Crispen Chakanyuka is a Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...

an sculptor.

Born in the Guruve

Guruve

-Districts and areas:*Roundhouse*Delaware Mine*Natasha Valley...

 district, Chakanyuka completed his schooling in 1960, and traveled to Nyanga

Nyanga

Nyanga may mean:*Nyanga Province, of Gabon*Nyanga, Gabon, a place in the province of Nyanga in Gabon*Nyanga River, in Gabon and Congo*Nyanga, Zimbabwe, a town*Nyanga National Park in Zimbabwe*Nyanga, Cape Town, a township in South Africa...

 to look for work. There he met Joram Mariga

Joram Mariga

Joram Mariga has been called the “Father of Zimbabwean Sculpture” because of his influence on the local artistic community starting in the 1950s and continuing until his death in 2000...

, to whom he was introduced by John Takawira

John Takawira

John Takawira was a Zimbabwean sculptor. The background to the sculptural movement of which he was a leading member is given in the article on Shona art.-Early life and education:...

. Mariga taught him to sculpt, soon sending him to Frank McEwen

Frank McEwen

Francis Jack "Frank" McEwen, OBE was an English artist, teacher, and museum administrator. He is best remembered today for his efforts to bring attention to the work of Shona artists in Rhodesia, and for helping to found the National Gallery of Zimbabwe...

 at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe

National Gallery of Zimbabwe

The National Gallery of Zimbabwe is a gallery in Harare, Zimbabwe, dedicated to the presentation and conservation of Zimbabwe’s contemporary art and visual heritage...

. McEwen referred Chakanyuka to the Nyarutsetso Art Centre, where he spent two years sculpting and working as a teacher. Once established, he returned to Guruve and opened a studio.

In 1966 Tom Blomefield, owner of the Tengenenge Farm in Guruve, asked Chakanyuka to teach him to sculpt. Chakanyuka did so, noting rich deposits of serpentinite

Serpentinite

Serpentinite is a rock composed of one or more serpentine group minerals. Minerals in this group are formed by serpentinization, a hydration and metamorphic transformation of ultramafic rock from the Earth's mantle...

 on the farm. As the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 began to impose restrictions on Rhodesia

Rhodesia

Rhodesia , officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state located in southern Africa that existed between 1965 and 1979 following its Unilateral Declaration of Independence from the United Kingdom on 11 November 1965...

, tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

 farming became less profitable, so the two men turned the farm into the Tengenenge Sculpture Community. Chakanyuka stayed for some months, teaching a number of young sculptors.

Chakanyuka was forced to give up his work and become a builder

Construction worker

A construction worker or builder is a professional, tradesman, or labourer who directly participates in the physical construction of infrastructure.-Construction trades:...

 when Zimbabwe's war of liberation started. He continued in this line of work for over twenty years before returning to sculpture in 1994, when he became an artist in residence

Artist in residence

Artist-in-residence programs and other residency opportunities allow visiting artists to stay and work so that they may apply singular focus to their art practice....

 at the Chapungu Sculpture Park

Chapungu Sculpture Park

The Chapungu Sculpture Park is a sculpture park in Msasa, Harare, Zimbabwe, which displays the work of Zimbabwean stone sculptors. Its was founded in 1970 by Roy Guthrie, who was instrumental in promoting the work of its sculptors worldwide...

. He has since returned full-time to sculpture, and has exhibited in a number of international shows and participated in several workshop

Workshop

A workshop is a room or building which provides both the area and tools that may be required for the manufacture or repair of manufactured goods...

s in recent years.

Chakanyuka's work is influenced by the art of the Shona people

Shona people

Shona is the name collectively given to two groups of people in the east and southwest of Zimbabwe, north eastern Botswana and southern Mozambique.-Shona Regional Classification:...

, and examples of his sculpture may be seen at the Chapungu Sculpture Park.