Art Teachers Open Exhibition

(from left) Obeng-Tweneboah and Mr Hanna viewing the artworks

The Greater Accra chapter of the Ghana Art Teachers’ Association (GATA) officially opened an art exhibition to showcase the artistic works of some Visual Art tutors to the general public.

According to organizers, the exhibition was meant to generate revenue to support needy students in the discipline, inspire art students in Senior High Schools (SHS) as well as the growing generation of art lovers in the country.

The maiden edition took off at the Novotel Accra City Centre in Accra last Friday and would be open until the end of January 2016.

Speaking at the event on Friday, His Excellency William Hanna, European Union Ambassador to Ghana, stated that the idea of showcasing drawings and paintings which reflect the Ghanaian environment is an initiative to be commended.

Mr Hanna said an artistic perspective was a privileged one that allowed artists to throw light on what they saw around them.

The various professional art works for GATA would be on display at Novotel Accra City Centre till the end of January next year.

Some of the exhibitors include Peter Obeng-Tweneboah  and Senam Biddah  from St Mary’s SHS; Edward Kwapong, Labone SHS; Mrs Patience Agbesimale, La Presec; Barima Yaw Bediako, Accra High School; Lawrence Agyeman, Ghanatta College of Art and Rhodalyn Alexis Mensah, Labone SHS, among others.

“The aim is to inspire and to motivate students to simulate their creative abilities and to support also the needy students by buying materials for them from part of the proceeds from this exhibition so that they won’t be left behind. I think that is a tremendous objective and a very worthy one and I would like to encourage and congratulate you on this exhibition,” Mr Hanna said.

As he viewed the various art works, he added that though the art teachers faced various challenges on the field, their job was an important one.

“The importance of teaching art is to bring out what is within the students, give them the opportunity to express what they have inside them and to inspire them,” he said.

He commended GATA for the “tremendous” effort and urged it to keep up the idea.

Peter Obeng-Tweneboah, President of the Greater Accra Branch of the Ghana Art Teachers’ Association (GATA), disclosed that they found the exhibition an ideal opportunity to show to their students and the rest of the world what they were capable of doing in the world of art.

“It is said that a mediocre teacher tells, a good one explains but an innovative teacher who inspires is worth his or her salt. Often, our students will ask us whether we exhibit or not, whether we actually draw or paint or sculpt or do any manner of art and this is just to show them that we can also do all of that,” Mr Obeng-Tweneboah said.

The event brought together various art lovers as well as Visual Art students from the various senior high schools in the capital.