Loveland – Carved out among the shops and restaurants in one of Colorado’s newest malls is a sanctuary for one of the world’s unique collections of African stone sculptures.
Everyone involved says it is a unique partnership of art and commerce.
Loveland’s Promenade Shops at Centerra Lifestyle Center will get increased traffic because of the global popularity of the Zimbabwean sculptures and earn added esteem for its public-arts program.
The sculptures, meanwhile, will get a long-sought- after permanent home in the United States.
“It’s a perfect marriage,” said Susan Ison, Loveland’s cultural services director.
On Saturday, the 1,500-square-foot Chapungu Gallery will officially open to the public with 40 large sculptures and several smaller ones to display and sell.
The works – all hand-carved by artists from the strife-torn African country – have been lauded for their haunting and striking depictions of Zimbabwean family and cultural life.
The sculptures are “direct, powerfully human, seductive, beautiful and often emotive,” said gallery director Roy Guthrie, who has championed the art for more than 35 years.
Zimbabwe for decades was seen as artistically “barren,” Guthrie said, until Englishman Frank McEwen opened a basement workshop where artists were encouraged to create stone pieces in the 1950s.
An explosion of creativity ensued among the country’s Shona people, and carvings were produced that became the envy of the world.
“The artists realized there is a spirit in these stones; none are dead, but ready to tell a tale,” Guthrie said.
The sculptures, ranging in height from 3 to 18 feet, became part of a global tour that included a stop at the Denver Botanic Gardens in 2004.
In the meantime, Guthrie became friends with members of Loveland’s art community and began to admire the city’s public-art program. Loveland in 1985 became the first city in Colorado to adopt an Art in Public Places ordinance, designating 1 percent of the city’s capital-construction projects of $50,000 or more for the purchase of art.
The city in 2004 purchased two sculptures from the Chapungu exhibit to bring Loveland’s total individual art pieces to 269.
Guthrie later agreed to move the whole exhibit to the mall, where in 2007 a 28-acre sculpture park is scheduled be unveiled along the east side of the complex.
The park and gallery will attract art students from throughout the region, Ison said.
“It does seem unlikely Zimbabwe sculptures would come to Loveland,” she said, “but at the same time, people are starting to realize that we are known for our public sculptures.”
Guthrie is sure the pieces will be more than just a unique feature for the mall.
“People of Colorado,” he said, “will be inspired by this work.”
