IVAN VAN DER WALT

My first exposure to sculpture was making clay oxen as a small child. It was however many years later, in the early 80’s when I met the renowned ceramic sculptor Yvette Weyers, that I was inspired by her to start experimenting with clay as a sculpture medium. Once I became familiar with the potential and limitations of this medium, it became increasingly clear that ceramic clay is the medium I want to work in. The many different clay colours and textures make it a very dynamic medium to work with. Fired clay takes on a character of its own, over which you have little control, but the unpredictable effects of the firing process add another dimension to the artwork that I find very exciting.  I regard sculpture as the expression of frozen moments of significance. I like working on small scale sculptures and use different types of clay depending on the subject. My favorite is black basalt clay, although difficult to find.

My subjects are very diverse, but are usually something with good lines, textures or shapes. I prefer work of an expressionistic nature, although some works are more realistic. I always strive to keep sculptures as simple as possible, and pay great attention to strokes used during the creation to accentuate and contrast textures and form.