09 Apr 2015

While his mother is still busy in the yard attending to other household chores, the young boy would quietly sneak behind the mud hut, away from her prying eyes.

On the hut’s walls stood many decors, the most distinct being images of Basarwa on a hunting spree.

Mesmerized by the art, the young boy would stare for a few minutes, then take a piece of charcoal from the fire place and try to create a replica alongside the original creation. A rather grotesque image emerges, but the young boy would not be deterred. At such a tender age, he already had an innate believe that practice makes perfect.

Born and bred in Ditshegwane, Lazarus Monnaatsie is what can be labelled a self-taught, multi-talented artist, having started experimenting with different artistic trades at a tender age while still at primary school.

His main inspiration, he said, was his father who was as well self-taught in many trades. “I literally grew up in an environment where art was practiced every day. 

My father was a self-trained craftsman in many artistic fields, and normally he would make some decorations on the hut that we lived in. The decorations included among others images of Basarwa on a hunting spree,” he said.

Unknown to his father, the decors arose the natural talent in the young man. He would sneak silently behind the hut and copy down the decorations on the wall with charcoal. However, this he said, did not go well with his mother who would often spank him for “messing up the walls.”

“Lucky enough for me my father liked what I was doing. He noted early in my life that to grow artistically, I need to be supported at an early age and he would often convince my mother to be lenient on me as I was learning,” he said.

He said after noting that his interest in art pleased his farther, he took it more seriously. “You see, my father was my role model in many aspects so most of the time I wanted to do things that please him, and when people started telling me that I took after him it really encouraged me to keep going,” he said.

He said learning to draw and paint at such an early age also worked for him when he started school because his fingers were already used to holding drawing items, so it was much easier for him to “draw letters.”

Not only did he learn drawing and painting from his father, Monnaatsie said by the time he started primary school in 1992, the old man had also imparted in him others….such as poetry and playing some musical instruments.

“When I was at lower primary school, I used to submit drawings and paintings through the then 4B for various competitions, and I used to scoop prizes ahead of higher standards pupils. I was often invited to render poetry at kgotla meetings and mesmerize the audience during school ceremonies such as prize giving,” he said.

Despite having been an “artiste” for years, Monnaatsie said he encountered the Art subject for the first time in his life when he started junior school at Mahupu CJSS. “The subject never really troubled me and it was only a given that I chose it as one of my options. I was considered an Art hero at school. 

I participated in national exhibitions and continued scooping prizes,” he said. Considering his ability, it was no wonder that he emerged the only one with an A in Art during his junior certificate examinations,” he said.

Monnaatsie said his talent in Art continued to blossom even further at Matsha Community College. He however, said he could not concentrate in Art as much as he would have liked because he was pursuing pure sciences, which were demanding. He however, still managed to achieve an impressive A* when he completed form 5 in 2003, being the only one to achieve such a feat in the school.

Perhaps his love for art scarified the focus on other subjects, as he said he did not perform that well overall, which made his dream to pursue tertiary education a bit harder.

“I wanted to train as an art teacher, but because of my poor performance overall, I did not qualify,” he said. He said lack of tertiary education closed many doors for a better job, so he ended up using his talent for art to feed himself.

I depended on temporary jobs to buy materials for my art pieces which I then sold for a living.  Then in 2007 I applied for a Youth Development Fund and was funded to establish a general art studio which is currently operational,” he said.

His studio, named “I believe Artworks” currently has two employees who are mostly engaged to print t-shirts and other promotional material.

“The employees do not produce drawings or paintings because that requires skill, so I mostly produce the paintings and drawings during my spare time, then give to them for marketing and selling,” he said.

His major challenge in the project though, is what he terms low market interest for art pieces to the extent that he can go for about a month without selling a single piece. 

He said the materials he uses to produces the pieces are quiet expensive, which naturally has a determining factor in the final price of the end product. He however, said he has tried to advertise his business through his facebook page “I believe Artworks.”

To supplement his income, Monnaatsie said he has been using the Constituency arts competitions as well as the President’s Day arts competitions where he said he is a regular participant.

“For quiet some years I have been scooping prizes even as high as the national level, and this year is no exception as I am working on pieces to exhibit at the President’s Day celebrations,” he said.

A multi-talented fellow as he is, Monnaatsie said even though he never did any brick-laying course, he is currently constructing his own house which he hopes to complete soon. Now at the ripe age of 29 with his own home and place of operation, Monnaatsie can rest assured that he can practice his skills without looking back over his shoulders for his mother. ENDS