We met as highschool exchange students in the 1990s, and married during graduate school.

Gillian finished a PhD in biochemistry and then trained as a physician. William did a doctorate in anthropology and moved into exploring experimental art, historical preservation and regenerative agriculture.

Our two children help on the farm and in the gallery, sometimes joined by their friends or cousins, and never far from their dogs.

Zimbabwe's ancient sculptural tradition gained international recognition during the independence struggle from colonialism. Today, more than 50 galleries worldwide exhibit "Shona" sculpture, thusly named for the country's largest linguistic group even though artists hail from all cultural backgrounds. Art is a primary tourist draw to Zimbabwe, and the industry supports hundreds of artists and their families. Indeed, Gillian grew up surrounded by sculpture and one of her uncles was an artist. We began our collection before our wedding in 2007, and soon realised that we must begin selling sculptures if we wish to continue engaging the scene on a high level. Please book a viewing as soon as possible to help us disseminate some of the most innovative new work being done in Zimbabwe in gemstone materials.

The Simukai Fellowship was active for more than two years. During this time, 11 artists from around Zimbabwe managed to produce 62 gemstone sculptures. Along the way we shared our progress on social media, enabling other artists to learn from our experiments.

Unfortunately, the project collapsed in 2020 when COVID-19 made it impossible to assemble people from different homes into close living quarters for the duration of the residency.

A primary goal in starting Gunguo Art & History Farm is to create an outlet through which we can market Simukai sculptures, and thereby relaunch and expand the effort.

With your support we hope to offer the next iteration of the Fellowship at Gunguo Art & History Farm in 2024, bringing sculptors from Zimbabwe to join forces with colleagues in Canada.

The first structures on our farm were likely built in the 1700s, a time of extreme violence, when slavery was still practised in Canada, and when European settlers were pushing from the shores of the St. Lawrence River deep into the old-growth forests of the interior, deporting indigenous populations which had called the area home for millennia.

50 years later, the result is a maturing, mixed-species forest and fields brimming with rare wildflowers. We are actively reintroducing extirpated understory plants and protecting a few remnant pockets of ancient cedar, oak and hard maple which miraculously escaped the axe. Our visitors are welcome to wander 2 km of trails, pack a picnic or their favorite beverage, and reflect on the land's capacity to regenerate with conscientious stewardship.

We also find it remarkable that a farmstead constructed during the twilight days of slavery can now be owned by an interracial family, another glimmer of hope for a more equitable future.