John Wise

Well, how lucky are we here in Arizona that we have one of five locations in America that are fortunate enough to host the touring exhibition titled “Chapungu: Custom and Legend — A Culture in Stone”?

We are at Boyce Thompson Arboretum in Superior, Arizona, the temporary home for this beautiful art from Zimbabwe. The contemporary stone sculptors who create these Shona Sculptures usually have their work displayed on the outskirts of Harare, Zimbabwe, at a 20-acre park. Roy Guthrie, who founded the Chapungu Sculpture Park back in 1970, set up this international showing of the sculptures to promote this stonework.

Spread out over the grounds of the arboretum are these incredible works, many of which are bigger than life.

Shouldn’t every city on earth have some small garden park with a few dozen of these on display? We need more art.

This makes me wonder where else people are making a type of sculpture that none of us know about. While almost everyone in the West knows Greek, Italian, and Egyptian art, how many of us know if other places in this world have similarly surprisingly inspiring works of art that don’t find their way to Western eyes?

There’s something about the eyes of these sculptures that either looks inquisitive or loving, which I find very appealing.

Embracing the rising sun, looking to the sky for the affirmation that life is indeed beautiful. While this sculpture is essentially fairly simple, its expressiveness speaks volumes.

Oh yeah, and then there are nature’s sculptures here at Boyce Thompson that also draw us in to appreciate their inherent beauty.

Seeing we were already outside of Phoenix, why not head down to Giorsetti’s Grocery Store in Winkelman and pick up some fresh tortillas? It is only 32 miles south of Superior, and we still have a good amount of sunlight left.

Enjoying the drive, we let the car continue taking us south until the pavement ran out, and we found ourselves on Cascabel Road, driving in the general direction of Benson, Arizona.

Not in my wildest dreams did I think we’d run into ostrich out here in the middle of the desert, but sure enough, here at the Bull Canyon Ostrich Ranch in Cascabel, that is exactly what you’ll find.

We’re still out here on this long dusty road but will soon rejoin civilization.

This is our turnaround point at the old railroad depot turned visitor center in Benson, and as you can gauge from the long shadows, we are now late in the day. It will take about 2.5 hours to drive the 160 miles home. All in all, this has been a spectacular day, and we consider the experience of seeing the Zimbabwean Chapungu Sculptures firsthand a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.