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Worcester State College Press
Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE IGBO TRIBE REVEALED BY NIGERIAN ARTIST
(WORCESTER – March 30, 2005) Nigerian artist Tobenna Okwuosa reveals the complex beauty of the African Igbo tribe through his paintings. Okwuosa, the first ever recipient of the Phillip L. Ravenhill Fellowship and Worcester State College’s (WSC) first visual-artist-in-residence, will exhibit his work, April 14 to May 15, 2005 in the lobby of Worcester State College’s Ghosh Science and Technology Center. An opening reception will be at 5 PM Thursday April 14, 2005. Okwuosa will talk about his art, its meaning, inspiration, and technique at 6 PM. The exhibit is free and open to the public While working as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Benin, local art historian Jean Borgatti met Okwuosa, who received both his B.A. in sculpture and M.F.A. in painting from that university. She made him aware of the Ravenhill Fellowship, and through a collaborative effort with Professor Michael Hachey, chair of WSC’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts, made it possible for him to fulfill his fellowship requirements at WSC. Borgatti will also showcase other Nigerian art at the exhibit in the WSC Ghosh Science and Technology Center. Okwuosa’s art reflects his traditional Igbo tribe heritage with a mix of contemporary and cubistic style. His oil paintings are on traditional stretched canvas as well as scroll paintings, a mixed media form that he has been working on and researching since 1998. “Having him here has provided a way for our students to get to know what an artistic personality and temperament is all about. Artists are artists. [Mr. Okwuosa] cannot be categorized ethically or nationally. He is an artist as well as Nigerian and Igbo,” said Professor Hachey in describing Okwuosa’s involvement with painting classes at WSC. The Philip L. Ravenhill Fellowship is a $7500 grant awarded to a young to mid-career African artist to allow them to research, travel, and to work on their art at a museum or educational institution in North America or Europe. For more information contact Michael Hachey at (508) 929-8828 or Alisha Bates at abates@worcester.edu.
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