A Special Showing Of Twiga Jewelry Together With Tribal Art From Three Private Collections

Tanzanian-born jewelry designer and art gallery owner TwigaMbunda today announced a special showing exhibition featuring magnificent tribal art from three private collections, along with her African-inspired, hand-made jewelry. The public is invited to a free special reception to kick off the exhibition on February 19, from 6pm to 9pm. The weeklong exhibition runs through February 27 at Twiga Gallery, 3333 Sacramento Street and the vacant storefront next door.

The exhibition will include tribal masks, sculptures, figures, pottery, furniture, textiles, currency, and adornment from tribes all over the African continent, as well as one-of-a-kind jewelry created by Twiga using ancient and antique African beads, precious metals, and semi-precious stones that are both powerful and meaningful. Twiga Gallery is one of the few galleries in the world that exclusively represents authenticAfrican art and the only African woman-owned gallery of such high quality in the country. The gallery, showcasing antique African works of art and ancient jewelry beads reinterpreted into a contemporary design, is free and open to the public. A portion of the proceeds from the exhibit sales will go to the Mbinga Children’s Organization, an orphanage in Tanzania that Twiga helped build.

WHAT:
Kickoff reception for a special showing of Twiga Jewelry together with tribal art from three private collections

WHEN:
Reception: Friday, February 19from 6pm – 9pm
Exhibition: Saturday, Feb 20 through Saturday, Feb 27 , 11am – 7pm

WHERE:
Twiga Gallery, 3333 Sacramento Street and the vacant storefront next door.

Tickets and Info:
The kick-off reception is free, but registration is required at sydney@whiterainproductions.com. For more info, please visit TwigaGallery.com or call (415) 292-8020

About Twiga Mbunda
Calling herself a simple indigenous woman from Tanzania, Twiga left her village for the United States in 1985, armed with a degree in engineering. Faced with the inability to put her engineering degree to use in the U.S., she instead applied her engineering skills to creating jewelry using an assortment of African trade beads she had collected over the years.

People soon began to seek out her jewelry for its beautiful color, wild form and distinct modern take on tribal adornment. Her work has been featured in high-end retailers like Barney’s, Takashimaya of Manhattan, Ultimo, Obiko, Saks 5th Avenue and local galleries and dress shops. Eventually, Twiga manifested her dream of having her own shop that featured her distinct jewelry and African art with the opening of Twiga Gallery on Sacramento Street 1998.

Twiga is well known for her exquisite jewelry pieces, drawing from over thirty years of collecting old trade beads. She acknowledges that much of the inspiration and power of her designs come from the beads themselves, having been worn and used by indigenous peoples for years (and even centuries) bringing good energy, charisma and status, cleansing, fertility, and, of course adornment. Her designs and collections have been featured in many high fashion magazines such as American, Japanese and Italian Vogue, Essence, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Examiner, Architectural Digest, It V Tanzania, Schmuck magazine in Germany, and more. When wearing theseoriginal designs, women feel elegant, strong, confident, proud and powerful. The jewelry that Twiga designs becomes a personal talisman for her clientele.

Left financially responsible for raising six beautiful girls after her brother and his wife died of AIDS, she was inspired to start an orphanage in Tanzania – the Mbinga Children’s Organization, a U.S-certified non-profit tax-deductible organization. With the help of one of her other brothers, Philbert, who is a Catholic priest, they built a school for orphans near her village where they care for nearly 200 children. With proceeds from Twiga Gallery, along with donations, they help care, educate and house the children.