Artists

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Born in Guruve in Northern Zimbabwe, Stuart did four years at secondary school at Chifamba High.Steward began sculpting as a result of contact with the rural community of sculptors at Sanganai art group where he learned the basic techniques.In 1997 he started to assist the talented sculptor Tavengwa Chapenga who was his greatest inspiration and helped him to develop his own style in sculpting.Stewart is inspired by the mystery of daily life and he is a good obsever of human emotions and movements.  His sculptures are mostly abstract in nature, but the topics are universal and appeal to people all over the world.  His sculptures can be found in exhibitions and private collections in Germany, Holland, Australia, Canada and the U.S. 

 Chenjerai Chiripanyanga is a professional artist working in Harare. He is one of the few sculpture artists from Zimbabwe who not only works with serpentine stone but also with rusty iron, bicycle and car parts or wood in his sculptures. The subjects of Chenjerai's work are emotional, refreshing and sometimes political. His carvings often focus on musical instruments. According to Chenjerai, "Music is the heart of our art in Zimbabwe, either traditional music or modern music influences our feelings. This directs our hands when we create." He goes further to say, “Music is important to all cultures, it's like a common language between every culture. I wish people in power would really listen to the music more closely. Maybe then we could live in unity." Chenjerai's first exhibition was held in Europe in The Hague, Netherlands in 1993. While there he demonstrated his great talent as a sculptor as well as being a very fine painter. Chenjerai continues to participate in various local and international exhibitions and has won many prizes including the National Heritage Exhibition in 1992. His work has been sold to collectors all over the world.  

Phillip Mlima was born in 1978 in Harare and he grew up in the Mufokse Township but his family comes from Mutoko.  He is the first born in a family of five and a father of three.  He started sculpting in 1998 in the Ruwa area, he was inspired b the late Gerald Takawira who was one of the celebrated arts from Zimbabawe. 

In 1996 he was taught to sculpt by Gerald.  It was not hard to sculpt since that was his vision for life.  He specializes with creations , abstracts, animals, figurative birds and some other things that are available in Shona society.  His art shows many things about the Shona culture and the way the people should maintain it.  As he sculpts birds, animals and abstracts these show many things about how people should maintain it. 

I was born in Rusape Zimbabwe 20 February  1977, I went to school up to form Zimbabwean education. During school days while I was doing my secondary education I used to help my brothers assisting them those who were doing stone sculpting.  In my family we are many, brothers and uncles who do stone sculpting mostly we work on animals.  I start doing stone-sculpting in 1998. Me I like to carve elephants mostly on nice hard stones.  Also besides stone sculpting I work as a security officer at a hospital in Harare Zimbabwe, I am a married man. I work in Chitungwiza Arts Centre but before I come into Chitungwiza centre I used to work at Chikwanha also in Chitungwiza Zimbabwe.  I myself like to work on hard stones and try by almost to produce nice artworks. My hobby after work, I like to watch football and I wish to do workshops and exhibition locally and internationally. Again I wish to promote young people who want to learn sculpting by teaching them. I sell my artworks Worldwide. 

 Misheck Makaza was born in 1977 in Guruve, the North of Zimbabwe. Misheck is from the Shona tribe, unmarried and sixth born in a family of seven.Misheck accomplished his primary education in Guruve and in 1995 began secondary education in Negomo achieving five OLevels.After completing education Misheck visited his brother Tinashe who was then working at Chapungu Sculpture Park on a years residency programme. Misheck joined Tinashe at Chapungu and started working as his assistant. 

In his spare time he used to sculpt his own pieces, which were brought by various customers of his brothers.Mishecks work is influenced by his natural surroundings and his sculptures reflect the organic shapes found in mountains clouds and flowers.Sadly his brother passed away in July 2002 and Misheck has now carried on as a full-time artist in honour of his brother.Apart from sculpting Misheck likes to keep abreast of current affairs, attends church and visits places that interest him. 

He was born in 1974 on August the 13th in Nyazura, Manicaland Province in Zimbabwe. He was born in a family of seven and he is the forth born. He did his primary school at Zambuko School, in 1990 he went to Mavhudzi Secondary School. Then in 1995 he joined his brother Jeffrey who was a sculptor, who inspired him to pursue stone carving. Jeffrey has since passed on.  

His works are seen mostly in hard rocks such as verdite, cobalt, springstone, dolomite, lepidolite, butter jade and so on. He specialises in carving elephants and tortoises.  

He got married in 2001 and is blessed with three boys and one girl. In his spare time, he loves to farm in his home village in Nyazura.  

Andamiyo Chohota was born in 1976 in Chitungwiza. His family later moved to Guruve, a rural region with a rich stone-sculpting tradition, where he started carving at the age of 13. He attributes his father, Luke Chihota, with sparking and nurturing his talent. Andamiyo was also inspired by the late Henry Munyaradzi, one of the founders of the Shona art movement, whom he visited regularly as a young boy. After he left school, Andamiyo began an apprenticeship with his cousin Edronce Rukodzi (an internationally acclaimed sculptor) who introduced him to the Tengenenge Art Community. By the age of 17, he was carving full time. 

Andamiyo finds inspiration from a number of sources and has become most well known for his renderings of birds, animals and depictions of the Shona people. My sculptures show my respect for the African wildlife and for the cultural values of the people, he explains. He selects his stones with great care, favouring the exceptionally beautiful fruit serpentine from one particular mine near Guruve. All Andamiyo’s distinctive sculptures bear his artistic signature delicately decorated eyes. Eyes, he explains, express what is inside, as they look out on the world. His work is expressive, contemplative and beautifully crafted. Paramount in his process is finding the ‘balance’ in a piece of stone and of the importance of detail in the finish. Although Andamiyo is still a member of the Tengenenge Art Community, he felt that relocating to Harare would heighten exposure of his work. There he works alongside his older brother Singi and two cousins, in an urban outdoor studio. In 2002 he was invited to St. Andreasberg in Germany, where he participated in a group exhibition and gave sculpting workshops. He has participated in several major group shows of Shona sculptures, most notably at the Museum of Fine Arts in San Diego, California. His sculptures have sold to collectors in Holland, Germany, Belgium, the UK, the USA and Canada. He is represented by Sankaranka Gallery in New York City. Andamiyo travelled to Canada in 2006 as the guest artist-in-residence for Shona D’Afrique II in Montreal and for Rice Lake VII, the seventh annual outdoor exhibition of Shona sculptures hosted by ZimArt. He also led a sculpting workshop in the Rice Lake Gallery, which was enthusiastically received by his students. Adamiyo spent the summer of 2008 in Germany. He led a workshop in Skulpturengalerie Sylt on Sylt, an island in the Northern Sea, and in Franconia, at two other galleries; Into Africa by Nuremberg, and Atelier Rap in Obervolkach. 

Felix Mlungisi is a leading member of the new generation of Zimbabwean sculptors. 

He was born in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe.  In 1998 he completed his secondary education at Hippo Valley school and moved to the capital city Harare to look for a better life. In Harare he began to study under his uncle, the established sculptor Rangarirai Makunde who provided him with excellent technical and artistic guidance.  In 2000 he began making his own sculptures and he developed his own unique style of abstract figures, animals, persons – all characterized by elegant lines and fine finish and produced in a great variety of sizes.During this period he had several additional teachers like Gladman Zinyeka, Colleen Madamombe and Gerald Takawira.  Since then he has never stopped or looked back. 

The stones he works on are Serpentine, Opal, Verdite and Springstone among other types of hard rocks. 

Felix married in 2004 to Hilda and they have a son Tinotenda and a daughter Nokutenda. 

Felix Mlungisi’s objectives are 

to be recognized as a leading young Zimbabwean sculptor.

I was born in Goromonzi 1987. I started  my primary education in 1995 at Chindotwe primary school and in 2002 I started my secondary education in Bindura district at Rutope secondary school. 

During my school holidays and weekends , I carve some stones as an assistance to my brother  Portipher Andrea. After finishing my secondary education in 2005 I started to spend most  of my time in doing stone sculpting and working with my brother Portipher. 

In 2006i carve my first piece titled  Daughter In Law  on green leopard rock stone , *this was a young woman carrying the clay pot* . Now I specialize on making figurative and different  creatures such as frogs, rabbits, tortoise, bats and chameleons on different  stones such as leopard rock stone, hyena stone among other type of hard stones. 

Richard Mupumha Junior was born in October 1988 in Chitungwiza, Zimbabwe. The 7th child in a family of eight, named from his uncle who is the NAMA Award winner and established artist Richard Mupumha. 

Richard’s older brothers, Onias and Itayi are established sculptors in Zimbabwe hence it is equally true to conclude that art runs in the Mupumha family bloodline. At the weekends during his schooldays, Richard would earn a little pocket money by helping them work on their sculptures – a typical informal apprenticeship whereby he would assist in the sanding and polishing of the finishing stages of sculptures. 

Immediately after finishing secondary school, Richard wanted to improve and perfect his talent in stone curving and develop it to a career professionally, so he joined Onias as his assistant. Now he is sculpting full-time and it has been a few years but is now ranked among the best stone sculptures in the country and has many customers from all round the world. 

Addington Nyasoka was born in 1994 in Guruve. He lived in a village of artists, namely the late Briton Sango. He did his primary level and secondary level education at Chifamba School. Due to family issues he failed to finish his education. In 2014 he moved to Hatfield at Tsindi Gallery where he started to assist Bywell Sango, Douglas Goshomi and Godfrey Matungamidze. In 2015 Addington started to stand alone and started sculpting on his own and creating his own work. Mostly, he focuses on abstract art, as well as birds and figures on serpentine stone, opal, fruit and spring stone.

Charles Manyaura was born on the 26th of June 1983. He did his primary level at Kafura primary school. He started working alongside  Lameck  Bonjisi in  2001. While working  with Lameck Bonjisi  as his assistant, Chales gained a lot of experience.  Unfortunately  Lameck  passed away. This is  when he started  his own workshop along airport road  where he is currently  working  at the moment. He  is mainly   focused  on human figures he prefers  to work on  hard  material that  makes his art more creative   such as  Spring stone , white opal  and  an approach  on   cobalt  some times .

He is married and have four children 3 girls and a boy. His main ambition is to make his art spread all over the world and also exhibit  his work out side  Zimbabwe.

Spencer Chigombe was born on the 16th of January in 1987 in Murehwa. He did Art as a subject at secondary school level. His appreciation for Art led him to acquaint with Tawanda Kapusi who has been in the stone sculpting business for some years. Tawanda Kapusi became his mentor in sculpting and from there Spencer developed skill and expertise. After receiving mentorship from Mr Kapusi he has never looked back and keeps growing career wise. Spencer is a dedicated and hardworking sculptor evidenced by his works.

Simon has participated in several group exhibitions at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Mutare. His work has been bought by galleries and collectors from Holland, the UK, the US, South Africa, Canada and Germany. Simon is the first artist to be invited back for a second residency with ZimArt (2013).

Simon Chidharara was born in 1980 in Mutare’s Nyanga area, a beautiful mountainous region with a strong sculpting tradition located near the Mozambiquen border. He started sculpting at the age of 11, apprenticing with his older brother Kenneth. Simon completed his secondary education before deciding that he wanted to pursue his passion for carving full time. Learning is still important to him and he is voracious reader. “Any topic interests me,” he says. “Geography, history, science all influence human life and I like to find out more about what makes us do the things we do, and feel the way we feel.” Simon is one of the founding members of the Nyanga Arts Centre, a co-operative venture run by local artists in the Nyanga region. He says the stone from the region is itself a vital source of inspiration to him and that he will always remain close to his rural roots. Indeed a strong influence in Simon’s work is the natural world and man’s connection to birds and animals. When he went to Canada in 2007 Simon was the first third-generation artist from the Nyanga region to travel overseas to represent himself and present his work directly to an international audience. He has long been popular with Canadian collectors who are drawn to the expressive range in his sculptures and the emotional depth. Simon’s subjects are\ frequently women or “feminine spirits,” which are sometimes represented as mythical creatures. “Women are the centre of life,” he explains, “So I like to celebrate everything about them.”

Having been inspired by the late Francis Mutyikanda and Fungai Chakapu, she has not looked back since then as a young girl. Other women who pursued stone sculpting before her such as Diana Nyakudya have also played a major influence in her art. She focuses on creations and abstract art, passionate about the rabbit family especially. She has participated in many exhibitions and workshops including one at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe.

He was born on the 8th of January 1976 in Chiota Communal Lands, Marondera. He did part of his primary education in the rural areas before moving to the capital where he continued with his education up to ‘O’ Level, this was at Zengeza 3 High School. After that he studied Travel and Tourism, culminating in his attaining a certificate in 1999 and later on a Diploma in the same discipline with I.C.M. He would say that the moment when he moved from the rural areas to the city was the turning point- this is so because during that early age he used to watch Sylvester Mubayi, a world famous stone sculptor doing his sculpting whilst at the same time trying his hand using chip offs. Though he did not produce works of a good quality, he knew that with such a beginning I would one day be able to make very creative pieces. With neither laid down rules nor guidelines except for his own highly personal ambitions he set out to produce sculpture that, not only evokes, but also provides greater stimulation and interest to his audience. Often we talk about the old Shona customs and traditions, which have helped our people to live happily for centuries – in his sculptures he tries to translate emotion, beauty and substance into a coherent provocative form. His aspiration is to create images that transcend the mundane to reveal dignity and elegance that might otherwise remain unseen. He look up to people like Eddie Masaya, a second-generation sculptor, whose vibrancy and creative capacity make him to aspire to greater creative heights. He is also inspired when he looks at the work of his brother George, who often puts salient academic applications to every piece he does. He  is so grateful to all those who helped him, and in particular, his wonderful father, Sylvester who- more than anyone- trained his eyes to see movement and hear the sounds not audible to most people. His works have been exhibited worldwide and most notably in: The United States of America, United Kingdom, Germany,  and The Netherlands.

He was born 8 August 1973 in Nyanga district, Manicaland province, Zimbabwe in a family of many brothers who are stone sculptors. He did his primary education at Chitando primary school 1982-1986 in Manicaland, were he finished his grade six. He did not finish his education due to financial problems. After that, he could not continue with his education so he had to go to search for work in the nearby farms. Then in 1990 he was taken in by one of  his brothers  Fungai Mafuwu , who was a stone sculptor and he became his assistant , while he was working with him  he met his other brother who was also an stone sculptor,  Farai Mangenda , he then started teaching him how to sculpt stone in 1990. In 1994 while he was working with Farai he got more experience then he started to work on his own as an independent creative. He likes to work on hard stones mostly Verdite, butter jade, Leopard rock, and Springstone. He carves mainly human figures, busts, heads, animals and many more. He is married and blessed with six children, and besides stone sculpting loves to watch soccer. He is looking forward to continue teaching young ones in the art of stone sculpting

Phillip Tawarimira was born on the 3rd of October 1989. He did his primary education at Sabvure Primary School in Nyanga district under Chief Katerere, he went further to secondary education at Nyakomba Secondary School in Nyanga again were he just did form one for just first term. He transferred to Muziti Secondary School in Rusape were he completed his Ordinary Level and he moved on to Sanzaguru High School for Advanced Level. After completion of advanced level I began to be interested with art. His interest in stone sculpting was ignited in 2014 while he was working with his uncle Tafadzwa Sachiwo as his assistant. Tafadzwa carves mostly elephants in different kind of hard stones, he chose to start by carving whale tails through the assistance of his friend Emmanuel Madzivanyika, who carves whale tails and tortoise mostly. He loves to work on hard stones like springstone, opal stone, verdite stone, and leopard stone among other types of hard rocks.  His art work has been sold all over the world. His ambition is to participate in some exhibitions and workshops both local and international ones, as well as to be a teacher of upcoming generations. Besides stone sculpting he likes watching football.

Tawanda was born in Marondera District. He did his primary and secondary education at Chimbwanda East and Chakadini schools in the same district respectively.

Tawanda comes from a prosperous family, his father is a successful communal farmer. He was interested in farming and stone carving at an early stage. Because he spends most of his time with his uncle Gerald Takawira a renowned artist, during holidays Tawanda worked in Gerald’s works removing unwanted material from stones and from that time he did not look back.

After completing his secondary education in 1996, Tawanda began to work full time for his uncle Gerald Takawira and during that period in time he began to absorbed all the necessary skills of sculpting. Tawanda is capable of producing different sculptures with different meanings and feelings. After three years of working with Gerald, Tawanda started working on his own full time and in 1999 he managed to sell some of his pieces to National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe.

Tawanda’s work speaks volumes by the way he portrays and to add on to that he also managed to secure good markets locally and abroad. Tawanda has held several exhibitions and workshops in Munich, Berlin and Frankfurt in Germany. His work is currently displayed at Ambassador Art Gallery, National Art Gallery in Zimbabwe and Europe. 

Taurai Chinofura was born on the 16th of August 1983 at Nyadhiri  Hospital in  Uzumba  District Mashonaland  East in Zimbabwe  ,in a family of 5 him being the only one  who is into stone  sculpting In 1991 to 1997 he  did  his primary  at Resthaven .He was good at drawing, during    that time he joined art  class since he had portion in art through the experience he got at home while playing with friends. Due to his age it was difficult to do painting though in his heart he wished too. He did not proceed with school since it was difficult  for his parents to pay for all  of them due to financial  difficulties .In 2008 Taurai still with his portion on art from school  he joined  Washington Musonza who taught  him stone sculpting  it did not take Taurai long to  gain experience .

As years passed he became a full artist.  He is currently  working independently in Hatfield .His human  figure  has a touch almost similar to  Washington  his teacher .He also dose birds and  sometimes he takes approach to animals .White  polished opal stone  is one of his  best stone  since it gives  a good sight to customers when nicely and properly finished and also green opal  and spring stone  are favorable.

My name is Godfrey Dambaza I was born on 2 January 1994 in Guruve. I went to Chifamba Primary and then Chifamba high school. I was inspired by my brothers namely Kudzai Dambaza and Liveity Dambaza. When I was pretty young, I would use my brother’s tools to make some very small pieces. I got most of my inspiration from Liveity Dambaza and in would assist him in sanding and polishing his sculptures during weekends and holidays. In 2010 I started doing my own pieces through the mentorship of my brothers. During all this time l was in Guruve then I moved to Harare in 2018 where I joined Tsindi Hatfield Art Centre.

When sculpting l use hand tools. My favorite stone to curve is Spring stone, Cobalt, Avocado and Serpentine. I have sold my works to China, UK, Canada and a number of European countries.

My name is Gift Pawandiwa I was born in 1976 in Mutoko, the first born in a family of five. I did my primary at Zengeza main school and my secondary education at Zengeza two high school where l completed my O- Level in 1994.Whe I was a young boy and still in primary school I began to develop an interest in art and this did not go well with my mother because she insisted l should prioritize my education first. At that time l used to mold toy animals and pots with clay soil and my first step into sculpting l curved a wooden stick for my grandfather.

A number of people admired the walking stick l had made for my grandfather and I was inspired to curve more in which l began to sell. Then I joined Nyamayaro and Chikubirike family in June 1998 and that is when I taught myself to curve human heads from stones. People used to laugh at work because they were substandard but that did not discourage me. This made me to become more determined to work hard and become better and successful sculptor. Then l began to expand my work to sculpt different pieces of art such as chameleon, tortoise, frogs, and geckos using stone.

Since l have not looked back and l managed to sell pieces to different countries like South Africa, UK ,Netherlands and U.S.A . I specialize in carving human heads and human figures using any type of stone.