7TH HARMATTAN WORKSHOP. CATALOGUE 1

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AGBARHA-OTORAGBARHA-OTOR 20057th Harmattan Workshop7th Harmattan Workshop

Oguan: Art and Architecture.

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7th Harmattan Workshop

OGUAN : Art and Architecture

2005AGBARHA-OTORAGBARHA-OTOR

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Cat.1 Bruce OnobrakpeyaPanel of Two (Floating Heads and Travail of the Continent I)Installation 244.5 x 243 cm


OGUAN : Art and Architecture

22nd February - 20th March 2005

DirectorDr. Bruce Onobrakpeya

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OGUAN : Art and Architecture BRUCE ONOBRAKPEYA FOUNDATION, 2005

41 OLOJE STREET, PAPA AJAO, MUSHIN, LAGOSE-mail: onobrak@hyperia .com

www.bofoundation.org

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ISBN: 978 - 978 - 2509 - 10 - 7

All rights reserved.No part of the publication may be reproduced or transmitted

in any form or by any means without permission.

Editorial Board: Pat Oyelola John T. Agberia Peter K. Da’Silva Bruce Onobrakpeya Mudiare Onobrakpeya Documentation/ Photography: Bode Olaniran Moses Unokwah

Layout & Design: Moses Unokwah

Typesetting: Udeme Nyong

Colour Separation/Printing& Technical Advise: Felix A. O. Koleoso (Fabog Nig. Ltd.)

Cover: Treasure House I, by Gbenga Olatunji- Aguda .

Frontispiece: Panel of Two (Floating Heads and Travail of the Continent I) By Bruce Onobrakpeya

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The 7th Harmattan Workshop

was made possible with the kind support of:

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Ovuomaroro Gallery

Support also came from:Janet Stanley who contributed to the pro the duction of

Agbarha-Otor 2005 electronic and hard copy publications

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- Promoting the growth of art and culture through the provision of opportunities for artists to improve themselves through sharing of ideas, skills acquisition and experiment.

- Promoting and developing public interest in the visual art by creating awareness for the intrinsic values of art (particularly African art) and its benefits to the society.

Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation

MISSION STATEMENT

Artistic Growth Through Interaction, Experiment, And Search

The Harmattan Workshops are one of the activities of the

RC No 14,478

CONTENTS

1. Plates ................................................................................................................................ viii

2. Figures .............................................................................................................................. viii

3. Mission Statement ............................................................................................................. ix

4. ................................................................................................ x

5. Another Successful Harmattan Season Breaks New Grounds by Ekpo Udoma ............... xiii

6. A Psychological Appraisal of Nigerian Visual Artists by Anthony I. O. Ikekhua................. 1

7. Stylistic Development of Deep Etching Techniques and Other Contemporary Nigerian Art Forms by Ayo Elebute ................................................................................................. 10

8. Art and the Definition of Culture in Africa and the Crises of Modernity by Frank A. O Ugiomoh..................................................................................................... 23

9. Report of the Photography Section by Barrett Akpokabayen........................................... 33

10. Stained Veneer Wood: A Medium of Painting by Nics O. Ubogu...................................... 36

11. Urhobo Masking Styles: Influences and Origin by Ese Odokuma and H.U.M Bazunu...... 49

12. Artists’ Works ................................................................................... ................................ 59

13. Artists’ Profile .................................................................................................................... 142

14. Index A Artist and their Works ........................................................................................... 163

15. Index B Participants and their Addresses ......................................................................... 166.16. Appendix: List of Participants ........................................................................................... 169

Oguan: Art and Architecture I i

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1. Participants in the first session.................................................................................. xx

2. Participants in the second session ....................................................................................... Xxi

3. Godwin Onobrakpeya (Studio Manager) addressing some participants......................... xxiv

4. Participants in the Mixed Media section.......................................................................... 157

5. Participants in the Printmaking section .......................................................................... 157

6. Participants in the Textiles section ................................................................................. 158

7. Ekpo Udo Udoma , workshop administrator explaining a point to students .................. 158

8. Klem Emodah (facilitator, Ceramics) loading wares for firing ......................................... 159

9. Dr. Peju Layiwola (facilitator, Jewellery) explains a point to students ............................ 159

10. Participants in the Jewellery section listening to instructions .............................................. 160

11. Participants in the Stone Carving section ........................................................................ 160

Figures

1. HRH Okorefe Ojakovo the 10th Ovie of Agbarha-Otor kingdom ......................................... x

2. Eshe (shrine) of HRH Ovie Owhe.............................................................................,. xi

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6. Warriors fencing with cutlasses ...................................................................................... xiii

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9. Frontal view of the gate to the ovie’s palace ................................................................... xiv

10. Reverse side of the gate to the ovie’s palace ................................................................ xiv

11. A section of the interior design of the palace Ogwan..................................................... xiv

12. Five Musicians Additive Plastograph by Bruce Onobrakpeya ........................................ xv

13. Odjevwe Ogba Erhue (Gate to the Cattle Ranch) Metal Foil by Bruce Onobrapkeya ... xv

14. HRH John Okorefe Ebelle II Oil on Canvas by Hakeem Balogun ................................... xv

15. HRH Queen Oghenero Christiana Ebelle Oil on Canvas by Hakeem Balogun ............ xv

16. Door Carving of HRH John Okorefe Ebelle II the 13th ovie of Agbarha-otor kingdom .... xvi

17. Four Young Women Oil on Canvas by Peter Coker............................................................................. xvii

18. Royal Fan with the insignia of HRH Ebelle II, Isene Metal Foil Plastograph by Bruce Onobrakpeya ... xvii

3. Town priest beating the Ogri (royal drum) .................................................................... xii

4. Warriors demonstrating their powers or celebrating victory .......................................... xii

5 defeated enemy lying face up with blood gushing from the neck .............................. xii

7 (Okpohrokpo) lion, pursuing an antelope (uzo) .............................................................. xiii

8 A warrior wearing an itiri charm neutralizes the effect of bullets ..................................... xiii

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PLATES PAGE

19. Lunar Myth Metal Foil Plastograph by Bruce Onobrakpeya ................................................................ xvii

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22. The ovie’s Throne.......................................................................................................................... xix

23. Beauty in the Wild by Bruce Onobrakpeya ................................................................................. 12

24. Music Melodians by Abiodun Okemakinde ................................................................................. 12

25. Kofo by Yusuf Grillo .................................................................................................................... 13

26. Builders at Work by Bruce Onobrakpeya ................................................................................... 14

27. Cry of Three Spirits by David Dale ................................................................................... 14

28. Forms in a Landscape by Bruce Onobrakpeya .............................................................. 14

29. Safe Journey by David Dale .......................................................................................... 15

30. Benin Chief by Ufuoma Onobrakpeya ............................................................................ 15

31. Okao Mask from Igun Town near Eku ............................................................................ 49

32. Igbo Maiden Mask, Mmuo Society ................................................................................... 49

33. Map showing the Major Towns and Peoples of the Study Area ........................................ 49

34. Isoko Mask with Female Bust ........................................................................................... 50

35. Urhobo Omotekpokpo Mask ........................................................................................... 50

36. Omagu Mask ................................................................................................................... 51

37. Owuasa Horizontal Headdress........................................................................................ 51

38. Urhobo Human Headdress Supported on a Basket ....................................................... 52

39. Igbo Amokwe Talakwu .................................................................................................... 52

40. Ekpeye Multiple Colour Headdress ................................................................................ 53

41. Benin Ekpo Mask Style A ............................................................................................... 53

42. Benin Ekpo Mask Style B ............................................................................................... 54

0. Door Carving of Jesus with his hands raised ...................................................................................... xviii

1. Door Carving of Jesus holding a crook and carrying a lamb on his shoulders ............................. xviii

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Fig. 1 HRH Okorefe Ojakovo the 10th Ovie of Agbarha-Otor kingdom

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One of the Harmattan workshop traditions is the adoption of a theme for each year. A theme helps the participants look deep at an aspect of the arts with the hope of drawing out ideas w h i c h w i l l s t i m u l a t e creativity. The theme for the year 2005 is Oguan an Urhobo word for a family or community meeting room, large or small, attached to the main building. It may also stand by itself within the rec tangula r s t ruc tured compound or even in the village square.

Nowadays Oguan simply means a hall. The Urhobo traditional Oguan which still exists today can be a living room or specially built social (secular or sacred) place.

Oguan is usually replete with w a l l , r o o f a n d f l o o r s t r u c t u r e s t h a t c a r r y sculptures, murals, free hanging pictures, objects and furniture. As a reception hall, it is made very interesting by the degree of embellishment, which often depends on the status of the owner of the house or the importance the structure conveys as a religious or historical land mark.

OGUAN: Art and Architecture Iby Bruce Onobrakpeya

Fig. 2 Eshe (shrine) of HRH Ovie Owhe

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fig.3 Town priest beating the Ogri (royal drum)

Fig. A 5 defeated enemy lying face up with blood gushing from the neck.

Art and Architecture is a large theme. Oguan, chosen to help reflect on it, is equally very exhaustive. Therefore this piece, the first in the series, is again narrowed down to showcase only the Oguan of the Ovie (monarch) of Agbarha-otor. Occupying a central position in the town, the art in this environment is m o s t v i s i b l e t o b o t h indigenes and visitors.

On the left side of the middle section of the main street of Agbarha-otor is a grove which shields off a shrine dedicated to the god of war called Ogbosu. Surrounding it is a high concrete fence, on which is painted several pictorial vignettes which illustrate the fighting powers that the god endows its worshippers. Painted by Temple Obayendo, a product of the Harmattan workshop, t h e m u r a l s n o t o n l y constitute significant artistic contribution to the town but also a visible art renaissance for which the Harmattan Workshop which is an informal educational centre takes credit.

The first panel fig (3) of the mural shows a priest beating the royal drum called Ogri. On the same panel another priest points to a moon crescent. Other symbols in the picture are a snake spewing venom; ukokogho (small gourd) container for

Fig.4 warriors demonstrating their powers or celebrating victory.

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Fig. 7 (Okpohrokpo) lion, pursuing an antelope (uzo).

Fig. 8 A warrior wearing an itiri charm neutralizes the effect of bullets

powered charms often used as antidotes to poison or weapons diversion. The vi l lage of Awhirhe in Agbarha-otor clan is the traditional custodian of the Ogri drum.

In the second panel (fig 4), warriors demonstrate their powers or celebrate victory by brandishing spears and cutlasses. The procession is led by an Ogbu (traditional soldier dreaded as head hunter) who wears a cap with an insignia of five feathers. A third panel (fig 5) shows a defeated enemy lying face up with blood gushing from the neck.

The next panel (fig 6) shows two warriors fencing with cutlasses; one dagger shaped the other sickle. The next two panels are covered by foliage. These are followed by two scenes on a panel (fig 7). The first is a warrior holding charms on both hands and carrying a flaming pot on his head. On the same panel the second scene facing the opposite direction is a lion (okpohrokpo) pursuing an antelope (uzo), a kind of comparison between an Ogbosu empowered warrior and the ordinary person who is a victim.

The last panel (fig 8) shows a war scene where the itiri charm worn by one of the warriors neutralizes the

Fig. 6 warriors fencing with cutlasses

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Fig. 9 Frontal view of the gate to the ovie;s palace.

Fig. 10 Reverse side of the gate to the ovie’s palace

Fig. 11 A section of the interior design of the palace Oguan.

effect of bullets released from a gun fired by another combatant.

Facing the tableau of Ogbosu mural panels on the right side of the main street is the imposing gate to the Ovie's palace. Made of wrought iron and set within two arches, the front view (fig 9) has the sign “His Royal Highness: The Ovie of Agbarha. It also shows four crowns, three Nigerian coat of arms, two eagles, three elephants and two elephant tusks. On the reverse side of the gate (fig 10) facing the quadrangle of the enclosed compound are the pictures of the Ovie's black Mercedes

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Fig. 14 HRH John Okorefe Ebelle II Oil on Canvas by Hakeem Balogun

Fig. 15 HRH Queen Oghenero Christiana Ebelle Oil on Canvas by Hakeem Balogun

Benz, two red cap chiefs engaged in tradit ional greetings with fans, and a woman who is most likely wife to one of the chiefs. The l a s t i m a g e s a r e t h e silhouettes of the crowns and eagles. It is interesting to note, that the images welded on both side of the gates were painted over by the artist Temple Obayendo as well.

Doors in the front part of the palace building open into a large hall which is the Oguan. One is immediately confronted with a rich interior design (fig 11)

Fig. 12 Five Musicians AdditivePlastograph by Bruce Onobrakpeya

Fig. 13 Odje evwe OgbaErhue (Gate to the Cattle Ranch) Metal Foil Plastocastby Bruce Onobrapkeya

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Fig. 16 Door Carving of HRH John Okorefe Ebelle II the 13th ovie of Agbarha-otor kingdom

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showing chairs, tables, paintings, sculptures and a l a r g e n u m b e r o f photographs. But this sketch will concentrate on the carvings, portraits, prints and other art works which are both revival of old traditions and new creations. Within t h e O g u a n a r e s e v e n carvings, four of them are painted portraits which are door panels opening to the inner chambers of the palace. Two are royal, and the other two are those of Jesus Christ. The first,Ovie Okorefe

thOjakovo (fig 1) is the 10 king of “Agbarha Kingdom”.

Fig. 17 Four Young WomenOil on Canvas by Peter Coker

Fig. 18 Royal Fan with the insignia of HRH Ebelle IIIsene Metal Foil Plastocastby Bruce Onobrakpeya

Fig. 19 Lunar Myth Metal Foil Plastocastby Bruce Onobrakpeya

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Fig. 21 Door Carving of Jesusholding a crook and carrying a lamb on his shoulders.

The second portrait (fig 16) is John Okorefe, Ebelle II. He is the present ovie (monarch) of Agbarha Kingdom.

The remaining two door panels show two pictures of Jesus. In the first Jesus raises his hands (fig 20) and in the second he holds a crook and and carries a lamb on his shoulders (fig 21). In both pictures, the pink painted body of Christ and white remnants stand out from the other parts of the carving painted with brown lacquer. The fifth carving is the Ovie's

throne (fig 22) with the Nigerian Coat of Arms carved on the upper back rest.

The sixth of the seven carvings is a rather tall drum (fig 2). On the circular body of the drum are different carved motifs, most prominent is that of a crocodile eating a fish.

The seventh carving is that o f Ovie Oke re fe i n traditional regalia sitting on a throne and holding on one hand a staff of office.

Fig. 20 Door Carving of Jesuswith his hands raised.

At the bottom part of the carving is an intricate pattern using the symbol of eternity.

The next set of pictures are paintings first, is the portrait of John Okorefe Ebelle II, oil on canvas (fig 14) painted by Hakeen Balogun. Next is the portrait of Queen Oghenero Christiana wife to His Royal Highness John Okorefe Ebelle II (fig 15) it is also oil on canvas painted by Hakeem Balogun. Both pictures are profuse with red and white which are Urhobo co lours . “Four young

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women” (fig 17) oil on canvas is another picture and was painted by Peter Coker. The brightly coloured picture shows the women in

hairdo and brightly colour dress under an umbrella.

The remaining four pictures in the Ovie’s collection shown in the Oguan are by this writer, Bruce Onobrakpeya. They are of d i ffe ren t techniques and as the names of two of them suggest, have been inspired by the Urhobo folklore and ideas.

Five musicians (fig 12) is done in a technique called additive plastograph which is a combination of etching and painting, innovated by the artist.

Royal fan (fig 18) a circular picture composed of twenty nine miniature images carries the insignia of the present monarch. It reads “His Royal Highness” John Okorefe Iji Ogodogo Ebelle II. Ovie of Agbarha Kingdom.

Odjevwe Ogba Erhue (Gate to the Cattle Ranch) fig 13 is on the theme of Agriculture and good harvest. It is a low

flared out

relief sculptural panel finished with patinatedveneer of copper foil. Stylized cows as finials of starves bound together with lineal filigree suggest wrought iron gate.

The last of the four pictures by Bruce Onobrakpeya in the royal collection is one of the folktale inspired series called Emeranvwen

Fig. 22 The ovie’s Throne

(Lunar Myths) fig 19. It is based on the Urhobo belief that the moons changes into a white goat and descend to the earth at night to vegetate. In one of its nocturnal adventures, the moon was held captive by an old woman. And the earth was plunged into dark nights until the culprit was found and goat released.

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ANOTHER HARMATTAN SEASON BREAKS NEW GROUNDS

The Chinese proverb which relates to the thousand miles journey may be apt to describe

the annual artists’ interactive meeting better known as the Harmattan Workshop as it thcame full circle at the 7 edition which began on March 6, 2005 ending April 2, 2005.

The Workshop began on a very modest note in 1998 and has as one of its cardinal objectives the provision of informal education in visual art. Forty- one participants were in attendance for the first session, while 35 participants registered for the second session.

Till date, scores of participants, mostly visual artists, from all works of life and different stations have participated in this increasingly influential workshop of the visual art community in Nigeria. The Workshop has sustained not only that diversity in participation; the intensity in terms of areas of concentration and, expansion in terms of materials and equipment have also increased greatly.

Clearly, the Harmattan Workshop has come to stay and the lure of participating in future workshops, going by responses received, certainly has not waned.

One of the highpoints of this year's workshop was the participation of a Beninois artist, Midy Midahuen. Midy, who is resident in Cotonou studied Graphics and Painting at JIKADECO, also in the Republic of Benin and the University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. He has participated in a number of international exhibitions, the most recent being Art in Action, held in Accra, Ghana, in 2005. Midy said he had heard about the Harmattan Workshop long before he participated, but waited for an auspicious time to come to Nigeria. What he saw and heard at the Workshop surpassed all he had been told.

The Workshop also played host to Chief P.O.K. Abuede, whose experiences in bronze casting and marble carving were of immense value to participants. Part of his presentation included video clips of some of his commissions such as the larger - than - life portrait of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, among his several commissions.

Also recorded was the presence of observers. In attendance was Tam Fiofori, a cinematographer and photojournalist, Joy Osifo of the National Gallery of Art, Abuja, and Eric Eweke, a columnist of The Dispatch, a community newspaper in Yenogoa, Bayelsa State. Also, Dr. Perkins Foss, the American art historian and, researcher on Urhobo traditional art as well as Ms Bunmi Davies, publisher of Agufon, a journal of arts and architecture, graced the occasion.

In this year there were ten areas of concentration. They include the following: Oil & Water Colour Painting, Mixed Media, Printmaking, Textiles, Stone Carving, Metal Construction, Ceramics, Wood Carving, Photography, Jewellery and Bead making.

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The theme for the Workshop, Oguan (Art and Architecture), is the Urhobo word used in the concept of Urhobo traditional architecture. It is about the courtyard of a house, where the owner of the house entertains his guests. Such a courtyard could be elaborately decorated, depending on the taste and status of the owner. The theme therefore set many of the participants to work. Some came up with very interesting concepts. As the theme was not meant to restrict participants, therefore some artists went about doing their own thing. Workshop participants had more books to page through during the Workshop. Thanks to Janet Stanley of the Smithsonian Institution in the United States of America who donated books mainly on art as well as a few others of importance to the library. The library was therefore named after her.

Two participants without formal art education were Olayinka Ogunjumo, who studied Sociology and Shakiru Badmus, a sign writer. Olayinka turned out to be a naturalist as her works exhibited boldness and drawing skills. Shakiru Badmus ( popularly called Zeeco) who came all the way from Lagos was exposed to the idea of composition in painting.

The sleepy Agbarha - Otor town and the nearby communities did not merely play hosts to the visitors as they have been doing since the previous workshops, they actually participated and benefitted from the workshop. Their women were mostly in the Textiles and Jewellery sections, learning how to make things in those sections. Along with the participants, they were taken through the production processes of tie & dye, batik and knitted sweaters, bangles, bracelets, wristbands and chokers. The Ceramics section also recorded an improvement in that a larger kiln had been installed, therefore making it possible for large pieces to be fired at high temperatures.

As is customary, papers were presented by scholars. Papers presented include Digital Art and Design: Options for the Visual Artist by Etiido Inyang (University of Port Harcourt); The Environment Through The Eyes of The Artist by Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya (Ovuomaroro Studio); Dimensions of Art: Sculpture by Austine Emifoniye (University of Lagos); Art and the Definition of Cultures In Africa and the Crises of Modernity by Dr. Frank Ugiomoh (University of Port Harcourt); Wood Veneer as a Painting Medium by Nics Ubogu (University of Port Harcourt); Metal Design and its Challenges and Projections: A Case Study of The University of Benin School by Kingsley Emeriewen (University of Benin); Stylistic Categorization of in the Works of Bruce Onobrakpeya in Medium, Technique and Form by Ayo Elebute (University of Ibadan); The Practice of Goldsmithing In Ibadan by Dr. Mrs. Peju Layiwola (University of Lagos); Experiences In Bronze Casting and Marble Carving by Chief P.O.K. Abuede of the Abuede Industries, Lagos and The Artist and The Quest For Multi-Culturalism: A Discourse In Fine Art by Uwa J. Usen (University of Uyo).

During the Workshop, visitors thronged the venue to see for themselves what things participants were creating. General art students of the Delta State Polytechnic led by

xxiii

the Head of Department, Mr. Duke Asidere, himself a product/participant of the Workshop. Students of St. Theresa's Grammar School, Ughelli, as well a team of journalists from the Delta State Broadcasting Service came with their equipment to do some interviewing of participants. The past President of the Society of Nigerian Artists, Professor Osa Egonwa, visited to acquaint himself with the on - goings at the Workshop. Professor Egonwa is a regular visitor at previous workshops.

This review cannot be complete without mentioning that participants took time off to visit the Ibru Ecumenical Centre which is just a stone throw from the Workshop site.

Ekpo Udo UdomaAdministrator

Plate. 3 Godwin Onobrakpeya (Studio Manager) addressing some participants during the opening ceremony of the first session of the workshop. On the extreme right is Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya, Harmattan Workshop initiator.

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Abstract

This paper recognizes the apparent derogatory categorization often ascribed to African visual artists and their art forms, objects and processes as non-connoisseurs in the mastery of classical paradigms of the orthodox western creative process. It is geared to controvert the derogatory position so ascribed to African visual artists and their art forms, objects and creative processes by appreciating the character of the African creative process, art forms and products in the context of the classical western paradigms of the creative artistic process. It also asserts the psycho-social functionality, the aesthetic sophistication, the adjusted and adaptive ingenuity of the African visual artist in the African creative artistic process, exemplifying the engagement of psychological capabilities of abstraction, synthesis and inventiveness in creating novel and psycho-socially relevant art forms and objects. This paper recommends psycho-pedagogical strategies to aid the artistic development and professionalism of African visual artists to a c h i e v e e x p a n d e d a w a r e n e s s , consciousness and vision extension for greater professionalism and artistic expression.

IntroductionOften Western writers, following European expectancy patterns, have queried the relevance of contemporary African visual art forms. In modern American and European aesthetic categories, African visual art processes and products are often derided on the grounds of Western criticism, using cultural, regional and ethnographic paradigms, or treated with indifference. Sometimes they are considered common place and irrelevant to present day life style or even disregarded as inept in the mastery of classical skills and styles of the Western creative process (Egonwa, 1994). The apparent derogatory categorization of African visual art forms has often been premised on the assumption that African Visual Art processes and

A PSYCHOLOGICAL APPRAISAL OF NIGERIAN VISUAL ARTISTSBy Anthony I. O. Ikekhua

products lack the sophistication, style and functionality of the psychological ingredients that are often associated with western classical creative process and products.

The thrust of the paper therefore is to controvert this derogatory position ascribed to African visual art forms, objects and creative processes by matching the character of the African creative processes with the classical paradigms of the orthodox creative process.

A cursory evaluation of contemporary modern art history will reveal that many renowned Western art parsonages and the emergence of their various styles, art forms and objects, have certainly benefitted from the dynamic input of the field of psychology. Examples include Picasso and his Cubism, Van Gogh and Expressionism, the Surrealist movement, Naturalism, and Abstractionism, all of which approaches have engaged the usage of psychological concepts, philosophical principles and theories. In the same vein, using the yardsticks of the basic components of the classical artistic process and the paradigms of art evaluation, it can also be asserted that contemporary African visual artists and their art forms and objects and their associated creative processes equally manifest the aesthetic sophistication, style and functionality of the psychological ingredients that are associated with Western classical artistic processes and products.

In the context of the foregoing assumption, for the purpose of this paper, psychology as a discipline may here be presented (Drever, 1981; Mukherjee, 1975 and Ikekhua, 1995) as a social science body of organized knowledge whose purpose, subject matter, principles, theories and models are geared towards the observation, analysis, in te rpre ta t ion , mod i f i ca t ion and investigation of overt (open) and covert

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(hidden) human and animal behavior. The etiological analysis of the term and concept of psychology presents the terminology as originating from the two Latin words “psyche” and “logos”. While “Logos” has been interpreted to mean study, science or organized knowledge and analysis, “psyche”, is interpreted to mean the human spirit that psychoanalysis define as the psychic force controlling human overt (open) and covert (hidden) actions. Psychology, like art, is all about the analysis and presentation of man, his life experiences and behavior.

The business of psychology, like Art, as a discipline is the observation, analysis, interpretation and presentation of open and hidden human, animal and plant behaviour in the various forms and dimensions in which they originate and manifest individually and collectively. Thus, psychology as a discipline affords the visual artist the background to and means of achieving the meaningful representation, projection and presentation of the different dimensions of human, animal and plant behaviour and experience as well as accurately expressing their own individual feelings, values, emotions, perceptions and impressions on the behaviour and experiences being projected.

In the view of Egonwa (1994) African art c o u l d b e d e f i n e d a s

the creative objectification of Africans, which bear the imprints of African aesthetics on their styles and subjective contents. Differentiating African art from the art of western civilization Mpulubushi (1988) in Egonwa (1994) also writes that: “African art constitutes a style of art which is, to say the least, different from anything associated with the western civilization that plagues his or her everyday life.” It is something that has been produced in the local villages and is quite commonplace.

In the context of the foregoing definitions, Africa art has an identity that can best be described by the aesthetic behaviour of African artists as expressed within the Afr ican ideo log ica l and phys ica l environment. Likewise, the appreciation of African aesthetics will best be done by considering how African artists bare their styles and symbolism in African artifacts and socio-facts and how they have used these applied aesthetics to represent and present their awareness and, recognition of their aesthetic values in the context of the dictates of their historical and daily economic, political, religious, legal and technical experiences in their given environment. Thus, African art in terms of functionality should be seen as art that is interwoven with the economic, political, legal and technical aspects of African living and also interlaced with the basic material and spiritual concerns for survival in African settings (Egonwa, 1994). Hitherto, it was widely believed that the purpose of Art is to satisfy man aesthetically (Egonwa, 1991, 1994) that is, to give everyone visual pleasure and a good state of mind. But it can be argued that the essence of visual Art, or rather, African visual art, should be more than visiting the widely held beliefs of art for art’s sake which defies the purpose of African art as functionality for spirituality. The existence of African Art has been established (Egonwa, 1991, 1994). The description, the analysis, interpretation, evaluation and appreciation of African Art in meaningful ways can also lend credence to the assertion that just like their contemporary Western modern art and artists, African Art personages and their creative processes and products have

Cat. 2Nse-Abasi Inyang Agbarha FeelingsMixed media51.5 x 81cm

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Cat. 3Sam OvraitiUntitledOil on Canvas104 x 122 cm

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Benefitted from the dynamic input of the contributions of psychology as a discipline.

THE AFRICAN VISUAL ARTIST IN CREATIVE PROCESSIf the definition of Art is said to be the expressing of forms and images, then African visual art forms and images as products and processes of the fundamental artistic process would have been to the following 3 basic features of theirs as art forms and objects to the fomenting burning furnaces of psychological principles and processes, namely, (Egonwa, 1994).

(a) Style – the way the art work looks;

(b) Iconography – its subject matter and symbolism;

(c) Historical context – its political, social, economic, scientific and intellectual background and influences.

In addition, the meaningful evaluation, description, analysis and interpretation of African art forms and objects as part of the art evaluation process would in principle also rely on the contribution of the discipline of psychology, which is often juxtaposed with art and artistic creative processes.

The artwork of the artist is the total projection of the artist, and is in itself, a product of his culture and environment. The artistic process involves designing the visual structure of the art form or object and determining the functions or relevance of the form or object created. The process is entirely a creative process whose activities are essentially psychologically cognitive, and to a large extent, highly psycho-productive. The presence of psychology in the African creative process is thus clear.

The range of configurations of what may be considered, as art is largely an expression of beauty and approaches(Berndtson, 1975) whose visual structure or design and relevance manifest the artist’s thoughts, feelings, values, moods a n d

purpose(s). Aesthetics is considered an enquiry into an experience of a kind and with a constant sense of value and may occur in a variety of conditions (Berndtson, 1975). In view of Berndtston, the works of art such as painting, sculpturing are aesthetic experiences which involve the contemplative activities of pondering, touching upon the sensations, the emotions, the experiences, impressions and platitudes of both the originator and the appreciator (Berndtson, 1975). Visual art forms and objects as aesthetic experiences are thus processes and products that engage the total psychology of the individual artists and their appreciators.

Furthermore, the subject matter of aesthetics is aesthetic experience which is exemplified by art as an activity of the

artist for a purpose or motive. It is a skill or habit that is good which qualifies the intelligence or cognitive power or the intellectual virtue of the artist to engage in true reasoning. It is also reflective of the ability to engage for the right reason in the making of things (Berndtson, 1975). Thus any example of African visual art will be an aesthetic experience, which should be seen as highly intellectual or cognitive with specific sensory appeal. The process whereby an artist transforms vision, concepts, ideas, views, orientations, feelings emotions, personal or collective experiences in life, into meaningful art forms and objects for aesthetic purposes, is a long, arduous psychological process that is laden with intense complex cognitive, affective and psycho-motor decision-making activities. Chapman (1978) borrows the understanding of psychology to define the artistic process which she regards as personal in creating art. Chapman recognizes the following stages in the artistic process viz:

Stage 1: Inception of an idea featuring the motivation or intention to make art.

Stage 2: Elaboration and refinement featuring the artist engaging in reflective thinking, spontaneous thinking, thoughts, total revision of thoughts and feelings to refine ideas, capture meanings and ideas in organized activity and transforming them into desired visual forms.

Stage 3: Execution in a medium, which may feature the artist’s planning and engagement in development of ideas by working directly with permanent or preliminary models or sketches which are later translated or realized in the chosen medium. This stage also involves the artists’ choice and use of their desired medium to realize any conceived art form.

As remarked by Chapman (1995, p. 46) the choice of medium and art form can make a difference in the amount and type of preparation engaged in by the artist. By implication, engagement in the above mentioned stages of activity would remark the virulence and generation of one’s own ideas for artistic self-expression. It also remarks the incubation of ideas, the search for inspiration in a sudden

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Cat. 4Ishola SulaimonLandscapeOil on Canvas43 x 86 cm

Cat. 5Abiodun AgbelusiUntitledMixed media75 x 53 cm

flash of insight, illumination and creativity. The kaleidoscope of forms and objects of African visual Art buttresses the exemplary dexteritythat African visual artists have shown in theengagement of psychological skills, values andideas in African Art works.

The various valuable benefits and thoughtful media that are associated with African visual A r t i s t s i n t h e e x p r e s s i o n o f t h e i r art forms, solidly indicate the humane feelings, spontaneity in creativity, reflective t h o u g h t f u l n e s s , i n d u s t r y , i n n ovation and inventiveness that African visual artists have shown in refining their ideas and transforming them into moving, decorative and meaningful visual art forms. One can assert at this point that the African visual artist, indeed, the Nigerian visual artist, has been highly cogitative, reflective, a f f e c t i v e a n d i n t e l l e c t u a l l y s y s t e matic in creating enduring impressive Afric a n v i s u a l a r t f o r m s a n d o b j e c t s .An evaluation of the various media developed byAfrican Artists to create their art works, show the high level of industry, ingenuity and discretion exercised by the indigenous Africa artists in producing or developing their variousmedia as means of expressing their thoughts, feelings and ideas in concrete art forms that are highly effective in communicating intended messages or meanings. The typical African visual artist can be rated high on the scale of psychological skill and virulentideation which is a cognitive ability todevelop meaningful imaginative ideas intorelevant art forms that can communicatemeanings and feelings.

The African Visual Artist and Functionality

Hitherto, African Art has been placed in the category of functionality, not “art for art’s, sake” by Western critics. But taking African art as a product and process with varied artistic activities, objects and situations that are described as multi-layered, involving several other disciplines (Egonwa, 1994, Cole, 1982, Wangboje, 1985 and 1994), the cultural value that gives significance to art in Africa is emphasized. The broad range of cultural relevance and socialfunctionality of African visual art forms and objects are thus validly underscored. The kaleidoscope of mask varieties that adorn

Cat. 6Shakiru BadmusEyo FestivalLithograph32.5 x 23 cm

Cat. 7Ayo ElebuteLonely ChiefDrypoint19.8 x 14.5 cm

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most Nigerian and African social functions and are used as agents of social control in Liberian, Yoruba and Ibo societies lend credence to the essentially functional nature of African Art (Egonwa, 1994).

The psychological relevance of African visual art forms and objects such as masks, figurines of deities and other religious art objects, underline the functionality of African visual art forms for spirituality. The functional emphasis is essentially to give spiritual meaning and purpose to the people, as well as to help the society regulate, control and sharpen overt and covert conforming behaviour, the values and moral outlook of the people for the purpose of survival as communal aggregates or people living together as a cult, family, ethnic groups or nation.

It is thus acceptable to assert, in principle, that the imagery, and aesthetics of African visual art forms and processes do assert an immense regulatory influence over people, thereby engendering conforming behaviour among them. They also invoke intense feelings and emotions in the originators and appreciators which engender tremendous cultural appeal and attachment in Africans. Examples in this category of functionalism include the Oshun Oshogbo artifacts and creative activities of Wenger and Beier’s Ori-olokun experiments at Ile-Ife. Wangboje’s “Man, Mask and Myths” series depicts how African philosophies are objectified in masks and translated into modern aesthetic objects for mere visual pleasure (Egonwa, 1994:184). Wangboje is also cited by Egonwa as an advocate of “art for use” who translated the functionalism of art into using art to nurture the aesthetic sensibilities of the younger generation through Television Art Workshop programmes as well as providing living artistic services through the establishment of the Faculty of Creative Arts’ Centre in the University of Benin, Benin City. African Visual art forms and objects can in summary be said to depict functionallyThe various aspects of the values and philosophies of the life of the African people. These elements are in turn harmoniously interwoven into African v i s u a l a r t f o r m s a n d o b j e c t s .

African visual art can also functionally be regarded as a style which often reflects the beliefs (scientific and mystical) as well as the political and personal idiosyncrasies, of the artist. A typical example is provided by Professor Uche Okeke, who as a pioneer member of the Mbari Artists and Writers, joined art personages such as Ngugi Wathiongo, J. P. Clarke, Duro Ladipo and Demas Nwoko in using sculptural pieces, paintings and drawings, particularly the Igbo Uli traditional drawings and paintings executed on the wall and human bodies, to project significant African themes, designs and concepts which had been the roots of his inspiration and style. Another example is the Efik design of Nsikak Essien’s “Armageddon”, “Womanhood Crucified” and the Igbo Ijele masquerade paintings which represent an African artist’s ideological concept infused into modern art.

Cat. 8Shakiru Badmus Mother’s CareAdditive Plastograph28 x 23 cm

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Emphasizing the same principle of functionality of African art, it is observed that structure and motifs in African architecture, sculpture and painting are often drawn from the philosophies, forms, materials and tools of Africans (Egonwa, 1994). As an illustration, Egonwa mentions that among the Yoruba a four sided shape refers to the four powerful divinities that rule the four week days who also guard the four cardinal points; East – Sango, West – Ifa; North – Obatala and South – Oduduwa. Babalola (1994) in Egonwa (1994) says that to the Yoruba, a square or rectangular motif means “completeness”. It is thus acceptable to assert that some indigenously sourced motifs and their shapes have pedagogical values while others are believed to spiritually project the magical qualities of the object for the benefit of the owners or users. How else can African visual artist and his art forms and objects be more functional?

The African Visual Artist and Modernisation

As one of the highly exposed individuals of ththe 20 century, the African visual artist is

receptive to the influx of ideas from all over the globe and draws inspiration from the stream of emerging global art-making concepts, materials and subject matter. Globalization engenders social and economic changes which equally encourage the mutations of styles and forms of the artistic environment of the artist. These often trigger evolutionary trends in the artist’s world view and expression, thus widening the scope and, options of the creative ideas, media and techniques that are open to the artist as well as the options of ideological, philosophical, technical or political orientations to which the artist is exposed as changes occur.

The anticipated political, climatic, economic, physical and socio-cultural changes of contemporary times will produce alterations in the volume and range of visual data to which the contemporary African artist is open and which will in principle influence or alter the

patterns of artistic thoughts and the choice of the artists media of expression and presentation of their art concepts and themes. Modernization often influences the indigenous Nigerian visual artist to adopt and integrate diverse foreign techniques to realize their designs and subject matter.

In the context of the concept of synthesis, which is often associated with modernist African artists , Egonwa, (1994) cites the living demonstrative examples of Bruce Onobrakpeya’s “Saint Paul” and “Ore Ri Canaan”, deep etching works as synthetic efforts of an iconic visual artist to use foreign techniques to realize designs couched in indigenous aesthetic paradigms. These examples also illustrate the artist’s integration of design tendencies f r o m d i v e r s e s o u r c e s a n d t h e indigenization of imported technique such as deep etching. Jegede (1985) and Egonwa (1994) view Onobrakpeya as a modernist African artist who exploited the compositional systems of major artistic groups in Nigeria in his modernizing efforts, namely Yoruba “adire”; Benin eroded bronze

Cat. 9KlaranzeUntitledOil on Canvas94 x 61cm

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plaques; Urhobo shrines and Yoruba calabashes.

The conclusion here is that changes in the physical, socio-economic, political and cultural environments of the indigenous art ist often create an expansive environment, which presents a wide range of formalistic possibilities, materials and techniques that can be used in the creative process of the African artist. This advantageous position will enable him engender innovations by engaging multi-media devices of expression, perform diverse artistic operations and produce variegated art ist ic presentational techniques, forms and objects.

thThe 20 century has given the African visual artist access to improved technology and foreign production tools and devices, such as computer technology and highly textured materials which allow the African visual artists to impart novelty to modern artistic expressions, forms and objects. Western improved technology broadens and enriches the art techniques and products of the indigenous visual artist. For example, the emergence of metal carving tools such as chisels, gouges and power- saws has allowed the artist- carver multiple manipulative possibilities to perform diverse artistic operations (Bascom, 1973; Egonwa, 1994). Thus, the modern indigenous artist has the psychological intellectual prowess and sophistication of responsive adjustment to assimilate changes and new possibilities, to synthesize both traditional and emergent global formalistic possibilities, materials, tendencies and techniques to integrate sophistication and novel character into modern African artistic expressions.

Conclusions and RecommendationsAlthough a range of the configurations of what may be considered African art can now be said to exist and the African visual artist may also be considered an embod iment o f the pro fess iona l applications of the mechanics and skills of the creative art process, the African visual artist can also be adjudged an apostle of aesthetic validity and sophistication in the

Creative art process as he, like his western counterparts, has depended professionally on the disciplinary offerings of the field of psychology and his psychological abilities to create various novel artistic concepts. Thus, he could also be regarded as an icon in the engagement of the classical skill principle, the approach of the orthodox artist.

As a member of the African cultural environment, the African visual artist has,

Cat. 10Group WorkLife in Agbarha - OtorStone Lithograph45.5 x 60.5 cm

in the context of Art for use and Art for art’s sake, relevantly based the conceptual and perceptual parameters of his art forms and objects on the cultural reality of his environment. Therefore, the indigenous visual artist can be rated highly on the scale of functionality and on the philosophy of functionalism. The varieties of motifs, schemed abstractions and presentations of African visual artists convey pedagogical values, and philosophical meanings which are of psychological relevance in promoting the survival, spiritual well-being and continuity of African life and communal cultural heritage. The African visual artist is dynamic as he also responds to and integrates the emergent changes in his immediate environment to engender innovations and mutants of African

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Cat. 11Egbe AkenzuaEhivbin ( Masquerade)Additive Plastograph28.5 x 22.7 cm

Art styles, forms and objects. The African artist and his creative artistic process exemplify the integration of the vital psychological functioning of synthesis for the propagation of novelty and production of innovative African art.

Recommendations (1) Thus, in the context of this paper,

the social and practical aspects of African art should be given as much attention as the creative, self-expressive aspects. For greater socialization and professional growth, apprenticeship training under the supervision of the problem solving and creative, reflective master artist should be integrated into the curricular training of art students and graduates.

(2) A s C h a p m a n ( 1 9 7 8 ) o n c e emphasized, in contemporary art education, environmental design, architecture, advertising and other arts of daily living should be essential considerations in. Comprehensive art program for the African

Visual artist in training

(3) Opportunities should be given to artists in training to explore art materials in their environment in order to promote their ingenuity and novelty in the manipulation of materials in the creative process of the artist.

(4) Education in political, social, economic and cultural dynamics and diffusion due to technological e v o l u t i o n , m o d e r n i z a t i o n , globalization and democratization of economies and societies should be afforded African visual artists in t r a i n i n g t o p r o m o t e t h e i r synthesizing and abstracting capabilities.

(5) Sponsored opportunities for creative sel f -expression through the production and exhibition of art activities and products should be afforded budding African visual artists.

(6) Education in art appreciation and comparative art studies as a way of encountering the realities of life and the contemporary life styles of other people should be infused into the curricular training of the visual artist in Africa.

(7) In order to promote the expansion of the experience, consciousness and awareness of the African visual artist to go beyond the ordinary experience and physical realities of mundane living, opportunities for study in imagined realities, spiritual realities and revelations, exotic and aesthetic places, and metaphysical realities, should be afforded the African visual artists to stimulate t h e e x p a n s i o n o f t h e i r c o n s c i o u s n e s s , p o w e r s o f imaginat ion and v is ions of alternative life styles, so that they c a n d e v e l o p e x p a n d e d consciousness and imagination for greater artistic expression.

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Cat. 11Egbe AkenzuaEhivbin ( Masquerade)Additive Plastograph28.5 x 22.7 cm

Art styles, forms and objects. The African artist and his creative artistic process exemplify the integration of the vital psychological functioning of synthesis for the propagation of novelty and production of innovative African art.

Recommendations (1) Thus, in the context of this paper,

the social and practical aspects of African art should be given as much attention as the creative, self-expressive aspects. For greater socialization and professional growth, apprenticeship training under the supervision of the problem solving and creative, reflective master artist should be integrated into the curricular training of art students and graduates.

(2) A s C h a p m a n ( 1 9 7 8 ) o n c e emphasized, in contemporary art education, environmental design, architecture, advertising and other arts of daily living should be essential considerations in. Comprehensive art program for the African

Visual artist in training

(3) Opportunities should be given to artists in training to explore art materials in their environment in order to promote their ingenuity and novelty in the manipulation of materials in the creative process of the artist.

(4) Education in political, social, economic and cultural dynamics and diffusion due to technological e v o l u t i o n , m o d e r n i z a t i o n , globalization and democratization of economies and societies should be afforded African visual artists in t r a i n i n g t o p r o m o t e t h e i r synthesizing and abstracting capabilities.

(5) Sponsored opportunities for creative sel f -expression through the production and exhibition of art activities and products should be afforded budding African visual artists.

(6) Education in art appreciation and comparative art studies as a way of encountering the realities of life and the contemporary life styles of other people should be infused into the curricular training of the visual artist in Africa.

(7) In order to promote the expansion of the experience, consciousness and awareness of the African visual artist to go beyond the ordinary experience and physical realities of mundane living, opportunities for study in imagined realities, spiritual realities and revelations, exotic and aesthetic places, and metaphysical realities, should be afforded the African visual artists to stimulate t h e e x p a n s i o n o f t h e i r c o n s c i o u s n e s s , p o w e r s o f imaginat ion and v is ions of alternative life styles, so that they c a n d e v e l o p e x p a n d e d consciousness and imagination for greater artistic expression.

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STYLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF DEEP ETCHING TECHNIQUES AND SOME OTHER CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN ART FORMS

By Ayo Elebute

ABSTRACTThis paper examines how the stylistic development of both contemporary Nigerian art forms and the deep etching method stimulated rapid artist ic production that led to an increase in art appreciation and criticism, and assesses the legacy which the early artists have conferred on the structure of modern Nigerian art. The analysis concentrates on issues such as formal and informal training, the earliest training of contemporary Nigerian artists, the emergence of workshop centres, the difference in the evolution of contemporary Nigerian art forms and the deep etching technique, and the contributions of expatriate organizers to the development of workshop training in Nigeria. Diagrams and definitions of various art terms are also included. The conclusion is that the developments during the emergence of the younger generation of artists not only vindicated the claim that practitioners of other Nigerian art forms produce mostly na tura l i s t i c images wh i l e the i r counterparts in deep etching print abstract images, but it also revealed the fact that some of them occasionally oscillate between naturalism and abstraction.INTRODUCTION

T h e e a r l i e s t t r a i n i n g o f contemporary Nigerian artists was in formal art schools but by 1961, alternative training emerged through occasional workshops. The earliest form of training brought by the Europeans, before the year 1960, however, was based only on the needs of the colonial masters. In this dispensation, a subject like fine art was not included in the curriculum because “it could not lead to the production of obvious essential end-products”. (C.O. Adepegba, 1999:5).

The latter statement presupposes the fact that the early pupils who had an

Interest in fine art faced the problems of how and where to study the subject. For instance, when Aina Onabolu: the man who is acclaimed to be the foremost artist to introduce a new orientation in the consciousness and practice of pictorial art in Nigeria, started to practices art as a self - trained artist in 1900, there was indeed not a single art school in the entire country and there was no record of any one who had practiced pictorial art in any scientific form before him. Because of the non existence of art institutions in Nigeria, in this early period, Aina Onabolu travelled to the United Kingdom to study European art at St. John’s Wood Art School, London, 1922; and then at the Academie Julien, Paris. After his training abroad, “he introduced the teaching of fine arts into Nigeria and conducted classes in the leading secondary schools in Lagos, teaching the sciences of perspective, drawing and human proportions, water-colour painting and graphic designing”. (Dapo Onabolu, 1963:298).

Other early Nigerian artists who trained abroad include Akinola Lasekan, who began his art career in 1935 and later studied at Hammersmith School of Art London, 1945; Ben Enwonwu who studied at Goldsmith’s College, London, 1944, Ruskin College, Oxford, 1946 and Slade School of Fine Arts, London, 1948; Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu who studied at Chelsea School of Art London, 1954 and University of London 1955 and Afi Ekong who studied at Oxford College of Art, and Technology London, 1953, St. Martin’s School of Fine Arts, London 1958 and Central School of Arts, London. Other prominent artists of

the period include : C.C Ibeto, Uthman Ibrahim, D.L.K. Nnachy, A.P. Umana and

2J.O. Ugoji. We also have artists like J.D Akeredolu, Bolaji Bamgboye, H.I. Erhabor, Ovia Idah and Thomas Ona.

Thomas Ona. The last but not the least in 3this group of artists are: S.A.O Chukueggu,

Eke Okaybulu, Geoffrey Okolo and A.O. Osula. It is apposite to state that the contributions of this first set of artists are significant to the stylistic development of modern Nigeria art. In his tribute to the role played by these early artists, Adepegba (1999) states that: “Although these early ar t i s ts are o f d i f f e rent cu l tura l backgrounds, the western training they received made them to value originality, a common artistic value and major expectancy in western art forms”. He further reiterates: “Their works were the beginning of personal and individualistic self expressions in contrast to tribal and stereo-typical attributes of traditional African sculpture”. The western values and artistic orientation which these great masters imbibed from their overseas training, were also, transferred to the next generation of artists who have also carved niches in modern Nigerian art.The efforts of these early artists were not in vain, as the number of formal art schools in Nigeria has increased tremendously. Parallel to these formal art institutions are informal experimental art schools, such as: those organised by the Mbari Club in Ibadan

5and Osogbo . and the Ori-Olokun 6inspiration of Ife . Besides this, “Several

craftsmen were trained through the traditional apprenticeship system, and those that were trained through these methods now produce contemporary art” (Diakparomre, 2001:117).

At this juncture, Father Kevin Carroll’s Oye-7Ekiti experimental school is worthy of

mention. The Oye-Ekiti project was made possible by Lord Lugard’s policy of indirect rule: “Through this indirect political arrangement, the British policies were forwarded through the existing traditional chiefs and institutions” (Willett, 1975:247). Carroll (1967) reiterates that the Oye-Ekiti centre was established to cater for craftsmen who would employ the traditional forms of sculpture, weaving, embroidery, leather and beadwork to help in Christian worship. However, Willett (1975) discloses the reason why the Oye-Ekiti workshop was closed down after a few experimental years and he finally concludes that Carroll and

O’Mahoney,the organisers of this workshop, still encouraged a number of sculptors who had been involved in the OyeEkiti project to carry on the tradition for continuity’s sake.

The contributions of Ulli Beier to the development of workshop training in Nigeria are also significant. In 1961, he began a series of summer schools for practising artists and art teachers at the Mbari Club in Ibadan to free them form foreign values acquired in the course of their western education. Between 1962, 1963 and 1964, a similar workshop tagged “Mbari Mbayo” was organised for all who cared to attend and those that participated were “encouraged and fossil ised” (Adepegba, 1995:96). While stating the reason for opening the workshop to all and sundry, Beier (1968) declares that “the experiment was not aesthetic in purpose; rather, it was to provide a means of existence for the participating artists”.

Bruce Onobrakpeya, the exponent of deep etching in Nigeria, was exposed to both formal and informal art training. At first, he studied painting at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria and later, he participated in the Mbari Mbayo workshops organized by Ulli and Georgina Beier between 1961 and 1964 and another workshop organized for art teachers by a Dutch Professor Ru Von Rossem in 1967 in Oshogbo. His epoxy or plastic base etching: plastography, which is different from the acid base etching that is popular in other parts of the world, began with an accidental discovery in the latter workshop experiment. All other deep etchers who employ plastograph, thermoplastograph, additive plastograph and collagraph techniques of etching also went to formal art schools. However, their contact with deep etching was through Bruce Onobrakpeya. Invariably, the etchers and practitioners of other contemporary Nigerian art forms had the same training but while painting and sculpture started with naturalism, the deep etching technique started with abstraction.

The reasons for this difference in the evolution of other contemporary Nigerian art forms and the deep etching technique are not far to seek. For

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Fig.23Bruce OnobrakpeyaBeauty in the WildDeep Etching38 x 23.5 cm

Fig. 24Abiodun OkemakindeMusic MelodiansPlastograph34.5 x 25 cm

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Instance, deep etching started with a workshop in which the emphasis was not placed on representational ability. Most of the motifs were drawn from traditional African art, which is basically abstract. The technique itself is also hard to manipulate for achieving naturalism. It is, however, worthy of note that the later development of etching is not much different from that of painting and sculpture.

To verify the latter statement, we shall illustrate the evolution of other contemporary Nigerian art forms and that of deep etching. This may perhaps give an insight into the reason why formal and informal training are different in content, type, style and approach.

STYLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF OTHER CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN ART FORMS

The historical antecedents of Nigerian art show that the earliest form of

modern art in the country began with Aina Onabolu and Akinola Lasekan who in the1920s and 30s produced only naturalistic paintings. Examples of such works are Onabolu’s portraits of The Right Rev. O. Oluwole and Mrs. Spencer Savage and that of Chief (Dr.) Sapara published in the Nucleus (1981). Another is the Self Portrait of Akinola Lasekan, which was also published in Nucleus (1981).

According to Adepegba (1995), “The generation of Nigerian artists next to them: Ben Enwonwu, Clara Etso Ugbodaga-Ngu and Afi Ekong, also started with naturalism but eventually glided towards abstractions. Examples of their naturalistic works are Enwonwu’s Tutu published in New Culture

8Magazine (New Culture Studios 1979) and Ugbodaga-Ngu’s Ona published in the Nucleus (1981). Examples of their stylization that tends towards abstractions are Enwonwu’s Africa Dances, Olokun and Negritude (Nucleus 1981:64), and Ugbodaga-Ngu’s The Turning Point (Nucleus 1981:106).

After 1960, artists like Uche Okeke, Demas Nwoko and Jimoh Akolo also produced abstracted forms. However, the works of artists like Yusuf Grillo, Erhabor Emokpae and Abayomi Barber oscillate between naturalism and stylisation thattends towards abstraction, as well as surrealism. Examples of Uche Okeke’sWorks are Primeval Forest and Owelle of

13

Owe. These works seem to have derived a lot from the traditional life of his people, the Igbo. “Okeke is an artist who has a penchant for the use of lines to bring out details of forms and surface textures” (Mount; 1973: 139). “Demas Nwoko’s abstractions are generally pensive” (Adepegba, 1995:92). They include his social themes, such as: Beggars in the Train a n d B u t t e r f l y W o m e n .

“Jimoh Akolo’s abstract paintings of day-to-day genre are mostly plenary” (Adepegba, 1995:99). Figures in such works are frequently subjected to formal distortion. Akolo creates this effect through limited shades of colour in his Flutist and Dye Pit (Nucleus, 1981), and Drummer in the collection of the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan. “Yusuf Grillo avoids photographic realism” (The NGMA 1998:9). He stylizes and elongates human forms as in his painting Kofo (Fig 3) which is a combination of naturalism and abstraction. The part of the body between the head and chest of the figure of Kofo is elongated while her face and drapery are rendered naturalistically. His completely stylized painting: Mother and Child (Nucleus, 1981) also provides an insight into his typical style of painting.

Examples of Erhabor Emokpae’s works are Iya Abiku (Nucleus, 1981:61) an abstract sculpture in wood, and his realistic portrait of the famous Herbert Samuel Heelas Macauley (Nucleus, 1981), painted realistically. Barber’s work Yemoja is a naturalistic sculpture placed at the entrance of the National Gallery of Modern Art, Iganmu, Lagos while his mixed media work titled Alagada, published in a 1984 Exhibition Catalogue titled “Abayomi Barber’s School”, is completely abstract.

Following these artists is the generation of Kolade Oshinowo, Sina Yussuff, Dele Jegede and Gani Odutokun. Most of the artists in this group also paint naturalistic images but occasionally oscillate between abstraction and naturalism. Kolade Oshinowo’s work: Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther (Nucleus, 1981:98) is a typical example of his Naturalistic painting. His works such as naturalistic painting. His works such as Ensemble and Ritual Dance (Nucleus 1981:97 and 99) combine naturalism and abstraction while his Owode Onirin

Published in Adepegba’s 1995 book: Nigerian Art: Its Traditions and Modern Tendencies, is a completely abstract work. Sina Yussuff’s work Nana of Itsekiri Koko (Nucleus, 1981) is an example of his naturalism while his Kano Dye-pits (Nucleus, 1981) combines naturalism and abstraction. His Animal Kingdom (Nucleus 1981) is, however, one of his completely abstract works.

Dele Jegede’s Sallah Day and Samaru (Nucleus, 1981) also combine naturalism with abstraction while his Transfer of Technology (Dele Jegede, 1986) is a completely abstract work. Gani Odutokun’s Durbar-The Race (Nucleus 1981:88) is typical of his early works that combine naturalism with abstraction while

sthis King and Queen, published in the “1 Masters” Art Exhibition Catalogue, is a later abstraction.

Fig. 25Yusuf GrilloKofoOil on Canvas91 cm x 61 cm

Fig. 26Bruce OnobrakpeyaBuilers at workPlastograph 60.5 x 45 cm1972

Fig. 27David Dale Cry of Three SpiritsPlastograph 24 x 37.5 cm

Fig. 28Bruce OnobrakpeyaForms in LandscapePlastograph 61 x 46 cm1973

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STYLISTIC DEVELOPMENT OF DEEP ETCHING

As indicated earl ier, Bruce Onobrakpeya began deep etching with stylisation that tends towards abstraction. The etcher next to him, David Dale, also started with abstraction but later produced naturalistic works. Most of the generation of etchers next to them print abstract images but occasionally oscillate between naturalism and abstraction.

Bruce Onobrakpeya’s stylisation that tends towards abstraction can be divided into three groups: (a) Decorative motifs (b) Subjects with scaffolds and (c) Images that show depth by recession. Examples of his works that show decorative motifs are Beauty in the Wild (Fig 23) and Eclipse. These works have a dark background and blank space emphasized by white paint. His subjects with scaffolds

include Builders at Work (Fig. 26) and Forms in Landscape (Fig. 28). These works rely heavily on space to interpret and

Fig. 29David DaleSafe JourneyPlastograph 65.5 x 80.5 cm

Fig. 30Ufuoma OnobrakpeyaBenin ChiefAdditive Plastograph39.3 x 23 cm

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balance various elements. Those with images that show depth by recession are The Seven Hunters , Obioma and Reconstruction. These works have strong, clean lines and open space. David Dale also started with abstraction but later produced naturalistic works. Examples of his early abstraction are Leopard in the Cornfield and The Cry of Three Spirits.(fig.27) Examples of his later naturalism are Green pasture and Safe Journey . These works

9have an element of narcissism . This element seems common to David Dale’s simple style but is more pronounced in these works.

Between 1978 and 1999 artists like Tayo Quaye, John Onobrakpeya and Jude Ifesiah produced stylised works that tend towards abstraction while Rukeme Noserime only produced naturalistic works. Moreover, the works of artists like Nse-Abasi Inyang, Abiodun Okemakinde, Tunde Ogunlaiye, Raymond

Onodje and Joe Amenechi oscillate between naturalism and abstraction. Tayo Quaye's stylisation that tends towards abstraction can be seen in Ariya while John Onobrakpeya's Festivity is a stylized print depicting a social theme derived from Urhobo tradition.

Kunle Adeyemi's abstract prints Butterfly and Paraphernalia of Royalty show nature and cultural activities. While the former shows the natural attributes of a butterfly, the latter is a picture that exudes a spiritual aura that is enhanced by solid forms which have assumed a royal presence. Ufuoma Onobrakpeya's abstracts are symbols of the social life of the Benin and Hausa people. The two works Benin Chiefs (Fig. 30) and Durbar are characterized by profile and frontal heads without facial details. Jude Ifesieh mixed naturalism with complete abstraction in his print Beware of Dogs while his Memories of

A DIAGRAM SHOWING EVOLUTIONARY ASCENT OF OTHER CONTEMPORARY NIGERIAN ART FORMS

The Generation of artists that came after 1960 produced Abstract, Naturalistic, Stylistic, Surrealistic and Realistic forms but occasionally they combined both naturalism and abstraction in their works.

1960

1940 - 1950s

1940 - 1950s

Ben Enwonwu, Etso Ugbadaga-Ngu, Afi Ekong andothers started with naturalism but eventuallyglided towards abstraction.

Aina Onabolu and Akinola Lasekan producednaturalistic paintings

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11While Alamala is made up of completely abstract forms. Tunde Ogunlaiye's works can also be divided into two categories: Adaptations of traditional forms and completely abstract forms. His Images from the Past which is an adaptation of traditional forms is naturalistic while his Masquerades is an abstract work that is created to evoke mysteries associated with the spirit world. Raymond Onodje's Mother is Supreme also combines naturalism with abstraction while his Masquerades is a completely abstract work that depicts only a distorted human face and head. Joe Amenechi's Warrior and Ogboni are typically characterised by angular and planary forms traceable to traditional wood

12carving, particularly, the equestrian figures and relief works of Yoruba sculpture while his The Aesthetic of the African Woman combines naturalism and abstraction.

calabash hardly suggests a scene from visual experience as the print is devoid of identifiable forms.Rukeme Noserime's The Kolanut and Masai Women are not pale abstractions but forceful realities. While the realism of The Kolanut is visually stunning, the figures in Masai Women are depicted in a tangle of intricate lines, richly decorated with bangles, neck beads, and other realistically painted symbols and motifs drawn from

10Masai culture . Nse Abasi Inyang’s works can be divided into two categories: naturalistic and stylized forms. A naturalistic example is Our Cultural Heritage while his Durbar is a combination of naturalism and abstraction. An example of his stylized work is a print titled: Mother and Chi ld . Examples of Abiodun Okemakinde’s works are Music Melodians (Fig 24) and Alamala. The Music Melodianscombines naturalism and abstraction

A DIAGRAM SHOWING EVOLUTIONARY ASCENT OF DEEP ETCHING

Tayo Quaye and other Generation of Etchers that came after 1978 print Abstract images but occasionally oscillate between Naturalism and Abstraction.

David Dale also started with Abstractions but later produced Naturlistic works.

Bruce Onobrakpeya began deep etching technique with only Abstracted Forms

1978

1972

1967

DIAGRAM SHOWING DEEP ETCHING AS A UNIQUE ENGRAVING TECHNIQUE

ENGRAVING - A generic name used to cover all the methods of multiplying prints

REPRODUCTIVE ENGRAVING

Means of divulging an idea expressed in other medium invented by an artist other than the engraver

ORIGINAL ENGRAVING

Independent work of art invented by the engraver

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Three Main Types of Engraving

RELIEF (wood or Linocut)

INTAGLIOSunk Relief

a) Lithograph, b) Serigraphc) Surface, or; d) PlanarInvolves no cutting into the block or plate, and therefore no ‘engraving’ in the real sense. Zinc or stone is usedThe ink lies on the surface

of a wood-engraved block

Form of engraving on metal (copper). The ink is forced into the lines cut in the metal plate (deep etching)

INTAGLO PROCESS - (Methods of printing in which the image area is sunk into

The surface of the plate)

1. Line Engraving 2. Dry point 3. Acid Etching 4. Crayon Engraving

5. Mezzotint 6. Aquatint (Plate covered with a resinous ground, impervious to acid, and then the etcher draws on the ground with needle, exposing the copper wherever he wants a line to print)

EPOXY AND PLASTIC BASE ETCHING

7. Plastograph (Plate is coverd with resinous 8. Thermoplastographground and the line is engraved Mechanically).

9. Additive Plastograph 10. Collagraph

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Cat. 12 Etiido Inyang UntitledSerigraph68 x 35 cm

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NOTES ON ART TERMSAbstract: A term that can in its broadest

sense be applied to any art that does not represent recognizable objects, but which is most commonly applied to those forms of modern art in which the traditional concept of art as the imitation of nature is abandoned. Two broad tendencies are recognizable within the term: the reduction of natural appearances to radically simplified forms, and the construction of art objects from non-

13representational (often Geometric) forms .Realism: The artistic representation of some

aspect of every day life in such a way as to produce a convincingly life-like effect. Artists cannot simply reproduce or reflect reality: they have to select and shape, achieving an illusion of fidelity to life by exc luding any ideal ized, supernatural , melodramatic or escapist elements in favour of ‘natural’ depiction of ordinary people in

14unremarkable surroundings .Naturalism: A style or method characterised

by close adherence to, and faithful representation 15of, nature or reality . Naturalism in the arts

generally advocates the factual and realistic representation of the subject of a painting or

16sculpture with no stylization .Surrealism: “Surrealism is destructive, but

it destroys only what it considers to be shackles: 17limiting our vision” . This movement in art was

developed out of Dadaism around 1922, led by Andre-Breton who produced the Surrealist Manifesto in 1924. The Surrealists were inspired by the thoughts and visions of the subconscious mind. They explored varied styles and techniques, and the movement became the dominant force in western art between World War I and II. It was, a fundamental source for Abstract Expressionism.

Sty l i zat ion: To make an ar t is t ic representation conform to the rules of a conventional style. Stylization is generally admitted to be a sort of degeneration, but some people consider it only as a stage in the evolution of art to a higher plane.

Expressionism: A term used to denote the use of distortion and exaggeration (using distorted, unnatural forms) for emotional effect.

*Artistic movement founded in 1915 in Zurich, Switzerland in a spirit of rebellion and disillusionment during World War I.

**Art that is free from traditional aesthetic and social value; an art that abandons naturalism in favour of spontaneous freedom of expression.

Cat. 13Egbe AkenzuaNoble StatuePlate Lithograph45.7 x 32.5 m

Cat. 14Julie OnaghinorHe Who Brings Kola....Plate Lithograph45.7 x 32.5 cm

Acid Base Etching: This is an intaglio process in which acids are used to cut an image into a resinous ground built on a zinc or copper plate. Epoxy or Plastic Base Etching: This is a unique deep etching method invented by Bruce Onobrakpeya subsequent to the ‘Hydrochloric Acid Accident’. It is also an intaglio process in which an image is engraved on a low resinous ground built on a copper or zinc plate. Four methods can be used for it: Plastography, Thermoplastography, Additive plastography and Collagraphy. Plastography is the use of resin with an epoxy base. Thermoplastography is the use of resin with a plastic base. Additive Plastography is the use of resin that is neither engraved nor cut with acid. Collagraphy is a picture made from scraps of paper and other odds and ends pasted with epoxy resin.

ConclusionToday, many Nigerian artists have been

trained through formal and informal processes. Though the number of formal art schools outweighs that of informal training centres, the creative development of individual artists who attended the two training centres has stimulated rapid artistic production that leads to an increase in art appreciation and criticism in contemporary Nigerian society.

Besides the above-mentioned developments, it has been established in this study that the practitioners of other contemporary Nigerian art forms produce mostly naturalistic images while their counterparts who work in deep etching techniques print abstract images. It was also discovered that in some cases, some of the artists, from both traditions, occasionally oscillate between naturalism and abstraction.

It also revealed that despite different efforts made by some Nigerian etchers to change their abstract style, of most of the works produced by them still lean heavily on abstracted forms, which seem to have derived from the workshop origin of deep etching.

END NOTES1. These artists are among the first pupils of

Kenneth C. Murray who came to Nigeria in 1927 to teach art in secondary schools, f i r s t in Lagos, later in Ibadan and Umuahia.

2. These are the artists who joined the Murray- trained students to participate in the Empire Exhibition in Glasgow (1938).

3. These artists participated in the first group exhibition of Nigerian artists organised by the British Council in Lagos(1948)

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4. The first Mbari Writers’ and Artists’ C l u b Workshop held in Ibadan was organized by Ulli Beier, and directed by Julian Beinart and Pancho Guedes.

5. The Mbari Mbayo Club was established in Osogbo in 1962 through the initiative of Duro Ladipo, the ace dramatist, who wanted to carry the successful Mbari experiment in Ibadan to his home town.

6. The Ori-Olokun Cultural Centre was established in 1968 at Ile-Ife. It was affiliated with the Institute of African Studies, University of Ife, under the directorship of Michael Crowder. S. Irein Wangboje organised and led the O r i -Olokun art workshops. The workshops sought to bring together artists and performers, experts and apprentices in the spirit and tradition of the Mbari Mbayo workshops of Oshogbo.

7. Father Kevin Carroll of the Society of African Missions established the the Oye Ekiti Catholic workshops in 1947. At the workshops, Yoruba master sculptors, such as George Bamidele and, later, Lamidi Fakeye, were commissioned to make Christian works of art.

8. See the exhibition review titled: Gong Gallery: A display of art works in Ibadan”, published in New Culture Magazine, Volume, No. 9 (August 1979): 20.

9. Sensual gratification found in one’s o w n body, whether as a normal stage of development or a pathological condition.

10. Culture of a group of people living in the highlands of Kenya and Tanzania, East Africa.

11. The owner of Amala the Yoruba food prepared with yam flour.

12. Pertaining to horsemanship.

13. See Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia of The Arts (ed) John Julius Norwich, Oxford: University Press, 1990.

14. Ibid; pp.75.

Cat. 17Olubunmi Ola-AfolayanRoyaltyBatik179 x 126 cm

Cat. 16Olayinka OgunjumoAmuludunCharcoal56.4 x 73.6 cm

Cat. 15Dafe SowhoMass Transit for Rural DwellersOil on Canvas71.7 x 101.6 cm

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Cat. 18Grace Soyinka Dancer from the EastPlate Lithograph45.7 x 32.5 cm

Cat. 19Goldstone UveruveOgwaWater Colour38.4 x 57.6 cm

15. See The Oxford English Dictionary, Second edition, Volume X Moul-Ovum, Oxford: Clarendon Press,1991.

16. See The Hutchinson Dictionary of the Arts, Oxford: Helicon Publishing Ltd1994.

17. This is Salvador Dali's Declaration of 1929.

REFERENCESAdepegba, C.O. Nigerian Art: Its Traditions and Modern Tendencies, Ibadan: Jodad Publishers, 1995.

“Split Identity and the Attendant Perspective Tangle in Post Colonial African Art Forms”, in A Hand book of Methodology in African Studies, (ed) Dele Layiwola, Ibadan: John Archers (Publishers) Limited, (1999): 3-18.

Barber Abayomi, “Evolution in Nigerian Art” Exhibition Catalogue, Series 3, 1984.

Beier Ulli, Contemporary Art in Africa, London/New York, 1968.

Carroll, K.C. Yoruba Religious Carving, London, 1967.

Diakparomre, Abel Mac, “Comment on 'Art School'Fad in Contemporary Nigerian Art Scene”, in A Discursive Bazaar: Writing on African art, culture and literature, (eds) C.K. Ikwuemesi and Ayo Adewunmi, Enugu: PACA, 2001.

Jegede Dele, “Paradise Battered” Exhibition Cata- logue, Lagos, 1986.

Mount, Marshal, African Art: The Years since 1920, Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1973.

Onabolu, Dipo, “Art Gallery: Aina Onabolu”, Nigeria Magazine, No. 79, (December 1963): 295-298.

The National Gallery of Modern Art: National Theatre: Department of Culture, Exhibition Catalogue, “Summaries of the Works of the Zaria Art Society”, Lagos: Talos Press Limited, 1998.

The National Gallery of Modern Art: National Theatre: Department of Culture, The Nucleus Lagos: NGMA, 1981.

Willett Frank, African Art, London: Thames and Hudson, 1975.

22

ART AND THE DEFINITION OF CULTURE IN AFRICAAND THE CRISES OF MODERNITY

Frank A.O. Ugiomoh

23

[For) I know history to be full of cunning surprise and I know that we are all, in this postcolonial world, children of the fecundity of the unexpected, in cosmic, in biological, in cultural evolutionIhab Hassan 2002, 243.

I feel humbled but full of delight to be at this forum to speak on an aspect of cultural dialogue as it relates to the practice and appreciation of art in contemporary Africa. Directly implicated in the focus here would be a review of the frames with which modernity packaged developments in culture-related issues. My qualifications are that I am a practising visual artist and one who is also deeply interested in theory and methodical concerns in cultural studies, but with a bias towards art education and studio practice. Ten years ago, “Africa 95” was held and my teacher and mentor, the late Professor of Fine art and Art Education, Solomon Ona Irein Wangboje was present. When he returned and told the story of the events at Africa 95, I was awash with a belated desire to have been present at the occasion. Today, I consider my participation in this event as continuing from where he left off. It is interesting to note that one of the gains from Wangboje’s participation in Africa 95 is the establishment of the journal “Africa Studio: A Journal of Creative Practice”, for artists in Africa to talk about their work and themselves, an attitude that is rare among artists. Being present, ten years later at Afr ica 05, I dedicate my gains, contributions and this privilege to him.

Evaluating what I have been asked to provide insight into, which is ‘collective organization in African art practices, and how art may generate social identity, new culture, and “build a nation”, I find myself locked within the dialectics of the colonial and postcolonial indeterminacies of our era. But within such debates I always opt for emphasis on the transformation of cultures as an on-going process. With this premise, I prefer often to travel the tracks

Laid down by philosophical anthropology, bearing in mind the contemporary slantto the cultural turn. It provides for me theleverage to of fer an opinion on intercultural as well as intracultural d y n a m i c s a n d n e g o t i a t i o n s .

In this talk, I would rely on the hypothesis that the artist does not confess to atavistic dispositions. Put in another way, the response to the call to be an artist equates only to some preparedness to proclaim creative liberty. And within the above context art , as a human phenomenon, professes to be an inherent self-evident truth, hence its axiological character as a product of culture. The query that is then consequent on art as an ontology in the matrix of culture is, can art be practiced within any self-limiting norms? Put differently, can an extra-artistic determination put on hold the creative will taken as synonymous only to an impulse on wheels? To approach the topic on hand, I have chosen to explore the reality of displacement as a ploy to open up the complex nature o f cu l tura l indebtedness as the practice of art shows in the emerg ing consc i ousness o f multiculturalism. Here my attention would be focused on artist collectives in Africa.

Displacement, as a phenomenon, appears consistent with the progress of civilizations or the creation of cultures. In an African context, displacement can be likened to the allegory of the chicken standing on one leg in its new environment. It is held that when a chicken is brought to a new environment, it is usually cautious while it studies the new abode in order to adapt to it. When a chicken begins to walk on both legs in the new environment, it is assumed that it has found a home. It might probably have shed some knowledge for some privileges in the new environment which it is prepared to cope with. The allegory of the chicken is highlighted in Bassey Wei Andah’s call for caution in the ongoing reality of cultural appropriations. He describes a mind-set that is zealous to

Cat. 20Yves MidahuenHopePlate Lithograph92.5 x 23 cm

Cat. 21Sunday EmazagborFishSteatite18 x 6 x 37 cm

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Accommodate and learn from other cultures; but gives the proviso that such a mind-set should be critical of the other, while remaining inwardly reflective. Hassan rearticulates the above contexts in the following query: “Is it not a matter of self criticism, of awareness that we are not always the last best fruit of time, a matter of resisting the tendency of all systems to privilege themselves with regard to other sys tems?” ’P lead ing suppor t fo r displacement within the above focus, he openly endorses cultural impurity along with whatever can entrench it in any culture and his advocacy includes the right to refuse, to adapt, adopt or co-opt as the case may be.

Inherent in displacement is the supposition that cultural progress to a large extent has always been possible because of intercultural dialogues that lead to rearticulating normativities in cultures. Considered within knowledge formation and reformulation, displacement is a naming of differently authorized and institutionally vested powers. Nadeza Cacnovic identifies the power structure within institutional settings as a recognition as well as a reverence for authority. And therein lies the value of displacement as an assimilation or coming to terms with the knowledge of another that may lead to rearticulating cultural format ions and t rans format ions .

Central to displacement in contemporary cultural studies is postmodernism’s accent on the relativity of cultures. Collectivities of cultures seen as an agglomeration of cultures in a cultural space is a measure of diverse realities which obtain at any given time and place. It negates any claim to homogeneity, hence postmodernism’s recognition of the multicultural ferment. The revalidation of multiculturalism repositions the reality of difference, the re-evaluation of norms towards the creation of culture, and the commodification effect, which lies at the value of culture. As Pierre Bourdieu puts it, The “creation of culture is a struggle for

Displacement properly evaluated in intercultural dialogues is the topoi from which (an)other appreciates the debts cultures owe one another.

Cat. 22Aladegbongbe. AEyoPlastograph13 x 7.5 cm

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recognition”. The creation of culture, having regard for the institutionally vested powers, which displacement privileges, is the actual ground for cultural progress.

Beyond the agglomeration of cultures, wh i ch th e t e rm mu l t i cu l tu ra l i sm presupposes, the value of displacement can only be fully appreciated at the level of knowledge that inheres in its reality, hence, it premises as institutionally vested power. Patrick Mac Naughton called attention to this when he confronted the pan-continental spread of horizontal masks in Africa with history. While affirming the emergence of the masks with regard to institutionally vested powers, his conclusion showed that physical contact was not always the case in all circumstances where displacement has furthered knowledge in culture or leads to the creation of new culture.

The cultural necessity of displacement, the reality of multiculturalism and a concomitant regard for intercultural recognition dwelt on so far relates directly to a dogged fundamentalism enshrined in Western modernism, which Africa’s cultural aura has been attempting to cope with. In other words, a crisis exists with the attempts to cue Africa’s cultural frames of reference to those Western modernism defined. While the above problem remains, the pitch in discourse options in culture-related issues makes multiculturalism appear as if it is a new phenomenon because of an absolutist proclamation of a “universal truth which locus is the Western culture”. Thus in this paper what would be of interest would be the reconciliation of the effects of displacement in African art practice in the contemporary. But the objective would accommodate how Africa has attempted to grapple with the vicissitudes of coping with the new knowledge it encounters in the on-going inter-cultural dialogues and what should be done.

A Conceptual Frame for Art in Africa The above objective requires that the notion or frame in which art is appreciated in Africa be situated. Such a definition relates to a determination of the histories that inform art as a concept. Where indeed, particular ideas relate to art in its general frame, a few socio-cultural and historical realities show that what the word “art” embodies for a generality of cultural groups consists of inclusive and exclusive parameters. This is what underscores the complexities in attempts to

Frame art as a concept. Erik Oger, contributing to the problems Kant’s framing of art raised, calls attention to the multiple and multiform distinctions that relate art to culture. The diverse fields of human interests that operate within culture usually convey an erroneous impression of wholesomeness in its ambiences. But, diverse fields shape or influence art’s relation to culture and its conceptual frame. These operate at the levels of “art and politics, art and society, art and science, art and religion, art and money, (or business), art and the public and also art and the artist and even between art and art”. From another perspective that relates to the art and culture interface, Thierry de Duve harps on the jurisprudential dimension and its value in the framing of art as a product of culture. By this he calls attention to the fact that art as a concept is in constant shift and subject to various frames of reference through time, arising from what society regards it to be. With time, particular judgements, or the boundaries, which such consensual views establish, allow for continuous adjustments in adopted conventions because of innovations, which the limitations of

Cat. 23Patrick AkpojotorOgwa Ega (church)Chacoal38.5 x 28 cm

Cat. 24Pius EghiolawhenAdamu OrisaAdditive Plastograph28 x 23 cm

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convention propose. The dialectics between convention and invention therefore continue to make a seeming determinate closure of any notion of art for any age or time a difficult one. This is why any “ theory which openly ignores the axiological dimension of art cannot provide a complete description of art as social practice (institution) and render its specificity, since art is an axiological phenomenon par excellence –artistic creation.

The above contexts regarding art’s reference or frame in any cultural context leaves room for a consideration of art within an all inclusive frame as a product of culture. George Kubler in The Shape of Time provides a leeway, which appeals to me here. For Kubler, in the first instance, art is a solution to humanity’s many problems. Art in Kubler’s view encompasses the ‘world of man-made things’ and it can be reconfigured within the romantic frame of architecture, sculpture and painting as paradigms of art historical discourse. Rearticulated in the sequence above, the notion of art would accommodate architecture within the notion of containers, sculptures as solids and painted surfaces as flats. This is the ground which inspired my definition of art in my definition of a philosophy for African art history that;

Art as a product of c u l t u r e … i s a response by man to p r e s s u r e s t o r e p r e s e n t w h a t society has created or generated in i t s i n t e r a c t i o n w i th nature as well as c u l t u r e i n i t s erstwhile excrescence so that man may offer to self an alternative form of life through his imagination.

It aims at creating values and at the evaluation and re-evaluation of extra-artistic soc ia l va lues” . Despi te hyperbol ic insinuations hinged on the anthropological idea of the ‘myth of a lost age’, hence the imposition of a primitive rationality that acted as the alibi for the colonization agenda, and which detracts from what culture defines for art in Africa, African art remains and embodies the totality of man-made things. In this regard, African art through time has always, accommodated the artistic and the extra-artistic in its embodiment. With the above definition in view, I have asked to know how the carvings on the Ashante, Benin and Bakuba stools relate to the function an object for sitting ought to perform, if such decorations were not born out of an intensification of the spiritual dimensions of culture?

Cat. 25KlaranzeUntitledOil on Canvas92 x 61 cm

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If art in Africa is identified by the totality of its man-made universe, the delimited context which the West constructed during the Romantic era, and which conflates art’s inclusiveness, has not hampered a fervent practice of art in Africa. This explains the easy embrace and adaptations of Western models of the notion of art by African artists in the contemporary. It also explains the rationale for a very vibrant productive output in modern African arts among other cultures of the world. Pertinent to this understanding is a belief system in Africa where the child is valued as an ancestor on a return journey from the world beyond or the world of the ancestors. It is responsible for such names in Nigeria as Nnanna or Nnanta, among the Igbo, or Iyabode or Yetunde among the Yoruba (where all such names refer to the return of an ancestor back to the family. Cf Frank Willett 1995: 152). The unconditional embrace of western cultures, despite post-colonial rhetoric is, to my mind a factor of recognition of the return of an African culture that moved through Egypt to Greece, was celebrated by the Romans and passed to the rest of the Western world to domesticate.

ARTIST COLLECTIVES IN AFRICA AND THE MAPPING OF NATIONAL CULTURES

This section will hence focus on how African artists as individuals and collectives have fared in the politics of inter-cultural recognitions and negotiations. Various comments have trailed contemporary practices in African visual arts. In most cases, displacement and its centrality to cultural action as a means towards negotiations and recognition is usually under-determined. Central to cultural dialogues is the proposition which new knowledge offers in terms of displacement. Cultural action, which arises from displacement, has never been uni-lineal. Depending, therefore, on the histories that have shaped perception in Africa, art has continued to sustain conceptual frames which are multiple. However, modernism, a frame that emerges from the West’s evolutionary history of art, has become predominant along with its continuous jurisprudential interventions. In this new identity, the museums and art galleries become the sites for artistic encounters and interventions. The museum and the gallery setting, as the new spaces where institutional identities are constructed, have become the discursive fields where the relationship that exists between power and knowledge is both invented and re-evaluated.

But what is the reality of art? How have African artists in the contemporary confronted the institutional identities that art as practice and re-presentation privilege? The collective, as opposed to the idea of the Romantic hero which the individual may represent, defines equally an interesting feature for African art practice. Collectives are groups of individuals who come together to engage in artistic practice. Some general interests that allow for individual exhibition of personal talents usually guide them. Ideology and economic interests usually underlie such group interests. The emergence of modern collectives in Africa shows three group inclinations. These are intra-cultural collectives; who work as groups and are focused within limited territorial boundaries. Their works may not be limited to their territorial orbits. The

Cat. 26Egbe AkenzuaQueen Mother StatuePlate Lithograph45.7 x 32.5 cm

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second are collectives who operate within broad boundaries forging diverse intracultural links. And the third fall within groups with intercultural focuses. The last group always aspires to conquer great cultural orbits.

A Paradox?The ultimate value of collectives can be apprec iated within what var ious governments in Africa have been able to achieve in their responsibilities to define what constitutes a nation’s tradition and its heritage. With artist collectives, the redefinition of the sites of artistic encounter has experienced expansions beyond what governments have been able to offer. While governmental goals are expansive or unwieldy, considering a generalized focus in their concerns, which makes them difficult to cope within lean budgets allotted to culture-related issues, collectives provide the avenue for commerce between peoples and the dialogue that the product of culture as art opens up. A growing awareness, which artist collectives foster, remains valuable to the definition and dynamics of national cultures. It is important to note that all those who inhabit a cultural space cannot appropriate the impact of displacement and the knowledge it encapsulates in the some context. But every artist operating from group consciousness is informed by the inherent dynamics within such groups and it defines the ideal in which art can be related with as an ontology and practice. However the relationship between the public and the art object in Africa today remains blurred by an epistemological indeterminacy. It is common experience to find people relating to art as if it is something other than the deposition of culture. Questions regarding the meaning of an artwork’s inherent sign are demanded from artists as if art as practised today is bracketed within (an)other frame from what art ought to be seen to define. Such a relationship for me signifies the core problem of modernity’s aura cast on African art as an episteme or an embodiment of particular knowledge. It opens an asymmetrical relationship that existsbetween art as a product of culture and the

people it is destined to fend for as a mode of knowledge.

I have told this story once in another context about a reaction that emanated from different generations of persons to my graduation project. My undergraduate project entitled “Movement and Convergence” is a relief sculpture. It was designed as a back wall for the students’ bar in the University of Benin, Nigeria, where I graduated. During my graduation exhibition, while a few persons asked me to interpret the work, an elderly woman who was an Olokun adherent wished that the work could adorn an a Olokun shrine. Her wish made me recall that the sources of my motif, which were pebbles and fronds, belonged to the aquatic habitat and that the woman read it right. Olokun is a goddess venerated in southwestern Nigeria as a harbinger of wealth to her devotees. The appropriate question would then be, what inspires the coming to terms with an artistic form from any cultural disposition? The woman in question was aged and regarded as illiterate, while my colleagues were supposed to have emerged from a background of new

Cat. 27Shakiru BadmusOgwaCharcoal/Water Colour28.3 x 38 cm

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learning. The dilemmas which such a context opens for modernity in Africa, will be evaluated shortly.Another instance of an epistemological block is the abdication to the West by African artists of the evolution of Western modernist tendencies where reproductive verisimilitude is least favoured. The trend has been branded in some rationality that is in tune with primitivism (Cf. Collin Rhodes 1992). In western modernism, a proclamation of creative liberty that arises from a preference for purity of intent contrary to the realistic nature of things, is favoured. Such a disposition to form is what is tagged “primitive” in the first instance. But what art in terms of formal definition is reducible to in many cultures of the world, except the west since the era of the Greeks, is the valorisation of canonical-type representations of form.

Collectives who have aspired to define an identity for African art in the multicultural space of the West continue to intensify the preference for the creative liberty, for which African art before contemporary modernism is known. It has now assumed the status of a confirmed model and is taken for what the West appreciates and regards as true art. Two presuppositions that require to be re-situated are implicated in the predilections sketched above. Who or what gives authentication to national cultures within the purview of artistic practice? How do expectations and evaluations in critical practice relate to cultural practice as doxa? The queries above presuppose a relationship that implicates the factors of agency, space and identity. Yet underlying these factors is the overt and covert presence of institutional structures that help articulate the structures of power and the values the works of art embody. A reflection that opens up the nature of the problematic above, in the first instance, can be taken from the point of view of agency and space. The multicultural ferment of our era began with a manifestation of noticed displacement in the arena of aesthetics. The story is widely told how Aina Onabolu, along with some other early moderns, was attracted to reproductive verisimilitude or realistic rendition of phenomena.

While Onabolu was taken in by the value of academic art, which his new love for visual representation implicated, Pablo Picasso and other Western artists were discovering the creative liberty which had always governed African art and the arts of other non-western traditions.

In Africa’s aesthetic environment in contemporary culture, a clash of interest that leads to some indeterminacy arising from displacement can be pointed at. A realistic rendition of visual form is valorised and taken as authentic art. While the notion and concept subsists, the first collectives in African art, from ideological motivations, made vigorous attempts to reinvent Africa’s previous traditions of art: Thus, in a given sense they strove to revert to a “primitive” status quo which Onabolu had earlier contended with, bearing in mind the civilizing mission of the colonial project. The iconographies generated in the multiple frames above are compounded

Cat. 28Julie Onaghinor OzigueAdditive Plastograph23 x 28 cm

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by an approval given to Africa’s erstwhile canons of artistic practice that has consequently returned such genres-largely conceptual- as the new “high art”.

What becomes apparent from the above is the existence of a clash of p r e f e r e n c e s i n a t r a n s n a t i o n a l consciousness. Where art history has not been properly conveyed with regard to the situational positions and values of form, such a problem is bound to subsist. Such amnesia that relates to the evolving trajectories assumed by visual forms allows, as it were, the western episteme to have the sole prerogative to define and provide grounds for the authentication of other cultures. I come to this conclusion, in the first instance, reflecting on the story of an encounter with my work on graduation whose iconography and motif was readily available to a person of an older generation: Meanwhile, a latter generation appreciates as it values and validates realistic pictorial canons and their conventions in the visual arts. An extension to the above preference is the aspiration of artists’ collectives in Africa which aspire to make in-roads into global arenas. What is observed in their formal preferences are works that are largely conceptual in nature.

What is to Be DoneThis is the ground for the position taken here, that the productions of culture and the supposed gains they embody as knowledge, remain, asymmetrical to each other in Africa in the contemporary. This is because art’s axiological dimension as social practice, which creates values, remains unharnessed for its worth as power that positively transforms. In this regard I have observed that the training of artists has since become inadequate. The training of artists, especially in Nigeria, favours so much of the practical necessities of the studio. The critical and meta-critical dimensions of art as focuses are absent. As Ken Friedman has observed, the training of the artist in this age requires more knowledge than has ever been available to it. John Paul Caponigio, from another dimension, strongly recommends making the visual verbal by the artist. In founding “Africa Studio” as a journal of creative practice, Professor Wangboje Pointed to the

Value of a forum in Africa where the studio artist is privileged to speak for him/herself. While what the artist says may not be the end, further critical and meta-critical evaluations along with what the artist has to say, remain invaluable. The work of art as experience remains dumb if not spoken about, yet it constitutes an embodiment of knowledge. Knowledge empowers. If art remains a testimony of what man has won for culture, a concerted effort should be made now on the African continent to chart ways whereby the embodiment of knowledge art encapsulates becomes assessable through active participation in the dialogic contexts it generates. There is no doubt, as we gather here today, that the practice of art in Africa is a robust activity as it has always been. And the coming together of artist groups to counter-create while adopting and coopting, while producing something that is authorized and valuable towards the fermentation of the Spirit among humanity, is of great importance.The existence of such multiple formal conventions in artistic practice and perception provides the ground and context to review who and what validates conventions and canons of practice in art as a mode of cultural production. Are the Western ep is temolog ies and the commodification of time, which the visual form implies in its conceptual framing, to be taken as the catch? Meanwhile the

Cat. 29Godwin Ufua ReflectionAdditive Plastograph28 x 23 cm

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gains of intercultural recognitions are responsible for these drifts in iconographic focuses that are validated by an appropriation and subsequent appreciation of form in Africa. Thus with regard to the notion of agency and authority, Stuart Hall has posited that ‘what the nation “means” is an ongoing project, under constant reconstruction...Its meaning is constructed w i t h i n , n o t a b o v e o r o u t s i d e , representation.’ These are eventually reconfigured in what known as a people’s heritage. Heritage, again conceptualised within the notions of agency and power or authority, is open to ‘contestation, renegotiation and revision’. Hence we may not always be the last best fruit of time. In this instance again I call attention to Picasso in another context that relates him to African art. In the famous dialogue between Jacques Lipchitz and Pablo Picasso on painted sculptures, an example of co-optation of a trend in African sculpture was a point of focus. Picasso had painted a sculptural piece following an African model, but Lipchitz emerging from the normative

grounds that then guided European sculpture, queried the validity Of Picasso’s work as art that belonged to the genre of sculpture. With Picasso’s reference to the African mask as the source of his inspiration, Lipchitz was quick to explain the contexts in which paint was applied to the African mask. In his explanation, Lipchitz pointed out that the African sculptor applied paint to his sculpture to create a distinction that would demarcate a hollowed-out eye from its surrounding on the mask. The point being made here is that Picasso, coopting an African form into his sculpture, did not have at his disposal all the information regarding the application of colours to the mask. As an artist, certain realities that displaced a particular sculptural convention appealed to him. What attracted Picasso is also evident in Aina Onabolu’s admiration for reproductive verisimil itude as he encountered it in texts sent from the West to African colonies then at that time. In both contexts, appropriation, call it adoption or cooptation, negates the primary need of man at the time such styles came into being. While one developed out of the need to illustrate a story in progression, the other, which though evolved outside ritual, has maintained a regular idiomatic approach to form because of conventions of use. Onabolu’s first contact with Western artistic forms came by way of biblical illustrations while Picasso’s first infection with positive primitivism came through masks used for ritual or display. The dialogic contexts, which Picasso and Onabolu’s actions initiated, remain unabated, hence we will continue to be children of the fecundity of the unexpected. This is because a few social and cultural imperatives of an age or time will continue to give way to accidental imperatives that give birth to new artistic styles that continue to enlarge the repertoire of artistic forms. The above dilemmas relate also to what John Piction once called attention to within the purview of displacement and the option it offers nations in the definitions of traditions or heritage for another option. In the UK, as in other national cultures, ‘nationals by concession’ have often been chosen to represent their domiciled abode in cultural contexts. With such co-optation,

Cat. 30Olubunmi Ola-AfolayanThe VillageBatik35.3 x 126 cm

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whom would the value of the cultural sign as an embodiment of knowledge address? The above contexts viewed from the value indices of displacement provide for transnational cultures alternatives and advantages that may not have been open to them. The privileges which displacement offers within the context of globalisation or multiculturalism hint directly at Hassan's notion of cultural impurity, yet they constitute what opens up seemingly closed ambiences of culture.

The implication of what Hall calls attention to therefore is the shifting values of theory as constructed frames that relate to the observation of phenomena. Theories usually succumb to the fallacy of misplaced correctness, because the knowledge they embody r ema ins sub j e c t t o c ons tan t r e v a l u a t i o n s . T h e r e l a t i v e d isadvantage, which theor ies presuppose within the conventions of learning, is compounded to an arbitrary “invention of culture” through opprobrious attributions in inter-cultural dialogues the way Africa has often been represented. It does appear that the construction of antithetical modules that confront knowledge remains the only way towards progress in knowledge. And this is probably why G. W. F. Hegel is known to have said that 'all happy moments in history remain empty pages'. The antithesis enshrined in a dialectic structure ensures the transgression of previously conquered domains of knowledge. While in such delicate tensions remain within cultural negotiations, the artist collective in Africa appears repositioned in the new millennium, contrary to the idea of the Romantic hero in the individual, to play an active role in furthering the frontiers of new culture in Africa.

CONCLUSIONThe reality of displacement as a route towards cultural progress for man is the theoretical model on which this talk is hinged. Its hypothetical ground is that the practice of art in a true sense shuns self-limiting norms. This is evident in the metaphors generated by collectives in Africa who create and counter-create while adopting and co-opting, and producing for cultures in Africa something

that is authorized and valuable. The making of art and its power of appeal remains a sure route towards the fermentation of the Spirit among children, women and men of all ages, times and places. This value of art may be lost to humanity if art is continuously valued within the contexts of the obvious difference that exists among cultures but which art and related activities have always ignored.

The reality of cultural negotiations and appropriations, and the creation of cultures or the quest for recognition among cultures, occur on a playing ground that is level. This is what makes the hierarchy among cultures sound merely as lay imputations. It is analogous to the human obsession towards salvation in the hereafter of religion, where the question was asked once regarding what would happen to plants and animals when all men, women and children had occupied heaven and hell? And the story of the little child who declared an unwillingness to remain in heaven if his pet, a dog, would not be present in heaven. One thing, however, is certain: hyperbolical insinuations will always remain within the arena of cultural negotiations and dialogues, because it appears the only condition that guarantees that progress is made without a declaration of the depth of indebtedness we all owe each other.

Bohdan Dziemidok “Normativity and Descriptivity in Aesthetics and the Avant-Garde” Issues in Contemporary Culture and Aesthetics. No 1 (April, 1995) 18.

REPORT OF THE PHOTOGRAPHY SECTION DURING THE SEVENTH HAMATTAN WORKSHOP

Barrett Akpokabayen

DAY ONEUnpack the lighting equipment and backdrop. Proceed to set up the Studio and test all the lights to determine they are in good working order.

DAY TWOSet up the dark room, test the enlarger and put the trays in their right places

DAY THREEDemonstration of lighting techniques – Sam Ovraiti and Miss Yinka are used as models. The session lasted for three hours.

DAY FOURAnother portrait session with Mrs. Soyinka, Mr. Aina and Mr. Aladegbongbe

DAY FIVEFocus changes from portraiture to documenting the workshop. Shots are taken of the various sections and activities of the workshop. Excursion to the lands and forest around the workshop, for nature study and landscape composition. In the evening, a portraiture session was held again and it involving Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya and Mr. & Mrs. Afolayan.

DAY SIXThe day began with an excursion into Agbarha – Otor town, covering various activities which included street scenes, market scenes, transportation and day to day activities. Getting back to the workshop, the developing process of all the films began. About sixteen rolls of black and white film were developed and put to dry.

DAY SEVENMore excursions to town and more photographs taken. Some models were invited from town for a portraiture photo session. There were four models in all. Later on, the films from the 35mm camera were printed.

DAY EIGHTDeveloped more films and printed more films late into the night. Other members of the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation were invited for a photo session. They included: Moses Unokwah, Bode Olaniran, Godwin Onobrakpeya, Ekpo Udoma & Udeme Nyong Pius.

DAY NINEStill shots of the Gallery and its environs and printed some photographs. By evening, we started packing and dismantling the studio equipment. The dark room equipment was returned to the store.

The printed photographs were submitted to the Gallery, but negatives were retained.

OBSERVATIONS1. When participants were buying their forms and registering for printmaking, they were not properly informed about the photography section. This resulted in participants not bringing their cameras to the workshop.

2. The screen-printing class had to use the same dark room as the photography class and this made it a bit difficult for both parties. While the photography class requires a dust-free, chemical/paint free and well-ventilated space, the screen-printing class does not. So extra care had to be taken after the screen printers had used the dark room to ensure the films and prints were not a f f e c t e d b y d u s t a n d chemicals/paints.

3. Having photo sessions at night proved a bit difficult for two reasons:First, the lack of power supply, which restricted us to shooting the best we could in the evenings when we had the help of the generator.

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Secondly, our inability to control the light allowed us to have sessions only when the sun had gone down. We need our own enclosed space so that we can control light at all times.

4. For a better quality of prints, films and chemicals, we require a dust-free environment. To preserve films and chemicals, we require a refriedgation system.

5. We need a larger dark room. This needs to be increased so as to allow more people to work in it at the same time.

6. Lack of ventilation, absence of a fan and low voltage makes the printing process all the more slower. Efforts should be made to solve these problems.

7. The present enlarger only allows for 35mm prints. It is not compatible with other print formats that could possibly produce better quality prints.

8. The very limited budget affects the scope of work in this section.

RECOMMENDATION 1Photography is a valuable addition to the workshop. Its benefits which include:

1. Documentation: it can document and record all the activities and participants at the workshop.

2. Archives: It can be used to create an archive for the yearly development of Agbarha-Otor and the Workshop. In the event of a ten year retrospective, visitors will be able to see how the workshop has developed over the years.

3. Knowledge: It creates room for participants to gain the basics of photograph know-how so they can take

photographs with the right lighting, develop and print.

4. Creativity: For those who already have a knowledge of photography, they can now learn how to be more creative in their photo-shoots.

RECOMMENDATION 21. More manual cameras should be

purchased for the studio so participants can experiment

2. The photography session should be allocated more space so as to allow room for participants to practice.

3. The enlarger should be upgraded to accommodate other film formats.

4. The budge t pu t as ide f o r photography limits the scope of this section. Some essential materials were not purchased. To upgrade the standard, a continuing investment in photography is advised.

EXPENSES

1. 1 Pack of 35mm colour film N 4,000

2. 2 Packs of Agfa Apx B/W film N 8,000

3. 1 Pack of 120 Obipan film N 4,000

4. 2 P a c k s o f E k o b r u m Developer

N 3,000

5. 2 Packs of Ifofix fixer N 3,000

6. 1 Pack of Ilford 4x6 paper N 1,000

7. 2 Packs of ilford 8x10 paper N 16,000

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8. Renting/Maintenanceof Equipment N11,000

TOTAL N50,000

EQUIPMENT

2 Backdrop Stands2 14 feet backdrops4 Studio lights

4 Light stands1 Light metre1 Mamiya RB67 medium format

camera1 Vivitar Manual Camera2 Nikon Cameras1 Light Cable1 Shutter Release Cable3 Tripod stand3 Reflectors3 Umbrellas1 Light Shave Unit.

Cat. 31Sam OvraitiUntitledOil on Canvas103 x 122 cm

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STAINED WOOD VENEER AND COLOUR EXTRACTION AS A MEDIUM OF PAINTING

Nics O. Ubogu

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Cat. 32Group WorkBeaty in the WildStone Lithograph56.5 x 38 cm

STAINED WOOD VENEER AND COLOUR EXTRACTION AS A MEDIUM OF PAINTING

Nics O. Ubogu

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Cat. 32Group WorkBeaty in the WildStone Lithograph56.5 x 38 cm

INTRODUCTION

Applying paint, colouring, pictorial decorations and the representation of objects or figures by means of colours laid on a surface, creates a product resulting in a scene or picture which usually reinterprets itself in vivid language. Painting is “the expression of ideas and emotions with the creation of certain aesthetic qualities in a two dimension visual language.” (Arnetin, 1975)

Painting in its historical context has been executed by artists in various media. Different skills and techniques that provided great opportunities for the exploration of styles are the expression of man’s thoughts and feelings through the use of different materials.

Today, the use of materials and techniques has been very significant in artistic creativity. Artists have delved into the use of various media, using both imported and local materials found in our environment. Efforts have also been made in most developing countries to localize painting by using paints and pigments obtained locally; but not much has been done to develop these locally produced materials because of the appeal of the imported ones. The use of oil, acrylic and water colour has led to a decline in the use of local materials.

In Nigeria, not many contemporary artists have researched into the use of new media for painting because of the problems of preservation, storage and processing of local materials. Despite these problems, Jimoh Buraimoh, a well known Nigerian artist, has distinguished himself by delving into the use of local materials. He is a renowned painter who has little or no foreign influence. Although Jimoh depends heavily on oil, acrylic and water colours, he also uses beads in painting.

Today, the use of local materials in painting is becoming a challenge and increasingly interesting because of the government’s ban and restriction orders

Contained in the Finance Act of 1981, promulgated by the Federal Government of Nigeria. This has helped to reawaken the spirit of research into the use of local materials for painting.

“Stained Wood Veneer” is a new medium of painting. It is the combination of wood veneer and any form of stain as a painting pigment. “Veneer are sheets of wood which can be as thin as 1/28 inch,

Cat. 33Ojo OlaniyiKnowledge is Power Marble34.5 x 13 x 10 cm

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produced by slicing, sawing or by rotary 2cutting of large logs glued to or laminated

to a 3 inch thick plywood to form a ground for staining or painting. Stains are in liquid, powder and solid forms. The stain is used as a painting pigment extracted from plants-roots, leaves, stems and mineral substances to stain the wood veneer and enhance its aesthetic quality. The wood veneer is stained with the extracted materials which change the natural hues or tone of the veneer. The change is caused by the reaction

of the liquid stain penetrating the surface of the wood veneer. By colouring and changing layers of the veneer, the natural texture can be seen clearly. Staining leaves provide a transparent effect on the wood veneer. Various types of stain of different colours are collected. They could be in liquid, powder, or solid form, mixed and dissolved in solvent such as water, oil, alcohol (spirit) Lacquer, thinner and turpentine so as to al low penetration and transparent permanence.

Finally, wood polish is used on the work referred to as “stained wood veneer”, a medium of painting. The stained pigment on wood veneer achieves a certain texture, creates patterns and shades of colour through learnt skills and techniques in painting.

Wood Veneer stains made from plant-roots, leaves, stems and mineral substances, powders, dyes and powders, colours, coal tar and native chalk are called “stained wood veneer” for painting.

This study aims to encourage young people to pursue their interest in searching for new media for painting.

The objective is to contribute to innovations in the development of painting in Nigeria.

In an attempt to explore and experiment and to break new grounds, certain problems are bound to be encountered. Such problems include the collection of local seasonal materials like plants, leaves, roots, stems, and mineral substances for the extraction of pigments.

Some areas where wood veneer are obtained in Nigeria were visited. From there, various samples of veneers from different woods such as African walnut, mahogany, obeche, Sapele wood and Lagos wood were collected. Different types of stains from mineral substances and plant pigments were also collected. The materials were dissolved and then applied with solvents such as turpentine, thinner and alcohol (spirit) mixed with binder such as wood varnish or liquid polish to achieve wood stains. The solvent and binders are meant to achieve luminosity, transparency and permanence.

In the study, material information were collected for analysis and

Cat. 34Bruce Onobrakpeya UntitledPlate Lithograph45.7 x 32.5 cm

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experimentation because the research involves some knowledge of basic chemistry in the process of the extraction of colours. The method of laying the veneer and extracting Stains is stated and the scientific and local names of the materials are men t i oned . The r e i s c ons t an t experimentation in the use of ground and extracted colours (stained wood veneer) to find more solution and improvement. There is supporting evidence – photography, measuring instruments and samples of materials at every developmental stage.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF VENEERWood is the most variable and adaptable raw material available to man. It is used for a wider range of purposes than any other substance. Despite the fact that modern technology his brought many possible alternatives, from metal and plastic to concrete and earthenware, yet timber has its unique character from its natural growth within living trees.

“Veneers are extremely thin sheets of wood with a fine, flat surface. They can be

1as thin as /28 inch. This is achieved by slicing, sawing or by rotary cutting of large log,. In the process of veneering, the sheets are glued to thick plywood for a solid ground for stain or painting.

“Although the craft of veneering was known and used in classical antiquity, its practice lapsed during the Middle Ages. It

th was revived again in the 17 century, reaching its apogee in France and spreading from there to other European countries. Because of their preference for ebony, the French masters of the craft of veneering were known as “ebenistes” although, as time went on, they combined veneering with technical variations such as marquetry. Considerable craftsmanship was involved in

th ththe 18 and 19 centuries. By the middle of ththe 19 century, with the introduction of

mechanical saws, veneering was used in mass production to cover defects and shoddy materials in cheap furniture made of pop la r o r p ine . ” (Encyc lopaed ia Britainnica,1975).

Basically the process involved in the making of all veneers is the same. First, the decorative wood is cut into thin slices with a saw or knife, or rotary machines and these are all used.

TECHNIQUE OF LAYING VENEERS AS A PAINTING GROUNDThe ability to use this medium depends mainly upon these areas: perception and technique (seeing and doing respectively). Veneer slices are very thin sheets of wood, therefore care must be taken in the process of applying them to 3 inch thick plywood to solidify as a ground.

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Cat. 35Sam OvraitiUntitledOil on Canvas103.5 x 121.7 cm

MATERIALSFlexwood Veneer size 4’ by 8’Plywood as base 4’ by 8’Glue or Evostick (Adhesive or Contact cement)Cutting knifeSawMeasuring tapeBeer bottle (empty)B r u s h - w i d e ( f o r s i z i n g a n d priming).Veneers of Lagos and Sapele wood were purchased from Lagos Street, Akpakpava Street, Urubi Street, Ekewan Road, Oba Market Road and New Lagos Road all in Benin City. Veneers are said to be manufactured on a large scale in Sapele by the African Plywood and Timber Company, Sapele (a Division of U.A.C.). One and a half meters of veneer are purchased at the cost of N1.00 each and cost 4 by 8 feet of 3 inch thick plywood board as a base ground. The sheets, of veneer are carefully tied with cords to avoid damage, then cut into sizes. The wood veneer is sized and primed with 2- parts of solignum insecticides mixed with ½ turpentine to protect it from insects. This requires great caution and care. It is applied thinly and in a stippling manner with a fairly dry brush. An excess of moisture will loosen the veneer’s natural hues and tones, if it is not primed evenly on both sides. It is advisable also to seal the edges with varnish against moisture in order to avoid damage.

The veneer sheets are glued with the aid of adhesive – Evostick or Contact cement. The thick plywood is sand-papered with rough sand-paper, and then glued to the thick boards with Evostick or contact cement. The flex veneer is left to allow it to set for 30 minutes.

It is gently laid and glued or laminated firmly on a flat surface. Then later it is run over firmly with an empty beer bottle for permanence. The edges are trimmed neatly with the aid of a knife and finally a staining or painting “ground” is achieved.

PRESERVATION AND CARE OF VENEER BOARDFlex wood veneer and the plywood board as a base are preserved by coating both the

veneer sheets and the plywood with solignum insecticide, manufactured in Nigeria. This is done by applying the solignum and turpentine as a prime-coat to protect the wood from insect damage. With this form of treatment, wood veneer painting can be preserved for centuries without any particular damage. However, it can suffer the worst sorts of damage insteam-heated rooms. It is preferable to avoid moisture from the air, although a moderate temperature for painting on veneer is vital.

In restoring painting, if it is dirty, it is doubtful whether water can be used to clean the surface without causing damage. It is wise to recommend the use of a dry rag, because of the coating of clear gloss polish used for the finishing. In this way, preservation is ensured.

Cat. 36Felicia EvweAfrican MotifBatik57 x 44 cm

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ORIGIN OF STAIN COLOURThe origin of stain colour is as old as African culture, having taken so many forms in the history of painting in Africa. These paintings take the form of body decoration, tribal marks, wall paintings, rock or mountain paintings, shrine and palace decoration and cave painting.In Africa, huts are built of wood with, walls and floor covered with mats ornamented with complicated geometrical designs. Sculptural decorative articles, such as calabashes, baskets and ceramic pots, and decorative clay walls in shrines are defined

with geometric shapes in colours. These colours were probably stain pigments extracted from plants and earth substances.

In the Congo region of Africa, some artists polish their sculptures with wet, coarse leaves or soot, resin and oil which produce stain colours in black, red, white and other colours. In the southern Sahara,

ththere is 13 century evidence of colour extraction used for textile products before t h e a d v e n t o f t h e E u r o p e a n s . Archaeologists found bundles of fibre from bark or stalks of flat grass, such as flax, raffia, and hemp, which were used for the Tassili and Fezzan wall paintings of North-Africa, discovered in the second half of the

th20 century by French and Italian ..researchers There is also evidence in

Nigeria of paintings of antelope, monkeys and cows done bymen and boys in reddish pigments.

In Mali, the Dogon also paint on the surface of rock shelters, where the great mask for Sigi initiation rites are kept. “ In Benin in Nigeria, young celebrants at the ceremony of Irovbode, wear body designs painted with vegetable dyes over a base of camwood paste. The paste gives a smooth red base on the skin for painting designs in a blue black Asu dye.”

In the Nupe culture of Northern Nigeria, henna dye was once popular among women in the pre-marriage ceremony. The colours used were red dye or indigo. Tiro (native antimony) is used extensively today.

The Igbos of Nigeria are noted for decorative painting on mud walls. The pigments used were made from plants and mineral substances such as black charcoal and white from kaolin. Other colours include brown and yellow. Geometric shapes and scenes from daily life were painted in these colours.

The different colour paints must have been extracted from plant and mineral substances such as tree bark, leaves, roots, stems and clay.

Many colour pigments have been in existence locally for a long time, judgingfrom the evidence of stain colour extractions

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M E T H O D O F S T A I N C O L O U R EXTRACTIONThe extraction of stain from plants and mineral substances is interesting, although it is time consuming and expensive. The extraction starts by looking into the stain colouring agent and method of extraction. There are various methods of extracting stain colour from organic minerals, organic carbon compounds and plant sources. These three sources have different methods for extracting their colour by boiling, soaking, grinding, pounding and a scientific laboratory process. Plants and substances such as dyes, kaolin, coal-tar, plaster of Paris (waste-solid form) are collected for wood stain preparation.

The first method of extraction used is the grinding process. This method is used for stains extracted from mangrove and camwood. The stain colour is extracted by grinding smooth coal or solid plaster of Paris into powder form which is then sifted into a bowl, and later transferred with the aid of funnel into a transparent bottle. The contents are mixed with lacquer thinner plus wood varnish (made in Nigeria). When the bottle is shaken, the content form a stain for wood veneer.

COLOUR COMPOSITION I1. 1/3 kg of ground kaolin (white stain)

or coal tar (black stain) Plaster of Paris

2. ½ pint of lacquer thinner3. ½ pint of wood varnish

All the above are mixed to form a stain for wood veneer

MATERIALSKaolinCoal tarBowl Grinding stone or electric grinderFilterFunnel and empty beer bottle (transparent)The main stain colours extracted in this process are red, sienna, umber, yellow, ochre, black and white

ADVANTAGES OF GRINDING1. It is a quick method of extracting

stain colours.

2. It is a cheap and safe method.

DISADVANTAGESThinner is highly flammable and precautions must be taken.

The second method of stain extraction is by boiling. This method is used mostly for plant sources (leaves, roots, stems, flowers and tree bark).

The plant material is placed in a cooking pot, and allowed to boil for thirty minutes unti l the leaves have disintegrated In the case of camwood, the stain pigment obtained is reddish. Finally, the water based pigment plus lacquer thinner plus wood varnish, when treated, form the wood stain.

COLOUR COMPOSITION II2 pints of extracted pigment1 pint of wood varnishAll the above are mixed to form a stain for wood veneer.

MATERIALSCooking potTree bark or leavesGas burnerWaterTransparent bottle

Most plant sources of stain colours are effective when mixed with wood varnish. The colours obtained through the above method of extraction are red, indigo and vermilion from tree bark (camwood) and mangrove bark. Other colours extracted from plants are purple, green and yellow.

ADVANTAGES OF BOILING1. It is a fairly quick method of extracting stain.2. It is cheaper, safer and easier

than laboratory processes..

DISADVANTAGES1. If the water is too little, it dries up

very quickly2. It needs constant attention.

Another method of extracting stains is by soaking the materials in ethanol, alcohol (Ogogoro), spirit, thinner or turpentine for 24-48 hours to allow total fermentation to

Cat.37Bernard AinaAdamu Orisha MasqueradeSerigraph61.5 x 43.5 cm

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take place. The materials such as green leaves, tree bark, powdered native chalk and dyes are soaked in a bottle with thinner and shaken thoroughly. The extracted colours such as white from powdered native chalk or black from coal-tar are mixed with wood varnish to form wood stain.

COLOUR COMPOSITION III1/3 of a kilogramme of powder colour or kaolin or coal-tar.½ pint of lacquer thinner varnish½ pint of wood varnishAll are mixed together to form a stain for wood veneer.

MATERIALSBottle (empty)Measuring scaleTree barkFunnelThinner or solvent.

The stain colours extracted in this process are red, brown, black, blue and white

ADVANTAGE OF SOAKING METHODSimple method of extraction.

DISADVANTAGE OF SOAKING METHODSolvents are highly flammable so care must be taken in the process of extraction.

The pounding process is another local method of extracting stain colours fromand plants are other substances.

To Extract IndigoThe indigo leaves are pounded in a deep wooden mortar and formed into balls. In Benin the fresh leaves and balls of dried leaves are sold in Oba Market and Lagos Street. The balls are then put in the son to dry for 2 or 3 days.

The second pounding is made and the leaves put in a pot with a hole at the bottom for seepage. This is placed over a big bowl, and water containing ash is poured over the Leaves. The water gradually filters through the pot into the large bowl underneath. This process is repeated several times until the bowl is full.

Finally, it is placed outside to allow fermentation to occur. The liquid then becomes sticky and a scum is formed and collected: this is called indican.

This indican is mixed with half a tea-spoon of sodium chloride and caustic soda plusthinner and wood varnish to form indigo stain colour for wood veneer.

Cat. 38Etiido InyangUntitledPlate Lithograph45.7 x 32.5 cm

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COLOUR COMPOSITION IV1 Kilogramme indigo leaves requires:1 gallon of water2 pints lacquer thinner and the amount of wood varnish required.All are mixed to form a stain for wood veneer

MATERIALSMortar and pestleIndigo leaves, fresh or dried in ballsBowlFilterFunnelEmpty bottle.

CHARACTERISTICS OF STAIN PIGMENTSThe study of stain colours falls under physics, physiology and psychology.

Physicists study the radiant energy of light which stimulates vision and the physical characteristics of the stimulus situation.

P h y s i o l o g y s t u d i e s t h e electrochemical activities in the nerve and in the general processes which take place in the eye and brain when a stimulus situation results in the appearance of colours. Psychology studies the awareness of colours as an element of visual experience.

In psychology, colour is a part of what is perceived and the concept at its widest point may be defined as the aspect of visual stimulus which remains when you abstract the spatial and temporal aspects.

Stain colours have modes of experience:

a) Volume – They have that volume because they permeate three dimensional space which they occupy.

b) Surface colour – stain colour appears to be on the surface of objects.

c) Lustre stain colour – that lustre in variation and graduation of brightness which exceeds the brightness of the surface colour of a n o b j e c t a n d S e e m s t o besuperimposed upon the surface, breaking up and destroying the surface lustre such as the lustre of g l a z e d p o t t e r y a n d i n k .

D) Luminosity and glow – They are said to be luminous after the final finished polish of “ wood veneer stain ” when it exceeds in brightness the surrounding visualareas. They appear to emit light and seem luminous through the veneer paintings.

e) Stain colour has three independent variables, aspects or dimensions. These are line, saturation and brightness. Hue is the dimension of colour ranging from the primary stain colour red, yellow, blue – to secondary colours, such as purple, orange and green.

Cat. 39Shakiru Badmus Mother’s CareAdditive Plastograph28 x 23 cm

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f) Stain colours have vibrancy and brilliance. Used legitimately to describe the quality of the veneer wood painting, these qualities could be combined with saturation and brightness.

g) Tone – this is quite significant in wood veneer staining. It helps in the expression of warm and cold tonality which is referred to as hue or difference in brightness.

h) Shade: This depends on how the stain is applied to the veneer board.

Heavy application of the stain colour will produce a darker colour, the less the staining, the lighter the colour.

Wood veneer exposed to the sunlight between 1982 -1985 shows that stain colour is not fast

TECHNIQUE OF STAINING OR PAINTING ON WOOD VENEERSurface preparation is the most important step in the staining process of wood veneer, since stain can accentuate the surface to which it is applied.

Staining or painting begins by making an initial preparation of liquid stain colours in cans. When the stain colour is applied, it is easy to graduate on veneer board because stain colour has that distinctive quality concerned with those outward appearances of surface which help us to distinguish one thing from another. The texture of stained colour when is polished wood, the wood gives the wood veneer painting that unique quality.

The tonal contrasts or high-light effects as you stain is an exquisite result consequent upon the superimposition of the colours. Great care must be taken in the process of staining or painting. Whenever any mistake is made in staining, the correction is done by using sand paper to reduce the effect. For a uniform colour on the entire piece, the stain is applied evenly on all the surfaces. This is easy to do on the smooth veneer boards that are thoroughly sand-papered. Since the boards absorb colour the more stain is applied, the lighter the tone. The dark tone is a thin coat of shellac (made in Nigeria) on the surface. A fairly light bush is used when painting.

Sometimes stain is classified into various categories such as water stain, turpentine and lacquer thinner stain or spirit (ogogoro) stain. The Stain is more effective when varnish is added to the base.If the extracted pigment becomes too dark during staining, it is advisable to dilute with liquid thinner to reduce the intensity.

Finally, after staining or painting, the veneer board is left for 4-48 hours to dry, depending on the amount of stain colours applied. Then the finished “stained wood

Cat. 40Patrick AkpojotorLife’s First FoodCharcoal43.5 x 30.6 cm

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veneer ” painting is polished with clear gloss lacquer with the aid of a brush or spray gun. Leave it to dry for 2 to 4 hours and apply a final coat of clear gloss lacquer polish. Leave to dry overnight and a stain veneer wood painting is achieved.

CONCLUSION“Stained wood veneer ” is used as a new medium for creative painting. It creates room for the possibleexploration and utilization of local materials Within our environmentextracted pigments from plants and substances such as kaolin, solid plaster of Paris (white) and solid coal-tar (blackish brown) are constantly experimented upon, to yield stain colours. They produce effects of luminosity, vibrancy and transparency on veneer ground.

This approach gives an incentive and opportunity for greater awareness, flexibility and freedom in the use of technique and skill in laying and laminating veneer sheets to the board as a painting ground. The application of stain colours.

requires patience to achieve the effects.This research has helped the artist

to achieve a particular form and style in painting. The elongated nature of the forms in most of the figures is intentional to suit particular arrangements and compositions on the vertical boards.

The use of multiple figures at the base of the paintings, curves, concentric and interwoven lines are to emphasize inflow and outflow movements.

The extraction of stain colours gives the artist, the opportunity of avoiding western imported manufactured pigments.

I hope to improve on this attempt in the future and I sincerely hope that such efforts will help to minimize the reliance on imported materials while allowing for the maximum use of local materials.

CONTRIBUTIONThe experiments with local materials in stained veneer wood is an attempt to create an awareness in seeking alternatives to the use of imported materials for painting.

The stain colours are extracted locally from mineral substance and plant sources. The experimental research is meant to educate and encourage people, students, artists, and art teachers to pursue their interest in researching into new media like stained wood veneer.

BIBLIOGRAPHY1. Arnetin, Rudolf: Art and Visual

perception University of California Los Angeles, London, 1975.

2. Brain, R. Art and Society in Africa Longman, Nigeria, 1980

3. Brown , Hu l l ah B .J .Wa t e r -co l our Gu idance Adamand Charles Black, London, 1962.

4. B r i t a n n i c a E n c y c l o p e d i a Micropedia ready Reference and index London, Vol. VII, 1972.

5. Britain, Lambert W. Creative and M e n t a l G r o w t h M a c m i l l a n Publishing Company I n c . N e w York, 1975.

Cat. 41Ishola SulaimonMaskOil on Canvas63 x 47 cm

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12. Gibbia, S. W. Wood Finishing and r e f i n i s h i n g V a n N o r s t r a n d Reinhold Company, New York, 1954-1971.

13. Hayward, Charles H. Stain and Po l is ing Evans Brother Ltd . London, 1975.

14. Ivogel, Arthur G. Practical Organic Chemistry Longmans, London

15. Kayoma, Josephine E. P lant pigment: A Medium for water C o l o u r P a i n t i n g Unpublished Thesis, Benin, 1983.

16. Mount, Marshall Ward : African Art Indiana University Press, London,

17. Mbiti, S. John: African religions and P h i l o s o p h y H e i n e m a n n Education book Ltd,. London, 1969.

6. Dorf, Barbara: Beginner’s Guide to Painting in oil Sphere Book Ltd., London 1973

7. Doerner, Max. The Materials of the Artist Hert-Davis, Mac Ltd., London

, 1976

8. Forsaith and Brow Panshin: Textbook of Wood Technology Mc G r e w - H i l l B o o k C o m p a n y , NewYork, 1970

9. Edlin, Herbert. L. A Manual of Wood I d e n t i f i c a t i o n T h a m e s a n d Hudson, London, 1969.

10. Filani, Kunle Polystrene, A M e d i u m f o r P r i n t - m a k i n g Unpublished Thesis, B e n i n , 1984.

11. Frederick, Oughton The finishing a n d r e - f i n i s h i n g o f w o o d Constable and Co. Ltd, London, 1969.

Cat. 42Group WorkLife in Agbarha - OtorStone Lithograph45.5 x 60.5 cm

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18. John, Shea. G.: Wood working for Everybody Van Norstrand Reinhold Company, New York, L o n d o n , Toronto, 1970.

19. Millett, R. and Storey E. W.Design and Technology Wood Pergamon Press Ltd, Oxford, 1974.

20. Monti, Franc: African Masks Paul Hamlym- London –New York, 1969.

21. Olson, Oile and Grustasson

Ragnar: Creating in Wood with the l a t h e V a n N o s t r a n d R e i n h o l d C o m p a n y , N e w Y o r k , Toronto London, 1968.

22. Razzi, Maria: The Artists Methods and Materials John Murray Publisher Ltd, Great Britain.

23. Roy, Osborne: Light and Pigment Colours Principle for Artists Lord Murray Ltd,. London, 1974.

REPORT ON THE PAINTING/MIXED MEDIA SECTION OF THEND TH TH 2 SESSION AT THE 7 HARMATTAN WORKSHOP IN AGBARHA-OTOR, 20

NDMARCH – 2 APRIL, 2005.Nse – Abasi Inyang

Cat. 43Pamela Cyril-EgwareAquatic LoveBatik56 x 46 cm

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The mixed media/painting section took off in high spirits at about 11:00 am on

stMonday the 21 of March, 2005 after the opening ceremony.

There were eleven participants, although only seven officially registered. The spill-over came as a result of enthusiasm and optimism over what the section could offer, when the participants sighted unexpected materials for creating art works.

We acquired in this section discarded materials like old wristwatches, aluminum wires, twine and discarded motor bike parts, picked up from mechanic workshops. Others were termite eaten wood, jute bags, mirrors, stones and pebbles. Also used were old keys, plastic jar covers, gold dust pigments, oil and acrylic colours, and glue.

It was exciting and amazing, how aesthetically appealing these scraps could turn out to be. This was visible in three of my works namely: The Princess, Agbarha Feelings and Rhythm and Space. Two works of Dr. Peju Layiwola of the Department of Creative Arts University of Lagos and Mr. Dele Oluseye of Ovuomaroro Studio Lagos, also demonstrated the creative potential of found objects.

At the end of the two week workshop, participants had acquired a “conscious awareness” of the strength of formal effects discarded materials could add to art creation. As a matter of fact, they learnt how to turn discarded waste into artistic beauty.

However, we experienced some shortcomings which were challenges caused by insufficient materials. Mixed Media entails the use of more than one medium. Most of the materials could not go round adequately. A wide range of materials should be sourced such as colour, leather, beads, treated fish scales and even some exoskeletons etc.

By the end of the session, participants had a better understanding of the meaning of the word Mixed Media; which simply means the use of more than two materials in creating art works. Participants also came to grips with the use of these materials for the use and creation of artworks. Some even broadened their artistic minds by burning part of their wood panels for visual and artistic effects.

If given a chance to act again as a facilitator in this section, my dream would be expose the minds of the participants to new objects and forms, thereby broadening their creative outlook.

Urhobo Masking Styles: Origins and Influences Ese Odokuma and H. U. M. Bazunu

Fig. 31Okao from Igun town near Eku: (style A)Medium wood and pigmentHeight 59.5cm:Courtesy of National Commission for Museum and Monument Lagos. Lagos

ABSTRACTThis study examines the origin of the Urhobo peoples through some of their masking styles. With continued claims of Benin origin attributed to the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries respectively, it becomes pertinent to address this historical misconception using masks.

Masks come in varied sizes and shapes and they perform several roles: social, political and religious. Embedded in their formal structures are certain physiognomic characteristics which can be used to ascertain the origins and influences evident in Urhobo culture.Thus a critical look at their local histories against this art style reveals affinities with other cultures including the Ijo, Isoko, Western Igbo and Igala with minor Benin influences.

INTRODUCTION Numbering about 1.5 million, the Urhobo

are located on the Western fringe of the Niger-delta in southern Nigeria. They are comprised largely of twenty-two kingdoms or socio-political units.

Fig. 33Map showing the major towns and peoples of the study area.

Fig.32(Igbo Maiden mask Mmuo society (style A)Wood and pigment Height 43 cmCourtesy of London museum of mankind

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Fig.34Isoko mask with female bust (style A)

wood and pigmentCourtesy of National Commission for

Museum and Monument Lagos.

Fig. 35Urhobo Omotekpokpo mask (styles)Wood and pigmentHeight 45.8cm.The stanley’s collection.

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Their political structures, titles, kingship patterns and ceremonial regalia are also influenced by Benin in varying degrees. There are even cases of some Urhobo groups consisting of centralized states within which Benin-type political institutions were accommodated or superimposed.

Benin was indeed their overlord and its suzerainty spread not only among the Urhobo but also to other neighbouring cultures. These influences can also be seen in their ceremonial swords, the Benin “Eben and Ada”. These swords are prominent in most of the neighbouring cultures.

But when it comes to their art forms, the reverse is the case. It is, however ironical that as powerful as Benin was, especially after European contact, the sway of Benin did not completely cover the entire people (Adepegba 8). Ryder also postulates that although the empire of Benin was said to have spread westwards to Ouiddah in the present Republic of Benin, eastwards to Asaba and Onitsha, and northwards to Idah and southwards to western and eastern Ijo (2), less than half of these areas were brought inside the kingdom, without any specific degree of permanency (Ryder 2).

The question raised then is, why have their art forms negated their local histories? Of course, oral traditions are not impeccable sources of histories. Deficiencies such as inaccuracies, as well as dating problems due to memory loss, can occur. There is also the problem of distortion and embellishment due to personal or group interests. The fact that Owo art forms confirm their historical relationship with Benin shows that art forms can be used in the reconstruction of history.

This study therefore looks at the people’s masking traditions with a view to determing the true origins of the Urhobo people. By so doing, masks are used as a device in the re-constructive process of unearthing the art-historical past of the people.

Quite a number of scholars such as Otite, Ikime, Adjara and Omokri, Alagoa, Erivwo, Nabofa, Foss, Egonwa, Darah, Agberia, Onobrakpeya, Ekeh, Plass and Fagg, just to mention a few have written on the origins, arts, culture, and belief systems of he Urhobo people. But in-depth studies on the stylistic variance between their masks and their local histories have not been deeply investigated.On Urhobo origin, Otite (11-12), Ikime (95-96) Erivwo (51-52) Adjara and Omokri (4-5) associate some Urhobo kingdoms with Benin descent. They all agree also, that other influences, particularly from Ijo and Igbo areas are noticeable.

As regards the arts, Foss (14-22) and

Fig. 36Omagu mask worn during the Ogbuefi ceremony in Igala or Awka cult. (style B)Wood and pigmentHeight 55cmCourtesy of National Commission for Museum and Monument Lagos

Fig.37Owuasa horzontal headdress (Style C)Wood and pigmentHeight 37cmCourtesy of National Commission for Museum and Monument Lagos.

Egonwa (87-88) have written about the relationship between the arts of the Urhobo and those of Benin. However, not much has been done on the relationship between masking styles with respect to their local histories.

MASKS Masks are traditionally linked with cults

aimed at increasing the life force of the community (Trowell and Nevermann 20). Their functions vary from entertainment to protection and purification (Segy 38). In an attempt to comprehend, their functions, Segy identifies three distinctive purposes: (38).

First, to hide the wearer from the frustration of what he is supposed to be. Second, to revert to what he really is. Third, to allow the wearer to be something different (Segy 38). In this case, the wearer is often transformed and elevated to various spiritual levels (Ibid, 38).

Most communities amongst the twenty two socio-political units in Urhobo land have diverse masking traditions.

In Eku, Okpara and Igun, the Okao mask is common. The Omotekpokpo type is also prominent in the Effrun, Eghwu, Otogo, Ughwerun and Evwreni areas (Perkins Foss 104). Apart from these two major types, others exist. They include the vertical and horizontal types, which are associated with some cults and festivals within the area (see appendix A, B, C and D).

For the benefit of intense morphological analysis, these masks have been classified into four major styles. They are; style A, style B, style C and style D. Style A consists of various helmet or facial masks with super-structures on their head. Style B, comprises facial masks with horn-like projections. Style C masks are those of horizontal proportions, while the vertical types belong to style D.

Morphological AnalysisThe first type, termed style “A” , which

consists of helmet or facial masks with superstructures, are common in the Eku, Igun and Okpara areas. These masks are generally associated with Okao-Olokun festivals (fig 31). They are characterized by geometric forms and scarifications. Marks which run from the head down to the eye-brows are common. The eyes are represented as circular hollows with slits carved under the eye-lid. The facial features showing the nose, ears and mouth are of angular proportions. Zoomorphic and anthropomorphic attributes are also displayed. The leopard, a common motif in most southern Nigerian

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Fig.38Urhobo human headdress supported on a basket entangled by a snake (style D)wood, pigment and raffia.Height 53.5cmCourtesy of National Commission for


Fig. 39Igbo Amokwe talakwu (style D)Wood and pigmentHeight 56cm Courtesy of National Commission for Museum and Monument Lagos.

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societies, is used, probably as a symbol of power. Figures carried on top and at the edge of the mask are sometimes painted in silver, red, yellow and black. These colours are of symbolic value. As homogeneous as these works are, stylistic peculiarities exist amongst some western Igbo and Isoko groups (see fig 33). Similar types exist also in the Okpella area in Edo north. For example, the mask in fig. 34, which is of Isoko origin is of equal aesthetic simplicity. Figures are represented with a defined central figure of a feminine bust. Above the face of the masks is a noticeable outline linking the head to the nose and running further down to both eyes. The eyes, which appear closed, are emphasized by bushy eyebrows elongated to the sides of the face. Also depicted, is the dentition and a long handle, (Obo) which may be used to hold the mask against the face.

The second type (style B), is not confined to Urhobo areas alone. Similar styles exist amongst the western Ijo, Igala and Western Igbo areas. This style is characterized mainly by horn-like projections on the head of the mask. Among the Urhobo, this type is common in the Effru, Eghwu, Otogo, Uwherun, and Evwreni areas. It is sometimes called Omotekpokpo (girl with young body) fig 35. It has two long horns, painted black and white, joined to the head. However, the structure of this mask varies from area to area. The facial configuration of the mask is oblong with three scarifications on each side of the fore head and a longer one defined by a black line running from the fore head to the nose. Other features are its well defined geomerticized slit eyes, nose and ears and expressive dentition. The Igala have similar types (fig 36). Fig 36 shows a mask dominated by two big horns and cylindrical ears. The eyes are represented as circular hollows and below them are two basic types of scarification. Protruding forwards is a mouth in the form of an unidentifiable animal. According to Lagos Museum sources, this piece is called (Omagu) and it is used also in the Awka community during the Ogbuefi ceremony.

The third type (style C) is common among the Urhobo, Western Ijo and Igala areas. Among the Western Ijo group, this type of headdress forms the bulk of their work (see fig 37). In some cases, horizontal masks like this consist of three large projections with a cylindrical face. Three rings are displayed a little above the fore head. The eyes and nose are impressively stylized marks, as well as the expressive teeth, which is typical of Western Ijo pieces. The fourth style (style D) is also common in s o m e U r h o b o a r e a s . T h e r i g i d a n d

Fig. 40Ekpeye multiple colour headdress(style D)

wood pigment and basket Height 68cmCourtesy of National Commission for


Fig. 41 Benin Ekpo mask (style A)Wood and pigment Height 50.5Courtesy of National Commission for Museum and Monument Lagos

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stiff characteristics observed in their carved figures are also illustrated in these headdresses. They reflect scarifications, hair styles, schematized and circular facial features (see fig 38). Various hat-types are displayed with more stylized upper and lower limbs. Similar styles also exist in Western Igbo culture (fig 39) and Ekpeye types fig 40 The Onitsha headdress known as Amokwe Talakwu reveals its highly naturalistic trait. The African proportion which is depicted in most forms, is clearly defined. Coiffure, eyes, ears, nose and mouth are all excellently carved.

Benin MasksIn the case of Benin, whether in court or

plebeian styles, the formal concept is somewhat different. The focus here however, is on the plebeian style. In the words of Paula Ben Amos, the plebeian style was created within the context of the village for the worship of gods ancestors and deified heroes.

Of the plebeian styles, two major mask types are common. They are the Benin Ekpo mask classified into style A and B. As numerous as they are, they show close affinities with some Yoruba wood sculpture rather than with the Urhobo types.

Style A for instance (fig 41), is characterised by a broad fore head, eyebrows, ears, eyes and a flat geometric nose with linear configuration On the other hand, style B has (two horns, similar eye types aquiline nose and a non-expressive mouth (fig 42).

FORMAL INTERPRETATION AND RECONSTRUCTION OF URHOBO ART

Urhobo masks reveal more morphological affinities with other neighbouring cultures than with those of Benin origin. For instance, the scarification on the mask reflects the likely origin of the culture, i.e. that Urhobo culture may have grown out of an aboriginal group and was later influenced by other neighbouring cultures in the area. It is however interesting to note that of all the cultures being studied here, only the Isoko and Western Ijo have facial masks similar to the Urhobo. In the area of pigmentation, some colours used by the Urhobo, such as red, silver, yellow, black and white have certain symbolic connotations. These colours are also used in other neighbouring cultures and share a similar significance.

Facial features also show some cultural relationships. This is true about the eyes, nose, ears and mouth of some masks in the study. The icononic representation of these forms lies within the cultural ideology of Urhobo culture.

The representation of leadership animals common in most southern Nigerian areas, also speaks of a common source. However, the leopard,

Some comparative characteristics displayed in Urhobo, Western Ijo Benin, Western Igbo, Igala, Isoko, Okpella masking styles.

Appendix A

Style A (Helmet or facial Masks with super structures on the Head)

Culture Urhobo Benin Western Igbo Isoko Okpella Results

PlainAnthropomorphicandZoo-morphicSuper Structures

Super Structure

Some haveAnthropomorphicandZoo-morphicSuper Structures

AnthropomorphicandZoo-morphic features

AnthropomorphicandZoo-morphicrepresented

1, 3, 4, 5aresimilar

Table 1:

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Fig. 42 Benin Ekpo mask (style B)Wood and pigment Height 39 cmCourtesy of National Commission for Museum and Monument Lagos

bird and snake are all animal motifs symbolic of leadership qualities which is also common amongst Urhobo.

CONCLUSIONFrom the foregoing, the Urhobo mask seems

to derive largely from Isoko, Western Ijo, Western Igbo and Igala cultures. That Benin culture has no morphological connection with the Urhobo is not exactly true. There are, of course, affinities in the animals depicted as well as in the thematic representation of masks. However, when it comes to the formal structure of masks, the reverse is the case.

Again, in the oral tradition of the Urhobo, descent from Benin is not confirmed by their art forms, unlike those from Owo.From these facts, the following assumptions can be made: 1 That rather than having originated from Benin, the Urhobo only migrated to Benin and left in waves as a result of tyrannical leadership.2 That linguistic affinities should not be used to signify origin. Certain linguistic similarities, could have resulted from political domination or economic transactions. 3 Finally, similar cultural traits evident among the Urhobo cultures does not mean total derivation. The consideration of an aboriginal culture which spread from the Niger Delta to other areas is a possibility.

Culture Urhobo Benin Western Igbo Isoko Okpella Results

1 and 4 are similar2 have painted marks and designs. 5 has a combina tion of 2 and 3

One small Scarification under the eye and design by the side of the face

Long mark stretching from the fore head down to the nose and one on each side of the Face

Painted designs on the fore head and sides of the face

Paintedmarkson theChecks

Scarificationsconsists of 2 on each side of the forehead andlong one with

Scarifications

Eyes Eyes are perforatedand close tothe nose

The eyes are circularwithbandsacrossThem.

Perforatedeye sockets

Closed eyes

PerforatedEyes

1, 3, 5are similar

2, 3, and5 are similarwhile 1and 4 areSimilar

Eye browsare evident

No eyeBrows

Eye browsare common

EyesbrowsExist

No eyeBrows

EyeBrows

3 and 5aresimilar as well as 1and 4

Naturalistic and aquiline

Cubic inNature

Pointed andaquiline inNature

Flat andStylized

Nose aretriangular inShape

Nose

2 and 4areSimilar

Questionmark shapeEar

Geometric ear

Naturalistic inNature

Ears are geoMetric

Ears areslightlygeometric andflared out

Ears

1, 3 and4 areAlike

Slightlyopen mouth

Expressive Teeth

Some areexpressivewhile othersare closed

Yorubatype ofmouthShape

PossessesexpressiveTeeth

Mouth

FacialConfiguration

Slim Succulent andFleshy

Naturalistic Slim andtapers downtowards tothe mouth

Naturalistic 3 and 5areSimilar

55

Culture Urhobo Benin Western Igbo Results Igala Fugar

1, 3 and 4 aresimilar2, 3 and 5 havesimilarfeatures

Horns fugar types is inverted “V” the face

Igalatypes are“U” in Nature

Mgbedikemask isbetween Oand U or VUndertone

Ekpomask Is“V” inShape

Omotekpokpoconsists of a“U” type ofHornCentre.

ShapeHorns

Masks Sevenscarificationon the face

PaintedmarksonthecheekswhileothersHaven’t

None Two typesof marksunder theeye andmarksemanatingfrom thenasal area

No marks 1and 4havemarksbut theyare notSimilar

1 and 5aresimilar3 and 4 areSimilar

Half cheekEyes

CircularperforatedEyes

PerforatedEyes

SemicircularEyes withBands on them

Eyes areClosed

Eye

1, 3 and 5areAlike

Wide expressiveMouth

HollowedmouthwithoutTeeth

Wide expressiveDentition

NoneExpressivemouth

SmallexpressiveMouth

Mouth

2 and 3areSimilar

No earsCylindricalShaped

Big earsWidelongGeometricear Type

Small ears Ears

Table 2:

Style ”B”facial Masks with Horn-like projections.

Culture Urhobo Benin Western Igbo Results Igala Fugar

Style ”B”facial Masks with Horn-like projections.

Appendix B

56

Culture Urhobo Western Igbo Results Igala

All different FacialFeatures

Possess horns on the crownand three Bands

Fish-likemaskStructures

FacialFeatures

Eyes Fish-likeEyes

Perforated Eyes Round eyes

Long nose

Long geometric flat nose

Nose

Appendix c

Table 3:

// \\Type marks

NoneScarification

NoneExpressive Mouth

Style ”C”Horizontal Mask Types

All different

// \\Type marks

2 and 3 are Similar

2 and 3 are Similar

ExpressiveDentition

1 and 2 aresimilar

Culture Urhobo Western Igbo Results Epkeye

1, 2 and 3 all different

Stylized FacialFeatures

Naturalisticfacial featuresincluding,

Geometricfacial features

FacialFeatures

Activity Holding hairand snakes

Holding anUmbrella

Holding twofork-like

Standing on a box

Standing on a box

Base

Appendix D

Table 4:

Has Lower limbs

Has no Lower limbs

Lower limbs

NudeClothedNudity

Style ”D”Horizontal Mask Types

Same

Half sitting half standing lower limbs

All 3 haveBases

2 and 3 have Lower limbs

1 and 2 aresimilar

Standing on a basket

Clothed

57

Cat. 44Owolabi AyodeleUntitledCharcoal51 x 38 cm

58

Cat. 44Owolabi AyodeleUntitledCharcoal51 x 38 cm

58

WORKS CITED

Adepegba, Cornelius Oyeleke. A historical

sculpture of West Africa. 1994-95

Adjara, Onajite Igere and Omokri Andy. Urhobo Kingdoms Political and Social Systems. Ibadan: Text flow limited, 1997.

Alagoa, K. J. A History of the Niger Delta. Ben Amos Paula, G. Professional and Amateur in Benin court carvings, African Images Essays in African iconology. Daniel F. McCall, Edna G. Bay Vol, VI 1975.

Darah, G. G., Akama, E. S., and Agberia, J. T. Studies in Art, Religion and culture among the Urhobo and Isoko people. Port-Harcourt, London. New Deilhi, Pam publishers 2001, Rpt 2003.

Egharevba, Jacob. A short History of Benin. Ibadan: IUP, 1968, Ibadan. John printers limited: Rpt 1996.

Egonwa, Osa Denis. Art forms for water spirits in the Ethiope River Basin: an Iconographic and Stylistic Analysis. African art definition, forms and styles. Ed by Rom Kalilu, 1994 (87-88).

Erivwo, Samuel U. The traditions of Origin of the Urhobo of the Niger Delta. Nigeria magazine. No 113 September, 1974 (42-53).

Foss, Perkins Urhobo Statuary for spirits and Ancestors. African Arts. Vol. ix No 4 July 1976 (13-17).

McCall, Daniel F. and Bay, Edna G. Images of Aggression; African Images and Essays in Afr ican Iconology. University papers on Africa. Vol VI, New York, London, African publishing co 1975 (p 140).

Foss, Perkins Where Gods and Mortals Meet: Continuity and Renewal in Urhobo art. Museum

of Modern Art. New York, Snoeck Publishers; Ghent 2004.

Ikime, Obaro Groundwork of Nigeria History. Ibadan Heinemann Educational Books Nigeria limited, 1984.

Nabofa, M. Y. The Symbolism of Obo. “The Urhobo Altar of the hand. “Owu Port Harcourt journal of humanistic studies. 1994 (85-94).

Otite, Onigu. The Urhobo People. Heinemann Educational Books Nigeria limited, 1982. Rpt. Shaneson C. I. limited, Ibadan Nigeria, 2003. Ryder A. F. C., Benin and the Europeans, 1485-1897. Harlows, Longman 1969.

thSegy, L. African sculpture speaks. 4 ed. New York, Da Cape press 1975.

Trowell, Margaret and Nevermann, H. African and Oceanic Art. Harry M. Abrams inc, New York/ London. 1967.

ARTISTS’ WORKS

PAINTING

MIXED MEDIA

METAL CONSTRUCTION

TEXTILES

WOOD CARVING

PRINTMAKING

CERAMICS

JEWELRY

STONE CARVING

59

Cat. 45Sam OvraitiMarket Scene Oil on Canvas104 x 122.5 cm

Cat. 46Sam OvraitiUntitled Oil on Canvas121.5 x 103.5 cm

60

Cat. 47KlaranzeUntitled IOil on Canvas101.5 x 60 cm

Cat. 48KlaranzeUntitled IIOil on Canvas101.5 x 60 cm

61`

Cat. 49Yves MidahuenTogether as OneOil on Canvas84 x 101 cm

Cat. 50Yves MidahuenDoor of HopeOil on Canvas81.5 x 99 cm

62

Cat. 51Dafe SowhoRoad to Agbarha-Otor Oil on Canvas45.7 x 71 cm

Cat. 52Dafe SowhoHawkers’ Retreat Oil on Canvas43 x 81 cm

63

Cat. 53Ishola SulaimonAriya (Merriment)Oil on Canvas61 x 90.5 cm

Cat. 54Ishola SulaimonBack from the FarmOil on Canvas65 x 105 cm

64

Cat. 56Gbenga Olatunji-AgudaTreasure House llIOil on Canvas53 x 63.5 cm

65

Cat. 56Gbenga Olatunji-AgudaTreasure House llWater Colour76.5 x 57.4 cm

Cat. 57Oyedele OluseyeHoneymoonOil on Canvas76 x 54 cm

Cat. 58Oyedele OluseyeTrue ConfessionOil on Canvas53 x 63.5 cm

66

Cat. 60Owolabi AyodeleSeeing EyesOil on Canvas63.5 x 53 cm

Cat 59. Owolabi AyodeleThe MaskOil on Canvas81 x 61 cm

67

Cat. 61Efe OkorareBoy From the SouthWater Colour/Charcoal 57.6 x 38.4 cm

68

Cat. 62Patrick AkpojotorBack from the FarmOil on Canvas63 x 53.2 cm

Cat. 63Patrick AkpojotorUntitledOil on Canvas76 x 90 cm

69

Cat. 64Yinka E. OgunjumoUntitledOil on Canvas60.5 x 91 cm

Cat. 65Yinka E.OgunjumoOguaOil on Canvas53 x 64 cm

70

71

Cat. 66Salubi OnakufeMai RuwaOil on Paper76.5 x 51 cm

Cat. 67 Peju LayiwolaHappy Women, Happy People Mixed Media92 x 77 cm

Cat. 68 Peju LayiwolaWaiting to be Born Mixed Media92 x 77 cm

72

Cat.70 Lucky UveruveUntitledOil on Canvas91.5 x 61 cm

Cat. 69 Lucky UveruveMother and ChildOil on Canvas92 x 77 cm

73

Cat. 71Inyang Nse AbasiRythym and SpaceMixed Media122 x 61 cm

Cat. 72 Inyang Nse AbasiThe PrincessMixed Media50 x 35 cm

74

Cat. 73 Oluwole OrowoleTwo MasksMixed Media70 x 50 cm

Cat. 74 Oluwole OrowoleOgwaMixed Media61 x 82 cm

75

Cat. 75 Shakiru BadmusBicycle RepairerOil on Canvas63.5 x 99 cm

76

Cat. 76Moses UnokwahOgwa : Pillars of the HouseMixed Media92 x 112 cm

77

78

Cat. 77 Alaric OviriEye For Love Mixed Media70 x 61 cm

Cat. 78Alaric OviriMask Mixed Media81 x 61 cm

79

Cat. 79Nicks UboguUntitled Stained Veneer on Wood120 x 61 cm

80

Cat. 80 Ekpo Udo UdomaJoy of the HouseMixed Media95 x 50cm

81

Cat. 81 Raphael IdieroOvie (king)Mixed Media81 x 61 cm

82

Cat. 82 Adeola BalogunUntitledMetal (Assemblage)164 x 68 x 172 cm

83

Cat. 83 Uwa UsenConfabMetal 124 x 38 x 45 cm

84

Cat. 84 Daniel Oyaigho Ovie’s Crown IMetal cm

Cat. 85 Daniel Oyaigho Ovie’s Crown IIMetal cm

85

Cat. 86 Oladapo AfolayanUntitled ILimestone41 x 20 x 14 cm

Cat. 87 Oladapo AfolayanUntitled IILimestone22 x 27 x 9 cm

86

Cat. 88 Godwin OnobrakpeyaBeautificationLime stone32 x 26 x 15 cm

Cat. 89 Godwin OnobrakpeyaHidden TreasuresSteatite28 x 34 x 12 cm

87

Cat. 90Andrew OnobrakpeyaHeadSteatite30 x 13 x 22 cm

Cat. 91 Andrew OnobrakpeyaSeated FigureSteatite26 x 31 x13

88

Cat. 92Sunday EmazagborPregnant WomanSteatite49 x 20 x 22 cm

Cat. 93 Sunday EmazagborHeadSteatite26 x 14 x 18 cm

89

Cat. 94 Olaniyi Ojo OgeMarble37 x 13 x 17 cm

Cat. 95 Olaniyi Ojo Oju Iyawo (Face of the Bride)Limestone48 x 16 x 16 cm

90

Cat. 96Christian ObadanRelaxationSteatite27 x 13 x 18 cm

Cat. 97Christian ObadanHead GearSteatite37 x 26 x 17 cm

91

Cat.98Ayo-Davies ObayeUntitledSteatile36 x 16 x 12 cm

Cat. 99 Ayo-Davies ObayeDouble FaceLimestone38 x 16.5 x 16.5 cm

92

Cat. 100Abiodun AgbelusiHopeMarble45 x 20 x 25 cm

93

Cat. 102Adeyemi Adeyeye AkinsonNefetitiMarble 47 x 41 x 21 cm

Cat. 101Adeyemi Adeyeye AkinsonMadonnaMarble 38 x 20 x 21 cm

94

Cat. 103Klem EmodahAltitude Terra Cotta51 x 67 x 44 cm

Cat. 104 Klem EmodahAn AccidentTerra Cotta45 x 33 x 33 cm

95

Cat. 105Juliet E. PearceUntitledTerra Cotta 38 x 29.5 x 28 cm

Cat. 106 Juliet E. PearceFruit BowlTerra Cotta12 x 18 x 22 cm

96

Cat. 107 Grace SoyinkaFlower VaseTerra Cotta67 x 28 x 28 cm

Cat. 108Grace SoyinkaFruit BowlTerra Cotta14 x 30 x 30 cm

97

Cat109Olubunmi Ola-AfolayanHamletBatik126 x 353 cm

Cat.110 Olubunmi Ola-AfolayanUntitledBatik126 x 179 cm

98

Cat. 111 Felix DouglasTwin FishBatik129 x 222 cm

Cat. 112Felix DouglasFish BoneBatik129 x 222 cm

99

Cat. 113Pamela Cyril-EguareAquatic DisplayBatik49 x 58 cm

Cat. 114Pamela Cyril-EguareIgboun (Sea Shell)Batik126 x 353 cm

100

Cat. 115Andrew OnobrakpeyaUntitled IBatik48 x 74 cm

Cat. 116Andrew OnobrakpeyaUntitled IIBatik48 x 74 cm

101

Cat. 117Felicia EvweChicken Feet IStitch/Tie and Dye126 x 178 cm

Cat. 118Felicia EvweChicken Feet IIStitch /Tie and Dye67 x 44 cm

102

Cat. 119Udeme Nyong PiusChicken FeetStitch/Tie and Dye128 x 179 cm

Cat. 120Oluwole OrowoleCrescent and MoonsBatik54 x 43 cm

103

Cat. 121Efe AkpovbovboSolar SystemStitch/Tie and Dye200 x 128 cm

Cat. 122Endurance OvwighoriemuChicken FeetStitch/Tie and Dye353 x 126 cm

104

Cat 123 Emmanuel OladimejiAfrican MotifBatik177 x 126 cm

Cat. 124Godwin UfuahEchon ChonAdire Eleko128 x 179 cm

105

Cat. 125Group Work Mufflers and CapCotton Wool

Cat. 126Lara Ige-JacksAltitude 40000Plate Lithograph45 x 65 cm

Cat. 127Lara Ige-JacksHou! Hou!!Stone Lithograph65 x 45 cm

106

Cat. 129Stella IdiongGrowing Among the LiliesLino Cut29 x 16.5 cm

Cat. 128Stella IdiongOut of the RotLino Cut28 x 21.5 cm

107

Cat. 130Patricia AiyedunHamletMonoprint38 x 25.5 cm

108

109

Cat. 132Ganiyu AdebisiOgwaPlastograph8.5 x 11 cm

Cat. 131Ganiyu Adebisi Alangba Da’ nu De’ LeMonoprint

110

Cat. 133Bennard AinaMusic makers IIAdditive Plastograph28.5 x 22.7 cm

Cat. 134Bennard AinaMusic Makers IPlate Lithograph45.7 x 32.5 cm

111

Cat. 135Pius EgiolamhenAda’mu OrisaPlate Lithograph32 x 45.7 cm

113

Cat. 139Austine EmifoniyeBold FaceAdditive Plastograph28.5 x 2.7 cm

Cat. 138Austine EmifoniyeFish ParadePlate Lithograph45.7 x 32.5 cm

Cat. 140Moses UnokwahPlayers and OnlookersAdditive Plastograph70 x 50 cm

114

115

Cat. 141Etiido InyangOne Song Will DoSilk Screen61.5 X 43.5 cm

Cat. 142Etiido InyangBetwist and BetweenSilk Screen61.5 X 43.5 cm

Cat. 143Godwin Igberaese UfuahUtako MasqueradeCollagraph91 x 62 cm

116

117

Cat. 144James OgedegbeHorror of the SpiritCollagraph62.5 x 46 cm

Cat. 145James OgedegbeThe Forces behind the ShrinePlate Lithograph45.7 x 32.5 cm

118

Cat. 146Julie OnaghinorMother and ChildCollagraph62.5 x 46 cm

Cat. 147Julie OnaghinorEkpoliyekeAdditive Plastograph56 x 23.5 cm

119

Cat. 148Friday EkwekereThe Living and the Dead Plastograph8 x 11.5 cm

Cat. 149Friday EkwekereFruit of LifeMonoprint44.5 x 31.5 cm

120

Cat. 150Fibisola FabudaUntitledMonoprint51 x 76.5 cm

Cat. 151Fibisola FabudaPalmwine TapperPlate Lithograph32.5 x 22.5 cm

121

Cat. 152Ayo ElebuteAriya UnlimitedPlastograph10.5 x 8.5 cm

Cat. 153Ayo ElebuteSolitudePlate Lithograph32.5 x 22.5 cm

122

Cat. 155Adeyemi FakeyeBataPlate Lithograph32.5 x 22.5 cm

Cat. 154Adeyemi FakeyeUntitledMonoprint43.5 x 30.5 cm

123

Cat. 156Lovina OnochieThe HeadPlastograph11 x 8.5 cm

Cat. 157Lovina OnochieThe MaestroPlate Lithograph32.5 x 22.5 cm

124

Cat. 158Theresa OsaigbovoPassion of MotherhoodPlastograph11 x 8.5 cm

Cat. 159Theresa Osaigbovo Music FiestaPlate Lithograph22.5 x 32.5 cm

125

Cat. 160Ovie TebuVision and MissionPlastograph10 x 7 cm

Cat. 161Ovie TebuInspired DancerPlate Lithograph32.5 x 22.5 cm

126

Cat 162Juliet Ezenwa PearseUntitledPlate Lithograph32.5 x 45.7cm

Cat 163Kunle AdeyemiRoyal ProcessionPlastograph25 x 45 cm

Cat 164Kunle AdeyemiDialogue from the Spirit WorldPlastograph35 x 15 cm

127

Cat 165Salubi OnakufeDelegate Members to National Political ConferenceMonoprint51 x 76.5 cm

Cat 166Salubi OnakufeOgwaDry Point51 x 76.5 cm

128

Cat. 167Kingsley EmeriewenChevron Neck ChainGlass Beads

Cat. 168Kingsley EmeriewenChevron Jewellery SetGlass Beads

129

Cat. 169Georgina Oke EdwardIllusion Jewellery SetTiger’s Eye Beads

Cat. 170Georgina Oke EdwardChevron Neck and Hand ChainGlass Beads

130

Cat. 171Kenneth ImonisaChevron Jewellery setGlass Beads

131

Cat. 172Erezi OgbogoChevron Neck Chain and EarringsGlass Beads

Cat. 173Erezi OgbogoChevron Jewellery SetGlass Beads

132

133

Cat. 174Oghenekewve AbamwaChevron Neck and Hand ChainGlass Beads

Cat. 175Oghenekewve AbamwaJewellery SetCat’s Eye Beads

Cat. 176Philomena ImonisaChevron Jewellery SetCat’s Eye Beads

Cat. 177 Philomena ImonisaChevron Neck Chain and EarringsCat’s Eye Beads

134

Cat. 178Lovina OnochieChevron Jewellery SetGlass Beads

Cat. 179Osaigbovo Theresa Chevron NecklaceGlass Beads

Cat. 180Patrick AkpojotorChevron Jewellery SetGlass Beads

135

Cat. 181Barrett AkpokabayenModelPhotograph20.2 x 25.2 cm

136

Cat. 182Omonigho AkpokabayenUntitled IIPhotograph20.2 x 25.2 cm

Cat. 183Omonigho AkpokabayenUntitled IIPhotograph20.2 x 25.2 cm

137

Cat. 184Nelson EdeworUntitledAssemblage78 x 75 x 207 cm

138

139

Cat. 185Sunday EmazagborUntitledWood55 x 24 x 87 cm

Cat. 186Timothy AjuiyesiUntitledWood122.5 x 15 x 15 cm

140

141

ARTISTS’ PROFILE

Abamwa, OghenekevweOghenekevwe is a graduate of the

Bendel State University (Ambrose Alli University), and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. She holds a BA in Fine Art and MFA in Ceramics. She has participated in numerous group exhibitions and has been attending the Harmattan Workshop since 2000.

Adebisi, GaniyuGaniyu is a studio artist. He was

Assistant Facilitator in the Jewellery section of the Harmattan Workshop. He also participated in a workshop organized by the University of Lagos Creative Art Department in 2004.

Adeyemi, KunleKunle teaches art at the Yaba College of

Technology where he obtained HND in painting before proceeding to the University of Benin for the MFA. He is a past Chairman of the Society of Nigerian Artists, Lagos State Chapter. He has participated in several group and solo

exhibitions. He has to his credit the Yagil award for the best student in pictorial composition and participated in the Windsor and Newton Worldwide Millennium Painting Competition. Adeyemi helped organize a printmaking workshop at the University of Benin and the Yaba College of Technology.

Adeyemi, Kunle

Afolayan, OladapoOladapo studied at the Ahmadu Bello University,

Zaria, where he obtained a BA in Fine Arts and MFA in sculpture. He is at present a lecturer in the Department of Sculpture and Ceramics at the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi. He has participated in a number of exhibitions as well as executed many commissions, including the Eyo Masquerade statue at Lagos House, Abuja. He has been the facilitator in Stone Carving since the inception of the H a r m a t t a n W o r k s h o p i n 1 9 9 8 .

Agbelusi, AbiodunAbiodun Agbelusi is an OND General Art

graduate of The Polytechnic, Ibadan and HND painting

graduate of the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi. At various times he worked as a cartoonist with the Guardian and the Comet newspapers, and Heart and Sweetheart magazines. He has had 5 solo exhibitions and several group exhibitions in Nigeria, the United Kingdom, Belguim, France, Switzerland, South Africa, Tunisia, Ghana, Togo the and Benin Republic. He has also featured in a number of international workshops

Agbelusi, Abiodun

Aina, BernardBernard Aina is a graduate of the Yaba College

of Technology, University of Lagos, and the University of Toledo, Ohio, USA. His exhibitions include “Yusuf Grillo at 70” at the Yaba College of Technology, where he is a lecturer.

142

Aiyedun, PatriciaPatricia is a graduate of The Federal

Polytechnic, Auchi, and is currently a lecturer at the Delta State Polytechnic. She was also at the

th6 Harmattan Workshop.

Aiyedun, Patricia

Ajuiyesi, Timothy Timothy teaches in a secondary school

in Ughelli. This was his first experience at the workshop.

Akenzua, EgbeEgbe is a graduate of the Federal Polytechnic,

Auchi, and a post graduate M.F.A. student of the University of Benin.

Akinson- Adeyemi, AdeyeyeAdeyeye Adeyemi is a full-time studio

artist. He has HND from the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi. His exhibitions include “Salient Issues” held at the National Museum, Lagos; “ Harvest of the Harmattan Retreat” at Pan African University, Lagos, and “Reflections” at the Le Meridien Hotel, Abuja.

Akpojotor, PatrickPatrick is a student of the Government

Technical College, Ado-Soba, Lagos, who is on industrial attachment with the Ovuomaroro Studio.

Akpokabayen, BarrettBarrett graduated from Obafemi Awolowo

University, where he studied Fine Arts and majored in Graphics. After working as a freelance graphic artist for two years, he began studying Bruce Onobrakpeya's works. He attended the first and second Harmattan Workshops. He participated in the Promoter of Nigerian Art exhibition which focused on Bruce Onobrakpeya and his studio associates at the Goethe Institut, Lagos. An instructor in Graphics and Multi-Media at the Yaba College of Technology, he is an amateur photographer and when he is not at work, he finds time for martial arts. He was the facilitator in the photographic section of the workshop.

Akpovbovbo, EfeEfe is a graduate of the Delta State

Aladegbongbe, AderinsoyeAderinsoye teaches art at the Yaba

College of Technology. He attended the University of Calabar, Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, and Yaba College of Technology. His most recent exhibition was “Yusuf Grillo at 70”, held in Lagos.

University, where she studied Guidance counseling. She participated for the first time in the 2004 workshop, where she majored in the Textile section .

Akpovbovbo, Efe

Badmus, ShakiruShakiru Badmus is a sign writer based in Lagos.

143

Akpokabayen, OmonighoOmonigho is a freelance photographer.

144

Balogun, Musiliu AdeolaAdeola is a graduate of the University of

Benin and Yaba College of Technology. He participated in “Beyond Aesthetics”, an exhibition that took place in Lagos in 2002.

Cyril - Egware, PamelaPamela is a lecturer in the Department

of Fine & Applied Arts, Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku, Rivers State. She is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello University Zaira and Federal College of Education,

Douglas, FelixFelix is a graduate of the University of

Benin and the Institute of Management and Technology, Enugu. He

Edewor, NelsonNelson graduated from the University

of Benin where he obtained his BA and MFA in Fine Arts and Sculpture respectively. Edewor believes in creating art that is relevant to society. He has attempted to combine the positive elements of modern life with the old to create what he calls “neo- traditional art”. The artist has participated in several exhibitions including “Nightmare at Noon”, (solo exhibition, Benin City, 1999), “Crossroads”, Didi Museum (2000), “Art Expo”, Elf Petroleum, Port Harcourt, (2001). In 2001 he executed a major commission titled, “Symbol of Justice”, for the Law Faculty of Delta State University, sponsored by Justice Omo-Agege, a former Chief Judge of Delta State.

Edjamaier, HelenHelen is one of the participants from the local community.

Edward, Oke Georgina Georgina is a participant from the local community.

Egiolamhen, Pius EhitaPius is a graduate of Yaba College of

Technology and Federal College of Education (Technical), Akoka, Lagos,

teaches art at Dore Numa College, Warri, Delta State.

Elebute, AyoAyo is a graduate of the University of

Ibadan, Nigerian Institute of Journalism, University of Benin, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, and the Yaba College of Technology where he obtained degrees and diplomas in Fine Arts, Art History, and Journalism. At present, he is a doctoral degree student at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan . He has worked as an instructor at the Methodist High School, Ibadan, College of Education, Ilorin, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, and the Nigerian Institute of Journalism, Lagos and Ibadan campuses. He was also managing editor/co- publisher of Accolades Magazine. He is at present, President, Board of Trustees, Resource Center for Arts, Culture and Communication, Ibadan, a non governmental organisation. A one-time Chairman of the Society of Nigerian Artists, Oyo State chapter, Elebute has taken part in major exhibitions. “Footsteps and Fingerprints” at the French Cultural Center is his most recent exhibition.

Edward, Oke Georgina

Egiolamhen, Pius EhitaPius is a lecture at the Yaba College of Technology. He attended Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, and the University of Benin where he received his MFA in sculpture. He participated in the exhibition “Yusuf Grillo at 70”, held in Lagos in 2004.

Ekwekere, FridayFriday is a graduate of Delta State

University, and the College of Education, Warri. He has participated in three Harmattan

stWorkshop Exhibitions, the 1 National Art Exhibition at

145

Aina Onabolu House, Lagos (1999), and the “Independence Art Exhibition”. organised by the Society of Nigerian Artists He teaches at Owevwe Secondary School, Owevwe, Delta State.

Emeriewen, KingsleyKingsley is a graduate of the University

of Benin where he also teaches metal design in the Fine & Applied Arts Department of the University. His exhibitions include: “Our Heritage 2004” by the Delta State Culture & Tourism Ministry ; “First Research & Development Fair”, organized by the National

ndUniversities Commission in 2000; “2 University of Benin Convocation Exhibition” held in March 2005 and a solo exhibition, “Proud Nigeria” held in May 2005.

Emifoniye, Austine Austine is a graduate of the University of Benin. His work experience includes teaching at the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Delta State University and the University of Lagos, where he is currently in the Department of Creative Arts.

Emodah, KlemKlem is a ceramist and has been

teaching the subject since 1974. He is a graduate of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka

Evrue Felicia Ese Felicia is a National Certificate of Education holder from the College of Education, Warri. She was a participant from the local community and participated in the jewelry and textile section .

Ezenwa Pearce, Juliet Juliet is a full time studio artist and a graduate of Bendel State University (now Ambrose Alli University). She took part in exhibitions such as “Reflections” and a solo exhibition at the French Cultural Centre, Lagos (2004), “Moonlight Rhapsody”, French Cultural Centre, Abuja, “Lost Innocence”, Quintessence Gallery, Lagos (2000), “Maiden Dance” Galleria Romana, Lagos (2001), and “Memories”, Rock View Hotel, Abuja (1998). She worked as a Gallery Manager and Artist Assistant in different art companies. She is presently the facilitator, organizer and founder of the Annual Women in Arts Exhibition.

(1974), and Ambrose Alli University (2001). He has participated in several solo and group exhibitions. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the Auchi Polytechnic, and the Facilitator in the Ceramics Section of the Workshop.

146

Emeriewen, Kingsley

Fabuda, FibisolaFibisola is with the Ondo State Teaching

Service Commission. She is a graduate of the Federal University of Technology,

Fakeye, Adeyemi VictoriaVictoria is a practicing artist in Ibadan, Oyo State.

Idiero, RaphaelRaphael is a graduate of the College of

Education, Warri (2003), and he teaches in Delta State.

Ige-Jacks, LaraLara studied art at the Yaba College of

Technology and proceeded to Camberwell College of Arts, London, where she majored in print-making. Ige who runs a non governmental art organisation for children was previously a lecturer in Painting at the Yaba College of Technology.

Ikekhua, AnthonyAnthony is a lecturer in Educational

Psychology at the College of Education, Warri, Delta State.

147

Akure (2004), Delta State University, Abraka, and Oyo State College of Education, Ilesa. She teaches at Akure Mushin College, Akure.

Imonisa, Kenneth Kenneth was one of the participants from the local community.

148

Midahuen, Yves (Midy)Yves is a graduate of the University of

Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. (2000 . He was also apprenticed for a while to the painter Ludovic Fadairo in Cotonou, Republic of Benin.

He has participated in several exhibitions including “Biennale de Bingerville” Cote d' Ivoire (2003); “La Touche Africaine” Cotonou, Benin Republic (2004), and “Art in Action” Accra.

Inyang, Nse AbasiNse-Abasi is a pioneer participant of

the Harmattan workshop. Before graduating

Imonisa, Philomena Philomena was a participant from the local community.

Inyang, EtiidoEtiido is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello

University (Graphics) and the University of Uyo. He is doing his doctoral programme at the University of Port Harcourt where he also teaches Graphics. He is a registered practitioner in advertising (RPA).

from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 1984, where he specialized in Sculpture, he worked during his vacations in Bruce Onobrakpeya’s studio in various mixed media techniques. He has had several group and solo exhibitions to his credit. He was the Facilitator for Mixed Media section.

Layiwola, PejuDr. Peju Layiwola grew up working in her

mother's studio, posing for her and modeling objects in clay. Her mother, Princess Elizabeth Olowu, daughter of Oba Akenzua of Benin, was an accomplished bronze caster. She was also her art teacher at the Federal Government Girls' College, Benin. Through her mother, and also as a result of her studies at the University of Benin, she learnt various metal work techniques especially for jewellery. Peju obtained her doctorate in Art History from the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, after her Master's degree from the same university in 1991. For her first degree, she read Fine Art, specializing in Metal Design. She taught at the University of Benin between 1991 and 1995, and became the Head of the Metal Design section. She has exhibited in Nigeria and abroad, having to her credit two solo exhibitions in the United Kingdom, at the Flower Field Art Gallery in Port Stewart titled, The African Woman. An Exhibition of Bronze Works, and at the University of Ulster in Armagh, Ireland, Women, Art and Society. At present, she teaches art at the University of Lagos, in the creative arts department.

Klara NzeKlara is a graduate of the Federal

Polytechnic, Auchi, and University of Abuja. She participated in the following exhibitions: “Building Communities” by Guinness Nigeria at the Harlequin Gallery, Victoria Island; “ Art and Democracy”, Asaba, Delta State; “Harvest of the Harmattan Retreat”, Pan African University, Lagos and “Pastel Aficionados”, Mydrim Gallery, Lagos. She worked with the Taraba State Arts, Council, Sam Ovraiti Services and the Gove rnment Day Secondary Schoo l , Gwagwalada, Abuja. She is at present a studio artist in Abuja.

149

Obadan, ChristianChristian is a graduate of the Federal

Polytechnic, Auchi, and the University of Benin. His work experience includes the Edo State Council for Arts and Culture, and the National Gallery of Art, where he currently works. Exhibitions he participated in include the Commonwealth Heads of Governments summit, Abuja (2003), and “Royal Regalia” held in 2004.

Midahuen, Yves (Midy)Ghana (2005). He runs a studio in Cotonou, capital of the Benin Republic.

Nyong, UdemeUdeme is a data entry officer with the

Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation. She has a certificate in Desktop Publishing and a Diploma in Cargo Handling. She participated in the textile session of the workshop.

Klara Nze

Obaye, Ayo-DaviesAyo-Davies is a graduate of the Yaba

College of Technology. He is a practicing artist. Exhibitions he participated in include Mobil

Ogedegbe, Esefo James James is an MFA student of the University of

Benin.

Ogunjumo, OlayinkaOlayinka is a graduate of Sociology from the

Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ogun State. She developed an interest in art in secondary school and used the opportunity of the Workshop to hone her artistic skills.

Ojo, OlaniyiOlaniyi taught art at Odogunyan Grammar

School, Ikorodu, before joining Idi-Araba High School, Lagos, where he teaches the subject at present. He is a graduate of St. Andrew’s College of Education, Oyo, and Ado Ekiti University, Ekiti State .

Okorare, EfeEfe is a graduate of Art History from Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Kaduna State. He participated as a volunteer during the workshop and he was a part-time member of the staff of the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation.

150

Ola-Afolayan, OlubunmiOlubunmi is a lecturer in Textiles at the Federal

Polytechnic, Auchi. She is a graduate of the Polytechnic in which she teaches and her exhibitions include “Art for

stDemocracy”, Asaba, (2004) and “1 Auchi Artists’

Ojo, Olaniyi

Trust, Lagos (Trinity), 2002 and “New Names”, Goethe Institute, 2003. His working experience includes the Kenny Adamson Studio, National Museum Educational Services and Creative Minds Production Studios.

Ogbogo, EreziErezi is a graduate of Ahmadu Bello

University, Zaria, and the University of Benin. She is a lecturer at the Delta State Polytechnic,Ogwashi - Uku where she is Dean, School of Arts and Design, and Acting Head of Department.

Ogunjumo, Olayinka

Olatunji-Aguda, GbengaGbenga is a graduate of Auchi

Polytechnic and The Polytechnic, Ibadan, Oyo State. His exhibitions include all the Harmattan Workshop exhibitions since 2002 and the 2004 Auchi Art Convention Exhibition. He worked as an illustrator with CFN, Ibadan, during his National Service. He works as a full-time studio artist in Lagos.

Oluseye, Oyedele Oyedele holds a HND from the

Polytechnic, Ibadan, where he specialized in Graphic design. He has participated in several group exhibitions in Nigeria. He works at the Ovuomaroro Gallery, Lagos as a studio assistant..

Onaghinor, Julie Isoken Julie graduated from the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi. At the time she attended the workshop, she was an MFA student of the University of Benin.

Onakufe, SalubiSalubi attended the University of

Missouri, Columbia, U.S.A. His teaching career

151

Olaniran, BodeBode graduated from the Ahmadu Bello

University, Zaria, where he studied painting. He works at Bruce Onobrakpeya’s Ovuomaroro Gallery where he assists the art experimentalist. He has a number of commissions to his credit, and has participated in several group exhibitions in Nigeria and the United States of America. He is a pioneer participant of the Harmattan Workshops and his works are widely collected.

Oluseye, Oyedele

Ola-Afolayan, OlubunmiConvention”, held at Auchi Polytechnic in 2004. She was the facilitator in Textiles during the Workshop.

Olatunji-Aguda, Gbenga

Onobrakpeya, BruceBruce is an experimental artist and

teacher. He graduated from the Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology (now Ahmadu Bello University). He attended printmaking workshops in Ibadan, Osogbo and Ife, after which he started the Ovuomaroro Studio, where he recorded breakthroughs and innovations in printmaking He has participated in many national and international solo and group exhibitions. In 1998, he began organizing the

Harmattan Workshop series, which have now become an annual event. In the year 2000, his name was listed in the prestigious Cambridge Biographical Centre Who's Who among 1000 intellectuals of the 21st Century. He is a Fellow of the Society of Nigerian Artists. In 1991 he was recipient of an honourable mention, for his participation in the Venice Biennale.

Onochie, LovinaLovina is a lecturer at the University of

Benin. She is a graduate of the University of Benin and the University of Ibadan. Exhibitions participated in include a group exhibition by the Society of

152

Onakufe, Salubispans 24 years and is a specialist of printmaking.

Onobrakpeya, AndrewAndrew is a veteran of the Harmattan

Workshops, having participated in painting, printmaking, stone carving, and woodcarving. Without prior experience in visual art, his contact with the workshop turned him into a veritable stone carver. He has so far participated in all the Harmattan Workshops and Workshop exhibitions.

Onobrakpeya, Bruce

Onobrakpeya, GodwinGodwin attended the Lagos State College

of Science and Technology, and the Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, Ogun State where he studied Business Administration. He joined the Ovuomaroro Gallery as a frame maker/studio manager. Today, as a result of the Harmattan Workshops, he is a stone carver whose works are sought after by collectors.

Orowole, OluwoleOluwole is a student of the Government

Technical College, Ado-Soba, Lagos. At the time he attended the Workshop, he was participating in the Students’ Industrial Work Experience programme with the Ovuomaroro Studio, Lagos. He is attending the Harmattan Workshop for the second time, the first being the 6th Harmattan Workshop.Osaigbovo, Theresa

Theresa is a graduate of Bendel State University, Abraka Campus, (now Delta State University, Abraka) and the University of Benin. Exhibitions she took part in include the Worcester State University Art Exhibition, USA (2005), and the University of Benin 2002/3 Convocation Exhibition 2005. She is a lecturer in the Fine & Applied Arts Department of the University of Benin.

Oviri, AlaricAlaric is a graduate of art from the Yaba

College of Technology and has participated in several group exhibitions in Nigeria, among them is the Otu-Ewena show held at the National Theatre, Iganmu, Lagos, and all the Harmattan Workshop exhibitions. He works at the Ovuomaroro Studio and Gallery. His works are widely collected.

153

Onochie, LovinaNigerian Female Artists, 2004, University of Benin Convocation Exhibitions 2002, 2003 and 2005, and the Worcester State University Exhibition, USA, 2005.

Osaigbovo, Theresa

Ovraiti, Sam Sam is a master painter whose water colour

Ovwighoriemu, EnduranceEndurance is a participant from the

local community.

Sowho, DafeDafe is a graduate of the University of

Benin and the Auchi Polytechnic. His work experience includes Foundation Cards, True Health Magazine, and Delta Broadcasting Service, Warri. His exhibition credit include Shell Petroleum and Development Company (Shell NAIC), 2004, Warri.

154

Paintings adorn offices in commercial centers throughout Nigeria. A product of Auchi Polytechnic and the University of Benin, he lectured at Auchi Polytechnic before going into full time studio practice. His exhibitions include: Africa Passage, London (2003); Guinness Art Exhibition, Harlequin Gallery, Lagos , 2004 and “Colour Masters”, National Museum, Lagos (2005).

Soyinka, GraceGrace is a graduate of Ceramics from

Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, and the University of Benin. Her exhibitions include “Celebration of Life”, (Group Exhibition), Yaba College of Technology (2005) and “Rhythm of Change”, Yusuf Grillo Art Gallery, Yaba College of Technology (2003).

Sulaimon, Ishola BabatundeIshola attended Government College

Eric-Moore, in Suru-Lere, Lagos. He is also a self trained artist and resides in Lagos, where he has visited a lot of exhibitions.

Tebu, OvieOvie is a graduate of Delta State

University, Abraka. He was a teacher at Danbo International School, Kaduna, but now lectures at Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku.

Soyinka, Grace

Ubogu, NicsNics is a graduate of the University of

Benin. He is currently

Usen, UwaUwa graduated from Ahmadu Bello

University with a BA in Fine Art and MFA in Sculpture in 1985 and 1988 respectively. He worked as a graphic artist at Image Communications Limited, Makurdi, Benue State. He has been a lecturer in the Sculpture Unit of the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, since 1989 and has held several exhibitions within and outside the country. He is the current Chairman, Society of Nigerian Artists, Akwa Ibom chapter.

155

Udoma, EkpoEkpo is an art administrator with

degrees in Fine Arts, Art History and Art Management from the University of Benin, Ahmadu Bello University, and the Pratt Institute, New York, USA, respectively. He worked as a Manager in the Art & Objects Gallery, Staff Writer, Thisday Newspaper, and at the Schaefler Gallery, Brooklyn, New York.

Udoma now works with the Bruce Onobrakpeya Foundation and has been the administrator for the 4th, 5th, and 6th editions of the Harmattan Workshop Series

working on his doctoral thesis at the University of Port Harcourt, where he teaches Painting.

Ufuah, IgberaeseIgberaese studied art at the Abraka

College of Education, University of Benin, and University of Ibadan. He has participated in several group exhibitions. He is a member of the Society of Nigerian Artists and the Pan African Circle of

Artists. He teaches Graphics at the Federal Polytechnic, Auchi.

Unokwah, MosesMoses graduated f rom Auchi

Polytechnic, specializing in Graphic design. He has taken part in several group exhibitions in Nigeria and the USA. In 1987, he did his industrial attachment at the Ovuomaroro Gallery as a studio assistant where he still works. He has participated in all editions of the Harmattan Workshops. He was assistant facilitator in Printmaking during the Workshop.

Uveruve, Lucky

Lucky is a graduate of the Auchi Polytechnic. His work experience includes teaching at Awkunamo Union Secondary School, Enugu. He has also worked at Shell Petroleum Development Company Warri, as well as the Simon Business Centre, Ughelli. He has now gone into full time studio practice.

156

Plate. 5 Participants in the Printmaking section ( left to right ) Moses Unokwah, Esefo Ogedegbe, Pamela Cyril-Egware, Grace Soyinka, Bernard Aina, Aderinsoye Aladegbogbe, (in the front and backing camera) Lara Ige- Jacks, Alaric Oviri and Julie Onaghinor.

Plate. 4 Participants in the Mixed Media Section: (left to right) Raymond Onodje, Dr. Mrs. Peju Layiwola, Nse-Abasi Inyang (facilitator), Adeyemi Fakeye, Bode Olaniran, Andrew Onobrakpeya, Dele Oluseye, Alaric Oviri, Oluwole Orowole and Ishola Sulaimon.

157

158

Plate. 7 Ekpo Udo Udoma, ( backing the camera ), explaining a point to students from the Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, who visited the workshop on excursion.

Plate. 6 Participants in the Textile section at work. Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya, Initiator of the Harmattan Workshops, and Dr. Perkins Foss from the United States of America observe the participants.

159

Plate. 9 Dr. (Mrs.) Peju Layiwola, in apron, (facilitator, Jewellery), explains a point to students of a secondary school who also visited on excursion.

Plate. 8 Klem Emodah (facilitator, Ceramics), loading wares for firing into the newly-constructed kiln. Grace Soyinka is behind him.

Plate. 11 Participants in the Stone Carving section. Left to right, Olaniyi Ojo, Christian Obadan and Andrew Onobrakpeya.

Plate.10 Participants in the Jewellery section listening to Ganiyu Adebisi (assistant facilitator), 3rd from left.

160

Abamwa, Oghenekevwe

Cat.174 Chevron Neck and Hand Chains ............. 133

Cat. 175 Jewellery Set ....................................... 133

Adebisi, Ganiyu

Cat. 131 Alangba Danu Dele .............................. 109

Cat. 132 Ogwa ..................................................

Adeyemi, Kunle

Cat. 163 Royal Procession ................................. 127

Cat. 164 Dialogue from the Spirit World .............. 127

Afolayan, Oladapo.

Cat. 86 Untitled I............................................... 85

Cat. 87 Untitled II............................................... 85

Agbelusi, Abiodun

Cat. 5 Untitled................................................... 4

Cat. 100 Hope................................................... 92

Aina, Bernard

Cat. 37Music Makers II .................................... 42

Cat. 133 Adamu Onsha ..................................... 110

Cat. 134 Music Makers I .................................... 110

Aiyedun, Patricia

Cat. 130 Hamlet ................................................ 108

Ajueyiesi, Timothy

Cat. 186 Untitled .............................................. 140

Akenzua, Egbe

Cat. 11 Ehivbin (Masquerade) ............................ 9

Cat. 13 Noble Statue ......................................... 20

Cat. 26 Queen Mother Statue............................. 28

Akinson, Adeyemi Adeyeye

Cat. 101 Madonna ............................................ 93

Cat. 102 Nefetiti ................................................ 93

Akpojotor, Patrick

Cat. 23 Ogwa Ega (Church)................................ 26

Cat. 40 Life’s First Food...................................... 4

Cat. 62 Back from the Farm................................ 69

Cat. 63 View from Above ..................................... 69

Cat. 180 Chevron Jewellery Set.......................... 135

Akpokabayen, Barrett

Cat. 181 Model .................................................. 136

Akpokabayen, Omonigho

Cat.182 Untitled I............................................. 137

Cat 183 Untitled II......................................... 137

Akpovbovbo, Efe

Cat. 121 Solar System ..................................... 103

Aladegbongbe, Aderinsoye

Cat. 22 Eyo ................................................... 25

Cat. 136 Masks ............................................ 112

Cat. 137 Naming Ceremony .......................... 112

Badmus, Shakiru

Cat.6 Eyo Festival......................................... 5

Cat. 8 Mother’s Care...................................... 6

Cat. 27 Ogwa................................................. 29

Cat. 75 Bicycle Repairer................................. 77

Balogun, Musiliu Adeola

Cat. 82 Untitled............................................. 82

Cyril Egware, Pamela

Cat. 43.Aquatic Love...................................... 48

Cat. 113 Aquatic Display................................ 99

Cat. 114 Igboun (Sea Shell)............................. 99

Douglas, Felix

Cat. 111 Twin Fish......................................... 98

Cat. 112 Chicken Feet...................................... 98

Edewor, Nelson

Cat. 184 Untitled........................................... 138

Edward, Oke Georgina

Cat. 169 Illusion Jewellery Set...................... 130

Cat. 170 Chevron Neck and Hand Chains......... 130

Egiolamhen, Pius Ehita

Cat. 24 Adamu Orisha II................................. 26

Cat. 135 Adamu Orisha I................................ 111

Ekwekere, Friday

Cat. 148 The Living and the Dead.................... 119

Cat. 149 Fruit of Life...................................... 119

Elebute, Ayo

Cat. 7 Lonely Chief......................................... 5

Cat. 152 Ariya Unlimited................................ 121

Cat. 153 Solitude............................................. 122

Emazagbor,Sunday

Cat. 21.Fish.................................................. 24

Cat. 92 Pregnant Woman................................ 88

Cat. 93 Head.................................................. 88

Cat. 185 Untitled............................................ 139

Emeriewen, Kingsley

Cat. 167 Chevron Neck Chain........................... 129

INDEX A: ARTISTS AND THEIR ART PIECES

161

Cat. 168 Chevron Jewellery Set........................ 129

Emifoniye, Austine

Cat. 138 Fish Parade ...................................... 113

Cat. 139 Bold Face .......................................... 113

Emodah, Klem

Cat. 103 Altitude ............................................ 94

Cat. 104 An Accident ....................................... 94

Evue, Felicia Ese.

Cat. 36 African Motif ....................................... 40

Cat.117 Chicken Feet I .................................... 101

Cat.118 Chicken Feet II ................................. . 101

Ezenwa Pearce, Juliet

Cat. 105 Untitled I ........................................... 95

Cat. 106 Fruit Bowl ......................................... 95

Cat. 162 Untitled II .......................................... 126

Fabuda, Fibisola

Cat. 150 Untitled ............................................ 120

Cat. 151 Palm wine Tapper ............................... 121

Fakeye, Adeyemi Victoria

Cat. 154 Untitled ............................................ 123

Cat. 155 Bata .................................................. 123

Group Work

Cat.125 Mufflers and Cap ................................. 105

Cat. 32 Beauty in the Wild .................................. 36

Idiero, Raphael

Cat. 81 Untitled .............................................. 81

Idiong, Stella

Cat. 128 Out of the Rot .................................... 107

Cat. 129 Growing Among the Lilies ................... 107

Ige-Jacks, Lara

Cat. 126 Altitude 40000 .................................. 106

Cat. 127 Hou! Hou!! ....................................... 106

Imonisa, Kenneth

Cat 171 Chevron Jewellery Set......................... 131

Imonisa, Philomena

Cat. 176 Chevron Jewellery Set ....................... 134

Cat. 177 Chevron Neck Chain and Earrings ..... 134

Inyang, Etiido

Cat. 12 My Music, My Life ................................ 19

Cat. 38 Untitled .............................................. 43

Cat. 141 One Song Will Do ............................... 115

162

Cat. 142 Betwist and Between ........................ 115

Inyang, Nse Abasi

Cat. 2 Agbarha Feelings ................................... 2

Cat. 71 Rhythm and Space ................................ 74

Cat. 72 The Princess ........................................ 74

Layiwola, Peju

Cat. 67 Happy Women, Happy People ................ 72

Cat. 68 Waiting to be Born ................................ 72

Midahuen, Yves (Midy)

Cat. 20 Hope ................................................... 24

Cat.49 Untitled I .............................................. 62

Cat.50 Untitled II............................................. 62

Nyong, Udeme Pius

Cat. 119 Chicken Feet .................................. 102

Klara Nze

Cat. 9 Untitled I .......................................... 7

Cat. 25 Untitled II ......................................... 27

Cat.47 Untitled III ......................................... 61

Cat. 48 Untitled IV ........................................... 61

Obadan, Christian

Cat. 96 Relaxation ........................................... 90

Cat. 97 Head Gear ............................................ 90

Obaye, Ayo-Davies

Cat. 98 Untitled .............................................. 91

Cat. 99 Double Face ........................................ 91

Ogbogo, Erezi

Cat.172 Chervron Neck Chain and Earrings ...... 132

Cat. 173 Chevron Jewellery Set ........................ 132

Ogedegbe, Esefo James

Cat. 144 Horror of the Spirit ............................. 117

Cat. 145 The Faces behind the Shrine ............... 117

Ogunjumo, Olayinka

Cat.16 Amuludun ........................................... 21

Cat. 64 Untitled .............................................. 70

Cat.65 Ogwa ................................................... 70

Ojo, Olaniyi

Cat. 33 Knowledge is Power .............................. 37

Cat.94 Oge (Fashion) ....................................... 89

Cat. 95 Oju Iyawo (Face of the Bride) ................. 89

Okorare, Efe

Cat.61 Boy from the South ............................... 68

Ola-Afolayan, Olubunmi

Cat.17 Royalty ................................................. 21

163

Cat.30 The Village ........................................... 32

Cat.109 Hamlet .............................................. 97

Cat. 110 Untitled ............................................. 97

Oladimeji, Emmanuel

Cat.123 African Motif ..................................... 104

Olatunji-Aguda, Gbenga

Cat. 55 Treasure House II ................................. 65

Cat.56 Treasure House III ............................... 65

Oluseye, Oyedele

Cat. 57 Honeymoon........................................ 66Cat. 58 True Confession.................................. 66 Onaghinor Julie IsokenCat. 14 He who Brings Kola ............................. 20

Cat. 28 Ozigue ................................................ 30

Cat. 146 Mother and Child .............................. 118Cat. 147 Ekpoliyeke ....................................... 118

Onakufe, Salubi

Cat. 66 Mai Ruwa.......................................... 71Cat. 165 Delegate Members ............................ 128Cat. 166 Ogwa............................................... 128

Onobrakpeya, AndrewCat. 90 Head .................................................. 87

Cat. 91 Seated Figure ...................................... 87

Cat. 115 Untitled I .......................................... 99Cat. 116 Untitled II .......................................... 100

Onobrakpeya, Bruce

Cat.1Panel of Two............................................ ii

Cat. 34 Untitled .............................................. 38

Onobrakpeya, GodwinCat. 88 Beautification ..................................... 86

Cat. 89 Hidden Treasures ................................ 86

Onochie, LovinaCat. 156 The Head ......... ................................. 123Cat. 157 The Maestro ...................................... 123

Cat. 178 Chevron Jewellery Set ....................... 135

Orowole, OluwoleCat. 73 Two Masks ......................................... 75

Cat. 74 Ogwa .................................................. 75

Cat. 120 Crescent and Moons .......................... 102

Osaigbovo, TheresaCat.158 Passion of Motherhood ....................... 124

Cat. 159 Music Fiesta ..................................... 124Cat. 179 Chevron Necklace ............................. 135 Oviri, AlaricCat. 77 An Eye for Love .................................... 78

Cat. 78 Mask .................................................. 78

Ovraiti, Samuel

Cat. 3 Untitled I ............................................... 3

Cat. 31 Untitled II ............................................ 35Cat. 35 Untitled III ........................................... 39

Cat. 45 Market Scene ...................................... 60Cat. 46 Untitled IV ........................................... 60

Ovwighoriemu, O. EnduranceCat. 122 Chicken Feet ...................................... 103

Owolabi, AyodeleCat. 44 Untitled ............................................... 58

Cat. 59 The Mask ............................................. 67Cat. Seeing Eyes .............................................. 67

Oyaigho, Daniel

Cat. 84 Ovie’s Crown I ...................................... 84

Cat. 85 Ovie’s Crown II ..................................... 84

Sowho, DafeCat. 15 Mass Transit for Rural Dwellers ............ 21

Cat. 51 Road to Agbarha-Otor .......................... 63Cat.52 Hawkers’ Retreat ................................... 63

Soyinka, GraceCat.18 Dancer from the East .......................... 22Cat. 107 Flower Vase....................................... 96Cat. 108 Fruit Bowl......................................... 96

Sulaimon, Ishola Babatunde

Cat. 4 Landscape............................................. 4

Cat. 41 Mask.................................................... 48

Cat. 53 Ariya (Merriment)................................. 64

Cat. 54 Back from the Farm............................... 64

Tebu, Ovie

Cat. 160 Vision and Mission.............................. 125

Cat. 161 Inspired Dancer.................................. 125

Ubogu, Nics

Cat. 79 Untitled................................................ 79

Udoma, Ekpo Udo

Cat.80 Joy of the House.................................... 80

Ufuah, Godwin

Cat. 29 Reflection............................................ . 31

Cat. 124 Echon Chon....................................... 104

Cat. 143 Utako Masquerade.............................. 116

Unokwah, Moses

Cat. 76Ogwa (Pillars of the House ).................... 76

Cat. 140 Players and Onlookers.......................... 114

Usen, Uwa.

Cat. 83 Confab................................................. 83

Uveruve, Lucky

Cat. 19 Ogwa.................................................... 22

Cat. 69 Mother and Child.................................. 73

Cat. 70 Untitled................................................ 73

164

INDEX B: Participants’ Addresses

Abamwa, OghenekevweDelta State University, Abraka.

Adebisi, Ganiyu6A/913 Alaro AreaSango, IbadanGPO Box 2631 Dugbe, Ibadan0803 587 [email protected].

Adeyemi, KunleSchool of Art, Design & PrintingTech. Yaba College of Technology,Lagos. 0802 305 9319.

Afolayan, OladapoSchool of Arts & DesignFederal Polytechnic, Auchi,Edo State.0803 566 6362.aeso [email protected]

Agbelusi, AbiodunP.O.Box 52676Ikoyi, Lagos.0803 430 [email protected].

Aina, BernardP.O.Box 1870Mushin, Lagos State0803 305 [email protected], PatriciaDelta State Polytechnic0803 590 [email protected]

Ajueyiesi, TimothyOtovwodo GrammarSchool, UghelliDelta State.

Akenzua, Egbe7 Ozolua Avenue of Ekenwa RdBenin City, Edo State.0805 524 [email protected]

Akinson, Adeyemi Adeyeye67 Jaiyesimi Street Amobaba, Ikorodu Lagos.0803 333 [email protected].

Akpojotor, Patrick41, Oloje StreetPapa Ajao, MushinLagos.0802 858 3652.

Akpokabayen, Barrett27, Olanrewaju StreetOrejun, Ikeja, Lagos..0802 307 [email protected].

Akpovbovbo, Efe64 Market RoadAgbarha-Otor, Delta State.

Aladegbongbe, AderinsoyeSchool of Arts, Design & Printing TechnologyYaba College of Technology0802 320 [email protected].

Imonisa, Philomena 1, Ighogboja Close offUkobor Street Agbarha-OtorDelta State.

Badmus, Shakiru30, Oloje Mushin, Lagos.0805 645 3755.

Balogun, Musiliu Adeola11a, Odogboh Street, KetuLagos.0802 314 [email protected].

Cyril Egware, PamelaDept. Of Fine & Applied Arts,Federal College of Education (Tech.)Omoku, Rivers State.0803 723 0664.

Douglas, Felix16, Etuwewe StreetWarri, Delta State0803 709 [email protected].

Edewor, NelsonDept. Of Fine & Applied ArtsDelta State UniversityAbraka, Delta State.

Edjmajier, HelenAgbarha-OtorDelta State.

Edward, Oke Georgina57, Agbarha-Otor, Delta State

Egiolamhen, Pius EhitaFine Art DepartmentYaba College of TechnologyLagos.0802 315 [email protected].

Ekwekere, FridayP.O.Box 745, UghelliDelta [email protected].

Elebute, Ayo4, Irepo Street,Challenge, IbadanOyo State.0803 701 [email protected].

Emeriewen, KingsleyFine Arts DepartmentUniversity of Benin P.M.B 1154.0802 345 [email protected].

Emifoniye, AustineDepartment of Creative ArtsUniversity of Lagos0802 346 [email protected].

Emodah, KlemSchool of Arts & DesignFederal Polytechnic, AuchiEdo State.0804 509 [email protected].

Evrue, Felicia Ese29, Imoise StreetAgbarha-Otor, Delta State.

Ezenwa Pearce, Juliet11, Abiona Close, off Falolu RoadSurulere, Lagos.0803 348 [email protected].

Fabuda, FibisolaP.O.Box 1720, Akure, Ondo State0803 829 [email protected].

Fakeye, Adeyemi VictoriaOyo State Council for Arts & CultureP.M.B 5665,Dugbe, IbadanOyo State.0803 386 [email protected].

Idiero, Raphael31, Edienakpor RoadAgbarha-Otor, Delta State.

Idiong, StellaDean’s OfficeFaculty of Environmental StudiesUniversity of UyoAkwa-Ibom State.0802 354 [email protected].

165

Ige-Jacks, Lara10, Abiodun CloseIkeja, Lagos.0803 712 [email protected].

Ikekhua, AnthonyCollege of EducationWarri, Delta State.

Imonisa, Kenneth1, Igbogbije CloseAgbarha-Otor, Delta State.

Inyang, EtiidoFine Art & Design DepartmentUniversity of Port HarcourtPort Harcourt, Rivers State.

Iyang, Nse Abasi8, Oyewunmi CloseOff Falolu Road, Surulere0802 343 [email protected].

Layiwola, PejuDepartment of Creative ArtsUniversity of Lagos.

Midahuen, Yves (Midy)Citee vie Nonvelle, AkpapkaApartment F 15 01BP885 Cotonou, Republic of Benin+ 229936170 [email protected].

Nyong, Udeme Pius41,Oloje, StreetPapa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos.0803 438 [email protected]. Uk.

Klara NzeC/o Mrs. V.O. NzeFGGC P.M.B 2, Bwari-Abuja.0803 592 [email protected].

Obadan, ChristianNational Gallery of ArtP.M.B 456 Garki, Abuja.FCT.

Obaye, Ayo-Davies13, Unity Street, off SagamuRoad, Odogiyan, IkoroduLagos State.

Ogbogo, EreziSchool of Art & DesignDelta State PolytechnicOgwashi-Uku, Delta State.

Ogedegbe, Esefo James4, Ist Agbonma Lane off Agbonma/Ekenwan Road Benin CityEdo State.0805 642 [email protected].

Ogunjumo, OlayinkaP.O.Box 1210711 Rd, B Close, House 33Festac Town, Lagos.0803 829 [email protected].

Ojo, Olaniyi19 Onifade Street, off Martins St. Oloosa, MushinP.O.Box 183, Mushin, Lagos0803 502 6704.

Okorare, EfeC/o Harmattan Workshop Gallery10 Elsie Femi Pearce StreetVictoria Island, Lagos.0806 647 8952.

Ola-Afolayan, OlubunmiDept. Of Fashion & Clothing Tech.Federal Polytechnic, Auchi.0802 880 [email protected].

Olaniran, Bode41, Oloje StreetPapa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos.0803 216 8288.

Olatunji -Aguda, Gbenga42, Olawale ColeU-Turn B/Stop, Abule Egba Lagos.0803 327 [email protected].

Oluseye, Oyedele41, Oloje StreetPapa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos.0805 581 3750.

Onaghinor, Julie IsokenFine Art DepartmentUniversity of BeninEdo State.0802 357 [email protected].

Onakufe, SalubiFine/Applied Arts DepartmentCollege of EducationWarri, Delta State.0803 327 8085.

Onobrakpeya, AndrewNiger Delta Cultural CenterAgbarha-Otor, Delta State.

Onobrakpeya, Bruce41, Oloje StreetPapa Ajao, Mushin, [email protected].

Onobrakpeya, Godwin41, Oloje StreetPapa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos.08028167912.

Onochie, LovinaDept. of Fine & Applied ArtsUniversity of BeninEdo State.0802 384 [email protected].

Orowole, Oluwole41, Oloje StreetPapa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos.0802 529 9448.

Osaigbovo, TheresaDept. of Fine & Applied ArtsUniversity of BeninEdo State..0802 384 [email protected].

Oviri, Alaric41, Oloje StreetPapa Ajao, Mushin, Lagos.

Ovraiti, Sam18, Ojodu Abiodun RoadOjodu Lagos.0803 307 [email protected].

Ovwighoriemu, O. Endurance1, Okase StreetAgbarha-Otor, Delta State.

Owolabi, Ayodele129, Old Abeokuta Market RoadAgege, Lagos.

Oyaigho, DanielAgbarha-OtorDelta State.

Sowho, Dafe13, Bazunu StreetIgbudu, Warri, Delta State0804 211 [email protected].

Soyinka, GraceCeramics SectionIndustrial Design Dept. SADDYaba College of TechnologyLagos.0802 317 [email protected]

Sulaimon, Ishola Babatunde14, Aibu Street, off Bode ThomasSurulere, Lagos.0805 466 5575, 0805 094 [email protected]

Tebu, OvieDelta State PolytechnicP.M.B 1030Ogwashi-Uku, Delta [email protected].

Ubogu, NicsUniversity of Port HarcourtRivers State.0803 557 1266.

Udoma, Ekpo Udo41, Oloje StreetPapa Ajao, MushinLagos.0802 336 5579..

Ufuah, IgberaeseFederal Polytechnic, AuchiEdo State.

Unokwah, Moses41, Oloje StreetPapa Ajao, MushinLagos.0803 377 [email protected].

Usen, UwaDept. Of Fine & Industrial ArtsUniversity of UyoAkwa Ibom State.0802 335 0076.

Uveruve, LuckyWhite House, Clark Bekederemo StreetOff Shrank Ekoro Road, Abule egba Lagos.0803 350 [email protected]. uk.

WORKSHOP7 TH HARMATTAN

AGBARHA - OTOR2005

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Appendix


2nd Session

1. Abiodun Adegboyega Agbelusi2. Adeyemi Victoria Fakeye3. Adeyeye Akinson Adeyemi4. Ayo Ernest Elebute5. Ayo-Davies Obaye6. Christian Igein7. Dafe Sowho8. Erezi B. Ogbogo9. Fibisola Rita Fabuda10. Friday Agbajumah Ekwekere11. Ganiyu Omotayo Adebisi12. Helen Edjmajier13. Ishola Babatunde Sulaimon14. Kenneth Joseph Imonisa15. Kingsley Osevwiyyo Emeriewen 16. Klara Nze17. Kunle Solomon Adeyemi18. Lovina Ebele Onochie19. Musliu Adeola Balogun20. Nelson U. Edewor 21. Nse-Abasi Inyang22. Oghenekevwe O. Abanwa23. Oke Georgina Edward24. Olaniyi Johnson Ojo 25. Ovie Tebu26. Patricia Aiyedun27. Peju Layiwola 28. Philomena Amrasiakpare29. Raphael Idiero30. Salubi Onakufe 31. Stella Idiong32. Theresa Uvbi Osaigbovo33. Timothy Ajueyiesi34. Uwa James Usen35. Yves Midy Midahen

OBSERVERS

1. Dr. Perkins Foss (U.S.A)2. Ms. Bunmi Davies 3. Ms. Joy Osifo4. Prince Eric Eweke

List of Participants

167

Ist Session

1. Aderinsoye Aladegbongbe2. Alaric E. Oviri3. Andrew Onobrakpeya 4. Austine Ese Emifoniye 5. Ayodele Oladimeji Owolabi6. Barrett Akpokabayen7. Bernard Aina8. Bode Olaniran9. Bruce Onobrakpeya10. Dele Iskeel Oluseye11. Efe Akpovhovbo12. Efe Okorare13. Ekpo Udo Udoma14. Endurance Ovwighoriemu15. Esefo James Ogedegbe 16. Etiido Effiong Inyang17. Felicia Ese Evue18. Felix Chukwuma Douglas19. Gbenga Olatunji-Aguda 20. Godwin Onobrakpeya 21. Grace Kokoeka Soyinka22. Igbarease Godwin Ufuah23. Julie Isoken Onaghinor24. Juliet Ezenwa Pearce25. Klara Nze26. Klem Emodah27. Lara Ige-Jacks28. Lucky Gladstone Uveruve29. Moses Olumide Unokwah30. Oladapo Afolayan 31. Olayinka Efua Ogunjumo32. Olubunmi Ola-Afolayan33. Oluwole Steve Orowole34. Pamela Isemikon Cyril-Egware35. Patrick Akpojotor36. Pius Ehita Egiolamhen37. Princess Egbe Akenzua38. Raymond O. Onodje 39. Sam Ovraiti40. Shakiru Alabi Badmus 41. Udeme Pius Nyong

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7TH HARMATTAN WORKSHOP. CATALOGUE 1

Documents

Transcript of 7TH HARMATTAN WORKSHOP. CATALOGUE 1