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Stephen Garan’anga Visual Art
The third edition of the Wild Geese Art Festival took centre stage once again on June 1 at the Wild Geese Lodge in Harare. The festival entirely dedicated to visual art and the promotion of its market, continues to grow with the number of participating artists of different races and creed from across the country showcasing their products.
Artists came with their artworks from as far as Kariba, Bulawayo, Beitbridge, Masvingo, Mutare, and Nyanga, to mention a few locations, to throng the stunning Wild Geese Lodge gardens for the open market platform.
A brainchild of Angela Bowen, who engaged senior artist Leslie Jonson to assist her, the event took off with amazing results. The 2013 edition had an increased number of artists and the buying crowd with art sales rising significantly to enliven artists’ spirits.
The event had painting demonstrations and awards for best exhibit and best artworks by a young artist.
The 2014 event was no exception with an art competition of small paintings and sculptures under the theme “Remind Me of Zimbabwe”.
The artworks for the competition by various artists were displayed at the festival. Wild Geese Art Festival offers visual artists a free platform to showcase their work, converse directly with the buyers and handle their sales.
When artists have conducted art business transactions they are kindly requested to remit 10 percent of their sales to the Wild Geese Charity.
This is a unique and pleasant scenario for visual artists that have been struggling to sell their pieces for some years. There were various representatives of small private art spaces which were invited to spot the talent they could tap. The crowd in attendance was also very different from the one that normally attend art exhibitions at galleries and that is a significant reassuring scenario. The art festival was a welcome platform for many who had gone for ages without exposing their work to anyone other than their immediate families at home and those who had never participated in any art show since they took oath to the profession years ago. Signs of the depressed art market were evident as most of the sales were of small low priced pieces but the unravelled talent by artists at various levels was astonishing.
Some of the participating established practitioners who continue to illustrate unlimited power of imagination and skill included Leslie Jonson, Peter Kwangware, Percy Manyonga, David Chinyama, Barry Lungu, Richard Witikani, Justin Gope, Charles Bhebhe, Khumbulani Mpofu, Annes Derges, John Coetze and Victor Nyakauru, to mention a few.
The Wild Geese Art Festival is an event that all visual artists would like to see growing to greater heights.
With the current limited art shows in the country, especially open call exhibitions, the festival seems to be the platform with strings of hope.
Some amazing quick small painting demonstrations took place and some sold as quickly as they finished. There were more art sales in this year’s edition than the previous ones.
Online Reporter