Born: 1940, Oyaya, Eshowe, KwaZulu Natal

EXHIBITIONS
2001. Thembi & Zanele Nala The African Art Centre, Durban
1999. Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Washington D.C., USA
1998. Isidlo Sempilo/ Soul Food - The Vessel African Art Centre, Durban
1998. Ubumba Durban Art Gallery
1997. FNB Vita Crafts Exhibition Pretoria
1996. Jabulisa Durban Art Gallery
1995. True Colours, Women of Natal African Art Centre, Durban
1994. Cairo International Bienniale
1994. Vita Crafts Now Exhibition Durban Art Gallery

COLLECTIONS
The Tatham Art Gallery, Durban
Durban Art Gallery, South Africa
Bayside Gallery, South Africa
Vukani Museum, South Africa
The African Art Centre, South Africa
Phansi Museum, South Africa

Nesta Nala has been creating clay beer pots in the traditional Zulu was all her life. She was taught by her mother, Siphiwe, who is still making pots today. Nesta has developed an international reputation for her classical forms and finely finished beer pots.

Nesta digs her clays, one red and the other gray, close to her home. She grinds clay with a traditional Zulu grinding-stone, and sieves it through a fine sieve or a piece of netting. It is then dried and put into a ten-gallon steel barrel with 50% water. After maturing, the clay is wedged and rolled into balls.

Traditional pots are hand-coiled and then smoothed with a calabash fragment or old spoon. When leather-hard, they are burnished with river pebbles and then decorated with incised patterns or added "warts" of clay in an ancient design called amansumpa. Nesta cuts out the section of the pot to be decorated and then applies soft "warts" of clay, which are inserted with a clay slip and smoothed into the surface with a pebble. The pots are left to dry naturally. Before firing, pieces of coal are put into the pots and warmed up to ensure that the pots are completely dry. They are then placed on their sides in a special arrangement and covered with dried grass, aloe leaves, and stalks. The grass is then lit, and it ignites the aloe fuel. Firing lasts approximately three hours, depending on weather conditions. In a second firing, the pots are blackened. They are placd on a metal tripod and turned with a stick over the flames to ensure an even smoking. When thoroughly blackened, the pots are cooled, rubbed with animal fat, and brushed to a shine.