Art Centers and Workshops for Black Artists

Polly Street Art Centre

Although white artists had access to formal academic training, facilities, materials, and a network of national and international galleries and dealers, black artists were able to receive training only at community centers and alternative educational facilities. One of the earliest of these was the Polly Street Art Centre in Johannesburg. Originally organized by the Johannesburg City Council as a community center offering adult education classes, by 1952 it had been transformed into an art center. Cecil Skotnes, one of the leading artists in South Africa, became its director in that year; more than 40 students were by the end of 1954. The Polly Street Art Centre provided art training as well as organized exhibitions and secured employment for its students.

Several important contemporary artists studied at Polly Street, notably the sculptor Sydney Kumalo. In the early 1960s both Skotnes and Kumalo taught Ezrom Legae, whose sculpture is in this exhibition, at the Jubilee Art Centre in Johannesburg. Polly Street closed in 1960.

Rorke's Drift

Another one of the few places at which black artists could study was the Evangelical Lutheran Church Art and Craft Centre at Rorke's Drift in Natal. Established in 1962 as a textile center for local women, it soon became a facility for training printmakers. The Swedish textile designers Ulla and Peder Growenius, its principal teachers, encouraged their students to use traditional modes of expression in their works. Printmakers worked in wood and linocut, but also over time produced etchings and aquatints of high quality. One critic described the works as a feast for jaded eyes, "crammed full of people and houses" (South 1990:17). Others noted the high degree of communication implicit in the prints, reflecting a sophisticated sensitivity to the political and social realities of apartheid in the black settlements. Among the artists represented in this show who studied at Rorke's Drift are Azaria Mbatha, Eric Mbatha, Cyprian Shilakoe, Joel Sibisi, and Vuminkosi Zulu.

Thupelo Art Project

Another force in the recent development of contemporary art in South Africa has been the continuing series of workshops in which artists from throughout the country meet and work for two weeks to explore and experiment with new mediums and techniques. Organized jointly by David Koloane and Bill Ainslie, the first workshop took place in 1985. The participants have an opportunity to teach and learn from each other, and they also may have the chance to attend international workshops with artists from other nations. Several South African artists with international reputations have participated in the workshops. Koloane credits the workshops and the spread of their concept to nearby African nations for the breaking of market stereotypes and expectations of what black artists can create.

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