KZN crafters make this an African Christmas

THE African Art Centre will be opening its annual Christmas Exhibition on Thursday, 11 November. This year’s exhibition, titled “An African Christmas”, will feature a wide range of affordable handcrafted beaded, wood carved, telephone wire and embroidered ornaments produced by artists and crafters from the KwaZulu-Natal region.

Since its inception in 1959, one of the Centre’s core objectives has been to facilitate development projects to enhance the creative skills of crafters and artists. The new direction of the Centre to make the craft more contemporary but keeping the African aesthetic has become the focus of the development project which was the precursor to the 2016 Christmas exhibition.  It was decided that this year’s new design theme “An African Christmas” would break away from the traditional Christmas look and will draw inspiration from contemporary vibrant African textile designs.

Crafters who have contributed towards the exhibition inlcude Happiness Dladla, Dumsile Mathe, Thokozane Mathe, Ntombi Mbambo, Mavis Jali, Nqobile Jeza, Tholani Mchunu, Ntombizonke Hlambisa, Maningi Mbonambi, Hlengiwe Mbhele, Mbaliyethu Mabuza, Ntokozo Mseleku, Sphindile Nkosi, Widus Mtshali, Sibusiso Gumede, Bheki Mkhumbuzi, Sibusiso Maphumulo, Phumlani Mbhele, Jabulani Mkhize and Vincent Tshulupi.

“An African Christmas” will be opened by celebrated South African composer and performer Sazi Dlamini. The public is invited to enter the festive season in a proudly South African style and to support local craft producers exhibiting at “An African Christmas” exhibition.