It is the intention of this study to focus primarily on the cross-cultural aspect of the two artists' works. This study explores the ceramic work of Ian Garrett and Magdalene Odundo in the context of the phenomenon of cross-culturalism. Ceramic containers are also commonly used by a number of cultures to keep the ashes of the dead.
Ceramic containers therefore form an intrinsic part of the life and culture of the people. These artists worked at the time of the Arts and Crafts Movement, which began in 1888. Let's start with a brief biography of the two artists and then give an account of the ceramic technology used by each.
He paints, first, the interior and background of the designs with a tumbled agate pebble.
The ceramic technology employed by Magdalene Odundo
Garrett admires this work because it is work that comes from the roots of the ceramic tradition (Interview, 1998, 8). After the first firing process, most ships are subjected to a second firing process to blacken them. It is Zulu belief that the blackness of the vessel makes it accessible to amadJozi (Garrett, 1998; 44).
This low firing, as noted, has the effect of allowing the clay to retain a somewhat porous quality, allowing slight absorption through the walls of the vessel. The Zulu ships are usually stored on the floor of the homestead; hence their decoration is intended to be viewed from above.
The reception of lan Garrett's work
She has been exposed to so many different ways of life and is interested in such varied aspects of the world, both historical and contemporary, that this has all become manifest in her work. Odundo admires the work of some modernist sculptors such as Brancusi, Arp and Gaudier Brzeska (Bern 1997~13). When one observes the form of Odundo's work, it is possible to see traces of most of the previous cultural interests, although sometimes there may be only a semblance of them.
As already mentioned, the technique Odundo uses to construct her work can be closely related to that of the Gwari women of Nigeria; it has been fully discussed in Chapter 2. It has many variations, but only the Gwari women start with a large clay ball (as Odundo learned from Ladi Kwali) and sink their fist into the center of the ball to start pulling. The Gwari women thus pull the whole pot up from the bottom, and the clay ball forms the bottom of the vessel.
Other vessel surfaces resemble the polished black surface of some of the work made by the Pueblo potters. Terra sigillata has been used extensively by the potters of the past, including the ancient ceramists of Corinth and Athens, the Etruscans and the Romans, and the Colombian potters of the New World (Zakin). She has observed women's clothing ranging from the dresses of 16th century Europe to the headdresses of the Mangbetu women of northeastern Zaire (Bems, 1997-18).
In the case of the 16th century woman, it is the waist that is particularly narrow, to overemphasize the shape and form of the woman. In the case of the Mangbetu women, the head is tied very tightly to achieve what is considered by them to be a desirable appearance. The envelope of life is thus circular and the shape of the vessel marks the beginning and end of the journey from birth to death.
Similarities and differences that occur between the work of lan Garrett and Magdalene Odundo
Garrett and Odundo's work is without pretensions to functionality; they actively take the medium to its limits, enriching the content and cultural complexity of their pieces. Garrett and Odundo are well educated in the field of fine art and are accordingly attuned to the cultural complexity of their work and the implications behind it. First and foremost, however, Garrett and Odundo are both concerned with the joy and pleasure they derive from the making process.
Unlike Leach and other early studio potters, Garrett and Odundo now have a wealth of cultures to draw inspiration from. The work of Garrett and Odund differs greatly from that of Leach, as Leach's work was valued and appreciated for its functionality and aesthetic beauty, rather than for the interesting mix of cultural practices it represented. Garrett and Odundo do this without sacrificing things like simplicity, aesthetic beauty and truth to the material.
The similarities in Garrett and Odundo's work, and the dilemma they face with some galleries and other institutions over whether they are "African" or "Western" artists, are interesting, closely related issues. The work of Ian Garrett and Magdalene Odundo must be examined within the entire context from which it emerges, and not just in terms of race or gender, origin or location. The work of Ian Garrett and Magdalene Odundo points to one universal culture, one that one would expect to be free of boundaries between race, gender, and global location.
Garrett and Odundo, like all of us, can be seen as the product of their environment. That the similarities in their work are so striking, however, suggests the possibility that Garrett and Odundo come from one shared culture. However, it is still not possible to claim that Garrett and Odundo indeed come from one shared culture, as it is clear that contemporary society has not yet reached this point.
It is possible to say that Garrett and Odundo live in a shrinking world of mixed cultures and people. Today's interconnected contemporary society is evident in Garrett and Odundo's work, as is the potential for an ideal form of globalization—a world where all boundaries, limitations, and restrictions are abandoned, where people are familiar with and.
Ele. 11
Japanese Art from the Gerry Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was very interested in 'Strandlooper' pottery sherds that you can find on the beach in the Eastern Cape. I know there is more research down in the Western Cape with the early Khoi inhabitants and the pottery they made.
It is not really known whether the potsherds in the Eastern Cape are Khoi or whether they are the early ancestors of the Xhosa people or who made that early work, but I am interested in it. I think it's a cultural influence - I think the way African cultures have used color and the boldness and directness of expression in African cultures is something that everyone takes in and at the same time what the other influence - the very western influence on us as South Africans are perhaps the context in which we work - the fact that we work in the studio pottery tradition. Betty Blandino in the 80's returned this hand building tradition to Western ceramic traditions as a result of Native American traditions, West African traditions.
What interests me in the Native American tradition is the way in which almost a difference can be seen between traditionally women's creation for utilitarian work related to the domestic context—vessels that were made for food preparation, beverage production, and also labor. holy and then once. the activity becomes commercialized and men take over. Maybe in the same way as North American places like New Orleans, where you also have a very strong cross-cultural mix, and where you have the similar kind of influence of European colonial culture, indigenous culture, also very outside. I think it will change my work in that it doesn't have the hard ground that you find in the rest of South Africa, there is no mud and mud here, its sand, its sea and its sand, rocks and sea shells and I am it will certainly affect my work, it may lose some of the intensity of the very strong African traditions that you find further north and west, east and so it will be interesting to see where my work goes.
I think she felt my work was too close, too derivative of Zulu tradition and said that in the context of supposedly authentic work by Nesta Nala, my work seemed invalid, it just didn't look authentic. that wasn't the case, it looked like a shoddy imitation, a rip-off of traditional Zulu work and that was fine in the sense that it challenged me with questions. I don't know if it will happen in the same way that there are white sangomas who work as sangomas and there is no reason why white people cannot belong to an African tradition, cannot play a role in that. They almost become cultural artifacts of the culture that appropriates them and I don't know what will happen in the future.
APENDIX2 INTERVIEW WITH IAN GARRETT
This is painted on leather hardware before decorating and polishing it in the same way. Do you make drawings and plan the shapes in advance, or do you allow the shape to develop from the clay as you work. I draw the plan on paper as a 2-D pattern and enjoy seeing how it changes on the 3-D surface of the pot.
I mostly work with Commercial Galleries (Kim Sacks, Peter Visser, Bayside etc.) but also take private commissions directly from people who contact me. In the more obvious sense of cross-cultural borrowing in the work I made for competition exhibitions, I received strong criticism. Some of the criticism that my work appears highly derivative is perhaps valid (surely that's the problem with being eclectic).
Only because there is a long history of ceramics being interpreted in this way. pots have survived as archaeological evidence of culture, while more ephemeral expressions, such as music or theater, do not). In the broadest context I see my work as part of International Studio Ceramics, more specifically as part of what I see as hand building. I feel that my cultural identity is important in posting my work, but it is not my primary concern.
The content of your work or the search for aesthetic beauty are inseparable for you. Perhaps related to "new age" concepts (perceived spirituality or meaningfulness in the natural, handmade, etc. and a response to materialism and globalization). I think part of the resurgence of handcrafting has to do with the awareness of the ethnic tradition of handcrafting in the 1980s (see Betty Blandino's book on coil making).
