Senegalese Artist Spotlight: Ismaila Manga

Ismaila Manga is a Senegalese Artist and in residence at Village des Arts in Dakar.  He grew up in Senegal and attended Ecole Nationale de Beaux Arts in Senegal.  Following his schooling he moved to Montreal, Canada where he also attended Ecole International du Design de Montreal. 


He is interested in exploring how we are all part of the earth and environment; how we are part of the temporal and history and how we are connected.  He begins that exploration with a combination weathering canvas with dirt and metallic, rusted objects.  Sometimes he leaves the canvas exposed to the elements and sometimes he may burying parts of it.  He manipulates the objects placed on the canvases every so often to layer oxidation.
Once he is satisfied with the condition of the canvas, he then draws figures and communities.  The people and trees are shown connected with each other and the greater environment.
All of the works shown were exhibited during the 2014 Dakart Biennale except the last work which was a part of the 2013 DWG Art Show.

Outside of his Village des Arts studio during the 2014 Biennale

exhibited at DWG Art show 2013

Another Artist in the Family & Lunchbox

 My younger son takes after his mother artistically.  He has seen me share blog posts of my projects and asked if he could also share his art with the world.  He happily creates almost every spare minute he has and like to explore almost all kinds of materials.  Here he is 'fishing' for his Lego Mindstorm scorpion.  He both assembled the robot and engineered the hook/line assembly.  He even dyed the shirt he is wearing.


The next few pictures are a peek into the Gallery of his bedroom.  Mostly the walls are covered with 2D and 3D art he has designed, however there are two pieces of art he has purchased from local artists, Ismaila Manga (small square pencil drawing on canvas)  and Ousmane Sow, artist/painter-not the famous sculptor of the same name (portrait of a young girl.)

In the drawing of the swirly tree and column, he has hidden faces and shapes. Also on the wall, a drawing from a couple years ago of an axolotyl, his favorite animal, made into a Spoonflower wall decal.











 

Now for a couple projects not a part of the 'gallery'.


Clay sculptures, beeswax candle and cyborg doll

cyborg doll on bench of salvaged VHS parts & needle felted cushion

Generally he enjoys planning and creating his own projects, however, he did allow me to make him a lunch box from my It Can Be Hard to Keep Your Hands Clean Greens and Blues Small print. I lined the lunch box with PUL, to make it water-proof and wipeable and Insul-Bright for insulation. The outer fabric is Spoonflower's Silky Faille, and I was able to create this lunchbox from just a fat quarter piece of fabric.