A tribute to artists
25 Nov 2008
OPENING in the Tatham Art Gallery’s Ceramics room on December 1 is Ardmore Positive: Ardmore Ceramic Studio’s response to HIV/Aids.

The exhibition is a tribute to the artists from the internationally acclaimed Ardmore studio who have died from Aids, and aims to educate people through images and writing. It also celebrates the creativity of special as well as ordinary people.

The exhibition is already up and running, and the reason for having the opening on a Monday, when the gallery is normally closed, is to mark World Aids Day. At the opening at 6.30 pm, Ardmore founder and joint Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner Fee Halsted-Berning will speak on the subject through the eyes of her potters, who live and work in two different communities in KwaZulu-Natal. When Halsted-Berning won the Standard Bank award, it was with Bonnie Ntshalintshali, one of the artists whose work is represented in the exhibition and who died of Aids in 1999.

It is of great concern to the community that so many of the Ardmore artists, who became aware of Aids especially after Ntshalintshali’s death, are still dying. This exhibition will show works dealing directly with HIV/Aids, made by artists with personal experience of the tragedy, as well as some favourite pieces made by artists before they died. There will be works by Phumelele Nene (the first Ardmore artist to die), Ntshalintshali, Phineas Mweli, Wonderboy Nxumalo, Mirriam Ngubeni and others. Today’s living artists are using images as well as words to illustrate the devastating effect of the illness.

The exhibition works are mostly not for sale, but the Tatham Shop, which will be open on the evening of December 1, now stocks some smaller Ardmore pieces.

On December 2 and December 3, two Ardmore artists, a sculptor and a painter, will be working as artists-in-residence in the Ceramics Room from 10 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 4 pm. On January 15 and January 16, the Ardmore artists will return to the Tatham to run children’s workshops. On January 15, Derick Matsengarwodzi will talk about the works and the impact of HIV/Aids on the Ardmore community at 1 pm.

For more information or bookings, contact the gallery’s education officers: kobie.venter@msunduzi.gov.za or thulani.makhaye@msunduzi.gov.za or phone 033 392 2801.