Ademola Olugebefola
Ademola Olugebefola | |
|---|---|
| Born | Bedwick Lyola Thomas October 2, 1941 Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands |
| Education | Fashion Institute of Technology (AA) |
| Occupation(s) | Visual artist, designer, educator, musician, businessperson |
| Movement | Black Arts Movement |
| Spouse | Pat Davis (m. ?–2017; her death) |
| Children | 7 |
Ademola Olugebefola (né Bedwick Lyola Thomas; born October 2, 1941)[1][2] is an American multidisciplinary visual artist, designer, educator, musician, and businessperson from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.[3][4] He is considered a founder within the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and 1970s.[5] Olugebefola art practice includes work in painting, murals, printmaking, illustration, drawing, theatre scenic design, and sculpture.[6] He lives in Harlem, New York City, where he moved in 1966.[5][7]
Early life and education
[edit]Ademola Olugebefola was born as Bedwick Lyola Thomas on October 2, 1941, in Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. At a young age he moved with his family to New York City, where he was raised.[3]
He graduated with an A.A. degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology.[8]
Career
[edit]Fine arts
[edit]Olugebefola joined the Twentieth-Century Creators group in 1964; and was a founder of Weusi Artist Collective in 1965 and subsequently the Weusi Gallery in New York City.[2] These three organizations supported African American artists, made work for a Black audience, and their work often featured pan-African aesthetics, themes and symbols.[2][9] He later co-founded of the Dwyer Cultural Center in Harlem, New York City.[4]
Olugebefola took part in the exhibitions Seeing Jazz: Artists and Writers on Jazz (1997) at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.;[10] Black Art-Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in African-American Art (1989–1990) at the Dallas Museum of Art in Dallas, Texas; and When The Spirit Moves: African American Art Inspired by Dance (2000–2001) at the Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, and Anacostia Community Museum in Washington D.C..[2][11]
Olugebefola's work can be found in museum collections, including the Studio Museum in Harlem;[12] and his papers are in the archives at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.
Design and business
[edit]He has illustrated many books, magazines, and other publications, including Shirley E. Riley's poetry book, The Cool is Gone (1979).[2]
In the 1970s with his brothers, he opened "Ori-Gem", a Caribbean apparel store and gallery in St. Thomas.[1] In 1978, he opened "Tetrahedron", an arts brokerage.[1] In 1980, he opened with his wife Pat Davis, Solar Associates an marketing, advertising, and graphic production firm.[1]
Exhibitions
[edit]- Black Art-Ancestral Legacy: The African Impulse in African-American Art (1989–1990), group exhibitions, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas
- Seeing Jazz: Artists and Writers on Jazz (1997), group exhibition, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.[10]
- When The Spirit Moves: African American Art Inspired by Dance (2000–2001), group exhibition, Spelman College Museum of Fine Art in Atlanta, and Anacostia Community Museum in Washington D.C.[2][11]
See also
[edit]- AfriCOBRA, Black artist collective from Chicago
- Cinque Gallery in New York City
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Ademola Olugebefola papers 1967–1990". Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ a b c d e f "Olugebefola, Ademola". Benezit Dictionary of Artists. Oxford University Press. October 31, 2011. doi:10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00204818. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ a b Lewis, Samella S. (2003). "Ademola Olugebefola (b. 1941)". African American Art and Artists. University of California Press. pp. 144–145. ISBN 978-0-520-23935-7 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Nesmith, Nathaniel G. (2021-10-20). "Doing It His Way: Ademola Olugebefola's Long and Varied Career in the Arts". New England Review, Vol. 42, No. 3. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ a b "Harlem celebrates life of artist Ademola Olugebefola". New York Amsterdam News. October 11, 2022. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ "Ademola Olugebefola". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ "Three Artists to Watch at the Harlem Fine Arts Show". Ebony. February 15, 2023. ISSN 0012-9011.
- ^ Edmunds, Allan L. (2004). Three Decades of American Printmaking: The Brandywine Workshop Collection. Hudson Hills. p. 206. ISBN 978-1-55595-241-9 – via Google Books.
- ^ Ali, Grace Aneiza (February 19, 2010). "A Weusi Reunion at Harlem's Dwyer Cultural Center -". Of Note Magazine. NAACP LDF. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ a b Behrens, Roy (1998). "Seeing Jazz: Artists and Writers on Jazz by Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service (review)". Leonardo (Review). 31 (3): 238–238. ISSN 1530-9282.
- ^ a b Mason, M.S. (November 10, 2000). "Dance moves the spirit". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
- ^ "Artists: Ademola Olugebefola". Studio Museum in Harlem. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
External links
[edit]- Ademola Olugebefola papers 1967–1990, at Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
- 1941 births
- Living people
- 20th-century African-American artists
- 20th-century American male artists
- 21st-century African-American artists
- 21st-century American male artists
- African-American artists
- African-American painters
- American businesspeople
- American illustrators
- American printmakers
- Artists from New York City
- Black Arts Movement people
- Fashion Institute of Technology alumni
- People from Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands