Gakunju Kaigwa

Gakunju Kaigwa graduated from Kenyatta University, Nairobi in 1980 with a Bachelor of Education degree in Fine Art. Though trained as an art teacher, he decided to first gain experience as an artist. After two years spent working as a designer in a Nairobi based television station and as a painter, he took up stone carving in February 1983 and started creating figures inspired by his observation of traditional and contemporary Kenyan society. He developed stylized semi-abstract stone forms over the next six years with a strong sense of narrative and social commentary.

In October 1988, a sponsorship to Carrara in Italy allowed Kaigwa to attend the Accademia di Belle Arti for one academic year. At Carlo Nicoli professional studios, he worked with sculptors from other parts of the world. Travels in Italy inspired him to work on a larger scale with a greater emphasis on art for public spaces. On his return to Kenya in May 1989, he started working in other materials that allowed for his new expression. Welded steel increased the possibilities of creating big outdoor works. Wood, plaster, cast concrete and resin/fibre glass also featured in his early commissioned work.

In January 1992 to March 1993, he studied in Scotland on a British Council scholarship for a Master of Fine Arts in Public Art at the University of Dundee. He also attended a granite -carving symposium for 1 month, at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop in March 1993.

In September 1994, Kaigwa was accepted to the Apprenticeship Programme at the Johnson Atelier Technical Institute of Sculpture in Trenton, New Jersey, where for three years he worked in the foundry mastering technical processes of metal sculpture production and casting in bronze, aluminum, silver and iron. When a new Stone Division was created at the Johnson Atelier, Kaigwa was enrolled in May 1997 as the carving studio’s first apprentice. He also worked part time as a technical assistant at the foundry for two and a half years.

In August 1998, on completion of his program, Kaigwa moved to Oakland in California. After a brief stint at the Artworks Foundry in Berkeley, he took up jewelry making and joined the Berkeley Street Artists’ Program.

From January 2001, he worked as a mold maker in San Francisco with an architectural design firm for one year. He also worked as a sculptor’s assistant in Richmond, California carving fountains and garden furniture in granite for two years.

In April 2003, Kaigwa returned to Kenya where he set up a studio space at the new Godown Arts Centre in Nairobi in October of the same year.

He attended the Thupelo International artists’ workshop in Cape Town, South Africa in December 2005. He also took part in several group shows and had solo shows in 2007 and 2008.

 In November 2008 he moved to his current studio location where he continues to work on various private commissions and furniture.

In 2009 he attended a 3-month residency programme at the Bag Factory in Johannesburg and recently returned from a glass blowing workshop in Leerdam, Holland.