IMBALI SHOP
Our shop is now open!
Please visit us @ Museum Africa, 121 Lilian Ngoyi Street, Newtown.
Adventuring into Art is a guide to teaching art for South African teachers. The information is divided into themes, which gather related ideas, springboards, which provide historical and artistic context in short essays, activities which are practical classroom guides and artists which features relevant art and biographies.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Imbali Endorsements
‘In an increasingly anonymous and commercialised world, individually hand-crafted art objects resonate with the human need to connect; perhaps never so much as now in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. There are so few objects in the world that can be traced to a specific individual maker. Unique and invested objects are valued for the ways in which they embed individual presence and artistry. Handcrafted objects are embodiments of individual voices and visions, and as such they provide opportunities for artistic expression, self-worth and pride — the importance of which is well known to art-world and health communities.’
‘My husband Jason and I both really liked the mission of the NGO and the work produced by students was outstanding! Through my brief studies with the NEA, I was struck by learning of the high unemployment rate in South Africa, and as an art teacher I appreciated the elevation of crafts as a sustainable career and solution to this challenge.’
‘When I walked into the Imbali space for the first time I encountered an energy that was charged; the students were innovating and connecting. It felt as though they were truly living in their power and being present. I felt a deep sense of community, one rooted in empathy, mutual respect and dedication. I looked at that space, bright with artwork and light in spirit, and thought about the potential this knowledge house possesses and the immense change it could ignite if it were available to youths across the country.’
VIDEOS ABOUT IMBALI
New creative exchange documentary
This 25 minute documentary filmed and edited by Justine Watterson narrates the story of the Imbali Creative and Cultural skills exchange that took place in October 2023 between Imbali graduates and Limpopo crafters at Leshiba Wilderness in Limpopo.
ARTIST INTERVIEWS
INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDES
Various techniques and approached to making and looking at art
