Magdalene Odundo

For some strange reason, Nigerian Art schools look down on ceramics and call them "artisans" rather than artists. Which is really sad, as it's part of our History. So I keep looking for quality terracotta work and keep finding cheap stuff.

Then I discovered Kenyan Magdalene. A. N. Odundo.

Notice now the protrusions on this vase look like a spinal cord. Kai! This lady has a strong faithful fan in me. Most of her pottery follow curves of a human body.

Madgalene (I love her name!) was born in Nairobi and received her early education in both India and Kenya. She moved to England in 1971 to continue her training in graphic art. In 1974-1975, she visited Nigeria and Kenya to study traditional hand-built pottery techniques. She also traveled to New Mexico to observe the making of blackware vessels.

She's an OBE of the British Empire and Magdalene should be an inspiration to any female artist, especially those who want to be pottery sculptors: You are artists, finished. No less.

Africans in Western Art

Hello everyone,

Sorry I haven't been posting for a while, working on a lot of stuff is no excuse to neglect my blog.

Did you know Africans were always painted in Western Art? Of course you didn't, neither did I. But this is very true, so many popular artists from the 16th century painted them, including Rembrandt and Carracci. Some of the Africans painted were educated, belonging-to-the-elite Africans (like the powerful Medici family, who had mixed race members who ruled states in Italy and Spain and contributed to most of the currently ruling European acristocracy) to well....slaves and "savages from the new world".