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Southern Africa KZN
Newsletter
Cathy Brennon Gets all fired up running her workshop Page 2
Dear Members,
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issue No 4 Winter 2011
KZN region newsletter Number 1, 2016
Jane Jarvis Talks us through her walk from college to colonial tea parties Page 5
Buying an electric kiln Issue No 1 What to look for and what to avoid Page Selec:on for Na:onal is i7n September. Start
working towards these exhibi:ons now-‐that way aForth ny kcoming iln failures etc can be ruled out and Stroebel Karen Murray Hennie workshops Welcome to 2016. We Gets all us hope this working up year will Wowing you hand ave plenty of :me to make and make. us with Ardmore close and personal creativity- he takes us success bring us much crea:vity as well as peace and The current management team has agreed Page 4 on a walk about Page 6 joy. to stand again for 2016 and no other Page8 Our AGM was aBended by over 20 members members ! came forward to be part of the and a number of issues were discussed, team for this year. The new Chairperson will Amongst them was the validity of allowing be voted for at our next management every member one work on our Regional-‐the Our National Exhibition is in Pretoria Members who turn 65 can claim a mee:ng. next year (Oct 2012) and there will also membership. other 4 pieces being subjected to a selec:on Please make a note of reduced the scheduled events be a catalogue .all sponsored by process. This concept originally came about for 2016 and know that we are working hard Corobrik, It will costs over R60,000 to We are in discussions with website attended the Clay in to as a w!ay of eIncouraging our Festival members to find more presenters host this exhibition designers to upgrade our website. Johannesburg recently and enjoyed this make work. As much as we value our Our invited international Our magazine fantas:c and profiles it is due judge foris this Existing willto the event which takes place every two years. autonomy Na:onal Council rule is that only event is Daphnehard Corregan (born the Holmes be upgraded to your advantage. This wil work of Lin ydia and Cynthia Mc It was successful on many levels. The USA, currently resident in France), who incur costs to members who would like a members w ho h ave h ad w ork s elected f or a Alpine. presenters were informative and has a very impressive CV. She has profile. We will Regional may submit work for selec:on The magazine works because members send professional. The trade hall buzzed with at agreed to accept appointment as the report back once a decision is made demonstrations by the likes of Merentia Na:onal level so we are going to discuss tAward his Judge forin exhibi:on reviews, babout ook rthe eviews, photos the National Exhibition. new look and workings of the Kooiman and the cshopping for ceramic in depth at our next ommiBee mee:ng. Daphne teachesof current work, on artSPACE personal journeys at the University in essays site is in the process of paying supplies was awesome. ( because some of us could’get in by the bMonaco ack and hasin tocslot visitain to :ps. everyone work sold on the lay, her hints nd If each m(for ember Our own Lindsay Scott gave a workshop complete everything within a four week Regional). Contact door’ on for the Na:onal selec:on rocess.) commiBed to send in one ar:cle or :p me or if you have not throwing with paper porcelainpand also be giving us a received monies yet. Na:onal have how not he told us Leach’s to ‘toe the line’ period. but She willphoto each year it would ensure the explained uses concept REMINDER : We continue to ask our workshop here in KZN. We host her for ‘accidental’ . (Paperit. clay being they hofave warmly effects suggested of the magazine. Wto ithout your members do internet transfers when over a week andlongevity if any member would forgiving enough to allow booking a workshop. With Remember our Regional is olots n 2to1sthappen June and contribu:ons this be magazine cannot exist. all the cash like to contribute to her stay it would to it.) If you have a chance - plan to handed to us for our last workshop we could Na:onal is in November. At our Regional w e welcome i.Please most e she is s keen toin see end t he ‘ stuff’. have been charged over R200 by the Bank. attend the next one in 2013. game parks andDon’t the Berg. If onethas invite members to make wall hanging plant/ (God rest their souls)fees forget o pay your membership contacts re accommodation for the above flower I also containers. W e w ill s et a side o ne w all for 2016. attend the National Ceramic Keep Potting Council on behalf our KZN to hang the eMeeting xhibi:on and it ofshould be please let us know. My report for 2015 is included in this Region and it H isennie good toM know wegreat stunning display. eyer that had newsleBer Finally a decision has been made about Lynette have dedicated people handling the success with this idea at an exhibi:on a few when does one become a Senior Citizen. Keep creating, extraordinary amount of work that it In the interest of a non discriminatory years takes ago. to If host you clay google him Nationals you could find Festivals, society all of us become Senior Citizens examples. and our website. when we turn 65 !
Dear members,
Lynette Morris-Hale
Front page!
Ceramics, Southern Africa
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ANNUAL REPORT FOR NATIONAL COUNCIL 2015 Your Management team for 2015 was Chairperson: LyneBe Morris-‐Hale Vice: Mary Slack Treasurer:Lucille Schiess NewsleGer: LyneBe Morris-‐Hale, Cassy Healey Secretary: Carol Tullidge CommiGee Members Carol Tullidge, Joanne Kuter, Lorraine Wilson, Louise Jennings and Sharon Weaving. I would like to thank them for all they have done to keep the Associa:on running smoothly. Sadly we say goodbye to Lucille Schiess. I would like to thank Lucille for her 12 years of service to this Associa:on. We could always count on your integrity, support and efficiency REGIONAL Our Regional,last year, was held in July at the same venue KZN Art Gallery. Our sales in 2010 totaled R22, 000, 2011, R19, 000 , 2012 R21, 000 , 2014 R35,000 and 2015 R18,399 (34 pieces sold) It was a successful exhibi:on (except for sales) and the standard was varied and fresh. We had a piece purchased for the Corobrik Collec:on , Teaching Studios were represented again and our selectors and award judges were Frank Nthunya, Mary Slack and Fahmeeda Omar In order to promote and grow the Associa:on we con:nued with the concept that every member is allowed one piece on the show-‐ the rest being selected by our selectors . We had sponsorship from Cape PoBers Supplies (R1000) and Paul Mikula from Phanzi Museum of R3,000 FIRED UP NEWSLETTER I con:nue to put the newsleBer together and gather informa:on. I think other editors will agree with me-‐ its hard work especially as members don’t oeen contribute. We sent out 5 newsleBers last " 2
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year and Cassy does the layout with much crea:vity, having changed the format into an on line magazine and added video to newsleBer no 4. OUTREACH We have sponsored memberships, exhibi:on fees and workshop fees of 2 ar:sts whose work was selected for Na:onal – MEMBERSHIP Among our new members, we welcomed UKZN lecturers and students in 2015 And this group was a welcome addi:on to the David Walters workshop Our membership con:nues to grow as one can see by these numbers 2011-‐49 members 2012-‐59 members 2013-‐68 members 2014-‐ 59 members 2015-‐74 members
FINANCES Thank you to Lucille Schiess who did a fine job. We decreased exhibi:on fees last year as a pay back to our members for their support . MAGAZINE Last year I personally will have sent an ar:cle on 4 Women 4 Journeys, our Regional Exhibi:on and Sbonleo Ntuli’s exhibi:on I am also encouraging members to write Personal Journeys for the magazine as well as send in photos of their latest work to share. Any exhibi:on review you might want to do is very welcome as well as ceramic book reviews. Please support our magazine, the Management team can’t do all the ar:cles. Ceramics, Southern Africa
WORKSHOPS We have had some interes:ng workshops last year star:ng with –
membership is up and I want to thank the management team for their con:nued support
1) At our AGM we had a video on tea bowls and each member brought a piece of their favourite poBery/ceramic for general discussion.
Our Regional this year is at KZNSA from 21st June to 10 July followed by our Na:onal exhibi:on in November in Johannesburg. At our Regional we would like to invite members to make a wall hanging container for a plant or flowers. Hennie Meyer has done these with great success and here is an example of his collabora:on with Clemin:na van der Walt. Aspects to consider when making them is sound construc:on and easy hanging. We envisage one wall ablaze with colour from these hanging containers and will make for a lovely display at our exhibi:on .
2) Our next workshop was at Kamel where Di Buchannan taught par:cipants how to carve into pots and shared a wealth of knowledge with us. 3) Lino prin:ng workshop at Trayci’s Thompkins Studio in the Midlands 4) David and Sarah Walters and Yogi de Beer Workshop at Lindsay ScoBs studio 5) Ellalou O'Meara gave a print workshop on 21st November 6) We also had a table at the IHeart Market, Sales were small( R4000) but our December market brought in double the sales. Please contact Louise if you wish to par:cipate in the next market happening in a few months :me 7) Our Regional was held in July So a total of 7 workshops/events were arranged in 2015, and we hosted a successful Regional exhibi:on and our
Our next workshop is a talk on a famous art deco ceramists Clarence Cliff by a collector of her work Ricki Grey. This will be held on the last Saturday of February. Ralph Johnson will be giving us workshop on how to access our crea:vity and Frank Nthuya will be making liBle vessels for us to burnish and incise at a workshop in May. We are s:ll busy sourcing other ceramic ar:sts to give workshops. Your input here will be much appreciated. L. Morris-Hale Chairperson KZN
WORKSKHOPS/EVENTS FOR 2016 (more to be added later)
20th February
Ricki Grey
30th April
Talk on Art Deco ceramic designer-‐Clarice Cliff Triggering Your Imagina:on
April
IHeart Market
Members
28th May
Burnish and smoke firing
Frank Nthunya
21st June
Regional Exhibi:on
KZN Members
16 September
Submission of entry forms,images-‐Na:onal Bien. Na:onal Biennale Opening Johannesburg Interna:onal Judge ‘s workshop
Na:onal members
9 November 19 November
Ralph Johnson
Na:onal Members Sasha Wardell
OXIDES AND GLAZING Does this come in blue?” Probably every potter who has worked an art fair or festival has been asked this question at one time or another. So, many potters keep a trusty cobalt blue in their glaze arsenals at all times. Cobalt is an extremely powerful colorant that almost always produces an intense blue, but that’s not the only color it produces. This oxide is actually quite versatile and can make glazes that run the gamut from green to purple, pink to blue violet, blues mottled with red, pink, and even an intense black.
Cobalt: The Bluest of Possibilities by Dave Finkelnburg
Valence Electrons: The
There are four major factors that can affect a glaze’s color: the clay and slip beneath it, kiln atmosphere, fired temperature, and the glaze composition, including the colorants.
unbound, shared electrons that move among atoms rather than moving within a single atom. Mole: The base unit of measure for the amount of substance, either atoms or molecules. This unit is used in unity molecular formulas for glazes.
Defining the Terms Oxide: A chemical compound containing at least one oxygen atom as well as at least one other element. Oxides result when an element combines with oxygen. Some raw materials are used in oxide form (like black cobalt oxide) while others form oxides during the firing process. In a glaze firing the oxygen usually comes from air, though in a fuel-fired kiln it may also come from carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide.
Carbonate: The compound of carbon and oxygen in a 1:3 ratio that gives a negatively charged ion. It is generally insoluble. When fired, the carbonate breaks down and CO2 goes up the chimney, leaving behind an oxide.
Just Like Taking a Little Slice out of a Rainbow When a fired glaze is exposed to light, the color of the glaze will depend entirely on which wavelengths of the light are absorbed by the valence electrons in the glaze colorants. The energy level of the valence electrons determines which photons it will absorb (absorb them all and you have black) or emit (emit them all and you have white). Emit only one wavelength and you have that color, just like taking a little slice out of a rainbow. Cobalt in a fired glaze usually absorbs all wavelengths of visible light except blue and thus a glaze containing cobalt is blue.
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However, two or more colorants in a glaze interact so that the wavelengths of light absorbed are different for the combination than for either colorant by itself. The interaction between atoms of one colorant, say cobalt, and another, say chrome, alters the energy level of the valence electrons of both elements. That is why we may add both cobalt (blue) and chrome (green) to get a glaze that is turquoise. Flux elements such as sodium, stabilizers such as alumina, and even some glass formers also influence valence electrons. Because the glass formed in the glaze firing controls the interaction of the glaze elements, what you see in the mixed glaze is almost never the color you get in the fired glaze. and the Practice If we use lots of talc, dolomite or another source of magnesium in a cobalt glaze, a beautiful bubble-gum purple glaze can be the result! Magnesium oxide (MgO) shifts the wavelengths of light emitted from our fired cobalt glaze from blue to purple. Every mole of flux should include more than 0.2 moles of MgO to get purple. Make a line blend varying MgO content to test for the shade of purple desired. Ceramics, Southern Africa
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Lesser amounts of MgO will produce lavender, larger amounts combined with an opacifier will produce a strong grape purple. Alumina and titania in a cobalt glaze will shift the fired glaze color from blue to green. Because a significant amount of alumina can be dissolved from the clay body by the glaze during firing, glaze thickness can cause the same glaze to turn blue (where thick) and green (where thin) on the same piece. Glaze layering can have a similar effect with layering of the cobalt glaze over a white glaze firing blue but the cobalt glaze alone firing green. Cobalt greens are invariably satin to matte rather than glossy glazes. These glazes are typically flux saturated and the matteness comes from precipitating crystals of the flux in combination with aluminum and silicon. The amount of titanium oxide used, either as rutile or titanium dioxide, influences the green color. While cobalt greens have been reported using as much as 7.5% rutile in a cone 9 glaze, 2% rutile is far more typical. Less rutile also helps avoid pinholes in the glaze. The two glaze examples given here, Reitz Green Glaze and Emily’s Purple, are both cone 9–10,
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Black glazes are typically achieved using cobalt oxide or cobalt carbonate plus a blend of iron and other metallic oxides. Typical cobalt levels are between 1 and 3% and iron levels up to 9%. The total of all the colorant oxides need not be more than 10 or 11%. Cobalt should be used with care—it is expensive, and in thick applications, too much cobalt can make a glaze fluid enough to flow off the ware. Iron is not required to make a black glaze, but as an alternative, it is inexpensive, readily available, and non-toxic. One or more of the oxides of copper, manganese, and chrome are added in many black glazes. Glazes high in iron black tend to fade brown and glazes with high amounts of cobalt tend to fade blue over a white glazes.
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A simple black glaze can be made with 9% red iron oxide plus 2% cobalt. If other oxides are used, a good starting point is 4% iron, 2% cobalt, 2% manganese dioxide, and 2% copper oxide.
Reitz green Glaze cone 9-10 Gerstley Borate 2% Whiting 5 Neptieline Syenite 70 Petalite 15 Ball clay 8 100% Add rutile 2% Colbalt Carbonate 1%
The life & work of Clarice Cliff Saturday 20 February 2016 9 for 9.30am 79, Manorfields Country Estate, Hillcrest ( We will be meeting at Carol Tullidge’ home and then moving onto the clubhouse on the estate for the talk) Please book by paying R50 into our account with your name as reference Ceramics Southern Africa First National Bank Branch: 223726 Hillcrest
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Ricki Gray Ceramics, Southern Africa
Dear Members, Our next workshop is a morning get together in Hillcrest. Ricki Gray is an expert on the life and work of Clarice Cliff. She is the icon of ART Deco Design in ceramics. Ricki will be giving us a power point talk on his collection of her work as well as bringing some of his ceramic collection for us to look at. He will also be giving us tips on how to collect ceramics. Ricki Gray’s collection of Clarice Cliff pottery was shown in SA Gardens and Homes some 25 years ago. Since then Ricki has been acknowledged as one of South Africa’s leading authorities on this famous British potter who was an icon of Art Deco Design. “Public interest, prices, and the number of people collecting Clarice Cliff pottery around the world has grown beyond anyone’s expectations” says Ricki. “But it’s also the variety of items available that attracts many collectors and makes it so interesting” Ricki has amassed a collection that has grown to almost 200 pieces, many of which are displayed in his home. His collection includes teapots, cups, vases, plates and jugs and many of them strangely shaped.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF CLARICE CLIFF Clarice Cliff (1899-1972) worked as an apprentice potter in Stoke-on-Trent when she was just 13 years old. Her talents were soon evident and she was given a studio to develop her ceramic art and stylised patterns. She went onto become the head of the factory’s art department and launched her famous Bizarre range of pottery, which not only featured flamboyant hand-painted patterns, but unique geometric and angular shapes. In 1928 Clarice created what became one of her most sought-after ranges- a simple pattern called Crocus Flower. As the orders flooded in, Cliff hd to train young painters to help her keep up with the demand, an astounding feat at the time. In the years that followed, Cliff’s ceramics became hugely popular with the public and royalty alike, and she continued to impress collectors with her unusually shaped ceramics and outrageous patterns. At the peak of her career, she sold 18 000 pieces of pottery a week and received enormous press coverage. During and after WW11, however, only white ceramics were permitted so she was not able to continue producing her stylised pieces. Years later, the ceramicist lamented how she longed for the Bizarre days, but accepted that traditional English design had become the norm. Spending less time in the factory as a result, she turned her talents to gardening, a passion she shared with her husband. After her sudden death in 1972, there was renewed interest in Cliff’s work and she was named as one of the major artists of her era. Her pottery remains highly collectable today.
MEMBERSHIP FORM CERAMICSA KZN REGION NAME: Address: Email: Phone: Membership fees Ordinary member R400 per annum. Pensioner: R320 Student: R200 Family: R600 Organization: R660 Country member (50km outside Durban) R350 Please pay into our bank account and fax/email proof of payment to Jo-Anne Kuter joannekuter@iafrica.com. 031 563 5414
Membership gives you Eligibility to enter Regional and Na:onal exhibi:ons Opportunity to sell work at our IHeart Market venue Chance to meet and workshop with fellow ceramic ar:sts 4 magazines a year 5 newsleBers 4 workshops at reduced rate Bank Account: Ceramics Southern Africa First National Bank Branch 223726(Hillcrest) Acc No 53730022000
Management team 2016 Louise Jennings Jo-anne Kuter Lynette Morris-Hale Mary Slack
Carol Tullidge Sharon Weaving Lorraine Wilson Cassy Healey
083 632 2555 084 563 5414 083 540 4349 073 303749 0 083 407 3634 072 452 5769
701 7326
loujen@telkomsa.net
563 5414
joannekuter@iafrica.com
266 0543
morrishale@telkomsa.net
5726108
slackjm@gmail.com
7652252
cartul@telkomsa.net
084 891 5014 072 189 7155
7025648
sharonerichsenceramics@g mail.com lorraine@homemail.co.za healeyclan@gmail.com
25 Alida Place, Cowies Hill 3610 22 Windsor Drive, Durban North, 4051 16 Dorsetshire Road, Westville 42 Adelaide Drive Durban North 79 Manorfields Country Estate, Hillcrest 20 San Lorenzo Seaward Estate Ballito 13 Rockhaven Road, Cowies Hill, 24 Riverview Drive, Crestholme