Many articles have been written and stories told about the man known as Outa Lappies (real name Jan Schoeman). He has featured large in the artistic history of the Karoo and especially the village of Prince Albert. Described in the foreign press as a “Green Peace Activist” and locally as the “Patchwork Philosopher and Karoo Artist”, he is all of these and more.

Before I share my impressions on meeting this enigmatic man I must take you back a little in time.

In the late 1990s I came across a photographic study of the Karoo and its people in a book by Obie Oberholzer. It featured photos of a man in a wonderful patchwork coat and hat set against the desolately beautiful backdrop of the Karoo. As patchwork and quilting are my passions I was immediately fascinated by him.

After further research I discovered that he shared two other passions of mine: recycling and wandering around the Karoo. However, where I drove in the comfort of a car or on a motorbike, he walked, pulling behind him an amazing creation: his ‘karretjie’, a homemade rickshaw decorated with feathers, old shoes, lanterns and pots. Apparently he had set himself a goal to walk the proverbial “ten thousand miles” and had an obsession with wandering, probably a result of his nomadic childhood.

During the day he would pull his rickshaw, which generally towed a train of gradually diminishing wagons, along the highways and byways of the Karoo, and sometimes further afield, picking up discarded objects along the road that he would later turn into his artworks. At night he would park his rickshaw next to the road and light it with candles whilst he slept in the veld. His ‘karretjie’ would resemble a train passing in the night – a picture I later discovered forms part of his imagery.

Whenever he returned to Prince Albert he would embroider a map of his journey, featuring highlights of his trip, commentary on life in general and many of his philosophical thoughts, which he calls his “chapters”. There is quite a strong Biblical reference to much of Outa’s work.

I heard that he had been born under a bush between Willowmore and Aberdeen, sometime between 1913 and the 1920s, to wandering sheep shearers Stefaans and Delia Schoeman, and that he occasionally lived in a tree on a farm on the Prince Albert road.

In August 1999 I wrote him a letter, which I addressed simply to “Outa Lappies, Prince Albert”, in which I asked him whether he sold his embroideries. In February 2000, much to my surprise, I received a reply in which he apologized for the delay in answering (he’d been wandering) and told me that he’d nearly finished building a special wall on the Prince Albert Road. He also informed me that his embroideries went for R2000 but that if I was a pensioner and couldn’t afford one he’d give it to me! I couldn’t afford one but had no desire to take advantage of his simple generosity so I wrote back and told him that I would come to visit him sometime.

Time passed, as it inevitably does, and although we visited the Karoo a great deal we just never seemed to get to Prince Albert. I read that in 2001 he’d been made the Western Cape’s Tourism Personality of the Year.

Then, in November last year, my husband and I decided on a whim to take a ride there on the bike. After we’d explored the area I walked into a shop in the main street and my eye was immediately drawn to some artwork hanging in a window. Imagine my delight on discovering that it was one of Outa’s pieces – a beaten metal shape, punctured by pokerwork and lit by broken glass and bits of indicator lights, featuring a hand and a heart. My darling husband bought it for me and on the accompanying certificate I found a contact number. I called and made the acquaintance of a couple who act as Outa’s agents who arranged for me to come and visit him in person, along with some friends of mine from our local textile art group. I was delighted that he’d agreed to see us as he doesn’t like to receive too many visitors.

We arrived at his present home, a tiny railway cottage, on a hellishly hot day in February. Outside stood his ‘karretjie’ amid drooping sunflowers - his tribute to Van Gogh. In the trees surrounding the cottage hung his creations, constantly reflecting and refracting light.

He emerged from the squalid interior bent completely double and greeted us with a broad grin while his large hands flitted like birds. He wanted to put on his special wizard hat for the meeting but his fingers wouldn’t work so I helped him. As I tied the ribbons under his chin I examined his face. It is beautiful; full of character, nervous energy and humour, and his eyes sparkle.

Immediately, Outa Lappies started talking. He is a great philosopher and has opinions about everything. He describes business as a ‘game’ one has to unfortunately play to survive - this in reference to his works that are sold by galleries. He is a wonderful story teller and told us, in a nutshell, that he had Standard Two and a half but that he could do anything he put his hand to and was not afraid to stand back, even from a Master of Arts. He was busy burning words into a piece of wood when we arrived, which said, in a sort of strange High Dutch, that if you don’t start doing something creative when it is given to you, you will lose it and "there will be no ending".

What surprised me was how articulate he is, speaking a mixture of pidgin English, High Dutch and even French and German. He told me that he had received part of his education from a farmer’s wife. I wondered, too, at his vast knowledge of the outside world despite living in such an isolated place. The world, in the form of admirers, truly comes to him. He said that on the night he was born his father expressed the hope that this child would be the one who would make something out of nothing and he has fulfilled that wish by creating beautiful and interesting pieces from found items his whole life.

Outa Lappies has chosen to live as a true hermit, sleeping on a concrete floor surrounded by piles of scrap metal and fabric. A basket full of letters and newspaper articles about him from all around the world stands in one corner. There is even a thank you letter from Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, to whom Outa sent a lantern.

Outa’s philosophies are simple: I have my hands and can make something out of nothing. Leave the world a better and prettier place than you found it. Whatever you achieve plough back into the community, which he does by giving a portion of his earnings to the local school as well as teaching the local children to recycle.

He makes wagons, lighthouses, hands and animals using a combination of crushed tin, broken glass, pokerwork, nails, sticks, feathers and other found items. The wall he built along the Prince Albert Road is reminiscent of Gaudi and full of nooks and crannies where he would place lights for travelers to be guided by.

He is a man driven to create beauty wherever he goes and described to me how an idea will take root in his mind, settle in his heart and hands and then shackle him. This intrigued me and I asked why he felt his work shackled him. He replied that he had to create his ideas; they would not let him go until they were done.

Outa Lappies is truly an Outsider Artist, as was Helen Martins of The Owl House fame, and there is a purity and honesty in his work. I believe he is a national treasure who has been largely ignored by the South African community, which is sad because he has so much to teach us. Most of his ‘chapters’ have gone overseas - a huge loss to South Africa, as they are a record of this remarkable man’s humorous and sometimes poignant observations of his journeys and his joy at living so close to nature’s beauty and harshness.

As we were getting ready to leave he made me sit next to him on the step of his house and he wrote me a letter and I quote:

“ Ik Outa het winter 1929 begin met scraps. Vandag 2011 is ek dankbaar.
Yours,
Outa
PA Weg”

I was very sad to take my leave of Outa but hope to visit him again soon. Meanwhile he inspired my friends and I to create our own ‘Tributes to Outa’ in textiles and recycled items.

Images (top to bottom):
Outa on his "karretjie" (photo: Lesley Jurgens)
Outa's "karretjie" (photo: Vivienne Holtzhausen)
One of Outa's wagons (photo: Lesley Jurgens)
One of Outa's simpler 'chapters' telling the story of a visit to Klaarstroom in 1931 (photo: Vivienne Holtzhausen)
A collection of lanterns for sale in Prins Albert (photo: Vivienne Holtzhausen)

Vivienne Holtzhausen lives in the Pinkhaus in Great Brak, a retreat for people seeking quiet and a creative environment. Visit the website at www.thepinkhaus.weebly.com

UPDATE
Sadly, Outa Lappies died tragically on Wednesday, 6 July 2011 Gudrun and Bodo Toelstede, friends of Outa Lappies in Prince Albert, are planning a museum and gallery of his work - a fitting tribute. We have no doubt his legacy will live on in those whose lives were touched by this remarkable man.