A gallery filled with sculptures, carvings, weavings, textiles and jewelry from Zimbabwe located in rural Arizona? Gallery owner and stone sculptor Gedion Nyanhongo thinks it’s the perfect fit. He opened Gedion Gallery in Sinagua Plaza at Sedona Center in Uptown Sedona last July. It was a dream come true for Gedion and his 21-year-old son, Courage Nyanhongo, who is also a sculptor and works in the gallery. “When I first visited the U.S. in 1998 it was because I had a show in Scottsdale,” says Gedion. “The gallery owners brought me to Sedona, and I fell in love – like I was spiritually connected to the place. When I returned with my son in 2003, he wouldn’t stop talking about America and Arizona when we got home. He was 10, and he wanted the family to move here.”
Gedion and part of his family, including Courage and one of his daughters, who now attends college in the state, moved to Scottsdale in 2007. When the Scottsdale gallery that represented Gedion closed its doors, he decided he wanted to open his own space in Sedona. “I wanted a gallery in a destination in Arizona where all cultures come – where people from all over the world meet,” says Gedion. “Sedona is that place.”
When you enter the gallery, you see colorful tapestries, woven hats and wooden faces on the walls, large stone sculptures depicting hippos and rhinos and embracing couples on pedestals, and smaller elephant candlesticks and wooden jewelry on shelves. The gallery represents approximately 10 artists from Zimbabwe including members of Gedion’s immediate family. Gedion learned to sculpt from his father, who is now 80 years old and retired. Gedion sculpts from stone he sources from Zimbabwe, primarily springstone, opal and Zimbabwe stone. He handpicks the stones from quarries and ships the materials to his studio in Scottsdale. Gedion can also be found demonstrating his techniques outside his Uptown gallery on the weekends. He’s very eager to share his culture with Sedona and plans to host events this year, so stay tuned. – Erika Ayn Finch. Photograph by Deb Weinkauff.
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