Ghana artist tells stories in found object and more

By Roni Gehlke
For the Contra Costa Times


EVER SINCE world-renowned artist Nana-Dictta Graves was a young girl growing up in Ghana on the Ivory Coast in West Africa, she believed that every picture told a story. Art supplies were something that she and most around her couldn't afford, but that didn't stop Graves from telling her stories in her pictures.


Graves used found items and paper products to add color and life to her mosaic art style and before long she was starting on a journey that would lead her around the world showing her art and giving inspiration and speeches as a moderator to young and old.


Graves' images illustrate stories from Africa. Most show the traditional African imagery that is either contemporary or from a generation past, the time that her grandparents told stories of.


"My goal is to foster understanding and appreciation of the arts as a discipline to generate creativity and responsiveness, in turn, expanding reasoning, thinking skills, self-esteem and also the sharing of cultural awareness globally," Graves said.


When she was a young girl at her first showing in an art gallery in Ghana, some 30,000 people came to see her art. The event won her notice by several local galleries and educational facilities.


"Since people couldn't afford acrylics to paint with they found my art inspiring and wanted me to speak on how I prepared my art," she said.


Graves earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in Theater, African Dance
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and Cultural Studies from the University of Ghana. After speaking at several engagements she received a full-ride scholarship at the University of Royal Society of the Arts in Scotland where she received a degree in Fine Arts.


While at college a gallery sent three of Graves' pieces to the 1982 World Exhibition of Contemporary Art show at the Kaiser Center Mezzanine Art Gallery in Oakland, which brought Graves to California on her first trip to the United States. Her art at the exhibition brought attention to her work and a local corporation signed her on to do some artwork for it. She later moved to Texas doing similar work for another organization.


During her time in the United States she continued to develop her unique style of art using the same mosaic and collage she used in her first showing in Ghana. She continued to gather an impressive list of accomplishments, showing her work in several international venues. Not only has she displayed her work in galleries and museums, she also has a varied selection of work in businesses, universities and private collections.


Graves said that when she started to give talks about her art, people where fascinated by her artistic materials. A lot of the art was made of found recycling items and edible material.


"I was green before it was popular to be green," she said about the items she used in her mosaic art. "Every day people shred paper, pencils and even candy wrappers and all of those items can be used in art."


In 2006, Graves moved to California. She liked California when she had visited and decided to give the area a try. She lived in Merced for a year before moving to Antioch where she found the "perfect" house and studio setup.


Her first showing in Antioch was at the Lynn House Gallery, as part of the gallery's Stories and Recollections exhibit, which ended on Feb. 27. The exhibit featured several of Graves' pieces that offer their own unique storytelling.


"A community link is very important to me," Graves said. "I'm very happy to be having a chance to share my work here in Antioch."


While Graves is working on her latest project and getting ready to show her work at yet another art venue, she is also working on a book of stories to go along with her art. She feels that every picture she has a special story that needs to be told. In her book she hopes to combine the two and then give people a chance to see and hear the story together.


She also will continue to be a guest speaker, teacher, event organizer and curator of shows. Many of her speaking engagements cover a broad-based knowledge and expertise in a variety of art forms, including the diverse programs of traditional African dance and cultural studies.