Tinashe Makaza
Tinashe Makaza, born on the 18th September 1972 in the Guruve district, which is situated in the North West of Zimbabwe. He was the fourth born child in a family of seven and is from the Shona Tribe. At present he is not married, but he has his eye on someone special!
He did his primary education at Negomo Primary School in Guruve. In 1987 he began his secondary schooling at Mushoshoma High School, also in Guruve. Unfortunately though, due to a lack of financial support, Tinashe was forced to leave school in September 1989. In December of that year, he went to stay with his uncle in a small village near Raffingora. It was here he first came into contact with stone sculpture as there was a small sculpture studio based in the village. The Guruve area is very rich in deposits of workable stone, varying from colourful serpentines right through to the hard springstone, so one finds a number of sculptors living and working in the Guruve region, the well known art community of Tengenenge is also situated in Guruve.
Tinashe was instantly drawn to the brightly coloured sculpture and was soon creating his own pieces. It was not long before his works attracted the eye of the late Brighton Sango, one of Zimbabwe´s leading second generation sculptor, who apart from doing his own sculpture was also running a small gallery dedicated to helping younger, less established sculptors. Makaza received a lot of encouragement from Sango and still draws on it today, whenever he feels his commitment weakens. Many sculptors in the region thought that ´´art spirits´´ possessed Makaza because his works were so creative and highly commended by Brighton.
Makaza work is very influenced by his natural surroundings, his sculpture reflecting the organic shapes found in mountains, clouds or flowers. His volumetric forms indicate a keen sense of awareness of his environment; he is not copying nature, but merely studying it. He is now a full time sculptor having been sculpting for eight years and supporting himself from the sale of his works. As far as his influences are concerned and apart from nature, he admires the work of Gladman Zinyeka and Bernard Matemera.
Artist Sculpture:
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