By Adefoyeke Ajao

Following the success of the sketching and figure drawing classes in week 1 of the Art635 Art Summer Camp, week 2’s painting and photography review sessions took place on August 24 and 25, 2018 at the Herbert Macaulay Library, Yaba.

The highlight of Day 1 (24th) was the T-shirt and cardboard painting session that saw scores of children thronging the venue in spite of the threatening rain and heavy traffic. It was a lively atmosphere as the young artists, encouraged by their parents and an abundance of paint brushes and acrylic paint, recreated images of their favourite superheroes, their dream houses, nature and even abstractions. These artworks were proudly displayed afterwards. Day two was no different as adults (and more children) also came in droves.

Aishat Oloyede, a sketch artist and fashion designer who attended the session with her children, lauded the workshop as a “wonderful opportunity for children to express their artistic skills.” She added that seeing so many children creating art is a right step towards getting more people involved in the profession.

While the painting session was taking place in the library’s garden, a portfolio review session for up and coming photographers was ongoing at the Art635 Hub. On Day 1, participants had one-on-one assessments of their work with accomplished artists Tom Saater, Charles Okereke and Uche Okpa-Iroha. However, the portfolio review session took a different turn on Day 2 (25th), when it became an interactive masterclass to accommodate others who had no prior involvement with photography but were eager to learn about the art.

Saater and Okereke spoke about their own careers as artists and the numerous challenges that they had to overcome to get to the peak of their profession. They urged the participants to find their calling and also to adopt desirable personality traits – especially a heightened level of maturity and perception – that they would need to succeed as photographers.

The facilitators used their own websites as illustrations for how participants could make their portfolios more appealing and lucrative. After speaking about their past projects, as well as answering the numerous questions posed by the eager audience, they invited two participants – documentary photographers Yvonne Etinosa and Ralph Eluehike – to speak about their upcoming projects.

The Art635 summer classes – part of GTbank’s efforts to foster public interest and participation in the visual arts – will continue at the Herbert Macaulay Library on August 31st and September 1st, 2018. Week 3 will focus on papercraft including Paper Mache and Origami.