Anita Woolf
Ceramics
Anita Woolf was born in Durban, South Africa, in April 1935. Her early artistic leanings resulted in her being awarded the Art Prize for the province of Natal on her matriculation. At 17 she trained in Fine Arts at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, and went on to work in design and commercial art. From 1956 to 1959 Anita lived and worked, as farmer and artist, on a kibbutz at Yiftah in Israel. During her time there she painted murals in the community hall, in the children’s houses and for community projects and festivals. To this day, Yiftah uses the “peach” logo she painted for them. It is the centrepiece of their sports stadium, and it still appears on every box of fruit distributed! During this period she went to Oranim, where she undertook a teacher training course in arts and crafts.
Anita stopped painting about 20 years ago and has subsequently concentrated on working with clay, inspired by the work done at Maxability, the charity she and her husband founded in order to enhance the lives of disabled adults in the London Borough of Barnet. They were partly inspired to establish the charity because their son, Carl, is deaf and physically disabled. Maxability’s mission is to enable participants to develop their creative potential through inclusive ceramics classes.
