Video
Podcasts
Blogs
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Pots of Gold
Monday, 2 November, 2009
From their small community west of Alice Springs, the Hermannsburg Potters have made an impact on the global art scene with the beautiful pots they've been creating since the 1960s.
Watch online: Pots of Gold
Inspired by their memories of watching the acclaimed artist Albert Namatjira at work painting landscapes, the potters are combining the two worlds they inhabit in their art.
"They're actually depicting traditional motifs in a western modality which is bringing the two worlds together", says Hermannsburg Potter art coordinator Steve Anderson.
Video journalist Kris Flanders caught up with some of the Hermannsburg potters as they brought a taste of Central Australia to Sydney's Redfern, and heard about their fears for the future of their craft.
TRANSCRIPT
VOICEOVER: These women are a long way from home. They're used to the red dirt and wide open spaces of Hermannsburg, 130km east of Alice Springs, but today they’re bringing a taste of Central Australia to the inner-city suburb of Redfern. Judith and Rahel are part of the world-famous Hermannsburg Potters.
JUDITH PUNGKARTA INKAMALA, HERMANSSBURG POTTERS: I am still working in pottery. It would be 9 years now - 9 or 10 - and I am looking after pottery and looking after ladies, cleaning the pottery. We make money when we make a pot. We send them all the pots for exhibition. I always go there and talk about my work.
VOICEOVER: The Hermannsburg Potters have been making clay pots since the 1960s. Inspired by one of the great Aboriginal artists, they vividly remember watching Albert Namatjira making the paintbrush dance on the canvas with his watercolours.
JUDITH PUNGKARTA INKAMALA: This way we learn from him. After school we always go out and look around all the paintings.
STEVE ANDERSON, ART CO-ORDINATOR, HERMANNSBURG POTTERS: A lot of people say that they belong to a niche market. They are quite iconic. The fact is that they are actually depicting traditional motifs with - in a Western modality, which is bringing the two worlds together, so to speak. Beautiful rich, red terracotta pots with really well illustrated and painted work, topped off with the animal being represented again on the lid.
VOICEOVER: The Hermannsburg Potters have taken their wares around the world, including Europe and the UK, China, Taiwan and the US, and they regularly travel the country for exhibitions and workshops.
On their latest tour of Sydney, the artists stopped by the Redfern Community Centre, where they showed a captivated audience how to make their famed pots.
LILY SHEARER, REDFERN COMMUNITY CENTRE: It’s just really nice to have that cultural exchange and know what other black fellas are doing in other communities. When you look at their pottery – oh, they are very talented, not just nationally renowned by internationally renowned, and their painting their country on their pots like they do is just totally, totally amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: It’s their history, their culture - this is what they do – and they’re story-telling. The way they do it, there is no pretence in how they do it.
VOICEOVER: The Hogarth Galleries in Sydney have been displaying and selling the colourful pots from Hermannsburg since 1990. The gallery director says that the pots are a favourite amongst art lovers.
LEAH LOCKWOOD, DIRECTOR HOGARTH GALLERIES: We have some collectors who have been buying Hermannsburg pots for the last 15, 20 years and have collections of 50 or even 60 works. I think that speaks volumes. These works are always different and charming and playful and really have that power to captivate people.
VOICEOVER: Sadly, the potting tradition is starting to fade.
STEVE ANDERSON: We have a problem with the next generation of artists that are going to be coming through. It’s something that the ladies say to me continually. “These young people - what are they going to do? We have this great work and business for them and we can express ourselves by these means. What are the young people going do? They’re not interested, Steve - what can we do?”
JUDITH PUNGKARTA INKAMALA: They should learn the proper way, so we want to teach them. We are getting old. This is why we want the young people to come and learn.
VOICEOVER: The woman hope that the youth of Hermannsburg will take up that role, not only shaping the pots, but their future as well.
Source: Living Black SBS
Watch online: Pots of Gold
Inspired by their memories of watching the acclaimed artist Albert Namatjira at work painting landscapes, the potters are combining the two worlds they inhabit in their art.
"They're actually depicting traditional motifs in a western modality which is bringing the two worlds together", says Hermannsburg Potter art coordinator Steve Anderson.
Video journalist Kris Flanders caught up with some of the Hermannsburg potters as they brought a taste of Central Australia to Sydney's Redfern, and heard about their fears for the future of their craft.
TRANSCRIPT
VOICEOVER: These women are a long way from home. They're used to the red dirt and wide open spaces of Hermannsburg, 130km east of Alice Springs, but today they’re bringing a taste of Central Australia to the inner-city suburb of Redfern. Judith and Rahel are part of the world-famous Hermannsburg Potters.
JUDITH PUNGKARTA INKAMALA, HERMANSSBURG POTTERS: I am still working in pottery. It would be 9 years now - 9 or 10 - and I am looking after pottery and looking after ladies, cleaning the pottery. We make money when we make a pot. We send them all the pots for exhibition. I always go there and talk about my work.
VOICEOVER: The Hermannsburg Potters have been making clay pots since the 1960s. Inspired by one of the great Aboriginal artists, they vividly remember watching Albert Namatjira making the paintbrush dance on the canvas with his watercolours.
JUDITH PUNGKARTA INKAMALA: This way we learn from him. After school we always go out and look around all the paintings.
STEVE ANDERSON, ART CO-ORDINATOR, HERMANNSBURG POTTERS: A lot of people say that they belong to a niche market. They are quite iconic. The fact is that they are actually depicting traditional motifs with - in a Western modality, which is bringing the two worlds together, so to speak. Beautiful rich, red terracotta pots with really well illustrated and painted work, topped off with the animal being represented again on the lid.
VOICEOVER: The Hermannsburg Potters have taken their wares around the world, including Europe and the UK, China, Taiwan and the US, and they regularly travel the country for exhibitions and workshops.
On their latest tour of Sydney, the artists stopped by the Redfern Community Centre, where they showed a captivated audience how to make their famed pots.
LILY SHEARER, REDFERN COMMUNITY CENTRE: It’s just really nice to have that cultural exchange and know what other black fellas are doing in other communities. When you look at their pottery – oh, they are very talented, not just nationally renowned by internationally renowned, and their painting their country on their pots like they do is just totally, totally amazing.
UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: It’s their history, their culture - this is what they do – and they’re story-telling. The way they do it, there is no pretence in how they do it.
VOICEOVER: The Hogarth Galleries in Sydney have been displaying and selling the colourful pots from Hermannsburg since 1990. The gallery director says that the pots are a favourite amongst art lovers.
LEAH LOCKWOOD, DIRECTOR HOGARTH GALLERIES: We have some collectors who have been buying Hermannsburg pots for the last 15, 20 years and have collections of 50 or even 60 works. I think that speaks volumes. These works are always different and charming and playful and really have that power to captivate people.
VOICEOVER: Sadly, the potting tradition is starting to fade.
STEVE ANDERSON: We have a problem with the next generation of artists that are going to be coming through. It’s something that the ladies say to me continually. “These young people - what are they going to do? We have this great work and business for them and we can express ourselves by these means. What are the young people going do? They’re not interested, Steve - what can we do?”
JUDITH PUNGKARTA INKAMALA: They should learn the proper way, so we want to teach them. We are getting old. This is why we want the young people to come and learn.
VOICEOVER: The woman hope that the youth of Hermannsburg will take up that role, not only shaping the pots, but their future as well.
Source: Living Black SBS
