NEWSLETTER Vol 23 Spring 2020
Cover Image: Karen van der Riet
NEWSLETTER CONTENTS
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Contents 1. Letter from Our Chair …………………………………………………………………….…...... 03 2. John’s Column ………………………………………………….………………….…….……….. 04 3. Demo Videos………………………………….....…….................................................... 05 4. Potter Profiles • Kilnhouse………………………………………………….............………….………….06 • Umi Ceramics…………………………………………………………….….…………….07 • Ria Scheepbouwer……………………………………………………………………….08 5. Pretoria Lock Down Exhibitions……………………………………………………………… 09 6. Tips and Tricks……………………………………………………………………………………… 13 7. Harties Potters…………………………………………………..….…………………………..…. 14 8. September Throw-Down Challenge……………………………………………………...... 15 9. Committee and Membership Details ……………………………………………….……. 16
Opinions expressed are those of the contributors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Ceramics SA
Elize Du Toit
LETTER FROM OUR CHAIR
Letter from our Chair To all our Gauteng members, I imagine that by now you are all more used to our so called “new normal� and learning to live with it. I know that we often feel unsure and anxious about our immediate future, but our clay community are lucky to have our ability to work creatively with our hands to gently ease this pressure. Most ceramic studios have now re-opened, much to the delight of both students and teachers. It is wonderful to see the positive effect studio time has on our wellbeing. I am sure you will join me in congratulating our editor Ashton Moseley and her team on putting together this fabulous newsletter. You will find news on local ceramic exhibitions, profiles on two successful young potters, as well Ria Scheepbouwer, handy tips, exciting news from John and some fun challenges that I do hope you will give a try and give us feedback. I am looking forward to building a blind folded pinch pot. Please visit our new ceramics online shop. We wish all our vendors great sales and exposure.
Warm regards to you all. Gaby.
Gaby Snyman Gauteng CSA Committee Chairperson
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JOHN’S COLUMN
John’s Column Currently in level 2 of the lockdown there are two things happening right now that promise to set the local ceramic scene alight. Our new website is at long last live and can be viewed here. As a member of Ceramics Southern Africa, you are entitled to have your profile on the site, if you have not already done so, click here to enter yours. Together with the website our online store where all members can sell their work, is up. For me, what is exciting, is that because all our members can be represented it promises to be a wonderful opportunity to get our work seen by a far greater audience than we already have. This will be the first site that promotes local ceramics exclusively online, and as it is under the umbrella of Ceramics Southern Africa It promises to gather a large following in a short time. If you are interested in participating in the store, the charge is R1000.00 per annum with 10% of sales going to CSA towards admin and advertising costs. Visit the store here from the 8th of September, when we go LIVE! At last The Great Pottery Throw Down is on our local TV screens. It is being shown on Monday evenings on Channel 174 on DSTV. This programme created an unbelievable resurgence in ceramics when it was screened in Britain and will hopefully create a similar response here, so be prepared for an increasing interest in classes as well as a greater enthusiasm for all aspects of ceramics . These are a few things to get excited about. Please contact us if you want to participate in the store and make sure to spread the news about it far and wide. For now, get back to your clay and keep potting.
John Shirley Gauteng CSA Committee Vice Chairperson
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DEMO VIDEOS
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Coil and Slab Demo -by Kate Malone
In this video ceramic artist and Patron of Clay College, Kate Malone MBE demonstrates some core hand-building techniques; coiling and making slabs. This is the start of a new venture for Clay College, as we work to provide online demonstrations and lectures in the coming weeks. While in lockdown our students have had some great demos from Master Potters and we want to share them with fellow potters everywhere! Click here to watch the video!
Kate Malone
Decorated Hand Building Demo -by Eylene Clifford
In this video Eylene Clifford demonstrates how she makes hand built beakers using machine embroidery which she rolls into the clay before assembly. Click here to watch the video!
Eylene Clifford
POTTER PROFILE
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Small Studio, Big Ideas Kilnhouse started much like most studios or independent makers. I joined a four-week beginners clay workshop at Bryanston Pottery Studio and I never left. My name is Nicola Smith and I am the one-woman-show that owns and runs Kilnhouse Design Studio, six square meters of open-air stoep at the garden side of my family home. I’ve always been interested in clay, however mostly at a hobby level. It only became what I’d like to fondly call a ‘mild obsession’ once I was able to pay for monthly lessons and understand the material in greater detail. There are two reasons why I love ceramics. Firstly, clay has a memory, it demands respect and patience and that even after many hours of careful making, cracks can form, vessels can collapse and joints can open up. Secondly, clay makes you realise that you can’t control everything, a massive learning curve for a reformed perfectionist. There is honestly nothing you can do once the kiln is on to alter the outcome of what you’ve put into it, and things can go wrong all too often! These two things have changed the way I work and live in a less than perfect world. Back to the ‘big ideas’ part of the title. How to open a studio in a year and a half, it’s pretty big (for me at least). When starting out at BPS, I always had the intention to make something out of ceramics, I felt that I could make it work. Kilnhouse started six months after my four-week crash course. Four months after that, I had taken out a loan to buy a kiln and wheel which were the two main pieces of equipment that funded the gradual buying up of materials, glazes, equipment, and studio ‘goeters’ – the things you need without even realizing it. Throughout this time I was working full time as a designer during the day, ceramicist at night to bankroll the ‘big idea’ – my family, myself included, thought I was crazy. This leads to January of this year, I realized that I couldn’t split my time between my job as a designer and also run a studio, there are only so many hours in a day and I wanted my hands to be muddy for the greater portion of it. So I decided to leave my job – it’s like jumping off a cliff, hoping to grow wings on the way down, it’s not guaranteed but rather the direct result of what energy you put into it. I am still working in my six square meters of real estate, but I plan to move to a space with four walls soon enough, using my background as an industrial designer to inform the way Kilnhouse grows and expands its product and service offering. Click on the Instagram logo below to view Kilnhouse’s Instagram page
Kilnhouse Design Studio Nicola Smith Kilnhouse
POTTER PROFILE
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Learning through Making I was first introduced to ceramics while studying Industrial design at the University of Johannesburg. Each year we would have a ceramics project, taught by John Shirley and Eugene Hön, and they were always the projects I looked forward to the most. Fast forward to 5 years and I find myself looking to start pottery classes in Cape Town. All of the projects we completed at UJ were done using slip casting and I was interested in learning the hand-building side of things. I can’t remember exactly how I stumbled upon Clayhands pottery studio, but man I am glad I did!!! Natasha Viljoen and her lovely studio, Clayhands, has become such a big part of my life and has been a sanctuary for me during some hardships over the past 3 years. After slowly learning the basics of hand-building from Tash, I quickly jumped onto the wheel and fell in love! Most of my projects and pieces I make now are all wheel-thrown with stoneware clay. I love how you can get completely lost on the wheel and just zone out all the noise from the world. I love how the clay reciprocates your emotions and mood of the day. I can never throw if I’m frustrated or distracted because all of my pots will flop. The wheel demands 100% of your attention. During this lockdown period, I converted my tiny single-car garage at home into a temporary studio and rented a wheel from Tash so that I could continue working. I don’t think I would’ve made it through lockdown if I didn’t have that space to distract me and keep me sane! But I did miss sharing a studio with other creatives and feeding off their energy and inspiration. I have always found with the classes at Clayhands that all the other student’s work was so fascinating to me and was interesting to see how each person’s personalities would reflect in the work they created. Since level 3 of lockdown, I’ve been back at Clayhands sharing the studio with Tash and wouldn’t want it any other way. I still feel very inexperienced as a potter and have so much more to learn. I’m still stumbling around and haven't quite figured out what my purpose for pottery will be, but I know I’m more inclined to create functional pieces (bringing in some of my industrial design background). I’d absolutely love to learn more about the chemistry and alchemy behind glazes as it still blows my mind how much magic happens in the kiln and how different firing processes have different outcomes on glazes. Hopefully, once things open up more I can attend all of the workshops again. I am looking forward to this journey. Click on the Instagram logo below to view Umi Ceramics’ Instagram page
Umi Ceramics Jomari Budricks Umi Ceramics
POTTER PROFILE
No Half-Measures It was only after a career as a fashion model and ground hostess at K.L.M and Air France, that Ria Scheepbouwer began her journey in Art. Ria was a painter in oils and watercolours before she was introduced to ceramics. After two years of studying with Monika von Moltke, Ria began painting on bisque ware with underglazes. She was soon a regular at Zoo Lake and later, the Rosebank Rooftop Market where her work became very successful and collected internationally. When her husband was transferred to Cape Town, she furthered her studies in art for four years, with Ryno Swart while simultaneously learning how to craft pottery. Her incised terracotta pieces were decorated with pewter, underglazes and gold lustre, paying meticulous attention to form and pattern. She often ventured out in making sculptural pieces as well, which were well sought after items. While living in Mexico, she refined her portraiture skills by creating a series of paintings of the local indigenous people, called the Tarahumara Indians, which further inspired her sculpture work. Ria soon found a new challenge in porcelain. Following workshops under the tutelage of ceramic artists John Shirley, Michelle Legg and Colleen Lehmkuhl, she found this medium to suit her inner reflection and precision well. She added sprig moulds to a bowl shape or sculpture to become her ever-inspiring mystical water beings and creations. She often opens up spaces in her bowl surfaces, which accentuates the thinness, intricacy and translucency of her meticulous pieces. With her super fine painting skills, she adds colour where needed but often leaves the pieces pure white. At the age of 72, Ria is as busy as ever creating her super-fine porcelain bowls at her own steady pace and works in her studio, overlooking the Witwatersrand Mountains and the Hartbeespoort dam, 5 days a week. Click on the Facebook logo below to view Ria’s Facebook page
Ria Scheepbouwer
Ria Scheepbouwer
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PRETORIA CERAMICS EXHIBITIONS
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Pretoria Ceramics Exhibitions By Daniel Brand Gauteng CSA Committee Member
From June to August 2020 the Association of Arts Pretoria, held three exhibitions. In the month of June, in the first of two exhibitions called: “Three Pretoria Potters”, our very own member potters Corli Schoeman and Karen van Der Riet made up two of the three potters and the third was Marentia Jordaan. During the Month of July, the second “Three Pretoria Potters” exhibition showcased the work of Elize Du Toit , Roger Evans and Beulah Vermaak (Stauch). During the Month of August, in honour of Woman’s Month, an exhibition called “La Femme Unlocked”, showcased the works of Eylene Clifford, Corné Joubert, Rika Haasbroek, Cornelia Wessels and Elize Du Toit.
“Three Pretoria Potters” June 2020 Corli Schoeman’s Cleilap Ceramics is inspired by texture and pattern usually found in crochet, lace and other textiles. Corlie loves finding new and interesting "lappies" in charity shops and at antique markets. By pressing the fabrics into slabs of clay she creates functional ceramic pieces like bowls, plates and platters ideal for entertaining. She works mainly in earthenware and terra-cotta clay and uses glaze to create pieces in a variety of colours.
Corli Schoeman
Karen van der Riet began working with clay in 1976 in KwaZulu-Natal producing functional stoneware. Over time, she has been drawn to the very special qualities of porcelain. Karen’s forms are classic and simple, and she describes glazing a continuous exciting experiment. “I love the way the glazes combine and flow and react with one another and with the clay”. Karen is a member of Ceramics SA and has received awards at both regional and national level. She runs a teaching studio in Centurion. Click here for more images of the work exhibited Karen van der Riet
PRETORIA CERAMICS EXHIBITIONS
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“Three Pretoria Potters” July 2020 Elize Du Toit is originally from Kenya and has a long history with Ceramics culminating in an exhibition of her work in Guernsey UK in 2004. Elize loves to make whimsical figurines mostly in porcelain and aims to share joy through the art she makes. Elize du Toit
Roger Evans
Roger Evans first worked with clay as a child making clay oxen and other images on the banks of the river on his farm near Pretoria. Attempting to fire his masterpieces in his mother’s wood fired kitchen stove got him into a fair bit of trouble. In the early nineties he started pottery classes with Minette Zaaiman (Van Rooyen), in Pretoria. He continued his tuition with Suzette Munnik in Yeoville, Johannesburg, for several years. He has attended many pottery workshops and events both nationally and internationally, and has presented on occasion. He also acted as selector for a regional exhibition and curated the Corobrick Exhibition at the Pretoria Art Museum. He uses earthenware clay for thrown, hand-built and sculptural work. Some of his work goes through as many as five kiln firings. Roger’s work has been exhibited in more than fifty exhibitions and he has won multiple awards over the years. He lives on a farm in Pretoria, South Africa, where he works from his garden studio. Beulah Vermaak (Stauch) started working in clay, attended informal weekly classes and workshops with various teachers. She set up her own studio where she later started teaching children and continued for seven years. Beulah has a BTech in Ceramic Design from Wits Tech and her work has been showcased at many exhibitions and galleries throughout the country.
Click here for more images of the work exhibited
Beulah Vermaak
PRETORIA CERAMICS EXHIBITIONS
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“La Femme Unlocked” August 2020 Eylene Clifford started making and selling ceramics in 2013 when a friend encouraged her to sell at a local market. “I fell in love with the process and the infinite possibilities that the making process offers. There is forever something new to learn and experiment with”. Eylene has a wide variety of work and styles. The “La Femme Unlocked” exhibition included work completed just before and during lockdown. One of these includes a plate and bowl with a self-portrait imprinted in the clay. “Lockdown has been an amazing experience for me to create with no pressure from the world outside. I am eternally grateful for this time”.
Corné Joubert works in multiple media. Images, characters, groups and surface treatments in Corné’s work, all refer to reactions to her larger world of relationships, occurrences, stories and observations. There is usually a satirical suggestion to her responses. Corné is a writer and subsequently narrative, text and symbols form a part of her visual language. Abstract fields and nonsensical marks are entangled with literal interpretations almost like illustrations of experiences, a naïve reply to a hostile environment.
Eylene Clifford
The ceramic objects Corné makes are simple units created automatically, mostly intuitively without much thought and their significance depend on how they are exhibited and labelled. They can stand alone but groups of figurines tell stories and installations suggests concepts. Their meanings change when the artist make new connotations and they are casted into new roles.
Click here for more images of the work exhibited Corné Joubert
PRETORIA CERAMICS EXHIBITIONS
“La Femme Unlocked” August 2020
Rika Haasbroek
Rika Haasbroek
Rika Haasbroek has been honing her skills and knowledge in hand building over the past 4 years. Originally a banker, she has always been drawn to the creative side and designed several installations in a time when promotions and visual merchandising in a banking hall were unheard of. Later on she pursued a career in Interior Design and Visual Merchandising and was awarded several accolades in this field. After relocating from Cape Town to Port Elizabeth she embarked upon her clay journey whilst on a creative sabbatical from corporate life and fell in love with it. Rika’s ceramics are mostly hand-built pieces, alternating and often incorporating smaller sculptures. Her latest body of work, created during Lockdown, about Lockdown, and for the La Femme Unlocked exhibition is exactly that. Í have this passion to create art that is both functional and meaningful. It was probably my way of ‘documenting ’what was happening to us and the things we were experiencing in this weird new world of ours. ’Her pieces depict the isolation, the sudden counter-intuitive social distancing and the countdown to the lifting of Lockdown Levels. Then as the curfews were relaxed the observations in and around her neighborhood with a renewed appreciation for the tree pods and tree berries, winter grass and flowers.
Cornelia Wessels: I guess I did not play enough with mud as a child. I started a career as a horticulturist, still playing with soil and plants. This mud passion expanded towards my first ceramic class, about 10 years ago. I immediately fell in love with clay. Since then I just could not stop making things. Working with clay is soothing and a wonderful world of learning. When I play in my studio, time just flies. The work in the exhibition “La Femme Unlocked” was created during lock-down. I guess we all have a story to tell during this period. For me the restriction of free movement was something that keeps showing up in my work. I felt fenced in and had a longing to be able visit places and the people I love. I see the birds and the butterflies moving unrestricted and envy them. I also admire the butterfly for the changes it had to go through to end up so beautiful. Plants always symbolise life and growth for me and I am really thankful for the many privileges I still have.
Click here for more images of the work exhibited
Cornelia Wessels
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TIPS AND TRICKS
DIY Pottery Tools Fabian Torres has a great tip of using some PVC pipes and a pool noodle to make a holder for your hand-built or wheel-thrown cups. You can use PVC T-pieces, elbows and cross to build any number of stands to suite your needs. Then you can attach the handles, without worrying about distorting your cup or having the cup move around, while attaching the handle. Michele Miller Nelson has a great tip for beginners who have just started making handles or for studios with limited studio space. By placing a section of pool noodle over a wall-mounted paper towel dispenser, you can create your very own drying rack.
Stephanie Campbell suggests buying a small greenhouse and using it as a drying rack or damp box. No need to wrap your pieces, just leave it on the drying rack and zip it up and leave a small, damp sponge on each shelf to keep it moist inside the greenhouse. Your pieces will not warp and it can be kept soft and workable. It can also be used to dry your pieces slowly. Monica Oakes-Lang has a trick for potters needing some uniformed strips. By using an old fork and bending the prongs back in different sizes. Tony Ferguson’s hack can be achieved by placing a thumbnail tack along the inside wall of your piece. When you trim/turn the outside, your tool will eventually hit the tip of the pin, alerting you to the thickness. Remove the pin and simply rub the hole with your finger or fill the hole with a little bit of slip when you are done. You can cut the pin to your desired wall thickness, or leave as is. This hack is great for students and it will help you determine how thick the walls are and where to trim a bit more.
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HARTIES POTTERS
Harties Potters June Challenge Results
Our previous newsletter featured an invitation to the Harties Potters to join in a two week potting Challenge! The challenged called participants to throw something on the wheel or build something by hand every day during the Challenge, following the list of daily themes (below), and share their results with the group. Here are some of the results! Hand Build Projects: Day 1: Spoon Day 2: Nesting Bowls Pinched Day 3: Slab Build Large Bowl Day 4: Constructing Teapot Lid Knob Day 5: One/More Hands… Day 6: Square Slab Pot Day 7: Open Theme Day 8: Coil Build Round Belly Vase Day 9: Garden Pot Day 10: Sculpture Piece Day 11: Another Sculpture Piece Day 12: Fruit Bowl (Coiling) Day 13: Slab Build Bottle Day 14: Open Theme
Wheel Projects: Day 1: Honey/Jam Pot And Lid Day 2: Nesting Bowls Day 3: Teapot Day 4: Teacups Day 5: Sphere Day 6: Porridge/Pudding Bowls Day 7: Open Theme Day 8: Thin Neck Bottle Day 9: Tall Cylinder Day 10: Large Platter Day 11: Smaller Platter Day 12: Fruit Bowl (For Carving) Day 13: Round Belly Vase Day 14: Open Theme
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SEPTEMBER THROWDOWN CHALLENGE
Throw-Down Challenges September Inspired by the Great Pottery Throw Down, we have set a variety of quick challenges to try during the month of September. We encourage all members to give at least one of these a try, and share the results with us (the glorious successes and hilarious flops) at the end of the month, which we can then share widely on our social media platforms.
1. Speed Challenges 5-minute “off-the hump” egg cup challenge In 5 minutes, throw as many egg cups as you can. All cups need to be the same size and form (or pretty close). Once completed, photograph the family of perfectly uniform egg cups. 5-minute vase throwing challenge Throw a vase, of any size or form, in no more than 5 minutes. Once completed, photograph the final vase. Then, using a wire, slice the piece down the centre, and photograph the section to show-off your beautiful even wall thickness.
2. Technique Challenges Blind folded pinch pot Using only your sense of touch, create a pinch pot, roughly the size of your hand, while completely blindfolded. Try to create a uniform wall thickness, and smooth, even interior wall. Once completed, photograph the final bowl. Do not be tempted to do touch-ups once your blindfold is removed. Blind folded cylinder throwing Using only your sense of touch, throw a cylinder on the wheel while blindfolded. Your cylinder should have an even wall thickness and a height and diameter of at least 10cm. Once completed, photograph the final piece. Then, using a wire, slice the piece down the centre, and photograph the section to show-off your beautiful even wall thickness.
Please share the results with us! You can share the results of these challenges by: 1. Uploading photographs/videos of your outcomes to Instagram and tagging @ceramics_sa_gauteng in your post. 2. Email photos and a short description of your work to: ceramicssa@icon.co.za using the subject “Throw-Down Challenge” Feel free to take videos and photos of your speed and blindfolded challenges, as they happen (not just of the final outcomes), we expect this to be quite entertaining! We encourage studios to challenge their students with at least one of these challenges this month, and share your results through video and/or photographs. Please submit work by no later than the 30th of September so that we can share them on our social media platforms throughout October!
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COMMITTEE AND MEMBERSHIP DETAILS
Committee Members 2020
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Membership Rates
Gaby Snyman
Chairperson
gsnyman01@gmail.com
083 307 5082
Single
R650
John Shirley
Vice Chairperson
johnshirley@gmail.com
083 407 5968
Family
R900
Gill Clark
Secretary
ceramicssa@icon.co.za
074 782 2640
Pensioner ( Over 65)
R550
Janet Scott
Treasurer
csouthernafrica1@gmail.com
083 254 7815
Country
R570
Peter Jaff
Corobrik Collection
jaffam@icon.co.za
082 923 7098
Tertiary Institution
R1000
Monica van den Berg
Workshop Coordinator
monica@bergkriek.co.za
083 680 9963
Students at T.I.
R100
Claire Waters
DTP
claire@3whitedogs.co.za
082 535 6680
Cornelia Wessels
Potter of the Month
corneliaw100@gmail.com
082 821 5419
Lalage Hunter
Logistics and Outreach
lalage.hunter@gmail.com
084 645 2222
Daniel Brand
Newsletter- Articles
radahgo@icloud.com
083 413 6613
Corlie Schoeman
Pretoria Rep
corlie.cleilap@gmail.com
083 559 0814
Eylene Clifford
Social Media
eyleneclifford@gmail.com
083 268 2926
Ashton Moseley
Newsletter Editor
ashtonbullock@gmail.com
084 321 0476
Lisa Zeffert
Harties Rep
lisazeffertt@gmail.com
082 469 4323
Click here to become a member
Welcome New Members! Christo Els Paul Tsotetsi Rina Joy King Alida Kinghorn Jane Goudge