Magdalene Odundo
Magdalene Odundo is referred to as a "Super Ceramist". She is currently the Chancellor of the University for Creative Arts in the UK. In 2011, she was awarded an order of the British Empire - an honour given to outstanding individuals in arts and sciences. Born in 1950 in Nairobi, Odundo initially studied graphic design at the Kenya Polytechnic and Cambridge College of Art in the UK. It was in the UK that she discovered her knack for ceramics; her hands naturally taking to clay like a bird to song. Her pieces are not made traditionally using a wheel, but are instead creating using a coiling technique.
Her pieces are as distinctive in colour as they are in the forms she creates. Amorphous in shape yet resembling the human body in curvature and sinuosity, the pots are vehicles for thinking about the human body and its relationship to space. She effortlessly merges past ceramic traditions with modernity. One of her most prominent pieces is a black and ocher vessel with a curved base and elongated neck resembling the form of a pregnant woman. Her works are now a part of permanent collections of nearly 50 international museums. You can see one of Magdalene Odundo's ceramic pots on display at the Nairobi Gallery.
Kioko Mwitiki
During the Mwakenya unrests that rocked universities in 1980, fate handed Kioko Mwitiki an artistic turning point. As punishment for being kicked out of Kenyatta University for a year, his sister took him to a metal factory in Nakuru to learn hard labour.
It is during this year-long apprenticeship that Kioko learnt to weld - a skill that would later earn him the recognition of prominent world leaders such as Bill Clinton, the King and Queen of Sweden, the late Israeli prime minister Shimon Peres and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, all who own his metal sculptures. He is also the man behind the wildlife sculptures at JKIA.
Kioko Mwitiki exhibits his artworks at his gallery in Lavington.
Samuel Wanjau
It is impossible to talk about Kenya's art history without mentioning Samuel Wanjau, a revered sculptor who began by carving curios for tourists before radically shifting to a more expressive style when Kenya gained independence. His sculptures captured everyday emotions and situations with intricate detail and inventiveness, immortalizing his name in his art pieces, and influencing the 2nd generation of sculptors - his sons Jackson and Anthony Wanjau to follow suit.
His most famous piece is a 12ft statue titled Freedom Fighter, that was commissioned by former AG Charles Njonjo to stand in front of Parliament Building but later rejected. The statue now stands at Paa ya Paa Art Gallery in Garden Estate. You can also view Samuel Wanjau's sculptures on request at Red Hill Art Gallery.
Wanjau died on 25th September 2013 in his home in Mukuruweini, Nyeri County.
Rosemary Karuga
In 1987, Rosemary Karuga decided to re-enter the Kenyan art scene after spending decades raising her family. She was the first Kenyan woman to attend Makerere University's School of Fine Art in Kampala, Uganda, where she studied design, painting and sculpture from 1950- 1952. After completing her studies, she returned to Kenya to become a teacher.
Almost 30 years after leaving Makerere she began creating collage art from recycled paper and exhibition after exhibition, earned her reputation as Kenya's leading collage artist. Her international breakthrough came in 1990 at an exhibition in Harlem, New York.
You can view Karuga's art on request at Red Hill Art Gallery.
