Hlengiwe Dube is a craftswoman and manager of the African Art Centre. In 2000, she was awarded the Woman of the Year award by the Department of Arts and Culture. As well as her own work, she has played a critical role in developing crafters in the area, particularly in beaded products. Dube has [...]
Posts under ‘South Africa’
True to self or play the market? – the South African challenge
In response to the recent South African election, the director of Cape Craft & Design, Erica Elk, penned these thoughts as part of their newsletter’s editorial. While focused on the South African situation, they could apply more broadly to all ventures that attempt to bring the market to play in assisting cultural development.
She reflects on [...]
An Africa of Small Things
The jewellery scene in South Africa has kept a very low profile. Perhaps here’s why.
Three jewellers from Johannesburg have an exhibition at Bell Roberts Gallery titled Tales from the Mantelpiece. Philippe Bousquet, originally an architect, works with family identity as a link between vintage objects. Geraldine Fenn, with a background in archeology and art history, [...]
Let the beads do the talking
Hlengiwe Dube is not only one of South Africa’s most accomplished bead artists, she is also responsible for much of the vibrant craft that emerges from KwaZulu-Natal, thanks to her work with the African Craft Centre. Finally, she has been able to distil her considerable knowledge of beadwork with this new publication. Zulu Beadwork: Talk [...]
Noria Mabasa carves out a dream for herself
Bell-Roberts Gallery in Cape Town is hosting an exhibition by remarkable South African artist Noria Mabasa. More than 70 years old, Mabasa is one of several ceramicists from the northern province of Venda, bordering on Zimbabwe. For the past thirty years, she has been producing figures and pots with clay sourced from a local river.
Unlike [...]
Zulu Bead-Mail
South African craft is characterised by an abundance of beaded products. One of the most charming is the Zulu Love Letter, which according to legend developed when Zulu men began working in the mines. As they were illiterate, communication from sweethearts back in home took for the form of ornament, where particular coloured beads signified [...]
South African craft in Sydney
Here’s a wonderful opportunity to see some of what’s emerging out of South Africa, including Zulu pottery and Master Weave ‘telephone’ wire baskets and photography by Garth Meyer (hopefully, I’ll have names for the ceramicists and weavers soon)
24 September – 11 October
Gallery Aloft, 660 Darling Street Rozelle
More information: www.southernexchange.com.au
Review of Black Robe White Mist
Dorcas Maphakela was one of a new generation of black art students graduating from Witwatersrand Technicon in Johannesburg, 2003. Seeking to expand her knowledge of the arts, she saved money to spend a year as an intern at Craft Victoria. She has since picked up the pen and is starting to write exhibition reviews. So [...]
South African design goes South
The Design Indaba is the leading design event in Cape Town, South Africa. This year, they are using the theme of ‘South’ to celebrate the ‘gloriously positive, ridiculously naïve and relentlessly spontaneous’ elements of creativity in their country.
Wouldn’t it be something for the designers and craftspersons in other Southern countries to join in on [...]
The German forest comes to Namibia
Hentie van der Merwe Messenger 2007 Polyurethane Mask 68 x 46 x 23cm Stand 150cm
A recent exhibition in South Africa provides an interesting comparison to Melbourne’s ‘jewellery of the forest’. Hentie van der Merwe has been studying the German archive of folktales [...]
