African textile workshop

Once upon a time, in Ewe villages of Ghana, women would save a small piece of each piece of cloth that they bought and add it to a patchwork. For those with alot of cloth this was a public display of wealth.

The culture of African cloth is so fascinating that we offer a workshop each summer where participants can learn textile techniques from African artisans, visit museum and galleries, cloth markets and villages.

African textile workshop in Ghana

August 2- 15, 2009

Workshops and accommodations are at Aba House, a building based on indigenous African architecture located in a fishing village across the street from the ocean. Attending will give the unique opportunity of interacting with Ghanaians on a personal level.

You can download a brochure at http://www.culturalcollaborative.org

or contact aba@culturalcollaborative.org

The new year

In typical African fashion we are bit late with our first blog of the new year. It's our goal to get one out each month.....I am in awe of people who manage to write one everyday!
Ghana has a new president, John Atta Mills, and America has a new president, Barack Obama. Last year when President Bush came to Ghana, I asked a Ghanaian why he thought that he had come and the Ghanaian said, "I think that he's selling mosquito nets." Let's hope that when President Obama visits the expectations are higher.

The Aba House kids are participating in One World-Many Papers, an exhibit being assembled in Tawain and traveling around the world until the end of 2010. It will open at the Distillary Gallery in Boston, MA USA on April 3,2009.
The exhibit is a map of the world made up of handmade paper from 42 countries. The Aba House kids were asks to represent Ghana and are the only children in the exhibit. As always, we are very proud of them.

Aba will participate in a conference, also to be held in Boston, entitled "International Opportunities in the Arts" to take place April 3-5,2009.

We have put together a teachers kit ( grades 1-3) that contains everything needed to teach a unit on Ghana. The feedback from teachers using them has been positive. Among other things the kit contains a DVD of various craftspeople working in Ghana and a DVD of Ghanaian music. If interested, contact us and we'll send more information.

For a fun diversion go to http://www.adinkragame.com/ and pass the cursor over the symbols.
And if you want to buy adinkra stamps, we'd be happy to sell them to you.

As always, we will be working with the Aba House children this coming summer and have several volunteers to teach papermaking, bookbinding and other creative skills. We are looking for a volunteer to teach computer skills. Aba House has 6 donated computers and many, many children who'd like to learn how to use them. Know any geeks who'd like to summer in an African fishing village?

And we'll end with a poem by GOETHE:

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genious, power and magic in it.
Begin it now.



aba@culturalcollaborative.org

Gallery opening

The Aba House kids had a show of their work at the Phoenix Gallery in NYC.
We have posted a few photos of the opening at http://picasaweb.google.com/abatours
We'd like to thank everyone who joined us for the opening.

If you couldn't attend, but would like to make a purchase, please go to http://culturalcollaborative.ecarter.com

All proceeds from sales are used to pay school related expenses for the Aba House kids in Ghana.

Recycle Ghana

We are happy to announce RECYCLE GHANA at the Phoenix Gallery in New York City.

The Aba House children worked all summer to prepare for this exhibition. Although they will not be there in person, they will be there in spirit.
On view will be examples of paper made from sugar cane leaves, adinkra stamping,books, cards, holiday ornaments and much more.
All profits from sales are used to pay school related expenses.

I will be at the opening on Nov. 1 from 6-8 p.m. and would happy to meet you, so if you're in the NYC area, please stop by.

Phoenix Gallery
210 11th Ave. at 25th St.
NYC

Oct. 29-Nov.22, 2008

Summer newsletter 2008

As I write this President Kufour is receiving a 21 gun salute in Washington, DC. Last Feb. his friend George Bush visited Ghana. I was in Ghana then and am in the States now. I wonder if they're timing thier visits with mine.

Aba House is quiet now. In July we had a full house of tourists, teachers, artists and assorted visitors. One of our visitors was a BBC reporter who was impressed with our program. Another visitor, a teacher, wrote a blog: surdnaghana.blogspot.com

In August our volunteer from Australia returned and we got down to some serious book and papermaking. We also had a volunteer from Swarthmore College help for a few weeks.
The Aba House kids came everyday, a few very early to sweep the yard. Dividing into groups, more or less by age, they made tons of paper, blank books, calendars, diaries and greeting cards.
The kids are always enthusiastic, but the incentive this time was preparing for their first NYC show. They are very proud of themselves and rightly so.
The show will be at the Phoenix Gallery in November, 2008. We are working on an invitation and will be sending it soon. If you're in the NY area, please come and say hello.

One of our volunteers will be selling our books in Hawaii next month at the Friends of Dard Hunter Conference.

We have been invited to participate in a world wide paper map to be assembled in Taiwan. There are 30 countries represented. Guess which one we represent....I'll write more about this project in a followup post.

We had a very generous donation of 3 computers, so in our next session we'll do some creative writing and illustrating.

There are times when I scratch my mind, as a Ghanaian once said to me, about customs in Ghana. There really is no rhyme or reason to some of them. Now a Ghanaian has writen a book that doesn't necessarily explain them, but it makes for amusing reading. The book is "The Imported Ghanaian" and her blog is http://tigb.blogspot.com

We are working on our plans for 2009, so be in touch if you want to come to Ghana. We are also considering a trip to FESPAC, a film festival in Burkina Faso at the end of Feb. Interested?

We like to hear from people and are always open to collaborations.

I'll close for now with my favorite quote: Trust in God, but tie your camel well.

Aba

Bolgatanga

Bolgatanga is in Northern Ghana very close to the border with Burkina Faso.
The beautiful melon shaped baskets seen all over are called Bolga baskets and ,you guessed it, are made in Bolgatanga.

We are selling a DVD of the baskets being made in a womans cooperative. The DVD also shows music and dance from Bolga. This is the area that is known for the unique designs painted on mud houses and the woman work surrounded by these inspiring motifs.

The cost of the DVD is $18.00 ( this includes shipping in the USA) and can be ordered from aba@culturalcollaborative.org
Proceeds from sales are given to the basketmakers.

You can read about the women at www.africancraft.com on the "craftsmen page". Look for Sherigu Atie-Taaba Woman's Association

Fundraising

Not always the most fun part of the job, it's necessary. We did have fun and great success at one of our fundraisers. Go to www.rainydaymagazine.com and find the archives for May 25.

On a Friday in June , the shop called Ten Thousand Villages in Brookline, MA made us their non-profit de jour and donated 15% of sales to us during a 4 hour period in the afternoon.

We have also had in kind donations of a camera, 2 computers, a printer and household items.
We might just get everything to Ghana because our volunteers are each taking a suitcase for us.

We've also had a solar cooker donated and will use it this summer to cook the sugarcane leaves for the bookmaking. Reports on that will be in our next newsletter.