Our Cultures In Constant Collaboration

Preview (all welcome): Friday 28 June 2019, 6-8pm
Exhibition: 29 June - 11 August 2019 in the Entrance Gallery

The Leach Pottery presents an exhibition of exciting new works by South African artist Andile Dyalvane. Created during his Leach Residency, each piece is a unique collaboration of Andile’s artistic virtuosity, history, stories, and direct experience of being at the Leach Pottery.

This new collection of hand-built vessels and bowls features Andile’s large-scale bold shapes, the bodies of which have loosely applied and overlapping layers of textured clay. There is a deft dynamism in this work, as if the pieces are shedding their outer layers. The artist locates the origin of this movement in his own energetic shift, as he works with a greater sense of abandon and an even deeper commitment to his spiritual lineage and internal exploration.

Born in the year of Shoji Hamada’s passing, Andile’s formative years living in Ngobozana Village introduced his hands to clay. Later, in college, Bernard Leach was introduced as an assigned topic in History of Ceramics studies. It was here that Andile’s desire to pursue collaborative experiences began. Says Andile:

One of the themes that runs through my work is soil erosion and the textures and revelations this creates. Hearing stories about how potters threw their rejected pots into the River Stennack, alongside the Pottery, some of my work has engaged with this idea and the use of shards. In another piece, I have explored bark textures from alongside the Stennack and used gritty inclusions of woods ash from the fireplace in the Old Pottery.

All works for sale. Prices from £150 to £14,000.