Prof Ablade Glover delivers keynote address at Atuu Festival of Arts launch
Eminent art scholar and artiste par excellence, Prof Ablade Glover will deliver the keynote address at the launching of the Atuu Festival of Arts on August 19 at the Golden Tulip Hotel.
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Prof Glover has received several national and international awards, including the Order of the Volta in Ghana, and is a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, London.
He was awarded the Flagstar Award by ACRAG (the Arts Critics and Reviewers Association of Ghana) in 1998, and was also honored with the distinguished alumni award from the African-American Institute in New York City.
His work adorns the Imperial Palace of Japan, the UNESCO headquarters in Paris and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport among other prestigious places. He was also one time Head of the Department of Art Education and Dean of the College of Art at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
According to Atuu Festival of Arts spokesman, John Abeiku Sagoe, the decision to select Prof Glover to deliver the keynote address was taken after much brainstorming. He said there will be six special guests of honour at the launch and Prof Glover as one of the special guests of honour, will deliver the paper on behalf of all the guests of honour. The other special guests of honour for the launch are Prof Attukwei Okai, Prof Esi Sutherland-Addy, Prof Kofi Anyidoho, Agya Koo Nimo and Nana Kwame Ampadu.
Prof Ablade Glover was born in Accra and had his teacher training education at the Presby Training College in Akropong Akwapim after which he attended the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.
Upon completion, he went to the London Central School of Art and Design on scholarship to study textile design. Another scholarship given by Dr. Kwame Nkrumah, gave Ablade Glover the opportunity to study art education at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne where he developed his technique of using a palette knife to apply paint, rather than brushes.
Subsequently he continued his education in the US at Kent State University, where he earned his master's degree, and at Ohio State University for his PhD in 1974.
Since retiring from his teaching role at KNUST after thirty years, Prof Glover has been running the Artists Alliance Gallery a reincarnation of an earlier gallery he founded in the 1960s. The new Artists Alliance Gallery was opened by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2008. Prof Glover’s work has been described as a hybrid of abstraction and realism and he continues to create fine works of art while acting as the head of the Kpobi We Royal Clan of La.
The Atuu Festival of Arts is the brainchild of the Joint Committees of Collection Management Organizations (JCCMOs) and will provide a forum for all creative arts practitioners particularly actors, movie makers, writers and musicians to showcase their work and network.