[woman singing]i have been fascinated by african pottery for4 decades. i first went to west africa as a young peacecorps volunteer assigned to the national arts center of ouagadougou,to organize their pottery section. i immediately discovered that the pottersof burkina faso were already extremely skilled and so i devotedmy effort to learning how they made pottery andinviting them to come to the arts center to workand demonstrate their skills for visiting tourists.as an art historian i also discovered that
across the continent,african potters created an enormous range of shapes and sizes,textures and patterns, and all sorts of colors of pottery.they quickly fashion closed containers for storing water or grain,or open containers for cooking. small containers for holding palm wine ormillet beer, or large containers that never are movedthat are used to store the familyã†s harvest. some of these jars are heavily decoratedwith modeled shapes and patterns and then used as shrine pots for religiouscelebrations. others become darkened with decades of sootas they sit on the open hearths in womenã†s
kitchens.african potters understand as fully as western potters do,the almost magical plastic quality of clay and that it can be prodded, pushed, squeezed,molded, twisted, and pulled into unlimited shapes.to make pottery you have to have good clay. all across africa potters know where thereare good veins of uniform clay that is free from foreignmaterials. sometimes the women themselves go out to collectthe clay, but often they send their children with baskets.they must be very careful when digging for claynot to dig back so far into the bank that
the heavy earth on the surface collapses ontop of them. they carry the heavy clay back to the workshopwhere they may let it dry. [speaking to each other][chris echeta speaks] ã´itã†s like sometimes if the holes are so bigã¶ã´that they cannot forestand the weight, the walls are overburdened,ã¶ã´they collapse and sometimes the potters put their lives at risk.㶠in some areas the clay is filled with waterand allowed to soak, absorbing as much water as possible in a processcalled slaking. they break the clay up into small chunks andplace it
in a mortar then pound it with a pestle toturn it into powder. they then sift the clay powder with the samesort of sieve that is used for preparing food. in another area of the compound potters, ortheir children, may be smashing up old broken pot shards betweentwo stones to produce a grainy material which is calledgrog, this is clay that has already been fired onceand so when it is fired again it will not shrink.the grog is added to the powdered clay, both are then kneaded together with waterto produce the clay body that can be used for making pottery.here you see one of the daughters of the family
whose job it is to knead the clay by foot.she systematically circles, kneading the clay and then adds new fresh powder and kneadsagain. mrs konate is kneading grog into her freshclay by hand. among the igbo people of southern nigeriathe clay may be placed in a shallow trough and kneaded into a uniform mass using a pestle.the simplest and most obvious technique is simply to turn an old jar upside down onthe ground and to use it as a mold for a new jar.mrs. konate in the village of ouri in central burkina fasohas been making jars for decades. i first photographed her in 1983 and iã†vebeen
going back to visit her from time to timeever since. the last time i visited her in 2010,she was getting very elderly and frail. she begins by forming a flat pancake of freshclay and then she slaps it down over the mold jar.she uses a beater in her right hand to spread the fresh clayout over the mold jar thinning it and spreading it.mrs. konate is the wife of a blacksmith and you can hear the blacksmiths at work behindher. [metal clinking]she uses a coil of fresh clay to form a ridge around the base and then shapes that withher fingers
into a flat bottom that will support the potwhen it is placed on the ground. when it is the right thickness and it hascovered the jar to its widest dimension, she carefully trimsthe lower edge to make it uniform and sets it aside to dryfor a short period. she must be careful not to leave it for toolong or it will begin to crack as it shrinks onthe mold jar. when it is stiff enough so that it wonã†tdeform she lifts it off, sometimes with the help of another woman inthe compound. the concave mold technique is the first techniquethat i discovered
when i first went to africa as a peace corpsvolunteer. i had studied pottery in college but i hadnever seen such an unusual and innovative technique.the potter has a shallow depression,or sometimes more than one, in the floor of her workshop,or even in the space she uses as a kitchen so that she can go from work to cooking afterwashing her hands. the depression is only about an 8th of a spheredeep yet she is able to use it to form a fullyspherical jar. she kneads fresh clay into a thick round massand places it in the mold.
she then uses a mallet in her right handto pound the fresh clay into the mold thinning it and spreading it.[speaking together] [slapping clay]of course she quickly fills up the shallow mold soshe rotates the mass of fresh clay up on edge, exposing part of the shallow mold and continuesto pound. she rotates and pounds, rotates and pounds,building a spherical jar larger and larger. from time to time she stops and uses her fingersto consolidate the rough clay around the edge of the opening.occasionally, when she discovers that she has run out of fresh clay,she adds a fresh coil around the rim and continues
to pound and rotate.the technique produces a very thin, light, strong, spherical jar.[slapping clay] she sets it upright in the moldand uses a coil of fresh clay in the opening to form the rim.at this point, the jar is almost complete and she is adding the coils to form the rim.she carefully consolidates the rim and then uses a wet cloth to smooth it.like all american and european potters, i picked up african jars to tap them withmy fingers to see if they were fired to the right temperature.of course they made a thump instead of a ring because they were low-fired earthenware.i thought it would be nice to teach them
how to fire their pottery to a higher temperature.then i discovered that they didnã†t want high-fired pottery,because the low-fired earthenware they made could be used for cooking over an open fire,while higher fired pottery would shatter if exposed to open flame.it soon became apparent to me that the techniques that african potters usedrepresent appropriate technology; that is african had developed techniquesto make pottery that suited their needs, but whose manufacture did not consume preciousor expensive resources. the variations on african pottery shapes,colors, and decorations are almost infinite. in this example from the nyakusa people intanzania,
we see large hemispheres of bright red againsta cream colored slip. the sharp joint around the middle portionof the pot makes it appear as if it had been formed intwo separate pieces. this pot from the zande people of northerncongo certainly looks a little bit phallicand it has wonderful ridges of plastic modeling. this beautiful jar from the baule people hasa rough texture around the lower portion and bands of lizardsand snake below the rim. the zulu are famous for their elegant blackbeer jars which may have incised or impressed patterns,or large raised dots which the zulu call ã´amasumpa,ã¶
or ã´warts.ã¶the tutsi people make very elegant, delicate potswhich must be used for holding palm wine. i love the contrast and color between thedarker neck and the lighter body of the jar.this jar from the nyanja people of malawi, is similar to the tutsi jar except thatit has a broader neck on a low, round body. the bamileke people in cameroon are famousfor their large round jars. this beautiful example has two strings ofstylized human figures around the shoulder of the jar.the elegant flaring rim has been modeled by hand,not turned on a potterã†s wheel.
the mambila live along the benue river innigeria, and produce large powerful jars like thisone with three handles. large bumps that look like zulu ã´wartsã¶ã are modeled into a human figure.the upper portion of this nupe jar is decorated with very stylized human figures that havebeen scraped into the surface with a narrow comb.this nupe jar with one chamber above the other was probably used as a filter.this small jar from nigeria has been covered with human and animal shapes.it was almost certainly a shrine pot. lobi women in burkina faso make beautifullarge round jars
which they stack one above the other in theirkitchens to hold supplies, food, and even valuables.here is as in many of the jars the dark color, is the result of reduction firing, with extrafuel introduced to turn the red iron-oxide into black iron-oxide.this broad jar from malawi is decorated with patterns of parallel and incised lines.the surface of this igbo jar has been roughened by using a roulette that is rolled over thesurface in the palm of the potterã†s hand.this jar has been decorated in the same way, but the potter has brilliantly left a fewareas un-roughened. a beautiful large idoma jar from just northof the benue river.
another from the same people with irregularbands of decoration. i personally much prefer this evidence thatthe jar was actually made by a human hand,rather than being decorated with some sort of mechanical device,as so often happens in the western world. you see the same use of irregular patternson this jar from southern burkina faso.an amazing jar from the mama people, with three enormous lobes.i would be fascinated to know what such an object was used for.an igbo jar with fine lines of raised decoration. this jar from cameroon has been reinforcedwith basketry applied over the exterior.
many shrine jars have added figures in relief.but the depth of the relief on this mambila jar is exceptional.and another from the mambila in cameroon with very large ã´warts,㶠and the human figure.the bamana people of mali are masters at producing large round jars for storage.a jar from nigeria with what appears to be scarification patterns on the abdomen, andeither an umbilicus or genitalia. the same patterns are more easily visibleon this larger jar. almost certainly a palm wine jar from southernnigeria. many of the people along the benue riverproduce ancestor pots to be placed on shrines. this jug from the lower congo may be modeledafter a european liquor jug.
another similar jug, but with the brilliantaddition of two human heads. the songye people of central congo are famousfor jars like this one. with two swelling areas, one just below therim at the shoulder, and another at the belly of the pot.a small jar for palm wine with a beautifully modeled human head.a very simple but elegant jar from northeastern congo.a small dish for serving food, with a human head and faces.this large jar from the bamana people has two very different textures;a glossy upper portion and a much more matte lower portion decoratedwith serpents.
this beautiful zulu beer pot shows the raisedã´warts㶠which they call ã´amasumpa.ã¶this is a figurative ancestor pot. and another, from the mambila people.i think this is the first jar from the makonde people that iã†ve ever seen,and iã†m very impressed by the quality of the decoration.east african potters seem to be much more focusedon perfect symmetry then potters in west africa, even without the use of a potterã†s wheel.sometimes the black color is caused by years of accumulation of soot,but more often from conscious blackening in a reduction firing.the rough ã´warts㶠on this beer pot must
have been,must have made it much easier to handle when it was wet.a nupe container with two breasts and an umbilicus. people all along the niger river in mali andniger produce large, very colorful jars.this one has a lovely dark fire cloud caused by reduction during the firing.this ewe shrine pot from togo is decorated with all sortsof signs and symbols of the coastal religion called voodoo.finally, a lovely jar from nigeria with a beautiful dark fire cloudproduced during the firing. one of the most common and ubiquitous techniquesin west africa is the coiling technique.
some people in africa use the coiling techniqueexclusively, while other potters use it to add new materialto pottery they have started to form using other techniques.first, mrs. konate in the village of ouri scrapes the edge of the jarwith a sharp tool to remove dry material so that the fresh clay will adhere betterto it. she then forms the large thick sausage ofclay, and holding it in her right hand inside thepot, applies it against the heel of her left hand,which is outside the pot. as she applies the clay, she gives the sausagea twist with her wrist,
which consolidates the fresh clay into therising walls of the jar below. ewe potters who make small jars in nigeriause smaller, lighter sausages of clay, while igbo pottersin the village of ouri use very large, thick sausages of clay,consuming several sausages, as they make a complete revolution aroundthe jar. now she is adding a coil to the exterior,thickening the rim so that she can form it into a large symmetricalsolid rim. the jar is way too large to rotate, so instead,she walks around the jar herself.
i am sure that there are potters in nigeriawho form enormous jars to be used for soaking cassava, or brewingsome kind of beer. these ewe potters in southern nigeria areforming smaller jars using the coiling technique. because the pots are small, the potters canhold the base in their hand, while they use coils to increase the dimensionsof the new jar. here she scrapes clay from the base up,to form the walls of the new jar. [animal noises][animal noises and birds chirping] she has thinned the base out and nowshe is adding a new coil of fresh clay. [chicken clucking]now she has formed almost half of a sphere.
these artists are extremely deft;able simply to press the fresh clay with their right handinto the heel of their left hand. consolidating it with the edge of the jarand rapidly building up a partial sphere. once the basic shape of the jar has been completedthe potter uses coils to add more material, building the walls of the jar up higher andhigher and scraping them with a shell to spread andthin them. she scrapes the sides of her jar upward witha wooden tool. [animal noises]she is working on the inside of the jar with the knuckles of her right handand so she supports the walls of the jar
on the outside with her left hand.finally she adds another coil around the edge of the rim,which she can then shape into a flat edge and then decorate with impressed patterns.she smooths the interior of the jar with a shell.[animal noises] she smooths the rim out with a wet clothto make it nice and smooth and uniform. now she begins to impress small delicate patternson the flared rim. [birds chirping]here she is using a twisted piece of string as a rouletteto roll across the surface of the pot to give it a rough texture,which makes it easier
to handle.this is a jar for smoking fish. until i met maria kafando in 2001,i thought i had seen all of the variations of pottery making available in burkina faso.maria is an elderly lady who lives in a small villageabout 50 miles south of ouagadougou. she has been making pottery all of her lifeand supports her daughters and her grandchildren with the income fromher pottery. [speaking in her language]she begins of course by kneading the clay and then uses the convex mold technique toform a half of a sphere. she forms several of these small thick hemispheresand then takes them into her house
where she places a spherical mold inside eachone. she uses a mallet in her right hand to thinthe clay out and spread it over the mold.but she does not stop when she reaches the widest part of the mold.instead she continues to spread and thin the clayuntil she has almost completely covered the mold jar.at this point her technique becomes truly interestingbecause she performs four small episiotomies around the edge of the new jarand removes the mold from the interior. she folds the edges of the incisions on topof each other
and then inserts a smaller mold inside thenew jar and begins to tap again; repairing the tears.she works with the small clay form, which i call an anvil, on the inside of thejar and taps gently on the outside of the jarwith her right hand holding a concave mallet, or hammer.as she does so the jar becomes thinner and thinnerbut retains its very symmetrical, spherical shape.she carefully trims around the rim of the jar to even it out.maria then adds a thick sausage of fresh clay
around the rim working it into the sphericaljar with her thumb and forefinger.finally she uses a wet piece of cloth to shape the rim;to thin it and flare it while she rotates the new jar in her left hand.she does all of this while holding the jar in her lapand without placing it on the ground or on any kind of support.[speaking in her language] the next day when the jar has dried sufficiently,she takes it out into a court yard and fills in any low spots or blemishes withfresh clay and rubs the entire jar smooth with a necklaceof strong baobab seeds.
two years after i made this video,maria traveled with my phd student dr boureima diamitanito the city of taipei china, where she gave demonstrations of her potterytechnique to a congress of potters, artists, and anthropologists.at the end of the trip she was quite exhausted and happy to return home;a woman, who had barely left her village before, traveled all the way to china and back onair france and stayed in a luxury hotel.i met the artist awa diabite in the village of pelignan in southwest burkinafaso in 2001. she is a member of a group of artists calledjelly,
whose husbands are leather workers.there were several related men in this village along with a large number of wives,all of whom were skilled potters. awa begins with a large mass of claywhich she places on a shallow dish between her knees.she forces her fist down into the mass of clay forming a cavityand then using the fingers of her right hand inside the jarand her left hand outside the jar, begins to pull the soft wet clay upward,thinning it and increasing the height of the jar.she rotates the jar on the shallow dish while she remains seated.[children speaking to each other]
when she has increased the height as muchas she can with the material with which she started sheadds more clay by using a fresh coil.she adds a coil to the rim and rotates it to smooth itand make it uniform. as she forms the rim she rotates the potas if it were on a potterã†s wheel but in fact,because there is no axis on which to rotate, this is not a true wheel.[baby laughs] as she turns the jar upside down and usinga sharp ring of raffia midrib she scrapes away excess clay thinning the rim and body.[people speaking in background]
finally she applies a rough but uniform textureto the exterior of the jar with a corncob-roulette. asante potters use the very same techniqueas the potters in western burkina faso, with the major exception that they form thetop half of the pot completely before they turn itupside-down and finish the pot from the bottom upwards.on this rainy day in kumasi i only had time to videothe first half of pottery production which wasthe forming of the upper half of the jar. had i been able to stay and had it not beenraining, i would have filmed her completing the potupside down.
she scoops out the mass of clay at the centerof the new jar and forces her fist down inside. now she pulls the clay from the inside ofthe jar with her right hand upward to form the upperwalls of the jar. she uses a very large think coil of clayto add more material to the jar.[people talking in background] [rain falling]you can hear the rain on the plastic that covers my camera.[baby crying] you can see her daughters and nieces in thebackground kneading the clay she needs to make anotherpot.
she uses a dried corncob to smooth the exteriorof the jar into a uniform surface. african potters fire in the open, with theexception of modern potters who have been taught westerntechniques by visiting technicians from europe or america.african potters do not use kilns, but either fire on the flat ground or a veryshallow depression. occasionally potters will construct low circularwalls in which they place their pottery, and thewalls keep extra cold air from blowing into the fire.potters use whatever fuel is available; they may use dried donkey manure,dried grass from the fields beyond their homes,
dried bark they collected while they werecutting firewood, or, especially in the forest areas to thesouth dried midribs of raffia palms.they never use expensive fuel such as gas or electricity.all of the women in the community work together to pile up the new pottery in the kiln forfiring. if several women work together each may identifyher own pottery by some pattern pressed into the clayor painted with slip on the exterior. in some cases they all work together to firethe pottery of just one of the women.in this case, they are all working to fire
the pots created by awa diabite.awa diabite is wearing a green and white checked skirt.the fuel is lighted and allowed to burn freely. in pelignan , you see some of the womenthrowing pails of water on the firing to try to slow downthe burning so that it doesnã†t get too hot too rapidly.they also take care not to let the fire spread to the neighboring brush.in a short time the fuel has been reduced to a very thick blanket of red hot ash.the pottery bakes underneath this for some timeuntil it is a bright glowing red. while it is still hot the potters hook outthe pottery
and dip the hot pottery in a kind of vegetablesoup made of boiled acacia seed pods.this process drives excess carbon deep into the bodyof the hot pottery, turning the jars from a bright red to a dark brown.this is very similar to techniques used in japan and america which are called raku.the process makes the pottery more suitable for cooking over an open fire and makes jarsmore waterproof. the process turns the red ferrous iron fe3into black ferrous iron fe2. this is the firing of igbo pottery in ishiaguvillage in ebonyi state south of enugu, nigeria.the firing has been completed and the potters
are removing the red hot pottery.here the women of the bamogo family in dablo are firing all of their pottery together.mrs. bamoga poses with her pots. all african artists are extraordinarily creative.the women who make pottery in africa are among the best.look at any catalog of african pottery for salein chicago, or new york, or san francisco, and just imagine the margin between the pricesasked and the income of the potter who made it.scholars say that africans donã†t have a word for art;i say westerners donã†t have a word for art. what is art?westerners say art is something thatã†s never
used:art for artã†s sake. what sort of art is never used?all art is used. african art is heavily used.my definition of art is something that is usedto express peopleã†s ideas about the world they live in.in my mind this means africans are the only peoplewho understand art and that we, the westerners, are the only people who donã†t have a wordfor art.