Ghanaian artisans share skills, culture at Hutch institute

HUTCHINSON — Students from across the U.S. were recently in Hutchinson to learn from four West Africa artisans who shared their talents in the ancient arts of weaving, pottery, bead making and bronze casting.

The institute began with 30 participants coming from as far away as North Carolina and California.

Classrooms at Hutchinson Community College's Stringer Fine Arts Center were transformed into functional Ghanaian studios complete with authentic looms and kilns to complete the work being created.

For Vikki Luther, a kindergarten through 12th-grade art instructor in Asheville, N.C., the opportunity to have one-on-one time with each Ghanaian artist, sharing their ancient Ashanti culture, led her to travel halfway across the country.

"Next year I'll be teaching art of Africa," said Luther, who heard about the institute through an art association newsletter.

The weeklong course was offered in two locations in the U.S. through a National Endowment for the Arts grant, led by Teresa Preston, Hutchinson Community College art instructor, and MaryCarol Hopkins, an anthropologist at Northern Kentucky University, Highland Heights.

"I'm here for ideas and very thankful the district paid for me to attend," said Deb Ringler, Hutchinson High School art department chairwoman and 3-dimensional art instructor. Ringler was looking forward to incorporating the cultural knowledge she would gain into lesson plans.

The seminar would never have happened if Preston and Hopkins hadn't met while traveling in the Ivory Coast studying native artwork in 2001. In later years, they visited Ghana and Mali to explore West African arts. While visiting the area around Kumasi, Ghana, which is the center of traditional ancient Ashanti art, they met the artisans who traveled to Hutchinson.

Just before beginning her pottery lessons, Mary Asumadu spoke through an interpreter to explain that the students would learn to make functional pots for grinding, cooking, and storing wine and water.

Hopkins explained that Asumadu comes from the potter's village near Kumasi, which is the capital of the Ashanti region of Ghana. The artisans live in the village of their craft — the goldsmiths live in the goldsmith village, and the bead makers live in a specific village.

Asumadu met Preston and Hopkins when they came to her village to learn from her. Pottery making is all she has ever done. She began playing with clay as a child, watching her mother, who also was a potter. By the time she was 9, she was a master potter, making her own pots to sell at market. By week's end her students would fire their pottery in traditional African kilns.

Michael Asumadu led a class on glass beads, considered an ancient Ashanti art. He learned bead making from his mother's brother, and it's something he has passed on to his 11 children. Mary and Michael Asumadu are not related.

Paul Amponsah was the bronze caster from another Ashanti village. He also learned from his mother's brother and other bronze casters in his village.

The fourth artisan, Thompson Avornyotse, came from eastern Ghana and is a Kente weaver, taught from his maternal grandmother. He travels frequently to the U.S. and supplies his Kente-woven goods to buyers in Africa, Europe and the U.S.

Because of the heat, students and teachers would work indoors, switching to a different craft each day. However, the pottery, beads and bronze would be fired outdoors in the traditional kilns.

As the bead-working class was about to begin, Ringler studied the clay molds they would be using.

"We can do this," Ringler said excitedly. She was looking forward to sharing the knowledge of a different culture with her students.

This story was originally published July 30, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Ghanaian artisans share skills, culture at Hutch institute."