Advancing Indigenous Pottery for Modern Application: An Appraisal of a Ghanaian Modernist Ceramist-James Kwame Amoah

Abstract

To critique by the content of African art texts and current trends in the region’s curatorial work, it seems safe to say that the use of indigenous aesthetics for modern ceramic art expression has not been given much prominence in Ghanaian ceramic practice. A notable personality who has championed the used of indigenous designs for modern ceramic expression is James Kwame Amoah, a Ghanaian ceramist with a sustained practice, and whose works have evolved in a harmonious interplay between indigenous artistic insight and modernist expression. This study examined James Kwame Amoah’s ceramic practice with reference to his appropriation of indigenous pottery forms in his modernist oeuvre and the impact of his practice on the preservation of indigenous pottery heritage in Ghana. Through interaction with the artist and engagement with his works, the descriptive and content analysis methods were used to discuss the artistic and cultural narratives of his works. The study revealed that James Kwame Amoah has contributed significantly to the preservation of indigenous pottery heritage through his appropriation andinterpretation of forms and decoration in a modernist orientation.