Tutor:
Now I've looked through your preliminary outline and notes for the presentation on the art of the Ife region in Africa.
Tutor:
That's in Nigeria, right?
Terrence:
I'm concentrating on Ife sculptures from the 12th to the 15th century.
...:
v< Tutor> How did you get interested in that?
Tutor:
I know there have been some recent articles in the journals about African sculpture.
Terrence:
Well, I've read most of those now, but initially I got my introduction to this at a special display at the City Museum a few years ago.
Terrence:
I just happened to be there and saw these works and thought they were fantastic.
Terrence:
And I even went to Nigeria last summer to see more of them.
Tutor:
I've seen the photos for your presentation and I must say the sculptures are gorgeous portrayals of what appear to be kings and queens.
Terrence:
I decided to concentrate on those as they're the most typical.
Terrence:
They're interesting because they're so naturalistic, unlike the abstract figures we often associate with African art.
Terrence:
There's also a lovely sculpture of a mudfish and one of the scaly crocodile, but I didn't get very good pictures of those, so I won't spend long on them.
Tutor:
So what was the city of Ife like when these works were made?
Tutor:
It's on the Niger River, isn't it?
Terrence:
The boat traffic's what made it a centre of commerce then, as it still is today, but nowadays it's better known as the home of a big university.
Tutor:
Speaking of modern day Ife, tell me about your trip.
Terrence:
I was incredibly lucky to be able to get enough money to go.
Terrence:
My parents encouraged me, but they couldn't afford to send me.
Terrence:
I applied for a grant from the Arts Council and in the end I got it.
Terrence:
I also wrote a series of articles about my trip for the local newspaper, but I didn't get any money for that.
Terrence:
I was just pleased to get them published.
Tutor:
And the highlight of the trip?
Terrence:
That had to be meeting a professor working on the site in Ife who had been a young boy when they first discovered the sculptures by accident at a building site in 1938.
Terrence:
He had been working at the site.
Terrence:
Of course, I also got to talk to lots of artists who are working there today, and I got to try my hand at making a little sculpture myself.
Tutor:
Well, let's see what you might do to improve what you're planning for your presentation.
Terrence:
About the sculptures themselves, I think I need to add as much as possible about the details of the way they were made.
Terrence:
Of course, I can't add anything about the artists who made them, because nobody really knows anything about them.
Tutor:
And you've certainly said enough about what the sculptures depict, what the subjects are.
Tutor:
That's well covered.
Tutor:
But I'd make some bigger photos of them so you can clearly see the fine detail.
Tutor:
And I would limit my personal reactions to these works of art if I were you.
Tutor:
I know you think they're fantastic.
Terrence:
I'll contain my enthusiasm.
Terrence:
What about the section of the presentation which I call history?
Terrence:
I'd like to go into more depth about the history of that whole area, you know, in the countries around Nigeria.
Tutor:
That would make the presentation stronger.
Tutor:
But I think you've covered the situation regarding the rulers of the country quite well.
Tutor:
And you've got plenty already about what the Ife people were doing then and the way their society was structured.
Tutor:
And in fact, I think you could cut out the bit about modern Nigerian history because it's not relevant.
Terrence:
That doesn't fit.
Terrence:
But perhaps I should concentrate more on the religious beliefs, since all these sculptures do seem to have some kind of religious association.
Tutor:
I can lend you a book on that.
Tutor:
Now, probably the part the class will find most interesting is the report of your trip to Nigeria and the research you did there.
Tutor:
So I gather you managed to use the university library in Ife?
Terrence:
As soon as I'd explained why I wanted the information, that was no problem.
Terrence:
They couldn't have been more helpful.
Terrence:
There were some interesting accounts of how the first sculptures were found and what happened to them, which I want to include.
Terrence:
What struck me when I saw the sculptures in Nigeria is the extent to which 20th century European artists were influenced by them.
Terrence:
But that's beyond the scope of my presentation, I think.
Tutor:
What about the sources of the materials they used?
Tutor:
You don't mention that anywhere.
Terrence:
I didn't manage to find out much about that.
Terrence:
I want to cover the theories about who the original sculptors were, though.
Tutor:
Yes, the idea that a lot of them may have been made by the same person.
Tutor:
That's very interesting.
Terrence:
It is, isn't it?
Terrence:
Right, well, thanks for all the advice.
Terrence:
Now I think I need to work…
