Meet The Maker: Nyasha Chigama
Introducing Nyasha Chigama! Nyasha is our latest Visiting Artist, she will be teaching a Pinching Pots One Day Workshop on February 17th at Hand / Thrown! We are so happy for Nyasha to share her forming techniques with the community. We asked Nyasha a few questions about her life and practice. Meet the maker.
HAND / THROWN: Tell us a little about you!
NYASHA CHIGAMA: My name is Nyasha Chigama. I am Zimbabwean. I graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) with an MFA in Craft/Material Studies in Clay in 2023. I work with clay to produce work that is mainly non-utilitarian, I focus on forms and use them to question the everyday experiences that surround me or tell stories.
HT: Tell us a little bit about the style of work you enjoy making most!
NC: I enjoy coil building mainly because during my early introduction to ceramics years, I spent 1-year internship working in this way during my BFA and I fell in love with the technique. I find that with the coiling method when making forms I can pause between making and anchor if it is not going as planned. Coiling my forms can get out of hand very easily. Although I have recently started to incorporate thrown bases and coiling the top part I am starting to enjoy the collaborative process of having wheel throwing and coiling techniques in one piece.
HT: What originally drew you to working with clay?
NC: When growing up we used to play a game which is called Mahumbwe in my native language. In this game, we pretend to play with soil and water to mimic cooking in the kitchen and we would form shapes of different foods. It escalated to a point where we would go to bridges that had actual clay and started shaping and forming things that looked like kitchen utensils. So I would say my interest in clay started at a very young age. As I grew older I found myself interested in other forms of art like writing and drawing illustrations but when I encountered clay again in my undergraduate studies, especially during my internship in South Africa that's when I fully immersed myself in this art form.
HT: What type of clay do you work with and why?
NC: Mostly When I am in Zimbabwe I am interested in different types of earthenware clays because of the historical connection they have with my cultural background and their significance. When I came to the US I mostly worked with Blair’s Red ( This is a clay body that Alfred Blair Clemo, My Professor at VCU formulated) It is very close to the terracotta clay I used back home and I enjoy how smooth and workable the clay is. I enjoy earthenware also because most of the clays are low-fire. They are the perfect canvas for burnishing and smoke firing as well as energy efficiency.
HT: Where have you studied ceramics, if you have. Or who have you studied with that left a lasting impression?
NC: I Studied at Chinhoyi University of Technology (CUT) Zimbabwe, Virginia Commonwealth University USA, and also did an Internship at Isibaya Ceramics in South Africa. Studying with Madhodha Fani and Nick Sithole at Isibaya Ceramics left a deep and lasting impression both in how I conduct myself as an artist in the Studio as well as being consistent in my practice. I studied under them in 2015 when I was in my 3rd year of undergraduate school. It was for a whole year. They took me under their wing and taught me everything I knew before going to VCU for my graduate studies. Burnishing and Smoke firing is one of the techniques that they taught me which I still use in my practice to this day. It is the knowledge that I vastly share because of how much I enjoy the process.
HT: What is your favorite tool, why?
NC: I have multiple favorite tools which are the scrapper, serrated rib, and metal rib. These three are very essential to shaping, forming as well as joining the coils to the forms. Without these three it can compromise the integrity of my work as a whole. However, given to pick only one, I will choose the scrapper simply because the process of forming the shape is highlighted by the use of this tool.
HT: Who are some artists you admire, why?
NC: I admire Magdalene Odundo because of how elegant her forms are. There is an element of love and care that I feel she puts in every one of her work. I also enjoy the simplicity in Theaster Gates’s work, their ability to juggle being an educator and a prominent artist as well as the language of what their work is about fascinates me.
Magdalene Odundo
Theaster Gates
HT: Where do you find inspiration for your work?
NC: My Inspiration comes from experimentation. The rhetoric of “What If” is what guides me through most of my work, coupled with my interest in telling stories as well as generating questions and seeking answers through the medium of clay. Some of the stories I tell are about the nuanced experiences of moving and living among different cultures than those with which one is familiar.
HT: Do you have a favorite step within your process?
NC: The moment I enjoy the most is the generating of the idea as well as the building stage. I enjoy the work the most when the clay is in its greenware state when it's still leather-hard. Sometimes I wish to keep it in that state forever but we all know that is not possible.
HT: Describe your favorite piece of pottery (currently).
NC: My favorite piece of pottery can be found in an Installation work by Azza El Siddique titled World’s Between Worlds in the show titled Final Fantasy which was up at Art Basel Miami. It is an installation of pottery forms in a state of being eroded and caged in frameworks made of steel. I am fascinated by their Use of Different mediums the ephemerality of the work and their use of metaphor in Storytelling.
Azza El Siddique ‘Final Fantasy’
HT: Cats? Dogs? Or other!
NC: I enjoy the company of Dogs. We have a family dog named Suzzy in Zimbabwe who is in the care of a very dear family friend and artist Mavis Tauzeni. She is a very loving and caring German shepherd who is attentive and intelligent. However, through my daughter who adores cats to the moon and back, I am drawn to them as well.
HT: What will you be teaching during your workshop?
NC: I will be teaching the Pinching method as a forming technique. I will share the three different shapes of pinch pots derived from the thumb's first press to how one handles the clay. The making of the three different shapes will result in having deep, shallow, and semi-circular forms. Teaching these basic yet fundamental stages helps individuals have a clear idea of the shape they want to create before they begin working. It is very easy for clay to have a mind of its own and take its direction. Mastering this technique is both therapeutic and time-saving for Handbuilders.
