Article from June 1998

As featured in June 1998

Enhance Your Home Environment

By Carolyne S. Blount

Enhance your home environment with creative expressions from West African master artisans. The Afena Akoma Collection in Rochester, New York, carries an exceptional range of carvings and ceramics produced by West African master artisans. Available items include authentic African drums, sculptures, beads, textiles, furniture, cooking utensils, pottery, antiques and contemporary art objects.

Afena Akoma recently presented a "Spirit in the Wood" workshop that included seven, four-hour classes that provided instruction in the making of masks, stools and drums. Djam Vivie of Peki, Ghana, and Kwaku Gefia of Kpantu, Ghana, guided the classes through traditional African carving techniques. They operate a top of the line carving shop, "Art Village," in Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), West Africa.

Vivie's lineage in woodcarving goes back to his grandfathers on both sides who carved symbolic stools for the Ashante palaces and provided marriage stools to awaiting brides in the village. Gefia, who excels in the creation of brilliant Yoruba masks, continues the tradition passed down from his grandfather who taught him how to discover his own personal expression in the wood.

Although traditional African carving is known for its utilitarian purpose, exemplary qualities are expected. Control over symmetry, smoothness, color and detail is essential. Master carvers transform simple wood into flowing, meaningful, artistic expression. Images produced from the "spirit in the wood" serve as links and mediators for the community, thus creating the connection to a higher spiritual being.

Visit the Afena Akoma Collection Web site for a selection of hand-crafted drums, finely detailed carvings and masks and a selection of African antiquities.

Samples from the Afena Akoma Collection
Ancestor's chair Ashanti double stool pedestal Dining ware

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