James Maberly is an artist, an author and a social entrepreneur. Born in Kenya and brought up in Zimbabwe, he lived on a farm and attended school at both Springvale and Plumtree. There followed three years in the British Army with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, a period in business out in Southern Africa followed by art studies at both Ipswich and Norwich Schools of Art in the UK, specialising in sculpture and drawing. He attained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art. This led to four happy years as an art lecturer at Suffolk College teaching drawing, 3D design and sculpture. He continues to produce drawings and sculpture and also now teaches Intuitive Drawing from his studio.

He has also recently published a book entitled ‘Why Follow Rules?’, a book that asks why we follow rules and organised systems so blindly and willingly and why we ignore perhaps the most important resource we will ever have: our intuition. The book is available on Amazon.

James has never lost interest in Africa and Zimbabwe in particular. He founded the charity ZAWT to care for farmers and farm-workers whose lives were devastated by the farm invasions, which later led to an interest in the processes of negotiation and mediation. James brought the leaders of the farming community together at the Gecko Conference in 2009 in order to create dialogue between the differing groups.

James is a highly skilled and diplomatic co-ordinator. His skills in networking and firm but diplomatic negotiation have been one of his key tools in bringing the disparate farming groups together with a willingness to work with one another in future discussions and negotiations. His ability to deal with difficult and ego driven personalities has greatly enhanced his success. He is also an accomplished public speaker having lectured on self-reliance in the past and has spoken to various think tanks about the challenges currently being faced in Zimbabwe.

He travels periodically to Zimbabwe. He is married with 4 children.

James Maberly – Art website. Drawing and Sculpture.

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