Mazebedi: The Dapper Dresser Who Suffers From The Art Bug

GALE NGAKANE
Correspondent | Monday June 14, 2010 00:00

 

A dapper who dresses flashily in African print and trendy suits, he was in the civil service for 30 years when in May 2005 the drawing bug bit him so hard he had to let go and set up ALBJ Enterprises, a company he is using as a vehicle of 'bringing culture closer to the people,' his slogan says.

The man draws influence from his rich cultural background as depicted in basketry, pottery, the kgotla, lekgapho and rock paintings that he was exhibiting at the recently ended BOCCIM Northern Trade Fair.

He is multi-faceted in his approach, but he is happy that the marbling technique is helping him replicate the rock paintings like the Rhino of Lepokole and the giraffe rock painting.

He also uses the window technique in which he is able to combine two images in one. He also has alternative display boxes on which there can be four or more different paintings in one box.

'They are portable and can be carried anywhere you want them. They can also be used as corner units in homes,' he says.

There are also split display boards, which Mazebedi says are ideal for conference rooms. The boards are mostly marketed to organisations promoting themselves.

Mazebedi says he tries by all means to create variety in his artistic work to cater for everyone.

But, 57-year-old Mazebedi, who was born and bred in Bobonong, and his company, were largely unknown this side of Botswana as he plied his trade in Gaborone from 2005 to 2008 when he moved camp to the northern city.

'I realised that I could make Francistown the production centre of my artwork. I can reach a lot of areas from here,' said Mazebedi at the recently ended BOCCIM Northern Trade Fair. In between responding to enquiries from show goers who were obviously smitten with his colourful displays, the married father of four talks about his working life, including how he became the accomplished artist that he is.

A Christian, he says though he was born on 19 October 1953, he was born again in 1995. He grew up in Bobonong where he attended school from 1963 to 1969.

From 1970 to 1972, he enrolled for his secondary education at Mahalapye Secondary School where upon completion, he went and did a two-year Animal Health and Management course at the Botswana Agricultural College (BAC).

All along, the artistic bug had been biting him and he says during his childhood, as a herd boy, he enjoyed drawing his animals on the ground with his fingers.

At school, his artistic talent was hoisted higher as drawing was one of the major subjects he studied. At BAC, his course director, Peter Miln, was a great influence on him so he was always assigned to make drawings and illustrations of animal anatomy for film advertisements which were shown fortnightly at BAC.

In 1978, he was given a government scholarship to study art at Rochestver Institute of Technology (RIT) in the United States of America (USA) where he completed his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Graphic Art and Design in 1981.

Years later, in 1997, he read for his Masters of Arts (MA) in Mass Communications at Leicester University in the United Kingdom (UK). He has also attended refresher courses, one for four months in The Hague, Netherlands in 1999 and another one in 2001 for six weeks in Bangkok, Thailand.

While still at the ministry, Mazebedi used his spare time to participate in individual and joint exhibitions.

Some of his art is exhibited at the National Museum and Art Gallery in Gaborone as well as Alliance Francaise, Botswana Craft, the British Council and Gallery Ann.

He is credited with designing the former logo of the University of Botswana (UB) in 1982, one for the Botswana Football Association (BFA) and another for Baobab Primary School in Gaborone, the Botswana Postal Services and Botswana Savings Bank.

Mazebedi's four sons are as artistic as their father and he is happy that they are doing well in school. One of his sons is into technical drawing and is able to convert his father's paintings on to PowerPoint for his presentations.

'My wife is the co-director in our business and gives me great support. She is good in suggesting subject matters for me to develop artistically. All in all, we are an artistic family,' says Mazebedi with a flourish.

ALBJ Enterprises, the company he uses to manage his art, has grown in leaps and bounds due to the support he got from the Local Enterprise Agency (LEA), which trained them in business administration, marketing strategies and pricing.