Anton and Vale van der Merwe: reinterpreting Afro-Oriental studio ceramics traditions in South Africa
- Authors: Steele, John
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/968 , vital:30077
- Description: Growing awareness of ancient Chinese Song and Yuan ceramics, amongst other Oriental traditions, by people with western connections such as Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew, in conjunction with influences from Japanese associates such as Soyetsu Yanagi, Kenkichi Tomimoto, and Shoji Hamada, (De Waal 1997, Harrod 2012, Kikuchi 1977, Leach 1976) has had many consequences. It spread a consciousness idealizing self-sufficient pottery studios where potters were in touch with all aspects of creating utilityware, largely from local materials for local use. Out of this emerged an Anglo-Oriental studio ceramic philosophy of form and practice, associated mainly with hand-made high temperature reduction fired ceramics. These ideas spread to South Africa in the late 1950s, and by the early 1960s local studios were being established along these lines. This studio ceramics movement grew exponentially in South Africa, initiating a phase of Afro-Oriental ceramics that remains a powerful way of life and visual arts influence. This paper seeks to explore aspects of Afro- Oriental studio ceramics in South Africa, with particular reference to the Leach/Hamada/Cardew to Rabinowitz, and Van der Merwe lineage.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
- Authors: Steele, John
- Date: 2015
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/968 , vital:30077
- Description: Growing awareness of ancient Chinese Song and Yuan ceramics, amongst other Oriental traditions, by people with western connections such as Bernard Leach and Michael Cardew, in conjunction with influences from Japanese associates such as Soyetsu Yanagi, Kenkichi Tomimoto, and Shoji Hamada, (De Waal 1997, Harrod 2012, Kikuchi 1977, Leach 1976) has had many consequences. It spread a consciousness idealizing self-sufficient pottery studios where potters were in touch with all aspects of creating utilityware, largely from local materials for local use. Out of this emerged an Anglo-Oriental studio ceramic philosophy of form and practice, associated mainly with hand-made high temperature reduction fired ceramics. These ideas spread to South Africa in the late 1950s, and by the early 1960s local studios were being established along these lines. This studio ceramics movement grew exponentially in South Africa, initiating a phase of Afro-Oriental ceramics that remains a powerful way of life and visual arts influence. This paper seeks to explore aspects of Afro- Oriental studio ceramics in South Africa, with particular reference to the Leach/Hamada/Cardew to Rabinowitz, and Van der Merwe lineage.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2015
Some reflections on two rural potter's cooperatives in the Port St Johns region of the Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Steele, John
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/1001 , vital:30181
- Description: Two potters in the Port St Johns region of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa have been founder members of different visual arts producer’s cooperatives during the 1980s as part of development initiatives aimed at sustainable economic empowerment. These potters are Debora Nomathamsanqa Ntloya of Qhaka village in the Caguba area and Alice Gqa Nongebeza of Nkonxeni village in the Tombo area. They both engaged in zero electricity, using ceramics praxis and used variants of open bonfiring techniques to finish off their works. This article looks at aspects of formation and administration of such potter’s cooperatives, as well as at types of ceramics technology used and resulting works, and also at some marketing strategies and outcomes. It will be seen that these are factors that impact directly on why some such cooperatives are successful for long stretches of time, and others become defunct or dormant. Furthermore, Debora Nomathamsanqa Ntloya is now largely retired from clayworking, and Alice Gqa Nongebeza passed away in 2012, so a question arises as to whether their ceramic traditions will be continued in the years to come.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
- Authors: Steele, John
- Date: 2014
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/1001 , vital:30181
- Description: Two potters in the Port St Johns region of the Eastern Cape province of South Africa have been founder members of different visual arts producer’s cooperatives during the 1980s as part of development initiatives aimed at sustainable economic empowerment. These potters are Debora Nomathamsanqa Ntloya of Qhaka village in the Caguba area and Alice Gqa Nongebeza of Nkonxeni village in the Tombo area. They both engaged in zero electricity, using ceramics praxis and used variants of open bonfiring techniques to finish off their works. This article looks at aspects of formation and administration of such potter’s cooperatives, as well as at types of ceramics technology used and resulting works, and also at some marketing strategies and outcomes. It will be seen that these are factors that impact directly on why some such cooperatives are successful for long stretches of time, and others become defunct or dormant. Furthermore, Debora Nomathamsanqa Ntloya is now largely retired from clayworking, and Alice Gqa Nongebeza passed away in 2012, so a question arises as to whether their ceramic traditions will be continued in the years to come.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2014
Revisiting nomenclature: 'Early Iron Age', 'First-Millennium Agriculturist', or what?
- Authors: Steele, John
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/934 , vital:30067
- Description: As an art historian who has recently become fascinated by First-Millennium Agriculturist ceramics, I have come across several attempts at dealing with an issue of appropriate nomenclature for desigrrating this era. Conceptual frameworks are articulated using words, yet an apparent discomfort with the term Early Iron Age has seemingly not led to a consistently used altemative. I have been wondering about this and, with respect, offer my thoughts on the matter in a hope that debate will be furthered. Hereunder I utilise aspects of the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastem Cape first millennium ceramic sequence to address some significances associated with such artefacts in interpretations of the past, and then discuss some ways in which ideas of particular social contexts are embedded in language. Thereafter introduction of the term Iron Age into South African archaeology is referred to with reference to past and current usage, and advantages/disadvantages of alternatives are suggested.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Steele, John
- Date: 2001
- Language: English
- Type: text , Article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/934 , vital:30067
- Description: As an art historian who has recently become fascinated by First-Millennium Agriculturist ceramics, I have come across several attempts at dealing with an issue of appropriate nomenclature for desigrrating this era. Conceptual frameworks are articulated using words, yet an apparent discomfort with the term Early Iron Age has seemingly not led to a consistently used altemative. I have been wondering about this and, with respect, offer my thoughts on the matter in a hope that debate will be furthered. Hereunder I utilise aspects of the KwaZulu-Natal and Eastem Cape first millennium ceramic sequence to address some significances associated with such artefacts in interpretations of the past, and then discuss some ways in which ideas of particular social contexts are embedded in language. Thereafter introduction of the term Iron Age into South African archaeology is referred to with reference to past and current usage, and advantages/disadvantages of alternatives are suggested.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
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