Nic Sithole Gourd-shaped vessel I

A contemporary, 2016 gourd-shaped vessel by South African ceramicist, Nic Sithole acquired by the University of Pretoria in 2016. Short biography: Nicolas (Nic) Sithole was born in Piet Retief in Mpumalanga and is a renowned South African ceramicist who works from his studio in Mamelodi, near Pretoria. His maternal grandmother was a potter and as a child would make clay animals and let them harden in the sun. Nic admires the work of Kenyan born ceramic artist Magdalene Odondo. Sithole worked under the South African ceramicist, Michelle Legg, at the University of Johannesburg and taught Nic to make traditional Zulu and Venda pots. He realised that this was the method that he could use to best express his creativity. He has explored surface treatments that enhance his forms such as burnishing, terra sigillata and smoke firings. Sithole only started producing work under his own name for the first time in 2007 and has since participated in many exhibitions since then, including the Ceramics Southern Africa Regional and National exhibitions. Sithole's ceramics are popular across many South African institutions, such as the University of Pretoria, the Association of Arts in Pretoria, the Corobrik Collection, the Pretoria Art Museum, the Nelson Mandela Museum in Port Elizabeth and at the William Humphreys Art Gallery in Kimberley as well as various private collections locally and internationally.