University of Lagos Art Entrepreneurship Workshop 2013 Sponsored by OYASAF

The Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos, in collaboration with the Omoba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF) wishes to announce the 2013 Unilag/OYASAF Art Entrepreneurship workshop, holding from the 23 – 27 September, 2013 at the Department of Creative Arts, University of Lagos.

 

The Unilag/OYASAF workshop is in its third year and it is geared towards harnessing the gains derivable from the collaboration between the town and the gown. It provides younger artists the opportunity of sharing with one another and learning from professional artists, art teachers and art lovers. The Unilag/OYASAF collaboration harmonizes both formal and informal training methods and offers a more practical approach to learning.

 

Areas to be covered by the workshop include; (i) Ceramics, (ii) Experimental Art forms; i.e Performance Art and Waste recycling (iii) Bead and wire works and (iv) Photography. These will be handled by eminent artists such as Ayodeji Adewunmi, Boye Ola, Jelili Atiku, Temilola Marindotin, Ariyo Oguntimehin and Adedamola Runsewe.

Bead stringing Session during the entrepreneurship workshop last year

 

Applications are invited from interested participants. One hundred participants are expected to attend; with more than half the number comprising students of tertiary institutions within and outside Nigeria. Other interested artists in Lagos and environs may also apply. Certificates of participation will be given to all participants and prizes will be awarded for the best work in each category.

 

ELIGIBILITY, PROCEDURE FOR APPLICATION AND DEADLINE

An application letter indicating only one area of interest, e-mail address, telephone number and a recent one page resume should be sent by e-mail to: unilagoyasaf2013@gmail.com

For further enquiries, call 080 5901 5655 (9am – 5pm only, No SMS)

 

Deadline for submission of application is 20^th August, 2013. Successful candidates will be notified by 5^th September, 2013.

 

 FINANCIAL CONDITIONS

Participation in the workshop is free. All art supplies, tools, equipment and work spaces will be provided.

 

The workshop is generously supported by the Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF).

Signed:

 

 

Akinwale Onipede

Coordinator

2013 Unilag/OYASAF Entrepreneurship Workshop

Akinnubi takes horology beyond time keeping, into art form

The chairman of the exhibition’s opening, Chief Bintan Famutimi (left) speaking to the guests and Akinnubi during the opening.

Horologist, Adebusola Akinnubi’s Clockmania, supported by Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Foundation (OYASAF), recently brought art into time keeping with the exhibition titled Unleashing the Creativity in Horologist , which had diverse designs, old, new, from abroad and local on display.

It was held at the gallery of Visual Arts Society of Nigeria (VASON), situated inside Freedom Park, Lagos.

Exhibited horologist, Adebusola Akinnubi (left), explaining her works to  Chief Bintan Famutimi. 

Visiting American scholar, Gant highlights Lagos: A City of Places, People & Events

OYASAF 2013 Fellow, Ms Kimberli Gant of the  University of Texas, Austin, U.S., who is currently in Nigeria, focuses Lagos as seen through the lenses of photographers over 50 years period.

During an interactive forum with some members of the creative community at OYASAF office,  in Lagos, Gant explained what she tagged An analysis of photographic images of Lagos from 1963 to the present.

 

Image of Oshodi Market – Lagos, Nigeria (2008), Courtesy of National Geographic Online.

Project History.

 •To conduct research on Nigerian photographers who have been documenting Lagos since Independence

•To be introduced to a wide range of photographers, both established, mid-career and emerging

•To meet photographers from multiple generations and both sexes.

Project Background

•WHY LAGOS?

1.I have been interested in the relationship between landscape images (urban & rural) and questions of cultural & national identity (both self-identification & imposed identification)

2.Lagos has been a popular a subject matter for scholars and curators in Europe & the United States since the early 2000s, but research has been very limited

3.I wanted to focus on a city within the continent of Africa to reflect my scholarly interests in Africa

Project Evolution

•Learning about the history of photography in Nigeria

•How photography within the hierarchy of art practices within Nigeria

•How photographers fit within the hierarchy of art practitioners in Nigeria

•Different types of photography within Nigeria.

•Focus in the media and academia tends to be on the following

–How the structure of the city works via urban planners and architects

–Journalists have focused on the extreme population growth over the past two decades

–Repeated images in the areas such as Makoko, Oshodi market, and specificities such as danfos and the “go-slow”

•Imagery of Lagos tends to focus on impoverished areas

•Dilapidated houses and building structures

•Images, such as Rem Koolhaas’ films, are often aerial images of the city, though some to get more intimate ground level shots

•Most exhibitions and articles on Lagos focus within the 21^st century, with a few examples of the past done by Western photographers.

 of the  University of Texas, Austin, U.S

Founder of OYASAF, Prince Yemisi Shyllon and OYASAF 2013 Fellow, Kimberli Gant of University of Texas, U.S.,during an interactive Session, in Lagos. PHOTO BY : OGUNTIMEHIN ARIYO

Lagos by Lagosians.

•The artists I have been working with present Lagos in a much more nuanced way

–The varying forms of architecture, both past and present, that dot various parts of the city

–How the city used architecture as way to present its post-Independence modernity

–How the city has evolved over the past forty years

–Images and viewpoints from the way you move throughout the city, via the various roads and bridges

–The ecological issues facing Lagos as it develops

–The political issues that face all Nigerians, where Lagos becomes a microcosm for the entire nation.

FURTHER INVESTIGATIONS

–The various photographers’ styles

•Tam Fiofori’s influence of filmmaking in his use of sequence

•Ojeikere’s strong interest in shapes and emphasis on repetition within buildings

•Ogunfuyi’s ability to bring an intimacy to the events he captures

•Opara’s strong use of levels and clear lines

•Akinbiyi’s use of strong parallel lines, complementing his idea of the road.

Project Development.

•Research will continue on throughout the summer and academic year, as I begin to write my investigations down and find linkages between styles and content

•Upon completion of the dissertation in 2015, the project will evolve into a large-scale, group museum exhibition and catalogue

–This will include further trips to Lagos to further my initial meetings during current trip and create more relationships with other artists

Double for OYASAF: a book on master carver, Fakeye, 18 sculptural pieces donation to Freedom Park

It was a mini festival of celebrating creativity as the founder of OYASAF, Prince Yemisi Shyllon's book on late renowned carver Lamidi Fakeye, co authored by Dr Ohioma Pogoson was presented at Freedom Park, Lagos shortly before Shyllon donated 18 sculptures to the venue.

During the book presentation, Shyllon disclosed that the publishing the book was one of three promises he made to the Fakeye before the carver  died. "I promised Lamidi Fakeye when he was alive that I will promote him in Lagos by exhibiting his work, be the largest collector of his work and publish a book on him. I have fulfilled all the three promises”, Shyllon said.

Book Review:

In celebration of a Master Carver, Lamidi Fakeye

By Kunle Ajibade

There is an anecdote in this well-produced coffee table book with which I would like to begin this review. One day, when Lamidi Olonade Fakeye was about ten years old, Banji, one of his father’s wives, the mother of Akin, the Ibadan-based highly gifted carver, was looking desperately for him. Because she called out his names many times, Lamidi thought he must have done something wrong and was afraid that he was being called for punishment. Although we are not told, eventually, why the woman was looking for him, but Fakeye, in his old age, at 80, recalls: “When she came to where I was and saw me carving she said, Aha-ah, Olonadee, won pe o loruko, o si je oruko naa de le, meaning: Olonade, you are exactly what your name says you are. Then I knew she was not going to beat me, she was simply impressed with what she had seen. This prompted her to call people to come and see what I had done. This was the first time anyone showed any appreciation for what I had carved”. By the way, Olonade means the great artist has arrived. Remember that it was also a woman who predicted that he would be a successful carver. That woman was the grandmother of Bisi Akande, the former governor of Osun State.

The fact that what Lamidi Fakeye remembers was not the minor or major offence he had committed but the well deserved praise of his step-mother for his art, should give us a hint that he would be happy in his grave that we are gathered here to appreciate his art and celebrate his talent and gift. I’m sure that this coffee table book, Conversations with Lamidi Fakeye by Ohioma Pogoson and Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon would please him to no end. For 30 hours, in three uninterrupted days, in January 2009, Fakeye spoke to these two lovers of his magnificent carvings. He spoke joyously without any inhibition at all. The result is a self-portrait of a master carver at the peak of his own artistic game. On the pages of this book, we encounter a true genius. We enjoy the liveliness of the conversations even when Pogoson and Shyllon sometimes fail to ask necessary follow-up questions. The book is Fakeye’s way of saying to us: this is how I have fulfilled the promise of my talent; this is how I have protected my heritage; this is how I have served my country; this is how I have served the world. And what a great service it has all been!

The Obi of Onitsha, His Majesty Nnaemeka Achebe(left); Onido of Ido Oshun, Oba Aderemi Adedapo; Chairman of the book launch, Chief Ernest Shonekan; Hon Commissioner for Tourism and Intergovernmental Relationship, Mr Disun Holloway and the Orangun of Ila, Oba Wahab Kayode Oyedotun during the launch in Lagos. PHOTO BY: OGUNTIMEHIN ARIYO

As Pogoson and Shyllon open up the cavities of his fragmented memories, Fakeye is expansive about his life and career, about his very expressive and crisp originality. Even his silences speak eloquently. Fakeye shows that he is a  theoretician of his own carvings whose appeal, on account of the syncretic nature of some of them, go beyond their ethnic and national boundaries. Fakeye’s carvings have their own moments and phases. They have their genesis and revelation. His carvings have a soul, and there are so many fascinating things in that soul. If Pogoson and Shyllon’s conversations with Fakeye are a tribute to his astonishing skill, Fakeye’s own many conversations, in solitude, with wood, the medium of his art and the many questions he answered with his blades and chisels and other tools of his profession, are all a profound meditation on beauty and tradition. Fakeye shows in this book that what define and sustain great civilisation are  principles of reason, tolerance, bravery and honesty which he encourages all of us to embrace.

When  Lamidi Fakeye, for the last time, visited the United States of America at the invitation of Western Michigan University in October 2009, he did not only give a talk on his art, he also demonstrated how he carved at Sangren Hall. During that visit, a very enriching documentary was made on him by Elizabeth Morton and Joe Reese. In that documentary titled “Lamidi Olonade Fakeye: The Life of a Master Carver,” experts and friends venerate Fakeye almost to the point of being worshipped because of his dazzling talent. One of the useful things he says in the film is that he is a bridge builder between the traditional and the modern carvers. I quote him: “I am a bridge between the past and the present”. What is this ‘present’? What is this ‘past’ In other words, what is the peculiar essence of this carver? The answers are all contained in this coffee table book. Here he deals extensively with his own creative process. He offers insights into the historical, cultural, philosophical and metaphysical context of his carvings. He describes the differences and similarities between his works and the works of other carvers. The Lamidi Fakeye in this book is more agile and concentrated than the Fakeye in that documentary. Conversations with Lamidi Fakeye is an indispensable key to the mind and personality of this incredible carver.

 T.S. Eliot, the 1948 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature explains in his essay Tradition and the Individual Talent: “No poet, no artist of any art, has his complete meaning alone. His significance, his appreciation is the appreciation of his relation to the dead poets and artists. You cannot value him alone; you must set him, for contrast and comparison, among the dead”. The distinguished reputation of Lamidi Fakeye lies precisely in the solid bridge that his works erect across several civilisations, turning him into a valuable touch-bearer of his own generation. Fakeye followed the tradition and celebrated the successes of his immediate forerunners – not blindly and timidly. He simply measured himself against his illustrious master, Bamidele Arowoogun, who could carve accurately with both hands. He was very conscious of his place in time. He knew, just like T.S. Eliot knew that novelty is better than repetition. He knew also that individual talent can only blossom when the labour that nurture it is painful and loving.

In Conversations with Lamidi Fakeye this master carver tells the story of his difficult beginnings, his strivings and his triumphs. He learnt how to farm. He was a good barber. He learnt photography. He trained as a bicycle repairer. He also trained as a ‘sawyer’. When he finished standard six, he tried to join the police because carving was not bringing enough money to survive on. In the end, carving was what he still settled for. It was his passion. As we navigate through the sea of his stories, we are told of the significant role played by his artistic family, a family that has produced five generations of wood carvers, we are reminded of the efforts made by Reverend Father Kevin Carrol and Father O’Mahoney in the moulding and sustenance of his confidence as a carver at very crucial moments in his professional life. Those Reverend Fathers may be racist in their attitude but the paradox of his relationship with them was that no one else supported his art more consistently as they did when he was trying to find his feet.

Artists need patrons to survive. Today Lamidi Fakeye’s carvings grace many palaces, Churches, Museums, important buildings in Nigeria and around the world. Indeed, Yemisi Shyllon, who used to draw excellently in secondary school and who was a campus journalist at the University of Ibadan, has the largest collection of his works. That Fakeye was named a Living Treasurer by UNESCO in 2006 is a testimony to his global recognition. His carvings took him to almost everywhere in the world, particularly in the United of America where he felt more at home in that country’s universities and colleges. In honour of his contribution to the arts, Nigeria awarded him OFR – Order of the Federal Republic. But he did not receive the medal until nineteen years later!

Prince Yemisi Shyllon during the book launch. PHOTO BY: OGUNTIMEHIN ARIYO

Professor Bruce M. Haight of the department of History, Western Michigan University, who co-authored Fakeye autobiography with him noted in his eulogy to Fakeye, who died on 25 December 2009, that his father’s advice to him as a young man played a very crucial role in the formation of his character. His father had once admonished him: “Do not allow anger to override you. You must try to be helpful to your neighbours. Try to be obedient and be hard working. Any of my children who is lazy will regret, after my death. He or she will come to my grave and weep and shout to me but I will turn deaf ears to him or her. Believe in one God and be truthful, even at the point of death. Never avenge any bad deed done to you by anybody. Do not serve as obstacle to the progress of others”. Guided by the ethics of that character building, he worked his way to pre-eminence. He too tells all aspiring carvers and artists in this book to persevere, to be diligent, to be passionate about the job and train endlessly for excellence. He says that masterpieces are not easy to come by.

There are forty three of Fakeye’s works on full display in this book to prove that point.  Many of them will elicit meanings which the great carver did not intend. I find “Oduduwa”, among several others, immeasurably pleasing. No one can deny the aesthetically satisfying complexity of this work. The “Oduduwa” in this book was specially commissioned by Yemisi Shyllon. The one at the Obafemi Awolowo University which inspired this one was unveiled by Chief Obafemi Awolowo in 1986, not long before he passed on in 1987. Fakeye carved the statue when he was a Senior Arts Fellow in that University. Largely because he respected Awolowo a lot as a politician, Fakeye felt gratified that Awolowo graced the occasion.  “On the day Awolowo died”, he tells shyllon and Pogoson, “I buried the thought of ever running around with any politician. The only politician we can trust is dead”.

Artist, Adeola Balogun explaining his work to guests and the donor, Prince Yemisi Shyllon during the unveiling of 18 sculptural works at Freedom Park, Lagos. PHOTO BY: OGUNTIMEHIN ARIYO

Fakeye’s profound sense of justice and fairplay shines through the pages of this book just as his works reflect the power, the prestige and grandeur associated with culture heroes and heroines. There is a work of his that I particularly like which is not here. It is titled “Justice”. Done for Dr. Bruce and Ann K. Haight, it is about the 1993 general elections in Nigeria. He deployed both the traditional Yoruba and Western symbols to express his outrage over the mockery of democratic values which that election signified. Honesty and hard work were the binds that tied him to people. You stood no chance with him if he suspected any magomago in the way you related to him. On the list of his friends are the following: Abayomi Baber, James Miller, Bruce Haight, Yomi Durotoye, Ulli Beier, Yemisi Shyllon, Professors Hezekiah Oluwasanmi, Adedayo Ijalaye, Wande Abimbola, Roger Makanjuola and Akinwumi Isola, who wrote the foreword to this book.  Finally, as Fakeye pays glowing tributes to all his mentors, patrons and friends, this book reads like his moving farewell. Let us hope that there will be more books like this because society gains much more when its artists are supported in a grand way.

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR RESEARCH

Objectives

Chief Rasheed Gbadamosi's grant to the Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF) for Nigerian Art historians  to contribute to the reinforcement and promotion of scholarship and documentation of Nigerian art on issues revolving around the formation, membership and programme of the Zaria Art Society at the then College Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria now Ahmadu Bello Universisity Zaria. The grant particularly targets younger generations of Nigerian scholars interested in carrying out advanced research on aspects related to the Zaria Art Society. The research is open to candidates from disciplines in Art History, Art Education, Art Criticism, Cultural Studies or related disciplines.

The successful recipient is expected to conduct an in-depth research in the following areas:

1.       Formation of Zaria Art Society.

2.       Original membership of Zaria Art Society.

3.       The philosophy of Natural Synthesis.

4.       Contribution of individual members to contemporary Nigerian Art

5.       Any other relevant or useful information that may authenticate the study.

Eligibility:To be eligible, candidates are expected to be holders of  master or doctoral degree in  Art History or Art Education or Art Criticism or Cultural Studies or related disciplines. Applicants are required to be affiliated to any Nigerian higher or research institution.

Requirements for Submission of Application

Interested candidates are requested to submit the following documents:

1) Research Proposal: A research proposal of between 10 and 15 pages which should be a clear statement of the work to be undertaken, the significance of the study vis-à-vis the existing literature, the methodology to be employed, implications of the methodological approach adopted for the historical research to be undertaken and the expected output.

2) Reference Letters: Applications should be accompanied by three reference letters, one of which should be from candidates Deans or Heads of Department.

3) Curriculum Vitae: Each candidate should submit a detailed curriculum vitae showing clearly, the candidate's research publications and copies of certificates obtained.

Deadline for the receipt of Applications is 24th April, 2013.

Applications should be submitted to: Secretary, OYASAF Research Committee

E-mail: ade_azeez2002@yahoo.com;   Tel: 08023312410

Honour of Letters for art, culture patriarch, Shyllon

For his contribution to the development and promotion of Nigerian art, the, founder of Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF), Prince Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon, has been celebrated with the award of Honorary Doctor Of Letters (D.Litt) Degree, Honoris Causa, by the University Of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Dr (Prince) Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon

Chancellor sir, distinguished ladies and gentleman, I have the honor and pleasure to introduce for the conferment of the award of Honorary Degree of Doctor of Letters (D.litt) Honoris Causa, by the university of Port Harcourt, a man of many parts, an Engineer, a Lawyer, Art collector, Chartered Stockbroker,     business administrator, chartered marketer, the founder/CEO of the Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation (OYASAF) , Prince Engineer Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon.

Prince Yemisi was born in 1952, into the Sogbulu and Ogunfayo family of the Laarun ruling house of Ake, Abeokuta. He began early in life to show signs of intelligence when at a very young age, he distinguished himself as an excellent intellectual with a penchant for being the best he could be in every endeavor.

Adedoyin attended the prestigious University of Ibadan in 1977 and bagged a Second class upper B.Sc. Engineering degree. In 1980, he proceeded to the great University of Ife and graduated as the best student in his class, with a Masters in Business Administration, specializing in finance and marketing management.

Not satisfied with his already enviable level of academic achievements at the time, and in order to pursue a long term passion, Prince Shyllon proceeded to the University of Lagos in 1990, where he again excelled, as the best graduating Law Student from the Law (LLB) graduating class with second class upper division. He progressed to the Nigerian Law School, where he also made a Second class upper division, a rarity at the time.

Armed with sound orthodox education, he was determined to make meaningful contributions to humanity and as such got involved in different investigational demonstrations, which yielded positive results. Yemisi is known by many as an exceptional goal getter. He distinguished himself and achieved admirable feats in every struggle he found himself. At the age of 31, haven joined Nigerite Ltd in 1983, he established and developed marketing as a management function.

From 1989, Prince Shyllon chaired for three years, the board of directors of OGBC that conceptualized and established OGBC FM stereo radio station for Ogun state. In this regard he exhibited exceptional qualities, abilities and capabilities to the admiration of his contemporaries and establishments. With his evident spate of successes, Prince Shyllon was invited in 1989, to chair the Board of Directors of Ogun State Tourism Corporation. It was also during his tenure that Olumo Rock was conceptualized and redeveloped to have a semblance of the famous Corcovado Hill in Brazil.

Prince Adedoyin Shyllon is Africa’s greatest art collector and connoisseur, under his organization called OYASAF (acronym for Omooba Yemisi Adedoyin Shyllon Art Foundation). His collection is put at about well over seven thousand pieces of works encompassing of Nigerian/African art, contemporary paintings and sculptures. His collections include over twenty five thousand photographic shots of Nigeria’s different cultural events and festivals.

This foundation regularly loans out and donates artworks for exhibitions, in local and international institutions or museum. Some include loans to the New York museum of African art, in the USA, and life-size artworks to the Freedom park, Victoria Island in Lagos. He made a donation of a life-size (20ft high) sculptural monument to the University of Ibadan as the redevelopment for the movement of physically challenged visitors to the University OF Ibadan zoo.

To preserve Nigeria’s heritage, OYASAF art foundation have sponsored two annual entrepreneurial workshops for University of Lagos creative art department, in the training of Nigerian artists and students and also commenced in October 2009, an OYASAF fellowship grant for non-Nigerian art and culture scholars from the five continents of world to visit and interact with their Nigerian counterparts and research into Nigerian art and culture. Prince Shyllon has globally participated in numerous sponsored professional conferences, trainings and workshops. He has delivered several lectures and papers, many of which have been published in Nigeria and other countries.

Prince Shyllon’s glorious obsession for arts, professional success, his contribution to the society and his passion for excellence have been the reason for numerous awards conferred on him by several professional bodies. He is a fellow of the Institute of Directors, the Nigerian Society of Engineers, The Society of NIGERIAN Artists, the Nigerian Institute of Management, the Chattered Institute of marketing, UK and Nigeria, and the National Institute of Agricultural Engineers.

In 2011, the GENDER FRIENDLY Prince Yemisi Shyllon visited the University of Port Harcourt on the invitation of the Female Artists Association of Nigeria as a Grand Patron. His creative meeting with the vice chancellor Professor Joseph Ajienka resulted in his establishing Nigeria’s first professorial chair in Visual Art and Design with the University of Port Harcourt, River State, Nigeria. He is today on the path of setting up a functional Art and Culture museum in the University of Port Harcourt. This is again unique.

Prince Shyllon is a seasoned Director and has served and is serving as chairman and director (and in other capacities) in over 14 different organizations and also member of several other bodies including the Council of Registered Engineers and the Nigerian Bar Association.

As a recognized leader, patriot and exceptional professional he has received several awards from the UK, USA and Nigeria. He loves to, “explore the beauty of the earth”. He has traveled to 47 countries of the world in submarines, road, sea cruises, rail and air travels. He also loves playing scrabble, keeping gardens and animals.