Art & Art Education in Kenya
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1 ART & ART EDUCATION IN EAST AFRICA_ A WORKING BIBLIOGRAPHY 04.03.12-3 Elsbeth Joyce Court, Lecturer in World Art_Africa at SOAS: School of Oriental and African Studies and Birkbeck College; Associate, Centre of African Studies: CAS, University of London; formerly research Associate, Bureau of Educational Research and Institute African Studies, University of Nairobi (1978-86). KEYWORDS/discourses: art, art education, children’s artistic development [growth] in Kenya, art education in Kenya: formal (school-based, mostly drawing), non-formal (non-school based ‘workshop’), 8-4-4 system, skills, symbolism, aesthetic, pre-vocational /vocational training, educational planning, regionalism: legacy of Makerere Art School, local knowledge, indigenous/local art movements (Akamba, Gusii), Creative Industries, NGOs; tension between advocacy and research; history of art/visual culture in East Africa, art:craft, contemporary art worlds in Kenya, artist/‘African’ artist, patronage, ‘tourist’ art, heritage, underdevelopment, gender specificity, intellectuals, critical pedagogy, development [well-being] and art-making, jua kali. Art Education elsewhere, globalization, international policies - UNESCO: Creative Arts, Cultural Diversity, World Heritage; WTO: Geographical Indications. A BIBLIOGRAPHY with selected studies for ‘Africa’ & theory This ongoing bibliography with notes supports the Centre of African Studies seminars on 10 March 2011: Art Education in Kenya and on 8 March 2012: Lilian Nabulime: A Post-Modern Sculptor from Uganda and my presentations Kenya’s Art Worlds and Effective Art Education for the African Stones Talk Seminar, Kisii. Kenya‘, 1-3 August 2011, and Akamba Mavisa: Carving a local art world in East Africa & beyond for the symposium Commemorating the Past, Creating the Future, Kenya’s Heritage Crossroads at the British Library, London (below, www open.ac.uk). This is a working list. New books other texts will be added regularly, indeed I await the new monographs sponsored by the Goethe Institute, Nairobi and intend to extend coverage for Tanzania and Uganda. KENYA, EAST AFRICA, AFRICA Agthe, J 1990: Wegzeichen Signs Art from East Africa 1974-89. Frankfurt: Museum für Völkerkunde. Inputs from Etale Sukuro and Francis Msangi. _______with Court, E 2001: Jak Katarikawe_Dreaming in Pictures, Uganda. Frankfurt: Museum der Weltkulturen. Cites regional artists workshops organized by Sam Ntiro in the mid-1960’s; discussions in Dialogue. African Arts 2002-04. Akala, W J 2007: ‘Africa [Kenya]’ (pp 35-36) in response to MA Stankiewicz ‘ Capitalizing Art Education: mapping international histories’. In L Bresler, ed. International Handbook of Research in Arts Education. Springer. Describes Kenya as “an area of marginal analysis with forms of art: stone tools, rock art, which predate western culture” to the range of current practices such as “technical drawing”. Amutabi, M 2007: Intellectuals and the Democratisation Process in Kenya. In G Murunga & S Nasong’o, eds Kenya The Struggle for Democracy. Dakar: CODESRIA. Discusses kinds of intellectuals and their change over time: traditional/ academic, bourgeois, organic/activist, general, the latter can include creative artists. Arero, H & Kingdon, Zachary, eds 2005: East African Contours Reviewing Creativity and Visual Culture. London: Horniman Museum. Research-based papers on visual culture and sculpture in East Africa, the ethics of Kenyan objects in a Stockholm museum, kanga, Booran age sets, Luo headresses, Joy Adamson’s portrait paintings. Arnold, M ed. 2008: Art in Eastern Africa. Dar-es-Salaam: Mkuki ya Nyota. Ashley, C & Reid, A 2008: A reconsideration of the figures from Luzira. Azania. An excellent example of how further research modifies the story: pushing back date, making regional connections and likely ritual use; the object is displayed in SAG. Bloom, S 2009: Trading Places The Merchants of Nairobi. London: Thames & Hudson Photographic studies of 14 merchants and their decorated premises in Nairobi city and periurban areas. Bogonko, S 1992: A History of Modern Education in Kenya. Nairobi: Evans Bros. Chamberlain, N 2006: Report on the Rock Art of South West Samburu District, Kenya. Azania XLI. Chami, F 2008: The Great Lakes: a Complexity of Cultural Wellsprings. In M Arnold, op cit. Chege, M 2009: The Politics of Education in Kenyan Universities: A Call for a Paradigm Shift. African Studies Review. 52(3). Coulsen, D & Campbell, A 2001: African Rock Art. New York: Abrams. Comprehensive photographic survey by regions; further research and activities of TARA: Trust for African Rock Art, www below; TARA is based in Nairobi. 2 Court, E & Mwangi, M 1976: Maridadi Fabrics. African Arts 25(1). Case study of a mission-sponsored community silk-screen cottage industry for women’s employment in Gikomba, Nairobi; until today. Court, E 1981: The Dual Vision: Factors affecting Kenyan children’s drawing behavior. Paper prepared for the INSEA World Congress, Rotterdam; also presented at National Association of Education through Art, New York, l982. From unpublished MA thesis: A Developmental study of drawing characteristics of attending Kikuyu children, ages 3-8, in Nairobi and Kiambu. Kenyatta: Bureau of Educational Research & Antioch. Court, E with Patel, D l982: Report to Teachers’ Colleges on the Art Education Paper for the Primary Teachers’ Examination. Nairobi: Kenya National Examinations Council. _______1985: Margaret Trowell and the development of art education in East Africa Art Education, journal of the National Art Education Association, USA [mid-1930’s -1950’s including exhibitions of students’ work in London]. _______1992: Pachipamwe II: the avant-garde in Africa? African Arts 25(1). _______1992: Researching Social Influences in the Drawings of rural Kenyan Children. In D Thistlewood, ed. Drawing, Research and Development. London: Longmans. Chapter related to the exhibition ‘Drawing on Culture’ at the Institute of Education, U London and toured to Kenya and Zimbabwe, with art education conferences at the BM, London and KIE, Nairobi. _______1994: How culture influences children’s drawing performance in rural Kenya. In E Thomas, ed International perspectives on culture and schooling: A Symposium proceedings. London: Institute of Education. A further, unpublished, Power Point version ‘Andika Picha: writing pictures_Picture-making and art education in eastern Africa’ focuses on the influences of formal schooling. London 2005, ‘07 & Viana do Castelo, Portugal ‘06. _______1996: Kenya. In Macmillan Dictionary of Art. London. OxfordartOnline, was being revised 2011-12 now suspended. Cunningham, et al 2005: Carving out a Future. Forests, Livelihood and the International Woodcarving Trade. London: Earthscan. Several chapters on the Akamba carving, claimed to be the oldest and largest modern movement in tropical Africa. Saving the Wooden Rhino a subsequent video by the same team has an upbeat account of the carving movement albeit with shallow oral history (one mzee who ‘mis-informs’ re WW 1 influences of Makonde; most sources posit connections with Zaramo carving, whichever agreement on a missionary-connection) and extensive coverage of research and action re the ecology of trees. DAK’ART (joint authorship) 2006: DAK’ART 7th Bienniale of African Contemporary Art. Dakar. Profiles for Kenyan associated artists: Joseph Bertiers, Jak Katarikawe, Ingrid Mwangi-Hutter. Della Rosa, A 2008: The Art of Recycling in Kenya. Milan: Charta. Texts: English, Italian; a range of materials, places and projects including Ecounique (‘flip flops’), Kitengela glass, Ki[G]ikomba with Kioko Mtwitki. Deliss, C ed. 1995: Seven stories about modern art in Africa. Exhibition catalogue. London: Whitechapel Art Gallery. Curator for East Africa: W Nyachae, ‘Concrete Narratives and Visual Prose (Uganda and Kenya)’ pp 160-189; 272-287; ‘Notes: Kenya workshop activity and modern art’ pp 300+. Digolo, O 1986: A Proposal for Effective Implementation of Art Curriculum in A Changing Cultural Environment: The Kenya Case. KU: Bureau of Educational Research. Digolo, O & Orchardson-Mazrui, E 1988: Art and Design for Form 1 & 2. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers. A survey of techniques, minimal context of a few photographs of local art practices; the most widely-used art education school text in eastern & southern Africa, reprinted 10x as of 2006. Eisemon, T, Hart, L & Ongesa, E l988: Schooling for self-employment in Kenya. The Acquisition of craft skills in and outside schools. International Journal Educational Development. Esbin, H 1998: Carving lives from Stone: Visual Literacy in an African Cottage Industry (Kenya). Unpublished Phd Thesis, McGill U. ______ Spring 2000: Soapstone Carvers of East Africa: Not Isolated and Not Alone. Inuit Art Quarterly, 15.3. 3 Fall, N & Pivin, J-L, eds 2000: An Anthology of African Art in the 20th Century. Paris: Revue Noire & New York: DAP. Includes G Kyeyune on Makerere art school, S Sanyal on art education in Kenya and Tanzania; Jules-Rosette on ‘Airport Art’; images: Kyalo: 1923, Maloba: 1940’s, Ong’esa: 1978; J.Wanjau:1999. First Word [joint authors] Autumn 2011: ACASA Arts Council African Studies Association (USA) Fifteenth Triennial Symposium 23-27 March 2011, Los Angeles. African Arts 44(3) pp1-9. The ACASA Triennial is the state-of-the art symposium for African art; the 2011 edition had 46 panels comprising 210 presentations albeit with scant attention to the eastern region -- two panels (Pido, below) plus a few other papers. In a five-section review, only one writer