Our friend Dick Adams is back from Zimbabwe with a brand new exhibition of the Zimbabwe Artists Project.

Three Square Grill is proud to be able to display the artwork of Mary Kaundo from Weya, Zimbabwe during our 7th anniversary.
Mary was born in 1966. She was seven when her father was killed during Zimbabwe's Liberation Struggle. She completed Form1 (7th grade), having worked all during her schooling to earn incom for the family. She has four sons, born between 1985 and 1995. She and her family moved from the rural area to Harare in 1995 so that she could be closer to the market for her art. The family relies solely on Mary's income from her art.
    Mary learned to paint in 1988 from Ilse Noy, doing sadza painting and boards. She does what she calls "cartoon style", which she says resulted from her failure to learn what her teacher wanted. But she reports that Ilse told her "This is art that I like!" In 2000 Mary won the Longman Award of Merit for a Young Artist of Promise at the Zimbabwe Heritage Exhibit at the National Gallery in Harare.

100% of all sales go to The Zimbabwe Artists Project

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The book, "The Art of the Weya Women" by Ilse Noy
is available at Three Square Grill.
Call, email or come by and pick one up today.
 

Along with the Project's story, we've also included a couple of recent articles about this show, from
The Multnomah Village Post, as well as The Southwest Community Connection.

About The Project: Weya is a "communal area" - agriculturally marginal land set aside by white settlers for blacks during the days when the country was called Southern Rhodesia - in the eastern part of Zimbabwe. 

The artists of Weya have been creating art only since the late 1980's. They asked for art instruction from a training project, seeking to increase their ability to support their families. Their artistic themes come from their history, current experience, aspirations and beliefs. Their work has won a number of national prizes. 

Four different techniques are used by the artists: painting on boards and other hard surfaces; painting on fabric (called "sadza painting" after the cornmeal paste used as the resist in the batik process); applique; and embroidery. 

A great majority of the artists are women. Most of them are farmers in a subsistence economy. They use whatever income they make from their art to supplement the fruits of their work in the fields. 

Weya is remote from Zimbabwe's urban centers, with difficult roads and poor communication. This remoteness, along with competition from urban street artists in increasingly difficult economic times, makes it impossible for the artists to sell much of their work inside Zimbabwe. When they do sell their work, they are able to pay school fees for their children, buy necessities in lean economic times, upgrade their diets, etc. 

Becoming artists has given these women a new sense of themselves as creative people. It has broadened their sense of the boundaries of women's roles in rural Zimbabwe. 

Our commitment is to help create a steady flow of income into their households by making their art available to people in North America. Money from sales to Zimbabwe Artists Project has thus far enabled women to buy fertilizers at crucial times in the agricultural cycle, pay school fees to keep their children in school, enroll in teacher training college, seek otherwise unaffordable medical attention, etc. 

Zimbabwe Artists Project
2236 S. E. Ladd Avenue Portland, OR 97214 Fax: (503) 239-6205. 

Zimbabwe Artists Project is a non-profit tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)3 of the Internal Revenue Service Code. We believe in and abide by fair trade principles. 

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On August 15, 2000, Sully Taylor of Portland won this beatiful Weya applique, raffled by Zimbabwe Artists Project.

It is a large piece by a Weya artist named Agnes Manyange. Her daughter has a heart defect, and it is very difficult for the child to do anything strenuous, like play or even to get to school on her own.
    Agnes has created an incredible hand sewn piece, relaying her daughter's story in 20 amazing panels, it is like a graphic novel in 3-D.
Appliques of this size sell for about $500.  All of the money from this will go directly to Mrs. Manyange.

AGNES MPOFU Agnes was born in 1948. She was educated through 6th grade, after which her mother couldn't afford school fees. She was married in 1968 and moved to Weya in 1982, wanting to live in the rural area. Her husband works in a town about 170 miles away, and comes home once every month or two. She had nine children, eight of whom are living. Agnes learned to do applique in 1987. She had been in a dressmaking course, but changed to art because there was no market for dressmaking.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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The following is an article from The Multnomah Village Post -reprinted by permission
- April 2000
 By Charis Collins 

The first thing you notice when you walk in to Three Square Grill in Hillsdale these days, besides the wonderful aromas, is what graces the walls. 

Like bright jewels, this artwork cries out to be admired and examined at close range, each piece made personal by an accompanying photograph of its creator. 

This art is unique in many ways, but mostly because it has made a long journey to be here. It is a part of The Zimbabwe Artists Project. The Zimbabwe Artists Project sprang out of relationships formed during an exchange program sponsored by Lewis & Clark College. Dick Adams, the Executive Director of the Project and a Professor of Sociology at Lewis & Clark, started taking students to Weya, Zimbabwe in 1992 to focus on issues of gender and social change. 

Adams came to know these artists first as host mothers and neighbors to the students studying there. They had been creating their art only since the 1980ís, when they asked for instruction from a training project. Since then, the work has won a number of national prizes. Becoming artists has helped the women to view themselves as creative beings, and broadened their sense of the boundaries of women's roles in Weya. 

When some of the women wanted to find a market for their artwork in 1997, Adams agreed to bring it to sell in Portland. Hence, the Project was born. Adams has been amazed by its success; he is planning an early retirement to run the Project full time. "I love people's responses to the art," he said. 

Barbara Barber, co-owner of Three Square Grill, agrees. "It's been a very simple process," she said, "people come in and they're immediately smitten with the work." 

Four different techniques are used by the artists: painting on boards; painting on fabric (called "sadza painting"); applique; and embroidery. 

Money from sales has helped to create a steady flow of income for the artists, and has assisted them in farming, education and medical help. 

So if you happen to be in Hillsdale to grocery shop at Nature's or pick up your dry-cleaning, stop in at the Three Square Grill and take a look. You may just be inspired to take one of these treasures home with you. 

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This is a piece from The Southwest Community Connection - May 2000 -used by permission

Hillsdale Exhibit Helps Support Zimbabwe Artists and Families
By Joan Rutkowski

Art adorning the walls at Hillsdale's Three Square Grill links
Southwest Portland residents to African subsistence farmers
supplementing their living with their crafts.

    A local nonprofit organization is selling the work in the United
States and returning the profits to the artists, who live in a
communal area called Weya in Zimbabwe.

    Barbara Barber, who owns Three Square Grill with her husband, David,
said they've sold about $7,000 worth of the art, which costs between
$50 and $300.

    Weya, which holds agriculturally poor land, was set aside for blacks
by white settlers.

    Art is not a hobby, but rather a necessity to the farmers, many of
whom are women. The sale of their work helps them buy fertilizer, pay
fees to keep their children in school, enroll in teacher training
schools and pay for otherwise unaffordable medical attention, said
Dick Adams, who operates the nonprofit organization.

    The fabric paintings, appliqués and embroideries hanging in Three
Square Grill speak of the farmers' experiences and aspirations.
Though the works are attractive, the stories depicted by some pieces
tell of struggles with poverty and domestic violence.

    Others are whimsical folk tales passed on for generations.
Each fabric piece holds a handwritten story about the scenes by the
artists, whose photos are next to their work.

    The bridge to the Zimbabwe artists was built by Adams, who retired
this year after 24 years teaching sociology at Southwest Portland's
Lewis & Clark College.
Adams learned of Weya during an overseas study trip to Zimbabwe. In
1997, he took students to the community.

    In Zimbabwe, which became independent of minority white rule in 1980,
students can easily observe and study political, racial and gender
struggles, Adams said.
"It's unusual for women there to generate income for themselves," he
said. "It ended up being a wonderful place to take students. They
made the most amazing connections."

    The Weyan women began creating art in the late 1980s to help support
their families. They found early success selling their work in an
urban center far from their village, where they got their supplies.
But street artists in the city saw how well the art sold and quickly
cornered the market, leaving the rural women at a disadvantage
because of the distance and rough roads they had to travel, Adams
said.

    By the time Adams and his students visited Weya, he said, "they were
desperate for a market."

    Adams brought some of their work home to sell, and by 1999, he had
launched the Zimbabwe Artists Project. He retired early from Lewis &
Clark College to devote himself to the nonprofit organization, which
he runs from his Southeast Portland home.

    Adams said he sells much of the work at house parties where he can
talk about the artists' lives. "I love doing that," he said. "It
really is an educational project."

    The work also is displayed at Eye of Ra in the Johns Landing Water
Tower, 5331 SW Macadam Ave., and In Her Image Gallery, 3208 SE
Hawthorne Blvd.

    David and Barbara Barber, the Three Square Grill owners, heard of
Adams through mutual friends and thought his project would be a great
addition to their fifth anniversary celebration in late March. Since
opening the restaurant, at 6320 SW Capitol Highway, they have
showcased art on its walls.

    The Zimbabwe art will remain up at least through the end of May, Barbara said.
"I'm impressed with the whole project," she said. "I thinks it's
played an important role in letting these women get out their stories
and feel like they are heard."