Listening to Rocks: Stone Sculpture Workshops in Renkum
Intrigued by the posters around town advertising Zimbabwean stone sculptures, I decide to investigate. I met with Gert Juckers and Master Gunja, two men who teach their students how to make stone sculptures. And more importantly, how to listen to rocks.
Gert Juckers started African Art Promotion in 1998 with the objective of promoting Zimbabwean art in the Netherlands. Since then the project has grown to incorporate sculpturing workshops in Renkum and a library and shopping complex is Zimbabwe.
Travelling between Zimbabwe and the Netherlands every few months, Gert is looking forward to going home in a few weeks’ time. And yes, for him “home” is Zimbabwe.
“The first time I stepped off the aeroplane in Harare I knew I was home,” he says. Which is why uplifting the Zimbabwean people is so close to his heart. The money made from the workshops and the selling of sculptures goes towards various projects financed by African Art Promotion (A.A.P.).
Each year, A.A.P. imports about 20 tonnes of sculptures and raw rocks from Zimbabwe, used in the sculpturing workshops taught by Zimbabwean sculptors like Master Gunja.
I meet Master as he takes a break from teaching his students. He likes it here, he tells me. I joke about the rainy weather and ask him if he misses the sun. To my surprise he tells me he enjoys the rain.
“Water is life” he states simply. Not the answer I expected from a fellow African.
But then again, Master is a surprising man. It’s his third visit to the Netherlands. Each time he visits he stays for about three month, teaching hundreds of Dutch people how to speak rock.
“When I see a stone, something is already in the stone talking to me. It says “I am an owl”. Or “I am a hippo”. I show my clients how to listen to rocks”, he says, smiling.
I ask him if sculpting an image from solid stone is hard work physically. “No, not really,” he says. “The hard work comes from engaging with the stone. You have to think of nothing else. You have to clear your head and listen to the stone. It will tell you what to do. It will say “Cut me here, cut me there”. You cannot fight with the stone. You are taking away from it.”
He points out that stone sculpturing is one of the few art forms where an artist creates by taking away. Most art is created by adding elements together. He likes that aspect of it, he says. He has since he was a little boy.
Master has been making stone sculptures most of his life. He was taught by his father, well-known Zimbabwean stone sculptor Enos Gunja. Enos was one of the founders of the Tengenenge Sculpture Community in Zimbabwe, a cooperative that creates a livelihood for many Zimbabwean families today.
This is where Gert Juckers met him. “Everyone is an artist,” Gert says. “But not everyone is a good teacher. Master is a great teacher. Which is why it’s the third time he’s teaching here.”
In the workshop Master teaches his students the difference between rocks, how to choose a suitable rock, how to see the design in the rock and how to work the rock until the design is complete. It’s hard, dusty, noisy work. But it’s also exceptionally rewarding.
I speak to a few students and all of them say the same thing: The kick they get from it is making something unique with their own hands. After a few days, every one of them will be taking a sculpture home. A physical, unique, hand-made creation. Something they made and finished themselves.
If you are interested in trying your hand at stone sculpturing, call 0317-311092. There are still a few places available for the workshops in September and October, and a special 25% discount applies (you’ll pay €60 instead of €80 for a two day workshop).
Find out more about the workshops and the work African Art Promotion does in Zimbabwe at http://www.zimbabwe.nl/
