Artist Bio

I have the pleasure to welcome you to the Department of Fine and Applied Arts, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. The University was established in 1962 with the motto “For Learning and Culture”. The first set of B.A. Ed. (Hons) (Fine Arts/Education) students graduated in 1974 while the first set of B.A. (Hons) Fine Arts students graduated in 1976, a year after the establishment of a full-fledged Department of Fine Arts in 1975. The Department of Fine Arts was moved from the Faculty of Arts to the Faculty of Environmental Design and Management in 1990/1991. The importance and place of the visual arts in our cultural heritage and its role in national development have led to an increasing demand for advanced training and research opportunities for artists, art historians and art critics. The Department of Fine and Applied Arts provides comprehensive tuition in the practical and theoretical/historical aspects of the visual arts. The undergraduate programme offered by the Department is B.A. Fine Arts. It also offers professional Master degree: MFA in Ceramics, Graphic Design, Painting, Sculpture, and Textile Design; as well as postgraduate programmes by research which includes Master of Arts, Master of Philosophy, and Doctor of Philosophy in African Art History. The Department is well respected in the creative industries where it is usually referred to as Ife Art School, the home of creative intellectuals. For more than 20 years, the graduates of Ife Art School converge from time to time to hold an art exhibition tagged “the Best of Ife”. In recent times, the final year students of the Department hold an annual exhibition known as “So Far”. Our students come from diverse geographic, ethnic, cultural, and aesthetic backgrounds. They have been setting paces in the creative industries, government agencies and the academia. Some of the distinguished alumnus of the department includes Prof. Moyo Okediji, Dr. Kunle Filani, Prof. Bolaji Campbell, Tola Wewe, and Tunde Nasiru who are the progenitors of Onaism. Others are Prof. ROM Kalilu, Prof. Moses Akintonde, Prof. Gbemi Areo, Prof. C. C. Chukueggu, Prof. Bridget Nwanze, Prof. Sherinatu Fafunwa-Ndibe, Prof. Wole Famule, Victor Ekpuk, Demola Ogunajo, Gbolade Omidiran, Mufu Onifade of Araism, Kunle Osundina, and Dotun Popoola, The Department is proud of her former faculty members such as Professors Ben Enwonwu, Babatunde Lawal, Rowland Abiodun, JRO Ojo, Jacob Olapade, Agboola Folarin, PSO Aremu. Moyo Okediji, Bolaji Campbell, Wole Famule, as well as Chief Ige Ibigbami, Dr Eben Sheba, and Tunde Nasiru. Presently, the faculty members are distinguished international scholars who are dedicated to maintaining a healthy balance between teaching expertise, professional creative work, scholarly research, and community services. Dr Eyitayo Tolulope Ijisakin is the current Head of Department; he is an AHP Fellow of the American Council of Learned Society, and ASA Fellow of the Carnegie Corporation, New York.