Stephen Folárànmí's Schools

• Obáfémi Awólówò University, Ilé-Ifè, Nigeria , Class of 2000 MFA in Architecture and Art and Studio Arts

• Obáfémi Awólówò University, Ilé-Ifè, Nigeria , Class of 1995 Bachelors in Studio Arts and Art Specialised in Painting

• The Polytechnic Ibadan, Nigeria , Class of 1989 Bachelors in Art and Studio Arts Diploma in General Arts

• Olivet Baptist High School, Oyo Nigeria , Class of 1986 Secondary Education WASC O/LEVEL

Stephen Folárànmí's Affiliations

• SOCIETY OF NIGERIAN ARTISTS 2000 The society was inaugurated in January 1964 with the headquarters in Lagos. It is the umbrella body of all Nigerian contemporary professional artists.

• AFRICAN LITERATURE ASSOCIATION 2008 The African Literature Association is an independent non-profit professional society open to scholars, teachers and writers from every country. It exists primarily to facilitate the attempts of a world-wide audience to appreciate the efforts of African writers and artists. http://www.h-net.org/~aflitweb/ala.html

• ACASA, the Arts Council of the African Studies Association, 2004 ACASA, the Arts Council of the African Studies Association, promotes greater understanding of African material and expressive culture in all its many forms, and encourages contact and collaboration with African and Diaspora artists and scholars.

• NIGERIAN FIELD SOCIETY 1999 Nigerian Field society , founded in 1930 is an organisation devoted to the study of West Africa,its plants, animals and environment, its peoples and their culture

• LEGACY (the Historical & Environmental Interest Group of Nigeria) Obáfémi Awólówò University, Ilé-Ifè, Nigeria 2002 LEGACY is a registered NGO (Non-Government Organization) founded by a group of Nigerians and Non-Nigerians interested in preserving historic buildings, monuments and the built environment for the benefit of future generations.(website unfortunately not always operational).

Stephen Folárànmí's Publications

• Art in the Service of Sango, Sango in Africa and the African Diaspora June, 2009 Publisher: Indiana University Press Language: English ISBN: 0253220947 EAN: 9780253220943 Folárànmí, S.A, (2009) Art in the Service of Sàngó in Sàngó in Africa and the African Diaspora. Indiana University Press, 2009. Chapter 8, pp241-273) The art of Sàngó as investigated in the chapter illustrates the centrality of Sàngó in Yorùbá artistic production, both past and present. In pre-colonial and colonial Yorùbáland, Sàngó was among the òrìsà whose shrines were overflowing with sacrificial objects, statuary, wands, ritual pots, mortars, and other symbols. This sort of ritualistic artistic production has continued in the postcolonial period, though on a reduced scale. In recent decades Yorùbá art has expanded into new media and found new non-ritualistic purposes. Numerous examples of such art can be found on both sides of the Atlantic, featuring Sàngó as the central, or sole, object of depiction. That Sàngó continues to inspire artists, even those who do not practice Yorùbá religion, is a testament to the importance and power of Sàngó. The chapter offers the interface between art and religion in African cosmology while seeing Sango as central to that worldview. No. of Pages: 336 SANGO.jpg

• Artistic Illustrations in the Works of Akinwumi Isola , Emerging Perspectives on Akinwumi Isola by Akintunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola January, 2008 Paperback: 502 pages Publisher: Africa World Press, Inc. (December 4, 2007) Language: English ISBN-10: 1592216099 Folárànmí, S.A. (2008): A Critique of Artistic Illustrations in the Works of Akinwumi Isola in Emerging Perspectives on Akinwumi Isola,. Ed. Akintunde Akinyemi and Toyin Falola. African World Press, Inc. Treton, NJ, U.S.A. The chapter draws attention to the relevance of illustrations in African literature using the works of Akinwumi Isola, it tries to analyse the adequacy of the illustrations to the text as well as suggest other places where illustrations should have been included. It argues that publishers and authors mostly exclude illustrations in order to save cost. In saving cost however, the quality of the final publication is thrown overboard; thereby affecting the overall quality of the books largely because of its unattractiveness to readers. The paper posit that the inclusion of beautiful illustrations in Yorùbá books can generate renewed interest in the reading of books in the language by generations of young Nigerians and that experiences have shown that all classes of people, young, old, literate, and illiterate are usually attracted to books that are illustrated. It concludes by advocating for the commissioning of illustration to skilled and experienced artists as this will encourage the development of illustrative skills among artists and, by extension, provide beautiful pictures and drawings to accompany every literature text, since Illustration assists authors to convey meanings in their works to readers. It also allows the reader to voyage into the mind of the writer and bring out the reality that lies in the fiction, myth, or surrealism. ISBN-13: 978-1592216093 akinwumi isola.jpg

• The Importance of Oriki in Yoruba Mural Art, Ijele: Art eJournal of the African World (2002) June, 2009 Folárànmí, Stephen A (2002) The Importance of Oríkì In Yoruba Mural Art, IJELE: Art e-journal of the African World, www.africaresource.com (U.S.A.) 2002.issue 2, no.4. The paper agues that in visual art, inspiration and concept are the driving forces in the execution of a particular art piece. Even though Yorùbá traditional mural has been executed in most cases in veneration of the òrìsà and most of the products are for the Oba as well as for rich or influential individuals, The paper posits that Oríkì, ’cognomen’ is an important driving force in the execution of these paintings. It also examines the importance and impact of oríkì in the execution and interpretation of selected Yorùbá traditional murals. It canvasses the introduction of oríkì into our contemporary arts as a means of enhancing that aspect of our tradition. Through this, it may be possible to spur the younger generation to have a renewed interest in their individual, family and town oríkì.

• AFRICA HAPPENING! BITS AND PIECES, ART EXHIBITION, New York, New York October, 2010 This exhibition kicks off the Africa Happening! Series this fall. It features the work of Stephen Adéyemí Folárànmí, Gbóládé Omidìran and Elohor Urhiafe-Bobson, all graduates of the Fine Arts Programme, Obafemi Awolowo University, in the City of Ile-Ife, Nigeria. Africa Happening! was born out of an effort to envision and plan a multi-university event around the theme of “Africa at 50: Looking Back, Looking Forward”. africa happening, 2010 catalogue.pdf africa happening logo.jpg P1230865.JPG Cover.pdf

• Art Exhibition, UNITY AND IDENTITY IN DIVERSITY, VECHTA, BONN, BERLIN, WIESBADEN, NIEDERNHAUSEN, OSNOBRUCK, Germany January, 2009 Hochshule Vechta-University of Vechta Folárànmí, Stephen A (2009)Unity and Identity in Diversity, an International traveling solo exhibition of over 30 paintings as part of the Hoffmann Dozent fellowship programme in the University of Vechta, Germany. Exhibition moved to about 7 locations in Germany namely, Vechta, Osnabruck, Niedernhausen, Bonn and Berlin from February –September, 2009 In Unity in Diversity, Folaranmi examines the diversities that particularly faces the world especially his home country Nigeria where such trait is exhibited both unifying bonds when necessary as well as so much of divergences in ideas and opinions at the slightest provocations. The technical and philosophical sophistication in Stephen‘s modernity therefore transcends national locations and deflects ethnic politics of creative production. In Nigeria, a postcolonial country, Stephen’s work stands at the intersection of global productivity, democratic promise, and a colonial past, where the present is always a navigation of possibilities located within unresolved territories. His art becomes a discovered language that bestrides a confluence where “seeing” is as important as “saying,” where what is seen becomes irrelevant when it defies what is said. The call from tradition, faint as one expects it to sound to Stephen‘s modernist sensibility, remains stubbornly resonant in his innovative compositions. His work emerges and departs from a Yoruba (West African) culture where elders have a proverb that goes, “Boju ba ribi, enu a dake: when the eye sees, the mouth doesn’t say.” But when the mouth must say what the eye sees, both organs of aesthetic experience must be coordinated: the mouth must see what the eye views, and the eye must say what the mouth utters. As a travelling exhibition in Europe, Folárànmí has uttered all that his eyes have seen albeit in oil, acrylic, soil, pastel, water colour and other mixed media materials. unity in Diversity.jpg Unity and Identity in Diversity.pdf

• Art Exhibition, MAN, NATURE AND HIS ENVIRONMENT I, Ife, Nigeria June, 2002 NIGERIAN FIELD SOCIETY Folárànmí, Stephen A and Ajíbóyè O.J. (2002) Man, Nature and His Environment I, An Exhibition of Drawings, Paintings, Poems and Photographs in Commemoration of World Environment Day. Institute of Cultural Studies, O.A.U., Ilé-Ifè and Moniya Ajibulu Gallery, Lagos. 6th – 24th June, 2002. The first in the series of art exhibition particularly directed at reflecting the beauty in nature and mans contribution to either taking care of it or subjecting it to destructions. The exhibition was part of the 2002 celebration of the World Environment Day which was supported with tree planting sessions by members of the Nigerian Field Society, Ile Ife Branch and also a lecture on Termites delivered by Prof. Matanmi of Faculty of Agriculture. About 40 paintings in different media were used to address the salient environmental issues highlighting the title of the exhibition. Man Nature and His Environment I..jpg Man Nature and His Environment I.pdf

• Art Exhibition / Conference, ARESUVA, Abuja, Nigeria September, 2009 “The First African Regional Summit & Exhibition on Visual Arts will promote visual arts as a strategy for achieving rapid economic development in the African region as envisioned in NEPAD – New Partnership for African Development. The summit will explore the impact of the visual arts sub-sector in the 21st century as a driver of the market economy. The expected audience comprises delegates from the Visual Arts, African Government Agencies, International trusts and communities in over fifty African countries which will provide inspirational examples of transformation of places and peoples’ lives through the Visual Arts. The ARESUVA initiative is spearheaded by Chief Joe Musa, Director General of the Nigerian National Gallery of Art (NGA) ARESUVA, SEPT. 2008.JPG Ibeji I_mixed media2005_Stephen Folaranmi.JPE our father's door.2003.2.oil on canvas.jpg

• Art Exhibition, Man, Nature and His Environment, Ile-Ife and Lagos, Nigeria, Nigeria June, 2006 A travelling Exhibition of Drawings, Paintings, Photographs and Poems (Ajiboye Segun and Stephen Folárànmí) in Commemoration of World Environment Day. Institute of Cultural Studies, Obáfémi Awólówò University, Ilé-Ifè, Nigeria Network1_oil on canvas2007_Stephen Folaranmi.JPG Man_Nature_Environment_catalogue_2006.pdf MAN NATURE & ENVIRONMEN 2006.jpg

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