Art fans looking to learn more about fascinating African art will want to attend a talk by Dr. Daniel Mato, Professor Emeritus of Art History from the University of Calgary, at the Campbell River Art Gallery on Thursday.
Mato’s talk, All That Glitters Is Not Gold, will focus on the gold figures of Ghana and will happen after the CR Art Gallery’s brief Annual General Meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. The talk is $5 per person, but free for members of the Campbell River Art Gallery.
Anyone who has had the privilege of hearing Mato speak knows that he is brilliant, entertaining and passionate – this is an evening not be missed.
Mato has had a long and storied career, researching the arts of Africa as well as the role of craftspeople and symbolic display. He is fascinated by the skill of unknown artists and the proverbs their work often represents. Mato is a renowned expert in African art who completed his PhD in African Art History at Indiana University, after completing his B.A. and M.A. in Michigan in Classical Art History.
Mato has been conducting field research in Africa since 1968 and has curated exhibitions of African Art and material culture in Canada, the U.S., Germany and the Netherlands. Mato’s career has included work as gallery director, curator and currently associate curator for African Art at the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. In 1998, he was named a research affiliate at the University of Ghana and he is currently curator of the African collection at the Museum of Making in Calgary. He has consulted and advised on numerous documentaries, including the PBS series Death and Dying and has curated African art exhibitions at numerous museums and galleries, including the Detroit Institute of Art, the Linden Museum in Stuttgart, Germany and the Volkerkunds Museum in Munich, Germany. He continues his research into the arts of symbolic display and non-verbal communication among the Akan people of Ghana, and most recently curated an exhibition of gold weights at the national Ornamental Iron Museum in Memphis, Tennessee.
Mark Thursday, March 22 at 7 p.m. on your calendar to hear Mato’s lively presentation. For details, call the Campbell River Art Gallery at 250-287-2261 or email contact@crartgallery.ca