African Art Now (Sat, Feb 28)
by Real Worcester - February 28, 2009 6:02am
Jacob Edwards Library, Main Hall, 236 Main Street, Southbridge, MA
Jacob Edwards Library is pleased to present an exhibit of contemporary African art and textiles, organized by Jean Borgatti and installed by Fred Scott of Sudbury. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Borgatti’s interest in art has brought her to many countries. The exhibit African Art Now will run through the month of February and a lecture on contemporary African art and culture will be given on Thursday, February 5th, 2009, from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The art of Africa is as old as the pyramids of Egypt and the Rock paintings of Tassili in North Africa and as contemporary as yesterday, with artists today from many different cultures in many different countries working in many different materials and in many different ways. There are artists who work like their forefathers, making works in wood for historic cultural purposes, though sometimes innovating with materials (as with the cloth appliqué mask and costume, or textiles on display here). There are those who invent new things, like the thorn carvers or the Oshogbo school artists. There are still others who are university trained and work not just for a local African clientele, or even an urban African clientele, but for the global market,such as the work by Tobenna Okwuosa, a Nigerian artist of Igbo descent. A graduate of the University of Benin in Nigeria, he was artist in residence at Worcester State College in 2005.
Dr. Borgatti is a Research Associate at Clark University and is on the faculty at School of Museum of Fine Art, Boston.
Library Hours
Monday and Thursday 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 9 a.m to 5 p.m.
Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m
Sponsored by: Friends of the Jacob Edwards Library. Cost: FREE
Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, through Feb 28.