16 SEPTEMBEER 2009 -Best Ceramicists in KwaZulu Natal

The African Art Centre will be opening a group exhibition of ceramic works by Clive Sithole and Jabu Nala on the 16th of September 2009 by Paul Mikula of Phansi Museum. This exhibition serves as gesture of  honour  to Clive Sithole and Jabu Nala as 1st and 2nd prize recipients (respectively) at the Craft Ya Rona 2009 Competition hosted by the Department of Arts and Culture.

The exhibition is uniting the best of KwaZulu Natal ceramic pottery, both Clive and Jabu are internationally acclaimed artists due to their unique approach and  mastery of their craft.

Clive Sithole

Clive Sithole was born in Soweto in Gauteng. He is currently residing in Durban and works from his studio at the Bat Centre. At a young age, Clive developed  a flamboyance for fashion design which he furthered at the London International school of Design and International School of fashion design in Johannesburg. Undoubtedly, Sithole’s background in fashion design has greatly impacted his ceramic pottery.

Clive began on the road to ceramic pottery making in 1986 through being inspired by Philemon Lerata’s ceramic works in the University of KwaZulu Natal in Pietermaritzburg. Clive thereafter embarked on the process of furthering his skill by joining community ceramic projects such as “Ababumbi”. After meeting Juliet Armstrong, Clive  was invited to attend classes at the University of KwaZulu Natal and thereafter began practicing as a ceramic potter.

Clive Sithole’s training  at art institutions exposed him to varied approaches to ceramic pot making, enabling him to  utilize the well known Zulu tradition to his disposal. His ceramic pots are finely crafted, meticulously modelled, light in weight and are burnished to the highest achievable shine. His clay pots tend to merge the traditional Zulu ceramic expertise with modern style.

The “amsumpa” are a partial features on his pots often complimented with modern design motifs drawn from fashion design. Dominant in his works are the unique pot shapes appropriated from Zulu traditional clay beer pots. His popular shape of “Uphiso”  is improved upon with an elongated neck and a widened mouth. His “ukhamba” shape is stylised with a slightly elevated base.

His recent prolific pots assume the shape of the elongated Zulu beer pot, tipped with “amasumpa” designs and toped with a curved lid.

Residing in the urban area enables Clive to utilise the ‘kiln’ for firing his ceramic pots, he non the less, employs the smoke firing process to achieve the blacked quality on  his pots.

Sithole is a worldwide renown ceramic potter, having exhibited locally and internationally with works stocked in major local and international collections.
His first prize victory in the 2009 Craft Ya Rona competition is being celebrated in the “Best Ceramicists in KwaZulu Natal” exhibition and also honouring his long journey to ceramic pottery making.

Clive Sithole ccc80/08/09 R3226.00 size: 29cm highsold	Clive Sithole ccc61.2/07/09 R807.00 size:20cm sold	Clive Sithole DDD5/09/09 R4033.00  sold
Clive Sithole ccc61/07/09 R2420.00 size:33cmsold	Clive Sithole ccc61.1/07/09 R807.00 size:29cm high sold	Clive Sithole R1375.00 aac size:17cm sold

 

Clive Sithole R145.00 aac sold	Clive Sithole R145.00 aac sold	Clive Sithole R145.00 aac sold
Clive Sithole DDD5.1/09/09 R4033.00 sold	Clive Sithole  R5125.00 aac size;50cm	Clive Sithole R3660.00 aac size:39cm sold

Clive Sithole R4600.00                               ac size:17cm hights old	Clive Sithole R4033.00	Clive Sitholr R4033.00
Clive Sithole DDD6.1/09/09 R4033.00 size:23cm high sold	Clive Sithole DDD6/09/09 R4033.00 size:35cm sold

Clive Sithole:  Born:   10/04/1971, Soweto, Gauteng.At a young age Clive developed a flair for fashion design.  He attended the London International School of fashion design in Johannesburg and from there started a business designing and sewing clothing. 

1986 Sithole met and was inspired by Philemon Lerata from Pietermaritzburg University Ceramics Department.
1997 he moved to Durban and joined the Babumbi Clay Project, which was co-coordinated by Cara Walters.  Cara is a graduate of the Pietermaritzburg University Ceramic Department.  During his training at the Babumbi Clay project, his potential was noticed by Juliet Armstrong who invited him to attend classes in the department.  He gained further knowledge and developed a love for traditional firings.
2005 Sithole went to Nigeria to experience the culture of undo making and playing (‘undos’ are cloy pots used as a musical instrument used by Ibo women)
Currently studying ceramics at The University of Kwa-Zulu Natal
Clive Sithole artworks are currently part of the National Arts High School Curriculum

Exhibitions:
1994 National Crafts Council at the ICC
1995 Babumbi Clay exhibition at the BAT Centre
1996 BAT Centre Christmas exhibition
1997 Assoc. of Potters of S.A. Regional exhibition
1998 Crafts Council Durban Metro Fair
1999 Assoc. of Potters of S.A.  NSA Gallery
2000 FNB Vita Craft now 2000 Exhibition
2000  First Solo Exhibition, African Arts Centre, Durban
2001 Design of Trophy for Price Waterhouse Cooper Premier Award Biennial International
2002 Sanlam Art Investment Awards, Invited artists
2003 African Art Centre joint exhibition with Rodney Blumenfeld
2004 Bloemfontein Museum
2005 Gallery on the square Johannesburg (solo show)
2006  Renault South Africa (Group Exhibition)
2008   Gallery on the Square in Johannesburg (solo show)
2009   Craft Yarona Awards ceremony in Pretoria Reserve Bank

Awards:
2009: First prize recipient at national level in the ceramics category at the Craft Yarona competition hosted by the Department of Arts and Culture
1998-2001Association of Potters of S.A.- highly commended
2000: FNB Vita Craft Now 2000 – Merit Award
2000 Pick of the Month Internationally for designing the Millennium bridge sidewalk
Trophy Design for Price Waterhouse Cooper Premier Award – First Prize

Workshops:
Children’s Clay Workshop – BAT Centre
Clay Pots Workshop – BAT Centre
NTSIKA Clay Workshop in Venda
Teapot Workshop with Sue Greenberg at Endlovini with rural potters
APSA Workshops
Clay Festival Johannesburg, Witswaterand University in 2002
Magdalina Odundo Workshop held in South Africa in 2003
Magdalina Odundo Workshop held in London in 2005
Smoke firing Workshop with Magdalina Odundo in 2006
May Sithole did a workshop with 10 different schools making undo’s (musical instructment) in Kent, England for 2 weeks in 2006

Collections:
Private collectors National and International
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Muhle Museum
Tatham Art Gallery
Ms Mbeki Collection
Magaline Odundo Collection
Phanzi Museum
Kimberley Museum
Vukani Museum, Eshowe
Bloemfontein Museum
Mandela Collection
Kwa-Muhle Museum
Durban Art Gallery
World Health Organisation (United Nations)
Mandela Collection
Eshowe Museum
Oprah Winfrey Girl School Collection
Corobrick Collection
Indiana Museum

Commissions:
Design trophy for Premier Award
Designed sidewalk panels on the Millenium Bridge

 

JABU NALA

Jabu was born to a Nala family in the rural area of Oyaya at Eshowe in KwaZulu  Natal. She acquired the Zulu Pottery making skills from her grandmother Simphiwe and her mother Nesta Nala, also international renown Zulu ceramic pot makers. Jabu began with modelling the traditional Zulu pots (Izinkamba) which were characterized  by incised geometric designs, lines  and relief warts called ‘amasumpa’. Her fine ceramic pots have been collected by Johannesburg Art Gallery, Durban Art Gallery as well as various international art institutions.

Jabu has preserved the high quality finish to her ceramic pots, this she maintains between the initial and finishing stages of the modelling of the pot. Jabu digs her clay from two places near her home, one is red and the other is grey. This clay is left out to dry and then ground with a traditional Zulu grinding-stone. Once ground the fine clay is sieved through a sieve or a piece of an old curtain. It is then put into the ten gallon drum with 50% water and left to mature into usable clay. The first stage of modelling there after begins, Jabu wedges and rolls the clay into balls and then into coils with which she models her pots.

Jabu employs two types of firing once her pots are dry. The first stage is through the dry grass, aloe leaves and wood, this process lasts for about three hours. The second stage which gives black colour to the pots requires her to place pots on the metal tripod and to turn them with a stick to ensure an even smoking.

Jabu has recently further developed her ceramic vessel shapes which confirm her mastery of ceramic pottery making skill. Her ‘Izinkamba’ display an additional feature, a short protruding neck, a new feature on the Zulu pots often embellished with incised geometric patterns or ‘amasumpa’ (warts). In addition Jabu also creates special pots with cut out circular features, the resultant negative circular spaces on the pot become a prominent aspect of the design.

Jabu ‘s outstanding innovative design in this exhibition is her “multi necked pot”, its mere form undoubtedly accounts for her renowned status and confirms her unadulterated mastery of ceramic pot making. This new ceramic pot is shaped like an uphiso, its central neck is textured with the traditional “amasumpa” designs  and is flanked by two smaller smooth necks which compliment the rough texture on other areas of the pot. The perfection and balance of traditional Zulu and stylised modern form of the ‘multi necked pot’ elevates Jabu to high platform of ceramic pot making.

Jabu’s finely finished beer pots burnished to the highest shine are also adorned by the process of firing which adds to the tone of the surface of the pot. In the “Best KwaZulu Natal Ceramicists” exhibition, Jabu Nala will be honoured for her perfecting of the traditional Zulu pottery and her innovation for which she was awarded a second prize in the “2009 Craft Ya Rona Competition”.

 

Jabu Nala  R3096.00 sold	Jabu Nala  Uphiso ccc99.3/08/09 R1455.00 size:31cm high sold	Jabu Nala R2500.00 ccc99.2/08/09 sold                  size:29cm high x 24cm width
Jabu Nala ccc99/08/09 R2260.00            size:22cm height x 26cm width	Jabu Nala  aac  R985.00 size:27cm height x 20cm width sold	Jaby Nala ccc100.2/08/09 R2910.00 size:24cm height x 19cm width sold

Jabu Nala ccc98.2/08/09 R4035.00 size:29cm height x 27cm width	Jabu Nala ccc98.3/08/09 R3226.00 size: 35cm height x 20cm sold	Jabu Nala R4520.00   ccc98/08/09size:49cm height x 40cm width sold
Jaby Nala ccc100.1/08/09 R2741.00 size:34cm height x 25 cm width sold
more pots

Jabu Nala: Born: 1969, 20 June, Oyaya, KwaZulu Natal

Education:  Ceremony Secondary School, Standard 8 Bhamu High School Kranskop

Ceramic Training:.With a strong mastery of the Uphiso form and an eye for a subtly flattened slope towards the mouth of Izinkamba (Zulu pots), Jabu Nala has built a reputation for herself in the South African ceramic art world. Her creation of larger vessels, banded design work and improvisation using inkanyezi or star design have been a solid basis for her creativity.

Jabu has been creating clay beer pots in the traditional Zulu way.  She was taught by her grandmother Simphiwe and her mother Nesta,  who developed a world-wide reputation for her classical forms and finely finished beer pots.

The clay is hand-dug in two places near to her home.  One is red and other grey. The clay is then ground using a traditional Zulu grinding-stone and then sieved through a sieve or a piece of net curtain. It is then dried and put into a ten gallon iron drum with 50% water.  The clay is then left to mature and then wedged and rolled into balls.

The pots are hand-coiled and then smoothed with a piece of calabash or old spoon.  When leather-hard they are burnished with river pebbles and then decorated with incised patterns or added “warts” of clay using an ancient design called “Amansumpa”.  which are soft “warts” of clay, which are inserted on the surface with a clay slip and smoothed into the surface with a river pebble.  The pots are then left to dry naturally.  Before firing, pieces of coal are put into the pots and warmed up to make sure that the pots are completely dry.  They are then placed on their sides in a special pattern and covered over with dried grass: aloe leaves and wood.  The grass is then lit and then the aloe leaves catch fire - the firing lasts approximately 3 hours depending on weather conditions.

After the first firing, the pots are burnished with a river pebble and oil.
A second firing takes place to smoke the pots black.  The pots are placed on a metal tripod and turned with a stick over the flames to ensure an even smoking.  When thoroughly blackened, the pots are then cooled.  They are then rubbed with animal fat and polished to make them shine.
 
EXHIBITIONS:
1997 Kim Sacks Gallery Johannesburg
1998 Isidlo Sempilo - Soul Food African Art Centre
1998 FNB Vita Crafts Exhibition, Cape Town
2007   Ukucwebezela : To Shine, African Art Centre
2008   Solo exhibition The African Art Centre
2009   Craft Yarona Awards ceremony in Pretoria Reserve Bank

COMMISSIONS: 
2004: Stair tiles for the New Constitutional Court, Johannesburg

AWARDS:
2009: Second Prize recipient at National level in the Ceramics category at the Craft Yarona Competition hosted by the Department of Arts and Culture

COLLECTIONS:
Johannesburg Art Gallery
Kim Sacks Collection
Gallery on the Square, Johannesburg    
Clive Segal