Blomefield wrote that he sought an alternative source of income for his workforce, which materialized when the sculptor Crispen Chakanyuka visited and pointed out that the farm contained an outcrop of hard serpentine stone (part of the Great Dyke) which Blomfield obtained the rights to mine to use for sculpture.

Blomefield encouraged many individual artists from a number of countries including Angola, Malawi and Mozambique to join the local community of mainly Shona ethnicity and was unconcerned whether they had formal training.

In 1989, the accessibility for visitors to Tengenenge improved with the opening of a tar road and in that year a number of international exhibitions of the sculptors' work were organised, including one in Europe: Beelden op de Berg in Wageningen, the Netherlands.

By 2000, up to 300 artists had lived at Tengenenge at various times but some visitors were critical of the insanitary conditions and lack of education for workers' children.

[8] Other artists who have worked at Tengenenge include Square Chikwanda, Sanwell Chirume, Edward Chiwawa, Barankinya Gosta, Makina Kameya and Jonathan Mhondorohuma.

[9][10] Although art sales sustained over 1200 community members at the height of Tengenenge's success, by 2020 Zimbabwe's lengthy economic hardship had taken its toll.