This thesis reviews two local collections of ceramics by Nesta Nala between 1985 and 1996. The main text is presented in four chapters. Chapter One outlines the development of Nala's career and discusses the collections of her work outlined in this study. Chapter Two provides a brief overview of Zulu domestic-ware traditions, and outlines the basis of Nala's technology and decorative methods. Chapter Three reviews texts that discuss Nala and her work and then critically examines the application of the term "traditional". Chapter Four interprets Nala's decorative themes of examples in the Durban Art Gallery and University of Natal collections. An attempt is made to contextualize genres of Nala's work represented in these collections on the basis of their intended market destinations. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1997.

In this dissertation the incorporation of cross-cultural imagery and its assimilation is focused on the work of Maggie Mikula, a ceramist from KwaZulu-Natal. Producing within the 1970's and 1980's. her work is investigated within the historical context of the socio-political background of South Africa. Syncretism in the visual arts reflects problems associated with identity and authenticity and this dissertation analyses these issues. A reference is made to select artists and ceramists in South Africa who approach their work in this manner, in particular with reference to the influence that Maggie Mikula has had in their work. Chapter One discusses the history of borrowing in South Africa citing examples of work by artists including amongst others Walter Battiss, Alexis Preller and Cecil Skotnes. This is based around the broad political and ideological relationships in the country that framed local art making. The assimilation and the breakdown of barriers in African/western art in a South African context is argued through a post-colonial reading. The chapter deals with the problems of borrowing related to appropriation and stereotyping from a postmodernist perspective. Chapter Two introduces the history of South African ceramics examining its development and styles, focussing on changing premises within the medium. The second part of the chapter positions Mikula's work, interests, personal history and ideals. Chapter Three deals with the development of Mikula's ceramic work, referring to her technology, processes and sourcing. The reception of Mikula's work and the attitudes to cross-cultural assimilation in the 1980's, as well as current perceptions are addressed in Chapter Four. Her influence on this creative medium is shown with specific examples. Personal interviews attempt to contextualise her position and situate her within the ceramic world. Acknowledging that there is a wealth of collections through out South Africa, the ceramic work predominately researched for this paper is from KwaZulu-Natal. It has been sourced both from the immediate family, and from individual collectors, as this was the site of her production. Other collections have been accessed from around South Africa including the Corobrik collection in Pretoria (of which there are two pieces - one which is broken), the large piece is documented photographically (see Fig.22) and referred to on Page 66. The Nelson Mandela Museum, Port Elizabeth, (accessed on-line and via photographs from the artist's records) has a notable collection, but given the nature of this research, these pieces do not demonstrate any significant features over and above those that were already sourced. This paper is not intended as a catalogue, but is meant to show a variety of Mikula's work to demonstrate her influence and style. Each piece is chosen for its specific aspects and unique features that would support this research. Given the nature of this investigation, the author has been obliged to read widely, including writers such as Berman, Sacks, Cruise and the complete edition of APSA newsletters and magazines to give a comprehensive over view of the changes in style and influence within South African art and specifically, ceramics. / Thesis (M.F.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.

The oeuvre of the Kalahari Studio (Cape Town), Drostdy Ware (a division of Grahamstown Pottery, Grahamstown) and Crescent Potteries (Krugersdorp) is investigated within the historical context of the 1950s, a watershed period that witnessed crucial developments in South African cultural and political history. This dissertation elucidates the historical development, key personnel, the ceramics, as well as relevant technical information related to the Kalahari Studio, Drostdy Ware and Crescent Potteries. This dissertation analyses the broader socio-political and ideological paradigms that framed South African art-making, as well as the international design trends that influenced the local studio ceramics sector. The establishment and demise of the South African studio ceramics industry and requests for tariff protection were considered within this context. Significant primary research was conducted into the present status of South African studio ceramics from the 1950s in the collections of our heritage institutions. Wares of all three of the studios reveal a predilection for figurative imagery, especially images of indigenous African women and iconography derived from reproductions of Southern San parietal art. Imagery of African women is considered within the framework of the native study genre in South African painting, sculpture and photography from 1800-1950 and Africana ceramics from 1910-1950. Images of San parietal art are investigated within their historical context of a growing public and academic interest in the Bushmen and a surge in publications containing reproductions of San parietal art. Some images of African women and San parietal art conform to pejorative and theoretically problematic modernist cannons of the'other', while some are subversive and undermine the dominant pictorial and ideological artistic conventions. / Thesis (M.A.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2000.

South African studio pottery of the later twentieth century has consistently been described as ‘Anglo-Oriental’, because it was perceived to adhere to the standard forms of utilitarian wares in plain or subdued colours and decorations, as promoted by the Anglo-Oriental tradition of studio pottery. This dissertation investigates the validity of such an epithet, based on evidence that the pioneer South African studio potters and their successors were exposed to broader pottery influences, and that the oeuvres which they developed reflect what they borrowed, adapted and re-interpreted from such influences. The studio pottery careers and influences of the pioneers Esias Bosch, Hyme Rabinowitz and Bryan Haden are discussed, and the oeuvres of the second generation of studio potters are also investigated. Attention is given to both the ethics and aesthetics of their studio pottery practices. The dissertation further explores whether the era’s studio potters contributed towards the creation of a distinctive South African pottery identity. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / M.A. (Art History)

Text in English with summaries and keywords in English, Afrikaans and Zulu / Presented in two volumes. Volume 2 contains colour photographs / Bibliography: (volume 1: leaves 181-219) / The history of South African ceramics of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries tends to be presented in a compartmentalised manner in that it focuses on the leading exponents within genres and is limited to an investigation of the contexts that have an immediate bearing on their oeuvres. The result is a fragmented (and sometimes biased) view of the role players, circumstances, influences and incentives that have come to define South African ceramics. The thesis introduces key contributors who have hitherto been considered in relation to crafts and fine art but whose work with ceramic materials places them firmly within the ambit of South African ceramics. It also positions and evaluates the roles of the formal and informal twentieth-century educational and training agencies that, within the constraints of imposed political dogma, produced ceramists who successfully challenged staid Western aesthetics. Particular attention is given to how the black “traditional potters” exercised agency in negotiating a contemporary (as opposed to an ethnographic) presence in which they referenced the forms, meanings and values of “traditional pottery” to meet the expectations of the collector’s market. The thesis posits that the ceramists’ quest to claim an identity (or an “indigeneity”) in the turbulent political era of the later twentieth century has parallels with the intent and outcomes of African Modernism. African Modernism, which arose in postcolonial countries, sought to challenge Western binaries of art, craft, identity and presence and typically made use of hybridity to that end. The same presence of hybridity is evident in twentieth-century South African ceramics, which must be read as an engagement with a multi-cultural society within which the ceramists sought to position themselves. The thesis illustrates the progression of hybrid features from an initially crude and superficial referencing of indigenous and African material culture to subjective translations of that culture that are presented in innovative approaches. This theme is further explored in relation to South African ceramics of the twenty-first century, and evidence suggests that some of the ceramists’ oeuvres can now be considered transcultural and even transnational. The thesis, which is by its nature an enquiry that presents new or reassessed evidence is neither a fully inclusive nor an absolutist revision of the history of ceramics. / Die geskiedenis van Suid-Afrikaanse keramiekkuns van die twintigste en een-entwintigste eeu is geneig om op ʼn onderverdeelde wyse voorgehou te word, omdat dit op die hoofeksponente in genres fokus en beperk is tot ʼn ondersoek na die kontekste wat ʼn direkte uitwerking op hul oeuvres het. Die resultaat is ʼn gefragmenteerde (en soms bevooroordeelde) beskouing van die rolspelers, omstandighede, invloede en aansporings wat Suid-Afrikaanse keramiekkuns definieer. Die tesis stel sleutelbydraers bekend wat tot dusver met handwerk en beeldende kuns verbind is, maar wie se werk met keramiekmateriale hulle sonder twyfel binne die sfeer van Suid-Afrikaanse keramiekkuns plaas. Daarbenewens posisioneer en evalueer die tesis die rolle van die formele en informele twintigsteeeuse opvoeding- en opleidingsagentskappe wat, binne die beperkings van voorgeskrewe politieke dogma, keramiste opgelewer het wat oninspirerende Westerse estetika suksesvol betwis het. Aandag word veral geskenk aan hoe die swart “tradisionele pottebakkers” bemiddeling uitgeoefen het in die verwesenliking van ʼn kontemporêre (teenoor ʼn etnografiese) teenwoordigheid waarin hulle verwys het na die vorme, betekenisse en waardes van “tradisionele pottebakkery” om aan die verwagtinge van die versamelaarsmark te voldoen. Die tesis voer aan dat daar parallelle bestaan tussen die keramis se soeke om op ʼn (inheemse) identiteit te kan aanspraak maak in die onstuimige politieke era van die latere twintigste eeu, en die oogmerke en uitkomste van Afrika-modernisme. Afrika-modernisme het in na-koloniale lande ontstaan en het beoog om Westerse binêre pare van kuns, handwerk, identiteit en teenwoordigheid te betwis; om hierdie doel te bereik is hibridisme gewoonlik gebruik. Dieselfde teenwoordigheid van hibridisme kan gesien word in Suid-Afrikaanse keramiekkuns van die twintigste eeu, wat beskou moet word as ʼn gemoeidheid met ʼn multikulturele samelewing waarin die keramiste hulself probeer posisioneer. Die tesis illustreer die vooruitgang van hibriede eienskappe, van ʼn aanvanklik onafgewerkte en oppervlakkige verwysing na inheemse en Afrika- materiële kultuur, na subjektiewe interpretasies van daardie kultuur wat in innoverende benaderings voorgehou word. Hierdie tema word verder ondersoek in verband met SuidAfrikaanse keramiekkuns van die een-en-twintigste eeu, en bewyse dui daarop dat sommige van die keramiste se oeuvres nou as transkultureel en selfs as transnasionaal beskou kan word. Die tesis, wat in wese ʼn ondersoek is wat nuwe of hersiende bewyse voorhou, is nóg ʼn ten volle inklusiewe nóg ʼn absolutistiese hersiening van die geskiedenis van keramiekkuns. / Umlando weseramiki yaseNingizimu Afrika kwikhulu leminyaka lamashumi amabili namashumi amabili nanye uvamise ukwethulwa ngendlela ehlukaniswe ngezigaba ngokuthi igxile phezu kwezingcweti ezihola phambili ngaphakathi komkhakha wezinhlobo kanti lokhu kugxile kuphela kuphenyo lwezizinda ezinomthintela osheshayo phezu kwemisebenzi yonke yalezo zingcweti. Umphumela ukhombisa umbono owehlukene (kanti ngesinye isikhathi umbono owencike kwingxenye eyodwa) wabadlalindima, wezimo, wemithelela kanye neziphembeleli ezichaza iseramiki eNingizimu Afrika. Ithesisi yethula abagaleli abasemqoka ukufika manje okudala benakiwe mayelana nemisebenzi yobuciko kanye nemisetshenzana yobuciko obuncane kodwa imisebenzi yayo yomatheriyali weseramiki ibabeka ngaphakathi komkhakha wezeseramiki eNingizimu Afrika. Lokhu kuphinde futhi kuhlole izindima zezinhlaka zemfundo nezoqeqesho ezihlelekile nezingahlelekile, lezo ngaphaklathi kwezihibhe zohlelo olumatasa lwepolitiki, lukhiqize osolwazi bezeseramiki abaphonsele inselele ngempumelelo osolwazi bezobuhle beNtshonalanga. Kugxilwe kakhulu kwindlela ababumbi bendabuko abamnyama “traditional potters” abasebenzisa ngayo ubummeli uma bexoxisana ukubonakala emsebenzini wesikhathi samanje (njengoba lokhu kuphambene ne-ethinigrafi) lapho baye bariferensa izindlela, izincazelo kanye nezinga lobugugu bobuciko bendabuko bokubumba ukufeza izinhloso ezilindelwe zemakethe yabaqoqi bomsebenzi wobuciko. Ithesisi iyasho ukuthi impokophelo yosolwazi bezeseramiki yokuzitholela uphawu oluchaza ubunjalo babo (or an “indigeneity”) esikhathini esibucayi sezepolitiki sekhulu leminyaka yamashumi amabili inezimpawu ezifanayo ngenhloso kanye nemiphumela yohlelo lwesimanjemanje sase-Afrika African Modernism. Uhlelo lwe-African Modernism, oluqhamuka kumazwe avele ngemuva kombuso wobukoloni, luphonsela inselele yezinhlelo zobuciko, yesithombe sobuciko kanye nobukhona bobuciko kanti ikakhulukazi bukhandwe ngobuciko bokuhlanganisa izinhlobo (hybridity) ezahlukile. Ubukhona bohlelo lokusebenzisa izinhlaka ezahlukile lwe-hybridity lubonakala kwimisebenzi yeseramiki yesenshuwari yamashumi amabili yaseNingizimu Afrika, okufanele ifundwe njengomsebenzi ohlanganiswe ndawonye nomphakathi wamasiko amaningi, kanti ngalo msebenzi ababumbi beseramiki bafuna ukuziphakamisa ngawo. Ithesisi ikhombisa intuthuko yezimpawu wumsebenzi oyingxubevange (hybrid) ovela kwindlela yokureferensa eluhlaza neyobuciko bamaqhinga bosiko lwendabuko lomatheriyeli wase-Afrika ukuphawula ngemisebenzi ehunyushiwe yalolo siko eyethulwe ngezindlela ezinamaqhinga amasha. Lesi sihloko siqhubekela phambili nokuhlolwa mayelana nohlelo lweseramiki eNingizimu Afrika kwisenshuwari yamashumi amabili, kanti ubufakazi buyasho ukuthi eminye imisebenzi yosolwazi bobuciko beseramiki ingathathwa njengemisebenzi ekhombisa ukushintsha amasiko kanye nokushintsha kwesizwe. Ithesisi, ngokwemvelo yayo ingumbuzo owethula ubufakazi obusha noma ubufakazi obubuyekeziwe, le thesis ayiwona umsebenzi oxuba konke futhi ayikona ukubuyekezwa kwangempela komlando weseramiki. / Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology / D. Phil. (Art)