After FNB artfair, Jozi, including meeting singular artists such as the one and only Nelson Makamo (more on that in retrospect, in my next blog…!), the last six months of 2025 go by in a flash…
There is a lot of reading here, more photographs really, for those who wish to follow our ART, flowers, friends and farming activities these last six months!
I head to Chitingwiza (Chi-Town) and collect the Black rhino made of wire and found objects that Johnson Zuze has masterfully created for our Burnt Offerings Collective “Summer Studio Walkabout.. “
Kelli’s vibrant yellow florals add to the intensity of our “offerings” for the studio walkabout..
Our Harare home and studio are filled with lovely friends and supporters …
Studio 214, Summer Walkabout, Johnson Zuze Bottle Bird sold to a happy buyer..
At Studio 214, Kelli, Johnny and Lin, the Burnt Offerings team…
Johnson at work on his life size sheep in the studio garden, helped by an aspiring young wire artist…
Friend and art collector, Ropa, vibrant as always, in the garden with a glass of hibiscus iced tea..
“Phoenix reclinata palm leaves”… my painting.. hanging beneath the real thing in the garden…
Johnson’s wire “Burnt Offerings Crocodile”, created from an inner of burnt wood, remnants of a crocodile sculpture retrieved from my house fire in 2014, soon to find a new home in Seattle…
Save Valley Conservancy (SVC), holds a childrens art exhibition at Art@84, a delightful array of powerful art from schoolchildren surrounding the SVC..
And thinking crocodiles, here’s a stunning carved wooden beast from one of the schoolchildren… truly ‘art for impact’ and this piece was quickly acquired by Julie Taylor of Guns & Rain Gallery, Jozi.
In October, Kelli and I attend friend and poet/painter Samantha Vazhure’s delightful art exhibition in Harare, Nzwisa, at PaMoyo Gallery, 24 East Road, Belgravia, her art embracing homecoming, storytelling and myth as powerfully as her poetry does…. but this time with the colourful impasto textures of her paintbrush instead of the vibrant nuanced layers of her words….
Returning to Kaya Nyala, I collect some wonderful palm fibre mats from Sarah Mhlanga of Mahenye village… I can’t resist craft that is made with such skill and care, a fine art indeed….
I accompany Clive, hosting good friends Ollie and Nicole and their guests, who have come to Chilo on a road trip from Cape Town, on a safari into Gonarezhou. We are lucky to spot African wild dogs, who grace us with hours of their family life. We sit with them into the late afternoon, that mellow light burnishing their coats as they stir from their siesta and start to think of the hunt to come..
Always I will sketch and paint these beguiling, endangered creatures; they are my “totem”. A painter’s dream, long legged, multicoloured and graceful and they are such social, caring predators..family comes first with them, a lesson we all could live by…..
From Kaya Nyala where I have worked with Chef Makokwe’s wives to create a delightful earth pigment wall painting around my art studio…
From Mahenye and Kaya Nyala, I drive north through the Jamanda Community Conservation Wilderness area at dawn…
Mopani trees are unfurling tender lime green leaves in response to the first rains ….
Elephants are very active here and roadblocks abound
Exiting the Jamanda Wilderness, into villages and towns again, November flamboyants flame red against the houses and stores that I pass…
Can not resist a stop at my friend Obey Munhutu’s roadside craft stall, where he makes baobab mats. I deliver some ripe pawpaws from Kaya Nyala to his family, and I buy his mother’s woven sisal rugs enhanced with beautiful natural dye, the very leaves of which he shows me…
I head onwards to Mutare to collect Kelli on the Air Zimbabwe flight from Harare.. and we spend a night with dear friends Bron and Jerome.. (Peri peri chicken at the Portuguese Club is a must for our meal together).
Road trip back to Kaya Nyala, and we stop at Hivu Deli and plant nursery in Mutare for a coffee and garden break… Flamboyants shower a friendly bench with pre-christmas colour, and it is a delightful surprise to meet friend and fibre/stitch artist Georgina Maxim and her son, in for a milkshake from their inspiring Village Unhu artspace at the old Drifters Lodge ‘last’ Resort…
Thereafter we take a leisurely road trip, some shopping therapy needed… Kelli is spoilt for choice at JP & Sons. With difficulty she resists the hand carved drums (ngoma) but purchases some leg rattles (for dancing of course), and I buy a goatskin dancing skirt, of course…….
Onwards towards the Save River we go, and past one of my favourite baobabs, the ‘Car Wash’ baobab outside the local pub, near Tanganda Junction…
The ethereal white flowers fall to the hard ground and briefly shine white before deepening to deep red crisp old age …
Back at Kaya Nyala, our village subsistence plot, we are farming chickens, turmeric and goats, With the happy support of our little family, Clive is trying out different models of farming which could easily roll out to replicate within our Mahenye community. Living with wildlife and livestock, just as our neighbours have to, is a balancing act. Already we have lost some goat babies to hungry male baboons… but at the goat (mbudzi) pens many new kids have survived, and Kelli is in love….
At the goat pens too, we smell the wild jasmine before we see it, and our noses find wild jasmine bushes, covered in deliciously scented white sea anemone spiky petalled offerings…
Goat smell plus Jasmine Scent…who can beat that?!
A watery sunset looking upriver, on the Save River, November at Kaya Nyala…the river has risen with some rain last week, but fallen again, awaiting more rain…
Kaya Nyala is solar powered, totally self sufficient; costly but essential also to have a simple electric fence to keep the elephants and hyenas to their corridors and us to ours!! ..
While at Kaya Nyala, Kelli gets the welcome media news that Rise, the short boxing movie she created special effects make up for, is in line for the Oscars 2026!!
Flowers galore are budding forth at Kaya Nyala. The Taberna montana (Toad trees) burst forth into starry offerings and rain little helicopter stars down on our sand pathways. A ‘Van Gogh’ starry night painting inspiration for me….. a dance of life, a dance of starry flowers….
Butterflies are everywhere at Kaya Nyala and this Pearl Spotted Charaxes is found on my desk, a faded but still magnificent beauty … A delicate dance of life and death in nature…dance is everywhere I look..
In my studio I am building on sketches and ideas for Dance; dance transcending boundaries, from traditional to contemporary hip hop, and am here working on a sketch inspired by the Dans6T and Afrikera Trust show at Alliance Francais earlier this year…
After various interviews this last few months in the Mahenye Village, with Passmore Ndhlovu and the Lowveld Media Trust, (and after National Culture Month Dance and Budula Dance Festival earlier this year), Dance, Rhythm and Music are constantly on my mind as I work in my art studio and in the community, towards a Dance, Rhythm and Music theme for various exhibitions in 2026…
Episode 7 of the “Exploration of Shanagani Culture” 13 part series produced by Lowveld Media Trust, where I am happy to share my thoughts on arts and craft, has now aired on Youtube.
Thank you Passmore Ndlovu (Director/Producer/Camera), Lloyd Ndebele (editor/camera and sound), Tapiwa Change (camera and sound), Prince Sithole (camera and sound), Elizabeth Bernard (Xitsonga presenter)
Leaving Clive to carry on farming at Kaya Nyala and safari guiding at Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge, Kelli and I head back to our bush house Tsavene in the Save Valley Conservancy, where we are greeted by the Sabi Stars in full glory..
FashionArt alert!…. An embellished pre-loved Rock & Roll Jacket is in creation! That visit with Olli and Nicole at Chilo Gorge Safari Lodge and Kaya Nyala, resulted not only in African wild dog adventures, but also in me inheriting a Rock and Roll drill jacket from Nicole, which I am now embellishing with collaged, hand stitched offcuts of MaCeka, (African print fabric now naturalized but originating from the wax resist prints which became wildly popular after years of trade with Indonesia) which our Mahenye ladies source from Mozambique. I have also been donated offcuts by Belinda Clowes from her sewing room where she creates the wonderful range of craft and fashion items.
At Tsavene I take the chance to work on my Rock & Roll jacket .. slow and therapeutic hand stitching, (Georgina would be proud of me…!) And I am loving the pop of pink that I’m adding, from Mahenye MaCeka fabric that I also used in my Mbudzi (goat) painted collage… it’s the GOAT !
After a few days rest (and plenty of therapeutic slow stitching!) at Tsavene, a glowing dawn breaks and we pack up to drive north on our next, rather bumpy, road trip through the Save valley Conservancy…
The baobabs along the way make me want to stop and paint; they are dancing with ballerinas in white skirted tutus, the frilly white flowers anticipating a good growing season. The ‘ballerinas’ that don’t stumble and fall from the tree will produce heavy fruits, baobab pods to hang pendulous and filled with nutritious baobab powder, a wonder food which Clive mixes with turmeric and ginger into a smoothie for us every morning.
Fresh and glowing new leaves on the Mopane trees as we drive north through the SVC… I feel the need to sear this colour onto my retina, an abstract lime green painting is growing I think…..
Birchenough Bridge never fails to awe me, towering over the landscape….. the donkeys pulling this cart don’t seem as impressed as I am though…
Onwards and upwards we go, turning onto the Chimanimani Skyline Road and higher and higher into the mountains that are the backbone of Zimbabwe’s eastern border with Mozambique… the mysterious, brooding Chimanimani mountains. We stay at The Treehouse, a new and unique boutique art lodge, perched high above the Haroni River, filled with vibrant furnishings and original artworks on every wall and with breathtaking views at every window… (my Rock & Roll jacket fits right in…..)
We get up at dawn, brew a cup of coffee and then sketch on The Treehouse deck, hanging high above the Haroni River, as a huge black raven watches over us….
We take a road trip to Tessa’s Pool, a basin filled with mountain water from a graceful waterfall, with bones of tumbled granite and clothed by phoenix palms and ferns.
Kelli and I, entranced, slip into the crystal clear water and stare up at that mesmerizing waterfall, floating, just floating…. as in a dream. I am seeing a Martin Van der Spuy painting in my head as I hang in the cool pool, surrounded by reflections and staring up at the rocks and the water fall tumbling from high above against the lips of the sky…. I just want to float there for hours…And I do….
Snuggling into a cottage at Frog And Fern we are surrounded by more art... the glorious weave of a bark rug (msasa I think) made by local craftspeople…..and Martin Van der Spuy watercolours gracing our bedroom
Bridal Veil Falls is the next stop on our road trip, as we drive through glowing scenery….
We have fortuitously meet my friend Lauryn Arnott, fellow artist from Durban Technikon FineArt, and she suggests I look out for the coptic priest she has observed with her keen artists eye at Bridal Veil Falls! Indeed, as Lauryn promised, there’s the coptic priest ministering, his rod out over the fine furl of water that tumbles past him on the sheer face of the rock, while Kelli plans future yoga and wellness retreats. Nature has sculpted him from the dried leaves and stump of a dead Ensete (wild banana) plant, and the poor priest will not last long enough to see over any of Kelli’s future retreats….. within a season he will collapse back into the earth he came from.
In Chimanimani Village we visit artist Webster Mubayirenyi who is creating Biodiversity Murals at the CHIMANIMANI Biodiversity Community Learning Centre.
The Skyline Road to and from adventure and this Zimbabwean landscape never palls…as we head back to Harare…
Back in Harare I attend the wonderful opening of the group exhibition at Mbare Art Space (MAS), Mwana Wehvu. Mwana Wevhu – soil/earth and ancestry/identity reclaimed by the MAS artists, and open to interpretation by the audience, (the title arising from a conversation Moffat Takadiwa had with Dr. Ignatius Mabasa) featuring Takunda Regis Billiat, Kimberly Tatenda Gakanje, Nkosiyabo Frank Nyoni, Julio Rizhi, Tafadzwa Benson Chataika, Lomedy Mhako, William Joseph Kachinjika, Marcus Zvinavashe and Nyasha Jeche (of the CaliGraph collective).
That Star Bar exhibition space is spectacular, with a fascinating history from colonial days as well…if those walls could speak! Certainly the MAS team are giving those walls new and powerful voices …..
Photos collage with Geri Cam, Moffat Takadiwa and curator seen chatting to the artists.
That same day I head to Mara Mara, meeting Kelli there, for the release of the third edition of the Design Life Africa magazine, (editor Milly McPhie). It’s a fun party, art, music and restaurant space in Harare.
Kelli’s electric pink and blue make up gracing the gorgeous features of Miss Rosebud on the front cover…
A roller coaster art week follows, (thank you dear Geri for all the networking and art inspiration!), beginning with an inspiring visit to Chi-Town for a walkabout of the Chitungwiza_artists_collective exhibition “Dombo rakarashwa nemuvaki” which featured four artists: Tanyse van Vuuren, Evans Mutenga, Tawanda Reza and Clive Mukucha – with Geri Kam plus US Embassy Ambassador Pam Tremont, her husband Eric Tremont, Melinda Crowley, (Head of Press & Culture, U.S. Embassy Harare), and Butho Nyathi, (Public Engagement Coordinator, U.S. Embassy Harare)
Chitungwiza Art Studio visits follow, with fellow artists Admire Kamudzengerere and Wallen Mapondera, and art associates…
Here we are at Wallen Mapondera’s studio…
And on to the Animal Farm artists walkabout …… a vibrant painting studio and print shop, so inspiring.
At the National Gallery of Zimbabwe exhibition, “They Still Owe him a Boat..”, I participate in an artist talk with Jono Terry, moderated by Fadzai Muchemwa. His perceptions and art statements surrounding the Kariba Dam and its history are fascinating… and I ask Jono about that powerful portrait, see below, with the almost reptilian glowing eyes, it feels to me like that nyami nyami the fabled river spirt of the Kariba Basin/ Zambezi River, is peering through. In the reflections photo next to it, Jono says he felt that he had seen the spirit of Kariba therein, the very shape of Nyami Nyami…
Then onto 4 Brighton Road – an intriguing new gallery space in Harare, for Sherman Baloyi’s exhibition “Postcards from the Future”, a walkabout and wonderful catch up with him on the juxtaposition of his paintings and textiles, his own prints painted over with optimistic black figures, so that the shape of the print beneath still informs the painting on top…, I am taken with his treatment of eyes, especially the eyeglasses created with fabric collage much like my own Goat series…and his use of beadwork. Portraits vibrant and engaging, optimistic yes, and a hopeful uplifting art offering!, and it is lovely catching up also with dear Kuda Chakwaz, fellow artist and curator of our original “Burnt Offerings exhibition in 2023.
In a full circle from my days of working in textiles at Screentone, (now called Kingfisher Prints), Harare, I have collaborated with Black Rose and Cindy Collyer, to create Palm silkscreen prints from my huge original canvas of relief printed Phoenix reclinata leaves seen earlier in this blog, and now silk screened at Kingfisher Prints to make up as Duvet covers..
Sofar Sounds in Harare, a worldwide concept of pop up music happenings, masterfully managed in Zimbabwe by Khumbulani Bandar Maleya, is going from strength to strength. For the previous edition of Solar Sounds at Mara Mara, I lent some of my artworks as a solo exhibition, a wonderful concept of uniting painting and music…
Sofar Sounds at the Hyatt Regency Hotel Harare last month featured music of the 70’s – with Khumbulani Bandula Muleya and with my vibrant ‘wild child’ styling her 70’s fro’.
Plus this edition of Sofar featured striking fashionart (my term for a fabulous fusion of fashion and fine art) – art prints by artist Eva Raath on recycled curtains and tablecloths recovered from the old Meikles Hotel, when it was renovated into the Hyatt Regency, Harare!! The art prints were then made into fashion garments by PezzCuliar and modeled by a team of Zimbabwean beautifuls… NB; Eva Raath will present her art in the Zimbabwe Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2026
For Sofar Sounds 25th edition hosted at @hyattregencyharare, Vera and the Husbands, Serpent, and the band ‘1970 Something’ rocked the stage. ‘1970 Something’ united five gifted artists who have never before shared a stage! @mannexmotsi on lead vocals, @jamesbuzizi on rhythm guitar, @basilmahachi on bass, @zealman on drums and @trustsamende_ on lead guitar……
Whew, what an art roller coaster these last few months have been, the vibrancy and innovation of Zimbabwean creatives never ceases to amaze me. The unfailing strength of their selfless collaborations is heartwarming, we truly are a small country of creatives with BIG REACH and BIG HEARTS!
Another road trip… I stagger back back from Harare to Kaya Nyala, punch drunk with art and ideas, never enough days to experience all of the vibrant culture that Zimbabwe has to offer!! (I am sadly missing the Alamasi Theatre Productions), as I have to get back to Kaya Nyala to host Dr Siva from India (Stanes Bio products) and Clare Keane Hammerson, from my brother’s Integrated Pest Management company, Real IPM…who give us valuable biological advice on growing an organic chemical free turmeric crop for export, under the business direction of Godfrey Marange. EEE money going into the ground, let’s hope some comes back out…! This is a brave jump into the blue for Clive and looking good already…here a photo collage of our progress, (with the good rain that has been had, the turmeric is budding well, and gorgeous red velvet mites, like little plush pincushions, are everywhere) …
In between admiring the turmeric project, and the lowveld sunsets, I pickle our own homegrown onions and make mielie bread with our fresh picked green mielies (YUM!)
We are back at Tsavene for the Christmas season, and Anderson is so clever at making Christmas crackers for the staff children, and little Winley loves helping to decorate the Muuyu (baobab) wire tree that has been our Christmas tree for many many years… with handcrafted baubles and Gogo Olive knitted animals (which Winley knew all the names for…!)
I am found baking a Christmas cake, my mother’s recipe of course! as Christmas looms…
This muuyu tree of ours grows with found objects year by year, a true delight, ‘growing’ flowers, and fruit much like a real baobab!!
And our wish for you all who are reading this – dear friends, fellow artists and precious family, and those of you whom I don’t know yet but who find your way to my blog, is that your lives grow creatively and bear fruit in unexpected ways, and that you have a very Happy Christmas season, with warm memories outweighing the bad from 2025, and so much to look forward to in 2026….
This blog looks idyllic and inspiring, and indeed 2025 has often felt so to me, but the downs and the challenges, the losses and the depressions, are there always, just not documented, just accepted and worked with. I wish for each of you acceptance, tolerance and most of all, I wish you LOVE.
wine and wild dogs 