Zimbabwe: Tengenenge Arts - Stones That Speak

Source from:  Financial Gazette (Harare) 7 August 2008 08/11/2008

THE story of Tengenenge Arts is one of mystical wonder. Mystical in that there is a story about a "singing snake" that alerted artists to the presence of visiting art buyers. Wonder because it houses more than 200 artists who work together, producing sculptures that celebrate Zimbabwean art and its beauty. Based in Guruve, Tengenenge Arts is a community based organisation incorporating one of the biggest garden galleries in Zimbabwe and indeed Africa. It has also been home to world renowned stone sculptors like Bernard Matemera. The artists at Tengenenge Arts comprise seasoned and aspiring stone sculptors -- men and women -- the young and old. But the story of Tengenenge Arts cannot be told without mentioning its founder, Tom Blomfield. Blomfield bought a farm in Guruve which he called Tengenenge. Whatever inspired him to turn the tobacco farm into a gallery of sculptors and sculptures seems to be spiritual. Artists say that Blomfield (a white man) lived like "a black man". He did everything they did including organising an annual traditional ceremony (bira) where a beast was slaughtered and beer brewed so as to appease the spirits of Tengenenge. And for a whole night, the community could sing and dance and feast on meat and beer. Indeed the people of Guruve believe Tengenenge Arts is a special place guided by ancestral spirits. "This is one of Zimbabwe's wonders alongside Victoria Falls and Great Zimbabwe," says Steve, Blomfield's son and a former director of Tengenenge Arts. But then the elder Blomfield had his own vision. During a time when missionary work was at the centre of development in Zimbabwe, one could have mistaken him for a "missionary", a messenger bringing a special gift to the people of Guruve. And who could have guessed that so many ordinary young men and women in rural Guruve could carve and sculpt so well? Blomfield had a dream. He recruited interested young men and women so they could sculpt-- what with all the stone mines surrounding his farm! Morgan Jamu, one of the sculptors to emerge from Tengenenge Arts recalls the first time in 1990 when he had "an encounter" with a stone: "When I approached Blomfield looking for work at his farm, he gave me a boulder and asked me to make anything out of it. It was a surprising task, but I accepted and began to work. It took me a few days to come up with my first stone sculpture." And that is how Blomfield discovered most of the sculptors now based at Tengenenge Arts. He transferred some of them from the tobacco farm. In 2008 Blomfield decided to retire from Tengenenge Arts having discovered and developed the talents of hundreds of sculptors, some legendary. Blomfield passed on the torch to Zimbabwe's internationally renowned stone sculptor Dominic Benhura. Benhura's immediate task was to develop Tengenenge Arts into a world class garden stone sculpture park and gallery. Enditem