Preparation for Carving of Stone

In the beginning (1956).

Sculptors locate a suitable outcrop of carveable stone, and began to excavate. The surface stone in most cases was damaged, weathered and was removed and discarded, for hundreds of thousands of years this stone has been exposed to the elements and was unsuitable for carving. From the virgin stone the sculptor and his friends would transport a quantity of stone back to their village where they would stack it for later use.

It has been stated at many leading Art Institutions and Universities that the African people still have the ability to read and see shapes in stone, a European sculptor seem to have lost this ability, this loss becomes very noticeable at joint carving workshops. An African will choose a piece of stone turn it over once or twice and virtually immediately start carving a base and then start sculpting without making any external markings on the stone. A European will choose a piece of stone and draw many lines many times and still be unsure of what to carve.

It is believed by the Shona people that everything has a spirit. e.g. each leaf has its own spirit and each stone (bolder) has its own spirit etc. From this the sculptors believe that the spirit of the stone will speak to them and guide hands and help them to produce a sculpture. A sculptor will generally not cut a piece of stone in half and produce two sculptures as you would have cut the stones spirit in half. Therefore each stone sculpture has its own unique spirit and value.

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