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Okpe Heads Grand Jury Of LIMCAF 2015

By Editor
18 October 2015   |   6:07 am
As the 2015 grand finale of Life In My City Art Festival (LIMCAF) is set to open on Monday, October 19, 2015, the organising committee has released the names of the panel of judges that is going to screen the works. The jury will select 25 winners in four categories of national prizes for the…
Tonie okpe

Tonie okpe

As the 2015 grand finale of Life In My City Art Festival (LIMCAF) is set to open on Monday, October 19, 2015, the organising committee has released the names of the panel of judges that is going to screen the works. The jury will select 25 winners in four categories of national prizes for the event that will climax on Saturday, October 24, 2015 in Enugu with Gala and Award night.

In a statement issued in Enugu at the weekend, LIMCAF’s Art Director, Ayo Adewunmi explained that the unveiling of the list of the grand finale jurors is made every year only after the conclusion of the three-stage process that confirms which works qualify for the grand finale exhibition based on selections by local jury in the eleven zones around the country.

This year’s list of jurors as released by Mr. Adewunmi is again dominated by art teachers,with Prof. Tonie Okpe of the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria as its chair.

The Otukpo, Benue State born artist studied sculpture at Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria for the BA level, graduating with a First Class Honours in 1982. He joined the Faculty of Department of Fine and Applied Arts of the university in 1984 and later bagged the MFA and Ph.D degrees at ABU.

Okpe has held solo and numerous group exhibitions and participated in several sculpture symposia. His works are in public and private collections in Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, France Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, United States of America, Turkey, Denmark and the Czech Republic. His international art visits include the Dakar Biennale and Documenta XII.

The four categories are the Overall Best Prize as a category all by itself, and the Best Painting/Mixed Media/Drawing Prize, the Best Sculpture/Installation/Ceramics Prize, and the Best Graphic/Multimedia/Digital Art Prize.

In addition, a total of 21 other prizes endowed by individuals, prominent families and institutions as well as consolation prizes will be selected by the jurors.

In 2004, Okpe was a recipient of the Ford Foundation/triangle Art Trust Fellowship as Sculptor-in-Residence at the Vermont Studio Centre, USA as well as being awarded visiting artist status as artist-in-residence at National Gallery of Art, Nigeria in 2006. In September 2013, Okpe participated in the World Bank Art Exhibition, World Bank Building in Abuja.

He is currently Professor of sculpture at the department of fine art, Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria.

Other members of the Committee of Jurors LIMCAF 2015 include: Dr Frank Ugiomoh: Art Historian, sculptor and printmaker, a Senior Lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt.

Ugiomoh holds a BA in sculpture, an MA in African Visual Arts, as well as another MA and PhD in philosophy of history and aesthetics. He recently served a two-year tenure as an Acting Chair of the Department of Fine Art and Design, University of Port Harcourt.

His publications focus on the subject of historiography of African art as well as criticism of modern Nigerian art. He has executed some sculpture commissions in prominent public spaces in Nigeria and has participated in several group exhibitions with his solo exhibition: “Vision and Visuals” (1988) among the most outstanding.

Dr. Chijioke Onuora obtained a Distinction in the National Certificate on Education, a B.A. in Fine and Applied Arts and later an MFA and Ph.D. degrees in Sculpture and Art History respectively. As an undergraduate, he was taught by El Anatsui between 1983 and 1984. Although he majored in sculpture, he is equally endowed with the ability to understand and work in other media including oil painting, batik and printmaking. He teaches art history, drawing and sculpture in the Department of Fine and Applied Arts University of Nigeria, Nsukka. However, he is presently on sabbatical at the Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, Ebonyi State where he teaches drawing and sculpture.

Professor Clifford Ezekwe Nwanna’s grand father, Ozo Anatune Nwanna, alias “Owulubuego” was arguably the greatest Awka blacksmith that ever lived. Clifford no doubt inherited creative ingenuity and art mastery from him but must also have inherited his oratorical prowess from his father Ozo Benjamin Nwanna, hence Clifford has often been described as both a wordsmith and a metal smith.

Nwanna was born in Lagos but had his early education in Enugu and the East until he gained admission into the University of Benin where he studied Fine Arts. He obtained his B.A. (Hons) in 1988. During his youth services programme, he was deployed to Ibadan Polytechnic where he taught sculpture and Art History and was honoured with a merit award by the Oyo State Government. He holds several Masters Degrees and a Ph.D. in art history. He is currently a Professor in that discipline at the Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka.

The panel is saddled with the task of meticulously selecting first, the top 25 best works from the total of about 100 new works which make it to the festival’s final exhibition from the hundreds of entries by young artists across Nigeria. From the top 25 the jury must then select the best works in each visual art category mentioned above, while an overall best entry emerges to win the top prize of N500, 000.

The others will go home with special prizes endowed by individuals, institutions and prominent families including the Justice Anthony Aniagolu prize, the Mfon Usoro prize, the CCA, Lagos prize, the Thought Pyramid Art Gallery Prize and the Dr. Pius Okigbo Prize among others as well as consolation prizes.

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