Denise Ward-Brown, associate professor of art, has received a Fulbright Scholar Award to study various architectural design patterns in Ghana, Africa. Ward-Brown will begin her nine-month sabbatical in the West African nation starting in August.
"I'm very excited," said Ward-Brown, noting that she is looking forward to the many unknown challenges and surprises of living in Africa. "All the references to who I've been in the past are starting to fall away. I'm beginning to do something that I have no reference for -- something that will probably change my life forever. And I don't know how, yet."
Fulbright scholarships pay travel expenses and a stipend to about 1,800 college students and faculty each year, allowing them to spend an academic year studying or conducting research in another country.
Ward-Brown, a well-known sculptor and area coordinator of the sculpture program in the School of Art, will live in the northern part of Ghana. There, she will study various design patterns of the traditional adobe dwellings.
Ward-Brown approaches her study with two basic premises, the first being that pattern is the dominant element that pervades the African diaspora. "This pattern," she said, "is found not only in the visual art work, but it is found in dance and music -- specifically rap music, gospel music, and rhythm and blues."
The second premise is that the way people live can tell a lot about how they view themselves -- and that the people of northern Ghana live in close harmony with their environment. "The adobe architecture in northern Ghana is very organic and it changes when necessary," Ward-Brown explained. "When an aunt or uncle comes to live, they build on a new section. I want to look into these patterns to try and find out how they see themselves in the entire cosmos."
Ward-Brown often has used themes drawn from Africa in her own work, including a series of sculptures that were part of a 1995 solo "Currents" exhibition at The Saint Louis Art Museum. The series of triangular, rough-hewn, wooden sculptures created out of old doors and propped up with glass bottles memorialized those who died on the Middle Passage, the name of the slave trade route from Africa to America.
Ward-Brown expects the experience in Africa to offer her new inspiration for future work. She plans to do drawings and small paper sculptures while there. Upon return, she said, "I'll probably start making work dealing with the ideas I encountered and probably will have some shows based on the information I discovered."
Joe Deal, dean of the School of Art, said that Ward-Brown's project is a great example of how a faculty artist's own creative research can be advanced and, at the same time, give something back to the students and, ultimately, to the community.
"What Denise will learn during her leave while on the Fulbright will be an important contribution to the understanding of another culture," Deal said. "She will bring this knowledge back to St. Louis and share it in the classroom and through the work she will produce here. It is a great and a very well-deserved opportunity."
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