Wellington Karuru - African (Shona)
Born on August 17, 1976, Wellington Karuru is the first born to a family of five children and has two brothers and two sisters. Both his brothers, Gilbert and Esau, are also talented sculptors. As the first born child in a Zimbabwean family, a lot of responsibilities were shouldered upon Wellington. He completed his primary and secondary education in Mashonaland West Province and was involved in almost every sporting activity at the school. After he graduated, he was employed at National Foods LTD. where he worked as a machine operator for a period of four years and was later promoted to work as a sales clerk. In his free time he assisted some well known artists in sculpting, was able to learn much from them and soon thereafter started to develop his own talent and unique style. Inspired by such well known sculptors such as Gardener Sango and Garison Muchinjili, Wellington started sculpting small pieces for himself and soon found a buyer for his favourite piece titled ‘A Cry For Help’. From that day forward, he has never looked back. He eventually went to work with Garison Machinjili whose influence is clearly shown in his work. Some of his pieces have been chosen already for international exhibitions and galleries. Well established and internationally renowned artists like Joe Mutasa have also recognized his talents and are taking an interest in his work and promoting him. His reputation as a serious, gifted and hardworking artist is continuing to grow quickly and there are great expectations for this modest and charmingly shy young man.