The Imbali ArtBooks
Adventuring into
Interviews with Artists
The artists in these interviews are all featured in the Adventuring Into Art Imbali Artbooks and on this website. They chat about their work - in particular about the specific works that feature in the Books and on this site. They were interviewed by high school learners studying art. These conversations give us special insights into the way these artists think, and the way they create.
Click to see the videos
Click to see the videos
Themes
Getting Started
Abstraction; the visual language of art; an art vocabulary; line and its expressive possibilities; lines and sound; lines and movement; using different media to create expressive lines; colour; colour theory; colour-mixing and using paint.
Faces
Portraiture in South Africa; making a self-portrait; identity – photographing ourselves; self-portraits in charcoal; the traditions of masks in Africa: masks and power; making a “power mask” and performance.
Bodies
Expression through the body, artists’ depictions of the body in action; sculpture and the human figure; traditional child figures in South African art; figure drawing; carving; assemblage; construction; gender prejudice; feminist artists; self-image and body mapping.
Things
The lives of objects and their meanings; objects of ritual, the still life in South African art; drawing and painting still lifes; keeping a sketchbook; self-portrait in objects; texture in art; rubbings; Dada and objét trouvé; museums; a miniature museum; creating sculptures in papier maché; Pop Art; advertising and consumerism.
Places
Artists and the environment; landscape painting and drawing in South African art; other kinds of “landscapes”; San conceptions of the land; depictions of the land and its colonial and other histories; drawing and painting outdoors; perspective; land art and site specific art; environmental awareness through performance and installation.
War Zones
Art and war; poetry about war; art under Apartheid, art and resistance; documentary photography; curating your own exhibition; poster art in South Africa; designing and making posters, silk-screening; stencilling; graffiti and mural art.
Inner Worlds
Early symbolic object-making; San Rock art in South Africa; some cultural traditions and rituals; art and the missionary influence in South Africa; ritual objects; Jackson Hlungwane’s “New Jerusalem”; symbolism and surrealism in South Africa and creating surrealist imagery.
Guide
Adventuring into Art is a guide to teaching art for South African teachers. The guide section is available as part of the book.
Video Guides to Some Techniques
These videos were filmed at Imbali’s Adventuring Into Art workshops for teachers around the country. Here we provide a chance for you - teachers and others - who were not present at the workshops, to explore some of the same techniques and skills, and to understand some of the concepts and art language.
Click to see the videos
Click to see the videos
Springboards
Artists
Activities
Videos
Imbali in the news!
Creative Feel: Art Helps Human Development
Creative Feel: The Necessity of Art Education
Creative Feel: Journey to the Western Cape
Creative Feel: Heading to the Eastern Cape
Book roll-out teacher workshops
Cape Town
Tzaneen
Mahikeng
Siyabuzwa
Bethal
Kimberley
Thaba Nchu
Gqeberha
Gariep and Motheo teachers with MTN gift packs of art materials
Malmesbury
Hout Bay
Mthatha
Botshabelo
Caledon
Upington
Springbok
Kanyamazane
Bloemfontein
Cape Town
Queenstown
Thaba Nchu
Jane Furse
Kuruman
De Aar