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Ardmore Takes Flight

February 21, 2025

Art from the Heart

By Louise Irvine

This year, Ardmore celebrates 40 years of creativity and Fée Halsted, the founder and artistic director, has curated four masterworks reflecting pivotal chapters in the studio’s history. The first decade is marked by two monumental angels inspired by Adam and Eve, which were launched in South Africa at Ardmore’s anniversary exhibition, Taking Flight.  They pay tribute to the women central to Ardmore’s success.

The original figures of Adam and Eve, which won the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artists Award in 1990, were sculpted by Bonnie NtshalintshalI who began creating ceramic art with Fée in 1985. Bonnie was a young polio victim inspired by her deep Christian faith to sculpt Bible stories. It was said that she used clay as a “gateway to her soul.”

Bonnie died in 1999 of an HIV/AIDS-related illness at the age of 32 and her young son Senzo Mazibuko was raised by his grandmother. After completing his education, Senzo joined Ardmore to continue his mother's legacy and he has paid tribute to her iconic Adam and Eve sculptures. The new angels stand as a symbol of resilience and the enduring strength of the Ardmore community, many of whom lost their lives to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

 

A serpent is coiled around Eve’s neck symbolizing the fall from the Garden of Eden. A snake also appears in Petros Gumbi’s figures of Adam and Eve on display at WMODA, which were made as a tribute to Bonnie during Ardmore’s 25th anniversary year.

Punch Shabalala, Bonnie’s cousin and Ardmore’s most experienced artist, painted the wings of Senzo’s monumental angels with patterns inspired by Zulu beadwork. Punch has worked for Ardmore since 1989 and has survived an HIV-related illness. She is shown being cared for by Fée on the 30th Anniversary Commemorative Ewer on display at WMODA.

Bonnie’s Jonah and the Whale sculpture is also represented on the commemorative ewer alongside Ardmore riders, vases and mischievous teapots, which became Ardmore icons. Also depicted is a magnificent Sable urn which is the latest addition to the Safari for the Soul gallery at WMODA

The Sable urn stands an impressive 37 inches tall and 27 inches wide and was commissioned by Brian Greis, an avid collector and long-term friend of Ardmore. It was thrown by Lovemore, sculpted by Petros, painted by Mandla and took two years to complete. Fée kept Brian titillated with details of its production until it was finished in 2014. She was so delighted with the studio’s masterpiece depicting dramatic sable antelopes and mahogany tree pods that she included it on the 30th anniversary ewer.

Brian has been gradually parting with some of his treasures as he downsizes and we are thrilled that some of his most prestigious pieces have come to WMODA to be appreciated by a wider audience.

Adam and Eve

Gateway to the Soul