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Details Artist at work, Caversham calm

Malcolm’s slightly bemused. He has only recently been exposed to the misconceptions surrounding Caversham Centre and What Happens Behind Closed Gates. The local world has long been asking: ‘What Is Caversham?’ and Malcolm hasn’t answered. He hasn’t really had the time or felt the need, which has left public opinion dangling between ‘mysterious’ and ‘elitist,’ to ‘unwelcoming’ and ‘reclusive.’
Malcolm Christian may have founded, lived and worked at Caversham for over 23 years, but his energy has been so intensely focused on the diversity of work and people who move through Caversham, that any confusion beyond the gate bypassed him entirely. He intends to change this with his Friends of Caversham concept, still in its incubation phase…

To be sure, there’s a certain sense of exclusion felt at the firmly shut gate which fronts the road, with mere glimpses of the enticing buildings and charming garden rife with rambling roses and greenery. The mystique of the discreet sign indicating Caversham Press and the little chapel-like structure persists long after you’ve meandered past. But for those who’ve spent time at Caversham or who’ve experienced its generosity of spirit, it will go down as the antithesis of exclusion. Insiders laud the setting and its tranquillity as a little piece of paradise.

Malcolm founded Caversham Press in 1985, intent upon giving South African artists access to a professional, collaborative printmaking studio for the production of limited-edition prints. It was the first comprehensive facility of its kind in southern Africa. Malcolm recalls his very first artist, Robert Hodgins, and from there, the list of notable artists associated with the Centre grew to include the likes of William Kentridge, David Koloane, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Bonnie Ntshalintshali and many, many others.

Malcolm is a master printer who has lectured at many of the country’s higher education institutions, his last post being at Wits. He won’t forget the day it all changed: ‘It was early evening; we’d left Wits behind – en route to Durban – and wandered down a winding dirt road. There was this little derelict church.

We climbed the spiked gate, wandered around the graves, and peered through the church’s dusty window. I said: “Imagine creating a studio in there,” and friend David Walters said: “Approach the church, and see what they say.”’

The Christian family did, a deal was struck, and they became the owners of the derelict 1878 Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, one acre and 60 graves. They were given the large key to the door. Growing up with radio programmes such as The Creaking Door, Malcolm laughs at his very own creaking door: ‘It was just like that, complete with the dank smell of a sealed box, layers of dust, and ice cold.

All the pews were in their rows, the old pump organ up front, the banners… and it felt as if the congregation were about to turn and say: “What Do You Want?” The hair stood up on the back of my neck!’

The Christians stored all their worldly goods in the chapel while they built their adjoining house out of materials from demolished old buildings: ‘We’d done that once before, and it’s the cheapest, most wonderful way to build,’ says Malcolm.

‘Those French doors came from Roydens Hotel in Musgrave Road, that from the old Durban station ticket office, these beams from Durban harbour, and floors from the ceiling boards of an old warehouse alongside T Jetty. Architect Robert Brusse designed the entire vision knowing all we could really do – afford – was to build this volume.

A builder did the brickwork and stonework, and my wife Ros and I all the carpentry, like the floors.’ In response to my raised eyebrows, he shrugs: ‘I trained as a sculptor, so it’s kind of natural…’ Caversham Press became the name in printmaking, establishing a precedent for excellence and innovation. It was enormously satisfying for this master printer to work one-on-one with leading artists but, as time went by, he increasingly felt the need to reach out creatively in other ways.

The Caversham ethos had always been to provide access for artists outside the restricted formal educational structures so, as an extension of that, Malcolm created The Caversham Educational Trust.

He conducted programmes contributing to the skills development of emerging artists from disadvantaged backgrounds – such as the late Sthembiso Sibisi and Wonderboy Nxumalo.
The Press and the Educational Trust gave creative impetus to the vision for The Caversham Centre for Artists and Writers, now in its eighth year.

This was a clear departure from the single-mindedness of The Press’s activities, and the focus shifted from product to people and the process. It became about a creative journey taken by intimate groups of people.

Particularly renowned for its residency programmes, the centre now hosts up to ten artists and writers at a time. They work collaboratively on theme-based projects for between one and three weeks. In the case of international residencies, half the participants are southern African, the others international.

When it comes to selection, Malcolm considers generosity of spirit as the desirable characteristic of a prospective Caversham Fellow for, at the heart of the programme, it’s the participant’s willingness to contribute – not merely take away – that is crucial to the experience. It’s not easy to describe what happens at Caversham, largely because the process is different for each participant.
It’s very telling that Malcolm has only made two personal prints in 23 years. For him, it’s just no longer what he’s about. ‘My role is collaborative, rather than as a single individual artist.

I don’t really have anything worthwhile to say. Ultimately my meaning rests in you. I have to find effective ways to build significance within you – and one of those ways is to facilitate your pursuit of excellence. I think that’s the whole purpose of Caversham.’

A writer from Limpopo collaborates with an artist from Atlanta, Georgia; an artist from Cape Town with an American writer. On the surface, their worlds couldn’t be more different. ‘Yet,’ says Malcolm, with a sense of wonderment, ‘it isn’t really the diversity, it’s the commonality which is the remarkable element.’

For him, Caversham is about that mutual interdependence between individuals, the impact on them of working in an environment of world-class printing facilities, and – importantly – the peace and quiet, the rural tranquillity of the setting. Caversham gives each person the space to pause, to create something unique in collaboration with another or others, whether it’s a limited edition print or a small book.

Malcolm believes that, essentially, everybody is creative. ‘I think the education systems have sucked the creativity from us. And I don’t mean the ability to draw. Creativity is far more fundamental than that: it’s our innate ability to embrace change.’

And then there’s inspiration. ‘I think over the last eight years, since we set up Caversham Centre, that’s what we’re about: inspiration. Inspiration as in the dictionary definitions: to breathe in, and the divine breath. Inspiration is about what moves you; what changes you fundamentally? That’s at the heart of Caversham.'