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The Garden Route, Knysna in particular, always had a reputation for being home to artists, not just the hippy-kind, but also the more serious breed whose works sell the world over.
Since Covid and in line with the ongoing semigration that is happening in the country, this area is now home to A-listers like ceramist Lucinda Mudge, Robbie and Brendan Leggatt, Wilma Cruise, to mention just some — and now we also have the talented South African ceramicist Margot Rudolph in Knysna.
Margot moved here a year-and-a-half ago from Tshwane. She lives in a particularly lovely part of Knysna with mountain views and works from her studio at home.
On June 21, a solo exhibition of 13 vessels by Margot went on exhibit at the Knysna Fine Art gallery.
These pieces could at first sight be construed as big vases which they are not, and which is why she calls them vessels and why there are decorative holes in many of them.
“They should absolutely not have flowers in them,” Margot says, laughing.
The name of her exhibition, Saturate, was chosen because “colour saturation refers to the intensity or purity of a colour, indicating how vivid or muted it appears ... it’s the richness of a colour”, she said.
“My ceramic practice is a celebration of form, colour and cultural connections.
“My inspiration is deeply rooted in the visual language of Africa, its textiles, architecture, ceremonial objects and the vibrant rhythms of life.
“I seek to honour these sources of inspiration with respect and creativity — interpreting them through a contemporary lens.”
The brilliantly coloured and eclectic vessels that Margot creates would never have come about had she stayed in Europe and not come to this country, she said.
“Look at that tree, see that shade of green,” Margot enthuses. “Only in Africa are colours this vibrant.”
Margot works primarily with large-scale vessels (60cm to 75cm tall) using dramatic colour and bold geometric forms which evoke a sense of energy and presence.
“In each piece, I aim to create a sculptural object that commands space and attention.”
I first get a sneak preview of the Saturate collection of work at her studio.
Each one is totally unique not only in colour, but also shape. With names like Ring of Fire, 2025, a ceramic vessel that is 61 x 51 x 21cm, and Pigment on Fire, 2025, a ceramic vessel, 56 x 35 x 35cm there is an element of drama in each one.
I imagine that any of these bigger works would command a very important place in any room or space. They are talking points, impossible not to notice.
Margot came to SA from the Netherlands at the age of 19 and says she was drawn to the vibrancy of Africa, the landscapes, indigenous plants and the textures here, “all so much brighter and richer than anywhere in Europe”.
She studied ceramic art at the Tshwane University of Technology in Pretoria, graduating in 1986 with a Diploma in Ceramic Design.
As a child, Margot knew she wanted to be artist.
After formal training, she worked for Continental China, a ceramic factory in Cape Town.
“This was like learning the engineering parts of pottery, important, but not very exciting,” she said.
In 1997, she opened her own studio in Tshwane and then she moved to the Garden Route.
Margot uses stoneware clay and a traditional coiling technique combined with colour and glazes to capture the hues that give her pieces the panache they have.
She shows me pencil scribbles in her notebooks and says that often she first sketches a picture to work out how it might look and what colours to use.
“I start with a round shape of clay on the wheel and then manipulate it into a round or oval shape, twisting it while it is still pliable, then I add the coils to it and start creating the shape.”
Once the shape is determined, Margot punctures it with holes and etches lines into the still malleable clay — an important stage in the production which gives each piece its own quirky character and that special Margot Rudolph signature.
The vessels are fired twice with three layers of colourful glaze being applied during the process.
First the piece goes into the kiln for eight hours at 950°C. Once it’s cooled down, Margot applies a wash of copper oxide which is the part of the process that makes her pieces unique.
The oxide which is lightly sponged off gets into the grooves and gives depth to the colours.
Then each vessel is fired again at 1,210°C which vitrifies the work.
Over the years, the pieces she makes have become bigger, “as my confidence has grown”, she said.
Vessels on this exhibit are about 75cm and weigh anything between five to 10kg.
Each piece takes about a month to make, but at any given point she has several vessels on the go.
Her work pops up all over the world and Margot knows it has gone to homes in Germany, Holland, Denmark and America.
A Knysna “swallow” recently bought three pieces to take home to Switzerland.
Margot’s work is celebrated in permanent collections; the Corobrik Ceramic Collection and in the Pretoria Art Museum Collection — which is a collection of more than 276 pieces of contemporary South African pottery created by local ceramic artists since 1977.
In 2006, Margot was part of her first group exhibition with Ceramics Southern Africa.
They organise regional exhibits every year and national exhibits every second year, keeping Margot busy.
During one of these exhibits in Johannesburg just before Covid, the curator of Fillingdon Fine Art Gallery in Piddington, UK, saw her work and commissioned some for her gallery in the UK.
“It is gratifying that almost this whole collection of striking new vessels commissioned for exhibition was sold, and a testament to Margot Rudolph’s creativity. We have one remaining,” the curator said back then.
In 2011, her work was highly commended by Ceramics SA, in 2017 she was given the EVE Effective Visual Expression Award, in 2018 the Brighton Kiln Solutions Award by Mineral Resources SA and that same year a Special Mention at the Corobrik National Exhibition and in 2019 a Pottery Studio Award from G&W Mineral Resources.
Margot has exhibited work at select galleries across SA from Hermanus to Pretoria and at important galleries like The Gallery at Grand Provence in Franschhoek and Knysna Fine Art.
I am always intrigued to find out from an artist what artist is their favourite.
For Margot, it’s Norman Catherine — an important South African artist whose body of work spans painting, sculpture, printmaking and mixed art collaborated closely with iconic South African artist Walter Battiss on the Fook Island concept from 1973.
The Fook Island concept was Walter Battiss’s reaction to the Conceptual art movement of the 1970s, art for which the concept, or idea, behind the work was more important than the finished art object.
Catherine’s visual trademarks have included comical and nightmarish forms and brash colours.
He has a dark cynicism and exuberant humour which put him at the forefront of South African art.
Margot laughs a lot, her work is quite different, so it’s easy to see why she would choose Norman Catherine’s work for her own walls.
She’s vibrant and full of the joys of life.
She makes jewellery, loves most music, and is one of those crazy Knysna women who swim in the estuary for most of the year round.
The Herald
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