Jacaranda Tribal Features Ndebele Beadwork this April

A culture inflicted with a history of strife and conflict, the Ndebele of South Africa have used the art form of beading as a means of expression. Known as ukupothela in the tribe’s native tongue, this beadwork is intricate with small white, black and brightly colored beads weaved together to create trains, capes, aprons, dolls and even containers.



Since the mid-20th Century the beadwork of Ndebele has won International fame and recognition. Mainly part of the female ceremonial clothing, the beads are sown onto skins and canvas. Smaller objects, such as necklaces, arm and neck rings and headbands, are also produced with the beads and are worn during rituals and even weddings.

The following images are from the Smithsonian Institution’s online image collection and they picture Ndebele Women creating beadwork.

To see the featured Ndebele Beadwork from Jacaranda Tribal, visit the exhibition’s page.


The Intricate African Art of El Anatsui…

El Anatsui’s art is almost impossible to explain to anyone who has not seen it in person. Aided by a team of assistants in Nigeria, the Ghanaian-born artist bends, twists, and reshapes discarded liquor caps, then punches holes in them and knits them together with metal wire. Though one would expect the results to look commonplace or dilapidated, the results that emerge from his laborious process are richly colored, luxuriantly textured tapestries.

Anatsui’s most recent show at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York included some of the largest, most intricate pieces he has yet created, confirming his status as one of contemporary art’s most brilliant masters of material…

Later this year, a retrospective entitled “El Anatsui: When I Last Wrote To You About Africa,” curated by Lisa Binder, will debut at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum before embarking on a national tour, with the first stop at the Museum of African Art's new Manhattan building, which is set to open in early 2011. The exhibition marks a significant landmark in the artist's career, which first caught the attention of many art-world observers with his appearance at the 1990 Venice Biennale — though he has shown his work since the early 1970s, when he often made his sculptures with chainsaws.

To read more on this article about El Anatsui visit the original, which appeared on ArtInfo.com.

$73,000 Enwonwu Leads US African Art Sale

The first commercial auction of African contemporary art ever held in the US took place in New York on March 10.

The highlight piece of this Bonham’s auction was Africa Dances, Eve Noir, 1972, by Ben Enwonwu.

With a lower estimate of $60,000, the watercolor and pastel on board eventually brought a comfortable $73,200.

Enwonwu was a pioneer of the modern art movement in Western Africa, and the sale should gain his work increased prominence in the US - and global - art markets.

Spier Contemporary 2010 Opens in South Africa

The Spier Contemporary Art Exhibition will showcase the work of 101 artists from across South Africa in the Cape Town City Hall.

The Spier Contemporary 2010 will open on 14 March 2010 after two years of planning, a nationwide call for entry, an exhaustive curatorial tour, and the astonishing transformation of its exhibition space, the Cape Town City Hall.

The exhibition winners will be announced at the opening ceremony on Saturday, 13 March 2010. The project will award nearly R1.8 million directly to the artists. This is apportioned as acknowledgement grants (R4 000 per artist exhibited), five career development grants totalling R500 000, one audience choice award of R100 000 and seven international arts residency awards.

Presented by the Africa Centre, the Spier Contemporary Art Exhibition will showcase the work of 101 artists from across South Africa. (Spier Contemporary comes hot on the heels of another Africa Centre project, the Infecting the City Public Arts Festival that took Cape Town by storm in mid-February 2010.)

If contemporary art is defined as ‘art that is created now', then the Spier Contemporary is the visual and aural barometre of what it is like to live in South Africa in 2010. Comprising of 132 artworks from 101 artists, distilled from over 2 700 national submissions, the artists have contemplated and exposed every element of the South African condition: our fears, our joys, our humour and our trepidations. It speaks to the past, and imagines the future. It serves up a plethora of views and challenges us to think differently. It gives us a poetic, private moment with our world.

Reflecting something for everyone, the themes in the exhibition range from the struggle for identity to a lack of faith in our leadership, from meditations on urbanisation to revisiting memories. There is irony, humour, self-reflection and cultural play.

The Spier Contemporary is the largest biennale of South African art staged in the country. This extraordinary show features artists who work across the diversity of media, including sculpture, painting, photography, installation, video and performance art.

The launch of the Spier Contemporary 2007/08 was held on the Spier Estate outside Stellenbosch. Prior to moving on to Johannesburg. This iteration, the Africa Centre will be launching the Exhibition at Cape Town's City Hall. The City Hall was chosen based on its position at the heart of the City, allowing it to be easily accessed by all. Admission to the exhibition is free and it is open seven days a week from 10am till 6pm (public holidays included).

The Spier Contemporary 2010 is expecting to host 3 500 school learners at the exhibition. The educational programme is in partnership with the Ibhabhathane Project, and is funded by a grant from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund (NLDTF).


The Spier Contemporary 2010 also houses a pop-up café by Rotisserie 360 that will serve light meals and has a fully licensed bar. The Fringe Arts Shop will sell the Spier Contemporary artworks and catalogue. It will also sell other functional art.

Many exciting events have been planned for the two month duration of the exhibition until 14 May 2010. Accompanying the formal weekly artist's walkabouts are debates and discussions, open mic sessions, poetry readings, wine tasting, live music sessions (both classical and contemporary), Creative Cape Town meetings, radio workshops, and public and private functions.

See http://www.spiercontemporary.co.za/ for details.

High Museum Features South African Art

The High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia is currently featuring the special installation "Transitions: Contemporary South African Works on Paper," which presents 13 works by eight artists, many on view for the first time.

The exhibition explores how works of art act as visual narratives and testimonials to the remarkable changes in the political and social landscapes in South Africa from 1974 during the height of Apartheid to 2002, two years before a decade of democracy was widely celebrated.


The artists featured in the exhibition include Kay Hassan, David Koloane, Rudzani Nemasetoni, Derrick Nxumalo, John Muafangejo, Billy Mandindi and Sam Nhlengethwa. Also featured is a large-scale, rarely seen work by William Kentridge. The installation will complement the contemporary galleries on the Skyway Level as well as the Fred and Rita Richman Gallery of African Art.

"Transitions: Contemporary South African Works on Paper" will be on view at the High Museum through June 10, 2010.