Artist returns to Ghana after rich cultural exchange at TTU
In today’s Ghana, those maxims are kept alive and continue to be communicated through the country’s artists and craftspeople. Adinkra symbols are also richly celebrated in the paintings of Richmond Teye Ackam.
All of these symbols can be used to help describe Ackam’s work, and the informal cultural exchange that has developed between art students in Ghana and at Tennessee Tech University.
Ackam, a professor of art at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, has just returned home to Ghana after spending a month in Tennessee. A former Fulbright scholar, Ackam was the guest of TTU art history professor Carol Ventura and her husband, TTU math professor Andrzej Gutek.
“What I really like about his work is that you can tell he’s from Ghana because of the symbolism, but he’s also a contemporary artist,” Ventura said.
While in Cookeville, Ackam’s art was displayed at the Joan Derryberry Art Gallery. His time here included a series of lectures and workshops on everything from African American art trends to prehistoric, ancient and modern art on the African continent.
One of his workshops involved a hands-on component that invited students and visitors to make Adinkra cloth. Adinkra cloth comes from the Akan people who in the 16th century possessed weaving skills that included making cotton cloth printed with symbols expressing popular proverbs. Over time, the symbols have been incorporated into modern advertising, architecture and sculpture.
These symbols are also incorporated in some of Ackam’s most recent work, which is painted on round drum heads.
“It’s very difficult for them to afford to publish a book about their work, but they can do so easily online,” Ventura said.
The cultural exchange of technology with art and history was supported by TTU’s General Education Fund, which brings artists and musicians to campus for similar educational experiences.
Go here to learn more about Adinkra.
