Lot 66: Maganiso Vissensio Owl Family Cobalt stone Unique

Maganiso Vissensio
Owl Family
Cobalt stone
Unique
144cm.; 56½ins high
Maganiso was born in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe in 1976.
For four years whilst he was a teenager he moved to live with his grandmother in Malawi. She used to spend most of her time making clay pots. This is when Maga became inspired to work with his grandmother - clay making figures and animals.
In 1990 he returned to Zimbabwe and started to work with stones. He used his father's nails as a punch and another stone as a hammer. His father, who is a well known athletic in Zimbabwe, encouraged him to continue with what he had fallen in love with, that was Art. In 1991 he went to learn the basics of sculpting at Silveira House, a missionary based just outside Harare, which helps people become self reliant by learning craft and stone sculpting.
In 1992 he became the assistant to Jonathan Gutsa, a well-known sculptor of the Gutsa sculpting family.
From 1993 Maga started to work on his own work, as an independent artist. His work was exhibited at the National Gallery in 1994 and this gave him the determination to continue with sculpting.
From 1996 he was the founder of Mavambo Project which consisted of young talented artists in different art forms that included performing arts and visual arts. They sculpted with stones during the day and in the evening would rehearse at Tafara Community Hall.