nesburg. Tatham Art Gallery. University of Zululand. Vista University, Soweto. University of Witwatersrand Art Galleries.

THELMA MARCUSON (b.1919 Johannesburg d.2009) trained at the Johan-nesburg College of Art in 1937 under John Edwards. She served as chairman of the selection committee for APSA for several years and acted as member of judging panel for various national and regional exhibitions. Marcuson worked in porcelain clay and held her fi rst porcelain exhibition in Johannesburg in 1976 at the Goodman Gallery. Later after moving to London, she studied glaze tech-nology, a discipline she generously shared with anyone who needed advice.Collections: Tatham Art Gallery. Durban Art Gallery.Awards: 1979 National ceramic exhibition .

PASEKA MARITI No biographical information available

ELIZABETH MBATHA(b. 1950 near Rorke’s Drift) joined the pottery workshop at Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre in the early 1980’s and was taught tradi-tional coil pottery by women potters such as Dinah Molefe.Collections: Ann Bryant Art Gallery, East London. Tatham Art Gallery. Durban Art Gallery. GORDON MBATHA ( b.1948) started his career at the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre in 1964 in the weaving studio. When the ceramic studio was es-tablished in 1968 he became one of the fi rst ceramic artists to be trained in Rorke’s Drift. He has been working for many years as a supervisor in the studio and is well-known for his unique ceramic art. Mbatha’s forms are western in concept including bowls and tall vases. His fi gurative slip decoration refl ects the distinctive imagery of Rorke’s Drift tapestry and graphic design. He often chose the bowl form to decorate with fi gures and animals.Collections: Durban Art Gallery. MAGGIE MIKULA (b.1941 Durban d. 1989) obtained a Diploma in Commercial Art at the Durban Institute of Technology (DIT, now Durban University of Tech-nology) in 1962 and at the same time studied with the ceramicist James Hall. Working within a commercial and artistic environment which at the time was strongly eurocentric in its infl uences and aspirations, Mikula was one of the fi rst of her generation of South African ceramicists to draw from South Africa’s own rich indigenous cultural heritage. The shapes and textures of the ‘Ukhamba’ (the traditional Zulu beer pot), the geometric designs found on vinyl earplugs or the ’Amasumpa’ (pyramid shaped carvings) found on traditional wooden meat-platters greatly infl uenced her work. These works comprised of porcelain and stoneware clay, smoke-fi red and burnished, and mostly unglazed. In the 1980s Mikula began incorporating beadwork and weaving in her work.

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Awards: Corobrik National Ceramics Award, 1984. APSA (Association of Pot-ters in Southern Africa) National Prize, 1985.Collections: Durban Art Gallery. Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg. The Pre-toria Art Gallery. The Phansi Museum. Corobrik Ceramic Collection, Pieterma-ritzburg.

JUDITH KING MKAHABELA (d.2005) learned the tradition of pot-making from a relative, possibly her mother or mother-in-law. She worked as a weaver for a time and also worked in the ceramic studio at Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Cen-tre. She often made earthenware ‘bird-pots’, stoneware ‘married-woman-pots’ and animal forms, decorated with iconic segment shapes and impressed pat-terns. Sometime after 1976, Judith stopped working in stoneware. Instead, she returned to the traditional earthenware techniques, making and fi ring her wares at her home across the Mzinyathi (Buffalo) River in the St Augustine’s Mission area. She collected her clay from a shallow pit near her house and fi red her work in a pit, using grass as fuel. Collections: Durban Art Gallery. Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre, Rorke’s Drift. KwaZulu Cultural Museum, Ulundi. Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg. LINDUMUSA MABASO (b.1956) joined the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre in 1972 as a caretaker and only started his training as a ceramic artist in 1981. Mabaso was trained by Gordon Mbatha and Joel Sibisi of Rorke’s Drift.Collections: Durban Art Gallery.

PAMELA MORGAN No biographical information available

ELIZABETH AND MARTHA MSIYA lived in Eshowe and worked with Judith King Mkhabela at the Rorke’s Drift Art and Craft Centre from whom they learnt the art of creating animal forms in clay. Mkhabela helped the Msiyas to market their products and accepted their help when large orders were needed. It is noted that the elephant form can be differentiated according to the Mkhabela versus the Msiya style. Similar to the other ceramicists at Rorkes Drift Art and Craft Centre, the Msiya’s cross- hatch different foliate motifs to decorate their work.Collections: Durban Art Gallery

REBECCA MATIBE (1934 Mabile Village, Limpopo) is a traditional potter from Venda, in the far north east of the country. Around the age of 12 she started making ceramic dolls and was taught how to make cooking pots by her grand-

mother. After marriage she was taught further pottery skills by one of her hus-band’s four chosen wives, who was a potter. She works in a thatched rondavel and collects her clay from the river bed near her village. Matibe made pots needed in the daily life of her village, as well as individual pots sought by col-lectors. The larger pots made by Mtibe were used for the storage of grain and water, and beer brewing, while the small rounded pots were used for cooking. Apart from traditional forms, images often used in the decoration of her pots are birds and snakes. Her pots are made of bright terracotta clay decorated with bands of graphite, which she burnishes with a smooth stone. The pots are then fi red in a pit using weed and cow dung for fuel, after which they are polished.Collections: Durban Art Gallery.

NESTA NALA (b.1940 Eshowe d.2005) was a Zulu potter working in a tradi-tional manner. As a child she was taught how to make traditional Zulu beer pots by her mother Siphiwe Nala. Although Nala continued to make beer pots in the traditional manner, her paper-thin, fi nely decorated forms won her inter-national acclaim. Nala dug her own clay which she ground with a traditional Zulu grinding stone and sieved through a fi ne sieve or piece of netting. It was then dried, put into a ten-gallon steel barrel with water and left to ma-ture. Nala’s pots were hand-coiled and smoothed with a gourd shard or other smooth object. When the clay was leather-hard, it was burnished with river pebbles and then decorated, usually around the shoulder of the pot, with in-cised patterns or amansumpa. After the decoration was complete, the pots were rubbed in animal fat, burnished and left to dry naturally. They were then placed on their sides in a special arrangement and covered with dried grass and aloe leaves which was set alight. The fi rings lasted approximately three hours. During a second fi ring they were placed on a metal tripod and turned with a stick over the fl ames, to become black. When thoroughly blackened, the pots were cooled, rubbed with more animal fat and polished to a shine. In the mid 1980s, Nala made the transition from curio producer to artist.

Awards: First prize at the FNB Vita National Craft Exhibition in 1995. First prize National Ceramics Biennial in 1996.Collections: Durban Art Gallery. Tatham Art Gallery, Pietermaritzburg.

SIPHIWE NALA the mother of ceramicist Nesta Nala lived in the town of Es-howe deep in the Thukela valley in a remote part of KwaZulu-Natal. Nala was taught the art of pottery by her mother Ntobi Khumalo. She learnt how to hand coil, burnish and fi re the clays dug from the surrounding area. These pots were

96

made for local use in the surrounding villages. Most Zulu pots are blackened after the fi ring; this is largely for ritualistic purposes. Traditionally, three sizes were most common: the large Imbiza pot was used for brewing, the Ukhamba pot used for serving and the Umancishana pot size was used for cooking meat, storing water and grain and for drinking sour milk.Collections: Durban Art Gallery. Standard Bank Foundation of African Art.

GAEL NEKE (b.1946 Johannesburg) obtained a degree in Fine Art in 1969 from the University of the Witwatersrand. She had studied under Anne Leader and had majored in painting and design. In 1975 she started her own stu-dio. Neke works in stoneware, which she colours with stain and oxides, using glazes sparingly. Her early work was an abstract expression of political beliefs, while her current work, in strong contrast, is fi gurative and satirical.Awards: Corobrik award, 1982 (joint winner-Lesley-Anne Hoets).Collections: SA National Gallery, Cape Town. Pretoria Art Museum. Durban Art Gallery. William Humpreys Art Gallery, Kimberley. Corobrik Collection, Pieter-maritzburg. King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth. Lichtenberg Art Gallery. Galerie Handwerk, Koblenz, West Germany. Kamiyahagi Central Public Hall, Japan. Tajimi City Housing Corporation, Japan.

HYLTON NEL born 1941 in Zambia is a potter, painter and sculptor. He at-tended school in Kimberley where a teacher introduced him to ceramics. Later at Rhodes University he obtained a fi ne art degree majoring in painting and history of art. In 1968 he obtained a diploma in ceramics at The Royal school in Antwerp and also was tutored by Mr Hamburger of Hamburger potteries. He lived and worked in England between 1969-1973 after which he returned to South Africa and taught at the Port Elizabeth Technikon for a year. From 1985 to 1988 he lectured at the Michaelis School of Fine Art in Cape Town. He currently works from his studio in Bethulie in the Orange Free State. Nel is infl uenced by the ‘European’ and the ‘Oriental’. He admires the work of Peter Voulkos.Collections: Durban Art Gallery. SA National Art Gallery, Cape Town. Corobrik Collection, Pietermaritzburg. Johannesburg Art Gallery. King George VI Art Gallery, Port Elizabeth.

JOSUA ANDRIES NELL was born in 1935 in Keetsmanshoop, Namibia. In 1958 he graduated with a Diploma in Fine Art with distinctions from Rhodes Art School and was awarded the Purvis Prize for Art. In 1959 joined the depart-ment of Fine Art at Rhodes and was to remain there until he retired in 1990. Nell was a founder member of the Grahamstown Group until its disbandment

in 1976.Nell travelled extensively in the desert regions of Namibia, his birthplace.He is a consummate draughtsman and skilled craftsman. Versatile in many media including etching, he moved into sculpture as a parallel medium and became one of the fi rst sculptors to work with bone. Working in mostly natural materials from preference, he is also a skilled ceramist, wood and stone carver and bronze caster. Reserved by nature, Nell has held seven solo exhibitions. He exhibited mostly on joint exhibitions within the Eastern Cape with the Gra-hamstown Group, GAP (Grahamstown, Alice and Port Elizabeth), EPSAC (PE) and the annual exhibitions held by the Rhodes University Fine art department. He was selected for all four of the Cape Town Triennial exhibitions held from 1982 – 1991 and for the Republic Festival Exhibition in 1981.Collections: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan Museum (PE). Johannesburg Art Gallery. Pretoria Art Museum. Northern Transvaal Regional Art Gallery, Pi-etersburg (Polokwane Museum). William Humphreys Art Gallery, Kimberley. Rembrandt collection,Stellenbosch. Durban Art Gallery. Wooltru collection and the Universities of Port Elizabeth, Fort Hare and Rhodes. He still lives in Gra-hamstown.

JOHN NOWERS (b.1940 Transvaal d.1995) After obtaining a diploma in Graphic Design at the Michaelis School Of Fine Art in 1962, Nell worked in London as a Graphic Designer. On returning to Cape Town in 1966, he met Hylton Nel and was greatly inspired by his work. They decided to set up a ce-ramic studio in London and they worked together in Richmond, Surrey, Cape Town and Whitstable in Kent until 1973. Nowers was later appointed head of the Department of Ceramics at Michaelis School of Art. Nowers worked with small porcelain sculptures and used underglaze colours and bisque-fi red to 1000C in an electric kiln. He also used transparent glaze that fi red between 1100C to 1250C. He also produced earthenware moulded plates.Awards: Merit award, Cape Town Triennial, 1982.Collections: SA National Gallery, Cape Town (commission). Friend’s Choice Collection, SA National Gallery, Cape Town. Rembrandt van Rijn Foundation. Durban Art Gallery (commission). Johannesburg Art Gallery. University of the Western Cape (commission).

ANDREW WALFORD (b.1942 Bournemouth) is a South African potter of Eng-lish birth. He moved to South Africa with his parents in 1947 and trained as a commercial artist at the Durban Art School (now known as the Durban Uni-

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