By Elizabeth Uwandu

IN his determined bid to dis-cover the talents and norture the youths to grow in arts, the coordinator, Culture Art Academy, Mr Augustine Ekhaiyeme, last week organised an art exhibition tagged: Hope for Art.

The exhibition which featured the works of seven young undergraduates from  various universities across Nigeria and some secondary students, afforded the upcoming artists the opportunity to showcase some of their works in varied media.

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Some of them expressed their works in everyday theme like hope, power of unity, love and pains, and struggle of life etc in paintings; music and dance.

Speaking at the exhibition, Ekhaiyeme whose career in the arts spanned over 10 years, stated that many youths lack the will to express themselves artistically due to discouragement from loved ones, a move he said has denied the country benefits of having a thriving tourism; and revenues from sale of art works.

According to coordinator, Culture Art Academy: “The Academy is where I train young people,and the vision is about discovering young talent. This edition of the exhibition is different as it incorporates music, drama and other forms of art to tell different stories.

“ The children are about seven in number. However, most of their parents are not always supportive, and  that is the first challenge.  Another challenge is getting the tools for work, because it is very expensive and because the academy needs funding, I usually encourage them to pay for some materials at subsidized price,

“ Despite these challenges, we need to embrace creativity. It’s your person, how you are able to express yourself in a way that will bring positive change. It is how you can use it positively in the society. So, there is a future in art, it is just the way our society sees it, there is hope that is why we call it “Hope for art”,it will surely get better despite the challenges.

On the future of the academy, the art instructor explained that,

“The future of this academy is going beyond Nigeria and getting international collaboration.  As you saw today, some of my students are into realist drawing and painting,  drawing beyond reality. That is looking at something as if it is so real. Tsome of their works works include: solitary sanctuary that depicts man’s communication with God; works on peace, laughter and friendship etc. “ he said.

Ekhaiyeme added that  “the young artists are exposed to see life drawing;  painting, done on canvass and on paper. Some use charcoal and  graffiti pencil. Their main focus is to express themselves and they do this spontaneously and most times under deadline.”