CHINA Shikwambana's great ambition is to express himself through art.

The 42-year-old father of two from Khupu village in N'wamitwa, near Tzaneen in Limpopo, says the days are gone when not having a job could haunt a person.

"As a person with a sound mind you should use your hands to make beautiful artwork that will generate an income for you," he said.

Shikwambana worked for a year as an artisan for a company in Florida, Gauteng, before he was retrenched.

He returned home, borrowed money and enrolled for an art course at a local college, where he spent three years.

"After college I realised poverty would ruin my family. That is when I started selling and marketing my works to local businesspeople," he said.

Today Shikwambana helps budding artists in his village and surrounding areas. He encourages youths who have an interest in art and helps some of them sell and market their artwork.

"Art and creativity go together. Art requires knowledge, skill and historic information," he claimed.

"To compose a good piece of art I taught myself to use visual art and collage. This helps me create a multimedia mixture of various arts in one package."

His biggest challenge at the moment is his lack of a vehicle.

"It is very difficult to attend exhibitions and shows when I am invited by artists and galleries in places like Durban and Joburg. he explained.

"Art and travelling are related. As artists were are inspired not by what we hear, but by what we see."

He encourages kids to focus on their education first and to strive to always improve their talents.

He said youths could take up art in any form, be it drama, poetry, dancing or traditional music.

He said his customer base was growing but that his immediate challenge was to secure funding to build his own studio from where he can work and teach part-time.