Page 38 - Zimbabwe Stone Sculpure 1st Edition

ZIMBABWE STONE SCULPTURE
TOP LEFT: OBTAINING THE STONE IS HARD WORK. TOP RIGHT: CARVING THE STONE WITH A CHISEL AND HAMMER. BOTTOM LEFT: SMOOTHING THE SCULPTURE WITH A RASP. BOTTOM RIGHT: SANDING THE SCULPTURE
“The artists will tell you that finding, selecting and transporting the stone are the most difficult and expensive parts of creating a sculpture.”
Carving the stone
Zimbabwe’s sculptors generally learn to sculpt from an established artist or in sculpting communities. Many of the better-known artists have stables of younger sculptors who sculpt at their workshops where they have access to stone and the input of other artists. The principle is akin to an apprenticeship and the up-and-coming artists learn by doing rather than by books and classrooms. The skills are openly shared with anyone wanting to learn. All the carving is by hand and, in the more rural areas, tools have been adapted from old metal to make ingenious chasing hammers and chisels. The main tools utilised by sculptors are chasing hammers, chisels, hammers, punches and rasps.
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