Faith Michael does not appear to you as a Fine Artist. The first impression you have of her is: here comes a model. But she is a painter who initially wanted to study Library Information Science. And then suddenly hand of providence took her to Fine Arts at the Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State where she specialized in painting. EDOZIE UDEZE encountered her at a public function in Lagos. And her responses reveal a lot about how the journey began.
Faith Michael became a visual artist by accident. In fact, in the art circle she is simply referred to as an accidental artist. A lovely looking lady, at the first encounter you’d mistake her for a model. Her bearing shows a lady who might not be able to handle a brush or know how to mix colours and face easel or drawing board. But she is not scared of the rudiments of her profession even though she did not set out to be an artist.
Encountering her at a public function was exciting. Although quiet and a bit withdrawn, her eyes darted endlessly in tune with the happenings around her. Then she beamed a harmless smile, almost impeccably so as this reporter approached her… She was seated in company of other male artists, some her mentors, while others her senior colleagues. Her eyes tilted while the introduction held. “You look more like a model, are you one?” was the first poser thrown at her. ‘No’, she responds with precision. “I am a Fine Artist”. I am a graduate of Auchi Polytechnic, Edo State. It was there I read Fine Arts, with attention on painting. I didn’t plan to read Fine Arts. But it happened when I went to collect my post UTM form. They mistakenly filled Fine Arts for me. And so the journey to the unknown began”, she confesses
She continues, “when this happened I just blended with it. It was not an easy one for me. I had to put in all my energy, all my strength to start all over. I was focused, determined to make the best out of it. I succeded in school. After school, I came over to Lagos where I work in the Studios of Simple Plans Studio. It is owned by Wallace Ejoh. He is my mentor. The Studio is located in Ikorodu, Lagos State”.
Barely one year at the studio, Faith is poised to do more artistic exploits. “I have learnt so much by being a studio artist. What I have learnt in the studios in less than one year cannot be compared to what I learnt in five years at school. The studio experiences give you more exposure, more ideas on how to dream and achieve more as an artist.
“Yes, I paint. That’s all I do”, she responds with a smile. “I paint for my self. I have my own studio within. It is interesting. It is fun. They made us believe arts is hard. But with Ejoh it is easy. Just listen to instructions, and you’d see it is easy to work”. For now, soft spoken Faith intends to exhibit. She is working seriously to do a show. “For now”, she says cheerfully, “I have over eleven works that I have completed. Definitely I want to exhibit someday soon. For now I will do a joint show. As time goes on, probably next year, I plan for a solo”.
Faith does more of images and figures. They appeal to her more and this also gives her plenty of joy. Often too, as time permits, she does life drawings. “Yes, I model also” she finally lets the cat out of the bag. And that settled the curiosity. She explains that it was the strict parental upbringing she had that helped her to navigate through life. “My father was strict. At a point I thought he was being too rigid. But later I realized that based on that, I am what I am today. I have begun to make my parents proud of me. But then Benin is a place I never liked. Young people move about as if they have no future plan. That level of seriousness of people growing up with dreams was not seen in the lives of some youths. So I needed to move on”.
With her father as a pastor, her worldview was certainly different from others around her. Initially, she wanted to go to the University of Benin to study Library Information Science before the hand of providence took her instead to Auchi to study Fine Arts. Today it is all a glorious story of this accidental young lady artist who became a painter, an artist so given to her career.