Page 68 - Zimbabwe Stone Sculpure 1st Edition

ZIMBABWE STONE SCULPTURE
“His work is distinctive, exceptionally clean, with economical forms and lines being his trademark.”
ERNEST CHIWARIDZO
Ernest says the philosophy of his sculpture is “creating sculpture that has a direct meaning to everyday life and relates to my experiences”.
His work is distinctive, exceptionally clean, with economical forms and lines being his trademark. It is bold and refreshing and has universal appeal because his subject matter is not complex.
Ernest was born in 1954 in Chiweshe, a rural area north of Harare. His high school was the Harare Community School but he had to leave in 1970 due to lack of funding. He found work as an auto electrician at Buchwa mine until 1978, during which time he had taken up sculpting in wood and stone as a hobby. He found expression through his sculpting, which led him to take it up full-time. He first went to a sculpting com- munity in Chitungwiza, a dormitory town of Harare, and then in 1983 he moved to the Canon Paterson Art Centre.
In 1976, he spent a short time in Hwange working at the power station and saw many animals, including elephants, from the nearby Hwange National Park. It was here that he developed a strong consciousness about the lack of balance between humans and nature. He feels we should co-exist more and humans should not be so greedy and selfish.
He now lives in a large house in Borrowdale, one of the upmarket leafy suburbs of Harare. He has his workshop in the garden at the back and sometimes when I see him working with his stones I picture him when I first saw him at Canon Paterson over 30 years ago, after Richard Mteki had introduced us.
Ernest has been incredibly loyal to Stone Dynamics Gallery and most of his work has passed through the gallery. He is a hard man not to like, with a great sense of humour and sharp, perceptive intellect.
One of Ernest’s pieces was acquired during the Royal visit to Zimbabwe in 1991 and is stored in the British Museum Collection.
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