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Arcadia Weekly Apr 02, 2010
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Original West African Art by Local Artist on Display at Pasadena Central Library
An exhibit in the Business Wing at Central Pasadena Library will feature paintings inspired by the people and cultures of Ghana, West Africa. Landscapes and still lifes by local artist Isaac Kobla Gavor feature vivid colors inspired by the traditions, beliefs, and daily ways of life in his home country.
Gavor was born in 1984 in the village of Vakpo, located in Ghana’s Volta Region. Starting at age six, Isaac helped support himself and his family by farming and harvesting maize, cassava, yam and beets. The local primary school offered a drawing period and exposed Isaac to illustrations in storybooks and newspapers. Isaac’s love for drawing began and if he was not drawing at school, he was sketching at home.
Art materials were not readily available in Vakpo, so Isaac collected charcoal from burned firewood and his mother brought cardboard from the local market on which her son could draw. At age sixteen, Isaac saw a painting of an African woman holding a baby on her back and balancing a pot on top of her head. Village life in Ghana’s Volta region inspired sketching of clay houses, trees, fishes, figures, festivals, chieftaincy rituals, farming and childrearing.
Acrylic and oil paintings on canvas on view April 1-30, 2010 in the Business Wing at Central Library and May 1-31, 2010 in the Humanities and Business Wings at Central Library. The Pasadena Public Library is located at 285 E. Walnut St. For more information, call the library at (626) 744-4062 or visit www.igavorart.com/
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