Artist: Tonddrayi Nyagato, 2002, "The Prayer"

Serpentine, 8"H x 8"W x 4"D, 9 lbs From the collection of Dr. Roy Guthrie, Director, Chapungu Gallery and Sculpture Park.

"For the past 48 years, Zimbabwe Stone Sculpture has been a contemporary art phenomenon that has played a significant role in the development of art from Africa. ...The early artists, principally associated with the National Gallery Workshop, derived their inspiration mainly from their own culture and beliefs, in which the natural world plays a significant role...Over the past 40 years, some of the most outstanding Stone Sculpture of our times has come from the Shona people of Zimbabwe. Many of the finest works have depicted those matters closest to the hearts of the artists--their own way of life, their culture and their daily living experiences...Zimbabwe sculpture is direct; it is powerfully human; it is seductive, beautiful and often emotive; and it is truthful, both to its material, which artists believe has an innate spiritual life force of its own, and to its subject matter." Dr. Roy Guthrie

The name Zimbabwe means “stone houses” and celebrates the country’s ancient tradition of stonework. Although sculptors in Zimbabwe have access to a wide range of modern tools and compressors, they continue to rely on traditional hand methods. A sculpture can take weeks or months to complete. The stone is first worked and roughly shaped with a mallet and punch. More refined detail and lines are created with chasing hammers and rasps. Final surfaces, textures and lines are generated by days of tedious hand sanding. A clear carnuaba-based wax may be applied to enhance the stones natural colors and highlight the striking contrast between polished and raw surfaces. The most common stones used are serpentines. Zimbabwean serpentines share densities similar to hard North American marbles and are preferred by artists for their ability to hold fine lines. Zimbabwean sculpture is ideally suited for both indoor and outdoor settings. Nature’s elements only enhance the stones’ natural colors, and intense heat, moisture and cold have little effect on stone that has already weathered the harsh elements in Africa for centuries. (Many thanks to the Zuva Gallery in Scottsdale Arizona for writing this copy.)