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Celebrating Yvonne Wilson, Founder of Imbali, on Her 90th Birthday

Imbali is honored to celebrate Yvonne Wilson, who turned 90 on 18 March, and to express our deepest gratitude for the extraordinary impact she has had on arts education and training in South Africa.

In 1988, Yvonne founded Imbali as a project of Women for Peace, responding to the dire lack of art education in the majority of South African schools. With vision, determination, and an unwavering belief in the power of creativity, she built an organization that has since transformed the lives of countless learners, educators, artists, and crafters. Through her dedication, Imbali has become a beacon of arts education and craft skills training, ensuring access to creative expression and enterprise development for those who were long denied it.

Yvonne’s pioneering work laid the foundation for a more inclusive and enriched arts education landscape in South Africa. Her legacy continues to inspire, and we are profoundly grateful for her foresight, leadership, and lifelong commitment to the arts and education.

Happy 90th birthday, Yvonne! Your contribution to the arts is immeasurable, and your vision continues to shape the future.

The Yvonne Wilson Innovative Chicken Award

To celebrate Yvonne Wilson’s 90th birthday, Imbali launched a special art competition for its students and graduates: The Yvonne Wilson Innovative Chicken Award.

Participants were invited to create an artwork, design, or artefact featuring a living chicken or rooster as the central theme. The only size restriction was A2 or smaller — all media and techniques were welcome, encouraging maximum creativity and innovation.

Prizes
1st Place: R2000
2nd Place: R1000
3rd Place: R500

Judging Criteria
• Relevance to theme
• Innovation and originality
• Technical skill
• Quality of design

Twelve entries were submitted, showcasing a rich variety of approaches — from delicate textile and embroidery work to paintings, drawings, collages, and three-dimensional sculptural constructions.

Judging was no easy task. Our esteemed panel — artists Ushe Seejarim and Pat Maoutla, and art educator Hildur Amato — evaluated the works against the criteria through thoughtful discussion and careful deliberation.

Winners
1st Prize: Musa Hezekiel Mndebele (first-year student) — for a sculptural chicken crafted from pinecones and wood.
2nd Prize: Sihlobo Moyo (Imbali graduate) — for his charcoal drawing titled “The Time Keeper.”
3rd Prize: Ntombizodwa (Imbali graduate) — for her oil painting of a rooster.

The judges were thoroughly impressed with the quality, creativity, and diverse materials used in the entries. A big congratulations to all participants! For those who missed it — keep your feathers fluffed — the next Innovative Chicken Award will be held in 2026.

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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
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    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.
    READ MORE
    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.
    READ MORE
    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.
    READ MORE

    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.’
    Joni Brenner Principal tutor, Wits School of Arts
    ‘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.’
    Lindsay Johnson Art teacher, Chicago, USA
    ‘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.’
    Kefiloe Siswa 2019 Turbine Art Fair Deputy Director and Curator

    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.

    Promo video for Imbali Artbook and teachers’ workshops:

    Urban/Rural creative skill exchange Limpopo 2023

    Creativity and Learning

    Developing Thinking

    Express Your Creativity

    Art Education

    A Vehicle of Influence

    Mandela Monday

    ARTIST INTERVIEWS

    Medley

    Bongi Bengu

    Mongezi Ncaphayi

    Usha Seerjarim

    Keith Dietrich

    Omar Badsha

    Kagiso Pat Mautloa

    Jo Ractliffe

    INSTRUCTIONAL GUIDES

    Various techniques and approached to making and looking at art

    Introductory film on the Imbali artbooks and instructional videos

    Looking at art

    Looking at art

    Carving

    Mark making

    Colour

    Painting a still life