Tuesday, June 23, 2009

SaNsA International Artists' Workshop, Kumasi, Ghana, June 2nd - 15th, 2009.



The Asantahene of the Arts
This is Bernard Akoi-Jackson and his installation at the exhibition for The SaNsA International Artists' Workshop. The workshop took place from June 2nd to June 15th, 2009 at the Ghana Cultural Centre in Kumasi. Ten artists from different parts of the world and ten artists from Ghana came together for a two week workshop. In the evenings the artists gave presentations and had discussions in which I was very fortunate to attend a couple.

The artists attending were:
Adwoa Amoah (Ghana) Adwoa also teaches at the Foundation for Contemporary Art in Accra, www.fcaghana.org
Amenyo Dzikunu Bansah (Ghana)
Asokipaala Aberinga (Ghana) Asokipaala is a member of SWOPA (Sirigu Women's Organization for Pottery and Art) located in the village of Sirigu in northern Ghana. I'll be visiting there in July.
Atta Kwami (Ghana) Atta is also an art historian and a professor of art at The Univ. of Kumasi, K.N.U.S.T. He is the main organizer of SaNsA.
Bernard Akoi-Jackson (Ghana) Bernard lives in Accra and teaches at the Nubuke Foundation, www.nubukefoundation.org
Elias Tiger Oppong (Ghana)
Eugene Ampadu (Ghana)
Emmanuel Adjare (Ghana)
Isumaila Moro (Ghana)
Jennifer Opare Ankrah (Ghana)
Ji Hye Yeom (South Korea) www.jihyeyeom.com
Jorge Rocha (Portugal) www.jorgerocha.org
Goddy Leye (Cameroon) Goddy also runs an art center called Art Bakery in Cameroon.
Umesh Kumar (India)
Li Chuan (China)
Mary Hark (USA) Mary also teaches art at the Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison.
Rasheed Olaniyi Akindiya (Nigeria), Rasheed works with street kids in Accra, www.akirash-black-roots.net
Amara Hark-Weber (USA)
Tooraz Khamenehzadeh (Iran) www.tooraj.ir
Urmila Venugopal (India)

The photo below is of Atta Kwami's work. You can google his name and find more of his work on-line. Atta Kwami shows his work internationally and lives and works in Kumasi.

The workshop was held in a large building at the Cultural Centre. This allowed for artists to really use space. These paintings by Atta were very large.




Here is Jorge Rocha (below)singing some Fado. One of the installations was based on music. Two guitarists played and there was an open microphone. Many students came to the exhibition and often a student would go to the mic and start singing. I heard some wonderful music and often other students would begin to dance, a nice festive occasion. Jorge's art was based on food and would cook daily for the workshop. He would go to the market and would create meals based on Ghana dishes along with specialties from the various regions of all the participants. I was lucky to be able to taste some of his art as well.



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