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At the Gallery
The National Gallery of Zimbabwe School of Visual Arts and Design held an open day for its students, which saw students present some of the best artworks that they have been doing in this academic year. This year marks the fifth edition of the annually celebrated Open Day.The day is meant to offer an opportunity for students at the school to showcase their work to an audience and for parents to have a one on one experience with the work that their children are doing and to get feedback from the school’s instructors.
On display were some accomplished works done by the students with some of the most outstanding artworks being those that were done by Tawanda Reza and Albert Masaiti.
Guests were also treated to a live drawing session where students showcased their talent and creativity live and direct. During the course of the event, the students did not just showcase their talent in visual arts but also showed their diversity in performance art for the audience. The students performed dance and poetry for the guests.
Some of the interesting poems to note were the ones presented by young artiste Chido Machanzi which emphasised the importance of patriotism as Zimbabweans, and Munyaradzi Mangate’s poem entitled “The Voice of an Artiste” which questioned the identity of artistes as perceived by members of the society.
Speaking at the event, chief curator at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Raphael Chikukwa, highlighted the importance of parents supporting their children in pursuing art as a career.
“Art is life. Art changes people’s lives and perspectives and these artists are newsletters of the society. We need the support of the parents not to give up on the young artistes because art is just like any other talent.
“So it is important for us to make sure that the school survives when the students need art material, us as parents, as guardians we need to work together with the school, the instructors and some of our sponsors to make sure that the school survives,” said Chikukwa.
The roots of the National Gallery School of Visual Art and Design are found in Frank McEwen’s atelier style Workshop School, which applied the teachings of Gustave Moreau to the indigenous artistes of Zimbabwe, then known as Southern Rhodesia.
The National Gallery Workshop School was created to encourage the Gallery attendants to express themselves using art materials and has grown to be become an officially recognised school by the Ministry of Education.
In 2014, the School forged a working relationship with Harare Polytechnic and thereafter, a formal certificate was introduced in collaboration with the Polytechnic. The school now offers a Certificate of Competence and a Certificate of Achievement and in long term courses, a National Diploma in Applied Art and Design and a National Diploma in Fine Art.
The National Gallery School of Visual Arts and Design is currently facilitating enrolment for the academic year 2017. For the short course certificate, applicants are required to have at least 3-5 O-Level subjects and a portfolio of at least 10 artworks.
For the National Certificate applicants are required to have at least 5 O-Levels including Maths and English and the National Diploma also requires 5 O-Level subjects and a National certificate or anything equivalent. Registration forms are available for collection at the National Gallery reception.
The school’s instructors are dominantly practising artists, which is an added advantage in fully aiding skills development of the students. The school has also produced many nationally and internationally recognised artists such as Admire Kamudzengerere, Portia Zvavahera, Virginia Chihota, Nicholas Mukomberanwa, Kingsley Sambo and Mercy Moyo only to mention a few.
As a way of promoting the young artists, some of the students’ artworks that were showcased during the Open Day will be exhibited at Green Shoots Exhibition, at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe on December 1 2016.
The Green shoots exhibition provides an opportunity to students at the visual art school to challenge themselves in producing quality artworks that meet gallery an art institutions’ standards.
Online Reporter