Ndaleni Art School

While the Rorke's Drift school has rightly received recognition for the important part it has played in the development of art and craft, not enough credit has been given to the Ndaleni Art School, which made an important contribution in much earlier times and can therefore be seen as a forerunner at a time when African artists had few training opportunities.

The Ndaleni Training College at Indaleni, Richmond, had its roots in the Methodist Church, but was taken over by the Bantu Education Department when the Bantu Education Act was introduced. The buildings remained the property of the Church.

A specialist art teachers' course was established in 1952 with 12 students. Initially a two year course, it was later reduced to one year. The course continued for 28 years until 1980, when the Teacher Training College closed. In 1982 the art course was moved to the Transvaal Training College at Mabopane.

One of the prime movers behind the art course was Dr Jack Grossert, Organiser of Art and Crafts for the Native Section of the Natal Education Department, who had always been dedicated to the concept of education through art. An extract from the Native Teachers' journal of October 1952 by AW Ewan, the teacher in charge of the Ndaleni Art School, reads:

"The syllabus has been planned essentially as a teacher training course, but the broad, cultural possibilities of such a course have not been neglected. Our first intention is not to produce artists, but to produce competent art and craft teachers. If artists are produced in the process, well and good for there is a great deal of latent talent in Africans which only requires the opportunity to develop and mature."

The African Art Centre became associated with a number of Ndaleni graduates. Among them were Paul Sibisi, Solomon Sedibane, Wiseman Mbambo, Smart Gumede, Eric Ngcobo, Mandlenkosi Zondi, Dan Rakgoathe and Elliot Nyawo.

Sibisi and Rakgoathe went on to study at the Rorke's Drift Art school, and Ngcobo, Gumede and Rakgoathe obtained fine arts degrees. All of them, with the exception of Mandlenkosi Zondi, have taught art in schools or training colleges. Today Paul Sibisi teaches art at the Mzuvele High school in KwaMashu.

In 1980 a Souvenir Issue of the journal Arttra was published by the Ndaleni Art School, with contributions by past students. It shows the great value placed on the school by people who trained there. I believe the journal should be on library shelves where art is a subject. It is important because, while so much has been written by white academics and others on black art, little of the interest and opinion of black artists has been recorded.

Included in Antra is a quote by Professor EJ dejager of the University of Fort Hare, founder of the now well known Fort Hare Art Collection. The quote sums up the influence of the limited art training available during the 1950s and 1960s. He said of the Polley Street Centre in Johannesburg and the Ndaleni Art School:

"Both these centres, perhaps small in numbers and physical establishment, have had a profound influence in the field of African creativity. They inspirit and from them emerged men (and women) who have changed the course of the development of black art in South Africa."

My personal recollections of Ndaleni are of the annual exhibitions of student work held originally at the art school - a modest but picturesque collection of buildings and later at a Methodist Church hall in Pietermaritzburg. They became very popular, with buyers queuing up to be first through the doors.

Sculpture was strongly represented in the exhibition although there were graphics and a wealth of other creative things. My recollection, too, is of the great enthusiasm and charm of the students and of Lon Peirson, who taught at Ndaleni for 18 years, and Cr Lancaster. Lasting evidence of the value of the Ndaleleni Art School are the many art teachers in KwaZulu-Natal primary schools who are its graduates.