February 2010
A
pensive post this month!
During the long years when I was a struggling, unpublished writer, my day job was working as the administrative assistant for the Art Department of Hope College. The best part of the job was the people I met there. I made a number of life-long friends among the students and faculty, and I met many wonderful artists through the gallery program.
Last month, I learned that one of the latter, Nigerian wood-sculptor Lamidi Olonade Fakeye, passed away in Ile-Ife.
The retrospective of his work, and the accompanying catalogue and autobiography, was the biggest project I worked on during my time at Hope. It was held during the fall of 1996, when our esteemed gallery director was on sabbatical, and I was filling in as interim director. Hope College's administration was (and probably is) quite conservative and patriarchal in nature, and I wasn't taken seriously in the role or acknowledged for overseeing what was a fairly massive endeavor. Before Lamidi's arrival to serve as artist-in-residence during the exhibition, I was concerned that he might be offended to find a young woman of no particular status in charge of a retrospective of his life's work.
Nothing could have been farther from the truth.
The master Nigerian wood-carver, named a UNESCO Living Human Treasure prior to his death, was unfailingly gracious and appreciative. The memory of the credit and respect Lamidi accorded me for a job well done still warms my heart when I think of it. The memory of Lamidi greeting my startled, reticent parents with a beaming smile and an open-armed embrace still makes me smile.
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Lamidi Fakeye touched many lives during his long and illustrious career. For me, the encounter is a reminder that to be great-hearted and generous of spirit means always according people the respect they're due. It is also a reminder that wherever we go, we are unwitting ambassadors. Lamidi was a devout Muslim, and I'm glad that his was one of the first faces of Islam I came to know well, embodying the tenets of all that's best in his faith. To my regret, I was unable to see Lamidi on his last visit to the U.S., but I'm told he asked about me, and was delighted to hear of my success as an author. I wouldn't have expected anything less from him. And I hope that I'm able to honor his memory by conducting myself with half as much grace throughout the course of my own career. In the usual book-art-related round-up, check out the Fan Photo and Tattoo galleries for more new additions. Artists and art afficianados will want to visit new site Night's Doorstep, dedicated to creative work inspired by Kushiel's Legacy.
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Naamah's Curse, US
hardcover release, June 2010
,
US trade paperback release, May 2009
,
US hardcover release, June 2009
Read the first chapter of Naamah's Kiss
Read the first chapter of Santa Olivia
Read the first chapter of Kushiel's Mercy
Read the second chapter of Kushiel's Justice
Read the first chapter of Kushiel's Justice
