Aug 2019 - Lowveld

Text: Mellissa Bushby. Photographer: Belinda Erasmus
Heart
of a gypsy
Antjie Newton laughs that one day she will pack it all in, sell everything
she has - a considerable collection of wonders, mind you - and follow a
boho lifestyle, travelling from place to place just as the fancy takes her.
Listening to her talk about her life
and loves, you can believe that this is
exactly what the renowned Lowveld
potter will someday end up doing.
Feisty and straight-forward, Antjie
tells it like it is, with a dry sense of
humour and a twinkle in her eye.
Working as a maths teacher, she took
up pottery as a hobby nearly 45 years
ago, and has never looked back.
Antjie enjoyed it so much she started
working with Carol Hahn in her
Johannesburg studio, eventually
taking it over when Carol left for
Canadian shores.
When she moved the studio to
White River 33 years ago, everything
fell into place. A friend asked her
to make ceramic jugs for Rottcher
Wineries, and from there she started
getting work from the local lodges,
and her wares took off.
“The young women who work for the
lodges move around fairly often, and
would always recommend my work
to the next lodge they moved to. This
kept me busy, and of course was
excellent for business,” Antjie smiles.
Her signature style of pottery is
unique and immediately recognisable.
“Some of the best advice I
ever got was to find a style and make
Antjie’s stunning ceramic chicken
it your own, which I did. Obviously
it also develops over the years; you
hone and perfect it until it becomes
second nature, but you need to start
out with that initial idea that sets your
work apart, makes it stand out.”
The swift, light brushstrokes, French
blue colour and stylised birds and
animals are typical Antjie, and are
also indicative of the Lowveld, which
played a large part in the growth and
development of her technique. She
also developed her own stoneware
clay body, as well as the glazes which
she uses for herself and her students,
which is a range of around 12 to 14
different colours.
At the time, Antjie and her husband,
Adrian, were living in a magnificent
home on the Plaston Road, Victoria
Farm, which they renovated and
rebuilt practically from scratch. “I’ve
come to realise that that is why I
work,” she muses. “To build! It seems
to be what I do, renovate and build.
Do you know that I physically helped
to erect the fences and lay the
paving? It’s all worth it though,
the house was beautiful, and we had
so many wonderful parties and
gatherings there, including open
days for the studio which were a
resounding success. Good wine,
good food and excellent company!
What more could you want?” As time
passed, Victoria Farm, as lovely as it
was, turned out to be a little too big
for the Newtons, and they sold it after
12 years.
So the construction began once
more, with a new home, one that
Antjie ultimately fell in love with. It
was during this time that she moved
her studio to Casterbridge Lifestyle
Centre outside White River, where she
remained for about 10 years. “I loved
it and was inundated with work, the
production side was booming. Unfortunately
though, I was never at home,
I worked long hours, so I decided I
had to scale down. When a friend
suggested I come and have a look at
the stunning house that had come
on the market at Mataffin, I said no,
for the simple reason that I was tired
of always renovating and building.
But she convinced me, and the rest
was history.”
Antjie Newton amidst some of her treasures
14 Get It Lowveld August 2019
August 2019 Get It Lowveld 15