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The cat’s out of the bag. With artist-potter Hylton Nel’s sculpture Two Cats fetching a record-breaking R369,680 on auction with Strauss & Co and increasing representation of ceramics as a medium at major art and design fairs like RMB Latitudes and Decorex this much is clear: it's clay's time to shine.
We joined Kevin Collins, a visual artist who got his start in ceramics during the Covid-19 lockdown, and former UJ senior lecturer and ceramic artist Eugene Hön for a walkthrough of the 2024 Corobrik Ceramics National Biennale exhibition at Gordon School of Business (GIBS). More on that below.
Dates to diarise
Until Tue, Sep 24, the exhibition has a short run, but it’s well worth seeing. Attend a walk-through led by Monica van den Berg, one of the ceramicists featured in the exhibition, on Sat, Sep 21 from 13:00.Celebrating ceramics
There are more than 150 works on show as part of this year's Corobrik Ceramics National Biennale, selected by judges out of 300-plus entries. The initiative is spearheaded by Ceramics Southern Africa, the official representative body of potters in the country since 1972 covering the Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal, Western Cape, and Eastern Cape regions, as well as Namibia.
The first Ceramics Southern Africa biennale was hosted in the founding year, with Esias Bosch, Digby Hoets, and Elsbeth Burkhalter as the inaugural winners – illustrious figures in the world of ceramics.
These annual exhibitions celebrate the endless permeations of clay; a medium that can be gently formed, boldly manipulated, or playfully cajoled to carry the stamp of its maker. Sometimes this is a quiet, crisp, or pared-back approach, while other times striking silhouettes and vivacious colour make the work sing.
From the particular clay body used to the building technique employed (be it pinching, coiling, or throwing on the wheel) there are so many variables that contribute to the end result of a ceramic piece. Choice of surface decoration spans layered slips, simple glazes, carved surfaces, sculptural additions, the rich patina of wood-fired pottery, and more. "That's what I love about clay: the diversity of techniques and processes and traditions that exist," says Hön, who was this year's awards judge.
Andile Dyalvane, Clive Sithole, Dr Avi Sooful, and Lydia Holmes made up the 2024 selection committee, while art collections management specialist at UJ Art Gallery Rika Nortjé came on board as curator.
The resulting exhibition is a fantastic opportunity to see what's being made by potters in the country today, from expressive vessels to sculptural works of all kinds.
Nic Sithole is the winner of this year's prestigious Ndebele Award for an utterly unusual combination of forms and surfaces that still honour the traditions of the medium. The conical form below is burnished to produce a glossy surface, while subtle texture and symmetrical spikes adorn the upper half of the piece.
"Probably the area where there's been the most development in this exhibition is the expressive vessel, rather than the utilitarian vessel," Hön explains. In the past, up to 90 percent of the work in the Corobrik Biennale would've been sets of cups, plates, bowls, and platters, making this year's showcase a strong departure. We see this in the work of 2024 Corobrik Award winner Hennie Meyer for his experimental, multi-fired earthenware, porcelain, slip, and glaze vessel. This 'anthropomorphic vase' (so-called by the artist) could theoretically hold flowers, but it stands up perhaps more strikingly without.
Exhibiting incredible decorative skill, a trio of Tiffany Wallace's whimsical stoneware sculptures won the Van Tuyl Award. On the more abstract and suggestive end of the spectrum, one of two of this year's Glazecor Awards went to Carla de Cruz for her intriguing series of terracotta "guardians".
Including but not limited to the winning works, pieces from these biennales are acquired by the Corobrik Collection each year – a now-legendary ceramic art collection (nearing the 300 mark) that has been growing since 1977. The Corobrik Gallery is the place to view the collection in its entirety, located on the second floor of the Old Arts Building at University of Pretoria's Hatfield campus, open Mon – Fri, 08:00 – 16:00.
Like Kevin Collins himself, who acquired a kiln two weeks before South Africa went into hard lockdown and spent much of the pandemic producing painted clay tiles in his idiosyncratic style, we're seeing a revival in hand-crafts – both in terms of people's interest in acquiring hand-made objects, and doing the making themselves. "We live in a digital world where we don't touch stuff, and so we become disconnected," Collins explains, extolling the countering qualities of clay as a grounding and therapeutic medium.
So whether you want to get stuck in the mud yourself and are looking for fresh inspiration or simply wish to appreciate the work of some of the country's most skilled makers, make time to see this showcase before it's over. The 2024 Corobrik National Ceramics Biennale runs at GIBS in Illovo until Tue, Sep 24.
