By Dr Tony Monda

THE history and ideology of Zimbabwean Shona sculpture and modern art has for a long time been distorted, dismantled and in many instances, debased and demeaned by a number of Western “pseudo” intellectuals and writers who presume themselves to be knowledgeable in the ways of Africans and Africa.
Sadly, their African counterparts in the guise of cultural agents, who are at the receiving end of their handsome alms, stand ready at their constant beck and call, bowing and genuflecting reverently at their doors.
What good is this for the improvement of the visual arts, creative industry and for national pride, national dignity and cultural continuity?
What has happened to the African system of art apprenticeship education which has produced four distinct generations of competent Zimbabwean stone sculptors without the need of a university or art college?
The reasons these methods are successful are many, but the prime method is self-motivation; that the artist chooses to learn and practice the arts and is not forced or prevented from pursuing what he or she has chosen. Secondly, the young novice is taught how to sculpt by a professional sculptor, with years of technical practice and conceptual development skills.
Reading The Patriot recently, one of my learned colleagues, Dr Irene Mahamba wrote with regard to the recent curriculum review:
“…No national vision is spelt out. No national goals are pursued. In this curriculum review the colonial capitalist ideological axis is left intact. The new education curriculum is not anchored in productive activities as should be so that it would meet the demands of our national goals…”
I find it necessary to pen and add my own opinion on the state of art education in Zimbabwe, particularly at various universities and higher tertiary institutions.
I refer particularly to two recent “art” exhibitions I attended. One was held at the Harare Polytechnic, the other at the National Museum of Human Sciences. At both events, both the deans and heads of the arts departments of the School of Arts at Chinhoyi University of Technology chose not to attend. What does their absence say about their commitment and interest to their university and their students, and finally to the nation they purport to serve?
Who should they be accountable to?
The two exhibitions were meant as final semester examinations where hosting and curating an exhibition form part of their requirement for the students’ partial fulfilment of the degree programme. How is this possible when one of the unfortunate candidates was forced to accept his walls to be untidily swathed in white to resemble a hospital operating theatre?
The other art student was forced by one of the un-learned lecturers to remove some of his best works in order to satisfy some inexplicable logic of the lecturer — to the extent that they removed the crucial part of the exhibition installation, making it incomprehensible. Had I not taken the time to view the exhibition beforehand, I would not have known how competent the student was despite the art tutor’s bad taste.
The glaring lack of knowledge and interest of the tutors in the arts at Chinhoyi University of Technology was evident by their criteria of assessment.
What the deans, lecturers and staff of Chinhoyi and other educational institutions must realise is that they are working to uphold the standards of the nation of Zimbabwe.
Due to the fact the teachers are not artists, are unqualified and uninterested in art, they are not equipped to teach and assess aesthetic standards and are working without an ideological framework which should encompass art and cultural measures of standard.
It is a fallacy to think that art is simply a bunch of wire toys or sign writing with less expertise than found in street artists.
The standards of excellence reflected in our visual cultural heritage of the past should inform the contemporary tutors who are entrusted to impart their knowledge to the students.
But how can they if tutors are inept and qualified on paper only?
There is a proliferation of masters and doctors in Zimbabwe in disciplines that they have made no academic or aesthetic contributions to.
The state of education, particularly in the field of visual arts, has become the playground of many. Art is unfortunately not a playground; it is a serious specialised discipline and business.
Chinhoyi University is by no means alone in this category. An advert in the press from another so-called reputable university college recently advertised courses in various ‘design fields’ which included courses in ‘Interior and Exterior Design’ – pray, what is ‘Exterior Design’?
It does not exist anywhere else in the world. I guess Zimbabwean art and design education may make it in the Guineas’ Book of Records for all the wrong reasons. Upon enquiring at the college, I realised that the advert erroneously referred to sign-writing as exterior design.
I was aghast. Sign writing is not a visual arts discipline by any stretch of the imagination. You might use it as an accessory in graphic design, advertising etc…but it is certainly not exterior design or visual art.
In order for the arts education system to progress in Zimbabwe, institutions of higher learning need to engage qualified or established practising arts personnel; teachers of art who are nationally acknowledged artists .It cannot be done any other way, especially in a nation that has not developed the necessary pedagogy for the visual arts. We need to break new ground in art education.
It is much better to employ an arts teacher on this basis of his/her art portfolio than on a teacher’s training certificate, diploma or doctorate which becomes totally redundant when it comes to teaching and creating art.
No teacher training college is going to produce a Picasso, Leonardo or Dali, let alone a Mukomberanwa or a Munyaradzi or any talented artist or art lecturer. The nature of art production is adeptly specialised. Art is a gift, a natural God-given endowment, which needs to be identified and then nurtured holistically by another artist. Zimbabwe is well known for its ancient arts and contemporary stone sculpture. Let us keep our pedigree intact and excel even higher.
Our most important task at hand as educators, cultural administrators and policy makers is the recovery of African intelligence in the arts. Art education should be a significant pillar of the cultural life of the country. It should be the foundation of the nation’s public investment in its art, culture and its artists.
The education and cultural ministries must engage living Zimbabwean artists urgently and deploy them in the colleges and universities, to encourage and inspire to ever-greater ambition, boldness and excellence, in its most creative sense. The arts should be at the heart of our national vision.
One of the most important aims of art and design awareness in education is to enable society to enjoy, with understanding and insight, the man-made world of places, products and images as well as take part in the personal and public art and design milieu that affect their daily lives and the life of their surrounding community.
These culturally informed aspects of tertiary education, such as the visual arts, also provide a public benefit.
They contribute to the refinement and transmission of the cultural, historical, moral, social and scientific ideas, and to the sharpening of the intellect, thereby significantly maintaining and improving our liberal society.
How much does Zimbabwe invest in the creative industries and art education?
Dr Tony Monda holds a PhD in Art Theory and Philosophy and a DBA (Doctorate in Business Administration) and Post-Colonial Heritage Studies. He is a writer, musician, art critic, practising artist and Corporate Image Consultant. He is also a specialist Art Consultant, Post-Colonial Scholar, Zimbabwean Socio-Economic analyst and researcher. E-mail: tonym.MONDA@gmail.com