Avac Arts takes Zim sculpture to the world

Hold me, together we are stronger... available from Avac Arts

By Robert Mukondiwa

There is a beauty about Zimbabwe.

It has not been celebrated much but this is no doubt the land of the masons. The REAL masons of this world.

Black Zimbabwean hands have mastered the art of turning their hands into communication conduits.

A Zimbabwean’s hands speak a soft hard language that has seen them tame solid rock-granite-building homes out of the hardest cores of the earth they have walked on which resulted on the birth of amazing beauties like Great Zimbabwe monuments after whom our nation is named.

Centuries later, Shona sculpture in particular and Zimbabwean sculpture in general has become the celebrated hallmark of Zimbabwean art around the world and even adorns important landmarks like the Atlanta airport sculpture collection, which one can’t cease to amaze at as they travel on their way.

Now Terrence Musiyiwa, the brains behind Avac Arts, has assembled close to 460 pieces of sculpture which his arts organisation is taking to a world just waiting to invest in stone sculpture.

Breathing rock...Terrence Musiyiwa loves his arts.

“We have sculptural pieces which show a cross section of what stone art Zimbabwe has to offer and it is all under one roof at just the click of a button,” says Terrence whose website prides them in being the hub of Zimbabwean arts.

While the organisation, based primarily in Harare, sells pieces on the internet, it prides itself in being a one stop shop for pieces carefully curated from Zambezi to Limpopo, with the entire diversity of Zimbabwe’s stone masons wrapped up under one umbrella virtual market.

“Add to that we have various other art pieces. Some of the most popular being Muunga rugs hand crafted out of the Silky Thorn Tree (Mona in Ndebele) as well as rugs made out of the famous Amarula tree in environmentally friendly ways that make us reap from our environmental riches while preserving the true tapestry of our wild,” says Terrance.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about Terrance, which drove him into the business, is that he invested into a rich yet demanding business, but with the art at heart first and foremost. His true love being art as opposed to capital that comes with selling in stone art.

“You have to love the rock and appreciate its wealth and potential,” Terrence says.

He is right. Investing in art, which almost always appreciates in value is probably the best way to go in a financially speculative world. 

And all the while as the value etches up. Your eyes can savour the luscious beauty of the investment as it lies in plain sight like your one true beauty.

“I also believe in fair business. Whether you walk into our centre or shop from thousands of miles away, integrity is the word and we are availing pieces everywhere using the same charges. The cost will not be different because value doesn’t fluctuate with where a customer is save for the shipping costs which are transparent,” he says.

And with his passion, which one can almost touch as he speaks, Terrence is set to grow his business in leaps and bounds, introducing Shona art to the world like a raging fire!

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