- Ardmore Ceramics is a collective ceramic studio in South Africa founded in 1985 by Fée Halsted and Bonnie Ntshalintshali. It employs primarily local Zulu artists.
- The studio has found commercial success both locally and internationally, but has also attracted criticism regarding issues of representation and power dynamics. However, the studio has provided opportunities for social and economic upliftment in the rural community.
- The ceramic works produced at Ardmore tell stories about South Africa and address contemporary issues through narrative forms, imagery, and text. They explore both idealized and realistic portrayals of the country in a way that challenges superficial readings.
The use of dresses in re-enacting - OpenArch Conference, Foteviken 2012EXARC
The document discusses the use of historical dresses in reenacting and living history museums. It outlines different approaches, from Hollywood's loosely accurate depictions to serious reenactors who aim for authentic materials and construction. Living history museums take various stances, from using dresses as uniforms to integral interpretations where inaccuracies like glasses are sometimes allowed. The Medieval Centre strives for authentic materials and construction in its dresses, with some compromises, and educates volunteers in medieval textile production.
Yale University Press began publishing works on architecture and art history and has since expanded into other fields like politics, history, music and religion. However, art remains a key focus area given its importance in establishing YUP's reputation. YUP has signed agreements with major museums, gaining it status as a leading art publisher worldwide. YUP books are critically acclaimed and have won awards like the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize.
This article discusses the importance of museums being locally relevant from a Māori perspective. It examines how two New Zealand museums, Te Papa Tongarewa and the Auckland War Memorial Museum, present Māori concepts like tikanga and biculturalism. Tikanga refers to the customary practices and values that are deeply embedded in Māori society. The article argues that museums are uniquely placed to provide communities with a sense of cultural heritage and identity. They also offer opportunities to develop understanding of biculturalism in New Zealand society. Overall, the article explores how museums can cater to Māori worldviews and better represent local iwi histories and knowledge.
An intriguing reference which some feel might be a type of marbling is found in a compilation finished in 986 CE entitled ???? (Wen Fang Si Pu) or "Four Treasures with the Scholar's Study" edited because of the tenth century scholar-official ??? Su Yijian (957-995 CE). This compilation has details on inkstick, inkstone, ink brush, and paper in China, which are collectively known as the 4 treasures in the examine. The textual content mentions a kind of decorative paper named ??? liu sha jian which means “drifting-sand” or “flowing-sand notepaper" which was created in exactly what is now the location of Sichuan.
This document summarizes the entrepreneurial spirit and creative businesses in Lublin, Poland. It profiles over a dozen small, niche businesses in the city ranging from custom bicycle and fishing rod makers to ceramic artists, fashion designers, and more. It emphasizes that Lublin supports entrepreneurship through its history of cultural diversity and being at the crossroads of cultures and religions. The city aims to promote creativity, small businesses, and networking between entrepreneurs, creators, and scientists. Its vision is to continue cultivating its creative class and providing resources like co-working spaces to support talents and help local businesses connect and grow.
This document provides information about handicrafts and ceramics in Italy. It discusses Caltagirone Ceramics, a type of ceramics produced in Caltagirone, Sicily, which is one of the best known and most stylistically varied ceramic arts in Italy. It also describes Opera dei Pupi, a type of Sicilian puppet theater tradition dating back to the 18th century, where elaborately decorated wooden puppets portray characters from Italian epics and are operated in performances in Palermo or Catania.
This document discusses the state of poetry publishing and criticism in Ireland in 2013. It notes that small, independent presses and online journals have become important in publishing poetry as newspaper coverage of literature favors fiction and celebrity biographies. It lists several poetry publishers, journals, and websites that were active that year. It also lists several prominent poets who passed away in 2012-2013 and comments on the closure or funding issues facing some literary organizations in Ireland. Throughout, it laments the lack of dedicated coverage and discussion of poetry in Irish media and cultural institutions.
This document discusses identity and globalization. It explores how identities are based on complex experiences like family, language, ethnicity, and community. It also examines how art can celebrate and reinforce aspects of community identity. While identities may be locally based, art allows them to take on global significance as local ideas and concepts reach international audiences. The document considers examples of indigenous art from Australia, Polynesia, and China that have gained prominence on the global stage.
The use of dresses in re-enacting - OpenArch Conference, Foteviken 2012EXARC
The document discusses the use of historical dresses in reenacting and living history museums. It outlines different approaches, from Hollywood's loosely accurate depictions to serious reenactors who aim for authentic materials and construction. Living history museums take various stances, from using dresses as uniforms to integral interpretations where inaccuracies like glasses are sometimes allowed. The Medieval Centre strives for authentic materials and construction in its dresses, with some compromises, and educates volunteers in medieval textile production.
Yale University Press began publishing works on architecture and art history and has since expanded into other fields like politics, history, music and religion. However, art remains a key focus area given its importance in establishing YUP's reputation. YUP has signed agreements with major museums, gaining it status as a leading art publisher worldwide. YUP books are critically acclaimed and have won awards like the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize.
This article discusses the importance of museums being locally relevant from a Māori perspective. It examines how two New Zealand museums, Te Papa Tongarewa and the Auckland War Memorial Museum, present Māori concepts like tikanga and biculturalism. Tikanga refers to the customary practices and values that are deeply embedded in Māori society. The article argues that museums are uniquely placed to provide communities with a sense of cultural heritage and identity. They also offer opportunities to develop understanding of biculturalism in New Zealand society. Overall, the article explores how museums can cater to Māori worldviews and better represent local iwi histories and knowledge.
An intriguing reference which some feel might be a type of marbling is found in a compilation finished in 986 CE entitled ???? (Wen Fang Si Pu) or "Four Treasures with the Scholar's Study" edited because of the tenth century scholar-official ??? Su Yijian (957-995 CE). This compilation has details on inkstick, inkstone, ink brush, and paper in China, which are collectively known as the 4 treasures in the examine. The textual content mentions a kind of decorative paper named ??? liu sha jian which means “drifting-sand” or “flowing-sand notepaper" which was created in exactly what is now the location of Sichuan.
This document summarizes the entrepreneurial spirit and creative businesses in Lublin, Poland. It profiles over a dozen small, niche businesses in the city ranging from custom bicycle and fishing rod makers to ceramic artists, fashion designers, and more. It emphasizes that Lublin supports entrepreneurship through its history of cultural diversity and being at the crossroads of cultures and religions. The city aims to promote creativity, small businesses, and networking between entrepreneurs, creators, and scientists. Its vision is to continue cultivating its creative class and providing resources like co-working spaces to support talents and help local businesses connect and grow.
This document provides information about handicrafts and ceramics in Italy. It discusses Caltagirone Ceramics, a type of ceramics produced in Caltagirone, Sicily, which is one of the best known and most stylistically varied ceramic arts in Italy. It also describes Opera dei Pupi, a type of Sicilian puppet theater tradition dating back to the 18th century, where elaborately decorated wooden puppets portray characters from Italian epics and are operated in performances in Palermo or Catania.
This document discusses the state of poetry publishing and criticism in Ireland in 2013. It notes that small, independent presses and online journals have become important in publishing poetry as newspaper coverage of literature favors fiction and celebrity biographies. It lists several poetry publishers, journals, and websites that were active that year. It also lists several prominent poets who passed away in 2012-2013 and comments on the closure or funding issues facing some literary organizations in Ireland. Throughout, it laments the lack of dedicated coverage and discussion of poetry in Irish media and cultural institutions.
This document discusses identity and globalization. It explores how identities are based on complex experiences like family, language, ethnicity, and community. It also examines how art can celebrate and reinforce aspects of community identity. While identities may be locally based, art allows them to take on global significance as local ideas and concepts reach international audiences. The document considers examples of indigenous art from Australia, Polynesia, and China that have gained prominence on the global stage.
This beautiful master bathroom was thoughtfully updated to stay in keeping with the architecture and style of the overall home. The intricate mosaic floor tile was also used as an accent strip along the shower wall. The subway tile wrapped the room as wainscoting and also acts as the backsplash for the sink. A single sink with dual faucets was utilized to maximize drawer and countertop space while keeping the functionality of having two faucets. The large linen cabinet also has an enclosed laundry hamper to keep the space clean and functional. Accessible features were added to meet the future/long term needs of this couple.
This curriculum vitae is for Sara Silvia Roscioni, an Italian pharmacologist born in 1980. She received a Master's degree in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Milan in 2005 and a PhD in molecular pharmacology from the University of Groningen in 2010. Since 2013, she has worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, researching diabetes and regeneration. Her research focuses on diabetes and respiratory diseases, with a goal of improving patient quality of life and treatment through optimizing drug development and discovery.
I thought it would cost more to relate to the silence and solitude of the study, it has not been. Just messing with me first paint stains, has been almost as immediate infatuation is like a return to those areas for meditation, dialogue and creating more active, even those areas that believers call to prayer. They talk with my ten and I meditate the historical, the story is a individuu step. With the brushes can remove water feelings, psychic energy is renewed. These you see below are the first paintings after returning to the world in which I am made.
900 Duncan Field Lane Charles Town WV 25414Heather Harley
900 Duncan Field Lane Charles Town WV 25414 Contact The Linda Kilroy Team at ERA Liberty Realty for more information about this three bedroom home for sale in Charles Town 304-725-1145
The document lists the main business objects and functions available in the Workcube business management software. It includes over 70 business objects organized under categories such as human resources management, sales management, accounting, project management, and more. The business objects provide functionality for areas like employee management, customer relationship management, inventory management, financial reporting, and business analytics.
Presentation about Firefox Developer Tools by Mozilla Rep Ryan Jayson Ermita during MozTour University of Perpetual Help System - Laguna in Binan last Sat 01 Aug 2015.
This short document promotes the creation of presentations using Haiku Deck on SlideShare. It features photos from four different photographers to illustrate the variety of visual content that can be included in Haiku Deck presentations. The document concludes by encouraging the reader to get started making their own Haiku Deck presentation on SlideShare.
Dokumen tersebut memberikan informasi mengenai praktikum komponen elektronika yang meliputi percobaan transistor daya, SCR, UJT, TRIAC dan DIAC. Praktikum ini bertujuan agar mahasiswa memahami penerapan komponen elektronika melalui serangkaian eksperimen.
Soft real time interrupts for squishy humansJames Abley
Lightning talk given at Scale Summit 2015 about hand signals and non-verbal communication in groups. This was thrown together quite hurriedly, so apologies for the image quality in the slides.
The document provides an agenda and background information for a stakeholder scoping workshop on long term conditions. The workshop aims to define the scope of a joint strategic needs assessment on long term conditions by gaining consensus on key conditions and cross-cutting themes to focus on. Presentations will cover the changing landscape of long term conditions, definitions and prevalence locally, and identifying priority conditions and common issues. Breakout groups will discuss potential conditions and themes to prioritize. Understanding local data availability and stakeholder priorities will help shape the needs assessment.
Shivani Kulshrestha is seeking a position as a .Net programmer with over 4 years of experience developing web-based applications using C#, ASP.NET, and Microsoft SQL Server. She has worked as a Senior Software Engineer at NIIT Technology since 2010 where she has contributed to projects like Tenix and AutoEasy, developing interfaces using technologies like Kendo UI, JavaScript, and jQuery. She is pursuing a post-graduate diploma in information technology from Symbiosis and holds a B.Tech in IT.
The craft industry, oral literature and language in the development of touris...Alexander Decker
This document summarizes a research paper that examines the role of crafts, oral literature, and language in tourism development in Ghana. It finds that these three areas are important for their economic value, information exchange, sharing of experiences, and reducing biases. However, lack of marketing outlets and product finishing pose major challenges. The document provides historical context on increased interest in Africa after independence, and how crafts, textiles, and traditional attire have helped change perceptions. It discusses how crafts, oral literature, and music are interrelated through their organization and manipulation of sounds to create aesthetic experiences, despite language barriers. This benefits tourism by showcasing Ghana's unique cultural expressions.
African culture was incorporated. Traditional skills and knowledge were highly regarded. Unfortunately, many painters' names are unknown since their works of art were not recorded when they were first acquired and stored. If you have an excellent sense of African arts and crafts, you should develop it rather than squander it.
The Black crafts primarily makes anything that requires a high degree of skill to do. Since this is so prevalent in our society, the vast majority of 'art' has become a craft. May we conclude from this that a "craft" can be called an "art form"? One that will, I doubt, be debated incessantly for the rest of time!
The document is a chapter from a book that discusses a community arts project in Clanwilliam, South Africa called the Clanwilliam Arts Project. It provides background information on the project, which engages school students in creative arts activities based on stories and icons from the Bleek & Lloyd archive of /Xam (San) oral traditions. The project aims to provide arts access, train facilitators, and reconnect the community to its /Xam heritage through performance. It discusses how heritage is an active process of engaging with the past in the present, and can be transformative.
The document provides information about a lesson on pre-contact West Africa. It includes standards, objectives, assessments and essential questions that focus on examining West African society before European contact and analyzing primary sources from that time period. The lesson consists of a knowledge check, analyzing myths about Africa, examining four primary sources about kingdoms, Islam, maps and descriptions of cities, and having students write an argument comparing Africa and Europe in the 1400s.
Color Purple Essay. . The Color Purple A Level Essay Plans Teaching ResourcesKristina Jenkins
The Color Purple by Alice Walker Essay - Free Essay Example .... Alice Walker’s The Color Purple - Free Essay Example | PapersOwl.com. 'The Color Purple' A Level Essay Plans | Teaching Resources. Writing Guidelines for The Color Purple Essay. ⇉Literary Analysis of The Color Purple by Alice Walker Essay Example .... ️ The color purple analysis essay. Literary Analysis: The Color Purple .... Themes In The Color Purple By Alice Walker - Free Essay Example .... Analysis of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple Free Essay Example. the color purple essay - google docs | Narrative | Essays. The Color Purple Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 .... The Color Purple' Free Essay Example. The Color Purple Essay Topics - 2021 | TopicsMill. The Color Purple: Literary Techniques Employed by Alice Walker to .... The Color Purple Essay Questions Interactive for 9th - Higher Ed .... first 6 letters in the color purple analysis - A-Level English - Marked .... ⇉Character Analysis of Celie, the Color Purple Sample Essay Example .... 43+ fresh photos 10 Page Essay On The Color Purple - Calameo Color .... Critical Analysis of"The Color Purple " - THE COLOR PURPLE - BY Alice .... “Color Purple Essays” on Schoolrack. Print out that essay only, as. 005 Essay Example The Color Purple Alice Walker Image ~ Thatsnotus. "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker: Critical Analysis Free Essay Example. Thesis statement color purple / college paper writing service. "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker - Free Essay Example | PapersOwl.com. Historical Relevance of The Color Purple: [Essay Example], 1302 words .... The Color Purple Essay - The Color Purple by Alice Walker The Color ... Color Purple Essay
At Foremedia Group , the craft is primarily used to create anything that necessitates a high level of competence. Because of this, the vast bulk of what we call "art" has devolved into a craft. Is it possible to label a "craft" a "art form" based on this? One that, I'm sure, will be argued endlessly for the rest of time.
This beautiful master bathroom was thoughtfully updated to stay in keeping with the architecture and style of the overall home. The intricate mosaic floor tile was also used as an accent strip along the shower wall. The subway tile wrapped the room as wainscoting and also acts as the backsplash for the sink. A single sink with dual faucets was utilized to maximize drawer and countertop space while keeping the functionality of having two faucets. The large linen cabinet also has an enclosed laundry hamper to keep the space clean and functional. Accessible features were added to meet the future/long term needs of this couple.
This curriculum vitae is for Sara Silvia Roscioni, an Italian pharmacologist born in 1980. She received a Master's degree in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Milan in 2005 and a PhD in molecular pharmacology from the University of Groningen in 2010. Since 2013, she has worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, researching diabetes and regeneration. Her research focuses on diabetes and respiratory diseases, with a goal of improving patient quality of life and treatment through optimizing drug development and discovery.
I thought it would cost more to relate to the silence and solitude of the study, it has not been. Just messing with me first paint stains, has been almost as immediate infatuation is like a return to those areas for meditation, dialogue and creating more active, even those areas that believers call to prayer. They talk with my ten and I meditate the historical, the story is a individuu step. With the brushes can remove water feelings, psychic energy is renewed. These you see below are the first paintings after returning to the world in which I am made.
900 Duncan Field Lane Charles Town WV 25414Heather Harley
900 Duncan Field Lane Charles Town WV 25414 Contact The Linda Kilroy Team at ERA Liberty Realty for more information about this three bedroom home for sale in Charles Town 304-725-1145
The document lists the main business objects and functions available in the Workcube business management software. It includes over 70 business objects organized under categories such as human resources management, sales management, accounting, project management, and more. The business objects provide functionality for areas like employee management, customer relationship management, inventory management, financial reporting, and business analytics.
Presentation about Firefox Developer Tools by Mozilla Rep Ryan Jayson Ermita during MozTour University of Perpetual Help System - Laguna in Binan last Sat 01 Aug 2015.
This short document promotes the creation of presentations using Haiku Deck on SlideShare. It features photos from four different photographers to illustrate the variety of visual content that can be included in Haiku Deck presentations. The document concludes by encouraging the reader to get started making their own Haiku Deck presentation on SlideShare.
Dokumen tersebut memberikan informasi mengenai praktikum komponen elektronika yang meliputi percobaan transistor daya, SCR, UJT, TRIAC dan DIAC. Praktikum ini bertujuan agar mahasiswa memahami penerapan komponen elektronika melalui serangkaian eksperimen.
Soft real time interrupts for squishy humansJames Abley
Lightning talk given at Scale Summit 2015 about hand signals and non-verbal communication in groups. This was thrown together quite hurriedly, so apologies for the image quality in the slides.
The document provides an agenda and background information for a stakeholder scoping workshop on long term conditions. The workshop aims to define the scope of a joint strategic needs assessment on long term conditions by gaining consensus on key conditions and cross-cutting themes to focus on. Presentations will cover the changing landscape of long term conditions, definitions and prevalence locally, and identifying priority conditions and common issues. Breakout groups will discuss potential conditions and themes to prioritize. Understanding local data availability and stakeholder priorities will help shape the needs assessment.
Shivani Kulshrestha is seeking a position as a .Net programmer with over 4 years of experience developing web-based applications using C#, ASP.NET, and Microsoft SQL Server. She has worked as a Senior Software Engineer at NIIT Technology since 2010 where she has contributed to projects like Tenix and AutoEasy, developing interfaces using technologies like Kendo UI, JavaScript, and jQuery. She is pursuing a post-graduate diploma in information technology from Symbiosis and holds a B.Tech in IT.
The craft industry, oral literature and language in the development of touris...Alexander Decker
This document summarizes a research paper that examines the role of crafts, oral literature, and language in tourism development in Ghana. It finds that these three areas are important for their economic value, information exchange, sharing of experiences, and reducing biases. However, lack of marketing outlets and product finishing pose major challenges. The document provides historical context on increased interest in Africa after independence, and how crafts, textiles, and traditional attire have helped change perceptions. It discusses how crafts, oral literature, and music are interrelated through their organization and manipulation of sounds to create aesthetic experiences, despite language barriers. This benefits tourism by showcasing Ghana's unique cultural expressions.
African culture was incorporated. Traditional skills and knowledge were highly regarded. Unfortunately, many painters' names are unknown since their works of art were not recorded when they were first acquired and stored. If you have an excellent sense of African arts and crafts, you should develop it rather than squander it.
The Black crafts primarily makes anything that requires a high degree of skill to do. Since this is so prevalent in our society, the vast majority of 'art' has become a craft. May we conclude from this that a "craft" can be called an "art form"? One that will, I doubt, be debated incessantly for the rest of time!
The document is a chapter from a book that discusses a community arts project in Clanwilliam, South Africa called the Clanwilliam Arts Project. It provides background information on the project, which engages school students in creative arts activities based on stories and icons from the Bleek & Lloyd archive of /Xam (San) oral traditions. The project aims to provide arts access, train facilitators, and reconnect the community to its /Xam heritage through performance. It discusses how heritage is an active process of engaging with the past in the present, and can be transformative.
The document provides information about a lesson on pre-contact West Africa. It includes standards, objectives, assessments and essential questions that focus on examining West African society before European contact and analyzing primary sources from that time period. The lesson consists of a knowledge check, analyzing myths about Africa, examining four primary sources about kingdoms, Islam, maps and descriptions of cities, and having students write an argument comparing Africa and Europe in the 1400s.
Color Purple Essay. . The Color Purple A Level Essay Plans Teaching ResourcesKristina Jenkins
The Color Purple by Alice Walker Essay - Free Essay Example .... Alice Walker’s The Color Purple - Free Essay Example | PapersOwl.com. 'The Color Purple' A Level Essay Plans | Teaching Resources. Writing Guidelines for The Color Purple Essay. ⇉Literary Analysis of The Color Purple by Alice Walker Essay Example .... ️ The color purple analysis essay. Literary Analysis: The Color Purple .... Themes In The Color Purple By Alice Walker - Free Essay Example .... Analysis of Alice Walker’s The Color Purple Free Essay Example. the color purple essay - google docs | Narrative | Essays. The Color Purple Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 .... The Color Purple' Free Essay Example. The Color Purple Essay Topics - 2021 | TopicsMill. The Color Purple: Literary Techniques Employed by Alice Walker to .... The Color Purple Essay Questions Interactive for 9th - Higher Ed .... first 6 letters in the color purple analysis - A-Level English - Marked .... ⇉Character Analysis of Celie, the Color Purple Sample Essay Example .... 43+ fresh photos 10 Page Essay On The Color Purple - Calameo Color .... Critical Analysis of"The Color Purple " - THE COLOR PURPLE - BY Alice .... “Color Purple Essays” on Schoolrack. Print out that essay only, as. 005 Essay Example The Color Purple Alice Walker Image ~ Thatsnotus. "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker: Critical Analysis Free Essay Example. Thesis statement color purple / college paper writing service. "The Color Purple" by Alice Walker - Free Essay Example | PapersOwl.com. Historical Relevance of The Color Purple: [Essay Example], 1302 words .... The Color Purple Essay - The Color Purple by Alice Walker The Color ... Color Purple Essay
At Foremedia Group , the craft is primarily used to create anything that necessitates a high level of competence. Because of this, the vast bulk of what we call "art" has devolved into a craft. Is it possible to label a "craft" a "art form" based on this? One that, I'm sure, will be argued endlessly for the rest of time.
The KHIRY Spring/Summer '17 collection is inspired by Fela Kuti and his Kalakuta Republic commune in Lagos, Nigeria. KHIRY's goal is to present an alternative perspective on luxury focused on Africa and its diaspora, rather than the typical Western focus. The collection features sterling silver jewelry embellished with gold or semi-precious stones, drawing on African symbols and aesthetics to reimagine what luxury can mean and represent.
The document is a curriculum vitae for Thomas Carnegie Jeffery that details his educational background, employment history, skills, publications, exhibitions, and conferences. It summarizes that he has a Master's degree in English Literature from Rhodes University and has worked as a curator at the National English Literary Museum since 2004, where he has researched, designed, and installed numerous exhibitions on South African authors and literature.
David Brayshaw is a renowned Australian artist known for his coastal and ocean landscape paintings inspired by time spent observing the Great Barrier Reef and ocean environments. He has exhibited widely nationally and internationally and is represented in major collections. Brayshaw joined the online artist forum TLF in 2008 where he connects with other artists and shares his work.
The document provides information about The African School, a cultural education project founded in 2009 that provides interactive lessons on African studies. It offers courses on topics like pre-colonial African cultures, medieval Ethiopian Christianity, and 19th century Black journalism. Courses are designed to be fun and engaging using tools like role playing, games, and discussions. The African School has partnered with various organizations in Oxford and London to provide cultural education opportunities to people of all ages and backgrounds.
1. An artefact is anything made by humans and can be used for performances, displays in galleries, or decoration.
2. Cultural artefacts provide information about the culture and traditions of their creators through messages, morals, and depictions of daily life.
3. On Easter Island, ancient people called the Rapa Nui sculpted giant stone figures and placed them around the coast as monuments, though the reasons are unknown.
Folklore and Fairytales: Here There Be Dragons!Johan Koren
Folklore refers to traditional beliefs, customs, and stories passed down through oral tradition in a cultural group. Folktales are popular stories passed down orally from generation to generation, including fables, fairy tales, and urban legends. Fairy tales are a subgenre of folklore that include magical or supernatural elements and a predictable structure, though they do not necessarily feature fairies. The Brothers Grimm collected and published many European folktales and fairy tales that had been part of oral tradition. Dragons feature prominently in the myths and folklore of many cultures around the world.
Similar to ICRC Helen Doherty on Upcycling Stereotypes - Telling stories of Africa(1) (14)
ICRC Helen Doherty on Upcycling Stereotypes - Telling stories of Africa(1)
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Upcycling Stereotypes - Telling stories of Africa
Helen Doherty
Abstract
The commercial success of Ardmore Ceramics, a collective studio in Kwazulu-Natal, South
Africa, is well documented, however, of greater interest is the polemical debate which it has
drawn locally and amongst Anglophone audiences. South Africa has been spoken for –
represented and translated – through Western and non-African eyes for so many centuries
that these stereotypes still abound today and problematize attempts by native inhabitants to
forge an authentic identity. One response which Ardmore artists explore is to upcycle this
stereotype. Besides analysing criticism which Ardmore has attracted, this article investigates
key moments in the trajectory of its history. I argue that there is a consistency between the
actual mechanics of the studio and the tradition and philosophy which underlies the practice
of these primarily Zulu artists, and it is this convergence which is pivotal to Ardmore’s
success.
Key words
Ardmore, Ubuntu, upcycling, hybrid, narrative, globalisation, identity, tradition, collective
studio practice, authenticity.
Introduction
Curiosity was the main inspiration for this article. Curiosity firstly, at a South African
ceramic studio, Ardmore, which has had success internationally and at home (as reflected in
auction prices and acquisitions), but also drawn extremely divergent opinions.1
Art which
stirs such polemical debate merits, I believe, a closer look. Personal experience further piqued
my interest: I visited the studio in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa in November 2013 and
interviewed Fée Halsted, its co-founder. Another influencing factor is that I am, like Halsted,
a white, South African woman who was educated in South African institutions which
followed the British canon, and similarly, am attempting to regain a sense of being African
through art.2
My perspective seeks to balance predominantly theoretical reviews of Ardmore,
since it is informed by my being a practising ceramic and fine artist, educated in South
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African, Irish and Welsh universities. This article analyses the production and impact of the
ceramic narratives created by Ardmore artists, in particular those which address stereotypes
and effectively transcend or upcycle them.
Telling stories of South Africa
Isn’t storytelling always a way of searching for one’s origins, speaking one’s conflicts
with the Law, entering into the dialectic of tenderness and hatred? Today we dismiss
Oedipus and the narrative at one and the same time: we no longer love, we no longer
fear, we no longer narrate. 3
(Roland Barthes)
The world is craving original stories converted into beautiful products. If it comes
from Africa, the demand is even greater… They all want a more modern,
contemporary execution of African inspiration that goes beyond traditional arts and
crafts.4
(Fée Halsted)
Much notable art is made so by a captivating story-told through form, imagery, text-
or appended to the artwork–such as details pertaining to its production (such as,
unexpected alliances). In the case of Ardmore Ceramic studio, situated in Kwazulu-
Natal, South Africa, the narrative appeal operates both within the artwork, which tells
a variety of tales - whimsical, cautionary, historical- and in the studio’s history.5
Besides investment value and aesthetic appeal therefore, the lure of a conversation
piece remains singularly attractive. This is possibly because, as the proliferation of
social media websites and apps attest, contemporary society (contrary to Barthes’
earlier estimation) is engrossed in storytelling: we spend hours every day tweeting and
WhatsApping news. However, our appetite for tales told through art, as Fée Halsted
observes above, is critically influenced by geographical location and content.
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Fig.1. Tureen sculpted by Petros Gumbi (2008) depicting narratives of ‘Die Groot Trek,’taken from
the history of the Voortrekkers. This historical event (1835-1840) was the mass emigration of Dutch
settlers in South Africa from the Cape northwards into the interior.
The success of Ardmore, founded in 1985 by Halsted and Bonnie Ntshalintshali, is tied to
these factors. Besides the fact that the work reflects Africa as seen through the eyes of
African artists in situ, it also grapples with pertinent, current issues such as the problems of
mass migration and xenophobia. These stories about Africa which Ardmore artists have been
telling for the past thirty years all began with one woman’s determination to forge her South
African identity; her self-discovery thus took place in tandem with theirs.
In the beginning: asking questions
It all started with a question: what does it mean to be a South African living in apartheid
South Africa in the 1980s? And, more to the point: how can I - a white, female artist - bear
witness to my time? This was the question Halsted put to herself in 1982 at a time when her
student contemporaries, she recalls in her book, Ardmore: We Are Because of Others (2012),
were still living very much in England’s shadow, emulating the functional, studio pottery
style of Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada.6
As a ceramic student in the early 1980s at Durban
Technikon in Natal, Halsted caught the attention of visiting American ceramist, David
Middlebrook, precisely because her work resisted this trend. She grappled instead with
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expressing her South African identity and, drawing on her background in Fine Art,
determined on ‘taking ceramics from craft into the realm of fine art.’7
Then she did two
extraordinary things which, twenty-five years on, contributed to her being honoured by the
Women’s Campaign International in Philadelphia, USA (former recipients of which include
Hilary Clinton).8
Firstly, she set up a ceramic studio in the Drakensburg, Kwazulu-Natal with
Bonnie Ntshalintshali, a Zulu woman, the daughter of her family’s housekeeper, whose polio
had made her unfit for farm work.9
Secondly, she decided to employ and teach only local,
Zulu women in the studio.10
Since gender equality was barely a whisper on the wind and
employment equity unheard of in the 1990’s - South Africa passed the Employment Equity
Act in 1998 - this was a bold move reflecting Halsted’s tenacity and foresight, qualities which
have underpinned Ardmore’s success.11
Working together
Currently, Ardmore is lauded in South African media as ‘a national treasure’ and an ‘iconic
South African ceramics brand,’ which South Africa’s VISI magazine credits with ‘setting the
standard for ceramics.’12
Certainly in November 2013, while I was standing in the Bonnie
Ntshalintshali museum, which is the main room of the gallery at Ardmore and showcases the
eclectic range of work produced by the artists since its inception, I found it easy to see how it
is one of the most successful ceramic collectives in South Africa.13
What was not easy to
understand nor immediately evident, is how Ardmore has reached this point and how the
criticism it has received can be reconciled with the studio’s achievements. In order to shed
light on its current position, I would like to go back to Ardmore’s past and inception.
Initially, South Africans were cautious about buying Ardmore ceramics and the studio’s
journey from its humble beginnings to current success, is well-documented in Halsted’s book,
Ardmore: We Are Because of Others (2012). An understanding of the context in which these
artists first began to construct a South African identity, may shed light on their story. Firstly,
Halsted must have been aware that the women she was employing in the early 1980s - 1990s,
having grown up in rural Kwazulu-Natal, were geographically isolated with minimal formal
education and little exposure to European culture. However, the environment and culture in
which these artists had grown up provided a rich source for the stories, forms and ideas
expressed in their work. Broadly speaking, South African flora and fauna, Zulu customs and
traditions, Christian parables and personal stories formed the content, and Halsted
encouraged this choice but also guided them to expand. For some the work was an extension
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of skills their parents had taught them as children when they would fashion and sell clay
animals to tourists..Nhlanhla Nsundwane’s sculpture of a young herdsman keeping an eye on
his cattle whilst modelling a clay form is a retrospective piece which enables the artist to
assess his present identity through re-presenting the past.
Fig. 2. Young herdsman making clay animals, sculpted by Nhlanhla Nsundwane and painted by Alex
Shabalala in 2009.
As Ardmore grew and the artists built up knowledge of the market, its profile changed. Men
are employed now as well as women,Africans other than Zulus. But Ardmore has maintained
its appeal to Anglophone audiences partly because the work is still made primarily by local,
Zulu artists in a remote location in the South African countryside.14
Authenticity, according to
Walter Benjamin, depends on ‘cultural distance over space and time from one social situation
to another.’15
Halsted’s active position as mentor-manager-owner within Ardmore could
dilute this authenticity given her broad knowledge of other ceramic styles and understanding
of the international art market, both factors which influence how she teaches and guides the
artists’ making styles and choice of themes. Jo Dahn’s account of Ardmore’s participation,
represented by Wonderboy Nxumalo and Halsted, in the International Ceramics Festival in
Aberystwyth, 2001, reveals some issues which a largely European audience had with
Halsted’s roles in Ardmore. Initially Halsted’s protective attitude, Dahn reports, caused
controversy, especially the fact that she seemed to be speaking for the artists. To ‘the self-
consciously liberal audience,’ the scenario mirrored too closely the power structures of
apartheid.16
But Halsted redeemed herself later by explaining, ‘If I offend in any way,’ it is
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first necessary to understand ‘the poverty… the situation in South Africa,’ where
unemployment and illiteracy are rife, reliable forms of income, rare.17
Similarly Chris
Thurman hones in on this issue in his article for South Africa’s Business Day in October
2012, maintaining that Halsted is ‘potentially patronising.’18
What challenges these
estimations is the collective weight of the facts that firstly, Halsted is an artist herself who
established Ardmore as a collective, and is constantly learning, teaching and expanding with
the artists. The studio is run on Ubuntu principles of equality and collective responsibility (to
be discussed later). Secondly, her fluency in Zulu facilitates equality and encourages open
communication with the artists which is particularly important in a country where much of
the white population cannot speak the regional, African language.19
Thirdly, the corpus of
knowledge of the Zulu culture which Halsted has built up over the forty-plus years she has
lived in Kwazulu-Natal, plus the educational and health facilities which the studio provides,
reflects a respect and genuine concern which does not connate to a patronising position.
Fig. 3. Halsted with some of the sculptors at Ardmore studio. The open plan structure of this work
space, where work in progress is visible to others at all times for comment or guidance, demonstrates
the collaborative ethos of Ardmore. Whilst many of the sculptors are male, Ardmore does have
notable female sculptors, such as Betty Ntshingila, Beatrice Nyembe and Elizabeth Ngubeni.
The essential point Thurman has overlooked here is that an artist’s top priority and identity,
lies in making art. Having the time and facilities to create is of inestimable value to a
ceramicist who cannot set up practice (with a kiln, glaze room and extraction), as easily as a
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painter, for example. It is also critical in the context of South Africa, where ceramics as a
discrete subject is no longer taught at third-level educational institutions (reflecting a world-
wide trend). Further, the remoteness of Ardmore’s location meant local people would have
been unable to develop their talents had it not been for Halsted. Ardmore’s success is a great
inspiration for aspiring artists and those who work at the studio are known as the ‘isigiwili,’
which in Zulu means ‘those of good fortune.’20
At an Ardmore exhibition at the Charles Greig
Gallery in Cape Town in 2012, Halsted explained: ‘It’s a way of showing people with little
hope that you can start something out of nothing by using your hands.21
As Lovemore
Sithole, a Zimbabwean refugee and thrower, summarises it: ‘Fee has given me freedom.’22
Petros Gumbi, a sculptor and Punch Shabalala, a painter, attest that Ardmore has given them
the opportunity to develop their talents, mentor other artists and educate their own
children.23
It is hard to overstress Ardmore’s role in social upliftment situated as it is in rural
Kwazulu-Natal, an area which is ‘poverty-stricken … rife with AIDS, poor living conditions
and unemployment.’24
The growth of SMEs, Ingrid Stevens observes in a recent article on
Ardmore, offers a viable solution.25
Subject matters
Although Halsted initially eschewed the Anglophone style of her art college contemporaries
in her search for an authentic South African identity, she did not hesitate to expand the
awareness of the Zulu women who started at Ardmore in the 1980’s. Thus, whilst recognising
their natural flair for design, colour and rhythm, Halsted taught them an organic style of
making and showed them European styles and ceramic forms for inspiration. The resulting
work, as Moira Vincentelli puts it, ‘epitomises the hybrid culture of contemporary South
Africa.’26
Themes have expanded to address issues which impact the culture and also
personally affect the artists. Integrating these concerns as narratives within the work
illustrated through sculptural forms, imagery and text, these pieces serve a quasi-didactic
purpose. Wonderboy Nxumalo’s series of plates warning of the dangers of AIDS is a
poignant example of such narratives. One of Ardmore’s foremost artists, Nxumalo himself
died of AIDS and our knowledge of his history gives the work particular resonance. This
series, made between 2000 to 2008 was especially important in a community where illiteracy
and the HIV infection rate were very high, since pictures could reach a wider audience.
Narrative of the Land
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Some of Ardmore’s ceramic narratives reflect a romantic image of Africa and when I raised
this issue with Halsted during our interview, she admitted that Ardmore does tap into an
idealised South African portrait. Yes, it does embody the mesmerising rhythm of a primarily
rural Africa in its flamboyance, brilliant colours and modelled fauna and flora. In this sense,
Ardmore is not innovative, but it is also not inauthentic, since the subject matter reflects a
real environment: the studio is located in an area of great, natural beauty: amongst the rolling
hills on the picturesque Midlands Meander near Howick. That this is the physical
environment in which Ardmore artists live and create, goes a long way to explaining the
organic shapes, gorgeous colours and spirit of abundance reflected in the work (for Ardmore
is nothing if not a celebration of South Africa’s natural beauty).27
However, many South
African citizens are disinclined to buy such seemingly simplified portrayals of their country,
wise as they may be to its real complexities. Yet these idealised portrayals are ultimately
lures, for closer inspection reveals a sophistication of technique, complexity of narrative and
realistic depiction of contemporary issues the collective impact of which is to disallow
merely superficial readings. Sometimes with challenging narratives therefore, a ceramic’s
functionality is a decoy. ‘Platter’ or ‘candlestick’ are mere labels or semiotic comfort
blankets designed to still a buyer’s nervousness when contemplating objects whose impact or
meaning, she or he suspects, exceeds their nominated use.
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Fig. 4. Tin-glaze monkey vase made as a memorial to all the Ardmore artists who have died of AIDS-
related illnesses. Painted by Virginia Xaba and sculpted by Vusi Nsthalintshali and Sfiso Mvelase in
2008, the lush white, beautifully painted flowers and playful blue monkeys of this vase immediately
catch the eye. But it is only on close inspection that one realises the piece is a memorial, decorated
with portraits of the artists who have died of AIDS.
Another salient factor influencing subject matter and style is the historical importance of
Ardmore’s location, for the landscape is steeped in history. A short distance from the studio
is the Mandela Capture Monument which commemorates the exact spot of Nelson Mandela’s
arrest before his 27-year-long imprisonment.28
In addition, the mud huts of labourers which
interrupt vast tracts of farmland bespeak a land of inequality which also has a protracted
history of resistance to colonial rule as well as civil war.29
Some artists explore their current
identities by reflecting on their past in ceramic historical narratives. A case in point is Petros
Gumbi’s sculpture, The Murder of Shaka. This dramatic, complex sculpture of the fall of a
legendary Zulu king is clear-glazed and unpainted, which lends a sombre tone to the subject
matter. In the fashion of early Staffordshire flatbacks, it is a memorial piece.
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Fig. 5. The Murder of Skaka. 2002. Sculpted by Petros Gumbi.
Narrating Africa- Upcycling and Exploding Stereotypes
Before turning to Ardmore’s ceramic narratives and their impact on readings of an authentic
South African identity, it would be expedient to consider earlier historical accounts of Africa.
Stereotypes of Africa are rooted in the records which travelling artists, such as Thomas
Baines (1820-1875) and William Cornwallis Harris (1807-1848), made during colonial times.
Their detailed drawings and paintings of South African tribal customs, wild animals and
landscapes were exhibited in the metropolis and Europe, and received much like photographs
were until recently - as faithful records of these exotic lands. As Jan Nederveen Pieterse puts
it: ‘What Africa did have and in abundance, also according to Europeans, was nature,’ and
‘the kind of wild and overwhelming landscapes which make human beings seem small.’30
Drip-fed by tourist brochures and travel documentaries, such as Ewan McGregor’s and
Charley Boorman’s Long Way Down (2007), this romantic perception persists today and has
problematized an African’s view of Africa. Consequently, when an African interprets or
holds up a mirror to her own country, the result can seem clichéd – implausible or suspect,
even to fellow citizens. As such then, Ardmore foregrounds an issue which all ex-colonies,
and to a degree, all artists, need to confront: how to forge an authentic identity and situate
your art within the global arena, yet avoid being overly influenced by your former colonizer
or predecessors. At the crux of the matter is the fact that the South African identity was
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‘colonised’- typified and formalised by primarily European authors (tradesmen, explorers and
missionaries)for mainly non-African audiences. This expropriation has problematized their
subsequent attempts to become authors of their own identity. This struggle to locate a
genuine post-colonial identity (as distinct from the colonial interpretation), is also
compounded by what Franz Fanon identifies as ‘decere- bralization’: a process during
colonisation in which the native people experience self-estrangement, and become alienated
from their own culture, language and land.31
I would like to draw out some aspects of this
issue next to demonstrate some of the complexities involved in the construction of a South
African identity.
Firstly, it is important to note the similarities between early, colonial records of the South
African ‘identity’ - which include visual and written records of its fauna, flora and diverse
cultures - and contemporary accounts provided by native inhabitants at Ardmore. In short, the
South Africa which early explorers recorded is still partially extant: the rich variety of wild
life and traditional cultural practices of some ethnic groups.32
However, what is new, and it is
inflected in Ardmore art to create a fundamentally different picture, is the mind-set through
which this experience of living in South Africa is filtered. Ardmore ceramics are informed by
artists mostly living in strong-knit, rural communities who still practice traditional, Zulu
customs. This is a far cry from the surface impressions of itinerant European explorers who
were merely passing through Africa, or temporarily based there. Moreover, Ardmore artists’
depiction of Africa is directly influenced by their being rooted in the country, by real, lived
experiences.
However, this sense of belonging to South Africa is not one which all races share equally,
which is where Halsted’s role in Ardmore and her attempt to forge an identity becomes
interesting. As the writer, J.M. Coetzee points out, the unease and guilt which white South
Africans feel at being associated, by virtue of their colour, with the apartheid regime, has
disallowed many to feel at home there.33
Despite being raised in South Africa, I felt more
attuned to Anglophone culture due to a British education system, which partly explains my
initial impression of Ardmore as unconvincing - they seemed prosaic and idealised –as I
compared them to what I had been taught were superior ceramic styles (British, European,
Eastern).
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Identifying more readily with the colonising culture is a common reaction among immigrants
in ex-British colonies. Reared on a diet of British literature and art (through the education
system), they see their own country through a foreign filter and experience the schizophrenia
of a mental landscape of green hills and daffodils, whilst physically inhabiting a country of
dust and drought. The resulting sense of dislocation Heidegger termed umheimlich – literally
unhousedness or ‘not-at-home-ness.’34
Marcus Clark, a nineteenth century Australian writer
comments on the ‘uncanny nature’ of the Australian landscape;35
and my childhood stories
were imports: Aesop’s fables and Rudyard Kipling.36
Text, as Chris Tiffin and Alan Lawson
observe in De-Scribing Empire: Post-colonialism and Textuality, is a powerful tool of
colonisation which reinforces power structures, because ‘when the children of the colonies
read these texts, they internalise their own subjection… the work of colonial textuality is
done.’37
South Africa has been spoken for - drawn and translated through primarily Western
or non-African eyes - for many centuries, and it is only comparatively recently that South
Africans, both white and black, have started to reclaim authorship of their own image. If we
are slow to recognise the authenticity of their versions, perhaps it is because we are out of
practice. It has taken me ten years of living abroad to appreciate the truth in the stereotype:
that South Africa is different from other Anglophone countries.38
Ardmore both celebrates
and shares this difference. In short, it has upcycled the stereotype.
The Ceramic Narratives
Ardmore, in its treatment of narratives which epitomise South Africa, inevitably challenges
some illusions about the country. Since stereotypes, as Pieterse observes, ‘form the
psychological and cultural furniture of society’s mainstream, ’their critique is tantamount to
undermining this ‘mainstream.’39
Playing on archetypes of Africa, Ardmore ceramics draw
the audience in so as to suggest more complex readings. For example, at first glance the
Riders series made in 2011, is a charming depiction of Zulu people travelling on a variety of
wild animals. Yet small details within the work hint at a darker side to this apparently
innocent parade. A case in point is a hippo riders’ vase, sculpted by Alex Sibanda and painted
by Jabu Nene. Aesthetically, the vase is pleasing - the form is harmonious, the surface
beautifully painted. But whilst the rim of the vase supports riders triumphantly astride hippos,
its side and base depict a more sinister version of the hippos: as swallowing some of the
riders. The exhibition’s objective was to highlight the suffering of Zimbabwean refugees who
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have fled their country in recent years and the depiction of wild animals for transport
suggests the riders’ powerlessness and lack of resources. An awareness of the exhibition’s
title -and therefore the story and context of these ceramics - irrevocably changes and deepens
our initial reading.40
Fig.6. A hippo riders’ vase, sculpted by Alex Sibanda, and painted by Jabu Nene in 2011.
Another stereotype which Ardmore challenges is of Africa’s AIDS crisis. AIDS is still
widespread in South Africa, yet the artists’ responses to it reflect a high level of personal
commitment, bravery and communal effort. In the 1990’s KwaZulu-Natal had the highest rate
of HIV infection and mortality in South Africa partly due to cultural taboos, lack of education
and poor diet. In 2011, the mortality rate was still high (37.4%), the area the worst affected in
the country.41
Halsted’s direct involvement in tackling this epidemic in the face of the South
African government’s apathy, which claimed the lives of many of Ardmore’s artists,
including its co-founder Bonnie Ntshalintshali, has been extensively documented and
therefore will not be discussed again here.42
However, what has perhaps not been sufficiently
extrapolated or investigated is the range of artists’ response to this epidemic (possibly
inspired by Halsted’s example).
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Fig. 7. Mother’s Lament. Petros Gumbi tureen, 2009.
A case in point is Petros Gambi‘s sculpture of Mother’s Lament (2009), which effectively
humanises the epidemic, in portraying the real consequences of this disease on loved ones.
The collective suffering of these women who have lost children to AIDS, is conveyed in the
sombre mood of this clear-glazed, unpainted piece, their solidarity is underlined by its
circular construct. Similarly, the vase sculpted by Sfiso Mvelase and painted by Mavis
Shabalala, which depicts the AIDS virus as a baboon wreaking havoc, uses a language which
the local community and a wider Western audience can understand - of archetypal, mortal
dangers. Sadly, some of Ardmore’s most successful artists made their best work whilst
suffering from AIDS. WonderboyNxumalo (1975-2008) is a case in point, and as such his
work brings to mind Gilles Deleuze’s description of an artist as someone who has ‘seen
something in life that is too much for anyone, too much for themselves,’ and which they are
nevertheless compelled to express.43
The story of Punch Shabalala, one of Ardmore’s best and longest-standing artists, challenges
the stereotype that Africans are paralysed by traditional teachings of their cultures - which
decree that AIDS suffers have been cursed and should be ostracised – and therefore cannot
actively limit the disease’s spread. In 2002, Nhlanhia Nsundwane made a sculpture
commemorating the occasion on which Shabalala was discharged from hospital with AIDS as
the staff could no longer treat her. This clear-glazed, unpainted stoneware sculpture depicted
Moses Nqubuka and Halsted carrying her with dignity and care.
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Fig. 8.Vase painted by Mavis Shabalala, sculpted by Sfiso Mvelase representing AIDS as a baboon.
The baboon, a symbol of mischievous destruction which the Zulu community would immediately
understand, was used to make people aware of the AIDS crisis. Fig. 9. Espresso saucer painted and
inscribed by Wonderboy Nxumalo, 2001
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After six years of treatment with ARVs and Ardmore’s support, Shabalala recovered
sufficiently to be able to paint the blanket covering her body in the sculpture. In this case, the
ceramic could be seen to have an apotropaic function: Punch’s recovery was a direct result of
the loving care of her community as presaged by and depicted in this sculpture.
The greatest obstacle in tackling AIDS amongst her local community, Halsted recalls, is the
Zulu belief that it is ‘a tagati, an evil spell cast on a person’, as this precludes discussion of
the issue as ’disrespectful’ of the ancestors.44
Since her recovery therefore, Shabalala has
undertaken to actively educate her community about AIDS and gives talks to spread
awareness of prevention and care.
Fig. 10. Sculpture by Nhlanhia Nsundwane which shows Moses Nqubuka and Fee Halsted carrying
the artist, Punch Shabalala, 2002. Painted in 2008 by Shabalala.
Out of Africa: Wildlife Stories Abound
The abundance of wildlife in Africa has always featured in explorers’ accounts and today this
illusion persists. However, the depletion of stock through trophy hunting and poaching is an
ongoing problem which Ardmore has highlighted through several initiatives. Through sales
and auctions, the studio has supported rhino conservation, raised funds for World Wildlife
anti-poaching and staged a Travellers of Africa exhibition in Johannesburg to raise awareness
about African wildlife.45
In Halsted’s words, passively sitting on the fence in South Africa, is
not an option. For this reason and because she is genuinely responsible in the denotative
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meaning of the word - taking action when her principles are under threat - Halsted has
insured that Ardmore promotes projects which reflect the ubuntu spirit that all life is
interlinked. Ardmore demonstrates a collective spirit and responsibility for the environment
and community which is inspiring in an age where the sheer volume of tragedies reported
daily in the media can be overwhelming. Since the Ardmore gallery is included in the
provincial syllabus for local Kwazulu-Natal schools, the younger generation are informed of
these concerns.46
Critical to the success of Ardmore’s campaigns is its prestigious reputation as this ensures
that it reaches a clientele empowered to make changes. Similarly, Josiah Wedgwood’s
medallions issued in the late 18th
century (1787) to campaign for the abolition of slave trade,
targeted a clientele which included the elite, ruling party.47
A recent exhibition in February
2014, The Great Herds of Africa held in Constantia, South Africa, highlighted the problems
of illegal and indiscriminate hunting practices. The art was a tribute to three hundred
elephants poisoned for their tusks which, to quote Halsted, ‘invokes memories of ancient
ivory carvings that now shame us into action.’48
Far from allowing viewers to passively enjoy
the beautiful ceramics, this exhibition was intended to be reactionary and a clear case for
future intervention was highlighted: excessive eland hunting in the Drakensberg is
threatening the species’ survival.49
Ubuntu: The Philosophy Behind Ardmore
Ardmore Ceramics strikes a chord with many people not only because it fleshes out their
ideals of Africa in brilliant colours, but also because in tackling contemporary issues, it
provides a modern reading. In light of this, searching for the one, ’real’ South Africa as
extricated from the stereotype(s), seems misguided and futile as many portraits can and do
co-exist contiguously. In addition, the range of South African narratives within Ardmore,
given the large volume of artists employed at any one time, is considerable. Critical aspects
of this production are its substantial output and quality control. Ardmore attends many major
exhibitions annually, besides stocking their own galleries in Kwazulu-Natal and Australia.
Maintaining this consistently high demand for quality work entails careful production
management, and with thirty years’ experience of teaching, making and managing behind
her, Halsted has fine-tuned this process.50
Pivotal to Ardmore’s success is its collaborative
ethic and working practice which is underpinned by the Ubuntu philosophy. A way of life
which the Nguni of Southern Africa originally formulated, ubuntu insists on our common
humanity, that we are all kin, and proscribes that people behave ‘with respect, kindness and
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generosity.’51
In the studio, this principle entails collaboration, collective responsibility and
effort which is evident in the artworks since each piece is the combined effort of two,
sometimes three artists: the painter and/or sculptor and/or thrower. Working as a team, they
confer over a piece, with more experienced artists mentoring newcomers. Ardmore’s co-
operative practice, Halsted observes, directly informs their success on the international
market where ‘…discerning customers increasingly care how products are being made- they
don’t want (products made in) sweatshops.’52
The Story Behind Production
Despite the team effort which goes into the ceramics, individual recognition is given to each
artist, who signs the piece she or he made and is remunerated accordingly. Furthermore, the
artists occasionally travel with their work to international exhibitions and enjoy recognition
as the makers. During the Industrial Revolution, division of labour in ceramic factories meant
only notable modellers and painters received recognition both in monetary terms and
reputation - they signed their ceramics.53
Today, despite the efforts of high profile celebrity
artists, such as Ai Weiwei and Grayson Perry, and the growth of television programmes,
namely BBC2’s show, Paul Martin’s Handmade Revolution (October 2012), to promote
ceramics, the art/craft hierarchy seems firmly entrenched as many contemporary artists will
outsource a craftsperson, yet seldom cite their contribution: for example, Fred Wilson,
Barbara Bloom and Jan Fabre.54
Since the material is invariably mentioned on the work’s
title, the actual makers are accorded a position of lesser importance than the processes and
inert matter that constitute the artwork.55
However, given the revival of interest in the hand-
made and its association with authenticity within the context of a fully mechanised,
industrialised, Western society – what Brian Spooner terms ‘the resingularization of
commodities in Western society’ - Ardmore’s success is actually rooted in the ongoing
production of traditionally hand-crafted, unique pieces.56
Painting patterns
Besides in subject matter and production, Ardmore ceramics stand out as distinctly African
by virtue of some of the artists’ painting styles.
Glory be to God for dappled things –
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
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Fresh-fire coal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings…57
Gerard Manley Hopkins’ hymn to many-patterned things of English soil (Pied Beauty, 1877),
could just as easily apply to South Africa if some Ardmore artists’ styles of decorating every
surface with networks of repeated patterns is anything to go by. African rhythm (complex and
insistent), and the wide variety of flora and fauna is the basis of Ardmore’s subject matter-
hence this obsessive filling in.58
Furthermore the patterns on these ceramics, as Halsted
explained to me, are distinctly African, drawn from Zulu mythology. One recurring pattern is
the Amasompa. A node with a raised surface, it represents the egg as the origin of life. A
feature of traditional Zulu pottery and beadwork in the form of circles and dots, the
Amasompa is often paired with the Chevron, a zigzag pattern, its masculine counterpart. The
work of the painter, Jabu Nene, beautifully balanced and decorative, exemplifies these Zulu
features. This Chameleon urn, sculpted by Somandia Ntshalintshali and painted by Jabu Nene
in 2007, illustrates her style.
Fig. 11. Chameleon vase (2007), sculpted by Somandia Ntshalintshali, painted by Jabu Nene.
Ardmore’s Reception within the South African Market:
As ‘one of South Africa’s greatest design success stories,’ Ardmore may be synonymous with
high-end collectibles owned by celebrities and heads of states, yet whilst non-Africans
showed an early interest, South Africans were more wary.59
Halsted attributes their caution to
poor art education coupled with a lack of confidence in art not yet appraised by the
international market.60
The way I see it, Ardmore is both simpler - it does delight
unapologetically in what distinguishes South African culture and wildlife from the rest of the
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world – yet also more complex. The work makes a valuable contribution to post-colonial
debate by portraying local stories as well as re-telling historical incidents from the ‘Other’s’
perspective.61
It also consistently highlights current issues involving collective responsibility
towards the environment and community and historically, in terms of its employment history,
represents an exceptionally progressive approach during apartheid South Africa. In this sense,
the work coincides with what Garth Clark (and Philip Rawson) identify as the function of a
ceramic form: to produce meaning not just in an ‘internal, physical way,’ but, more
importantly, to ‘extend out into the everyday, the social, the ethical … the broader sphere of
human needs,’ and thereby, as Philip Rawson claims, to bridge the gap between art and life.62
Several factors have increased buyers’ confidence in Ardmore over the years. Initially, the
large number of artists producing at the collective studio understandably made for client
uncertainty. To reassure the market of each piece’s pedigree, Halsted devised a quality-
control system: each ceramic which passes examination is stamped with the Ardmore triple A
mark. Ardmore’s escalating success in international exhibitions and biennales, such as Korea
and Istanbul in 2011, coupled with the fact that institutions such as MAD (New York
Museum of Art and Design) and the Museum of Culture in Basel, Switzerland have collected
their art, has further reassured the market. Recently, Christies of London gave investors their
blessing by describing Ardmore as ‘modern collectibles.’63
Ardmore’s status was further
consolidated when a vase by the late Wonderboy Nxumalo fetched over R200 000 at an
auction in Johannesburg, the highest price at the time paid for a ceramic.64
Even the New
York Times in March 2014, praised Ardmore ceramics as magical, ‘gravity-defying’ works of
art: ‘rude, loud’ and ‘impossible to ignore.’65
Another factor which could account for Ardmore’s growing success is the cultural erosion
which the EU and the UK are currently experiencing to which they are responding by literally
investing and vicariously participating in foreign cultures: collecting cultural artefacts. Brian
Spooner makes an interesting observation in his article, ‘Weavers and dealers: authenticity
and oriental carpets‘(1986) - that we tend to associate authenticity with economically
dependent societies.’66
Authenticity, Spooner explains, ‘is elusive because it is projected not
only outside ourselves, but outside our social selves, outside our society…’67
It is therefore ‘a
product of interaction between us (dominant) and them (dependent) and becomes more
important as the gap grows…’68
When the first notable European artist of the early 20th
century drew on African sculpture with an eye to re-vitalising his style, Picasso alerted the
West to the regenerative potential of this relatively economically undeveloped continent. But
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Ardmore is striking for its very clear re-assertion of authorship and national identity: South
African artists are shaping stories of how they see Africa from within the country. While the
formation of the EU has encouraged collective identity and to this end, has really dissolved
physical borders between countries, one fall-out has been a homogenising, flattening effect,
which globalisation and neo-liberal agendas have exacerbated. As a result, these self-same
countries have recently begun recognising the importance of ‘home-grown’ cultures and are
taking steps to restore local identity. The rise of ultra conservative movements, for example,
the BNP, reflects the spread of this idea in a less benign form; whilst individuals such as Billy
Bragg, highlight more positive aspects. In an essay discussing the issue of identity, Bragg
accedes that whilst Britons are ‘internationalist’, the issue of ‘local and national identity’ is
equally important and therefore needs discussion.69
In the midst of such identity crises, non-
African countries could take heart from indigenous peoples, such as the Australian
Aborigines and the Zulus, who preserve their traditions through their art yet remain flexible:
incorporating and addressing contemporary issues. To own an Ardmore ceramic therefore,
provides a glimpse into a microcosm of a culture whose customs, Halsted assures me, are still
practised in rural Zululand. Consequently, tradition emerges as valuable not only in itself, as
a living archive of a people, but also, through the medium of art, as a means of actual
survival.
In conclusion, Bernard Palissy would have been enchanted, Adolf Loos appalled and
Christie’s Londonis delighted at Ardmore’s ceramic range. Natural, realistic, expressionistic,
didactic - trying to pin down Ardmore’s style is about as easy as defining existence itself.
This is partly a reflection of its large volume of artists; partly because themes are directed by
the exhibitions they regularly enter and partly because Ardmore appropriates, chameleon-
like, European ceramic traditions and painting styles: the Bonnie Ntshalintshali museum
provides abundant evidence of this hybridity and eclecticism.70
Perhaps a more useful
exercise would be to describe what Ardmore isn’t: overtly preoccupied with emulating
British or European styles (though it does borrow from them), also, little of the irony which
characterises some contemporary art, is evident. Instead, Ardmore proudly finds its subject
matter right under its nose - in stories of South Africa, which, although drawn from local
narratives, nevertheless reflect on constants of the human condition. Being rooted in a local
context, yet boldly drawing on other, non-African influences, gives Ardmore both the
integrity and broad appeal to many tastes which is pivotal to its success. My lasting
impression on visiting the studio was that Ardmore’s appeal and longevity lies in the whole
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story: its history and the artists’ collective effort. People do not buy Ardmore for its explicit
or implied narratives, its gorgeous colours or exotic appeal only. Instead, they buy into the
Ardmore ethic because they can relate to the bigger picture and want to become part of that
narrative. Unbeknownst to them perhaps, they want to experience what it is like to be part of
a wider community, to embrace ubuntu.71
Notes
1
To date, Ardmore’s success and that of many of its individual artists, both at home and abroad, seems
undeniable – if one takes into account the numerous media articles, record-breaking sales figures and
exhibition attendance figures. Sotheby’s and Christies regularly auction the work, the Museum of Arts
and Design in New York (MAD) owns pieces. Ardmore also holds the record for the highest price
ever paid for South African ceramics. Information regarding the highest price sourced from Ingrid
Stevens, ‘Art and Nature: Ardmore Ceramics South Africa’, Ceramics: Art and Perception, No 88,
2012, pp.78-81, footnote 2.
2
Whilst I am aware that several critics refer to Fée Halsted by her married name - Fée Halsted-
Berning - I use the name which she chose in 2012 to cite authorship of her book, Ardmore: We are
Because of Others, Cape Town,.Random House Struik.
3
, Roland Barthes, The Pleasures of the Text (1990), 1973, p.47.
4
Hilary Prendini Toffoli, ‘Wonderboy Works Wonders’, South Africa’s Mail and Guardian, 16 May,
2014.
5
Halsted’s book traces the journey of Ardmore’s struggle, resilience and success in the face of great
odds.
6
Halsted, Ardmore, p.33. This pathological rejection of their own country represents the triumph of
colonialism which had supplanted the physical country with an imaginary Empire.
7
Ibid.
8
Ibid, p.197.
9
Recognition of the innovative and creative nature of their collaboration came in 1989, when Bonnie
and Fee were jointly awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist Award, never before awarded to a
ceramist or a collaborative effort. Halsted, Ardmore, p.33.
10
In addition to this, she has focussed on empowering Zulu women (makers) who often struggle more
than the men to secure a reliable income, as Jo Dahn reports. For example, she encourages them to
open their own bank accounts in this way attaining ‘a modicum of independence in what is still a
repressively traditional hierarchy’. Jo Dahn, ‘International Ceramics Festival, Aberystwyth, 2001’
Ceramics Monthly, vol.49, no.9, 2001, p.4.
11
Halsted has maintained this tradition of empowering women since the current ratio of woman to
men artists is nearly double, and the women are equally successful. Information obtained from email
correspondence with Jonathan Berning.
12
In South Africa’s Sunday Times, March 2012, Ardmore is defined as ‘nothing less than a national
treasure.’
13
Ardmore receives numerous requests from aspiring artists to join the studios monthly.
14
Walter Benjamin, as cited in Brian Spooner, ‘Weavers and Dealers: Authenticity and Oriental
Carpets’ in Arjun Appadurai, The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective,
Cambridge University Press, 2013 (1986), p.222.
15
Ibid.
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16
Ibid.
17
Ibid.
18
Chris Thurman as cited in South Africa’s Business Day, October 2012. The issue of Halsted’s race
is also cited here: Thurman indicts her for replicating the traditional racial hierarchy in South Africa.
To play the race card too, I would like to point out that a comparable ceramic studio run by a black
South African does not yet exist in South Africa. Perhaps then, Halsted’s whiteness and patronage can
be accepted as necessary evils without which such a studio would never have existed in the first place.
19
Many rural Africans equally have an elementary level of English, a situation which makes clear
communication very difficult.
20
Halsted, Ardmore, p.8.
21
Halsted as quoted in South Africa’s Country Life magazine, 2011.
22
Halsted, Ardmore, p.8.
23
Ibid.
24
Stevens, ‘Art and Nature’, p.78. A case in point is Ardmore, which employs approximately one
hundred staff and each employee supports ten family members. Annie Halsted, ‘Ardmore Ceramics
‘Out of Africa,’ Craft Arts International No 86, 2012, p101.
25
Ibid.
26
Moira Vincentelli, Women Potters: Transforming Traditions. Rutgers University Press, 2004, p.62.
27
Most of the Ardmore artists live locally and walk in to work every day as there are no bus services
in this remote part of rural Natal.
28
This monument is an optical illusion created by Marco Cianfanell in 2012. It consists of 50 steel
rods of varying lengths, which, when looked at from a certain angle, show the face of Nelson
Mandela.
29
Initially, in the early 19th
century, the Zulu chief Shaka, renowned for his ruthless treatment of
intruders, kept all European settlers out of the interior (now Howick). However, in 1838 the Afrikaner
Voortrekkers defeated the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River and established the Republic of Natal. A
short-lived Boer republic from 1839 to 1843, the territory was then annexed by Britain. Information
accessed on 30/11/2014 from website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KwaZulu-Natal
30
Jan Nederveen Pieterse, White on Black: Images of Africa and Blacks in Western Popular Culture,
Yale, 1992 (1990), p.35.
31
Franz Fanon as cited in, Robert C. Young, Post Colonialism: A Very Short Introduction. OUP:
Oxford University Press, 2003, p.17.
32
In game lodges, such as The Addo Elephant Park in the Eastern Cape, and the Kruger National Park
in the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Provinces, most of the wild animals which the early explorers
documented are still alive. In addition, initiation rites such as the Xhosa practice in the Eastern Cape,
and the Zulu in Kwazulu-Natal, still continue today.
33
As Coetzee notes, ‘My passionate denunciation of South African tyranny stems from the fact that I
am implicated (historically and emotionally), in the tyranny of South Africa and cannot disown that
implication.’ Coetzee as cited in Alan Lawson, and Chris Tiffin, (eds), De-Scribing Empire- Post-
colonialism and Textuality, London, Routledge,1994, p.90.
34
Heidegger as cited in Ken Arnold and Peto Jame, (eds), Identity and Identification, London, Black
Dog Publishing, 2009, p.9.
35
Andrew Jones (ed), Dictionary of Globalisation, London, Polity, 2006, pp.65-66.
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36
These stories helped colonial emigrants and British citizens in England to decode a foreign land.
Yet no comparable bank of African stories exists in my childhood memory. This absence could be due
to the oral tradition of storytelling in South Africa and the hegemony of English culture.
37
Lawson and Tiffin (eds), De-Scribing Empire- Post-colonialism and Textuality. Pp.2-4.
38
While South Africa has commonality with other Anglophone countries, it retains elements which
are unique to it and perhaps reflect its turbulent history. The tendency to retain a sense of humour in
desperate situations, to express a strong communal spirit and to be tolerant of difference (given the
large number of ethnic groups), broadly defines a typical South African mentality.
39
Pieterse, White on Black, p.12.
40
Halsted, Ardmore, p.122.
41
Information sourced on 01/12/2014 from website: http://www.avert.org/south-africa-hiv-aids-
statistics.htm
42
See Halsted, Ardmore, pp85-9.
43
Gilles Deleuze as cited in Damian Sutton and David Martin Jones, Deleuze Reframed, London, J.B.
Tauris, 2008, p.65.
44
Halsted, Ardmore, p.97.
45
South Africa’s Witness magazine, July 2012, p.48.
46
The works also illustrate Biblical tales and post-colonial readings of history - the Zulu version of
key events such as the 1878 battle of Isandlawana. Halsted, Ardmore, pp 102-3.
47
The medallion of the kneeling figure of a chained slave was accompanied by the words, ‘Am I not a
brother, a man?’ Made in black basalt, it was distributed freely among Wedgwood’s clientele and is
recognised for playing an important role in spreading awareness of the need to abolish slavery.
48
Extract from South African magazines, Weekend Witness, February, 2014 and Private Edition
April, 2014, p45.
49
Ibid.
50
In terms of production, as an artist herself, familiar with the artistic temperament, this led Halsted to
devise Ardmore’s flexi-time model. No regulated work hours, yet clear goals and exhibition
deadlines, means the artists establish their own routines, which makes them self-employed and
accountable
51
Halsted, Ardmore, p.5.
52
Halsted as cited in Toffoli, ‘Wonderboy Works Wonders’.
53
Johan Joachim Kandler, the chief model maker at Meissen and Ralph Wood, a model maker at
Wedgwood, for example, both signed their original moulds and were remunerated for each one.
54
Michael Petry, The Art of Not Making: The new Artist/Artisan Relationship, London, Thames and
Hudson, 2012, pp.25-29, and Glenn Adamson, ‘Goodbye to all That’, Crafts, Jan/Feb 2013, pp.38-39.
55
Halsted, Ardmore, p.86.
56
Spooner, ‘Weavers and Dealers’, p.220.
57
Stanza quoted from Gerard Manley Hopkins’ poem accessed on 13/12/14 at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied_Beauty
58
According to Halsted this rich, complex design has its roots in Zulu beadwork and basketwork.
59
South Africa’s Visi magazine, April 2012, p78, describes Ardmore ceramics, its textiles and soft
furnishings range as ‘arguably one of South Africa’s greatest design success stories.’
60
In 2004, when Christies of London, following a very successful auction of Ardmore ceramics,
appraised them as ‘modern collectible’ their estimation publicly vindicated ‘overseas’ support and
also reassured a nervous South African market. Halsted, F. 2012:p187.
61
Halsted, Ardmore, p.187.
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62
Garth Clark and C. Strauss, (eds), Shifting Paradigms in Contemporary Ceramics: The Garth
Clark and Mark del Vecchio Collection, Yale University Press, 2012, p.45.
63
Halsted, Ardmore, p.63. Of course, this estimation is in Christie’s best interest- to reassure the
market of a safe investment, and therefore as such, cannot be taken as an objective, unbiased
evaluation.
64
Ibid, p.185.
65
Extract from the New York Times, March 2014.
66
Spooner, ‘Weavers and Dealers’, p.228.
67
Ibid.
68
Ibid.
69
Billy Bragg as cited in Arnold and James (eds), Identity and Identification, p.54.
70
As we walked through this museum, Halsted pointed out ceramics reflecting the influence of the
Expressionists, Italian Renaissance majolica, Staffordshire flat backs, Bernard Palissy and William
Morris.
71
The practice of ubuntu, which underpins this collective spirit of the studio, is explained in a recent
brochure available for all visitors to Ardmore Studios in Howick. I picked up a brochure when I went
to Ardmore Studios in November 2013.