The Role Of Art And Artists To Society

Zimbabwe Mon 10-08-2009

The Role Of Art And Artists To Society
By Stephen Garan'anga

At the risk of trying to simplify the meaning of art, it can be considered as a way of conceiving the world visually as well as an aesthetic object amongst many other definitions.

It is also a province of sophisticated few lies outside the pattern of our thinking. Therefore the approach to art should be from the standpoint of the individual, as well as from that of the social group.On the other hand, art education is a means of securing mental and emotional balance in living.

This in-turn makes an artist a man who has the ability and desire to transform his visual perception into expression in a material form.

The art experiences engaged by a man should not only help the individual to be a greater source of material as well as spiritual satisfaction to himself, but it should also help to make him a better citizen in the community environment in which he resides.

Untitled by Albert Wachi

Since art is also a synthetic, its influence on the new social order will be constructive, eg designing. Designing may be considered as a mental conception of what will need to be done to secure a balanced living.

The principles of balance will need to be applied to everyday problems, the problems of selection, of arrangement, of understanding, of appreciation, of expression and of creation.

Art as an aesthetic object, every artist is there to consider self-realization by being creative and devoted to his artistic work artistic taste is the road that leads to the attractive personal appearance to personality.

The education in art is directed toward the realization beauty in individual conduct which will result in improved personality through expression, imagination, appreciation, taste, information, recreation etc.

For one to be a good artist he or she must practice good relationship with others, like getting on with others in society by cooperation, courtesy, leadership, sharing, morale etc. one also has to learn about masters through their finest works, understanding the various contemporary cultures through becoming familiar with particular examples of their art.

Today Zimbabwe continues to boast innumerable artists who have been leading by example giving back to society; artists who have been uplifting the aspiring young and upcoming as well as the struggling established artists.

As it has been for time immemorial in the African traditions that vessels of wisdom pass on knowledge and skills of life for generations, surprisingly the tradition is continuing even in these modern times of economic hardship, cultural erosion because of globalization and the preferential of Western culture to our own by the modern educated generations, etc.

In the late fifties the country had a director of the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe (Frank McEwen) establishing a workshop school of art for the gallery's attendants.

They were provided with various materials and tools to work with to become artists. The gallery school attracted more artists as it exposed them to the international arena by exhibiting their work overseas and meet up with other international artists as well as their work.

These artists became renowned and went on to be role-models of exemplary deeds not only in their communities but in the country as a whole.

In 1968 the wife of the director of the National Art Gallery of Zimbabwe bought a farm in the eastern highlands of the country and invited aspiring and recognized artists from the surrounding areas to come and work freely on provided stones and tools for sculpture.

Some of the resulting artists went on to become celebrities as their work enabled them to travel across continents and swim in waters of publicity and turned providers for some in their communities.

Recently one of the country's most accomplished artists Dominic Benhura established his own art studios in Harare by converting one his houses to become a place where a troupe of senior and younger generation artists could come and work for free in the correct artistic environment.

Porta Africa by H.Lieros

He bought a farm that lives the well established Tengenenge sculpture community that has artists of various origins who have been living and working on stone with their families for more that forty years.

The Tengenenge sculpture community was established in 1966 by Tom Blomefield who mined rocks of various colours and texture suitable for the country's most renowned art medium.

Tom Blomefield recently retired and sold the greater percentage of the Tengenenge sculpture business to Mr Benhura who has since been improving the livelihood of the community as well as the infrastructure.

He has provided for his former primary school by availing loads of various books and the construction of a school library. He has other artistic establishments that provide employment for a considerable number of people.

The establishment of art centers and artist organizations has assisted immensely in the creation of dialogue amongst artists of various origins and communities.

The artists have projects that have been bringing art to the people with the intention of cultivating an appreciation of the arts by the population.

The communities have been exposed to the country's various art forms that have seldom been blurred of distinctions, withstanding any fast track innovations in genre or approach.

The country's stone sculpture today is one of the world's most respected traditions of sculpture and also one of the most innovative and exciting developments in contemporary sculpture.

The stone sculpture has always made claim to and reclaimed the cultural heritage of Zimbabwe.

Today in Zimbabwe, the spiritual governance of chiefs and kings has succeeded to secular forms of governance which stand as much for social order and good as those previous methods spiritually ordained and artists have become preoccupied with social issues and problems which they reflect in their work.

So, artists graphically represent "issues" in their work, Aids and otherwise related.

Economic considerations are part of the motivation of most artists working in the country as well as the desire to be an artist, to recognize a creative impulse in a useful and interesting way, fame, travel, and a sense of social responsibility in terms of supporting family and other dependents through art.

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