Wood Carving In Aburi: Its Growth and Sources of Inspiration
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Date
2009
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Abstract
In the 1940’s experimental workshop centers began in Africa as a means to creating a new
synthesis of African modern art. Aburi Wood Carving centre which is the spotlight for this
research however began in the early 1980s. Whereas the experimental workshops were
established mostly by European expatriates, in the 1940s, that of Aburi Wood Carving Center
was not, though it bore similarities with the workshops created by the Europeans, where primary
schools leavers and local illiterate youth were those found there. Even though Aburi Wood
Carving centre has been established for some decades now, it has still not attracted the needed
attention it deserves. The researcher has unveiled the early beginnings of the center and its
growth, tried to deal with techniques employed and influences the carvers have through other
cultures in producing their works. The study investigated the growth and sources of inspiration
influencing the industry linking it with their culture in terms of their religion, politics as well as
their social structure. The study adopted the qualitative research methodology to collect and
synthesize the data. With the methods and procedures adopted the researcher was able to trace a
detailed history of Wood Carving in Aburi and its development through the last two decades.
The findings revealed that returnees from Nigeria took to carving for tourists resulting into the
growth of the industry, with other groups coming from the Volta and the Northern Regions to
increase the productions there. The researcher recommended that stakeholders and policy makers
should get involved in developing the centre to attract the needed popularity it deserves in order to contribute to the socio-economic development of Ghana.
Description
A Thesis Report Submitted to the School Of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS (AFRICAN ART AND CULTURE).