Two artists out to impart creative skills in kids
When Barakat Mohammed and Facile Stanley rounded off their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, they decided to follow their passion, which is creating paintings and sculptures. But it was not that simple. Stanley was offered a job and found he was torn between the prospect of earning that monthly cash and stroking a paint […]
When Barakat Mohammed and Facile Stanley rounded off their National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme, they decided to follow their passion, which is creating paintings and sculptures. But it was not that simple. Stanley was offered a job and found he was torn between the prospect of earning that monthly cash and stroking a paint brush on canvas or moulding sculptures with his hands. So he began work to mark that phase of his life, an expression of his dilemma. "Certainly, one of the two would turn my life around. And it did." he says The art he created was spectacular." This made him realise he could not make it second place in his life and that was how he waved the white-collar job goodbye.
Their project now is imparting what they have learnt over the years to children. ‘Gifted Hands,’ they call it, a chance for children to hone their skills in painting and other aspects of the arts through a series of training sessions. In their studio in Transcorp Hilton hotel’s Art and Craft Village, seven-year-old master Jamal concentrates on a drawing he is making. He is one of those under the Gifted Hands programme. But it has not all been rosy. The duo’s cozy hut has little room for the vision they have, as they struggle to sit children in the small space. Then there is the challenge of funding and how to grow out of their limited space because they intend to run a big programme. "We intend to seek sponsorship, perhaps arrange a fundraising and talk to people willing to donate to our cause," Mohammed reveals.
Most first steps have intriguing stories behind them. This is the case with the brains behind Gifted Hands. Barakat Mohammed’s inspiration came from home; from a doting uncle who discovered her talent and kept telling her she could get even better. In the end he won. She began to take the strokes made by her brushes and pencils more seriously. Yes, she studied Mass Communication, but something else was bubbling from within. Even in class, the creative streak found a way to surface. It was a reminder of her calling. She always did things differently and her projects often had that unique touch, the ideas in her head refusing to stay put. Family and everything around was and still is her source of inspiration.
She professes love for all her paintings, "but the one I’m working on presently has to do with something very personal and is called a twofaced woman," she offers, adding that she is trying to portray a woman from two different edges of life – a soft and submissive woman and a societal type that is power driven. "It’s supposed to be the same person, but with two different personalities. That’s why I like it." Mohammed is her very own inspiration for this particular painting, because it depicts her journey all the way from five years back. No wonder she is not letting it go without a price tag. N250, 000 she reveals is the selling price, after all; it has history and her emotions in it. Every creative mind has a soft spot for an aspect: Landscapes and anything that is African, speaks power and nature, is Mohammed’s ‘thing.’ Even when she is not painting "I am painting," she explains, adding that she does reality injury paintings, such as accident wounds and the like. Then there is what she calls her runaway make-up and make-up for brides. So her freak show paintings are specifically for the theatre, the movies, and showbiz people. "It brings their production to life, creating realism in whatever they are doing," she expounds. For example she stresses, she can create that realism to make it look like the person was involved in an actual accident.
Like Mohammed, Stanley too was encouraged by a blood relative. His father took him to an exhibition in the Fine Arts department of the University of Nsukka to give him a thrill. Before then he had thought sculptures were the making of machines. He found he was wrong when bare hands moulded art right before his eyes.
"I became eager to specialise in both and did so while in school. In my school in Enugu, I did more of sculptures, so when I got to Nsukka, they were doing more of abstract art," he intimates, adding that their sculpture was still good, but he felt he could also do the abstract. That was how he used that opportunity to advance his paintings and has since been doing the two. Stanley is a titled chief from Anambra State and needed something, a work of art that would depict his cultural background. Because his grandfather carved masks, he decided to do something in line with that. And because Stanley likes paintings too, he did a combination of the two, a sculpture with a painting around it. He titled it simply, ‘Mask’ – meaning title mask, with this being the first of three masks he will make. But how lucrative is the business? Stanley explains that now Nigerians are waking up to art appreciation, unlike when only foreigners showed interest. In a place like Transcorp Hilton Hotel for example, he says, people buy expensive art. How do they go about marketing their works? "We sell mainly through contacts we have built in the past. Sometimes some come around here or mainly through exhibitions, recommendations and so on," he reveals.
It obviously takes some courage to do what Mohammed and Stanley do. These words sum up Mohammed’s advice to children and others who love art: The capacity to build one’s skill after discovering the talent and passing it on to others.