Working from her cosy Bathurst bedroom surrounded by snoozing dogs, Clare Rothwell creates whimsical, functional art from newspapers, dictionary pages and egg boxes.
Former city slicker Rothwell, 50, who moved from Johannesburg to Bathurst with her mother, Elinor, on a whim 11 years ago, uses materials that would otherwise be discarded, turning them into animal sculptures — some of which provide lighting.
Her sustainable mixed-media practice began in 2014 when she could not find the lamp she wanted in stores and followed her mother’s lead to make her own.
“As a preschool teacher and trainer, my mom has been recycling since long before it was trendy, so recycled materials seemed the obvious choice when I decided to make a standard lamp, having failed to find anything I liked in shops.
“After an initial experiment, I made a lamp the same height as me, in the shape of a woman balancing a basket on her head, wearing a long, flowing dress.”
Pleased with the result Rothwell, who dotes on Africanis Thandi and “sort of Africanis” Ally, continued to give waste a second life through art.
“I found that I enjoyed the challenge of transforming unwanted materials into art, and making use of their existing properties, for example the strength that wood fibre gives to paper and cardboard.”
Now her home is resplendent with creatures of every kind, fashioned from waste she collects from her own home as well as from friends and shops.
Wide-eyed owls gleam warmly, and cats and giraffes helpfully grip lamps in their mouths, supplying light in the most charming of ways.
A group of dogs, looking suspiciously like pet model Thandi, stand in a group, eager to please.
“I’ve made giraffes, geckos, owls, penguins, whales, a cat, a rhino, dogs and an octopus.
“At the moment I’m working on more dogs and an elephant. The giraffes, owls and dogs have been the most popular,” she said.
Over the years Rothwell, who also teaches English online, has developed the skill to instantly recognise the potential in materials that would otherwise end up in landfills.
Her goal is that her art inspires others to see this too.
“I use a variety of paper and cardboard, and some wood and plastic. Sometimes I use ecobricks — two-litre plastic bottles stuffed with plastic waste.
“Waste isn’t waste until we waste it. I hope that people who enjoy my art think about the potential of waste when they look at my creations.”
Initially her material of choice was newsprint.
“I started off as a newspaper weaver, not a sculptor.
“When I started using upcycled newspaper to make art, I was weaving baskets and I painted the newspaper tubes various colours, but these days I avoid using acrylic paint.
“Instead, I started using upcycled fabric when I first made giraffe lamps and then I also started using various kinds of paper; for example brown paper bags.
“I’ve recently started using newspaper in new ways for my lamps.”
Dictionaries, sidelined by a digital generation, have also been repurposed.
“I’ve used dictionary pages for the final layers of my rhino and cat lamps and parts of other lamps like giraffes and dogs.
“The first time I used dictionary pages was on my big cat lamp.
“After I started doing its tail I realised it looked sort of stripey, so then I redid the tail with definite stripes.
“Of course, that took much longer than what I had originally planned!
“I use various types of paper and paper products for different purposes.
“I like to use egg boxes when I make paper clay, newspaper for fine layers of paper mâché, and dictionary and other book pages for the final outside layer of sculptures, because book pages don’t go as yellow and brittle as newspaper does.”
Her work is characterised by the appealing personalities her animal sculptures exude.
“Creating the endearing expressions of my animal lamps takes me ages, but I enjoy the challenge.
I used to think that all the interesting animals lived in those [national park], until I moved here
— Artist Clare Rothwell
“Most of my first dog lamps were based on detailed photos of Thandi, my Africanis.
“My bedroom is my studio, and my dogs spend a lot of time on my bed, especially in winter.
“My family spent most holidays camping in national parks when I was a kid.
“I used to think that all the interesting animals lived in those places, until I moved here.
“I’ve since gained an even greater appreciation for South African wildlife, including snakes and other creatures that I wasn’t so keen on when I was a city slicker.”
Rothwell says she and her mother decided to pool their resources in search of a country life when they tired of “the big smoke”.
“We went looking in Smithfield, Free State first, but it didn’t grab us.
“A man we met in a guesthouse suggested Bathurst.
“Where’s that?” I asked. ‘500km that way’, he gestured.
“So we hopped back in the car, and now we live here.”
Life in the historic country village has proved to be both tranquil and inspirational and fulfils the artist’s need to commune with animals and plants.
“I’m privileged to live in a place where I feel surrounded by nature.
“I didn’t realise how special the Albany Thicket was when I moved here, and I didn’t know that Bathurst had a commonage, much less the biggest one in SA.
“The more I learn about my local environment, the more I appreciate it.
“Trees and birds make me happy, and when I’m happy, I want to make art.
“Pollution makes me unhappy, and that also makes me want to create.
“As I sit here, I have the spark of an idea for an aloe wall sconce.”
When creatures and flowers are not prompting her artistry, it is the presence of other creatives and artists in the community who energise her quest to protect the environment.
“Bathurst is home to some well-known artists but also plenty of creative people who are not so well-known, like my neighbour up the hill, Ryana Johnson, who has painted a map of Bathurst and also a bilingual English/Xhosa sign depicting local birds.
“She did this on some existing unused signboards.
“There’s also the local soccer club, the Eleven Destroyers, that does regular verge cleanups.
“There are lots of people who make an obvious positive impact on the environment and in the community in our small town, and this is part of what inspires me to continue creating.”
By generating employment opportunities, even on a small scale and whenever she can, Rothwell strives to make a meaningful difference in her community.
“In 2019, I won joint first place in the Innibos National Craft Awards for a chair that I designed and made out of newspaper, cardboard and eco bricks.”
Encouraged by her win, she stocked up on newspapers and hired an assistant.
“I used some of the prize money to pay a person in my community to roll hundreds of newspaper tubes for me because I thought, having won a prize for a newspaper chair, that I would be able to sell some.
“I was wrong about that but somebody in my community got a part-time job out of it for a while.
“I am still using the newspaper tubes that I paid her to make.”
Rothwell is also working on a Port Alfred plastic recycling project at Port Alfred NGO Nemato Change a Life with Jan Blom and Soyisa Klaas.
“After some years of submitting funding applications, we’ve now got two plastic recycling machines, based on designs by Precious Plastic, a global network of small plastic recyclers.
“I adapted a design for a cellphone stand so that we could make it using the injection mould.
“That is the first upcycled plastic product to be made in Port Alfred, that I know of.
“Soyisa started making those in March this year, and selling them at The Market Traders Store in Port Alfred.
“We’d like to make more products for which there’s a large local market.
“We’re also planning to make some souvenirs with overseas buyers and tourists in mind.”
Rothwell sells her creative creatures online via the Bushman’s River-based collective Art on the Verandah as well as on Aya Africa, a website also situated in the Eastern Cape.
“I really enjoy being part of a group exhibition at the National Arts Festival — I’ve done that for the past three years.
“I love talking with visitors to the exhibition about upcycled art.”
Though teaching was her chosen career, there were early signs that art would find a place in her life.
“My dad loved to work with his hands and design wooden furniture and tents and he encouraged me to join in, from the age of two or three.
“The most important rule in dad’s garage back then was that everyone had to wear shoes.
“I wasn’t too keen on that, but I really wanted to help my dad, so I wore them.
“I haven’t been making art all that long. For most of my life I’ve worked as a teacher, teaching English outside of SA, and teaching in the Intermediate Phase in Johannesburg and in the Eastern Cape. I still teach online.”
To make an even more meaningful contribution to the environment, Rothwell plans to upcycle plastic, thanks to an interaction at the recent National Arts Festival in Makhanda.
“I’m investing in a small plastic recycling machine of my own and with that I would really like to try developing some functional art made out of upcycled plastic.
“Last month, at the National Arts Festival I met Dagmar Kirk, who works with the Social Employment Fund recycling project in Makhanda.
“She came to visit our Art on the Verandah group exhibition.
“She commented that most of the materials I use are biodegradable.
“She’s the only person who’s ever made that comment. I definitely do want my art to have more of a positive environmental impact in future.”
