The loom: Looming large on art
If there is an art gallery in Ghana that has been around longer than most it is the Loom. Situated within the Samlotte House, the Loom is just right at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle and opposite the old PTC building.
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I first noticed this art house in the 80s when, as little boys, we could afford to roam the city on foot without fear of traffic or bad guys. Attractive building, nice strange name but then, it all meant nothing to this curious boy.
Fast forward two decades and I’ve had to come face to face with the owner herself. I first met the venerable Mrs. Frances Ademola when I had to interview and profile her for a Heroes of Ghana project commissioned by Smartline publishing.
She was simply amazing! Eloquent and full of facts, she is the kind you can’t stop listening to. And when she told me she was once an assistant to author Chinua Achebe at Nigeria Broadcasting Corporation you should imagine the electricity in my voice. (We are blessed with wonderful people, oo).
But let’s talk about the place and the business first. The Loom is a popular gallery that exhibits paintings and sculptures by a good selection of Ghana’s foremost artists, with a modicum of animated Nigerian pieces.
The space has been here since 1969, and is packed at the seams with the work of over 100 artists.
The Samlotte building itself was designed by Kenneth Scott, an Australian architect and named after Ademola’s parents, Sir Samuel and Lady Charlotte Quarshie-Idun, once the Chief Justice of Western Nigeria and later the first president of the Court of Appeal for Eastern Africa
Though it is one of Ghana’s premier galleries. The Loom has kept its exquisite state and art-works. Management has not compromised its beauty and standards at all. What you are certain to find here are a good selection of paintings, sculpture, ceramics and crafts by most of Ghana’s outstanding artists patrons will love being there for quality and very nice art-works.
The Loom is open between 10am and 5pm Monday to Saturday. We cannot finish without coming back to Auntie Frances.
Listen to her talk art and you cannot doubt that she is the doyenne of Accra's art scene. Since independence in 1957, Ghana's artists have been steadily embracing a freedom of self-expression that is liberating them out of the controlled and into a bouncy and exciting experimental art.
Today's artist, for example, can be found positively trying with colour and form which is very good for the market.
No one has a better perspective of this post-independence evolution than Auntie Frances. Returning to Accra in 1969 after a 12-year stay in Nigeria where she had been married to the late Adenekan, son of Sir Adetokunbo Ademola, former chief justice of Nigeria, she found out that the Ghanaian art scene needed some panache. She has since tried to recreate that creative atmosphere of Ibadan in Accra.
It has been 40 years plus and her labour has been bountifully rewarded. When she started, there were very few artistes. The more notable ones being Ablade Glover, Ato Delaquis, Ben Offei-Nyarko and Larry Otoo.
It must be said that the loom is also a strong patron of Ghanaian artists. It features works of artists with varying backgrounds many of whom Auntie Frances herself has
discovered and encouraged.