allAfrica.com: South Africa: Leading Artist Draws a Bead On Creative Upliftment (Page 1 of 1)

AMERICAN artist Andy Warhol asked : "Why do people think artists are special? It's just another job." Clearly, given his reputation, the Prince of Pop was being sarcastic -- or perhaps he simply never met anyone like Barbara Jackson.

A graduate of Cape Town's Michaelis School of Fine Art and one-time student of the legendary local artist Cecil Skotnes, Jackson is today one of SA's leading ceramic artists.

She has won numerous local and international awards. Her curvaceous earthenware pots -- decorated with bold dots, stripes and geometric patterns -- are included in prominent private and public collections throughout the world. You will find them in places such as the South African Cultural History Museum in Cape Town, Museum of Decorative Art in Montreal in Canada, Leipzig University in Germany, Johannesburg Art Gallery, and National History Museum in Taipei, Taiwan.

Over and above her artistic achievements, however, Jackson is an inspired leader and teacher, an astute businesswoman and marketer, and an untiring humanitarian. And nowhere are these qualities more evident than in the nonprofit art and health initiative, Monkeybiz Bead Project, she co-founded in 2000, and which now sells beaded artwork to the value of almost R5m each year and supports more than 450 beadworkers (many of whom are HIV-positive) and their families in the townships of Cape Town.

"Monkeybiz came about when, six years after the excitement of the country's first democratic elections had died down, I saw how desperate many people still were," says Jackson over lunch at the unpretentious and yet trendy organic Cape Town eatery, Birds Boutique Café in Bree Street.

"It was time to put something back."

In truth, Jackson had been "putting something back" into the arts community since 1986, when she first began teaching ceramic sculpture to disadvantaged artists at the Community Arts Project in Woodstock.

But Monkeybiz -- which she directs with fellow artists and co-founders Shirley Fintz and Mathapelo Ngaka -- took her penchant for giving and teaching to a new level, and helped her develop some new skills in both marketing and business.

The idea for the initiative came about when Ngaka, then a part-time student at Jackson's ceramic studio, showed Jackson and Fintz some traditional beaded bracelets that her mother, Makatiso, had made and asked them whether they believed she could sell them.

"We gave the bracelets back to her and said that they were like hundreds of others we had seen in craft stores and on the streets," explains Jackson. "But, at the same time, they triggered an idea. We recognised an opportunity to create work and to encourage economic

development through art -- more specifically through contemporary African beading."

Although the ceramicist says she had little business experience at that point, she realised that the key to the success of the idea would depend , not only on guiding beadworkers to create something original -- that is, truly artistic -- every time they threaded a bead, but also on encouraging in them to take an industrious and entrepreneurial approach to their work.

"We wanted to create a new kind of industry where we would develop a market for art that is created by people who work largely independently at home among their families."

The immediate brief to Ngaka and Makatiso was to "do something unique". Before long, having achieved the level of creativity required, Ngaka enlisted other women from Macassar in Khayelitsha and the beadwork began in a big way. Convinced by the increasing originality of the items the team produced, by the beadworkers' growing enthusiasm and by the promise of the new business model, Jackson and Fintz invested R350000 of their own money to buy beads and get additional beadworkers on board.

Today, Monkeybiz beadworkers -- primarily operating in Macassar, Samora Machel in Philippi and Imizamo Yethu in Hout Bay -- earn up to R10000 each a month for their unique pieces, every one of which is signed by its creator.

Because the idea is to encourage entrepreneurship, the contributors are not employed by the organisation. Instead, Monkeybiz provides them with beads and all the materials they require for their art at no cost. Beadworkers work in their own homes and, when their pieces are ready, Monkeybiz purchases the work from them to resell to galleries and shops. Almost 80% of the work is exported.

In 2002, Monkeybiz pieces were a success at the Sotheby's Contemporary Decorative Arts exhibition in London. Since then, they have been stocked by Conran Design stores in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo, while American designer, Donna Karan, sells them from her flagship DKNY shop in Madison Avenue, New York.

Monkeybiz beadworkers are paid according to the quality and creativity of their pieces. (Jackson says less than 2% of the work presented to the organisation by beadworkers is ever rejected for not meeting quality standards.) Any additional proceeds from the sale of beadwork are spent on materials and to uplift the communities in which the beadworkers work.

The organisation supports various community projects including a wellness centre, located at its donated offices in Cape Town, that provides healthcare, nutrition and yoga classes for bead artists who are HIV-positive. A burial society was formed in 2006 for Monkeybiz beadworkers. Workshops and training -- both in beadwork and business skills -- are also provided free of charge, as and when required.

"Although we offer skills training, beaders are never told what to make or how to make it," explains Jackson, pausing between spoonfuls of chunky tomato soup. "After all, they are artists, and we believe that it is essential to the authenticity of their work that the personal inspiration and interpretation of each beader brings energy, life and spirit to their creations."

One of the greatest challenges, she concedes, is not teaching artists new beadwork skills or the fundamentals of art but rather coaching people to take ownership of "their businesses". While Monkeybiz provides strategic infrastructure and support, and Jackson steadily draws on her connections in international art and design circles to build its market, the initiative is designed to empower individuals to provide for their families through their own creativity and hard work. They are encouraged to be inventive and to be self-disciplined in terms of their output.

While Jackson and her team -- which totals eight, including its three founding members -- maintain regular contact with beadworkers and provide encouragement at every opportunity, they do not want to be perceived as managing the output.

"We really advance the 'this is your business' concept and want beaders to feel completely responsible for the quality and quantity of their work," she says. "Of course, that doesn't happen overnight and we have to continually remind people that their success is in their hands."

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