Comments on clay bodies used by two potters in the Port St. Johns region of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Abstract

This collaborative study has brought together our various backgrounds in art history, ceramics practice, chemistry, and clay mineralogy, so as to contextualise properties and ideas about the clay bodies used by octogenarian potters Alice Gqa Nongebeza and Debora Nomathamsanqa Ntloya. Nongebeza works from her homestead at Nkonxeni village [31º 37’59.66”S, 29º 23’22.26”E] in the Tombo area, and Ntloya is based at Qhaka village [31º36’34.04”S, 29º 24’34.78”E] in the Chaguba area, these sites being within about 5 kilometres of each other on the R61 road from Mthatha towards Port St Johns. Working separately, these potters have been digging clay from their respective mining sites and making pots for approximately the past sixty years. In this paper notions about why those specific clays were chosen and why their characteristics are desirable are enframed by comparative chemical analyses thereof as well as by a broad overview that places these clays in a wider perspective.

Iizimvo ngomsebenzi wodongwe olusetyenziswe ngabaxonkxi ababini kwisithili saseSajonisi kwiphondo leMpuma Kapa eMzantsi Afrika Le ntsebenziswano izise ndawonye inkcubaphuchopho ezisuka kwinkalo ezahlukeneyo ngembali yenkcubeko, umsebenzi wezandla, ikhemestri nokombiwa kodongwe ukifumana izizathu nezimvo ngodongwe olusetyenziswe ziinkonde zabaxonkxi u-Alice Gqa Nongebeza no-Debora Nomathamsanqa Ntloya. U-Nongebeza usebenzela emzini wakhe kwilali yaseNkonxeni [31º 37’59.66”S, 29º 23’22.26”E] kwisiphaluka saseThombo. U-Ntloya yena uzinze kwilali yaseQhaka [31º36’34.04”S, 29º 24’34.78”E] kwisiphaluka saseChaguba. Ezindawo zabo zingumgama wekhilomitha ezintlanu ukusuka kwenye kuhola wendlela u-R61ukusuka eMthatha ukuya eSajonisi. Besebenza ngokwahlukana, ababaxonkxi bebesomba udongwe kwindawo zabo ezahlukeneyo besenza iimbiza zomdongwe isithuba seminyaka engamashumi amathandathu egqithileyo. Kweliphepha izinto ezinjengokuba kutheni udongwe oluthile luye lwasetyenziswa/lwakhethwa nokuba kutheni izinto ezifunyanwa koludongwe zifuneka ziye zaqaqanjiswa ngokuthi kwenziwe uhlalutyo olukhethekileyo lwekhemikhali kunye nembono ebanzi ebeka ezintlobo zodongwe kwimo ephangaleleyo.