Artist Statement

My education at Ohio Dominican University has been a period of intellectual and cultural growth. I left my native Nigeria and immersed myself in the Western intellectual and artistic traditions. I studied the canon in Art History; Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Sophonisba Anguissola, artists who took painting to new heights in fresco and oil. I was intrigued by the historic methods of these artists but felt that my aesthetic voice had not been heard and I began a year-long exploration in finding it. I used the historic techniques of fresco, manuscript illumination, as well as acrylic and oil on board, canvas and many other supports but still could not find my voice. I began to study the rich oil glazes of images of the Virgin and Child from the Northern Renaissance and realized that my works were missing the bold and compelling patterns that had been such an integral part of my life as a seamstress. I stretched patterned Nigerian cottons and painted on them but found that the cotton stretched and my painting lost dimension. I finally began to stretch the cotton as a canvas and create a heavy layer of gesso on which to paint with oil. This technique perfectly married the western painting tradition of the Northern renaissance with my own Nigerian aesthetic. My paintings are biographical on many different levels-- they are depictions of the faces and postures of my native Nigeria and they are literally built upon my life way in Nigeria where I am a professional seamstress as well as a Dominican sister. Contrary to other materials such as wood, canvas, cardboard, and stone, my paintings are unique in the sense that they are cast on decorative vibrant African fabrics. My extensive background in Textiles and professional seamstress in Nigeria spur me to try new conception. The purpose is to make the portraits look more native than exotic. The portraits were painted by applying some gesso on the portion I want my portraits to rest on; and when the gesso dried, I then painted on it. Before I came up with gesso application, I tried painting directly on fabric but it did not yield a good result because the fabric absorbed the paint and gave it a shrivel look. My senior show is to demonstrate my new concept and how African fabrics serve as background on my paintings. Please what do you think.