tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-83314363840855528392024-02-08T01:46:51.719+01:00Art in Zambia BlogBlog about the Zambian art worldZ-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comBlogger49125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-18955966521312903792019-11-15T12:07:00.003+01:002019-11-15T13:16:51.932+01:00TRIANGULAR EYES / OUT OF THE BLUE<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Internet publication by Bert Witkamp*</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">First published 15 November 2019</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Generally it is not good practice to publish
unfinished work but in this case the post is about the story of the image rather
than the image itself. This canvas is large, 150 x 100 cm. Initially it had a
design composed of a rhomboid, a horizon and two small female figures seated on
the horizon. It had not enough substance, the painting was shelved, resurfaced
and I put my mind to the imagery once more. At night I saw a triangular eyes of
a young woman. I painted the face in and enlarged it into a bust which now is
the centre piece of the design. The face was painted in fragments over the
first coat, which was blue, the blue of the sky above the horizon. I shaded the
facial blue in a few tones but it remained blue while I worked on other
sections. My friend and colleague Patrick Mweemba noted that the face was quite
expressive, overwhelmingly so it seemed to me and its blue appearance made me
uncomfortable. In my associative network blue faces recall the supernatural,
otherworldliness, a return from death. I did not want that. Spirituality is
fine but in this case eeriness is not. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFyJNz0IvMV8Buly4O8xmDzubVY0k0xMzfbmiBuurt-5CzACfOXDd0I2X64mlsnvK89qxTwrC7luxqBmv-lL0cbgV1MijAyxxLreOA-leP8EjKXIuTXStH3sa64B9T5J42t4Kc8hnRPs/s1600/IMG_0245.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><img border="0" data-original-height="640" data-original-width="480" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgPFyJNz0IvMV8Buly4O8xmDzubVY0k0xMzfbmiBuurt-5CzACfOXDd0I2X64mlsnvK89qxTwrC7luxqBmv-lL0cbgV1MijAyxxLreOA-leP8EjKXIuTXStH3sa64B9T5J42t4Kc8hnRPs/s320/IMG_0245.JPG" width="240" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Detail of painting "Woman with Triangulat Eyes." Face in transformation</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Painters do have a relationship with portraits they
paint, be these of people real or not. In order to create the experience you
have to live it and if you don’t there nothing to offer the viewer. So I sat in
front of the painting and asked myself “Where does this personae come from? How
did she land on my canvas? What do I want to do with her?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">A solution was not immediately forthcoming but my
resolve to transform her was solid. I put the painting out of sight, relocated
it, put it back on the chairs I use as easels and decided I’d repaint, or over-paint, the facial blue and I did so in the past days. I retained part of
the blue, as a remnant of the history of the image relevant to its present
state and reworked much of the remaining surface to create an appropriate
environment and context for the female bust. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBdGP5UKlLvfZeEb7thZH2crD8sh2IHxFi0L6epXyX7WhtC8RLb_m96c6GOYERgGVwiLT75vE0gMW4umiM-IsvaowurAYQms2ixzgulGrfFkUoR1aoJ29wOu91YBoxFiO0pVSPFufxbgE/s1600/IMG_0265.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1118" data-original-width="1600" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBdGP5UKlLvfZeEb7thZH2crD8sh2IHxFi0L6epXyX7WhtC8RLb_m96c6GOYERgGVwiLT75vE0gMW4umiM-IsvaowurAYQms2ixzgulGrfFkUoR1aoJ29wOu91YBoxFiO0pVSPFufxbgE/s320/IMG_0265.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Face and painting in transformation.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">One thing this adventure did was to give me an idea -
a speculation it is as how to prove it? – about the reasons why in traditional
African art faces are always or nearly always not individualized but
standardized icons. Masks that have names and in ritual may be associated to a
specific individual but exist outside these incidents permanently as personae
only, like characters in a play. The individualised portrait (mask, sculpture)
is felt as to be an intrusion or capturing of the portrayed person and such
immediate link may easily be abused. There are other reasons as well that one
might think of. There is a certain economy in working with a limited number of
iconized portraits rather than with an unlimited number of individualized ones
suited for one setting only. But then, if you look at the best of portraits in
western art you see that each one of these has become iconic, transcending the
specific to the general, no longer standing exclusively for an individual but
for a character or personality.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;">*The author is an artist and anthropologist working in Zambia.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"></span>Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0Choma, Zambia-16.64543634953132 26.992373424999982-18.58197784953132 24.410586424999984 -14.708894849531319 29.574160424999981tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-89698390249747757832016-12-16T15:37:00.000+01:002017-06-25T15:43:17.366+02:00ETHYL SILICATE 40 AS BINDER IN MURAL PAINTING<div class="MsoNormal">
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<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Z-factor
technical paper no 3: Ethyl silicate 40 as Binder in Mural Painting.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 14.6667px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 22px;">Text and illustrations: Gijsbert Witkamp*</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The original text dates back to around 1977. It
has been edited for this I-net publication.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Present update: 16 December 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc3F32OmMPwugS9-NvT-XUha5IrlSSHoCL_9TWvQ-xWa1fO9L7SWZ9_lmUNm_bfeVEb6sC8tpb5P_qmHkBL37AXV8ehymrAJDMQSzQOUdOSw3j-gtI3pTmdkB1g382JyIXazuodtyvaAU/s1600/Mural+1974+100+dpi+adj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhc3F32OmMPwugS9-NvT-XUha5IrlSSHoCL_9TWvQ-xWa1fO9L7SWZ9_lmUNm_bfeVEb6sC8tpb5P_qmHkBL37AXV8ehymrAJDMQSzQOUdOSw3j-gtI3pTmdkB1g382JyIXazuodtyvaAU/s400/Mural+1974+100+dpi+adj.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;">Photo 1. </span><i style="font-family: 'century gothic', sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;">Made in the Netherlands</i><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; line-height: 22px; text-align: justify;">. G. Witkamp, 1974, 12 x 8 m, E 40 mural paint</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></b></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Introduction<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The author in 1974
designed and executed a 12 x 8 m<sup>2</sup> outdoor mural in the city of
Leeuwarden, Netherlands, using studio
made paints having ethyl silicate 40 (E40) as binder. This probably was the
first or one of the first uses of this medium in mural art in the Netherlands. A
few years later he tested the same material in Lusaka, Zambia, when he was
requested to submit a mural design for one of Lusaka’s high rise office buildings. E40 paint, though relatively unknown, has a number of superior qualities
compared to other mural paints. It hence is an important addition to the small
range of mural paints suitable for durable art work. The paint is best applied
indoors. Outdoor lasting application should be under a canopy that protects
from rain and wind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">History<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Ethyl silicate was
first synthesized in 1846. Suggestion for the application of silicon esters for
the preservation of stone objects and architectural structures was made in 1860
though it was not until 1923 that the first practical work was initiated by A.P.
Laurie and G. King (1930, 1931a, 1931b). They set out practices for the use of
silicon ester in stone conservation and mural painting. Presently a variety of
silicon esters are industrially produced for applications in paints, investment
casting and stone reinforcement.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paint
making<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">E40 is used as raw
material that produces a colourless, hard, porous and inert binder for mural
paints. The actual binder is silica (SiO<sub>2</sub>, sand is the most common
form of this compound). E40 is a silicon ester that yields a high percentage of
silica. The chemical bond between silica and ethyl alcohol is broken by
hydrolysis. The silica turns into a gel which later becomes a hard, permanent
silica film.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The preparation of
E40 paint in the studio is well described by R. Mayer (1982: 346-354) as well
as its properties and application in art work. The paint, in brief, is prepared
as follows. Pour 80 vol. units of E40 in a non-ferrous vessel and mix with 18
vol. units of ethyl alcohol and 2 vol. units of 95% (190 proof) hydrochloric
acid (HCl). Agitate for twenty minutes and let stand for 12 hours. During this time
E40 is partially hydrolysed, HCl acting as catalyst. Now add 5 vol. units
of water. Hydrolysis should thereafter be complete in eight to twelve hours.
This can be checked by applying a thin film on glass. The film should dry
rapidly and craze when scratched.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At this stage pigment and
micronized mica must be added, roughly a quarter by weight of each. The
simplest method is to add pigment and mica to the liquid while stirring with a
stick. For this a plastic bucket with lid is quite suitable – as the paint
should be applied soon after mixing. In industrial practice a ball mill is used
ensuring perfect dispersion of particles in the liquid. Mixing is easy as the medium
has good wettability and this is why the simple manual method yields acceptable
results. The mica acts as filler and improves paint consistency – without it the
paint is quite liquid and harder to handle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paint
properties<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Once mixed the paint
has to be used within 24 hours as the impending gelling and solidifying stages
cannot be retarded. Gelling obstructs adherence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">The silicon binder
forms a porous, cementitious bond between pigment and support. The pigments
therefore largely retain their natural appearance as there is no coating causing
refraction of light. The resulting </span><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; line-height: 22px;">mat</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;"> surface suits mural painting very well.
The porosity allows the wall to breath and contributes to the longevity of the
paint. Destruction of the paint is brought about by mechanical wear (as by rain
drops or air born dust particles), deterioration of the support, improper application
of the paint and possibly its inherent brittleness. As a plasticizer 2-4% polyvinyl
butyral (vinylite XYHL) has been added. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The paint sets
within a few minutes and is dry to the touch within 24 hours. The entire “drying”
process takes one to three months to complete. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Painting<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Prior to painting
the proposed wall surface needs to be inspected. There should be no
efflorescence or leakage; the surface should be intact, clean and not covered
by paint or other film making substance. The surface usually is lime or cement
plaster or perhaps concrete. All these are suitable. Normally a ground coat of
white paint is first applied. This shall increase the luminosity of the work. Over
painting can be done after a couple of hours. There is limited opportunity for
wet-in-wet painting due to the drying speed of the paint. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">E 40 paint has to
be applied thin and fresh. Thick and multiple layers have poor adherence and eventually
flake off or crack. The paint is thinned with a mixture of one part E4o medium
and three parts ethyl alcohol. Fresh paint can be wiped off with ethyl alcohol.
Brushes must be cleaned immediately after use by rinsing in ethyl alcohol. The
thoroughly dried paint film can be cleaned with water and brush.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pigments<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">For permanent art work
standard pigments have to be used that are both alkali and acid resistant.
These are: titanium dioxide (white), the iron oxides or mars colours (yellow,
reddish brown, black), chromium oxide (dull green), viridian (bright green), cobalt
blue, manganese blue and caeruleum blue. Under less stringent conditions
phtalocyanine blue, ultramarine blue and the cadmium colours (yellow-orange-red
range) are also used. Note that the cadmium pigments are poisonous.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Precautions<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Prolonged exposure
to E40 is harmful to human health. Work and prepare paint in ventilated areas. Incidental
skin contact is not particular harmful, clean with ethyl alcohol. Ethyl alcohol
is flammable and poses a fire hazard. Presence of a fire extinguisher is advisable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Need
for experiments<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Artists considering
to work with E40 first should try the medium out by making small quantities of
paint and applying these to concrete tiles, bricks or slabs. These should be
exposed to outdoor condition once fully hardened. Test carried out by the
author in Zambia demonstrated the strength of the paint: tiles exposed to
weathering under adverse conditions for several years displayed remarkable durability
though mechanical wear and tear was observed. Also the importance of applying
the paint in thin layers was confirmed; thickly applied paint tends to crack or
flake off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Comparison
to other mural paints<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The main paints used for murals are oil
paints, acrylic paints, pva’s, waterglass, and casein paints. Fresco is an
ancient technique and is water based. Oil paints are not suited for direct
application to walls. Acrylic paint, like oils, forms a continuous paint film
which prevents the wall from “breathing” and thus may cause deterioration of
the paint film. Water glass, E 40, pva and fresco don’t seal the wall surface
and therefore are structurally better. Casein paints are optically not as
pleasing as fresco, E 40 or pva. Pva in commercial grades does not meet
artistic quality standards, b<span class="msoIns"><ins cite="mailto:zfactor" datetime="2016-12-16T13:53"><o:p></o:p></ins></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ut is fine for
temporary work. Waterglass painting, also named Keim’s process after its
inventor, like E 40 has a silica binder; however the process involves the presence
of the highly reactive elements sodium or potassium. Fresco is the standard in
the Western art mural tradition. The technique, however, is very laborious,
requires considerable technical skill and experience, and is more rigid than E
40.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Supplies<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> E 40 is produced by Dynamit Nobel Aktien
Gesellschaft and Union Carbide Ltd. Standard pigments have to be supplied from
specialised houses, in particular those that only are used in artistic
practice. Ethyl aLcohol and hydrochloric acid are procured from chemical
suppliers. All can be googled up.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">* </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The author is an artist and cultural anthropologist working
in Zambia. He produced several murals of which one in ethyl silicate 40. He is
the founding director of the Choma Museum and Crafts Centre and organized
several art exhibitions in Zambia. He publishes mainly on The Net; mostly in the </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/"><span lang="EN-US">Art in Zambia Blog</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, the </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/"><span lang="EN-US">Z-factor Art Site</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">, </span><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://texts.zamart.org/"><span lang="EN-US">Z-texts
on line</span></a> and <a href="http://www.academia.edu/">www<span lang="EN-US">.academia.edu</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">References
and bibliography<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Cogan, H.D. and C.A.
Setterstrom. Properties of Ethysilicate. In <i>Chemical
and Engineering News, </i>24 (18), 25 Sept. 1946.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Cogan, H.D. and C.A.
Setterstrom. Ethylsilicates. In: <i>Industrial
and Engineering News. </i>39 (11), 1947.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoHeader" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">King, G. Silicon
Ester Binder. In: <i>Paint Manufacture</i>,
April 1931. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">King, G. Silicon Ester Paint Medium. In: <i>Paint Manufacture</i>, May 1931.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Mayer, R. The Artists’ Handbook of Materials and
Techniques. New York: Viking Press. 1982.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-6192420601942433302016-10-30T10:07:00.000+01:002017-05-29T11:23:07.092+02:00KANDINSKY REVISITED: A Note on Abstract Art<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<span lang="EN-US"><i>It never is literally true that any form </i>[</span><span lang="EN-US">in a painting] <i>is meaningless and “says nothing.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<i><span lang="EN-US"> Every
form in the world says something. But its message often fails to reach us,<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<i><span lang="EN-US"> and even
if it does, full understanding is often withheld from us. </span></i></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: right;">
<span lang="EN-US">Wassily Kandinsky<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">By Gijsbert
Witkamp*<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">First
published: 30 October 2016<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Roman Jakobson, the famous linguist, asked in
1964: “Why does nonobjective, nonrepresentational, abstract painting or
sculpture still meet with violent attacks, contempts, jeers, blame, bewilderment,
sometimes even prohibition, whereas calls for imitations of external reality
are rare exceptions in the perennial history of music?” (In <i>Phonetica</i>, 1964: 216). This is, according
to Jakobson (ibid., p. 218) because such art in a meaningful sense cannot be
resolved in “ultimate, discrete units, strictly patterned components...” and does
not consistently “exhibit a hierarchical [<i>grammatical</i>] structure.” “It is the
lack of these two properties that disturbs us when watching and inhibits our
perceptive and mnestic abilities.” In other words these works appear
meaningless, do not appeal to perceptive exploration by and memory engagement of the
viewer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Jakobson, an American immigrant born Russian in
1896, is one of the founders of structural linguistics. He demonstrated that
the sounds of any language can be reduced to a small number of discrete phonetic
elements, called distinctive features; each sound (phoneme) being composed of
one or more of such features. Sounds combine into meaningful units (words and
components of words) and words combine into sentences according to syntactical
rules. Language hence is systematic and structured; and this structure exists
irrespective of the expressions we create with it; it exists independent of the
individual speaker. Language, furthermore, can only be effective as a means of
communication if there is a community of speakers of that language, and such a
community must not only share the language but also understand the context in
which verbal statements are created or to which they apply. You can tell a four
year old English speaking infant that all matter can be reduced to a small
number of elements of which the atom is the smallest quantity but this profound
truth shall not alter the understanding of the material world of the child as
it has no way of comprehending that what it has heard. This, in a nutshell, is
how the dominant human instrument of communication and thought works. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FO3T-okxa5DuelzM_HfzpouQZvrGNkTDt7iTNi409c4MAXJq3V9ZnJFLR09mUu9io7h9xySiOu_eakEo6Zmu65KJl9xgtNaKhNlN32dqT0fB9TxBZbHDyfkgKDiveSF6TGVrw9C8wFo/s1600/willem-de-kooning-photographed-in-his-studio-1353900621_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2FO3T-okxa5DuelzM_HfzpouQZvrGNkTDt7iTNi409c4MAXJq3V9ZnJFLR09mUu9io7h9xySiOu_eakEo6Zmu65KJl9xgtNaKhNlN32dqT0fB9TxBZbHDyfkgKDiveSF6TGVrw9C8wFo/s320/willem-de-kooning-photographed-in-his-studio-1353900621_b.jpg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption" style="text-align: start;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #040404;">Photo </span><span style="color: #040404;">1</span><span style="color: #040404;">. Willem de Kooning in his studio, one of his abstract works in the background.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #040404;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I assume that Jacobson refers to that variety
of abstract art labeled abstract expressionism and related work lacking
figuration, e.g., paintings by Willem de Kooning (1904-1997), Jackson Pollock
(1912-1956), Barnett Newman (1905-1970), Mark Rothko (1903-70), Yves Klein
(1928-1962), Franz Kline (1910-1962) or Ad Reinhardt (1913-1967). We may safely
assume that the same disapproving response prevailed at the time as regards
abstract expressionist art having primitive, rudimentary figuration; e.g., work
by Willem de Kooning and members of the Cobra group. This art was the abstract
art <i>en vogue </i>at the time Jacobson’s writing,
made by mature artists of his and the next generation. The common denominator of
these various abstract arts is that the works embody sensation <i>as experienced by the artist; that such
sensation is the subject matter of the art work and the art object its visible
manifestation and concrete embodiment.</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">In the absence of a shared interpretive code
between the provider of information and its recipient there is no way of
predicting the response by the viewer to the visual stimuli provided by artist;
and clearly in the case of abstract or “non-objective” art there is no shared
code by means of which the work of art could be interpreted. The main abstract
painters, however, in various ways tried to engage the viewer in “contemplative
perception,” the opening up of the mind to the imagery presented to their eyes.
The post WW II abstract artists tended to create very large paintings that, so
to speak, could engulf the viewer with the aim of bringing about profound
perceptual sensation and deep emotion. Many abstract artists, though, were/are
not interested in (the lack of) communication between themselves as information
providers and viewers as receivers; and certainly not if the viewers are the
public at large rather than an artistic in-crowd. They prioritize their own
sensations as “in the act of creation” without asking themselves how a viewer
would arrive at sensations similar to that of the painter. For those the notion
of communication in and by art is irrelevant; it is replaced by the notion of
sensation and self-exploration as an end in itself. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">We thus arrive at one of the extremes in modern
art: an individualized art yet presented publicly by established art channels;
an art, moreover, that took centre stage in the Western modern art world during
the fifties and sixties; an art embraced as “progressive” at the time by an
artistic élite of art directors, gallery owners, museum curators, art writers and
collectors yet indeed bewildering or simply unappealing for those not in the
limelight of artistic progress. Such folks, looking at a painting by Jackson Pollock,
Willem de Kooning or Karel Appel indeed could and did exclaim, “to make such a painting
you do not have to be an artist.” <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTulISgedcKwo111vLhiAb3qPERFRRNCaQyM39E09wIaUm0ewVZ0V-mJUhOA-oDvEhcWPY6pPxyB-zmJgqlbpX0rOxZQHwqyYG3K-5S3oPwK8whIqH54u0RHC5utsVPYqGYX6hJze_THs/s1600/number-one.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTulISgedcKwo111vLhiAb3qPERFRRNCaQyM39E09wIaUm0ewVZ0V-mJUhOA-oDvEhcWPY6pPxyB-zmJgqlbpX0rOxZQHwqyYG3K-5S3oPwK8whIqH54u0RHC5utsVPYqGYX6hJze_THs/s400/number-one.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: windowtext;">Photo </span><span style="color: windowtext;">2</span><span style="color: windowtext;">. Jackson Pollock. <i>Number one</i>. 1949, enamel and metal paints on canvas, 259 x 160 cm.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
These images, to them, did not demonstrate any
skill appropriate to art; on the contrary some artists caused an outrage by the
very techniques they employed to create their large canvases. Pollock is best known
for his paint dripping and splashing techniques; Yves Klein for painting his
nude mostly female models blue who would press their painted bodies against the
canvas producing some sort of monochrome mono print.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6swL9nmg-4sPAPzXsgYqVoLnVOLDsY0TPU5QEjkzUUR1IuBo5CohtmAYL3nqTksokU7aLGYMl-2bgPAXv_O2Ofw7FuAlxu9h9GpcVdikFH6M9kSZF55AfAv7v7HZzdZBAeiyn2WzL_-4/s1600/Yves_Klein.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6swL9nmg-4sPAPzXsgYqVoLnVOLDsY0TPU5QEjkzUUR1IuBo5CohtmAYL3nqTksokU7aLGYMl-2bgPAXv_O2Ofw7FuAlxu9h9GpcVdikFH6M9kSZF55AfAv7v7HZzdZBAeiyn2WzL_-4/s320/Yves_Klein.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption" style="text-align: start;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #040404;">Photo </span><span style="color: #040404;">3</span><span style="color: #040404;">. Yves Klein at work and some of his productions.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #040404;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
De Kooning, Karel Appel and other members of
the Cobra Group sought a manner of rudimentary figuration (“gestural
abstraction”), not unlike that of a four year old equipped with big brushes and
cans of paint. Most work was rejected because it, from the uninitiated viewer’s
point of view, literally did not make any sense. Lacking a sign function in any
conventional or natural manner, the paintings were not experienced as
meaningful images (as in Pollock, Kline, Barnett or Rothko). Indeed, if one is oblivious
of the <i>exclusive</i> fine art context in
which these artists operated, a Pollock drip painting easily could be taken for
a bill board advertising the very paints he used to drip with, Newman’s huge
geometrical monochrome planes a suitable mural background in a post-modernistic
pizzeria, Appel’s rudimentary figurations a blown up demonstration of creative
activity in a progressive infant nursery and De Kooning’s female series an
example of psychiatric therapy by art.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99a9F_lkYmiClVRRsuqKJ_YBWZvke1TftpX58pevA5QncZIL7P5yqT45-MAcNXSkdJGJiD7cLHMa-OuKpgU2dgiE4vWJc8UIroaKZwPnOz8YMfIiljPhpnCJxNR9dGRw8A0MiqxRaU_U/s1600/32B+Woman+and+Bicycle+-+Willem+de+Kooning+1952-53+Close+Up+Whitney+Museum+Of+American+Art+New+York+City.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg99a9F_lkYmiClVRRsuqKJ_YBWZvke1TftpX58pevA5QncZIL7P5yqT45-MAcNXSkdJGJiD7cLHMa-OuKpgU2dgiE4vWJc8UIroaKZwPnOz8YMfIiljPhpnCJxNR9dGRw8A0MiqxRaU_U/s320/32B+Woman+and+Bicycle+-+Willem+de+Kooning+1952-53+Close+Up+Whitney+Museum+Of+American+Art+New+York+City.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption" style="text-align: start;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #040404;">Photo</span><span style="color: #040404;"> </span><span style="color: #040404;">4</span><span style="color: #040404;">.</span><span style="color: #040404;"> Willem de Kooning. <i>Woman and bicycle </i>(detail). 1953, Oil paint.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #040404;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
(I know very well that it is cheap to joke
about abstract art – no matter how expensive that art might be. It just
illustrates how far removed such art is from the art world of the uninitiated
viewer).<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Ironically the major abstract expressionist
painters, the pioneers and originators, developed specific techniques serving
the visual effects they were after – they knew that, in the absence of any
referential imagery, the attention of the viewer had to be caught by perceptual
qualities of the painted surface. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="page-break-after: avoid;">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6hWr-pwMAdZmMB0aK3EcEXf7kLS0O1iW6mk0-0g2K_9hHa7lcwn2wmqxXt8O-T9w0SxfFXU_IEzix5isJWhP0hv_zeqjsI_3Ko_7Lest70amgxjooPAIFUAZCh-1R79n2TX7OgCBYOc/s1600/black-in-deep-red.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt6hWr-pwMAdZmMB0aK3EcEXf7kLS0O1iW6mk0-0g2K_9hHa7lcwn2wmqxXt8O-T9w0SxfFXU_IEzix5isJWhP0hv_zeqjsI_3Ko_7Lest70amgxjooPAIFUAZCh-1R79n2TX7OgCBYOc/s320/black-in-deep-red.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption" style="text-align: start;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: windowtext;">Photo </span><span style="color: windowtext;">5</span><span style="color: windowtext;">: Mark Rothko. <i>Black in Deep Red</i>. 1957, 136.5 x 176 cm, oil paint.</span></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: justify;">Rothko, for example, developed a sophisticated
painting technique in which colours were applied in multiple thin layers (somewhat
like in conventional oil painting) so as to create a compelling visual sensation,
Yves Klein invented a technique that made his monochrome blues (pure
ultramarine pigment) as blue as blue can be by avoiding its envelopment by a
binder and Pollock’s paint dripping and splashing work is the product of a
deliberate technology that included tools for dripping, a horizontal position
of the canvas and the use of alkyd household paints (because of their liquidity
and perhaps their drying speed). Newman invented the so-called zip, a small
band of colour as a separator (“marker”) placed between the large vertical
monochrome planes of which most of his paintings are composed. All of these artists
had a predilection for large or very large works; works that could and should
fill the entire field of vision, leaving no space for sensation other than that
evoked by the painting under observation. Many viewers, however, did not come
close enough long enough for any such singular sensory/emotive impact to arise.
They responded to the encounter with the work of art by a shrug of the shoulder
and moved on. Incidentally the response could be violent: Newman’s work at
several occasions has been attacked and damaged.</span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="text-align: justify;">* * *</span></div>
<span style="text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">The upheaval and scandal that loudly announced the birth of post WW II abstract art & associated phenomena to the world at large obscures
the fact that the genesis of fully abstract art occurred at the beginning of the 20<sup>th</sup>
century, around 1910, almost 40 years before it resurfaced as abstract
expressionism as of the late forties. Abstract expressionism and related styles
or movements became the <i>avant garde </i>art
of the Western modern art world during the fifties and sixties. The first
generation of abstract art, now over hundred years old, had in it all the
elements that turned post WW II abstract art into such a spectacle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">The main founding fathers of abstract art were
Russian, Malevich and Kandinsky, and their abstract art came into being during dramatic
circumstances: WW I (1914-1918) and the communist revolution in what was to
become the Soviet Union.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: windowtext;">Photo </span><!--[if supportFields]><span
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style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>SEQ Photo \* ARABIC <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: windowtext;">6</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='color:windowtext;font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: windowtext;">. Kazimir Malevich.
Black Square. 1915, 80 x 80 cm, oil paint. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="color: windowtext;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">The surface crackle is caused by poor
storage, possibly in combination with usage of an oil paint having high oil
content.</span></span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span lang="EN-US">The year 1915, over a
century ago, has been heralded by some as the year of the birth of abstract art
by a painting made in that year titled “Black Square” by Kazimir Malevich (1878-1935,
a Russian of Polish descent). Malevich painted several <i>Black Squares</i>; the oldest apparently dates from 1913. <i>Black Square</i> simply is a square painted
black on a white background and the title of the painting unequivocally is the
name of the thing painted. <i>Black Square</i>,
unlike all fully abstract paintings<i> </i>has
a corresponding object in the non-imaginary material world: black squares do
exist as objects (as well as in the non-material world of concepts). But surely
that was not what Malevich had in mind: his <i>suprematist</i>
paintings were conceived as revolutionary, non-objective creation. He did,
remarkably, describe suprematism as the new realism in painting. Malevich said:
</span><i>"By 'Suprematism' I mean the supremacy of pure feeling in
creative art. To the Suprematist the visual phenomena of the objective world
are, in themselves, meaningless; the significant thing is feeling."</i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">By being non-objective (i.e., not
representational of real life scenes or material objects) art was now set free.
Malevich was first to paint a black square and present the painting as art. He
also painted the <i>Red Square</i> (like the
<i>Black Square</i> in several variants) and
<i>White on White</i> – a white square on a
white ground – and other paintings in similar, most elementary fashion: so
elementary that the viewer is forced to confront the issue of significant form.
What, in my view, is revolutionary in this art is not the abstraction attributed
to it – you may as well say that <i>Black
Square</i> is a case of minimalist realism – but the reduction of pictorial space
to its simplest modality: that of two monochrome planes. The white background serves as delineation of
the black square, emphasizing that the black square is the subject of the
painting; a painting which <i>achieved</i>
in the most elementary and radical manner its <i>sign function. </i>These minimalist paintings, going back to the
remarks by Jakobson cited above, certainly do engage memory functions, have
discrete components, can be followed or understood - but not necessarily as art
<i>at the time</i> because art in those days
was figurative or a play on figuration (as in cubism). These works, in their
extreme simplicity, defy the application of conventional aesthetic criteria
because there is so little to apply them to. Some sort of post-modernism <i>avant la lettre.</i> Indeed, translated into
present artistic reality, it might be said that Malevich was the first artist
to ask the question “What is Art” by purely pictorial means.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944) was also born in
Russia. He was slightly older than Malevich and a co-pioneer of abstract art.
Kandinsky started out a career in law, but in 1897, 34 years old, moved to
Munich, Germany, to study art. Soon thereafter he established himself as an original
and influential artist. He travelled extensively and spent one year in Paris
(1906-7) where he was greatly influenced by the colourful work of <i>les Fauves</i>. The true artists, stated
Kandinsky, “…consciously or subconsciously, in an entirely original form,
embody the expression of their inner life…” (Richard Stratton, 1977: vii). This
was in 1911 when Kandinsky with others formed the artists group <i>Der Blaue Reiter</i> – the same year in
which his <i>Über das Geistige in der Kunst</i> was published. The English translation of
this influential book occurred in 1914 under the title <i>The Art of Spiritual Harmony</i>; its Dover edition of 1977 has the
preface by Stratton referred to above and is titled <i>Concerning the Spiritual in Art</i>.<i>
</i>Kandinsky stayed in Germany till 1914 when he returned to Russia where he
participated in the artistic revolution that took place there simultaneously
with the social revolution. He went back to Germany in 1922 when artistic
freedom had made way for communist petty bourgeois artistic doctrine; the
soviet bureaucrats under Stalin in fact were prime examples of what it meant to
be narrow minded or simply ignorant when it came to art. Kandinsky joined the <i>Bauhaus</i> where he taught until its
closure by the Nazi regime. He moved to France in 1933 where he lived and
worked till his death in 1944.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-DEczXQTTUeHHJOoWf3RUz0ZiqXpfQqW6OgRDYWC5dVpL1AwwHfDIAMdcL2CGvvH59j6edrRPpN9q_JTFHTIzby1GLw7MMXJuz0vYoWEM9R-8CT4SkwXFLtBoVVyDnmbUuuLO_VV0cPM/s1600/kandinsky_wassily_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-DEczXQTTUeHHJOoWf3RUz0ZiqXpfQqW6OgRDYWC5dVpL1AwwHfDIAMdcL2CGvvH59j6edrRPpN9q_JTFHTIzby1GLw7MMXJuz0vYoWEM9R-8CT4SkwXFLtBoVVyDnmbUuuLO_VV0cPM/s1600/kandinsky_wassily_4.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #040404;">Photo </span><!--[if supportFields]><span style='color:#040404;
font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>SEQ Photo \* ARABIC <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: #040404;">7</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='color:#040404;font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: #040404;">. Wassily Kandinsky. <i>Composition VII. </i>1913, oil on canvas,
200 x 300 cm.<i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfENI5Ipz7wmDVwgBlVp9Q3k6vo7ESThJfdBBjMRLWR_lkPGgpru2NKMcUgItLVgMKaliXaC5bYKBAiJiyvAHDWfcfIOw94KJwKv-qVVmlSyqXjkhgg0eFKXffw8aP2nDUVXMT3VVRlRI/s1600/kandinsky_wassily_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfENI5Ipz7wmDVwgBlVp9Q3k6vo7ESThJfdBBjMRLWR_lkPGgpru2NKMcUgItLVgMKaliXaC5bYKBAiJiyvAHDWfcfIOw94KJwKv-qVVmlSyqXjkhgg0eFKXffw8aP2nDUVXMT3VVRlRI/s1600/kandinsky_wassily_6.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></div>
<div class="MsoCaption" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #040404;">Photo </span><!--[if supportFields]><span style='color:#040404;
font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>SEQ Photo \* ARABIC <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: #040404;">8</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='color:#040404;font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: #040404;">. Wassily Kandinsky. <i>Composition VIII</i>. 1923, oil on canvas,
140 x 201 cm.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Kandinsky, as shown above, practiced different
strands of abstract art, the wild expressionist type and the cool formal
variety. He, like Malevich, also painted in styles that incorporated figuration
and references to the material world. Kandinsky thought art a spiritual thing,
a way to get in touch with the higher, metaphysical world; the mission of the
artist was to create “lofty emotions beyond the reach of words” (1977: 2). The
artist should be a spiritual leader bringing light into the darkness of the human
soul, he should be motivated by an inner need to make art and not by material
gain or success. He thought that art in its purest form should be
non-objective (i.e., have no objective referent or denotatum) – such art could
convey its inner meaning without distracting associations with the material,
outer world. Kandinsky compared abstract art to music which like abstract art does
not express or have an object; yet is capable of capturing one’s emotions and
connects the soul to the sublime. You can, if you want, imagine the work of
photo 8, as a musical composition in visual form and colour: indeed the
painting almost looks like a musical score now presented in a spatial rather
than a temporal relationship. We see here an interesting counterpart to
Jacobson’s statement, of an art “designed like music”, but it is doubtful whether
the association of <i>Composition VIII</i> with
a musical composition would be made without knowing that Kandinsky deliberately
did so. The painting of photo 7 appears “as if a story,” but a story of which
the signifiers, the perceptual aspect of the sign, have been blurred to make
way for pure sensation and emotion. When Kandinsky, in 1911, stated that
abstract art was the highest (i.e., purest) form of art by its dissociation
with the outer material world, he had not yet made the step to full
abstraction. Kandinsky, however, already was concerned about the ability of the
viewer to experience (abstract) art as he had experienced it in painting: that
is calling forth the same feelings and emotions. He was aware that art could
not fulfill its <i>social </i>function of
spiritual progress and guidance if its viewers had no affinity with it. <i>Concerning the Spiritual in Art </i>contains
a chapter titled “The Language of Form and Colour” (1977: 27 – 45). In it he
attempts “provisionally” as he himself prudently says to describe properties of
form and colour in terms of sensation, feeling tone, pictorial effect and
expression of the “inner need” that is so important to him. The overriding
objection here is that these notions lack universality; they are time and
culture bound and, in this case, inevitably, also are personal interpretations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The formal structure of the paintings, unlike
in language, arises out of its subject matter; is motivated, as the
semioticians say, and its grammar to the extent that we can speak of one is individually
designed rather than communally shared by a distinct community of speakers. Art
writers, historians, critics and educators do, however, to some extent create a
“community of viewers,” thus making these early abstract works more
intelligible today as they were when first presented: history charged these
works with meaning and significance that they did not have at the time of their
creation save for their makers and close associates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Malevich, and Kandinsky to some extent,
initiated an intellectual formal abstract art strain that was continued in the
Western art world. Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944), a Dutch artist working in New
York, made abstract paintings based on a few basic forms (squares, rectangles,
border lines) in a few colours applied flat, as monochromes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHFRLJwlWcrGaPTQjcOtZTKN2kGImMC6Hdj5O3X3bfujn-D3v1_XHmMwbYqQ_3QSIc2UtqGgj1xpVNEM9UpSjJ1XQWAEmxUA47SJE49WnXM3ZCCqPDX0EijV1tywC31uNodR29Cg9SHg/s1600/mondrian-composition-red-blue-yellow.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="396" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjHFRLJwlWcrGaPTQjcOtZTKN2kGImMC6Hdj5O3X3bfujn-D3v1_XHmMwbYqQ_3QSIc2UtqGgj1xpVNEM9UpSjJ1XQWAEmxUA47SJE49WnXM3ZCCqPDX0EijV1tywC31uNodR29Cg9SHg/s400/mondrian-composition-red-blue-yellow.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #040404;">Photo </span><!--[if supportFields]><span style='color:#040404;
font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>SEQ Photo \* ARABIC <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: #040404;">9</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='color:#040404;font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: #040404;">. Piet Mondriaan. Red,
Yellow and Blue. 1930, 46 x 46 cm, oil paint.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Remarkably, several decades
later, Barnett Newman (1905-1970, an American immigrant of Jewish-Polish
decent) used the same basic colours as Mondriaan (and Kandinsky and Rochenko
did before Mondriaan) to<span lang="EN-US"> make a
series of Very Large Works composed of adjacent monochrome geometric planes;
with the series <i>Who is afraid of Red,
Yellow and Blue</i> being one of the most famous. Barnett, like, Malevich
sought an art of the sublime. He wrote: “I hope that my painting has the impact
of giving someone, as it did me, the feeling of his own totality, of his
separateness, of his individuality.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBq3ca_Au5xhrvfQg2c7g9cL2v3wSEAxae_4EZHB0CfdvytcRZUQPNgWNaO91Q3patHhGbFQluFY41KeSOK3bwHODLjxSzHpX-Vh2K0RqYoEXfHETOHhCSdoIjiKZNMbgZaoxKAsi9fI0/s1600/barnett-newman-whos-afraid-of-red-yellow-and-blue-iii-1387572896_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBq3ca_Au5xhrvfQg2c7g9cL2v3wSEAxae_4EZHB0CfdvytcRZUQPNgWNaO91Q3patHhGbFQluFY41KeSOK3bwHODLjxSzHpX-Vh2K0RqYoEXfHETOHhCSdoIjiKZNMbgZaoxKAsi9fI0/s400/barnett-newman-whos-afraid-of-red-yellow-and-blue-iii-1387572896_b.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 10. <span style="color: #040404; font-size: 12.8px;">Barnett Newman. </span><i style="color: #040404; font-size: 12.8px;">Who is Afraid of
Red, Yellow and Blue</i><span style="color: #040404; font-size: 12.8px;">. <br />One of a series of four large canvasses made during
1966-1970</span></td></tr>
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Geometrical formal units were also later used
by Ad Reinhardt (working in squares of black and near black).</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There are other strains (“styles”) of abstract expressionist
art, less rigid than the formalism in the Malevich vein and less amorphous as
abstract expressionism in its extreme variants. Of these the work of the
American Franz Kline and the originally Latvian Rothko needs to be mentioned.
Both artists tried, in a sense, to restore or simulate the “sign-function” of
their art by creating intriguing, evocative forms and surfaces.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZhyphenhyphenF0dd3GAOLZKwR0lDjOSf0xJ0Zw8sqwKbEjWBz-yl8Phuo9CdaODztjMvBmrBkPdMa2j3tvvTI6TCXrwQu43A85BXNc3BORr1o8MjTBesWebCL7BFazLPx9uzg6-Kl19amgdA7a7M/s1600/Franz_kline_untitled_d5621931h.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeZhyphenhyphenF0dd3GAOLZKwR0lDjOSf0xJ0Zw8sqwKbEjWBz-yl8Phuo9CdaODztjMvBmrBkPdMa2j3tvvTI6TCXrwQu43A85BXNc3BORr1o8MjTBesWebCL7BFazLPx9uzg6-Kl19amgdA7a7M/s400/Franz_kline_untitled_d5621931h.jpg" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoCaption">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="color: #040404;">Photo </span><!--[if supportFields]><span style='color:#040404;
font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><span style='mso-element:field-begin'></span><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>SEQ Photo \* ARABIC <span style='mso-element:
field-separator'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: #040404;">11</span><!--[if supportFields]><span
style='color:#040404;font-weight:normal;mso-bidi-font-weight:bold'><span
style='mso-element:field-end'></span></span><![endif]--><span style="color: #040404;">. Franz Kline. Untitled. 1955,
painting.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #040404;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Kline (1910-1962) painted mostly in black on
white, creating forms that are reminiscent of Japanese characters, Zen style if
you like, or, as in the above reproduction, forms suggestive of real life
scenes. In this painting you can “read” a human figure with arms stretched out
forward. Rothko’s paintings by their variegated surfaces seek to rouse the
interest of the viewer by perceptual means (for example see photo 5). Again,
and unlike the singularity of Malevich’s <i>Black
Square</i>, meanings are read into it differently by different folks; or even
differently by the same viewer at different times or occasions. So perhaps the
merit of art such as Rothko’s simply is that of “intriguing form,” leaving it
to the viewer’s mind to expand “intriguing form” to “meaningful form” in a
personal interpretation; or perhaps, simply to take the sensory sensation in “as
if music.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Today, more than five decades after the
publication by Jacobson, there has been extensive exposure to the abstract art
he refers to; and the responses (bewilderment &c.) as they existed at the
time when these nonrepresentational works were first put on show in leading
galleries have ceased to exist. These works, and in particular those of the
leaders and pioneers of these styles, in time did not only assume significance
in an art historical sense but also acquired certain sorts of meaning; they are
now, at least for those exposed to them not lost in a void but included in
memory and have become irreversibly an element of the modern art discourse. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">One manner, and perhaps the only one, by means
of which these apparently “meaningless” art works may acquire sense in the
viewer’s mind, is by seeing them as part of a series; as a member of what in semiotics
is call a syntagm. In phonic language a syntagm is an orderly sequence, e.g.,
as in the meaningful elements that constitute a sentence. In visual
communication the significant elements of a “visual statement” (e.g., a
painting) have a spatial rather than a time-sequential relation; but if you
present art works in a slide show you create a sequence of events in time, each
painting having a provisional sign function. It’s worth a try and easy to do.
Google Rothko up – he himself had noted the importance of seeing his work not
in isolation but as a series. Within a few minutes you start to grasp some of
his manner of working: you become aware of his style, the similarity or <i>redundancy</i> in his abstract oeuvre, its
patterning: the beginning of some sort of understanding. It may not do much for
you in terms of arriving at the pictorial semantics or meaning <i>as Rothko intended</i> but you get at least
a glimpse of the underlying sense of his work. Same for Pollock. His work at
first glance and in isolation seems to be dominated by random blots and drops
and splashes of paint. Seeing a number of these in sequence makes you realize
that the apparently random application of paint actually is guided, usually by
a skeleton like frame in white line or other colour; rendering perhaps some
credence to Pollock saying that “his paintings are a statement.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Statements, in order to be intelligible, must
be properly structured in the medium of their construction and the statement
must be about something. And that is of course the tricky part: What IS Pollock
trying to say? Or is he just trying to invoke sensation and emotion, perhaps of
the sublime kind (as in Kandinsky, Malevich, or Barnett), or of deep human
emotions as in Rothko?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">You may ask whether an informed art audience
today equipped with art historical hindsight succeeds in making sense out of
abstract art as individual art works (other than as <i>momento</i> <i>mori</i> of art
movements far removed from the present <i>avant
garde</i>). Today these monumental abstract works are a testimony of one of the
extreme possibilities in art: that of an image-presence without any reference
to objects in our external material reality; except to themselves as a
class of objects. As stated above, the producers of these works assigned
“meaning” to them in particular as embodiment of emotional sensation; however
these remained personal experiences rather than common responses.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The abstract arts, in its formalistic (Malevich,
Mondriaan, Newman, Reinhardt), organic (Rothko, Kline) and expressionistic
variants (Kandinsky, Pollock, Kline, Rothko, De Kooning, Cobra Group) have
continued to exist long after they were presented at the time as the frontier
of artistic innovation. Notably post WW II abstract expressionism appealed to
many painters often a generation following the pioneers, not only in the
Western art world but all over the globe. Many of these followers simply were
epigones, imitators attempting to ride on the success of the innovative
masters, others strived for their own variety or style with integrity. You may
ask how come an art style that received so little public appreciation continued
to exist long after its innovative impact had died out and was taken over by
other, equally fashionable trends or movements.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The answer I believe is twofold. First, Western
modern art as of the beginning of the previous century puts a premium on
innovation and originality – of any kind. Originality at times seems to be an
objective by itself. That accounts for the importance given art historically to
the pioneers/genuine innovators in the wider Western art world. It also
accounts for the senseless extravaganza that turned post WO II art into
controversy and disrepute. Kandinsky, prophetically, wrote over 100 years ago
(1977: 8):<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the search for method the artist
still goes further. Art becomes so specialized as to be comprehensible only to
artists, and they complain bitterly of public indifference to their work. For since the artist in such times [i.e.
materialistic, lacking spirituality]<i> </i>has
no need to <i>say </i>much, but only to be
notorious for some small originality and consequently [is] lauded by a small
group of patrons and connoisseurs (which incidentally is also a very profitable
business for him), there arise a crowd of gifted and skillful painters, so easy
does the conquest of art appear. In each artistic circle are thousands of such
artists, of whom the majority seek only for some new technical manner, and who
produce millions of works of art without enthusiasm, with cold hearts and souls
asleep.</blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: 36pt;">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">No need to say that “this wild hunt for
notoriety,” as Kandinsky calls it, continues today and demonstrates an amazing
lack of direction by artists and art institutions alike.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Second, the importance of original art has
taken on a specific form by the economics of (modern) art. The work of the few
artists that made it to the limelight of the art scene and whose work has been
accepted and promoted by its major actors and institutions, the prestigious galleries,
museums, writers, critics, have for decades become collector’s items of great
value – we are talking about tens of millions of dollars for a single
painting. The producers of these paintings have become legendary figures and
their works, now enshrined in a mythology invented by gallery owners, curators
and art writers, have become an investment and a substantial one at that. Indeed these paintings can be compared to company shares whose value is determined by the stock exchange. It is
of great importance to those owning these works – private collectors,
galleries, large companies and art museums - that the monetary value of the art
they acquired is guaranteed and the merit of these works is not disputed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span lang="EN-US">* * *</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US">Concluding Remarks</span></b><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">1. Several abstract artists emphasize the
importance abstract art may have as self-exploration or discovery for the
artist. Sure, naturally the creation of each work of art involves exploration
be it into one’s self or in any case in the limitless world of the imagination.
It is, however, presumptuous to assume that what is important for the artist (as
personal sensation, as experience, as psycho-therapy, as psychological trip) is
equally important to the viewer or the society at large and it simply is wrong
to assume that a viewer even when part of the same art world shall have
experiences in viewing similar to those of the creating artist. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">2. All abstract artists insist on the primacy
of emotion and feeling in the experience in making their art. And these feeling
and emotions are the essence of their art. In the absence of “objective
representation or association” the origin of these emotions and feeling are
embedded in the very art work itself. When abstract art came into being,
roughly during 1910-15, this was innovative indeed; an original contribution by
the pioneering artists to the
development of art – and, again according to Kandinsky, that is the lasting
element of “the inner need” that should drive the true artist. Today, having
gone through this phase, the limitations of abstract art stand out more clearly
and these limitations are immanent in its very non-representativeness – or,
more precisely, its lack of figurative association (“mnestic appeal"). Today we
simply look at abstract art as one of the many modalities in which art can be
made; but I think few would hold on to its privileged “pure” position as
envisaged by Malevich and Kandinsky. The freedom the artist has gained is one
of choice, from hyper-realism, narrative, conceptual to abstract or any other manner
of art he or she might think of. More important than style is that art is
genuine, driven by the “inner need” of the artist honestly striving to make
imagery that makes sense not only to the artist but to the viewers as well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">3. The
introduction of abstract art indeed liberated the visual arts from its bond of
representing something outside or beyond itself; it opened up the road to pure pictorial
freedom – at a price. Art, as an autonomous domain of human activity, an
activity defining its functionality first and foremost in and by itself, almost
inevitably is for the happy, or perhaps not so happy, few; for an in-crowd but
no longer for the larger population. This in itself is nothing new, innovative
art generally is appreciated at first by an informed élite after which it
either dies out or broader circulated. What is new I think are the extravagant
happenings and presentations in galleries and museums “in the name of art” when
these events have no artistic merit and more aptly are labeled “the hunt for
notoriety,” Yves Klein’s female blues falling in the category, and the same
applied for a lot of pseudo abstract or conceptual art. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">4. There is, in art writing, a confusing usage
of the terms/concept form and content; mostly expressed as form <i>versus</i> content. In this usage “form” is
that what we see and is objectified in the art work, “content” is that what the
art work is about. Form, so to speak, equals perception and content equals
ideas, meaning and “subject matter.” The question is whether this dichotomy
holds in art – as it does in language <i>(language)</i>
where form is the signifier and content or meaning the signified part of the linguistic
sign; the two components being inextricably combined into one. (Visual art in
this sense, is more like <i>speech: </i>the
way<i> </i>words are spoken adds another
layer of meaning concurrent with its verbal semantics). I don't want to go
into an obscure discussion of what “content” might mean when it comes to art but I
do want to say that in art “form” (meaning the manner in which an image is
formed, be that image purely abstract, imaginary, symbolic of a concept or
associated to material objects or scenes) always by itself constitutes an
aspect of content, a component of meaning. That is what is meant by the
autonomy of image formation. It is the internal visual logic that provides an
element of sense to abstract art – even if other associative mechanisms that render
meaning to art appear to be absent, subdued, ambiguous or dormant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">5. The idea that the artist provides a blue
print of what the viewer is to feel/experience/interpret as meaning is
abandoned, or at least is put between brackets, and is replaced by conceiving the art work open minded as a mental
space in which the signifying (of whatever kind) is done by the viewer. The
principle of “intuitive aesthetic recreation,” as Panofsky calls it </span>(1983
: 38)<span lang="EN-US">, can be left to the art
historian whose job it is to understand the art work as the artist intended and
to reconstruct how it was perceived at the time in the art world where it was
made and presented. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">6. All
art in order to be appropriately experienced must turn on in the viewer what I
call the artistic mind set. The term is broader as related concepts like “the aesthetic attitude” or the intuitive aesthetic reconstruction of Panofsky
mentioned above. This is a specific mind set, different from ordinary pragmatic
application of our mental and motor faculties; in many ways this kind of mental
activity is similar to sitting down on top of a hill to take in with an open
mind the sight of the land around it. The artistic mind set in art hinges on
the visual experience, most directly visual perception itself, which by
association or reflection may engage/trigger off/turn on intellectual,
emotional, sensory or memory activity in the viewer; all of this in a highly
complex and intricate manner; partly conscious partially along sub-conscious
associative pathways of the human mind. A condition, for this to happen, is
that the right button is switched on. Such switching on is facilitated by
presenting the art work in a suitable environment (as an art exhibition), by
the obvious presentation of the art work as art (as by framing it), or by
information presented before or during the viewing session. But more
fundamentally: what the viewer sees must appeal, intrigue, or entice him or
her. A major concern of the artist is to “turn on the viewer” and as described
above, the major abstract artists attempted the same. <i>The development of the artistic mind set, including a sense of the
aesthetic, in my understanding, is the universal mission and functionality of
art.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">7. All art worthy of its name, be it a simple
sketch or a large elaborate composition, embodies a concept – or a combination
of concepts. These concepts are manifested in formal aspects as perceived or
perceptible: that is the arrangement of visual elements. These concepts can be
of many different kinds – be it the “realistically representation” of a
material object or event; a free rendering of such event or object to create a
specific mood or feeling; the recombination of naturalistic form in fantastic,
imaginary realities; giving form to feeling and emotion without associative
clues to “objective reality;” by isolating, selecting and combining actual
objects and presenting them as an artistic composition; by symbolizing certain
forms to stand for specific emotions, concepts or states; by focusing of the perceptual
intricacies of the work of art as a subject by itself; or by stressing
underlying messages conveyed to the viewer; by the demonstration of exceptional
technique – and so on. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">8. Kandinsky rightly says that what I call here
conceptualisation in art is informed by the personality of the artist, the
environment (time/place) where he/she works and by the general development of
the arts – what today we call the artistic discourse. In Kandinsky all three
elements are an aspect of the inner need that drives the true artist; of these
three he attributed most importance to the third: the original, genuine and
therefore lasting contribution by an artist to the art of the world of which he/she
is part. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">9. Combining conceptualization in art and ways
to do so (items 8 & 9 above) constitutes <i>The Artistic Space</i> – a virtual reality that constitutes one of the
essential domains of human life, a domain that combines in it visual creation,
perception and presentation with and about feeling, emotionality and symbolization; and
in doing so presents us with one of the instruments to make sense about our
world and ourselves. This visual domain, being non-verbal, compliments that
other great domain of our mental and practical life that is dominated by
language; the space of science, philosophy, thought and practices inextricably tied
up with verbal communication<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">10. The last line of the Conclusion in <i>Concerning the Spiritual in Art</i> (1977:
57) reads: “We have before us the age of conscious creation, and this new
spirit in painting is going hand in hand with the spirit of thought towards an
epoch of great spiritual leaders.” I’m not so sure we have had many of these
great spiritual leaders in art since Kandinsky wrote this over one hundred years ago.
It appears that the notion of artists being spiritual leaders had little appeal
to the great artists of the 20<sup>th</sup> century – though Kandinsky himself
no doubt was one. His understanding of art as “conscious creation,” especially of
the complex art he called a composition, surely was not heeded by many artist
working in the abstract and expressionist abstract manner – many of them
thought conscious contemplation and reflection to interfere with the
spontaneity of “expression” they were after. Action painters, including
Jackson Pollock, had to design their concept “on-the-go,” so to speak, before
the paint dried up. Much of this work suffers from conceptual poverty,
including work that derived its initial merit from its fresh looks. Now many of
such looks are not so fresh anymore, the work has aged, what was a bright white
once now is a pale yellow, and often such material decay has been accelerated
by a total abuse or ignorance of art materials. There is an eternal truth that
says that the good artist must also be an artisan in his craft – without skill
there is no art (</span>Gregory Bateson, (1973:117)<span lang="EN-US">. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Note</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">* The author is an artist and cultural anthropologist
working in Zambia. He is the founding director of the Choma Museum and Crafts
Centre and organized several exhibitions about art in Zambia. He publishes on
The Net; i.e., </span><a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/"><span lang="EN-US">Art in Zambia Blog</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, the </span><a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/"><span lang="EN-US">Z-factor Art Site</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://texts.zamart.org/">Z-texts
on line</a> and </span><a href="http://www.academia.edu/">www<span lang="EN-US">.academia.edu</span></a><span lang="EN-US">.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<b><span lang="EN-US">References<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">Bateson,
Gregory. Style, Grace and Information in Primitive Art. In: <i>Steps to an Ecology of Mind.</i> 1973.
Granada Publishing Ltd, Paladin book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">Jakobson, Roman.
1964. On Visual and Auditory Signs. In: <i>Semiotica</i> 11, p. 216-220.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span lang="EN-US">Kandinsky, Wassily.
1977 (reprint of 1914 English original). <i>Concerning
the Spiritual in Art.</i> New York, Dover Publications Inc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Panowsky, Erwin. 1983. <i>Meaning in the Visual Arts. </i>Peregrine book.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
Stratton, Richard. Preface to the Dover
Edition. In: <i>Concerning the Spiritual in Art.</i> 1977. New York Dover Publication.<span lang="EN-US"></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">I have consulted the <i>Wikipedia </i>entries on Jackson Pollock, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko,
Yves Klein, Ad Reinhardt, Piet Mondriaan, Willem de Kooning, Kazimir Malevich,
Wassily Kandinsky, Franz Kline. The Museum of Modern Art at New York (MOMA) published
on YouTube video’s demonstrating the painting techniques of most abstract
painters mentioned in this text. Google images provided the material for all the
visual illustrations – if you want to see more just do the regular searching
and you’ll be presented an entire library of abstract imagery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US">
</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-39427365820776733892016-02-08T07:58:00.002+01:002017-05-29T11:10:00.528+02:00Art in Zambia Virtual Museum under Construction<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Text and illustrations by Bert
Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">First
uploaded: 8 February 2016<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Updated: 11 February 2016</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Visitors can’t
get in a physical museum under construction. On the web you can!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGClT0q_T1wuRmmic9rI_TuzhlHhzAi6Lh8iXWn_HqpLpGJDNcDk2baVRpVyVE3zSg6pPG7oWWz0usSMEaM11FkUo8IKrb-M2AINgAVpP4LE1rxbZTeord894e8frwUfrf-uuA0970OA/s1600/Simpasse1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGClT0q_T1wuRmmic9rI_TuzhlHhzAi6Lh8iXWn_HqpLpGJDNcDk2baVRpVyVE3zSg6pPG7oWWz0usSMEaM11FkUo8IKrb-M2AINgAVpP4LE1rxbZTeord894e8frwUfrf-uuA0970OA/s200/Simpasse1.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Detail of drawing by Aquila Simpasse.</span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Taking a look is easy: </span></b><a href="http://museum.zamart.org/"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">click here</span></b></a><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">!<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Five years
ago, in February 2011, I started this Art in Zambia blog to rouse interest in
the creation of a virtual museum of art in Zambia. The first post was titled <i><a href="http://artblog.zamart.org/search/label/Virtual%20museum" target="_blank"><span style="color: #073763;">Virtual Museum of Zambian Art</span></a></i> and was followed by others on the same subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
rationale of this initiative was to make up for the lack of a physical museum
of art in Zambia and to exploit the specific advantages of the Internet to do
things conventional museums in Zambia don’t do or, if so, only in a small way. Such
as publicly accessible information management and interaction with interested relevant
parties in programme development, interactive educational facilities, virtual tours or information generation and sharing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAocRxi3r-dggxJTzpapeAT270X-4l2V7aut2QLtTeefSYYF-ADJRXhilK_KuMx7zQ16q5OHB1aXz3G7wdOE-gdKR-_wZ1ooVpNVqft8kBLtpsR3Jjg4yMv9EhLiAdlwiPU5URCSa_E7U/s1600/Screen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAocRxi3r-dggxJTzpapeAT270X-4l2V7aut2QLtTeefSYYF-ADJRXhilK_KuMx7zQ16q5OHB1aXz3G7wdOE-gdKR-_wZ1ooVpNVqft8kBLtpsR3Jjg4yMv9EhLiAdlwiPU5URCSa_E7U/s320/Screen.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Struggling with web site building software in 2011.......</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">I received some encouraging responses, including from major players, but no substantial
support. I did dig into the intransigent matter of website software and
internet technology – also because I wanted to publish my own work in writing
and imagery construction on The Net. My first attempt was with Drupal; open source software in
which you design on your computer, save and next upload. The protocols were too
complicated for me. Next I tried WordPress. Easier but geared towards designing
a blog rather than a website. <span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Then someone – well, not just someone:
outstanding Zambian-Australian ceramist Njalikwa Chongwe - </span>pointed me to </span><a href="http://www.weebly.com/" style="font-family: 'century gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;" target="_blank">Weebly</a><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">, a simple programme
basically meant for small sites. I stepped in and it worked. I used it for my
own productions and to publicize the art exhibitions I was organizing for the
</span><a href="http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com/" style="font-family: 'century gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;" target="_blank">Choma Museum</a><span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;"> during 2012 and 2013. In this programme you design online –
meaning you need have to have reasonably fast, reliable and affordable internet.
The preparatory work you can do as documents that you save as usual and copy
and paste when online at the Weebly site.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Weebly
actually is not the right programme for something as complex as a museum site. But
after 5 years of stagnation something had to be done. Even if only as a token,
a symbol, a declaration of intent and appetizer. The start of something which
when growing can migrate to a better suited environment, like a seedling to an orchard. You want to get a taste of the sort of thing it is going to be? </span><a href="http://museum.zamart.org/" style="font-family: 'Century Gothic', sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">GET-IN THE
PICTURE!</a><br />
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%;">P.S. For
those who think art on the internet is a waste of time: the Art in Zambia blog
since its inception in February 2011 till February 2016 has been viewed over 13,000 times.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "century gothic" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;">P.P.S. How many art lovers have seen more than five works of Aquila Simpasse? Yet he was a one of the first major post Independence Zambian artists, inaugurating modern art in this country. His work now is scattered but easily could be brought together on the virtual museum site for public exhibition and documentation.</span></div>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "century gothic" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comChoma, Zambia-16.8054223 26.99701529999993-16.9270258 26.835653799999928 -16.6838188 27.158376799999932tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-58888260158650936042015-08-31T12:56:00.000+02:002015-08-31T16:25:02.378+02:00THE Z-FACTOR ART IN ZAMBIA AGENDA<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Post by Bert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Published 31 August 1015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Below a list of art activities
that in my view would make the Zambian Art World a more interesting and
functional place to be in – and would do better justice to the art
made in this country and the people who make it happen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">It is a short-medium term itinerary –
mostly just ideas but some of these are presently practically worked
on.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4v0DMpS3C72b3bGSfiHsYz3tMu9HG02uMulYZcGiG4SnRbomPxBzgnyknsxj65KcE95P0yPeI0Z6k8YrR1nOlUPRNwoZwZePHxm51zTVBG5UGZ2uxm9ozlm4TnQVcPDagtDipGuUoIRY/s1600/Simpasse1-96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4v0DMpS3C72b3bGSfiHsYz3tMu9HG02uMulYZcGiG4SnRbomPxBzgnyknsxj65KcE95P0yPeI0Z6k8YrR1nOlUPRNwoZwZePHxm51zTVBG5UGZ2uxm9ozlm4TnQVcPDagtDipGuUoIRY/s320/Simpasse1-96.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Detail of drawing by Aquila Simpasa (Chongwe collection).<br />
He was one of the pioneers of modern art in Zambia, <br />
yet his work and life are not documented.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">1. EXHIBITIONS. </span><span style="line-height: 150%;">A trilogy of exhibitions of Art in
Zambia in social context by generation: 1960-1980, 1981-200, 2001 to present.
Objective: provide comprehensive overview, build up historical awareness and
understanding.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;">Requires booklet and educational activity
for schools. </span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;">The exhibition should be designed to
travel to suitable venues in Zambia; in any case the Livingstone Art Gallery
and the Lusaka National Museum. A slimmed down variant could perhaps be
displayed at smaller facilities.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">2. “THE INSIDE OUT HISTORY OF ART IN
ZAMBIA.” An art history of personal accounts by those (or their associates) who
made the Zambian Art World. Intended as Internet publication on a dedicated
website or as a component of:</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">3. THE VIRTUAL MUSEUM OF ART IN ZAMBIA.
Promoting this project was the idea behind the Art in Zambia blog I started in
2011. I now have decided to go ahead and presently am working on it in an
as yet unpublished form.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">4. Revise the N’GOMA ART AWARDS.
Presently annually four prices are given out: 1 for 2-dim artist, 1 for 3-dim
artist, 1 for female artist and one for upcoming artist. Zambia does not have
sufficient artists for so many annual prices and the N’goma awards are not
sufficiently funded to award artists with a substantial price. I’d say 1 substantial
price annually is enough and better, rotating the current schedule. I don’t
know if it still makes sense to have special prices for female artists –
perhaps female artists by now are equally well positioned as the men. A
substantial price, I would say, starts somewhere in the order of K 50,000; enabling
the artist to work for some time without financial worries and possibly
purchase art equipment and materials.</span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">There are other issues, perhaps of greater
importance but probably more remote in realization. Yet some of these need to
be named.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ol>
<li><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">On top of the list is the need to
have a genuine art CURATOR: I mean someone having an MA in a combination of Art
History (with major in Zambian art by research and thesis) and Museum Studies
(including preservation). It is appalling that we have several art collections,
now located at the Lusaka National Museum, without an art professional =
curator looking after these collections.</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">A dedicated ART MUSEUM / CENTRE. The
LNM never was designed as an art museum and is not well suited for such.</span></li>
<li><span lang="EN-US" style="line-height: 150%; text-indent: -18pt;">Such museum could be placed in an
ART PRECINCT (as proposed by Gwenda Chongwe and supported by others). A
concentration of art/cultural facilities and activities by itself has a
stimulating allover effect.</span></li>
</ol>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-42237830012287387532015-08-24T10:07:00.000+02:002016-02-08T17:26:11.247+01:00THE INSIDE OUT HISTORY OF ART IN ZAMBIA<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span lang="EN-US">Post by Bert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">First
published: 24 August 2014<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">Last update: 28 August 2014</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b><u><span lang="EN-US">Art in Zambia series 9</span></u></b><span lang="EN-US">: <i>The Inside Out History of Art in Zambia</i> is a project aimed at the
collection of stories by those who helped shape the History of Art in Zambia.
Their personal accounts are to be published on a dedicated website and thus
shall be accessible to anyone interested in Art in Zambia.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">The lack of
Zambian art historical documentation increasingly makes it hard for upcoming
artists to position themselves in a tradition which now is several
generations of artists deep. Similarly art lovers, supporters and other interested
party rarely have more than a fragmented view of the Zambian art world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">The idea
behind “<i>The Inside Out History of Art in
Zambia</i>” is to ask people who actually made that history or who were/are closely
involved in it to write personal accounts of the things they were/are involved
in. The variety of contributors can be large indeed; artists, organisors, members
of (boards) of organizations, managers of business houses and galleries, writers,
patrons, teachers, curators, supporters, workshop facilitators, exhibition
designers, collectors: in short anybody who in one way or the other had/has something
to do with art that is of interest to the art world in Zambia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">The written
contributions are not meant as formal art historical papers. They are meant as
personal accounts of someone’s involvement in a particular event or activity.
It is about the <i>inside</i> view. The
facts should be correct, their understanding and interpretation that of the
writer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">When
possible the contributions should be illustrated and additional documentation
(e.g. media coverage, leaflets, catalogues) is very welcome. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dFcQ1gU1yULpN8jSkLc9Kw98EZcObPTfWqQ13ewNflCWZtcdPdlWOvqCqOheU7wq-C3QjAzNp_U7dZhKpeV5aOpEiFQxrARb82QaFATf5nqtGDHYiDT8VsKx1MtB_YexJzEbdaGD7nM/s1600/PM-printmaker96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6dFcQ1gU1yULpN8jSkLc9Kw98EZcObPTfWqQ13ewNflCWZtcdPdlWOvqCqOheU7wq-C3QjAzNp_U7dZhKpeV5aOpEiFQxrARb82QaFATf5nqtGDHYiDT8VsKx1MtB_YexJzEbdaGD7nM/s400/PM-printmaker96.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Print Maker. Woodcut<br />
by Patrick Mweemba. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
There is a
very long list of topics that springs to mind. The coming into being of VAC, Mpapa
Gallery, the art exhibitions of the Choma Museum, the art collection of the Livingstone
Museum (did you know they had one?), the Art Centre Foundation, the Art Teacher’s
Diploma Course at the Evelyn Hone (students that became artists, curriculum
development), Rockstone, Insaka Trust, the development of stone sculpture in
Zambia using an angle grinder, the introduction of high firing pottery, the
use of local materials in fine art, what the etching press of Cynthia Zukas did for Zambian graphic art and so on and so forth. Coverage shall focus
on “modern art” and may include applied and popular or folk art.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">The
collection of contributions is not likely to be a systematic coverage of the
subject. It is a piecemeal approach, topical indeed. But the opening chapter
could and should be an overview of modern art in Zambia. Furthermore, as the
project progresses strategic contributions can be solicited to arrive at
something more coherent or relevant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">My idea
presently is to publish these contributions in a dedicated website – I am
presently setting it up. The beauty of publishing on the net is global accessibility and the possibility of adding and updating.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<span style="text-align: justify;">The copy rights
shall remain with the authors. Publication is as by regular format: Title, name
author, text; and only after consent of author. Participation is both by
invitation or own initiative. The coordination for the time being is with me –
others are welcome to join.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US">Interested? Don't think about it. Do it. Writing is good for you!</span></div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-43144191074340956202015-08-14T13:09:00.000+02:002016-12-16T14:59:19.958+01:00THE MATTER OF ART AND ARTISTS<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 125%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Internet
publication by Bert Witkamp.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 125%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 125%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Text first
published: 15 August 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 125%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 125%;">Current
update: 22 September 2015<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><u><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Art in
Zambia </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">series</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> no 8: The Matter of Art and Artists.</span></u></span><span class="MsoPageNumber" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <i>The purpose of this article is to contribute
to a better understanding of material-technical knowledge and ability for
artists, art collectors and others interested in art; with special reference to
the development of modern art in Zambia. Most modern art techniques were
introduced in Zambia during the colonial days or shortly thereafter and
therefore are exotic in origin. The materials and techniques of these media
were taken up by Zambian artists, often in a haphazard and piecemeal fashion. Much
art has been made that is poor from a material-technological point of view. A deterioration
of the physical condition of the art object also brings with it a deterioration
of its imagery. Lack of
material-technological understanding has been exacerbated by a changing technological standards of the conventional western fine arts and is
perpetuated by absence of educational facilities where sound material
technology of art can be accessed, learned and practiced by Zambian artists. The final
section of this paper is an itinerary of simple measures that can be taken by
(Zambian) artists to improve on the material construction of their art.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Art is a thing<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Art has an
objective existence because works of art are made up of matter. All art, in one
way or another, is made of materials having specific physical and chemical properties.
Certain objective properties provide the raw material for perception, the
external stimuli. In the visual arts those properties that have to do with
light are of paramount importance. Our eyes perceive the artwork by the light the
work of art reflects or emits. Our brain and mind during such perception
construct the imagery associated with the artwork that is perceived. The
imagery is mental and internal; the object is material and external.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">We do not
have an objective instrument to assess (“measure”) artistic merit of a work of
art. The study of materials and techniques of art, however, provides a way to
assess how well a work of art is made </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">as
an object</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">. Such assessment must be carried out in the context of the art
tradition to which the art under investigation belongs. Outside its own
tradition, placed in an alien environment, different criteria may apply. This often
happens when ethnographic </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">artifacts</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> are removed from their native situation to
a museum. In the museum measures need to be taken to conserve and preserve the
object well - as that is one major thing museums have to do: keep objects well.
In the native situation the broken mask is replaced by a similar, new one and
the old mask is discarded. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Art is an image<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
relation between art object, perception and mental imagery construction of the
perceived art object is complex and not the subject of this article. Suffice it
here to note that seeing is something you have to learn and this also applies
to the perception of art. For our present purposes we merely emphasize the
intrinsic relationship between art object and percept of that object. If visual
properties of the work of art change, so does its percept and mental image.
Artists and keepers of art need to know the changes that shall or may incur in
the art object once it has been made; changes issuing from the manner of its
construction and the environment in which it is kept.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Art is for today or for eternity<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Some art is
not made to last; it is made for a single occasion after which it is destroyed.
Its material integrity only needs to be sustained during the event for which it
has been constructed. This, for example, holds for certain makishi masks used
during the boys initiation of the Luvale, Chokwe, Lunda, Luchazi and Mbunda of
North West Zambia. Other art is used at multiple occasions until it is broken
down. This, for example, is true for makishi masks that have entertaining
functions also outside of mukanda, the boys initiation referred to above.
Examples are Mwana Pwevo (the young women) and Ngulube (the pig). These masks are
made of wood, wood being more permanent than masks made of bark cloth, hessian
or other fabric. The worn down mask is disposed off and replaced by a newly
made one following the same stereotypical model. Some art is made to last to
eternity. Egyptian sculptures dating back to the earliest times of the pharaohs,
some 5,000 years ago, belong to this group. Today many of those ancient sculptures
look the same or nearly the same as at the time of their creation, thousands of
years ago. In short: technology is directed by functionality and ideology.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Material technology is an aspect of
an art tradition</span></b></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Art, no
matter where or when, is embedded in a larger context. We can name that larger
context an art tradition, or more broadly, an art world. For the time being,
let us stick to the concept “art tradition.” The term tradition implies a customary
way of doing things and “a customary way of doing things” implies historical
depth. <i>Each art tradition has its specific
material technology; a technology that has evolved over time and is part of the
culture and cultural heritage of the people having that particular tradition.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Art
traditions vary tremendously and so do the materials and the technologies used
in art production. A number of factors influence or determine the choice of
materials and their processing. These factors include availability of raw
materials and </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">ready-made</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> art materials; the cost of acquiring these materials;
the technology to process the materials; the functionality of the work of art;
values attached to the work of art as regards permanence or durability; desirable
properties as regards visual appearance such as brightness, colour, texture, transparency
or opaqueness; and the incorporation of certain colours or materials for
symbolic reasons. Each art tradition in the course of time developed and develops
its own standards. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Technologies
do change in the course of time. New materials are incorporated into the
existing stock; methods of processing these materials may change as well as the
manner of their application. Yet these innovations rarely radically change the prevailing
traditional technology - but they do modify it. The colour red of makishi masks
historically was procured by red ochre (ground haematite or purified red clay;
the colouring principle of both substances is red oxide of iron). For many
decades red cloth, red paper or red commercial paint has replaced the original
material. In this instance the important element was not the raw material as
such but the colour red. That colour has been retained in this technological
change. It does happen, however, that in a certain social setting an entirely
new technology is introduced, or that an existing technology disappears. Rock
art, in Zambia, by now is extinct and so is its technology. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Art
traditions usually are associated with specific populations; a specific art
tradition being part of the culture and cultural heritage of its associated
ethnicity of cluster of (related) ethnicities. The makishi tradition mentioned
above belongs to a group of culturally related peoples, sometime referred to as
the West central Bantu.<sup>1</sup> <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">A new art
technology may spread from its place of invention. The technical term for this
is diffusion, meaning the spread of a cultural trait or feature. An example is
the replacement of tempera painting by oil painting. Oil painting became the
main painting medium in Italy during the sixteenth century and was adopted in
the course of the seventeenth century throughout Europe to become the major and
most prestigious painting technique for mobile paintings. This innovation is
placed in a broadly defined European (fine) art tradition. The diffusion of a
number of modern art technologies (notably in painting and graphic art) via an
(im)migrant population to indigenous artists is an instant of the adoption of
technologies new to emerging Zambian artists more or less as of the 1960’s.<sup>2</sup>
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ART and art <o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In the
Western tradition the concept “art” means both the ability of the artist to
handle his/her materials well (art as craft) and ART in capitals. The double
meaning reflects the notion that you need to master the skills and knowledge
relevant to ART in order to make ART. One reason why art stands out from
ordinary objects is because art is (should be) made with technical mastery. This
principle is universally understood but has eroded in the 20<sup>th</sup>
century Western art world by the adoption of art styles or modes of production that
require very little material skills, or in which the material properties of art
materials simply are ignored in favour of “spontaneous expression,” or are
deemed irrelevant or even deliberately flouted and revolted against. Any artist
worldwide however, traditionally could only become an artist after having
learned the craft of his trade. Such learning was done by apprenticeship with a
master and/or by studying at an Art School. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I subscribe
to the view that craftsmanship is a precondition for artistic competence and
one aspect of craftsmanship is mastery of materials and techniques used in art.
Some academic writers even hold that aesthetic merit arises out of or is
imminent in technical mastery. The great Franz Boas, one of the founding
fathers of modern anthropology, for example, holds that technical perfection creates
beautiful forms, forms that turn on the aesthetic attitude (1955: 10-12), art
making ART. Technical mastery, when applied, results in perfect form, pleasing
surfaces and beautiful decorative patterns; formal qualities which, in his
view, turn an object into “art.” Boas stresses that technical mastery implies
the ability to make an object “automatically,” meaning the manual operations
are highly skilled and do not require thinking. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The deterioration
of the value attached to craftsmanship in art in the West is reflected in the
curriculum of Western Art Academies – the subject may or may not be taught.
Consequently many contemporary Western artists may have very little material
understanding of the art work they produce. Similarly other major players such
as galleries, museums, art critics or collectors may lack material expertise
even when such should be required. After all, one does not in the Western art
tradition purchase a painting to see the paint fall off its surface within a
few years. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">African art
students attending Western Art Academies or fine art departments of
universities similarly may be poorly equipped with material skills and
understanding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: center;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">*
* *<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt0Nthr8oxVUotj48Zp71NMXRU9ZROugaY1FqbR0cQhgE-xYRAEA7u0dimqTxb1xTwSBGzAI-gK22rj4LGxG5cUJLl8UiPrHcpnqXxBdUjOiOscaDDgAARsRbN0kgWLK1KU_3wuLDHBEo/s1600/Detail-fading+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt0Nthr8oxVUotj48Zp71NMXRU9ZROugaY1FqbR0cQhgE-xYRAEA7u0dimqTxb1xTwSBGzAI-gK22rj4LGxG5cUJLl8UiPrHcpnqXxBdUjOiOscaDDgAARsRbN0kgWLK1KU_3wuLDHBEo/s320/Detail-fading+-+Copy.jpg" width="134" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ill.1 Discoloring of print due to poor<br />
quality inks. Two copies, same edition.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Let me now
turn to the situation in Zambia. Firstly we need to realize that modern easel painting,
murals and graphics as fine or visual arts were introduced in Zambia during the
colonial days and thereafter. These arts initially had no indigenous material
history that could have guided the handling of the materials used in these arts
by Zambian artists. Only in wood carving can we establish a link between
traditional and modern art applications. Today we have a modern art history
several generations deep. A number of artists have developed good or even
excellent craftsmanship – as a class this applies especially to the sculptors.
The situation in the two dimensional arts – mostly painting and graphic art –
varies from obvious ignorance to make do with what is available to a conscious
attempt to use the best materials in a proper manner – that is: to abide by
genuine standards of the craft. Generally, however, there is a great deal of
room for improvement. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The
introduction of “fine art” in Zambia is well described by Gabriel Ellison in
her book </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Art in Zambia</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">, (2004:
17-24). This introduction took place in a specific segment of society; that of
European expatriates, residents and settlers who, in a colonial setting,
constituted a subculture in which “art” testified to the presence of some sense
of civilisation, </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">their</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> civilisation
that is, and inevitably was associated with the upper stratum of society. Many
of these pioneering modern artists were members of the Lusaka Art Society,
established in 1947. Their art work fitted into a tradition they considered
their own and that included, in varying degrees, technological awareness and
competence.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Several of
its prominent members in the course of time worked with or supported indigenous
African artists thus setting into motion a process of diffusion of art
techniques from one population to another. On the European side Gabriel
Ellison, Cynthia Zukas and Bente Lorenz have played a major role in the
formative years of fine art in Zambia and that role included support for
African artists and artisans. Both Tayali and Simpasa worked with (and under)
Gabriel Ellison after Independence at the Government Graphic Art Department.
The establishment of the Art Teacher’s Diploma Course at the Evelyn Hone
College later in the 1960’s was another milestone in the dissemination of
Western art techniques. Initially most lecturers were European or Western
educated Zambian. This facility was to become the single largest provider of Zambian
artists. Technology was not taught as a separate subject, save for a brief
spell during 1977-1980 when the writer of this article lectured in materials
and techniques of art. The prime objective of the course was to introduce the
students to a number of basic principles in art technology with the specific
aim of enabling them to make their own art materials for their art classes at
secondary schools – this is at a time when there were no art educational
supplies in Zambia. The third and perhaps most important avenue of exposure of
Zambian art students to western fine art technology was and is by study abroad.
As of Independence till the present a good number of Zambian artists have
benefited from this opportunity, including major artists of the first post Independence
hour Simpasa and Tayali and lesser known others such as Mwimanji Chellah and
Billy Nkunika. The technical competence of the graduates of these foreign art
schools or university departments varied and varies considerably due to reasons
stated above. Consequently the fine art enclave of a broadly defined Zambian
art world still scores poorly on its mastery of material technology save for
the sculpture – with exceptions in both 2- and 3-dimensional divisions.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Ellison, to
her credit, mentions another entry in Zambia of an art technology originating
in the West (2004: 17); this time not by Europeans but by Congolese. Congolese
artist had become internationally recognised as of the fifties and a good
number of them tried to make a living in prospering and peaceful Zambia of the
sixties. In the seventies they constituted the largest single group of artists
in Lusaka, doing oil painting and murals. They were known for their velvet
paintings and heavy impasto works. These Congolese delivered a major input in
the emergence of <i>popular</i> art, indeed
art for the so-called common folk; as opposed to the sophisticated fine arts
for the educated. As Ellison writes, several Zambian artists picked up the
Congolese styles. Many Congolese artists had been well trained in the western
painting tradition. In Zambia, lacking adequate materials, a manner of making
do with what is available was adopted; a McGyvering of technology still
persisting today. Its outstanding feature is the use of a wooden, non
adjustable frame; on which cotton cloth is stretched as support to be painted
with white pva serving as a ground. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
Congolese easel painters targeted a wide market of both Europeans (mostly
expatriates and tourists) and Zambians (mostly lower middle class and higher).
The Congolese muralists worked for a near exclusive African audience by their
production of murals for bars and shops in the sixties and seventies. Some of
these murals rank as genuine folk art, examples are/were the paintings at the
Moonlight bar on Palabana Road just out of Lusaka and the Moonlight bar
somewhere near Chongwe on the Great East Road some 30 km’s out of Lusaka. Such
work now often is deteriorated or destroyed. The murals were made using
commercial paints on ordinary walls without any provision for their
conservation. Zambian “commercial” artists as of the eighties replaced the
Congolese who gradually disappeared out of the scene.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The Zambian
art world, historically, therefore, is not one of a kind but composed of
several strands, the modern visual arts being only one of them. The origin of
this art is largely in the western tradition. The second strand is that of
popular art, mostly done in painting, also exotic in origin but this time
introduced via neighbouring Congo. The subject matter of this art, contrary to
the fine arts, always is explicitly African, drawing on mythology, folklore and
rural or urban life experiences. This popular congolese art declined with the
disappearance of the Congolese artists in the eighties bur resurfaced now as contemporary Zambian popular art. A third variety is
indigenous (Zambia) folk art. This broad category includes decorations on huts
or improvised locally available materials both rural and urban. At the other
end of the scale, opposed to the modern arts, are the truly indigenous
traditional arts; the makishi and njau masks being its most prominent examples.
Each of these varieties of art has its own range of techniques of materials,
and each of these technologies is subject to change in time. Commercial house
paints and cotton wool are now used to decorate makishi; huts and other
buildings are decorated with pva paints; popular art is made with commercial
oil paints and in the modern art scene, and. remarkably, we see increasingly the
introduction of local materials especially in the sculptural/3-dimensional
arts.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz_P7LvHhkhfxTlL-xhtTT7ka0VYRj0HPmcQ_J0JLINuq0HDUD-lEte115xGM-nuH2nNnnQhxf6vAFwjJIT7TvykxWf7a5MssQrTMR5N_lmjyRn2apv64WbMFZeAaZy13G-nnU-s5bRDs/s1600/IMG_0048.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz_P7LvHhkhfxTlL-xhtTT7ka0VYRj0HPmcQ_J0JLINuq0HDUD-lEte115xGM-nuH2nNnnQhxf6vAFwjJIT7TvykxWf7a5MssQrTMR5N_lmjyRn2apv64WbMFZeAaZy13G-nnU-s5bRDs/s320/IMG_0048.JPG" width="304" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ill. 2. Use of pods of flamboyant tree in wall hanging by Agnes Mbuya Yombwe. 2012.<br />Example of innovation in modern visual art technology emphasising local identity.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">
<b style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Simple ways to improve
material-technical competence</span></b><br />
<b style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Above I
have emphasized that mastery of materials and techniques is important
especially if the integrity of a work of art is to last – meaning
that the change in its visual appearance in time should be as minor as
possible. I also have described that art materials and techniques are a
cultural trait belonging to a specific art tradition. The dissemination or
diffusion of western art technology in Zambia occurred piecemeal and haphazard,
often resulting in poor material craftsmanship – notably of 2-dimensional art.
This state of affairs has been exacerbated because of deteriorating standards
in Western fine art as regards material competence and deficiencies in
the emerging Zambian modern art world.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">To improve
on this state of affairs artists should not only consider their work of art as
a creative statement but also as a work of construction. Imagine you order a
dining table from a carpenter and pay the proper price for it. You complain if the table
collapses within a short time or develops wobbling legs and you'll seek redress. In art
the situation is similar: As a professional you offer a product for sale and
that object therefore must be made according to professional standards of
workmanship. I may add here that art for sale in Zambia does not come cheap and that a
good part of its cost should have been invested by the artist in first class
materials and appropriate workmanship. I can show you embarrassing examples of
Zambia’s top artists that belie this principle – usually because of sheer
ignorance; sometimes because of irresponsible short cutting; or unfortunately,
unavailability or expense of quality materials.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This text
cannot take the place of a proper technical manual. But below is some advice
that may help to improve matters in a simple way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Get
informed<o:p></o:p></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">There are
numerous text books about each artistic discipline – but not or rarely in Zambia.
Zambian artists, however, do travel and should use such occasions to purchase such
books at art supply shops. They can also pull strings in the international
network they often have or purchase on-line. There are two books I personally
love and recommend to each artist. <i>The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and
Techniques</i> by Ralph Mayer is a classic. Written in clear, largely
non-technical English it is a must for any artist to read. Getten and Stout
compiled <i>Paintings Materials: A short
encyclopaedia</i>. This inexpensive Dover publication is more technical but equally
indispensable when you need to quickly research any material used in art. And
then, of course there is the I-net, the largest library in the world,
accessible by now in almost all of Zambia. Once you get into it you won’t stop
and you’ll ask yourself why you did not do your surfing and researching earlier.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><u><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Get top
grade materials<o:p></o:p></span></u></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Worldwide
each art tradition has its own standard material technology and so does each of
the Western art media. The Western technologies, historically, are directed
towards permanence of the work of art. Durability of the work of art is only
achieved by the proper application of permanent materials. The VAC shop sells
good materials and so does The Artshop at Zebra’s crossings cafe, both in
Lusaka.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Paper</span></i></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> is the usual
support for graphic art. The best paper is made of rags. Art paper is made by specialised
paper mills. Buy one of those brands and get the kind suited to your medium.
Good paper yellows little and takes printing ink, crayon, pencils, charcoal,
water paint and gouache well.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Printing inks</span></i></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> are a
special concern. Note that offset printing inks and commercial silkscreen inks
are not made to meet artistic standards. Most of these colours eventually fade.
Simple test for fastness to light: take a piece of paper, apply ink or paint,
cover one coloured half with paper and expose to sunlight by tacking to a
window. Check after some weeks to observe changes. These can be dramatic. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Canvas</span></i></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">. Canvas is
the common support for oil and acrylic paint. The only proper canvas is made of
linen. In oil painting canvas is first sized with rabbit glue to protect the canvas
from the deteriorating effect of (linseed) oil. After sizing the canvas is
primed, formerly with a lead based white paint. Substituting the linen canvas for
cotton fabric entails a risk of “sagging” as the cotton support in time loses its tautness.
Skipping the sizing brings about the risk of the support being “eaten” by the
oil and eventually breaking up. Using pva paint instead of rabbit glue and oil
primer may result in disintegrating canvas and poor bonding between ground and
paint. In short: if you want to paint in oil, use proper linen canvas as made
by specialist factories and sold by specialist shops. It seems that adequate
support preparation is less critical in acrylic painting. Best is to
purchase canvas made for acrylic paint and apply acrylic primer. You can apply
acrylic paint to a canvas prepared for oils but you may want to roughen its
surface a bit by light fine sanding. This ensures better bonding.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Pigments and paints</span></i></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">. In the
western tradition there is a standard list of pigments for each medium – there
is no space to reproduce such lists here. Do note, however, that different
media and different supports all impose specific requirements on paints.
Notably in murals the choice in colours is limited to those pigments that are
resistant both to an acidic and an alkaline environment. Avoid the purchase of
so-called student grade paints – they teach you wrong outcomes of apparently
similar materials.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Fat over lean</span></i></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">. Different
pigments require different amounts of binder. In oil painting paints containing
more oil should be applied over paint layers containing less oil – the leaner layers.
Sinning against this principle causes constructional problems. An example of a
fat paint is raw umber. These colours should only in lean mixtures be used in
the underlying paint layers. The same principle applies to acrylic paint, but
perhaps not so rigidly.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Use fresh paint</span></i></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">. Use paint
fresh from the tube and discard paint that has started to dry up on the
palette. This applies especially to paints having binders that change irreversibly in the so-called drying process. These include the polymers
(acrylics) and oils.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber" style="line-height: 150%;"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Thinners</span></i></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">. Use
appropriate thinner for the medium you are using. Do not use </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">paraffin</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> in oil
painting. Mineral turpentine is good, natural turpentine better.</span><i style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><i><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Storage and exposure. </span></i></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The art object is subjected to environmental variables such as temperature, humidity, light, wind, air born particles and gasses. Even a well made painting may
deteriorate if displayed or stored wrongly.<sup>3 </sup> Generally store or display in a fairly dry
place, avoid great fluctuations in temperature or humidity and be aware of
bugs. Don’t expose 2-dimensional work to sunlight, same for wooden sculpture.
Inform, if necessary, the buyer about adequate preservation measures. Prints,
water colours and drawings should be properly framed (meaning: dust free,
behind glass, using acid free board and backing) when exposed.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> <b>Notes<o:p></o:p></b></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt 18pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">1 The author did research on makishi as part
of his MA requirements. Copies of his <i>Seeing
Makishi</i> have been deposited with The Livingstone Museum and the library of The
University of Zambia (special collections I believe).<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 12pt 18pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -18pt;">
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">2 This process sometimes has been labelled by
the ugly term “westernization,” as in Setti (2000: 5). This term
suggest the changing of an indigenous cultural element by western influences.
In our case there simply is no historical connection between most of these
techniques and a previous indigenous artistic practice. Diffusion therefore is
a better term, though terms like acculturation and cultural interaction also
apply.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 115%;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">3 </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; text-indent: -18pt;">See Witkamp, G., 2015, in bibliography.</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">About the author<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12pt; text-align: justify;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The author
academically is a cultural anthropologist with specialisations in non-Western
art and anthropology of sub-Saharan Africa. He taught Materials and Techniques
of Art at the Evelyn Hone College from 1977 to 1980 to students of
the Art Teachers Diploma Course. He worked as a practising artist in Zambia from
1975 to 1980 and from 1988 till now. Some of his art writing can be accessed at
the <a href="http://artblog.zamart.org/">Art in Zambia blog</a> and the <a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/">Z-factor Art Site.</a><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<b style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bibliography</span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber">Boas, Franz<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"> 1955 <i>Primitive Art</i>. New York, Dover. First
published in 1927.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber">Ellison, Gabriel<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"> 2004 <i>Art in Zambia</i>. Lusaka, Bookworld
Publishers Ltd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber">Gettens, Rutherford J. and George L. Stout<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 72.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-indent: -72.0pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"> 1966 <i>Painting Materials</i>. New York, Dover
Publications. First Published in 1942 by D. Van Nostrand Company Inc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber">Ralph Mayer<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 72.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-indent: -72.0pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"> 1982 <i>The Artist’s Handbook of Materials and
Techniques</i>. New York, The Viking Press.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 72.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-indent: -72.0pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber">Setti, Godfrey<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-bottom: 12.0pt; margin-left: 72.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-indent: -72.0pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"> 2000 <i>An Analysis
of the Contribution of Four Painters to the development of Contemporary Zambian
Painting from 1950 to 1997</i>. Manuscript, M.A. research essay, Rhodes University.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber">Witkamp, Gijsbert<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="line-height: 115%; margin-left: 72.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-indent: -72.0pt;">
<span class="MsoPageNumber"> 1988 <i>Seeing
Makishi</i>. M.A. thesis and research report. Photocopied manuscript. State
University of Leiden.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 120%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"> </span></span><span class="MsoPageNumber"><span style="line-height: 120%;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: xx-small;">2015</span><span style="font-size: 11pt;"> </span><i style="font-size: 11pt;">Keeping Art</i><span style="font-size: 11pt;">. Choma, Z-factor technical
bulletin no 1. Accessible as I-net publication at: </span></span></span><span style="line-height: 120%;"><a href="http://artblog.zamart.org/2013/08/caring-for-your-art-work-prints.html"><span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: x-small;">http://artblog.zamart.org/2013/08/caring-for-your-art-work-prints.html</span></a></span><br />
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Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-53364970373411913822015-07-15T17:37:00.004+02:002018-02-09T07:04:41.710+01:00THE LUSAKA ARTISTS GROUP<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Text and internet publication by
Bert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Photographs by Bert Witkamp unless indicated otherwise in the caption.</span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">First
published: 15 July 2015.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Current update: 14 August 2015</span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Art in Zambia series no 7: The
Lusaka Artists Group<i>.</i></span></u><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"> <i>The
Lusaka Artists Group (LAG) was a major player in the Zambian Art World from
1976 to 1980. Supported by the Art Centre Foundation the group established and
managed a studio at the Evelyn Hone College - the first instance in Zambia of
co-operating artists. The studio at the time was the centre of Zambian graphic art. Part of the success of the group was its ability to source and utilise
locally available materials for modern (non-traditional) art production; most spectacularly in large
mosaic murals designed and executed by Patrick Mweemba and Bert Witkamp. <o:p></o:p></i></span><i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Another
contributing factor was the diversity of its core membership: each member by
his background and history had his own capacities which together created a
broad array of perspectives, skills, knowledge and art works. And last but not
least: the group members, unlike the academically endowed artists, lived a
simple life in the townships. Then as, now, it was hard to make a living by art
alone. Working together was a way to cope with the problems of making art out
of a living and a living out of art...</span></i><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">The Lusaka Artists Group (LAG) informally
came into being towards the end of 1975, was formally registered as an
association in 1976, changed its name to Zambia Artists Association in 1977 and fell apart in 1981.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">During the five years of its
existence the group was spectacularly productive in graphic art, murals and
painting. It was not the first artists’ organisation in Zambia, but it was the
first instance of co-operating artists working in the same studio.
The next instance would be in 1985 when Rockston was formed, also in Lusaka. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">I took the initiative to form this
group in 1975 when, fresh from the Netherlands, I started to make art in Lusaka. During the five preceding years I had worked in a town named
Leeuwarden; the provincial capital of Friesland (Frisia), the homeland of these
white and black milk cows. I was a member of its Cultural Council on behalf of the visual arts, had a large studio made available to me by the
cultural department of the municipal administration, was mostly interested in
graphic art and painting, participated in the annual art fair, and had been
commissioned an 84 m<sup>2</sup> mural. Basic art materials could be bought locally
and what was not available nearby could be had in specialized art supply shops
in Amsterdam. The well stocked provincial library was a ten minute walk from home
and if it did not have an art book I needed it would be procured for me from
another library. The small town even had an art academy which offered evening classes
– this is where I learned lithography. The real thing: on stone. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="line-height: 150%;">In Zambia of 1975 I found myself in
an environment where there was very little for the modern visual arts in terms of materials,
organisation, galleries, museums, publications, media coverage and private, corporate or government support. There even seemed to be very
few artists and most of these turned out to be non-Zambian. Yes, some things
were there, but especially for the newcomer/outsider these were mostly invisible. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="line-height: 150%;">The "modern visual arts" are mostly arts that originated in the Western world and were introduced to Zambia during and after the colonial period. The pioneering </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">practitioners</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> invariably were of European origin - save for certain forms of sculpture. </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">Sculpture, notably carving in wood,</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> had indigenous ancestry, though </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">traditional</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> sculptors made art for social situations very different from those associated with modern art. </span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Popular art (a broad category embracing tourist painting,
velvet painting, sign writing and murals in bars or shops) at that time was almost entirely produced by Congolese who
operated a social scene of their own, entirely </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">separate</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> from of the fine art circuit.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">I
decided to look for artists to work with. The first one I came across was
Fackson Kulya who at the time lived in a servant’s quarter of an UNZA staff
house at Handsworth Court</span><sup style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">1</sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">. Fackson agreed on the formation of an
artists’ organisation. We appeared on television, in an early evening feature
programme by Joseph Kuleneta and Charles Mando. It was, in those days, a
peculiar thing to see a professionally trained European working with a
self-styled Zambian artist and to hear that European say that living in a
compound (township) is the only way to understand the life of the people who
lived there – the vast majority of urban dwellers, at the time usually referred to in
semi-socialist rhetoric as “the masses.” I, coincidentally, lived in Mtendere
compound where I gradually got to know some urban folk life. The place for Europeans
was in the so-called residential areas, where the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">uppa mwamba</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> – the upper class, indigenous or expatriate – lived
comfortably in electrified houses along tarred roads. In a few of these residences lived people who bought or supported the modern arts.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">The so-called common folk
lived in compounds; working class neighbourhoods if you like, save
that for many paid work was hard to come by. These compounds were dusty and
dirty, lacked proper roads and electricity but were brimming with live. In
1975, eleven years after Independence, it was highly unusual to find a European
live in a compound and be part of an African or mixed household. Also for
Africans this was an unlikely situation. They could ask “Do you eat nshima?”
And be even more astounded if you replied positively in one of the local
languages. Fackson and I teaming up was sufficiently extraordinary to get us on
television.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8AhyBorhHRNNEgVExVebKMnidEgRD0ZPphkcXjRWDy4PFC3RI-w_LepCSYF0BOCCAOPZSQJYoIsaRr5dhf3fTlZDw_roALa3iO0eeSfgCyLoMFYCjGGGAQYGtQMHK5dB1Ax4fZizYi4s/s1600/LAG-Dec75EXhib.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8AhyBorhHRNNEgVExVebKMnidEgRD0ZPphkcXjRWDy4PFC3RI-w_LepCSYF0BOCCAOPZSQJYoIsaRr5dhf3fTlZDw_roALa3iO0eeSfgCyLoMFYCjGGGAQYGtQMHK5dB1Ax4fZizYi4s/s400/LAG-Dec75EXhib.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ill. 1. Fackson Kulya (right) and I at our modest stand in the Lusaka Public Library. <br />Front page of the </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Times of Zambia</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> newspaper of December 19th, 1975. <br />Photo by </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Times</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> photographer.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">In December 1975 we were
ready for a first, small exhibition at the Lusaka City Library situated along
Katondo street, next to the Lusaka Hotel, between Cairo Road and Chachacha Road.
We were both experimenting with materials that were locally available. I had found wax and had made some wax prints.
I was also showing some fairly sophisticated dry point prints I had come with
from the Netherlands. Fackson had some small bronze sculptures which he had
casted from a homemade furnace, a modified drum </span>fueled<span style="line-height: 150%;"> by charcoal. Before the
exhibition was on we talked to a journalist from The Daily Newspaper who
interviewed us about our co-operative plan</span></span><sup style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">2</sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">. Though the journalist
reshaped our story for reasons his own, he truly reported that we believed that
artists could only progress in Zambia by working together; and that this was
especially so for poor artists without formal education, the ones living in
compounds. A photograph of the exhibition was published on the front page of
The Times of Zambia Newspaper.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">The publicity sparked off several
reactions. First, it helped to get other artists to join us. Second, it created
conflict with prominent academic artist Henry Tayali and the then Director of Cultural
Services as government was blamed by the Times journalist of ignoring the poor,
uneducated, underprivileged yet talented artists. Third, our presence could no
longer be ignored by the main body promoting Zambian modern art in those days,
the Art Centre Foundation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Fackson and I met Patrick Mweemba, at
the time living at old Kanyama compound, and David Chibwe. We now had our basic team. Fackson originated from Luanshya rural and was Lamba by tribe. Patrick came from the Southern Province and is Tonga by ethnicity. David seemed to have mostly Bemba affiliations but did some art training in what now again is the Congo. As noted above I came from the Netherlands. Our group of four
would remain the core of the LAG/ZAA until the organisation disintegrated in
1981. In the course of time other (aspiring) artists would join or pop in of
whom Style Kunda became a regular associate. All of us, despite different back
grounds, had major things in common</span><span style="line-height: 150%;">. We were all in the beginning of our careers;
we all had to establish ourselves in an environment that offered little support
or facilities and all lived in the compound side of town. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Time for some contextualisation. We
are in the Kaunda area with its socialist/humanist policies; days in which the
state was seen as the engine (and controller) of society; Zambia was a one
party state and much of the formal economy and all of its major enterprises or
industries were state owned and managed. An aspect of the political economy was
an emphasis on the formation of cooperatives of small scale producers, farmers for example. My initial vision of the development of the LAG was to
turn it into a full sized cooperative. I went to the co-operative office, got
forms and talked to the artists. A genuine cooperative society is an
economic organisation in which the individual economies of the members are
fully integrated into the cooperative. This, practically, was much too extreme
for our Zambian compound artists, and also quite unintelligible to them. I had
to abandon the idea. It was hard enough to get the members to
put a small percentage of their individual sales into the Group Fund to cater
for shared expenses. Even that after some time was abolished. It took me at
least a year to realise that the group just was not ready for such far reaching
“co-operation.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">It turned out that our association worked
much better without rigid, binding rules and needed to be flexible in sharing
or not sharing jobs and resources. Today, some forty years later, many, if not
most so-called cooperatives in fact are not more than associations serving, for
example, to access subsidized fertiliser, and that is often were the
cooperation stops. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Back to 1976. In Lusaka was one
organisation specifically for the visual arts, the Arts Centre Foundation (ACF). It
was a government sponsored body the Board of which was composed of prominent
artists and art sympathisers, both Zambian and expatriate, both of African and
of European extraction. Outstanding artist members at the time were Bente Lorenz,
Cynthia Zukas and Henry Tayali. Each of these artists has played a major role
in the formative years of the post independence Zambian art world.
Tayali was a well educated academic artist who also played a significant role in
cultural and art organisations<sup>3</sup>. At the time there were only a few indigenous
Zambian artists with academic qualifications and even fewer made art the core
of their professional existence. Tayali was one of the very few and therefore became a key figure in the social art world, taking
over or complimenting the positions of those of European extraction. He, as described in no. 2 of this series,
had become very angry about the Daily News article that publicised our call for
artists to co-operate. Also the statement by the journalist that government
support for the arts was directed to those already well off and that the poor talented guy of the
compound was ignored must have displeased Henry who himself was one of these privileged beneficiaries. He was appointed University of Zambia artist in 1976.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">The irony of the situation was that Fackson and I were
completely ignorant of the existence of Tayali at the time of the 1975
interview; and that Tayali and his fellow ACF members equally were unaware of the existence of poor talented upcoming artists in compounds that deserved to receive support. Tayali probably was embarrassed by the article and felt that it
undermined his leadership position and the more so as our cooperative
initiative was politically more than 100% correct.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="line-height: 150%;">Other members of the ACF had less of
an ego and more compassion with the socially “underprivileged” artist. This notably
was true for Cynthia Zukas and Bente Lorenz. The Cynthia Zukas and her husband had a long standing commitment for the African people dating back to </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">pre</span><span style="line-height: 150%;">-Independent days. Bente Lorenz, a Danish ceramist coming from then Southern Rhodesia,
worked at her beautiful Lusaka studio with African potters and sculptors. The
net outcome of it all was that the ACF decided to support the LAG, and they did
it by facilitating the use of a prefab classroom at the Evelyn Hone College.
The AFC liked to look at the facility as “their” workshop but in practice it
was the LAG membership who populated and managed it; working daily in that
prefab building on the ground floor, close to the 2 story red brick building
where art and music were taught formally to formal students – something beyond the
reach of my friends as these lacked the required secondary school
qualifications.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">I put a lot of energy into the LAG (later
ZAA) and the Evelyn Hone College studio. It was basically an exercise in coping
– an effort to make up for the deficiencies in the institutional fabric. The
strict regulations concerning hard currencies ("forex") at the time resulted in absence
or near absence of the materials used in art production – oil paints being one
of them. But one could find raw linseed oil, and this could be purified into
oil suited as a binder in paint, or boiled to arrive at the right viscosity for
printing inks. Printmaking, lino cuts in particular, was our first innovative
technique. The underlying idea was that we could reach a lot of people by
producing cheap works of art. Cynthia Zukas, seeing and appreciating our graphic
interest, made her etching press available; a press that also could print
lino cuts. We soon were the </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">main graphic art producers of Lusaka, and in fact
of Zambia. Tayali also produced graphics, but he moved in a very different
circuit and could not be as prolific as the four of us combined. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNn_wWnBuEPhcgiigmFyx2FzpSO3LvNkIjXfEz3p9yTR7zt-S0bJU9KmRhbLkBSo5mwIGlTdeCOj7_a9HVgxnZm51i8DnMLmR3ip5MZdsbN1YlWwuJ93XFPvheokIyyh81eckrVVeNnc/s1600/Mweemba1976-92.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaNn_wWnBuEPhcgiigmFyx2FzpSO3LvNkIjXfEz3p9yTR7zt-S0bJU9KmRhbLkBSo5mwIGlTdeCOj7_a9HVgxnZm51i8DnMLmR3ip5MZdsbN1YlWwuJ93XFPvheokIyyh81eckrVVeNnc/s320/Mweemba1976-92.JPG" width="311" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ill. 2 Hunting Community. Patrick Mweemba, 1976, lino cut, 3/20, 20 x 20 cm.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="line-height: 18.3999996185303px;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One of the first lino cuts by Patrick Mweemba.</span></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">In beginning 1976 we were subjected
to counsel by periodic sessions with Art Centre Foundation members who
commented on our work and advised how we could improve our artistic production.
I remember one such session where Tayali, pointing at one of Patrick Mweemba’s
prints, announced that he even would not want that print in his toilet. Well,
surely, it was not designed to wipe your bottom with. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">We had, however, without Tayali’s dominating presence, pleasant and sensible discussions
with other AFC members. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">In any case, these
instructive encounters eventually ceased. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">It
is true, however, that we were all new to lino or wood cuts and each one of us
was trying to find his own way in this medium. It took some time before experiment
resulted in consistent production. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisI9o5m5i4mwp40GgJcRJcWAjoUmBpwbmgOOacjyOQyWmCtBN6l8tKj_5eN3L6wj31gEd4cl5271Ib4iYFSPjgCuNtTxJnWQuyW7lsX_JKMK7W4BgQXGFhhGxqajixkVkGfXELfGjzRLU/s1600/Chibwe-fireplace-96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisI9o5m5i4mwp40GgJcRJcWAjoUmBpwbmgOOacjyOQyWmCtBN6l8tKj_5eN3L6wj31gEd4cl5271Ib4iYFSPjgCuNtTxJnWQuyW7lsX_JKMK7W4BgQXGFhhGxqajixkVkGfXELfGjzRLU/s400/Chibwe-fireplace-96.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ill 3. Around the fire place (Pa Nsaka). David K. Chibwe. 1977, Lino cut, 2/10, 30.5 x 15.5 cm. One of the first lino cuts by David Chibwe.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">We all did most of our art work in the studio and it was truly the shared element in our professional lives. These lives, despite</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%;"> the cooperation,
were not easy. The artist’s lunch – a standing joke – was a bun with some
boiled peanuts or the occasional coke as an extra treat. In rare days of plenty
one could enjoy a meal at the College’s student canteen. The way home after
work might be long indeed: there was an enormous lack of public transport and
if you had failed to get into a bus by 18.30 hrs you had to walk from town
centre all the way to Kaunda Square, Mtendere, UNZA Handsworth Court or
wherever you were domiciled.</span></div>
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<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zb5z3xsVozu1mArxpFgvGFkUEPHiMj8lxHdyMu3kLcxanIz7ayA4KDsLvlg9psjnbDqtyVD5kMuDidD41mtfQ-RQoBY2GURfvhPVG5f_3pSw0WlDBqa6xY6_hAoGJdS1nSqSDtrdvi4/s1600/ExhibPosterGW.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="397" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7zb5z3xsVozu1mArxpFgvGFkUEPHiMj8lxHdyMu3kLcxanIz7ayA4KDsLvlg9psjnbDqtyVD5kMuDidD41mtfQ-RQoBY2GURfvhPVG5f_3pSw0WlDBqa6xY6_hAoGJdS1nSqSDtrdvi4/s400/ExhibPosterGW.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Ill. 4. Exhibition poster, lino cut, 1979 reprint. Design Bert Witkamp</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Money from sales came in sparingly
and irregularly. I remember hawking our prints in offices along Cairo Road in
1976. Fackson and I would go to metal scrap yards to look for copper wire which
we hammered into bangles. In 1977 we had our first (and I believe only) common
exhibition at the US Information Service at Hero’s Square, Lusaka. It was
attended by the American Ambassador and other officials. From then onwards once
in a while commissions came in, either for one of us singly or combined. End
1997 I started work on the 54 m<sup>2</sup> ceramic mosaic mural at Society House in
Lusaka. I did the designing at our workshop. Later Patrick Mweemba, David Chibwe and Fackson Kulya did murals at the
Longacres market. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS38d7y9bqWztRVRGrFMGvtRfCgDEMRxp-xOn4ahp-rtmOs2arkDMbu8ScCp63ksKxSuSzN5DUN6AeFuvNVy3yiri8l41miW9hXKaU0P-LF_TJ1TZho0UVTchI3dRapnAXSEWmmywbYgc/s1600/FKulya-The+Sculptor-72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS38d7y9bqWztRVRGrFMGvtRfCgDEMRxp-xOn4ahp-rtmOs2arkDMbu8ScCp63ksKxSuSzN5DUN6AeFuvNVy3yiri8l41miW9hXKaU0P-LF_TJ1TZho0UVTchI3dRapnAXSEWmmywbYgc/s320/FKulya-The+Sculptor-72.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ill.5 The sculptor. Lino print by Fackson Kulya, around 1977. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Fackson depicts
himself working in the LAG studio at the </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">eagle relief for the National Assembly
building. Ink on newsprint.</span></div>
</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Fackson Kulya was commissioned to
carve the Zambian eagle in wood relief for the National Assembly building –
truly a sign of recognition. David Chibwe every now and then managed to get a
commission for a painting – he really was the painter of the group. Patrick
Mweemba, following a commission for a small mosaic mural at Barclays bank at
Cairo Road, was commissioned a major mosaic mural at the Industrial Relations
Court. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The technology for the mosaic murals was developed by me and inspired by
ancient Moorish earthenware pottery in Spain. Bente Lorenz helped me by
borrowing me a book in Spanish detailing lead based pottery glazes as used by
the Moors some thousand years ago. I could not understand the Spanish but did read
the formula’s and knew how to convert physical formula’s in grams into chemical
formula’s in molecules and vice versa. Now I was happy with the science A-level
subjects I had been forced to do at secondary school. Also my technical
interest in art materials which I had developed during my stay in Leeuwarden was very
useful in making paints, inks or working out technicalities of mural art.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Fackson, Patrick and David developed
into good print makers. Each one developed a style his own. There are, however, strong thematic linkages between these artists by the choice of their subjects. Much of their work is about folk life, urban or rural, traditional or modern, depicting daily events or ceremony. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Their work, almost without exception, is figurative; ranging from realistic or naturalistic to imaginary presentations.
Viewers could relate directly to the pictures as these were made up of
recognisable elements; questions such as "which side up?" did not arise in our group. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHcz7Y1IydIEhucaV7Uj2_WsD72CR2oolkGfSaCqBo5B01dpvuvGKlCpT-tV6FF3zRuHR3rxKT0tKaWQ5FYBDlBO1MKP6xYx6QFl59_p8CF7HesW92CUYOBS23khcktr29VuFHAQb2ktE/s1600/FKulya-Sitting+on+a+bad+branch-Res96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHcz7Y1IydIEhucaV7Uj2_WsD72CR2oolkGfSaCqBo5B01dpvuvGKlCpT-tV6FF3zRuHR3rxKT0tKaWQ5FYBDlBO1MKP6xYx6QFl59_p8CF7HesW92CUYOBS23khcktr29VuFHAQb2ktE/s400/FKulya-Sitting+on+a+bad+branch-Res96.jpg" width="246" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ill. 6. Sitting on a bad Branch. Fackson Kulya. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">1989, lino cut, 3/5, 12.5 x 21 cm.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Fackson’s prints and other art are
inspired by folklore and folk life, sometimes displaying his bizarre sense of
humor. Many of his prints have a story to tell. Fackson, who died sometime
around 2003, also made drawings, paintings in various media and carved. He did
a bit of bronze casting at the beginning of his career but gave it up. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMDOq0wAkDPruZ5Hyaa-7pOHyB8S7Jks-SFxyPYVBLEgP1AltqxmZEfyuU_8Tl2gh5d1BxHYRdxyWK0Hw-H-XD6nA0fxxY8t1HZ65aTYnMVGZkRVdH29DBB6w0bu8mEack1cloMBK0WA/s1600/WEB-Chibwe-1977-card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIMDOq0wAkDPruZ5Hyaa-7pOHyB8S7Jks-SFxyPYVBLEgP1AltqxmZEfyuU_8Tl2gh5d1BxHYRdxyWK0Hw-H-XD6nA0fxxY8t1HZ65aTYnMVGZkRVdH29DBB6w0bu8mEack1cloMBK0WA/s320/WEB-Chibwe-1977-card.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Ill. 7. The Father and a Child. David Chibwe. 1979, linocut, 15 x 10 cm. <br />Post card. One of David’s favourite themes: folk life in the compound.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">David made many naturalistic
compound scenes, taken from life as he knew it so well. He also made
paintings, often of large size. Market scenes, animals, events and situations of daily life, crowds were and are his favorite subjects.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCB8FuKsM4Ur8J0WOcKBUSCjzSJauYAp9-iI0RjBJGZ9EoTtpUveF8KLUCtlB_Ha50Cvf8G87CeSnOnaMSF0iuBqKS01tsVjD_PxeXV5GgERUIr1ok2Ng3uc1kao7vrWxv2KcPQelCaC0/s1600/WEB-Mweemba-1979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="291" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCB8FuKsM4Ur8J0WOcKBUSCjzSJauYAp9-iI0RjBJGZ9EoTtpUveF8KLUCtlB_Ha50Cvf8G87CeSnOnaMSF0iuBqKS01tsVjD_PxeXV5GgERUIr1ok2Ng3uc1kao7vrWxv2KcPQelCaC0/s320/WEB-Mweemba-1979.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Ill 8. Consolation. Patrick Mweemba.
1979, linocut, 15 x 15 cm.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">By this time Patrick had found his own style in print making.</span></div>
</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Patrick’s prints cover a broad
range of subjects; at times inspired by (biblical) stories, country life,
family life, daily events or imaginary </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">figuration</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"> – but all of this diversity always in a
naturalistic presentation. He developed his own manner of colour printing, not an easy thing to do at all. Patrick also once in a while painted and
later on made sculptures in wood or metal. </span></div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Il8EMIUD4GxD8N6Sh0CfyBaUJdkpAkcJZzme5gkjcwyl49Si3nLIN9ZahiCEulCvZRB1A1C9NnOehVGU21iZspOY0AbR61j0QuCTp9qi3zJQVMkv7fmyOS9d3hyr2w-AJ7iEc2mQ-zg/s1600/GW-PoundW-1976-96.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Il8EMIUD4GxD8N6Sh0CfyBaUJdkpAkcJZzme5gkjcwyl49Si3nLIN9ZahiCEulCvZRB1A1C9NnOehVGU21iZspOY0AbR61j0QuCTp9qi3zJQVMkv7fmyOS9d3hyr2w-AJ7iEc2mQ-zg/s400/GW-PoundW-1976-96.JPG" width="221" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ill. 9. Pounding Women. Bert Witkamp. 1976, colour lino cut, 16.5 x 31.5 cm.<br />One of my first attempts at lino cut and African figuration. Printed in 1979.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">I
started out in 1975 doing graphics, lino’s especially, in which I tried to
grasp/develop something like an African idiom as inspired by my living circumstances. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%;">As of 1977 I was mostly busy with
the mural commissioned to me by the Zambia National Building Society for its
new headquarters then under construction at Cairo Road. I spent a lot of time
looking for ceramic raw materials and testing them. After drafting the approximately </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3.5</span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">m</span><sup>2</sup> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%;">design I made little use of the Evelyn Hone Studio. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">A friend made his servant’s quarter
at Handsworth Court (UNZA) available for ceramic testing and experimenting. By
luck I had purchased a small kiln to try out clay bodies and glazes and all
sorts of materials. Tiles were made and boards on which clay had been rolled
out. About 70 m</span><sup style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">2 </sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">tiles were glaze fired at Moore’s Pottery. The
entire mosaic was laid out and prepared for mounting on site, at the first
floor of what was to becom Society House.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">The relationship with the AFC and
its members following the initially somewhat awkward start improved rapidly and
especially Cynthia Zukas and Bente Lorenz have been very supportive of the LAG
artists, also when the LAG (by then ZAA) had ceased to exist.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<br />
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</div>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">I left Zambia in August 1980 after
completing the mosaic mural at Society House. The going had been tough towards the end.
Life in Lusaka following the onset of the raids by Ian Smith of Southern
Rhodesia in mid 1978 had become difficult and unsafe – there was a general breakdown in security, law and order. Violent crime was rife; this was the time when
Lusaka residents who could afford it walled themselves in. Imagine beautiful
Woodlands or Kabulonga neighbourhoods without wall fenced plots! Time to move
on – or move back, rather - to the Netherlands where I returned to an earlier, academic, interest: anthropology and especially anthropology of art.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">In 1981 the Evelyn Hone College
claimed the class room back – it apparently had become a hangout for Zairian
artisans and a storage space for their merchandise. Yet in a sense the studio's mission had
been accomplished. By then my friends David, Patrick and Fackson had
received a fair share of recognition and had become accepted players in the
Zambian art scene. Making a living, however, was not easy for them. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo1ZAaaqaAQ7P84KxlwaQ1vonMJRNCbu2vxriAaXTVBINzWqOLLOshzkPOZOChhdsM0hH70u59LuW4w3wGryoI9C6EwuHa7AgPel9L0m3D_-H_SveP6bbmzzflCewn72SU_zAZhwqzms8/s1600/Fackson-beerdrinker-96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgo1ZAaaqaAQ7P84KxlwaQ1vonMJRNCbu2vxriAaXTVBINzWqOLLOshzkPOZOChhdsM0hH70u59LuW4w3wGryoI9C6EwuHa7AgPel9L0m3D_-H_SveP6bbmzzflCewn72SU_zAZhwqzms8/s320/Fackson-beerdrinker-96.jpg" width="248" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ill 11. Beer drinker. Around 1980 (?), gouache on paper, 16 x 21.5 cm. <br />Painting showing both Fackson's love of folklore and humour.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Fackson returned to his rural
roots and eventually died around 2003. He was an original artist. I have tried
to keep his memory alive by several internet publications (see notes below) and by including his
work in exhibitions I helped organise. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bPST95VwzCA1euIv_Ao4r7fkUOy_d08Uv2vMdGhcwszNahL_2FWfmR-a8mDrwzKq10cNrqejDSvJ3vEsxm4kEz0mb3Dpm6quXzICZf-eBGwXghtG2nhYcHnIaAqMm3T_xiGSazkLLrI/s1600/Chibwe-street+vendors96.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1bPST95VwzCA1euIv_Ao4r7fkUOy_d08Uv2vMdGhcwszNahL_2FWfmR-a8mDrwzKq10cNrqejDSvJ3vEsxm4kEz0mb3Dpm6quXzICZf-eBGwXghtG2nhYcHnIaAqMm3T_xiGSazkLLrI/s320/Chibwe-street+vendors96.JPG" width="234" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ill 12. Street Vendors.
David Chibwe. 1992, Linocut 6/10, 15 x 21 cm. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">David’s favourite theme: the
extraordinary lives of ordinary folk.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">David was and is quite a versatile
artist who, if need be, picks up some Kwacha by sign writing. He also does art teaching. He recently made an attractive interior mural
for a Protea Hotel at Lusaka. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ESThOzKCcGlR68XArLmBvtjsa-oeiquNkztG-Nt1WoGP3gheXdFzU-2iN2CYZarC9y0ODIqBz-Q0-RmouYAqiz8-D2Uj02wVW6D_OMo7oo27L12MZvfF8Dtq3W4UBnyjQOFmYysqtmU/s1600/Mweemba-Bus-96.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1ESThOzKCcGlR68XArLmBvtjsa-oeiquNkztG-Nt1WoGP3gheXdFzU-2iN2CYZarC9y0ODIqBz-Q0-RmouYAqiz8-D2Uj02wVW6D_OMo7oo27L12MZvfF8Dtq3W4UBnyjQOFmYysqtmU/s400/Mweemba-Bus-96.JPG" width="215" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Ill 13. The Bus is full.
Patrick Mweemba. 1989, colour lino, 3/7, 19.5 x 42,5. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Complex design printed in
several stages.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Patrick in his artistic career has been supported by his hardworking and talented wife, Esnart Hangoma, who had good positions at Zinthu crafts
shop (now defunct) and the Choma Museum and Crafts Centre. Patrick for some time
has been involved in Mpapa Art Gallery (now defunct), the Visual Arts Council
(VAC) and the Choma Museum and Crafts Centre (as an art instructor). He, like
David, to date is a productive artist with an impressive oeuvre behind him.
Their present recognition as individuals, however, arose out of their past cooperative efforts as members of the Lusaka Artists Group.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Finally, we can ask, in retrospect,
what lasting contribution did the LAG/LAA make to the Zambian art world after
1980? Firstly, I should say, the LAG has shown the power and effectiveness of
organisation of artists and in that sense is inspirational for temporary
artists. Secondly, art by its members are in private and public collections and
some of it is public monumental art. The group thus contributed substantially
to Zambia’s artistic heritage. This contribution, however, as that of Zambian
art in general, would be of much greater significance if Zambia had a
national modern arts museum /arts centre where collections are systemically built up, managed, preserved, documented and displayed. Thirdly, the group made a major contribution
to graphic art in Zambia. Since the eighties quite a new number of artists have
practiced various printing techniques and print making now is a regular feature
of the all over artistic output. Last, but not least, its members have
contributed to a tradition of art work that is accessible / makes sense to a
broad public by the choice of subject matter and the manner of presentation.
Scenes of daily life in town or in the village, family situations; imagery
inspired by folklore and fantasy – presented in a figurative manner that
provides the viewer with a way of relating to the art work without extensive (semi-)academic discourse or membership of an artistic
in-crowd. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">*
* *<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 18.15pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%;">You can read and see more about Art
in Zambia by clicking the label Art in Zambia of the Art in Zambia blog, or by
clicking on the publications tab of the <a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/">Z-factor
Art Site</a>, or by going to the Art in Zambia facebook group (</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 24px;"><a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/1400618810168436">https://www.facebook.com/groups/1400618810168436</a>/)</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Notes</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"> More
about Fackson Kulya in the Art in Zambia series:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">No 1:</span> </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Fackson
Kulya, Tribute to<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">No 2:
Fackson Kulya, folk artist<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">No 4:
Henry Tayali and Fackson Kulya: Academic and folk art in Zambia in the 1970's and 1980's.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">2</span></sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"> Daniel
Mwale’s article, and what it triggered off, is detailed in Art in Zambia no 2.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">3</span></sup><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"> More
about Tayali in Art in Zambia series:<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">No 3: HENRY
TAYALI – a post scriptum</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">No 4:
Henry Tayali and Fackson Kulya: Academic and Folk art in Zambia of the Seventies and Eighties<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-27553912930133810242015-07-03T13:02:00.000+02:002016-12-16T15:03:32.247+01:00COLOUR PENCILS IN ART<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Z-factor technical
paper no. 2: Colour Pencils in Art<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Text and
illustrations: Gijsbert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Initiated: 3 July 2015<br />
Updated: 28 August 2015</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This text can also be accessed at the Z-factor Art Site at: <a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/colour-pencils-in-art.html" target="_blank">http://www.zfactorart.com/colour-pencils-in-art.html</a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Colour pencil drawing is one of the graphic techniques. Contemporary Zambian graphic artists employ pen, pencil, charcoal, crayons and practice various
printing techniques. Very few Zambian artists use colour pencil as an art
medium. Colour pencils are associated with children’s expressive ventures
rather than with professional design. Yet professional artists have picked up
colour pencil as an art medium and in several countries colour pencil artists
have formed associations. The rise in popularity of colour pencils or crayons
as an art medium in part can be attributed to the development of high quality pencils
that comply with artistic standards as regards permanence and colour fastness. Below
some remarks and observations about colour pencils as an art medium.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ87-N4YS50KWpi4Cs98gxoygHRzSkFyDMSwnw1sVDmRxYSDinbLqCmZNbU4jppbnMEILZg3cSdnXwQQ6Ev9o3epIXaMXvA9B9m360hYzmAgYrvh2lWSYWRRriWnh6dYLMOFZOnTqrmD4/s1600/Rosie2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ87-N4YS50KWpi4Cs98gxoygHRzSkFyDMSwnw1sVDmRxYSDinbLqCmZNbU4jppbnMEILZg3cSdnXwQQ6Ev9o3epIXaMXvA9B9m360hYzmAgYrvh2lWSYWRRriWnh6dYLMOFZOnTqrmD4/s320/Rosie2.jpg" width="258" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
Illustration 1: Sketch of Rosie, the Dancing
Piglet</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
of a children story book. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Coloured pencil and pen on paper. 2011.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
I got into colour pencil drawing incidentally when I was
doing a series of illustrated children’s stories. One of my sisters was so
happy with these stories that she gave me a box with professional quality
colour pencils. Indeed, there is an associated with child art! This fortuitous
event occurred when, after years of management and consultancy work, I had the
time and opportunity to return to the construction of visual imagery. Peter
Gustavus, an artist based in Monze rural, invited me in 2011 to participate in
the opening exhibition of his home gallery at Shazula Cultural Forum. I accepted
and since then I have been making coloured drawings. Bit by bit I became
familiar with the colour pencil technology and discovered to my happy surprise
that the apparently simple technique of drawing with colour pencils can develop
into quite a sophisticated operation. Of course you can keep things extremely
simple, as you can in any technique, but what amazed me was the level of
complexity that can be achieved in colour drawing – the things you can do with
the pencils.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
On second thought such complexity is not really surprising.
A colour pencil can do the things a graphite (“black”) pencil can do as drawing
in single lines, or in compositions of individually distinguishable lines, or create
planes in various manners (in a singular shade or with a light-dark gradients)
or do all sorts of surface patterning resulting in all sorts of textures. A bundle of colour pencils is like a palette
and the possibilities of image formation therefore are just incredible – just
like in paint.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPE9IIOeu3KVVdtEskxoJW5v9r4s8gKRgfEpVPZ9BrZ2PHswlbEsVLJ6_12nPfK6YykNsboYcnKqvhXCWVcIy6Dzjvs56PXL2tIzA6GSjR8P4l8oLvaSN62VIdLbmBIKiO9F1ytAePFug/s1600/HolNieuwe1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjPE9IIOeu3KVVdtEskxoJW5v9r4s8gKRgfEpVPZ9BrZ2PHswlbEsVLJ6_12nPfK6YykNsboYcnKqvhXCWVcIy6Dzjvs56PXL2tIzA6GSjR8P4l8oLvaSN62VIdLbmBIKiO9F1ytAePFug/s320/HolNieuwe1.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
Illustration 2. "Hollandse Nieuwe." Simple application of pencils - </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
a bit of
blending and a bit of grading. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Subject is the arrival in the Netherlands of the
first fishing vessel</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
with fresh herring ("Hollandse Nieuwe").</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGyjMxYyARqeuH5OpB8eyP0iNk8ZvmRkBF6mL0Egea5aWjvTXOrNm4jSg-5vGHiECNzMFRV0bd54dtgn-vfdY_n7ZxQQyKjEztnhqAFeJhgHNeW9zcDIIxao58Rvc60SljoZ24JnrBOLE/s1600/Rupture-96-300.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGyjMxYyARqeuH5OpB8eyP0iNk8ZvmRkBF6mL0Egea5aWjvTXOrNm4jSg-5vGHiECNzMFRV0bd54dtgn-vfdY_n7ZxQQyKjEztnhqAFeJhgHNeW9zcDIIxao58Rvc60SljoZ24JnrBOLE/s1600/Rupture-96-300.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div class="MsoNormal">
Illustration 3. Rupture, 2013.<br />
Complex application of
pencils by blending and layering.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
The paint
reference is not merely an analogy – there is also a technical resemblance. The
application of one coat of pencil colour on top of another, previously applied
coat is called layering. The term suggests a physical separation in distinct
layers. In practice it is a combination of blending and superimposition. Both
processes occur at the same time. The visual outcome depends on the manner of application
of each coat or layer. A second layer can be applied merely to create surface
nuances or indeed to superimpose the underlying one. Skillful blending and layering
creates rich surfaces that may trigger off an enticing visual experience “in
the eye of the beholder.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Materials<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
What you see, or may see, to a considerable extent is determined
by the material composition and construction of the object you observe. Same
for art objects and this is why the subject of materials and techniques is so important
for artists. Objects you see are objects that reflect or emit light; light that turns
on cones and rods at the back of your eyes. The activated rods and cones send
via the optic nerve channels tiny impulses to specific locations in the brain
where these “stimuli” are “decoded” by brain and mind to be transformed into an
image. Yes, the image you see is inside the brain though it appears to be
outside of it! The image you see “corresponds” to the material construction
of the pencil drawing, the object that reflects light and that you have <i>learned</i> to see. In colour pencil
drawings light is reflected (and absorbed) by the support (paper mostly) and the
pigments deposited on the paper. So let’s have a look at the materials used in
colour pencil drawings, the stuff that the work of art is made of.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Colour pencil is applied to a support or base. In principle
any stable material can be used that has a slightly rough surface but paper is most common.
In standard art work a quality paper should be used; that is, a paper that does
not change colour over time, or if it does, only to a small degree. The best
papers are rag papers and the very best rags are linen. Ordinary papers are
made of wood pulp; newspaper print being a typical example. These papers yellow
and become brittle with age. Art paper mills make special drawing papers. Such
papers are a bit thick, are white or whitish and have a slightly rough surface.
The thickness renders the necessary sturdiness, the whiteness is to ensure that
light striking the paper is reflected without a bias towards a specific colour
and the roughness or tooth of the paper ensures that the colour particles of
the pencils are filled off in drawing. Artists sometimes deliberately opt for
coloured paper but care needs to be taken that these paper colours are fast to
light. <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The colour pencil itself is composed of a cylindrical core
of coloured material which is encased in a cylindrical or hexagonal wooden
frame. The composition of the coloured core varies according to quality
standards and functionality. The core is composed of pigments (fine colour
particles) and a binder (the material that keeps the colour particles
together). There are different kinds of binders. The binder in so called
aquarelle or water colour pencils is a water soluble gum such as gum Arabic. These drawings can be washed with a brush to
achieve water colour effects. The regular binder of the non-aqueous pencil is a
waxy or fatty substance, or a combination of such substances. Different
manufacturers employ different binders, some are hard and dry, others soft and
wax like. In drawing these binders stick to the pigments as they transfer their
location from the pencil core to the surface of the paper by the abrasive
action of the paper. These binders adhere the pigments to paper and to
themselves. The bond between pigment and paper also is in part mechanical as
pigments get lodged into the interstices of the fibres that make up a sheet of
paper.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
In conventional Western art practice each medium is
associated with a specific range of pigments. The major factor determining the
suitability of pigments is their permanence: pigments are made to last and keep
their original colour. The choice of pigments, however, may be restricted by
specific applications such as painting on a wall, or restoration of a historical
painting. The nomenclature for these basic pigments is straight forward and
each artist does know a good number of them: yellow ochre, burned sienna,
ultramarine blue, emerald green, ivory black, cadmium red and so on. Each of
these designations relates to or should relate to a specific pigment having its unique
chemical composition and physical properties. Manufacturers of pencils invent new
names for mixtures of pigments (“bottle green”) or may use a generic
designation (“orange”). The chemical composition of such colours may not be
traceable. Some manufacturers indicate colour permanence of professional
pencils on the pencil. Royal Talens, a Netherlands based manufacturer of art
materials, uses a three star system to indicate permanence of its Van Gogh
series, three stars being most permanent. Faber-Castell also grades permanence
of its professional Polychromos pencils in stars. Luminance, the art pencils of
Swiss Caran d’Ache, simply are labelled “permanent colour” without
distinguishing the level of permanence. Derwent, a British make, offers no
information concerning permanency on the pencil. You may, however, come across
leaflets with vital information or retrieve all necessary data from websites. <i>In any case, if you go into colour pencil
drawing get the best pencils of the best makes.</i> Even than you should keep works
on display out of sunlight as certain pigments eventually do fade if exposed to
sunlight.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Pigments are selected for various reasons. One is stability
of the compound, another inertness (that is, it does not react with the
materials in its environment) and of course, its colour. The colour we see is
light reflected by the pigment particles. Light is composed of light waves.
Each pigment reflects specific light waves which we perceive as green or blue
&c. Colour perception is also determined by physical properties of the
pigment: some are opaque, some are translucent and some are somewhere in
between opaqueness and transparency. These properties matter when you blend or
superimpose colours.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
The quality
of the wooden casing is not as important as that of paper and colouring matter
– it is not part of the final product. There is, however, considerable variety
between brands in the quality of the wood. Best is a fairly soft wood that does
not splinter. Cedar wood is reputed to be the best. Good pencil wood is easy to
sharpen.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Tools and implements<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
You need a
good pencil knife for sharpening the pencil. I prefer a surgical blade with
appropriate handle. These blades are thin, cut well, last long and are so sharp
that you can easily shape the coloured core of the pencil without breaking its
point. It is also practical to have sand paper around to sharpen or adjust the
shape of the exposed part of the coloured core, some medium grade is fine.
Erasers have limited effectiveness in removing colour pencil marks on paper,
but like sandpaper and knife can be applied for special effects. Corrections
sometimes can be done by a correcting liquid such as Snowpake but such
corrections remain visible to the eye. You need a good ruler so as to set out
the dimensions of your drawing. You also may have to cut the drawing paper to
size using the ruler and the penknife mentioned above. Depending on the kind of
work you do you may also need plexiglass triangles and compasses.</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Availability<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
Colour
pencils for art work are sold in art supply shops. A good shop may stock
several brands thus providing you with a wide choice of colours. Different
brands may also have varying drawing properties due to the binders they use: some
pencils are dry, others are waxy. Quality brands having artists’ pencils have
been mentioned above: Caran d’Ache with its Luminance pencils, Royal Talens
with its Van Gogh series, Derwent with its artist and studio ranges,
Faber-Castell has its Polychromos pencils and there are a few others that I
have not tried but are good. Coloured pencils can be bought in boxes containing
different numbers of pencils. A box of 24 is a good start. Pencils can also be
purchased individually. This allows you to replace pencils that you have
reduced to stumps and to purchase colours that are not in your set or that are
produced by a different factory. Each factory has a coding system for its array
of pencils, you may thus order by referring to a specific code.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<b>Colour pencil
technique, a few concluding notes<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Getting started with colour pencils is relatively easy,
unlike in mediums as oil paint or water colours. There is no standard recipe
for design in colour pencil drawing. You may work from a preconceived idea, put
down first as a sketch, or start blank and let things come as they come – or
perhaps not come. You may draw a design meant to be a final work of art or test
out in a sketch an idea to be executed in another medium. You can combine
colour pencil with pen, as in cartoons, or with water based paint. <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Colour pencil drawing, like all techniques, has specific
advantages and disadvantages. Mentioned has been its facility in use. Another
big plus is the accuracy with which lines and dots or other marks can be put on
paper. Drawing can be done swiftly and in one go, there is no waiting for
previously applied matter to dry as in paint. A drawing can be made swiftly,
without interruptions.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Pencils make lines of a few mm at most. Line thickness
imposes a practical restriction to the surface that can be conveniently worked.
Pencil drawings therefore are small or medium sized; rarely over, let us, say
40 x 50 cm. Another material restriction is the limited possibility of
modifying or correcting a drawing once you have started it. Colour pencils are
not like opaque paints where you can actually redo entire sections. In colour
pencil drawing underlying layers or colour remain visible beneath a coat that
is applied later; and often actually blends with it, just like in water colour.
Consequently the structure of your composition should be sound from the onset. </div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The main negative is the thinness of the colour as applied
to the ground. You have to do quite a bit of work to arrive at a rich surface
that saturates the mind’s eye with colour. The layering mentioned above is
almost forced on you if you need a strong colour sensation; also if you are
colouring a monochrome plane it is often better to go over it several times.<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">* The author is an artist and cultural anthropologist
working in Zambia. Notably as of 2012 he developed an interest in colour pencil drawing. He is the founding director of the Choma Museum and Crafts
Centre and organized several art exhibitions in Zambia. He publishes on The
Net; i.e., </span><a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/"><span lang="EN-US">Art in Zambia Blog</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, the </span><a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/"><span lang="EN-US">Z-factor Art Site</span></a><span lang="EN-US">, </span><a href="http://texts.zamart.org/"><span lang="EN-US">Z-texts
on line</span></a> and <a href="http://www.academia.edu/">www<span lang="EN-US">.academia.edu</span></a><span lang="EN-US">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-46498339255633400312015-05-27T13:47:00.001+02:002019-06-14T15:25:47.547+02:00HISTORY OF ART IN ZAMBIA<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Post by Bert Witkamp</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
First published: 27 May 2015<br />
Last update: 15 July 2015</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
<u>Art in Zambia series no 6: History of Art in Zambia:</u> <i>Brief discussion of the need for History of Art as a discipline applied to the Zambian art world. </i><br />
<i><br /></i></div>
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It took about fifty years since Independence before the
first Zambian enrolled at a university to become an art historian. Presently
and until he graduates we don't have a single Zambian art historian. Yet we
have Zambian art both traditional and modern. We have collectors and
collections, public and private. We have artists, art teachers and galleries. But
we don’t have a concerted national effort to reconstruct, document and present
the development and current state of Zambian art; all we have are bits and
pieces scattered in various places.<br />
<br /></div>
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As time goes on it becomes harder to piece these historical
fragments together and bring them to life by personal accounts of those who
created modern art in Zambia; the pioneers of what has become a substantial tradition
embodying its unique brand of contemporary African art.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
One consequence of this state of affairs is that upcoming
Zambian artists are deprived of a sense of Zambian art history and artistic
culture. Their exposure to art is limited to what is accessible and what is
accessible to them are bits and pieces with little coherence, historical depth
or documentation. As a result these artists work in a tradition largely unknown
to them. <br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
You may hold that for many artists in a practical sense lack
of art historical awareness does not matter; I now refer firstly to self-styled
artists. You may even argue that lack of such awareness enhances the
originality or authenticity of their work. There are a good number of such
artists and they make art that is Zambian in a manner that is not contrived but
is a genuine presentation of their perception of life in Zambia as they know it.<br />
<br /></div>
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Such naiveté cannot be attributed to artists who have
studied art at an educational institution such as a college or academy. Art
schools operate on foundations (“parameters”) set by the history of which the
schools themselves are a product. A good number of Zambian artists have been
and are trained at Western art academies or at university fine art departments.
Artist in such facilities are exposed to the relevant national art tradition
framed in the larger context of contemporary Western artistic practice and
ideology. A Zambian artist, lacking versatility in Zambian art history, easily
is overwhelmed by artistic practice and ideology presented to her or him.
Indeed, studying art at these specialised institutions is a means of
involvement in international artistic discourse and that is quite a challenge
indeed when you come from a country without a single museum of art and only two
institutions where art is taught in a manner that bears resemblance to a good
school of art in the Western tradition. It is, from the point of view of <i>national</i> art development, much better if
Zambian art students go to foreign art academies and the like fortified b<i>y </i>sound knowledge of Zambian arts and
culture; that what is learned is an extension of what is already known - that it is the broadening of the horizon and not the filling in of a gap that should
not have been there in the first place.</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgpkfTwowHxGlXf9nKJMWHCwz57ugYGBOSwxBSqVXCGVsjUTYhyphenhyphenIW-oBlDE65DGn9m9IfXTIcFgj86a7dWxcCDe7iBmiZbKPATSBSp4Gd_1aat61fWvDw4Q_sdKVsvpyiZEvuq-7rldq0/s1600/IMG_0027+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgpkfTwowHxGlXf9nKJMWHCwz57ugYGBOSwxBSqVXCGVsjUTYhyphenhyphenIW-oBlDE65DGn9m9IfXTIcFgj86a7dWxcCDe7iBmiZbKPATSBSp4Gd_1aat61fWvDw4Q_sdKVsvpyiZEvuq-7rldq0/s320/IMG_0027+-+Copy.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can appreciate this print by Tayali without knowing that he was taught graphics at the Dusseldorf Art Academy. But your understanding of Tayali's graphic style deepens if you can place him in the German expressionist graphic tradition.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Lack of art historians not only inhibits teaching of art. It
also stunts museum art work. Museum art work is professionally done by
curators. Curators are people who combine expertise in a specific museum field
(such as art) with expertise in museum operations (that is: collecting,
preservation, presenting, documentation, education, research, policy development
and management). There is no need to talk about establishing a museum of modern
art in Zambia if there is no provision for competent, honest and dedicated
staff. Generally, an institution or organisation is as good or bad as the
people working in it; and if you don’t have the right people you shall not have
the right institution.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
The Lusaka National Museum is the only Zambian museum
currently hosting major art exhibitions. It also is the only museum storing
several art collections and thus constitutes the only public (i.e., state
owned) depository of modern Zambian visual art. This situation has prevailed
for many years and one would expect that by now the museum would have an art
historian / curator on its pay roll. Not so.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
How the Art Department of the Open University at Lusaka
copes with the Zambian Art history is an open question and the same applies to
the Art Department of the Evelyn Hone College.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
What explains this lack of art historical interest in
Zambia? Due to the prolonged time span of this omission, 50+ years, one is
inclined to look for structural reasons rather than some statistical freak
incident. In fact, such a small art world like ours has little room for
statistical explanations or forecasts when it comes to professional expertise.
The explanation, as I see it, is a deep rooted lack of interest at the
institutional level in art and to a considerable degree in culture and cultural
heritage as well. Why that is so is not easy to explain and I shall not venture
it here. Let me just note that institutional operators rarely grow up with
modern art and that for many of them traditional arts are for tourists or
ceremonial entertainment at airports but are not valid as part of one’s
practical life and aspirations.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Modern art in Zambia, despite institutional deficiencies, is
alive and moving. The scene is small but productive with art work that is quite
divers ranging from abstract to naturalistic, from folksy to academic, from
pictorial triviality to iconic symbolism and so on. The baseline is that
individuals keep art going in Zambia; the artists and the art supporters and
their organisations. Some supporters buy art, some run galleries, a few help in
art supplies and a few write about art in the media. Yes, and currently one of
these art writers is going to be the first and only academically qualified art historian! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdimUKRx6miy-mHc9o1N9MEzItnA9ZxI7t7hC2jRyddNYQx0nTaVD6r0c1zb7fDITFlQuZkc2z06us1P0WJaRtArEIeehCaKszYQ5He9kd16AS8OkH7SRl0CXlPGEkf4QupdqiY2IP5mg/s1600/ArtinZcover.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdimUKRx6miy-mHc9o1N9MEzItnA9ZxI7t7hC2jRyddNYQx0nTaVD6r0c1zb7fDITFlQuZkc2z06us1P0WJaRtArEIeehCaKszYQ5He9kd16AS8OkH7SRl0CXlPGEkf4QupdqiY2IP5mg/s320/ArtinZcover.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">To date the only book on Zambian modern art.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
Indeed if you combine Art in Zambia (written by Gabriel Ellison
with major inputs by the VAC publishing committee, published in 2004,
beautifully laid out by Andrew Macromalis) with the articles written by Andrew Mulenga over the
years appearing in The Post you do get a reasonably adequate descriptive
overview of modern art in Zambia since independence in 1964. That Andrew is to
be the first Zambian Art Historian is well deserved and worth a celebration.
Yet one swallow does not make a summer and I hope that more Zambians shall
follow Andrew’s footsteps. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br />
Note:<br />
You can follow Andrew at his blog Andrew Mulenga's Hole in the Wall
at <a href="http://andrewmulenga.blogspot.com/">http://andrewmulenga.blogspot.com/</a><br />
<br />
Post Scriptum.<br />
1. The late Godfrey Setti did have an MA in fine arts at Rhodes University. He died in 2002 while studying at Rhodes. He must have had a fair amount of history of art during this study and we know he was also working on a manuscript presumably about Zambian art.<br />
2. A good many practicing Zambian artists have academic degrees or college qualifications. All these artists have had art history courses. My concern in this post is the lack of professional art historical texts and documentation of modern Zambian art.</div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-8428051254069371432013-11-08T08:55:00.000+01:002013-11-18T13:54:46.984+01:00Invitation to participate in the 2013 Exhibition of Arts and Crafts of the Southern Province of Zambia<div class="WordSection1">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSEFv3-vFiicU7fLwnzPligg-nBozbGZyexLOG_Mo2-g-t1F1NtqBlEy5KmsOUq6efr5alYxNzqpe0-HkBt22bYAUcZIFmhqS-UZ-Bg_wm34Bc8LFwMdXi_UZzKkSogMKYwWaJEYGI5WI/s1600/cmcclogo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSEFv3-vFiicU7fLwnzPligg-nBozbGZyexLOG_Mo2-g-t1F1NtqBlEy5KmsOUq6efr5alYxNzqpe0-HkBt22bYAUcZIFmhqS-UZ-Bg_wm34Bc8LFwMdXi_UZzKkSogMKYwWaJEYGI5WI/s200/cmcclogo.JPG" width="132" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Choma, November 8th, 2013.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It’s time to get ready to participate in the 2013 edition of the Choma Museum Exhibition of Arts and Crafts of the Southern Province. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Like last year the exhibition shall be organised by myself (Zamfactor Ltd) and the Choma Museum Art Gallery. Contact person at the Choma Museum is Peggy Himoondo, phone 0977-661 411. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Items on display should be made in the Southern Province of Zambia or by artists and artisans hailing from that province and be works of art, applied art or quality crafts. <o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8PsKCLpLrziEkZWSGO49uLPAqTjU1S6UoFEmx1I5vO87XMXixjUfN5eFD7TeWQqrkaycaBZjiX1-Ju7TeyM11WNPSEPCgALP8RiYlFOQRMJ-gIXrPG8nd9gUiAjbrQ12xyOmxSzUIUo/s1600/X-mas12Exhib.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU8PsKCLpLrziEkZWSGO49uLPAqTjU1S6UoFEmx1I5vO87XMXixjUfN5eFD7TeWQqrkaycaBZjiX1-Ju7TeyM11WNPSEPCgALP8RiYlFOQRMJ-gIXrPG8nd9gUiAjbrQ12xyOmxSzUIUo/s320/X-mas12Exhib.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Photo of 2012 Arts & Crafts exhibition</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
Participants shall be promoted on the Choma Museum Art Gallery website, the Zamfactor Ltd. website and facebook.</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Choma Museum commission is 25% of sales value, the mark-up on the artist’s or artisan’s price therefore is 33.3% or 1/3.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Works for sale should be submitted as of 15 November up to 24 November, exhibition to open tentatively 30 November 2013 and to run until end of January 2014.<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Please confirm participation/interest by return mail with CC to <a href="mailto:chomamuseum@gmail.com">chomamuseum@gmail.com</a><o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Cheerz & “MAKE ART WORK.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Bert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Zamfactor Ltd.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">phone land line++260 +213 220 364<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="FR">phone mobile ++260 +955 533 644 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><a href="mailto:zamfactor@gmail.com"><span lang="FR">mailto:zamfactor@gmail.com</span></a></span><span lang="FR"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/"><span lang="FR">www.zfactorart.com</span></a><span lang="FR"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://artblog.zamart.org/"><span lang="FR">http://artblog.zamart.org</span></a><span lang="FR"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com/">http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com</a><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
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Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-68142733384529007242013-09-20T14:05:00.001+02:002013-09-21T14:54:53.120+02:00The Choma Museum Art Gallery Electronic Newsletter no 5<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGbaMVBJkRL1v4azKiTTzMruBd23eI8bv3d8lMELYpCZYIuUiAsjKzqIiMVl6VX5jVpJXZtV3mYvd9oB0m3d-CWQFcv6ifyLad8R8fH5qSzWzKG8FUOS69HLWo5B-RGjapM2mLSKkjeFE/s1600/cmcclogo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGbaMVBJkRL1v4azKiTTzMruBd23eI8bv3d8lMELYpCZYIuUiAsjKzqIiMVl6VX5jVpJXZtV3mYvd9oB0m3d-CWQFcv6ifyLad8R8fH5qSzWzKG8FUOS69HLWo5B-RGjapM2mLSKkjeFE/s200/cmcclogo.JPG" width="132" /></a><span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: right;">
<span style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-fareast-language: EN-GB; mso-no-proof: yes;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; text-align: right;">20
September 2013</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Editor:
Bert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1 COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
Choma Museum e-mail address is: </span><a href="mailto:chomamuseum@gmail.com"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">chomamuseum@gmail.com</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.
Mail to that address will be read by Mwimanji N. Chellah, executive director of
the CMCC. Peggy Himoonde is in charge of the Art Gallery. For information about
the ongoing CM Art Gallery exhibition you may also contact Bert Witkamp at </span><a href="mailto:zamfactor@gmail.com"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">zamfactor@gmail.com</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Choma
Museum Art Gallery website is: </span><a href="http://chomamuseumartgalleryweebly.com/"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com.</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> It is small but keeps you updated about
what is happening in the gallery. The site gets visited about 10 to 15 times
daily – more than the average physical visits of the gallery. This newsletter
is also published on the </span><a href="http://zamart.blogspot.com/"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ZamArt Blog</span></a><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> and the </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com/">art gallery website.</a></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">2. CURRENT
EXHIBITION: GRAPHIC ART OF ZAMBIA <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">The Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs and </span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">CMCC ED admiring </span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">a silkscreen print by Lutanda </span></div>
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<span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 11pt;">depicting a traditional event.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
is the third exhibition of the Choma Museum Art gallery this year. The official opening
took place on August 21<sup>st</sup> 2013 and was performed by Professor Nkandu
Luo, Minister of Chiefs and Traditional Affairs. She was accompanied by her two
deputy ministers – indeed it has been some time since the CMCC has been visited
by three ministers for a single event.
Professor Nkandu Luo in her well informed opening speech expressed appreciation
for the manner in which the museum had been setup and was clearly genuinely
interested in the institution and its exhibitions. Exhibition organisor Bert Witkamp
explained how the exhibition was structured stressing the pioneers of artistic
printmaking in Zambia. CMCC Executive Director Mwimanji N. Chellah guided the
Ministers, their entourage and invited guests through the CMCC premises,
building and exhibitions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the Shot. Lino cut <br />
by Patrick Mweemba.</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The
event was well covered by ZANIS and Andrew Mulenga writing for The Post. Andrew’s
article is in the Saturday Post of August 24 2013 and can also be read and seen
on his blog named Andrew’s Hole in the Wall by clicking on the link below: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://andrewmulenga.blogspot.com/2013_08_01_archive.html">http://andrewmulenga.blogspot.com/2013_08_01_archive.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Roy Kausa, art writer and Board member of the Lechwe Trust, also covered the event (on
11.09.13) and had photographs posted on the CNN i-report website.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bert Witkamp has designed a leaflet
providing information about Zambian printmakers and a brief outline of graphic
art in Zambia. This information can also be accessed on the <a href="http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com/">Choma Museum Art Gallery
website</a> (click on the current exhibition tab), the <a href="http://artblog.zamart.org/">ZamArt Blog</a> and the <a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/">Zfactor Art Site</a> (click on IT
publications).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">This
exhibition, in a sense a sequel to the 1996 graphic art of Zambia exhibition by the same institution, may very well be the most comprehensive Zambian graphic art
exhibition ever. Almost all major graphic artists are represented. On sale are
both recent and older prints. The older prints, made in the seventies and
eighties, include increasingly rare prints by Tayali, Cynthia Zukas, Lutanda Mwamba and members
of the Lusaka Artists Group. The display runs till end of October.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="line-height: 150%;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3
PREVIOUS: WOMEN IN ART – art by or about women</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The exhibition opened March 2<sup>nd</sup>
and closed about August 10<sup>th</sup> 2013. It attracted about 1,000 recorded
visitors. Sales amounted to K 10,000. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">4 MEMORY
LANE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">BaSyabbalo</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Today (20.09.13) Mr Enock Syabbalo came to see
the museum. He is one of the pioneers of what now is the CMCC. In the early
eighties he was working for the Gossner Mission in the Gwembe Valley where he
was in charge of the crafts activities of the mission. This activity was
adopted by the Netherlands government in 1988 as a development project and developed to what today is the
Choma Museum and Crafts Centre Trust Ltd. In 1987, now 25 years ago, it was the
Society for the Gwembe Tonga Museum and Crafts Project. BaSyabbalo was its
first employee. He is, needless to say, an expert of Gwembe Tonga culture.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">5 FUTURE ACTIVITIES<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Roy Kausa suggested that this exhibition should
move on to the Lusaka National Museum to be combined with a graphic art workshop
for secondary school pupils. Sounds like a good idea. The CM Art Gallery as yet
has not developed a plan for its next exhibition.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Note: You are welcome to notify art events for posting on the
Choma Museum Art Gallery website or ZamArt Blog by using the any of e-mail
addresses above.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-8633605323335949182013-08-29T12:39:00.001+02:002013-08-29T12:39:36.061+02:002013 Open Day Insaka Artists<div class="mobile-photo">
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Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-90302445561792040932013-08-28T09:46:00.000+02:002013-08-29T17:07:24.458+02:00FW: KUNDWE - Art Talks at The Lusaka National Museum<div class="WordSection1">
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Emilia Alvarez Nordström [mailto:emiliaalvarez86@gmail.com] <br /><b>Sent:</b> 27 August 2013 18:56<br /><b>To:</b> zamfactor@gmail.com<br /><b>Subject:</b> KUNDWE - Art Talks at The Lusaka National Museum<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 20.0pt;">Art Talks at Lusaka National Museum</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 22.0pt;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Get to know the Arts and Culture scene in Lusaka!</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Join us for a series of Art Talks presented by Lusaka's creative professionals at the Lusaka National Museum. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Starting on September 11<sup>th</sup> until October 16<sup>th</sup></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11.5pt;">See our Program below. </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">Art Talk Program, September 2013:</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Wednesday, September 11<sup>th</sup> 2013, 17:30 – 18:30 hrs </span></b><b><span lang="EN-US"> </span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 7.5pt;">Mika Marffy - Art curator at the stART Foundation.</span><span lang="EN-US"> </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Education Hall, Lusaka National Museum.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Microsoft Sans Serif","sans-serif";">Combining creative charity work and commercial art sale, the StART Foundation encourage creativity in children and support Zambian artists. Curator Mika Marffy speaks about their work and their prestigious art gallery 37d<b>.</b></span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Entrance fee: 5 zmw</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Wednesday, September 18<sup>th</sup> 2013, 17:30 – 18:30 hrs</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">The Art App Project</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 7.5pt;">Artist Lawrence Chikwa, Daryl Lukas and Francis Lombe from BongoHive Technology and Innovation Hub. </span><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Education Hall, Lusaka National Museum.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Microsoft Sans Serif","sans-serif";">Lawrence Chikwa and BongoHive's Daryl Lukas and Francis Lombe speak about their project – merging Art and Technology to create a new platform to make it possible to explore – and buy – Zambian art through your mobile phone.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Entrance fee: 5 zmw</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13.5pt;">Wednesday, September 25<sup>th</sup> 2013, 17:30 – 18:30 hrs</span></b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18.0pt;">Art in Zambia - The Present and The Future</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-size: 7.5pt;">Andrew Mulenga – Award winning journalist and art critic for the Post Newspaper.</span> <span style="font-size: 10.0pt;">Education Hall, Lusaka National Museum.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Microsoft Sans Serif","sans-serif";">Andrew Mulenga speaks about art journalism, criticism, and the art scene in Zambia – where it is today and where it is headed.</span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Entrance fee: 5 zmw</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-35001775467279875012013-08-26T13:30:00.000+02:002018-01-07T15:22:38.559+01:00KEEPING ART: the Care of Prints, Drawings & Watercolours<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 125%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">By Bert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Technical art information sheet no. 1<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">version: 2 September 2013<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">updated: 7 January 2018</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Art work generally is fragile and will get damaged if not properly cared for. Below some guidelines for portable two-dimensional art work such as drawings, prints or watercolours. </span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">In this text we first consider framed art behind glass on display and then framed and unframed art in storage.</span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b><span lang="EN-US"></span>1.</b> <b><span lang="EN-US">Purchased framed art behind glass</span></b><span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">The purpose of framing and mounting is twofold: to adequately present </span><i>and</i> protect the work of art inside of it. You need to consider three factors in preserving the art object well:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The material quality of the art work,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The manner in which it has been mounted and framed, and,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> The location where the object is to be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<i><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">1.1 The material construction of the art work<o:p></o:p></span></span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdFhTn7Z-BXujO_9j6pG3b0jrgLQuSXpn0FhGurMV51ZNDMaYvYAWH451k6KdfsqdpDAfmE4Z5dX1bKHPaOQvna_v-9-kphDuBFoe2A2gq3mfwFZI3MAi3Aml7DJ3c_BmuM0YWwV2l8w/s1600/Tech1-fading.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdFhTn7Z-BXujO_9j6pG3b0jrgLQuSXpn0FhGurMV51ZNDMaYvYAWH451k6KdfsqdpDAfmE4Z5dX1bKHPaOQvna_v-9-kphDuBFoe2A2gq3mfwFZI3MAi3Aml7DJ3c_BmuM0YWwV2l8w/s320/Tech1-fading.jpg" width="227" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo 1. Fading in top print due to<br />inferior pigments and exposure to light.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Both prints are equally old.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Art work, in the </span><i>classical</i> western tradition, is made of a specific range of materials, applied by specified procedure. One key factor in the selection of these materials is permanency – art materials if well applied are to result in a “permanent” work of art. Practically other factors also come into play such as availability, costs and technical knowledge of the artist. Many modern artists have insufficient knowledge of art materials, an issue which particularly affects the choice and application of colours. The concept of “permanency” does not feature in the ideology of many modern artists, notably as of WW II. The work of those artists is not made to last, sometimes deliberately so. The issue of material soundness, however, is a concern for buyers and collectors, especially as art usually does not come cheap or is purchased in order to be preserved. Laymen rarely have the knowledge or means to assess the material soundness of a work of art. But you may be able to see whether proper paper has been used as the support for your print, drawing, water colour or gouache. Proper art paper does not or hardly yellow.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;">The permanency of colours often is hard to establish by sight alone – when it comes to inks and pigments you depend on the artist’s consciousness and knowledge. Charcoal, black pencil and Indian ink don’t fade, but the ink of felt pen and markers do loose their original colour. The moral of this story is to carefully observe the recommendations in section 1.3 concerning the location of art you have already bought and to do some investigation on the material soundness of art you consider to buy in the future, in particular when such an object has a hefty price tag attached to it or needs preservation from a collector’s point of view.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"></span>1.2 Mount and frame<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfJxdoz_suGuzMR_Uz-1R7_qcpmKazhO_THQ_mkWufKhZtDFeTOB2kGllenfbzISejNkDnw5kgy2tnEJhdM_J2DFPrQXJqdaG-9GZj8hZ7IlQP3GfU7z35MU60ebqvpzUt9EC8o1MZ6ls/s1600/TP1-1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfJxdoz_suGuzMR_Uz-1R7_qcpmKazhO_THQ_mkWufKhZtDFeTOB2kGllenfbzISejNkDnw5kgy2tnEJhdM_J2DFPrQXJqdaG-9GZj8hZ7IlQP3GfU7z35MU60ebqvpzUt9EC8o1MZ6ls/s200/TP1-1.JPG" width="98" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo 2. Protective<br />glued strip torn by<br />contraction.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"></span>Mounting board for art work is especially made board and should not be substituted by cheap ordinary board or carton. Art mounting board should be acid free and not or hardly discolour over time. The board, if tinted, should be tinted by the use of inks or solids that are fast to light; that is, do not easily fade. One purpose of the mounting board is to protect the art work from contact with the glass. If the picture has been mounted in a wobbly manner, or is wobbly by itself, this purpose might not be achieved and remounting is to be considered. The art work should be attached to the mounting board by a few drops of gum Arabic (water based glue) at the top, or, better by a strip of water based glue connecting mount and art work at the top of the work. Do not use or accept sellotape or the like as the adhesives of such materials in time migrate into the absorbent surfaces onto which they have been applied. A protective sheet of paper should be placed behind the mounted picture. The sheet should be of acid free paper, such as good plain art paper. Behind this protective sheet is the backing of the frame. A suitable backing material is oil-free masonite (see photo 3). </span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo 3. The gap between frame<br />and backing allows dust, dirt &<br />bugs is in, see photo 4.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWWoLKwy3ksWjS4DiMTbXaBCFGgQkVr5KtLWHHcURWQnnvBIafKVP6mGyIy8tjRkAQiVlXeND60Mfwq9JNrRafj4BFPYI3YApldpg0RsrXOrS5vDRL3XgGzs31XPyEF7meNnlVEAd0wE/s1600/TP1-4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="96" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsWWoLKwy3ksWjS4DiMTbXaBCFGgQkVr5KtLWHHcURWQnnvBIafKVP6mGyIy8tjRkAQiVlXeND60Mfwq9JNrRafj4BFPYI3YApldpg0RsrXOrS5vDRL3XgGzs31XPyEF7meNnlVEAd0wE/s200/TP1-4.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo 4. Dirt in frame as frame was<br />not sealed. Picture is mounted<br /> on paper rather than board.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Masonite is compressed exploded wood. It has a smooth side and a rough side that has the imprinted mesh which is part of the pressing process. The rough side should be the outside. For small pictures a good cardboard also will do. Unsuitable backings are made of cheap cardboard such as the kind of which boxes are made. Cheap yes, suitable no. The backing is tacked against the frame. The border area of the backing and the adjacent frame should be covered by a glued strip of paper – the glue usually is fish glue – and such sealing serves to keep dust and bugs out (see photo 2). It is a good thing to do, but don’t use cello tape or similar adhesive strips. Glass, 2 or 3 mm thick and preferably non-reflexive and uv filtering, is in front of the mounted picture and held in place by the frame. Dust it from time to time, clean it with a damp cloth or methylated spirits. Avoid water seeping into the frame.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Frames usually do not require much attention save for the occasional dusting; but wooden frames that are oiled need to receive their periodic oil treatment. That is about twice a year. If you do not know what oil to use, or are limited in your choices, just use baby oil. The main thing about furniture oils is that they should be non-drying oils. If you are tired of the repeating oiling business just use boiled linseed oil. That’ll suffice for a long time. Boiled linseed oil does “dry.”</span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"></span>Hang your picture where there are strong drafts.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"></span>Hang your picture against a damp wall or in an excessively damp environment.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"></span>1). Sunlight shall cause your picture to fade when inferior pigments or inks are used and may eventually also cause durable pigments or inks to fade or change colour. This point is dramatically demonstrated in photograph no 1. Fading is accelerated by the use of poor colouring agents, as in this case. Exposure to sunlight may also cause other problems by the differential absorption of warmth by light and dark area’s with white areas staying cool and dark area’s warming up. Such temperature variations cause differences in expansion or contraction across and within the picture, and results in local variation of in humidity as well. These factors contribute to the gradual destruction of your work of art. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">The
detrimental effect of light is reduced by using uv filtering glass, but even then
art work should only be illuminated by indirect light. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"></span>2). Art work should not be placed close to illuminating light bulbs as these shall warm up the object. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Artificial
light may also emit the damaging uv rays – but LED lights don’t. Bear this in
mind when you use spotlights to highlight your art work on the wall or floor</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">3.The art work should have normal room temperature and generally abrupt changes in temperature should be avoided. Art work should not be hung in a spot with excessively varying temperatures, such as close to a fire place or other source of heat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">5). A humid wall or prolonged exposure to excessively humid air shall transfer humidity onto and into your frame and picture. Humidity shall cause fungi to thrive on your art work. In that event you need to open the frame, take out the picture to dry up and free it of debris by the use of a soft brush. It is best to consult an expert if the picture is valuable. The mount, protective sheet and backing must be replaced if affected. The frame must be thoroughly cleaned and dried. Humidity also promotes undesirable mechanical and chemical action and reaction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"></span><b>2</b> <b><span lang="EN-US">Art in Storage<o:p></o:p></span></b></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">These objects best are kept in a vertical position to reduce the chance of breaking the glass. The main requirement is to store the work in a reasonably dry place. In tropical area’s one must be mindful of termites. Inspect periodically – once or twice a year.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggMyo3LMfulEP70o_Ie8NssntLBfPMu_acF_W27upPOjgIkzNiSUEfiMWUJNYwrgouebcmLqFtuau5GMG9m8-HQUVFI7wd0ev4iwK1RGWCAatqsg_tnXQFYcVRWu0liQQcMjoTgl096XM/s1600/TP1-2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggMyo3LMfulEP70o_Ie8NssntLBfPMu_acF_W27upPOjgIkzNiSUEfiMWUJNYwrgouebcmLqFtuau5GMG9m8-HQUVFI7wd0ev4iwK1RGWCAatqsg_tnXQFYcVRWu0liQQcMjoTgl096XM/s200/TP1-2.JPG" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="font-size: 13px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Photo 5. Sleeve of portfolio. The </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US">Art purchased as a print, drawing, watercolour or gouache usually is kept in a portfolio; with protective sheets of good paper between them. It is better if the works are mounted as this leaves the surface free of contact with other materials. Collectors may store in special drawers. The main dangers are excessive humidity and sometimes insects. Periodic inspection is necessary – you’ll be surprised how easily dust and bugs</span> find their way into you art collection!<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-62208879299482528252013-08-21T15:44:00.000+02:002013-08-21T15:44:32.987+02:00FW: Invitation Opening Exhibition "GRAPHIC ART OF ZAMBIA."<div class="WordSection1">
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Mr Chellah, Director of the Choma Museum & Crafts Centre Trust Ltd, was informed late last night that the Minister of MoCTA would be available and willing to officially open the Graphic Art of Zambia tomorrow, August 21<sup>st</sup> 2013. That is short notice. We are happy 1) that the Minister has found time for this function in her busy schedule, 2) that the formal opening does take place before the UNTWO conference, and 3) we can inform you electronically. It therefore is my pleasure to send this invitation to you on behalf of Mr Chellah who today is in Livingstone where the Choma Museum and Crafts Centre participates in the promotion of handi-crafts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">Bert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #1f497d; font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt;">You can access information about the exhibition on the Art Gallery website at <a href="http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com/">http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com</a> by clicking on this link and thereafter on the current exhibition tab of the web site.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif";">From:</span></b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: windowtext; font-family: "Tahoma","sans-serif";"> Gijsbert Witkamp [mailto:zamfactor@gmail.com] <br /><b>Sent:</b> 20 August 2013 10:44<br /><b>To:</b> zamfactor@gmail.com<br /><b>Subject:</b> Invitation Opening Exhibition "GRAPHIC ART OF ZAMBIA."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-63592848420588691282013-08-17T15:59:00.000+02:002015-07-15T11:42:44.559+02:00THE 2013 GRAPHIC ART EXHIBITION OF THE CHOMA MUSEUM<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; tab-stops: 18.15pt; text-align: justify;">
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Text and internet publication: Bert Witkamp.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Posted: date 17 August 2013</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last update: 15 July 2015</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><u><b>Art in Zambia series no 5: The Graphic Art Exhibition of the Choma Museum.</b></u></span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In
this text by Bert Witkamp some notes on the genesis of artistic printmaking at the occasion of the August – October 2013 “Graphic Art of Zambia” exhibition at the Art
Gallery of the Choma Museum. The exhibition is a joint production of Zamfactor
Ltd. and the Choma Museum. The text is based on the notes in the leaflet accompanying the
exhibition; now illustrated in this post.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">You
can see artists and work on show at the Choma Museum Art Gallery Web site:
<a href="http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com/">http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com</a> by clicking on the current exhibition
tab.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><b> </b>An expanded version of this text is at the zamfactor website <b><o:p></o:p></b></span></span><a href="http://www.zfactorart.com/graphic-art-of-zambia.html" style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://www.zfactorart.com/graphic-art-of-zambia.html</span></a><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">There are several types of graphic
artists: printmakers, draughtsman, commercial designers, book illustrators and
others involved in industrial printing. These notes are confined to graphic art
as fine, hand printed art. The development of hand printed art is the main
focus of this exhibition, supplemented by graphic work which is not printed but
drawn. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Zambia’s history
of printed art is young and starts just before Independence with the arrival of
Cynthia Zukas in what at that time still was Northern Rhodesia. Born in the
Republic of South Africa she obtained a BA in the Fine Arts at the University
of Cape Town. At this exhibition you see five of her prints. She developed a
naturalistic style, choosing subjects and themes out of her surroundings.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuivvVyrIkTKT3gr5YVnNawa9xpziD0bXTmqoRm7qfqmo3hyphenhyphenG1upC3N2iDzHmSCdOL-_gQlEoa5JS7FDy7UClkYqvkcr_rnJYtMotMvyigfj3_5bDawkUPzew0LyN3RRGbSByG2wZ0K7U/s1600/IMG_0012.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuivvVyrIkTKT3gr5YVnNawa9xpziD0bXTmqoRm7qfqmo3hyphenhyphenG1upC3N2iDzHmSCdOL-_gQlEoa5JS7FDy7UClkYqvkcr_rnJYtMotMvyigfj3_5bDawkUPzew0LyN3RRGbSByG2wZ0K7U/s320/IMG_0012.JPG" width="256" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"We want clean water," Etching by Cynthia Zukas.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mrs Zukas
has been supporting the arts in Zambia in many capacities: privately, as a
member of the Art Centre Foundation, co-director of Mpapa Art Gallery,
Chairlady of the Lechwe Trust and in many more functions. She made her etching
press available to graphic artists - we’ll come back to that when discussing
the Lusaka Artists Group. In this exhibition we stress her pioneering
contribution to printmaking in Zambia.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The second major formative
influence was by Henry Tayali (1943 - 1987). He was a painter, graphic artist
and sculptor. Tayali was one of the small number of indigenous Zambians
privileged to academic education in the arts upon Zambian Independence in 1964;
of these he enrolled at the best schools and was one of the very few who
passionately continued to be productive in art after his academic studies. He obtained in 1975 a master’s degree in fine art at the well known D</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ű</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">sseldorf Art Academy, the school where he learned most of his graphics. Tayali mostly made woodcuts, but
also worked in lino and did several designs in silk screen. Much of his work is
in a robust, expressive style in which the dominant figures clearly stand out
against a sketchy back ground made up of patterns of gouged out lines that
support the sense and feeling of the subject.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1I-vzNrpRn-O3DfdwnzdveU1KJWmUOGSPGkGrSOTO_VD-wZaZIoboGNLkCS_eaMZbZJ1CbIDvChUkWN3uQYiI0zWGKt76iT_nX-NA3U4RcgrfDSlJ-YUKdRgrx5Z6-9-dZ-R3WG09Bw4/s1600/Tayali-96-dancing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1I-vzNrpRn-O3DfdwnzdveU1KJWmUOGSPGkGrSOTO_VD-wZaZIoboGNLkCS_eaMZbZJ1CbIDvChUkWN3uQYiI0zWGKt76iT_nX-NA3U4RcgrfDSlJ-YUKdRgrx5Z6-9-dZ-R3WG09Bw4/s320/Tayali-96-dancing.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woodcut by Tayali with dancing figures.</td></tr>
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</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US">He also experimented with a more
abstract manner of graphic image formation. In such work figurative </span>elements are not more than clues in an all over visual scene
made up of colour blots and linear structures that seek to be expressive of
emotion rather than of observable reality. This near-abstract work is mostly
done in silkscreen.</span></span></div>
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</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The third party shaping
Zambia’s advent into graphics are the members of the Lusaka Artist Group (as of
1977 renamed Zambia Artists Group or ZAG). The group was brought together by Bert Witkamp,
also writer of this article, during 1975 and 1976. Bert had arrived in Zambia
in 1975 from the Netherlands, had a background in painting, monumental design
and graphic art, and was looking for fellow artists to work with. The first of
these was Fakson Kulya, followed by Patrick Mweemba and David Chibwe. The group
was assisted in 1976 by the Art Centre Foundation which facilitated a
classroom/studio at the Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka. Cynthia Zukas made her etching
press available and the result was a very substantial production of graphic
art, mostly lino cuts. Lino cutting was new to these artists and it took some
time before each developed his own style in a consistent manner. Kulya’s work
often is of a narrative nature, drawing its inspiration out of folk culture in
at times bizarre or humorous figurative imagery.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitawp_RjfZhGiLKNdbs1Y0XRmADtBQ1-pgGEEeQTiQ4L0jlj-NB-UL6IJVv4-ZnR9z7rQIx5L3kg_TYxv1-WF0KSIJKx5d6Tas70pE3FwTYyhq-o2lAPcE-dypk0G2ZKWVxWtbiOYDN_M/s1600/FKulya-Sitting+on+a+bad+branch-Res96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitawp_RjfZhGiLKNdbs1Y0XRmADtBQ1-pgGEEeQTiQ4L0jlj-NB-UL6IJVv4-ZnR9z7rQIx5L3kg_TYxv1-WF0KSIJKx5d6Tas70pE3FwTYyhq-o2lAPcE-dypk0G2ZKWVxWtbiOYDN_M/s320/FKulya-Sitting+on+a+bad+branch-Res96.jpg" width="197" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Sitting on a bad Branch." Lino cut by Fakson Kulya.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Chibwe’s graphic work mostly
is about daily life in the village or urban compound.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8prQ2doaG4xm7q0AGaEVJEXwr49GxkrSIDU7dli51i82vDZK28Wg735-01zS76d__KX1S76ZtihtFUHgidU4yS5tiqOkoiDluIS2NjNDdPFwtVHvRo7Uj3y9yQFiGutTZgbcdA3Pcv0U/s1600/Chibwe-print-96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8prQ2doaG4xm7q0AGaEVJEXwr49GxkrSIDU7dli51i82vDZK28Wg735-01zS76d__KX1S76ZtihtFUHgidU4yS5tiqOkoiDluIS2NjNDdPFwtVHvRo7Uj3y9yQFiGutTZgbcdA3Pcv0U/s320/Chibwe-print-96.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Children at the Front Yard." Lino cut by David Chibwe.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Also Mweemba’s prints
often present images of daily life of so-called common folk.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJi2qbISWJXBq9eTbj-PfNtV_RzOTjpkM5YLuew4hrbUNPO5ycnCreqR1NYUtTJHPBVtJ0mhjMB_NlYT0I-6nDSESR57JwTy5shDO9NT7HzvVAaRLUuwJDrzxmrGaawS8Icc_N94sHO_c/s1600/IMG_0014+-+Copy.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJi2qbISWJXBq9eTbj-PfNtV_RzOTjpkM5YLuew4hrbUNPO5ycnCreqR1NYUtTJHPBVtJ0mhjMB_NlYT0I-6nDSESR57JwTy5shDO9NT7HzvVAaRLUuwJDrzxmrGaawS8Icc_N94sHO_c/s320/IMG_0014+-+Copy.JPG" width="174" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"After the Shot." Lino cut by Patrick Mweemba. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Mweemba developed
his own variety of colour printing. Witkamp’s work during 1975-1985 mostly is
an attempt to combine Western and African figurative elements into his imagery.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYRRt7CvGdMjLmBr68iixdURPH2ld1LdmXcP-86eB5yBGV-elHlpmDcHSOqv5uPx_4_hEyBU_bklr4v3ZlZ99Ec9Gls5qZHoKQIV-rVzzU2DZLMRbALJlIRgK3r5OdBXb_P9e1dkJ-0s/s1600/PlusMinus93.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="311" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoYRRt7CvGdMjLmBr68iixdURPH2ld1LdmXcP-86eB5yBGV-elHlpmDcHSOqv5uPx_4_hEyBU_bklr4v3ZlZ99Ec9Gls5qZHoKQIV-rVzzU2DZLMRbALJlIRgK3r5OdBXb_P9e1dkJ-0s/s320/PlusMinus93.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Plus Minus." Lino cut by Bert Witkamp</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> The collapse of the
Zambia Artists Group in 1981 and the subsequent closure of the studio at the
Evelyn Hone College did not spell the end of a prolific Zambian graphic art
production. The (former) ZAG members continued to make prints, so did Tayali, Zukas and Macromalis. New
artists entered the graphic scene. Lutanda Mwamba from the very beginning was a
great lino cut artist and soon moved on to become Zambia’s outstanding silk
screen designer and printer.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoP1sysXjJNcK-qZfi1w-anbin6iSF5FCGp0VkvwkO3LcaVUL3J3CVw6a2Ddp-0Sgf4RTD8yR_MPVoh3E56OE45Q9vXwCjVcAcgrNScB4kUb_CB49KslvRhFwChiIu2FCwpmElHwvXPp0/s1600/Lutanda2-96-Na.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoP1sysXjJNcK-qZfi1w-anbin6iSF5FCGp0VkvwkO3LcaVUL3J3CVw6a2Ddp-0Sgf4RTD8yR_MPVoh3E56OE45Q9vXwCjVcAcgrNScB4kUb_CB49KslvRhFwChiIu2FCwpmElHwvXPp0/s320/Lutanda2-96-Na.jpg" width="203" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Nachisungu." Silkscreen by Lutanda.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">He works in colour. A good number of his designs show a
great sense of composition, spatial arrangement and atmosphere. Other artists followed. Jonathan Leya is a talented
graphic designer, who, however, mostly does commercial work.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzDEd6XK_ff5cgYtgcSuOKkC3HMUAeFN_zQF7S0kN0bSshWNXxEV_4_Zz4PcBbm4mRD9fLInStM2jmKSovpRkUlisDRgZyqCLSEEd3kZ_I8CiHip5rhx9iP79w2UBbKHOzHUO5Dvnrew/s1600/Leya-combs-96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="108" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwzDEd6XK_ff5cgYtgcSuOKkC3HMUAeFN_zQF7S0kN0bSshWNXxEV_4_Zz4PcBbm4mRD9fLInStM2jmKSovpRkUlisDRgZyqCLSEEd3kZ_I8CiHip5rhx9iP79w2UBbKHOzHUO5Dvnrew/s320/Leya-combs-96.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Combs in lino cut by Jonathan Leya.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Agnes Buya Yombwe
developed an attractive, personal and original personal style.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXKVaDJKtGGS7Z2gJ1fFoQUhrSi6P-8vTDWCBtXwHWe6SKXecaYaDcfgCbKPp2q1FX8S5Z4-QQbQIRsxOQ9pfvsCdLf9QJtYi6vvI7mZ7eHnXHxbGaA0iGLdXWYvGE9CspbSiIipFNIrc/s1600/a2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXKVaDJKtGGS7Z2gJ1fFoQUhrSi6P-8vTDWCBtXwHWe6SKXecaYaDcfgCbKPp2q1FX8S5Z4-QQbQIRsxOQ9pfvsCdLf9QJtYi6vvI7mZ7eHnXHxbGaA0iGLdXWYvGE9CspbSiIipFNIrc/s1600/a2.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"A Working Woman." Lino cut by Agnes Buya</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Patrick Mumba, Adam Mwansa and Clement
Mfuzi also are mature graphic artists that have developed a style of their own.</span></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-enAAxL-pJKhuwaXvtiIk9Y2InDQlmdc5C6Xsi8gn4eVighl04pWSPhKepdi16xNN9Vudav7jzVVqhjtZpGIE-9ArHxEsJnUNQfu1KzmSAGYotbh1IF8GJbpldwVJkAEtVNGBIxH367o/s1600/p2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-enAAxL-pJKhuwaXvtiIk9Y2InDQlmdc5C6Xsi8gn4eVighl04pWSPhKepdi16xNN9Vudav7jzVVqhjtZpGIE-9ArHxEsJnUNQfu1KzmSAGYotbh1IF8GJbpldwVJkAEtVNGBIxH367o/s320/p2.jpg" width="268" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Gender." Silkscreen print by Patrick Mumbwa.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</span></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">And there are others and more to come. Graphic art now is well established in
the spectre of Zambian visual arts as you can see at this exhibition.</span></span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-84201984729788955972013-07-28T16:54:00.001+02:002013-07-29T10:35:19.162+02:00Choma Museum Art Gallery Newsletter no 4<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 16.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><b>The Choma Museum Art Gallery
Electronic Newsletter no 4<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: right;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><b>28 July 2013<o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> Edited by Bert Witkamp</span></b><br />
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b>
<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></b></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">1 COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpr7Vira2FILpgTcIr1FccHXTFPbPyzLG0PDUDQounI1N_UzFTIg9WOYPXWr3WyVzRVFoWAAUU3_CWeg6sM-kpHzCI6ImXCGXzoZBIZV7x9G2xGrcwjtV_ertwyFD01pOlKqARdJSX1m0/s1600/cmcclogo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpr7Vira2FILpgTcIr1FccHXTFPbPyzLG0PDUDQounI1N_UzFTIg9WOYPXWr3WyVzRVFoWAAUU3_CWeg6sM-kpHzCI6ImXCGXzoZBIZV7x9G2xGrcwjtV_ertwyFD01pOlKqARdJSX1m0/s200/cmcclogo.JPG" width="132" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The Choma Museum e-mail address is: </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="mailto:chomamuseum@gmail.com"><span lang="EN-US">chomamuseum@gmail.com</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">.
Mail to that address will be read by Mwimanji N. Chellah, executive director of
the CMCC. Peggy Himoonde, public relations officer, is in charge of the Art Gallery. For information about
the forthcoming CM Art Gallery exhibition you may also contact Bert Witkamp at </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="mailto:zamfactor@gmail.com"><span lang="EN-US">zamfactor@gmail.com</span></a>. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The
Choma Museum Art Gallery website is: </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://chomamuseumartgalleryweebly.com/"><span lang="EN-US">chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com.</span></a> The site is small but keeps you updated about what is happening in the gallery. It gets visited about 5-10 times daily – pretty much the same as the average
physical visits of the gallery. This newsletter is also published on the <a href="http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com/">art gallery website.</a> <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">2. HOW COME THE
GRAPHIC ART OF ZAMBIA EXHIBITION IS NOT YET ON?<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">One
outcome of the impromptu elevation of Choma to provincial capital of Southern
Province was a frantic search for offices of provincial departments that were
threatened with severe sanctions – their chief officeholders that is – if they
continued to dillydally about their forced move from the fine historical town
of Livingstone to nondescript Choma 180 km up the road. One outcome of the
frantic search for offices in Choma was a letter written by the neighbour of
the Choma Museum telling its director to move the Choma Museum out of the
building, the former Beit Boarding School for Girls dating back to 1927, and to
do so within 14 days as of the date of writing of the ominous letter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> In most countries it is unusual to
demand that a museum moves out of its accommodation within a fortnight, even if
the demander is the legitimate landlord - which is not the case here. It was
also wrong in principle as the entire building had been renovated by the Netherlands
government in the understanding that one part would serve the District
Education Office and the other the museum and crafts project now named the
Choma Museum and Crafts Centre Trust Ltd. You can find the historical details –
we are talking 1987 to 1993 - in the relevant post of the <a href="http://artblog.zamart.org/">ZamArt blog</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Remarkably the director of the CMCC
and me were in Lusaka at the time when the matter was reaching a climax. I was
in Lusaka to collect art work for the <i>Graphic
Art of Zambia </i>exhibition, both from a private collection and from artists.
The CMCC director, M.N. Chellah, was in Lusaka to appear for the parliamentary
committee dealing with museums. It provided him with an excellent opportunity to
defend the Choma Museum position and accommodation. The friends I was staying
with are long time supporters of the CMCC and they also alarmed and mobilised
parties to stave off the eviction of one of the two private museums in Zambia out
of the accommodation it had paid for in full.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> The matter, by the way, landed on
facebook including a facebook group called BaTonga of Zambia. Some of their
members were willing to take to the streets in defence of “their museum.” And
indeed their museum it is, and of others as well! (In passing I note that Zambian
museums should come to understand that they also are in the 21<sup>st</sup>
century; and should use the means at hand of our time and age; and Internet is
in the forefront of them). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> Thanks all of you for support and
encouragement!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Though these matters caused a lot of
excitement in an otherwise rather dull museum existence they negatively
impacted on planned activities and especially the <i>Graphic Art of Zambia</i> exhibition. Things got delayed. Chances were
slim that the Choma Museum neighbours would carry their lunch boxes to the art
gallery room and throw its art works out on the streets, yet this was not really
a conducive atmosphere to do all the things that need to be done to get an
exhibition up and into place. Apparently the situation cooled – the how’s and what’s
still are shrouded in mystery – and therefore preparations have resumed. See
below at 4 for more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3
CURRENT EXHIBITION: WOMEN IN ART – art by or about
women</span></b><b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OMC6-jygFON4BhChIDrjuIBHT5znkdjoPLepfnX9KNN8C_9xzkeIgsxegWF-kBPiMzcdcAorty4ymdTd4TKLyFwrEiGpf5TzZwMd4hYbycUp9F5gSOMQMLh8fZ2nWq5HSO1fS1q74J0/s1600/IMG_0023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3OMC6-jygFON4BhChIDrjuIBHT5znkdjoPLepfnX9KNN8C_9xzkeIgsxegWF-kBPiMzcdcAorty4ymdTd4TKLyFwrEiGpf5TzZwMd4hYbycUp9F5gSOMQMLh8fZ2nWq5HSO1fS1q74J0/s200/IMG_0023.JPG" width="129" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Nachisungu. Print by Lutanda </span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The exhibition opened March 2<sup>nd</sup>
and has been extended to the beginning of August for reasons stated above. The number
of recorded visitors to date is about 900 – a number that should rise in the
future, with better publicity and museum sign posting. Sales to date are in the order of K 9,000. Unfortunately visitors often need
to insist to see the exhibition as they might find the gallery doors closed due to lack of staff attendance, a circumstance also obstructing sales. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">4 EXHIBITION
“GRAPHIC ART OF ZAMBIA.”<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-DWRaOJ9-9tLxupxm1XfUubQNDY6SFqwCBIUrtz5Naf7fpkdH2kW0_jbylZptE2DhxJk9DgzysyoKVcTeqLkc9S9HsKPD0AyruQ8No1y7RdI58_zHS_VE76fEOZhguyO8C6b67maBrPg/s1600/Tayali-Women96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-DWRaOJ9-9tLxupxm1XfUubQNDY6SFqwCBIUrtz5Naf7fpkdH2kW0_jbylZptE2DhxJk9DgzysyoKVcTeqLkc9S9HsKPD0AyruQ8No1y7RdI58_zHS_VE76fEOZhguyO8C6b67maBrPg/s200/Tayali-Women96.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: xx-small;">Gossiping women. Woodcut by Tayali.</span></td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">As mentioned above preparations for this major exhibition
have resumed - the opening now tentatively
is scheduled for 10 August 2013, depending on availability of GoH. On display: drawings (ink or pencil) and
prints of Zambian artists and artists working in Zambia. With work by: David
Chibwe, Fakson Kulya, William Miko, Lutanda Mwamba, Bert Witkamp, Patrick
Mweemba, Peter Gustavus, Cynthia Zukas, Agnes Buya Yombwe, Jonathan Leya, Henry
Tayali, Patrick Mumba and Aquila Simpasse. Work on display is submitted by
artists and private collections. The CMCC managed to secure a bit of financial support from local banks - consoling thought after recently having myteriously lost Kr at a local ATM. I am busy framing and mounting pictures and the accompanying
leaflet is well under way. Rest assured the exhibition will be great, stressing
the initiators and founders of printmaking in Zambia and their worthy successors. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">5 MID AND LONG TERM PLAN FOR ART GALLERY<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">In a previous newsletter I mentioned that it is
time to come up with a Practical Plan for the Choma Museum Art Gallery; a plan
that has vision, is feasible, inspired and inspiring, of this time and age,
puts the gallery on solid economic ground, and of course: MAKES ART WORK. In
fact, there has been no reaction to this – perhaps yet another signal that it
is time that also museums in Zambia should realize that they are in the 21<sup>st</sup>
century and should start using the means available to them. I mean the Internet
– and that does not cost money. All that is required is the desire to do so; a mindset that is up to date and updated. You
can set up a website for free and the technical knowledge to do so can easily
be mastered by a secondary school kid. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Note: You are welcome to notify art events for posting on the
Choma Museum Art Gallery website or ZamArt Blog by using any of the e-mail addresses
above.</span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-50654325586997182262013-06-15T14:48:00.001+02:002013-08-29T17:10:41.761+02:00Notes on the Accommodation of the Choma Museum<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">We
read daily how well the Zambian economy is doing and how well the government is
managing the national finances. These positives stand in shrill contrast to support
and guidance given to the few museums we have in this country. We have only
seven museums and these are supposed to preserve and present our national
cultural heritage well and nationwide. The prevailing lack of appreciation for
the cultural heritage and the role museums should play is outrageously demonstrated
by the attempt to deprive the Choma Museum of
the accommodation it restored at a very substantial cost. The facts are
below...... <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAtp6BixnyqAgHtqaXCKsygV-yDdjMy5gleM56f91noqeAw2u5_ahJAvhvKV9gHo1X1M-YZMivp_7S4C3hqYsomOcjazNKq-12zWuTn0rGYYAxZgRyhd-SN9ysDqD9cPOSkV23dTh32uQ/s1600/CMCCbldg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAtp6BixnyqAgHtqaXCKsygV-yDdjMy5gleM56f91noqeAw2u5_ahJAvhvKV9gHo1X1M-YZMivp_7S4C3hqYsomOcjazNKq-12zWuTn0rGYYAxZgRyhd-SN9ysDqD9cPOSkV23dTh32uQ/s320/CMCCbldg.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The Choma Museum and its premises are among the very few attractive public places in Choma.</span></td></tr>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">SOME
NOTES ON THE CURRENT DISPUTE BETWEEN THE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">PROVINCIAL
EDUCATION OFFICE OF SOUTHERN PROVINCE<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> AND<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;"> THE CHOMA MUSEUM AND CRAFTS CENTRE TRUST Ltd.
(CMCC)<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 150%;">CONCERNING
THE USE OF THE FORMER BEIT BOARDING SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">by
Gijsbert Witkamp, founding Director of the CMCC (“Choma Museum”).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Choma,
4 June 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The issue<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Recently the Choma Museum received
letters from the Acting Provincial Education Officer of Southern Province
saying his office is to “repossess” that part of the former Beit Boarding
School for Girls that presently accommodates the Choma Museum, and during 1964
- 1988 was part of the Choma District Education Office. A similar effort made
in 1993 was not successful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
building<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The building was constructed in 1927
with funds from the Beit Trust and served until Zambian Independence in 1964 as
a boarding school for girls known as the Beit Boarding School for Girls. After
Independence the building fell to the Ministry of Education of GRZ and became
its Choma District Office. By 1987, due to lack of maintenance, the now
historical building was in a seriously dilapidated state. Parts of it could not
be used because of the danger of collapse, the building was heavily termite
infested, the surrounding grounds were used as grazing grounds for cattle and
public toilet. Its inner courtyards, during the rainy season, were mini-lakes
with water rising over 2 feet high. The building, furthermore, was too large
for the District’s Education Office and hence underutilised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Origin of Agreement of
Shared Occupancy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">In 1987 the government of the
Netherlands adopted a development project then named the Gwembe Valley Tonga
Museum and Crafts Project. This project was renamed the Tonga Museum and Crafts
Project (TMCP) and in 1995 became the Choma Museum and Crafts Centre Trust Ltd.
(CMCC or more conveniently “Choma Museum”). The expert who in 1987 performed
the project feasibility study recommended, following discussion with the Choma
District Education Office and the National Monuments Commission, that the museum
and crafts project be established in Choma; in the former Beit Boarding School
for Girls, now serving as offices for the Choma District Board of Education. This
way a historical building and part of the Zambian architectural heritage could
be restored and preserved, and be better utilized. Following her
recommendations discussions were held involving the Netherlands Ministry of
Foreign Affairs and of Development Cooperation via its Embassy at Lusaka, the
Netherlands Development Organisation SNV, the Society of the Gwembe Valley
Tonga Museum and Crafts Project, the Beit Trust, the National Monuments
Commission, district and provincial officials of the Ministry of Education, and
other major civil servants including the Political Secretary and District Governors
of the Southern Province.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The agreement to establish a museum
at the Choma District Office of Education is in the Minutes of the Regional
Council of Education Meeting of 29<sup>th</sup> December 1987, and was made
unanimously by the Provincial Political Secretary, the assistant Permanent
Secretary, the Chief Education Officer of Southern Province, and the District
Governors of Namwala, Gwembe, Mazabuka, Monze and Choma. In attendance were the
Deputy Chief Education Officer; District Education Officers of Gwembe, Choma,
Monze and Kalomo; the Assistant District Education Officers of Mazabuka and
Livingstone, and other senior education officials.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
understanding, in principle, was that:</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -18.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
Netherlands Government, in the framework of its Bilateral Aid Agreement with
the Government of Zambia, was to restore the entire building.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Such
restoration was to be performed by the National Monuments Commission (now
National Heritage Conservation Commission).</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Following
the restoration the building was to be partitioned between sections for the
District Education Board and what became the Choma Museum. The partitioning was
approved by the Provincial Board of Education and was laid down in a map. The
Northern section was to go to the Choma District Education Office, the Southern
part was to accommodate the Museum and Crafts Project.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; mso-text-indent-alt: -18.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">It
is noteworthy that:</span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The decision was made at provincial
level with consent of the Provincial Education Officer by general
administrators (i.e., the District Governors, A/Permanent Secretary and
Political Secretary). Prior to that the Choma district education office had welcomed
the establishment of a museum and crafts centre at its building in its meeting
of 9 December 1987 that included the Country Representative of the Netherlands
Development Organisation SNV.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The decision to establish a museum and
crafts project at the Choma District Education Office from the very beginning
involved the National Monuments Commission (now the Heritage Conservation
Commission) in recognition of the fact that the building belonged to the
Zambian Heritage and therefore was of national interest.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Museums at the time fell under the
Ministry of Energy, Natural resources and Tourism. This ministry, through the
National Museums Board, also became an interested party especially as of 1993
when the Tonga Museum and Crafts Project (as the project then was named) was
given grant aided status. Other Ministries involved have been and/or are the
Ministry of Education, Works and Supply and presently of Chiefs and Traditional
Affairs; all at the highest level.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36pt;">The commencement of the restoration from
the beginning involved international relationships between the Netherlands
Government and GRZ. Later other governments substantially contributed to the
improvement of this GRZ owned building; in chronological order these were the governments
of Norway, the Czech Republic and the USA.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraph" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Origin
and History of Conflict of Occupancy<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The origin of the conflict lies at
the absence of a proper contract prior to the commencement of the costly
restoration works at the former Beit Boarding School for Girls at Choma. This
omission painfully illustrated very different interpretations of the initial
arrangements by Netherlands government officials and notably several Provincial
and District Education Officers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
Netherlands government, financier of the project, assumed that the costly
restoration and the services thus provided justified the free use of the
southern section of the building by the project as by initial agreement and
understanding. These services and benefits were and are:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="line-height: 150%; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo3; mso-text-indent-alt: -18.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
</div>
<ul>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -36pt;">Providing
the Choma District Education Office with decent accommodation,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36pt;">Restoring
and maintaining a GRZ building and its premises that are of historical importance,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36pt;">Offering the general public a cultural service (the
museum), that also contributes to the
tourism industry,</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36pt;">Offering
the peoples of the Southern Province in particular a cultural service by
creating a museum to preserve and present their cultural heritage and by
developing a crafts project enabling artisans to generate income from crafts
making and market their crafts worldwide.</span></li>
</ul>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The District Office of Education
read the arrangements quite differently. The Office was poorly funded and in
dire need of money. As of 1988 a whole series of requests were made to the
project. The first one involved a renegotiation concerning two rooms allocated
to the project but wanted by the Choma District Education Office. The project
agreed for the sake of good neighbourly relations. Subsequent requests ranged
from providing stationary, building materials, continued maintenance of the
District Office part of the building and fencing it, to rental charges. These
requests culminated in 1993 by the then Provincial Education Officer reclaiming
the entire building.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The matter became an issue of the
bilateral discussion between the Netherlands and Zambian governments in 1994.
Dr RMA Chongwe brought the matter to the attention of then Minister of
Education, the Honourable A.S. Hambaya. The Minister in his letter dated 20
March 1995, having read the report by a committee that looked into the issue,
decided that the Choma Museum be offered the entire building on the condition
that it would facilitate alternative accommodation for the District Office of
Education. The report concluded that the Choma District Office of Education was
not capable of looking after the building, whereas the Choma Museum did look
after this heritage.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The management of the Choma Museum
indeed for some time pursued that course, notably by calling on the Beit Trust
for assistance. This attempt, however, was not successful.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The matter remained dormant until
the Acting Provincial Education Officer for Southern Province in a letter dated
4 May 2013 claimed to “repossess” the Choma Museum part of the building.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Notes to the above:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 36.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My personal involvement covers the
period January 1989 to November 1997. The project as of November 1997 has been
managed by a Zambian Director.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">My stance concerning this issue is
expressed in a letter dated 14 October 1992 to then Local Government
Administrator Mr Matibini (now Speaker of Parliament), with copies to the
relevant parties. My main point was that the District Office of Education now,
after the costly restoration, should not come up with conditions which, had
these been put forward at the onset, would been unacceptable for the
Netherlands Government and its development organizations involved in the Museum
and Crafts Project – meaning they would not have gone ahead with the financing
of the restoration of the building. The inclusion of the cost of restoration of the former Beit
Boarding School for Girls as part of the project budget served to secure long
term accommodation for the museum.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36pt;">It should be borne in mind that the
initial Netherlands investment in the entire building was in the order of USD
300,000 (value at the time of expenditure), that such money could pay for 6
medium-large houses and therefore would have amply sufficed to construct
entirely new accommodation for the museum and crafts project.</span></li>
</ol>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-left: 36.0pt; text-align: justify; text-indent: -36.0pt;">
<b><span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Conclusion<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
issue of the occupancy of what now is the Choma Museum at the former Beit
Boarding School for Girls as of 1987 involved local, provincial, national and
international levels. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
</div>
<ol>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -36pt;">At
the national level several ministries are or have been involved (Education;
Works and Supply; Local Government and Housing; National Resources, Energy and
Tourism and now also Chiefs and Traditional Affairs). Decisions about the
accommodation of the Choma Museum should be taken at the national level
involving these ministries.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -36pt;">Relationships
between GRZ and several governments are involved; all of these in the framework
of international development cooperation. </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -36pt;"><b>The
moneys spent by these governments served to provide a permanent cultural
service for the Zambian people and not to solve the urgent need of the
Provincial Board of Education in 2013 for office space. Decisions made about
the accommodation of the Choma Museum should enhance rather than damage Zambia’s
image as a partner in development.</b></i></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%; text-indent: -36pt;">The
peoples of the Southern Province are and have been the special beneficiaries of
the project as the project established a regional museum and crafts project. A
decision to destroy <i>their</i> museum by
depriving it of its accommodation is not going to be kindly received.</span></li>
<li style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A lasting, just solution must be arrived at that honours past commitments and is in the national interest.</span></li>
</ol>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0Southern, Zambia-16.825574258731482 26.982421875-18.773897758731483 24.400634875 -14.877250758731481 29.564208875tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-17802070528207083822013-04-10T13:37:00.000+02:002013-05-17T16:09:11.170+02:00Z-Factor URL'S, BLOGS & WEBSITES<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Post
by Bert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Version
10 April 2013.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Updated 21 April 2013.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="line-height: 150%;">It
is silly, perhaps, to be happy and filled with a sense of achievement by
successfully redirecting the address for this blog to the domain I own.
Google is a great company, and in its own way quite generous. The initial
address </span><a href="http://zamart.blogspot.com/" style="line-height: 150%;" target="_blank">http://zamart.blogspot.com</a><span style="line-height: 150%;">
shall continue to work; but now you can get there by a redirect from </span><a href="http://artblog.zamart.org/" style="line-height: 150%;">http://artblog.zamart.org</a><span style="line-height: 150%;">. Google’s Blogger
shall continue to host. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><span style="line-height: 150%;">To get such a redirect to work you open the settings of your Blogger blog where you now type the new address of your blog as a sub-domain of the domain you own, get the Blogger instructions, and from there all is simple as you only need to go to the DNS record of your domain registrar (you do all of this online, switching between tab of Blogger and your domain registrar), open the DNS record, create 2 CNAME records in it which point to Google (one for the blog and the other to </span><span style="line-height: 24px;">verify</span><span style="line-height: 150%;"> that the domain truly is yours, and you're done. Save changes; a child can do the laundry, my physics teacher at school would say. I am sure you got my meaning. It actually took me 4 hours - I first tried it out on a test blog. The second attempt indeed was done in some 15 minutes.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">Over
2 years ago I started this art blog as I could not set up a website about the
Zambian Art World. Since a few months I have a website, with the help of
another rather generous company called Weebly, (“It’s for free!”) and the link
is <a href="http://zfactorart.weebly.com/">http://zfactorart.weebly.com</a>. Also here I have managed to put in one of my registered domains. You can now access the Zamfactor company website at <a href="http://zfactorart.com/">http://zfactorart.com</a>. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">It is a rather simple business, but enough to change the future of the ZamArt Blog. </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">Its stand alone pages shall be transferred to the website, and its posts which
actually are articles shall be reworked to become a series of proper
Internet Publications. The blog shall continue to announce events and be a
vehicle for brief publications of texts and imagery.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUn23iC-bN43CxchmHu1C-aEa4H3ubWnJ8IR16eB5sH_vPDtTYRZcflfp_9RffhyphenhyphenBgbd3wehgrb8zC_l_o27_2CjzoYEuY627hnudIIQkGwoB4gmS7_fcloAyi_ChdMBneNxpcLgBAa4U/s1600/Screen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUn23iC-bN43CxchmHu1C-aEa4H3ubWnJ8IR16eB5sH_vPDtTYRZcflfp_9RffhyphenhyphenBgbd3wehgrb8zC_l_o27_2CjzoYEuY627hnudIIQkGwoB4gmS7_fcloAyi_ChdMBneNxpcLgBAa4U/s320/Screen.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">First attempt at Art Website Creation. Drupal failure - too complicated.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";">The
website development is still not quite the way I like it, the Weebly thing is
manageable but a bit too simple. I am still handicapped by poor transmission
speed – it’s just the cost of it: we can access Zamtel genuine broadband for Kr
400/month. I have been trying to download WordPress to be hosted on the paid
for provider (2 years now without any uploading!) but so far without success. I
just keep trying till it works. I have given up on the Drupal software – it is too complicated. IT software developers are freaks. Many of them, for sure, have
a very limited capacity to step in the shoes of a layman for whom terms like DNS, CNAME, aliases, CMC or CSS and much of the other jargon these guys are so fond of only have a
mystifying and demoralising effect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"></span><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 115%;">Some progress indeed, despite the IT technologists. And you'll see, finally, that the <span style="color: #cc0000;"><b>Zambia Art Site</b></span>, the site this blog was started for, indeed shall go up. Not tomorrow, but I say with some confidence, "soon!"</span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "Verdana","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-GB; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin;">
</span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-24137820932356430152013-03-29T14:32:00.000+01:002013-08-19T20:52:09.869+02:00Choma Museum Art Gallery Electronic Newsletter 3<br />
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: right;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEbis8PAXRf4uHM6s_x0N7YYHHtJ4hSLX-nKewLw5varWRkKGgm-thMliCqRbhj0GhpBr3-9mjyw6JJ3cjYclY1ptZYyNPKqBSIcCbuGEROGnZXnWKqwzXfkvyxnE6AfPYY2V11JFKqvQ/s1600/cmcclogojpg.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEbis8PAXRf4uHM6s_x0N7YYHHtJ4hSLX-nKewLw5varWRkKGgm-thMliCqRbhj0GhpBr3-9mjyw6JJ3cjYclY1ptZYyNPKqBSIcCbuGEROGnZXnWKqwzXfkvyxnE6AfPYY2V11JFKqvQ/s200/cmcclogojpg.JPG" width="132" /></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">29
March 2013<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">1<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>COMMUNICATION AND INFORMATION<o:p></o:p></span></span></b><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 12pt 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The Choma Museum e-mail address is: </span></span><a href="mailto:chomamuseum@gmail.com"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">chomamuseum@gmail.com</span></span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.
Mail to that address will be read by Mwimanji Chellah, executive director of the
CMCC. Peggy Himoonde is in charge of the Art Gallery. For information about the
forthcoming CM Art Gallery exhibitions you may also contact Bert Witkamp at </span></span><a href="mailto:zfactor@zamtel.zm"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">zfactor@zamtel.zm</span></span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. He also is the editor of this newsletter. <span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">The newsletter is published at the
Choma Museum Art Gallery website </span></span><a href="http://chomamuseumartgalleryweebly.com/"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com.</span></span></a><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"> It is small but keeps you updated as
to what is happening in the gallery. And, of course, on the </span><a href="http://zamart.blogspot.com/"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">ZamArt Blog</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">.</span></span></div>
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">2<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>PREVIOUS EXHIBITION: THE CMCC 2012 X-MASS EXHIBITION OF
ARTS AND CRAFTS OF THE SOUTHERN PROVINCE </span></span></b><br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The exhibition was taken down end of February. It was the first time in
a long time that the CMCC Art Gallery had put up a regular art exhibition. A
number of organizational issues had to be put into place particularly as
regards adequate staff attendance. No visitor records were kept. Sales amounted
to about Kr 10,000 of which the institution retained its commission of 25%. The
exhibition, all in all, was reasonable successful though it highlighted several
issues needing improvement.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">3
CURRENT EXHIBITION: WOMEN IN ART – art by or about
women</span></b></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmW7t5rD2tiq2EqQEAdRp9D0cnN7UrBw9javY84I1wuCTXAlSm9EPu2KM7-WR8UTM4zaurUQwen56LMneZy0fS8J2wnOVaLZLOPmqrI4eZGu0kYZY8tnD7c1DXDiION3BeDx0QOch490/s1600/Kalubi-Women+work.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtmW7t5rD2tiq2EqQEAdRp9D0cnN7UrBw9javY84I1wuCTXAlSm9EPu2KM7-WR8UTM4zaurUQwen56LMneZy0fS8J2wnOVaLZLOPmqrI4eZGu0kYZY8tnD7c1DXDiION3BeDx0QOch490/s320/Kalubi-Women+work.jpg" width="242" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="color: windowtext;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Women at Work</i>. Kalubi. Acrylic painting, 1991<strong>.</strong></span></span></span><span style="color: windowtext; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">The exhibition as scheduled opened March
2<sup>nd</sup> and shall run till the end of May 2013. On display again is a
mix of fine art and applied art or crafts – one advantage being that also
visitors with little money can spend some. The number of recorded visitors to
date is about 200 – a number that should rise in the future. This time the
exhibition had been announced by the Lusaka Lowdown. The gallery should consider
opening a face book page; something many art organisations in the region
already have done. The exhibition was also published by this electronic
newsletter, on the Art Gallery website and the </span><a href="http://zfactorart.weebly.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue; font-family: Calibri;">Zamfactor website</span></a><span style="font-family: Calibri;">. Publicity therefore
was much better than at the previous exhibition. Another improvement is the
labelling which now is neatly printed and the introduction of the visitors’
record. </span></span><br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0JZKNUTmNt52lCAX0J4b4n-YvKVT8rq87LR3t1rHIu4TEr5UAX-EvGEFyJG0YrVUGEFCd5Cwi0Vo42auLp37TOanaqqs7LByLCRtGNz4_fy2z_9eLdVF7CaOZKlLzlT1Ltqaibum9dk/s1600/Lutanda-Nach.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhV0JZKNUTmNt52lCAX0J4b4n-YvKVT8rq87LR3t1rHIu4TEr5UAX-EvGEFyJG0YrVUGEFCd5Cwi0Vo42auLp37TOanaqqs7LByLCRtGNz4_fy2z_9eLdVF7CaOZKlLzlT1Ltqaibum9dk/s320/Lutanda-Nach.jpg" width="207" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><em>Nachisungu II</em>. Lutanda, linocut, 1993.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">The exhibition itself has a large
variety of interesting work to show, in time ranging from the seventies to early
this year; from first generation post Independence Zambian artists as Henry Tayali,
David Chibwe, Patrick Mweemba, Stephen Kappata, Kalubi and Fackson Kulya to recent
residents like Barbara Lechner; from crafts people dipping into the fine arts
like Esnart Han’goma Mweemba to well established full time artists like Agnes
Mbuya Yombwe, Lutanda Mwamba and Bert Witkamp. In addition to <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">fine art</i> you can also see beautiful
jewelry and batiks as well as practical textiles by a Pemba women’s club or
plastic baskets and hats made of recycled material by local Keep Choma Clean
supporter. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">And of course, there is the permanent display of work
by the Kalcho water colour artists. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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</div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">4<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>EXHIBITION “GRAPHIC ART OF ZAMBIA.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">Preparations continue for this major exhibition scheduled
for 8 June-September 2013. On display: drawings (ink or pencil) and prints of
Zambian artists and artists working in Zambia. With work by: David Chibwe,
Fakson Kulya, William Miko, Lutanda Mwamba, Bert Witkamp, Patrick Mweemba, Esnart
Meeemba, Cynthia Zukas, Agnes Yombwe, Jonathan Leya, Benjamin Mibenge, Henry
Tayali, Aquila Simpasse and Godfrey Setti. Others interested may still join by
contacting us by e-mail or phone. Work on display will be submitted by artists
and private collections. Major concerns at the present: fund raising for
opening, catalogue and other operating expenses, timely publicity, and
inclusion in the list of places to visit during the UN TWO conference. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
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</div>
<br />
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">5<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span>MID AND LONG TERM PLAN FOR ART GALLERY<o:p></o:p></span></span></b></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"><span style="font-family: Calibri;">It is time to come up with a Practical Plan for
the Choma Museum Art Gallery; a plan that has vision, is feasible, inspired and
inspiring, of this time and age, puts the gallery on solid economic ground, and
of course: MAKES ART WORK. Any ideas? <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
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<span style="font-family: Calibri;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">Note: You are welcome to notify art events for posting on the
Choma Museum Art Gallery website or ZamArt Blog by using the e-mail addresses
above.</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> <span lang="EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></div>
<br />
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</div>
Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-87153385185823223962013-03-28T10:29:00.001+01:002016-08-13T22:39:42.004+02:00HENRY TAYALI AND FACKSON KULYA: Academic and folk art in Zambia of the seventies and eighties<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Internet
publication by Gijsbert Witkamp</span></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">First published 17 April 2013.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Edited 15 July 2015, second part of text added 13 August 2016.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You can also access this text on </span><a href="http://zfactorart.com/" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">http://zfactorart.com</a><br />
<i style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><u><br /></u></span></i>
<i style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><u>Art in Zambia series no 4</u>.</span></i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;">
Art in Zambia 1, 2 and 3 are about Fackson Kulya and Henry Tayali; two
artists socially at opposing sides of the Zambian art scene of the seventies
and eighties. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Today Henry’s artistic
legacy is still alive and kept alive. In this issue an effort to juxtapose and
link Zambia’s best known artist to an artist seemingly bound for oblivion – or
is he not?!</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><strong>Introduction</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">At first sight a comparison between Henry
Tayali and Fackson Kulya seems unjustifiable as there does not seem to be an
appropriate plane for comparison.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yes,
there are common elements in their lives: both were Zambian artists,
contemporaries (though Tayali was a bit older); and both were sculptors,
painters and graphic artists. The differences, however, are much more striking.
They lived in very different social worlds with few bridges in between. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<div align="justify">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div align="justify">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLQi_G4ly2R6sPCMpAOLvLzAheUJPTIPoALWF-5DCiqEuyFVkAlf3dVOe-vd9-0axjJ72uqpJpv2anV_PUr0jth8mqNbEL96DHBdwBGKE4Ffo6dgErn07Rnfe73NeIRALnDBZENJJajw/s1600/Tayali-1977-96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfLQi_G4ly2R6sPCMpAOLvLzAheUJPTIPoALWF-5DCiqEuyFVkAlf3dVOe-vd9-0axjJ72uqpJpv2anV_PUr0jth8mqNbEL96DHBdwBGKE4Ffo6dgErn07Rnfe73NeIRALnDBZENJJajw/s320/Tayali-1977-96.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
</td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div align="justify">
Photo 1. Tayali in 1977. Newspaper photo.</div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Tayali
(1943-1987) was a well educated, academic artist who lead his professional life
in association with the University of Zambia (UNZA) as lecturer and resident
artist. He was accommodated by UNZA at Handsworth Court; a pleasant housing
complex for university staff adjacent to the university grounds. He, though
born Zambian, had spent as a child many years in what at that time was Southern Rhodesia
where he went to secondary school in Bulawayo. It was, for an African, quite a
feat in the colonial days to access and complete secondary school. This
accomplishment alone destined him to become a member of the first generation post
independence African élite. The same feat also is a testimony of the foresight,
perseverance and ambition of his father who lived to give Henry and his
siblings the education that opened up the doors to social advancement and professional achievement. Tayali commenced his academic education by
studying at the then prestigious Makarere University in Uganda where
he obtained a B.A. in Fine Arts in 1971. Two years later he was accepted at the
Düsseldorf Academy of Art in what then was West Germany. He was the first
African student to receive a German study grant at that institution. During
three years he studied graphic arts and sculpture. Tayali thus had a good share
of multi-cultural exposure, an excellent education and knew the international
art world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">When
he settled in Zambia in 1975 he was from the start accepted as a major, if not
the main indigenous Zambian artist. He was welcomed socially by the artistic
élite of the day in a scene dominated by people of European background and the
new African elite, an élite that in many ways had adopted a western lifestyle including appreciation of <em>fine art</em>. These
artists and art lovers, African or European, were happy to accept Henry in their
midst in a leading role as he was socially and culturally one of them <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> was a genuine, productive artist <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">and</i> native to Zambia.</span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Henry not only
belonged to the first generation indigenous post independence élite, he
belonged to a considerably smaller group within this class; that of
professional people who not only were well educated and had senior positions in
society, but also were competent and dedicated. He from time to time had
commissions, sometimes major ones; and his paintings and graphics sold
nationally and internationally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipu4piagsu6EAhokPjAG-5IRRld6gQNOxNN5sFq1AzqBsFRt-YT0SmQP5gq20bScHRQhHmUf0IR6NkkrePlB3tAxmNg-KPGeYO1SmraOecEIN7O1g_y3zPYwl3dvdaRLyKYXM32R8VI04/s1600/Fackson1975-96-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipu4piagsu6EAhokPjAG-5IRRld6gQNOxNN5sFq1AzqBsFRt-YT0SmQP5gq20bScHRQhHmUf0IR6NkkrePlB3tAxmNg-KPGeYO1SmraOecEIN7O1g_y3zPYwl3dvdaRLyKYXM32R8VI04/s320/Fackson1975-96-2.jpg" width="193" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 2. Fackson in 1975. Newspaper photo.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Fackson
(born around 1945, died around 1990) also lived for some time at Handsworth
Court; not in a main house but in a servant’s quarter - made available to him
by a sympathetic and sympathizing expatriate British lecturer. He was a self
taught artist, an autodidact, born somewhere in Luanshya rural, a Lamba by
tribe. He must have had some formal education as he could speak, read and write
in English; but definitely not much if anything beyond primary school. Fackson
has never been outside of Zambia, and most of Zambia remained unknown to him.
He did not like town life much and in the eighties returned to his village near
Luanshya. He lived there till he died. He was a villager at heart. In the
village you are poor with your fellow villagers. In town you are poor because
there are rich people; and you depend on these rich people to buy your art. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Fackson
and Henry commenced their professional career almost at the same time, but by
then, in 1974-75, Tayali had seven years of academic training behind him while Fackson
was learning “on-the-go.”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What UNZA was
to Tayali – an enabling, inspiring environment – was the Lusaka Artist group (LAG,
later the Zambian Artists Association) to Fackson. In the workshop at the
Evelyn Hone College – made available by the College on request of the Art
Centre Foundation (ACF, a government sponsored body that was to promote the visual arts)<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 115%;"> he </span>met and worked with friends. He now had company in an environment conducive to make art work. Here, from 1976 to 1980, he did quite a bit
of his learning; especially how to make lino cuts, use a printing press, make
oil paint, prepare for exhibitions, become part of a social network and learn to deal with the <em>uppa </em><i>mwamba</i>; the elite, the people who supportwed hum, ignored him or had contempt for him. The small group of Zambian artists at
the AFC/LAG studio workshop were all in the same position: no or little formal
education in art, newcomers to the scene trying to make a living out of art in
an environment that had little facilities or support for artists, and belonged
to the lower strata of society, that of the so-called common folk; labelled "the masses" in the political ideology of the day: <span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 115%;">people
with low incomes mostly living in the compounds (townships) spread out over what at the time was the
periphery of Lusaka</span>. At the
workshop he must have met Tayali a few times, but there was no communication.
Tayali, in his own and in Fackson’s perception as well, belonged to the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">uppa mwamba</i>, the people on top; with the
others including Fackson below in the social hierarchy; stereo-typically poor, dirty,
uneducated and preferably voiceless. Kulya never had the security of a stable
income and struggled for money all his life. Neither did he have the privilege
of holding respected positions in society. Once in a while he was commissioned to make sculptures, but he mostly depended on ad hoc sales by personal contacts, by
hawking, during exhibitions usually organised by the Lusaka Artist group (later
the Zambia Artists Association), at the studio at “The College” and in the
eighties through Mpapa Art Gallery - at the time Zambia’s only art gallery.</span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<br /></div>
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<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Tayali and Kulya both were hard
working, dedicated artists, and indeed, art is the plane that links these two
very different human beings. So let’s have a look at their art.</span></span></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Tayali, over time, developed styles
ranging from realistic, to free figurative rendering to non-representational. His
first work, when he started art as a talented schoolboy in the sixties, was
figurative and fairly realistic; with an expressionistic touch. His best known
work of that period is the large painting <i>Destiny</i>,
now in the collection of the Lechwe Trust.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUaUlQiFg_06qVhTWmv5wLfU3QLlSXMCbOOKz2QIlwspMYh7cwyhWc7NnnnwOhs0mi1codPbF1pqL4mjSAup7bqPZRTYRXcB5dzDAGrZVcHcd6KBV_swqFWH62LnGZlsyQfXZMfYu0Yqc/s1600/Tayali-Bull.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUaUlQiFg_06qVhTWmv5wLfU3QLlSXMCbOOKz2QIlwspMYh7cwyhWc7NnnnwOhs0mi1codPbF1pqL4mjSAup7bqPZRTYRXcB5dzDAGrZVcHcd6KBV_swqFWH62LnGZlsyQfXZMfYu0Yqc/s1600/Tayali-Bull.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Photo 3<i>. Bull.</i> Scrap metal sculpture by Tayali. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Reproduced from<i> Art in Zambia</i>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">In his mature life this “figurative
realism,” or “realistic figuration,” was limited to his sculptural work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_aVCA9a7XUYEW9HO-cmuwkOE0hcsPVHCf5lvgvjKKp9yVtW-jmty1qIeOV5pzwHDasFCjq8r3uXkF3N6OPK4RdyhvzIpEH5iw-PYNQY1nF4d3ersKJHxhv8vIgXQNH6RhXUgYvj19D74/s1600/IMG_0023.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_aVCA9a7XUYEW9HO-cmuwkOE0hcsPVHCf5lvgvjKKp9yVtW-jmty1qIeOV5pzwHDasFCjq8r3uXkF3N6OPK4RdyhvzIpEH5iw-PYNQY1nF4d3ersKJHxhv8vIgXQNH6RhXUgYvj19D74/s640/IMG_0023.JPG" width="348" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">Photo 4. </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">The other side of the Bar</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">. Woodcut by Tayali, 1982. <br />A typical example of Tayali’s style in woodcut. The main figures stand out clearly against the background. The background is composed of supporting dynamic patterns and structures.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Out of this youthful realistic
rendering of scenes either real or imaginary a much freer style evolved characteristic
of most of his graphic art. Tayali presumably developed it during his studies
in Düsseldorf as this is the style in which most of his post academic graphic work
is executed. This work takes off from realistic topics or scenes (i.e., a woman
carrying firewood, women gossiping, queuing for food, men drinking in bars
&c.) which are executed in his characteristic dynamic style in which the
purpose is not to render the subject realistically but to create an expression
of it in which the act of imagery construction at least is as important as the
reference to an actual reality. These prints, woodcuts, have clearly outlined
main characters that stand out against a background which is made up of free
patterns and structures as cut by the gouges and which ideally support the central
subject.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"> <table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTdEOqT6R_uZkFLdYh7xjBZ_u4edGW08CRTqiDw8QMMxzyPDXvpxCLCQCnkowmPQjHjcPRP9K49Vet611Yle427U1h6rgKiOLznfSr79G1iyxANFtU5CeY6KgbglnpYIwry1a7hemz0Dw/s1600/IMG_0029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTdEOqT6R_uZkFLdYh7xjBZ_u4edGW08CRTqiDw8QMMxzyPDXvpxCLCQCnkowmPQjHjcPRP9K49Vet611Yle427U1h6rgKiOLznfSr79G1iyxANFtU5CeY6KgbglnpYIwry1a7hemz0Dw/s400/IMG_0029.JPG" width="298" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">Photo 5. </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">Huts</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px;">. Henry Tayali, 1974. Probably a silk screen print. <br />A good example of his evolution towards abstraction.</span></span></td></tr>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">His painting evolved to a form of
abstract art or near abstract art, often by super imposing layers of
brushstrokes rather than working in planes, sometimes taking off from very basic
imagery as shown in photo 5. In this painted silk screen print we can discover
“real elements,” such as faces, a tree trunk and hut like structures. The relation
between pictorial imagery and “the real thing” is not one of visual and visible
similarity. What matters in this kind of work is the way of rendition: how layers
of different, superimposed structures combine to create an image the “meaning” of
which is contained in itself and not by the reference to a specific concrete
event or situation. “Meaning” here is mostly “emotional expression.” In a way
one might conceive of his paintings as an abstraction of his graphic style in
which the structures and patterns made by gouges now are transformed into brush
strokes. Tayali felt his abstract paintings to be highly emotionally charged –
a perception not necessarily shared by an observer of these works. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">The emergence and development of
these styles is related to the environments in which Tayali lived in his
formative years. Tayali, at secondary school in colonial Southern Rhodesia, painted
the kind of pictures which could be appreciated by his teachers and supporters:
it showed talent in a way that they could understand. Tayali, at university and
the art academy in the seventies, was exposed to Western art traditions and was
influenced by modern and contemporary Western art. His graphic style of figurative
expressionism painlessly fits in the pre World War II Western graphic
tradition. He applied this style to African/Zambian subject matter (daily life
scenes of so-called ordinary people) and in this sense his graphic art combined
African and Western elements. The dominant post W.W. II art fashion was
abstract art, in particularly a variety labelled abstract expressionism. This strand
aimed at “expression” without reference to a visually recognisable reality and
at best had only rudimentary figuration in it. The expression had to arise from
the “imagery” itself; an imagery that was its own subject matter. Tayali picked
this up while studying and moulded it his own way. This kind of abstract art,
in the seventies, in the Western world was passé, a thing of the past still
practiced of course by recognized masters and pioneers, but not by the next
generation of artistic innovators. It was, however, new to Zambia. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Fackson
Kulya’s artistic development does not show such diversity and variety. He
evolved right from the beginning a singular figurative style which drew its
inspiration and subject matter out of daily life, folklore and his own fantasy.
The extremes within this style hovered between realistic representation of
realistic scenes (such as shown below in the lino cut <i>In school</i>) and imagery of fantastic scenes often inspired by
folklore or his own at times bizarre imagination; the latter being dominant.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYiu0A6joLzgp30Vc1pfdf8Rw5GVRnQj_l0C1P0BChGCImNPPVpkEPjdv-voLYSeWYFYbQ9cDWryGRFH4py5JrdEnGTx_nTsjNMxShfdUElLfyrQxQZ9ZVVk7TC_x8CBM3avik6tg4fdg/s1600/FK-In+School-96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYiu0A6joLzgp30Vc1pfdf8Rw5GVRnQj_l0C1P0BChGCImNPPVpkEPjdv-voLYSeWYFYbQ9cDWryGRFH4py5JrdEnGTx_nTsjNMxShfdUElLfyrQxQZ9ZVVk7TC_x8CBM3avik6tg4fdg/s1600/FK-In+School-96.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;">Photo 6. </span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;">In school</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 24px; text-align: justify;">. Kulya. 1980, lino cut.</span></span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLeueMoUDQd7CMiGNaO7hdeWtr4Qp08l8WQDaO53S86dXORDLuuO-DhfRxsjZnI7eEmLkHpHFbF0vkritYRusQmUI7fTNYOPpEESVzlWy8eBXj07ClLFhLqYVM42fAe2174EtAjBxucTk/s1600/Fackson-beerdrinker-96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLeueMoUDQd7CMiGNaO7hdeWtr4Qp08l8WQDaO53S86dXORDLuuO-DhfRxsjZnI7eEmLkHpHFbF0vkritYRusQmUI7fTNYOPpEESVzlWy8eBXj07ClLFhLqYVM42fAe2174EtAjBxucTk/s400/Fackson-beerdrinker-96.jpg" width="310" /></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 150%;">Photo 7. <i>The Drunkard</i>. 1980, gouache.</span></div>
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<i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">In school</span></i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; line-height: 150%;"> shows Fackson’s variety of realism,
<i>The Drunkard</i> his bizarre humour. Note
how the body of the drinker and the pot from which he drinks his traditional
beer have amalgamated into one structure, situated in an almost surrealistic
setting.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">When
I met Fakson in 1975 he was busy experimenting with bronze casting but he soon
gave that up – the failure rate was too high and these small bronzes were
expensive to make. He did continue to sculpt in wood. Wood sculpting was,
however, a technique where his lack of formal and informal education in that
medium showed: many of his sculptures have technical flaws such as poor varnish
or poor finish in general. Generally I like his graphic art, drawings and
paintings better. These media proved a better vessel for his fantastic imagery,
the stories he told in pictures. All of this work appears to be not-premeditated; the imagery was drawn or cut spontaneously, in the spur of the
moment; it hence never appears to be contrived, and indeed at times naif in its
oblivion of aesthetic rules and regulation of the formal world of Academic Art.
All of this work genuinely is folk art; art made by a folk artist and presenting
folk life, lore, subjects, fantasies and themes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Fackson,
lacking the exposure that Henry had, could not but draw his inspiration from
what he experienced in his own life and from what he created by his own
fantasy. Fackson’s art is local and folksy; Henry’s work is academic and
international. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">In
Henry’s work, however, there is a strong reference to “the life of the people,”
and in particular to its hardships and misery. Certainly this was, in the
Kaunda days with its socialist/humanist policies, the politically correct thing
to do. Tayali made images about people whose life was familiar to him but which
he no longer shared; an almost inevitable result of successfully climbing the
social ladder and thereby distancing himself socially and physically of the
common folk.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Fackson
was a man of the people, Tayali was not. Henry was, or had become, an observing
outsider. This difference is reflected in the manner both artists present
people. Fackson did not portray the so-called common folk as poor, down trodden,
ugly or miserable. He portrayed them as human beings in a fantastic, humorous,
bizarre and imaginative world. Look at the reproductions below below.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJNTpXVovt5O8i5TSnZKytTyFYvexDF_zyd0Lmh9Oo4c-uZ8xktySZTczJKNv0eUpVj3EcuOF0HCIGL5VwFlhS4oNxQ0BdKbz1MAkT5nNr6l6f7FoB8f2qceizumRp2B80GcL6sMM7xAI/s1600/Kulya-Rushing-250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJNTpXVovt5O8i5TSnZKytTyFYvexDF_zyd0Lmh9Oo4c-uZ8xktySZTczJKNv0eUpVj3EcuOF0HCIGL5VwFlhS4oNxQ0BdKbz1MAkT5nNr6l6f7FoB8f2qceizumRp2B80GcL6sMM7xAI/s400/Kulya-Rushing-250.jpg" width="210" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 8. <i>Rushing out of the bush.......</i> Lino cut, 1988</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUgBLk5MBB3PL9cuJ10Xl3ThoZbcjkGsdjpjuS_8J-mHOQ3Q3D9etJgwNnMWtENhTkJyaCRJRwdBijfAgfrp4aTWJZyH_w3En7IQu_2aAA1IRqVPkHpMzYe_N1NDi2YKqeL4UkuD__oY/s1600/FKulya-Sitting+on+a+bad+branch-Res96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiUgBLk5MBB3PL9cuJ10Xl3ThoZbcjkGsdjpjuS_8J-mHOQ3Q3D9etJgwNnMWtENhTkJyaCRJRwdBijfAgfrp4aTWJZyH_w3En7IQu_2aAA1IRqVPkHpMzYe_N1NDi2YKqeL4UkuD__oY/s400/FKulya-Sitting+on+a+bad+branch-Res96.jpg" width="245" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 9. <i>Sitting a bad branch. </i>Lino cut, 1988</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Photo’s
8 and 9 illustrate Fackson’s at times bizarre imagination. Both linocuts are
made around 1988, about a year after Tayali’s death. The title of the lino cut on
Photo 8 is “<i>Rushing out of the bush with
the nose in the hand but that big I saw it.”</i> The print of photo 9 is titled
“<i>Sitting on a bad branch</i>.” The prints,
from the point of view of conventional “academic” composition, are uninteresting,
and the print of photo 8 at art school would be a failure in that regard. The deliberate
arrangement of visual elements into an interesting, intriguing, balanced
structure is absent; instead we see what could be called a spontaneous visual
narrative. What redeems the prints is originality, humour and locality. They
are <i>Zambian</i> prints by a Zambian
artist; original because the imagery could only have arisen in Fackson’s mind
and one (no 8) is funny, even incorporating a pun on the I – eye. The imagery
does not picture the human being in its degrading or pitiful aspect. The men in
the pictures are men in a story in fantasy land; an intriguing place where
anything is possible - unlike in practical reality where only money buys you
food, education, health care and generally a comfortable life. Money does not,
however, according to a famous band “buy you love.” Neither, I would say, does
it buy you artistic fantasy, imagination or talent. Fackson, poor as he was,
had these rich artistic gifts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">As
a note to the above I would say that often the aspect of “composition” is low
keyed in Fackson’s work. Fackson’s two dimensional work is visually structured
by its unfolding narrative, not by superimposed compositional regulation or
aesthetics. “Composition” also is not an aspect of outstanding interest in
Tayali’s graphic work, but his prints do not confront you with the lack of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Fackson’s
deficient formal education and exposure in <i>Fine
Art</i> indeed had fortuitous side effects. It preserved his originality and
prevented him from adopting styles not his own. There is, indeed, a great
divide between Fackson’s bizarre, humorous, fantastic, figurative imagery and Henry’s
emotionally charged brush strokes which are mostly so charged for only Tayali
himself. One trouble with abstract art is that you have to be very, very good
to make interesting, lasting work; or you must be truly original thus making
your work last by its originality; and of course the best is to have both
qualities. Tayali was not a pioneer of abstract expressionism. He joined an
ongoing and established style/movement – at its post <i>avant garde</i> stage. His role in it is local or localised, not
global. His abstract fathers, artists such as Willem de Koning and Jackson Pollock
in the USA or Karel Appel and the Cobra movement in Western Europe, had done
the pioneering work of a movement whose very foundations left very little space
for future innovative development <i>in the
same style.</i> Post World War II “abstract art” in the “expressionistic vein simply
was the realisation of one of the theoretically possible extremes in Art; and
once it was done, that was it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Fackson’s
lack of exposure, his very provincialism, kept him out of this global artistic
extravaganza. A picture, to him, was not an element of an artistic discourse or
an exploration of logical possibilities in art production. A picture, to him
has a story to tell, often actually <i>was</i>
a visual story; and in that sense is the opposite of abstract art which by its
very exclusion of figurative association had no story to tell other than the
sensation of its perception; and such sensation
fundamentally is non-verbal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">In
the eighties, if you had asked anyone in the inner Lusaka art circle: “Who is
the better artist, Tayali or Kulya?” chances would have been that even amongst
the artistic in-crowd some would have asked “Kulya – who is that?” For most the
answer would have been, without hesitation: “Tayali of course.” And they would
have considered the question ridiculous and out of place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">What
I have tried to tell you in this text is that it is not that simple; and if it
is not that simple the question might be wrong. Perhaps the question should be
something like: “What are the outstanding, lasting qualities of the art work of
these two artists?” (That is how it is done in science: if the question is too
general for a sensible answer, split it up in manageable components). At that
level of detail, I hope to have shown, Fackson had qualities that mattered which
Tayali did not have; and surely, the reverse is also true. So true that we can
leave Fackson entirely out of the picture? That, in my judgement, is carrying
things too far. Fackson’s work has something Tayali did not have: It had
locality, it was Zambian; not just because it was made in Zambia by a Zambian
artist, but because it connects to traditional culture and oral traditions in
particular; his imagery is made the way stories, riddles or songs are made. In
so doing he presented the so-called common (wo)man as a person of interest,
even of marvel and not, as so often in Tayali, as a being which at best
deserves sympathy by its misery; living in squalor, struggling for survival. Two
complementary artists indeed, and of each you can say that “the same thing that
makes you rich makes you poor.” Kulya as his station in life enabled him to
make genuine imagery about folk life and culture but excluded him from
obtaining the social skills and education necessary to function in the higher
strata of society – and make a lasting name for himself by himself. Tayali,
whose very international training and exposure lead him to make art that was
international and provided him with the means to socially be a leading figure,
a member of the <i>uppa mwamba</i> and an
achiever, by these very same privileges lost touch with the life of the common
folk who in his work mostly are depicted as inferior beings. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo 10. Untitled. Woodcut, 1979.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; line-height: 150%;">The print depicts gossiping women: compassion with the
wretched of the earth or projected prejudice of black inferiority? Or none of
that – just a picture, iconic indeed, of the malice of gossip?</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">You may ask whether his choice of daily
life scenes as subjects is motivated by compassion for the cause of the “wretched
of the earth,” or that his true commitment simply is in the art of imagery
construction. I believe the latter to be true, but not to the exclusion of a
social commitment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Here
then we find the plane where both artists are equal: each one lived to make art
as art; not as ideology, not as realistic representation of real scenes or
unrealistic representation of real scenes, but principally because of the value
of the artistic imagery as it is by itself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">About the author:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">The author is a cultural anthropologist and artist who has worked in Zambia
during 1975 – 1980 and as of 1988 till the present. He has published on The Net about Art in Zambia and art material technology.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif";">Bibliography and
references<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Barde, Bob (1980). "Henry Tayali: Zambian
Printmaker".<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>African Arts</i><span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(UCLA James S. Coleman African Studies
Center)<span class="apple-converted-space"> Vol </span>13<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>(3):
p. 82.</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Ellison, Gabriel
(supported by the Book Committee of the Visual Arts Council of Zambia) (2004). <i>Art in Zambia</i>. Lusaka: Book World
Publishers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Kennedy, Jean (1992).<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.africa.upenn.edu/Smithsonian_GIFS/Ken_text.html"><i><span style="background: white; color: #663366; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">New Currents,
Ancient Rivers: Contemporary African Artists in a Generation of Change</span></i></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">. Smithsonian
Institution Press.<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number" title="International Standard Book Number"><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">ISBN</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"> </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-56098-037-7" title="Special:BookSources/978-1-56098-037-7"><span style="background: white; color: #0b0080; font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">978-1-56098-037-7</span></a><span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Leyten, Harrie and Paul
Faber (1980). <i>moderne kunst in Afrika</i>.
Amsterdam, Tropen Museum<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Wikipedia. (2013). <i>Henry Tayali</i>. </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Tayali"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Tayali</span></a><span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Witkamp, Gijsbert (2015). The <i>Lusaka Artists Group</i>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><a href="http://artblog.zamart.org/2015/07/the-lusaka-artists-organisation.html">http://artblog.zamart.org/2015/07/the-lusaka-artists-organisation.html</a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="background: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Zaucha, Grazyna (1996). Zambia: identities in
print. <i>Gallery</i>, no 8, pp.11-13.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-85579896394835036872013-03-08T16:01:00.001+01:002018-02-09T06:54:23.667+01:00HENRY TAYALI – a post scriptum<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Text by Gijsbert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.3333330154419px; line-height: 15.3333320617676px;">Art in Zambia series 3: Encounters with Henry Tayali.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">First posted: 3 March 2013</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Updated: 15 July 2015<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAuw34Ex2AJYDu6LLzZJeTCSNCTIZdPsfYWp30JEFNI9c-YoN_g0XmmCmmjF65cHyrZNTtS6XZ1bvBIx-y6LIXe0I6ZVjYZQYq__11BOxV-XajiB6O5k3sNjBep0-QhYSak2tKBG0Jsc/s1600/Tayali-1977-newspaper.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhcAuw34Ex2AJYDu6LLzZJeTCSNCTIZdPsfYWp30JEFNI9c-YoN_g0XmmCmmjF65cHyrZNTtS6XZ1bvBIx-y6LIXe0I6ZVjYZQYq__11BOxV-XajiB6O5k3sNjBep0-QhYSak2tKBG0Jsc/s320/Tayali-1977-newspaper.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Photo
1. Tayali in a 1977 Zambian newspaper in which a development plan for the arts
is discussed. At the time 34 years old he was determined to be Zambia’s leading
artist both in art production and art organisation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Henry
Tayali lived from 1943 to 1987. He was born in Serenje, Zambia, but spent most
of his school years in Bulawayo where his father worked. His artistic talent
was spotted and appreciated at the secondary school he attended. Soon after his return to
Zambia – just Independent and still wealthy – he received a government grant for his academic pursuit
of the arts. Government at the time, under leadership of president Kenneth
Kaunda, supported thousands of talented Zambians to study abroad so as to
create the intellectual and professional force that was to develop Zambia into a
modern functioning nation-state. Tayali’s initial academic art education was in
Makerere University at Kampala, Uganda, from 1967 to 1971, where he obtained a
B.A. Makarere University at that time had a flourishing art department and
until the rise of Idi Amin was an African University of good standing. From
1973 to 1975 he continued in Germany at the Düsseldorf Art Academy. He got his
masters supported by a German grant. He was a graphic artist, sculptor and
painter. Most of his graphic art is done in the typical Tayali style of “free”
figurative imagery. In this work “expression” overrules realistic
representation; and sometimes the figurative reference seems to be not more
than pretense in the overriding interest of making an image in its own right - as
an image.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Photo
2. “<i>A Measure of Cooking Oil</i>.”
Woodcut by Henry Tayali. 1982. Here we see Tayali as a mature graphic artist
pretty much at his most figurative. His graphic work often has a social
reference; in this case to the shortages of essential commodities that were one
of the characteristics of the second republic.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Photo
3: “<i>Pounding Maize</i>.” Woodcut by Henry
Tayali. 1985.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">In some of his work he transposed his abstract
way of painting to the printing table. He was, no doubt, a good graphic artist.
In painting he started out as a figurative painter but in his mature years he
developed a personal variety of abstract expressionism, which, to him, was
highly intense and emotionally charged. I
suppose it came about by his studies in the early seventies in Germany. The
quality of his sculptural oeuvre varies greatly – there is the tremendous metal
bull along the Lusaka airport road on the one hand, and the clumsy Graduate
at the University of Zambia (UNZA) grounds on the other hand.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">My
first encounter with him dates back to December 1975 when Fakson Kulya and I
had our first exhibition at the Public Library of Lusaka. I had arrived in
Zambia in April of that year and was looking for artists to work with. Fakson
was the first person I met. Our intention to form a group of co-operating
artists was extensively publicised in the newspaper <i>The Daily Mail</i>, at the time of our exhibition in December 1975.
This event is described in detail in Zambia Art Chronicles no 1, which is about
Fakson Kulya. The journalist had utilized the occasion to lash out to the then
Department of Cultural Services, perhaps to settle some old score. Fakson and I
were manning the exhibition in the quietude of the library reading room when:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Trevor Ford and Henry Tayali stormed the
premises after the publication of Daniel’s article armed with expensive and big
cameras. They photographed everything. All of our little art work - the work we
had was small in size and there was not much of it; as if it was subversive
material, endangering national security. After this intimidating show the duo
disappeared and unfortunately I have never seen a print of the photographs they
took. Henry happened to be Zambia’s showcase artist at the time and Trevor was
an internationally acknowledged cartoonist of Welsh extraction. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">End
of quote out of the Art in Zambia Blog post <i>Fakson Kulya,
folk artist</i>. Now why would Tayali be all up in arms when a government
department was criticized to which he was not directly associated? Henry since
his return from studies in Germany in 1975 until his death in 1987 was the UNZA
resident artist/lecturer. He was a dominating and domineering man, he wanted to
be seen as the representative and leader (if not the boss) of the Zambian
artists and in that world there was no place for an outsider championing the
cause of the poor self-styled artists living in the urban compounds (townships)
of Lusaka or in the servant quarters of those that could afford to buy art
work. What made matters worse, perhaps, is that much of Tayali’s work has a
reference to social commitment. </span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Says
Tayali in 1979: “</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">My art is concerned with the suffering of the people and I
want it to be the echo of that suffering. I see the problems of the
continent... I am just recording what I and my people feel, but I do not
attempt to provide answers to our problems.” Clearly the “underprivileged,”
(today’s key phrase) poor yet talented artists could have provided Tayali with
a clear case for concern; but he had little appreciation for our self-help
approach.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">The
next meeting soon took place soon after the library incident. It was equally brief,
now at the house of one of the university lectures. Many lectures lived in a
campus-like housing complex adjacent to the university. In those days UNZA had
teaching staff and scientists from all over the world. It also was a
cosmopolitan village as it was small, and had something homely about it. As we
met Tayali refused to shake hands, to him I did not exist. <o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">As
we met Tayali refused to shake hands, to him I did not exist. None of us could
have foreseen that some 36 years later I would be mounting and framing some of
his prints for exhibitions I organised for the Choma Museum art gallery.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">In
1976 the Art Centre Foundation decided to support the group Lusaka Artists
Group. The Art Centre Foundation was a government sponsored body to promote and
support the visual arts; and its members were a mix of prominent art lovers,
artists, amateur artists and sympathizers. They also were part of the upper
strata of society. Tayali was a prominent member of this club, representing the
African in a dominantly European association. The ACF facilitated a room at the
Evelyn Hone College which they regarded as their workshop but which in a
practical sense was managed by us – we worked daily in that location. Once a
week members of the ACF would come to teach us uneducated folks how to make
art, or simply to discuss and talk about art – it depended on the ACF member(s)
present. Tayali once in a while would also attend these meetings – occasionally demonstrating his superiority in a contemptuous manner. "I would not even put that in my toilet," he once said pointing at a lino print - and I am sure he would not and perhaps not entirely without reason.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Most
of the work we did at the workshop at the Evelyn Hone College was graphic,
mainly lino cuts and once in a while an etching. Our flourishing printing
production had been made possible by Cynthia Zukas, who generously made a
printing press available. In a sense this put us in direct competition with
Henry, who also was a prolific graphic artists. And in fairness – much of his
work at first was much better than most of our production. Tayali had been
academically trained in graphics for several years, the Zambian LAG members all
were self-taught and new to the art. Tayali, in graphics, had evolved his own,
personal style. People like Patrick Mweemba and David Chibwe were experimenting
with different styles and techniques and it took time before their explorations
crystallised into a consistent and personal manner of print making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Rco2WqGVoOeBvz7SvIuA-6WJYl_A-G8tg7U5ZIbkcZuu5gN-SF3a1MGVPwRdWwbTUulXBTs6JiLja6C8umVq_aFeoVrSRCapWcUWDfccdkasZ7h80VOrXHop0Wq5gF3lKt-JC014QLg/s1600/PM-Thinkers-88-96.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9Rco2WqGVoOeBvz7SvIuA-6WJYl_A-G8tg7U5ZIbkcZuu5gN-SF3a1MGVPwRdWwbTUulXBTs6JiLja6C8umVq_aFeoVrSRCapWcUWDfccdkasZ7h80VOrXHop0Wq5gF3lKt-JC014QLg/s320/PM-Thinkers-88-96.jpg" width="206" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Photo
4. “<i>Thinkers.</i>” Woodcut by Patrick
Mweemba. 18 x 26 cm, 1988. In a style reminiscent of Tayali.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHKYRxGBNDa0Kt3mIPGoUsGtImcFSy8wD35GurYn6MfPOL_aJhZDjuxbRP_PTyOLpHeK4FP1scJVDpreEBVigxOJX2hTzXr1tdjrM8yX6T8HbLBPuqsXyAUVoZyzRahUv5BLGt4I_iOXs/s1600/Chibwe-Return.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHKYRxGBNDa0Kt3mIPGoUsGtImcFSy8wD35GurYn6MfPOL_aJhZDjuxbRP_PTyOLpHeK4FP1scJVDpreEBVigxOJX2hTzXr1tdjrM8yX6T8HbLBPuqsXyAUVoZyzRahUv5BLGt4I_iOXs/s320/Chibwe-Return.jpg" width="173" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">Photo
5. “</span><i style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">A Return from the Field</i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 9pt; line-height: 115%;">”. Lino
cut by David Chibwe. 1992? 10.5 x 24.5 cm. Stylistically close to Tayali.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">When
these instructive meetings at the college workshop ceased we had virtually no
contact. Henry did his thing, I did mine. I visited his house once, at the same
University complex. It was full of his abstract paintings. The occasion was sad
– his Ugandan wife had died. This was in 1976. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">In
1980 I left Zambia to go back to school. I started afresh as a student in
cultural anthropology. In 1985 I returned to Zambia to do my M.A. research on
makishi, in association with UNZA. Incidentally I met Henry at the campus. We
exchanged a few words. He had mellowed, the hostility was gone, he looked tired
and kind of wasted. It was the last I saw of him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Two
years later he was dead, victim of the disease unknown to Zambia at the time he
was infected by it. Aids in Zambia developed in the seventies, underground as
it were, with people dying mysteriously, from causes unknown. It spread strongly
in the eighties and by then had a name. Its exponential growth tapered down only after the turn of the century. National average infection
rate presently has stabilised possibly in the order of 15% of the sexually
active. By the time Henry died he may have known what trapped him – when he was
infected he probably did not know HIV/AIDS existed.</span></div>
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<br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">He
was a hard working man, ambitious and strong willed; a dedicated artist who,
unlike most of the first post independence generation of Zambian art students,
remained true to his vocation. Many of his colleagues became administrators, lecturers
or other professionals with a regular salary. To them art became a peripheral activity
in their lives; for Tayali art always remained the centre point of his professional
existence. His graphic art especially, has lasting merit. By education and ambition
he represented Zambian art and artists in all kinds of forums. He is/was one of
the few Zambian artists with a genuine international presence. He also was the
first indigenous Zambian artist to rise to lasting national and international
prominence. He was the first indigenous Zambian artist to substantially introduce graphic art
in the emerging spectre of Zambian visual arts; and thus was instrumental in
the development of an artistic tradition that still is vibrant today. That, I
believe, is his main artistic legacy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 150%;">Note:
Wikipedia has a good page on Henry Tayali – just google it up. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-86916217160307073442013-03-07T16:15:00.001+01:002015-07-31T10:14:14.284+02:00FAKSON KULYA, folk artist<br />
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<u><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;">Art in Zambia No 2: Fackson Kulya, folk artist.</span></u><i><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;"> The personal story of our cooperation starting in 1975, leading to the formation
of the Lusaka Artists Group. Fackson made original imagery, timeless and
a-fashionable; a self-taught local artist making pictures as he liked it. <o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Post by
Bert Witkamp<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">7 March 2013<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Updated: 15 July 2015</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Note: This text complements the previous post about Fackson Kulya in the Zamart Blog “<i>Tribute to Fackson Kulya</i>” by a personal story of our meeting and working together during 1975 - 1980.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Fackson Kulya died years ago,
literally out of sight, probably somewhere in the Luanshya countryside around
2000. None of us, his friends and co-workers in the second half of the
seventies, knows the details and we only heard that he was dead long after he
had been buried. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">In 1975, the year of my arrival in
Zambia, I was looking for fellow artists to work with. I found Fackson staying
in one of the servant quarters of the University of Zambia staff houses at
Handsworth Court, Lusaka. A kind <i>expatriate</i>
lecturer had made the accommodation available to Fackson. There Fackson lived,
penniless or near penniless most of the time. We would walk to Lusaka’s metal
scrape yards and look for copper wire. These we’d hammer into bangles that we
would hawk. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">He was into bronze casting. That, of
course, was another reason to scrounge the scrape yards. How he got into casting
I do not know. He was not the only one. Better known and better accommodated
was German N’goma, who worked together with Henry Jackson in a well laid out bronze
casting workshop. Fackson did not have such technical privileges. He had a metal
40 gallon drum turned into furnace where he burned charcoal to melt the brass
or bronze collected from scrape yards to pour these into the moulds he’d made. Some
casts worked, others did not and eventually he did not carry it on. But the
effort did illustrate initiative and an experimental drive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">True, I got him into lino cutting.
Not true that Fackson had an “apprenticeship with me at the Art Centre
(Foundation) Workshop at the Evelyn Hone College” (See the page on Fackson Kulya
in “Art in Zambia” by Gabriel Ellison). The suggestion that Fackson and other
self-taught artists, needed “apprenticeship” to do what they eventually did is
wrong; so is the implication that these guys (Fackson Kulya, David Chibwe,
Patrick Mweemba, Style Kunda) needed an academically educated artist to rise to
national acknowledgement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">These men already had chosen to be artists;
I expanded and improved some of their technical knowledge and skills, that’s
all. We never talked about art, or about design, or aesthetics. We were mostly
busy with the practical issues of making art (in an environment where many art
materials were not available) and making a living out of it in an environment which,
at the time, did not have a single Art Gallery. I am not saying that it would
not have been sensible to talk about things like “composition,” “colour
harmony,” or “what art does and can do in society,” or “making fine art in a
country that did not have a fine art tradition in the western sense.” We just
did very little talking about the imagery we were making.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">The lack of the social infrastructure
in Lusaka (and Zambia nationwide) necessary for art to work gave rise to the
idea of establishing an organisation of artists working together. Fackson was
the first recruit of what in 1976 became the Lusaka Artists Group. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">He was a man of humble origins. A
villager and to some extent a stranger to modern town life. He was used to
hardships as hardship was the stuff out of which his life was made since birth.
He came from Luanshya rural, a Lamba by tribe. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">He was born poor, lived poor and no
doubt died a poor man. He would scoop out the leftover </span><i style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">nshima</i><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;"> (thick maize porridge which is the Zambian staple food)
and save it for breakfast by warming the plastic bag with leftovers in hot
water.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">By December 1975 we had made a few
pictures, enough to venture a show. It was to be in the Lusaka Public Library,
next to the Lusaka Hotel, right in town. It was a very modest business, this
exhibition. Just a few pictures on a board and a table in front of it where
Fackson and I sat, waiting “for things to come.” In front of us were tables with
people reading and studying library books, all was all quiet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDFOwAcCeyTbkFQSR4vOdZOFVny6oA_AP4zxxMH9TWbAxwgeFRiFBOcoJVOzC0DkFODES5CWq0NB-keYWbr9aTPQLDA0si8uqY6tYwM0fanFaXZJJml4id-1o4971Vx_cekb0QPGTNu4/s1600/LAG-Dec75EXhib.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYDFOwAcCeyTbkFQSR4vOdZOFVny6oA_AP4zxxMH9TWbAxwgeFRiFBOcoJVOzC0DkFODES5CWq0NB-keYWbr9aTPQLDA0si8uqY6tYwM0fanFaXZJJml4id-1o4971Vx_cekb0QPGTNu4/s320/LAG-Dec75EXhib.jpg" width="193" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Photo 1. Fackson Kulya (right) and I at
our modest stand in the Lusaka Public Library. Front page of the <i>Times of Zambia</i> newspaper of December
19, 1975. Photo by <i>Times</i>
photographer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">At the time Zambia had two national
newspapers, both government controlled. We went to the <i>Daily Mail</i>, to announce our exhibition, and were received by a
journalist with the name of Daniel Mwale. He was interested, asked some
questions, took some notes, brought in a photographer. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegWNGGDWHbMU1viebimIufEONNM7xP2TNQim7vwvLNm7suF-PQQtVaZy2OPAdp-1ws8dbj_OBMgckK5RHTEkcIkbtHvGHdbUODj7J9TKyy5bW255PwYTmcRb55MQ1mZEUQNDfGEWzG9s/s1600/Daily+Mail+75-06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjegWNGGDWHbMU1viebimIufEONNM7xP2TNQim7vwvLNm7suF-PQQtVaZy2OPAdp-1ws8dbj_OBMgckK5RHTEkcIkbtHvGHdbUODj7J9TKyy5bW255PwYTmcRb55MQ1mZEUQNDfGEWzG9s/s320/Daily+Mail+75-06.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Bert Witkamp interviewed by Daniel M. At <i>The Daily
Mail</i> office in December 1975. Photo by Daily Mail photographer.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">I did most of the talking and propagated
the idea that “artists should co-operate” (even literally as a co-operative –
it all suited very well the Zambian political ideology of the time), and Daniel
keenly absorbed the notion that government money for the visual arts served mostly
those already well-off (meaning artists having been educated and belonging to
the higher strata of society) while the poor chaps living in compounds – the
low class neighbourhoods - were neglected. Yet these guys were talented and
able to produce art unpolluted by Western artistic and aesthetic conceptions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Our sympathetic friend published
these ideas and some of his own in a large article titled "<i>Zambian artists urged to form a co-operative</i>" in the “<i>Daily,</i>” utilizing the occasion to sharply attack the Department of
Cultural Services. This created a major embarrassment as the ideas we were
preaching were fully in line with government policies and ideology at the time,
especially the co-operative bit. Having these ideas publicised the way Daniel did
made the government Department of Cultural Services look incompetent and
inadequate. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Several things happened. First, there
was a disturbance of our peace and quiet at the Lusaka Public Library. Trevor
Ford and Henry Tayali stormed the premises after the publication of Daniel’s
article armed with expensive and big cameras. They photographed everything. All
our little art work - the work we had was small in size and there was not much
of it; as if it was subversive material, endangering national security. After
this intimidating show the duo disappeared and unfortunately I have never seen
a print of the photographs they took. Henry happened to be Zambia’s showcase
artist at the time and Trevor was an internationally acknowledged cartoonist of
Welsh extraction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Second, I was summoned to the office
of the then Director of the Department of Cultural Services, a Mr Mofia. He
greeted me by insulting me persistently and provocatively. I kept my calm and
told the man the simple truth, the truth being that the journalist was the one
who had written the article and had used the occasion by voicing his own ideas
now put into my mouth. I suggested he’d call Daniel to his office to sort
matters out. That was that. Ooff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;"><br /></span></div>
</div>
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<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Third, it got the Art Centre
Foundation (ACF) into motion. That showed later, in 1976. I presume that right
from the time of the publication of Daniel’s article some members of the ACF were
seriously disturbed. The ACF was an organization having a mixed membership of well
meaning art sympathizers, genuine art professionals, and amateurs whom together
constituted a good share of people whom at the time were important in the
Zambian art scene. It was a government sponsored body which on behalf of the
government had been tasked “to promote the (visual) arts in Zambia.” The irony
of the situation was that the Foundation had several progressive members in it “with
a social consciousness” who not at all wished to short change poor artists emerging
from Lusaka’s ever increasing compounds. These artists simply were not known to
the Board members as they lived in a very different part of society. The
ACF decided to support us self-styled artists, by that time formally organized
as the Lusaka Artists Group. They arranged that the Evelyn Hone College made a space
available, one of the ground floor prefab teaching rooms, and that became the
Lusaka Artists Group Studio. Some ACF members, for a short time, would visit at
late afternoons to discuss or criticise our work; to make up, so to speak for
the education we were clearly lacking. I remember Tayali saying, pointing at
one of Patrick Mweemba’s pictures, that he would not even put it in his toilet.
That was a good example of constructive criticism. These visits tapered off and
in practice for some years this was the place where most of Zambia’s art was
produced. Notably people like Bente Lorenz and Cynthia Zukas have given the
workshop much support. Cynthia made her etching press available and much of the
etchings and lino cuts made during 1976-1980 have been printed on that press.
The ACF also facilitated commissions, notably for the mural paintings at
Longacres market. So in the end all worked out well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 150%;">Fakson in the early eighties moved
back to where he came from: a village somewhere near Luanshya. A villager-artist.
A stranger at home and in town. He kept on making art: drawings, paintings and
sculpture in wood. He gained an awkward reputation: he felt that his work at
least should deliver him some of the money he badly needed. I do not think that
he was really interested in national recognition as an artist, what mattered to
him was that he returned from his Lusaka exploits with money to buy fertilizer,
sugar, a chitenge for his wife and cash for the school fees of his children. If
the people where he had left his works to sell could not produce these Kwacha’s
he would flare his temper to get what he needed. He deserved the money – even
if his work had not been sold.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhS5Y9lRA24fVHS2aSnqutlQJokpQ1eiSTh_5QSXZaaGdaN4maPhuLE_xpDon11hPYnfx15-xItmXejiV8bJPUQcBQC32RA1cR_xJ0xqYhIzycCt9pcJJZ37aeWjMc6A-QBgf_Uz01BY/s1600/FKulya-He+is+now+the+king-res72+-+Copy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUhS5Y9lRA24fVHS2aSnqutlQJokpQ1eiSTh_5QSXZaaGdaN4maPhuLE_xpDon11hPYnfx15-xItmXejiV8bJPUQcBQC32RA1cR_xJ0xqYhIzycCt9pcJJZ37aeWjMc6A-QBgf_Uz01BY/s1600/FKulya-He+is+now+the+king-res72+-+Copy.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"He is now the King." Gouache (?) painting by Fackson Kulya. 90 x 75 cm. made in 1991 at the transition of the second to the third republic. Prophetic?</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 150%;">Fackson was a good artist. He made
images as he saw fit to do and as he liked it and that is good enough. His work
vibrates between the humorous, the bizarre, and the serious. He, in
consideration of his background, made an extraordinary choice in life: to
become an artist in the modern sense of the concept. A creator of original
imagery. He did it with integrity. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;">He deserves to be remembered </span></span>among<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 150%;"> those who made the modern fine arts come into being in Zambia.</span></span></div>
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Note:<br />
More about Fackson Kulya in no's 1, 4 and 5 of this series.</div>
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<br />Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8331436384085552839.post-51205846007328763862013-03-01T13:31:00.000+01:002013-03-16T08:27:13.881+01:00Exhibition WOMEN IN ART announcement<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 505px;"> <tbody>
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<tr> <td height="2" width="0"></td> <td height="532" rowspan="4" valign="Top" width="48"></td> <td colspan="3" height="2" valign="Top" width="437"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguw44O6uaxgNnnw3gvn97Jmu0FytabIukuB9omBgZPNYQp_0NJrEA2ncFzDkS8DT1EZxIUoo1gAbZ-I759F6NgUdwb7ohi-FTp5sO1e1u9MZFB2ScVARq4thSgU5qV5OCPuqX7hkJ75xo/s1600/image001-776801.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5850327322720015010" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguw44O6uaxgNnnw3gvn97Jmu0FytabIukuB9omBgZPNYQp_0NJrEA2ncFzDkS8DT1EZxIUoo1gAbZ-I759F6NgUdwb7ohi-FTp5sO1e1u9MZFB2ScVARq4thSgU5qV5OCPuqX7hkJ75xo/s320/image001-776801.jpg" /></a></td> <td height="512" rowspan="3" valign="Top" width="20"></td> </tr>
<tr> <td height="507" width="0"></td> <td height="510" rowspan="2" valign="Top" width="2"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUqJmA3IGIy_pm4diTbIGu5jFK6znKSs-qzdUUxJG1U7qyGk8T0Chwn6ga9YCO5_VYN5zXPuCsWEoReywbOHOuIpjJLOQa3sg4Jz67GPr2Y8iqBWnC5TdSuvaw_rDnN_09zQ0afPyJqgg/s1600/image002-777575.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5850327327925645266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUqJmA3IGIy_pm4diTbIGu5jFK6znKSs-qzdUUxJG1U7qyGk8T0Chwn6ga9YCO5_VYN5zXPuCsWEoReywbOHOuIpjJLOQa3sg4Jz67GPr2Y8iqBWnC5TdSuvaw_rDnN_09zQ0afPyJqgg/s320/image002-777575.jpg" /></a></td> <td background="cid:image003.jpg@01CE167C.0B7F2200" height="507" valign="Top" width="432"><!--[if vml & mso]> <p class=MsoNormal style='font-size:1px'>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;">The ART GALLERY OF THE CHOMA MUSEUM</span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; language: en-US;"> </span></span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;">presents</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 20px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;"> </span></span></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 21px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;">WOMEN IN ART:</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 21px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;"> art by or about women</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;"> from 2</span></span></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 9px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;"><sup>nd</sup></span></span></b><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;"> March through May 2013</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US;">paintings, prints, drawings and applied art by:</span></span></b></div>
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<b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; line-height: 125%;">Agnes Mbuya Yombwe, Barbara Lechner, The Malambo Women’s Club, Mumuni Club, Nchimunya Mweemba Witkamp, Esnart Han’goma Mweemba, the Kalcho group, Lutanda Mwamba, Fakson Kulya, David Chibwe, Bert Witkamp, M. Kalubi, Stephen Kappata, Patrick Mweemba</span></span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; language: en-US; line-height: 125%;"> </span></span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; line-height: 125%;">and</span></span></b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; language: en-US; line-height: 125%;"> </span></span><b><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: x-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; language: en-US; line-height: 125%;">Henry Tayali, </span></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; language: en-US; line-height: 114%;">Info: e-mail </span></span><a href="mailto:chomamuseum@gmail.com"><span style="color: #0066ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; language: en-US; line-height: 114%; text-decoration: underline;">chomamuseum@gmail.com</span></span></a><span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; language: en-US; line-height: 114%;"> or </span></span><a href="mailto:zfactor@zamtel.zm"><span style="color: #0066ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; language: en-US; line-height: 114%; text-decoration: underline;">zfactor@zamtel.zm</span></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; language: en-US; line-height: 114%;">Website: </span></span><a href="http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com/"><span style="color: #0066ff; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; language: en-US; line-height: 114%; text-decoration: underline;">http://chomamuseumartgallery.weebly.com</span></span></a></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; language: en-US; line-height: 114%;">Mobile: CMCC 0977 323 929 (Director) or 0977 661 411 (P.R.)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black; font-family: Verdana; font-size: xx-small;"><span lang="en-US" style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 12px; language: en-US; line-height: 114%;">Organisation: CMCC and Zamfactor Ltd.</span></span></div>
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</td> <td height="507" valign="Top" width="3"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO2ZgztxkdJA8AS3AnUnp7lMKX7JDxFTagHmd6NU4Krezw18XbTmFfPDCt4rTrMBaMnBRs6QURd3JwJRwEK5uyZPV1Wzho4st15eQkEt1qVKDrrM7LRxF1Bno-60u1F-42v-mrxMpwQ58/s1600/image005-779816.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5850327338935898802" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO2ZgztxkdJA8AS3AnUnp7lMKX7JDxFTagHmd6NU4Krezw18XbTmFfPDCt4rTrMBaMnBRs6QURd3JwJRwEK5uyZPV1Wzho4st15eQkEt1qVKDrrM7LRxF1Bno-60u1F-42v-mrxMpwQ58/s320/image005-779816.jpg" /></a></td> </tr>
<tr> <td height="3" width="0"></td> <td colspan="2" height="3" valign="Top" width="435"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9lt1FX_bgTQ7m7a1wuiHoyCfDk5I9fS9mgOwTfhh_3PV96kp-vmymK45d-eMKw0-e2DGfMIfQsrpE_epirFQ1MIO-F4FC9_dXj9DYpRFYSMM7wyUX3J1wrVGgFwTLGpBq_NwlyauGiak/s1600/image006-782274.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5850327351007955762" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9lt1FX_bgTQ7m7a1wuiHoyCfDk5I9fS9mgOwTfhh_3PV96kp-vmymK45d-eMKw0-e2DGfMIfQsrpE_epirFQ1MIO-F4FC9_dXj9DYpRFYSMM7wyUX3J1wrVGgFwTLGpBq_NwlyauGiak/s320/image006-782274.jpg" /></a></td> </tr>
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Z-factorhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14770559522377659631noreply@blogger.com