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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 23, 1984)
Thursday, February 23, 1984/The Battalion/Page 3 African artwork on display at MSC CNTti TOM J.Wfttl 'm AFRICAN ART BY SEKANWAGI By CATHERINE CAMP BELL Reporter In keeping with Black His tory month, the MSC Gallery is exhibiting Ugandan artist Dan Sekanwagi’s stylized “batik paintings” which portray life in African tribes. “I’m trying to tell you people about Africa,” Sekanwagi said Friday. “How we live, make our food, make our drinks,and how we get our water.” Apparently, people like what Sekanwagi is telling them with his batiks as the gallery’s guest registry virtually glows with praise for his work and talent. The remarks from gallery visitors include: “marvelous shading!” “full of life, color and movements,” “masterpieces!” “best exhibit to come to Texas A&M yet,” “makes me home sick,” and “makes me want to defect to Kenya!” Sekanwagi, a self-taught art ist, has shied away from the classic batik methods and has developed his own technique of batik, which he calls “batik painting.” Instead of dripping paint on wax-coated fabric — as is done in traditional batiks — Sekan wagi applies his special dyes di rectly to the cloth with brushes, painting and outlining the shapes within his batiks. He then coats those Finished seg ments of a batik with wax to prevent staining them while he continues working on the ba tik’s other areas. Sekanwagi, a professional artist for the past seven years, said he likes to use his batiks to depict Ugandan culture, folklore and mythical African stories involving buried trea sures and ghosts. In his batiks, Sekanwagi said, he also tries to encourage Afri can young people to go back to working the land rather than leaving for the big cities where they think they can Find jobs and money. They often end up disappointed, Sekanwagi said. Sekanwagi, 30, originally worked with oil painting but re luctantly turned to batik in or der to sell to tourists and to sur vive as a sidewalk vendor in Africa. In Nairobi, Kenya, he’s con sidered a celebrity artist. “There’s nothing to it as far as the actual making (of a ba tik),” Sekanwagi said. “My work is controlled, I do exactly what I want to do with batik.” Gallery visitors stood nearby to listen as Sekanwagi described his shading techniques and the manner in which he titles his works. Several stopped to shake his hand and compliment him on the 26-piece exhibit. Sekanwagi said that although he’s not a political man, he felt he had to flee Africa in 1977 af ter events had become so tu multuous under Idi Amin’s reign. “Things were just too bad for a creative man,” Sekanwagi said. “There was just no way I could have stayed in Uganda. I would miss it more if it were a safe place.” The program adviser for MSC Arts committee, Theresa Chiang, said Sekanwagi’s batiks are more distinctive because they are precisely defined whereas in traditional batiks are usually blurry or hazy. “I think (Sekanwagi) de scribes the contemporary Afri can tribal scenes very well as it does represent one phase of Af rican culture,” Chiang said. “His work is contemporary.” Sekanwagi’s exhibit was sponsored by both the MSC Arts Committee and the MSC Black Awareness Committee. Chiang said that although Se kanwagi’s batiks are for sale, the MSC Gallery is not run like a commercial gallery. No prices are listed in the gallery. Anyone interested in buying a Sekanwagi batik should con tact Chiang at 845-1515. Prices range from $300 to $1,000, Chiang said. Sekanwagi’s works have been on exhibit in such places as Lon don, Nairobi, Washington D.C. and Limburg, Belgium. The Sekanwagi exhibit will be in the Memorial Student Center until Feb. 26. After that, Sekanwagi plans to take his works to Austin and Houston for more exhibits “I like the way people like my work,” Sekanwagi said. “I think I express myself very simply and expressively.” caped convicts killed man, still loose ijjnited Press International KNOXVILLE, Term. — Two |ed convicts killed a retired iiaessman grilling steaks in |ck yard, abducted his wife Jproke out of a dragnet by ftg 400 miles across the ■ before freeing the wife un- I ed Wednesday. “I hope we get them before v? Bxxly else gets killed,” said ■an County Chief Deputy ■ Westmoreland in Bristol. , pKibeth “Bo” Windrow, 57, m jKnoxville police the fugi- I BR efl * ier ly' n R on l * ie floor- 11 H of her car at a rest stop |l)f Knoxville about 6 a.m. B fled in a waiting car, she id,put she was too frightened humani«4oL ciety and The search for Ronald Free- jvidencep! 41, and James Clegg, 30, Id from west Tennessee to jliotmtainous area around is sttDp R^p| a i on g q ie Tennessee- ,|iia border. iider fr#4 e se men are extremely ises spina-igcrous,” said Tennessee jntarypiippu of Investigation agent ■ Davenport. “They made Jtal statements that they will sk. ait' m takgn a ii ve> ” i society re ig n 0 f terror that led your t i I is. i w»i Windrow’s husband to put a pistol in his belt Tuesday night before he went out to grill steaks moved swiftly eastward with the fugitives. Westmore land said his office received at least 20 calls from frightened Bristol residents within a few hours of word that the fugitives might be headed their way. Westmoreland said officers in Bristol were patrolling three neighborhoods where Clegg once lived, knocking on doors and telling residents to watch out for suspicious people. “We’re watching these areas pretty close because we know he’s still got friends living there,” he said. Knoxville Police Chief Rob ert Marshall said Windrow was “trying to help us, but bless her heart, she just doesn’t know anything. “She knows that a female must have come and picked them up because they were talk- Freeman, serving 198 years for two murders, and Clegg, serving life as an habitual crimi nal, were among five convicts who picked up pistols left for them in a work field and es caped Fort Pillow prison in West Tennessee Saturday. They took two families hos tage briefly, harming none of them, and opened fire on their pursuers twice. They hid from manhunters in the forests around Brownsville, Tenn. One was believed to have fled the area in a stolen car. Another was arrested hitchhiking on a highway Sunday and a third was talked into surrendering Tuesday by an elderly woman who fed him breakfast and pre ached to him. SherifFs Sgt. Ray Taylor in Brownsville said dogs lost the men’s tracks Sunday. “Evidently they had doubled back. They were in a hole back there. There was one little spot we the convicts said they had been hiding in a hole they dug on the Windrow farm. “They said a helicopter hovered right over the top of them but didn’t see them,” Province said. Brownsville area citizens had been fearful of the convicts for three days and Mrs. Windrow said her husband had a .45 cali ber pistol in his belt. 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