Ghana

^{Posted on Wednesday, 21st November, 2007}

2nd Sansa International Art Workshop Opens

^{By John Owoo}

^{An international art workshop that has attracted artists from the United States, Europe, Asia and other parts of Africa is currently underway at the Kokrobitey Institute, which is located in a small caostal town west of the Ghanaian capital Accra.}

^{Dubbed Sansa International Artists Workshop 2007 and coordinated by the Ghanaian artist/academic Atta Kwami, the workshop among others is aimed at creating a forum for critical dialogue between artists from diverse countries and cultures while stimulating creativity and networking.}

^{Participating artists include Uchechukwu Onyishi (Nigeria), Allan Kangethe Gethuka (Kenya), Dorothea Leitner, Ferdinand Penker (Austria), Pat Ward Williams (United States),  Barbara Peyer, Caterina Niklaus (Switzerland), Daniel Kojo (Germany) and Marie-Anne Franqueville (France).}

^{Others are Soule Mohamadu Troare (Togo), Ayano Ohmi (Japan), Akwele Suma Glory, Bernard Akoi-Jackson, Patrick Tagoe Turkson, Kweku Boafo Kissiedu, Baafi Adomako, Samuel Opoku and Dorothy Amenuke – all from Ghana.}

^{As part of the workshop, a number of artists, art critics and academics will interact with participants. These include Nat Nunoo Amarteifio, ex mayor of Accra and one of the largest art collectors in Ghana, Kofi Setordji, internationally acclaimed sculptor and director of Arthaus and Lyle Aston Harris, a lecturer at the New York University campus in Accra.}

^{Sansa is part of a family of triangle workshops in over twenty countries all over the world. Founded by Robert Loder, a British patron of the arts and the renowned British sculptor Anthony Caro, it aims at creating opportunity for uninterrupted work and interaction between artists. It provides room for artists to visit each others studio for observation and discussions on the various stages in the creation of artworks.}

^{The first Sansa Workshop, which was held in 2004 at the Department of Painting and Sculpture, College of Art, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi offered participants the opportunity to attain aesthetic distance and critical discourse that is virtually free from academic constraints.}

^{Kokrobitey Institute was established to allow for the discovery of the social, cultural and historical resources of Africa. It has over the years assisted and hosted a number of cultural oriented programmes in its picturesque premises, which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean. Early this year, it hosted a group of dancers from Australia as part of activities marking the 50th independence anniversary of Ghana.}

^{The workshop is being sponsored by Ford Foundation, Triangle Arts Trust, French Embassy, Swiss Embassy, Goethe Institut, Iss Decors, Kokrobitey Institute, Department of Painting and Sculpture, College of Art, KNUST, Janet L. Stanley and Dr. Thomas Kruppa.}

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