Ademola Olugebefola

Ademola Olugebefola
Born
Bedwick Lyola Thomas

(1941-10-02) October 2, 1941 (age 83)
Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands
EducationFashion Institute of Technology (AA)
Occupation(s)Visual artist, designer, educator, musician, businessperson
MovementBlack Arts Movement
SpousePat Davis (m. ?–2017; her death)
Children7

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

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

Fine arts

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

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

See also

References

  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.
  5. ^ a b "Harlem celebrates life of artist Ademola Olugebefola". New York Amsterdam News. October 11, 2022. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
  6. ^ "Ademola Olugebefola". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
  7. ^ "Three Artists to Watch at the Harlem Fine Arts Show". Ebony. February 15, 2023. ISSN 0012-9011.
  8. ^ 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.
  9. ^ Ali, Grace Aneiza (February 19, 2010). "A Weusi Reunion at Harlem's Dwyer Cultural Center -". Of Note Magazine. NAACP LDF. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
  10. ^ 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.
  11. ^ a b Mason, M.S. (November 10, 2000). "Dance moves the spirit". Christian Science Monitor. ISSN 0882-7729. Retrieved 2024-09-20.
  12. ^ "Artists: Ademola Olugebefola". Studio Museum in Harlem. Retrieved 2024-09-20.