Land Art

Erica works in multiple mediums which includes landscape art , Installations , embroidery and textile art.

Her frozen damn water or lollipop installations was a brilliant project that spoke to global warming in a strong visual way.

We will talk about that and her other projects and artworks.

We also look at her influences , processes and perspectives on life , art and the ongoing NAC sit down.

Art Lexica is a podcast where Wesley and his guests talk art and art processes. For more podcasts, visit our page.

Transcript

Wesley Pepper: [00:00:00] Hey everybody, this is Wesley pepper. And you're tuned in to my podcast Wesley Pepper’s Art Lexica, which is brought to you by Spudcaster and Baobulb. Um, yeah, man. Um, just a quick disclaimer. Uh, I've actually been getting my episode numbers around, um, last week was actually episode 47. Today is 48. So we're closing in on the 50th episode.

[00:00:35] And as you know, I've got a thingy lined up for that. So, um, that art giveaways I'll, I'll give you guys more information, uh, with regards to that too, at the end of today's episode, uh, Let's just recap quickly on last week’s episode, big up to Zolile Petshane for coming through. Thanks my brother. Um, I, um, I really enjoyed talking to him last week.

[00:00:54] Um, unpacking his processes and how is, um, you know, how we use the color and, the texture and those symbols in his work, very, very interesting stuff. I'm definitely gonna be, uh, making a followup with him too, towards the end of the year to catch up on how he's working or rather how the progress is coming on for his, um, and he's got a, he's got another major show coming up in 2022.

[00:01:15] So big up. Thanks. Thanks my brother for coming through for that. Um, I'm not giving any gallery a shout out today, but this is usually the slot where I do that, so, uh, um, but, um, yeah, I’m in association with that art company Soweto and obtain art gallery. Yeah. Oh yeah. All those guys in the coming, uh, in the coming. You’ll be hearing more of them in the future, um, today's episode, um, I'm talking to a very, very interesting artist called Erica Luttich.

[00:01:51] She's actually I know her from the Johannesburg area, but I think she's now based in the Western Cape. So we will definitely find out about that a bit later. Um, I think she does a really fantastic, um, um, um, um, art. Um, she, she, she works with this embroidery. Um, you know, when you, uh, when you're pretty much use enbroidery as a paint brush, which I think is really, really fascinating, I think that technique is fantastic.

[00:02:15] And I think conceptually is also very brilliant talking about conceptual brilliance. She also does these very, very interesting installations, um, including lands, um, of a landscape art. I've I've, I've seen, she's worked in collaboration with a few other artists on that. And, uh, also the one that really stood out sticks out for me is those, um, and I don't know if this is the correct word, but a sort of a lollipop, uh, or rather where she just takes this frozen water from a dam or the ocean, you know, it's all the debris and or whatnot freezes it and sort of uses these, uh, frozen popsicles as a, as, as an installation and the, you know, there's, and then takes photographs that are, and I think the whole concept is quite brilliant.

[00:02:55] Um, and I think it really talks very strongly to, uh, global warming, et cetera. So, uh, we're going to be touching base on with all of that, with our processes, with where she draws inspiration from what should we be doing now, future projects, et cetera, et cetera. So definitely look forward to that. Um, yeah, I mean, um, I've been, um, in the past episodes I was, I was talking a lot about, about the, about those artists sitting in the national arts council sit-in.

[00:03:20] Um, as at the recording of this episode on the 17th. Um, of April that they are still there. Um, so I'm still definitely in solidarity with what's happening over there. I'm definitely keeping a close eye on the, uh, pros, um, on the, um, what's happening in and around there. Cause there's a few things that came out this week.

[00:03:41] Um, I won't be talking about that in the intro. Um, I'll be asking Erica her opinion on that as well. I know she's got a bit of a, a strong political bone too. Um, and seeing what she has to what’s her take on that. And of course, you know, like I'm asking all of my guests, how are they, what's their reaction to the COVID vaccine?

[00:03:58] Because the thing is with the politics around that it's becoming more and more and more layered. And I think it's actually quite relevant for us to keep talking about it. So. I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. I will check to use at the end of this episode, with regards to future episodes and all the other fun things that remember to check out Spudcaster.

[00:04:18] They're the guys that host me that the thing you're doing a fantastic job. Thanks for that a lot guys. And, um, no mention of any art galleries or any other bodies kind of associated with that this week. But, um, certainly next week I will be giving one or two. Um, I will be giving one of them a shout out or a mention, yeah, I think that's the technical word for that.

[00:04:40] Uh, so yeah, stay tuned for today's episode. I hope you will enjoy what I have to offer for you guys today. And I'll check you’s at the end of this. 

[00:04:53] Spudcaster: [00:04:53] baobulb.org is a podcasting platform and a medium for storytelling. This podcast is also available on all the major podcasting apps, including Apple and Google podcasts, podcasts your life with baobulb.org.

[00:05:12] Wesley Pepper: [00:05:12] Well, okay. Thanks all for coming through. Um, fantastic to have you on this platform. Um, like I was saying early on a big fan of the work or the artworks, I want to unpack that thing sort of bit by bit and we'll touch also on the, uh, on the politics of the ongoing politics that's happening in the arts, which is both heartbreaking and I think quite a slap, um, not a slap.

[00:05:38] I just think it's, um, uh, what, um, it was expected to be, to be quite honest. Um, but, um, Yeah. We'll um, unpack that one. So, um, yeah, I mean, Erica, just for my, uh, listeners. For the people's listening to the show. Uh, can you give us like a brief, just give us like a very brief background.

[00:06:05] Um, I'm like, uh, where you from? Um, and, um, more so, um, because, you know, we want to talk about the art and the art process. And so I'm like, you know, just maybe a bit of background of your, um, history in the arts, you know, um, even where did you study and that type of thing and so on and so on. 

[00:06:27] Erica Luttich: [00:06:27] Okay.

[00:06:27] Thank you so much. It's so nice to actually chat to you. And it's been such a long time. Wesley Pepper: It's been too long. Erica Luttich: Yeah. Thank you. Um, so yeah, I was eight years old when a school teacher told my parents the unfortunate news “dat die kind kan teken” (the child can draw). And those words was profoundly hard for my parents who had, um, other ideals for their offspring and I then ended up, um, after matric in the Cape, uh, Ruth Prowse School of Art  in Woodstock, which was.

[00:07:05] An amazing experience here. I was 17 years old and all of a sudden, um, we're studying and we're with people of this country. I wasn't in just the white school anymore. So I'm talking 1981, 1982. Those were long, long years ago. And it opened my eyes to so many things and it was an incredible learning curve, which I'm most grateful for.

[00:07:32] Um, later on I, um, studied through UniSA because, um, it was really too expensive to study full time. Um, and then again, sort of had to be confronted with the fact that. We were 400 of us in first year and only 15 people graduated of the eight, nine years, I think, and of that, our need to people who are people of color or were black people.

[00:08:05] And again, it just shocked me. And, and I remember so clearly being in a first year class with these incredibly intelligent academic people addressing us about art history. And I would sit in a row with, it would be young students, um, much younger than ours at the time. And they've never heard of the artists.

[00:08:30] These academics would just be reeling off. And I, and I remember sitting in a row and writing down the artist's names and they were all European. Of course they were never of this continent. They were never people that we might live with or know, or have any experienced with. And those are the things that have stayed with me.

[00:08:53] And I think you've met me much later in my life when you were working in Hillbrow. And I'd like to start my conversation with that. I think creativity needs to be part of every educational tool. And that creativity is the only way that we can redeem ourselves and our humanity on this earth. And that those were some of the principles in my life, but also.

[00:09:23] That I was confronted with that incredible inequality. And that's why I think for me, my time in Hillbrow was so important because it was a way that I could share and could experience and could learn, um, about creativity in a very, very different context. 

Wesley Pepper: Um, yeah. Yeah. Interesting. Interesting. You're raising some really fascinating points there.

[00:09:53] Um, um, just to touch base on two of them quickly, um, The fact that you have so many students who are beginning and only so few, um, um, eventually passed and the majority of black, I've got a very, very similar thing because I started in the, in the late nineties, in the mid nineties in Bloemfontein. And, uh, yeah, I was the only coloured boy.

[00:10:16] Um, um, the, um, so I had to, I realised from what I was like 17, 18, something like at 19, something like that, 20, um, I realised, um, from then it has a profound effect on my art up til today is my identity crisis because even then, I didn't know where to fit in, um, and that sort of just conceptualise into what I am today, you know?

[00:10:41] Um, so I think as a fascinating point to say, like some of us, okay. You were about 10 years before me, but, um, um, around about that time, guys were people artists, who are in these institutions, our identity really got shaped, um, by the politics of that, then we had absolutely nothing to do with, we just pitched up and then yeah, the politics has shaped everything.

[00:11:01] That's actually quite, that's actually quite an interesting point to start off with. Um, you mentioned, you mentioned something with outreach foundation, so that's where I met you. Right. So working in the overall, so, um, just for the listeners and just tell us like, uh, what exactly what you're doing there, because I know the outreach foundation also funded a lot of, uh, theater based, uh, art projects and so on and so on.

[00:11:20] So yeah, also, maybe just a few. Yeah. You can just tell us a little bit about the outreach foundation and are you still involved with it? 

Erica Luttich: No, I'm not, I left two years ago, um, at a time when the organization decided that creativity and arts education is not the route to go. Um, so we separated ways, which was at the time, very hard for me, but just to go back with outreach foundation started as a project of the church of the Lutheran church and, um, Edith Cavell street.

[00:11:53] And they started with the organist at the time of the church, um, starting music classes for children who were living in the area and that very quickly expanded to a theater project. So the music school and the theater project were the first two projects that started. And then sort of in 2001, there was a discussion about a sewing class or bringing together mothers to

[00:12:18] sew. Now again, you know, that that, that again is just, um, Yeah. Perceptions of people that if you give a couple of women sewing machines it will change their lives and they will income generate automatically. So I was in sort of called upon if I'd like to start once a week just to offer creative classes.

[00:12:45] Um, at the time I was working at the Sharpeville library, um, and that was 170 kilometers away from home. And. Here I was in Hillbrow I thought, Oh, this is just 10 kilometers away. This is fantastic. I can do this much more often than driving all the way to Sharpeville. That was a unique project at the time with the department of arts and culture.

[00:13:09] And so I thought absolutely! Hillbrow’s perfect. It's close to home. And started once a week, just offering sort of thinking about where do we live, where we are, what's our identity and why do we live in Hillbrow? And just the short anecdote of that was that people kept saying, Oh, you must make the big five and you must draw elephants and draw rhinos and draw whatever animal Buffalo.

[00:13:38] And I kept saying to the women that I was working with, when I look out of the window, I don't see a rhinoceros. And how are we true about live your own experience and then draw on something that's not around. And then one of the women did the most beautiful embroidery, it was a building and you could see the staircase.

[00:14:06] It was all beautifully embroidered and on top was a washing line. And I thought, that's it. This is Hillbrow. And we talked about that. This is Hillbrow for me. This is how I see Hillbrow. And then the women said to me, but you don't understand. We don't want people to know that we live here because if you live in Hillbrow, you've not, you haven’t made it in life.

[00:14:32] You are not, not something it's a failure to end up in hell. We started about talking about your reality, my reality, what do you live? How do you live instead of this incredible highfalutin idea of what art is, which is rhinoceroses and giraffes, because that's the whole tourist Curio art thing. And people kept saying, this is what you should be producing because you'll make money.

[00:15:02] And I kept thinking. You can't produce something. If it's not your own experience, you can't express yourself creatively, if that is not how you live. Um, so we started the craft development. We moved away from just the sewing. And then, um, through the years I added the whole idea of visual art and linking the theater and the craft together so that we could also start producing, working with the theater production, doing the costumes, props and just my big thing in life that the arts is the arts whether you are a poet or a writer, a musician.

[00:15:46] we should just work together. Wesley Pepper: Yeah, no, no, just like a hundred percent. Um, I agree with it. Um, um, a percent, I, I, I use the arts as a blanket term for every form of creative expression myself. Um, so interesting, interesting, interesting, um, interesting point you made there about, um, being based in Hillbrow, but I mean, like you haven't made it for sure.

[00:16:11] I've, I've picked that up, um, myself, um, and, um, to say like visit me in Hillbrow was not, you know, if you say that people generally won't come, you know, um, and yeah, yeah. The stigma around that place is next level. Um, I, uh, yeah, I've also also quite an interesting point about the big five. Um, um, yeah, I can relate to that too, actually, that, unless it take me to another topic, which I think is actually for another conversation, because I just think it's terrible.

[00:16:44] Um, I just, I just think I. Fucking don't like drawing an animal, especially the Big five. Um, um, hello, you still there? Erica Luttich: Yes. I agree with you. I agree. Wesley Pepper: Yeah, I remember that. Um, just a quick story there. I remember this was in the early two thousands. I was at a gallery in, uh  and, um, I came there with poor images of people in the street doing drugs taking tik and that stuff.

[00:17:12] Cause I sort of knew that reality better than any, and that this lady gave it one look and she said like, you know what? I must go back and draw animals. And, um, I knew that from the art game was going to be. A lot tougher than I thought. And it was otherwise because I, um, and, and, and funny enough, like if, if, if you look at it today, the majority, um, it's, it's like some artists have substituted, um, the animals for portraits and not just any portraits, but like, you know, the helpless African child will fly on her cheek who

[00:17:44] can't do anything. Yeah. Yeah. Poverty porn. Yeah. It's fucking disgusting. I can't stand it. Um, And, um, I wanna, I must actually watch my mouth because I want to lean into that over there so bad. But, um, the, I know some people that enjoy it. Um, it's also part why, I think it's important to talk about art because, um, yeah, it's poverty porn.

[00:18:09] Um, you don't get better dinges and I just think it's disgusting. And I said, as Africans got so much, we are so more like yet we are so much more than just a barefoot kid kicking a broken soccer ball in the street, dusty street and this and that. And that's a blanket term for everyone because the poets deal with the same thing the writers deal with the same thing.

[00:18:27] Right. Is the, will the same thing, that theater practitioners, everybody. Um, yeah. Uh, um, yeah man, um, the outreach foundation, um, Interesting, um, thing that, especially, like, when you say that you just started to do more props for theater, I think that's a actually quite a bit, I didn't know how it started and how it moved.

[00:18:47] That was, um, just another closing question on them. Um, what are they busy doing now and how did COVID, um, affect them, you know, and what, um, I guess like what work or projects are they, are they, are they busy with right now? Do you know? Erica Luttich: Um, I know a little bit, um, because when I left, I kind of decided it was best to kind of really cut all ties.

[00:19:14] And the reason for that, or was that I was always very big on the creative process. And the reason for my being there was that creativity needed to be extended to all spheres of life. And although I concentrated a lot more on adult arts education, I also believed very, very strongly in both the theater and the music school and the opportunities that creates.

[00:19:40] Um, and when that was all severed, the, the theater was actually rented art and it was separated art from the outreach foundation. Um, I was told that we will only be doing sewing and sewing classes. There will be no more creativity, no more land art, no more textile art. I kind of just felt that I can't support that.

[00:20:04] And the music school is also being cut back dramatically. So I'm incredibly sad about it because being positioned in Hillbrow, it was the perfect space to offer, um, children, um, creative explorations. And, and just...