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In a peaceful place: Ghanaian folk artist Nanasei Agyemang weaves together community
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When Nanasei Agyemang was 12 years old, he watched his father鈥檚 friend Paulina weave beautiful baskets from elephant grass.
鈥淚 had never seen anybody weave until then,鈥� Agyemang said. 鈥淪he taught me how to prepare the straws before weaving. You pick a dry elephant grass. Later, you split the straw with your teeth.鈥�
Agyemang grew up in Bolgatanga, Ghana, the oldest of 11 boys. His father had three wives. His own mother moved back and forth. Paulina helped with the housework.
In a peaceful place: Ghanaian folk artist Nanasei Agyemang weaves together community
The weaving 鈥渒ept me in this peaceful place,鈥� he said. 鈥淪he would sing and weave at the same time.鈥�
Today, Agyemang will bring 150 baskets from his eight-member collective Bolga Woven to Santa Fe鈥檚 20th annual International Folk Art Market from Thursday, July 11, through Sunday, July 14, in the city鈥檚 Railyard Park.
Out of this year鈥檚 571 artist applications, the market has chosen 167 artists from 51 countries. IFAM has added a new country this year with the inclusion of Papua New Guinea. Since the market鈥檚 2004 formation, it has hosted more than 1,600 master folk artists from 103 countries. Last year, the market moved from its longtime Museum Hill location to the Santa Fe Railyard Park.
This marks Agyemang鈥檚 third year at the market. Now based in Denver, the weaver first came to this country after earning a scholarship to study business management at Collins College in Tempe, Arizona.
From there he flitted through various jobs in accounting, FedEx and Halliburton before returning home to Ghana to decide what he really wanted to do. He looked up Paulina.
鈥淚 knew the materials, I knew exactly where it was coming from,鈥� Agyemang said. He recruited eight weavers, allowing them to weave from home, and a collective was born.
He started by showing the work at small, local Denver markets.
鈥淚 didn鈥檛 think it would go to the extent it is now,鈥� he said. 鈥淎t first it was Paulina and I. It was very challenging. The work ethic differs here.鈥�
Some companies tried working with the weaver in a factory style.
鈥淭his is something they see as my free time,鈥� Agyemang explained. 鈥�(Paulina) convinced me it鈥檚 better to let your workers stay home. All year I stock up for Santa Fe. Now everybody is comfortable.鈥�
Paulina had changed her style so that the baskets undulate in an organic wave. They bend in and out of shape like a pliable ceramic pot that has been gently twisted while still wet.
鈥淲hen I went back, Paulina told me some members of the family were watching ladies making a wave in their pottery, so the women started copying the same style.
鈥淲hen the grass is soft, you turn it into the pattern of the wave and it stays. No other grass does the same. The wave basket is not functional,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t started with a more functional shape for carrying and planting onions.鈥�
The colors come from natural dyes made from plants and minerals.
鈥淭he concept of making the colors are very, very complicated,鈥� he said. 鈥淵ou try samples. When it鈥檚 dry, you start the weaving.鈥�
The first time he displayed the baskets at the Folk Art Market, he sold out within the first two days.
Collective members have used the money they earn to dig a pump well and to produce toilets that don鈥檛 dispose of their contents into the ground.
鈥淧aulina uses it for food and medicine,鈥� Agyemang said. Now elderly, she also hires help for farming in June, July and August.
鈥淢ost of the money goes straight into the community,鈥� Agyemang said. 鈥淭hey have to re-mud their homes every year.鈥�
