Using the interaction between fire, clay and smoke, Vulisango Ndwandwa creates contemporary ceramic pieces inspired by traditional form and approaches.
Traditional pottery forms, whether Zulu beer pots, Himba wooden milk pails or ancient Greek amphorae, have all influenced the work of Port Elizabeth-based ceramic artist Vulisango Ndwandwa, but his signature pieces are sleek and contemporary.
“Initially my Zulu origins came through my work the most” he says, “but I am now marrying different cultural elements in one piece, which gives the finished product a distinct style.” As a child, Vulisango’s blackboard sketches of his teachers got him into trouble, but his mother noticed his passion for art and encouraged him to study art at the PE Technikon. Intrigued by the possibilities offered by ceramics, Vulisango then specialised in ceramic design. Currently the resident ceramic artist in the Ceramic Design department at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU), Vulisango credits a number of people for supporting his journey as an artist. “My mother was very supportive;” he says, “and my lecturers encouraged me to participate in as many group exhibitions as possible in Port Elizabeth and in other parts of the Country. After graduating, established artists like Charmaine Haines, Meshack Masuku and Avanda Mji took me under their wings to trade fairs like Design Indaba and Decorex and to the Grahamstown Arts Festival, where I learnt a lot.”
Vulisango is now encouraging the new generation at NMMU, and while he is in studio full-time, he is available to the students and gives workshops whenever needed. Teaching is an inherent part of my career,” he says. “I taught at the university two years ago and have given extensive workshops in townships and in rural communities.” Orders and commissions tend to keep Vulisango in his studio for lengthy periods but he does attend trade fairs because he likes to meet and interact with his clients.
It is the anticipation of the unpredictable that keeps me interested… no one piece is like another.
“Clients mostly acquire my work directly from me”, he says, “but I do supply shops locally and overseas.” Vulisango calls his range ‘naked Raku’. “After the initial firing I resist the glaze with slip and then carve the pattern through both the glaze and the slip,” he says. “After firing, the glaze is peeled off to reveal the bare clay body, hence the term ‘naked Raku’. In the end, the pot is only decorated by the carbon from the smoke.”
He has a strong inclination towards coiling because of the level of involvement he can have with the clay and the control of the pot regarding form and size. However, the pots are fired in an uncontrolled environment and the smoking process plays a vital role. “It is the anticipation of the unpredictable effect that keeps me interested because no one piece is like another,” he says. “Once the piece is in the smoke I have very little control over how it will come out. Science and nature take over.” He also enjoys the adrenaline rush that comes with firing the pots at 900°C, “I enjoy the minimal control of working with the raging fire,” he says, “but I do take the necessary precautions.”
As far as the future is concerned, Vulisango constantly sets himself new technical challenges. “I am relentlessly trying to achieve the harmonious coexistence of the different cultural influences in my work,” he says. “Essentially I am taking the ancient ways of ceramic production and making them fit into today’s contemporary setting.”
Sources
NMMU Ceramic Department Gallery Tel: 041 504 3870, Vulisango Ndwandwa Tel: 083 473 9200
Text by Gill Cullinan. Photographs by Donna Watson. Taken from the December 2009 edition of Garden and Home.
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