Zimsculpt at Van Dusen Gardens I

Recently the VanDusen Botanical Garden hosted a remarkable exhibition of sculpture by artists from Zimbabwe.

Two artists travelled with the Harare based exhibition and worked on their creations in the gardens where art appreciators could watch them.

The many and varied sculptures looked fabulous set among the plants of the garden. Animals and human figures, natural objects and abstract shapes from tiny to huge were all part of this feast for the eye and soul. One of my favourites was Dried Seed Pod, by Albert Wachi, a piece so tall I was unable to photograph it properly.

The baboons and guinea fowl in the photos above are made of a stone that can be finished in rough-textured grey on some parts of the sculpture and polished to a high black gloss on others. Different kinds of stone are used as well.

Zimsculpt showcases works by numerous Shona artists by touring with the collection to a variety of locations around the world. In May, this collection of art was exhibited in Windsor, and then at the Chelsea Flower Show in London. In June it went to Guildford in Surrey (not our Canadian version but the British one) and in July it visited Gibsons on the Sunshine Coast.