STUDIO LIFE CONTINUES...

NEW EARTHENWARE HANDBUILT CUP

MY ASSISTANT SANDILE WORKING ON A NEW RANGE OF CUPS WHICH WE ARE DEVELOPING

“Clay is molded to form a cup, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the cup depends. Doors and windows are cut out to make a room, But it is on its non-being that the utility of the room depends. Therefore turn being into advantage, and turn non-being into utility.”

Lao Tzu

YUMMY LICORICE ALL SORT JEWELLERY!

Latest individual creations by my studio assistant, Sandile Cele. These funky pieces are available at our shop at The Old Biscuit Mill, Woodstock, Cape Town

CULTURAL CREATIVE CAPE TOWN

Something not to miss is the Exhibition Collection of the Cape Craft and Design Institute for the year 2010 - it features the work of 82 leading South African crafters in 91 displays.

The Collection is displayed on the 2nd level of the partially restored 37 Main Road, Green Point at the Cape Creatives venue.There is a delicious tension between the Beautiful Objects, in their pristine display-furniture, and the gritty interior of the house, which is missing carpets, ceiling boards and paint on the walls.

The Exhibition Collection launched at Design Indaba Expo in February this year and will show at a variety of prestigious venues and exhibitions. It is divided into the New Notions section, which features handmade objects fresh and new, and The Collection, representing the best of Western Cape craft in a variety of media and expressions. The items may be bought now, and collected in December, or the designers can be contacted for customised orders.

This is the second curated CCDI Exhibition Collection – the first Collection was launched in 2009, in response to a stream of requests for quality craft items to display in prominent settings. Many of the items are one-offs and the showcase supports the goal of the CCDI to ensure regular exposure of fine Western Cape craft and design products.

MISTY, MYSTERIOUS...

FROM MY STUDIO WINDOW, VIEWS OF A MISTY CITYSCAPE..

..INSPIRING SOME PLAY WITH 'URBAN' FORMS

CHRISTMAS CACTUS

FLOWERING CHRISTMAS CACTUS IN THE STUDIO

'Nothing is worth more than this day' - Goethe

Mid winter here in Cape Town, the sun is shining, the air is still...

EARTHENWARE SOCCER

Back to soccer - these are earthenware blocks made by Hennie Meyer featuring portraits of some of the top soccer players in the world. They can be hung on the wall or lie on a table. Wonderful skill, like etchings on clay, and an excellent likeness achieved. We sell these in our shop, Clementina Ceramics at the Old Biscuit Mill in Woodstock, and also here at our studio in Woodstock

WINTER/SUMMER SOLSTICE

Today in the southern hemisphere, it is the winter solstice...this Taoist Hexagram for the Summer Solstice is surely just as poignant for the winter solstice.

The yang force awakening life

Heaven and Earth exist without beginning or end.

This is the primal power of inspiration.

Use this as a spirit helper

Be dynamic, strong, untiring, tenacious and enduring.

Continue on your path and don’t be dismayed.

Ride the power of the Dragon

and bring the fertilizing rain.

Midsummer: The Dragon appears,

bright against the dark night sky.

Spread your wings.

Let your creative power emerge

You receive energy and guidance

Now is the time to build something enduring

Seek those who connect you to the Great Spirits

and trust what is great in you

SUNDAY IN CAPE TOWN

ONE OF THE PAINTED ZEBRAS (OR IS IT A KWAGGA?) SEEN AROUND TOWN.

THE SCULPTURES FEATURED HERE ARE ALL ON THE PRESTWICH SLAVE MEMORIAL PRECINCT WHERE THERE IS ALSO A GREAT COFFEE SHOP CALLED 'TRUTH' - SIT OUT IN THE SUN AT A TABLE AND WATCH VISITORS AND CAPETONIANS ENJOY THESE ARTWORKS SOME OF WHICH ALSO FUNCTION AS SEATS

FULL-CYCLE TREE BY THE KOMMETJIE ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION GROUP.

THIS IS A FUN EXCITING SCULPTURE MADE UP ENTIRELY OF RECYCLED PLASTIC COMPONENTS

'WIRED' BY WILLARD MUSARURWA AND IN THE BACKGROUND 'WIND TREE' BY FELIX AND MANUS HOLM, BEADWORK BY DERRICK SENTENI

DYNAMIC WRAPPED TREES AND FLAGS IN ST.GEORGE'S MALL

ANOTHER ZEBRA/KWAGGA IN THE COMPANY GARDENS

Desolate streets are the usual phenomenon in Cape Town city centre on a Sunday...however, due to the soccer world cup, the city is currently vibrant and visually exciting. A Sunday walk from Green Point to the National Gallery in the Company Gardens proved to be a delightful and enriching experience. Everything spotlessly clean and lots of metro police ambling around made for a sense of security and aesthetic pleasure. May it continue after the 11th July!

CULTURE ON THE SOCCER FAN WALK

Something rather wonderful is happening on the Greenpoint fanwalk en route to the soccer stadium.

An inspiring and very exciting eclectic medley of art, craft, design, poetry and live music in a collaborative showcase of creative Cape Town

At 37 Main Road in Greenpoint the Cape Creative Exhibition is anticipated to be the melting pot for the city’s art aficionados and ubër cool. Its newly renovated stunning industrial style double storey is the only location in Greenpoint combining art, culture, eye candy, live entertainment and a cafeteria by cake guru Martin Senekal overlooking a large garden. It is also the new home of the pop-up store/gallery of 100% local art and design collective, The Fringe Arts. Open daily from 10h00 to 17h00 and suitable for children.

This exhibition forms part of a R6-million intervention to stimulate growth and support local creative talent. It brings together a variety of works produced by experienced designers and artists affiliated to the Cape Craft and Design Institute (CCDI), Cape Film Commission, Visual Arts Network of South Africa (VANSA), Performing Arts Network of South Africa (PANSA) and the Africa Centre.

It is sponsored by the City of Cape Town and spearheaded by the Indalo Project.

Well worth a visit!

AFRICAN SNOW

South Africa is not known for heavy snowfalls. In fact when it does snow it is so rare that people might take the day off to drive out to the mountains to make snowmen! So these astonishing images, looking as if they were shot for a European Christmas card were actually taken this week in Nieu Bethesda which is a remote village in the Eastern Cape, made famous by the Owl House. This was the home of Helen Martins a reclusive outsider artist who together with her assistant Koos Malgas built an incredible fantasy garden of cement sculptures.

The cold however has gripped the entire country right now, not daunting the soccer enthusiasm though...people are out in the streets blowing vuvuzelas and going to the stadiums..a fun time!

RECYCLED FURNITURE

Taking a bit of a studio and soccer break today..I came across this fabulous furniture by Dutch designer Piet Hein Eek . He appears to be a master of recycling and reconstructing into something new and original. Poetic functionalism. Very inspiring!

SOCCER BREAK, OTHER THINGS

WOSENE WORKE KOSROF - 'POET'S JOURNAL'

The text here below is a translation from the Afrikaans of an article that appeared in Die Burger on this past Saturday, in 'Rubriek' which means 'category' - a weekly column where a South African artist is invited to discuss his/her work and that of another who has been an inspiration. Last week's column was my turn...

‘Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful’ – William Morris 1834-1896

The above statement is the creed underlying the reason I make ceramics. I make pieces that for the most part are items which people use everyday, engage with, and to which they gradually develop great attachment. It is an intimate manner of art appreciation.

The cup whose shape and handle I have fashioned by my hands, will be held by another whose lips will touch it in order to be nourished with a beverage. This in itself creates great meaning for me. It connects me to other people, and when I handle the work of potters of the past, I feel a deep connection across the centuries.

This is perhaps what it means to be human and in a Buddhist sense to be interconnected.

I work primarily within the ceramic discipline which incorporates the 4 elements – earth, air, water, fire – in itself a profound phenomenon.

In my search for meaning and an affirmation of identity in making the work, I move regularly between utilitarian items and 2-3 dimensional wall panels. Many of my wall pieces explore concepts of home, memory and nostalgia.

Diverse elements inspire me – poetry by Ben Okri, Chinua Achebe and Karen Press. Aesthetically, the capturing of the stark African light in the photography of Robert Lyons, the haunting quality of ritual African masks, the textures of the South African urban and physical landscapes, patterns, colours and imagery of West African textiles.

A great source of inspiration are African calligraphic and symbolic motifs which I select and appropriate for their graphic qualities. These become part of a personal lexicon of mark making. Together with decontextualised poetic words this becomes the starting point for a private intuitive journey.

The philosophy and work of Ethiopian painter Wosene Worke Kosrof has been a poignant source of inspiration. Wosene’s distortion and reassembling of calligraphic symbols as images, his intuitive sense of rhythm inspired by jazz, all resonate strongly with me. He creates a new visual language that draws upon his Ethiopian heritage while incorporating his experiences as an expatriate living in the United States.'

His visual vocabulary, his cartographic moves across time and place, his "cross-circuiting" the senses - testifies to the visual power and versatility of written language. At once abstract and narrative, Wosene's paintings, in his words, "...create a visible, interacting surface - like an icon available to everyone; it allows them to have dialogue, to take them into memory..." But like all "word/play," not everything is knowable, nor should it be.

THE MARMALADE CAT

ANDREW MUNNIK'S FINE PAINTING OF 'THE MARMALADE CAT' COFFEE SHOP IN DARLING - IT REALLY DOES LOOK JUST LIKE THIS ON A HOT SUMMER'S DAY!

THE CHURCH/ STUDIO IN DARLING

Yesterday, Sunday, to escape the city frenzy we took a drive out to Darling, a country village about an hour's drive outside Cape Town. No sign of flags or soccer here..great breakfast at The Marmalade Cat. Then on to visit Andrew Munnik, an eccentric, somewhat reclusive artist who lives in an old church in Darling. Andrew has a cell phone, but other than that is not adherent of modern technology. No website, no email, no computer. He works frenetically rising daily before sunrise to start painting. Some of his work is very conceptual, meditative..and then he also paints exquisite and poetic scenes from the village and the surrounding countryside. Visitors may seek him out at his studio...

AMEN

IMAGE FROM JESSICA HILLTOUT'S 'THE AMEN PROJECT'

IMAGE FROM JESSICA HILLTOUT'S 'THE AMEN PROJECT'

IMAGE FROM JESSICA HILLTOUT'S 'THE AMEN PROJECT'

After all the fanfare around yesterday's opening matches and all the excitement, a gentle antidote, still around soccer, is an exquisite new book which documents football in Africa, 'AMEN' by Jessica Hilltout.The photographs are moving and beautiful, a very aesthetic portrayal of the beautiful game as it is played on the ground and far away from the glitzy stadiums.

'This book pays homage to Africa. It is a tribute to the forgotten, to the majority.

All the people who live and will remain in the shadow of the World Cup deserve to have a light shone on them, not just for their passion for the game, but more so for the fundamental energy and enthusiasm that shines through the way they live.'

SOCCER ART ON THE BEACH

This must be the most creative and 'on the ground' expression of the soccer world cup spirit...beautiful sand castles! Soccer on the beach seems far more appealing to me than the throngs and crowds in stadiums..

The opening matches are happening today. The whole country is in party mode. People have been blowing vuvuzelas since early dawn. Workmen driving trucks and many others are all wearing giant sized fun spectacles and makarapas. Great support for the South African team Bafana Bafana...it's a little challenging to try to find a quiet meditative spot in all this action, so we are closing the studio at lunchtime today and joining in the fun...no making of ceramics today!

LIFE BETWEEN SOCCER HYPE

'HOLDING ON FOR DEAR LIFE!'

'WHERE IS THE PRINCE?'

'CATCHING FISH IN THE WRONG DIRECTION'

In between all the soccer hype, some normal life goes on...these are some recent press moulded majolica plates which I have made

SOCCER AGAIN..

'FOOTBALL IS THE BALLET OF THE MASSES' - SHOSTAKOVICH

These days are bound to be filled with soccer hype..flags are flying everywhere in Cape Town, and much last minute finishing off of infrastructure along roads...

OF WORLD CUPS ETC.

SOME OF THE 'IDENTITIES' - PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALBIE BAILEY

SOME OF THE 'PLANTS' - FLOWER VASES BY LISA FIRER

CLEMENTINA IN 'SOCCER/BALLET' MODE WITH WALL OF SOCCER PLATES

STUDIO TRIO - YELLOW AND GREEN FOR BAFANA BAFANA (SOUTH AFRICAN SOCCER TEAM) TROPHY AND MAKARAPA (HELMET)

A fun whacky day on Saturday at the opening of our studio exhibition titled 'OF WORLD CUPS, PLANTS AND IDENTITIES...'

THE OTHER WORLD CUPS...

FRANCOIS KOLVER - 'VUVU LILI'

JANE SOLOMON - FABRIC WITH PLANT IMAGES

MARINDA ROSSOUW - 'BIG SPENDER'

THE OTHER WORLD CUPS are mentioned in the Elle Decoration blog today...

SOCCER FUN

FIFI CUP BY HENNIE MEYER

We are starting to clear the studio today and set up the 'Of World Cups etc.' exhibition. Artists have made some really fun pieces..see Hennie's interpretation above.More to follow soon...

REFUGEES' WORLD CUPS

TRIBUTE TO REFUGEES AND NOMADS

CLEMENTINA VAN DER WALT - WHEEL THROWN CHARCOAL EARTHENWARE VESSELS WITH SLIP AND UNDERGLAZE PENCIL

Amongst the fun and tongue-in-cheek interpretations of world cups (with reference of course to the big one happening in South Africa in 10 days time) - some more sobering reflections...

In the spirit of 'world cups'...

Wheel thrown cups with majolica glaze -camaraderie, oneness, solidarity, harmony

Just for drinking...