By Tajudeen Sowole
Being the foundation and
fountain of art practice in Nigeria, the formal training sector is not unaware
- contrary to widely held view - that the mainstream art outside the Ivory Tower demands far more than
what it is getting from the academia. In fact, the art academia is conscious of
the fast pace of contemporary practice of which the former is struggling to
catch up with.
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Participants at the University of Lagos (Unilag) wing of the conference.
Apart from the cheering news that the trainers
of artists have realised the need to take their rightful place, they have gone
further to seek solutions in keeping pace with the reality of global
progression of art. During the opening of a three-days forum tagged First
International Conference on The State of Visual Arts Scholarship in Nigeria in
the Era of Globalism, held at the Nigerian Institute of International
Affairs (NIIA), Victoria Island, Lagos, the artists discussed areas of crucial
repositioning of their profession. The event also extended to Yaba College of
Technology and University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos with participants drawn from
art schools of tertiary institutions across the country.
In his opening remarks, the President of
Society of Nigerian Artists (SNA) and Chairman of the event, Oliver Enwonwu
stated that the professional body "is in the forefront of supporting event
such as this." He noted the urgent importance of Nigerian art to key into
the dynamics of the global village. "The world is getting smaller, so our
art needs to be repositioned," Enwowu told the gathering of artists and
art teachers present.
In his Keynote Address, the convener of the
forum and lecturer at Delta State University (DELSU), Prof Osa Egonwa, went though the trajectory
of art academia in Nigeria and argued that being at its current peak of
awarding Ph. D has brought challenges. His presentation titled Research And The Academic Visibility Of
Artists In The Ivory Tower In Nigeria highlights quality and competence of
art teachers, documentation and art marketing.
"The limitations range from improper
definition of purpose, mission and vision, none or nebulous methods of
instruction, mixed system of staff hire and
fire, wrong or no research methods,
infrastructural and curricular inadequacies to poor text book
development.". He insisted that the challenges listed "lead to poor
professional engagement of trained-artists."
In what
he described as Quality Assurance, (QA), Egonwa traced the genesis of the
gathering to the process "formulated in pursuit of excellence in product
and service delivery," for visual artists. He noted that the Senate of
various universities that offer Arts "approves visual arts programmes
independently." In strengthening standard however, Egonwa stated: "It
is my view that a continuous Quality Assurance via human capital involved in
the teaching, research and instruction promises to be more effectual."
He hoped that the conference would germinate
the required strength to make the art academia more relevant in setting the pace
for mainstream industry to follow. "My earnest expectation is that through
this conference, the egg heads in art and design will take the desired steps
and get their rightful place in the ivory tower. Presently, the academia
appears to be years behind the industry, in matters of art especially in
Nigeria."
As it has been established that the curricular
contents of various tertiary institutions are short of the mileage expected to
cover the academic journey of the visual arts, the units or departments, perhaps
- as a result of the orders from regulatory body, National University
Commission (NUC) or failure of internal articulation - just might look for
additional windows through which to strengthen art practice outside the confinement
of academic administration. Such outlet is documentation via writing of books
by art historians. Quite a number of observers, including Egonwa and
non-academic critics have noted that books on Nigerian art and artists, in
recent years, have been written by writers who are not from the academia. And
the question keeps coming: what do the art historians of Nigerian art schools origin do after
graduating?
The lead paper at the conference, A Revisionist Overview Of
The Historiography Of African Art History, Disciplinary Authenticity And
Western Mindset by Prof Frank Ugiomoh
of University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, took the issue a bit further by probing
into the technicalities of writing art books on African subjects. In the
introduction to his presentation, Ugiomoh noted that historiography of art history expects writers
to tap from a source that is "always historically determined and knows no
closure."
Evaluating the historiography of African art,
Ugiomoh started by tracing the origin of the continent's art history - within
the academic discipline - to what he noted as recently "as when Roy Sieber
in 1957 wrote the first dissertation on the subject under the tutelage of Paul
S. Wingert." He argued that Sieber’s
work marked the take off in "methodological profiling" of African art
history as a discipline. Based on his choice of background in evaluating
African art documentation, Ugiomoh insisted that the importance of tracing what
he described as "landmarks" is crucial.
His presentation reads in parts: "With a focus like this we are better
informed on the gains and what has been left out or what ought to be done as
well as defining an agenda for the future of the discipline of African art
history. Forlornly, scarce attention has been paid to art historiography as an
aspect of African cultural studies.
"Historiography, in a poststructuralist
sense, engages methodological concerns in the deconstruction of narrative
texts. To probe the nature and structure of the narrative, as deconstruction
allows, has great value in understanding the processes of historical
engagements. Such commitment helps define the ideological grounds that propel
narrative devices and options of historical explanation and the interest they
serve. Underlying deconstruction by way of general understanding is that
language, a non-transparent medium of communication has direct impact on the
truth of narrative as an explanation of the past. Jacques Derrida in
deconstruction (a theoretical instrument he initiated) is concerned with the
nature of language as a transparent medium of communication or the “opacity
of language” (Munslow ). For the above reason the text of history
requires the kind of scrutiny of its literary plot and structure. Munslow
references Hayden H. White who likens history writing to literary engagement
this way;
"What is argued for is that the analysis
of style, genre and narrative structure, more usually associated with fictional
literature, be applied to the understanding of the historian’s
sources and written interpretations. Although this approach emerges from
structuralism’s early concern with the arbitrary nature of language,
history produced within the deconstructive consciousness has a much wider range
of concerns (62)."
He concluded that art history would always be
articulated in diverse tone to drive home what an art piece represents.
He
cited the western art history as example. “The history of the development of
western art history is of considerable ancestry. In the process of its
development it has developed theoretical and
methodological frames that address the need to locate the object of art in
time. Their practical values have never been in doubt considering the
interventions in self-critical exercise it engages.”
Ugiomoh
is a professor of History of Art and Theory and occupant Yemisi Shyllon Chair
of Fine Art and Design, University of Port hatcourt, Port Harcourt Nigeria. His
studio interests are in stained glass painting, sculpture and printmaking.
While his interest in theory encompass historiography of art history, theory
and aesthetics, where he has published avidly.
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1. The creative and cultural Arts programme for
secondary schools can succeed only when art, music and drama teachers are on
ground in schools to handle their subjects. The new programme should be
implemented only after personnel have been prepared for it. For that reason, it
should be put on hold forthwith.
2 Research in the visual arts
should be designed according to the nature of the discipline. The practice-led or practice-based methods
are suitable for the character of knowledge production in the visual arts. Arts curriculum should be more functional to
prepare recipients for the world of work.
3 Art training institutions should
hire staff on the basis of appropriate training/qualifications not on the basis
of ethnic, social or political considerations. Any other criteria are likely to
lead to compromising of standards.
4.
Art exhibitions properly documented are a measure of scholarly
productivity. Therefore, they should be used for staff appraisal in tertiary
institutions, colleges of education, polytechnic subject to the professional
specifications of the Society of Nigerian Artists.
5. The
National Universities Commission (NUC) should note that there is distinction between the literary Ph. D ( in Art
History, Religious Studies , Art
Criticism, or Art Education ) and the Studio Art Ph.D - drawing and painting,
sculpture, ceramics, textiles ,photography and new media ) and this
should be reflected in studio art degree curriculum. The MFA and
(Ph.D) studio should have an updated benchmark for the sake of Quality
Assurance.
6.
All institutions offering visual arts should enforce Classroom –to-
Industry Transition in their curricular specifications: ensure that faculty
members teach what they are certified to teach.
7.
Credit in Fine Arts should no longer compulsorily be a prerequisite for
enrolment into B.A, HND, NCE programs in art. Five (5) credit passes in Arts,
Social science or Science combinations is adequate. Similarly, mathematics
should not be made compulsory for Post Graduate admission requirements.
8. Federal and State Ministries of
Tourism, Culture, and National Orientation and cognate parastatals should show
genuine and as much interests in the advancement of visual arts scholarship as
in art and culture festivals. The National Endowment for the Arts already set
in motion years ago should be actualized
9. The Federal Ministry of
Education should worry about the gap between what is learnt from the school
system generally and the needs of the society. The dichotomy between Arts and Science
at the secondary schools level should be relaxed to allow students maximize the
benefits of both arts and
10. Art practice is research and
yields knowledge as much as literary research, as well as producing
intellectual property which advance cultural heritage.
11. The appropriate parastatals of
the ministry of Tourism, Culture and National Orientation should be bold to
monitor and ensure that private art galleries and museums deal fairly with
artists.
12. The draft National
Universities Commission benchmark for Visual Arts in the ARTS document needs
serious overhaul as it is bound to lead to the production of artists who will
not be self -reliant or artistically productive. The Environmental prescription
should be applicable irrespective of the location of visual arts in terms of
faculty of domiciliation.
13. Visual Arts is a profession. Irrespective
of the delay in the formalization of her registration board because of obvious
peculiarities, institutions, and firms who use the services of artists should
bear this in mind. Art business should be rewarding to the artist. Therefore,
intellectual property laws should be enforced to the benefit of the artist.
14. Artists should be engaged to
provide leadership in establishments where the central concern is art: this is
particularly important in the appointment of Ministers, Commissioners, Directors,
Special Advisers and project monitors on artistic matters.
Convener
Professor
Osa D. Egonwa Ph.D; fsna
Society of Non- Fiction
Authors of Nigeria (SONFAN)
John Ogene
(Ph.D)
Associate
Professor
University of Benin,
Benin City
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