Community

Jane du Rand Ceramic Mosaic Artist

- Public swimming Pool, Ntuzuma, South Africa - Go

- Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park, North Coast, South Africa - Go

- West Street Pilot Project, Durban CBD, South Africa - Go

Public swimming Pool, Ntuzuma, South Africa.

Greater St Lucia Wetlands Park, North Coast, South Africa.

An important aspect of this project was the training of crafters from the local community in mosaic techniques. The project achieved stunning results with very enthusiastic and fulfilled participants.

This project used local crafters from the Duku Duku Forest, teaching them new skills and leaving them with the necessary supplies and tools to continue developing their skill and able to undertake projects of their own.

West Street Pilot Project, Durban CBD, South Africa.

The West Street pilot project. (2002) A project to upgrade facilities for informal traders in the Durban central business district. This project included young emerging artists who had recently graduated from the Durban Institute of Technology. As well as interested unskilled participants who were trained as part of the project. The area involved was the strip of West Street between Field and Gardiner Streets.

CO-ORDINATION:

The mosaic artwork for the West Street Pilot Project was managed and co-ordinated by Jane. The intention was to involve participants from previously disadvantaged backgrounds and to use the project as an empowerment exercise with the aim that the participants should learn and gain from their involvement and be able to use the experience to earn a living thereafter.

The participants for the West Street Project were mainly students and recent Fine Art Graduates from the Durban Institute of Technology. It was also important to include existing Mosaic staff in the project to maintain ongoing training and development. Existing staff, who have had little or no formal education, are permanently employed by the mosaic studio.

Through projects undertaken over the years it has been found that students and recent graduates from fine art of=r design related courses at Technikon or University benefit greatly from being involved in the mosaic projects. Through their involvement these young people learn how to turn their art and design skill into viable careers from which they can make a living.

THE PARTICIPANTS:

When the West Street Pilot Project came about, the mosaic studio put together a team of participants consisting of:

- Raksha Gobardan

- Zama Dunywa

- Thando Mama

- Sbu Nkhosi Click here to read more about the individual participants.

- Nandipha Baduza

- Richard Masoka

- Patrick Xulu

- Elias Lukhozi

There were two main types of involvement by the participants:

1. Off site preparation work in the studio

All of the mosaic elements installed in West Street were first prepared in the mosaic studio. Participants involved in this stage of the work were the students and recent graduates with fine art or design related training as this stage needed most of the design input. Most of these participants have had fine art training at the Durban Institute of Technology.

2. Installation on site

This stage involved installing all the pre-made elements in place on site. These elements consisted of benches, pavers, bollards and tree surrounds. The participants primarily involved with the installation work were the staff at the Mosaic Studio who have little or no formal education or training but, as part of the Mosaic Studio have been receiving on going training in mosaic making and installation. They were assisted on site by two of the students who had been involved in the off site preparation.

DESIGN CONCEPT:

In any project which involves the inclusion of many participants, a strong design concept and a good control over this concept is very important.

For the West Street project the dominant theme was the use of the traditional Zulu earplug motif which lends itself to graphic interpretation. The participants began by using literal translations of the traditional designs and through the course of the project were encouraged to interpret these designs, adding their own personal inputs to create unique West Street motifs.

COLOUR:

The other important design control mechanism for this project was the strict colour scheme.

As we were working with a series of nodes along the length of the street, each node was assigned a specific colour scheme. This was either red, blue, green or yellow. Five or six shades of colour were allocated within each colour scheme as well as black and white.

While this was a devise to unify each node and to hold the designs together, it also resulted in each node having its own specific identity.

The participants were able to confidently explore their own personal design variations, but staying within a strict unifying colour and design structure.

Other community based commissions:

• Murals on the public swimming pool buildings in Umlazi in 2001 (a township outside Durban). This project included the participation and training of local artists.

• Sinikathemba Aids Wall. (2004) A wall mural for the aids centre at the McCord’s Hospital in Durban. The participants in this project were young HIV positive people attending the clinic.

Send mail to info@durandmosaic.co.za with questions or comments about this web site.

Jane du Rand Ceramic Mosaic Artist

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