Uche Okeke

Christopher Uchefuna Okeke (30 April 1933 – 5 January 2016), known as Uche Okeke, was a contemporary Nigerian artist.

Life

UCHEFUNA OKEKE

Christopher Uchefuna Okeke was born on 30 April 1933 in Nimo, Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, Nigeria, to Isaac Okonkwo Okeke and Monica Mgboye Okeke (née Okoye). Between 1940 and 1953, he attended St. Peter Claver’s (Primary) School, [Kafanchan], Metropolitan College,[Onitsha], and Bishop Shanahan College, [Orlu, Nigeria|Orl], during which time he had already begun to demonstrate an avid interest in drawing and painting. Before being admitted to read Fine Art at Nigerian College of Arts, Science and Technology, now Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Okeke had already exhibited taxidermy work during the Field Society meeting in Jos Museum, participated in the preparation and presentation of Nigerian Drawings and Paintings with Bernard Fagg as curator and had a solo exhibition of drawings and paintings, in Jos and Kaduna with Sir Ahmadu Bello in attendance.

As an undergraduate in 1958, Okeke together with [Yusuf Grillo], [Bruce Onobrakpeya], [Demas Nwoko] and others, inaugurated the Zaria Art Society. In that same year he opened a cultural centre at 30 Ibadan Street, Kafanchan, which later became the Asele Institute, Nimo, where among other cultural activities a part of the Smithsonian Institution-sponsored educational film Nigerian Art - Kindred Spirits was shot in 1996.

In the early 1970s when he was appointed lecturer and acting head of Fine Arts Department at the [University of Nigeria, Nsukka], he reviewed the entire course programme introducing new courses and research into Igbo Uli art tradition. In 1973, he also designed the first course programme of the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Institute of Management and Technology, [Enugu], and initiated postgraduate courses in the Department of Fine Arts, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

He the Director of the Institute of African Studies at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka, a visiting Professor to the Department of Creative Arts, University of Port Harcourt, Honorary Deputy Director-General (Africa) of International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, among numerous other engagements with many educational and cultural institutions in different parts of the world.

He inspired many Nigerian artists and Africanist art historians, including some of the world’s avant-garde.

That Okeke carried the Uli experiment beyond the walls of Zaria and stood in the forefront of its transformation into a modern idiom in the 1970s, from the studios at Nsukka was original. He is a father figure in the history of Nigerian modernism.

Okeke died on 5 January 2016 in his native home at Nimo at the age of 82.[1]

Professional career

1958 to date Founder and Director, Asele Institute and Documentation Center, Nimo, Nigeria.

1986–2006 Visiting professor and external examiner, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria. Obafemi Awolowo University (formerly University of Ife).

Federal Polytechnic, Oko. Imo State University, Owerri, Nigeria.

1970–85 University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. Positions held; Acting Head of Department, Fine and Applied Arts Department Dean Faculty of Arts Director, Institute of African Studies.

1981–82 Honorary Fellow, Department of Textile and Clothing Design, and Art History, University Minnesota, USA (1 year sabbatical leave).

1968 Refugee Affairs Committee, Aba, Nigeria.

1964–67 Director, Mbari Art Centre, Uwani, Enugu, Nigeria.

1964–66 Artistic Director and Designer, Enugu Musical Society, Enugu, Nigeria.

1961–62 Freelance artist and Director, Cultural Centre, Kafanchan, Nigeria.

1961 Publications Artist, Federal Ministry of Information, Lagos.

1959 Founder/Director, Cultural Centre Kafanchan (now Asele Institute Nimo), Nigeria.

1958-61 Founder/First Secretary/Second President, Art Society, Nigerian College of Arts Science and Technology, Zaria, Nigeria.

1955–57 Clerk, Department of Labour, Jos and Lagos, Nigeria.

1956 Organising Assistant, Exhibition of Nigerian Painting and Drawing, Jos Museum, Jos, Nigeria.

1954–55 Designer, visual aids, St. Peter Claver’s Catholic and College of Mary Immaculate Heart Practicing Schools, Kafanchan, Nigeria.

Practice

Auctions

Solo exhibitions

Group exhibitions

Commissioned work

Awards

Honors/Distinctions/Memberships

1987 Member, Adjudication Panel, Biennale of Children’s Book Illustration, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia.

1985 Member, Nigerian Delegation to UNESCO General Conference, Sophia, Bulgaria

1984 Delegate, International Artists’ Congress, Helsinki, Finland.

1983 Member, Nigerian Delegation to UNESCO General Conference, Paris, France.

1981 UNESCO Delegate to the 24th General Conference, Belgrade, Yugoslavia.

1979 Children’s Books on Africa and their Authors, an annotated bibliography – Nancy J. Schmidt. New York and London: Africana Publishing Company.

1978 Member Editorial Board, Black Orpheus, University of Lagos. Chairman of the Cultural Sector, UNESCO Commission, Lagos.

1977 Africa Yearbook and Who’s Who 1977, London, Africa Journal Ltd.

International Directory of Scholars and Specialists in African Studies, 1st edition, Waltham, Massachusetts, USA: Brandels University African Studies Association.

1976–77 Member, Visual Arts Committee, FESTAC '77, Lagos. Member International Association of Artists (IIA), Paris, France. Vice-President Society for Nigerian Artists.

1976 Associate member, the Nigerian Art Education Association (NAEA), Reston, Virginia, USA. Member Nigerian Society for Education Through Art (NSEA) Lagos.

1975 Member, International Society of Education Through Art (INSEA), Hereford, England.

1974 International Directory of Arts, 12th edition, Verlag Muller GMBH and Company K.G. Frankfurt/Main, Germany.

American Council on Education Lecture Tour to 8 American Universities in the USA.

1971 Member review panel W.A.E.C. Art Syllabus. Iskusstuo Stran I Narodov Mira Vol.3 Soviet Arts Encyclopedia, Moscow, USSR.

1971–78 Member, Advisory Committee, Institute of African Studies, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

1971–76 Member, East Central State Arts Council and Chief Art Organiser for the State Festival of Arts.

1970 Member, International Bibliophile Association, Paris, France.

Papers/Publications

Public and private collections

References

  1. ↑ "Veteran Nigerian Artist Christopher Uche Okeke Dies at 83", TV360 Nigeria.
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