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BIOGRAPHY:

 

Garrison clearly remembers his very first piece, a small stone baboon. Although greatly impressed by the work of older artists, he has striven to establish his own style, recently resisting the use of materials other than stone and instead concentrating on improving his skills as a carver.

 

His work involves the portrayal of heads and the human torso as well as animals and birds, often working from images he has had in his mind since a young boy. At Chapungu, where he has worked since 1989, he has been particularly influenced by the exotic birds that surround him. The depiction of the male and female torso came about through experimentation at a stage when he wanted to test his abilities. "I used the first one to see what I was capable of carving and even now, with each new torso I try and test myself and improve my skill". Although his heads are anonymous he works from a strong image in his mind and sometimes combines characteristics seen in actual people. He rarely works representationally, but rather changes and abstracts the original image in some way. These distortions are very natural and gentle and serve to enhance the form rather than to disseminate it. By extending the lines and curves found naturally in the subject, he feels he not only challenges himself as a sculptor, but also provides great stimulation and interest to the viewer.

 

The intention of Garrison's work is that it should stand for itself; simply a portrayal of things that interest him in some of the hardest natural material available to artists today. He works mostly in Black Serpentine, but prefers the harder variety of stone locally referred to as Springstone (Black Iron Serpentine) when it is available.

 

Garrison speaks of a recent piece, "I was walking in the bush one day and something appeared. I saw something moving which then seemed to change into a tree. I felt I wanted to try and carve something as powerful as this image left in my mind". Garrison is undoubtedly one of Zimbabwe's most talented and recognized sculptors today. His sculptures have been shown throughout his country of Zimbabwe, and have garnered the attention of collectors worldwide.