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.  

I love this guy!

I probably already mentioned that Henry Olonga was magnificent... All I will add is: if you get the chance to hear this guy anywhere, jump at it!

Pictures of the Opening Gala

Here are a few shots of the opening event last night.

Valerie Brownridge, until last year Deputy Ambassador to Zimbabwe, speaking about the recent history and politics of that country.

Councillor Roger Wilson, Deputy Mayor of Marlow, does the honours and declares the exhibition open by unveiling "Af-rican Queen" by Nicodemus Mamvura, one of the last works by this artist who died from cholera in 2009.

And Henry Olonga, former Zimbabwean test cricketer and our star guest, takes to the stage to delight the audience.

Fabulous opening night!

Gone midnight and just got back from fab opening gala event, with Henry Olonga.  What a star!  The event was a sell-out and the audience loved every minute of Henry's talking and singing.  He has a beautiful easy elegance in the way he does both those things and he seemed genuinely pleased with the effort that has gone into the show and the quality of the work that we have on display.  Henry, it was a real pleasure meeting you; huge thanks from Christ Church!

Thanks too to Valerie Brownridge, until recently Deputy Ambassador to Harare, who started the evening by telling us some of the grim realities of what life is really like for millions of people in Zimbabawe.  And to Roger Wilson, Deputy Mayor of our small town, who did his bit for us and declared the show well and truly open.

The sales desk was then kept VERY busy for an hour at least, with the queue about ten deep at one point.  More thanks therefore, this time to our volunteers who were handling the sales.  The great news is that we sold over £4200 of sculptures and other work on the night, the smaller pieces being particularly popular but there was also serious competition for some of the big ones. 

Still loads of great work on display, so come and buy yours! 

Photos of the display and the opening to follow when I have a chance to download them from my camera.

Marlow by Nite!

One day to go...  Just been training the volunteer stewards, we're all feeling suitably nervous about all the procedures we have to remember (how to take credit card payments...  what to do if there's a fire alarm...  what polite answer to give someone who wants a discount...!) but there's a great air of expectation.  The show is now mainly arranged, thanks to some great volunteer work this morning, and it's looking BRILLIANT!  Will post some indoor pics tomorrow.

And the sleepy hollow that we call Marlow is about to make it into the cultural bigtime!

Tell your friends!

Posters and banners in Marlow.

Going, going, gone!

Heard tonight that we are now officially "sold out" for the opening gala night.  I'm anticipating that we may yet squeeze one or two more in but we have hit our original target of 80 tickets sold and there is a real limit on how many we can accommodate, given that we have a small matter of the sculptures themselves to have on display too!  But it's great news...  Word really does seem to have got round the town, the banner across the high street looks good (after an iffy start when it nearly fell down on the first day) and the Bucks Free Press is promising to write about the show both this coming Friday and the week after.  All we need now is someone to send a BBC camera crew down...!

Peter Kananji

"Sisters", of which I posted a picture a couple of days ago, is instantly recognisable as the work of Peter Kananji, as is the image which we have used on our poster for the show.  Here he is: I love this picture of him, surrounded by his carvings as if they were little children!  The way he uses the natural stone is very beautiful.

Here's his "CV".  It reads as any artist's might: local recognition followed by a developing reputation internationally.  But the sting is in the tail, summing up the experience of so many of the artists, breadwinners for extended families in this country ravaged by AIDS and cholera:

Peter was born in Rusape and went to Gunda Primary School followed by Tsindi Secondary School. He started sculpting in 1990 at Chapungu Sculpture Park in Harare under the guidance of well-known artist Joe Mutasa. When Peter was still a young boy his interest in art was apparent. He used to enjoy making human figures, animals and pots out of clay. When he started learning how to carve stones, he was a very eager student, who thrived on carving.

In 1998 Peter moved to Ambassador Sculpture Gallery with Gerald Takawira as resident artist and was also guided by internationally known Jim Sephani and the late Amos Supini.

His work has been exhibited in the U.S.A., Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, South Africa, Australia, and at many galleries in Zimbabwe, including the National Gallery and Chapungu Sculpture Park. He is regarded as an up and coming young artist and he is a member of the Artpeace co operative although he works from home. He is married with one child and supports 17 people.

Pothole? Now THAT's what I call a pothole!

I stumbled on this picture today.  Couldn't resist posting it, I hope the originators don't mind...  It just made me chuckle that while in Marlow we have every "outraged of Acacia Avenue" writing to the local press complaining because the roads are in a poor way after the recent snow, in Bulawayo they are having to contend with the kind of pothole you can lose a truck in...

Acknowledgements and thanks to http://www.morningmirror.africanherd.com/

Oh yes, and from the same source, a "classic" that I know I have seen before : apparently a genuine sign from the South African side of the Beitbridge border crossing. To borrow a phrase, a picture speaks louder than all my words!

Time for another beautiful picture

Among all the other stuff, I haven't actually posted any pictures recently of the artworks themselves.  So here's just one more beautiful example from what we will be showing in LESS THAN A WEEK from now!  This is called "Sisters":

Toller leads the way!

Along with our crate of sculptures, another was brought in for a couple of churches in the East Midlands and we have kept in touch with their preparations.  First to open the doors for its exhibition was Toller URC in Kettering.  They've had a great week, the amount raised there is now £6500 and there are still two selling days to go.  Hope loads of people rush in for their last chance on Saturday!


The really good bit is that the first of the money from Toller is already on its way back to Zimbabwe.  One great message we can give visitors to our show is that every penny that we receive for the sculptures will go straight to the artists and their families.  The church is paying the costs of putting the show on, none of that will be deducted from the proceeds, and John Simpson's friends get it to Harare without anyone taking a percentage on the way.

On the subject of money, I showed a few hundred million Zim dollars in yesterday's post and I believe we may even have a few such banknotes for sale at our exhibition, simply as souvenirs...  We can laugh about this but living in a failed economy isn't much fun.  Apparently most things can be bought in Zimbabwe, but only for hard currency, not devalued paper.  I'm trying to keep off politics in these postings but the constant refrain in all I read about the country is how terrible it is to see a land that was formerly so prosperous brought so low.  Like Toller, we will do what we can to help.

Thanks where they're due

This week is all about trying to get the word round to as many people as possible.

Many thanks then to Marlow Operatic Society, who are allowing us to promote the exhibition at their current show, "All Shook Up", which is running this week at Court Garden theatre.  A pleasure to give them a plug in return!  I've heard snatches of their show in rehearsal, they have a young and enthusiastic cast who sound great, and I'm going to see it tonight...

Others have been really helpful too.  Thanks to "Along the Thames" and "Community Times", both of whom kindly agreed to feature us in their pages. 

But a booby prize to another so-called community publication (I will do them the favour of not naming and shaming) who managed to put in an entry that muddled up the opening gala with the exhibition and failed entirely to include a few basic things like dates, times and the phone number for tickets.  Thanks a million (Zim dollars!)

We're flying!

Loads and loads of publicity going out.  Here's a picture of our poster / flyer which we seem to be printing in ever-increasing quantities !  And many thanks to the excellent James Wood for his artwork on this.  If you're impressed and want to check out his services as designer, website builder and photographer then visit him at http://www.jameswoodcreative.com/

What do they want??

A recurring theme in the messages from Zimbabwe is the anxiety to be able to afford school fees for their children.  We take education as a "right", but in Africa that is far from the case.  This poem came to us from a 15 year old girl called Mercy:

Education, education, I am nothing without it.

I need light to see and education to understand.
I need proper education
not one sided information.

You say things are okay
when we stay at home without
getting proper education.
You want us to live in the dark
while your children live abroad.
You do not want me to be educated like you.

Education is my last hope
Give it back to me because I need light
like your children so I can rise and shine!

Less than two weeks to go!

Simply haven't had time to add to this blog for a while, we've been up to our eyebrows getting publicity ready and out, planning the show, finalising the pricing and 101 other details.  We're in good shape (I hope) and heading into the home straight now.

I posted some details a while ago about Lizeni.  Here's some information about another of the sculptors, Mike Masedza, in his own words:

'I was born in a family of eight, six boys and 2 girls. We all grew up to adulthood until AIDS scourge started to knock on our door. Four boys and a girls are now deceased and they all left their children behind. My father died in 1992, my wife died 2001 leaving me with two young children to take care of. Daniella was 12yrs and Tatenda 8.

Operation Murambatsvina ("restore order") took its toll again, leaving me with the sole responsibility of taking care of 10 orphans, my ageing mother and my own family of four.

Daniella is repeating her O'levels, Tatenda is in form 1 and i also pay school fees for my brother's 4 children. So i would say every dollar i earn will go a long way in helping more than 15 people, which is very difficult task for me considering our economic climate.'

It may not make sense to call Mike's experience "typical", but certainly one feature is a recurring theme: many of the artists are supporting numerous family members, mostly orphaned children, because AIDS and other diseases have wreaked havoc with families in Zim.  As well as Mike and Lizeni (see below), Peter Kananji supports 17 people, Godfrey William 30+, and so the list goes on.

Links to photos of all the sculptures

Slide shows of all the sculptures can now be viewed by following the three links below:

Part 1: http://www.slide.com/r/8FVuKKeL3D_T4XFXQEAqi5mv1E4hCPqt?emt=1067381811229489416

Part 2: http://www.slide.com/r/Vv8g5BI03T_dNMC0gosnv38Oc4e2fMnh?emt=1067381811229489416

Part 3: http://www.slide.com/r/dMZoicbP5T-bEjJOKoo_tjPrrQ1mUXs5?emt=1067381811229489416

All will be in the exhibition in March!