Last supper, last posting

There was one sculpture which from the beginning was marked as "Not for Sale".  This is a stone and metal piece depicting the Last Supper, carved by Charles Fundisi who was born in 1969 and worked as a plumber before taking up sculpture.  It's a unique piece and Christ Church decided before the exhibition opened that this was a piece which we would buy for the church where we will in due course have it on permanent display.

The pictures show Charles with his work, and the sculpture itself now in Marlow.

As I write this tonight it is Maundy Thursday, the eve of Good Friday.  It is a date rich with associations, as the last supper which Jesus and his disciples ate together was the celebration of the Jewish Passover feast.  So when Christ Church in Marlow met tonight to share a meal and to celebrate communion together, we were linked by 3,000 years of history, stretching from the slavery of the Jews in Egypt, through Jesus' last meal with his followers, to the present time.  Just as we are linked over several thousand miles to our friends in Zimbabwe.  

This is the last posting in this blog, and it is good to end it with the pictures of Charles' work and with these words from Corinthians that are the account of that Last Supper: "The Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body that is for you.'...  In the same way he took the cup also, after supper, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood.' ... As often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

And so, with deep thanks to ArtPeace in Harare, Amen.

Wrapping up...

This has been a "back to earth" week after all the excitement of the show itself.  We've gradually been winding things up...  A lot of clearing up had to be done and the church returned to its normal use.  The shipping crate which had been a feature of the show itself has been broken up (we hope to reuse some of the wood).  Almost all of the sold works have now been collected by or delivered to their new owners.  The remarkably few unsold works have gone to Loughborough to join another sale there.  And of course we've been trying to thank everyone who helped make this such a success.

The final count is that we have raised £20,000 for the artists, which is just a wonderful outcome and way in excess of our most optimistic targets.  We have had such a fabulous experience along the way, we will be remembering this for a long time to come.  And of course some of us have acquired our own sculptures from the show, which will continue to remind us of the Spirit of Zimbabwe!

I pasted up some pictures tonight of the volunteers into a kind of montage that we can send to the artists.  They have sent us so much about themselves, I thought perhaps they'd like to see this in return!  They are our family now, after all...

What a way to end!

And yet another astonishing day.  A pretty quiet afternoon on the sales front, no major last-minute rush and no buyer for the biggest work in the show, Nicodemus' "African Queen".

We closed as planned at 4pm and started packing the show up.  A sad kind of moment...  Various people came to collect their sculptures, as arranged.  And then we had a visitation from a pair of angels!  Well, maybe they wouldn't recognise themselves in that description but what else can I say when a couple who were picking up works bought earlier in the week took a brief look at the "African Queen" and decided to buy it.  Wow!  We were overwhelmed by this answer to our prayers.  Many, many thanks to the buyers (and to those of all the pieces in the show) for their generosity.

We have passed £19,000 this week and still counting up the last knockings.  Smiling faces in Harare, I hope, when they hear of this.

We then brought the exhibition to a proper close with a fine service led by the Revd David Winwood, attended by representatives of most the churches in Marlow.  African drumming and all!  Great stuff, thanks David...

That's all I can write tonight.  More perhaps over the next couple of days.

Final weekend coming up!

Just the final weekend to go, a lot of items now have red dots to indicate that they've been sold (including Lizeni's wonderful piece featured in the last posting) but we still have some great pieces available.  There may be discounts on selected items over the weekend, you'll just have to come and see for yourself!

Helping hands

This beautiful work is still for sale. 

We call it "Helping Hands" so it could be said to symbolise what the whole show is about. 

The "boulders", and the two figures helping one another climb up them, are all carved from a single piece of stone.  It stands around three feet high.

Like many of the sculptures in the show, it's from hard volcanic springstone, so it should be entirely suitable for a garden setting.  Somewhere by a waterfall, perhaps?

A lovely piece by Lizeni Nasho.

Sales update!

We've had great support from the many visitors to the exhibition.  At the close of Tuesday, sales to date have reached £11,249 which is absolutely brilliant.  We still have some beautiful work to sell, including a couple of really large pieces for someone who has the right setting for them.  And I am delighted to report that "Victim" (see previous posting) has now been snapped up.  Huge thanks to the lady who answered our prayers for Fortune Masiyiwa's work to find its new owner!

For some reason we are having less success in selling wooden pieces than stone ones.  There are some lovely woodcarvings in the show, several of them made by Chenjerai, a nearly-blind artist and others from the Binga people of Northern Zimbabwe.  Try this for a taster, just a part of a beautiful nativity set.

One man and his sculpture

One of the most moving sculptures in the show, and one which I do hope we will sell before the week is out, is a piece by Fortune Masiyiwa. 

Here is a picture of the man himself:

Despite various health problems, Fortune made an arduous journey to the Binga area of Northern Zimbabwe to buy the wooden carvings which we have in our show, and the richness and variety of his own sculpture that we have on display is an eloquent testimony to his skill. 

Henry Olonga for his encore on Friday gave us a fine performance of Nessun' Dorma.  As you probably know, the last word in that is "Vinceró", or "I shall triumph".  The photo below shows Fortune's work  in the foreground, with Henry behind and the cross of Jesus to remind us of our Lord who died but rose to triumph.