Grade 9
Term 4
Creative arts Booklet
Practical and theory work
Recycle and create
Unit 1 and Unit 3
Puppets and puppetry:
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Most common kind of puppet is a hand puppet
Operator of the puppet is called a puppeteer
Puttetry started in 30 000 BC
Puppets are used to tell stories, entertain and teach, comment on society or politics.
Actors speak for the puppets and we call them ventriloquist
Puppets can be life size and made of papier mache or wood.
Caricatures:
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Puppets are sometimes called Caricatures.
Caricature is a distorted portrait.
Features on face is exaggerated or made to look funny.
Puppets are exaggerated to express ideas
Handspring Puppet Company:
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Company has created extraordinary puppets
Worked with William Kentridge
Show was called Ubu and the truth commission.
The giant puppets are operated by more than one person.
Please look on youtube for videos of handspring puppet theatre
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7u6N-cSWtY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lda-PH8QeNI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkIuDx71oTc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXFK9aKnqIs
Unit 2: artists that use recyclable products in art
1.Willie Bester:
l Willie Bester was born on the 29th of February 1956 in the small farming town of
Montagu two hours north of Cape Town, where he also grew up. He was the
illegitimate son of a Xhosa-speaking migrant labourer from the Eastern Cape and a
"Cape Coloured" mother.
l Bester was classified as "Other coloured." This enabled him to keep his mother's
Afrikaans surname and privileges, which were better than those of a black man.
l The family rented land from other 'coloureds' and set up shacks in their back yards in
the 'coloured' township outside of Montagu throughout Bester's childhood.
l Bester's childhood memories are filled with the images of abuse and disrespect from
the white population of Montague.
l Bester was interested in creating artistically from an early age. As a young boy he
made toys to sell to the neighbourhood children, and his inventiveness led to details
in design such as wire cars with headlights made from candles and tin-can reflectors.
l To avoid working for white men, at the age of 16 Bester began creating bangles,
sandals, shoes and other types of arts and crafts to sell.
l In 1988 Bester attended the Community Arts Project in Cape Town part-time, where
he was excited by the works fellow students who were making art that attacked the
Apartheid government. The environment inspired him to start creating artworks that
protested the inequities of the Group Areas act.
l Presently, Bester lives in Kuilsrivier just outside of Cape Town. He creates multimedia collages that reflect the true vibrancy and life of the townships that he knows
so well.
Characteristics:
l Mixed-media collages using a vast range of materials which portray layers of
meaning.
l Combinations of oil paints with photographs he has taken himself and from the
media.
l Use of discarded objects he has found in and around the townships of Cape Town
l Subject matter:
l The South African township scenes- hardships and joys that run coherently in these
cramped settings. Bester tries to depict the other side of township life. The survivors
and the positive aspects of township life are his focus: the vibrance of colour on
walls and signs, the humour, the innovative and industrious spirit, the camaraderie
among neighbours.
l His common themes include forced removals, township life, migrant labour and the
destructive impact of Apartheid
Materials:
l Bester often includes newspaper photographs and text to illustrate a work. they
also illustrate that what is depicted is a newsworthy event.
l Bester often includes photographs that he has taken himself. they show that the
artist was present in the environment, and shows his personal identification with the
events photographed.
l Transfer a photographic image - his own photograph or from a newspaper
reproduction - into the medium of paint. He often uses this technique on the people
in his works who form the principal focus of the work. They become symbolic.
l Found objects he gathers from townships near his house and includes in his collages.
The discarded materials are rich in symbolic meaning
l He uses an array of objects such as machine parts, old sacking, sticks, various tin
cans, heap bones and wire netting. These objects are chosen not only for the way
they convey the texture of the townships, but also for their symbolic significance
“Bench for Mr Semikazi”
Explanation:
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Material: old wire, wood and found objects
1948 is the year the NP came into power
Back images is violent images of apartheid
Can’t sit on bench because of barbed wire
Wire reminds us of fences and danger
Strips of tyre used for seat
Telephone directory contains names of white south Africans(black surnames not in
directory)
Bench is a representation of benches etc that was reserved for whites only.