Visual Art Workshops

Mwamba is the primary visual arts teacher at the American International School of Lusaka and is among Zambia’s prominent contemporary visual artists. He creates evocative work using conventional art materials and also repurposes found materials from his environment. Internationally, Mwamba has garnered the interest and patronage of a number of public and private art collections. He has exhibited his artwork in Zambia, South Africa, Senegal, UK, USA, Germany and Peru; while also attending international artist residencies in South Africa, Spain and Peru. He holds an Art Teachers’ Diploma, a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Master of Fine Arts. As an educator, Mwamba is passionate about exposing students to the creative use of discarded and waste materials from the immediate environment.

Drawing using Charcoal and  Wood Ash

During his ISSEA workshop, participants will explore the use of wood ash and firewood charcoal. These materials will be used for drawing on paper to express various ideas inspired by the natural environment.

 Cultural connection: When humans discovered fire, they simultaneously discovered charcoal and ashes as a residue that could be used for mark making. In Africa, most body art and dwellings would be composed of these materials alongside other natural pigments. Furthermore, due to a scarcity of conventional art materials, Zambian creatives especially in the rural setting create innovative drawings on assorted surfaces as a means of creative expression. 

I  am a Lusaka based visual artist of Zambian and Canadian descent. My work explores notions of personal and shared identity, culture, and how these ideas are impacted by my surroundings, experiences as well as social issues. I work mainly with acrylic on canvas and women are an important aspect of my practice. Within my work you will notice a significant amount of repetition, specifically in my ‘Patterns’ series. Repetition has such a huge presence in my practice because I find comfort & familiarity in it. The act of carving lino cuts and printing patterns requires constant repeated motions. I feel that the notion of repetition is similar to life: we are born, we grow, we collect memories then we die and the cycle begins again. I also find comfort and joy in using what I see around me in my day to day life; people, their hairstyles, chitenge fabric, plants etc. I view the world in colors and shapes just waiting for me to replicate on my canvas. Whether it’s hairstyles, color combinations, vibrant plants or lines & shapes, I find myself constantly collecting references in my day to day life. That in itself has also become a repetitive act in my life & art practice. 

What I hope for my body of work is that it pushes forward questions and conversations within my community and in groups that resonate with the images I create. Aside from it being a celebration, I also hope that my work contributes to an accurate and joyful representation of my culture and the incredible women who exist within it.

How to Construct a Painting

We will be using collaging/mixed media techniques to generate ideas and layouts for portraits. I will also be guiding the students with painting techniques such as blending, dry brushing and how to frame a portrait.

Lazarina is a self-taught multi-disciplinary artist, who completed degree studies in the school of Business with the University of Greenwich, and therefore has taken on art full time. She started out as part of a group of young multidisciplinary artists, The Artist’s Collective (2017), whose goal was to take a different approach towards improving the Zambian art market. So far she has exhibited in a number of spaces and done mural work for different organisations. She is a recipient of the Cynthia Zukas Young Artist Award (2020).Primarily, her work has explored African culture because it is the space she was born into and has spent more than half of her life in, specifically, her body of work centre on IDENTITY AND KNOWLEDGE OF SELF. Being of Bemba and Bisa descent, and having very little knowledge of her history prompted her to begin the focus on the tribes’ myths, legends and folklore dating back to the early 1600’s, and thereafter expand to other areas of local history. As she builds and explores as an artist, she intends to learn more about her roots and bring them to life on canvas

Mixed Media Art and Canvas Patches 

In this workshop students will paint on unstretched canvas to create patches which can be attached to clothes or used for collage. They will also be able to use low tech stamping and mixed media on either the canvas patches or paper.

Boyd Bishonga is a self-taught Zambian Visual Artist based in Lusaka.  In his creative space, he usually works with recycled materials such as scrap metal and waste products. On other days he does paintings. Boyd’s works aim to represent our immediate environment and our day to day lives. He is passionate about climate change awareness through the arts.  His works are a way of educating and communicating to the communities and also a way of preserving our Zambian Culture through art interpretations. In 2019 he was nominated for the Ngoma Awards in the category of Best Artisan. Boyd held his first solo exhibition in 2021 at the Henry Tayali Art gallery and has featured in many group exhibitions. 

Making Sculptures from Recycled Materials

Using simple techniques to manipulate waste materials the students will use assemblage to create sculptures. This workshop reminds us of how much waste we produce and how crucial it is for us to reuse, reduce, recycle and upcycle.

Born in 1967 in Lusaka, where he lives and works, after graduating from Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts & Commerce he was instrumental in the creation of the Imiti Ikula Workshops for upcoming artists. This activity continues to this day with Augustudio, a platform where young artists can experiment and have a chance to be recognized by the mainstream. He has exhibited and traveled extensively and his work is always on demand. A prolific artist, he is characterized by a disarmingly frank and humorous approach to daily social events that turns serious matters into hilarious illustrations. 

“My work is largely figurative where  I’m fascinated with city dwellers going about their usual business. I usually extend my experiences from the streets onto my canvas. When you are on the streets of Lusaka or indeed any urban setting you can’t help but get caught up in the energies that the streets exude. Usually my painted subjects are out there to make ends meet. You will notice that I will usually contrast the everyday breadwinner on the street with the breadwinner in the tall buildings in the background, mainly representing the corporate  spaces which to me house the educated few and those who are believed to be well off financially.”

Making Chitenge Mandalas

Artists often draw on other cultures as part of their process. How can we be influenced by other cultures yet not commit “cultural appropriation”? The students will create radial pattern design artworks inspired by mandalas 

using african fabric and their own drawn patterns.