Rorke's Drift by Warren Siebrits

Published by Warren Siebrits Modern and Contemporary Art, Johannesburg, 2005, softcover,catalogue number, limited to 500 copies., 32 pages counted illustrated, condition: very good.

The first workshop established at Rorkes Drift, which was devoted to textile arts including strip weaving, free weaving, sewing, and spinning, attracted primarily women students. The lack of widespread enthusiasm for weaving from men studying at Rorkes Drift prompted Peder Gowenius to introduce linocut printing after noting the mens interest in using cutting tools to whittle wood.Early students of the printmaking workshop such as Azaria Mbatha and Muziweyixhwala Tabete produced narrative and figurative works, with Mbatha depicting primarily biblical subjects and Tabete creating compositons informed by Zulu cosmology and mythology. A ceramics workshop also thrived, and there was great exchange and fluidity between Rorkes Drifts workshops and its participants.For example, John Muafangejo, best known for his linocut prints, reportedly learned how to knit while at Rorkes Drift.