Celebrating Ayokunle Odeleye

	Mary Willis (1996) enjoyed seeing Prof. Odeleye again and Dean Joseph Meeks.
	Dorothy Keith (1992), Shane McDonald (1992) and Matthew Craven (1993) are still as close as when they were in Prof. Odeleye’s classes.

His sculptures are larger than life, and so is he. Kennesaw State University Professor of Art Ayokunle Odeleye has a well-established reputation for telling it like it is. . that’s part of the reason his students admire him.

“He made me cry sometimes,” alumna Dorothy Keith said with a chuckle, “but he was always right.”

Keith was one of many visual arts alumni who returned to campus on April 23 to help celebrate Odeleye’s 15th anniversary at Kennesaw State. During the afternoon event, Odeleye shared a retrospective of his work as a public artist and his views on teaching. “I’m an artist first,” he insisted, but he nevertheless offered many stories of his experiences in the classroom, both as a teacher and a student.

Odeleye credits one of his own teachers with inspiring him to be an artist. “He hired me to come to his studio and clean up on Saturdays, but when I arrived, there was never any work to do.” Instead, he would hand the young man, who admits he was quite a handful, a brush and tell him to put some paint on a canvas.

Since then, Odeleye has come to understand that part of his role as a teacher is to help other young people realize their own abilities. But, that does not mean he is going to be particularly benevolent when it comes to handing out criticism. “Your mother will tell you your art looks beautiful, and then ask why she’s spending money on tuition,” he told the assembled crowd. “I’m going to tell you the truth.”

Part of that truth is letting students know that pursuing a career in art is challenging. “Being an artist is the easy part, fitting in everything else is difficult. You have a lot of obligations that you cannot forget.” Judging from the presence of his wife, members of his family and many friends who also attended the event, Odeleye seems to have found an appropriate balance.

However, nothing has deterred his passionate pursuit of sculpture. Since he has a graduate student, he has won numerous competitive public art commissions. His imposing sculptures can be seen throughout Atlanta, in Maryland, Virginia, Texas and elsewhere throughout the country. This summer, he will install a new work in Alaska. Nearly all of his work incorporates the spiritual nature of Africans and people of African descent. Odeleye also takes care to emphasize the importance of education, especially for minority students.

	Student Perry Ellis, who was preparing for his final critique from Prof. Odeleye, shared his work with alumna Carol Bailey Jackson.

“Like my grandmother said, ‘once you have an education, that can’t take that away.’”

That is part of the reason Odeleye requested that his anniversary celebration include the establishment of a scholarship fund to help Kennesaw State recruit talented minority students. The Ayokunle Odeleye Minority Recruitment Scholarship Fund needs to reach the $20,000 level before it can begin to be awarded, but it is already off to a good start.

“More than a dozen people have already contributed,” said Stacie Barrow, director of development for the College of the Arts. “Some gifts are fairly substantial while others are smaller, but every dollar moves us closer to the day when a young African American student will be able to add ‘Ayokunle Odeleye Scholar’ to his or her list of honors.”

To contribute to the fund, contact Barrow at 770-499-3129 or give online. A scholarship fund also has been established in honor of Professor of Music Oral Moses who is celebrating his 20th anniversary at Kennesaw State.

Next year, the College of the Arts will honor the anniversaries of Professor of Theatre & Performance Studies John Gentile, Associate Professor of Theatre & Performance Studies Ming Chen and Professor of Music David Watkins. The college also will pay tribute to Associate Professor of Art Roberta Griffin on her upcoming retirement.

		Many members of Prof. Odeleye’s family also attended the celebration.