newsletter of ceramics sa eastern cape
winter 2014
Letter from the Chair
1.
Our Regional Exhibition
2.
Ruthanne Tudball Workshop
6.
Student News
8.
Magdalene Odundo Visit
9.
National Exhibition in Cape Town
10.
Antoinette Badenhorst Workshop
12.
We like. . . . . .
13.
GIC Biennale Information
14.
Letter from the Chair
1.
Our Regional Exhibition has come and gone…… Despite the very generous sponsorship of R13000 from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University and prizes sponsored from as far afield as Pretoria, why are members not taking part in exhibitions? Looking back at the poor show of entrants, this is a question I ask myself over and over. Has your Committee not inspired you enough by organising workshops and other opportunities to improve your skills as a ceramic artist? Or is it mere apathy?
Or perhaps the age old self destructive missive…
”My work is not
good enough”. Unfortunately, regarding the last one, you will never know or receive positive criticism if you do not enter the exhibitions. “There is no exposure for my work”, “nothing sells” or “I am a poor marketer”.
Well, what are you waiting for. Those who succeed grab all the
opportunities they can and make their own future. Considering that only nine members made an effort to take part in the exhibition, we are fortunate that more students were interested in exhibiting work.. How embarrassing for myself and the committee, as well as our sponsors to see such apathy.
Would sponsorship be granted if
requested next year? Our organisation is too small to exist without sponsorship and the Region will collapse. Apathy kills an organisation, and we are at a crossroad where only our members can determine the route we should take. On the other hand…… Those who took part were generously sponsored and through advertising had their work exposed to tens of thousands of festival goers. Considering the number of entries, our sales were good and comments by the public very positive. Some members were invited to take part in exhibitions in other cities, which would not have happened if their work was not seen at the Regional Exhibition. Thank you very much to those members and especially our Fellows of Ceramics SA who took part, keep up the good work. Now we need to turn towards producing work for the National Exhibition held in Cape Town this year as part of the festivities around Cape Town being chosen as the Design Capital of the world 2014.
Are you going to miss out on an opportunity to exhibit in Cape Town and get world
wide exposure again, or will you grab this generous opportunity.
The entries are by image only, so good photographs of your work are essen-
tial. We will endeavour to have a professional photographer on hand to take photos of members work, thereby making sure that entries are well presented. A notice will be sent out closer to the time. As the year races towards its end, let us all make an effort to attend the Magdalene Odundo workshop being held in November. Members who attend workshops always remark that they learn something new, even if it is not their making method of choice or type of clay they use. Simply by attending we can all learn something from each other as well.
Eastern Cape Regional Exhibi-
2.
tion 2014 This year the Eastern Cape Regional Exhibition was held in Grahamstown to coincide with the National Arts Festival. It afforded our members the opportunity to show their work to a national as well as an international audience.
According
to the organisers, it is estimated that at least 250,000 people visited the festival this year, and although it always has an emphasis on performance art there were numerous excellent exhibits by local and national artists. Considering this, as well as the hard work done by the Committee to bring this to fruition, it is disappointing that so few members took the opportunity to show their work. Lesley-Ann Hoets
Gavin Cox
Aaisha Davids
Suzette Crafford
3.
Lisa Walker The Exhibition space was shared with three other exhibitions in the large Trinity Hall, which made for a very vibrant and well visited space. Nine members entered the open exhibition, excluding nine students from the Ceramic Department of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, a guest exhibitor and three Fellows, totaling seventy two pieces. There was among the exhibits, as usual these days, an emphasis on handbuilt, decorative pieces. The work ranged from earthy wood-firing, delicately finished porcelain, to the brightly decorated. The guest exhibitor this year was last year’s award winner Lydia Holmes. Lydia entered five exquisite high fired porcelain works. These were decorated in shades of blue and turquoise with additions of glass, perlite and glass fibre. Anton van der Merwe
Lesley-Ann Hoets showed four large Raku vessels. Intricately decorated and looking almost like cast iron in their perfection these pots deservedly won the Belmont Ceramics Award for Excellence. Delphine Niez was awarded a Gift Certificate from CPS for her fine porcelain work. Lisa Walker also impressed with her Basalt pots. Delicately decorated, they reminded me of buds and blooms. shapes earthy and bulb like in their perfection. A deserved winner of the Award for Merit. ed cylinders were awarded the Best Under glaze award sponsored by CPS. cate texture made a bold statement.
The beautiful black
Bianca Whitehead’s two brightly decorat-
Her use of under glaze combined with oxides and intri-
On the other hand Anton Van Der Merwe had four wood fired platters that spoke quietly of a master hand. Anton received the award for Best Functional Work. It was encouraging to see more entries from our members in East London and surrounds. The local Fellows of Ceramics SA, Charmaine Haines, Lynnley Watson and Donvé Branch, all showed a strong body of work. The student work was, as always, interesting, experimental and varied. Aaisha Davids was rewarded with Delphine Niez
the Best Student Award for her beautiful green “knitted” bowl. I also really enjoyed the two white earth-
Lydia Holmes
enware glazed heads by Suzette Crafford.
What a
pity that more quality student work was not submitted and that their entries rarely explored the complexities of the glazed surface. Donve Branch
Lynnley Watson
Bianca Whitehead
4.
5.
Clockwise from top left: Donve Branch,
Lesley-Ann Hoets,
Charmaine Haines, Aaisha Davids and Melanie Ruiters .
6.
Ruthanne Tudball Workshop Ruthanne Tudball presented a one day throwing workshop at NMMU, Port Elizabeth. Ruthanne is a fellow of the Craft Potters Association of Great Britain, a member of Contemporary Applied Arts as well as the International Academy of Ceramics. Ruthanne’s work is thrown, manipulated, altered, assembled and trimmed while wet on the wheel (phew). Her work is raw fired in a LP Gas and wood kiln, using a soda vapour glazing technique. During the workshop Ruthanne spoke about her experiences as a potter, her life in Norfolk and what inspires her. Ruthanne’s work allows us to enjoy the whole “making” process with her. There is a feeling of spontaneous movement, a gentle contrasting of textures and the wonderfully earthly tones from the soda firing. During her stay, she demonstrated throwing various forms. First off, she threw a teapot off the hump. Starting with the spout, which was thrown, shaped and then cut off. A small “doughnut” was thrown and cut off, followed by a lid-thrown the right way up. The pot was then thrown, with the gallery sized to fit the lid. It was then horizontally faceted and some of the cut pieces were used to decorate the knob on the lid. Using a throwing stick, the sides of the pot were pushed out, giving the pot more volume. Excess clay was trimmed from the base of the pot and indents were made on the rim, for attachment of the handle. The little donut (handle) was cut open and pulled, thinning it out and adding some pattern. One end was then firmly attached to the rim, the handle was further pulled and shaped and the other end was attached. The spout was attached and the pouring holes were cut from inside the pot using a yarn tool. The spout was attached to the handle to hold it in place. Ruthanne then threw a pot with a lovely neck. The sides were faceted and again these trimmings were used later to add texture and decoration to the piece. The pot was pushed out from the inside. Two flat boards were then held on opposite sides, just above the base of the pot and the sides were gently pushed in and flattened. The excess clay at the base was removed. She then blew into the neck to puff
7. the pot out. Now for the feet! A stick was gently pushed through the base, in the centre and flat against the bat. The stick was lifted here and there, until the pot had feet. Voila! It was mesmerising watching pieces being thrown on the wheel from start to finish. There was very little trimming or none at all to be done once the piece was taken off the wheel. Ruthanne uses a soft grogged stoneware clay and very little water for throwing. She uses pieces of bamboo for decorating, porcupine quills as a needle tool for mark making and faceting and a welding striker with wire for faceting. It was a welcomed visit which brought fun, interest and knowledge. For further information about Ruthanne’s work and technique, visit her website. Lisa Walker
8.
A student going places…… Lelani Fourie Lelani is a fourth year (Btech) ceramic design student at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. She has chosen to concentrate her fourth year studies on product design and the technique of slip casting. Contemporary ceramic and interior trends inspired her to base her work on quintessential ‘South African’ product forms, namely: Marmite, Ms Ball’s Chutney, All Gold tomato sauce, Sunlight soap, and Jik bleach. She has taken a plaster of Paris mould of each of the above mentioned product forms, and has begun to slip cast the forms in white Ascent casting slip. Once she has cast enough forms she cuts some up, or dissects others and then reconstructs them into new and interesting functional ceramic pieces. Lelani is also currently producing ceramic items for sale at galleries and shops in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. At the moment she has six products in her repertoire: the salt and pepper ‘Penis’ sets, the little Man, the Milk bottle vases, the clay Canvass, small bowls, and a simple dinner plate. All these items are slip cast and hand painted with her unique and quirky images. No two pieces are the same. Contact number: 061 009 9736
9. Magdalene Odundo will be giving a full day workshop demonstrating how she produc-
Magdalene Odundo
es her beautiful coil built pots, explaining her firing methods and the philosophy and background to her ceramic aesthetic. Magdalene Odundo was born in Kenya. She trained and worked in advertising, commercial art and graphics in Kenya before going to England where she studied ceramics. She spent 3 months at the Abuja Training Centre in Nigeria where she learnt
26 Nov 2014 9:30 - 4pm NMMU
to make pots in the traditional Gwari technique under the guidance of Ladi Kwali and Lami Toto and throwing under Peter Gboko and Abu Karo.
1 day workshop (subsidised) R300 (non-members R500)
Magdalene received her BA 3DD Ceramics
Magdalene Odundo (OBE), Professor of Ceramics
at West Surrey College of Art and Design (
at the University of Creative Arts
UCA ) and MA at the Royal College of Art.
in Farnham, England, is the award judge for the National Exhibition and will be presenting a workshop on her pinching and coiling techniques. https://www.magdaleneodundo.com
Please book by emailing ceramics.easterncape@gmail.com. (Click on email address for direct link). Please do not verbally book through any committee member as this causes
She is Professor of Ceramics at the University for the Creative Arts ( UCA ), Farnham, Surrey and is based at it’s Crafts Study center. She has exhibited widely and achieved many accolades for her unique vessels that
confusion and might result in no booking at all. All workshops are held at the Nelson Man-
draw inspiration from her interest in a pot-
dela Metropolitan University, Ceramic Department, Second Ave Campus.
tery narrative and dialogue that is universal to all cultures, that of making pots and
Please bring something for the “harvest table” lunch.
vessels.
10 Watch out for the entry form in the September NCQ. We will be organising a central point in Port Elizabeth for professional photographs to be taken of all entries. Please remember that you are only allowed to enter if you From African Earth - Our National Exhibition will form part of the celebrations of Cape Town as the World Design Capital 2014.
Make sure you are part of it! Start working now and be sure to have your best work ready by 17 October ! Professional photographs will be taken on
Monday 13 October between 9 to 11 am at the Ceramic Department, NMMU
have previously had work accepted for a Regional Exhibition. Please also consider entering a vessel for the Iziko Museum - “African Smoked Fired Vessels� Exhibition taking place at the same time at the Slave Quarters, Cape Town. Please contact me at lydia@rgholmes.co.za should you require more information regarding entries for the Iziko Exhibition.
Cape Pottery Supplies sponsors of two regional exhibition awards
Kiln Contracts Building, 11 Celie Road, Retreat info@capepotterysupplies.co.za 021 7011320 http://www.capepotterysupplies.co.za
Antoinette Badenhorst workshop The first image of Antoinette’s work which I saw, made me catch my breath.
12. The carving beautifully complemented the form which sat so
perfectly on an elegant base – and the translucency looked set to lift the shell-like form off the base and float it away. So you will know then that I was at the front of the queue to attend her workshop when she visited Port Elizabeth in June. It was a busy two days with Antoinette more than ready to share her knowledge. Lots of tips were given for achieving the effects she enjoys and I’ve listed some of them here for you to share. a.
Add a dash of white vinegar to your throwing water as a defloculant – it enables you to throw thinner.
b.
Makes use of plaster bats. Leave work on till it pops off.
c.
Invert a plastic bucket to cover the piece until ready to work on it.
d.
Antoinette uses two green Mud Tool ribs to pull up and open the walls.
e.
Walls thrown lower than 300 will slump.
f.
Work is fired on silica (calcined)
g.
When putting two pieces of a press mould together, clean the join to just below the level of the walls – stops that joining ridge from re-appearing.
h.
Turning: Throw a low chuck without a base, centre pot inside the chuck and push chuck walls in till it just touches the pot. When finished, remove the chuck by cutting downwards then loosen at the base, remove clay.
i.
Use a motorcar aerial (telescopic) with a sponge on the end for removing water inside a tall vessel.
j.
Get to know when your clay will allow manipulation.
k.
Memory kicks in at brittle leather hard.
13
Antoinette used CPS Supa Porcelain for
her workshop work
CPS sponsored our Best Porcelain award. Delphine Niez was the award winner.
Antoinette also used a number of homemade tools. We will plan a get-together when we can make some of these for ourselves. The actual altering of her shapes was done with much self-assurance and she demonstrated the processes clearly. Knowing the clay body you work with is definitely a VIP factor in the manipulation process and will be key in your success rate. Thanks Antoinette for a most interesting workshop – I shall enjoy the little pot I purchased from you.
14.
We like‌‌ www.ferrincontemporary.com www.accessceramics.org
BELMONT cERAMICS We supply: Quality earthenware and stoneware clays Exciting coloured clays Wide range of glazes Pottery tools and equipment
Recommended by Antoinette Badenhorst: www.paulabastiaansen.com www.michaelsherrill.net
Contact us : Danie 0719063313 Belmont@cermalab.co.za
16.
lydia holmes - chair 0835649430 lydia@rgholmes.co.za donve branch - v. chair 0833262842 donve1@telkomsa.net
margie higgs - treasurer 0837279454 margiehiggs1@gmail.com lisa walker -workshopcoordinator 0825169220 deanlisa@mweb.co.za bianca whitehead 084 257 3073 bianca.whitehead@nmmu.ac.za eloise mogg east london rep 0827565734 moggspottery@bluebottle.com
Email address: ceramics.easterncape@gmail.com