Origin: Crispen Chakanyuka (1943 – 2002) was a protege of Joram Mariga. He was under the tutelage of Mariga when in1966 he met with Tom Blomefield, the occupier of the Tengenenge Farm in Guruve, a mining town.

 

Chakanyuka discovered the rich deposits of serpentinite on the farm which he pointed out to Blomefield. He told him how good these stone were for sculpting and would go on to teach him along with the farm hands. This led to the transformation of the farm into the Tengenenge Sculpture Community at a time when international sanctions to Rhodesia farm produce made tobacco farming unprofitable.

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Chakanyuka stayed for some months, teaching a number of young sculptors. Chakanyuka would later leave to join the first Chimurenga War on the side of the liberation army as a builder. He would continue with sculpting after the liberation war.

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Chakanyuka's work was influenced by the art of the Shona people, as exemplified in sculptures found at the Great Zimbabwe site, even after extensive looting by the occupying colonialists. A looting so great that led to the founding of a colonial police station at the site in 1891 to protect what was left after the rampage. Today, in Tengenenge, there are about 70 artists and their families in the Tengenenge Art Community.