- Title
- Finding the best clay: experiences of rural potter Alice Gqa Nongebeza contextualised
- Creator
- Steele, John
- Date Issued
- 2013
- Date
- 2013
- Type
- text
- Type
- Article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/11260/1023
- Identifier
- vital:30216
- Description
- When creating artefacts that belong in the material world artists choose specific raw materials for particular reasons, including that selected resources are accessible and well suited to fitness for purpose and expression of intentions. Many potters in Africa are engaged in zero electricity usage ceramics practice, and each creative cycle usually starts with extracting clay from local sites according to preferences and well established procedures that may sometimes include certain rituals. Ways in which some potters who source their own clay are particular about certain factors that are thought to be capable of influencing the effectiveness of physical properties of that raw material are explored, with particular reference to what is known about the practices of Eastern Cape potter Alice Gqa Nongebeza, of Nkonxeni Village [31°37‘59.66“S, 29°23‘22.26“E], Tombo, near Port St Johns. Specific choices enacted by potters when gathering and using clayey raw materials are considered in order to better understand some aspects of conceptual and social frameworks that may influence clay extraction procedures. Thus, by means of comparisons between particular potter’s practices, as well as through analysis of interview material and observed events, this paper aims to contextualise how it transpired, inter alia, that clay seams close to the Nongebeza homestead were ignored by her in favour of a relatively distant and almost inaccessible site that yielded a particular clay well suited to her unique firing style of placing raw ware onto an already roaring bonfire, thereby effectively creating pots for daily use and enjoyment
- Format
- 6 pages
- Format
- Language
- English
- Relation
- South African Journal of Art History
- Relation
- Steele J. (2013) Finding the best clay : experiences of rural potter Alice Gqa Nongebeza contextualised : research article. South African Journal of Art History 28: 211-216
- Relation
- South African Journal of Art History https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC149206 28 vol. 2 no. 211 216 Jan 2013 0258-3542
- Rights
- Art Historical Work Group of South Africa
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