Zuva Gallery Blog

Johannesburg

After saying goodbye to Zimbabwe, we spent a couple of days enjoying Johannesburg before returning home. In addition to discovering my newest restaurant obsession (www.tashas.co.za), I had the pleasure of spending a morning with the lovely and talented painter, Lori Schappe-Youens, at her studio outside her home in Linden. The large, light-filled space has huge barn doors that open to let nature in (and her dogs and cat, too) and is as close to perfect as a painting studio could be. I previewed a collection of pieces that Lori is working on for a solo exhibition in Santa Fe next month. She is using some very engaging collage and mixed-media processes, and is exploring imagery that ties her roots growing up in the Midwestern United States, with her experience living in Africa and her deep connection with the American Southwest. Her work is stunningly beautiful and a natural fit for Zuva. Look for some new color palettes and large-scale paintings that will ship to Arizona later this year; I can’t wait to see what she comes up with!

A Good Time Was Had By All 

As they say… all good things must come to an end. We are winding down our business in Harare, the sculptures are crated, two containers have been filled and fumigated, and everything is in order to begin the journey to the States. Here are some photos from our last few days in Zim. The outdoor mural is my favorite; we drove past it at least once every day on our way to the shipping company. I love the vibrant colors and think it is such a beautiful backdrop for an otherwise ordinary, everyday scene. We’ve had some nice meals with good friends, including a delightful lunch al fresco at Ros Byrne Pottery Studio, and dinner at Tom’s favorite place, St. Elmos Kitchen, with sculptor Jonah Runyanga, his wife Maria, sculptor Lawrence Mukomberanwa, his wife Theolyn, their two little boys, and Lawrence’s brother Taguma. A good time was had by all…

National Gallery of Zimbabwe

We made a visit to the National Gallery to see Dominic Benhura’s “Bull” sculpture, and found it on display right out front. It is a great piece. Also on exhibit is a show called “Live ‘N’ Direct”, staged in honor of the 2010 World Cup. The goal of the show was to challenge Zimbabwean artists “to reflect deeply and produce cutting edge work that speaks on being proudly Zimbabwean within the global context” according to the show’s curator. The breadth of work is remarkable, from found object installations and contemporary mixed media pieces, to highly detailed pen drawings and paintings that capture daily moments of life in Zimbabwe. My favorites: a bold beautiful oversized canvas by Chitungwiza artist Freddy Tauro that suggests imagery of township houses and the colorful tapestry of the African experience, and a 7 foot tall “Guitar” by Stanford Derere that is constructed with sculpted Springstone, metal and wood.

Mukomberanwa Farm

A visit to the Mukomberanwa farm at Galloway Estate is a magical experience. You approach the property slowly on a winding, tree-lined dirt road that is dappled with sunshine, pass some cows that watch you drive by, unlatch a few makeshift gates, and eventually arrive to an idyllic open field with seemingly endless skies. The late Nicholas Mukomberanwa bought the farm in 1979 and sculpted there for more than 20 years. His son, Lawrence, now sculpts in plein air on the 250 acre property. Lawrence has been – in his words – “whiling away the time sculpting”, and in the peaceful surroundings of his father’s farm, he has quietly created some of his most impressive and powerful works to date. He gave us a tour of his newest pieces, and each one that he revealed was more spectacular than the next. I just hope the photos can convey one tenth of the experience that it is to see the works in person.

Dominic Benhura Studio

One of the first artists we visited when we arrived in Harare was our good friend Dominic Benhura. He has a beautiful home and lovely gardens, with a vast outdoor studio in the suburb of Greendale where he creates all of his signature pieces. There are also about 25 other artists sculpting on site, so a visit to Dominic Studio is always a treat.

Dominic has some fantastic new pieces on display around the property. Highlights include a larger than life sized mother and child in Springstone (see Dominic in the photo), a large bird carved from Cobalt Stone, and two other mother and child themed scuptures, carved in Opal Stone.

Dominic never ceases to surprise me with his infinite curiosity for trying new things in his art, and I was thrilled to see a work in progress - a commissioned “Horse” sculpture that he is making for a client. Dom is working from a photo of the client’s own horse, and he is creating the sculpture in a new, experimental style where he first welds a steel superstructure, and then fuses small pieces of stone to the structure to create the form. As Dom pointed out, this new style is “green” because he is repurposing scrap stones (a byproduct from making other sculptures) that would otherwise go unused. This is only the second sculpture that he has created with this technique; he also made a massive “Bull” sculpture that is now on display at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in downtown Harare.

Chitungwiza Art Centre

Chitungwiza is a township area outside of Harare where there are a number of artist who have set up studios together. The work is always of the highest quality with sculptures sanded down to 2000 grit for a high shine, and much care is taken with precise sculpting tools for sharp lines and level bases. Many of the artists from Chitungwiza have exhibited their work in Europe and the United States and we enjoy seeing the new pieces that they create. This year is no exception and we are excited by some of the new forms - especially some of the abstract sculptures - that we have seen. Some other pieces of note are: owl sculptures by our friend Taurai Mupaso - the best owl sculptor in Zimbabwe; a very elegant, tall female torso in highly polished springstone by Lawrence Tirivangani; and a wonderful bust of Madiba - Nelson Mandela - that is a highlight of the collection. Here are a few teaser photos!

Off The Beaten Path

We spent a large part of the day on a wild goose chase for some artists that we heard about in the rural area of Guruve. I had one name and phone number for an artist named Shine that we got from a guy we met in Vic Falls. So we left early from Harare to meet up with him, and he showed us to some artists houses for a few hours. Unfortunately, we did not find much in the way of completed sculpture. And although it was a gorgeous Zimbabwean morning with blue skies, puffy white clouds and rolling fields of grass blowing in the breeze, we had work to do and sculpture to source. So we headed back into town to check in with some other artists that we know at Chitungwiza.

Giraffe making 

Being that we have a container full of giraffes and hippos (wood, of course!) headed for Arizona, I thought I would share some photos from our visit to a rural village where the giraffes are carved entirely by hand. Depending on the wood, which is generally teak, olive or iron wood, a medium sized giraffe will take an average of 7-10 days from start to completion. The carvers work in the shade of an old teak tree, and use very simple tools. The mastery by such skilled artisans is amazing to watch. A hand axe is used to form the rough shape of the giraffe’s body, including delicate legs, neck, face, ears and horns. After the basic form is created, the carvers use wood chisels to refine the shape. The giraffe is then sanded thoroughly, polished with several coats of wax and if desired, shoe polish for color, and finally the spots and other details (including my favorite – the eyelashes!) are burned into the wood.  

Leaving Victoria Falls and on to Harare…

The mighty Zambezi

Whew! One week and our work in Victoria Falls is complete. Everything has been crated and loaded on the truck which is now en route to Harare. We had a few hours to spare, so we hired a boat to go fishing on the Zambezi River for Tiger Fish. We did not catch anything… but our guide Larry was great. We saw crocodiles, hippos and came upon three elephants on an island in the river. We got quite close with the boat and it was amazing to see the detail in the elephant’s skin and hear them grazing on the grass.