Mike Omoighe teaches Fine and Applied Arts at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos. An ex-student of Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya, one of the greatest printmakers in Nigeria, Omoighe in this interview with Edozie udeze relates what it was like learning at the feet of the master and lots more
You are one of the Artists who learnt at the feet of Dr. Bruce Onobrakpeya, one of the greatest Visual Artists of his time. How was the experience like?
I became Bruce Onobrakpeya’s student at the St. Gregory’s College, Lagos, in 1971. And it was such a great fun to enjoy his fatherly figure, with him directing the affairs of young children, moulding them. And his mentoring approach immediately sold art to us. You remember the musical group called Ofege? It was in Onobrakpeya’s art room that the Ofege group was formed.
I was in that class. And it was very interesting, the bigness of heart that Dr Bruce Onobrakpeya had, made him to really nurture a lot of us that eventually took to the art. And he taught the whole family of Ben Bruce, the people who make up the Silverbird group today. All of them studied art at his feet. So, I believe he is someone who is able to nurture people to love the art, to be their own artists like me and others too. He was able to bring out the art in us so that we grew up with art in us.
At that moment, did you know you’d finally become a Fine Artist?
Oh yes, yes, of course, I knew I would. The time we got to form III, many of us had already made up our minds to be artists. By then, we had narrowed down our interest in what subjects to study and register in WASC. In those days with the missionary schools in place, counseling and guidance was well in place. And you were able to really know where you were going and what you needed to know and where you were heading for.
By form III, we had narrowed it to what we wanted to be. For me, I wanted to be an Economist or an Artist. By the time I was in form IV, my mind was made up to be an artist because the guidance and the teaching method of Onobrakpeya guided us all the way.
He was the only Art teacher then in St. Gregory and he was well known and respected. Students referred to him as a father, for, in truth, he was a father to all of us.
What he was able to do as a teacher was that, he told and taught us all expects of art. He even taught us art history. In St. Gregory College we were able to watch the works of art of great artists like Ronaldo Da Vinci, Michel Angelo, Raphel and the rest of them. It was a rare privilege but Onobrakpeya made it possible. Through a small projector made by him, we were able to watch many works and they truly thrilled us.
We carved in form I, we did textile designs, we did printmaking all in class one. We did all aspects of the art that it was really great for us then to begin to think art in our very young years. It was full education, the best model you’d get anywhere. That type of education would liberate you and not make you locked up in there. That was the Dr Onobrakpeya we had then.
So, what is printmaking to you now?
Ha, I have a press, my own press, of course. I do make prints myself. Oh, it is a great fun. Some of us then taught by him are David Dale, Alex Gbadebo and lots more. We all went to St. Gregory and were taught by him. And we are all still there in the print-making business, pantograph making and so on. And when it was time to start the Agharho – Otor Harmattan School in Delta State, we rallied round him to make it work.
Do you think that over time, we can get a great artist like him in Nigeria?
We have so many great artists in Nigeria today. But whether we are going to have somebody working the way he is doing at 80 years is what I feel is impossible. We can’t simply because we can never have two Bruce Onobrakpeya. Not even his children that are in the art can work like him. He is a big work horse and his intellectual viewpoints in the art are so unique to him. And so no one can be like him or replace him. It is like a Yusuf Grillo, no one can replace Grillo. It is like Demas Nwoko, no one can replace Nwoko or Uche Okeke, the big masquerade. These are the greats we have in our midst today.
Yes, we are going to have great and more great artists who are also great in their own respects, in their own ways, different from the ones before them. Onobrakpeya was able to educate me in his thinking. If you are able to do that to a student, then you have captured him.
You see, I had the opportunity of being sponsored by many countries across the globe, yet after each training I came back to Nigeria. Because this is where it is for me. This was the sort of thing he got from him. Even as far back as 1972, had the opportunity of going to Howard University in the United States of America. But those he had the opportunity with had since gone. But he stayed here and is still relevant, still very much proud, working tirelessly at his age to continue to recreate the world. This is what he stands for.
When you teach your students at Yaba College of Technology, what other motivations do you give them that you learnt from the master?
Of course, you find out that one still has the privilege of being in the same line of teaching . The way I was taught, I make sure I let the students fall in line. It is like having a meal – putting one meal on the table for your children and you insist they must eat it. And one of them says no. I don’t want to eat Eba, and then you start canning the child. You are not being fair, you know. You must provide alternative. And I think that is the best approach that I have also learnt from Bruce Onobrakpeya. And we are doing just that.
