By Simeon Mpamugoh
Miffed by the growing heedlessness of parents to allow their children that have the passion to pursue arts as a career, Nigeria’s contemporary artist Godwin Archie-Abia has risen to bridge the gap.
The Win Arc Gallery honcho said that he was motivated to embark on the programme to create an environment for children that can think, adding that one of the problems of Nigeria was that “we don’t have leaders who can think, which has rubbed off on our children.”
He noted, however, that one of the challenges the children were facing was how to gain access to the gallery, which has been hampered by bad roads. “From the main bus stop to Win Arc Gallery is about 600 meters. We have had children that come to tell us about their friends who are willing to be part of the classes but their parents couldn’t bring them because of a bad road. So I implore the Lagos State Government to come to our aid and fix the road to the estate gate so that children from Ipaja and its environs can access the road to Win Arc Center for the summer art classes,” he pleaded, even as he informed arts journalists that a lot of awareness was created for the classes but parents kept complaining of the portion of the bad road to the estate.
Heespoused the importance of creative thinking, noting that “when one thinks, the person is not only creating wealth but also a good art piece. What Win Arc Center is doing is to groom children to become thinkers and creators of good artworks and also to think like architects or how to function effectively in other fields of human endeavor. We want to key the future of these children by helping them to think creatively.
“There are some of them who want to be lawyers, doctors or go into other fields of study but the most important thing is to help them develop their thinking ability to create wealth, which is the essence of the exposure we are giving them. When we started it was like “No, my children must go for summer coaching,” but today most parents have realized that we are not just coaching the children to become artists but to also think creatively.
“Initially their parents saw it as a charity project but now they have seen from what the previous children had been able to exhibit in their various homes, and are now keying into the programme, which is today gaining momentum.
“In whatever fields we find ourselves, we should be able to think, not everything that is poured into us is absorbed by hook line and sinker. We have created through this programme that kind of environment for children to think creatively using visual art as a launching pad, and to intuit them to think about other fields.
“The social impact has equally been visibly wonderful. Most of our students and pupils perform well in other subject areas in their schools as a result of the programme and this is one of the reasons their number keeps increasing.
“We had three children in the beginning but today the number has increased to more than 20 because of its impact on the lives of the children aged between five – thirteen years.”
On the cognitive abilities of the children to assimilate what is being taught considering their ages, Achie-Abia said, “I must confess that children nowadays are more cognitive than most people of the older generation. Education is not only about how to read and write, it is also about creative thinking. Today’s children think more creatively than their counterparts of the older generation. I can recollect during our days that no child dared ask his/her father why certain things were happening within the environment. But, today, it is happening.; Children who are curious about so many things. They are not being insolent but trying to pass the information that they are conscious of their environment.
“There are some works I will do as a contemporary artist of repute, these children will interrogate me: ‘Why did you apply this or that motif to the work? Why not apply another motif?’ and I will see with them and make the needed adjustment. And when collectors come around the gallery, they’ll spot the same thing the child has spotted about the art piece. So we should not ignore them, instead we should give them guidance and critical attention. And because of the importance I place on the programme I had to suspend all other things I wanted to do this summer to pay attention to them and ensure they think creatively. I also take them through other art classes on Saturdays.”
Archie-Abia assured parents that there was a bright future for art, noting that it was for this reason some of the established artists were also doing similar classes for children and youth. He revealed that, “the difference between what they are doing and mine is that I built a new generation of artists, having moved from Ikeja to Peace Estate. Baruwa, Ipaja area of Lagos so I can have a stronghold on the raw talents that are wasting away and also be able to key them into creative thinking.”