Inside the Mind and Heart of a Collector: David Arment and South African Telephone Wire Art

Vernick Auditorium

Since at least the 16th century, the African continent has been home to intricate creations fashioned from copper and brass wire; but the art form known today as telephone wire art has its more recent origins in the wire embellishments on sticks and beer pot covers (izimbenge) first fashioned by Black workers during the Apartheid decades. Employing coated wire that became available with the advent of telephone lines, these unidentified artists produced pieces from salvaged telephone wire, creating desirable items, sought by travelers in search of “Zulu” souvenirs. After Apartheid, the pioneering work of the Bartel Arts Trust and Nedbank Arts and Culture Trust opened the door for an emerging contemporary art form—telephone wire art—that combines innovation and experimentation with traditional methods, motifs, and forms.

David Arment, an art consultant and collector based in Santa Fe, is known in South Africa as the “telephone wire Fundi”  (telephone wire expert). Arment first encountered telephone wire baskets in 1991 when his husband, Jim Rimelspach, took him on a birthday trip to Africa. Three decades later, the collection numbers around 2000 pieces; a number of them—thanks to a generous gift from Arment and Rimelspach—have been accessioned as part of the collection at MOIFA and form the basis of iNgqikithi yokuPhica/ Weaving Meanings: Telephone Wire Art from South Africa which opened in November at the Museum of International Folk Art (MOIFA). The exhibition has at its core the generous gift to MOIFA of the David Arment Southern African Collection.

This presentation will focus on David Arment’s life as a major collector of South African telephone wire art: How he got started, what keeps him going, how extensive the collection is at this point, how he lives with a major collection. He will talk about why he and his husband Jim Rimelspach have gifted part of the collection to a museum while they are still actively building the collection. For the FOFA audience that is passionately interested in the handmade, the traditional arts, innovation in tradition, this glimpse into the mind and heart of a collector is sure to be an enlightening and entertaining event. In preparation, please come to MOIFA and tour the exhibition several times before this event!

Registration is free for FOFA Members. All participants must be current members of FOFA. A Single Membership allows access to one ticket. A Dual Membership allows for two tickets.

For information on joining FOFA, a membership group of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation, please click here.

For questions, please email friendsoffolkart@gmail.com