Ihumwa Village Potters

 

Ihumwa village potters

 During my 2010  travels as a U.S. State Department delegate for the Women's Arts Exchange with Tanzania(led by Martin Nagy, Director of the Great Lakes Arts Council in Toledo), I had the experience of my life when taken to to meet "some of the best potters in Tanzania." My time with the Ihumwa village potters outside of Dodoma, Tanzania turned out to be my National Geographic moment! I remember sitting on a small stool outside of a traditional mud home with all the women's incredible pottery laid out before us. Two cows were tied up in a pen directly behind me, all the children stood encircling us and through our translator the following incredible story began to unfold.

What an awesome welcome by the women

With my first look at the fruit of these incredible potters I was immediately struck by the perfect symmetry. Initially, our delegation leader thought that a potters wheel must have been used. But after a barrage of questions one of the women indicated that she would demonstrate their pot making process for us. To my amazement in less than fifteen minutes a perfect pot had been formed before our very eyes... what an incredible sight this was!

The demonstration begins

Adding water to dried clay

Tools...corn cob, paper and stone

Building wall of pot

Using corn cob tool

Almost complete...

 

One of the things I learned was that each woman walks eight miles in order to collect the clay from a nearby riverbed. Then each woman would wrap about fifty pounds of clay in their khanga cloth(a popular textile worn by many women in Tanzania as skirts, head wraps and even to carry their babies in) which was then wrapped around their necks so that the weight was evenly distributed across their shoulders. Next the clay would be left to dry completely, sifted of rocks and other impurities and eventually reconstituted with water for pottery building. The pots are fired on top of the ground which accounts for the beautifully blackened patches that dot the surfaces. of the finished pieces.

Finishing the lid

Completed pottery of the village women

 

"IT'S TIME TO SHARE"

Well, was beginning to think that if I didn't start writing soon I would need to hang up my keyboard and shut down the old blog site. But the fact that I'm here pounding the keys means it's time to share my journey.

In January of 2010 I was blessed to travel to East Africa as a member of the 3rd U.S. delegation participating in an incredible exchange program with Tanzania. "ARTS EXCHANGES ON INTERNATIONAL ISSUES FOR TANZANIA"
was funded by the U.S. Department of State Cultural Program Division of the Office of Citizen Exchanges, in the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, organized by the Great Lakes Consortium for International Training and Development(GLC) in cooperation with Arts Council Lake Erie West and GLC Alumni partners in Tanzania. The goal of the program was to bring together emerging Tanzanian and Northwest Ohio professional female artists to address common issues facing women.

The photo above shows two incredible wood sculptors, Harrieth and Neema who live in Bagamoya and are part of the Bagamoya Womens Art Network(BWAN).

Had the pleasure of first meeting them in a workshop I led at the Ohio Craft Museum, while they were visiting the U.S. as members of the Tanzanian artists exchange.

My journey took me primarily along the coast of Tanzania, which is bordered by the Indian Ocean with it's amazingly beautiful beaches and abundance of fishermen.

I look forward to sharing more photos and stories of my time inTanzania and the wonderful people and culture.

God Bless,

Wendy