Celebration

Today's Featured Sculpture

Celebration by Norest Mashaya 

Genre: Family/Children

Weight: 89kg

Stone type: Springstone

Dimensions: 102 x 35 x 40 cm

Sculptor Information

Mashaya was born in Harare on 29 June 1985 in Zimbabwe. Mashaya is a natural born artist who started sculpting in 2002. Though he just started sculpting as a hobby at a tender age he however started it seriously while in high school when he worked as an apprentice to Tinei Mashaya, a well-respected artist in Zimbabwe and abroad.

Mashaya is a young artist whose work portrays man’s affinity with nature.

No wonder his work have been exhibited in many countries like Germany, America, Canada, England, South Africa, South Korea and other countries.

Dog

Today's Featured Sculpture

Dog by Enos Gunja

Genre: Animals

Weight: 15kg

Stone type: Steatite

Dimensions: 28 x 19 x 39 cm

Sculptor information 

Enos Gunja is from the Kore-Kore tribe and is forbidden through his family totem to eat lion meat.

After reaching Standard 6 at school Enos worked as a brick maker and became eventually a hunter fir a tsetse fly control team. His position was to guard the people spraying to eradicate the tsetse fly.

He discovered his talent at carving while at Tengenenge Sculpture Community. Enos says his ideas come from his imagination. Enos uses his logic; a figure is carved out of a stone where it lies like a figure wrapped in a blanket. He says it is not seen by anyone only he can see this imaginary figure, like a figure in a pool, until it is carved out of the stone starting from the top of the head until the feet are revealed. He is considered to be a great poet and storyteller and enjoys dancing.

Enos carves in the mountain where he quarries his own stone. The finished work is taken to his house at Tengenenge where it is polished and oiled and exhibited outside. Enos’s sculpture was included in an exhibition, which toured the U.S.A. Enos believes the course of his life depends on the will of his ancestral spirits. Once, Enos says, he became possessed by a spirit and became restless and disturbed. He was cured only after beer was brewed to propitiate ancestral spirits and offerings were made to the local Mondoro medium that is possessed by the spirit of a lion, Shona belief. His sculpture sometimes reveals inner perplexity. Grotesque and tortured, with bulging eyes and beaklike mouth with the nose omitted or divided into horns. Other sculptures are serene and natural with soft rounded out and sensual curved elements.

Kissing Couple

Today's Featured Sculpture

Kissing Couple by David Gopito

Genre:          Family/Children
Weight:        16kg
Stone type:   Serpentine
Dimensions:  37 x 28 x 13 cm

Information about the Sculptor

Born in 1946 in Mutare, Zimbabwe, David Gopito is married and has four children. He attended St. Webecks School and left after completing standard six. He now lives in Chitungwiza.
After leaving school he helped his brother who was a wood and stone carver in Mutare. In 1970, he went to Victoria Falls and joined the Forest Craft Village. Today, after having branched into producing unique pieces of sculpture, David works as part of a prominent sculpture community.
David prefers to work in harder stones such as Verdite, Golden Serpentine and Serpentine. His sculpture is elegantly finished and he spends time ensuring they are well polished. David produces semi abstract pieces exploring subjects pertaining to human experience and emotion. He appreciates subjects such as the special relationship between a mother and newborn baby/child as well as the growth of a foetus and often expresses these interests in his sculpture. David’s work is characterised by rounded lines and is extremely tactile.
David Gopito is a fine second generation Contemporary Sculptor who has participated in several group exhibitions worldwide and has become increasingly popular over the years.

African Spirit

Today's Featured Sculpture

African Spirit by Tinei Mashaya 

Sculptor:      Tinei Mashaya

Dimensions:  89 x 37 x 26 cm

Weight:         69kg

Medium:       Springstone

Genre:          Spiritual

Sculptor Information 

Tinei Mashaya was born in Nyanga on the 8th of February 1978. As a young boy he would spend many hours drawing pictures in the sand of mountains, trees, animals and hunters. The joy of forming shapes and images in the sand, soon led to his interest in sculpting images and shapes in stone.

His work explores regions of sensuality and spirituality; each piece is a statement of the soul yearning to break free from the confines of its physical dimensions. The depth of his imagination is the power that inspires him to immortalise his ideas and emotions in stone. Tinei’s work is so powerful that even the press was quick to notice him as he appeared in a Herald article with his very first piece. Tinei owes much of his training and encouragement to his brothers Passmore and Euwitt Nyanhongo who are renowned artists in their own rights.

Tinei has had his works included in several exhibitions in countries like the USA and South Africa. He has also participated in many local exhibitions. He hopes to take part in many other exhibitions and to have his pieces exposed abroad.

Artist :      Talli de Wet
Title:         Knitting
Medium:   Oil
Dimen :     70 x 55 cm.

Stellenbosch Gallery

Dear Friends,
Our new gallery in Stellenbosch is up and running! Apart from our extensive range of stone sculptures, we also have a collection of paintings by artists Carol Norval and Talli de Wet.
We are situated in the historic Dorp Street, number 176, look forward to seeing you there.

To all supporters of our blog pages. Sorry nothing has been added to our blog for some time. Unfortunatly Lize our computer blogging operator is off ill and will only return next month. If there are any questions I can answer please ask. Regards, Barrie